Over the last three months, since the fire, I seem to do a lot of waiting. Waiting for the insurance company while waiting to get a replacement vehicle. Waiting to replace stuff lost in the fire. Waiting to see who bought what off my Amazon wish list. Thank you everyone. Waiting to return to the middle of nowhere Arizona.
Remote and distant from shopping, that I don’t like to do anyway. I’ve bought more stuff/junk from Amazon in the last month than in my entire life. And it seems I’m always waiting for some order, and frequently disappointed with the products. Description and reality are often not in agreement.
Even drove 1 1/2 hours to Yuma to finally buy a laptop. After too much time agonizing over which one to buy, my choice was not in stock. So I waited over a week for it to be shipped to an address in Quartzsite, only ten minutes from camp. Best Buy strung me along for two weeks with four different lies before admitting the model was out of stock, everywhere but China where ASUS comes from. Cancelled that order. After a super long day in town I spent the night just north of Yuma.
Give away
Throw away old high school art work
In the meantime, I worked on reducing the amount of stuff in the 5th-wheel, still making piles and packing boxes under the bed in my new wheeleastate.
Plus enjoyed several magical desert sunsets.
Waiting for the moon.
Attended a concert in the Quartzsite City Park and listened to awesome rock-n-roll music from our past, 1960s, 70s and 80s. Fun to imagine people in the crowd attending concerts in their past.
I waited two weeks for a refrigerator/freezer that will hold 7.5 cubic feet including space for ice cream. A big step up from 3.2 cubic feet and barely room for an ice cube tray. Sadly, it was never shipped as it was out of stock but Amazon strung me along. Cancelled that order. And enjoyed more sunsets.
Lots of awesome and friendly people clustered together in the desert. Friday nights there’s always happenings at the Lit Cactus located next door. Over 200 people gathered for a magnificent potluck Thanksgiving. No problem staying busy and lots of socializing. Almost like living a perpetual block party.
When it got too peoplee, I went away a few days further into the desert to recharge near the Kofa mountains.
Tried to shoot the moon with the new camera.
Seem to have better luck with sunsets.
How I love it out there in the middle of nowhere.
Returned to the La Posa South camp and my rig died. Better there next to Tim the mechanic than the middle of nowhere. Only waited a couple days for a fuel pump replaced and rolling again.
While waiting, I enjoyed campfire with friends.
And more sunsets.
Decided to omit the middleman and ordered a HP.com laptop. Even paid extra for priority two-day shipping. They got the address wrong and shipped it to someone in PA. More waiting. In fact, they wanted me to wait until the misdelivered order was returned before reshipping and I screamed NO. This time I only waited two business days for my 17” HP Envy laptop. Of course, I am still waiting to totally figure out Windows 11. (OMG, there’s an app for that!) This post was successfully completed on the laptop including photos processed in Lightroom.
Though I stay busy all day, I don’t mind waiting for more amazing desert sunsets.
I wondered how you were doing. Cant imagine the frustration of waiting like that. It’s bad enough accessing basics, let alone replacing comfort living items. ( i guess that’s what one could call them)
I’m just not usually an online shopper. But I’m learning.
Oh wow, waiting is the most frustrating thing ever. You have taken some great photos, but getting used to a new camera is not always so simple. As for Windows 11………. grrrrrrrrr.
We went to see a Dire Straits concert last month, wow it was amazing, all the old music revived and sounding even better.
Big hugs coming your way. Hope you have a good Christmas. Cheers Diane and Nigel.
Discovering my ADHD doesn’t do well with so much waiting and I don’t like to shop online. Most of these pics were from the phone, but I’m getting more use out of the new camera also. Dire Straits would be awesome! Merry Christmas to you both. Hugs!
I know I shouldn’t have but I really did laugh at the endless waiting. As usual you have some great pictures and I think I may have rig envy what what is that and what year and where did you get it?? I think I’m very behind The Times or my memory is even worse than I thought. I know I have envy of a mechanical problem happening with a mechanic available. That is priceless.
I get the laughter. If only I could laugh more about waiting. This little shuttle is a 1999 Ford, about 20 feet long and needs work but, now, runs strong. I was rather desperately needing wheels.
Hang in there Gaelyn! Very disheartening to hear about all of the delays but especially the lies and the run around. Hang in there – you are still in a desert paradise!
Thanks for the reminder. Sometimes I get so frustrated I forget to enjoy the beauty around me.
I’d agree that Windows 11 is frustrating and having to buy or rent apps that were once included is an insult. Fran also upgraded her accent Asus with an HP Envy, it’s a nice machine.
Love the laptop, hate the apps thing. Spend way too much time looking for work arounds.
What a time you are having. I hear you about it being too peoplee!
It is slow, but you are moving forward.
What amazing photos!
Thanks. I am tired of waiting. Yet know I’m getting closer.
