:: Life's a Trip ::

Last Episode of Criminal Minds 2011

2011-04-01T15:37:00.000-07:00

Season 6, Episode 20 – Aired: 4/6/2011
Written by Hanley Waters
The BAU members investigate targeted killings in Tampa as they cope with their feelings about losing Emily Prentiss.

Any Comments??

Bottom of the South -- Almost

2011-02-27T19:45:00.000-07:00

We have made it to our southern most destination. The South Island of New Zealand goes on for another 200 km, but we are stopping at Te Anau to catch the tour of the Doubtful Sound. Our last three days coming down the West Coast are illustrated in the linked Album, below. (There are still some updates to be posted, so check back often.)

Campervan Feb 24-25

NZ -- The First Two Weeks

2011-02-14T20:23:00.001-07:00

Check out our pictures They are in separate Albums so you can follow our path on your map. (The order is kind of backwards -- the newest is first -- so go back a few Albums to start the tour with us -- check the dates on the Albums. More will come later.

New Zealand Calendar

2011-01-11T14:37:00.001-07:00

Visit our Travel Calendar.

I might post a travel blog here at Life's a Trip. It is an appropriate name.

Sunrise, Cactus, Sunset

2010-12-23T09:28:00.004-07:00

See all our picture albums including Sunrise, Cactus, and Sunset at the RV Park.

To see the captions for the slide show below, click on the little text balloon (at the left of the pop-up control bar) to make green. To see all our online albums, goto PicasaWeb.

Your comments are appreciated.

Fall 2010 Pictures

2010-11-28T20:38:00.006-07:00

You want to see some pictures? Three dozen thru Dec 10 - - -

Arizona 2010

Fall of 2010

Finger Lakes to Ontario

2010-09-07T19:08:00.000-07:00

Finger Lakes to Ontario

Album Finger Lakes to Waterloo

Ovid, NY, is on Cayuga Lake in western New York State. It is one in a series of seven narrow lakes that were formed by glaciers moving over the land many years ago called the Finger Lakes. We met Richard & Pam Pelletier at Sned Acres Family Campground. It was a remarkable place. It didn’t just have clean facilities (with no hot tub), but an excellent view from our parking sites of the lake.

We were just a few miles north of Ithaca, the home of Cornell University. We cruised the campus where thousands of freshman were just arriving, and went on out to the Cornell Ornithology Lab. It was a nice visitor center with displays of birds, and a hands-on demonstration of the science of recording and charting bird sounds. Scientist Richard M. enjoyed that. There were telescopes to use overlooking the preserve, just thru the window. It’s easy to see how people get fascinated by birds.

Moosewood Restaurant, the origin of a series of ...
cookbooks, was one of our stops. We had a disappointing lunch, but were pleased to see that “health food” can be served in a profitable restaurant.

We drove a long day (over 6 hours pulling a 16,000 pound trailer) from Ovid thru Waterloo, NY, westward on US Highway 20 and over the border to Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. Our destination was Green Acre Park RV Park where Richard & Pam live half the year, and claim their residency. It is a beautiful 5-star park. A HOT TUB for Richard M., swimming pool, hayless rides, peddle-carts, gated entrance, and more, make for a nice community. The transient pull-thru sites are close together, but because of the steep angle of the parking, the offset doors and windows make it semi-private for each rig.

From that base, we were escorted (as in chauffeured) to many points of interest and through beautiful countryside by Richard & Pam. We saw vineyards, tasted and bought wine; we saw corn, bought and ate the sweetest corn Richard M. has ever tasted; we saw old and historic buildings, and ate in some of the contained restaurants; we went to Niagara on the Lake to see the G. B. Shaw play “The Doctor’s Dilemma”; we were introduced to great specialty foods and groceries.

It was all pleasurable, but not all positive. I was able to get my slow leak repaired in the left rear trailer tire. A headless 8 penny nail was replaced with a plug at a Canada Tire store. They are a store chain that does a lot more that service tires or the automobile. They have household wares and hardware items. There is probably more, but we did not walk the whole store.

We had our DirecTV service for the first part of our Canadian visit, but the LNB (working part of the satellite dish receiver) got bumped quite forcefully during the trailer hook-up process when we had to change our parking site during our visit. Hence, we now have no TV. Well, we now have to do without NCIS, Rachel Madow and Keith Olberman.

Back in the U.S., we are at a 3-star (by me) park, Pope Haven Campground, and hoping to survive this rain and lightening. Tomorrow we will drive on thru Warren, Pennsylvania, and on to Washington County. With a few days there, we hope to uncover more details on Richard’s Masterson and Laughlin family, and Kay’s Tout, Sheppard, and Dement family lines.

It's been a long time . . .

2010-08-12T14:34:00.000-07:00

We have been in beautiful Connecticut for a couple of months. The Army Corps of Engineers is hosting us while we "host" their day use areas. Next week we will move on to Ovid, New York, in the Finger Lakes region. There, we will park with Rich & Pam from Canada. Then we will follow them back to Waterloo, Ontario for a couple of week. Expect to have a good time.

Across the Savannah

2009-12-17T17:27:00.000-07:00

We spent a lot of time out today. We began with a ferry trip across the Savannah River to the Westin Hotel to see the gingerbread houses on display in their lobby. They had been built by school children, colleges, and citizens. Some were in a "Competition" class. All were interesting displays of sugar -- my favorite hobby food. Shingles were gum drops or almond slices. Vanilla wafers made stairs and walls in gardens of licorice strands. Pine trees were spiraled icing.

The hunger that was generated led us to the hotel Aqua Star Restaurant. We sought out the quiet and quality of a first class "coffee shop." Of course, I mean no offense by the coffee shop reference. It is just that we have been eating at the tourist stops. They have a lot of nice food, but they can be crowded and noisy. The meal was delicious. Our waitress was a new arrival from South Africa -- 2 months ago. Her accent was delightful.

The chicken wings and she crab soup were great, and something that would not be available in the "popular" restaurants. I had not had she crab soup before. It compares very well with my lobster stew/casserole experience that I had in Maine in 1979. I have not forgotten than heavenly feeling in my whole body that came from "just" eating some food. I believe they call such food "ambrosia" -- food for the gods -- perfect. The lobster dish had some peas and carrots in the white sauce. This she crab soup with sherry was nearly as perfect. The price of the lunch was cheap, after the experience. Soup is not always soup.

For the afternoon, we did some serious time-wasting shopping. We exchanged our GPS; got lost; used our GPS. The Garmin Nuvi 255WT was a "T" for Travel information provided in some cities to guide drivers around construction, accidents, and other obstructions. I had thought the T was for "truck", which would be helpful. I drive a one ton pickup with a 34 foot fifth wheel trailer. The "truck" version of navigation assistance available from some models of GPS units adjusts the route for your size, weight, and hazardous cargo, as you choose to program it. I had hoped that I was getting T for Truck navigation, but wasn't. So we exchanged back down to the "auto, bike, pedestrian" model, and spent the refund on a replacement DVD player.

Tomorrow we have a long day of travel -- nearly 300 miles -- to get to our friends in Wekiwa Springs State Park, Apopka, Florida. We will be campers there for two weeks, then take on two months there as "hosts."

Wormsloe Tabby

2009-12-15T20:39:00.000-07:00

South of Savannah 10 miles are the ruins of the Noble Jones' estate called Wormsloe. The fortified residence was built with "tabby." It's a material that is made of local shells, lime, and sand. The water mix is poured -- well, it WAS poured -- to build walls.

From 2009-12 SC, GA, FL

There is an interesting story of the carpenter and physician Noble Jones who was fired as an incompetent supervisor of the Savannah property the British development company sent him to America to survey and organize. He was in support of Britain. But his son got himself elected to leadership, including joining the Second Continental Congress. He was thereby an important contributor to the development of our independent Colonies.

This house, Wormsloe, was built as a fort -- but just for one family and it's slaves.

From 2009-12 SC, GA, FL

The modest house, by our current standards, was dressed up by a half-mile long drive approaching from the north that was lined with live oak.

From 2009-12 SC, GA, FL

At first settlement, slaves were not legal; neither was rum. But the Savannah area grew rapidly when slaves and rum were made legal.

On the south, the Isle of Hope River was used for transportation, but was mostly a marsh.

From 2009-12 SC, GA, FL

Today, we got to make our visit in the sun. That meant a lot to us 'cause we have had rain and gray skies for the last 5 cold days.

Back to Savannah

2009-12-11T06:17:00.003-07:00

Paul drove us back into Savannah today.

From 2009-12 SC, GA, FL

We were able to tour the Green-Meldrim House which is a large and beautiful building. It was built by a very wealthy man. Of course, it helped that he married the daughter of the Georgia Central Railroad. It ran profitably between Atlanta and Savannah, carrying a lot of cotton.
When General Sherman had marched from Chattanooga to Savannah, burning anything of value on his way, he stopped in Savannah and set up a head quarters there. The story is that the mayor and business leaders went out to meet General Sherman before he attacked the city. The surrendered before there was damage done to them. This encouraged a cordial relationship. It was so cordial that the General lived in the Green-Meldrim house, and his family even returned in later years to visit the people there.

The Green-Meldrim House

From 2009-12 SC, GA, FL

-- now owned by the St. Johns Anglican Church which used to be across Macon Street from the house. The Church has closed the street and put a nice fountain in the middle of a garden, there. They offer tours and use the house for meetings and weddings.

General Sherman actually used an upstairs bedroom in this house for his office. The same room is where there were 20 military leaders who discussed Rule 15 about how to treat the newly freed slaves. It was written that they would get 20 or 40 acres of land and a mule. Sorry, it didn't happen that way, though.

The most interesting thing to see on the tour is so many of the original furnishings. Many of the other historic houses in the city have been passed through so many owners that they have been messed up with remodeling. This building has been owned by Mr. Green and Mr. Meldrim. Then it was bought by the church for $43,000 in1943.

We rode on the DOT Bus. It is the city's free shuttle. Savannah central area is about one mile square, just a little too much for full coverage with walking -- if you want to see "everything in one day." Our driver described some points of interest while we were riding to the Pirate's Inn

From 2009-12 SC, GA, FL

(closed till Dec 26!).

We visited The Roundhouse Railroad Museum.

From 2009-12 SC, GA, FL

It is an old brick structure in the old industrial side of town -- not a glamorous theme park. But the object is very interesting and important to history. It is the Atlantic terminus of the Georgia Central line that carried many dollars of cotton to the harbor of Savannah. This particular facility was a train manufacturing and maintenance site. They have several engines and cars that are restored, and it is a very active Coastal Heritage Society project. Buildings, tracks, turntable, and rolling stock are all visibly in the process of restoration or construction. The ruins of the old foundries, carpenter and machine shops, boiler room and paint shop are among the sites impressive structures. Some are standing as walls only; others have new roofs and refurbishings. There are many informational signboards to add meaning to the tour. We would recommend it. (Admission $10 each.)

Open Letter to Rep. Sandlin

2009-11-06T05:54:00.003-07:00

Dear Representative Herseth Sandlin:

Health Care Reform – YES!
Please begin some benefits THIS YEAR!
(perhaps children)

We elected you to represent us. We, the majority, want (and feel we need and deserve) a fundamental change in our health care delivery system. The key barrier to health care is economics which are controlled by the insurance corporation monopoly. Health Care Insurance Corporations may not be the only factor in limiting access, increasing cost, denying benefits, and so forth, but it is the greatest contributor by far.

We need an extreme change in our health care delivery system. (See note 1 about abortion and aliens.) A publicly owned insurance company would be best. It would passively reduce costs to citizens and government. It would improve access because of reduced premium rates. It would reduce denials of benefits because of the increased competition to please the subscribers. It would improve insurance corporations adherence to their contracts without scheming to reduced their costs by over selling policies that imply generous benefits and then refusing to pay out by straining the interpretation of the fine print in the contracts they print and sell.

As a health care provider, I will testify that I would rather have an easy 60% compensation from a government insurance than have to deal with any current insurance corporation. They are sticklers for irrelevant details and so many other ploys to delay and reduce their payments. My operating costs accrue while they earn interest on money they hold, if they ever do get around to paying. I'm sure HOSPITALS would agree.

And, please, remove the exemption from anti-trust that the insurance corporations have (the McCarran-Ferguson law).

We voters are willing to pay more in taxes to get health insurance coverage from a non-profit government plan because it will reduce our net expense. (See note 2.) And a public option will increase access for the 100,000 uninsured in South Dakota. (See note 3). We know it's true.

(If 100,000 are uninsured or under-insured, do the statistics mean that 100 die each year in South Dakota because of insurance corporation practices – unaffordable premiums, denial of benefits and coverage, and under-covered subscribers due to co-pays and deductibles? That's the ratio in the National statistics -- 40,000,000 uninsured and 40,000 die due to lack of insurance.)

Which do you want more: the support of the electorate, or the campaign money from the insurance corporations? Are you for us, or the insurance corporations? We need to kill the insurance corporate monopoly and abuse, not the corporations. We need to provide health care for every citizen.

Any legislator who does not act to our wishes may face a campaign to get them replaced at their next election. It's just a fact of doing what is expected. I don't like to present ultimatums, but there are some serious issues on which we need strong representation.

Thank you for your service,
Dr. Richard C. Masterson

PS: I hope to get appointed to see you in Washington before the 10th of November. I may be able to bring my Canadian friend who is willing to answer questions about his country's plan.

Note 1: HR 3962 (and HR 3200) include denial of Federal payment for abortion except for incest, rape, and life of mother. Also included is denial of Federal health care for non-citizens – employers are required by law to verify citizenship before hiring. (We need stronger enforcement of this employment law rather that making a duplication of it for another agency to wrestle with.)

Note 2: The worst case would be a net change in subscriber costs of about zero. Because we are over spending now the sum of:
+ increased lost work time (reduced personal income, GDP productivity, and social contribution) due to more serious illnesses,
+ premium,
+ deductible,
+ copay,
and get poor “service”.

As soon as we get a Public Insurance Company Option, that cost may be matched by increases in taxes for immediate set-up, initial loss funding, and national debt payment. (The public company will be required to pay back loans, and cover losses with premiums.)

But we will be healthier!

(“Poor Service” and “Good Service” refers to denials, exemptions, requirements, out-of-network care, demand for 'further documentation', courteous and sympathetic phone calls and letters, and so forth.)

Note 3: Access to care for the un/under-insured will improve primarily due to the premium reduction. It will make is less expensive for government programs to provide insurance, too.

The insurance corporation tactics that are unfavorable from many angles to the subscribers are also barriers to care, not just “business tactics.” They are keeping us sick.

###

Thank you Senator Reid, I think...

2009-10-26T20:13:00.001-07:00

We have a Public Option, BUT... It is not available to enough subscribers to have a statistical impact on the current health care system. There for, it is not Health Care Reform!

Visit to Sen. Johnson's Office

2009-10-05T08:28:00.003-07:00

Comments from the South Dakota Senator's Offices --
-- Senator Thune's (R-SD)
-- Senator Johnson's (D-SD)

(Sorry I am so tardy in posting these summaries of my visits.)

Fantastic Summary of the Whole Issue: Read on line
"Poor Substitutes — Why Cooperatives and Triggers Can't Achieve the Goals of a Public Option" by Dr. J.S. Hacker, New England Journal of Medicine, September 23, 2009.

For more on Health Care, goto: RichardsChase.blogspot.com

Or you can read some of it here ...

A Visit to Senator Thune's Office

I was first greeted by Jessica Yearous, Staff Assistant, with a cup of coffe. (Yes, it was good coffee.) After a brief wait and some talk about the weather and my full time RV living with Jessica, Meredith arrived and introduced herself. Then we went into the adjoining conference room.

Our conversation started very easily with Meredith saying that reforming health care is important and insurance companies are not going to help. Those were my first two points in my prepared discussion bullets. So, I felt quite encouraged about working on the reform model with her.

The insurance company issue covered the following points:
The profit motive has led to setting high rates and denying benefits. Meredith pointed out that most health insurance companies are "non-profit." So there is some other reason to abuse the consumer?
The free market -- We agreed that we need to provide/force coverage for pre-existing conditions. (We didn't discuss portability between jobs or lost job.) I granted that I am equivicating on "pre-existing conditions" because I feel that, on some level, when the insurer sees a documented above average risk coming, they should be able to increase premium or get some extra compensation, while I feel that the consumer needs to be able to get some kind of affordable coverage at the same time. (Perhaps a "high risk pool" as proposed by Senator McCain.)
I reported that there is a "culture" in place now that includes abuse. I was even advised by a Medicaid consultant to bill for a larger filling than I had placed, if I thought the fee should be higher.

Subsidizing the purchase of insurance is not a cost cutting reform, we agreed. It would be a subsidy to insurance company profits; especially because there are no limits on the premiums the insurance company can charge while collecting a taxpayer subsidy for the difference. It may make insurance available for many of the un-insured, but it would be an ever escallating expense.

The patient's option to buy additional insurance should be available, I claimed. There should not be a prohibition on consumers buying "botique" policies or supplemental policies. I feel there there will always be people who are outside the mainstream who want alternaive treatment -- medical modalities, cosmetics, luxury treatment, and so forth -- who should be able to satisfy their desires. This lead to two points:
1. Meredith pointed out that people in England who can afford to, have the option of flying to America to get care they want. I was wondereing as she said that, "Why they can't buy 'out of system' care in England?" There must be some allowance for cosmetic or alternative care.
2. "Balance billing" was discussed. Meredith had not heard the expression, but did understand the concept. We did not conclude whether we supported it or not. It means allowing the provider to bill their own fee and applying insurance benefits as partial payment. That is currently prohibited in the provider agreement with the insurance corporations signed by the provider if they want to be an "preferred provider" who can recieve payments from the insurance corporation. (The patient/insurance customer is encouraged to seek out "preferred providers" by a reduction in their co-payment.)

There should be a "safety net" list of procedure or diagnoses that are benefits of the public option -- much like the MedicAid services limited list. This would give everyone a minimum of care. And the schedule of services covered would create a supplemental insurance market for the insurance corporations to provide public service at a profit.

Meredith mentioned, when we were comparing Medicaid to the services from a universal coverage, that "some people" suggest that the government give the health care funds in the program directly to the recipients so they can buy what is best for them in the (free) marketplace. I said, "Oh, no! You don't want to do that!" Meredith's response was one of suprise. Either I was rude, or she had not heard before that a major function of Medicaid is to provide care to the poor and uneducated who are in-capable of making a purchase decision on their own. I was trying to say that we should expand the provision of the Medicaid schedule of services to include everyone. Hence, we would have universal coverage without totally removing the need for the individual or group to purchase supplemental insurances. The minimal services available could include "preventive procedures."

Tort reform was brought up by Meredith. I agree that there is a lot of service provided that is only necessary to minimize the losses if the provider is sued. (The statistics are that every provider will be sued at least once, on average.) We agree that tort reform will help recudce the costs of care. (If we reduce our legal costs, we are reducing the attorny's income.)

I pointed out that if we just focus on reducing costs, I believe we will get an automatic improvement in outcomes. The reduction of frivilous law suits, the elimination of "defensive medicine" (un-necessary procedure just to prepare for a defense in a potential law suit if the patient becomes unhappy), the activation of a government sponsored non-profit company, and the new emphasis on using "most effective" techniques (lowest overhead expense with same or better result expectations) will improve quality. It could be called "effectiveness" or "efficiency."

Unfortunately, Meredith feels that if we get a health reform bill/law, it will be a subsidy for the insurance corporations, and increased costs for the government, to provide care to some of the un-insured. I am holding out for a non-profit company established by the US Government. We need to do something "extreme." The degree to which insurance corporations fight against a Public Option, indicates how much more helpful the Public Option would be for citizens in getting the abusive insurance industry under control and improving care.

Five Democrats actually voted against a Public Option?!?!

I sent this email to five Democrat Senators on the Finance Committee on Sep 30:
"I am disappointed in your position in the Finance Committee on the Public Option amendments. A Public Option will establish a self-supporting and non-profit insurance company. That's all. We are patients/constituents versus insurance corporations. I am a doctor who sides with the patients. -Fondly Yours, Dr. R.C. Masterson (D-SD resident). Available at 202-841-4265 ...." and RichardsChase.blogspot.com

To Senators (using their web forms):
Baucus (MT),
Carper (DE),
Conrad (ND),
Lincoln (AR),
Bill Nelson (FL)

I sent a "Thank You" to Senator Kerry (D-MA). His comments in Committee were right on target.

###

First 2 Months at Thomaston Dam

2009-06-16T07:35:00.001-07:00

June 12

Got our laundry done this morning and a wee bit of grocery shopping. Just needed a very few things so we went to the little store here in Thomaston. Usually got over to Watertown, a few miles from here where there's a big "Stop N Shop". I really like that store, they have absolutely anything you could possibly want or need. The little store here in town is OK but limited. By doing this we were able to go to the laundromat close by and while things were drying come home. While here I made up a couble batch of the Weight Watcher's soup which is so good. Richard likes it too so we need the double amount if it's going to last any time at all.

In the meantime, we're getting our lawn mowed. Ranger Marissa is doing it on the riding mower. It's really a weed patch but when mowed it looks better. A few days ago I picked some of the wildflowers around here, actually made a beautiful bouquet! Right now the wild roses are in full bloom and the air is filled with the scent. Lovely!

Pretty nice arrangement we have here. We sit around and "play" 5 days a week, the Rangers even come and mow the lawn for us, and we only work 2 days a week. No utility bills or rent. Pretty nice arrangement, huh?

Now it's Friday morning. It poured rain all evening and all night. Must have gotten at least a couple of inches? Who knows? We were snug and dry in our little house. However, when headed to bed I discovered the vent over the foot of the bed was open, and you know what was soaked below it. Had to strip the bed, of course. Thankfully it didn't soak the mattress or the memory foam pad on top of it. The bedding soaked up enough, apparently. Remade the bed with different sheets and all. The only real frustration was we'd just made up the bed with fresh sheets earlier in the day. Not a biggie, just aggravating. What's really aggravating is these vents are automatic, supposed to close when temps go lower than a certain level or when it rains. Usually they work fine, not this time. We ended up in a dry bed and slept soundly, waking occasionally when the rain got particularly heavy.

-----------------------

June 11

Will this rain ever stop? Have heard a number of complaints that it's been more rainy than usual. The storm in DC that blew over the tree at the White House was definitely felt by Ruth. She commented they'd had two major storms that day. We had a big storm, lots of rain but no wind, thankfully.

Spent the day at the CT state library yesterday. Got there about 9:30, ended up staying until 5 PM. Had packed a lunch for us, there is a nice little lunchroom down the hall where we can eat. We both felt more organized this time so were able to accomplish alot and not feel so frustrated. Got caught in heavy traffic coming home, however, but all went well. At least we were inside while it rained off and on outside. At least I'm assuming it was raining... Will stay home today, may go out for laundry a bit later on.

------------------

June 7

Left here about 7:30, drove straight down Hwy 8 to Bridgeport, takes about an hour. Parked for free (a plus) and walked a short distance to the ferry. Didn't have to wait long before boarding, bought our ticket on board, found a nice spot to sit up on the top open deck. Did the whole trip up there in the open air and sunshine. Just a perfect day, smooth water all the way across, full sunshine so used plenty of sunscreen and enjoyed the view. It takes about an hour and a half to get across LI Sound. Got a cab to the train station. Probably about a mile and a half. Get this, it was $8 for the cab and $5 for both of us to ride the train for the next hour and a half! Obviously the train is a better buy. Had we known exactly where we were headed, we had plenty of time to walk to the train, but we didn't have a clue where to go. Got there in plenty of time and were allowed to board the train a long time before it left on schedule. Very comfy digs so we were able to enjoy the trip. Some scenery, lots of trees, saw alot of back yards as well. Some industrial areas. Got to Mineola right on time where R & M met us. The Mazda was in the shop getting a new key programmed. It has one of those locking systems where if you don't have an original programmable key and get a regular key, once you use the regular key, the engine won't run. Complicated.

They were also getting a tray for the very back that fits on the floor for the dog. To protect the car from his occasional barfs and pees. Rode in it a bit, gorgeous car with all the fancy stuff. A car they can enjoy for many years, for sure. Barashes are downsizing to just one car, figured the girls could enjoy the car. In the meantime we get to enjoy their "old" Toyota (that they also were given by Martina's parents) for the cost of the insurance, for the next 5-6 months. Then they will sell the Toyota and be down to the Mazda and the little red convertible that Martina's grandmother gave Martina before she died.

Had an authentic Mexican lunch in a Latino area near Garden City, then hugs good bye and headed back to the ferry. Made it with 6 minutes to spare! Drove on, got out and locked the car, walked up to where you buy tickets on board and by that time we were under way! Had we missed that ferry at 4:45 we would have had to wait until 6:30 for another. Whew! Got home around 7:15 or so, too late to do the park cleaning, so we put in extra time this morning. While there working for 3 hrs apiece this morning, we were invited to join a huge AA group having a picnic today. Richard had helped them carry some boxes to the table. We probably won't go, but they were certainly a friendly group. We'll be back over there around 2 PM, so may get involved. We're hardly AA members, but supportive. Actually, when we got in from our day Saturday we promptly had a glass of wine to unwind.

Another beautiful day today. Nice for those who work all week but on our days off all next week it's to rain every day! But we have a nice easy and cheap car to buzz around in - in the rain!

---------------------

June 4

We've been hearing bits and pieces of Obama's Cairo Univ. speech. Sounds like he delivered a wonderful speech, hopefully it was well received. He apparently made some pretty impressive points - at least from what we've heard. He's so cool, like you, we're so proud of him being our President and representative. We watched the NBC special the last 2 nights of his tour of the White House. Again, just so interesting and good. What a great family we have living there now. A breath of fresh air in all ways.

----------------

June 3

We're still trying to figure out just when to make the trip to NZ. Sent out an inquiry this morning about renting an RV for a few weeks, should hear back in a few days. It's a local outfit out of Nelson. Seems alot of them are out of Auckland or Christchurch, a problem to pick up the vehicle. Thought it might be a fun way to visit other parts of the south island. Settling on a date is the big hurdle. Would like to get it settled soon.

All is fine here. Just chased our resident ground hog away from my lettuce plants. I've acquired 3 fair sized pots and planted a couple of cherry tomatoes, some lettuce, chives, and basil for our enjoyment. He seems to think we're willing to share with him.

Saturday we're ferrying over to Long Island to meet up with Ruth and Martina. We'll only get to see them for a couple of hours. They are driving their Toyota up to Point Lookout to see Martina's parents. We'll get that car from them, they will drive the used Mazda home. The Mazda has been Barash's car, they have purchased a new car and have offered them the Mazda.

Work is going well here. We're enjoying our week-ends only schedule. Hope we can keep that schedule as the other couple are leaving this week-end. They've been coming here for 5 years, burned out.

----------------

June 3

Richard's CPR and first aid class last week? I guess it went OK, his certificates came yesterday, the instructor, "Patch", delivered them. It actually has nothing to do with cleaning a picnic are, just a good opportunity that I didn't take advantage of, but Richard did.

Not much going on here, we went out yesterday, briefly, to the library and refill the truck fuel tank, before gas prices go up for the summer. At least we're assuming they will go up again. Hopefully not as bad as last summer. Last time we'll probably fill the truck up for the summer. Once we get the Toyota on Saturday we'll be using that car most of the time.

We keep hearing reports about how broke California is. Sad situation, one that's been going on for a few decades now. Sounds like the situation has gotten worse, however.

Beautiful morning but we're to have rain again this afternoon, maybe. A storm will be going across NYC and Long Island, we'll be on the north edge of all that. Who knows if we'll get rain or not.

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June 1

Worked on cleaning up my computer this morning. I was down to only about 750 megabytes of space, not room enough for even many photos or any kind of software. Transferred alot to our storage disk, deleted tons of junk that was gathering dust and space. Now I have a couple of gigabytes free, but had hoped for more.

Gorgeous day here but a tad cooler. Might be nice enough to sit outside and read awhile this afternoon. Back to clouds and possible rain tomorrow. Another reason not to return to this area next summer. However, we'd like to spend a summer in MA. We have two good opportunities pending for hosting next year. Not as much free time but where alot of my ancestors lived. I like MA anyway, I love the historical aspect. More intense than here.

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May 31

Friday night we watched "The Brave One", I think I mentioned that in an earlier email. Last night we saw "Kite Runner" about a boy who grew up in Afghanistan. Really good movie. It was subtitled which I usually don't enjoy. However, this was done very well and it really kept your attention. The subtitling didn't seem to get in the way as it often does. Great insights on life in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the craziness of extreme Islam, etc. If you haven't seen it, DO! We've upgraded to 2 movies at a time with Netflix because of all the summer reruns and nonsense on TV, so we'll be watching more movies, no doubt.

Busy 2 days here with working 2 shifts but now we're done for the week. Home now and of course a thunderstorm has rolled in. A gorgeous day up until about 2 PM. Lots of thunder and lightning now so unplugged the computers to be safe.

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May 30

Richard and I are learning a new software to use with our genealogy programs -- "GenSmarts". It's a totally separate program that goes thru the data program that's on our computer. It searches out where we are missing bits of information and tells you where you can get the missing information. It also ties into some of the online research sources that we subscribe to. Doubt any of this makes sense to you since I can't actually show you what it does. It's a pretty neat program, however, and I think it will really help pull things together. Especially for me, as I've found ancestors back in time since they arrived in the Americas. Especially my mom's side as almost all came in during the early 1600s! I'm at the point on her line where I really don't have to look for the people but need to learn and verify what I know about them. We're really impressed with this program and look forward to really using it.

Watched "The Brave One" with Jodie Foster last night. Have you seen it? If not, DO. It's very dark, tense, has times of violence for sure, but very interesting. Quite a study in how the mind might work after being a victim. She's such a good actress and does a great job.

I'm reading "The Wedding" by Nicholas Sparks right now. I always enjoy his books. This one is interesting. A love story as his books usually are, but from the husband of many years perspective.

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May 29

We headed up to Torrington so Richard could exchange some work shoes that had been ordered for him. Needs a different size. Then we went to Wal Mart and got our anniversary gifts to each other, a new waffle iron (our's died), a popcorn airpopper, and a 4 cup programmable coffee maker. New toys! I also found some cute cropped pants that are mostly cotton that fit like a charm - and cheap. And a new spaghetti server. I've had one of those plastic ones but the teeth have broken off. Found a metal one, threw that in the basket. And a good picnic table cloth I've been looking for - red and white check, 96 inches long, so it will completely cover most any size picnic table we encounter. Picked up a few groceries as well. Then started our laundry near there, found a Mexican place to have lunch. We'd eaten there before, last summer. An OK spot. Got more groceries at the Big Y, a huge store up there, then finished our laundry and headed home. Didn't get back until late afternoon so Libby got her dinner late.

Richard tells me he's getting me window awnings for 2 of our windows that often face the sun. They will be like our big awning and should go a long way toward keeping the interior cooler during the summer months. And the rain off the glass. We love the big windows on this RV but sometimes we're positioned in such a way as you have to pull the shades to tolerate the direct sunshine! This will be my birthday gift which will make me very happy.

Marissa and Amy, two Rangers, planted us a butterfly bush and also some blue berry bushes. The butterfly bush is planted just off the patio. Don't know if we'll see it bloom this year or not. The other bushes are over in the "lawn" (mowed weeds), to help hold the soil above the creek. They won't produce for a few years, we're told. The ladies did all the work, thankfully. Discovered my grape tomatoes are starting to bloom too. Hopefully we'll have some soon. Our lettuce is going gang busters, can't keep up with it. The herbs are all doing great also.

So, that was our day. Today will be back to the slow quiet day, too rainy to do much outside. Even though it's supposed to be around 70, the rain makes it too cool to be comfy out there. Tomorrow and Sunday we work, of course.

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May 26

Rainy today, so cloudy and a bit gloomy. Guess that's what makes it pretty here when the sun does come out. The first time we were in CT many years ago I couldn't figure out where the homes and businesses were. Turns out they were hiding behind the trees!

Not much going on here right now. Richard spent most of the day doing CPR and First Aide training. I probably should have gone also but just didn't want to. I've been thru CPR training a few times and I really think I would know what to do if I had to. He was gone from 8 AM until 2:30 PM so Libby and I had a wonderful day at home. Got a bit of cleanup done, alot of research and alot of reading. I put on some lovely music and coasted thru the day. Nice to have so much time to myself, actually. Richard came home all trained and ready to go in an emergency, briefed me on changes to the routine. Now it's 30 compressions to 2 breaths, once you have the airway cleared, just so you know.

