Today we are going down to Pacific Science Center to see the King Tut exhibit. When it leaves here on January 6, it goes back to Egypt never to be seen in the US again. I can hardly wait! I've loved archaeology for a long time and to see stuff from Tut's tomb is just the best thing.
We leave Friday for a long weekend up at Mount Vernon Thousand Trails. Even if it should suddenly decide to snow, it should not impact us too much there. If it does, tough! There will be enough food to stay a day or two longer as we have a cache of freeze-dried meals in the motorhome, just waiting for water and heat.
Some of you know that I've been experimenting with meals in jars made from freeze-dried and dehydrated foods. We've investigated MRE's and commercial pre-packaged meals (like Mountain House brand) and discovered they are not made for diabetics or overweight people. So now we are thinking about using our vacuum sealer to make our own bagged meals from recipes we know we can eat. I'll try to find time to make up some bags for this weekend, but with Tut and the refinance appraiser coming tomorrow am, I don't know if I'll have that time. I have much to do today.
Our little Washington outpost of the family had a great Christmas together. We hope you and your families also had great Christmases. Next year will be upon us in days, and I hope 2013 turns out to be a lucky year. If not, see you at the bottom of the fiscal cliff!
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Monday, December 24, 2012
Justin's Bad Week
Our poor son has had a very bad, terrible, horrible, awful week. How bad? I'll share:
1. Missed a deadline at work and caught heck for it.
2. Got hit in the Lexus by a young man driving someone else's car. Young man had insurance, but the guy who owns the car does not.
3. Found out his housemate bought a house and it has no room for Justin until the remodel is finished, and soon-to-be-former housemate plans on doing the remodel himself. Justin has to find a new place by Jan 31.
4. A girl he had his eye on turns out to have a boyfriend already.
But he says that a few years ago, every week seemed like this past week, so one bad week in 2 years, he thinks he can handle it. He's grateful that it's only been one bad week, so he has decided not to feel sorry for himself. He's grown up!!!
And he saw a house he'd like to look at for purchase! Looking up, maybe.
1. Missed a deadline at work and caught heck for it.
2. Got hit in the Lexus by a young man driving someone else's car. Young man had insurance, but the guy who owns the car does not.
3. Found out his housemate bought a house and it has no room for Justin until the remodel is finished, and soon-to-be-former housemate plans on doing the remodel himself. Justin has to find a new place by Jan 31.
4. A girl he had his eye on turns out to have a boyfriend already.
But he says that a few years ago, every week seemed like this past week, so one bad week in 2 years, he thinks he can handle it. He's grateful that it's only been one bad week, so he has decided not to feel sorry for himself. He's grown up!!!
And he saw a house he'd like to look at for purchase! Looking up, maybe.
Friday, December 14, 2012
What Kind???
WHAT kind of person deliberately kills 5 year-olds?
What KIND of person deliberately kills 5 year-olds?
What kind of PERSON deliberately kills 5 year-olds?
What kind of person DELIBERATELY kills 5 year-olds?
What kind of person deliberately KILLS 5 year olds?
What kind of person kills 27 innocent people, be they large or small?
What kind of person kills his mother, his brother AND 20 5 year-olds?
No matter how I ask the question, I still can find no answers.
I am so sorry for the 20 sets of grieving kindergarten parents and all the families who lost someone today at the hands of a person I cannot begin to understand. I am so sorry this horrible thing happened to them.
What kind of world has this gotten to be? Do teachers and other school staffers need to be armed? Do all our schools need multiple armed security guards on patrol? Do we need more metal detectors? Do kids need to be locked in their rooms behind blast doors and bullet proof glass?
I am grieved by the enormity of this day. I pray for the families and the nation.
What KIND of person deliberately kills 5 year-olds?
What kind of PERSON deliberately kills 5 year-olds?
What kind of person DELIBERATELY kills 5 year-olds?
What kind of person deliberately KILLS 5 year olds?
What kind of person kills 27 innocent people, be they large or small?
What kind of person kills his mother, his brother AND 20 5 year-olds?
No matter how I ask the question, I still can find no answers.
I am so sorry for the 20 sets of grieving kindergarten parents and all the families who lost someone today at the hands of a person I cannot begin to understand. I am so sorry this horrible thing happened to them.
What kind of world has this gotten to be? Do teachers and other school staffers need to be armed? Do all our schools need multiple armed security guards on patrol? Do we need more metal detectors? Do kids need to be locked in their rooms behind blast doors and bullet proof glass?
I am grieved by the enormity of this day. I pray for the families and the nation.
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Sidecars Everywhere!
We are at the United Sidecar Association National Rally from now til Sunday Morning. I, for one, have never seen so many sidecars in one place. Several people have taken pictures of my beautiful scoot and its car. So many different kinds of sidecars! As of now there are 3 Bergmans, but only mine has a Kenna car.
Tonight is a social event and then tomorrow the real events start. And so do the severe thunderstorms. The weather guys say the storms will be "torrential", which makes riding about sound like not much fun. But there are seminars tomorrow too, here at the fairground.
It is really hot here in Coeur d'Alene and our front a/c seems to have gotten tired of trying to cool things off. We're running fans and the rear a/c, which is trying to keep up with the heat. We "cheated" and took the truck on some errands and went out to Jimmy John's for supper, as Ray REALLY did not want to stand over a hot grill cooking burgers. We felt much cooler when we got back to the motorhome.
We stayed a couple of days at Crescent Bar, on the Columbia near Ephrata, and went to Ephrata for church on Sunday. It was nice and cool in the church, unlike in our building. Then we moved on for a few days at Little Diamond Lake. Pretty hot in those places too. After the rally, we will go back to Crescent Bar until next Saturday, when we'll head for home. We had planned some rides during these 2 weeks, but agree that it's not so much fun when the temp is 92. So we may just "hang out" in the mh.
Would you believe that this county fairgrounds has free wi fi through out the camping area and it's high speed?! Our campground at Little Diamond had a connection so slow it was nearly unworkable. I wish everywhere had high speed. I'd even pay for it.
Poor Norman is afraid of thunder and so I think he will have a rough night and day tomorrow during the storms. In the mh, he hides under the end of the bed or between the wall and the bed. Poor dog.
Tonight is a social event and then tomorrow the real events start. And so do the severe thunderstorms. The weather guys say the storms will be "torrential", which makes riding about sound like not much fun. But there are seminars tomorrow too, here at the fairground.
It is really hot here in Coeur d'Alene and our front a/c seems to have gotten tired of trying to cool things off. We're running fans and the rear a/c, which is trying to keep up with the heat. We "cheated" and took the truck on some errands and went out to Jimmy John's for supper, as Ray REALLY did not want to stand over a hot grill cooking burgers. We felt much cooler when we got back to the motorhome.
We stayed a couple of days at Crescent Bar, on the Columbia near Ephrata, and went to Ephrata for church on Sunday. It was nice and cool in the church, unlike in our building. Then we moved on for a few days at Little Diamond Lake. Pretty hot in those places too. After the rally, we will go back to Crescent Bar until next Saturday, when we'll head for home. We had planned some rides during these 2 weeks, but agree that it's not so much fun when the temp is 92. So we may just "hang out" in the mh.
Would you believe that this county fairgrounds has free wi fi through out the camping area and it's high speed?! Our campground at Little Diamond had a connection so slow it was nearly unworkable. I wish everywhere had high speed. I'd even pay for it.
Poor Norman is afraid of thunder and so I think he will have a rough night and day tomorrow during the storms. In the mh, he hides under the end of the bed or between the wall and the bed. Poor dog.
Monday, June 18, 2012
Gloom
Friday: Gloom
Saturday: Gloom
Sunday: Gloom
Monday: Gloom
Foreseeable Future: Gloom
It has been so cloudy, cool and gloomy here that you have to have the lights on in the house during the day to see well enough to read. Makes for good napping and good late sleeping, but not much for productivity and does nothing for motorcycling. The weatherman needs replacing.
Saturday: Gloom
Sunday: Gloom
Monday: Gloom
Foreseeable Future: Gloom
It has been so cloudy, cool and gloomy here that you have to have the lights on in the house during the day to see well enough to read. Makes for good napping and good late sleeping, but not much for productivity and does nothing for motorcycling. The weatherman needs replacing.
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
A Time to Fix, a Time to Grow
Fixing covers many aspects of life, but today I will address fixing motorhomes, as it is a frequent topic of discussion around our house. Yes, the Winnie needs fixing again. The part that's under warranty is the hydraulic cylinders for the automatic levelers. Every time we turn right or go over a large bump (and sometimes just crappy road surface), the levelers come down because of low fluid in the cylinder and The Intensely Annoying Levelers Down Alarm comes on. I would not care if they were draggin' on the ground if not for that TIALDA! And it goes off at the least provocation and the least slippage. Drives me nuts. Nutser? So, that is a good fix.
The other thing that needs fixed is the Radio Antenna. Oddly enough, it was placed at the right rear of the coach and was sealed in place so well that the ball and joint socket that let it fall down when you hit a low branch was sealed in goop also. Halfway up the antenna, goop. That ball joint is going nowhere, especially when you run the antenna into a tree branch.
