Settled In

We’ve been back at Jojoba Hills for three weeks now, and although we’ve been busy there hasn’t been much going on that is blog worthy. We managed to get the car and Lazy Daze washed and polished, and cleaned the inside of both, which were filthy after being in blowing dust in Virgin and Yuma. We’ve also done some RV maintenance, like flushing the hot water heater and restringing a couple window blinds. We’ve also ordered a bunch of stuff from Amazon. It’s so nice to have a place to get things delivered, which is always a challenge on the road. We also got new batteries in the golf cart we acquired with the lot. Before we left for the summer it would barely get up a hill but we didn’t want to replace the batteries and then let it sit for 4 or 5 months. It’s now running great with the new batteries. We didn’t think we would make much use of a golf cart but it’s handy for running up to the laundry, showers, etc.

Jim has been working out at EOS Fitness in Temecula a few times a week since he doesn’t care for the exercise room here, which is small and lacking in equipment. It’s free for him with Silver Sneakers and is a beautiful, huge new gym. His knees are really bothering him playing pickleball so he’s laying off for a while. I’ve been playing quite a bit and feel like I’m finally getting a little better, but it’s fun no matter how badly I play. We are still playing ping pong 2-3 nights a week. It’s really popular, with usually at least 15-20 or more people showing up. They bought a new table recently which gives us four, so with playing doubles nobody has to wait very long between games.

Part of being a member here is that you are expected to volunteer, so I’m back working with the Landscape Committee and Jim is doing meter reading. We are both helping clean the fitness room once a month and Jim and another member replaced the TV in that room last week. You can get involved in as little or as much as you want and nobody really pressures you but it’s amazing what gets done around here with all the members helping to keep the place running and looking good. I’ve been doing Zumba once a week and decided to try the yoga class the other day. Not sure it’s my thing, but I may give it another shot before I give up.

One day we went on a group hike, which turned out to be only 5 of us. Did a trail we hadn’t hiked before near Julian, the Upper Santa Ysabel Creek trail. It was a good 7.5 mile loop with about 1,000’ of climbing, and would be more scenic with some rain to green things up a bit. After spending time in the red rocks of southern Utah last month, the scenery here is a little lacking in color.

We saw neither one of these.

But saw many of these.

Jim, Nancy, Jean, and one of our bovine buddies.

John, Jim, me and Nancy.

Saw a flock of wild turkeys as we were leaving. Hope they survived Thanksgiving.

Our lot looked surprisingly good when we returned. Of course there is a timer on the sprinkler so the plants get watered, but other than the succulent garden it is mostly gravel, so there isn’t much that needs to be done. The leaves on our liquid amber tree were green when we got back, but their autumn colors have been coming out over the past couple weeks. We’re hoping when they fall off we will get a big windstorm that will blow them all to our neighbors. Just kidding Terry and LuAnn.

The oranges on Terry and LuAnn’s trees are actually turning orange.

Ours are a different type, and are still very green although the same size. Fruit trees are no longer allowed to be planted in the park due to the fact that they require so much water.

The weather has been great, mostly highs in the upper 60s and 70s with clear skies, but we woke up yesterday to light rain, which is very much needed here in southern California. We took a little hike on the trails behind the park late yesterday afternoon and as we were coming back I spotted what looked like a cat crossing the road in front of us. As we watched we realized it was a bobcat kitten, and soon 3 more kittens, then the mother, strolled across into a site.

We only had our phones so the photos aren’t great, but it was fun watching them. Mom brought up the rear.

They’ve been spotted wandering all over the park.

That’s about all that’s going on in our world. We’ll be here for another month doing much of the same, so posts will likely be few and far between unless something exciting happens.