January 2018 (02-12-18)

Many times we hear about the lull after the holidays, and that it can be a quiet or dreary part of the year. Well, I am happy to report that that is not the case at the Porter Project and Party Place.
After New Years, we took a deep breath and plunged right back in to project and party mode (more about the projects later).

There is always something going on in Havasu, and in January, its the Balloon fest. By the way, all drone shots were provided to me by my friend Randy.

This particular shot of our yard shows the configuration we had during that weekend.









Our friends from California brought some of their friends….and they also brought the cold weather.  Although we ate outside for a couple of meals, mostly we were confined to the house.

In fact, the weather was so windy, the balloons didn’t fly during the 3 day festival, they flew the day before it, and the day after it. 

We had some seriously windy weather, and some really cool cloud formations and coloring.


Still, we always have a great time when they show up, and this trip was no exception!

Amazon gets a lot of our business and just before the January playoffs, I received delivery of my new flag.   Unfortunately we all know how the Super Bowl turned out, but I am  proud to fly the flag- only two teams make it that far, and we were one of them.

As soon as we said goodbye to the Californians, Paul and I packed up the camper and Jeep, and headed out on a short road trip. Our first stop was Quartzsite, and since we were traveling with Liz and Randy, Liz and I drove the short ride in her car.

Our time in Quartzsite is all about hanging out with friends, and we share many a meal with whatever group happens to be congregated with us.

Steve and Carol headlined a Spaghetti night for everyone….

And we hosted our 5th Annual Margarita and Quesadilla night.


Look at our little truck camper, smack dab in the middle of all the other rigs.









It was a very short stay for us in Q this year…after just a few days we headed off to Phoenix for our annual doctor appointments, and then a quick stop in El Paso to check in on Paul’s mom. She is doing great, and and is quite busy with her daily activities!


During our “down time” we have been taking care of some projects and doing mundane things like going to the gym.

We had help with one issue that had been bugging me for a while.  Our liquor cabinet contained many bottles of alcohol that we don’t care for. Liz and Randy helped us test them all and either dump them down the sink, or put them in a pile to donate to friends.  Now I have more room for tequila!

We aren’t the only ones who do projects at our place. Our friends make use of the tools, opinions, and extra pairs of hands that are available while staying in our yard.

While Liz and I spend our time getting fit at the gym, Randy was helping Paul with a major project.  After having the house for a while now, we decided to move the fence.  Not all of it, just some of it.

We originally thought we would put a fire pit outside the fence, so our view of the sunset wouldn’t be marred, but in reality, that never happens…we always put the fire pit inside the fence- guess we are too lazy to walk that far?

Although Paul has always wanted to play with a bobcat, he found out it was less expensive to pay someone to do the work, rather than renting one for himself.  So he paid someone to level off the lower level of the yard.

And now, the fence at the corner of the property has been lowered to the next level down.

This is an ongoing project so I’ll write more about it in the next post.

Usually things start to warm up here in January, but this year has been pretty chilly.  I won’t complain though…we don’t get snow, and many nights I can sit out and watch the hummingbirds flock to the feeders at sunset. I was lucky enough to snap a picture of 3 of them on one feeder, which very rarely happens- they hate to share!







I guess it can’t be that cold if the citrus trees are giving us fruit, which they are.  I love the fact that my neighbors all have grapefruit, lemon and orange trees.  There is nothing like fruit fresh from the tree! I even picked the very first lime from our lime tree ! Yum!

In early February Paul and I celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary, and after 18 years of hard use, his wedding band gave up the ghost. Turns out it wasn’t fixable so we mailed it back to the jeweler who we bought it from and they reset the diamonds into a new setting.  Should be good for another 18 years!