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May 26

Tuesday evening here. Quiet day, took a lovely walk on the old road I'd mentioned in an earlier email. Lovely quiet walk. I've always thought (previously) that CT was a state solid with people. However, not so. Lots of people here, behind and hidden behind the trees and hills, it seems. Anyway, the walk we took was on an old road along Leadmine Brook. Along there all we heard was the quiet creek, wind in the trees, and saw only one other person sitting on the bank fishing. Doubt he saw us, actually. So peaceful and so green and lush. Just a lovely walk. Oh yes, saw lots of wildflowers and heard lots of birds. I've attached a couple of photos. Just a lovely walk. Came home and puttered the rest of the day. Stopped at the store to pick up a roast on our way back home. I'd found a recipe online for a chuck roast that sounded good. Cooked in a crock pot. Turned out fine but had hoped it would be more tender. Got to smell it all afternoon and that was wonderful.

Cool day today, especially after a few days of heat. Has gotten cloudy as the day went along. Beautiful and sunny during our walk, however. Stopped by the grocery store and then the library on our way home Dropped some DVDs off, watched "Michael Clayton" last night. Not sure just what to think of it. I found it confusing with all the flash backs, but over all and interesting film. We have "The Brave One" here from Netflix right now to watch. Not sure if we'll get to it tonight or not.

Richard went to a staff meeting up at the Corps office early this afternoon. I stayed home, meetings don't thrill me. Tomorrow he's going to a CPR training which I could go to also, but won't. Been there, done that. Know I should go, but really not interested. I think I could remember enough if there really was an emergency. I stayed home to putter and read. Working my thru James Patterson's Women's Murder Club series. Enjoying those books.

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May 26

It was a gorgeous day yesterday, high 70s, maybe 80? Beautiful clear sky, light wind, just a perfect holiday. This morning is alot cooler and not to get as warm, with rain late this afternoon. We had our hamburgers grilled last night and ate on our patio. Just perfect for it. Then sat and enjoyed our view of the forest for awhile. Just such a pretty evening. When we got back from work I decided to make a small potato salad. Got it together then spread it out on a baking sheet, covered it, and stuck it in the freezer to chill. And it worked! Had nice cold potato salad to go with our hamburgers. A treat, hadn't had potato salad for a few years, methinks. Guess I got in the picnic mode when we worked in the park?

Our plan is simple for today - nothing much. We'll drive over to an area of Corps property called "Leadmine" later on and take a walk. There are some old roads that are blocked off from cars. A walker was telling me the other day that those are good places to take walks, so we'll go check at least one of those out. It's a rustic area except for one section that model airplane flyers use. I don't enjoy walking with cars whizzing by, and walking thru a neighborhood does nothing to restore my soul, so maybe this will be a find? The trails around here in the state park are so steep and rough are more work than pleasure. The state park is just across Branch Brook which we're next to. Can't get over there on foot, though. You have to drive all the way around to the entrance.

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May 25

http://mhsmaneline.org is the site for Morningside High School alumni news and e-newsletter. I graduated in 1959, Richard.

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May 24

Did we ever time things well. Just as we climbed into the car (this time, it's usually a truck) to head back home from working, the clouds opened up, rained 1/10 of an inch all at once. By the time we got home it had slowed to a sprinkle, so didn't get very wet. Boy, can it ever rain here!

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May 23

Saturday the 6th of May we're hoping to exchange some work time with the Mattices. Ruth and Martina will be bring the Toyota up, with Henry in it, swap it with the Mazda that the Barash's are passing on the R & M. The plan is for the ladies to sell the Toyota, but first we'll borrow it for about 6 months (pay the insurance and any expenses so the girls won't have to, since we'll be using the car). Anyway, it will be a full day to get the car from Long Island. We'll train from Waterbury to Bridgeport, then ferry across to Port Jefferson on L.I., then take the Long Island Railroad as far as Mineola which is just 20 minutes from Point Lookout. The ladies will meet us there with the Toyota. We'll do lunch or something for an hour or two, then they'll head back to Point Lookout with the Mazda and we'll reverse our trip back to the ferry and Bridgeport, and drive home from there.

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May 20

Kaitlyn is a beautiful baby as is Zachary. Kathy McCormick has gorgeous kids, no question about that! We have such gorgeous great nephews and neices! Vickie's boys are handsome dudes, beautiful babies as well. David's daughter is a pretty girl, and his son is autistic. I know it's been hard on Maggie and David raising him. Thankfully they've seem to have done a good job educating themselves about autism and how to help him.

Not sure why R & M picked out the name of Henry for their dog. Whatever, if the dog answers to it and they are happy with it, no matter to me. Maybe they just wanted something different for a dog?? I guess he's doing OK, they are figuring out how to deal with his housebreaking issues and things are going better on that front. They took him to a dog park over last week-end where he was very intimidated by some aggressive big dogs. They left for awhile, came back later when those dogs were gone and found about 10 mid sized dogs playing together. Henry jumped into the fray and had a blast, so I'm told. He is a sweet dog, well behaved around people. They've gone to major efforts teaching guests have to approach him (since he's so fearful and can snap at people). We had no problems at all, he was good as gold while we were there. Very calm, just laid at our feet most of the time. Can't ask for more than that.

This week we have 3 days off, Mattices are due in today and will start work tomorrow.

And it's absolutely beautiful outside and supposed to stay that way. Yippee! The next couple of days will quite warm, so it's predicted. Thurs and Fri it's to be up in the 80s and partly cloudy. Good timing for our days off. Actually, I'm hoping for miserable weather Sat and Sun when we work, keep picnickers home (I know, I'm not a nice person) along with their messes.

Memorial Day week-end is the worst of the entire year at Northfield Dam picnic area. It's such a big park and the picnic tables are plentiful and almost all are occupied all week-end. And folks in CT are so messy! Of course, I suspect many of these people are apartment dwellers who have no yards of their own, so have few cares if someone else has to clean up after them. All the smokers seem to think the ground is their personal ashtray but what they don't understand is someone has to pick up all those cigarette butts. My turn to whine, but smokers have always been on my black list.

At least this year we don't have regular restrooms with flush toilets to clean up. Porta potties are much easier and kids don't tend to play in them and throw water about. And you can't plug up toilets with things like watermelons which we had happen last Memorial Day. You wouldn't believe what people try to put in toilets and expect things to disappear! And don't get me started on the messes the dirt bikers make in their parking area, or the trash fishermen leave along the banks of the lakes.

Otherwise it's a lovely day. Maybe grilling something for dinner is in order? We have some nice steak in the freezer. Yesterday we ate the the Chinese buffet again while our clothes washed next door.

Had a slow start to the day. We volunteers are still short a truck to use. A new pickup has been purchased for the crew here and we're to get one of the older ones. The new one is sitting in the parking lot and has been since we arrived in April. It needs a bed liner (the black stuff that goes inside the truck bed to prevent damage to the painted metal) and I guess thanks to government red tape it is still waiting all this time. Once that's done the radios and stuff have to be moved out of the old truck into the new truck for one of the guys to be able to use it routinely. Once all the equipment is moved over then we'll get the old truck. In the meantime we get whatever truck isn't in use that morning. Well, yesterday we got up there and no truck at all! Everything was in use up at the top of one of the dams. We waited until almost 10 AM (we usually start at 7 AM) then I went and got my hair cut as scheduled. When I got back the truck was there. So we started 3.5 hrs late which put us that much behind in our day. Instead of leaving for laundry, lunch and groceries at 10:30 after my hair cut, we finally got going on the day. Finally got home about 4 PM, in time to give Libby her dinner. Long day and we were weary.

Watched the finale of Dancing with the Stars, Shawn Johnson won the trophy. Gilles somebody was a close runner up, actually I though he'd get it. Anyway, that show ran all evening. Oh yes, we did see the finale to NCIS.

This week seems to be finale week for the various TV shows we watch. A new movie arrived, "Last Chance Harvey" with Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson. Looks like a good one, saw the previews and like both those actors. May not watch it until Friday night? Depends on all the finales on TV this week.

Not sure what we're doing today. Maybe just be outside? Welcome the Mattices? Go for a walk in the woods?

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May 14

Richard spent much of the morning putting the mailbox in. Had to dig a hole in rocky soil. And there is alot of rock around here. Why our earliest settlers landed on the New England shore wasn't all that smart. Many were farmers, or wanted to be and this is no place for farming, for sure. And the winters are so hideous, so I'm told. Anyway, I guess he got the hole dug. When cutting the post to the right length the saw horses collapsed that are up in the garage at the office, with him on them. Really bruised the back of his left hand and took skin off his shin. Nothing that won't heal but he is a tad beat up. Finally got the post installed, went back after lunch to attach the mailbox, found it done for him. Anyway, it's finally in.

No other real news. I stayed home while Richard worked on the mailbox. Did some research on a couple who arrived here from England around 1630 or so. Couldn't find them anywhere. I have their data but needed stronger references to feel they were the right folks. Otherwise I'd have to assume that lineage was "hatched", so ta speak.

Then I got side tracked on the Nelson, New Zealand newspaper business Web site. When you scroll to the bottom you find 3 newspapers in addition. Anyway, enjoyed reading some of the stuff about Nelson and area. Definitely a difference in English. Unfamiliar terms for things. Not British terms either. Also, there's some Maori words mixed in as well.

It's been a rainy breezy day today, of course. In spite of such a nice place to park, methinks we won't be back next year. Time to do something different. We'll probably try to do all the research we want for CT while here this summer. Very pleasant to be surrounded by all these beautiful trees, however. I'll be surprised if we ever get our cable hookup, the rate things gets done around here.

We put some of that stuff on the back of Libby's neck that's to ward off ticks and fleas. It's left her fur in that area very greasy. Also, we've been finding clumps of fur around the RV. Not sure if it's coming from that spot or not. We're hoping she's not allergic to it or something. We've found 3-4 ticks on her in the last couple of months and don't want to find any more. Also, we're not far from Lyme, CT, home of the deer ticks and Lyme disease. Yes, I know it's everywhere now, but it still if makes me a tad skittish. Anyway, I hope this stuff doesn't cause her problems.

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May 13

Beautiful, gorgeous day here for a change. Had some clouds float thru during the middle of the day, but now there's not a cloud to be found. Had a quiet day, just doing odd jobs around home here. About 5:30, Vinnie, the head honcho came down to our site in his truck with a new mailbox in back. He and Richard went off to discuss it's placement, needed equipment for Richard to install it. Now we've had dinner and Richard is out digging a hole somewhere up by the gate.

By the way, did you know we live in a gated community?? It will only be a community of two RVs, but we do have a gate. Actually two gates, one that opens up the office and work yard area, then another beyond that that leads on down to the RV sites. Very exclusive folks, we be.

Now, as to where the water would go if the dam should break - well, right at us. However, it would take alot of rain - an unbelievable amount, so we're not too concerned. And if there was that much rain, believe me, we'd be outta here. We're on wheels, remember?

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May 12

Finished our work week today. Nice morning, started out very sunny and very clear, cool, but nice. Now it's very overcast and has tried to rain a couple of times. Supposed to have thunderstorms this evening. We'd like to be able to sit outside and enjoy our dinners but that hasn't happened since the first week we were here.

After work we headed off to the laundry and to get a few groceries. I'd been having a yen for Chinese food of late. Turns out there's a Chinese buffet next to the laundromat. Last week we'd noticed alot of people going in and out of it, so decided to try it. $6.99 per person for all you can eat. Usually, we pass up buffets as they aren't all that wonderful to start with, plus, we're not big eaters. However, since we had to wait for our clothes to dry, we opted to have lunch there. A huge buffet and the food was wonderful!! Richard enjoyed all sorts of seafood dishes that he said were "ambrosia"! I selected a number of tastes of various chicken dishes, noodles, veggies, etc. and they were all wonderful. Such a variety of dishes to try! We waddled out, with plans to return again soon. Actually, we could enjoy lunch there every laundry day, but that might get old after awhile.

Got groceries while clothes were washing at a wonderful Stop N Shop, a chain which is all over this area. Discovered it last summer. So almost a one stop day, complete with lunch. Now we're home, doing various little things. Not sure what we're going to do with our 2 days off. Need to find a cool place to visit?

Black Rock Lake isn't much for swimming. I suppose you could but it's not situated for swimming. Northfield Dam has a beach but I wouldn't swim there. Too many Canadian Geese use it, if you know what I mean. Lots of goose poop everywhere. Certainly not appealing.

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May 12
by Richard

At 350 Old Branch Rd, Thomaston, CT, the Google map shows the Black Rock Dam and what the Army Corps of Engineers calls the Black Rock Pool on the west side. The more romantic name for the pool is Black Rock Lake.

We live on the east side, down stream side, of the dam. You will see two RV parking pads on the map. The one that is closer to the dam is perpendicular to the dam. We are living at the site further east of the dam which is parallel to the dam.

I am trying to arrange to get a mailbox at the office, just 200 feet north of us. The run around is amazing. Ranger Chuck wants to get his Homeland Security barriers installed first -- a big project that hasn't even been started. I have even offered to do all the labor -- just bolt the box to the fence post.

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We've Made it to Thomaston!

2009-04-25T19:12:00.003-07:00

April 16 & 17, we had a very nice visit with Kim & Theo in Mays Landing. Janet and Jerome were there too. They had come from Santa Cruz -- Janet flew, and Jerome railroaded.

We took 6 days to get 300 miles up the road to Thomaston Dam, an Army Corps of Engineers site that includes three dams and their pools. We'll be here till August 15. The work is not hard. Well, on hot days -- most days -- it is not for sissies.

Our RV parking site

From 2009-06 CT

We have the continuous sound of the effluent from Black Rock Dam. It's a flood control dam that has a small pool -- about 300 acres, I guess. It did not get much water this year because the upstream flood control dams and lakes were able to keep it all.

Mays Landing = Janet, Jerome, Kim, Theo

2009-04-20T15:28:00.003-07:00

We left Mays Landing this morning after a lovely week-end with family. Janet and Jerome have been visiting their daughter and grandson in Mays Landing and the timing was perfect for us to be there also. We seldom get to see any of them so it was wonderful to be able to spend a few days with them. We arrived in Mays Landing on Thursday, late in the afternoon. Friday we spent the day with Janet and Jerome with Theo at his home. He's a delightful two year old, just a beautiful little boy.

From 2009-04

Once his mom, Kim, arrived home from work we went over to where we'd camped for the next few nights. None of them had seen our "new" RV we moved into in the summer of 2007 and we wanted to show off our home. Kim and Jer picked up pizza on the way for our dinner and we had a lovely meal on the "patio". Sadly, Kim's husband, Mark, was in PA visiting his parents. His dad's health has taken a turn for the worse and he needed to be there.

Saturday we all went to Cape May. I was especially pleased as I've been wanting to visit that resort community for some time!

From 2009-04

We got off to a slow start as the Fardette's rental car had a dead battery. We were able to give it a "jump" from our pickup and off we all went. Cape May is a delightful beach community with lots of great shops and restaurants and it's full of beautiful Victorian homes as well. The entire community is an historic district. It had been incorporated in the mid 1850s, although in the mid 1750s it had already been a site visited by Philadelphia's vacationers. This info came from Wikipedia, by the way. Beautiful beaches and we felt fortunate to find parking places! A beautiful day so the city was full of visitors.

From 2009-04

It was so great for me to be able to have the time in the car with Kim to do some catching up. She's a lovely young woman and I enjoy her so much. Richard and Jerome had a good male bonding time in his car. We had to take two cars as none of our vehicles would have handled all of us comfortably. By the time we got back to Mays Landing we were all ready for a quiet evening at home.

From 2009-04

Sunday we needed a day off as we'd been seeing family and friends since the first of the month. As a result I'd done absolutely no cooking other than rewarming left overs since the first of the month! I think I've forgotten how to cook! In the evening we were able to have the time to chat with Ruth who is presently in southern California. She'd spend the day with another of her cousins, Kathy McCormick, her son Zachary, and her mom Muriel. It was good to catch up with that side of the family vicariously.

Sunday called for a quiet day at home with dinner out with just Janet and Jerome. It was nice to have the time with just them. They treated us to lovely dinner at a local "Pub". A pretty nice place for a pub, actually. A delicious dinner and we had to say good bye to them all. Who knows when we'll get to see these wonderful people again. Hopefully not too long from now, but I fear it will be a year or so.

Day off, and rain

2009-04-14T12:51:00.003-07:00

Good morning from very rainy DC area. Started raining late in the evening last night, rained all night, due to rain all day today and into tomorrow. Seems like it's always raining when we're parked at Greenbelt. Know it can be gorgeous, but who needs sprinklers in this area!? Thursday will be our best day to travel, we decided, partly cloudy is the forecast. Not fun to drive in the rain, especially on a very busy interstate. We're warm and dry, thankfully. Our little catalytic is doing a great job for us.

Quiet day yesterday. I read, napped, puttered around here. Richard spent much of the day on the computer, did a few things outside, fortunately before it started raining. Climbed up on the roof to clean the solar panels of road dirt and such. Then washed the outside of our windows which certainly made it brighter in here. So much road dirt had collected from driving in the rain. And now it's raining again - of course. That's just about all we did all day. Heated up restaurant left overs for dinner. So wonderful to have the day at home relaxing. We'd been going strong for the previous 12 days, so we needed a day off!

Today I have a doctor's appointment at 10:30, need to talk to her about some prescription questions and I need a blood test anyway. Easier to talk to her face to face than thru a nurse on the phone - you know how that is. Can get the blood draw in her office, saves another trip somewhere. Need to stop at the Verizon store with questions about my phone, for example, why it shuts off mid-conversation. We also now have Warren's phone, wondering what it would cost to discontinue his service since we are still under the 2 year contract business (got new phones less than 2 years ago). Or just keep Warren's phone for Richard to use for the $10 a month extra. Need to stop at the bank to make a deposit also. Such fun to run errands in the rain. That will be our day by the time we deal with traffic. Doesn't sound like much but the traffic takes time to maneuver around.

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Happy Easter!

We are here in Greenbelt. Came in in the rain, light rain while setting up. This morning is clear, the high is to be 53 degrees. We'll have breakfast and leave in an hour to go over to Takoma park, spend the day. Meet Colin, etc. Then we'll walk up to the Farmer's Market. Can't imagine there's much this time of year. And we had shopped just before leaving TN. And...since we've not eaten at home but one in the evenings for a week, we haven't used much at all. Just bread, eggs, and milk which have been replaced 2 days ago. Can't imagine there will be much in the way of veggies at the market. Even the one night we ate at home it was leftovers from the previous night out.

Last night we met R & M for dinner at Franklin's Brewery over here in Hyattsville. Good place, very noisy, however. Lots of U of Maryland energy? It's close to the University. Unusual menu. I had Thai chicken pizza which was yummy and interesting with peanut sauce, peanuts, chunks of white meat, lots of cheese, cilantro on a thin crust pizza. Richard had a "veggie" pot pie which consisted of 3 kinds of beans, black, garbanzo and pinto, with a big amount of mashed potato in the middle, on a pie crust that was in the bottom. Topped with cheese, I think. Ruth had barbecued chicken, Martina had fish and chips. Martina enjoyed a sampling of beers made on the premises, I had wine, Ruth had a beer, and Richard abstained. Guess he figured he was the designated driver? Had a lovely visit then went our separate ways. We were all weary and needed to be at home for the rest of the evening.

Cold night and as campers here there is no electricity to plug into so dependent on our catalytic heater. It does a nice job but we couldn't warm the bed with our electric blanket. We're spoiled. The generator does a great job as well to build up the batteries, then of course we have solar panels and we're parked in direct sun here. It's just a different way of living. Libby loves the catalytic heater, lays in front of it all the time. She did end up snuggling between us overnight.

Today is our only real day to spend time with R & M but I suspect we'll be home well before dark. Ruth is swamped with stuff, as usual. Martina may want to go for a bike ride since it's a pretty day. Everything seems to be up in the air about Philip's surgery. He's home from the hospital and will see doctors tomorrow morning.

Beautiful drive up here, intermittent rain and interesting clouds. Lots of tulips and daffodils along the highways in the Shenandoah Valley, and places were the redbud was thick! Spring green in the lower areas, just beautiful. We took some backroads for awhile, got ourselves off the interstate for a breather. Just so pretty. Hard to describe. Spring in the Blue Ridge and Shenandoah Valley. Wow!

Must get some breakfast going here so we can leave again. Nice to be parked for a few days, at least.

Missed the severe weather of rain and tornadoes in Tennessee just fine. Just rain, some wind at time, but not a problem. When we last talked to Paul and Mary, they were bracing for bad storms, we got out of there in time, methinks.

Friday, April 10, 2009
by Richard

We are in Roanoke, VA for the nite. Will be in Greenbelt tomorrow. Tornadoes are currently active in area of Pigeon Forge, TN where we just left. Out friends Paul & Mary are there in their RV. They don't need strong winds with a rig on wheels. We drove in rain; now the sun is out.

Our blog richnkay.blogspot.com links to our current photo album when you click on the slide show. Or you can go directly to our Picasa Albums at picasaweb.com/mastersonenator. Picasa has just one "s". You will see snow in the Smokies.

(We were taught, "Put a period or comma inside quotes. All other punctuation marks follow logic." But nowadays, so many computer people don't understand quotes that they say "without the quotes" after they give instructions. So, I think it is advisable to be strict about the quotes. Include only the text that applies. That is, periods and commas go outside, unless they are part of the message. I digress.)

I must get back to doing nothing -- well, I am doing retirement.

Thursday, April 09, 2009

We were going to go to Dollywood today, our last day here, but we cancelled. Just worn out! Instead of Dollywood yesterday, we drove over to the Cherokee Museum, which was fascinating and extremely well done. It's on the Cherokee Reservation, in another very busy tourist town. We couldn't go up over the mountains to get there in the morning as the road was closed by snow. Had to take the long way around; it took 2 hours. Had lunch at Subway as we knew we were going out to dinner again in the evening. Paul drove, so Richard was able to enjoy the scenery better and Paul knew the way there. The museum tells the Cherokee history from prehistoric times to the present, extremely well done. Lots of information on the Trail of Tears, of course. We spent over 2 hours there. By the time we came home, the road over the mountains had opened up, so it took only 1 hour to get back. It was a beautiful drive, too, with lots and lots of snow, but the road was completely clear.

We all needed a few groceries so stopped at Kroeger briefly. We got home in time to turn around for dinner. RVing friends of P & M's are in the area for awhile, so we 4 met them at The Brewery for dinner at 5:30. Richard and I split a dinner of ribs and smashed potatoes with a side of broccoli and cheese, yummy. Then we all came back to Paul and Mary's for red velvet cake and conversation. Got home at 9 PM. Long long day and we're soooo worn out.

I went over to P & M's at 8:30 this morning to see if Mary would feel bad if we canceled out on today's trip to Dollywood. She's got to be tired too. She works tomorrow on top of everything! We need to do laundry and prepare to travel again tomorrow. It will be two long days on the highway. Tomorrow we have to be at the Michelin dealers to get the new tires on the RV very early, before we travel. Then we have a long day of driving. It doesn't sound like it. It's only 253 mi up to Roanoke, VA. In the RV it seems longer, as we don't want to travel as fast and we're ooolllddd.

Just now hung up from a call from Ruth. I think I mentioned Philip Barash is in the hospital with a blocked carotid artery.

My, how Gatlinburg has changed. It's a darling town but too many tourists! And this isn't high season. It took forever to get thru the town. There are too many cars and pedestrians. Fortunately there's a bypass of sorts, but even it's overloaded. It's turned into a mini Pigeon Forge. I'm sure it was much more delightful years ago. I wouldn't bother going there, now, personally.

Finally spring is truly back. Clear sunny skies, warmer today, about 70; it should be perfect to sit outside after a bit. We need to do laundry and get ready to pull up stakes. It's not big jobs -- just take a wee bit of time. The most important thing is rest up and relax a bit. We're taking P & M out to a Mexican restaurant they've been wanting to try, tonight. A feeble thank you for the wonderful week.

Wednesday, April 08, 2009 5:24 AM

Thankfully the sunshine has returned and it looks to be a pretty day today. Yesterday Paul took us on a trek to Cades Cove where many families settled back in the early 1800s. It snowed off and on all day, at times blizzard like. Beautiful drive, however. Quite a contrast to the trip into the mountains on Sunday. We've been below freezing the last two nights. Enough, already! Spring is to return today, so we're told. The birds are certainly out in full force this morning!

Back to Dollywood today, to see some of the stuff we didn't have time for Saturday.

We've been running around and eating out a lot. Every meal has been absolutely delicious, though. Yesterday for lunch we ate at the Old Mill, good southern cooking. Richard and I shared pot roast that was wonderful! Complete with corn chowder and fritters for starters, then the roast beef, mashed potatoes, green beans southern style, and big fluffy biscuits! Thank goodness we shared the meal! Dinner out again tonight with P & M and friends they met somewhere who are also visiting here. Don't know how much more of this wonderful food I can take!

Friday morning, early, we pull out. First stop is just a few blocks up the street to get new tires on the RV, then we will drive as far as we can. Want to be in DC by Sat. night. Two long days of travel. Ruth must be getting anxious to see us, I think she called 3 times late yesterday. Philip Barash is in the hospital, something about blockage in his carotid arteries. Not good. He'll be there for some time, I guess, as he has lots of other health issues. Not sure when we saw them last. Not sure how critical the situation is, Richard talked with Ruth about Philip.

R & M plan to drive up there soon, not sure just when. They'll drive Shelly, the car, because they'll have Colin with them. Leave Shelley at Pt. Lookout and drive back in the Mazda that they'll be getting from Barash's. I won't have to make the drive north in the Toyota, thank goodness. I will have to drive it back in the fall but it will be easier to skirt around Philly and NYC and all that.

Not much other news, just that we're tired at this point. We need a day at home, or 2 or 3. Getting old... Having fun, though!

Tuesday, April 07, 2009 5:11 AM

Good morning from snowy Pigeon Forge, Well, it isn't very snowy, just traces on hard surfaces, like rooftops, picnic tables, windshields. It IS cold, however. Supposedly today we're going over the mountains here to visit the Cherokee Museum. Best to check road conditions, however. Paul is driving, and he's driven in snow much of his life, at least. Yesterday was very quiet which we needed. I guess Mary got sent home early from work, the place was very quiet thanks to the cold wet weather. Watched a movie with them last night, a comedy with William Macy and Meg Ryan, but I can't remember the name of it -- "The Deal"? OK, not the greatest, then home to watch "24". Had the beans and rice with cornbread with them that their friends had made for them. At this rate I'm going to forget how to cook!

Years ago Richard and I climbed up the Cumberland Gap trail from this side of the mountains. Thought perhaps my Loyd ancestors or someone may have come over it. Well, turned out they took an easier route, by flatboat down the rivers from southern VA, into TN, etc. Eventually on a keelboat up the Mississippi to Iowa. However, the hike up to the Gap was hideous, steep, rocky, hot. I haven't a clue how they got themselves (women in long skirts), kids, animals, household goods up that way. Even if it had been a wider trail it would have been horrible. Of course the real trail may have been where the highway goes today which might have been better, but I doubt in those days, not much better. These mountains are steep, big time! And I thought the Rockies and Sierras were steep! Anyway, this is truly a beautiful area, probably just gets prettier and prettier as spring progresses.

Not much other news. I've got my camera ready to go for today's trip. I guess in good conditions the trip takes about an hour to get to the Museum, not sure about today. We're leaving here about 11 AM

Smokey Mountains National Park, et cetera

2009-04-06T08:31:00.003-07:00

After a stunning warm day yesterday, a big storm has now rolled in. The high today is 50 (it was 81 yesterday as it turns out), and that will diminish in the course of the day to below freezing during the night. By late this afternoon it will be around 40. Snow is predicted overnight! Yes, I said SNOW! The high tomorrow is about 38, another freezing night, then it will slowly start warming again. Had winds in the night, woke up in the wee hours with my arm getting wet, it had started to rain and was blowing in the window beside me! Glad we got out yesterday to see some sights!

First we went in search of a Bank of America. Supposedly there was one just 3 miles up the parkway, needed to deposit a check and get more cash. We drove and drove, never found it. [It must be an ATM inside a Walgreen's Drug Store.] Traffic ain't fun around here either! Drove around 20 miles round trip, found an easier way on the way back, thankfully, gone for more than an hour!

Had lunch on our little patio, Paul came over to chat while we ate and we decided to take a drive up into the Smokies.

From 2009-04

Beautiful trip! Lots of spring flowers in bloom, especially trillium. Have never seen it so thick! Unfortunately my photo of it didn't come out good. Also lots of Dutchman's britches which I'd never seen before - always wanted to, they are sooo cute! Hope to get Paul's picture of them from him. Lots of mountain folk cabins still up there, still standing. Visited those and the Visitor's center. Loads of waterfalls also, the best ones are a bit of a hike back thru the mountains, a few miles. Didn't do that, especially with Richard's knee and my foot. Plus it was too late in the day to start out - and hot! The Visitor's center was very interesting, especially the gift shop. Paul bought a small book about the various cabins, how they were made, uses for different features, who lived in them, etc. The various families who lived in the cabins have been identified, etc.

Of course this is Dolly Parton's country. Saw an interview of her last night on "60 Minutes". Good timing. I guess this town owes its existence to her. You wouldn't believe this place, it's like a one story Las Vegas, Miracle Mile, combined with all the tourism right around Disneyland, etc. Goes on for miles and miles. Gatlinburg, up the mountain a bit, is the same way!

Everything thing down here in Pigeon Forge (mostly) is new, clean, in excellent repair, etc. The only "old" thing is the old mill which is an attraction in itself. At least that we've seen. Dollywood was expecting 9,000 people yesterday, according to Mary. But it was a much larger of crowd of 15,000. They even asked Mary to work a couple of extra hours at the end of the day! Today will be the opposite, I'm sure, thanks to the weather. We'll certainly stay home and recuperate after 2 days of running around! Paul has programming to do, so he won't feel like he has to take us somewhere today. So we can vegetate and rest up.

Then we all went out to dinner again. I'm sure I'll gain weight this week. To the Blue Moose, known for it's hamburgers, hot dogs, wings, etc. Too noisy, though, it's a Sports Bar, 15 TVs going plus loud music! Tonight a neighbor of Paul and Mary's is bringing them a dinner of beans and rice plus home made cornbread, enough for the 4 of us! Southern cooking, homestyle! I guess Paul had helped them with setting up their computer, so this is a thank you? They are from Mississippi, very strong accent. He seemed very nice. Didn't meet his wife. She makes cornbread every day, so he says. We 4 are going to try to get them to eat with us at P & M's RV.

So, socializing and sightseeing are going strong. We're looking forward to today, a quiet rainy day at home to recoop.

I had forgotten to mention that right now it's the "International Festival" at Dollywood, hence all the international stuff going on. However, when that's over all kinds of other music groups and entertainers start their stints. Plenty to see and do all the time. I guess the International events are every year when the park first opens. Tuesday the park is closed, open the other 6 days a week.

Arriving at Pigeon Forge, Tennessee

2009-04-04T17:34:00.003-07:00

Friday, April 03, 2009

We finally made it to Pigeon Forge. Started out about 8:45 this morning in the sunshine. Brisk chilly breeze, beautiful. Eventually the clouds rolled back in, it's supposed to turn nice soon, hope it does. Got here about noonish. Beautiful drive thru the Smokies to get here from the east coast. Very early spring up there - or maybe I should say here. Not sure the elevation but we certainly went up high on I-26, then came down a long way again.

No more shorts and bare feet for awhile. Trees here are just beginning to show a hint of green - or I should say up higher. Lots of dogwoods in the forests blooming, and fruit trees as we came into this area. Also, in S.C. there were loads and loads of wisteria in bloom, along the highways. Wild? Also redbud in bloom, like between Yreka and Sacramento, in the mountains. Very pretty. In Tomoka the trees had really leafed out, made the jungle atmosphere even more jungle like. I see some of the trees are leafed out here, but lots of bare ones yet. We'll enjoy spring for quite awhile, me thinks. Another joy of migrating northward in the spring, it seems to follow us for a long time.

We're settled into our campsite now, 2 sites from Paul and Mary. On the other side is a couple of Escapees also, Gary and DeeDee, very friendly. Met them as they were heading off somewhere. Got our SKP hugs.

We're going out for dinner with Paul & Mary. Sounds like they have quite the week planned here for us. They have passes for us to go to Dollywood for free, also a lot of shows there. Perks of Mary's job. One day admission is $50 + for Seniors. Nice gift they are giving us, huh? We'll have to do something special for them - somehow. After chatting with Paul for awhile we came back and took good naps. Wonderful, hadn't had a nap for 4 days and I was in withdrawal!!

We've been thru northern Florida, Georgia, S. Carolina, N. Carolina, now Tennessee. States are definitely smaller here. California and Texas go on and on ----and on. One has to have quite a library of maps, for sure. One can always pick up new ones just inside the border at the Welcome Centers. That is if you're on an Interstate. Not so easy if you travel back roads. This time we're doing Interstates since we have miles to cover.