So, Ray made an appointment to get it all fixed. In we go and Ken, the service manager, looks up and sees us and says, "Hi guys! Oh, no, you're back again." He thought it was the dratted slides again. Nope, I say, grinning like a fool, we knocked off the antenna on a low branch. And he starts laughing, saying, "Good one!" ha ha ha. Then he looks at me and sees my expression and says "Oh, golly! You're serious!" The look on his face was priceless. And then he says, "You whacked off the (grossly expensive satellite) TV antenna on a tree??!!" And it's our turn to laugh, because he was absolutely, totally horrified and it was only the radio antenna after all.
But it cost us about $12.50 to get it up there for fixing and to get a laugh. Plus the cost of repairing the antenna, and a quick dinner at Wendy's.
By special request here is a bit about the tomatoes on the deck. (Hi Weena Barrie!) We happened to have two large ceramic pots with drainage, lounging about on the deck from the time when I delusionally decided I was capable of growing miniature clematis on the deck. Turned out no, I was not. Another year, I attempted to grow lettuce in those pots, not with much success. Miniature lettuce is what I got.
This year, I didn't want big tomatoes, as I already had my garden planted full and still have some tomato sauce and juice left from the Bonanza Year of 15 foot tall Black Russian tomatoes. (yes I have pictures to prove it) So, I decided it would be cherry tomatoes this year. I bought nice healthy plants of two different varieties of tomatoes. Since the aforementioned pots were (still) available and the garden space was not, in the pots they went. They still look nice and healthy and on sunny days I make sure they are getting sun by moving them around the deck. (they are on dollies) I water them faithfully and fertilize with natural fertilizer. We used nice potting soil and some amendments. So far so good. Sadly, it is still cold, rainy and cloudy most days and although they have flowered, the flowers refuse to open. No tomatoes in sight yet, which is a typical tomato growing experience around here. But I keep hoping for another bonanza year.
One of the Kitchen Men has a little greenhouse where he has grown tomatoes (and other things) very successfully. His parsley is in bloom, mine is not yet. He swears they have an entire yard full of parsley plants that just volunteered. Since I have only seen the yard mowed, I take his word for it.
No one I know who has tried those upside down things has had good luck. I will not even try one, as tomatoes are hard enough to grow up here in the cold, wet ground, without hanging the poor things up by their scrawny roots to blow in the cold wind!
The main thing with tomatoes is good exposure to sunlight, as much as possible, and a warm location, like up against the house. They can get warm and light from the sun and also reflected by the house wall. Stake them up or put them in a tomato cage. Pinching suckers off keeps the airflow going thru the plant, which is a good thing. Also makes the tomatoes easier to see. Water them during the day or in the morning and not in the evening. Fertilize regularly. Hang about and dream of fresh tomatoes sliced on BLT's with plenty of mayo!
The other thing that needs fixed is the Radio Antenna. Oddly enough, it was placed at the right rear of the coach and was sealed in place so well that the ball and joint socket that let it fall down when you hit a low branch was sealed in goop also. Halfway up the antenna, goop. That ball joint is going nowhere, especially when you run the antenna into a tree branch.
So, Ray made an appointment to get it all fixed. In we go and Ken, the service manager, looks up and sees us and says, "Hi guys! Oh, no, you're back again." He thought it was the dratted slides again. Nope, I say, grinning like a fool, we knocked off the antenna on a low branch. And he starts laughing, saying, "Good one!" ha ha ha. Then he looks at me and sees my expression and says "Oh, golly! You're serious!" The look on his face was priceless. And then he says, "You whacked off the (grossly expensive satellite) TV antenna on a tree??!!" And it's our turn to laugh, because he was absolutely, totally horrified and it was only the radio antenna after all.
But it cost us about $12.50 to get it up there for fixing and to get a laugh. Plus the cost of repairing the antenna, and a quick dinner at Wendy's.
By special request here is a bit about the tomatoes on the deck. (Hi Weena Barrie!) We happened to have two large ceramic pots with drainage, lounging about on the deck from the time when I delusionally decided I was capable of growing miniature clematis on the deck. Turned out no, I was not. Another year, I attempted to grow lettuce in those pots, not with much success. Miniature lettuce is what I got.
This year, I didn't want big tomatoes, as I already had my garden planted full and still have some tomato sauce and juice left from the Bonanza Year of 15 foot tall Black Russian tomatoes. (yes I have pictures to prove it) So, I decided it would be cherry tomatoes this year. I bought nice healthy plants of two different varieties of tomatoes. Since the aforementioned pots were (still) available and the garden space was not, in the pots they went. They still look nice and healthy and on sunny days I make sure they are getting sun by moving them around the deck. (they are on dollies) I water them faithfully and fertilize with natural fertilizer. We used nice potting soil and some amendments. So far so good. Sadly, it is still cold, rainy and cloudy most days and although they have flowered, the flowers refuse to open. No tomatoes in sight yet, which is a typical tomato growing experience around here. But I keep hoping for another bonanza year.
One of the Kitchen Men has a little greenhouse where he has grown tomatoes (and other things) very successfully. His parsley is in bloom, mine is not yet. He swears they have an entire yard full of parsley plants that just volunteered. Since I have only seen the yard mowed, I take his word for it.
No one I know who has tried those upside down things has had good luck. I will not even try one, as tomatoes are hard enough to grow up here in the cold, wet ground, without hanging the poor things up by their scrawny roots to blow in the cold wind!
The main thing with tomatoes is good exposure to sunlight, as much as possible, and a warm location, like up against the house. They can get warm and light from the sun and also reflected by the house wall. Stake them up or put them in a tomato cage. Pinching suckers off keeps the airflow going thru the plant, which is a good thing. Also makes the tomatoes easier to see. Water them during the day or in the morning and not in the evening. Fertilize regularly. Hang about and dream of fresh tomatoes sliced on BLT's with plenty of mayo!
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Curving in the Sunshine
Yesterday was warm and sunny, about 76 when we left for supper on our motorcycles. So beautiful and not too hot when moving. My helmet felt like a clamp, though. Rather wear one than not, even if it wasn't state law to wear a helmet.
We motored south to the regular Monday place, the famous Taco Bell, where we indulged in non-mexican tasty food. For a change they got the order right. It's been a rough couple of weeks there, as they once more got rid of all the old staff and got in new ones. But after 3 weeks, they got it down at last.
Then we motored south some more, stopped in at the Grocery Outlet, where they did not have what I am looking for, and at the Dollar Store, where they had Ray's favorite cookies and cheap sunglasses for me. Then we just rode around and found some curvy roads and practiced some. We didn't go far, but we really enjoyed the ride.
Clouds moved in and it dropped about 10 degrees in an hour, the rain started about 11, and today it is still rainy and chilly. It's probably the only place in the entire country that's not dying of heat. I LOVE the weather here. (sometimes)
I bought a cookbook that has recipes for freeze-dried and dehydrated items stuffed into quart jars and vacuumed packed. Each recipe makes enough for several people for dinner. It's a neat idea and a way to have "instant" food on hand when time or ideas are in short supply. Yesterday I found a web site with more ideas for jarred dinners so I am pleased at that. It's always good to have such things on hand. I'm trying a new crockpot recipe today, a simple chili recipe. We'll see how that turns out.
There's a library staff meeting tonight and I'd love to take a little nap, but probably won't have a chance for that. I hate meetings, they are usually such a waste of time. That nasty check engine light came on again this morning, and I just got the thing back from The Mechanic, aka Kitchen Man #1. I guess it will have to go back.
We've decided to try to borrow a trailer from a nephew and trailer Ray's bike to the sidecar rally. I'll ride mine and he'll drive the mh. It will save us $1100 if we can borrow that trailer instead of having to rent one. I was choking on that 11 grand, let me tell you!
Tomorrow, a luxe appointment, I get a pedicure! Ah, heavenly hour!
We motored south to the regular Monday place, the famous Taco Bell, where we indulged in non-mexican tasty food. For a change they got the order right. It's been a rough couple of weeks there, as they once more got rid of all the old staff and got in new ones. But after 3 weeks, they got it down at last.
Then we motored south some more, stopped in at the Grocery Outlet, where they did not have what I am looking for, and at the Dollar Store, where they had Ray's favorite cookies and cheap sunglasses for me. Then we just rode around and found some curvy roads and practiced some. We didn't go far, but we really enjoyed the ride.
Clouds moved in and it dropped about 10 degrees in an hour, the rain started about 11, and today it is still rainy and chilly. It's probably the only place in the entire country that's not dying of heat. I LOVE the weather here. (sometimes)
I bought a cookbook that has recipes for freeze-dried and dehydrated items stuffed into quart jars and vacuumed packed. Each recipe makes enough for several people for dinner. It's a neat idea and a way to have "instant" food on hand when time or ideas are in short supply. Yesterday I found a web site with more ideas for jarred dinners so I am pleased at that. It's always good to have such things on hand. I'm trying a new crockpot recipe today, a simple chili recipe. We'll see how that turns out.
There's a library staff meeting tonight and I'd love to take a little nap, but probably won't have a chance for that. I hate meetings, they are usually such a waste of time. That nasty check engine light came on again this morning, and I just got the thing back from The Mechanic, aka Kitchen Man #1. I guess it will have to go back.
