From cactus to Christmas in less than 8 weeks

I finally cleaned up my laptop and rid it of all the Malware, Adware, Spyware and viruses it picked up in the United States of America.  What a relief to not have all the weirdness happening anymore.  We purchased a program called "Fix Me Stick" and it fixed it all right.  It is a USB stick for the computer and it takes several hours to scan everything and destroy all the bad bugs.  I am impressed and I would highly recommend it to anyone having problems with their computer in regards to unwanted "crap" suddenly appearing and interfering with performance and usage. 

We left sunny Arizona for home on October 30th.  We could have left on the 31st but I wanted to be home by Saturday since I had things to do the next week and did not want to be too tuckered out from travelling.  Our first destination was Cedar City, Utah and we arrived there in the dark as per usual.  Of course it was burning hot when we left and still warm in Utah.  I knew what was coming and I was not a happy camper.  We stayed at the same hotel - America's Best Value Inn - as last time but this time around we were on the second floor and the room wasn't as nice.  I booked it through AMA and at least I didn't have to stand at the desk and wait to see if we did indeed have a reservation.  We loaded the dogs up in the car and they stayed in the parking lot while we went to Denny's for supper.  I was starving, as usual, and I had a chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, white gravy and vegetables - a real USA heart attack on the plate meal and I didn't care.  Bernie did all the driving this day and he was weary.

The next morning we were up with the sun, actually before sunrise, and we were on our way to Helena.  The drive was just as long this day as it was a month before!  I booked a room at the Quality Inn by the airport, just off I-15.  I ended up doing most of the driving.  We made a few pit stops along the way, mainly so I could eat.  It was about 40 degrees F. when we finally got to Helena, in the dark, and after missing one turn we took a few extra minutes to get turned around and arrived at the Quality Inn.  It was okay and the people were friendly and accommodating.  They gave us a room on the main floor close to the back entrance so it was easy to get the dogs in and out.  I hate to complain but the room smelled of cat litter and the fragrance was covered up with a floral deodorizer which assaulted my nose.  Oh well.  We survived.  We ordered a pizza and it arrived in about 20 minutes which was a surprise since they said it would take over an hour!  Bernie must have sounded hungry when he ordered.  I ate, took the dogs out and went to bed.  I was pooped from all the driving.  This day took 11-12 hours to complete.

November 1st and we were on the road for one more day.  Bernie started off driving and he started yawning after he got us through the first little leg.  He pulled over and I continued on.  We drove and drove and drove.  It didn't take too long at the border and we drove and drove some more until we finally got home in the late afternoon.  The weather held and we had no snow in the mountains or at home.  Everything looked to be just the way we left it.  The stupid spider plants survived a whole month without water (I am not fond of them but they are the only thing besides the Money Tree, that survives with neglect).  Just want to say thanks to the folks who looked out for our yard, etc. while we were gone.  It did survive Hallowe'en in our absence although we did discover that some miscreants had smashed eggs into the fence and privacy slats on the west side.  Thanks for that you little assholes whoever you are.  (And I can say assholes since this is my blog, you don't like it, don't read it.  If you read it, pass it along - maybe a guilty party will get the message.)  It doesn't seem to make a difference whether we are home or not and I am glad we thought ahead and took our truck to a different location in our absence.

The next day, it snowed!  Wow.  Am I ever glad we decided to leave a day early. 

So life goes on after a lovely little break in the heat of Arizona.  Would we go back?  Probably, although not to a condo since it is not great for the dogs who do bark once in a while.  Little Sarge reacts to every little sound; Duke is a more laid back in the barking department.  Also, I don't want to have to put up with all the "neighbourly" noises, seeing as how I am paying top dollar for a rental accommodation.  Having said that, I would rent again but a house would be nicer and more private.  The place was okay, even though the drain under the bathroom sink leaked water all over the place and the dishwasher backed up into the kitchen sink.  We never did plug that electric grill back into the first receptacle we used because we did not want to blow the circuit again.  Instead we continued to use the receptacle in the water heater closet off of the patio area.  It was kind of a pain in the neck but I didn't have anything better to do anyway.  The owner had insinuated that the reason the microwave quit in the first place was because we were using that plug in, but I highly doubt it.  Besides, Nicholas is an electrician and he saw nothing wrong with our plug in arrangements. 

We would contemplate pulling our trailer down there but I would like to stay for more than a month if we did that.  I am not sure how that would work seeing as how I still have a job to go to!  Taking a month for a holiday was a splendid idea and I would highly recommend that to anyone else who is going away somewhere far away.  I could see staying for two maybe three months, leaving at the end of January and coming home in April.  We'll see.  There are still bills to be paid at home so that would be a challenge as well.

We were home for two weeks and getting back into the swing of things when we finally got our security deposit money back from the owner of the condo.  Imagine our surprise when we opened the envelope to find that they held back $350.00 for some alleged damage to their tile floors.  I couldn't believe it!  We still are not sure what we did, or if we even did it.  No description of the damage was forthcoming except to say that their cleaner couldn't get some black marks off the floor and the tile was scratched somewhere.  She also said that the clothes dryer wasn't working and if we had known about that we should have told her.  Well.....the dryer was working fine when we left, I swept and cleaned up three or four times while we were there and did not notice any scratches or marks on the floor anywhere.  There were marks on the floor left from those rubbery things you put under rugs so they don't slip but that certainly wasn't caused by anything we did, and as for black marks I have no clue what that is all about.  Bernie penned a letter back and said that we were inconvenienced by a malfunctioning microwave and he also helped her husband carry out the old one and install the new one - no charge.  The drain under the bathroom sink was not properly installed and it leaked water all over the place probably damaging the cabinet.  There was "Easter" candy under the bed along with various assorted wrappers and dirt; when we pulled the sofa bed out there were hair balls and dust balls to deal with; the sink fixtures in the bathroom were extremely loose, the towel holder fell right off the wall, the washing machine drained into the dishwasher (??  I know, that one had me swearing.....two days to go and I was bailing water.)  We didn't say anything because we already had the microwave incident and the replacement and visit from the owner cut into our holiday time.  I wasn't about to sit around and be inconvenienced by poor plumbing, inefficient electrical connections, flat tires on bicycles and dirt.  To say we were ticked off would be an understatement.

I had written a review for the website prior to this but I had it taken down because I was too kind.  I waited a while and posted a review just the other day which was more to the point.  I received word today that it was posted on the VRBO website so I checked it out.  Ha ha.  The owner is now pissed and wrote a nasty little note underneath it.  Well, I would say it was kind of passive aggressive in nature.  Poor reviews are not generally well received.  I find it amusing that the owner relies on their paying customers to check out their property and I also find it amusing that there are not a lot of reviews and only the glowing ones were on there to date.  It is possible that previous renters had nothing to say because they had nothing good to say.  I wasn't all negative since it wasn't THAT bad and we did enjoy ourselves and were quite comfortable for the most part.  I looked upon it as constructive criticism.  Check it out if you want:  http://www.vrbo.com/471801 

And so it goes.  We are very bewildered by the whole thing; but que sera sera.  I doubt we will be on their Christmas card list!

Speaking of Christmas:  I am hoping to get a nice little Christmas letter on this blog before the 25th and if I don't it will be a New Year's greeting.

Ciao