Our President and his lovely wife are doing a super job. Scoring lots of points with many countries on this trip, I'm sure. Such diplomats, just being themselves! I'm very proud of them as well. Such an improvement after the last disgrace of a President. Bush was so embarrassing. Now to clean up the damage he did. Obama's the guy to do it!

Our Netflix DVD was here waiting for us, "The Times of Harvey Milk". May watch it tonight after our dinner out?

Libs, our cat, is here on my lap. It's been a long 3 days of travel for her, she wants and needs plenty of loving right now. Best get to it. -k

to Mar 16 Discovery Launch

2009-03-18T11:14:00.004-07:00

Monday, March 16, 2009 . . . Click on the slide show for Album pictures

The Discovery shuttle launch from Cape Canaveral was so incredible to watch from Tomoka State Park, more than 50 miles north. Watched it this morning on TV, definitely not the same. Richard P left us the shots of the launch on a flash drive. We looked at them last night and they were great shots, he did a good job. Pictures will be posted in our Picasa Web albums. There are a couple of videos you can request from us by email or Blog Comments at the end of this entry.

The Pelletiers have left, headed out about noon for Canada. Miss them already.

One of those days it's bright and sunny one minute, then very dark and cloudy the next. And hot and humid! And it's March!! At least it's not snow pellets blowing! It's so warm we opted to get up and work first thing while it was still cool. Now we need to go back and check to see that everything in the way of paper products are holding up.

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Well, R & M have a foster dog. Go to www.k9lifesavers.org, click on adoptable dogs, and you'll get to a long list of dogs with photos, his name is Colin. When you click on his name you get to two photos which will enlarge, also his description. Looks like he has a sweet face, hopefully a sweet personality to go with it.

It is so humid, I (Kay) was drenched with perspiration by the time I got back home. Showered, had some lunch, then we had our "exit interview" which was very pleasant. John is a really nice guy, great sense of humor. Then drove over to the Museum area to see the "Indigo Dye Lady" who had a small demonstration of how to make the dye. She did a good job of explaining it all. What valuable stuff a cake of indigo was - and is. But terribly toxic for whoever has to make the stuff. She also had her pine needle baskets and jewelry on display. Also showed us fibers died with various vegetable dye, even spinach! Interesting.

We are going to breakfast with Pam and Richard over at Noah's, a gourmet grocery store that serves meals - we're told they make killer omelets. Tonight they are coming over to watch Frost Nixon, that will be our last hurrah with them until next winter.

Saturday, March 14, 2009

We all worked early then drove up to St. Augustine. Had a lovely lunch at Harry's restaurant, then wandered around old St. A, looking at the shops, etc. Got home about 4, stopped at a Publix and picked up couple of frozen pizzas for dinner. P & R came over for happy hour, then dinner of pizzas. Sadly, our Netflix, "Frost/Nixon", hadn't come yet. So, P & R brought over their collection of movies and we watched Mrs. Brown. Outstanding movie, enjoyed it thoroughly.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Tried a new scrambled egg recipe for a late breakfast - pesto eggs. Scrambled eggs with s & p, add a big handful of cheddar cheese and scramble them as they cook, stir in a couple teaspoons of pesto. Yummy, but so filling. Didn't eat anything more until dinner.

We are smaller "communities" within the RV parks, and you often don't have long to get acquainted. We're all transients, away from families and "home" so anxious to meet others to share time and ideas, etc. Definitely helps people to connect quickly. RVers tend to be very helpful to one another as well. Tend to look out for each other.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Richard is emptying waste tanks at the moment. Something that has to be done every few days since we don't have a sewer hookup at the site. Such fun. Drove past Pam and Richard's site yesterday just as he was finishing doing the deed there. They were both out there, gloved up and looking unhappy. They had had a catastrophe, the hose had come loose and they'd had a major spill of waste water onto Richard. Yikes, must have been a mess!

I fixed tonight's potluck salad. A southwestern black bean and corn salad. I took the same thing to the potluck in January, several people asked me about it, said they really enjoyed it.

Monday, March 09, 2009

I think spring must have arrived in Florida. We've been warm and sunny for a few days now and it looks like it will keep up. We're needing rain here now. We're trying to adjust to the new daylight savings time. So is Libby, really messes up her feeding schedule, and she's not happy about that.

We have many blessings to count. Whenever we hear the bleak news on the economy we tell each other how very fortunate we are. We have our little house, we have jobs, we are doing what we love - traveling - Our daughter has a secure job, so does her partner, Warren is off to a happier fuller life, hopefully with a job of some sort. AND we have our health, such as it is.

Pam and Richard went up in ultralight airplanes yesterday that friends in the area own. Pam got to see the sunrise over the Atlantic. Said it was so beautiful. Richard took a bunch of photos and will share them with us. Anxious to see them. [They are in our Picasa Web albums.]

Friday, March 06, 2009

Before you make that chicken, add garlic and oregano to the chicken Parmesan recipe. I'd forgotten those two ingredients. I just finished the last piece of chicken tonight. One piece was left over and Pam left it here. Warmed up nicely in foil.

Friday, March 06, 2009

Wednesday evening we had our dinner with Pam and Richard which turned out really yummy. She fixed Parmesan chicken which was delicious. Asked her yesterday how it was made - simple, actually. Skin some thighs (I suspect breasts would work well too), dip them in beaten egg, then a batter. The batter is Parmesan cheese and flour, s & p, and ginger. The powered ginger is what made it so good, methinks. It's 2 parts of grated cheese to one part flour. Put the chicken in a pan that's has had olive oil spread in the bottom, turn the chicken over to get oil all over it, and bake at 350 for about 45 minutes or so. It's so tasty. I had fixed a salad of orzo, oil packed roasted tomatoes, kalamata olives, artichoke hearts, baby spinach, s & p, red onion, feta cheese - everything well chopped, of course. The only dressing is the marinade from the artichoke hearts. We decided it needed more dressing - maybe a vinegar and oil, but basically it was very good. Also had grilled ciabatta bread. Maybe it all tasted to good because of all the wine we'd had to go with it. We tried some Australian and also some New Zealand wines that give CA wines a run for their money.

More yummy food yesterday in St. Augustine. Left here about 9:30. Takes about an hour to get up there. Went to the Leitner Museum first. Wonderful stuff. Apparently this guy bought out wealthy collectors during the depression. People desperate to sell anything during that time so they could survive. This guy apparently didn't lose his money for some reason?? He had everything from tiffany glass to stuffed real animals to European art works, etc. Beautiful and very valuable stuff. His porcelain and crystal collections were amazing. It's all housed in what used to be a very glamorous hotel in St Augustine, complete with the largest indoor swimming pool anywhere at one time. It's now a restaurant, however - and dry. We spent a couple hours there until we were simply overwhelmed to looking at "stuff".

Then went to Gypsy Cab Cafe, a landmark restaurant there. Looks very ho-hum on the outside, and not all that fancy inside, but the food is to die for. Pam and I ordered Gypsy Chicken, their signature dish. Oh my gawd, as you would say. For $10 you first get a nice mixed salad with house dressing that's absolutely amazing. Then the main course is this stuffed boneless chicken breast, roasted, I think, covered in a tasty sauce of some sort. With it comes smashed potatoes with roasted garlic mixed in, also veggies. Three kinds, carrots that were sweetened with something, red cabbage that's kind of pickled and braised, plus broccoli. Just realized, no bread, but who needed it? Our Richard had blackened fished which he said was wonderful, Pam's Richard had a hamburger which was unusual in some way, I guess. He said it was fantastic. I was too busy enjoying the chicken, to tell the truth. Ate the whole thing, after stuffing myself the night before! And drinking more wine than usual the night before. Stuck with water for lunch. Actually felt sick in the evening, just "off". Skipped dinner.

In the meantime, yes, we're learning SKYPE. We don't have a camera or a microphone that works, they are on order from Amazon.com. Martina's new computer has camera and mike so Ruth was visible on my screen and I could hear her fine, and I could only type. Kind of a lop sided conversation.

Poor Richard - Last night he knocked over a glass of beer, had only had a few sips of it - right on his computer! Needless to say, something isn't working right on it now. The beer went everywhere on the desk on his end of the desk. It turns on OK but signals from the keyboard are screwed up. Sooo frustrating.

John, the Ranger who is in charge of the volunteers is taking all the volunteers to a certain state park in the area that's only accessible by boat. In the evening is a Volunteer Potluck again over at a picnic pavilion. Hopefully it will be warm enough. It's to say good by to those volunteers who have to leave a bit earlier than the rest of us. Like Pam and Richard who are leaving the 14th or so. They have to be back up in Ontario for a wedding. I think there's another couple heading north early also.

Wednesday, March 04, 2009

Trying to learn SKYPE so we can communicate with family in the U.S. and New Zealand. I'm having a terrible time trying to figure out how to make it work, however. Even the instructions make no sense to me.

Monday, March 02, 2009

Wednesday evening we're combining meals with Pam and Richard. She's been to culinary school up in Canada. Not sure what that consists of but she sure has some amazing recipes and menus. I'm learning alot from her about cooking in general. Thursday we 4 plan on going up to St Augustine for lunch and the Leitner Museum. We have a good time together, often do Happy Hour with them - they with their martinis and us with beer and/or wine. Lots of common interests. They will be back here next winter also so we're all happy about that.

Pam does jewelry, available online at www.JewelTrends.ca. Have yet to see her in action but I've seen a lot of her products and they are beautiful. Stones and woods from all over the world. She buys her materials pre-drilled and then assembles the jewelry and does a beautiful job. Her Richard has been working on a web page so she can sell online but he's not knowledgeable enough about web pages to be able to finish the job. My Richard has recently really been studying up on web design and now the two of them are joining forces. Hopefully a web page will be up and running before they leave here mid March - just 2 weeks from now.

Saturday morning we went to a lecture at the Historical Society with Pam and Richard. It was presented by a professor from Southern FL University. He talked about women in Florida during the anti bellum period. Very very interesting. Learned a lot including a lot about the Seminole Wars, especially the second war which lasted 7 years! It was led by Osceola which I'd studied some in Native American History at Southern Oregon College but sure learned alot more from this lecture. This guy has written several books, is a native Floridian as well. He also talked about the Crackers from that time period. I was glad we'd seen that demonstration about the Crackers a few weeks ago at the Volunteer Appreciation Day.

February 27, 2009

This past year we've been doing alot of campground hosting on the east coast. Right now we're in Ormond Beach, FL at Tomoka State Park. We'll leave here April 1, visit friends at Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, TN, head on up for a brief visit with our daughter who lives in Takoma Park, MD, just outside DC. Then head on up to Thomaston, CT to serve as hosts there. We worked there last summer also. We'll be there until late August, when we head back to the DC where we'll host Greenbelt National Park campground until Thanksgiving. We worked there as well last year and enjoyed being near our daughter. Then we head back down here for the winter to host again. Campground hosting seems to be our best bet for the time being. At least until our IRAs start growing again instead of shrinking! Fortunately we rather enjoy hosting as it allows us to sit still for longer periods of time (for free) and get to know an area. We also enjoy getting to know the other hosts and meeting a variety of campers in the campgrounds.

We haven't been back to California since 2006 and have no need to make that trek.

Right now Richard is learning more about web design. I continue to putter with genealogy. My father's family is a tough one to track. The McCormicks, Loyds, Kuhns, all hit brick walls. I get to a certain point and the trail goes cold.

February 22, 2009

Gumdrop the ferret is a sweetie. I had some questions about them also. Yes, they are trained, they use newspaper but I'm wondering why not a litter box? They eat ferret food. Guess it's like dry cat food, or similar. They are burrowers, of course, look like weasel or otters, in a way. Slither around. Being burrowers they kept sniffing at our pants cuffs, but inside them. I was hoping they wouldn't go up the inside of the pant leg. I'd heard they might bite people, etc, but apparently not. I forgot to ask if they are nocturnal which would mean they might be getting into who knows what while you're sleeping.

The coquina stone is very common in this area, in older buildings. I think it's really beautiful, fascinating to study close up. It was used in some early Civil War era forts - and before, and I guess they are the ones that have survived shelling from opposing forces. Who would of thought? Truly recycling at it's best, since it was formed from compression of sand and small shells!

Bike week starts officially tomorrow. Lots of motorcycles have come in already but I suspect alot more will arrive tomorrow. Noisy monsters. Our cat, Libby, won't stay outside because it's too noisy at times.

for the next year . . .

2009-02-27T10:21:00.002-07:00

This past year we've been doing a lot of campground hosting on the east coast. Right now we're in Ormond Beach, FL at Tomoka State Park. We'll leave here April 1, visit friends at Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, TN, head on up for a brief visit with our daughter who lives in Takoma Park, MD, just outside DC. Then head on up to Thomaston, CT to serve as hosts there. We worked there last summer also. We'll be there until late August, when we head back to the DC where we'll host Greenbelt National Park campground until Thanksgiving. We worked there as well last year and enjoyed being near our daughter. Then we head back down here for the winter to host again. Campground hosting seems to be our best bet for the time being. At least until our IRAs start growing again instead of shrinking! Fortunately we rather enjoy hosting as it allows us to sit still for longer periods of time (for free) and get to know an area. We also enjoy getting to know the other hosts and meeting a variety of campers in the campgrounds.

We haven't been back to California since 2006 and have no need to make that trek. Richard's sister and husband live in Santa Cruz but their daughter lives in NJ. Occasionally we can hook up when they are visiting her in NJ. Glen's family has scattered somewhat. Muriel and Kathy still live in Tustin. Kathy has a son, Zachary and is expecting a daughter in May. Vickie and Scott still live in Big Bear City and operate a B & B there. One of their sons passed away in 2007, so they've had a hard time. David and Maggie and children have moved to Alaska to get work. Sadly, I don't have an address or eddress for them yet. However, I'm able to stay in touch with Kathy and Muriel occasionally.

How are your family? I don't have a clue what is happening in your family and would love an update.

Right now Richard is learning more about web design. I continue to putter with genealogy. Our parents' family is a tough one to track. The McCormicks, Loyds, Kuhns, all hit brick walls. I get to a certain point and the trail goes cold.

Sadly we've not been able to use our StarBand satellite Internet much this past year. Too many trees wherever we are on the east coast. Also, with the satellite out over the Pacific, it's too low for much of the east coast, especially as you go north. We've been using a Verizon connection for the past several months with our Starband on a "vacation" rate. We've been debating just what to do about that. Also we've been using gmail some. The thing we'd like to avoid is changing our email address.

Do you have a blog? If so, what is the url? At our blog you'll find a link to Kathy McCormick's blog among the followers. Also you'll find a link to Vickie and Scott's business in Big Bear.

Please write in the Comments below for all to see or directly at masterson@starband.net. Bring us up to date with all your doings. Any chance you'll be on the east coast any time soon?

Princes Park and Ferrets

2009-02-26T15:08:00.003-07:00

Have had a full couple of days. Guess I haven't written since earlier this week. Yesterday, Kay got her hair cut by Carol, who we'd met a couple of nights earlier at Pam and Richard's RV. She and Chuck were childhood sweethearts way back when. She cuts hair and is also a massage therapist. Anyway, Richard and Pam, and Kay were all due for cuts so off we went to Daytona Beach where Carol and Chuck live Richard M tagged along for the fun of it.

After we finished up there, we drove back thru the heart of old Daytona. The Pelletiers were driving, wanted to know if we'd like to visit a neat candy shop which was fine with us. They have a chocolate factory where you can watch the whole process. They also do all these amazing chocolate creations. One is a conch shell - a big one, of a mix of white and dark chocolate, very thin and fragile, but so beautiful! Another creation is chocolate covered potato chips. They were passing out samples and I (Kay) tried the potato chip - yummy. Nice mix of sweet and salty. We all bought samples of chocolate, then opted to have lunch at the adjoining gourmet cafe. More yummy and actually decently priced. Got home about 2 or so, then had to get our various jobs done for the day.

See the pictures. Click on the slide show on the right.

This morning we headed up toward Palm Coast where Catherine lives. Learned to spell her name right, by the way. She's been wanting to show us a County park near her home, Princess Place Preserve. Lovely park, on the water. An exiled cousin of Nicholas Czar lived there with his bride for many years. The county now owns the property, all 1500 or more acres, and it's now open for camping, hiking, kayaking and other water sports. Nicely maintained as well. Lots of interesting nooks and crannies one could easily get lost! No swimming, of course - alligators. Couldn't tour the house itself but could see thru the windows. Very lovely and well preserved. It's built of coquina, a stone made of a conglomerate of sand and tiny shells and extremely tough. It's withstood many hurricanes beautifully. The house tours are only on week-ends, unfortunately. The house was built of coquina. The largest shells are about the size of your little fingernail. Very interesting stuff. It lasts forever, I guess. Seems to survive hurricanes well.

Before heading out to the park we visited Catherine a bit in her home which is modest but very nice. Charming, actually, just as she is. The big hit were her "children", two ferrets, Gumdrop and Peewee! They are so darned cute, playful, friendly, curious. We enjoyed them thoroughly. If we didn't have a cat we'd sure be tempted. Unfortunately they aren't allowed in some states, so that could be a problem with our lifestyle. Wouldn't think of giving up Libby, however. We had a great morning.

On the way home we stopped for lunch at KFC, hadn't had that in ages, then at a Publix for groceries. Got home to good news. WE DON'T HAVE TO MOVE!! That makes us so happy as we were feeling weary to begin with and it's a bit of work to wrap up everything to move, then resettle in again. Hardest for Richard, of course, dealing with all the outside stuff. The inside stuff isn't that hard, just time consuming. Anyway, we're very pleased. Apparently one of the groups that were going to use this site canceled, which left just one camper and it wasn't a problem for them to take site 28, so we can now sit still. Whew! Dodged that bullet!

What's "Monday"?

2009-02-23T13:40:00.002-07:00

Happy Monday! - Isn't it nice for us retirees to not have to relate Mondays with a work week? I do love retirement! We did work today but I think we did more chatting with other hosts and rangers than work. Makes for an enjoyable work day - all 1-2 hours of it.

Looks like we've got a full calendar for our 2 days off. Tomorrow I will be getting my hair cut. Wednesday a.m. we're driving up to Cathrine's house and she's taking us on up to Princess Place Park, a county park she's been raving about. We could certainly do it on our own but she wants to show it to us. One of her favorite parks, I guess. Says she'll fix lunch for us as well.

We want to be back in the afternoon as that's when we'll move the RV over to site 28. Buck, another host, is going to help Richard back into the site. Guess he's backed plenty of long trucks, etc. in days gone by, so Richard says.

Thursday, we're heading up to St Augustine with Pam and Richard. We'll have lunch up there, take in the Leitner Museum and hopefully the Spanish Quarter. Such a quaint city. Everything is so old and they've certainly preserved the old part of town beautifully. Learned about some local flea markets and farmer's markets here. Will try to work those in sometime or other.

I suppose most of you watched the Oscars last night. We didn't watch any of it, actually, we were watching other things on TV. Hadn't seen any of the films anyway, so didn't know much about them. I did hear that Slumdog got alot of awards, however.

Newseum. Moving within the Park.

2009-02-20T11:45:00.006-07:00

Newseum is a Web site that give you access to the front pages of many of the world's newspapers. They claim to be working on other topics like diversity in news and protecting the First Amendment. You will find a link on the right column of this blog site, right above the link to our trailer for sale -- any takers? -rm

Our camp site was not blocked out on the reservation system thru the fault of local management or the reservation company. The Local Leaders have decided they would ask the good natured volunteers to move, rather than asking the two scheduled campers to move. So, we will be moving in the next few days. We will lose our TV from the DirecTV satellite. It will make it so there are motorcycles on only one side of our campsite in stead of two sides during "Bike Week". That will be nice. -rm

Volunteer Day at Silver Spring SP

2009-02-15T19:34:00.002-07:00

Saturday, February 14, 2009

We had to be ready to travel by about 8:15 this morning to ride with Richard and Pam, another host couple, to attend Volunteer Appreciation Day over at Silver Springs State Park, about 70 miles west of here. A beautiful park and a fun day. We arrived just on time, got our tickets for the afternoon Pontoon Boat ride on the river, then went to visit the Cracker Village. So informative and interesting, about how the Cracker people lived. The name came from their use of a whip they used to herd their cattle and hogs in the swamplands. Learned how they lived and dressed, what they ate, etc. Learned their main crop was sugar cane. The guy who presented the program was a descendant of the Crackers and he's one of the State Park personnel now. He was dressed in costume as well. They were the primary population until about 1940 until the orange growers started buying their land.

Then we went to listen to a Timucuan Village demonstration given by a woman who was costumed and played the part of a Timacuan Native American. She actually isn't, the tribe is extinct. Learned so much from her. She's someone who has developed an interest in preserving their heritage and memory and works for the park service now. Very, very interesting. I had had a year of Native American history in college but didn't learn anything about this tribe.

By this time it was time for lunch. Fried fish, hush puppies, coleslaw, baked beans, fried potatoes, followed by Valentine's cake. I had everything but the fish. Not a great lunch, but satisfying. All this time there was REAL bluegrass music. Fun music. John, "our" Ranger, even clogged for us. Then the "program" started, lots of short speeches followed by various awards to various volunteers.

After that was the highlight of the day, at least for us. Took the boat ride on the river. Saw several alligators, various Florida birds, lots of fish jumping in the river which was beautiful clear water from the springs. Lots of turtles, herons, egrets, ibis.

On the way over in the morning we saw 3 sandhill cranes and on our way home, going thru Ocala National Forest, we saw a black bear! A small one, but a real bear! Knew they were fairly common all over Florida but hadn't seen one yet. Learned about the rhesus monkeys that are there. Someone thought they'd be great in Florida, they reproduced like crazy, now gradually being controlled. There are still A LOT in that area. We didn't see any, but I guess some were seen just that morning during the morning boat ride.

We just got home a little while ago. Needless to say, we're weary!

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Today is Daytona 500 day. Lots of race enthusiasts camping here. However, the campground isn't full which is a surprise to everyone. Usually it's packed in previous years, so we're told. Also, heard on the news last night that attendance is down at the races as well. Plus the fact there's a 70% chance of rain today. I guess if the track is wet, the race is postponed. Actually I thought there might be an obnoxious crowd in the park, but all is quiet and normal. We'll head off to work as usual later this morning.

Richard and Pam have invited us to join them for a chorale this afternoon. Had thought we might join them but now we're having second thoughts. It sounds lovely but after such a full day yesterday we're still feeling weary. Richard woke up with a sore throat again this morning and was pretty miserable with a stuffy nose all night, so I'm thinking a "down" day would be good. Plus, if it's raining, I'd rather just hole up at home.

Even though there's been some rain here, it's dry. Guess the water just goes right thru the sand, nothing to hold the moisture in the soil here. We were blessed with wonderful weather yesterday for the Volunteer gathering. Overcast most of the morning, actually had a few sprinkles on the way over. We rode with Richard and Pam which was enjoyable. It was still kind of cloudy during lunchtime and thru the meeting part of the event, which was nice. It was warm, but we weren't baking in the sunshine and getting sunburned.

However, by the time we got on the pontoon boat the sun had come out and it was gorgeous, not too hot, especially since we were sitting in the sun. I actually felt a bit sunburned by the time we got back to our cars. I wasn't, just not used to sitting in the sun. I avoid it if I can. Beautiful sunny drive home as well.

We'd best get some breakfast in us and get our work done - then we can loaf the rest of the day.

Greenbelt to Savannah

2008-12-22T17:00:00.004-07:00

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

Yup, recession time is here. Sad to see the stores struggling so as most depend heavily on Christmas sales. Even when we left the mall yesterday, the crowds were no bad at all. About what you'd expect in such a populated area. Parking was a breeze, practically right outside Penney's main entrance! We got there late enough you'd think the place would be hopping with Christmas shoppers. Not so, the store at that time of day was almost empty!

Hope Obama's new economic team can get things back on track. Chatting with the guy who is apparently the "boss" of the tree felling crew. He says they contract out to the US govt, state parks, hurricane disaster units, various government type places and they are all in arrears! Way way in arrears. And the contractors can't do much about getting their money until the govt feels like paying. That's not right! As usual, the little guy gets hurt.

Richard just brought the mail, including a sweet note from Theo thanking us for the hat and spending the day with them.

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Tuesday, December 02, 2008

Another pretty morning here, but cold, of course. Paul and Mary sent a photo of what must be the view out their door, it was snowing at Pigeon Forge - they were not pleased. They leave there tomorrow for Savannah. Mary's thru working there until April 1, it seems.

A busy day yesterday. Went to a mall up near where our Dr is. Did the last bit of Christmas shopping, the rest was done online. I think we're about finished, thank goodness. Actually not much to do any more, what with 3 kids including Martina and each other, and you guys. Made a couple of quick stops for stocking stuffer items and personal items, then picked up a copy of Richard's PET scan and report for our files. We carry copies of all our medical stuff with us so whatever Dr we're seeing will have our records without a lot of nonsense trying to get copies long distance. Then got some gas, 10 gallons for a 10 gallon tank! $1.79 a gallon, amazing after last summer’s #5.09 for diesel. Went to the bank.

Would you believe we left home about 10 and got home after 4:30! And actually traffic didn't slow us down. Stopped at Armand's Chicago Pizza and had a great pizza for lunch, I guess Chicago style. Not sure what Chicago style is. Cute place with black and white checkered table cloths, red backed chairs, like you'd find in an ice cream parlor, Italian decorations everywhere in an autumn theme. Thankfully they hadn't put out Christmas stuff yet, had had our fill at the Mall of over the top Christmas decorations and music, even Santa! If you know what I mean. Anyway, home to a hungry Libby. Finished our pizza for a late dinner as we watched a movie "Atonement". Very good movie and from what Ruth tells me, an excellent book as well.

Warren called later, he's still pulling everything all together, getting everything taken care of for his apartment, being sure everything is paid up ahead on utilities, etc.

Then Ruth called to chat before she flew away to Atlanta. Leaves here about 10 this morning, so may be at the airport now? Arrives in Atlanta around noon, staying at the Marriott where the Conference is being held. Has a busy day one day, otherwise a light load the others and she will be able to attend the sessions she'd like to hear. She especially wants to hear Ron Clark, the educator who has started his own school in the Atlanta area. She's met him before, so impressed with the work he's doing. I think it's thru his own Foundation. ASF, Associations of Small Foundations is putting on this conference, so she's going to be a busy woman.

Between the 2 calls I think 2 hours, at least, of the evening was consumed. Just as well nothing was any good on TV - that's why we watched the movie - after the phone calls. Would have been a hard movie to follow had we had interruptions.

Today should be quiet and peaceful here, no particular plans. We need a new tire, actually 4, for the RV. Richard will take care of that. All I know is that they are hideously expensive. The ones that are on here are probably the ones that came with the RV in 2003, five years old - time to be replaced before something awful happens. I can work on wrapping the gifts and doing that sort of thing. Sounds exciting, huh? We probably won't do any decorating beyond putting lights up outside once we get to Savannah. No room for a tree inside, that's for sure. The sunshine has apparently brought the squirrels out, they seem to be running up and down the trees in my line of vision. Driving Libs nuts. They are so beautiful this time of year, their tails are huge, thickened fur? Libby's fur is thicker as well, we've noticed. Even though she doesn't go outside much these days - too cold for her liking. Must be because of the shorter daylight hours.

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Thursday, December 04, 2008

As it turns out, it isn't raining. - Yet. I see it's clouding up a tad, it's been really quite pleasant today, not too cold and mostly sunny. Hate to see the clouds toll in, but I have been able to do what I want to do outside. We've had two folders full of park "stuff" here, handouts to campers, that needed something done with. Took a bunch of it down to the bulletin board, there are two sets of multiple pockets for brochures there, filled them up with some of the "stuff", straightened out the rest to hand off to Chris, the winter host, when we are closer to leaving time. We'll be working the next several evenings, then the other hosts to take over and we can prep to leave. After sitting for 3 months it takes a little bit of thinking thru getting everything ready to travel again. Also went thru our Christmas purchases that are here, wrapped a few items, sorted out the stocking stuffers. We'll try to intercept the items that are being shipped to 5 Hickory to bring home to wrap before the 14th. We'll celebrate that week-end with R & M. Feel like Warren's received his gifts already. And did a little bit of cleaning of the RV, more to do, but it's not urgent. Manana.

Guess those activities took much of the morning as it turns out.

Such a treat to be with R & M and their friends, we enjoy the meaningful conversations. The book Therese gave me is making my brain work to absorb it all, goes into so much detail about these Brown brothers who founded Brown University in Providence. There were actually 4 brothers, but mostly it's about Moses, the quiet intellectual brother who abhorred slavery, and John, the boistrous brother who was a slave runner! Interesting mix, huh? So much detail has come out of the writer's research, I'm finding it fascinating, but a tad exhausting to read. Definitely not a fast read. Nicholas is another brother who Therese thinks we may descend from, but not sure. He seems to keep busy at the counting house tending to the Brown brother's shipping business. Anyway, it's proving to be an interesting book.

Need a few things at Safeway but actually hate to leave the peacefulness of the park. We've plenty to eat here, so maybe I'll just put it off for a bit longer. I tend to get very lazy.

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Wednesday, December 03, 2008

I've been puttering with online research this morning, Richard has been writing up some recommendations/suggestions for the park here. That's about it for excitement today. It's nice out, would have been a nice day for a drive, maybe to the eastern shore, or somewhere, but a bit late to start out now. It's supposed to rain tomorrow - again.

Time for a nap?

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Janet’s Christmas baking and fudge sound yummy and the Christmas ice cream balls sound fun, but messy to make? Who cares, it's the fun involved. Decorations sound good too. We won't put up lights or anything until we get to Savannah, methinks. We'd just have to take them down for travel. We have some strings of colored lights to drape around the awning and door, a big bow for the front of the RV. Would love to have a tiny tree but where to put it? I hate to think what Libs would do to it. Besides which, we have no decorations for a tree with us. No desire to haul some around with us the rest of the year. We'll celebrate Christmas vicariously thru your activities, OK?

Need a few things at Safeway but actually hate to leave the peacefulness of the park. We've plenty to eat here, so maybe I'll just put it off for a bit longer. I tend to get very lazy.

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Monday, December 08, 2008

Yup, it's cold here. Anxious to head south and get warm again. Stays comfy inside the RV but you sure don't want to linger outside. Major cold front from Canada has come thru. Supposed to be 60 later in the week for a day or two, then another cold front is coming. Got up to a dusting of snow on the ground here yesterday, we still have a few patches here and there.

Yesterday we took the truck over to R & M. Stayed awhile and helped her in the yard. Fortunately it was sunny yesterday, just cold and windy. We dressed for it, however, so did fine. She had some winter picking up to do, some things needing putting away for the winter, move the insect repellent bottles inside to avoid freezing, which had probably already happened! You know how it is when winter has arrived and you realize things can't sit where they are until next spring. She did some raking of leaves, etc. Once finished we went inside and enjoyed some mulled cider she'd made up for the occasion - delicious! She'd gotten some really good cider at the Farmer's Market that morning and used chai spices in it, came out unusually yummy. Got home in time to do our rounds here at the park. Doesn't take much to do everything this time of year. Fortunately we were able to get inside for the night before it turned much colder. I think it was to get down into the low 20s last night, plus a clear sky and strong wind. Not sure what the wind chill was.

We are going to have a pretty quiet week, until Sunday, when we "do" Christmas and go the Christmas Chorale. The Chorale is at 5 PM, so we'll take R & M to a nice dinner, a combination of Christmas and their Sep 1 anniversary gift afterwords. We plan to pull out early the 15th, Monday, and drive about 300 miles down to NC, then on to Charleston the next day to meet Paul and Mary. We'll actually be in Savannah for Christmas, then head on down to Florida on the 1st. They want us ON the 1st, not before or after, if possible. Richard is going thru our basement to see what we can store at R & M's. They've made a spot for our junk we don't need to haul in their basement. We're using plastic boxes so if there's a problem with moisture it shouldn't matter. Their basement is actually very dry, usually. I think they've had one flood down there since living there, and that was minor, in an unusually heavy downpour.

Warren called last night. Sounded like he's all ready to fly away. Anyway, he's to email us once he gets there. His phone doesn't have international coverage. So, I asked him to email us asap when he arrives. And to keep us posted on what all he's doing there. I think he called Ruth also, we gave him a couple extra phone numbers as her cell phone only took a message when he called. I know she'd been trying to call him for some time.

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Saturday, December 06, 2008

So cold here right now, a high of 38 is expected today and tomorrow. We're noticing the chill around the edges but basically quite comfy. Thankfully we're not paying the power bills. Our water was sluggish this morning, even after leaving the kitchen tap on running slowly all night! We'll probably disconnect it tonight, to be safe, drain the hose so it won't freeze. 72 in Ormond Beach, FL! About the same in Nelson, New Zealand too.

