Friday - fantastic desert skies

Today was better.  Thanks Cindy P for your reminder to  be calm and persistent when dealing with the health insurance company.  Dave, as always, is steady and resourceful and we think he finally got the process started.  At one point he had representatives of MVP and Blue Cross on the phone at the same time!  We'll see if they do what they promised.     After his phone ear returned to its normal color we decompressed with a cup of coffee at the kitchen table.   The wind has picked up considerably and it would have been hard to get the liquid to our mouths what with the white caps and all...

Before lunch we all took a quick walk in the desert and when we got back,   Paul and Polly stopped by for a bit of doggie play.   He and I talked about our winter plans, places to visit, places to stay,  while Dave took a phone call from our nephew, Mike Bank.  He had some very big news to share with us -  he is being made a "full bird" Colonel in January!

When Paul and Polly headed home we set out to return our ill fated Palm tree and find a more suitable (aka cheap, small  and not a piece of junk) replacement for some Beluga Christmas bling.   Stay tuned.
Jesse called while we were out and we enjoyed a nice long visit with him.  He just finished his last studio and is feeling good.

It was an odd weather day.  In one direction was a huge cloud bank, in another direction, brilliant sunshine. The mountain tops were cloaked in clouds, the wind was whipping, but it was nice and warm.  We could see it was raining up high, and the sky looked very threatening.

this cloud sat right in a hollow on San Jacinto for the longest time, slowly changing shape and size as we watched

the light was odd all day today

Once our mission was completed we made one quick stop at Von's (the grocery story) to pick up a pork roast for Sunday's crockpot Hacked Pork dinner.  The wind was really howling and the sky looked like it was on fire.  Before I got back in the car, I took this picture from the parking lot.

It felt like a whopper storm was coming.  The wind was roaring, sand blowing, sky either almost black, or on fire.  I took a few pictures on the way back to Beluga.

Nope, no  big storm....just  lots of wind and dramatic skies.    Just as well.

As we pulled into our spot next to Beluga we saw Polly racing toward us followed by Nina, Pia and Paul carrying a bottle of champagne!   What a nice treat....They had planned to move "the Beast"out into the desert near Borrego Springs yesterday, but the high winds kept them right here.  Pia flies home tomorrow so Paul brought some bubbly to celebrate her last evening.    It was nice of them to share her and their family toast.