Today is a sort of bitch day.  You never know what is in your forwarded mail package. 

I had ordered a Hi-Gain antenna for my Linksys wireless router from Amazon.com for my Datastorm Sat system.
The Amazon order page told me while placing my order they would not ship to a PO Box so I had to change from our PO Box address and changed the address to the Rock Club in Quartzsite and placed the order. A day later I get this email saying here is your tracking number for the order. So I check it and it sez they are shipping VIA  USPS. 
So now when it gets here, the local post office rejects the package because it does not list a PO Box number and returns it to Amazon per the USPS tracking system. 

Terry rushed to the Q post office and they dug through the outgoing mail looking for the Amazon rejected box. Not found. I have to say thanks to the Q PO. They tried to go out of their way to help. THANKS. And that was from the Quartzsite postoffice staff. Friendly in the off season.

Catch 22 I think..  I called Amazon and explained that they would not ship to a PO Box and then used the USPS to ship to a non PO Box address when the local PO will not accept that address. We do not have delivery in this location, only PO Boxes. They agreed to ship again without waiting for the return, since the USPS tracking system told them it was rejected and being returned due to a non complete address. to the same non PO Box address via UPS and next day overnight for FREE. 
Now that is what I would expect from a world class company. 
Also note: To talk to Amazon on the phone you enter your number on the intranet and hit send and they call back with 10 seconds with a person oneline. WOW. I was asked if I was satisfied with their response and I told the agent in India they had exceeded my expeditions.

Next item: I got a letter from Progressive Drive Ins. stating they tried to reduce may insurance payment rate but could not since my credit rating was not high enough. I had not had a period of payments showing up on my credit rating.  Well I am retired and paid off three homes and now only use debit cards and do not have loan payments on anything anymore. So because I have money and don't have payments, my credit rating goes down. What a crock that is... I feel like a kid just starting out again without a credit rating. Do you think Bill Gates has to worry about this? I will call my agent (Farm and City Ins) RVAdvantage.com and ProgressiveDrive in the near future. 
UPDATE:  Called Progressive. I found out my credit score has not gone down but stayed the same. On a scale of 1-18.   I am at 3  1 being the highest. They were just telling me it could be higher.  As I told them when their letter starts out with. Notice of Adverse Action. 
It kind of gets people upset. They stated it would do little good to go out and borrow money to try increase my score since I would be paying more in interest than on any savings on the insurance rate. 

Next Item:  Google.com emails me and sez they have not sent out 1099-MISC forms yet. I hasve google ads on my sites. A big company like that and this was to have been done by the end of January... Now the say they hope to get them out by March. 12  Glad I didn't do my taxes yet. Now I get to wait on this huge company to get their shit together. Another mail forwarding of mail form MyHomeAddressInc. so it will be close to getting Taxes done before we leave for flyfishing in NM. Want to get this done while in place, and not on the road.
UPDATE:  New email from Google sez they are not sending a 1099.

Next item: I get a bill from Dell.com for the replacement of a defective mouse I called them about which they replaced and the invoice said I did not have to return the old part. 

UPDATE: Was told to ignore the invoice. They send them to all like that.
Now the good news: In the mail package was a letter from my Long Term Care Insurance company. 
It stated I had till the end of TODAY to sign up for the inflation addition coverage to my policy and the next chance woud not be till 2010. Acted fast and signed up for an additional coverage at a increase cost per month of $7.16. Now $33.44 per month for nursing home of $120 a day and Home care of $60 a day with max of $219,000.

We know about how Medicare does not pay anything till ALL of your assets are gone.. I could never do that to Terry. So I am glad I got this many years ago when working for Qwest. Now still a good deal.
 
 

Wednesday March 7

We went on a recreational outing to Blythe, CA for shopping.  Redeemed a rain check for T-bone steaks at $3.97 a lb.down from $7.93 a lb. so we saved $12.25 by getting a rain check. They were out when last there so took the time to get the rain check.  Also got a couple of pounds of catfish nuggets at $2.99 a lb.  And after $92 it had to have been fun outing right.  Oh... needed to get a 12 pack of Diet Squirt. 
After a few days out in the desert boondocking, people (us) will go out of control just for for a shopping adventure. 
Corporate America has us programed to shop and spend or go into withdraw. We are trying to kick the addiction but like smoking, it is tough to break away.
It has been hot in southwest AZ above 85 and about 57 at night. We have even turned on our little 12 volt fan in the bedroom with a window open at night.  I like are movement when sleeping. Wow what a difference from January.  They warn us the snakes are out but we have not seen any (we hope mostly back in the washes) and you can bet we are being careful. Time to clean up our lived in look around the campsite to get the loose ends up off the ground so things do not have anything to hid under. Like scorpions. 
Got another email from Google now saying they are not going to send a 1099 to us. So I guess I can go ahead and do taxes. I don't get refunds these days, so tax time is not fun to see what the refund will be. (Remember those days?) I did get my act together and did the quarterly payments so the pain should not be too bad. Got a big envelope of mail and many forms for taxes in it. Hope all is here. Have not opened the statements yet. 

I got some new books at the Q library and am in heaven with several great books to read so not in a hurry to leave our boondocking BLM site in Q just yet. A new Nora Roberts writing as J. D Robb, 'Born In Death'.
Two  James Patterson books and a John Sanford  'Death Watch' book.

