Checking out Farmington

July 6 – Bill was up at 6 and I was awake but kept trying to doze but didn’t do a very good job of it. My feet finally hit the floor at 6:45. Since we were not having breakfast, there was no real reason to get up too early. We stopped by Harlan’s with dog instructions and headed to Farmington. It was pretty nippy out this morning, requiring that I where a jacket.

My lab appointment was at 9 and we arrived right on time. I knew it was not going to turn out well when there was no one in the parking lot and a note on the door of Quest Diagnostics that “whoever” would be back in 10 minutes from the bank. I knew I was in trouble if the person didn’t bother to check that there was an appointment coming and that the person drawing my blood was also the person greeting and signing me in with my paperwork. She got back at about 9:10 and then took 15 – 20 minutes to input info in the computer and I was still the only person there. The AC was so cold Bill went back out to the truck and waited. And waited. Well it went downhill from there as she stuck me twice and after the second one I told her that was it for the day. I had asked if they had the squeezy things my regular place has me use to pump up the veins and she said no they don’t use those. Then she never slapped my hand to get the veins up and when I asked her about that and she looked at me like I had two heads, so guess they don’t do that either. Perhaps that explains the lack of success of getting my blood work done. I told her it would just have to wait til I was back in Florida where I normally go. At least at home if they can’t do it there are several others who could try. Guess this warrants a letter from me to Quest Diagnostics!

OK, it was after 10 and we were both very hungry so we each had a banana that I brought and we stopped at Taco Bell to try their new breakfast. I can’t really say what I had but it was a Johnsonville sausage patty with cheese and scrambled egg on it wrapped in a tortilla. Bill had some kind of egg and bacon burrito. I guess someone made a mistake or didn’t have the money to pay, but they gave Bill a taco salad so we put it in the cooler to bring home.

Farmington is in NM and it’s considerably larger than Durango and has more of the big stores we are used to donating our money to. They have a mall about the size of our mall at home, well before all the stores moved out, and Sam’s, 3 Wal-marts, Best Buy, Petco, all the office supply stores, Safeways, Albertson’s, Hobby Lobby, etc. We made a bunch of stops and got Xena’s special food, a new TV for the bedroom, my Blue Teal Riesling wine, and the list goes on.

We had lunch at My Big Fat Greek Restaurant, which was excellent. Bill had a calzone but I had an appetizer platter as it had all of my favorites on it and I knew I’d have enough for another meal. It had tzatziki, hummus, souzoukia, spanakopita and stuffed grape leaves. I ate all the hummus, 1 grape leaf and all of the souzoukia and 1 bite of the spanakopita. It’s a huge piece to I have enough for a lunch or a dinner. Bill had half of his calzone left also. So more food for the fridge that we don’t have room for!

After lunch we had a few more stops and on the way out of town we stopped at McDonald’s. I was hot and wanted a Chocolate Chip Frappe and since Bill was driving he said he’d have a coke as he couldn’t drive and eat a sundae. We could see rain in the direction we were going and he didn’t want to sit and eat and get into worse weather going home. As it turned out, we didn’t get a drop of rain on the way home or once we got home.

We stopped in Ignacio to see if Paco was in to get more of the butyl tape for putting the new outside window casement on and he wasn’t in so I did a quick stop at the grocery for tomatoes and oranges on sale and we got home about 4:30. Once we unloaded we went for a loop check and turned tags and marked who we didn’t have listed. We only had 3 open spots and after dinner one of those filled so we have 38 spots filled, counting us, and I think every one of them has a boat and a kid with a bicycle.

I got everything put away and put in the new TV although we don’t have an arm yet to hang it, so it’s sitting on the dresser for now. It works fine but I kept the box til we get it installed and make sure there are no glitches. We were not hungry for a long time and didn’t eat until almost 7:30. Xena was beginning to wonder when she’d get her walk. The air was getting pretty cool by the time we left. I stopped and told several of the larger groups with small kids that there is a childrens’ nature arts and crafts project at 9 tomorrow morning at the visitor center if they want to take their kids up. I hope they have a good turn out as last week’s adult program was a bust.

Now I am caught up and guess I better post something before bedtime.

July 7 – Work day in the office today. I really don’t mind it as it gives me a little time from Bill and time to bond with other women. Most of them are close to my age and we discuss husbands, old jobs, restaurants, in-laws, the whole gamut. We just had cereal this morning since I’ll make a big breakfast tomorrow. The neighbors were up partying late and so it didn’t quite down here til long after it’s supposed to.

Bill had our sites done when he picked me up and he had gone and done 2 loads of laundry and the last few things were on the line. It was nice to have that out of the way. We ate on our leftovers for lunch and we watched two movies. I worked on a new project. Took one of the small Indian blankets we got from Jean and cut it in half and am finishing them off around the edges to put one in the seat of each recliner and one up the back so they don’t get soiled from perspiration or animal hair. My first two attempts to finish the edge didn’t work but the third was a charm so almost have one done.

The new roof I put on the Mule

We took Xena for a ride in the mule and found 2 sites had vacated a day early so Bill raked them and we reported to the office that they were available. Then I started and completed another project of putting a top on our mule. I got a yard of flannel lined vinyl from Wal-Mart and used zip ties to fasten it to the roll bars. I would have liked it to be wider but the bars just don’t go out as far as I’d like but it will help keep the sun off and some drizzle too. Too bad it has no windshield. Bill said one of the guys told him today he needed a cover on it when it was starting to drizzle and he told him I was working on solving that.

We did take another break and placed 3 games of ring toss. Of course Bill won all three. I have gotten so bad now that we made the boards narrower like at the Good Sam Rallies. Ticks me off! If the weather holds off tomorrow we will play again and maybe a game of baseball. It takes longer but we need to be practicing.

Bill was a little disappointed when I asked if he cared if we ate at home tonight instead of going out. Since we had lunch out on Thursday and breakfast and lunch out on Friday, I just didn’t feel like eating out again when we have so many leftovers in the fridge. After dinner I experimented with some Splenda brownies – yuck! Bill liked them but they were really flat, like a brownie pancake. I think this darn altitude was the culprit. I’ll read some other recipes and try it again.

Sounds like everyone went to bed early tonight so it’s a quite night. Now it’s my turn!