We've decided to try to borrow a trailer from a nephew and trailer Ray's bike to the sidecar rally. I'll ride mine and he'll drive the mh. It will save us $1100 if we can borrow that trailer instead of having to rent one. I was choking on that 11 grand, let me tell you!
Tomorrow, a luxe appointment, I get a pedicure! Ah, heavenly hour!
Monday, June 11, 2012
The Kitchen Men Visit
Yesterday being the 10th of June and surrounded by Dear Daughter-In-Law's birthday, Dear Husband's birthday and Father's Day, we hosted a family gathering at the Old Moss Covered Homestead.
The kitchen was immediately taken over by The Young Kitchen Men and I love anytime that happens! The Kitchen Men produced oh, so good, melt in your mouth, beefy flavor explosion steaks on the grill, (and I hope the KM with gout does not pay the price for that) quad-color potatoes roasted with button mushrooms, sliced red onions and topped with a thick layer of chopped Bacon! Yes, that is Kitchen Man Pork King's own recipe. Yum, yum, yum. We also had corn on the cob, roasted in their shucks on the grill (heaven must have grilled corn), nectarine, blueberry and strawberry salad and a greens salad, which recipe is courtesy of one of The Kitchen Men's friends. It had tomatoes, artichoke hearts, sliced red onions, olives, baby corns, romaine, avocado and dressing. It was very pretty and very tasty too. DDIL says it's one of her favorite things. For dessert, we had a selection of small gourmet sweet things that KM Pork King brought and Ray and I supplied mini cupcakes with the help of Albert & Son. It was all so tasty!
After we stuffed ourselves silly, (I think I ate more steak than I ever have in my entire life, it was so good) they opened presents and cards, then we played Dominion a game that Jason and Lauren own. It's a complicated game with a quadrillion variations and he has it stored in a special box that looks like an antiquated book with scads of different types of cards. It can be played by 2-many depending on what variation you are playing and how many expansions you have. It was also fun and confusing and we all had a good time. Jason beat us all, and easily. By the time we were done with that, it was after 11 and so everyone having to go to work this am, which the exception of you-know-who, they departed for home and we retreated to bed. O that bed felt good. I am so sorry Ray had to get up out of it this morning so early.
The cherry tomatoes seems to be thriving in their pots on the deck, so far so good. We do not hold out much hope for actual tomatoes, as they are incredibly hard to grow here. Oh, the plants grow fine, but the tomatoes don't. It's too chilly at night and the fruit won't set and it rains and is sunless so much of the time. And then it gets hot and dry and the tomatoes come, but too late to ripen. Some year, I'll have to get a greenhouse.
But the lettuces are growing like gangbusters, the peas are pea-ing and the onions are getting bigger. The parsley is nearly in bloom, the chives are blooming and beloved by bumblebees. One of the three calla lillies we planted this spring is coming up, I think the dratted squirrels ate the other two as there is no sign of them at all. Cauliflowers are lagging, but then it's hardly warm enough for cauliflowers. Soon. I hope.
The one fuchia that survived the winter has greenery, but does not seem to be growing. There are certainly no flowers on that plant. I think I will not try to winter over the fuchia any more.
A nice thing happened. We were at Albertson's on Saturday, buying the things we need for the week, like bread and milk and bananas. I also chose several cards for yesterday's Occasion. We both saw the checker put those cards in a little bag and I thought I saw her put them in a bigger bag with other things we bought. We both unpacked the bags and so Sunday morning I said to Ray, "what did you do with the cards?" Ray: "What cards?" Me: "The ones we bought yesterday." Ray: "Nothing, I thought you put them somewhere." Me: OOps. So we went back to Albertson's after church, waited our turn in line with the lotto buyers and enquired about lost and found. Low and behold, there was our little bag full of cards! They didn't even ask to see the reciept, just handed them over. So nice! I thought for sure, they'd have gone back on the shelf as abandoned. But they didn't! Thank you, Albertsons!
Someone needs to get over here and weed the gardens! Quick!
The kitchen was immediately taken over by The Young Kitchen Men and I love anytime that happens! The Kitchen Men produced oh, so good, melt in your mouth, beefy flavor explosion steaks on the grill, (and I hope the KM with gout does not pay the price for that) quad-color potatoes roasted with button mushrooms, sliced red onions and topped with a thick layer of chopped Bacon! Yes, that is Kitchen Man Pork King's own recipe. Yum, yum, yum. We also had corn on the cob, roasted in their shucks on the grill (heaven must have grilled corn), nectarine, blueberry and strawberry salad and a greens salad, which recipe is courtesy of one of The Kitchen Men's friends. It had tomatoes, artichoke hearts, sliced red onions, olives, baby corns, romaine, avocado and dressing. It was very pretty and very tasty too. DDIL says it's one of her favorite things. For dessert, we had a selection of small gourmet sweet things that KM Pork King brought and Ray and I supplied mini cupcakes with the help of Albert & Son. It was all so tasty!
After we stuffed ourselves silly, (I think I ate more steak than I ever have in my entire life, it was so good) they opened presents and cards, then we played Dominion a game that Jason and Lauren own. It's a complicated game with a quadrillion variations and he has it stored in a special box that looks like an antiquated book with scads of different types of cards. It can be played by 2-many depending on what variation you are playing and how many expansions you have. It was also fun and confusing and we all had a good time. Jason beat us all, and easily. By the time we were done with that, it was after 11 and so everyone having to go to work this am, which the exception of you-know-who, they departed for home and we retreated to bed. O that bed felt good. I am so sorry Ray had to get up out of it this morning so early.
The cherry tomatoes seems to be thriving in their pots on the deck, so far so good. We do not hold out much hope for actual tomatoes, as they are incredibly hard to grow here. Oh, the plants grow fine, but the tomatoes don't. It's too chilly at night and the fruit won't set and it rains and is sunless so much of the time. And then it gets hot and dry and the tomatoes come, but too late to ripen.
But the lettuces are growing like gangbusters, the peas are pea-ing and the onions are getting bigger. The parsley is nearly in bloom, the chives are blooming and beloved by bumblebees. One of the three calla lillies we planted this spring is coming up, I think the dratted squirrels ate the other two as there is no sign of them at all. Cauliflowers are lagging, but then it's hardly warm enough for cauliflowers. Soon. I hope.
The one fuchia that survived the winter has greenery, but does not seem to be growing. There are certainly no flowers on that plant. I think I will not try to winter over the fuchia any more.
A nice thing happened. We were at Albertson's on Saturday, buying the things we need for the week, like bread and milk and bananas. I also chose several cards for yesterday's Occasion. We both saw the checker put those cards in a little bag and I thought I saw her put them in a bigger bag with other things we bought. We both unpacked the bags and so Sunday morning I said to Ray, "what did you do with the cards?" Ray: "What cards?" Me: "The ones we bought yesterday." Ray: "Nothing, I thought you put them somewhere." Me: OOps. So we went back to Albertson's after church, waited our turn in line with the lotto buyers and enquired about lost and found. Low and behold, there was our little bag full of cards! They didn't even ask to see the reciept, just handed them over. So nice! I thought for sure, they'd have gone back on the shelf as abandoned. But they didn't! Thank you, Albertsons!
Someone needs to get over here and weed the gardens! Quick!
Saturday, June 9, 2012
White Water and Samboree-ing
On Wednesday, we packed up, slid in and motored up to the lodge to do our laundry. From there it was off toward Moses Lake and our first Samboree.
We passed cascades, rivers, brooks, branches, creeks, rills, runnels, rivulets and rapids. I tried taking some pics thru Winnie's windows. The windscreen ones look ok:
But the ones thru the side window and screen are not so good:
I was afraid of that..the screen shows too clearly. So I opened the widow, opened the screen and held tight to the camera and got some good pictures as we sped along at 50 mph:
As you can see, the Wenatchee River is full this time of year with loads of snowmelt. Makes for a noisy but spectacular river.
Here we are stopped in a wide spot for lunch, which was crab, shrimp and pasta salad, and tasty if I do say so myself. I made it a day before, so we'd have a ready-made lunch handy. The river is just on the other side of the guardrail, hustling downhill like its on a deadline.
Shortly after our lunch break, we came into Leavenworth. It is such a neat place, but no good places for pictures along the road and we were running late so we didn't stop this trip. Besides, the motorhome parking place has been re-purposed as a city park. Pretty, but not so handy for motorhome parkers!
The clouds began to clear and by the time we got to Moses Lake it was mostly sunny and considerably warmer than Leavenworth had been. We traveled on a road we had not been on before so we enjoyed the scenery very much. I thought I had taken more pictures, but Ray says they are not on the camera, so I guess I don't have any pics of the second half of the trip.
The Samboree was held at the Grant County Fairgrounds. We were late to arrive and got parked in the back 40. It was nice there, grassy and well treed. There were water and electrical hookups, for which we were especially grateful on the day it hit 92 degrees. There was also a nice breeze most of the time so we really needed the a/c only for one day. Norman was glad we had a/c too, I do believe.
There were vendors at the Samboree, and we ended up buying a few things for the Winnie. We bought an Oxygenics shower head, which cuts your water consumption and increases the flow. It was a good purchase even tho we had to go back to the booth and get a new shower head holder to go with. It just didn't fit right in the old holder. I can now rinse my hair in half the time, which is good when you don't have a sewer connection and only 6 gallons of hot water. We did so well on water, I was proud of us! We were parked there from Wednesday supper til Sunday late morning, took showers every day, ate good meals, and when we left, the holding tanks were still not full. It's a far cry from our first no-sewer experience long ago, when we had to dump the tanks two and three times a day. Bigger tanks help! But so does experience and careful meal planning.