Ruth is home from Atlanta, she called a little bit ago. Guess everything went smoothly for her. We're taking the firewood over to them tomorrow mid day then help them do a bit of yard and outdoor cleanup, wrap things up for winter. Geez, it's about time! We'll dress warmly and hopefully be comfy as long as we're active. I'll have to dig out my long silk underwear!

I'll have to look into this Wally Lamb guy. Never heard of him. Just looked him up and read a few pages of one of his books. Looks good, I'll check him out further. Kim's last recommendation of books, can't remember the names, a few years ago was great, a series about a minister in a little town. The name of them will hit me in the middle of the night.

Yesterday ended up full, morning consisting of defrosting the freezer, wrapping gifts, putting away some things before we travel. Went over to R & M's in the afternoon, did laundry, enjoyed their internet and wi-fi, got groceries, even squeezed in a short nap. Oh yes, got a propane tank refilled too, on the way home. Came back, did our rounds. That took all of a half hour. One camper in 173 sites! Not much traffic this time of year. Enjoyed a TV movie after dinner, "The Guardian" with Kevin Costner. Good movie about the Coast Guard. We're in between movie rentals here, just sent "Atonement" back, not sure what's next in the queue. Today has been quiet here. Finished wrapping R & M's gifts. Haven't done anything about a gift for Richard yet, but we still have a couple of weeks to work with. I guess I'm not sending out cards again this year, just too expensive for the postage any more. I used to send out a lot, but no more.

Martina has bought tickets for the 14th evening to go hear a Christmas Chorale, I think Bach. Her family had the custom of hearing something on this order every Christmas, actually my family kind of did, when we were back in Iowa. My parents always had concert tickets to go to Omaha or Shenandoah to a classical music series. Part of our music education, I guess. I imagine that helped to develop my enjoyment of classical music, which I really do enjoy. Seems there was also something special at Christmas time. Anyway, we'll do our Christmas dinner and gifts, then go to the concert. Sounds like a lovely way to celebrate the holiday. Just wish Warren were with us.

Time for a nap. Yesterday when in Safeway, Richard spotted these HUGE hoagie type sandwiches for $5. Filled with beef, ham and turkey, cheese, tomatoes and lettuce. So, we bought one, I cut it into 4 sandwiches and we had the first two today for lunch. It was still humongous even after cutting it up! Will finish the other parts tomorrow. Actually it was pretty tasty, although we added a bit more mayo and mustard, pickles, and fresh lettuce, heated it in the microwave. Not a bad deal. Kind of funny.

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Thursday, December 11, 2008

Thanks go to Janet for the flowers that are stunning and in such great vases for each arrangement.

One is a gold cube with a luxurious ribbon to look like a gift package with 3 deep red roses and carnations, the other is like a big red ornament with the top cut off and attached somehow, filled with red and white carnations and mums, with pine and berry fillers, both are gorgeous! Ruth has the one with roses sitting on the marble coffee table (Aunt Georgie's) so she's claimed that one and the carnations and mums will go home with Richard and me when we head home later today. Richard's favorite flower is the carnation so that's very fitting. I forgot to bring my camera cable over with me so I'll have to transfer the photos to the computer when I get home.

Richard has been keeping busy transcribing letters written from Clara, Chase and 3 kids -- addressed to Rachel and were in her scrapbook. Learning some interesting things about some of the anger in that family, it sounds like -- how Chase was raised, etc. I'm sure he'll share this info when he's finished. These are photocopies of letters that were in Rachel's files. Mostly stuff about what's happening day to day.

I'm keeping busy putting data into my genealogy files that I've accumulated over time that has piled up. A lot of photocopies from books in libraries. Nothing very exciting but it is clearing up some details and various mistakes I've made, and documenting data as well.

Exciting life, huh?

Simone (Ruth’s cat) is curled up on Richard's computer bag. Libs is home alone, probably loving the peace and quiet?

Raining today, supposed to have alot of rain, possibly snow from a big system that's come up from the southern states meeting up with a cold front coming down from Canada. California weather seems so simple in comparison, everything simply comes in off the Pacific, for the most part. I'm glad we're not trying to travel this week, the weather has been messy much of the time. Not as nice and warm today as it was yesterday.

No more news from Warren. I really doubt if we'll hear much very soon.

Hope you're getting things wrapped up for Christmas so you can coast into the holidays.

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Friday, December 12, 2008

I've attached photos of the two bouquets Janet sent all of us. We brought the round "dish" with the carnations/mums home, the roses and "package" are with R & M. These are delightful, so clever. I've ordered from that florist also, in the past, everything turns our really nice. The bouquets were left on the back porch since no one was home and obviously leaving them on the front porch wasn't a good idea. They called early the next morning, Ruth tells us, to confirm that we found the flowers and are enjoying them. Nice personal touch, methinks. Local florist, up on the main drag of Takoma Park, I suspect they've been there for years. Nice town the girls landed in, right?

Spent the day Thursday, in Takoma Park at R & M's, as it turned out. Went over to do laundry, did some online computer work while there. At home we can only be online one at a time right now with the Verizon connection. When we have the satellite dish up and working, we can both use the internet at the same time, but not here. Always a treat to use Ruth's wi-fi as we can both be online at the same time. Anyway, she was taking a comp day from work, so home most of the time we were there. Headed home about 3 PM, just in time to give Libs her evening meal, by the time we waded thru traffic to get home. We're thru working so no schedule to maintain in that regard. We're starting to wind up things to prep for heading out early Monday. Sunday we'll be gone all day. Just little odds and ends here to wrap up before we hit the road.

I have a huge batch of stew "aging" in the fridge. We had a little last night and it was pretty darned good. It's a "Gourmet" magazine recipe, took hours to prepare, mostly cooking time, and says it's best the 3-4th day after it's made. I'll ask them to bring some gluten free cornbread that they like, they get it at Whole Foods. Ruth isn't eating gluten these days, apparently it gives her headaches that go on for weeks! No gluten or flour products in the stew, of course. I have some gluten free flour here, so could try to make some myself.

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From Richard:

Next 4 days will be at Oak Plantation Campground, just west of Charleston, SC. Our truck stopped pulling its load about 30 miles short of the campground. So we had AAA tow it to mechanic, and Paul & Mary came with their truck to haul our house (trailer) to the park. We are in site oo6, next to them in oo7.

It was a very foggy drive from Four Oaks (near Raleigh, NC) this morning. Sun out now. Temp is well above freezing; much better than MD! Must be over 70.

Our Warren is -- Wow! -- now in another country, on another continent!

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Saturday, December 13, 2008

I'd invited R & M to dinner here but it turns out we're taking the stew over there tonight! That's OK, doesn't matter to us and this way I don't have to clean house :) Anyway, the stew is made and easily transported, will make the gluten free cornbread over there so it will be nice and fresh. We'll take the movie over there as well, it's one I think Ruth would like to see about Ron Clark, the educator in Atlanta that's doing such amazing things with kids from the ghetto. She's heard him speak twice now and is so impressed with him and his energy and what he's doing. I'm assuming Martina would be interested too as Ruth has talked so much about him.

Tomorrow evening will be our Christmas celebration and chorale. I suspect it will be very very good, looking forward to it.

Went grocery shopping this morning. Richard is now outside putting on new windshield wipers on Ruth's car, also replacing a burned out signal bulb, and last I saw was rain-x ing the windshield. Something we learned to do in Yreka, makes an amazing difference in the rain and snow. And snow is forecast for at least 2 days here next week. Hee, hee, we won't be here, but should be in SC by Wednesday afternoon. Hopefully no snow there or on the way. Beautiful day today, clear blue and sunny sky. The moon was so bright last night, supposed to be as it was the closest to the earth than it's been in many years. But boy, did it turn cold again! Had poured rain for 2 days before that, we still have standing puddles up here on the high part of the park. The ground just can't hold any more water!

Now to start prepping to travel...

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Thursday, December 18, 2008

Wish I could send some of our 83 degree weather your way. Probably warmer than you'd like, but it would thaw the toes. It's just so lovely, I can't describe it. Lovely breeze coming in my window here, absolutely perfect. May it stay that way for a few days, right?

We've already had a lovely Christmas celebration with our girls and feel content as far as the holiday is concerned. To us it would just be another meal, I suspect. We shall see.

What is "Slumdog Millionaire" supposed to be about. Last night we watched "Secret Millionaire" on TV. A true story about how this well off woman gave away almost $200,000 to 3 people. What we noticed is she chose people who were intelligent and had the possibility of helping others and who had fallen on bad times. We were both wiping our eyes by the end. Very touching. Apparently it's on regularly. Is it something like that? Anyway, sounds like a great way to do Christmas.

Staying home today, so far. Fine with us after 2 long days of travel and a third doing downtown Charleston yesterday. And it's so lovely out. May take a book out and enjoy being outside. However, Libs is sprawled out in front of me snoozing away, suggesting a nap. I think that will be the first order of business now that lunch is over. Paul wants to go downtown sometime to a specific restaurant with a specific specialty. Maybe tomorrow?

All of November

2008-12-22T16:55:00.003-07:00

Sunday, November 16, 2008 4:35 AM

Hope Janet’s flight back to CA went well. I could see she was having just too much fun with Theo, know he was hard to leave in NJ - and hard to leave Kim and Mark too. I'm so glad we could get together with all of you earlier this week. I know I really enjoyed the day at the zoo with all of you (except Mark who couldn't make it).

Thank you for the tip to take the train to Philly. So much more restful and pleasant than dealing with traffic. The trip back was just as pleasant as getting to Philly. Plus, since the station is about 10 minutes from Greenbelt, it was a breeze getting on home. We were back before 7:30. Not a bad wait at the station either. We did lots of people watching, of course, some reading. Richard took a nap. He's good at that.

Rainy and dreary today. Richard said we had a lot of close thunder and lightning in the night. I slept right thru it all, apparently. Looks like we actually have a day at home today, thankfully. We've had somewhere to go every day this week that required a huge part of the day.

Thursday Richard had his biopsy. He sees the doctor Monday morning to get the results. However, Richard has one little spot (incision) that's irritated and touchy yet (from the gall bladder surgery). Had the spot cauterized at the surgeon's office yesterday, apparently a suture had come loose and it wasn't closing right.

Ruth has invited several people to their home for Thanksgiving. I'm taking sweet potatoes and a salad, possibly pumpkin pie.

Worked last night, turned into quite an adventure. First, we had to drive a different vehicle as the 4 that are normally used by the campground grew were all out of commission for one reason or another. This one was one of those that when you step on the gas you get a jack rabbit start, brakes grab terribly, apparently hard to steer backwards, high off the ground making it hard to get in and out, etc.

First encounter was with a cute older couple from Europe. They had literally just got off the plane and retrieved their RV from the ship. Tired, confused, etc. She speaks some English, he none. Their language is French, but she's actually German. Sweet couple. Tried to help them figure out how to find a parking site, register, etc.

Did our first campground loop, then started the second. Encountered a couple carloads of Boy Scouts who were to be in the third loop. Had to open gates (in the dark, fog, and drizzle), then discovered the restrooms were locked. We don't happen to have a key for the restrooms. Drove back to the other host site, got a key, then unlocked the restroom.

In the meantime, the French/German couple needed water to fill their RV, told them what to do. When we encountered them next they couldn't find the right spigot in the dark. Put our headlights on where they needed to work and Richard helped them while I chatted with the lady. Learned about an exchange among retired RVers that would let us trade RVs with a European couple so they could travel in the US while we did Europe. Sounds like a possibility to me. She says the info is online, so will look into it. Finally got their water tank filled, then we were finally able to close the 2 gates and go home. All in the rain and cold and dark! Took us over 2 hours for a 45 minute job! Made for an interesting evening. The chicken and rice dinner I'd planned to fix turned into pizza using the dough that comes in a can (like biscuits). The chicken will be done tonight. The pizza turned out great!

No particular plans for the day here. I imagine you've got lots of mail and To turn very cold and windy tomorrow. Not looking forward to that. Winter is here for sure.

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Tuesday, November 18, 2008 5:34 AM

Glad Janet’s home safe and sound - and Jerome also. Our trip back to Greenbelt went like clockwork as it was supposed to. Pulled out of Philly right on time, chugged along as expected, arrived right on time. Drove the few minutes to the park and there was home and Libby. Couldn't have gone more smoothly.

As to Richard's biopsy, no word yet.

Theo is indeed a charmer, a very special little guy. So loved. Enjoyed every moment around him.

Below freezing last night, looks like it's going to be possibly from now on. They were even predicting light snow in the night. Didn't happen. Partly cloudy all week is forecasted. Days are around 40. Brrrr...

-::- -::--::-
Wednesday, November 19, 2008 5:52 PM

Just got back from a dinner at Chevy's, including margaritas.

Saw the Dr about the biopsy. She examined Richard, he had a few questions about other issues that needed answers, like the wound that isn't healing from his gall bladder surgery, etc. The biopsy showed no diagnostic results. Next step is a PET scan.

-::- -::--::-
Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Richard has an appointment at 4:30 today, hopefully the results will be back today? He also has a couple of other questions. One of the incisions for the surgery 19 days ago hasn't healed right, it's sore and oozy, so will ask Dr. Bahadori to look at that, even though she didn't do the surgery. He's had it looked at twice by the surgeon who cauterized it last time, but it still isn't healing right.

Theo’s a wonderful, beautiful little boy, so full of fun and sooooo good!

Glad to hear it's warm somewhere. Started snowing here yesterday afternoon, just drifting down. Richard said it was pretty, I didn't think so, just gray and cold. Nothing stuck, I doubt it even made it to the ground. Down to the high 20s in the night and up to 39 today. To warm up by the week-end and it's sunny this morning. We're staying comfy in our little house, it's well insulated, it seems. We did keep a slow trickle in the kitchen faucet, however, even though the hose is insulated outside. Frozen water lines ain't fun!

I suspect we'll be heading south before too long. Ruth wants us to stay thru Christmas, but... I think the plan right now is to meet Paul and Mary in Savannah late in December.

We definitely have a good deal "hosting." Even with the economic slow down, people still camp or RV, especially in a national park if they have the National Pass that cuts their fees in half. If we were camping it would only be $8 a night here, rather than $16. The hitch is you can only stay 14 days. Same with Army Corps of Engineers parks and those have hookups, water and electric, as a general rule. State Parks are usually pricier, unfortunately.

Looks like it's only 840 miles to Tomoka State Park, could do that in 3 days if we push it. Only 600 or so to Savannah. We usually like to only travel 150-200 miles in a day, however, so will probably take a bit longer. Depends on the weather and of course it's interstate all the way. Sounds like we're starting to get ourselves in gear to travel, huh?

Ruth is home from a short trip to NYC for work.

-::- -::--::-

Thursday, November 20, 2008

We checked on our frequent flier miles and we have more than enough saved up to fly to New Zealand, even upgrading to business class. That would definitely be a good thing as it's a 23 hr flight! Of course it would be years before we could make the trip again, if ever. Otherwise it's a few thousand dollars for two of us on coach.

Richard just returned from a short meeting with the campground rangers where he presented a suggestion for the Bulletin Board that campers first see when they first arrive. What is on there now is confusing and we get a lot of questions on how to register. He came up with a KISS suggestion (keep it short and simple) that really makes sense and he said the crew was like a sponge, they liked it, welcomed the suggestion, etc.

The Rangers are bracing up for the Inauguration event. There will be a mob of people, no doubt. It will have to be first come, first serve, as no reservations are accepted in this park except for summer months, so it may be a bit crazy.

We'll be at Ruth's for Thanksgiving, of course. Apparently some other people she invited all have their own family plans so it will be just we four.

The rest of the today has nothing scheduled. The sun has come out and Libby is in a basket in the sunshine, snoozing away. She's such a great little friend. Couldn't have asked for a nicer cat.

-::- -::--::-

Monday, November 24, 2008

Yup, Shelly's a new car, so to speak. I'm an almost new woman with my hair cut. This lady does such a good job and she's so fast! Sent me out looking really spiffy but with my hair sprayed, etc. Cost a tad extra but it was fun. I usually leave with a wet head but it's too cold to do so right now. I love a new haircut. Ruth wants her and me to get pedicures, had planned to do so last Friday afternoon but we were at the doctor's office instead. We had planned to out to lunch, then to a spa. Oh well....

It's warmed up some but to rain much of the day. I'm thinking today would be a good day for laundry and groceries. Get grocery shopping out of the way before the big crowd at Safeway on Wednesday.

We were about to cancel Netflix, we'd had a movie here for weeks and hadn't watched it. Finally just mailed it back. I looked at our queue and saw that we have lots of good looking movies waiting for us, so didn't cancel.

Richard just finished a bulletin board project for the park on how to register for a campsite. Turned out really well, he did a really nice job on it. Apparently the rangers thought so too as they put it right up yesterday. Now he's working on an addition with other information for visitors. We've been offered a spot to work here next summer, also.

Looks like we're getting a medical community built up for ourselves and have learned where good nearby shopping is, banking, post office, etc. It certainly is a pleasant place to hang out - here in the park. A mad house once you leave the park, however.

Our day will consist of groceries, laundry and waiting for a phone call. We want to try a laundromat that's not far from here to gain information about how far it is and its condition, to add to a "local services" sheet that's handed out to campers.

-::- -::--::-
Saturday, November 29, 2008

Another pretty morning but I suspect it will cloud up by days end. Seems it usually does. Plus the fact it's to rain the next 2 days. Trying to wrap up some Christmas shopping online. Richard wants to pull out the 8th of December but Ruth and Martina's schedules are going to hold us here until the 15th to have our family Christmas.

We worked on the turkey we brought home, made turkey pie. Turned out yummy, will finish that tonight. Then I have at least 2 more meals of turkey left. Sandwiches and a casserole, perhaps?

Richard got up about 7 when Libby was literally jumping on us to wake us to feed her. Bless her little furry heart!

While fixing breakfast we had a knock on the door. A mom who had lost her 9 year old son. He didn't want to get in the RV to leave, so hid. The family searched for him for almost a 1/2 hr before coming to us. We immediately called the park police for assistance. A few minutes later she came back, they'd found him, he was fine. His sister called for him again, this time telling him the police were also hunting for him which brought him out of hiding. Clever sister! Interestingly enough these people were from New Zealand! Seems ever since this NZ business came up we've run into more people and instances involving NZ. Weird. Of course we called the police right back. End of story, thankfully.

So, now we're busy ordering gifts online. The only way to shop as far as I'm concerned. R & M went into the fray yesterday. Had an email from Martina this morning telling me what she'd bought for Ruth to avoid duplications. Her description of the day was GASP! Must have been horrific.

Libby is basking in the sunshine in the basket that sits above my computer screen (on a shelf there). She's loving it!

Tonight we'll go to R & M's at 5:30, then we all head over to Therese's house around the corner, for dinner. Hope it's not a late night, doubt it will be.

-::- -::--::-
Friday, November 28, 2008

So peaceful here, hardly anybody around. Saw some of the park crew doing drive throughs and a dog walker, and that's it. So quiet here, love it! I could almost be a recluse except I like my comforts and conveniences too. And friends and family.

We're finding we really do enjoy chatting with other camping couples, maybe because there are no long term commitments involved unless we want? Richard is still puttering with the information sheets on the campground bulletin board, I've been shortening some corduroy slacks I got when out with Ruth. The first pair was so easy. Did the second pair the same way, ended up having to redo them, make them a lot shorter. I figured they came out of the same pattern, not so. Second time has been a charm.

We had a lovely Thanksgiving with R & M. Martina's brined turkey was a complete success. She was thinking she's overdone the bird, but it was just right. We all enjoyed it. It was tender and moist, not dried out, the most gorgeous golden brown, and the brine process left a perfectly salted flavor, not salty, just right.

Ruth had set the table with your mom's nice dinnerware and Aunt Georgie's sterling, along with their own wedding lead crystal. Made for a beautiful table. We didn't eat until 3 PM so nibbled on crackers and cheese for awhile earlier.

Friends came over about 7:30 for dessert, they each brought desserts. One was a dark chocolate silk type cake, melted in your mouth. Not really a cake. An apple pie, Ruth had found a bakery that does gluten free baking and had bought a beautiful pumpkin/chocolate cake. I'd taken an Indian pudding and there was another desert that I apparently didn't try. Also more crackers and cheese. One woman had brought a bottle of Port which seemed to go perfectly with all the deserts. We fairly waddled home. Actually I really did pretty well not over eating. A large packet of turkey came home with us along with some turkey gravy (without the flour). I'll make a turkey pie for dinner.

Fun to sit and listen to the ladies and their guests, 4 other women, visit. All extremely well educated, 3-4 doctorates in the group, others were all Master's degreed, so you can imagine. All sorts of discussions about Obama's cabinet picks, the situation in Mumbai, stuff like that. With a lot of humor and personal stories included. By personal I mean their work, fields of expertise, etc. We had a nice fire going in the fireplace as well, couldn't have asked for a more perfect evening.

We're figuring on leaving here around the 15th.

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Sunday, November 30, 2008

We had a great evening last night at my 2nd cousin's home. What a great family they be. Figured out she's my 2nd cousin, not 3rd. Our grandparents Brown were brother and sister. They are just really nice people, raising a very bright and polite boy who is now in the 8th grade. He plays the cello, no less! They are just around the corner from Ruth and Martina, as I've said. Delicious meal, roast tenderloin that was like butter to cut, just really wonderful roast, also roast potatoes and balsamic carrots which were good. Oh yes, and salad. They have a darling home, it's a craftsman style. They've obviously done a lot of good updating and added a dining room on the back of the house where a porch used to be. Lots of interesting objects in the home, with stories.

We had a few days of lovely sunshine, now we're dealing with 100% chance of rain today, and tomorrow. And it's cold again. So, we'll just hunker down here, get some things done. Therese, our hostess last night, gave me a book that tells the story of "our" Browns, supposedly. Her brother did the DNA thing a few years ago, and it seems to point to this lineage. Hopefully I can get a clue of how our George Augustus Brown connects. That seems to be the hitch. We have the DNA results but can't figure out which man is George's dad. These people are the RI Browns who founded Brown University in Providence. They were also slave traders, I guess. I also have a lead that says we descend from John Brown the abolitionist who descends from Peter Brown of the Mayflower. I guess that's something to work on today while it rains.

Took a good walk yesterday afternoon. Good thing as we sure won't be walking today.

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Finishing October

2008-12-22T16:53:00.002-07:00

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

If we, meaning Richard and I, go over to May's Landing, it will be just the two of us during the week.

It's been about 50 degrees and raining, raining, raining. Good stay at home days. Yesterday I don't know if we even opened the front door! However, it's getting brighter outside, and I think the rain is supposed to move on, so here's hoping. The rain was much needed, however, the forest was so dry, we were getting nervous when we saw large campfires built by some of the various campers. As you know, Californians are super fire sensitive.

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Monday, October 27, 2008

You were wondering why we enjoy movies about England from WW II? I suspect it has to be with what was happening in the world when we were very young. Some of my early memories are of newsreels about the War in Europe. And of course there were so many movies, still are, of stories from WW II with great actors portraying parts in those movies. It's part of our life stories. At least that's my take on it.

Yes, Richard and I do feel good. No problem on that front. Still dealing with some coughing remnants of that cold.

Took good walks yesterday, such a gorgeous day. Cloudy and windy today. Leaves flying everywhere. All sorts of gorgeous colors out our window as I sit here.

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Greenbelt Park, and more...

2008-10-26T17:19:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, October 22, 2008
I read this morning is that the smoke is blowing over to Atlantic City, 15-30 mph gusts of wind. At least it's not blistering hot for the fire fighters, but still miserable. As far as I can figure out from what is out there, that's a forested park area, no dwellings threatened, etc.
The high today has been 57 degrees! Not very high. Needless to say we've dug our cold weather clothes out of the basement.

Friday, October 17, 2008

Pleasant morning, the beginning of a cooling down trend. Had a few clouds and sprinkles late yesterday but nothing more. Guess winter is on its way.
We're also wondering since we got our flu shots Friday afternoon and Richard's sore throat started Saturday morning if he just didn't "get" a light version of the flu from the shot. Supposedly that's not supposed to happen but have heard some say they have had it happen. Or it could have just been a coincidence in timing. Doesn't really matter, he was miserable either way.
Richard still hasn't received his absentee ballot. Well, it's later. After a few phone calls, postage number tracking and all, we made yet another trip to the office and lo and behold, there was our mail! Along with Richard's ballot. Whew. Apparently the mailman left all the mail down at the park police office which is closer to the entrance, and the address is not 6565. It was a case of a lazy mailman! Anyway, mystery solved.
That's it for today. Time for a nap!

Sunday, October 19, 2008 11:08 AM
It's turned quite chilly here, but not as cold as it's going to get before long. We're starting to flirt with freezing temps at night. Just asked Richard to help me dig out my warmer pants (courdoroy) and coat, gloves, etc. from the basement. Haven't had these out since we left California 4 years ago! And, we only need them for a month or so, but the days are chilly as well now, so better safe than sorry - or warm than cold, as the case may be. At least the sun is out and it's really pretty, more and more colorful every day. Lots of leaves coming down now, too.
Tomorrow (if we're able) we're to take Libby in for her shots. Wouldn't bother since she doesn't come in contact with other cats, etc., but occasionally a campground wants proof of her shots. Soooo, off to the vet we go. We'll see Ruth's vet in Takoma Park. .
All our plans to see things here in DC and do a lot of research has pretty much been a bust. We've been here almost 2 months and have had one trip down to the mall to the Library of Congress! We may be leaving here in 6 weeks, depending on the weather. Running out of time!

Sunday, October 12, 2008
Our day yesterday was strenuous, to say the least. At least mine was. Richard dropped me off at Ruth's, then went to Alexandria, or somewhere over on the west side of DC. It was a user's group for The Master Genealogist, a genealogy program he's started using lately. A VERY complicated program, takes a heavy duty analytical person to use it, which I'm not. I'll stick with Family Tree Maker, thank you very much. Even that program has alot of features I don't understand or use. I'm more interested in the people and their stories and relationships, so it suits me just fine. Richard likes the computer aspect of the other program. Anyway, I guess he learned a lot and was hobnobbing with a bunch of folks, he says.
In the meantime, I helped Ruth clean out a bunch of badly overgrown flower beds that she's let run amuck with crab grass. What a mess! Needless to say I'm quite sore today. We had a good time, the day was perfect weather wise, and it was wonderful to spend the time with her, got to talk about a lot of things we never have time for otherwise.
We worked much of the morning, then took a snack break. Then drove over to an Indian market not far from their house to look for something she's been wanting. Didn't have it. Picked up some Salvadorian tacos on the way back to her house, and she, Martina and I enjoyed a patio lunch. Then, back to work. This time Martina literally digging in also.
By this time I was fizzling out. Went down to the basement and folded my laundry, then Richard showed up and he worked a bit before we headed home. All in all we made great progress with the yard project. The plan is to go back today and do some more. However, Richard woke up with a sore throat, so we shall see. Next week is another work related trip for Ruth to Kansas City. (unfortunately she won't have time to visit family). She leaves Wednesday, back home Friday night. The last thing she needs is another cold!
I was concerned about some major sore muscles, so took Advil when starting to work and again late in the afternoon. At one point Ruth and I were sitting on the steps out in front of her house, I kicked off my shoes and realized how filthy I was. She took me upstairs to their shower, set me up to shower the dirt off before a tub soak. Came back and did her routine on filling the tub with hot water and lots of bubbles. Gee, I haven't had a tub soak since we left Yreka. No opportunity with only an RV shower. Although it's a great shower for an RV, we have no tub, of course. She added salts and oil to the water which made amazing bubbles, then handed me a moisturizing gel (she's noticed how horribly dry my skin is) and ordered me to get in and SOAK. Needless to say, I complied. Then left a moisturizing lotion to use after my soak. I felt very pampered. Oh, did I say I enjoyed it thoroughly? I must have stayed in the rub a half hour before finally emerging. My skin does feel much better and I actually have very few sore muscles.
Was I ever tired last night, though. We came home, did our job here in the park, went to bed earlier than usual.
We ended up meeting Ruth in Takoma Park for lunch at Mark's. A local coffee shop/restaurant which is very good and reasonably priced. Always packed with customers. And surprise, surprise, in walks Martina. Her boss had given her the afternoon off. Really nice to see her and she was thrilled to have the time off. Of course, both she and Ruth have tomorrow off for the holiday. Ruth, however, is going to go in to work for a few hours, getting ready for her trip to KC.
The park is full of campers. Beautiful weather and the long week-end (for Columbus Day) have drawn a lot of people out into the park. One huge group of Boy Scouts that fill one whole loop which is normally closed. Another smaller group of Scouts here in this loop plus a bunch of National Park Service employees here for training or something. Then add in all the families. Biggest crowd we've seen here, probably half the sites occupied of the almost 200 sites. Fortunately we don't have to clean up after the crowd (litter and restrooms), just record their presence.
And the trees here are just really coming into their full glory. Lots of reds and golds now. Still a lot of green but it has that fall golden cast. Just so pretty. Must get out with my camera!
Wednesday we take Ruth to Reagan airport for her flight to KC, then back home. Busy morning, fortunately the timing should be good to not feel rushed getting her to the airport. When she gets home Friday she'll take a cab to their house. She's putting on a couple of "lunch and learn" programs for small foundations to learn more about handling the legal paperwork and tax situation.
Yesterday Ruth was bemoaning she hadn't had time to request an absentee ballot for Nov 4. I said, why not, ask for one (her feet give her a medical excuse). Asked her what the procedure was to request one. It was a matter of printing out a form from the computer, filling it in and mailing it. So, we went inside and did so. Sometimes these kids need their mom to tell them to get things done! She's now so relieved to have that taken care of, can't thank me enough! Funny. Martina agreed that on voting day you wait more than an hour to vote! We've never lived where that was the case, amazes me. Of course I've already voted, and Richard will as soon as he can lay his hands on a ballot. It's probably in the main office right now, but that's closed until Tuesday. In Yreka, you might have to wait a few moments for the 2-3 people ahead of you to sign in. Of course you avoided early or late in the day when working people voted. Then when absentee ballots were easier to get, we voted that way.

Wednesday, October 08, 2008
Yup, McCain was not playing nice last night in the debate, but I thought Obama was being such a gentleman, like some say, "not rising to the 'bait'". Apparently, from what we've heard, most of the country thinks Obama won this round, for sure. I did see why some like McCain, however, he's so personable with the crowd in a town hall setting. Some really like that. I don't need that in my Prez, however, I want him being Presidential and all.
A nice quiet day here, toady. Started out really pretty but now clouds have rolled in. However, the week-end forecast has changed from showers to just cloudy. Here's hoping. We're to help with R & M's yard this week-end. Or I am, on Saturday. Richard is going to a gathering of "The Master Genealogist" users over in Alexandria on Saturday morning. He'll drop me off at Ruth's and go on, then come back to work by mid afternoon. We may work again on Sunday if we have any oomph left in us. The back yard is currently a mess. It needs to be prepped for winter. It's a hard yard to manage, not well designed at all.
Fortunately, once I was fully dressed and hair brushed, some company arrived. Until then I was a mess, hadn't done my morning routine yet, if you get my drift. Fortunately by then the dishes were done and bed made... Anyway, this couple arrived who are hosts at Prince William Forest Park over by Quantico, VA. They'd applied to host at this park and were curious what was here. Nice couple from Ohio who have been full timing 6 years now. We invited them in and they stayed an hour or so. At first I thought they were the other host couple arriving to work here, but alas, they weren't. Too bad as I think they'd be fun to work with, we seemed to hit it off well. Libby sure liked Carol, jumped right up in her lap and made herself at home! Fortunately, Carol seemed to like her too. They invited us over to see their park, about 40 miles from here. They'll be working in Florida this winter also, at a new day use park near Homestead, FL.
Back to work tonight, our days off now are Monday and Tuesday. Also, we've learned that we can pretty much do our job whenever, in the evenings. The Rangers all go home about 4 PM, so it's our choice just when we work in the evenings. A couple just stopped by here asking for information. They are from Frankfurt, Germany. Seems we get Europeans who have their camping vans shipped over to Baltimore, then they pick them up and RV around the US for several weeks or months. Most have just arrived when we get them, so are a tad disoriented when they arrive. This couple didn't understand English very well, it seems, but we managed to explain how to register to camp. Gave them some info they can read and translate.
My absentee ballot arrived today, but Richard's hasn't come yet. Mine is filled out and ready to mail, wanted it done and on its way. I can take it down to the mail box in the morning.

Thursday, October 09, 2008
We've had a pleasant morning here. The sun is out and it's been very peaceful. Have had a couple of people stop by with questions this morning, but that's about all the excitement we've had. I got a little job done, repair moth holes in several cashmere sweaters of Ruth's and Martina's. Most repaired OK but a couple are beyond help. Did my best, but the sweaters involved are not wearable for work, that's for sure. Such a shame.
Tomorrow I have my dr's appt with the pulmonologist for a physical.

