-cationing

Oh, Norm and I had a lovely time Vacationing up at Birch Bay Campground! We found a spot that gave us nice shade in the afternoon, thanks to the body of the Winnie MoHo and it's awning. We did get some morning sun, but the breeze was nice and the awning kept most of the sun off on the east side. West side got plenty hot in the afternoon as there is no awning over there, but the solar and night shades helped a lot there, as did the ceiling fans.

Only one day did I have to run the a/c for a time...it was warm and muggy and no breeze that day, so in the afternoon and until the sun went down I ran the a/c, but was able to turn it off for tv time and bed. It's so nice to lay in bed and feel the breezes and see the stars.

I split my time between working on recipes, sitting in the shade reading, working on crossword puzzles from newspapers delivered while we were in Arizona, watching TV (in the evening) and walking the dog. I had phone e-mail and texting, and phone internet, but no computer connection. That was ok though, the phone was enough. I was glad we took along the satellite radio and I found a station I liked with nice soothing music and so the radio got a good workout.

There were lots of little ankle-biter mop dogs in the park and just a few bigger dogs. Those little things yap like mad, and for no apparent reason. All day long. I am so glad Normie is a quiet dog.

One day I loaded up my green canvas foldable wagon and hauled the laundry, a soda, the stain stick, the Kindle, and a gazillion quarters up to the laundry room. I had forgotten to replenish the laundry supplies in Winnie, and so decided to buy stuff from the vending machine in the laundry room. Except! Guess what! No vending machine. So I go to the office, thinking they sell some laundry stuff in there. But no. They don't. The friendly young man staffing the office informed me that there was a store down the road. I asked him if it was close enough that a little old lady could walk there and back. He thought about that, grinned at me and said, "Probably not". Whippersnapper. So, I hauled the laundry and quarters and soda and Kindle and wagon back to Winnie.

I washed and rinsed 2 shirts and a pair of pants and all my undies in the kitchen sinks. Yes, by hand. With dish soap. It took several sinkfulls of water and I was very grateful we had full hookups, because after laundry, I had to dump the grey water tank.

Then I draped and hung undies all over the inside of the MoHo. We looked like we had a very odd decorating scheme in there. the pants and shirts went outside on hangers, which I hung from the awning arms. It was quite breezy that day so everything dried that day. I did have to tend the undies, turning them over and shifting them around so they'd dry all over.

But I want to report that the foldable wagon was easy to use and easy to unfold/fold and the big wheels made it easy to drag over the gravel roads. It tracked very well. And it is plenty big enough. It was worth the money. (bought it on sale, too)

Ray came back on Friday afternoon and we enjoyed a quiet weekend together. Saturday we went foraging for artisan cheese, and found some, at Appel Farms and Pleasant Valley Dairy. Yummm!

This week, Himself is off in Baltimore and so I have decided to Staycation. (mostly that means I am diligently pretending I am not here) More work than the Winnie, because the house is bigger, but still relaxing, except for the construction guys across the street, who make much noise beginning about 7:30 or 8 am. The weather has been fairly good, so I've done some reading out on the deck, and I harvested the garlic. I think I should have watered and fertilized the garlic more than I did, as they are mostly fairly petite compared with grocery garlic. Oh, well. I DO have home-grown garlic!

Monday night I went out to Taco Bell with Brion and Geneva and today met Geneva for lunch at Broiler Bay for burgers and onion rings and the best, freshest fried mushrooms I've ever had.

We've now gone about 3 weeks or so without rain. O I guess it did rain a bit last night, but not even enough to make a puddle. It's pretty dry and pretty toasty around here these days. Good forest fire weather, but no one wants that to happen.

331

That's the number for today....331 days til Ray retires!

Whoopie!

And next up for me is a camping trip....just the dog and I during the week, because Ray has to keep whittling down that day count, and then he'll come back the following weekend to camp with us and relax a bit. By that time Norm and I will be SO relaxed we won't want to come home.

Happy Fourth of July, everyone! God Bless America, land that I love.

Hot!

Arizona weather followed us North! It's HOT for Seattle. Not hot enough for eggs on the sidewalk yet, and I hope it does not get that hot.

We hide out in the basement as much as possible. It was a 2 fan night last night...maybe we'll have to sneak into the storage lot tonight and sleep in the a/c'd MoHo...no, probably not. It's supposed to be cooler tonight.