Mesa, AZ - Hit and Run

HIT AND RUN IN THE RESORT

We got this e-mail today from the Activities Director of our resort.

‘We are having issues with our bulletin boards. Posters are disappearing on a consistent basis. In some cases, posters or flyers are vandalized. Flyers are appearing that are not prepared by (or approved by) the activities office. Please … don’t remove anything from our bulletin boards unless you are a coordinator and what you are removing pertains to your activity or event. Please … don’t post anything on our bulletin boards without approval from the Activities Office.’

Now, I can imagine people putting unauthorized posters up just because they didn’t know the rules. But I’m having a hard time with the vandalism of posters. I’m trying to imagine a 75-yr old grandmother, dressed in black, on her golf cart, scooting into the activities center in the dead of night, scratching out poster after poster with her black magic marker, then sneaking back to her golf cart to head back home

        “Tee hee.”

        ‘Take that you chess team poster.’

        ‘How do you like this you shuffleboard schedule.’

Hitting the posters and running off into the night.

Just a bit beyond my imagination.

THE NIGHT THE LIGHTS WENT OUT IN MESA

Oops, the electricity just went off - in the entire park. When I look out the windows, all I can see are a few street lights along the main streets. Inside our resort there are no Christmas decorations, no porch lights, no lights in windows - nothing. EXCEPT - all of the RV’s in the park are fully lit up. Wouldn’t you guess? What kind of irony is this? The one time we are not in our RV - the lights go out. IF we were in our RV, we’d have lights - all on our 12 volt batteries. We’d also have heat in our RV. When we took our RV in for service, we made a special effort to unload everything in our refrigerator and bring it over here so, if the service people forgot to plug in our RV, our food would not spoil. And, here we are, in a house without electricity but with a full freezer and refrigerator.

Meanwhile, we’re using our computers (on batteries) and using the light that they put off. But our electric heat, our electric-heated water, our electric blanket, our electric toothbrush, our electric clocks, all kaput - dead. Here’s the funny part: Gary was in the shower when the lights went out Because he was washing his hair and had his eyes closed, he didn’t notice anything. I kept waiting for him to scream out that the lights were out but he was busy. I was scrambling to see if there were any candles here but to no avail. But I found several extra blankets in the linen closet. Meanwhile Gary finished his shower. There are some things you can do in the dark. Get your mind out of the gutter, that’s not what I meant.

Gary went outside to see what he could see and our next door neighbor told us that this happens at least once a year, although usually when the park is full in January, February or March., when every lot and park model is filled and all are using lots of electricity. It usually does not happen in December, when there are empty spots. Lucky us.

But, at least we’re not in Iowa where the temps are in the single digits. It’s 50 degrees here now and the low tonight is only supposed to be 38.

At least, we’ve got blankets and clothing to don.

HIT AND RUN ON THE HIGHWAY

I was a bit tongue in cheek with the first story about the hit and run in the resort. Here is something much more serious, something that can happen to any one of us, an actual hit and run out on the highway. We visited our RV in the shop today and noticed these RV’s also in service. Here is one that suffered quite a bit of damage from a hit and run driver. Not only was this corner completely taken out, the thrust of the other vehicle into this corner, not only damaged the whole back cap but also the roof and the slide. The license plate is from British Columbia. They must have gotten close to Mesa when this happened and they brought it in here. I don’t know where the owners might be. But they’re not in their RV. Note how the slide on the passenger side doesn’t line up correctly.

Here is another example of what can be fixed in an RV and how it is done. In this case, they are replacing a floor - by removing the slide. The slide is under the plastic on the right and the slide mechanism is on the floor where the large hole is.

REAL, GENUINE, FALSE, FAKE? WHO'S TO KNOW?

We saw this sign in a store. Are these anything like Fake Real Diamonds? Sure don’t want any of those fake counterfeit diamonds.