Sunday, October 05, 2008
Goodness, hard to believer we're well into October already! The trees around here are really starting to glow - in spots. Quite a few are getting to be a gorgeous red, one in particular is right in my view as I look out my bedroom window, the one on my side of the bed. So pretty! Won't last long, however, it will soon be bare, I fear.
Nice da today. Got up, did our usual thing in the morning, nothing of interest there. After a bit Richard mentioned something about a lake around here as we've had a couple of campers ask about it. We'd heard there is one but didn't know anything about it. Found it on the internet so went in search of it. Drove all around it, really took the long way, it's really just on the other side of the Beltway from us. In the process we ran across a weekly Farmer's Market in Greenbelt that was a really good one. We stopped and picked up some fresh produce and bread before continuing our search. Finally found the park and lake, we'd been within 50 feet of the entrance to the parking lot of it earlier, wouldn't you know. Pretty park, nice big lake, nice walks around it which we may do some other time.
Stopped at a Chipotle and picked up burritos, brought them home and ate them on our picnic table at the campsite. Such a pretty day, we brought our books out and read outside awhile. I've now just gotten up from a good nap and Richard has been washing and polishing the back of the RV. Did the
front the other day. Kind of like painting a house, only much smaller and not such a mess! Also a lot easier.
Had a huge influx of campers overnight. Lots of families, I think taking in one of the last lovely week-ends to camp in the woods. There were about 26 or so campsites filled with families, usually a third of those filled most of the time. Made for alot of conversations, questions to be answered, even got a bowl of tasty beef stew out of the arrangement! One family (actually 2 families camping together) over in our loop had fixed their dinner. The dad loves to cook, had all sorts of pots of stuff, cobblers made, you name it. Loves to eat so in turn loves to cook, I guess. Nothing would do that we sit down and enjoy a bowl of stew. Almost all the campers have gone home from the week-end now, so things are quiet again. We've got our own little paradise pretty much back to ourselves now.
No particular plans tomorrow, another quiet day, hopefully. May run a couple of errands, is all. Actually we'll have a couple of days off so may make a trip to L of C again, or visit one of many sites we want to see. I've made a long list of places to enjoy while here and haven't done a one of them yet! Must get started, right?
Ruth and Martina will arrive home tomorrow, late morning. Guess they are each taking the day off?
We're on duty this evening, means another round of counting campers, locking gates. We'll do the gates late as no doubt there will be people hanging around and still in the parking lots late. I think one parking lot has people watching the multitude of deer grazing in the evenings. Somethings 20-30 deer in this one area of open lawn, people out there with cameras taking photos in the dark, no less! Guess these are city folk.

Wednesday, October 08, 2008
Well, we had a full day again. Instead of going to the L of C, we opted to take in the National Arboretum and the Aquatic Gardens. Near each other just south of us a ways, actually quite close to the capital. They are separate entities but both worth the trip. And free. May have to return to the National Arboretum to see some more of it. It's quite huge, lots of walking and takes time to do it all. We spent alot of time in the Bonsai Gardens and also the herb gardens. The Bonsai Gardens had a tree that had been "in training" since 1625! About 2-3 feet tall, quite lovely.
I guess that's what they call what they do to these trees, "in training". Most were from the 1800s and early 1920s, a few since. All kinds of trees, fascinating. The herb garden was lovely, enjoyed it thoroughly. It was separated into medicinal herbs, culinary herbs, aromatic herbs, colonial herbs, Native American herbs, insecticide herbs, you name it. All arranged in a huge circle with a walkway from one to another.
Another area had lovely rocks, polished and mounted. I should say cleaned, not reshaped. They were mostly the size of a bag of flour or sugar, thereabouts, mounted on beautifully carved and finished wood. Almost all had come from northern California! A few from southern CA, some from AZ. Just ordinary rocks but cleaned up and beautiful - the colors and shapes, textures, etc. Lots more to see and do in that park but we wanted to check out the Aquatic Gardens also. Not a good time of year to go, most water lilies were done and you could see where in spring and summer it would be spectacular, but not so much now. Still an interesting spot.
Picked up a lunch at Wendy's, then to Safeway and CVS, etc before coming home. Boy, are we ever weary now. We'd been invited to Ruth's neighbors to watch tonight's debate, but will do it at home. Too tired to wiggle back into the car and drive over there. Just such a lovely day we wanted to take advantage of outdoor spots, so tried to do them all, we feel like.
We watched "Wheel..." last night. I saw Skip but Richard didn't. Wouldn't have recognized Logan, Jenni and Brooks. Didn't see Janice. Will try again tonight. We usually watch that anyway, waiting for the good shows to come on.
"Religulous" is playing in Greenbelt right now, I think. "W" is coming in a week or so. Saw Bill Maher interviewed about the movie the other night. From what I'm reading right now, "Mayflower" by Nathaniel Philbrick, I think the original early settlers did come over for freedom to practice their religious convictions, also I'm basing this on what I've read about William Bradford and Wm. Brewster recently. Also you have to keep in mind the Quakers, the Mennonites/Amish and Palatines in general, they mostly came to get away from persecution for their religious beliefs. Not all, of course. They all came over very early, long before America was the US. However, the establishment of our government wasn't until 150 years later, by then the "Fathers" of the country weren't much interested in religion. I think a lot of people get the time periods mooshed together and it gets confusing. At least that's my take on it all. Now our government is distorting it, trying to make it all important when for the vast majority of people, religion isn't an issue. I'm so sick of seeing and hearing Sarah Palin with her chirpy little voice, especially when you know her background of belonging to a group who spoke in tongues, etc. She makes my skin crawl. I'm also sick of McCain's droning voice, saying nothing. Hopefully tonight's debate will deal with issues, not hype.
Our poor country is in sad shape right now. I do think we'll bounce back, it will just take a long time.
Go, Obama, GO! Lots of Obama bumper stickers around here.

Friday, October 03, 2008
Looks like we're starting a string of days of nice weather. Thank goodness. That rain was getting us down. The sun is coming in thru the trees and I see some reddish golden leaves about.
Had a fun evening last night. Had a bit of a rush to get out of here, one of those times things keep happening. Ruth was under the impression we were going with them to hear Jazz in the Park tonight, Friday. We didn't know about this at all, however, Friday is when both hosts are to be on duty as that's when most campers arrive. Also a bunch of boy scouts are sceduled to come in. Her plan was for us all to go out for dinner after the early evening concert. Actually, it means taking the Metro all the way down to the Mall, sitting outside to hear jazz, then dinner somewhere before heading back to T.P., THEN driving on back to Greenbelt. We're too old for all this as far as I'm concerned. Richard really likes jazz so would like to do it, but I hate to ask Kevin (who isn't on duty today) for tonight off, after last night's absence. We shall see.
Back to last night. Ruth fixed us a nice chicken dinner with "Forbidden Rice" and green salad. In the meantime I got our laundry done and folded. Then went across the street to Ken and Linda's home which has just been remodeled beautifully. They'd invited a bunch of neighbors, there were about 15-20 people there. Lots of goodies to eat, open bar. Ruth and I were very very good, however.
I had a glass of wine and a couple of crunchy somethings, that's all. Watched the debate, of course. All of us Obama supporters. A very politically aware group of people, fun. Richard and I were the only older folks, most about R & M's age, methinks. R & M live in such a great neighborhood!
Finally got to home and to bed about midnight. Really enjoyed ourselves. Palin certainly did better than I thought she might, but Biden did really well too. Didn't attack like I was afraid he might but really showed his experience and knowledge of the issues. Very interesting all the way around.
Saturday morning R & M leave for NYC for the week-end. Probably taking the train. Martina's aunt and uncle are in the city for about a month visiting so they are going to get in a visit with them as well as Martina's parents. That means a quiet week-end for us.

September at Greenbelt National Capital Park

2008-10-23T16:38:00.004-07:00

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

We're finally pretty much settled in the new host site, all hooked up and we can now get satellite TV. We upgraded to High Definition, still trying to figure out all the connections. If worse comes to worse, we can use our old receiver until Richard gets this one figured out.

Just got in from Safeway, always nice to have the shopping behind us and the cupboards full.

Cleaned house yesterday before our move. Still have laundry to do but may save that to do at Ruth's Thursday evening. We're going over there for dinner and to watch the Biden/Palin debate. I hope Biden creams her good, know he can, he's so far ahead of her experience wise.

Our mail came today, finally got our bumper stickers for Obama.

Sun, Sep 28, 2008

And wouldn't you know, it's raining off and on here now. However, this area really needed some rain, things were so dry. But now the humidity is back, will run about 70% all day with more rain forecasted! Yuck. At least it's not hot. Looks like the Missoula and Yreka areas are going to be in the mid 90s today. Too hot!

The other two host couples pulled out a bit ago so we're on our own until Wednesday. The new couple comes then, their names are Richard and Kay Gordon. Funny, huh?

Yes, we heard about Paul Newman, didn't even know he had cancer so a big surprise. A great actor and a great man. Sad, and he will be missed by the world.

We have another day at home, thankfully. Got some things taken care of yesterday, here at home. Hopefully more today.

We may be moving to a different host site later today, or tomorrow. Can't say as I feel like hooking up and moving, but it might be to our advantage. We like this spot except the spot is very uneven for our "patio" area. We shall see.

Wed, Sep 17, 2008

NOW AVAILABLE IN HARD COPY!

Life Could be a Dream, Sweetheart

To all my friends. Announcing the availability in hard copy of the third novel in the Farot trilogy, Life Could be a Dream, Sweetheart. It is also available in full on my website, jeromesnovels.com, as are Antoine Farot and Swede, Down the Foggy Ruins of Time, and The Journeyman and the Apprentice. As this is the second printing of this book, many of you already have a copy of it; however, you may want to purchase another copy as a gift for a friend.

If you would like to purchase a second copy, Life Could be a Dream, Sweetheart is now available at a cost of $7.00 per copy, plus $5.00 for shipping in the U. S. A., $10.00 in Canada and Mexico, and $13.00 all other continents. To get your signed copy, please send your check and return address to:

Jerome Arthur
P. O. Box 818
Santa Cruz, California 95061

Sat, Sep 6, 2008

Fascinating spot we're in. As we sit here in the rain, we're watching the farmers continue to work. About 6:30 we were awakened by the sound of "work" outside the bedroom window. Just across the road where the corn has been cut leaving short stubble in the fields, a team of 5 mules and one horse was pulling a discing machine with a roller behind it. Why they weren't using 6 mules and no horse is puzzling. First time we've seen a horse working the field. For the most part it appears the horses are reserved for pulling carriages, not farm equipment. After awhile a team of 2 mules was brought out with a seeder implement. All we can figure is they are sowing winter wheat or something of that sort, some sort of alternative crop.

It's been 3 hours now, the rain has gotten harder and harder and the only change we've seen is two boys brought out raincoats for the men who are driving the teams. And they just keep going and going. Last night they were working in the fields until almost dark before they quit. Of course they still had to care for the animals and get them bedded down for the night. In the meantime there's a big herd of jersey cows that were brought in as they are every evening, apparently milked, then put back out to pasture. Haven't seen them brought in in the mornings but that may happen before we're awake! Our whole stay here has been so interesting, even having grown up on a farm. We had a couple of horses, but they were no longer working animals. One was a pony for riding and the other was a retired work horse, I think my dad had had him for years and years. And of course there's the faithful dog, trotting along with the mules most of the time. I don't have a clue how many kids the farmer (Sam) has, but they all seem to be working anytime you see one of them. Except for the little blond toddler. His job is to be adorable, I suspect.

When Takoma Park and Intercourse are compared weather-wise, they are pretty much identical. It's so humid, as it is there, I'm sure. May turn on the A/C just to try to dry things out a bit.

Friday, September 5, 2008

Oh, we ARE enjoying ourselves. Right after lunch we went over to "Bird in Hand Farmer's Market". Got some fresh produce and a few other items, pretty much all food stuff. Couldn't resist the fudge, some of dried fruit, etc. However, basically what I needed was milk, bread and eggs. Found some bread, we'd already finished the last loaf. This loaf is a raisin loaf which will be fun. Seems really good dense bread isn't to be had, a tad disappointing. But it's still very good bread, as you can imagine. Got a sample of shoo fly pie. Yummy stuff, like pecan, just no pecans. Also got a gorgeous steak for our dinner tonight. Again produce and meat prices are very reasonable. Browsed a craft shop, didn't see anything we couldn't live without, of course. Always fun to look.

Saw a sign for Strasburg, 4 miles away. We'd driven thru there before but not really had a chance to see much (had an RV attached that trip) so we drove over there. Quaint town, founded in 1733. Looks like most of the houses date from the mid to late 1700s. A few rough hewn log houses, the rest are stone or brick, obviously the street has been widened for today's traffic as all the houses were right at the edge of the street. I imagine when they were built there was just a little dirt road for buggies. One gorgeous Victorian, obviously built much later. A few shops. Cute town.

Then went back over to the market where we'd bought a few groceries the other day as we still needed milk and eggs. Got those. On the way out of the market an Amish girl was frying up cider doughnuts, 50 cents each, couldn't resist. And so tasty! Mid afternoon snack. This whole area is just so interesting, lots to see and do, makes it easy to spend too much money, of course.

Looks like our farmer has cut down two more corn fields, one row at a time! That makes at least 5 fields cut that we know of. One day he was helping a neighbor so was gone. Right now the 10 mules, or maybe 13? are still hitched to their wagon, peacefully standing and waiting. Today they had the team pulling the harvester, plus 3 flat bed wagons, instead of just two. I guess the farmer and his crew are taking a break? Or early dinner? They've been at it since before we got up at 7 AM! Looks like they have at least two more fields to cut, up the hill.

The history of the Amish book is proving to be interesting, have only read the first 50 pages or so, but I'm learning a lot. Admirable people. I doubt you'd have time to miss your ipod and all if you were Amish, you'd be too busy working! At night when all is quiet you can occasionally here a horse clip clopping along the road taking somebody home in their carriage. Neat sound.

Living the way we do, we tend to just walk thru them as we have no room for any more "stuff". However, it would be fun to take R & M some treats, just don't know what they'd really enjoy. It would also be fun to send Warren a "care package". May go over to the market Monday and pick up some goodies for them.

Looks like the farmer and his family are heading back to work, going up the road past our RV. No doubt they'll put in another 2-3 hours before sunset. Sure makes me feel lazy!

A wind has come up and clouds are floating by, must be Gustav coming to say hello to us? Too soon for Hannah to make herself known, she's got to drench the Carolinas first. 90% chance of rain all day tomorrow.

By the way, Lancaster Co isn't all that far from Philadelphia. Instead of heading east to May's Landing, you go west a little ways and you're in the heart of Amish country. Just so you are aware of that. We're very close to Philly here.

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Here's a Jib Jab musical animation funnin' the Presidential Campaign:
http://www.peteyandpetunia.com/VoteHere/VoteHere.htm

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Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Good morning - Beautiful day here. We got up and took a short walk up the hill and back down again, Slight ground fog but you can still see everything very clearly, one of those soft dreamy mornings. And YES, I did find the camera and we've taken lots of pix. Unfortunately the best opportunity so far was that first day, but we've got some good ones. Once they are edited I'll send a few.

Mark's parents do live in a lovely area. And yes, we are very close to R & M. Just a couple of hours, well, maybe 3, away. Will go on down the 9th. Thoroughly enjoying this week, however. Just to sit here and enjoy our view is all I need to restore my spirit - it didn't really need restoring at this point, but I'll take all I can get.

A flock of geese just flew over in their "V" formations. Pretty.

Taco salad sounds delightful for a lunch on a hot day -- much better than a hot kitchen. Enchiladas sound yummy too. The few times I've baked a casserole (small one for us) I've used my electric toaster oven and set it outside. I'll only turn on the gas oven when the A/C is running or if it's chilly and we need the heat.

One minor drawback at this RV park, you do occasionally get the barnyard smells. But it's worth it.

They seem to bring the cows in (for milking?) morning and evening, stirs up the smells. Last night there were 2 little Amish boys guarding an open gate. Those cows looked so huge compared to the boys, but they did their job. Cute.

Yesterday, late morning, we took a drive to find a produce stand. Didn't have to go far, of course. The one we stopped at was part of an Amish grocery store. Full of all sorts of wonderful goodies made and packaged here. Found the noodles I wanted. Just flour, egg, and milk. Just homemade noodles, I guess. Whatever, they sure are good. Part of the store had regular products, and you should have seen the meat counter. Not very big, but the beef was splendid. Had I had room in my tiny freezer I would have bought some. Maybe by the end of the week I can make a bit of space? And of course all sorts of unusual sausages, scrapple, stuff like that. Interesting experience. The prices were extremely low compared to what we usually pay for grocery items. Will go back before we leave, hopefully. Then drove around a bit.

Ran across a winery (not Amish), tasted and bought some wine. Opened a bottle last night, very nice Riesling. Then found a restaurant that served Amish food (that wasn't hard to find), had a wonderful "light" lunch, brought half of it home! Finished it at dinner with some lovely yellow tomatoes.

Watched some of the Convention. Wasn't impressed by the speeches at all, nothing like I was with the Democratic speeches. Especially unimpressed with Bush, not a surprise. I just found the whole thing annoying but Richard wanted to watch. It was relieved by a rerun of NCIS, my favorite. I so enjoy the various characters.

There are three Louisiana RVs here, seniors, don't know if they are avoiding hurricanes or just happen to be here on their travels. They seem to be traveling together. Later - Went over a chatted with the Louisiana folks. Two couples, the third RV isn't connected to them but happens to live just 15 miles from the one couple, didn't know each other (now they do). One couple is from NE Louisiana and everything is fine there. The other couple is from just north of Baton Rouge. He was getting ready to put in a call to the sheriff's office to see if his property was OK. The biggest problem was downed trees, from what they said. The one man is the brother to the wife of the other couple. His family had gone to stay at the home in NE LA where everything is OK. They just happened to be up here when the hurricanes arrived.

Not sure what we're doing today. So far we've started laundry and had our coffee, taken a short walk and chatted with neighbors. Time to get busy, I guess. At least have breakfast. Maybe some eggs with some nice Amish bread, toasted.

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Monday, September 1, 2008

I am sitting here sooo frustrated. We are in Intercourse, PA, right across the country road in an RV park from an Amish farm, and there are Amish folks cutting corn. My frustration lies in the fact I can't find my camera.

It is so fascinating to watch. 3 teams of 4 mules, two teams pulling flat bed wagons, one pulling a cutter that has baling twine. There are 3 Amish men and one girl working. Another girl pushed a scooter up the road (non motorized, of course, with a little Amish boy standing on the flood of the scooter, both barefoot. And me without my camera.

I'm inside the RV with our big windows facing them with reflective material so they can't see me, so I could get loads of good photos. I saw the camera on the desk this morning but now it's gone. They are working so hard and it's plenty hot out there. I just hope the girl has sunscreen on as her head is uncovered except for a little bandanna. At least the men have straw hats on their heads.

We are going to be here a week, so I'm sure more opportunities will come along, but this is so perfect!

Well, the power situation seemed to go from bad to worse, so we left the state park a day early. That's OK, didn't matter much, one way or another. RV parks don't usually give a refund but the state park did, which is nice.

When we decided to move on yesterday, we called ahead and got a reservation here in Amish country. Very close to Lancaster where we figure we can do some good research should we take a mind to.

Of course if these folks keep working like they are, we have plenty of "entertainment". Looks like they'll finish this field pretty soon, however.

I'm looking forward to getting into some of the shops here in town. We drove thru, definitely very touristy, all oriented to Amish goods and foods, of course. Got some good tips from the owners of the campground where to find good produce stands and bakeries. I can hard wait to get a hold of some of the Amish baked goods. Also hoping to find a particular kind of noodle I got when in OH last year. Very eggy and so good in soups. These noodles have a lot more substance to them than what you get in the super market, methinks. More flavor, at least.

Geez, I wish I knew what I did with my camera!!!

We checked on Gustav when we arrived here, thankfully it didn't tear up New Orleans too badly - so far.

Good the Republican Convention is going to be downplayed some, very considerate. Can you believe it about Palin's preggers teenager! The media is going to have a good time with that, I suspect!

Yes, we read our comics first thing in the morning. We get our favorites on the Yahoo page, so saw the FBorFW this morning. The drawing is certainly simpler. It will be fun to continue to follow her stories.

And yes, we did see Mama Mia. What a fun, fun movie. Enjoyed it so much, would love to see it again. I had no idea Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan could sign so well. We even hung in there thru all the credits and saw they actually performed the musical numbers. Went to the theater our neighbors suggested, 20 theaters in one building!

Avoided the popcorn so we could go out for pizza afterward, and it was really really good pizza. Just as we were told. So relieved they were open Sunday night, even had a big crowd there. A good evening all around.

Came home and went to bed as we didn't have much power to work with, just enough to read for a little while. And trust me, those state parks can be really dark once the sun goes down.

Gorgeous weather here, mid 80s, clear sunny skies for a few more days. You can tell it's alot drier here than it was in CT and VT.

2008 August -- Last Half

2008-10-22T06:09:00.002-07:00

Saturday, August 16, 2008

We were in state parks with no power hookups, but batteries and generator did very well for us.
Too much shade for solar panels to be of any use, however. And...far too much shade for satellite to work either - for TV OR internet.

We're now in Montpelier, VT, way way north of everything in the US, it seems. Cute town, Ashlandish like, very laid back, lots of touristy type shops, etc. The campground has wi-fi, but you have to go to the 'rec room' to make it work, a nuisance. Richard is trying to get a signal with our dish now, up on the roof. Hopefully he'll get the signal before the rain starts. Yes, the rain has followed us northward, wouldn't you know. I'm so sick of rain, but at least everything is green, green, green, and trees absolutely everywhere!

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We just got in from a few hours in Montpelier. Like I said, a cute town. Stopped by the library to see if I could find anything on a certain elusive ancestor who may have been born in VT. No real success. Then went for lunch which was a big disappointment, then we walked around town, checked out a few shops before coming home. Picked up an anniversary card for R & M and that was all.

Yesterday we visited Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream Factory just north of Montpelier. Took the tour, about 20 minutes long, after standing in line and waiting for more than an hour. Couldn't believe the crowds! That place is hopping, and making a huge pile of money on the tours and gift shop, and on ice cream. Lines going on forever just to get an ice cream cone! We got our complimentary sample that came with the tour and got out of there. I'm not one for crowds so happy to return home.

Enjoyed the Opening Ceremonies and last night's Olympic events. Have missed all the in between events due to no TV service. For some reason our regular TV antennae that comes with the RV doesn't seem to work. Nice to have TV back. Otherwise, not much other news from us.

A slight change in our Greenbelt hosting plans. Turns out the coordinator doesn't need us until September 30!! He'll just have an extra volunteer between the 7th and 30th of September if we want to come on to Greenbelt. He'll have an empty host site we can use, then move when we start the real job. I suppose he'll find something for us to do in the meantime. So, it seems we have some extra "play" time if we choose. Haven't decided yet, just what we'll do. We just know we've got plenty of time in which to do it.

Well, the sun has come back out now, and it's a pretty sunshiny day. Go figure.

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Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Looks like we're leaving this pretty spot in the morning. We've been here for 3 nights (including tonight). Our site overlooks the water of Lake Champlain. I hadn't realized before there's a chain of
islands in the lake, connected by bridges, near the top of the northernmost island in the US is a bridge over to NY state which we'll use tomorrow to get us on into NY. It's barely this side of the US-Canadian border. Won't go into Canada, although we have our passports and can, but no need.

Then we'll head southward down thru the Adirondack Mountains. We've never been thru there before. Such pretty country. The wildflowers are incredible, blooming like crazy this time of year as though it were spring! Lots of Queen Anne's lace, chickory, golden daisies of some sort, golden rod, you name it. Just lovely to see. And the Lake is gorgeous. We've seen it in all kinds of weather in these 3 days, from lovely sunshine to fog, to severe thunderstorm, etc.

Took a drive north yesterday to sight see, followed some back roads. Amazing how many people live here, at least in the summertime. I suspect these are a lot of summer homes and vacant in the winter months. Some very humble and some very expensive. Kind of hate to leave here, actually. Richard has been taking advantage of the hot tub for his back and general well being. But I'm sure we'll find more beautiful spots on down the road.

We're doing fine, have taken nice walks the last couple of days.

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Tuesday, August 26, 2008

We are in Norwich, NY, SW of Albany some, getting nearer to the southern border of NY state. I was able to read email on Richard's machine, can't seem to pick up a signal on my computer. Can't get a satellite signal here, not sure why but Richard says we can't. I think we're finally far enough south but maybe there are trees in the way?

I hope I can send this out tomorrow from the library when we go there to do a bit of research on my Chapmans in Chenango Co. We'll spend 3 nights here which will give me 2 full days to haunt the library and courthouse and hopefully find the land where the family lived about 1820.

Hard to find RV parks here. Ended up in a mobile home park. A nice park by a small lake or large pond, take your pick, called Mead Pond. We're backed up to the water, a pretty spot, wildflowers around. When we first arrived there were about 50 Canadian geese sitting on the water, pretty sight. The owners have been more than accomodating. They really don't rent to RVers, but have a couple of spots they rent out occasionally. No other RV parks in town and none near by! Unusual. We have water and electric but no sewer connection which will be fine for 3 nights. We can dump our waste water at the state park in PA when we get there. We've been moving every 3-4 days and I'm ready to sit still again for awhile longer. Getting internet has been a problem.

Sad the Olympics are over. We watched a lot of hours of them. Such fun to see it all play out. And the closing ceremony was as exciting as the opening ceremony. The best part was NOT seeing Bush's face on the screen during the closing.

Biden is a good pick for Obama, we both seem to think. I personally don't like the man, seems just plain mean at times, I think. However, politically, an excellent choice.

We'll be here 3 nights, as I said, then to the State Park in PA until Sep 2, after the long week-end., then on into Greenbelt if needed by Ruth. If not, we're not quite sure, may go over to Washington Co, PA, or find a nice spot and just sit there.

Long day today. Left where we were, quite a ways from the main highways. The GPS got us lost again, was literally running us into a circle. Finally found our way out of that maze. Stopped for an Arby's lunch and got groceries. Didn't get to Norwich until 3:30 and we're weary. Still need to do laundry but will need to go to a laundromat for that - tomorrow. Time to put my feet up.

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Friday, August 29, 2008
Wilkes-Barre, PA

We have internet!!

Yes, we've been following every moment of the convention. Never thought I'd have that much interest in a political convention, but found it fascinating. Loved all those major speeches, every one of them. Each of the Clintons, and especially Obama himself. What a speech!! We have such talented people
at the top, why can't these nutty Republicans see that? Such a better selection of folks in the Democratic party than in the Republican party, I think. I'd be tempted to watch the Republic convention but fear I'd just get angry and frustrated. We shall see.

Of course the whole thing may be postponed thanks to Gustav. Can you believe this? New Orleans in the path of another big hurricane. And much of the city still a major mess from Katrina. We just couldn't believe the damage still in place when there last winter. Now what has been accomplished may be blown away again. So sad. And so many people that will need help evacuating. Man, I'd be long gone by now. And the trailers they are in will be destroyed, so more mess to clean up.

Our internet is by verizon, not satellite right now. We drove into Wilkes-Barre (nearest city) and got ourselves set up with one of their plug in antennas. Works beautifully, except that we have to take turns using it. Will leave our Starband on "hold" for now. We opted to do this as we may need to use this arrangement rather than satellite for the months we're at Greenbelt. Again, too many trees and where the host site is, no way. It's extra money but we both use the internet so much for so many things,
well, we really need it. All our banking is online, besides research, family contacts, etc. And when you're unfamiliar with an area it helps to find things, stores, services, doctors, dentists, hospitals, pharmacies, and on and on. Pretty darned important for our lifestyle as it is for most any lifestyles.

Just met the neighbors. A couple who are probably around 45-50ish. Using a tent. We wanted to meet them and get a bit acquainted and let them know if our generator bothers them to let us know and we'll turn it off. No electricity here. We know how it is when you're tent camping and wanting to enjoy the out of doors and somebody's generator is rumbling away. It's pretty quiet, but... They have 4 grown kids, now with them, of course. One of their moms is elderly and at home so wanted to stay close, they are only 10 minutes from home. Nice couple, enjoyed meeting them. Maybe we'll get to spend a bit more time with them.

We've been living in this RV a bit more than a year now. A couple of days ago we'd been out doing things all day, feeling pretty weary by the time we got home, and boy did it feel like home when we got here. Felt so good to come in the door and just "be". I do know what you're talking about, first time I've truly had that feeling, at least in this RV. Has taken awhile to get there.

Yup, Labor Day will be crazy here too. The campground is fully booked, people have just barely started to arrive. There are 100 campsites all together, that's alot of people, especially with families. Lots of planned activities by the Rangers. It will be a busy place but it sure beats being out on the
highway. We're about 10 miles from Wilkes-Barre so if we get weary of being here we can always go into town and catch a movie, or something. Nice shopping mall (where we went for a Verizon stores), huge Macy's, Penney's, Sears, Bon-Ton and lots of little stores of all kinds. Probably a theater in there as well. We can explore that option if we want. Nice and peaceful here right now, just a few people in the campground.

Talked to Ruth last night. She's anxious for us to arrive, so we may just go on into Greenbelt on the 7th. May camp around Lancaster for a week. Lots of nice campgrounds in that area, the Amish food is wonderful, lots of fresh produce to enjoy. We're enjoying the fresh produce stands everywhere.

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Saturday, August 30, 2008
Wilkes-Barre, PA

Our satellite isn't as fast as DSL or Cable, but much faster than dial up. This Verizon set up is pretty fast, faster than the satellite would be but not as fast as the Cable that we had all summer. We really got spoiled. At this point we're just thankful we have internet access. I don't know what full time RVers did before cell phones and internet!

Just read the comics and especially For Better or Worse, stunned when it said Thanks for all her readers. Went to her website and learned she'll restart the strip next week. Didn't know she'd had her husband "fall in love with another woman", etc. Anyway, the strip will continue, thank goodness. It was a highlight of my day!

Yes, Obama's speech was really a winner. As were all the major speeches. Especially enjoyed Ted Kennedy's speech, hadn't realized what a great orator he is. We were just blown away! And especially in his condition to get up and do that! After hearing Biden speak and learn more about him, I'm
convinced. No hesitation on my part now. I just don't trust the other party and their powers that be. I can't help but feel they bought and rigged the last two elections and I fear they'll try something like that
again. Makes me really nervous. Yes, I agree, makes me feel I want to do something to help. Have never had that feeling before - well, kind of, when Kerry was running. Richard did go out and canvas one day with Martina, right before the election. Maybe once we get settled at Greenbelt we'll find something to do. Stuffing envelopes or something. We're waiting for a bumper sticker right now.

We'll probably spend next week in Lancaster Co where your Laughlins were. I have lots of Quakers ancestor in Chester and Delaware Counties, next door to Lancaster. Then go on to Greenbelt Sep 7. Do a bit of research while in Lancaster Co. Nice area there.

Isn't retirement great? We love it. No obligations, no time schedule. Like Richard says, it's like 2 kids let out to play. And play we do – all the time, pretty much. When a clerk in a store apologizes for making us wait for whatever reason, we reassure the person we have all day, no rush, no problem, we're retired. Hopefully they like to hear that sort of thing. You think you're spoiled rotten? Join the crowd!
We are too. We love what we're doing too, so glad we made the decision to go RVing, learn more about this wonderful country, see such wonderful places and things.

I guess we need to do a bit of research on the history of this area. I actually know little about Scranton and Wilkes/Barre and this general area. Everywhere we go there is more history than we can absorb. We definitely need to return to upstate NY and the Adirondacks, both for the history of the French and Indian War and the Revolutionary War, as well as the scenery. Of course we feel that way of every area we visit. Unfortunately so many of the places that explain alot of the history cost big bucks to visit and
enjoy. That's a bummer. But there are always cheap or free things to explore.

Most of the week-end campers have settled in. There's still a spot right next to us on one side that's empty which surprises me. Everyone else seems to be here, as far as we can tell. Nice to be relatively close to town, about 10 miles. We don't have town traffic/trucks and all but can get supplies if needed. Also, maybe tomorrow, we're hoping to see "Mama Mia", we've heard nothing but good about that movie. If the cloudy weather continues, maybe today? Had a bit of rain overnight, kind of cool and
drippy but not cold, by any means. Supposed to be in the mid 80s by Monday afternoon. No A/C here, so maybe that would be a good time to take in the movie? There's a photography walk by the rangers this afternoon, actually. Might be interesting since we like to take pix?

Enjoy your day.

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Sunday, August 31

Yes, that was quite the comic strip this morning. Felt a bit annoyed about John, her hubby, however. But it was nice to read about everybody's futures. New life for her and for all of us to enjoy. I especially liked the drawing of "her" at the end.

