RVing Fulltime with Tom and Ella

2018 July 04 Wednesday

2018 July 04 Wednesday in Rhodes* Iowa

76° and clear made for a warm start to a hot day. It reached 93° that felt like 110°. And was still in the, 80s throughout the evening.

We drove to the giant metropolis of Rhodes Iowa,* to celebrate the Fourth with Ella’s first husband’s family. Does that sound complected too you? It isn’t. I’ve been extended family with them for nearly forty years.

1,000 water balloons, squirt guns, buckets of water, a wheelbarrow full of water, and a garden hose all made for a wet afternoon.

You would think that Santa Claus would be safe from being ballooned. Particularly since he was a noncombatant. But you would be wrong. Sweet little Izzy got me full in the chest with two water balloons.

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We got home in time for a nap before going to the adult center for Mexican Train Dominoes. Unfortunately no one else showed up. No wait! That was a good thing because I really wanted to finish out the day in my recliner.

*Rhodes, Iowa with a population of 305 at the 2010 census.

Visit my daily devotions blog.

https://musingsdevotions.wordpress.com/

And my sermons blog

http://thomasewilliams.blogspot.com/?m=1

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2018 July 03 Tuesday

2018 July 03 Tuesday in Grimes Iowa

70° and mostly clear to start the day. 90° (real feel 96) by noon. Got to 95 mid afternoon and still 90° at 9pm.

First thing I did this morning was to load the entertainment center into the pickup. It looks like too big of a job for an old man to handle alone. But this old man knows how to use leverage (and brute force) so I made short work if it.

This is the same entertainment center that I bought for $5 at Goodwill. I decided that I wasn’t going to cut it down and make a coffee table after all. So now I’ll donate it back to Goodwill.

Ella had an eye appointment for 8am at Wolfe Eye Clinic®. We arrived about a half hour early. We went in the exit door and found a place to sit and wait. Right at 8 they called her to the reception desk to get her insurance information et cetera.

I think she looks like a spider from outer space. What do you think?

A stop at Burger King for breakfast.

Then we made our way to the Grimes Senior center

Wii bowling it’s very popular at the center. There are multiple teams that compete. At least once year there is Wii bowling competition between the various Polk County senior centers.

Ella and I played Rummikub when we first arrived but switched to Fast Track when Joyce got there.

Several people worked on jigsaw puzzles. These are very popular here also.

Caliburgers for lunch. What in the world is a caliburger? It was just a bland and tasteless piece of what may have been meat. Sometimes our meals are good sometimes they’re not. Never do they rise above good. They also told be carbo-loading us like they think we’re going to run a l later.

Walmart had four lanes open today! It’s been a long time since I’ve seen four Walmart cashier’s working at the same time. I read in Forbes that Walmart is reversing their Trend toward self-checkout centers instead of cashiers. I guess they discovered that customers didn’t want to become unpaid cashiers.

I worked 2-9 again. Thank God and Dean for getting the air conditioner running today.

Almost sundown at Cutty’s Des Moines Camping Club

Visit my daily devotions blog.

https://musingsdevotions.wordpress.com/

And my sermons blog

http://thomasewilliams.blogspot.com/?m=1

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2018 July 02

2018 July 02 in Grimes Iowa

64° at the start of day.

Our first stop of the day was Goodwill to donate four chairs that came from one of our other trailers that we got rid of. We do not need eight chairs for our small table.

We ate breakfast at McDonald’s before going to the senior center.

Once at the center, we helped get the tables and games ready.

We played a game of Rummikub until Joyce arrived and then switched to Fast Track.

The Wii bowlers were getting in their practices this morning also.

There were not quite as many as on a normal Monday. Maybe sure to the holiday?

I worked the afternoon shift. The air conditioner wasn’t too be used because it would cause the computers to go down.

The heat almost caused me to go down too.

Visit my daily devotions blog.

https://musingsdevotions.wordpress.com/

And my sermons blog

http://thomasewilliams.blogspot.com/?m=1

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2018 July 01 2018 Sunday

2018 July 01 2018 Sunday in Grimes Iowa

Yesterday’s temps dropped from 92° (115° real feel) to 62° at 11pm. It was 71° at seven this morning. And had 4 1/2″ in the rain-gauge.

This is the normally little stream that trickles into our lake. Last night it became a lake that ran over the road to become part of the other lake.

