♪♪ Happy Birthday to you, ♪♪
♪♪ Happy Birthday to you, ♪♪
♪♪ Happy Birthday, Dear Madison! ♪♪
♪♪ Happy Birthday to you. ♪♪
This happy gal turned 8 today, and is loving living with Uncle Jason, Aunt Amy, and her two cousins. Well, loving living with the two cousins MOST of the time, that is.
She is thoroughly enjoying “birthday season.” She deserves it, too.
Enjoy some cake!
MM needed the tree shear moved to another job site Thursday, so guess who provided escort service? Yep, I followed him those three miles with flashers flashing for an hour! Of course we moved over for lots of traffic…when we had a decent shoulder to drive on.
Next, we turned off the highway to a back road, then this new road…for another half hour. Oh, the fun!
We passed some busy workers already working, then MM parked the beast, and we went home. He ran the machine all day Friday, so he is back out of retirement…again. For awhile.
Today he is back at it, only he is Maintenance Man, working ON the machine, as opposed to actually working WITH it. Maintenance happens. He is definitely a hard working man (that song will be stuck in my ear all day!).
So what am I doing this Labor Day Saturday while MM is off tinkering? Well, getting the pavilion next door ready for a BSP party there tomorrow, and possibly cleaning off my desk a little. Or not. There is never a lack of things needing to get done.
But first…I’m thinking a stop by the farmer’s market, and a festival in town. Paperwork can wait.
Enjoy your Saturday. Ours will be busy, but good!
Just because this makes me smile!
Alex still can’t find his shoes…his mom had the same problem.
Happy Throw Back Thursday, y’all!
To speed up the laundry process (y’all know I am “spring cleaning” everything in the moho?), I threw the mostly dry quilt over a chair to finish air drying and make room for another load. KC spent all afternoon napping on it! Bless his heart. I guess he sped up the drying process a bit.
We lost a few mostly minor items in the electrical surge (Bee asked about that)…garage door opener and the UPS battery back up (at least we didn’t lose computers!). It also fried one of those six-outlet surge protector thingies, leaving a definite brown spot on the exterior of it. It did its job, so there are no complaints about that. And life goes on…with two happy kitties.
Have yourselves a ginger peachy Wednesday. Life is mighty fine here in Mayberry. High paws, y’all!
I heard a strange *pop* and couldn’t find its source just as we were sitting down to eat our dinner last night. I ran into the laundry room to check the churning dryer and shut it off because it was sounding very strange. MM walked in at that moment and asked if I saw the “arc” that just went through the house. We had a strange power surge. Um, no, but the dryer smells funny and won’t turn back on, even though all the lights on it are working.
We both go to see what else is wrong elsewhere in the house, just as it goes totally DARK. No electricity. Rut roh. And dinner is getting cold, so we smartly grabbed our plates and headed to the deck and called the neighbors to see if ours is an isolated case. Yep. MM called the EMC company, and they had him go outside and check our meter. D.E.A.D. Not turning at all. Heck yeah, the house has NO electricity!
Skinny Joe and big truck arrived and got us a brand spanking new transformer installed and a fuse somewhere else, and we were back in business in about two hours. Easy peasy…for him.
Handy dandy tip: keep a solar light charged and ready to bring inside when you have a power outage. 
It will cast light for many hours, with no candle flame worries with kids and critters around. Place on top of a mirror for even brighter coverage. This one is minus the holder (MM needed it), placed in a plastic glass, or use a small jar instead. It also works well in a camper when boondocking. You’ll thank me some day.
Have yourselves a bright Tuesday. I will, grateful that I can continue my laundryfest here at home!
Either I shrank, or Macey grew taller over the summer.
Amy brought dinner over for all of us last night…Greek Chicken…yum…and hammed it up with the girls:
Dick, Brian and Faith, deep in thought…
Sweet Jason, along with his wee assistant Will, had the moho bay door open, some tree limbs trimmed, and spread mulch around some trees for us. That makes him my favorite son-in-law for sure (family joke). Logan has some competition!
Logan and Haley, the photographer (thanks, honey! I blatantly stole these photos from her FB page). Birthing a child does come with some extended rights…forever.
Boys being boys, the wee ones were out on the deck shooting each other (and dogs) with water guns. Or upstairs in the play area. No photos, but they were definitely here and there was no trip to the ER, so everyone lived to fight another day.
Traveling is fun, but there’s no place like home, where kids, kitties, dogs, and chaos reigns. I wouldn’t have it any other way. This is our normal…where life is good, y’all! Happy Monday.
We decided our hosts were entirely too hospitable, so we ought to stay another night, right? And so we did. There were some things left undone. Like the airplane museum. And more visiting.