Representatives from most of Washington's 78 Good Sam Chapters were there and we met a lot of people and dogs. Seems like at least 85 percent of rigs came complete with a dog or two. We ended up camping next to the people we'd been camping next to at Leavenworth and the folks from the Good Guy Sams from up Marysville way made us welcome. We felt like we knew someone as soon as we saw who we were parked next to! There were scads of first timers this year, about 65 of us, I think. I'm sure some chapters got members out of that.
There were activities ranging from semi-pro entertainment to dog parades, people parades, remote control vehicle races, seminars and bingo. And even more. There was surely something for everyone every day. We ended the week with a pot luck with the Marysville group on Saturday night. Sunday morning there was a church service (good gospel group) and everyone took off after that.
We had a good time and decided we'd go again. We aren't sure about joining a chapter, as that means once a month someone else chooses where you camp and you camp with the same folks all the time and they expect you to do the planned activities and such. We are just not sure about that, and we'll be on the road full time in about 2 years and unable to participate in Chapter events. So we are still mulling on that. Ray is thinking about joining the WA State Military Sams, who meet only 3 times a year at the State Events.
It was straight home on good old I-90 over Snoqualmie Pass, and we stopped in tiny Vantage for some lunch. It was pretty uneventful, but the scenery is always good. Being Sunday, there was no road work to hold us up. The infamous "They" are rebuilding part of the road where it goes by Stump Lake (aka Lake Kachess) and getting rid of the snow sheds. The theory is that with the cliffs blasted back and the road widened that avalanches won't be a problem any more. Uh-huh. I'll bet.
Ray and I arrived back home tired, grateful for a nearly unlimited supply of hot water and sewers and a bed that's easy to make (and for me--dishwasher!). Normie was grateful for the opportunity to have an unlimited dervish around the back yard, up and down the steps and in and out of the house. He'd apparently been saving up some energy.
The bad news this trip added up to the loss of the radio antenna and the discovery of a leaking hydraulic cylinder in the automatic leveling system. It goes to the shop on Wednesday, I think.
Tomorrow we are celebrating Lauren's birthday, Ray's birthday and Father's Day. Jason is bringing a game we have not played before called "Domination". He thinks he'll beat us.
We passed cascades, rivers, brooks, branches, creeks, rills, runnels, rivulets and rapids. I tried taking some pics thru Winnie's windows. The windscreen ones look ok:
But the ones thru the side window and screen are not so good:
I was afraid of that..the screen shows too clearly. So I opened the widow, opened the screen and held tight to the camera and got some good pictures as we sped along at 50 mph:
As you can see, the Wenatchee River is full this time of year with loads of snowmelt. Makes for a noisy but spectacular river.
Here we are stopped in a wide spot for lunch, which was crab, shrimp and pasta salad, and tasty if I do say so myself. I made it a day before, so we'd have a ready-made lunch handy. The river is just on the other side of the guardrail, hustling downhill like its on a deadline.
Shortly after our lunch break, we came into Leavenworth. It is such a neat place, but no good places for pictures along the road and we were running late so we didn't stop this trip. Besides, the motorhome parking place has been re-purposed as a city park. Pretty, but not so handy for motorhome parkers!
The clouds began to clear and by the time we got to Moses Lake it was mostly sunny and considerably warmer than Leavenworth had been. We traveled on a road we had not been on before so we enjoyed the scenery very much. I thought I had taken more pictures, but Ray says they are not on the camera, so I guess I don't have any pics of the second half of the trip.
The Samboree was held at the Grant County Fairgrounds. We were late to arrive and got parked in the back 40. It was nice there, grassy and well treed. There were water and electrical hookups, for which we were especially grateful on the day it hit 92 degrees. There was also a nice breeze most of the time so we really needed the a/c only for one day. Norman was glad we had a/c too, I do believe.
There were vendors at the Samboree, and we ended up buying a few things for the Winnie. We bought an Oxygenics shower head, which cuts your water consumption and increases the flow. It was a good purchase even tho we had to go back to the booth and get a new shower head holder to go with. It just didn't fit right in the old holder. I can now rinse my hair in half the time, which is good when you don't have a sewer connection and only 6 gallons of hot water. We did so well on water, I was proud of us! We were parked there from Wednesday supper til Sunday late morning, took showers every day, ate good meals, and when we left, the holding tanks were still not full. It's a far cry from our first no-sewer experience long ago, when we had to dump the tanks two and three times a day. Bigger tanks help! But so does experience and careful meal planning.
Representatives from most of Washington's 78 Good Sam Chapters were there and we met a lot of people and dogs. Seems like at least 85 percent of rigs came complete with a dog or two. We ended up camping next to the people we'd been camping next to at Leavenworth and the folks from the Good Guy Sams from up Marysville way made us welcome. We felt like we knew someone as soon as we saw who we were parked next to! There were scads of first timers this year, about 65 of us, I think. I'm sure some chapters got members out of that.
There were activities ranging from semi-pro entertainment to dog parades, people parades, remote control vehicle races, seminars and bingo. And even more. There was surely something for everyone every day. We ended the week with a pot luck with the Marysville group on Saturday night. Sunday morning there was a church service (good gospel group) and everyone took off after that.
We had a good time and decided we'd go again. We aren't sure about joining a chapter, as that means once a month someone else chooses where you camp and you camp with the same folks all the time and they expect you to do the planned activities and such. We are just not sure about that, and we'll be on the road full time in about 2 years and unable to participate in Chapter events. So we are still mulling on that. Ray is thinking about joining the WA State Military Sams, who meet only 3 times a year at the State Events.
It was straight home on good old I-90 over Snoqualmie Pass, and we stopped in tiny Vantage for some lunch. It was pretty uneventful, but the scenery is always good. Being Sunday, there was no road work to hold us up. The infamous "They" are rebuilding part of the road where it goes by Stump Lake (aka Lake Kachess) and getting rid of the snow sheds. The theory is that with the cliffs blasted back and the road widened that avalanches won't be a problem any more. Uh-huh. I'll bet.
Ray and I arrived back home tired, grateful for a nearly unlimited supply of hot water and sewers and a bed that's easy to make (and for me--dishwasher!). Normie was grateful for the opportunity to have an unlimited dervish around the back yard, up and down the steps and in and out of the house. He'd apparently been saving up some energy.
The bad news this trip added up to the loss of the radio antenna and the discovery of a leaking hydraulic cylinder in the automatic leveling system. It goes to the shop on Wednesday, I think.
Tomorrow we are celebrating Lauren's birthday, Ray's birthday and Father's Day. Jason is bringing a game we have not played before called "Domination". He thinks he'll beat us.
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
We're In Full Relaxation Mode!
We left home Saturday, finally,
about noon, after a morning of leisurely loading. We still forgot the grill
table and the grill tools. We don’t know if we’ll have a table at the Samboree.
Ray may have to squat to grill our food.
Monroe has a long strip of shops
along the North side of Highway 2, with plenty of parking behind. We stopped
there and had a quick lunch at Burger King. Then it was on up the road. Highway
2 is much more fun on a motorcycle than it is in a motorhome. But we had no
trouble and got here about 4:30. The campground was pretty full, but we finally
found a spot to squeeze into. The site
was so unlevel that we could never get the motorhome quite level although we
tried several times. Finally we gave up and decided we were as level as we were
going to get. We got all the slides out, but Ray had to trim some tree branches
away from the sofa window. It was a beautiful site.
There were many tent campers for
the long weekend and right now it’s ok to have an attended open flame and each
site has a fire pit. Many, many people had fires all day. Such an amount of
smoke was hard on my lungs, but it was worst in the evening. Luckily, it is
cool and breezy enough up here that we shut the windows early to keep from
freezing. But it still aggravated my lungs and throat. This place had a big mix
of camping styles over the weekend and a ton of kids and dogs of all ages.
Several families made a reunion of it and there were sites with one motorhome
or trailer and a pack of tents surrounding it. A couple of sites had only a
group of tents. Some younger men were here with a “toy hauler” motorhome and a
couple of motorcycles. They didn’t have an outside tv, but they sure did have
an outside radio! One of the groups camping was unfortunate in that they had a
woman in attendance who laughed like a hyena and seemed to find everything
funny. She didn’t shut up until midnight. Or maybe she laughed like that little
fuzzy animal with big pointy ears and a pointy nose that Jabba the Hutt had.
Either way, annoying.
Yesterday afternoon people
started to clear out and a nice wide full hook-up site came open just down the
road from us, so we moved. We realized right away how much more comfortable it
is with the rig level! We got level in this site on the first try. After having
only water and electric hook-ups it is quite a luxury to have sewer hook-ups. It wasn't as pretty as the first place we were in. Today
we needed to roll out our big awning! It’s the first time we’ve used it.
