I must be lazy.

I guess I must be lazy as I can't quite get up the energy to write a blog more often.

Although I have been busy with household stuff like cooking, watering the yard pulling weed, etc, and, oh yes, spending way too much time on the computer. That doesn't count does it?

I have been working on family history stuff in preparation for my upcoming trip to Wisconsin. It is like a disease, once you start with a known fact and dig up more information about a person, the more you want to know.

At one time I had so many papers scattered around it looked like a whirl wind had gone through the room. Now I have copied, corralled, and filed most of what I want to take with me.

It all has to fit in a small nylon briefcase along with my laptop, kindle, and shaving kit for the trip. It will be heavy but I don't feel comfortable putting it in my carry on bag but would rather have it right with me under my seat as it were.

I have been making appointments with friends and family members while I am in Wisconsin to maximize my time there. My list is rather long of those folks I want to see.

I have little else to contribute tonight so will close with some flower photos I took in our yard.

 Bougainvillea out the back patio.

 Agapanthus also out the back patio.

 Trumpet vine off the side pario.

Progress!

Yes, progress is being made.

Clyda no longer uses the walker and all the equipment borrowed from the Visiting Nurses Closet has been returned.

She has also stopped wearing the heavy nylon brace and is reduced to using a cane when she leaves the house. BIG progress. It has been 6 weeks tomorrow since the surgery and if it had not been for the ligament repair I am sure her recovery would have gone smoother.

Clyda has physical therapy 3 times a week which requires trips to the clinic for that.

Yesterday was the funeral for a neighbor from our cul de sac. She passed away during the night a few weeks ago from an aneurysm. It was a real shock as she was only 53. It is still hard to believe she is gone.

On Thursday we have another funeral to attend of an ex neighbor also. In fact he sold the house to the neighbor who just passed away.

On another subject: I have been working more family history and the more I do or I should say the more facts I collect the more confusing it becomes. For one family member I have so many different birth and death dates that I am not sure which is correct. I need a birth certificate and death certificate to prove what is correct. Still working on that.

We had a brief spattering of rain yesterday afternoon from some tropical disturbance south of us. I barely managed to wet the patio bricks.

In the mean time the drought goes on.

Clyda updare.

Clyda is progressing in her healing. She now only uses a cane when outside the house for her walks. She still has the knee brace and that may be for some time yet.

She has physical therapy 3 days a week at the clinic. So we are running back and forth to that.

I have done some backyard weeding after our recent rain last week. We only got about 7 tenths of an inch so it didn't soak in very much. It did help the lawn but not much else.

I have been looking at some of the genealogy data I have accumulated. I need to sit down and try to make some sense of it all. Looking at one small piece of information leads to another and another, until I get thoroughly lost. It is so much fun however.

I need to wash and wax the RV soon before all the old wax peels off. Maybe yet this week.

Update.

Much has happened in the last 2 weeks.

On Monday the 18^th Clyda had her left knee replaced. The surgeon also found that the Medial Collateral Ligament had been stretched at some point. He had to take 2 sutures in it and form some sort of a sheath around it. Also her knee cap was very worn. This complicated and lengthened the surgery.

However, she was released on Wednesday morning and has continued her recovery at home with the help of a Visiting Nurse Physical Therapist. She is up frequently and even takes walks down the street using her stroller of course. Progress is somewhat hampered by the very heavy knee brace she must wear to keep the knee stable until the ligament has a chance to heal.

Of course this means I am again the Chief Cook and Bottle washer as well as the Head Nurse. Actually things are progressing quit well. It's not as if we haven't been through this several times already.

Other than that, I have done very little around the house.

I have puttered around with my list of to-do's for the RV but it still has items to be attended to.

Clyda has an appointment with the surgeon on Tuesday so that may give us an indication of where things stand.

Update time.

Time for an update.

My 10 days at Rancheros Visitadores passed rather quickly. There were no significant problems and thanks to my co-workers who have both been there many years, we sailed through the encampment.

 

Our campsite.

 

Looking out the gate.

Looking up the road toward camp from the gate.

The first several days were very warm and nice but then the wind came up the last 4 days and we spent much of each day in heavy jackets. On Thursday night, the last night, it rained. This caused the road to become very slippery and big trailers full of horses couldn't climb the hills Friday morning to get out of camp. An alternate route was used but it too became impassable. By then the wind had dried the road somewhat so vehicles began leaving.

