It
has been a month since I last posted but what can I say, I have been
busy.
I
did my usual 10 days gate guarding for Rancheros Visitadores. It was
my 19th year of doing this although I actually started 21
years ago. I missed two years because of trips out of the country.
This
year went by fast for some reason. My usual 2 cohorts, Jim and Harry
might have had something to do with that. We do make a good team.
While
at the gate we had one afternoon of rain. About ¾ of an inch it
looked like. That caused a few problems with both the road condition
and moving cattle in from a nearby ranch. Eventually it was decided
to unload the cattle into a corral by the gate as the truck couldn’t
get to the corrals in the back country. Later the cattle were turned
out into the pasture over night so they could graze. The next morning
they were rounded up and driven into the back country.
Double deck and double trailer.
After
our job was done on Friday, Jim and I drove to the Santa Maria Elks
Club RV Park where we were later joined by 3 other camping friends
and our spouses for 5 days of relaxation, wine tasting and good food.
We
ate at the Elks Club Friday night BBQ where you select and cook your
own steak which was very good. On Tuesday we went wine tasting at
Rancho Sisquoc followed by a picnic lunch on their patio. Tuesday
night we ate at the Far Western Tavern in Orcutt. A very new and
modern version of the old steak house in Guadalupe. It was all very
good.
Last
Thursday I delivered the RV to a repair shop in Ventura to get the
slides adjusted prior to our upcoming trip in June. I hope they don’t
take too long to get this done as I have a few other repairs to do
before we head North.
On
Monday neighbor Paul and I cut down the very large twisted juniper
tree between our driveways. The juniper did block some of the view of
our RV from the street but the roots are under Paul’s new paver
driveway and we didn’t want them displacing any pavers.
After
cutting it down with a chain saw and electric pole saw we ran all the
small branches through the chipper which resulted in 5 large garbage
cans of mulch. I will use this on garden pathways to help keep the
weeds down. The remaining wood I stacked in the back yard to use as
camping firewood.
I
have spent way too much time on the computer working out trip routes
and plans with friends and also with son Tim who will be here with
grandson Matthew and granddaughter Ivy the end of July. I think I
have a handle on all of that for now.