I parboiled the spaghetti and
froze it a few days before we left. I heated it up in its zipper bag in the
microwave. We couldn’t tell it had been frozen at all, and the texture and
doneness were just right. It seems to have been a good idea. Tonight is the
real test, as we are having mac and cheese using some parboiled frozen mac. (turned out just fine)
Yesterday afternoon Ray carted
our folding chairs down to the meadow and we watched the Wenatchee Youth
Circus. Some of those kids are Really Good. It was fun to watch them. The
meadow is sort of an amphitheater on one side, so we sat up on top of the slope
and had a good view.
Some birds had built a nest in
the end of the sofa-side slide-out awning and today we found it. There were 3
little white eggs in it. We felt badly about taking a nest on the road and away
from the parents. We’ll check first from now on.
More people will be leaving with
us Wednesday and then the campground will be rather empty until Friday, when it
will fill up again. There are 300+ acres here and most of them woods. All the
camping spaces are in 3 loops by the Lodge. We think most of it was built before
the days of quad slides, as most of the sites are rather narrow and one whole
loop is inaccessible to rigs the size of ours. But it is beautiful here under
the trees. There are many birds and some chipmunks. Norman's first chipmunks, in fact. He knew right away those were prey animals. He never did make up his mind about the fluffy little dog next door. I have not seen a bear, but
there have been bears in the park before. I do not mind if they are not here this weekend. I have spent considerable time outside reading in the shade and I
have loved that. Ray and Norman have taken their morning and afternoon naps.
Here’s a picture. They are a rousing group. Hahaha
Ray has made a slideshow to play
on our tv, of some pics from motorcycle trips. It’s fun to look back and
remember.
We discovered that one can cook
a grilled cheese sandwich on the Weber Q, and it comes out quite nicely. We
weren’t sure what would happen. They did have grill marks, but that was just
extra flavor, right?
Today we leave for Moses Lake and the Samboree! We'll see how a Samboree is, as we've never been to one before. Several of the people camped around us will be there too...but they left already. We are at the Lodge to wash the clothes. We realized today that the other day when we were moving the mh that a tree had snapped the radio antenna off our roof. We heard the snap but couldn't figure out what the noise was. Grumble. No other mechanical problems have reared their ugly heads so far. But the lady parked next to us could not get her living room slide in this morning. She's waiting for the motorhome rescue guys. And then she'll be along to the Samboree. I suspect it will be hot and humid in Moses Lake. Ugh.
For lunch today, a nice crab, shrimp, and macaroni salad. For supper, tuna noodle casserole. Hmm. It's a fishy day.
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Progress!
The weather was actually decent yesterday, so when Ray got home we took a ride. We didn't go far, but we got in some good practice and prep for longer rides. So much needs to be toughened up and strengthened.
The sun was shining, the rhodies are in bloom, and daffodils. The grass is still green and the sky blue for a change. We loved it! On the way home, we stopped by a new burger place, Broiler Bay. They have nice onion rings and decent burgers.
Norman was seriously bummed we didn't take him along. He loves the ride as much as we do. But we knew we'd stop for dinner at the end of the ride, so we didn't bring him. Although I think he'd wait quietly in the sidecar.
Ray took Clark out for a motorhome lesson and discovered the slide out on the passenger side won't slide again. Totally inoperative. So it's back to the shop for the mh on Monday afternoon. What a pain in the neck that (non)slide out is! This weekend, we'll take it out without the slide working and make do. The slide that's most important does slide, so we'll have room to move around. We're going up near Concrete.
Opened the windows for the first time in months yesterday. Fresh air!
The sun was shining, the rhodies are in bloom, and daffodils. The grass is still green and the sky blue for a change. We loved it! On the way home, we stopped by a new burger place, Broiler Bay. They have nice onion rings and decent burgers.
Norman was seriously bummed we didn't take him along. He loves the ride as much as we do. But we knew we'd stop for dinner at the end of the ride, so we didn't bring him. Although I think he'd wait quietly in the sidecar.
Ray took Clark out for a motorhome lesson and discovered the slide out on the passenger side won't slide again. Totally inoperative. So it's back to the shop for the mh on Monday afternoon. What a pain in the neck that (non)slide out is! This weekend, we'll take it out without the slide working and make do. The slide that's most important does slide, so we'll have room to move around. We're going up near Concrete.
Opened the windows for the first time in months yesterday. Fresh air!
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
The Demand for Motorhome and Motorcycle News...
will remain unmet for a while.
The motorhome is up at the dealership again, for an extended stay to repair and repaint the part of the hood that was damaged upon delivery. The selling dealership in CA, those blaggards, finally agreed to pay the cost of the repair. We've been trying to get it fixed since October 31, 2011. Should be done the end of this week or sometime next week if all goes well. And we plan on getting out sometime in April for a weekend.
But I have to tell you, I do not miss the behemoth parked in the driveway. It's so much easier to get in and out without that huuuuge wall sitting in half the driveway. Probably easier for all the neighbors too. I sure wish we'd get to the top of some motorhome parking waiting list. (we're on 2 lists)
As for the motorcycles, it is still snowing around here and is way too chilly to go out riding without a snowmobile suit and heated gloves and sox. Brrrr! I have not seen many motorcycles out at all so far. Just wait til the first sunny, dry and slightly warm day and they'll pop out like bees out a hive.
However, I can tell you that we are planning a weekend out in the mh soon, and are planning to attend both a Good Sam motorhome rally (in the arcane language of the Sammers, it's called a Samboree) in Moses Lake in late spring and a sidecar rally in Coeur D'Alene later in the summer. We are going back and forth about simply riding bikes and taking the motorhome for hauling bikes on a trailer and for feed and shelter. In general, I don't much favor trailering bikes to an event, but in this case, the mh would be handy. Maybe I'll let Ray haul his bike and I'll ride mine. Unless the weather sux.
Jason and 2 friends borrowed the mh for a long weekend and went out fishing on opening day (for some species or other). They caught so many fish the first day they ended up throwing a bunch of fish back because they had more fish than they wanted to deal with. So wouldn't you know? The remainder of the weekend, nary a fish to be had outside of the Safeway.
Clark and 4 friends will borrow the mh during the Ides of May for an overnight casino trip. Cheaper than paying for the casino hotel, even with gas and propane refills, Clark says. And of course, they can cook for themselves, which is bound to be way better than casino food.
So, if you had a motorhome, would you buy a motorhome site in a single membership park when you already have a membership to all the parks? It would get the mh out of the drive and give us an out of immediate area meeting spot in case of natural disaster. Of course, that assumes the roads are driveable and in an earthquake, who knows? But we can buy a site in any of the Thousand Trails/NACO/Leisure Time resorts....What do you think?
The motorhome is up at the dealership again, for an extended stay to repair and repaint the part of the hood that was damaged upon delivery. The selling dealership in CA, those blaggards, finally agreed to pay the cost of the repair. We've been trying to get it fixed since October 31, 2011. Should be done the end of this week or sometime next week if all goes well. And we plan on getting out sometime in April for a weekend.
But I have to tell you, I do not miss the behemoth parked in the driveway. It's so much easier to get in and out without that huuuuge wall sitting in half the driveway. Probably easier for all the neighbors too. I sure wish we'd get to the top of some motorhome parking waiting list. (we're on 2 lists)
As for the motorcycles, it is still snowing around here and is way too chilly to go out riding without a snowmobile suit and heated gloves and sox. Brrrr! I have not seen many motorcycles out at all so far. Just wait til the first sunny, dry and slightly warm day and they'll pop out like bees out a hive.
However, I can tell you that we are planning a weekend out in the mh soon, and are planning to attend both a Good Sam motorhome rally (in the arcane language of the Sammers, it's called a Samboree) in Moses Lake in late spring and a sidecar rally in Coeur D'Alene later in the summer. We are going back and forth about simply riding bikes and taking the motorhome for hauling bikes on a trailer and for feed and shelter. In general, I don't much favor trailering bikes to an event, but in this case, the mh would be handy. Maybe I'll let Ray haul his bike and I'll ride mine. Unless the weather sux.
Jason and 2 friends borrowed the mh for a long weekend and went out fishing on opening day (for some species or other). They caught so many fish the first day they ended up throwing a bunch of fish back because they had more fish than they wanted to deal with. So wouldn't you know? The remainder of the weekend, nary a fish to be had outside of the Safeway.
Clark and 4 friends will borrow the mh during the Ides of May for an overnight casino trip. Cheaper than paying for the casino hotel, even with gas and propane refills, Clark says. And of course, they can cook for themselves, which is bound to be way better than casino food.
So, if you had a motorhome, would you buy a motorhome site in a single membership park when you already have a membership to all the parks? It would get the mh out of the drive and give us an out of immediate area meeting spot in case of natural disaster. Of course, that assumes the roads are driveable and in an earthquake, who knows? But we can buy a site in any of the Thousand Trails/NACO/Leisure Time resorts....What do you think?
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Bleah!
This morning I visited my dentist's office for the purpose of making a mold of my teeth, so that they can make a set of nighttime retainers for me.
It didn't take long, thank goodness. Imagine sitting around with an expanding, hardening mass of chilled, over-chewed, tasteless pink chewing gum in your mouth. Ack! It was nasty.
Next Thursday, back to see if the retainers fit the way they should. Ought to be a lot less nasty but it will be more expensive. Next week I have to pay for the retainers. Insurance won't help. Dratted insurance.
