February-March 2018 (04-11-18)

As I sat down to finally put this blog post together, several issues got in my way.  Paul and I recently bought a new computer, and we don’t plan on continuing to use the old one, so we moved “everything” to the new one. But, being busy having so much fun, the process took a very long time and got messed up along the way.  Some pictures are on the old PC, some on the new-some got plain lost. Plus, the software I use to create the blog doesn’t seem to play nice on my new computer so for this post I am using the old one. Ugh.  Add to that the fact that I have my first cold in 10 years, and I am really not in the mood.  But, it has to get written, so here:




February brought another flurry of activities, including several trips to the Desert Bar. We took the Teryx most times, but when there were too many people, we also took the Jeep.












Liz and Randy and I finally got around to hiking SARA’s Crack..













The view of the lake at the end always makes it worth the 5 mile trip!

The weekend of the annual fireworks show brought brand new visitors to the PPP.  Al and Debbie are friends who we know from Michigan. Paul worked with Al at Ford, and I worked, coincidently, with one of Debbie’s best friends. The Rockers recently retired, and towed their trailer to the southwest to avoid some of the Michigan winter.

We loved showing Al and Debbie around town, and Debbie’s cousin also came to Havasu that week- so much fun!

With my cousin Linda in town for the fireworks, we had quite the blast at the “Winter Blast”. Paul and I had decided to park our truck camper at the show arena so we could all eat a leisurely dinner and then sit back and wait for the show. It worked out very well!

It’s usually pretty decent, and this year was no exception.

After that flurry of activity, things settled down a little and Paul continued his work on the fence/solar project.

Once the fence was moved, he installed solar collectors for the pool water. I think he would say the hardest part was digging the trench for the pipe to go through.  He can now partially bypass the electric heat pump and use solar energy to heat the pool water.  In fact, for the last few days we have shut the electric off and have been successful at maintaining the pool temp with strictly solar.

In Mid March our son Stephen came to visit from Boston! This is his first time seeing the house. The last time he was here was just after we bought the lot.

The weather was too cool to swim but we were able to show him around the desert on the Teryx.






On one of the warmer days we rented a boat for all of us and took the Jet ski and boat out on the lake for the day.












We have all owned boats in the past, so the guys enjoyed taking turns driving.

Stephen’s thrill, however, was the jet ski…we rounded a corner on the boat, looking behind us for him on the jet ski….and about 5 seconds later he rounded the corner and blew by us at 67 mph!

I had so much fun just watching him- because personally I have no desire to go 67 mph on a jet ski!

Way, way too soon, it was time for Stephen to leave.












And a very short time later, we were having our last dinner as a group, before everyone left for their summer destinations.













Boy, did it get quiet fast!  Dozer missed all the attention so much he started finding new ways to get some!

You know what happens when people get bored?

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!

Happy Holidays (01-04-18)

Yep, that’s just what we had, happy holidays!

Over the last 6 weeks, we have had lots of people come and go, here at the PPP.  Some came for a few days, some stayed the whole 6 weeks, and some came, left, and came back!  Some people brought their rigs and some chose the B&B option and stayed in the house.

Thanksgiving was the first holiday on the horizon…

…and apparently I didn’t get my camera out during the meal because I can’t find any pictures of it!

It was awesome that the weather was warm enough for us to laze by the pool !

We sure kept ourselves very busy. In addition to Teryx rides, swimming, eating, hot tubbing and shopping, we managed to fit in a few games of Farkle.

After Thanksgiving, Paul and I made a trip to Phoenix, in part to buy some necessities at Costco. I love the way the lake looks at sunrise, even though I am not happy being on the road when the sun rises!

Before we knew it, the Christmas crowd arrived- including our daughter Jessica.

Actually, we were lucky enough to have Jess with us for both Thanksgiving and Christmas. I love it when Jess is here at the same time as my friend Carol, since I usually end up with some great pictures of her! Thanks, Carol Dwyer!

When people are staying for more than a day or so we don’t eat all of our meals together, but we are usually happier if we can laugh our way through a group dinner….whether it’s inside…

or out…

What’s that old saying- “many hands make light work”?

With our friends, everyone pitches in and no one is afraid to take over the kitchen, making it very easy to feed so many people!

After a group breakfast Christmas morning we all took some time to relax and to video chat with far away family members..

The day after Christmas is our annual “girls’ day out” which we spend shopping and eating at one of our favorite restaurants.

Lest you think the guys were bored, sitting around waiting for us to return, don’t worry. They took the Teryx out into the desert and spent the afternoon target shooting.

Not coincidently, Girl’s Day Out takes place on Julie’s birthday, and that night we were happy to toast the birthday girl with our margaritas (even though I didn’t quite get her in this picture, haha).

We do like to have a good time, and New Year’s Eve was no exception! Does it say something about our age that we are all happy the “midnight” takes place at 10 pm here in Mountain Standard Time?

Our last night together as a group coincided with the Super Moon, which you can see rising up over our house.

The following day there was a well orchestrated Porter Shuffle, as most of the rigs left, and the remaining ones repositioned themselves.

Being busy with the holidays, we weren’t working on too many projects, but we did manage to get one done.



Soon after Thanksgiving, the weather turned much colder and it wasn’t worth trying to keep the pool warm. Our “pool guy” has been telling us that we really need to drain it and put in fresh water.  The water is so hard here that over time, the minerals build up, and ours was off the charts.

So, sadly, we turned off the heater and freshened the water. We hope to start heating it again when we get back in February.