Gaye's Muzings January 2008
January 31, 2008
We never know when life is going to turn a corner. It makes it nice when we get to choose what corners we are going to turn and don't have them turned for us. I have had several houses in Portland for as long as I had lived there. When we went "on the road" we sold our stick house and kept the rentals. We had the accountant make up a financial plan for us so we could carry this lifestyle on for quite a long time. We are into our 5th year on the road and have had it pretty undemanding for us. We have hit those snafus along the way that makes one want to pull their hair out or strangle the tenants but all in all it has gone well for not being there. We would sell a house every 2 years but I have had it and ran out of the patience to be a landlady. So........I put 3 on the market last week and sold one yesterday: well, took an offer. Next year the last 2. I am going to bite the bullet and pay the taxes as the houses have done very well for me and it is time for some major work which would be not at all smart to have done without our being there. We want to get back to NL and have plenty of work to do there for the next 3 summers.
I finally got some sleep last night as I have been consumed with playing Yahoo Literati online and have been staying up waaaaay to late. I think I will have to put a limit on myself so I won't forget to do the things I need to do.
Today I have to go and suffer through a pedicure and a shoulder massage. MMMMMMMM I can't wait. Tomorrow starts the doctor appointments for the year.
It is exquisite here but blew like crazy last night. It was so clear that you could actually see all of downtown LA yesterday. That is a rare happening!
Have to run and do a few things to get on our way to get my toenails done and then see my boys. There isn't much more that could make my heart sing today!!!!!!
Our prayers go out to our friends in NL: Randy and Tracey.
May you have an exquisite day too........
January 30, 2008
Happy Birthday, Lynne........my sister-in-law. Celebrate well and a great day to you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love
January 29, 2008
Well hello, we are taking a very sloooooow trip to LALA land. Night one in Rancho Mirage doing not much of anything. I did play Literati until 2:35 a.m. and got to sleep at 3:00. I had fun but my eyes were so sore when I got up after 5 hours of sleep. We went out for breakfast and I looked like I had one heck of a hangover which is pretty hard to have when I don't even drink!!!!!!
We left and drove a WC and Leslie day....all of 78 miles. We are in Rancho Cucamonga and went out to lunch at Pei Wei which is run by P.F. Changs. This evening we went to see There Will Be Blood with Daniel Day-Lewis. It was an incredible Day-Lewis performance as usual but a cold, cold movie. We're back at the "house" now and I want to play a few games of Literati before bed.
I have definitely finished with the"Q" for a few years. We will have to put on our thinking caps for next winter's recreation. I was very happy to leave. Tomorrow on to Malibu which is about 1 1/2 hours from here. We have a lot of running around to do with yearly physicals, dentist, eye doc, mammogram, errands and visiting Brett and Mitch and his family. We will stay 1 or 2 weeks before heading to Portland to start packing for NL.
Have happy thoughts and dreams.........
January 28, 2008
Hello and GOOD morning. We get to leave the "Q" today!!!!! I usually run out of boondocking steam in the desert after a week anyhow. I actually am crunching sand in my teeth after we go out and that is not my favorite thing. I have to keep my electric toothbrush well charged.
We had two days of total do nothing except stay inside and enjoy ourselves. Saturday we started playing a yahoo game called Literati, much like Scrabble. It is amazing what words are accepted and what's not. Our friends, Cal and Josie, from Newfoundland told us about it and as they say, you learn a whole new language. (She really spells it Jose for Josephine but for clarity in the good old US of A I will spell it with an ie). It kicks off the obvious and accepts some that you could never play in Scrabble. Some people are fun to play with and some are just plain rude!!!! Chet and I make a private table a lot and play with each other. We have fun and don't kick each other off the game; we just antagonize each other in a joking way!!! My eyes were bleary last night and so was my mind. Must be this morning too as I can't seem to type right.
We skipped the big potluck on Saturday as sometimes they feel like a big feeding frenzy with the people at the end of the line losing. We went out for a lovely dinner at our new little favorite town of Brenda! Yesterday the offroad ride was cancelled due to rain.
I think we will go to a movie in Palm Springs today as we need a movie fix. Maybe even two. It is time to stop as I can't seem to put many words together without having to go back and edit wrong letters. Whew, I did the last sentence perfectly but not this one so I quit!!!!!!!!
Bye..................
