RVing Fulltime with Tom and Ella

2018 May 30 Wednesday

2018 May 30 Wednesday in Grimes Iowa

Cooler start at 64° with a high of only 85° but still hanging on at 83° at ten thirty tonight.

Ella had a dentist appointment at nine this morning.

When she finished we decided to try the new Grimes cafe again (read yesterday’s post). Once again it was locked up and lights out. Not an auspicious start for this business.

We drove through McDonald’s. Ella had an egg McMuffin and I had the Big Breakfast for a dollar more and Ella are my hash browns.

We played rummikub before lunch and then went home first a nap before I went to work at 2:00.

Ella dropped me of at the fee booth and then she went for our at Village Inn. On the way back into the resort, she stopped to hand a sour cream raisin pie.

At seven o’clock she went to the Adult Center to play Mexican Train dominoes.

I am plumb tuckered out tonight. I think my … ah … thinking thing … ah brain quit an hour ago.

I finished my day at the fee booth a little after nine. Ella was still playing so I walked the quarter mile or less home.

Have a blessed night of rest.

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2018 May 30 Tuesday

2018 May 30 Tuesday in Grimes Iowa

70° by noon it reached 90° (feels like 95).

Can you feel the heat in the sunrise photos?

A little after 8 we went to the Cutty’s cafe to visit with friends and drink ice tea i also called my nephew, Keith who lives in Kentucky. We talked for about half an hour

Them it 2 off to the senior center for games and lunch

At 3 p.m. a severe thunderstorm alert came across.

M u c h later we got a little rain. Near time for subset the only sky that wasn’t a flat blue gray except the north.

A little before seven Ella received a text from a friend saying that they were home. So we drove over to their place. And no one was there.

Ella called and found that they were at a restaurant. She had written the text hours earlier and forgot to send it.

Since we were out i drive up to the cafe. We arrived about five after seven and found a note on the door saying that they were closing at eight. That’s an hour before the posted time. When we got inside, they were already closing.

There is a new cafe nearby so we went there. They were closed. Went across the street to the BP gas station which has a burrito restaurant. They had stopped at five. Really?

Subway was open, yay!

We got home and played a game of rummikub before our friends called to say that they really were home. We stayed a short time because she has been at the doctors for about five hours.

Here’s what the moon looked like as we drove home.

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2018 May 28 Monday

2018 May 28 Monday in Grimes Iowa Memorial Day

76° to start the day. A freak storm in the middle and still 80° at 10:00 p.m.

It is Memorial Day 2018. A day of remembrance. A day of loss. If you do a Google search you will find that over twenty-five places claim the title of the first celebration of Memorial Day in the U.S. However, the concept of remembering the dead, of honoring the dead, of visiting the dead, and in caring for the burial places of the dead is as old as humanity.

According to archeological digs, even in the Paleolithic (old stone age) our species practiced burial customs.

Once it was thought that this was something that made us unique. However, it has been discovered that chimpanzees, elephants and even magpies also bury their dead.

Perhaps we are not as different from the rest of God’s creation as we think. We may not even be the only creatures on earth that recognize the passage of time, that can remember the past and make predictions of the future.

We mourn our dead. We recount with others the stories we remember of our lost loved ones. We comfort one another. In this way we can come to terms with the loss. The grief never leaves us but softens over time.

We alone of God’s creatures (as far as we know) are the only ones who have a hope of another life. A glorified life after death.

It’s a work day for me 8-2:30. While Ella goes to a great niece’s high school graduation party.

Work we crazy again somewhere around one hundred people wanting to checkout, or extend their stay, it move. And then … wait for it … and then the computer system for the campground quit. Just a half hour until the end of my shift and it stopped, showed an error message and would move no further.

Gail came on just prior to the crash. I had printed my closing report so was able to balance my drawer up to the point of the failure.

As I was leaving the club manager was there working on it and calling the software company.

When I returned home, Ella was napping. I dropped the recliner back and took a nap also.

Sometime after four, I woke up to the sound of a mighty wind. It came howling and shaking the trailer like it was mad at us.

The wind was coming from an odd direction … from the east. I checked the weather radar and found a good sized storm to the east of us. About then a weather alert came to our phones, thunderstorm alert with wind of 31 mph.