I didn’t preach today. My friend Stoney took over the worship service at Cutty’s so that I could attend my home church. When I originally set this up it was so I could meet the new pastor. However, he is from India and, so far, his Visa has not been approved. They have an interim pastor scheduled to start in a couple of weeks. I let them know that I could possibly be pulpit supply, if they give me enough notice.

During the summer the choir doesn’t sing. However, special groups do provide music.

We stopped at International Buffet for lunch.

We took some great grandkids and friends to the cafe for ice cream. Henry didn’t make it.

Getting pictures of them is impossible. William ducked into his shirt and Lorelei turned her head.

The fireworks display that was rained out last night, took place tonight.

Visit my daily devotions blog.

https://musingsdevotions.wordpress.com/

And my sermons blog

http://thomasewilliams.blogspot.com/?m=1

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2018 June 30 Saturday

2018 June 30 Saturday in Grimes Iowa

78° and mostly clear to start off with.

Communal breakfast at the clubhouse today.

I, along with everybody else who works the fee booth, worked today. Plus a lot of volunteers to facilitate guest parking. Our Independence day fireworks are this evening.

We can easily have an extra thousand people in the park (not counting the hundreds of campers [500+ sites]) for all the events going on in the resort today.

To keep our roads clear for emergency vehicles, only people actually registered to camp, can enter the grounds. All others (visitor or member) were parked and shuttled in.

Heat and clouds with occasional rain and wind.

Guests kept coming in. They came to participate in the parade, games, crafts, food and other events. And of course the fireworks.

Unfortunately the fireworks were postponed because of approaching storms.

I went to work from 11am-7pm. I was on my feet way too much for my legs and feet.

Here is the growth of the visitor parking today.

Ella did laundry today. Beyond that I don’t know.

I came home, showered, took some Tylenol PM and was in bed before 8pm.

Visit my daily devotions blog.

https://musingsdevotions.wordpress.com/

And my sermons blog

http://thomasewilliams.blogspot.com/?m=1

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2018 June 29 Friday

2018 June 29 Friday in Grimes Iowa

71° and hazy again this morning the 100% humidity is visible in the air. Reached 94° with a “feels like” of 110°. Not predicted to go below 80° until after midnight.

This morning I was looking at my mother’s journaling from June 30th, 1978. She wrote, “77 – 93° humidity 87%. Turned air conditioner on at 5 a.m. House is cooler and I’m breathing much better but after several hours I began to perspire and have to turn it off. This has been quite a month for storms. Milkweed closes at nite before a rain.”

I find it amusing that she began her journal with the temperature, just like I do, I didn’t realize that before.

Mom had emphysema so the fact that her breathing was better was a good thing. I have no idea why she thought that when she began to perspire she needed to turn the air conditioning off. It was a small window air conditioner in the living room which barely cooled that small room.

Just like 40 years ago this is been some month for storms.

I had no idea that milkweed closes just before a rain.

Thanks Mom for keeping a journal of your life.

I hope at some future date my kids and grandkids and great-grandkids Etc will be able to read my blogs and see what was going on in our daily lives way back here in 2018.

There was a good crowd at the cafe this morning.

Stoney was, as always, late arriving for coffee.

Not quite as many for lunch today at the center.

But still had time for Fast Track and conversation.

Walmart had a few things that we needed.

I bought some clear FlexSeal to seal some holes in my RV’s awning. They aren’t large holes but there are a lot of them. My best guess is birds pecking at seeds from the trees.

About four o’clock Nathan, Charlotte, and William stopped by for a short visit.

Visit my daily devotions blog.

https://musingsdevotions.wordpress.com/

And my sermons blog

http://thomasewilliams.blogspot.com/?m=1

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2018 June 28 Thursday

2018 June 28 Thursday in Grimes Iowa

69° and overcast so no sunrise photo.

And here it’s something you done usually see together: sever thunderstorm followed by high heat warning.

As usual we went to the cafe for coffee with friends.

Then to the senior center for games and lunch.

Fast Track of course was played. We had a new player today who is up here from Kansas City for a short time. He is competing in Jazzercise back in Missouri and came to the community center for that and discovered the senior center in the same building.

Lunch was pulled pork and coleslaw.

With pumpkin pie.

We had a special speaker who came to talk to us about ways to keep your mind sharp. Keeping Your Wits

We were invited to John and Dawn for supper and a game of Uno.