It didn't take long, thank goodness. Imagine sitting around with an expanding, hardening mass of chilled, over-chewed, tasteless pink chewing gum in your mouth. Ack! It was nasty.
Next Thursday, back to see if the retainers fit the way they should. Ought to be a lot less nasty but it will be more expensive. Next week I have to pay for the retainers. Insurance won't help. Dratted insurance.
Monday, March 5, 2012
Chicken Fever!
No, we're not sick, we don't have a fever. It's just that spring is coming despite today's snowfall.
In the spring, I want chickens. And a coop to keep them in. Just a couple of hens for delicious fresh eggs. Homegrown eggs taste much better than store eggs and I know they are far fresher.
In the spring, Ray tells me we will be having no chickens. No coops. No fresh eggs.
Drat!
Here in the urbs, chickens are a good thing to have, providing one is not a rooster. It has been widely noted that neighbors do not appreciate rooster serenades. And from living in the barrio in the PI for a while, I concur. Those darn roosters seemed to think 3 am is a fine time to go crowing around. Not! Especially not for a person who was trying to adjust to a different time zone, different culture, different climate. Ray, on the other hand, being a Navy man, had no trouble at all. He didn't even hear the roosters.
But hens, they are pretty quiet. They cluck around and once in a while brag about an egg. But that's nothing very noisy. The dogs around here are way noisier than any chickens I've ever met.
Still, tho I am possessed by Chicken Fever, Ray says no. So once again, no chickens in my backyard. Sigh.
In the spring, I want chickens. And a coop to keep them in. Just a couple of hens for delicious fresh eggs. Homegrown eggs taste much better than store eggs and I know they are far fresher.
In the spring, Ray tells me we will be having no chickens. No coops. No fresh eggs.
Drat!
Here in the urbs, chickens are a good thing to have, providing one is not a rooster. It has been widely noted that neighbors do not appreciate rooster serenades. And from living in the barrio in the PI for a while, I concur. Those darn roosters seemed to think 3 am is a fine time to go crowing around. Not! Especially not for a person who was trying to adjust to a different time zone, different culture, different climate. Ray, on the other hand, being a Navy man, had no trouble at all. He didn't even hear the roosters.
But hens, they are pretty quiet. They cluck around and once in a while brag about an egg. But that's nothing very noisy. The dogs around here are way noisier than any chickens I've ever met.
Still, tho I am possessed by Chicken Fever, Ray says no. So once again, no chickens in my backyard. Sigh.
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Random Stuff and Dire Thoughts
We took the mh out to LaConner in February and it was lovely. It poured rain half the weekend, but that's ok. We have a nice dry, warm mh to relax in. It was nice enough on Sunday morning that we took a walk around the preserve. There were only 60 rigs in the place that weekend, so it was super quiet. We could hear the birds and the wind in the trees and the waves on the beach. Lovely and restorative.
Jason will be taking the rig fishing next weekend. I have mixed feelings about that! I am glad to have it to share with him, but he a male and his idea of clean is not mine. I know he'll be careful with it and the fish will have to stay OUTside. He's not too sure yet where they are going, but somewhere on the dry side. Good thing we have chains for the mh...it is still snowing up in the mountains from time to time. Like all next week. They have plows up there, but do close for avalanche control. Even the sturdy Winnebago could not stand up to an avalanche. So we hope they come home safely, having hooked nothing but fish, and not each other's shoulders and rumps.
Finally, that dealership in CA has agreed to pay for the repair of the mh's hood. We got a second estimate that was even higher than the first estimate, faxed both to the CA dealer (again) and called Winnebago to complain again. Next day, lo and behold! Our repair was approved and the dealer up here notified. Those Corporate guys can surely shake the trees good. Yay! Winnebago Corporate! Thank you!
Ray and I are considering the purchase of firearms. Yep, you heard it here first. In fact, I suspect Ray will be home soon with a Ruger. I am undecided yet as to what kind of gun and even whether or not I will have a personal weapon. We are thinking it might be wise to have some "home protection" as things in this world do not seem to be getting better and occasionally, we will be sleeping in parking lots and possibly in some out of the way places where we will have no company in the form of other motorhomers or campers. And we'll still be in the house for a couple of years and who knows what might happen? (I hope you all have a goodly supply of toilet paper!)
I have seen the pictures of the devastation in the midworst. Tornadoes are one reason I do not live there any longer and do not care to live there in future! I can't even begin to think what one does when everything is gone but splintered trees and a huge pile of house debris. If I lived in the midworst, I'd surely have me one big, deeeeep storm shelter. And plenty of TP. Other than that, what does a family do to prepare for having the family home exploded by a tornado?
There are other things to prepare for though. Loss of income, disability, food shortage, snowstorms and ice storms, crop failures, electrical outages and even more. Toilet paper shortages! I know you are chuckling over TP shortages, but think about it! What's worse than being out of TP and you can't get to the store to get more because the snow is 3 feet deep in the streets and the store is closed anyway? Stores these days have just in time inventory systems, which means 3 days and the shelves are probably bare of anything edible. Sobering, isn't it?
So, are you prepared for whatever disaster is likely in your neighborhood? Have you ever even thought about it? What disasterous things do you feel are most likely for where you live? For us, we think there's a goodly chance of volcanic eruption, ice/snow/wind storms, earthquake. All those things could mean loss of shelter, water, loss of electricity and/or gas, food shortages, and the feared TP shortage. If there's no electricity, the ATMs and gas pumps don't work. If you have pets, do you have emergency supplies set aside for the pets? Can you feed yourself and your family for a week or more if something disastrous happens? Without gas and electric? If your house is destroyed or unsafe, where will you sleep? How will you keep warm?
We just received our Volcano Stove (aka Crisis Cooker). It will cook with propane, wood, charcoal. It takes about 6-7 briquettes to cook a meal with that stove. It bakes, broils, grills. And it will warm us up too. We think it's going to be fun to experiment with!
And there's your daily dose of gloom and doom. Don't just worry, DO something to prepare!
Jason will be taking the rig fishing next weekend. I have mixed feelings about that! I am glad to have it to share with him, but he a male and his idea of clean is not mine.
Finally, that dealership in CA has agreed to pay for the repair of the mh's hood. We got a second estimate that was even higher than the first estimate, faxed both to the CA dealer (again) and called Winnebago to complain again. Next day, lo and behold! Our repair was approved and the dealer up here notified. Those Corporate guys can surely shake the trees good. Yay! Winnebago Corporate! Thank you!
Ray and I are considering the purchase of firearms. Yep, you heard it here first. In fact, I suspect Ray will be home soon with a Ruger. I am undecided yet as to what kind of gun and even whether or not I will have a personal weapon. We are thinking it might be wise to have some "home protection" as things in this world do not seem to be getting better and occasionally, we will be sleeping in parking lots and possibly in some out of the way places where we will have no company in the form of other motorhomers or campers. And we'll still be in the house for a couple of years and who knows what might happen? (I hope you all have a goodly supply of toilet paper!)
I have seen the pictures of the devastation in the midworst. Tornadoes are one reason I do not live there any longer and do not care to live there in future! I can't even begin to think what one does when everything is gone but splintered trees and a huge pile of house debris. If I lived in the midworst, I'd surely have me one big, deeeeep storm shelter. And plenty of TP. Other than that, what does a family do to prepare for having the family home exploded by a tornado?
There are other things to prepare for though. Loss of income, disability, food shortage, snowstorms and ice storms, crop failures, electrical outages and even more. Toilet paper shortages! I know you are chuckling over TP shortages, but think about it! What's worse than being out of TP and you can't get to the store to get more because the snow is 3 feet deep in the streets and the store is closed anyway? Stores these days have just in time inventory systems, which means 3 days and the shelves are probably bare of anything edible. Sobering, isn't it?
So, are you prepared for whatever disaster is likely in your neighborhood? Have you ever even thought about it? What disasterous things do you feel are most likely for where you live? For us, we think there's a goodly chance of volcanic eruption, ice/snow/wind storms, earthquake. All those things could mean loss of shelter, water, loss of electricity and/or gas, food shortages, and the feared TP shortage. If there's no electricity, the ATMs and gas pumps don't work. If you have pets, do you have emergency supplies set aside for the pets? Can you feed yourself and your family for a week or more if something disastrous happens? Without gas and electric? If your house is destroyed or unsafe, where will you sleep? How will you keep warm?
We just received our Volcano Stove (aka Crisis Cooker). It will cook with propane, wood, charcoal. It takes about 6-7 briquettes to cook a meal with that stove. It bakes, broils, grills. And it will warm us up too. We think it's going to be fun to experiment with!
And there's your daily dose of gloom and doom. Don't just worry, DO something to prepare!
Monday, January 23, 2012
Dug Out, Melted, Gone
Well, we survived the Mondo Winter Storm Events in good order. Other people around Western Washington were not so lucky and loads of trees fell, closing roads and squashing homes, people, cars, and power lines. People got chased away and warned away for sledding down Queen Anne Hill. Big fines for sledding on city hills. Most of them didn't have sleds and the sled-substitutes were fun to see, but I do agree it's dangerous. In other places when there are snow warnings, people stock up on milk, bread and toilet paper, blankets and space heaters. Around here, it's huumus and salsa. Truly. It was in the Sunday paper. Ron Judd's "The Wrap".
