So, we are still here!

 I just haven’t posted since April as not too much was happening.

We did do a few RV trips but only locally and with a select few of our friends. I did do my usual desert trip this fall with my son Tim. That is always a special time for us. We again collected Mylar balloons we find our in the desert. Last year we collected 78 balloons and this year we exceeded that by a large number as we collected 119 total.

Balloon, balloons, balloons!

Firewood for campfires.

Tortoise Intaglio near Barstow, CA

When I came home from Death Valley I dropped the trailer at the Lancaster, CA Elks club and left it in dry storage. A week later we picked it up and went to Boulder City, NV for Thanksgiving with 3 other couples. That really worked out well as I didn’t need to bring it all the way home, park it, and then drag it all the way back the same route a week later.

We had a great time in Boulder City. We stayed at the Elks Club. The weather was nice enough that we could eat outside most of the time and have a campfire at night.

Bighorn sheep at "Bighorn" park in Boulder city, NV

The club hospitality was excellent and we really enjoyed ourselves. Clyda and I extended our trip by 2 days so we could visit friends in Henderson, NV. On the way home we spent one night at Arabian RV Park in Boron, CA our go to spot on the way home from the desert.

We plan to do our usual winter trip to Arizona starting about the middle of January.

I want to wish all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. 

Please keep in touch.

Time to post an update.

 Time seems to fly by and I forget to post a blog. Not that there is a lot to write about.

I have been working in my garden and have added several wooden boxes 2 foot square and a foot tall which allow me to add more dirt as my soil is not that deep. In fact, most of the soil in my garden was hauled in 50 years ago when we moved here and over time has lost some of it’s bulk.

I planted peppers, lettuce, radishes and onions in the big raised bed (ate the first radish today). In the wooden boxes I have pickles, zucchini and yellow squash. The wicking tubs have 3 kinds of tomatoes in them. I also planted 3 blue berry plants in wicking tubs so will see how they do. Other neighbors have planted blue berries and they have done well.

California poppies in my garden.

Large raised bed in background.

Blue Berry bushes.

Potato bed.

The potatoes have been “hilled” once and will need a second “hilling” soon. The last asparagus plant just came up so all ten I planted have survived. Considering how they looked when I planted them, I am surprised all survived.

What else is new….. We bricked in the parkway between us and the neighbors so no more dirt there. It is cement brick which matches the other side of the neighbors driveway. It looks nice.

I bought 1 foot square paver’s to install in front of my shed behind the garage in place of the pea gravel which has been there for years. Craig dug out the pea gravel and I laid the paver’s this week. I still need three of them cut in half to finish the job.

One thing about Googles Blogger, which is what I use for these posts is that you have little control over spacing and text size. I select the text I want to use but it has other ideas. 

A long over due post.

 We are still here on the West Coast and have both received our Covid-19 vaccinations. I got the Pfizer vaccine and Clyda got the Moderna vaccine. Neither one of us had any reaction to the vaccinations. We still maintain most of our previous protocol when out and about as we mask up, maintain social distancing and use hand sanitizer after any contact.

That all being said, we do limit our socializing as not all of our friends are vaccinated yet. I still work at the Elks woodlots on Saturday’s but we do use masks and watch our interaction with people. It is only common sense.

Enough of that. I have planted a few things in the garden. Craig bought asparagus crowns, and potatoes to plant so those are in the ground. It may be too early but I think we are past the frost date for this area so they should be ok. Clyda’s sweet peas are up and about to climb the fencing I put up. My peas are up and the trellis is ready for them. I need to plant radishes but it has been cold and windy so not conducive to garden work right now.

Craig had re-done the garden fence into a more permanent fence from the slap-dash panels I had put up last year. It is all to keep the dog out as she likes to walk all over the beds usually chasing lizards. Yesterday she tore up the small woodpile near the garden looking for lizards who hang out there during the day. She has a large scab on her nose from getting into something in the yard. It hardly has time to heal before she knocks the scab off. Her poor nose suffers.

I had my truck repaired after the night when the horn started blowing around 1 in the morning. Water had gotten to an internal fuse block in the cab and shorted the horn relay out. A replacement fuse block cost a lot as Ford no longer makes them. Some place in Kansas has the stock and they hold it up for a Kings ransom if you need one.

After the fuse block was replaced, I took the truck to a body shop to have the rust around the windshield repaired and a new windshield installed. I also had the hood repaired and the front of the truck and the top repainted. It looks nice and should last as long as I plan to drive it.

A short post just to let folks know we are still here.