We're watching the updates on Gustav as well - and Hannah. Such a mess in the south, from one end to the other. We watched Fay drown where we'll be this winter, Tomoka State Park, then go over and drown Falling Waters State Park. Glad we were at neither place during all that. The Ranger told us Falling Waters is evacuated when a hurricane threatens, those pine trees that are all over the south just snap off in a good wind. In fact we saw one snap not far from us when there a couple of years ago. A
breezy day. I guess I should give Irene and Ray a call, see how they fared and where they are. They've been working at Ponce De Leon State park for a long time now, hosting the day use park. It's just west of Chipley and Falling Waters, hopefully they've headed north.

Also, Livingston, TX in eastern TX, where the Escapee headquarters are is in the path of Gustav. Lots of SKPs we meet are involved there, there's also a big CARE facility for aging SKPs there, Alzheimer patients, members who have other debilitating illnesses as they age or need temporary assistance while
recuperating from illness or injury. It's quite a set up they have there. Gustav is expected to go right over Livingston!

Yup, I agree, mom needs to attend to her baby with Down's. Something doesn't quite jive there. Also the other children, not sure what their ages. I just don't think that she's a good pick, any way you look at it. Sure, she's a woman, but no experience, really. I don't want her as my next president if McCain croaks for some reason. I don't want John McCain either. Being a POW doesn't qualify him for the job as far as I'm concerned.

Our neighbors just left. Nice couple, I think I mentioned them before. She's a nurse at a nearby hospital and he is support staff (janitor?) there also. They suggested we go to a different theater than where we'd picked out to see Mama Mia. Apparently where we'd planned to go is not a safe area, no place to park, especially a big truck, etc. Suggested the one in Moosic, just south of Scranton. Will go this afternoon or tomorrow. Also suggested if we like pizza a certain restaurant. We do, wholeheartedly. We'd seen the restaurant they suggested, the parking lot was full of cars -- always a good sign.

Montpelier, Ben & Jerry's

2008-08-18T07:03:00.011-07:00

Saturday, August 16, 2008

We've been out of touch for several days. We were in state parks with no power hookups, but batteries and generator did very well for us. Too much shade for solar panels to be of any use, however. And...far too much shade for satellite to work either - for TV OR internet.

We're now in Montpelier, VT, way way north of everything in the US; it seems so remote. However, a check of the map shows the northern tip of Maine is south of Seattle, WA! Montpelier is a cute town, Ashlandish like, very laid back, lots of touristy type shops, etc.

See Photo Album

The campground has WiFi, but you have to go to the 'rec room' to make it work, a nuisance. Richard is trying to get a StarBand signal with our dish now, up on the roof. Hopefully he'll get the signal before the rain starts. Yes, the rain has followed us northward, wouldn't you know. I'm so sick of rain, but at least everything is green, green, green, and trees absolutely everywhere!

See Photo Album

We just got in from a few hours in Montpelier. Like I said, it is a cute town. We stopped by the library to see if I could find anything on a certain elusive ancestor who may have been born in VT. No real success. Then went for lunch which was a big disappointment, then we walked around town, checked out a few shops before coming home. Picked up chain hook to use for towing the waste water tank to dump stations.

By the way, It seems Janet and Jerome have an anniversary Sunday, right? So, Happy Anniversary!

Yesterday we visited Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Factory just north of Montpelier. Took the tour, about 20 minutes long, after standing in line and waiting for more than an hour. Couldn't believe the crowds! That place is hopping, and making a huge pile of money on the tours and gift shop, and on ice cream. Lines going on forever just to get an ice cream cone! We got our complimentary sample that came with the tour and got out of there. I'm not one for crowds so happy to return
home.

-::-

Enjoyed the Opening Ceremonies and last night's Olympic events. Have missed all the in between events due to no TV service. For some reason our regular TV antennae that comes with the RV doesn't seem to work. Nice to have TV back. Otherwise, not much other news from us.

A slight change in our Greenbelt hosting plans. It turns out the coordinator doesn't need us until September 30!! However, he'll honor our agreement, and he'll just have an extra volunteer between the 7th and 30th of September if we want to come on to Greenbelt. He'll have an empty host site we can use, then move when we start the real job. I suppose he'll find something for us to do in the meantime. So, it seems we have some extra "play" time if we choose. Haven't decided yet, just what we'll do. We just know we've got plenty of time in which to do it.

Well, the sun has come back out now, and it's a pretty sunshiny day. Go figure.

No cheese at the Farmer's Market !

2008-08-09T11:34:00.003-07:00

Friday, August 08, 2008

A full day yesterday. Picked up the RV about 3:30 or so and a whopper of a bill. May curtail our travel plans this next month. So be it. We're kind of thinking now of just going over to Plymouth Co, MA, then up to Brattleboro, VT, then down thru Lancaster, PA. Would love to go on up to the Canadian border but it would take a lot of fuel.

Just went over to the Thomaston Farmer's Market. I wanted to get some of the 5 year old sharp cheddar that I got there a couple of weeks ago. The guy wasn't there. I'm so sad. That cheese was so good. We did get some other produce, however, all nice and fresh!

Birds, Brakes, and Rain

2008-08-07T12:11:00.005-07:00

Wednesday, August 06, 2008 1:28 PM

I like the idea of living with manatees next winter. They are big, lazy, slow moving, peaceful, and friendly. Kate shared with me some video she had taken of her swimming of the manatees several years ago. She had a great time with that trip. Also did snorkeling around Ft. Jefferson (I'm not sure that's the name) off Key West. She had a wonderful trip.

Right now I'm happy to watch some finches out the back window. Such little creatures and yet they serve a purpose in the big scheme of things. Oh. wow! I just now saw a catbird and a woodpecker have joined the finches in the tree behind us. At least I think that's what they are. The catbird is a pure dove gray, very soft looking. What I'm calling a woodpecker could be a thrasher. All I have to go by is my bird book. Fun to watch.

There are so many kinds of birds here, always some sort of entertainment, free of charge, just for looking out the window. In the mornings, the birdsong is wonderful!

We had to take the RV, our home, to the repair shop to get its brakes fixed. Richard has been commenting they just haven't been working -- when we were on the road! They are now fixed and now we're broke! So much for the money to spend on our trip north! At least the price of diesel has come down a bit, but we may modify our plans to shorten the trip to less than 1,000 miles. That was our gas money that went into the brakes!

We went out for breakfast. Since we had to have the RV at the shop by 9 AM, and after the work of disconnecting, we had skipped breakfast. We went to Grace's Diner. Does Grace ever do a good breakfast! We ate and ate. Of course we were starving by then, about 9:30. We skipped lunch as a result, now it's time for din-din.

After breakfast, while "our home" was in the shop, we drove on up to Hartford, just a few miles more, and spent a few hours doing research. I found some genealogy goodies. Richard was working on his new genealogy program, The Master Genealogist. It seems to be designed for those who want to do this genealogy with an analytical and scientific approach.

Just as we were getting out of the truck at the State Library, it was starting to rain - again. It had rained the whole time we were hooking up the RV and disconnecting utilities, wouldn't you know. It quit while we were on the road, then started again when we parked the 2 blocks from the library.

We just got around the corner, on foot, when the heavens opened up to double the dose. When we rounded the second corner, the rain fall rate doubled again. We were very well soaked by the time we got to the library. At least I had an umbrella, but no raincoat. Richard had a jacket and hat, which were completely soaked. The hat was one of those fabric, narrow brimmed "fishing" hats. His glasses got soaked as the rain had saturated it and was dripping thru. It was coming down hard, huge drops, fast and furious! We got the chairs wet in the library.

While we were there working in the the library, the sun came out.

We picked up the RV on the way home, and got back in time for Libby's dinner. And believe me, there's no place like home! It felt so good to get re-parked and "in". We may be broke, but now we're safe with our brakes -- working much better.

One more week-end of work, then who knows. Yup, we're retired, 20 hours of work between the 2 of us is more than enough. Worth it for the savings in campsites, though.

Beauty & the Beast at TOH -- Excellent!

2008-08-06T16:23:00.003-07:00

Monday, August 04, 2008 8:10 AM

Had an offer from Big Cypress National Preserve. They wanted us to work more than full time for a campsite, we turned it down, needless to say. And the offer at Tomoka State Park has been confirmed, they do have a spot for us, definitely, so we've accepted that spot for sure. Big Cypress would have been a lot warmer, but... No free time to enjoy the surroundings! Besides, I want to see the Manatees at
Tomoka.

Worked a good day yesterday, put in more than enough hours, doing some fine tuning.

Saturday night I may have told you went saw "Beauty and the Beast", and excellent production. Singing voices and acting were great! The Thomaston Opera House (TOH)is an old theater. These summer production was done to professional standards. The costumes, sets, and lighting were excellent. We would have liked a little less amplification on the microphones -- it was a painful audio level when singers were in the top half of their volume. The acting for the most part, was very good -- especially the lead roles. We recongnized some of the actors from "The Forsome", "Underpants", and "The Cemetery Club" productions we had seen in the TOH small theater over the past weeks. All of them have been a pleasure to experience.

A week from now we should be on the road. We're making a list of all the things that need to be taken care of before we move on. Instead of going up to VT we may end up going over to Washington Co, PA where we both have ancestors, but I'd really prefer to go north for the scenery.

Want to hit the farmer's market on Thursday. I doubt there will be much there, but I want some more of the 5 year old extra sharp cheddar cheese. It was sooooo good!

The sun is out and it's not overly hot. That's a good thing.

Old Litchfield, Furniture Museum

2008-08-04T11:51:00.005-07:00

August 2, 2008

And it's off to work we go. And it's my daddy's birthday today. He would have been 99 if still alive. Wow! How time passes by these days.

Had a pleasant day yesterday. We drove up to Litchfield yesterday. It's not far from here, to the north. Very historical town, lots of money there, apparently. Lovely homes everywhere. Big "green" in the center, cute shops along one side. Talbot's was having a good sale, found some knee length shorts, I guess you'd call them, that fit perfectly on sale, so grabbed them. 2 pair, one dark blue and the other a rich brown. The knee length is fine with me when out in public.

Spent a good deal of time in the Furniture Museum which is well done. Chatted with the attendant awhile too.

Some of the homes date to way back in the very late 1700s and early 1800s. Beautifully maintained.

Had lunch on the patio of a good restaurant. Food was yummy and it was very pleasant. Good day for it, not too hot until just about the time to leave, then it really started warming up! Took the long way home, ran across some houses not far from Thomaston that date from 1767 and 1770! I just love these old houses, especially when well preserved as these are. Would love to see the inside.

At a roadside stand got some wonderful corn, blue berries, peaches, and green beans. All grown in Litchfield County. Saved fuel and got better produce than at the supermarket.

Time to head out.

Monday We Wash the Clothes, Wash the . . .

2008-07-31T11:44:00.006-07:00

Thursday, July 31, 2008 5:38 AM

Monday:

In the process of doing laundry. Will soon run over to the laundry room to fold everything and bring it all home. Always nice to have that done for the week. The big accomplishment today was that Richard took the drains apart from under our kitchen sinks and cleaned them out. All kinds of yuck in them, apparently. The drains had been getting slower and slower for quite awhile, so it was time to do something. That's the big Whew! for today. Our drains don't seem to have the usual P trap, or whatever it's called, so we weren't sure just what to do. Richard finally just took the whole thing apart and that fixed it. Could have fixed it all in a negative way, I suppose.

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Now it's Thursday! Where has the time gone?

Yesterday, Wednesday, we went to Hartford to do research. Got out of here
at a decent time, good trip. Worked until we took a break to eat our
sandwiches, then went back to work. By 2 PM I was so darned sleepy I just
couldn't concentrate. Fortunately Richard was ready to go home too.
Stopped for kitty food and litter on the way back as we came thru Bristol.
Home by 4 PM so had the rest of the afternoon to putter.

Reheated the Chinese food we had left over from the night before. We were
disappointed in it, had been told this was a good take out place but it was
pretty blah. I stir fried the rice with more onions, garlic, green peppers
and other veggies, stirred in my cashew chicken. A bit better. Richard
reheated his shrimp something or other. I still have more of my mixture
left over.

Glad we're on Janet's list to get photos of the condo. We're happily waiting for them. We know she wants everything in place before taking the pictures, we do understand. We'll see the pix when we see them. Looking forward to them.

Janet is having so much fun prepping for Theo and his parents to visit Santa Cruz. Know it will be a special time when they arrive. Soon. Then in a few days, it's all over, and Janet will be waiting for the October visit.

Poured rain about 1 AM, not sure how long it lasted. Never really cooled down much, and sooooo muggy. The A/C will go on soon. Dreary out. They can just have this CT weather. May be hot and dry in CA, but at least it's clear and dry, except for forest fire smoke. Poor Yosemite area. More lost homes. So many this year lost to fires and floods. And damage in LA from earthquakes. What next?

Time for breakfast...

R: What do Women Want?

2008-07-31T11:33:00.000-07:00

July 29, 2008

Richard:

We have nothing here in our little part of the world, except what we want to have here. I am learning a new genealogy software program that is very complex. It is more fun than doing genealogy research.... Hmmmm.... My interest is in organizing/analyzing more than gathering. Guess I'm cerebral and sedentary.

On another subject, our marriage counselor said, "Men want to fix it; women want you to listen." There is a NY Times article titled very nicely, "What do Women Want? Just ask." (Thank you.)

Well, we have set Mon 11 Aug to depart. Where to? Dunno. Either east to Massachusetts, or northwest to NY via VT, or southeast to Lancaster, PA (Adam Laughlin country), or something else. We do want to have a parking spot over the Labor Day weekend.

New Phone

2008-07-31T11:32:00.001-07:00

Monday, July 28, 2008 11:37 AM

Our life looks pathetically simple, in many ways. Once in awhile it all piles up, though. We're kind of coasting now.
The phone and camera arrived this morning. Whew! Have it all squared away that we're leaving here Aug 11 and we have a spot reserved for over Labor Day. Whew!
Our new cell phone looks like Greek to me. Richard has spent quite awhile studying the book. I can turn it on and off, but that's all at this point. It's cute as can be, purple. Ruth made a nice choice. Takes photos, of course, It may be awhile before I can really use it! Of course we need to put all our saved numbers in it, or go to a Verizon store and have it done for us.

Another huge storm rolled in late yesterday, just as we were preparing to go to work. Absolutely poured for about 3 hrs, lots of thunder and lightning. No way could we work in that. Finally about 6:30 it stopped and we went over and did minimal work, just so it wouldn't be a complete mess for the other couple who worked this morning. Even locked up the parks at the Ranger's request. Noone was around, of course, all had been chased home by the storm. Well over an inch of rain, that we know. Today has been sunny but hazy with humidity. Won't break my heart to leave in a couple of weeks, we're ready for some travel and new sights!

Anticipate One Month of Travel

2008-07-31T11:30:00.000-07:00

Sunday, July 27, 2008 8:44 AM

The camera and new phone are coming. Both should be here tomorrow or Tuesday. Time for an upgrade for all of us.

It's a work day for us. Got up late as a big storm rolled in early this morning. When we heard the rain pouring down it was still dark. We were stumbling around half asleep in the dark closing windows and ceiling vents. I'm sure it was a funny scene to an onlooker, which thankfully there were none. It was pouring down rain when we usually get up and leave for work, this afternoon so dawdled a bit. By the time we left the rain had passed and the sun was burning thru what remained of the clouds and fog. Now it's mostly sunny and very very humid. The last two days were splendid. Low humidity, nice temperature to sit outside and read. Such a treat! We'll be working one more shift this afternoon then we're done until next Saturday. Only 2 more working week-ends after this one and we're done for this season.

We realized if we're done here the 10th, we'll have almost a month to play before we have to be at Greenbelt. We're thinking about going over to Taunton and Plimouth Plantation in MA, then up thru VT up to the Canadian border. Then come down the NY side of Lake Champlain. Go as far as Schenectady, NY and cut across to Berlin, NY where my Chapman's lived, then down to Lancaster, PA to do a bit of research, then to Greenbelt. We have to be there around Sep 8-10, not before. Want to be sure we have a spot reserved over Labor day and not get stranded somewhere with no place to park. The whole trip as we've sketched it out will be about 1000 miles. I think we're anxious to do some moving around and seeing countryside.

Rinse Roof with Rain

2008-07-31T08:58:00.001-07:00

Wednesday, July 23, 2008 9:31 AM

Took a walk over at the state park this morning, got it in before the rain. Got back and Richard decided to wash our roof. Got it all soaped up and the rain started to come down, so I guess that was good timing too. He got a good soaking in as well. Cooler today, thank goodness. More rain on the way for the next few days.

The rest of the day appears to be a quiet one. Much to our enjoyment!

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Friday, July 25, 2008 12:28 PM

We're enjoying Obama's publicity from his overseas trip and McCain's attempts to keep up. This whole campaign has been so interesting - though horribly long. Just plain entertaining, if nothing else. Especially when you hear viewpoints like Jon Stewart's, even the sedate newsmen have interesting comments now and then.

We've been sitting outside this afternoon. It's sunny, fairly warm, but lower humidity than usual. Can't figure out how that happened, especially since so much rain yesterday and the day before. Just very pleasant to sit outside and read. I'm reading "The Caine Mutiny". Have seen the movie, years ago, of course, but have never read the book. It was on the shelf at the book exchange in the office here at the campground. Most RV parks have book exchanges, makes for alot of free books, some of which are quite good. There's also alot of drivel on the shelves too, just have to sort thru it. Finding it very funny in places. At any rate, it's been a beautiful day today, exceptionally blue sky. Or maybe it just seems that way after all the clouds.

Ruth is in the process of upgrading our phones right now, which means maybe we'll get our camera sooner than later. But it also means we'll be without phone service until Monday or Tuesday. Now I really do feel stifled and cut off
from the world! No camera, no phone. Thank goodness for the internet!

It was actually kind of chilly this morning when we got up. Everything cooled down from the rains, I suppose. Felt good, actually.

Brattleboro, Ruth, Warren

2008-07-31T08:55:00.000-07:00

Sunday, July 20, 2008 7:35 AM

We had a wonderful visit with R & M. Met up in Brattleboro about 12:30. We were at "Sam's" the "World's largest sports store" or something like that. It wasn't, but they were having good sales and lots of merchandise available. And it was cool in there.

Walked up the street and had a wonderful lunch at a Thai restaurant, excellent food, delightful service, apparently one of the rare new buildings there and very clean and nicely done. Part of my BD gift. R & M also gave me a lovely sterling necklace from a local artisan in Montpelier where they'd spent a day, also some VT maple candy, a big peace symbol for the back of the truck which kind of surprised us, a guitar CD by an artist they'd heard in Montpelier.
Richard had treated me on the 18th to little packages poked around places in the RV, a pocket sudoku book, (which I'm trying to learn how to do), some chocolate and a can of peanuts, both are weaknesses of mine. Then yesterday I found a cool cheese slicer (mine broke about a year ago and haven't been able to find a good one since) for the rest of my gift.
I kind of nixed the camera as we really don't need it and what I'd really like would be quite pricey. Some day, perhaps. The technology just keeps improving and the prices keep getting better.
We puttered around town for a few hours, stopped at the Food Co-op on the way out of town, picked up some nice steaks and a couple of prepared salads, some good beer the ladies had discovered in VT, and came home. We had a cooler with us so the meat and salads stayed cool. We grilled steaks, had crackers and cheese and wine while waiting, then the rest of the meal.
Ruth had some peach cobbler with them they were taking home so we added ice cream for desert. Ended up quite stuffed! Looked at the pix they'd taken of their week in VT. Looks like they had a really great time and a nice place to stay. They may do it again next year, they say.

The evening of the 18th Warren had called. So good to hear his voice and neat he remembered my birthday. It had been so long! He's doing the lawn watering at his apartment building for a rent reduction. He sounded fine, working with Job Rehab to get his financial aid reestablished, etc.

Yesterday we all agreed Brattleboro is definitely his kind of town. Very very much like Ashland and just as big as it turns out. Very very "green" and ecological. I don't think we found a single establishment there that wasn't oriented to going green. Very anti corporation as well. I really think Warren would love it there if he'd come to the east coast. And there are several colleges in the area as well. Lots of younger people on the streets.

It is so incredibly humid here, it just hangs in the air. Any activity results in being drenched with sweat! And it's pretty warm as well. Actually last night was miserably hot. We'd tried to go to bed with everything open then decided to close up and run the A/C. I finally drifted off after midnight so kind of weary this morning. I think we were all really tired last night.
Tried to sit outside to eat but promptly moved inside as the mosquitoes were voracious! We really don't sit outside at night so didn't realize they were all that bad, and we had repellent all over us! Came inside and enjoyed the meal sans mosquitoes and other critters and WITH the A/C. We did get the ladies over to the picnic park and to see where the new RV sites are (that still aren't done), before it got dark.

Along the drive back from Brattleboro, we hit a stretch where there were lots of trees down, even into the right hand lane of the freeway, and evidence of rain, so apparently it had just happened. Must have been quite a weather front that rolled thru. Fortunately we didn't get caught in it at all, just saw the damage. Lots and lots of tree debris on the highway, for several miles.

Jesse James; Disappointing Farmer's Market

2008-07-31T08:53:00.000-07:00

Thursday, July 17, 2008 1:10 PM

You talked about the Jesse James movie and what a bad guy is was. Well, in Jesse James' defense I'll share this little story that was passed on to me. Apparently my great grandma Jackson or her mother, I don't recall which was home one day in SW Iowa. Some strange men rode up to the farmhouse about noontime. It was customary to feed strangers a meal in those days so a noon day meal was served. The men were polite and seemed like nice guys. When they thanked the woman for the meal and left, the mother and girls proceeded to clear the table and found money under the plates. And apparently a note or something to tell them they were Jesse James and brother. So, what's the real story? It's lost to time about the "real" Jesse James and his attributes or lack there of, and also the story passed down to me. Just interesting. I knew my great grandma Emma, wish I'd had the sense to ask her more about her younger years!

Friends are encouraging us to consider working at Dollywood. I don't have that kind of stamina, however. Mary works just 2 days a week, but they are 12 hr days, on her feet. That would kill me off after just one day! It may be muggy in FL, actually, but in that part of FL, the average high is only about 60-65 degrees when we'll be there, so mugginess shouldn't be an issue. Thank goodness! I don't know as I take much more mugginess this year!

As it turns out, Saturday we're driving up to Brattleboro, VT to meet up with Ruth and Martina for the day. Then we'll caravan back to here where they'll stay the night before heading on to DC. Had to do a bit of switching around of our work schedule with the other couple, but it's all working out so we can make the trip. Should be a fun day and weather is predicted to be OK.

Did laundry this morning, then went shopping. Picked up the work shoes for Richard the Corps is paying for. They were ordered when we first arrived, it's taken this long to get them! Went to Torrington and had lunch out, then went to Circuit City to look at cameras. Richard said that's what he wanted to get me for my birthday. We looked at them, saw a couple that would do a good job. However, we have a good working camera, just not as fancy. The only thing we don't like is the screen to look at, it's not very big or bright, which makes it really hard when it's bright out. Anyway, we looked and left. Not that I wouldn't mind having a new camera, but....
Then picked up groceries, then some wine at a package store. Can't buy it in grocery stores here, some silly laws governing that. You can buy beer in a grocery store, but not wine. Filled our gas tank for the trip on Saturday, came home and put the ice cream in the freezer. Went back out to the Farmer's Market here in town. A real disappointment. Only 3-4 vendors, not much for sale. I bought a zucchini and some cheese. No lettuce, no green onions, raddishes, any of the spring veggies. Lots of plants but those are no good for us in an RV. I have one houseplant and that's all there is room for. And sometimes it gets in the way. So, we're home.

And that's more than you ever wanted to know about our day.

Lentil Soup Recipe

2008-07-31T08:52:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, July 16, 2008 4:55 PM

Richard finished the valances today. They look so nice. Very simple, clean lines, etc. He's now thinking about "dressing" them up, but I'd like to live with them for awhile, just the way they are. Still have the headboard to do, but that will keep. I spent part of the day defrosting the freezer. Didn't get it done yesterday.

Tomorrow we'll get groceries and do laundry, then in the afternoon go to the Farmer's Market here in town. We're sure enjoying the clean carpet, living in a relatively small place with a very light colored carpet, wellll..... You get the picture. However, a coffee stain didn't come clean. I'd set our travel mugs by the door awhile back, and...you guessed it. Richard didn't know they were there and knocked them over on the carpet. Oh well.... And life goes on.

Had a call this morning from Tomoka State Park, just north of Daytona Beach. Looks like a good set up for us, but we'd be doing restrooms again. Hard to get away from that job as campground hosts. Looks like the same duties as at Falling Waters, same amount of time involved, 20 hrs a week, combined. We haven't given him an answer yet. Actually, we'd like something a bit further south - warmer. But, who knows if we'll get such an offer.

Everything I can find online about the park is favorable. A birder's paradise, has manatees and bottle nosed dolphins as well as every other imaginable animal, even bobcats! Apparently the racoons are a real nuisance to tent campers. They steal food like crazy if it's not locked in a car at night. It's on the Intercoastal Waterway. Many comments say it's a beautiful and peaceful spot but yet close to cities and services.

Libby got loose this morning. Finally had a take a bowl of food out and shake it to find her. She stayed hidden when we just called her name. She came running when she heard her food in the bowl. Little stinker. Guess she was having a good time out there and needed extra incentive to come home?

***

Oh yes, the recipe: Lentil Soup with Bulgur (Gulburlu Mercimek Corbasi)

3 tbsp butter
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1/2 C French lentils, or red lentils, or whatever you find in the store
1/2 C bulgur
2 tbsp tomato paste (I put in the whole can)
1 tbsp flour, white or whole wheat
6-7 cups stock (I used fat free chicken stock, 3 cans plus water)
2-3 tbsp dried mint flakes
1 tsp thyme
2 tsp red pepper flakes
salt to taste

Saute onion with butter until soft add flour, stir constantly for 1-2 minutes. Add tomato paste, stir another 1-2 minutes add lentils, bulgur, stock and salt Cover and simmer until lentils are cooked for approximately 30 minutes At this point, if you want a smooth soup, use a blender (I did as that's the way Sevil served it) add mint, thyme and pepper flakes and serve.

Play: The Cemetery Club

2008-07-31T08:51:00.000-07:00

Monday, July 14, 2008 6:58 AM

More rain today. At least we had a break last week and it actually looks like the rest of the week will be sunny, but hot! Had a lovely week-end, weatherwise, and it all ways, actually.

Went to "The Cemetery Club" Saturday night. Very funny and the cast did a really good job. Again, it was in the little theater which only seats about 40 people. A very appreciative audience. After the play once the people who want or
need to leave do, the actors come back out to answer questions and chat with the remaining audience. I imagine it's a fun time but as we don't know any of the cast - or audience for that matter, we leave. It's usually about 10:30 by that time and I'm ready for beddy-bye. A fun evening.

The crowds in the parks weren't humongous this past week-end so no major problems to deal with. Did some extra picking up of litter at the edges of the park, that sort of thing. And temps weren't impossible so it was actually quite pleasant.
We pick up a lot of cigarett butts. Richard suggested a sign "feel free to bring in your cigarettes, and take your Butts home". Somehow I don't think the Corps would approve. Those and beer cans/bottles are the primary things we pick up.
Although I picked up 3 pair of damaged sunglasses yesterday. Lots of pop cans and those pesky wrappers from juice pacs.

This week we want to defrost the fridge, clean the carpet, that sort of thing. Those two projects are getting desperate! Get ready for company. Next week we're going to do some running around before we leave here in a month. This summer has flown by!

Had a call from Ruth late yesterday, they'd made it to VT OK. Said it was beautiful there, a canoe came with the cabin they are renting. They'd also taken their inflatable kayak with them. They'd gone to Brattleboro, loved it there. An Ashland kind of town, I guess.

Today I'm making the Turkish lentil soup. Doesn't help to cool it down in here and the humidity is unreal, but we're hoping it will make a nice dinner. Sevil's was so good, felt like I could eat twice as much (except I knew more was coming) and call it a meal! Especially with a particular bread we can get here, a French or Italian type loaf that is wonderful.. Hmmm...making myself hungry!

Amazing Sevil, the Turkish Cook

2008-07-31T08:49:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, July 09, 2008 7:21 AM

http://almostturkish.blogspot.com/ -- I thought I'd send the above link to you for Turkish recipes.

Last night we visited Sevil and Hakan - and Ata. Sevil cooked the most amazing dinner for us. Fortunately not a huge meal but extremely satisfying. She started with a lentil soup that had mint in it. I think I've found a similar recipe in the above site but I've asked her to email a recipe to me. Then she brought out a huge bowl of a meat and yogurt dish. I don't know the name, although they told us what it is. The meat was finely ground, either beef or lamb, I'm not sure. There was eggplant in it, but also finely ground, apparently, and lots of yogurt.

Wonderful!
THEN, she brought out a bowl of rice and a bowl of a white bean dish. Again, wonderful. All was served with a good bread, not sure if that was Turkish or not. Apparently there is a Turkish grocery store very near to them. Also, at least 3 Turkish restaurants in West Haven.

Knowing how you enjoy Turkish food, I thought you might enjoy the website.

We took them a nice bottle of Chardonnay which they promptly opened and shared with us. We also took a box of "Ferrer-Roche" candy, only to learn that Ata doesn't like chocolate. Again, it was opened and shared with us. I had one piece only (Richard had 3) as I wanted it as a gift to them, not us. They sent us home with a box of Turkish Delight which they wouldn't let us open to share with them!
The evening was very nice, we ate dinner on their balcony which was very pleasant. It was nice to get acquainted with Hakan, a really nice guy. And Ata was sweet and polite. He did spend much of his time playing video games and watching Tom and Jerry cartoons. Apparently his parents won't let him have a gameboy at home, but they're letting him play to his heart's content while here. I guess their plans to leave the US have been moved to July 19. Hakan is waiting for some parts for his 1968 Dodge which his father had before he died. He asked that the car be given to Ata when he's 18 and can drive so Hakan is restoring it for him. Apparently it needs alot of work. Anyway, it was a delightful evening (helped along with the glass of whiskey handed to us when we arrived!) Then the wine. Oh my, and I thought they were Muslim?

I sent them an email last night when we got home to thank them for the lovely evening. The Turks are all about
hospitality. And Turkish food has to be among the best in the world. You would have absolutely loved our dinner. Turks do the most amazing things with their spices and fresh herbs. Most recipes I've seen are fairly easy to do (except for Baklavah), it's the way they season things and use fresh ingredients. As far as vegetables go, they do eat alot of veggies, their salads are amazing. I realized on the way home, though, there were no veggie dishes, although egg plant was in the one dish. A very nourishing mean, however, as you can imagine.

---

Sometimes I think about getting up early to walk like we used to do in Yreka, but then I think about the humidity and how it makes everything so miserable and soggy. Richard is going to the gym but I'm getting so little exercise it's pitiful.

We'd thought about going to Hartford today, but got in late last night. We definitely plan to go tomorrow. Will try to leave here about 8 AM as the library opens at 9, then work until we're weary of it all, stop in Bristol for groceries on the way home. The traffic wasn't too bad yesterday, but it seemed once we got off the freeway there were alot of stop lights to deal with, narrow twisty streets. Streets here were built for horse and buggies, not cars. Took us one and a half hours to drive the 40 miles or so, but we did stop for the wine and again for the candy. Coming home there was very little traffic so we made good time.

We missed a turn in a little town called Seymour, went round and round in circles for awhile before getting onto Hwy 8, the freeway. Looked like a darling town to spend a day in, however. The old downtown is full of cute shops and antique shops, restaurants. A narrow main street and the storefronts all have the covered sidewalks out in the front, very old and restored. I'm going to see if Richard is willing to go back down there to see what's there in daylight and with time to play.

Sometimes getting lost is a good thing, right? We have found some really interesting things by getting lost from time to time. On the way down we saw a sign for a school established in 1660. I want to find out what that's all about and I've got ancestors all around the area there - and here.

Richard is outside trying to fix a better shelf for our batteries. When he needs access to them he almost always pinches his fingers and they are horribly heavy, golf cart batteries, bigger and heavier than regular batteries.
Needless to say our A/C is going again and I'm staying right here with it. Guess I need to stand under the vent and do some sit ups and toe touches, etc to get my exercise. I sure ain't going to do them outside in the heat and humidity!

I've been reading "The Poisonwood Tree". Really interesting book, scarey to think what may happen to that family. I'm only half way thru it and I'm stressing out for them already!

Have a slow paced and hopefully some rest today.

