Yes, I am still here.

I picked up the RV from the repair shop and put out both of the slides here in the yard so I could check the closet up front and the pantry in back to see what supplies needed to be added for my fall trip. After that they came in just fine and the big living room slide seemed to work better than ever.

I have been working on menus and food lists for the trip. Also doing some yard work, etc. I am down to the last week before I leave so my to-do list has something on it for every day until I leave.

Tomorrow the truck gets a smog check. That happens every 2 years and is a joke. They check to see if I have messed with the truck computer or added anything to the engine. That takes about 10 minutes for which they charge $75. The only reason it has to be done is because people with strictly gas rigs complained that it “isn’t fair that we pay and they don’t”. Also, state officials wanted the extra revenue. The whole smog check thing is a joke as all the new cars really don’t need checking anymore but still must get checked for the revenue.

I made pizza tonight using a store bought crust in a can. It was thin crust which is what I like but it is awful to work with. Craig wanted to do his on a pizza stone in the oven. That didn’t turn out to well because once the crust is rolled out you can’t easily move it to the stone. He cooked his on a cookie sheet on top of the stone.

I put my crust on a grill mat and then transferred the mat to the BBQ on a cookie sheet. That worked fairly well but the crust cooks very fast so the bottom was very dark and crusty. Crusty is OK, dark not so much. Mine was Canadian bacon and pineapple. I want to do this for one of my meals on the fall trip. I just need to keep and eye on the crust cooking time.

Short post tonight. Mainly I wanted to let people know I am still kicking and looking forward to the fall trip.

Oh, by the way,,,,, Clyda is in Lynden, WA for a week to help niece Dawn celebrate her daughter Samantha’s first birthday which was yesterday.

She will be home Wednesday evening.

Signs of fall are in the air.

The weather has turned cooler, especially in the morning when I walk but warms up nicely by mid morning. Working outside during the day has been quit warm. I need to take frequent breaks from the heat or is because I’m old and need breaks! Probably both.

I got a call this week from the RV shop and they think the hydraulic ram for the living room slide is bad. If they can get it out it will be replaced or rebuilt if it isn’t replaceable. With an older RV, the possibility of finding replacement parts is a crap shoot.

I also had the water softener people out to check why the softer is recycling every other day and they couldn’t reset the timer. It is mechanically shot. I guess for being 28 years old, that isn’t too bad. It was only serviced once in 2003. The real bad news is the cost for a new one. PRICEY! They will install it on Wednesday.

This week I started my fall yard trimming by attacking all of the front yard plants first followed by 2 days of trimming in the back yard. I also cut down the dead orange tree. That one is a real loss but it was also 50 years old. I shredded all the trimmings on Friday which amounted to two garbage cans full which I will let compost in the cans for a few months. That is the lazy mans way of composting.

Poor orange tree.

Shredding orange tree.

I am still finding things that are missing from my new computer but have slowly worked my way around them. Painful in the least but doable.

I am working on food lists for the upcoming desert trip as well as shore excursions for our November Panama Canal cruise. All of this takes lots of time of course.

Things are moving along.

Finally, after more than a week of trying to fix the problem with my email, I got it to work on Saturday. It seems I neglected to check one box in the email server panel. After checking that box and trying a couple of password possibilities, it downloaded my email.

I spent much of today continuing with the setup of more software, etc. It is a never ending process it seems.

Last Saturday we had a nice family get together at the beach. The weather was just perfect and it was really nice to spend time with family who we sometimes only see at Christmas time.

On Wednesday we took the RV to a repair facility in Arroyo Grande. Friends had highly recommended this place so we shall see. I need the rig much earlier than I had planned because of some changes to the desert trip. More on that at a later date as the plans get firmed up.

Saturday night we attended a wedding reception for Clyda’s second cousin. They actually were married a year ago in New York State but decided to have a reception locally for friends and relatives who didn’t attend the wedding. It was a very nice party held at a local restaurant.

Sunday we drove to Nipomo with friends Don and Bev to celebrate Don’s and my birthday with friends Budd and Brenda and their daughter Kori and her daughter Jessica. We had a nice lunch at Figueroa Mountain Brewing CO.