There are still some people without power, and I am so sorry for them. It's been so cold.
It is warming up now and the snow in our yard is 99.9% gone. Unfortunately, it got cold enough to cause black ice from all the melt water runoff and even our neighbor got caught by ice this am. She escaped without injury to herself or her car, but she sure got a heart rate boost out of spinning thru an intersection. Yike!
Today has been sunny and in the mid 40s and so that's a treat for January. Norman has spent all day outside soaking up the sun. On the deck, as he does not like laying around in wet grass. He's a sensible dog and sticks to the nice dry deck.
Our downspouts froze solid and that was interesting when the rain came along. Poor ol' Ray's gloves got full of ice water before the job of clearing ice cores out of the downspouts was done. What a mess!
We're still trying to find a place to store the mh in a secure place. We don't want it in the driveway to suffer the fate of another mh we saw up at the dealership. (extreme vandalism costing the owner $70,000 to repair--and the mh was parked next to the owner's home) Better to have it inside a nice tall fence and patrolled. Golly people want a lot of money for a secure mh parking spot.
On MLK weekend we went out to Pacific Beach with Brett and Alayne. We had good times in spite of Alayne having a migrane all weekend. She was such a trooper and still played games. Brett once again, cooked and It Was Good. It snowed several inches on Friday night, and that snow stayed all weekend. If we'd planned on staying over Monday night, we would not have gotten home until the next Friday or Saturday because that's how long it would have taken to get the roads in between Pac Beach and home cleared out. That would have been fun! But then Ray would have spent vacation days on snow days that the office was closed, so I guess it's ok we came home. We were in the house all week anyway. Ray got cabin fever, I did not.
Justin has a permanent job at PSE that he starts on the 25th! Yay, Justin! I am sure it's a huge relief for him. It was for his father and I.
There are still some people without power, and I am so sorry for them. It's been so cold.
It is warming up now and the snow in our yard is 99.9% gone. Unfortunately, it got cold enough to cause black ice from all the melt water runoff and even our neighbor got caught by ice this am. She escaped without injury to herself or her car, but she sure got a heart rate boost out of spinning thru an intersection. Yike!
Today has been sunny and in the mid 40s and so that's a treat for January. Norman has spent all day outside soaking up the sun. On the deck, as he does not like laying around in wet grass. He's a sensible dog and sticks to the nice dry deck.
Our downspouts froze solid and that was interesting when the rain came along. Poor ol' Ray's gloves got full of ice water before the job of clearing ice cores out of the downspouts was done. What a mess!
We're still trying to find a place to store the mh in a secure place. We don't want it in the driveway to suffer the fate of another mh we saw up at the dealership. (extreme vandalism costing the owner $70,000 to repair--and the mh was parked next to the owner's home) Better to have it inside a nice tall fence and patrolled. Golly people want a lot of money for a secure mh parking spot.
On MLK weekend we went out to Pacific Beach with Brett and Alayne. We had good times in spite of Alayne having a migrane all weekend. She was such a trooper and still played games. Brett once again, cooked and It Was Good. It snowed several inches on Friday night, and that snow stayed all weekend. If we'd planned on staying over Monday night, we would not have gotten home until the next Friday or Saturday because that's how long it would have taken to get the roads in between Pac Beach and home cleared out. That would have been fun! But then Ray would have spent vacation days on snow days that the office was closed, so I guess it's ok we came home. We were in the house all week anyway. Ray got cabin fever, I did not.
Justin has a permanent job at PSE that he starts on the 25th! Yay, Justin! I am sure it's a huge relief for him. It was for his father and I.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Sleeping With the Big Trucks
Arrival in Santa Nella about sunset brought us to a choice of two huge, overstuffed truck stops. We investigated one and decided we really didn't want to be stuffed in there with the trucks. After much mulling we spotted a truck parked in a large restaurant parking lot. I mean the lot was large, and not the restaurant, which was a normal sized Carl's Jr./Green Burrito. We went over to see if it was ok for us to park there overnight and the restaurant people were very gracious about it. Yes, we were welcome to stay over. So we ate Carl's to reward them.
By the time we finished up and took the leftovers out for Norm (he adores fries) there were 3 big trucks parked out there and soon we were joined by a couple more. Everyone was quiet and we enjoyed an evening of Kindle-ing. There were even nice grassy areas to walk Norman. I am sure he enjoyed it after so much sand and dirt. We crawled into our bed and snugged down for the night. We slept pretty well with the trucks. None of them left until early in the am, so we got many hours of solid sleep. The only uncomfortable part was having to crawl in and out of bed, and the general squashed-ness of the motor home by the bathroom door. Enough to get in and out of the bathroom, but not roomy. I have to admit, I kinda got a kick out of taking a shower in the Carl's lot. Silly, isn't it? We mostly used our own shower on the trip home. It was SO cold outside at 0 Dark:30, which is when we had to get up, according to Ray, who is Road Boss. Before sunrise! Sheesh! I tell you, that part is no fun. I don't like to get up before the sun.
The next day we drove past Shasta and saw 2 lenticular clouds and a quarter moon. I tried to take pictures, but Ray says most of them were lovely pictures of the window screen. But we did stop at a rest area and take some Shasta pics. It's always nice to get thru the mountains and over the Summit before dark. We came upon our scheduled place of rest about 2:30 and decided it was too early to stop, pressed on to the Valley of the Rogue State Park south of Grant's Pass. It's a beautiful park between the Rogue River and the Interstate 5. We chose a spot near the river and the sound of the traffic blended into the sound of the river until all we heard was river. In this place, we had plenty of room to spread our wings for the evening and we did remember to turn on the furnace. Everyone slept like rocks. That featherbed substitute is a good thing.
Thursday we drove only as far as Chehalis and stayed overnight in a Thousand Trails campground some miles removed from the freeway and up a mountainside. It's one of those places where if you don't know where it is, you will not find it. By the time we got there, it was dark and we rejected the first site we tried as being too slanty. Then we tried another but it was too short, so then we got out with the flashlights and started hunting a level, long spot without trees encroaching too much so we could spread out. Found one, serenaded by coyotes again! That surprised me, as I thought we'd left them all in AZ. Guess not.
The living room slide out refused to slide out. It refused to do anything. It seems the entire circuit died that powers that slide. Ray checked all the breakers and fuses and could not find anything blown. So that's a mystery for the repair guys. If one of the slides had to fail, I'd rather it was that one. We had plenty of room to move around and Norman enjoyed the couch eye view of the dinner table.
Sent off to sleep by coyote and owl serenade, we woke refreshed, cleaned up the motor home, packed things away and headed for home. We got here about 1 and missed the afternoon traffic. We had some lunch, and unloaded the motor home. I finally decided to take out the canned goods lest they freeze, but left the dry things in there. We were worn out by the time we were done and it was dark by then anyway. We scrounged around for supper, vegged out with tv and headed for our own familiar bed for a good night's sleep.
Ray has made a list of things for warranty work and we're scheduled to drop it off on Friday morning. McMahon's is, as we suspected, dragging it's feet on agreeing to pay for the damage to the hood that it had when we arrived. I wish they'd just give in and we'd all be done with each other.
Norman turns out to be a wonderful motor homing dog. He loves the motor home, loves to ride, loves to get out and smell new things, loves to look out the big front windshield and watch the world go by. Plus, he's very well behaved when he gets out of the mh. Perhaps he is afraid we'll leave him at the rest area if he doesn't behave. Whatever reason, I'm glad of it.
Cooking in this motor home is so much easier than in the old motor home we had 20 years ago. So much more space and countertop to work with. We were pleased with the results of cooking in the convection oven/microwave. Those are good additions to motor homes. Garbage disposals have to be next on the list, but with Norm along, I admit we did not have much garbage.
Our van now feels small when we drive it! But this Friday after we drop off the motor home, we will pack up the van and head for our annual weekend in Pacific Beach. We rented a house this year and Brett and Alayne will be joining us. I hope Brett's cooking again this year!
We've decided to put all the trip pics up in one post, if we can find any that actually turned out. Stay tuned!
By the time we finished up and took the leftovers out for Norm (he adores fries) there were 3 big trucks parked out there and soon we were joined by a couple more. Everyone was quiet and we enjoyed an evening of Kindle-ing. There were even nice grassy areas to walk Norman. I am sure he enjoyed it after so much sand and dirt. We crawled into our bed and snugged down for the night. We slept pretty well with the trucks. None of them left until early in the am, so we got many hours of solid sleep. The only uncomfortable part was having to crawl in and out of bed, and the general squashed-ness of the motor home by the bathroom door. Enough to get in and out of the bathroom, but not roomy. I have to admit, I kinda got a kick out of taking a shower in the Carl's lot. Silly, isn't it? We mostly used our own shower on the trip home. It was SO cold outside at 0 Dark:30, which is when we had to get up, according to Ray, who is Road Boss. Before sunrise! Sheesh! I tell you, that part is no fun. I don't like to get up before the sun.
The next day we drove past Shasta and saw 2 lenticular clouds and a quarter moon. I tried to take pictures, but Ray says most of them were lovely pictures of the window screen.