Ella suggested that it would be a good time to go to the basement of the clubhouse and do laundry. I agreed

We never got a drop of rain and the wind quickly died away.

Goodnight and Good bless.

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2018 May 27 Sunday

2018 May 27 Sunday in Grimes Iowa

72° to start the day with 90° at noon under mostly cloudless sky. I didn’t get a photo of the white hot sun at the edge of the world this morning. It would not have been pretty. It reached 99° locally and is simply 87° at ten p.m.

Today was the first worship service for the season. Patty Smith, Ella and I plus the Lord were all in attendance.

At the end to the season last year the club board decided to do away with all signage for events, including our worship service. I have a feeling that it will impact our attendance the most of all the events. Time will tell.

When we were going to bed last night I closed the Venetian blinds and it seemed that the one over our dining area didn’t close properly. This morning after worship I discovered why. The cord on one side had broken. To many years in the hot sun, I guess.

After lunch I removed it and went to Home Depot for a replacement.

While on the way to Home Depot Ella received a call inviting us to son John’s for a cookout.

We made our purchase of the blind. And went to the nearby Target for a dessert and soft drinks to take to the cookout.

And then it was off to John’s. It was a nice family gathering.

John has several acres on the edge of town which was a great place to gather. It was hot but manageable in the shade

I took this sunset photo as we were driving through Des Moines.

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2018 May 26 Saturday

2018 May 26 Saturday in Grimes Iowa

69° and clear to start the day and reached 94° by noon.

Pancakes, waffles, and French toast with sausage patties was served at the clubhouse this morning.

As I was getting my breakfast, I found out that I was in charge of an 11:30 Memorial Day service at the flag island just inside Cutty’s entrance. I have done it the last couple of years on Memorial Day Monday. So I was expecting to do it … just not this morning.

Since I conduct the Sunday worship services in the campground, I have become the unofficial Chaplin for the campground.

We had time, before the ceremony, to go to Walmart and pick up Ella’s prescriptions.

Although Ella’s photo only shows me, there were about twenty or more people gathered. I promised that, since it was already over 90°, I would keep it brief … but that it was important that we take time to remember those in our armed forces who had died in service of their country.

(I later found the photos on Cutty’s Facebook page.)

If you would like to read what I said, follow this link here. We concluded with the playing of Taps and the reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance.

We had time to return home, cool down, eat, and rest before going to work at the fee booth from 3 – 10.

It was crazy busy from start to close. Over one hundred and fifty members had multiple carloads of guests coming into the resort which kept me busy writing burrito passes and explaining how to find the campsite and answering the phone as members called to add proper to the guest list. There was also the heat to contend with. Outside tennis near 100 and the air conditioning couldn’t keep up with the door being open most of the time.

I was very glad to come home and crawl into bed.

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2018 May 25 Friday

2018 May 25 Friday in Grimes Iowa

The day began at 77° and near 90% humidity. Thanks be to God for the clouds to shelter us from the sun because it was 82° (feels like 86) by noon. Unfortunately the clouds all moved on and the late afternoon temps reached 90°.

We went for coffee at Cutty’s Cafe. Francis and Sandy, and Keith and Jean were already there. We stayed until around ten.

From there we went to the office for my paycheck. The take-home was about what I had estimated it would be. These apps on our smart phones which allow us to deposit checks electronically sure are handy.

The Memorial Day flags are out at the entrance island.

The new sign for the resort looking very nice in the sunshine.

We checked ourselves in at the Grimes Senior Center.

Ella and I played several rounds of Rummikub and then switched to Fast Track so that Deb and one other person could play also. We didn’t get a complete game in before lunch.

Both before and after lunch people were playing bowling on the Wii.

Our vacuum cleaner have up the ghost this week. It wasn’t worth the expense if reporting it. So we stopped at Walmart to shop for a new one.

I’m a little apprehensive because it was so inexpensive. I guess we will find out later whether it was a good purchase or not.

Our bird feeders were nearly out of food so we stopped at Bomgaars and purchases more. Hopefully that will keep them coming to the feeder. We enjoy their antics at the feeder right outside our dining room window.

Between 5:30 and 7:00 there was a cook out on Cutty’s Main Street serving hot dogs, hamburgers, and prime rib sandwiches with salad, chips and lemonade.

A good turnout considering the heat.

Then we retreated to the air conditioned Cafe for ice cream.