It started to rain as we left, but that didn’t mar our adventuresome spirits. Rick drove the scenic way around to Hill AFB Museum, which is where Rick’s retirement party was held 10 years ago. He is a retired Colonel, so he was able to give us a quick drive through the base before going to the museum.
The bottom photo shows the plane President Lyndon B. Johnson used. Dick remembered seeing VP Agnew flying in it and landing at the Coast Guard Air Station in Opa-locka, where he was stationed. We have more photos!
Being hungry, we headed to the oldest saloon in Utah for a mighty tasty burger, with all kinds of stuffed animal heads staring down at us, under a ceiling plastered with dollar bills. An interesting place that could tell lots of tales…all true, of course.
We treated the cooks to a nice dinner just down the road in thanks for their wonderful hospitality (and great steaks the night before!), then they taught us how to play bocce ball. Neither of us had ever played before, despite it being available in our FL park during the winter months. It is a FUN game, and we all had a great time and a lot of laughs. We will definitely have to play this again.
So this morning, it is time to say goodbye to Eden and our friends. We hope it isn’t another two years before we see them again. Y’all come to the GA Alps and see us!
Colorado is next on our trek home.
Miles and smiles, y’all!
Apparently there were approximately 1,900 coaches in attendance at the rally, so said Moho Man. I would believe that!
Those are snow-capped mountains way over in the distance. MM snapped this from the top of our moho when he was up there working on the satellite dish. That guy is always working on something!
Yesterday was an easy but long day of driving alongside lots of sagebrush. We also lost an hour in the process, since we are now in Central Time zone at a CG south of Boise, ID, but that means we are one time zone closer to home.
We have this view, not that we will be here long:
It is a perfect spot to resupply our needs so that we can hit the road, heading to Utah. Rick and Terri are about 200 miles away, and are expecting us after lunch, so it will be a short day of driving. We are super excited about seeing them, and you will get to also.
Rolling, rolling…another day, another state. Yay!
Our thanks to Haley, Logan, and the girls for the nice dinner they provided for us at Olive Garden last night. They gave MM a gift card for OG, and we finally got to use it. Yum! Italian is always a winner to our tummies.
All seminars were good yesterday, well, except that the wire wrap seminar I wanted to attend was already full. Bugger. The second one she is going to do is also full. And that about wraps up the crafts for the ladies. Who planned (didn’t plan) this?! Sheesh.
The Technology for Travelers was good, and I learned some new stuff, so the day was not a total waste. Heck, NO day is a total waste, especially when it is finished off with pasta!
We skipped the musical group after dinner here at the fairgrounds because it was the same doo-wop group we saw down in Coos Bay last week. We enjoyed them, but decided to skip round two.
Oh, Amy and wee Will Facetimed with me for a big announcement: Will is now reading…after only a couple of weeks as a kindergartner! Oh the places he will go. Love my sweet Domino partner.
Hopefully the rain is now finished, since I have some sistas coming to visit me here this afternoon. Stay tuned for details. I’m excited!
Good chilly morning from overcast Redmond. That’s us, way down there on the left. Sorry about the lovely trash bags on display. At least we have pick up here and don’t have to go seeking out a dumpster as is typical in most campgrounds.
MM was up and out early for a seminar on…on…something of guy interest. He enjoyed a couple of them yesterday, and so did I—different ones, of course. I attended the travel app seminar and learned a few new tips. I already had most of the apps the presenter uses, but am always willing to learn about more.
The mobile device genealogy one was fairly interesting, but I am not wanting to begin a different program just to have an app to put it on my iDevice. I would definitely have to study more before making any changes.
Our Gourmand dinner was great. We were invited to attend as guests, and left as members…along with Jim and Carol. Dues are not hefty—$5 a year, and no meetings to attend. Meet and eat. Check. Signed up.
I have two seminars I want to attend, plus all the vendors are officially open (and mostly inside a huge building), so it will be a busy day around here. A little more rain is expected. Bugger.
Has anyone updated their iPhone recently? I did last night while we were out for dinner…and it FROZE my phone. And it did not un-FREEZE overnight, so I (not happy) googled what to do (which I had already figured out)—and learned: a hard reboot. I did that. It worked. Whew. Disaster averted…but no dinner photos, since my phone was not with me.
Have yourselves a ginger peachy day. I sure will, rain or not…but no freezing of anything.
The guys went inside and rented an ATV for four. For two hours! Are you gals ready?! (Not for two hours!)
So off we went to the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area, taking several spins up and down the dunes, before heading down to the beach…where the temps dropped several degrees.
Jim tried to tackle a small hill and got bogged down, with the tire throwing up a bucket of sand right in my face. Lucky me…NOT…sand in my eyes, mouth, nose. Yuck. Carol only got a half bucket of that salty sand. D fer done. Carol and I both were ready to quit after an hour, so the guys took us back to the registration area, and then went back to the dunes for some guy fun.