The weather has turned cooler today. I don’t think the sun even came out at all. I may need to resort to Levi’s instead of short pants. I’ll see what tomorrow looks like before I get that drastic.

I thought I would add this photo of this trumpet plant in our side yard. It really has put on a lot of flowers this summer.

 

Frustation!

Total frustration the past 2 weeks with our internet. It has been up and down and almost useless. I have called so many times to the help desk that I think they cringe when they hear who it is.

They finally came yesterday and replaced my modem with a high speed modem and router combined and thought they had corrected all the problems. So, the same thing today, up and down, like a yo-yo.

A speed test shows speeds less than I had with the old modem. I called again and was cut off part way through the call. I gave up and went on to something else more productive.

I am slowwwly cleaning up some things around here. I worked on the shed behind the garage for two days, then moved on to the workbench in the garage. Two days barely made a dent in it.

One of the things I have been doing is getting rid of all those boxes you save from computers, printers, etc which I have kept "just in case". I took a bunch of those I had flattened to the recycle center today but my recycle bin is filling up again.

I have given up on trying to fix the slides out on the RV after putting them in and out several times and changing the fluid each time the slides were in. The bedroom slide works fine but the living room slide will go out just fine but won't budge coming in.

I have made an appointment to take it in next Wednesday. I suspect it needs a new pump. Pricey!

Adding to my frustration has been the failure of my desktop computer. It just wouldn’t turn on. All of my trouble shooting efforts and Google help did no good. I eventually went to Costco and bought a unit similar to the one that quit only more powerful and with the Windows 10 operating system. This of course has it’s own frustrations. I have managed to get most things working except for my Verizon email. It rejects my password and Frontier who took over for Verizon can’t seem to figure out what I want.

Frustrating.

I am not without email as I have my laptop and Microsoft does have Outlook with Windows 10 as email which I HATE!

Anyway. On to better things for now.

Tomorrow we will meet some of the relatives for a small get together at the beach. I am sure it will be crowded because of the Labor Day weekend. I hope the weather stays nice. It has cooled off in the evenings now. Days are still nice.

It is time to start thinking about the desert trip. I need to work on meal planning and cooking assignments. I usually get that done before October so everyone can plan meals.

Another month gone by.

Whoa! Another whole month gone by without a new blog.

It has been a busy month with lots of family members coming early in the month for a memorial service for Clyda’s sister Candi.

Tim, Matthew and Ivy arrived on Saturday before Clyda and I got home. It gave them a few days to explore the local area. They found a place up on Camino Cielo called “the Playground” which is a place of big rocks overlooking the valley. Awesome!

They also spent one day at Pismo Beach riding ATV's. That is Matthews real love.

 

We spent the first weekend at Mammoth Lakes, CA at Clyda’s cousin’s place. While there Tim and the kids rode bicycles on the free trails from the lakes down to town and also up the chair lifts and back to town. They had a great time doing it. 

 

The next weekend everyone else came. Our niece Dawn, her husband Mat and baby Samantha as well as nephew Michael, wife Lizzie and baby Mathias. Also brother-in-law Mark arrived. We had a house full, so much so that Clyda and I spent our nights down the street at our friend Sharon’s while Mark stayed next door at Paul and Cathy’s house.

On Sunday we all went to the Beach at Rincon Point for a gathering of family, friends, and neighbors to honor Candi. Mark had created a slide program of old and new photos from Candi’s life which we played on a TV. Mark spoke as did Dawn and Lizzie.

This was followed by a lite meal of snacks and sandwiches.

It was a perfect day at the beach in memory of Candi.

The good, the bad, the ugly!

A synopsis of or trip so far.

The Good!

Spending time with Mark: Matt & Dawn & Samantha; Michael & Lizzie & Mathias. Our day trip to Bremerton for Mathias’s dedication.

Three days camping at Rest-A-While RV Park on the Hood Canal.

Spending 6 days with Dick and Barbara on the Oregon Coast. Especially tasting wine at the Youngbird winery and B & B on the deck overlooking the vineyards from on high. Awesome!

Clam chowder at Mo’s on the Newport Harbor waterfront and fried fresh small clams which Barbara prepared. Super!

Long talks by the fire late in the afternoon with good friends. Wonderful!

