Palm Trees in southern Florida

Sunday, February 18, 2018

Social security, solar panels & a Winter in Yuma

We've been here in the Yuma area for several weeks now. A nice place!

Mittry Lake

The snowbirds that come here for the great winter weather look to be a large part of the area's economy.

There are many BLM & Arizona wildlife areas to camp in. There are also a large number of RV parks and the Army's Yuma Proving Grounds has an RV park too, if you're retired from the service.
The local Whitepaper (ad sheet) had a number of ads for RV parks so you could shop around.  The BLM land is free and scenic (lakefront!), there is plenty of sunshine for our solar panels, so that's where we are. My wife heard at the beauty parlor that the cost of living here is cheap!

Yuma is a small city with all the facilities we need, from movie theaters (we saw "The Post" & "Darkest Hour" for a $5.50 senior rate) to package delivery places so we could get our mail sent to us.  There are a couple of swap meet places and 3 days of farmers markets a week too.  
And Mexico. 

The Colorado river is a big part of Yuma.  There is a lot of agriculture here.  Lettuce & cauliflower are easy to pick out and date palm plantations are nice to look at!. 


Lettuce

The river allows lakes to be formed behind dams, such as Mittry Lake, which has a dam at both ends! The river has been tamed.  The long ago floods no longer happen, electricity is produced, and the lakes formed provide recreation and wildlife habit.  

All the water gets used...

We went to the Yuma Territorial Prison,  the Army fort and a couple of casinos to be a tourist. Plus all the day-to-day stuff required to live & be comfortable. Yuma is nice.

We are right next to the lake and during the cocktail hour & sunset viewing there are mosquitoes. 
The Thermacell mosquito repellent really works! Our first night down at the dock we brought ours and all our neighbors were really impressed by the device, and we were able to stay long after dark. 

Cocktail hour on the lake

You can find a Thermacell mosquito machine at Acme Manufacturing 
Amazon, Walmart, REI and most sporting goods/outdoor stores.


One of the attractions to Yuma is Los Algodones Mexico . 

Los Algodones is a safe, small town that houses hundreds of dentists, hundreds of eyeglass shops & more pharmacies that I could count. I used an enhanced drivers license to get back to the US my first trip & my passport this time.

40 miles west of Yuma are Holtville CA Hot Springs

Yuma is a pleasant place in the winter!



Friday, February 2, 2018

Ground Hog Day!

I was reading the comics online this morning and after the second reference to a ground hog I realized what day it was.



Then I looked outside and wondered how the ground hog, his shadow, & the whole winter superstition-guess thing went.


Mittry Lake on Ground Hog Day 2018


We're in Arizona, the part of Arizona that has great winter weather (usually) and 6 more weeks of winter, or not, never even crossed my mind!


With some new friends enjoying
the Feb 1st sunset at Mittry Lake