I want to thank everyone that reached out after our dog, Makena, passed away. From the comments that we received, she certainly was a bright spot not only in our lives, but in so many others. As anyone that has lost a pet knows, each day gets a little better. But Makena is dearly missed.

We spent the winter in Yuma, Arizona, working on our park model that we had purchased back in April of 2025. Our first order of business was changing the utility room back into a bedroom, and the Arizona room into a multipurpose room. We did hire a handyman to move the plumbing and electrical lines for the washer/dryer that were in the utility room/bedroom into the AZ room. Here are a few before photos:

We moved the bed from the AZ room back to the old bedroom, which was being used as a utility room.

We did sell some of the old furniture and get a new bedframe with storage drawers. Once that was done, our handyman started the process of building a wall to run the plumbing and electrical lines.

It’s hard to tell from the photos, but the wall color was aquamarine. We decided to repaint it with a light gray. It took a few days, and two coats of paint to cover up the prior color. And by the time we started painting, we had a lot of “stuff” in the AZ room that we had to keep moving around.

After a trip to Lowe’s for a stackable washer/dryer, we were happy with the results.

After the washer/dryer was moved out of the bedroom (our handyman bought the old appliances for his mom), Dan built some shelves using some pieces that were in our shed. We think the original owner of the park model had a shelving unit in the bedroom instead of a closet with doors, and the second owner took them out and put in the washer/dryer. So we did not have to spend much money to put in this closet organizer. I think we spent about $30 for missing hardware and shelves. We bought a dresser from a friend of ours, and reused one of the nightstands from the AZ room for storage.

Since our kitchen is all white, we wanted to add a backsplash to give it a bit of color. Our handyman’s specialty is tile work, so we had him put in the backsplash tiles that we had purchased. It only took him a day. It would have been a week if we had tried it!

We are very happy with how everything turned out. Both Dan and I checked our phones, but neither of us took pictures of our Arizona room after it was all done, with our “new to us” furniture that we bought from people in the RV park. So you’ll have to wait until our return in October!

We again worked two days a week at the Pro Shop at Westwind Golf and RV Resort where we stay. It pays for our site, utilities and some meals at the restaurant. A couple in the park spent some time taking used golf balls and creating a US and Canada flag decoration that is now on the wall in the pro shop. They did an excellent job and received many complements. We have a nice view at work.

We start work at 7 am, so we do get to see some spectacular Yuma sunrises! I did not alter the color of the photo.

Half of our street is Canadians, and so we attended our first Grey Cup party (think Canada’s Super Bowl). A good time was had by all, and it was certainly a lot different than American football. Lot’s more action.

Dan’s brother Gary, sister Linda, and mom Joan came down to Yuma after Christmas for a few days. Joan rented a park model until the end of March, and kept herself busy with many activities.

We did make a big change over the winter. We sold our class C motorhome that we had purchased in 2025. We are not getting off the road, and still plan on traveling and working in the summers. This summer we are actually in Wisconsin, staying with Dan’s mom, helping her declutter (or trying to!). Since we would be 6 months in the park model, 6 months in Wisconsin, and another 6 months in the park model, it didn’t make sense for us to keep the RV in storage for 18 months. We decided to try our luck with a consignment place in Phoenix, and they were able to sell it for us. Overall, a good experience. It just made sense for us to do this, and we will probably look into some type of RV in the spring of 2027. We enjoy traveling and work camping, and have no plans at this time to stop doing that.

Stay tuned…!

Quote for the day: “Change is not merely necessary to life – it is life.” – Alvin Toffler