2017 August part 2

Saturday 19th In my last post I had said that I took the RV awning down because there were severe thunderstorm warnings for our area with possible 70 mph wind gusts. Well, when I awoke this morning and checked outside … nothing … no sign of having had either wind or rain. Now don’t misunderstand me … that’s not a complaint … I was just surprised that the forecast had been SO far off.

We had put in a firepit/fireplace/grill on our seasonal site several years ago. Well, now that we’ve changed RVs, it is too close to the camper. I’m trying to find a new spot for it so that on those very rare occasions that we have a fire, it won’t be a hazard to the RV nor fill it with smoke. There is not a lot of space left on our site with this long and wide RV.

We went to the cafe for coffee at 8:00 and then to the clubhouse at 10:30 for a “club hall” (think town hall) meeting. People who want to speak to the board and membership are given 5 minutes. After that, the board will either immediately address the issue or add it to their agenda for the next board meeting. Once the members have addressed their concerns, board then shares what they have done about issues brought up in the previous club hall meeting. During the camping season, these meetings are held once a month.

Once the meeting was over, we went to Pizza Ranch of lunch. Their buffet has the best fried chicken around (much better than KFC or Popeye’s).

We came home and Tom did a little work on the outside before coming in and taking a nap. He then worked from 3 to 10  at the fee booth. There were four different parties going on in the park. So there was a lot of guest traffic in and out of Cutty’s. Since we are a gated community, no non members are allowed into the park unless a member has called and added them to a guest list at the gate. We had nearly 100 guests plus people checking in to camp and into our rental cabins. It kept Tom very busy until around 8 p.m. At that point it slowed w-a-y down. This was just a “warm up exercise” for the coming Labor Day weekend. Labor Day is one of the BIG 3 camping weekends here and people start vying for prime sites about 2 weeks in advance.

Labor Day will also be the end of my preaching duties until spring unless called upon while in Texas. From the first week of November until December 25th I will be wearing the red suit and sitting in the big chair with kids (of all ages) sitting on my lap. As a matter of fact, I’ll be attending Santa University in Colorado in September where I’ll be fitted for a new suit and accessories.

 

 

 

 Now for something completely different: Because of the problems we’ve had with slideout floors,  Tom decided to reinforce them on both the Sierra and the Excel. He has some light weight aluminum angle channels. These were cut from an eve through (also known as gutters by people outside the Midwest). They have been cut to fit the outside corners where the walls an floors are connected. They are thin enough to not interfere with the slideout operation. I don’t know why RVs aren’t constructed with some reinforced corners rather than just nailing them together. Since the walls and floor are made of particle board, a little water can make them swell and separate from the hardware.

Sunday 20th started by putting some short ribs and potato wedges into the crock-pot. From there we went to the clubhouse for a communal breakfast of all-you-can-eat pancakes and french toast. Ella had french toast with lots of syrup. Tom had french toast with no syrup. We both had a large sausage patty. While Ella was finishing her breakfast and visiting with friends, Tom went to the store for a baker’s dozen of donuts. The donuts were for the worship service.

Coming home from the store, Tom pick up Ella at the clubhouse and we went to the adult center to set it up for worship. Tom’s sermon was “Ask a Butterfly, ‘Who Are You?’”

 

By the time worship was over, Tom’s knee was in a great deal of pain. So he came home took a hydrocodone, put an ice pack on his knee and sat with his feet up in the recliner. By one o’clock the sharp edge of the pain had let up and he cooked a couple ears of corn in the microwave and served up the ribs and potatoes.

After lunch we went back to the clubhouse … down to the laundry room on the lower level … and did laundry. We also sat and played a couple games of Fast Track. While he was waiting on the laundry, Tom used the Walgreen’s Photo app to send photos for printing. After the laundry was done, we drove to Walgreen’s and got them. They are for a photo display at the Grimes Senior Center. We’ll take them Monday.

 

 

Monday 21st The storm that was predicted for Friday night got here last

night. Lots of lightening was striking less than a mile away. There were also heavy rains that continued into the morning hours. When Tom checked the rain gauge it registered 2 inches and it was still raining slightly.

$$$ It was payday so we stopped at the office and picked up Tom’s check. Then we went to the Cozi Cafe diner for their breakfast special of two eggs, hash browns, toast and sausage or bacon. From there we went to deposit the check at the credit union. After that, it was back to Cutty’s Cafe to say good bye to Ted and Nancy. However, they weren’t there. So we went on to Grimes and the Senior Center.

Before going home, we went to Walmart for some groceries and other necessities. Why is it that as soon as you get home from shopping, one of you asks, “Do you know what we forgot to get?” We use an app called “Cozi Family Organizer for  our shopping list. It shares the list between our two smartphones. That makes it easy to separate and each go after specific items. When an item is checked off one phone it is automatically checked off the other also. Throughout the week, as either of us think of something, we can add it to our list. …. So, why do we still get home without something?

It had been raining and cloudy all day so we assumed that it was hopeless to try and see the solar eclipse. However, when we arrived home, the neighbors were sitting on their deck and staring into the sky. They said the the clouds occasionally parted and they could track the progress of the eclipse.  We have two large maple trees that obscure the sky from our RV site. We went and sat with them and watched. As promised, the clouds parted then we could see the disc of the moon as it passed before the sun.

Tom took on another project. Earlier I said that our fire pit was too close to the RV (as in photo one). So it is now moved, which open the walkway also. (photo two) And here it is in its new location (picture 3).

Tuesday 22nd We had a little more rain overnight. That’s a good thing because we have been a little parched lately. Tom slept in again. After waking at quarter to four and deciding THAT was too early, he rolled over and slept until the alarm went off at seven. After breakfast, we went to coffee at Cutty’s Cafe. Susan was the only one there when we arrived but Dixie joined us a short time later.

We arrived at the Grimes Senior Center at 9:30 and had time to play one round of Fast Track before Tom’s appointment with the Public Health Nurse to get his toenails trimmed. By 10:30 he was back playing Fast Track. Lunch was at 11:30.

His doctor’s appointment was at 12:50. That left knee is still giving him lots of pain. He was refereed to a specialist, who is supposed to call with an appointment later this week.

Leaving the doctor’s office, we stopped at Walmart to pick up prescriptions and the things we forgot yesterday. Tom found one of those flat “as seen on TV” antennas and purchased it. We were half surprised that it really does work.

Once we arrived home, he did some work on the deck and yard. It’s beginning to look more like we want it to look.

Tom received a coupon from Village Inn for 25% off our entire ticket. So we went there for supper. The 25% came to a little over $5 which is what we tipped the waitress.

In the evening we sat at the picnic table and played more Fast Track. We are NOT addicted to this game … we could quit at any time … really!