MM admitted that he was happy he tried it once, but didn’t need to do it again. Srsly? Srsly.
So this morning we say goodbye to the foggy Oregon coast and head to the high desert of Redmond. We have heat on this morning, but will probably be running the a/c tonight. Variety. We has it. And clean duds.
Miles and smiles, y’all! Come along for the next adventure.
We had a mighty easy trip to Florence yesterday, crossing the old bridge, then fueling up the Moho and “toad” before parking in the city CG, right on the water. Of course!
After setting up and eating lunch, we had to walk over and see the boats and the water…and I had to check out the craft tents set up in the park…and these cute critters:
That seal was very playful near the boat ramp, bobbing his head in and out of the water, but those seagulls weren’t one bit interested in playing with him. Poor guy.
Jim and Carol arrived, and we had an enjoyable visit with them, dinner in town, and then a lazy evening. Ahh, the good life! Home is where you park it…for now.
Have yourselves a ginger peachy Monday. It is cool and sunny here on the coast. We will have ourselves a great day, that is for sure!
Our rally packets included chits that could be redeemed daily for a “free gift” from Monaco. Here is the loot we received:
Those umbrellas will definitely be used and enjoyed. The small plastic drink glasses are cute, and the bag clips are always useful. Nice.
The president of our caravan club welcomed several new folks to the luncheon/meeting yesterday. Hopefully, we will have a few to sign up and join us on future caravans. There are a few already in the works for next year, two on the W coast and one in Branson. We might be able to do the Branson one.
Today is our final rally day here in windy Coos Bay, with a general meeting this morning, and more interesting stuff going on before the farewell dinner tonight.
The musical entertainment has been varied and relatively good (and loud—I guess the bands assume all old people are hard of hearing). These guys were AWE-SOME last night. The Coats, an a capella group (meaning: “we can’t play an instrument!”) are out of Seattle. They were both talented and entertaining, and played to a pretty much full house:
The casino has catered all the food, and have learned to adjust their normal methods of serving to more nearly what we are accustomed to having at the rallies. For instance: the servers normally refill coffee cups individually, which they TRIED to do the first morning. We have a very large crowd in a private “dining pavilion” (humongous white tent). They changed to placing individual LARGE carafes on each table after that first morning. Smart.
All glitches have been relatively minor (according to the outgoing prez), so that makes this rally a success in my estimation. We, the people, have been unaware of the glitches. It’s all good.
Everyone has to be outta here by noon Sunday, so the wind will blow us up to Florence for two nights before we head over to Redmond for the next rally. Come along with us. It won’t be dull!
I won the second round of L, R, C, but SOMEBODY tried to steal my stack of quarters:
Nancy may look sweet and innocent, but y’all watch out for her! Don’t let that smile fool ya.
On a more serious side, thanks so much for the prayers for friend Mark’s recovery. Amy reported that he had THREE tumors…one they could not remove, one that got re-routed and a drain put on it, and one removed. Shudder. The drain stays in on the remaining tumor for 42-78 hours, then he can go home after the drain is removed. It is thought to all be benign (praise God), so the report is not being fast tracked through Cytology. Prayers are still needed, of course.
Count your blessings when you and yours have good health!
Life is good here in sunny, cool Oregon, y’all. It’s another day at the rally, filled with more learning, sharing, and being with friends.
Good morning from…gasp…sunny Coos Bay!
Coaches are still arriving for the Monaco pre-rally that officially begins tomorrow. The parking crew has done a fabulous job on getting everyone all neatly lined up where they are supposed to be. The casino has added electric hook-ups here in the overflow parking lot since we were here a few years ago. We don’t mind boondocking (no hook-ups), but having electricity is always a plus. They do have a regular, very nice full hook-up area, but that was full by the time we signed up for the rally. No big deal. Jim and Carol are in the RV section over on the water, so we can always walk over and sit awhile with them at their spot.
Vendors open at noon today, and a special preview party for the rally folks begins at 5 in the new coach display. No fears; we are not in the market for a new coach, but it is always fun to check out the latest and greatest to see what is new and different.
After we got all set up yesterday, we headed over to our favorite hospice thrift store that we visited last time here, and this time, scored a copier ($25) and an electric vegetable steamer ($5). The copier works and goes home (maybe to Amy’s house); the steamer will live in the coach and has already been washed and tried out. Yep, it works, and was something I wanted to add to the coach kitchen.
I’m sure we will find lots of interesting stuff to see and do today. I hope you do, too. In the meantime, please say a little prayer for friend Mark, who is having surgery in Atlanta for a brain tumor…right now…and for his wife, Steph. They are mighty good people…and we want him to be completely healed.
Life is good in the slow lane, y’all!