I didn't finish packing until almost noon which allowed my stuff to dry out. I finally left about 12:30 after closing the gates.

I drove to Pismo Beach and checked in at Pismo Beach Resort where Budd and Brenda had invited us to spend Mothers Day weekend again this year. Our neighbors Paul and Kathy arrived shortly also and Clyda had ridden up with them. Another couple we like, Joanne and Tony joined us later in the day.

The weather was sunny but the wind was cold so we spent much time between the RV's talking and playing games. We all took turns preparing and sharing meals and at night we played games in the club house. It was a great 5 days.

On Wednesday we drove to Lompoc and camped at the Elks Club while we visited our friends Larri and John. They live next to the parking lot so it is very convenient to stay there.

On Thursday morning we drove home and only unloaded a few things from the truck as it had started to rain and I also had a Company picnic to go to.

We managed to get the picnic in between rain showers. Lots of old fellow workers to chat with and lots missing who have passed on. The crew that put man on the moon is rapidly disappearing.

Today I unloaded more of the RV and put things away for another year.

Getting ready for the annual Ranchero Visitadores ride.

The yard is looking much better after lots of weed pulling, pruning, and general cleanup.

My large to-do list for the RV is also looking better. All of the major items have been taken care of but that still leaves 15 items or half of the list remaining to be done. These remaining items will need to wait until I am done with Rancheros which starts on Tuesday for me. After all, I will have all summer to work on them while Clyda rehabs from her knee replacement in May.

The biggest item on the RV was getting the peeling wax on the front and back caps removed. This is just elbow grease and time. All of it from the top of a ladder. I then waited for a cloudy day to put the new wax on.

The peeling is caused by the suns ultraviolet rays and could be taken care of by a cover. I can't use a real RV cover as it is too heavy for me to haul up the rear ladder. I may try something else as a cover.

Tomorrow morning I will go over the mountain and mow all the grass in the area we park our RV's and which will be our home for 10 days. I do this because of the “fox tails” which get into everything if they aren't mowed. I also remove all the “cow pies” or at least as much as I can remove from the cattle who for some reason like to spend lots of time right where we need to park our RV's. I guess they like the large oak trees in the area for the shade.

On Tuesday afternoon I will drive over the hill and start setting up the camp. There are a few days of not much activity before everyone arrives and we are then going full tilt for a week.

I took a few photos of some flowers Clyda had as a bouquet on the kitchen island.

 

 

 

Spending time on my knees.

Hard to believe we have been home for two weeks already.

The most pressing thing was getting our yard back in shape. Even with the small amount of rain here in the last 3 months the weeds were tall and thick in the garden. I have spent part of every day on my knees pulling weeds. I have filled nine or ten trash cans with them.

I finished the farthest back part of the yard today so now just need to spot check a few places more where some weeds are hiding. I had mowed the garden when we first got home but that has left stumps from the largest weeds. I need to keep an eye on those and hope they don't grow again. I also had a gopher.

 

 We did have about four tenths of an inch of rain the other day but it didn't help much. We need lots more. With the drought we are on water rationing. Of course, with us gone we had very little usage for 3 months. However, now, that will go up as I needed to water all the trees. I fertilized all of them, soaked them, and added mulch out to the drip lines to help hold the moisture in. I do not intend to lose any of my fruit trees.

I also worked on the sprinklers in the flower beds and the lawn. It is the usual job that needs to be done every spring. I know some of them need to be replaced as they are old.

I also started on my to-do list for the RV. It is a full page long, 30 items to be done.

I removed two of the window cranks the other day, both need to be replaced. I found replacements on-line and have them on order. They should be here in a few days.

Whenever we drive in the rain we get a wet carpet about where the wheels are located.

Today I added a wide rubber stripe under the large slideout. I removed some vinyl trim and then unscrewed the metal strip under it. I slid the new rubber under the metal strip and then replaced all the screws. The worst part of the job was working under the slideout in a very awkward position. By taking a break now and then to let my muscles relax I got it done. Hopefully this should solve the problem but we won't know until we drive in the rain again.

Rubber stip ready to be installed.

Strip installed behind the white trim.

I need to get some of these things done before the 28^th which is the day I report for duty at Rancheros. This will be my 18^th year gate guarding for them.