When we arrived we found grandson Brandon sitting on the floor in the living room, cleaning his gun.

On the way home, I captured this shot of the sky.

Visit my daily devotions blog.

https://musingsdevotions.wordpress.com/

And my sermons blog

http://thomasewilliams.blogspot.com/?m=1

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2018 June 27

2018 June 27 Wednesday in Grimes Iowa

70° and hazy start that turned into partly cloudy with a high of 89° around 3 p.m.

Our feeder was visited by a quarrel of sparrows. Did you know that it’s what a group of sparrows is called? It seems appropriate. They sent so much time fighting over the feeders, it’s a wonder any were fed. It is a good thing His eye is on them*. I tried to get a photo of them. But the downy woodpecker stole the show by peeking in the window.

This morning I made omelettes in our silicone popcorn popper.

Two eggs and a dash of milk briskly stirred and then microwaved for about two and a half minutes. Add cheese, salsa or whatever. It came out fluffy not flat so maybe calling it an omelette is not quite correct.

Our first stop of the day was for Ella’s regular mammogram check up. We arrived early and she got in a half hour before the time of her appointment.

As we were leaving there we passed by people clearing an accident scene.

All the tables were filled at the Grimes Senior Center for lunch. And we played Fast Track.

After lunch we played bingo.

We went to Village Inn for Pie Rush Wednesday.

We started with a table for four. People just started wandering in and we kept adding tables.

There were thirteen at final count.

Nap time came and went. Then it was time for Mexican Train Dominoes at the adult center.

*His Eye is on the Sparrows

2018 June 26 Tuesday

2018 June 26 Tuesday in Grimes Iowa

64° and sunny this morning. However the trees are still shaking this mornings rain from their leaves. It was quite a storm last night and then another came through early (still dark) this morning. One and a quarter inches in the rain gauge.

We were first to arrive at the cafe this morn

Then Keith arrived and shortly afterwards Ted, Nancy and their son joined us.

We also invited Don to joined us.

Visit my daily devotions blog.

https://musingsdevotions.wordpress.com/

And my sermons blog

http://thomasewilliams.blogspot.com/?m=1

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2018 June 25 Monday

2018 June 25 Monday in Grimes Iowa

66° and soggy at daybreak.

Just shy of an inch of rain from the storm last night.

It was payday which meant a trip to the credit union for a deposit. I’d gotten used to being able to deposit through the smart phone. But the credit union app isn’t allowing that feature at the moment.

We drove through Burger King and bought the”2 for $4″ breakfast sandwiches. And still had time to meet with the gang at Cutty’s Cafe for coffee.

From there it was on to Grimes and the senior center. Not an overly large crowd today.

I worked the PM shift today. I started at two and it was a bit of a madhouse to begin with. The person on the AM shift was having problems balancing their drawer. They had also not called one person’s RV move to the person who was to move it. Plus the guest list want updated (they had notes on scraps of paper instead of logging them in the computer) I got all of that caught up.

And then I had the most convoluted registrations that I’ve ever done. A member who was already registered on a site wanted to move to a different site a day before she was due of the existing site. We track how many days members have been in the resort, because after thirty days, the rates change. So there is a complex process in the computer to credit it back her site fee and number of days. Then to register on the new site.

And, you remember I said that after thirty days off camping that the rates change? She had three days at the old rate and seven at the new. There is a system for that but again it is somewhat convoluted in the computer.

She also needed our maintenance people to move her unit. We do that, for a fee which was then added to her bill. When it came time to pay, she used a prepaid bank card … which didn’t have enough money on it. After digging around in her purse she came up with the balance in cash. Next, as I’m calling to have her unit moved, she said, “Oh I’m not ready yet. It’ll be a half hour to forty five minutes.

Lord, forgive me, but I was so glad when she was gone.

However, she wasn’t done with me yet. About an hour later she called to ask if she had left her paperwork here. I looked around and got back in the phone. That’s when she said that she had found it in her purse.

The remainder of the afternoon was remarkably quiet.

Until around five when this same woman called to say that her camper wasnyt level and wanted maintenance to bring a board (which we do not proved) and level it for her. I called maintenance and passed the situation to them.

It rained several times throughout the day. Not for long nor with much intensity.

And then this happened.

So I ran the day end report, locket the gate and headed for shelter.
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All content (except quotations) © 2018 Thomas E. Williams
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