Thursday we drove only as far as Chehalis and stayed overnight in a Thousand Trails campground some miles removed from the freeway and up a mountainside. It's one of those places where if you don't know where it is, you will not find it. By the time we got there, it was dark and we rejected the first site we tried as being too slanty. Then we tried another but it was too short, so then we got out with the flashlights and started hunting a level, long spot without trees encroaching too much so we could spread out. Found one, serenaded by coyotes again! That surprised me, as I thought we'd left them all in AZ. Guess not.
The living room slide out refused to slide out. It refused to do anything. It seems the entire circuit died that powers that slide. Ray checked all the breakers and fuses and could not find anything blown. So that's a mystery for the repair guys. If one of the slides had to fail, I'd rather it was that one. We had plenty of room to move around and Norman enjoyed the couch eye view of the dinner table.
Sent off to sleep by coyote and owl serenade, we woke refreshed, cleaned up the motor home, packed things away and headed for home. We got here about 1 and missed the afternoon traffic. We had some lunch, and unloaded the motor home. I finally decided to take out the canned goods lest they freeze, but left the dry things in there. We were worn out by the time we were done and it was dark by then anyway. We scrounged around for supper, vegged out with tv and headed for our own familiar bed for a good night's sleep.
Ray has made a list of things for warranty work and we're scheduled to drop it off on Friday morning. McMahon's is, as we suspected, dragging it's feet on agreeing to pay for the damage to the hood that it had when we arrived. I wish they'd just give in and we'd all be done with each other.
Norman turns out to be a wonderful motor homing dog. He loves the motor home, loves to ride, loves to get out and smell new things, loves to look out the big front windshield and watch the world go by. Plus, he's very well behaved when he gets out of the mh. Perhaps he is afraid we'll leave him at the rest area if he doesn't behave. Whatever reason, I'm glad of it.
Cooking in this motor home is so much easier than in the old motor home we had 20 years ago. So much more space and countertop to work with. We were pleased with the results of cooking in the convection oven/microwave. Those are good additions to motor homes. Garbage disposals have to be next on the list, but with Norm along, I admit we did not have much garbage.
Our van now feels small when we drive it! But this Friday after we drop off the motor home, we will pack up the van and head for our annual weekend in Pacific Beach. We rented a house this year and Brett and Alayne will be joining us. I hope Brett's cooking again this year!
We've decided to put all the trip pics up in one post, if we can find any that actually turned out. Stay tuned!
Monday, January 2, 2012
Relaxation
means you are so relaxed and enjoying sitting in the sun so much that you don't blog for 2 days! We had a grand time in Verde Valley, just sitting in the afternoon sun and enjoying the breeze. Norman seemed to enjoy it too. We fixed all our meals in the motor home as we were waaay out in the country, but that was ok. Ray helped by drying the dishes which was much appreciated by the cook/dishwasher.
We had some shade from a kind of tree unfamiliar to me. It had sort of maple-shaped small to medium sized leaves and white thin bark that flaked off the tree. There were quite a few of those trees on the lower rows where we chose to park. We saw bunnies one day, but luckily Norman didn't. He behaves so well away from home that it's hard to believe he's the same dog we live with day to day. We should stay on the road.
One night it got down to 37 in the motorhome because we forgot to turn on the furnace when we went to bed and brrrrrr! I don't know about Norman, but MY nose was cold! Lucky for me, Ray woke up first and turned on the heat! We didn't know it got so cold in Arizona. It frosted the three nights we spent at Verde Valley. But it warmed up so nicely it was worth freezing.
Today we passed an area named Fort Rock, in Arizona close to the border with California. Those were stacked rocks, like on the train ride at Disneyland. But even bigger. The formation went on for miles on both sides of the freeway. Fascinating!
We saw a sign on highway 89 that said, "Coyote Wash" and I wish I could have taken a picture for my brother in law Ron. He'd have done something funny with that picture, I just know it. Sorry, Ron! Maybe next time. Ron didn't tell me that they washed the coyotes down here. (yeah, I know what a wash is. That was a joke, people)
At the California border crossing there is always an obligatory fruit and vegetable checkpoint and today on I-40 was no exception. We were forced to declare that the entire motor home contained no fruits and veggies unless they wanted to count potato chips. Disgraceful, eh?
But, we had stopped at Subway for lunch at a truck stop and so we did actually eat something moderately healthy and vegetable containing. Yay, us! And thank you, Robin, for the Subway cards! We got our sandwiches to go and ate in the motorhome. It was much quieter than in the busy restaurant. And we kept Norm company. Poor thing suffers from separation anxiety and moreover, hates to miss out on good food.
Immediately after leaving vegetable check, the road went to pot in a big way. And after we bounced, rattled and jerked along the badly deteriorated highway for about 5 miles, we came upon a sign announcing "Rough Road". Ha. Too late. Although Ray says the sign should say, "Rough Road Throughout Entire State".
We had a short day today, only getting as far as Needless, I mean Needles, CA. We're at a very nice RV Park called Desert View. It's manicured to within an inch of it's life and every site is level and well-gravelled and had a nice big concrete patio. All the roads are concrete. All the amenities are here even wireless in the rv. We are actually on part of Historic Route 66! The mother road!
Ray and Norm sat outside while I fixed dinner. It was a new recipe from the convection oven book, Tamale Casserole. It has potential, for sure, but tasted fine to hungry people. And we have enough to have dinner tomorrow. Everyone is very friendly here and about talks your ears off. Everyone else is here for the winter. There are only 2 spots for overnighters right now. I am glad we made reservations.
Tomorrow we are going as far as Santa Nella on I-5. We will be spending our first night with the big trucks at a truck stop. No hookups and no unfurling our wings. If we don't get our undies out of the drawers tomorrow morning, there will be no clean undies the next day. Got to plan ahead in these motorhomes! We may or may not have wifi tomorrow night, it all depends on the truck stop. But we will be getting in late and leaving early and we have ear plugs so I think we'll do ok sleeping. Norm may have a rough night, as we have no dog ear plugs. Do they make those?
So if you don't hear from us tomorrow night, don't worry. We're fine, just roughing it in our squeezed in motorhome.
We had some shade from a kind of tree unfamiliar to me. It had sort of maple-shaped small to medium sized leaves and white thin bark that flaked off the tree. There were quite a few of those trees on the lower rows where we chose to park. We saw bunnies one day, but luckily Norman didn't. He behaves so well away from home that it's hard to believe he's the same dog we live with day to day. We should stay on the road.
One night it got down to 37 in the motorhome because we forgot to turn on the furnace when we went to bed and brrrrrr! I don't know about Norman, but MY nose was cold! Lucky for me, Ray woke up first and turned on the heat! We didn't know it got so cold in Arizona. It frosted the three nights we spent at Verde Valley. But it warmed up so nicely it was worth freezing.
Today we passed an area named Fort Rock, in Arizona close to the border with California. Those were stacked rocks, like on the train ride at Disneyland. But even bigger. The formation went on for miles on both sides of the freeway. Fascinating!
We saw a sign on highway 89 that said, "Coyote Wash" and I wish I could have taken a picture for my brother in law Ron. He'd have done something funny with that picture, I just know it. Sorry, Ron! Maybe next time. Ron didn't tell me that they washed the coyotes down here. (yeah, I know what a wash is. That was a joke, people)
At the California border crossing there is always an obligatory fruit and vegetable checkpoint and today on I-40 was no exception. We were forced to declare that the entire motor home contained no fruits and veggies unless they wanted to count potato chips. Disgraceful, eh?
But, we had stopped at Subway for lunch at a truck stop and so we did actually eat something moderately healthy and vegetable containing. Yay, us! And thank you, Robin, for the Subway cards! We got our sandwiches to go and ate in the motorhome. It was much quieter than in the busy restaurant. And we kept Norm company. Poor thing suffers from separation anxiety and moreover, hates to miss out on good food.
Immediately after leaving vegetable check, the road went to pot in a big way. And after we bounced, rattled and jerked along the badly deteriorated highway for about 5 miles, we came upon a sign announcing "Rough Road". Ha. Too late. Although Ray says the sign should say, "Rough Road Throughout Entire State".
We had a short day today, only getting as far as Needless, I mean Needles, CA. We're at a very nice RV Park called Desert View. It's manicured to within an inch of it's life and every site is level and well-gravelled and had a nice big concrete patio. All the roads are concrete. All the amenities are here even wireless in the rv. We are actually on part of Historic Route 66! The mother road!
Ray and Norm sat outside while I fixed dinner. It was a new recipe from the convection oven book, Tamale Casserole. It has potential, for sure, but tasted fine to hungry people. And we have enough to have dinner tomorrow. Everyone is very friendly here and about talks your ears off. Everyone else is here for the winter. There are only 2 spots for overnighters right now. I am glad we made reservations.
Tomorrow we are going as far as Santa Nella on I-5. We will be spending our first night with the big trucks at a truck stop. No hookups and no unfurling our wings. If we don't get our undies out of the drawers tomorrow morning, there will be no clean undies the next day. Got to plan ahead in these motorhomes! We may or may not have wifi tomorrow night, it all depends on the truck stop. But we will be getting in late and leaving early and we have ear plugs so I think we'll do ok sleeping. Norm may have a rough night, as we have no dog ear plugs. Do they make those?
So if you don't hear from us tomorrow night, don't worry. We're fine, just roughing it in our squeezed in motorhome.
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