'Twas the Day Before Christmas...

Temps in the mid to high sixties today, light wind, bright sunshine.  Definitely shirtsleeve weather.  

The park does a whole bunch of things for the holidays.  I volunteered one day to help decorate the rec hall.  Some decorations are especially eye-catching:

This is the Old West...you make decorations out of what you have.

There is a contest tonight with a parade through the park to choose the best-decorated golf cart or off road vehicle.  Here is one of the entrants:

And some decorations are more successful than others.

Faithful readers of the blog may remember that there is a lemon tree on the planting area next to the trailer and in front of it, a grapefruit tree.  While the lemon tree obviously isn't doing well (dead limbs, few lemons), the grapefruit tree is covered with fruit.  I brought my juicer from NM this year and I've had the BEST grapefruit juice on the planet for the past week or so.

The folks next to us on the north left the park at the end of last season and we had new neighbors this year for a month, Nancy and Paul.  (They have gone to San Diego for the holidays but will be back in a few weeks.)  One day the four of us wandered around in the mountains and wound up at Jail House Rock.  Already there was another group, several rigs.  Turns out they were from Parsons, Kansas, and they spend several months here every winter.  

Nancy with one the the ladies from Parsons.

I have been fighting with the seat belt/shoulder strap on the Polaris since I got it.  Finally I decided to order a four-point harness and take the factory-installed equipment out entirely.  This is an annoying job because you have to take the center console cover off as well as taking out both seats.  We only made one tiny little miscalculation:  when we removed the factory seatbelt, we engaged the governor that automatically limits the speed to 15 mph.  Fixed that the next day with a butt connector and electrical tape.  But we had to take the cover off the console AGAIN.

Paul kindly came over to assist in the job both days.  So now if I roll the Polaris, I will probably stay in it.  Probably a better plan not to roll it.

So to you all, loyal readers, a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!