January 26, 2008
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, CARL. HAVE A GREAT DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love
January 25, 2008
Now things should be back to normal after my TMI muze. We had another beauty of a day in the "Q" today. It was the morning for the men to bond and go for donuts and coffee. Chet went and I had a nice shower and a time with the cats and got some knitting done. I have about 20 minutes left on another blanket which turned out spectacularly. It is always so nice to finish one 'cause they take sooooo long. I have another one over 1/2 finished soooooooo I will get it done next.
Chet got back and had to do some work on the braking system we use for the tow car. He couldn't fix one of the wires so we had to go to town to get a new one at the RV tent. The company just gave him a new one which was really nice. We bought a system to light the flag on our new flagpole and I got another Pirate flag; one with a red bandana and a patch over one eye. Still no Johnny Depp!!!!!!!! Maybe I will run my Pirates of the Caribbean T-shirt up the pole!
We wandered around the swap meet until it was time to meet some friends for dinner. It was nice as we all became friends while visiting NL. We had Mexican food and indigestion!
I led a woman's group yesterday as an afternoon activity and as I sat at the fire pit waiting I was afraid I was having a party and no one was going to show up. About
60 women came and we had a good time talking lady stuff. I shall spare you the details!!!!!!!
Last evening we went for a ride about 15 miles from here and ended up in this little town comprised of some RV parks and the Black Rock Cafe. The evening sky against the mountains was magnificent. The desert is green due to the rain we had. It is amazing how fast it greens up. The town was an old mining town named Brenda and the cafe was packed. I had on a serape and I must admit quite a few heads turned. It is very hard to explain how I look out from my eyes and see the world as a much younger person. I don't relate to the people we see as my mind still has me as a much younger person. It's when I look down and see my skin on my hands and arms and the lack of elasticity and when Lilli Mae pinches it together and asks why it is like that. It is getting old as my mother's did. I still feel like a kid and act like I'm about two about half of the time. Aging is something we all do if we are fortunate enough to live that long. I have decided to try and do it gracefully and stay away from the plastic surgeons. After all, in all reality they can't make me any younger. I would still be the same age and there is a grace I see in the faces of the women who are doing it naturally.
Life in the "Q" is totally laid back and we do exactly as we please with nothing pulling us in any particular direction.......except me:) There is a pot luck tomorrow and a garage sale at people's motorhomes if they so choose to participate. Sunday there is about a 30 mile off road trip planned to the solar cafe that sells hamburgers, out in the middle of nowhere and is only open for a few hours on the weekend. Rain is predicted so we will see what we will do.
I'm sleepy so I say happy dreams and until the next time......
January 21, 2008
We had a little excitement this morning when Chet got up at 5 a.m. to put our small awnings in because of the wind. He heard a cat crying at around 9 a.m. when he got up and was searching all of the strange places that Twilly gets himself into: closet, behind the t.v., etc. and on and on. No Twilly, so he opened the front door and there was this pitiful little cry from under the motorhome and then in darts our boy! He must have followed Chet out. Sooooo he ran around greeting us and the other cats and I told Chet he has to sleep outside at 5 tomorrow morning for 4 hours:):) Chet told me the next time the wind is blowing I can go outside and let the curtains up :( :(.
A good FYI!!! We got the following from a very dear friend and Boomer Leslie Earnst, this morning. They are in Lubbock, Tx.
Good Morning,
Well here is another first for me. Two days ago I was putting things in the car to take to Amy's to cook. W.C. was already out there helping Brandon with some home repairs. I heard a sound that made me think of our propane alarm and we had just gotten new propane the day before--so I started looking around our rig. I went back inside, too, just to make sure. Nothing--so I tried to walk toward the sound. Two spaces over was a fifth wheel with a huge extra propane tank outside so I started thinking explosion potential. I got closer, but the sound was coming from inside that fifth wheel. I walked around to the front of it--no one was home. I looked it over and saw flames--to my horror--inside the rig shooting up to the top of the window. I called 9-1-1 and couldn't even think of the name of the park we were in--much less the address. A pickup came by and I flagged him down. He told me the address which I then gave to the operator. I told him the rig was on fire and he hopped out to look closer. We broke out a window and then went looking for a water hose. Everything was wrapped for freezing weather, but he tore that off. We climbed on top of the picnic table to be at fire-level and put water in the broken window. I ran back and got our fire extinguisher and we used that, too. Then a pickup from the fire department showed up and I went to the road to motion to him. He was followed by four fire trucks. We had what fire we could see already out, but the firemen broke the door so they could get inside and check everything. It was out, but they stayed around a while to make sure. I was afraid they had pets or that someone might have been overcome with smoke while sleeping or something, but all was well. I was amazed that the whole thing hadn't gone up, but the fireman said I must have heard the smoke detector just when it started going off. The lady had been cleaning and put her candles in the sink. Then she left in a hurry, forgetting about the burning candles. Many of the sinks now are made of a plastic resin which is flammable and the candles started the sink on fire which is what I saw. We called the park office and they called the people who came home separately. She broke into tears the minute she got out and remembered the candles. The guy was a painter off working at a job, but came home next. There really wasn't much damage considering. They were so lucky the whole thing wasn't burned to the ground. The fire department guys asked if I wanted to become a volunteer fire fighter:) I was shaky the rest of the day.