Then it was the the adult center for card jackpot.

The sunset was amazing.

But the moon stole the show by perching on top thunder clouds.

Goodnight and God bless.

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At 7:00 we played Cards Jackpot in the Adult Center.

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2018 May 25 Friday

2018 May 25 Friday in Grimes Iowa

69° to start the day and 82° by noon. And an unofficial 90° around 3 p.m. them dropped to 81° by 9. Looks like an air conditioned night.

We arrived at Cutty’s Cafe just before nine and set up our Fast Track game while we waited for some of our friends to arrive. We also shared a scrambled egg platter with sausage.

Before too long Francis and Sandy arrived. A short time later Jean also joined us. Getting together with friends is one of the best things about spending our summers at this resort.

We visited for a while and then it was time to leave for the senior center too play and eat with more friends.

After lunch we stopped by the post office and then headed to the Eastside. Our home church, Union Park UMC, prints the bulletins for our Cutty’s Worship Service. It is such a blessing for us that we don’t have to pay to have the bulletins duplicated.

While we were on the way back home, we received a phone call from Kara, my niece, she had planned to come out Cutty’s to visit us. However, it appeared that the dog sitter her son had hired, had not been around for twelve hours. So Kara was going to let the dogs out for awhile. While Kara was there the sitter arrived.

Since Kara was going to arrive later than originally planned, we did some shopping before going home.

The sun cranked up the heat as we stepped out of Walmart. The sign at the bank read 90° as we headed home.

We were just putting things away when Kara arrived. We went to the Adult Center and played Fast Track until around 5:30 when Kara had to leave.

Then it was time for us to return home and fix supper.

So sunset came like a pastel watercolor.

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2018 May 23 Wednesday

2018 May 23 Wednesday in Grimes Iowa

It was 65° and partly cloudy to start the day.

Today we boarded a bus at the senior center and went to the Iowa State fairgrounds for Senior Fest.

There were seventeen seats on the bus and only one small space in the back bench was empty. And that was because we were one short. Joyce didn’t go.

It is a good thing that our bus driver had a sense of humor because we kinds of gave him a bad time.

Bingo was how I passed my time. I played game after game and never won. Ella played once and walked away with a bag of goodies.

Since the Grimes center is small, we were paired with the West side center. Our theme (each center hasa different theme) was Hawaii. So leis grass skirts, Hawaiian shirts, and these way-too-small straw hat were plentiful.

For lunch we had baked chicken, potato salad, baked beans, and an orange.

Considering that there were thousands of people here, the food line moved very smoothly.

It was about 1:00 when we loaded back into the bus and headed back to Grimes.

We had a different driver for the return trip. She had never been to our building before so relied on the final turn from the passengers.

Ella an I hurried from the center to Village Inn for Pie Rush Wednesday and time with friends.

Then around 6:30 we went to Cutty’s Adult Center and played Mexican Train.

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2018 May 20 Sunday

2018 May 20 Sunday in Grimes Iowa

55° and overcast to start the day. It got up to 63° for the high and remained overcast.

We attended church at Union Park UMC this morning and had a hamburger lunch in the fellowship hall after the service.

Laundry was done at Cutty’s laundromat on main Street.

Since it is next to the cafe, we took our Fast Track game over there and played while the clothes washed.

Ella beat me three out of for games. We also shared a milkshake while we were there.

The rest of the day was a rest day.

No sun at sunset. So no photo.

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2018 May 19 Saturday

2018 May 19 Saturday in Grimes Iowa

57° to start the day with clear skies that slowly clouded over. It reached almost to eighty degrees by noon. We had about an hour long rain come through between 2:30 & 3:30 and the temperature dropped to seventy. Then the sun broke through once again.

I worked eight to two thirty today. It was very busy with a huge graduation party, two birthdays, and a welcome home party had an endless stream of visitors coming into the park. That also meant that the phone was very busy too with members calling to more people to the guest list.

After work I went to the the clubhouse where a clubhall meeting was in progress. There were questions and a few answers.

Then it was time for a short nap before supper.

For supper Ella heated some peas and some riced cauliflower with cheese. While she did that I went Arby’s for some bourbon BBQ brisket. We discarded the buns to cut out the carbohydrates.

Not many photos Saturday’s sunrise and sunset weren’t pretty today.

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