What a year you have had, Gaelyn! The waiting is hard, but it does sound like you are beginning to see a bit of light. Sunsets, moonlight, all the good things that make your geogypsy life one that you love. Thinking of you. Maybe we will catch up in late January, who knows. But for sure it won’t be at Silly Al’s. LOL
I really am tired of waiting for stuff. Just want to go relax in the desert. Hope the 5th-wheel sells quickly so I can do just that. Would love to get together down here, not at Silly Als.Happy holidays!
It’s so great to see more of your photography again:) You wrote very expressive and I felt WITH you, especially waiting from ineptness and getting unsatisfying products. Also, news is there may be more waiting on orders due to recent priating of large shipments of anything and everything.
And don’t get me started on Best Buy. Just one experience, I go for a realitively simple device…what terrible, incompetent, uncommunicative service. Even though they can be very nice. Hm. Speaking of music, I inherited one brother’s vinyl and my parents also. Motherlode and love it!! It’s like time travel:) Keep on Gaelyn, I do think you’re doing great in this amount of time.
Thanks. Feels good to have a camera in hand once again though most of these shots are from phone. The next thing to be replaced. 🙁 Listening to the old tunes sounds wonderful.
Gypsy, you likely were not talking about the classic Loggins & Messina album Mother Lode one of my all time favorite albums from the early 70’s, but thanks for the reminder, I’sm going to get it out and give it a spin. So much nostalgia for me in that musically beautifully crafted album
I was not.
Glorious desert skies! Bummer you’ve had such Amazon problems as I rarely have any issues at all. Glad you got the new laptop – I ordered from HP directly as well! That first pic is exceptional 🙂
Thanks, is nice to have a real camera in hand again. Being I don’t normally order things online, was surprised at all the BS. Do like the new HP but don’t like fighting Microsoft and apps.
Well you have some great company to wait with and sunsets to see. Still waiting is really hard especially when you find out that you have been waiting in vain.
We order a lot from Amazon. After a while you get a feeling for what one should not order. Of course when you are out in the boondocks it is not like you can just go Office Depot if you don’t see what you want.
I’m seeing more complaints about Best Buy especially on ordering technology that it turns out they don’t have in stock. That is ultra frustrating.
I will tell you a couple outfits that have given me outstanding customer service. First Lively, they make what used to be known as Jitterbug phones. My brother has one and he pays for it on autopay with a credit card. Well, the credit card company cancelled all the old cards and sent new ones. So brother and I called Lively from his phone. Connected to customer service immediately to somebody ultra competent who helped us get the situation straight within minutes. Ironic thing is that Lively is now owned by Best Buy. I hope they don’t screw it up.
Other outfit is Adobe. They came out with their new versions of photoshop with AI. I tried to upgrade myself and ran into a multitude of problems. I got online chat help and they spent over an hour with me fixing the issue. Very patient. I was impressed.
So anyway, I hope things get straightened out for you quickly.
Yea, shopping is rather difficult in the middle of nowhere, however… Seems good customer service is almost a thing of the past. This morning I finally got someone to take care of the full credit on the misdelivered laptop from HP. I’m not much of a consumer under normal circumstances and like to see and touch stuff before buying. So this waiting game has gotten more than old. Sure glad you’ve had better luck.
New puter. I hope you have as much luck as I have had with HP puters. I’m writing this on a 2010 HP_ Pavillion 17.3. My previous one still works. I just bought this one 14-years ago cuzz I wanted a bigger screen for Photoshop/LightRoom. Still working on Windows 8.++ I dislike Touch screens, and it is very hard to find a new 17.3 with a CD/DVD player so will trudge on with the old HP even though Microsoft is constantly threatening to disable it. They already don’t support Windows-8 or provide security for it. Windows Apps. Kill the ones you can.
Wondering what you are now shooting with. Probably another Nik(?)
Happy trails and a fully realized RV and operational ease.
I love the HP but HATE Microsoft and fortunately figured a work around on Windows 11 so I downloaded the software I want. Many of these pics were from the phone. Currently shooting with a gifted Nikon D90 (unimpressed) and my old Nikor 18-200mm lens. I will eventually buy a mirrorless.
D90. I still occasionally shoot with my old D40x. I like the CCD colors. I really don’t like taking a camera into the field that doesn’t have a Flippy screen, but I now can use one of my old smarty phones for a multi-position screen on any of my cameras with a hot shoe.
These days, I mostly shoot in the field with several mirror-less Full Frame cameras so I can use my old SLR lenses with adapters. For street I go with the Oly Pens Micro 4/3rds either the ‘F’ or Olympus PEN E-PL10 and can still use my old Lenses.
“Welcome to winter and longer days.” Yes, days are getting shorter. Don’t mind winter, hate short days. I welcome the quiet resting ease of winter and hopefully some scenic winter scenes beyond the Winter solstice. I love to walk a creek in the snow and freeze. I might head up to Crater Lake for some snowshoeing looking for pic opportunities and there are some nice waterfalls on the way. Dread the Summer Solstice and the march to shorter daylight hours, but I will take any days I can get.