Hope you are enjoying a quiet day:):)
Hope you are enjoying a quiet day:):)
We are getting ready to go spend a nice day in town so will finish later......
We had a great time in town at the "big tent" where all of the vendors are. We paid our dues for the Escapees for the next 3 years bought some tape for many different types of repairs, and a major flagpole made out of aircraft grade aluminum that is held in a holder that slides under the tire; in our case the front driver side wheel. We have to try and figure a way to lock the pole to the base. It came with an American Flag and my free one is my pirate flag or the Jolly Roger....unfortunately it wasn't Captain Jack Sparrow's face. We got some free aerosol cans of pancake mix that they were handing out. We have to go back for the swap meet part and Chet is looking into tire pressure monitors. He needs to do a little more research before we make the investment.
It is cold here and there is the possibility of rain on Friday night and Saturday. The sunset was magnificent tonight and the moon is very full and bright. It's like early dusk outside and it is 10:00 P.M.
We have to make a garbage run which entails dropping it off in someone's pickup so they can take it to the dump.
Sweet dreams to you all!
January 20, 2008
We got to Quartzsite yesterday just about dusk and got settled in a spot not too far from the main campfire area. We headed out over the desert to town to our favorite Mexican restaurant. It was fun trying to remember how to get there off road. Coming home presented a bigger problem but we did a fine job. It's a good thing the moon was so bright. It is nice to see friends and new Escapee Boomers. On Tuesday, Chet and I are going to run a group on Booming the Maritimes. It"s to share of our trip to NL and Canada. Our friends, Carol and Dick Schneider, will be sharing too, as they were there and we would hook up in different places. They spent more time on the mainland than we did.
For those who don't know, Escapees is one of the RV groups we are members of. The Boomer group is great and very unstructured and we have a lot of fun dry camping in the desert and chewing sand with them. Last year there were over 170 rigs here. So far we have 79.
Tomorrow we will go into town to the RV tent show and to the swap meet. I hear that a lot of the vendors aren't here. I'm not all that surprised with the price of gas. We finally saw it lower than $3.00 yesterday.
Today was spent setting up camp, knitting, Chet doing homework and some little repairs. It is beautiful out during the day and freezing at night.
My last blog was evidently TMI for some. Sorry if you were bothered by it but it was done to share something that a lot of people are not aware of and would it be so awful to make someone's life easier? After all, we are all adults and it doesn't make me not who I am. It will make the t.v. commercials one of these days anyhow! Everything else seems to.
A pleasant evening to you................
January 18, 2008
I must say thank you to Lorin for my name of Gaye Flyer. It has given me moments of embarrassment when I was younger and first getting used to the name(when was that), a great catchy name for Gaye Flyer Designs, one that confuses people, and the realization that some people just cannot call me Gaye for whatever reason, to having the rangers at the park we just left thinking it was some kind of a hoax when my medicine arrived before I did, to not getting posted in an online condolence book for a cousin who passed away last week. It took two letters to the editor of the paper to finally get them to agree to put a Gaye Flyer posting in it. I love my name and thanks to Jon and his comment when Chet and I got married about not having one of those dumba__ hyphenated names. It makes me feel special when Chet calls me Mrs. Caruthers and has always been so good natured when he is called Mr. Flyer. I just don't want to have a different name than my children!!!!
