Indio Date Festival

After 35 years here in the winters, we went to the Date Festival for the first time and had a blast.
First the pig races with Billy Bob looking on. Our section had to cheer for the white one and he won.

         Then the ostriches raced with their jockeys not weighing over 150 lbs, looked like a Ben Hur race

               Camels had a great start but one got confused.

One big hit was this clown that would silently mimic people or tickle this fellow.

At Mary and Rich's

They invited us and it was a surprise birthday for Denis.

                         Fun people.

                 Mary and Rich leave Thur and will be missed.

Yuma Fun with Friends and Lutz Casino.

We enjoyed having Roger (Ron's friend from grade 5 in Kitimat) and Myrna for dinner. Missed seeing them for 3 years.

                                 Myrna and I with Venus above us iin the night sky.

                                 We hadn't been to Lutz Casino for 5 years so we met Pam and Bryan there and escaped heavy rain.

                                    The piano player was a hit.

                                              And this foot always cracks me up.

Take Me Out to the Peanut Patch

In all the years we've been coming here, I've never checked this out.

It was totally fascinating.  The original owners homesteaded 160 acres in 1952, starting the peanut farm.

They gave a history explaining the 3 typed of peanuts, showing fresh and roasted: Virginia, used for eating, shelled and unshelled, runners, ground for processing, peanut butter and nut butter, and Spanish peanuts use for candy and peanut brittle. 
They even have the original combine they made to harvest the crop, lifting the plants out of the ground just like potatoes. They shake the dirt off, not washing the peanuts.

This roaster does 7 lbs of peanuts in 20 minutes while their huge one does 150 lbs. in 30 minutes.

We tasted Virginia and Spanish peanuts, peanut brittle, fresh made peanuts butter, fudge and all were delicious.

Down to Yuma, AZ for a Week

Haven't been to Yuma for our 'out week' for 3 years. You pass by the amazing Algodones Sand Dunes, 45 miles long, 6 miles wide beside I 8.

 Surprise when we unhooked the car, dead battery. We could have Good Sam do a jump start only, then nothing else included so we had it towed to the Chevy Dealer. That took care of most of Monday but Roger drove us to the dealers and then we went to the Olive Garden while we waited. Nothing wrong and couldn't figure why it happened. Lovely to share the time with Roger and Myrna after I found her in the sewing room.

We had a great visit with Vicki, thanks for the beautiful daffodils and coffee drink and really enjoyed our walk.

Happy Hour

We played our usual Thur mini golf tournament and Ron came first on his birthday, winning the hamburger.

It was so hot, 79, we moved down to Toni and Denis's for shade.

Didn't catch them laughing.