Bedroom, Turkish Dinner

2008-07-31T08:46:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, July 08, 2008 7:42 AM

Well, life is good here as well. The holiday was coolish and wettish which resulted in very small crowds at the park. I probably wrote all about that. That makes life extra good for us. We were able to fill our time out with litter patrol in other areas that we don't always get to. Now we have 5 days off which we're enjoying thoroughly.

Richard is working on remaking our bedroom valances that have the ugly stuff on them. He has the two ready to go back over the little windows beside our bed. Just needs to put the padding and new fabric on and hang them. Debating about the big one over the dresser, it's up under cabinets and really doesn't show. So far all we've done is take that one down. May just leave that window "naked". The day/night shade is still there for privacy, that's all I care about. Then we will go to work on the headboard project. Would be nice to get it all done before R & M are here the 19th. We shall see.
Did our laundry first thing this morning, didn't have much to do, actually. Summertime laundry is always so much easier and quicker to do, it seems. Anyway, got that done early. So far that's all the excitement here.

This evening we'll go enjoy Turkish food with Sevil, Hakan and Ata in East Haven. They want us there after 5 PM, so will show about 5:30 ish. Will pick up some wine on the way for a hostess gift, maybe some candy for Ata? Unfortunately it will be Rush Hour which I expect to be horrible. At least we won't have to get on I-95. It's notoriously impossible to make progress on. We learned that lesson when here a couple of years ago. We'll leave with plenty of time, we can always kill some time once we get in the neighborhood.

Watched west coast news last night on our satellite TV, got a good update on the California fires. I can't believe how much of the state is burning, especially in Big Sur. Wonder if anything of that lovely forest will be left? Just pray for not only alot of rain but also no dry lightning! Well, not too much rain on those burned out mountainsides.

Hmmm...wonder where my swim suit might be? Haven't seen it for years now. There's a pretty pool here but haven't been in it. Lots of kids in the park and I'm sure that's where they spend their afternoons. Or it's thundering and lightning.

We turned on the A/C here before 10 AM. It was actually only 77 but the humidity was way up there, I couldn't stand it any more so turned on the A/C. To get up into the mid 80s. Had the A/C running all afternoon yesterday too. 85 is really OK in places like Yreka or Tucson, but definitely not here.

R: Almost 1" of Rain a Week

2008-07-31T08:42:00.002-07:00

Tuesday, July 08, 2008 7:33 AM
From Richard:

Kay and I have our fresh air/temperature difference. I like to feel the outdoor temp and humidity. Kay likes it cool and dry. Well, we are now trying to use the a/c to cool and dry the air with the thermostat set at 75 or higher. It makes it dry enough to feel cool, but not such a shock when stepping outside -- saves energy cost, too.

We are pondering what to do with next winter, spring, summer for places to stay/work. We like Arizona (Yuma, Jay Laughlin's territory), but are hoping for a "volunteer" position in SOUTHERN Florida. We wouldn't have to travel as far, and it would be a new experience. We could come back here for the summer, but it freezes at night till May and rains 1/4 inch every other day (1/4" x 180 days = 45" a year). Well, we'll keep looking.

We will dine with Sevil tonight. Ruth & Martina will see her Friday night, in West New Haven, CT where she is visiting a "cousin". English is her second language. I must give her a lot of credit for using her English, though she knows it is imperfect. She's a vivacious girl -- well, she's a woman with a child, Ata, and husband, Hakan.

Turkish Dinner in Connecticut

2008-07-31T08:41:00.000-07:00

Sunday, July 06, 2008 4:32 PM

And to think, when we were first married, Richard didn't want to travel. I guess he found out how fun it is to see new places.

I'm so glad the 4th week-end is behind us. From now on until we leave here, we'll just work our regular schedule. No extra shifts.
Just got home from a nice dinner out. We'd been intending to have dinner at Hometown Pizza. Carol had highly recommended it for dinner. Not only do they do a big pizza business but they have a full menu, primarily Italian. Richard had Red Clam sauce over spaghetti and I had Chicken Francese which is pounded and breaded chicken cooked in lemon butter. Definitely not low fat but oh, soooo delicious! Richard says his was wonderful too. It came with a good green salad, fresh baked bread. Mine also came with angel hair pasta with red sauce. We brought home enough food for at least 3 meals!

Tuesday evening we're going to East Haven, down by the coast, about 30 miles from here. Sevil and her husband Hakan have invited us for a Turkish dinner with them, she's cooking. And Turkish food is soooo good. Fusun fixed us a Turkish dinner when she spent Christmas with us, about 1989. We had food left over for the next week or so. It was all wonderful, however. Everything but the kufta (sp?) which is made with raw meat. We just couldn't do that one. Everything else was wonderful. We ate until we were stuffed. Or "doy doom" or however it's spelled in Turkish! One of the few words in my Turkish vocabulary! Later we learned it means "enough".

Anyway, it will be fun to see Sevil again. She is such a smiley fun person and I understand her husband, Hakan is also. We've met him, when we were last there, I remember liking him, but we didn't really get well acquainted. Their son, Ata, is about 8 now. He was a baby when we first saw him.

Movies: "O" & "The Upside of Anger"

2008-07-31T06:29:00.001-07:00

Saturday, July 05, 2008 7:47 AM

This week-end has turned out to be easier than most, actually. Thanks to the Rain Gods. Yesterday was cloudy and tried to rain, just couldn't quite get it done, but the clouds and forecast kept some people home, apparently. When we went thru the grounds yesterday there were large groups in the 2 shelters but all the other tables were pretty sparse. The restrooms needed attention, but nothing unusually bad. This morning we had to wait a little bit before going to work as it was still raining. Had a good rain in the night, .65 of an inch. Not a huge amount but definitely made things good and wet, and much cooler than it has been. Yippee!! Noone in the park yet this morning, of course. We did the gate opening (unlocking it) and noone had arrived to claim tables and such before we left. No major messes, just the usual.

The forecast is for more rain this afternoon, harder rain too, so we shall see how the afternoon goes. Had the chance to visit with Vinnie, our boss. Chuck is the guy who supervises us but we seldom see either of these guys. This place offers a good place to park and the work is easy enough, especially with our schedule of Saturdays and Sundays.

We got an offer to host at Seminole Canyon, TX, near Del Rio. We've camped there, nice place. That's the place we took the 6 mile hike round trip to see the Rio Grande River. Long way to a grocery store, however, like about 30 miles! Not good. Also, they could offer us just January, or April and May which is getting into very hot weather by mid May. That would mess up getting summer work somewhere too. January wouldn't be worth the gas to get there, so we turned them down. Apparently Vinnie got a call to give us a reference, says he gave us a good referral. Had it been January thru March or April, we might have taken it, but the drive to get groceries would be an issue.

Didn't see any fireworks at all, heard them though. Sounded like some big ones starting about 9 PM but we couldn't see anything. Watched the NY Macy's display at Jones Beach. That may be where Martina was with her parents. That was enough celebrating for us. We picked up a pizza on our way home from work. That was our celebration.

Before the Macy's fireworks, we watched movies. First one was "O" on IFC. Not great but OK. About some teen aged boys at a private school with basketball jealousies, a bunch end up getting killed by the end. Not an upper. The other was "The Upside of Anger" which you probably have seen. Enjoyed it, interesting to watch the play of relationships and emotions and how they evolved over time. Kevin Costner is always good to watch. Then we watched TV fireworks.

We have a few hours before returning to work. Finally finished breakfast. Because we have to go so early, we have a piece of fruit or toast and peanut butter before we leave, something to hold us until we get home Then we have a real breakfast later in the morning. That pretty much takes care of our week-ends, Saturdays and Sundays.

Redecorating the Bedroom

2008-07-31T06:27:00.000-07:00

Friday, July 04, 2008 10:58 AM

We're bracing up for our trek to the park today. Will make it a quick trip, or as quick as we can. It's an extra shift for us so we don't need the extra hours of time on our "time card". Will do what must be done and come home. Do a more thorough job in the morning when people haven't swarmed in yet. It's been cool, very cloudy, and drippy all day so far. Not really raining but occasionally a drip of rain. Hopefully it will keep a few picnickers home? I thought perhaps Connecticut had the corner on the market for messy people. Apparently not. Funny about the litter bags being possibly used on the beach. I think I can guarantee people will just throw them down too! We'll be glad to get back home to watch fireworks on the TV. Not sure what the fireworks situation is around here. We do hear some once in awhile, but beyond that, who knows? At least it would be hard to start a forest fire here as wet as it is.

We've been doing a bit of redecorating. In the bedroom there was fabric in the frame around the bed, up on the wall, where the slide went in and out. It clashed hideously with our spread - or any spread for that matter - and we just simply didn't like the color or print. We have had some drapery fabric we got almost a year ago to cover it. Richard did the deed yesterday (it took some mechanical building skills) and it looks so much better. The 3 valances over windows are covered in that fabric also, and those are down as well. We're debating whether to cover them with that same drapery fabric, replace them with wooden valances, or just leave them off. At least most of the ugly stuff is down. There's still the headboard to recover or replace. Not sure which way to go with that. I know I just want the last of that horrible print out of there. It's looking much, much nicer in there. Shows off the spread I got in India much better too.

Finally met our neighbors. They've been there at least a month now. We could see by their license plates they are from Fresno, CA. She's a nurse, works contracts here and there. Apparently, he's a house spouse with the 4 kids. Never hear a peep out of them. They were hooking up their travel trailer this morning and obviously having a major problem with their hitch. Richard went over to see if he could help in any way. A "pin" had broken which means they couldn't hook up the
trailer. They were leaving for the week-end, going up to Bar Harbor, ME. She finally got enough days off in a row to go somewhere. Somehow they home school the little kids. Surely she doesn't do it as she's working most of the time. They have a house in Fresno still, it's rented out, and work/travel all the time now. Seem like nice people. For 6 people there, they sure are quiet. Thank goodness!

Well, guess it's time to go to work, the day wears on. The park gets messier.

R: Bare Feet

2008-07-31T06:26:00.000-07:00

From Richard:
Friday, July 04, 2008 10:55 AM

Sun was out this am, for a while. Now we've had rain and clouds linger. Temp ok for shorts and bare feet, though. I'm doing a lot in bare feet. They have toughened up, some. Remembering the old days when we wore no shoes all summer, almost. Did we even walk to Centinela Pool in bare feet?

Gym is closed July 4,5,6. so will be on a break. Probably good to not go on work days, anyway -- Sat, Sun. Doing enough "exercise" on the job.

Neighbors -- a family of six in a trailer -- left today for Bangor, Main, with trailer. Will be back Mon. They have been very quiet for all those people. There are 4 bicycles chained up over there. They do home school. They seem bright enough. Home-schoolers seem to be quiet, but verbal when necessary -- explaining themselves well -- if I am permitted to generalize. Mom is Tamu, and dad is Joe (?). They have a house in Clovis rented to her sister for last year while they travel -- 43 states including prior years. She is nurse in ER at 2 or 3 hospitals, here. Says she comes home late, but we have not noticed any midnight interruptions.

Sun!

2008-07-31T06:25:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, July 02, 2008 7:08 AM

All is going well here. We actually have sunshine today! However, there's a chance of thunderstorms again this afternoon. We have had rain every day for a long time now and when you look at the forecast, it's thunderstorms every day for a week! This is getting extremely old! It keeps things so humid around here, we have to run the A/C just to dry things out a bit.

Due to the rainy weather we seem to be getting various projects done. I've finally finished my genealogy sorting project. I was able to eliminate alot of excess paper (and salvage alot of one sided copy paper which we can reuse for short term projects) and all my boxes are neatly shelved and labeled. Hopefully I can find things now? It would be nice to get back to some serious research!

R: Nice to be Retired

2008-07-31T06:24:00.000-07:00

From Richard:

Thursday, June 26, 2008 8:46 AM

Nice to be retired, with more time than anything else. It seems other people and their processes will use all the time we have available. So, what else are we going to get done? Nothing.

I am trying to teach myself a computer programming system with a database to be used to track the bibliography and notes on library research. Read that as genealogy research. I may call it Geneator, Geneatic, Genealic, Genealism, Genealific, or some other suggestion. Genealist is taken by a German genealogist at genealist.com. His name is List. Cute.

Anyway, I'm trying to get drop-down lists to give the choices to fill in a box. Hmmmm.... I have to work some more on it -- a lot.

Well, nap time.

Richard's Colon & Shelves

2008-07-31T06:23:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, June 25, 2008 8:33 AM

Yes, I'm glad I insisted Richard have the colonoscopy. Got him to admit it was good he had it done. I feel so free, knowing I don't have to do that again for 10 years. That may be the Medicare criteria for how often they'll pay for it? I can't help but wonder if my gastroenterologist in Ashland wouldn't want me back in 5 years or so. We weren't overly impressed with this guy, actually. No "real" exam at the first visit or discussion of meds or previous digestive problems. He was the "head" guy at the Waterbury Gastroenterology and Endoscopy whatever. Hopefully he's worth his salt.
That's one drawback with our livestyle. No continuity in health care in a way. It's up to us to keep our medical records together. Fortunately most drs are happy to give us copies of records to carry with us. We each have a big notebook of records, xrays, mammograms, CDs of scans, etc.

We'd thought about going into Hartford today to do some research, decided to stay home. Richard is working on some storage shelves for my genealogy file boxes, I've been sorting papers, tossing alot, filing things, that sort of thing. Trying to get this mess cleaned up. And I'm getting there.

Play: The Underpants

2008-07-31T06:22:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, June 24, 2008 8:20 AM

Richard's turn is finished. Needs another exam in 5 years. It still has to go to the lab, of course. Whew! That all is over and done with, except for all the papers that Medicare and AARP will now send us.

Had more storms again last night. It surely rained at least 2 inches, just poured buckets! Lots of lightning and thunder along with it. Wish we could get it back to the west coast to empty the clouds on the fires. The midwest sure doesn't need more water. Such a horrid mess for those poor people. I just looked at Weatherunderground, more storms headed this way today.

We'll just take it easy here. Have had our lunch, will take naps. Wouldn't be surprised if Richard sleeps a long time.

Sunday afternoon we have tickets to see "The Underpants" written by Steven Martin. Supposed to be very funny. We'll squeeze it in before we go to work in the late afternoon.

Another Day

2008-07-31T06:21:00.000-07:00

Monday, June 23, 2008 11:58 AM

It's absolutely pouring down rain here. Woke up to a thunderstorm today. Such a surprise, they are usually later in the day but this one started in around 5:30 AM or so, perhaps earlier. Kept trying to reject the noise in my sleep, but lost the battle. Have had a couple rain showers roll thru, now this one has hit and may be with us for awhile. This is getting old, old, old. At least when it's not raining it's sunny and pretty. Had a late afternoon thunderstorm yesterday too.

Working isn't in our vocabulary these days. Seems we just putter thru the days, even when supposedly 'working'. Actually, I've spent much of the day reading. Right now I'm most of the way thru Barbara Kingsolver's book Prodigal Summer. Very good, at least 3 stories woven together. Very pleasant theme thruout.

Richard is still struggling with a computer program -- a complex genealogy program called The Master Genealogist.

Nothing else doin' here. Except Richard has started his prep for tomorrow's "procedure".

Flowers and Green

2008-07-31T06:19:00.000-07:00

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Of course, messy people give us a job, so guess I can't complain too much. We're actually getting ahead in our checking account due to the fact we're not having to pay for fuel and campsites. With our power bill and site rent provided, we're saving approximately a bundle plus all the diesel we're not burning in travel. Needless to say that makes us very happy. And it's so darned pretty here, though humid. I just marvel at the lushness all around us. After we worked this morning we walked down to where the RV sites are going in (they're all ready except for power, and that's up to the power company) and it's just lovely there. Wildflowers everywhere you look and green, green, green. At this point I'd be surprised if the sites will be usable before next summer!! Two campsites don't make for a high priority item to the power company.

Will work this afternoon, kind of late, if the predicted thunderstorms don't prevent us working. 70% chance of thunderstorms this afternoon, some may be severe. Oh well. If we can't get out there to work, who's complaining. Especially when it's so muggy. Thankfully not terribly hot, however.

We'll be very close to Disneyworld and all the stuff in that area while parking at Apopka, FL. We were there several years ago. Spent a week enjoying Epcot and such, then a week on Sanibel Island. Such a lovely spot there. I've been hearing
about all the newer things that have gone in at Disneyworld, so I'm sure we'll spend some time there. Good thing we're saving up some money this summer.

Time for lunch and a nap, then back to work. That will set us up for the week.

Work and Winter Plans

2008-07-31T06:16:00.002-07:00

Saturday, June 21, 2008 6:26 AM

I don't take the heat well anymore. Seems my bod has to be between 70 and 80 degrees to be happy. Nice here this morning. As I suspected, by late afternoon storm clouds had rolled in, got some rain but not much. Hard to have an evening cookout and consider eating outside when most evenings are like that. Today is supposed to be nice all day and major storms all day tomorrow.

I was thinking today as I was picking up in the park this morning, there's such a difference in fire danger between here and CA. We see coals and cigarettes thrown down in the leaves of the woods all over here. You wouldn't dare to do that where you are, especially right now. Everything is so wet here all the time. I suppose there are dry times as people say this is a wet year here.

We are really looking forward to see R & M and also Sevil. We've met her husband, Hakan when we were there shortly after Ata was born. Seemed like a nice guy but didn't really get to know him at all. Sevil is such a sweetie. All smiles and fun.

Our job is so much easier now that there are porta potties instead of the regular restrooms.

Friends have called. If we don't get a volunteer job in FL this winter we'll probably meet up with them at an RV park just north of Disneyworld. Looks like a good one with reasonable rates plus all the amenities. We'll make the reservation, we'd only lose the $50 deposit if we had to cancel, but that way we'd be sure of an RV spot down there. We're kind of missing them, so want to connect with them for a few weeks somewhere along the line.

Movie: The Other Boleyn Girl

2008-07-31T06:14:00.001-07:00

Friday, June 20, 2008 8:27 AM

We've been seeing a lot of shots of homes well beyond saving in the Midwest. So sad. My cousins in Iowa are all on higher ground, thank goodness. The gorgeous home of one cousin is high up on a hill. Last year they were looking down on flooded fields, and that was in the SW part of the state, where there IS some flooding from the Missouri River and the Nishnabotna Rivers, but not like over in the east where the real damage is. My cousin lives in town and her home is in the higher part of the town, thank goodness. During the last big flood I called my cousin who lives in Bettendorf, right where there's usually a huge mess. Not far from Davenport. They apparently are high up also.

I need to email RVing friends from Iowa. They no longer have a house there in NW Iowa but have lots of family there, to be sure they are OK and families as well. I'd emailed after all the tornadoes hit that area, they were fine, as was family, but a cousin came close to losing his home. So glad we're not in the Midwest this year! Not a good place to live or travel in, although beautiful when it's nice. We get enough weather problems here!

Our daughter emailed. Seems Sevil (Fusun's sister) and son will be in New Haven for the next month. That's 32 miles from here, right down the freeway. Richard emailed her, they are leaving Turkey tomorrow and will be here until July 12. We'll go see them once they get here and arrangements have been made. They are staying with a cousin who lives there. We looked at New Haven, discovered there are at least 3 Turkish restaurants in that town, others in surrounding towns. Must be a Turkish community there? She answered Richard's email saying she wants to prepare a Turkish dinner for us. Turkish food is soooo good. In fact, once learning about the restaurants, Richard suggested we drive down there tonight for a Turkish dinner! Sounds like a winner to me.

This week has been very pleasant temperature wise, we're still getting clouds and occasional smatterings of rain. Keeps the trees green, I guess. You never see sprinklers going here. That should be a clue?

Watched "The Other Boleyn Girl" last night. Excellent movie! I'd highly recommend it if you haven't seen it. Did a little reading this morning, online, looks like it was pretty accurate. The costuming was stunning, such gorgeous fabrics and all. Watched the special features afterward, interesting to learn more about the main characters and all. Never having had any English history to speak of (shameful for a history major), I'm still trying to put things in order in my mind and how they have all worked toward the present. I've got a long way to go to understand much of it.

Our daughter called last night to let us know they have a cabin rented up in VT for a week between July 12-19. That means they'll be going thru here on their way. They'll stop on the way up to see Sevil, then since my birthday is the 18th, they'll stop on the way back to celebrate with us. Probably stay overnight and go home Sunday the 20th. Won't that be great! I'm so pleased.

Movie: Bucket List

2008-07-31T06:13:00.000-07:00

Thursday, June 19, 2008 11:37 AM

The colonoscopy is over and done with. Praise be! Don't have to do this for another 10 years!!!! Best news I've had in a long time! Richard's turn on Tuesday. Except for 3 tries to find an IV vein, a very painless procedure. Didn't have to wait long before going in, everything went like clockwork, home a little after 11 AM. Just got up from a good nap, just in time to get the call from the dr's office to check on me. Even got pictures, and you know how I love pictures...

Pleasant day here, nice and sunny this morning, many big puffy clouds this afternoon and no doubt it will rain again this afternoon late.
Yes, the poor people in the mid west are really in a mess. It was so wet thru the midwest last spring, and we thought we saw alot of fields flooding then. It would look like a full blown drought compared to this year. Definitely another Katrina in the making, just with no Superdome situation. Fortunately far fewer lives lost. Must be absolutely horrible to go home to such destruction, be it fire, flood, earthquake... Janet had a close enough call with that sort of situation with Loma Prieta, we've been very fortunate to never have had to deal with such. I really cannot even imagine finding your home devastated like that.

No other news from here, the day was devoted to getting my innards looked at. Richard did wash and wax the front cap of the RV while I was napping. It was covered with an interesting collection of dead bugs and rain dribble lines. The bugs from the last 1000 miles or so of travel. Who knows what we transported from one end of the country to another.

This morning before we left, the Mattice's brought over their copy of a video they thought we'd enjoy, the "Bucket List".

Internet by Satellite vs. Cable

2008-07-31T06:12:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Cable Internet is what we're using right now. The trees here got too big and we couldn't get satellite anymore. Since there was cable at the RV sites for TV, the cable folks did a simple flip of the switch so we could also have cable internet.
It's trying to be sunny here, but clouds keep getting in the way - and growing. Will get going over to fold our laundry soon, then that job is done for the week.

Richard: Looking Good

2008-07-31T06:09:00.001-07:00

Wed, Jun 18, 2008

Richard:

We are having an "unusually wet spring." Clouds are heavy this pm (3:20) after a semi clear morning. The managers of this RV park have had to redo driveways because heavy rains keep washing out their work. Have done a nice looking job today, and the clouds are back....

I have been doing enough sun bathing to get rid of my white underbelly look. I am not going for a deep tan, though. And I must get to the gym today. Have worked at the Corps on Sat & Sun -- so skipped the gym. Rain and something else kept me away Mon and Tues -- but not today. I may be old, but I want to look good.

To the Dentist

2008-07-31T06:04:00.001-07:00

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

The sun did come out for awhile this morning and it's been a nice dry day. Clouds are creeping in now, however. Had a sprinkle of rain on our way back from Bristol.
Long day - for us. Started out with my dental appointment, and of course they were running behind. The hygienist is quite good, did all the periodontal checking stuff she's supposed to do. I'm in fine shape, no bleeding, only a few 4mm pockets, little calculus. Met the doctor, a lady. Never really "saw" her, as she had her mask and scopes on her glasses. I think that's what they're called, I honestly don't remember the proper name of the things. Richard used them too, so should know their name. Oh yes, the "scopes" are called "loops" for some reason. Go figure... Seemed like a nice person, fortunately I don't need her services. Seems I really didn't need the cleaning but good to know all is well. My last cleaning was over 2 years ago, I figured out. It was definitely time. While I was there, Richard went to the post office, the library for videos, and to check if his shoes had come in. They hadn't. They'll probably arrive about time we leave here.
Then on to Bristol. Had a lab picked out to get some blood drawn. Dr Gwinn in Dothan, AL, is supervising my meds for high blood pressure. Went to the lab, discovered they closed at noon and by now it was 12:20. Went over to the hospital, got right in once I got all registered as a new patient, etc. Got my blood drawn, then got some lunch.
Wanted something in our stomachs before grocery shopping. Geez, food prices are getting so darned high! Got our groceries and got home a bit ago.

Richard has now headed out to exercise, I may crash for a short nap ;). Need to figure out dinner, watch a movie, then call it a day.

Another Rain Storm

2008-07-31T06:02:00.000-07:00

Monday, June 16, 2008 3:35 PM

Well, here we are in the midst of another big storm. You know? This is getting kind of ridiculous - and old. It's just pouring out there, tornado watches again for some areas. Not here, I don't think. The last storm produced more than an inch of rain. I suspect the same for this one. Had a quiet day today, stayed home, got various paperwork things done. Just finished dinner a bit ago and now the TV is on. Wish we had a good movie to watch, don't happen to have one right now.

That's about it for news from here. Exciting life we lead, huh?

Father's Day 2008

2008-07-31T05:55:00.001-07:00

Just got home from working and brunch to celebrate Father's Day. Got back from work about 10:15, decided bacon and eggs sounded really good. Realized the Goose and Gander just across the street is open week-end mornings now and we hadn't tried it yet. Service was slow as they were swamped with people celebrating Father's Day, I guess, like we were. But, the food was tasty and fresh and it was very pleasant in there, and we were able to walk over. Stopped here to change our shirts rather than wear our uniforms. Now we're home for awhile before working later in the day. Maybe it will rain like it did yesterday?

The porta potty situation is going to work well. There were only 5 brought in, brand new ones. Easy to clean and all. Of course they haven't been used much yet. They weren't brought in until about 11 AM, so didn't have to deal with them until the afternoon. The fact that all the others were locked and closed meant we didn't have that much to do, so filled our time by doing more litter patrol. People are SO MESSY! I cannot believe the trash they leave behind from a picnic! Anyway, did the cleanup and came home. In the afternoon it stormed again. This time, we only got the potties cleaned plus one restroom which uses some kind of bacterial action, when the sky let loose. Knew it was very humid and looking like rain, but it really cut loose. Almost as bad as that last storm. Less wind, however. We waited in the shelter of the restroom for quite awhile, when a lady came in who was just stopping at the park to use a restroom. She's come from further north, said this was going to last awhile. Just north of here trees were uprooted, penny sized hail, and
pouring rain. We made a dash for the truck, got well soaked, and headed back to the barn, so to speak. Didn't do the restrooms at the other dam at all, couldn't! Could hardly see to get down the highway for the intense rain. Anyway, it rained until after we went to bed a few hours later. Lost our satellite TV so switched to the cable system, ended up watching the PGA open, or something like that where Tiger Woods made some unbelievable puts. He's amazing to watch.

This morning we found one tree down, half way across the park road. Thankfully all we have to do is report it. ;)

So much for the drier weather. Today is again very humid, not too hot, thankfully, just feels warm due to the humidity. As we were checking for litter in one place where there is quite a bit of water in the ponds, flowers everywhere, I realized the word is Primordial. At first I said to Richard it's Eden-like, but decided primordial fits the scene well. Very peaceful with lots of overgrowth down in that spot (where the photos of the lake came from), and there's this one field that's absolutely breathtaking. At least a dozen different kinds of flowers of all possible colors. And the
smell is so soft and fresh and clean. I've attached a photo of the field, just can't send the smell. We just stood there and kind of soaked up the beauty and peacefulness. Except for having to clean up after humans, it's really a great job, wonderful places to have to go to work. The way it's looking, we may not be able to work much this afternoon.

Our constant rain is such a contrast to the dry forests of California. And Santa Cruz is in what I would call a "wet" zone! Hope the fires are pretty much history, glad to hear you know of noone who have lost their homes. Won't be a pretty picture when you drive up to Bonny Doon next week. It will be very sad to see such a lush beautiful forest devastated by fire. Nature heals, however, and in a few years there will be some skeleton trees around, but the lushness will return.

Watched "License to Wed" with Robin Williams a couple of nights ago. Cute, predictable, funny, but a tad disappointing too.

Found Ancestor, 11kids

2008-06-15T11:41:00.002-07:00

Not much doin' here in CT today. Beautiful sunshiny day, but
cooler. Thank goodness! Yesterday turned out to be hot and humid, verrrry
humid. Went back and forth between storms and sun almost coming out, and
when the sun was trying so hard, it would turn into a sauna.
Finally turned on the A/C even though it was only about 80, just to make
life tolerable and dry the air out a bit. Helped alot, needless to say.
Guess we could have gone over to the pool but about that time the lightning
and thunder would have started again. Had at least 4-5 really heavy duty
storms by bedtime.

Richard and I have been just putzing around here at home. Got my hair cut
first thing this morning, feel like a new woman. It's just across the street
and up the hill a bit, so walked over. Richard went to the gym, next door,
at it turns out. He's been going from one computer project to the next.
I've been entering a new family (11 kids) into the computer. Knew of them,
but had never entered the data. Had the wrong parents as this one woman's
parents, she's my 2nd great grandmother so her parents are my 3rd great
grandparents. These folks were the last of my ancestors who arrived on this
shore (that I know of). Didn't come over from Ireland until about 1809 or
so. They first show up in the 1810 census. Came from County Antrim. A bit
piece of my puzzle is filled in now. Feels good.

Heard from some RVing friends from Iowa. Parkersburg is where one of their
cousins live, they're OK, however. The next block over from the friend's
house was where the edge of the damage is. That was close! We went thru
Greensburg, KS last summer, couldn't believe the devastation there. Imagine
it's the same in Parkersburg.

Chinese Product Safety

2008-06-15T11:32:00.001-07:00

20080601

In the course of trade, across the store counter or across the globe, there are contracts negotiated, accepted, and completed.

If a buyer asks for a product, the producer agrees to provide it for the stated price, the product is delivered, and payment is made, the contract is completed. All is safe and satisfactory.

If one of the parties has not acted in accordance with the terms of the agreement, the contract is not completed, and the other party is entitled to the return of the product or the return of the money, at the least. (The injured party could be entitled to more if there have been damages.)

If a drug manufacturer requests "heparin," or a toy manufacturer requests "toys that meet my local legal standards," the provider must meet those terms, or the transaction is canceled. The producer is obligated to accept return (or provide suitable destruction) of the product and to refund any money collected, plus payment for damages the poor performance has caused.

If the buyer did not make it clear that they must have, as part of their product order description, a product that meets their local legal standards, the delivered product is the buyer's property and must be paid for. If the received product does not then meet "local legal standards," the buyer is left to his own devices to dispose of the sub-standard product.

Passing the product on to the next level of consumer who has published their "local legal standards," such as maximum content of lead, would be in violation of the law which is in violation of the terms of the consumer's definition of what constitutes the product, as expressed in law. That would make the distributing manufacturer responsible for accepting return of the product from the consumer, or disposal of the product, and return of money collected to the consumer, and payment for any damages they may have caused.

Regulators and law enforcement are not responsible for any of these transactions. They may be obligated to expose violations of the law, but they are not a party to the transaction. Hence, it is not "poor performance" by the regulatory agencies that is responsible for the sale and purchase of defective product. Inadequate testing and inspection by a regulatory or law enforcement agency is not contributory to the poor performance of the parties in these product transactions.

Therefore: (1) China must take back sub-standard toys and drugs, or safely destroy them; (2) China must return the money they collected for the purchase of the toys and drugs; (3) China must pay monetary compensation for damages caused by their delivery of sub-standard product; and (4) the EPA, FDA, and Consumer are not to bear any of the loss.

Unless Matel did not ask for safe toys, and the drug company did not ask for pure heparin.

The Storms are Fierce

2008-06-03T05:05:00.002-07:00

The storms are fierce. They may be less than an hour in duration, but the wind and amount of water delivered from the sky are very impressive. With the Summer approaching, the temperatures are 60 to 80 degrees -- cool to comfy.

2008-06 CT

Mother's Day - '08 May 11

2008-05-12T06:47:00.003-07:00

I've had a lovely Mother's Day today. We worked, of course, pleasantly surprised that the restrooms where the fishermen fish and the other where the dirt bikers bike weren't a mess. Especially after a nice day which followed a very wet day. Expected a lot of mud tracked in, that sort of thing. But, as it was we were able to whip thru our job and head home.

We usually eat a very light quick breakfast before heading out, then a good breakfast when we get back which we have time to enjoy. Richard did the honors, made muffins and eggs. Then had a nice call from Ruth. Warren called in the evening with Happy Mother's Day wishes.

We puttered around a bit then went for a hike over at the big park where we work. There are some trails there along the stream which we hadn't had a chance to explore and this was a nice day to do it. Took off on one and ended up in someone's back yard, so turned around and tried a different path, which turned out to be lovely. Mossy banks on the stream, several springs feeding into the stream, all kinds of new spring growth. Just absolutely lovely. Took my camera along, of course. We hiked for about an hour before getting back to the truck.

See the Pictures.

Then drove up to Litchfield, northwest of Thomaston, then south to East Morris, then home. Along the way we came across a winery, so stopped for a tasting and bought some wine. They were nice wines, but no competition for California wines, that's for sure. We've done some tasting all across the country, California wines are definitely the best as far as we're concerned. Interesting to try the local wines, of course.