We are on our way to Quartzsite but have to make a long stop in Rancho Mirage to pick up some new medicine that I need that has to be mixed at a pharmacy that is a special compounding pharmacy. Well, here comes that old faith thing again. After calling 4 different places and being told it would be tomorrow or Monday as they need a 24 hour notice, I was freaked then crying and lo and behold I said to myself once again, I am not in charge and it will be taken care of. The very next pharmacy said they would have it by 5:00 today. I thanked and thanked them and the lady said, "you're not going to cry, are you" and I had to admit I already was and it was gratitude. When will I learn to let go of the results sooner.
Oh well, I may as well share more about me as you who have been following the blogs or muzes are getting bits and pieces of who I am and I may as well share why I need the medicine as it may help someone else in the same predicament; male or female. I have lichens sclerosis which conjures all sorts of awful characters in my mind. Too many t.v. commercials with little creatures living under toenails. It is an auto-immune thing that they have not too much knowledge about, that can be managed but not eradicated as of yet. I had the joy of being diagnosed after a biopsy that felt like someone used a paper punch in my vaginal area. The long of the short is constant, constant burning, the inability to sit on anything other than a soft chair and not knowing where to put myself sometimes. It is almost indistinguishable from the feeling of a yeast infection, which is also not gender specific, so if you experience the symptoms and the meds for it don't help it is something to question your Dr. about. I have mentioned that I have an almost masochistic pain tolerance, so it takes a lot to wear me down. But it's been almost a year of unrelenting pain and not so sure what will happen next. It now makes me cry with pain and frustration. I must say that my case is mild compared to some I have read about. They are awful. As I mentioned it is not age or gender specific, particularly in uncircumcised men. It can take many years to get so bad that it is noticeable. So there it is and I hope one person may be helped by my expose which wasn't all that easy to do. An extremely caring, gentle and understanding husband is a gift, too. Google and the talk group are good for questions.
We should be at Costco soon so we can get our traditional hot dog and soda. We need a few other things for the desert but are pretty well stocked anyhow. It is an exquisite day but will be colder in the high desert.
Maybe more later.....
It is later now and we decided to stay in Rancho Mirage for the night. It was a trying day and we are in no rush to dry camp for the next 10 days. We just have fun with the people we meet. We should be at our spot early afternoon tomorrow.
I miss my kids...............
January 16, 2008
We had to suffer through another beautiful day today. It was about 10 degrees cooler which made it nice when we took our walk. We went 2 miles and it is still not bothering my knee. That is a thrill. We got outside to sit for a while and it took me forever to get myself organized to knit between Twilly knocking over the bag of yarn 3 times, my first sitting in one direction with the sun in my eyes, turning all the chairs around and setting myself up again in the other direction and the wind started blowing. The mat we have outside to use to cover the sand blew up in the air and all the sand on top of it blew all over me. Sometimes, nah most of the time it is a lot of work being me. Chet watches and chuckles. I am very busy and it gets to be pretty funny going through all of my machinations. I had to put out more bird food and peanuts for all of my little friends. We sit outside with Freddie and Twilly on his leash which puts a crimp in the amount of birds that come around. We stayed outside until it got too chilly and then a blanket of birds descended on the feeders and the food. Here I thought they love coming around to see me but in all reality it is because the park has emptied out quite a bit so there are a lot less feeders around. Hmmmmm!
We gave Twilly a break today and didn't make him walk with us. There was a coyote walking towards us on the road but took off and we saw several big jackrabbits. We'll be here til Friday and then we'll go to Quartzsite. Life is good!
Yesterday I walked around some of the stores in the little town and Chet sat at a coffee shop. We had a great Mexican dinner and came home.
My cousin, Jon Stoll, died from brain cancer on the 12th. He was Fantasma Productions in Fla. which was a booking company for concerts etc.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/search/content/local_news/epaper/2008/01/13/s1c_STOLL_OB
He was young, 54, and left 5 children. My dad was his dad's brother.
Live every day to the fullest; laugh, love, and be kind........
I just wanted to keep in touch.
January 14, 2007
We had an amazingly beautiful day today doing not much of anything!!!! We took Twilly for a mile and a half walk and the poor little guy has been tapped out all afternoon and evening. He was so funny as we walked over to the visitor's center. He bucks a bit when we start but when it is time to head home we have trouble keeping up with him. It's amazing how he knows we are heading back. We met a puppy on the way and boy did he puff up and the hair on the pup's back was straight up. Twilly then proceeded to go after him with all fours. He is a character!