As I wrap up this post we notice the Fantastic Fan just tried to shut down. We check and it is trying to rain. It has been overcast all day.. Please let it rain Big Time. Terry just came in from outside and said it was was going to be a 12 inch rain.... 12 inches between the drops.  Now that sucks. 

Later....
 

Thursday March 8

It didn't rain... Just a sprinkle and that was that. 
See the UPDATES I did above in the complaint rant above.  Now that I am done calling the Insurance company and calmed down I can go back to reading my Nora Roberts book and try to stay cool. It is 85 at 2 PM and a slight breeze thank god.  Terry is off doing laundry since it is Thursday afternoon and the rock club is closed. They have their club meeting this time each week.  We have revived the rok club web site... Take a look.
www.quartzsitegemandmineralclub.org    Terry wanted to keep it so I brought it back to life.
 
 

Saturday March 10
 by your roving reporter Terry

These last few days in Quartzsite remind us of why we like to winter in the Desert.  We have been getting temps in the mid 80's during the day and cooling down nicely into the the mid 50's at night.  The weather forecast is for more of the same, we will have to enjoy it while we can.

We made the mandatory trip to Sweet Darlene's bakery and Restaurant this morning for breakfast,  Ron got to treat himself to biscuits and gravy while I opted for ham and eggs.  I had hoped for corned beef hash and eggs but it was not on the menu,  will have to wait for another time.   I keep hearing stories of Sweet Darlene's in the old days when it was in a tent,  would have been something to experience,  now they have gotten respectable with a metal building.

After a good breakfast at Sweet Darnel's it was time for chores,   those nasty little jobs that have to be done when you are boondocking it for the winter.  Hauled water and dumped this morning so our fresh tank is full and the foul water tanks are empty.  Was nice not to have to wait at the dump station behind a line of motor homes,  each day the lines get shorter as more and more RVer's leave Q.

We had company about noon when one of out readers stopped by to meet with us and to see how the tomato plant is doing.  He had been following our blog all winter and wanted to meet us before he left for Texas.  For those inquiring minds, the tomato plant experiment was not entirely successful.  The plant did not seem to grow as well as a conventionally planted plant, and the bucket it was planted in is starting to some signs of wear.  We did get a couple of tomatoes from it, and there might be a couple more before we have to give it to a new loving home when we leave. 

Soon it will be time to hit the highways on our trek north.  Started getting ready today by painting the picnic table  that I built last fall so that it will stand up to the ravages of a Quartzsite summer.  We found friends who will store it and the awning poles for us for the summer.  Had started out painting with a cheap foam brush that held up for the benches and about half of the table, then had to make a quick trip to K & B Tools to pick up another cheap brush to finish.  The table is currently setting on saw horses waiting for the stain to dry.

The picnic table, stained and drying in the sun,  does not take long to dry in AZ.

Finished the belt buckles that I have been working on at the rock club, and am trying to develop additional classes for the lost wax casting section of the the rock club.  Need to get going on the research now so I am not scrambling next November. 

The two belt buckles I was able to finish this season.
I'd post more pick of the stuff i made over the winter, but do not want to bore our readers  with a bunch of pics all at once.  More will follow as I post.

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New posts on Wednesday as we have been overcome by the heat and thinking about getting out of here for points north and FISHING.  Terry would say it is time to move on.  So stay tuned we are about to move on. 
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Thursday March 15
by your roving reporter Terry

We have been slowly making progress getting ready for the Spring migration.  It is suprising how things spread out to occupy all the available space if you let them, have repacked all the play time tools from the rock club,  packed away the waste water tank, and loaded and repacked the tool boxes in the back of the truck.  Will lay the solar panels down this afternoon, and have arraigned for storage of the picnic table, canopy, and bikes here in Q.  We will be taking the stuff we are  storing over to friends on Sunday.  Stained the picnic table the other day to protect it from the ravages of an AZ. summer.  I am thinking that everything is under control?

Our current goal is to hit the road bright and early Monday morning,  of course we will have to go to La Posa South first to dump, then on to points East.  Currently thinking of going through Wickenburg, then on to Cottonwood, Az.  After that who knows,  we are thinking of spending a day in Jerome, and I would like to go to Sedona for a day, but Ron is resisting that.  Then on to Winslow, Canyon De Chelly and eventually the San Juan river at Navajo Dam, NM.

Would normally stay here until the end of the month, but with the temps being in the 90's and now they say 100.  We have decided to a placee cooler. 

Had a small campfire last night until someone who shall remain nameless suggested I throw an entire pallet on the fire, then things got exciting,  moving the combustibles safely back from the blaze.  I had thought about piling all of our pallets in one pile and lighting them for our farewell fire on Saturday night,  but am now reconsidering the idea,  will put out the free firewood sign on Sunday. 

A roaring fire to brighten the night,  we had to save everything and then get the picture.

Black smoke billowed up and we did have few people stop by a see if we were OK. 
We closed up the windows in the 5er and the door to keep the black tar smoke from inside. 

The above blaze was from just on pallet and by the time we closed the 5er up and got the camera it had died down from just on pallet. WOW.