Came on home, I was so sleepy by then from the exercise, the wine, and riding in the car. We both took naps, now Richard has gone to exercise and Libby is begging for her dinner. Such a sweet little pest! Brat might be a better word.

Richard suggested dinner out tonight, but I can't believe I'm saying this, I think I'd rather just stay home! It's been a lovely day and my hubby has made it very special.

Tomorrow is TGIF for us, not sure what we're going to do with out days off; looks like they will be wet, windy and chilly. The wind has certainly come up just since I've been working on this email! We both have indoor projects to work on. Richard is back already, the gym was closed. So much for that!

Body for Life - '08 May 9

2008-05-10T12:36:00.004-07:00

2008-05 CT

K: I just got up from my nap. Richard went over to the gym, across the street. He signed up about a week ago, for the summer. He's restarted the "Body for Life" program, so he went over there while I exercised my dreaming abilities. I was sound asleep and an hour and a half later when he got home. Seems he went for a long, long walk after leaving the gym. Came home and found me still asleep. Now to finish emails and get something done with my day.

The rain has stopped and it's really nice and warm, but cloudy. Must enjoy the warmth, supposed to be down in the 50s tomorrow and raining hard all day!

R: My walk was up the east side of Branch Brook. I am looking for a path from the gym to our RV parking spot at the foot of Black Rock Dam. I don't think it's doable, unless I can cross the brook twice.

We will be moving into the RV sites when the electric power is in, says Chuck. But I haven't seen any power poles set, yet. The concrete pads and brick patios are in. See our Album pictures.

Mark Twain Library - '08 May 6

2008-05-08T11:18:00.006-07:00

See the Pictures.

The weather finally warmed and dried up. Low 70s the last couple of days, same today, and mostly sunny. But, it's supposed to rain tomorrow.

Had an interesting day, drove over to Redding, CT to do a bit of cemetery prowling. Found a couple of major graves in the town center of Redding, Col. John Reed and his wife, they were the founders of what used to be called Reading, and also found the foundation of his "Lonetown Manor" from the early 1700s.

Also drove around Hawleyville, north of there. The Hawleys were a major family of mine from that same time period. The Hawleys and Reeds intermarried a lot. Found the Hawley cemetery with lots of Hawleys in it. At that point in the day I just took loads of gravestone photos, still need to sort them out.

Absolutely, incredibly beautiful area. So rugged too! Lots of steep hills, rocky cliffs, the fields are full of rocks, would have been horrible to try to farm. Old rock walls everywhere, and I mean everywhere. And of course, this time of year studded with every kind of flowering tree one can imagine mixed with all the colors of trees leafing out. Just breathtaking! Oh yes, small streams everywhere as well.

Getting back on to the back roads was a real treat. Hard driving for Richard but I enjoyed it thoroughly! Stopped for groceries on the way home, in Waterbury, didn't get home until what is late for us, about 7:30. A long day and we were done in.

Had a hard time finding businesses in Redding. It's definitely "upper crust" there, gorgeous homes scattered around, but no stores! Where do these people get groceries, eat out, get gas, bank, etc?? We did find one post office and one library. And that library was one given originally to the city by Mark Twain! It's been rebuilt, of course, and very luxurious. The librarians couldn't have been more helpful.

After driving miles over ridges and down valleys, we finally found a "road house", a very nice restaurant where we had a delicious lunch. A tad pricey, but a nice treat. Designed like an old English pub in the bar part.

All in all, a great day.

Northfield Brook Lake - '08 May 5

2008-05-05T15:33:00.003-07:00

The Sun has come out. Now we can show you the place we work, and the tree where we live.

See the Pictures.

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Thanks, Richard and Kay

Stratford Historical Society - '08 Apr 29

2008-04-30T08:58:00.004-07:00

2008-04 CT

K: Today was another rainy morning, so dreary. We opted to drive down to Stratford, about a 30 mile drive south of us. Went to the Historical Society for a bit of research, took a break at 1 PM for lunch. In the process we discovered a very very old cemetery behind the library in Stratford, then discovered many of our Stratford ancestors are buried there. Will check it out more closely on a dry warm day. It would have been miserable today. Quite chilly today and a breeze has come up which just added to the misery of the rain. Nice drive each way, just gorgeous, actually, in spite of the weather. Dogwoods, magnolias, plum trees, you name it, all are in bloom right now and the trees are all leafing out wildly. But...tonight we're to have frost!

Elusive Bloodroot - '08 Apr 26

2008-04-27T17:06:00.001-07:00

K: Well, we're home from work. Just finished loading today's photos into the computer. Yesterday, when it was sunny and gorgeous out, I didn't have my camera. Took it with me today, and it has been a gray morning, until now. The sun is trying to come out. At least it's not raining and so far, not too cold.

Richard just now put up the photos I took of various wildflowers - and not so wild, flowers that I took this morning. One that is missing is bloodroot, a lovely little white blossom with 8 petals and one large leaf. I'll try for it tomorrow. There were 4 in bloom where I
discovered them yesterday, all had shattered by this morning. There was another, but it hadn't opened yet. So simple and elegant!

Richard has his massage soon, he's now in the shower. I'll tag along, do my grocery shopping while he's enjoying his massage. If it's not too expensive, maybe she would work on my neck? Also need to stop at the B of A briefly. Other than that, we're just putzing around here. Would love to do some exploring of the area, but with diesel running $4.59 a gallon, it's slowing us down. Checked out menus from some of the better looking restaurants around here. Will save them for special occasions, perhaps. Not much in the way of Mexican food, at least so far. And we do love Mexican food.

R: I was hoping the massage would accelerate the healing of my pulled back muscles. It didn't work that way. It was a nice massage, but after the initial relaxation, I was in the same pain in a few hours. Massage may be more of a self-indulgent thing than a therapy, in many cases.

Northfield flowers - '08 Apr 25

2008-04-26T08:06:00.000-07:00

Click Album cover picture in previous post for new flower pictures. Scroll down from here.

K: Our job is going well. We've pretty well got the routine smoothed out so we can zip right thru the various tasks. Beautiful drives between the parks. Especially right now with all the gorgeous spring flowers. There's a deep purple azalea all over town that's absolutely stunning. A pink blossoming tree is just outside one of our bedroom windows that will soon be lovely.

Unfortunately it's going to turn quite chilly and wet for the next week, at least that's what is predicted. Darn, anyway. We were really enjoying the 70 + temps and sunshine. Clouding up as I type. Still finding various businesses we need around here.

Richard has found a massage therapist, hopefully to help him with his back. Pulled something a couple of weeks ago, still hurting. I've found a good hairdresser right across the street from us here, found the post office, learned where the B of A is, going to try a different grocery store tomorrow, a nearby gas station has "good" prices for diesel, at least the
lowest we've seen around here. Of course, we're driving as little as possible these days. So, we're slowly settling in.

Just spent a long time online discovering all the things to do around here. Lots of cultural stuff, plays, music performances, much at a very reasonable price. Also alot that is out of our budget. We now have tickets to see "Annie Get Your Gun" Sunday afternoon. Free Monday evening music performances begining in June in Seth Thomas Park which is close to here. One group is bluegrass, another is Irish, also various other types of music. Also an excursion train that winds around the area, might be fun? A winery north of here, sometimes you find some interesting wines in these out of the way wineries. The more I hunted around the more stuff I found. I guess it makes sense, since we're just 104 miles from NYC, or 1.5 hours by train.

Buy low, Sell high - '08 Apr 22

2008-04-22T04:46:00.007-07:00

2008-04 CT

Here are 17 pictures of our Thomaston area camping, ACE (Army Corps of Engineers) RV site under construction, and our place at Branch Brook Campground while waiting for ACE sites to be completed. Please click on the cover image above to see the pictures and a locater map.

R (Opinion): Did you feel comfortable when President Bush's administration recommended Congress endorse Most Favored Nation status for China a few years ago? Why did the independent branch of government, Congress, approve it?

We knew then that China was using prison labor, and dumping chemicals into the air, water and ground. I have not been persuaded since that that has changed.

Now we are are displacing American made (and Canadian and Mexican NAFTA) merchandise because products can be made more cheaply in China where labor is less than $3 a day, where it is paid.

Of course, it cuts Chinese manufacturer's overhead to not produce the product the purchaser is buying. Just stuff something into a box or bottle that looks like what the purchaser is buying. That's their ethic.

We now have 81 people documented dead because China sold us a drug labeled one thing, that is quite another -- it is lethal. It was sold as heparin.

We have sick children from toxic toys that looked like real toys. Chinese ethics permit this mis-representation. They know we in the United States have strict laws on the content levels of toxic materials in toys. And now that our high priced lawyers know the Chinese ethics, why did they not get "must meet US toxic materials regulation" in the purchase agreement with China? That would have made the blame fall on the produces. As it is now, our toy importers like Matel have to pay for the problem. Sorry to see them go bankrupt.

Is China bad, or are the people who knowingly buy illegal products bad? Let them both pay. The best we can hope for is half a remedy from each of them. (Lawyers are good at minimizing the consequences of responsibility. Why couldn't they avoid passing on merchandise that is illegal? It's not a question of ethics for lawyers; it's the law.)

Slightly different topic: "The Upscale Downfall (copyright 2007)" For example, the full porcelain bridge and laser bleaching that your dentist has been pushing, are too expensive to use for the treatment of disease. That means, dentists are going to have to make fewer cosmetic restorations, and examine their ethical goals. Do they want to treat the large number of people with disease by an affordable alternative, or do the want to do only the "best available" treatment for a few. Currently, the dentist and the purveyor of the "advanced" materials and machines are leading the way because of a profession that is accepting the concept that profit is a measure of success.

Todays gripes. More to follow.

Have a nice day....

So early! - '08 Apr 18

2008-04-20T10:30:00.001-07:00

We're in a nice spot. However, that adjustment to getting up early and heading off to work is a bit mind boggling. We will adjust. We've been sleeping to 7 or 8 every morning for a long time now, so that's an adjustment for sure. Fortunately, when we get up at six, the sun is on its way up, at least it's light. That helps.

Since we're quite a ways north, the days are a tad longer during the summer months. And it's chilly, but that will soon be a blessing in this humid climate. We can get our work done before the day gets hot. We hope to get ourselves organized here so we can work 7-9 or so, before it gets hot, also have the day to ourselves. We WILL adjust. We came home yesterday and slept for almost 3 hours!! Then to bed earlier than usual. Today is our day off this week. We did a trial run to get the restrooms ready for opening day, Saturday. Took us 5 hours!!! But, now that they are all spiffy and ready to go, we should be able to whip thru them, rotate the heavy cleaning from day to day.

Nice truck to ride around in, a 2004 Chevy. Since we drive a GMC we're used to the configuration of the dash board, etc. Our Safari Van was a GMC. Then we had the Chevy Silverado truck which we really liked. Had a Dodge RAM before the current truck which we did NOT like, now the current truck which is a GMC. So much for our transportation history... Our normal days off will be Tuesday and Wednesday. Once the other couple gets here, that may change a bit.

Anyway, we have absolutely gorgeous places to work, no complaints so far. However, we both have sore muscles now. Using muscles that had forgotten how to move, apparently. They will adapt. Finished settling in here, got our awning and mats out, sat outside for quite awhile late yesterday, so nice and warm. Just relaxed, sipped wine, and enjoyed life.

Newbie Volunteer - '08 Apr 17

2008-04-20T10:27:00.003-07:00

R: We feel some shock at returning to the workforce. Yesterday, we were shown all the tasks we are expected to do. Looks like too much, but some are daily, some weekly, some as time permits. Today will be a "wet run." We will run through the daily chores, but they may be a bit heavy today. The pre-opening work is not complete. Some of these facilities were under water a couple of months ago. They have been pressure washed, but the toilets & sinks still need to be hand washed before Saturday. Hmmm...

K: Well, here it is, 2 days later. Yesterday was jam packed. Went over to Chuck's office for the so called 1/2 hour of paperwork. Actually it was only a half hour, but then went on a tour of our workplace. I'm so confused at this point, hopefully Richard got it all straight. The first couple of stops were parks where we just do litter patrol sporadically during the week. The next park has the restrooms that need to be cleaned every morning, early, do occasional litter patrol. And the last stop with a couple of vault toilets that need to be swept out. Won't be bad once we get it all straight.

The park season opens at 8 AM Saturday and it will be a busy time so we're told. That's why we go early to unlock the restrooms. Today is to be a trial run, to be sure we have the right keys, know where all the supplies and equipment are, etc. Hopefully home by later this morning.

YESTERDAY was a long, long, day. We were both so tired when we got home. Did our paperwork, then went to the various park sites, did a lot of standing around waiting for a lot of discussion. Vinnie is the real "boss" of the three dams we will be dealing with. Chuck is in charge of us, and the maintenance of Black Rock Dam and Northfield Brook Lake (the busiest park). We were both somewhat tired by 12:30 PM when we finally got out of there.

Then, we drove up to Torrington as we were told by Chuck, prices are too high here in Thomaston. Well, we stopped at a decent looking restaurant for lunch. It had ho-hum food, so-so service, and was very pricey. Both of us left dissatisfied.

Then went to find a grocery store. When to a Price-Rite; we thought we'd shopped at one of them. First you had to put a quarter in the slot to get a cart. Then when you get inside it's one of the stores where everything is just stuck on a shelf, no rhyme or reason. Once I got a hold of the bread, milk and eggs we desperately needed, I said we were outta there. Too tired to deal with that situation, and huge crowds, all nationalities. The latter was just fine but the crowds weren't. Checked out with several items by then, no bags, those are a dime apiece!!! Never heard of such of a thing. We paid for our goods, chucked them loose in the back seat, after telling them we wouldn't be back. Such a zoo!

We found a Big Y, very big on convenience and courtesy, excellent store. You can't buy wine in a grocery store in CT, MA, MD, probably some other states, I don't recall, but the northeast is big on liquor laws. Probably left over Blue Laws. Fortunately a nice one next door so picked up the wine (which we were needing by then). Drove home, took a late nap. Didn't get home until after 4 PM, exhausted. Diesel here was $4.43, highest we've paid yet. Shopping trips will get better, I'm sure. They have too!

2008-04 CT

We were shown where the new RV parking sites are that volunteers can use when the sites are ready. Beautiful. Down below the office, behind a locked gate, in an open area that's just a gorgeous spot. Each of the two sites have a concrete parking pad, which is always desirable, PLUS a huge brick patio. The BBQ is going to be put in later. It overlooks lovely little Branch Brook creek, mountains, forest, etc. Lots of bird sounds there which will be enjoyable. Since it's very isolated, I'm sure there's lots of wildlife wandering thru. Sure hope we get to enjoy the spot before we leave. All it needs is the electricity connected. Who knows how long that will take.

Day 1 as Volunteer - '08 Apr 16

2008-04-20T10:26:00.000-07:00

Wed, April 16

Now it's early Wednesday morning, we need to head out soon to our job. Hopefully be home in 2-3 hours?

Beautiful weather here, at least for now. Trees still bare but we'll get to see spring arrive - again. It's to be over 70 today, warmer tomorrow. Hopefully done with freezing nights. Had to scrape the windshield yesterday morning, not so today.

Well, off to work, hope to come home and crash in a few hours. Need to clean my own house desperately!

Ar Thomaston, CT - '08 Apr 15

2008-04-20T10:25:00.000-07:00

Long long day as it turned out. Had about 250 miles to drive today, about 200 or so yesterday. We'd thought it was alot closer than that for some reason. Busy interstates. Took a small stretch of highway that wasn't an interstate. What a treat!! Wish more of the trip could have been that way. But...we had miles to cover, so interstates it was. Heavy traffic all the way but we were able to keep moving OK. Lots of construction going on.

When we arrived in CT, we hadn't even had a chance to put the slides out or put our jacks down when the ranger arrived, Chuck. The other couple haven't arrived yet.

We're at Branch Brook RV park close to the ACE (Army Corps of Engineers) park itself. The sites The Corps are putting in for the volunteers aren't quite ready yet, so we're here in a private RV park, in the interim. We're to go over to Chuck's office in the morning for paperwork and instructions.

The other couple's names is Mattice (familiar, right?) and they'll be here in about 3 weeks or so. They have a big family thing going on, I think, right now. Chuck gave us the scoop on where to shop and get diesel for a better price than right here in Thomaston. He suggested that we avoid Waterbury as it's a bad area, in his opinion. Also, he clued us in on Summer Stock theater. There is lots of it is available, which is nice to know about. He told us stuff like that that locals know and we newcomers don't.

Anyway, he finally left so we could set up the RV. Richard is still working outside on something, not sure what. So nice to have full hookups again. Two weeks at Greenbelt with no hookups at all wasn't what I'd call fun. And last night, for some reason none of our electrical outlets would work, but the microwave would work. We cannot figure out why. However, now everything is working as it should.
Whew!

Not sure how long we'll be in this spot as Chuck told us the sites in the park should be ready soon. Whatever, we're comfy here, so whatever. We don't care where we park as long as it's safe, clean, has hookups, etc.

Ar Tremont, PA - '08 Apr 14

2008-04-20T10:21:00.000-07:00

We're now in Tremont, PA for the night, will go on to Thomaston, CT tomorrow. We're both very weary. Beautiful day today for the drive, but traffic is so heavy. We're now parked in the mountains north of Harrisburg and it's a lovely spot to spend the night.

YESTERDAY, Sunday, we drove over to New Jersey to visit Kim, Mark and little Theo; arrived about 1 pm. We were all hungry so went to The Anchorage. We had planned to take them out to lunch but we ended up as their guests. Very nice of them. Good food, good company and great entertainment in the form of Theo.

We took a walk out to the beach front, down to a little gazebo over the water for fishermen. Nice view out there but we got cold without our long sleeves on; so we didn't stay long – an overcast chilly day, wouldn't you know.

Then they had to show off Lucy, the 6 story elephant building. I'm sure you know about her. We were curious about the tour and when we heard they'd not been inside, we treated them to a tour. Very interesting and fun.

They showed us Marven Gardens and drove a bit more. Theo fell asleep after singing us all a lullaby, so cute. Went back to their place, visited a bit, looked at Theo's baby books, etc.

Left about 5:30 for the 3 hr drive home. Fortunately traffic moved very well, just a long drive. We'll pull out of Greenbelt in a little bit and when we get Internet again, I'll send this on it's way. Decided to just leave the RV here while we visited Kim, Mark and Theo, so as not to have to take it on the toll roads, etc. As it was it cost over $21 in tolls, just with the truck.

Theo and Lucy - 2008 Apr 14

2008-04-16T13:56:00.002-07:00

2008-04 NJ

Click the pix to see the Album!

Maryland and Takoma Park - '08 Apr 10

2008-04-11T07:44:00.003-07:00

2008-04 MD NJ CT

Click the pix to see the Album!

Left High Point, NC - Tue '08 Mar 25

2008-04-07T05:56:00.005-07:00

K: We left High Point this morning about 9:15 this morning, now just south of Richmond, VA. Not far to go. In kind of a dumpy campground, but at least I've been able to get my laundry done. Only one pair of machines, old, battered on the outside, dirty on the outside, but they seem to have done a good job, so can't complain too much. And they were just across the drive from the RV which is nice. Glad to get the laundry caught up, it's been more than 2 weeks, so you can imagine the pile of laundry needing to be done! Whew! Would still like to run our bedding and some towels thru, maybe tomorrow. I'm done for today. May or may not stay here 2 nights. Our plan is to be arrive at Point Lookout in MD, very southern tip of the state, about 2 hours from where R & M live. They'll come down Saturday morning, leave some time Sunday. Then we'll head up to Greenbelt Monday morning. Can you tell I'm counting down the time to seeing R & M?

Pretty day today, bright and sunny. I really like North Caroline, seems like a clean state, friendly people for the most part, just a nice place. And of course the history is very interesting, so many people came thru here, seems many came down thru the Carolinas before heading on west. Not sure why. I like Virginia too, have criss crossed a few times now. But up thru the middle of NC is really delightful. And this time of year it's so pretty. Trees aren't really leafed out yet, but baby leaves are appearing everywhere. This morning as we drove northward, the sun was illuminating the leaves, all shades of spring green, russet, gold, yellow, then mixed in was this delicate lavender lilac of some kind of blossoming tree. Don't know if it's a wild fruit tree or red bud, but it's very delicate, also along with another blossoming tree covered in white blossoms. Starting to see magnolias, pink and white mixed in. A tad early for the dogwood, I think And of course people's yards have all sorts of daffodils going crazy right now. Haven't seen any lilacs, maybe it's a bit early? The day started out very frosty, even icy on the puddles! The crisp air makes things sparkle, though.

Pamplin Historical Park! -- '08 Mar 26

2008-03-26T19:58:00.003-07:00

R: ***** A Five Star Attraction

2008-03 NC VA

K: Just got in from a very interesting day at Pamplin Historical Park and the National Museum of the Civil War Soldier just outside of Petersburg, VA. Petersburg is just south of Richmond. A gorgeous day to do this as well, must have been about 70-72 degrees, sunny, not a cloud in the sky. It's a place you want to plan on spending the day if you're ever thru here. Not a cheap place to visit, but worth every dollar. We both learned so much about the Civil War. One of the last battles of the Civil War was fought on the property, originally a large plantation with several slaves. Then visited the slave quarters, gardens, etc. Then walked out to where a Confederate army moved on to and camped for a period of time, forcing the owners out of their home so the officers could move into the house. The family and slaves moved into Petersburg until the end of the war. By that time their land was devastated by so many soldiers living on it, they'd turned it into a sea of mud, and the home was pretty well devastated as well. Of course they no longer had slaves as a workforce, so the property was sold to another family and the house was occupied until 1996, I think it was. The Pamplin guy bought the property, he's a direct descendant of the original owners, put millions into the enterprise to convert it to a museum and historical park. Restored the house to what it was in 1864. Did an outstanding job, even a small restaurant serving sandwiches and salads which we took advantage of. Lots of outdoor civil war exhibits and a couple of indoor museums in addition to the house and plantation tour. A full day of touring and now we're very weary.

Nice area, Petersburg. Definitely a black community, so it appears, at least the main part of Petersburg. Looks like an interesting downtown, obviously a very old town but lots of gentrification going on. But, we won't be spending any time here, heading off to MD in the morning. About 170 miles and we'll have this part of the trip accomplished. Ruth called this afternoon, just kind of checking in before the week-end.

Had a call this morning from where we'll be working in CT, firming up the arrangements. Looks like that's all set and ready to go. We'd had a call a day or 2 ago from a guy from the Corps of Engineers in Sturbridge, MA, offering us a host type job. Had to turn him down. That would have been OK too, to be in MA. I think we're getting calls from various parks because the people who accepted jobs early are sometimes having to cancel for various reasons, now the rangers in charge of volunteers are beginning to scramble to fill the spots.

Petersburg, Va for a short stop -- '08 Mar 24

2008-03-25T12:33:00.006-07:00

K: Yesterday we spent several hours at the High Point (NC) Public Library trying to find some new info on my Quaker crew. Really didn't find much, with both of us working on the questions. Got tidbits here and there, nothing earthshaking. A better understanding of the Quaker minutes that a guy named Hinshaw pulled together of all the early Quaker records he could find. He did some really impressive work, must have taken him years, all over the country. Also found some land records from that era. That time period (pre 1800) has records that refers to so many rods from a white oak that borders so-and-so's property, over to such and such creek, thence so many rods back to the beech tree. That sort of thing. Nothing you can find today as those trees and often the streams no longer exist, let alone the guy whose land was the corner stone of the property. But, at least you can figure out when the people were in a certain locale before moving. We never did get to Guilford College to do some research, that would be the best place. But, we got enough for me to work with for awhile.

Had lunch at Pizza Hut across the street from the library. Sure tasted good since we didn't get there until about 2 PM, so we were really hungry. When we left the library we drove over to a statue of John Coltrane, I've attached that photo. Took it primarily to send to our son. Now we're each enjoying a cup of coffee and catching up on email, etc.

**For John Coltrane's picture, click the Album in the post below.**

Rained last night, very chilly today, but thankfully no wind to speak of. Tomorrow things are supposed to start warming up again. Very cloudy today, however.

Tempting to stay one more day here, such a nice spot, and no close neighbors now, most people have gone home from the holiday weekend. But, it's just a tad far to get to MD in one day, want to break it into 2 days. Should move onward.

Easter -- Sun '08 Mar 23

2008-03-23T06:05:00.005-07:00

R: We visited the Mendenhall Plantation yesterday. Kay descends from this family. The Quaker Meeting house was build for worship use when the snow was too deep to go the one mile to the Deep River Meeting Hall. Wow! What a powerful influence the weather has on behavior!

2008-03 NC VA

K: Happy Easter! A beautiful morning here, hope it's a nice day for the holiday there as well. It's to be about 15 degrees cooler than yesterday, unfortunately, but not a biggie. We stay nice and toasty in our little house.

Yesterday we got a good walk in late in the morning, followed by lunch and a good nap. Then headed out to find the old meeting house in Jamestowne (next to High Point), the Mendenhall store, and of course visit the Mendenhall Plantation again. We knew we'd been to the Plantation before when we were here several years ago for the Mendenhall reunion. Unfortunately we didn't have good info in the truck with us, so had to do a bit of hunting around. Saw new parts of High Point in the meantime, however. Then we figured out these places might be in the
Historical park, duh, so went there. There they were, the old meeting house of the plain folk, the Quakers. Very simple building, thankfully preserved. Couldn't go inside but explored the outside. Discovered a very old cemetery adjacent. Apparently when early Quakers buried their
dead they didn't put markers on the graves, just stones. A few graves did have markers but most were just rocks. Unfortunately much damage has been done in the past to the cemetery, but much remains. Then we walked over to the store, again we couldn't go inside. However, we'd seen the inside years ago and the same for the Plantation house. We did explore the "bank barn" which is typical of barns built in Pennsylvania where most of these people had moved from. Inside are various wagons and implements, including a slave wagon used to move runaway slaves along the Underground Railroad. It was fun to wander around at our leisure, not with a big group like we were in before. Saw new things this way. It's interesting these sites are all part of the historical park which is a huge park obviously much used. Lots of fishermen, families enjoying the lake and playgrounds, picnic areas. When we left there we drove over to the Museum which had just closed, unfortunately. However, there are more early buildings there. The Hoggatt house, plus a blacksmith shop and another home. The sign said these buildings were also from the 1750s and in use until the 1960s!

Enjoy your day!

First Day of Spring! - Thu '08 Mar 20

2008-03-21T05:27:00.006-07:00

2008-03 NC VA

Below (in the previous blog) are photos of where we just left, Kings Mountain State Park in SC. Pictures above are of where we're now parked, at Oak Hollow Lake in High Point, NC, just adjacent to Greensboro, NC. (Click on picture above to visit the Album.) Beautiful area. We're camped at a city park, I guess it is. Full hookups , even cable TV, not that we use cable, but it's here. And, the best part, a reasonable price. Plus we have a nice view of the lake out our back window which we face when at the computer. Beautiful sunny day and the lake is a gorgeous view! A bit on the cool side, sweater weather. We'll be here until Monday a.m. before heading north. We're about 400 miles from the park in MD, will probably break it into two days as that campground doesn't open until the day we are arriving.

Left Kings Mountain early this morning, 8:30, with plans to arrive by early afternoon on up the road. However, Richard talked me in to doing some of my Quaker research here. Have several direct ancestors, at least 15, all Quakers. We were here a few years ago for a Mendenhall reunion. Visited a couple meeting houses, cemeteries, met cousins from all over the country,
learn lots of new tidbits. Now I'd like to dig a bit deeper. There's supposed to be a good Quaker research facility at High Point College, so will do a bit of groundwork online first, then see what I can learn at that library. Even if I don't learn anything new this looks like a great place
to spend a few days. I know we enjoyed our visit here a few years ago.

No other news from here, really. Just doin' our thing...

Atlanta Storms -- Sat '08 Mar 15

2008-03-15T14:10:00.009-07:00

2008-03 GA SC

The Atlanta Storm

Kay's version: Well, here we are. Just got resettled in our little home after spending part of the afternoon in the restroom building with about 8 other RVers. Most of them were with a Good Sam group, so we felt we were in good company. They were all from general northern GA so know the area, a tornado alley we learned. They know where most towns are and
several would be on their cell phones talking to people, tracking the storms.

The restroom has a metal roof and the noise from the hail was deafening! After the first storm, we all went out to see what was going on, then the wind came up and we all headed in again. A second deafening hail storm with lots of wind and heavy rain. Kind of made you nervous. We let that storm pass and we decided the worst was over.

All went back to our respective RVs. As we were getting out of the truck one couple drove by saying another storm was on its way, so back to the restroom building and we all gathered again. This time it passed us by and the sun came out.

We're not out of the woods yet, however, as there are still some big storm cells west of us, heading east. We'll keep the weather channel on as we wait out the day. Getting back to the RV a few limbs had to be moved out of the way. Only one RV has damage that we could see, someone had left their awning out. It was ripped loose and up over the top of the RV. Doesn't look like anybody was home when it happened. One guy said he had cracked vents on his rig, we didn't have any damage that we know of. No hail damage on the truck either.

Enough of this, sure glad we'll be out of a tornado area for the summer, although they can happen anywhere. The good part, we've met some nice couples today, all in our age group, so feel we have "friends" should we need them.

Took Libby with us, she was pretty freaked out at first, but Richard tucked her inside his jacket and she settled right down. Second trip over she did OK. Didn't want to leave her in the RV alone, especially if something really happened to the RV! Just announced was another storm hitting Atlanta, baseball sized hail pummeling that area right now. Geez, I'll sure be glad when all these storms get past. Looks like you guys are getting some wet weather right now.

Richard's version: The first time we went to the restroom building, Libby did well. I kept her inside my coat. The second time she did better. The restrooms are in a concrete block building. The metal roof was very noisy when the hail blasted it. We could watch the quarter sized hail bounce on the roof through the clerestory window. It looked like snow had fallen, when we went out. It didn't totally cover the dirt, but was a heavy salting. We returned to our rig to see it was plastered with pine needles, and our StarBand satellite was blown off target. Just got it back.

Other campers were in the restroom who were local residents. They are a chapter of Good Sam RV Club. So they do weekend camping trips, even if only a few miles from home. (Some people really love the life style.) Their cell phone calls home tipped us off on the arrival of the wind sieges. We heard that a Wal-Mart had lost power.

The second trip to the block building was based on the reports from other local phone calls. The NOAA (?) radio was about 1/2 hour behind the storms. The weather.gov radar maps, as found on CNN, were current.

We were glad to be inside the shelter because we could see the heavy wind and rain damage when the noise died down and we left the building. The road was littered and partially blocked by fallen limbs. (We had driven to the shelter because it was raining, after all.) I feel like I have seen the lake level rise.

Now Libby is warm and in her comfy home. We are, too.

The sun was shining for half an hour, but now is dark again. We hear thunder, too. Not again!

Fri '08 Mar 14: Lake Lanier

2008-03-14T19:58:00.005-07:00

K: Good Morning! Well, here we are at Lake Sidney Lanier. We stayed here a couple of years ago, but at a Corps of Engineers park at a different part of the lake. It's a huge, huge lake. If you've seen blurbs about the drought in northern GA area, you've seen photos of the lake. Very, very low, but still a pretty spot. The ropes for the swim area are laying on the bottom of that part of the lake. Very dry here, in spite of some recent rainfall in the last few weeks. Supposed to rain later today and tonight. We shall see.

Drove thru Atlanta yesterday. Didn't try to stop. Left Dothan about 8:30 central time in the morning, got here about 2:30 eastern time. Took us 5 hours, even with one more or less side trip along a scenic highway along the Chattahoochee River. Actually didn't see much of the river,
however. I think it was called scenic because it was a 2 lane highway, not 4 lane, but it was a pretty drive. Actually a few miles shorter than I-85 possibly. So it was only 270 miles!

I had packed a lunch for us so we didn't have to stop somewhere, so made good time. We'll be here 3 nights, a view across the lake. Quite a hilly area. Nice campground. Turns out it's a county park and very nicely done. Concrete pads, fairly easy access to the sites, very clean,
reasonably priced. When we leave here we'll go up to Kings Mountain State Park in SC. Kings Mountain Historical Monument is just across the border in NC where a Revolutionary battle was fought, and won by the Americans. Not sure how long we'll stay here, could be a week or so as not much further to our destination. We're to meet Ruth and Martin the 29th at Point Lookout State Park in the very southern part of MD for a camping week-end, before going on up to Greenbelt.

We'll probably take a good walk before the rain moves in, then we can loaf the rest of the day. I got caught up on some reading after we arrived yesterday while Richard worked and worked to find the satellite signals for the TV and internet.