Then on to Roseburg and a day with Gary, my Navy buddy and wife Judy, Clyda’s friend from grade school. Beating the ladies 5-2 at sequence. Perfect!

The Bad!

Loosing the water heater cover the first day out (second time since April). The slide creeping out slowly each day and doing it again after I put it back each time.

A rock through our kitchen window from the lawn mower while camped in the RV park south of Lynden.

Replacing the black water dump valve.

The city water check valve getting stuck and filling the water tank so it came out the overflow vent (twice). We are using on-board water the remainder of our trip home.

The Ugly!

Blowing one of my Goodyear Marathon tires on I-5 south of Olympia, WA.

Trying to service the hydraulic pump by adding a cleaner to the reservoir. Not a good choice. The slide quit working in Newport when I tried to run it in so the Les Schwab mobile service guy could remount the tire in place of my spare. He had to do it with the slide out.

Called a Mobile Mechanic to help with the slide. Four and a half hours later, we rounded up six guys in the campground and pushed the slide in manually. It is now locked in place with 2 2x4’s on top of the slide to keep it from going out. Same for the front slide.

We are going home on a wing and a prayer.

 Sunset at Winchester Bay, OR

We are in Hoodsport, WA.

We are camped at Rest-A-While RV Park just north of Hoodsport on the Hood Canal. It has been several years since we last camped here and it looks like there has been a change of ownership which appears to be for the good. What did surprise me is the lack of campers during the week. Usually getting a reservation here was iffy in the summer months but not this time. Almost empty park.

Sunday was a very long day for us. We got up at 4:45 AM to drive to BIL Mark’s house and then out to niece Dawn’s house so we could take her car down to Bremerton for the day. It was awful early to get Dawn’s 9 month old daughter Samantha up but our goal was to catch the 8:50 AM ferry from Edmonds to Kingston. From the ferry we drove to nephew Michael and wife Lizzie’s house and had about a half hour before driving to the Calvary Chapel in Silverlake for the 11AM service at which their son Mathias was dedicated.

Edmonds ferry

Prior to the sermon the pastor called Michael, Lizzie, and Mathias to the front and holding Mathias, he dedicated him to God. During all this Mathias was perfect, no crying, just taking it all in. Outstanding for a 6 month old.

Mathias and the pastor.

Michael and Lizzie.

Attending the service also were Lizzie’s parents and Grand Parents. Quite a family representation for the little guy.

After the service we went back to Michael’s house for a BBQ and a birthday celebration for Michael.

About 3 PM we collected everything and everybody and headed for the ferry again. This time we elected to catch the ferry from Bremerton to Seattle as the Kingston ferry likely would require us to wait at least 2 ferries before we could board because of the Sunday traffic. Thank goodness for Smart phones as we could check ferry traffic before we left the house and also check freeway traffic in Seattle. All went according to plan and we made the 4:20 ferry for the 1 hour trip.

Seattle skyline from the Bremerton ferry.

Clyda, Dawn, Samantha, and Mark waiting to leave the ferry.

Eventually Clyda and I arrived back at the RV about 8:20 PM tired but glad for being with family all day. Samantha? She was awesome! Not a peep out of her until the last 15 or 20 minutes of the trip home but once she saw her daddy, she was fine, What a trouper!

Are we home? I'm tired.

Monday morning was again another early day as we had to have the RV at the glass shop in Lynden by 8 Am to have the broken window over the sink replaced. As soon as I pulled up the guy came out of the shop with the glass to check the size. Wonderful! He knocked out the old glass which I had taped on both sides, vacuumed up the pieces, cleaned the old caulking off, recaulked and put in the new glass. All done in 25 minutes. Oh, the new glass is darkened like the old glass and matches perfectly.

We left Lynden and drove to Coupeville at Anacortes to catch the ferry to Port Townsend. We had a 2 PM reservation but actually got on the 11AM ferry. Cost $86 but saves going through Seattle. I will pay that anytime to avoid driving through Seattle with the RV.

Close quarters on the Port Townsend ferry.

We arrived at Hoodsport about 1 AM and have a great view of the Hood Canal which is right in front of us. The drawback is that Hwy 101 is right behind us with a lot of daytime traffic however, it gets quite at night.We have no plans for our few days here.