We walked two miles yesterday which may not sound like much but it was a thrill as it was the first real walk we have gone on since I hurt my knee in NL in the summer. The month of Celebrex worked wonders. I'm excited to be feeling better.
I had a talk with the head ranger today and he will have a sensitivity talk with the person who made the disparaging remark yesterday. I told him what was said but that the person was very nice other than that.
We watched Out of Africa for the who knows how many times and as usual it made me cry. It's one of those movies I never tire of and never can get through it dry eyed.
All else is well and I can't ask for anything more than that......
January 13, 2008
I'm sitting outside the motorhome on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. One of my dearest friends is down visiting us from LALA land and it has been so nice to see her as I cherish the laughs we share as we talk of our times together in the past years, or shall I say lifetimes ago. We have certainly lived many lives over the years of our acquaintance. I was knitting, which is what I savor doing as I sit outside, but my mind was wandering over and over a comment one of the park volunteers made that is sticking in my gut.
We all have opinions on any number of matters at any given moment. One of the things I find that some of the opinions that should stay inside peoples mouths have a tendency to leak out or blurt out. We are all different; colors, sizes, religious, not religious, spiritual or not, of different political persuasion, from all walks of life ie., different socioeconomic strata, conservative, liberal, in between, introverted, extroverted, opinionated or not, on and on and on.
I have to do a better job of speaking my mind without my voice shaking, as the bumper sticker on our car says. I need to do it at the moment instead of later or not at all. When people make remarks that are ignorant and hurtful I need to be able to ask them if they might be saying something, in conversation with me, that is hurtful or not appropriate. Better yet, to say at the moment, "do you think that might affect me or someone that is close to me?" For example, comments about gays, Indians, Jews, Blacks, disabled,etc. Do the people that are making the comments not have any idea that they may be offending the very person they are talking to?
I would hope people could learn to be less opinionated and more tolerant. I find a lot of inappropriate comments being made, living on the road, about people of different proclivities. That is usually where the conversation ends with me as I have no tolerance for that kind of behavior. I am not perfect by any stretch of the imagination but if I do say something inappropriate I try to fix it immediately as I don't like to go to bed owing an apology. I have had to eat crow and learn to be more appropriate in my lifetime.
I will bring up today's conversation with the park volunteer's superior tomorrow. It isn't okay with me to have someone who is representing the State Park system to denigrate gays by calling them "faggots" and accuse them of having some area shut down because they were partying there. Shame on you and to the man who ran the Water Wheel RV Park in Oregon and made disparaging remarks about the Indians and the fact that they got some funding for a water treatment plant. Doesn't White America really owe them, the slaves, the Japanese and many others a lot more than an apology. I'd better stop here. Just know, I came from my father's loins and he was a Jew. I don't get a kick out of slurs of any kind.
I shall go on with my absolutely beautiful day and get back to my knitting and some good old t.v. watching. May my mind stay open and my heart do the same as I only have control over my own behavior; being truthful and loving.
Peace and good health....
January 9, 2008
It is 10:54 p.m. and we pulled into a Flying J Truck Stop (RV friendly) to spend the night. We have a very bad habit of not getting on the move until noon or after and after rests at the rest stops we end up on the road late which is the way we like to do it. We like driving at night. I told Chet that I don't think I am ever going to feel comfortable driving the rig. I will keep trying so I don't end up forgetting how but......knitting is much more fun!! In the past I did a lot of things with attitude and some of them were just plain nutty but I did have a lot of adventures. I have lost a lot of my "attitude" so I don't muster up the energy or nerve to do a lot of the same things. I used to pull my trailer to Portland and would always go at night and would feel the most amazing sense of freedom and would yell YEAH at the top of my lungs. The first time I hiked up to the bridge at Multnomah Falls in Oregon I put my arms up in the air and said "I did it"
My very dear friend Nancy is coming to Anza-Borrego on Sat. and Sun. to visit us. They are going to motel it but we will have a good visit. She used to live at my house in LALA land when I had roommates and we had some hilarious times. Oh, those memories are special.
Not much exciting to tell you tonight so I will make this short. Our rig is running perfectly and they told Chet At Cummins West that the rocker arm probably started to loosen quite a while ago and now we will have a little better gas mileage and it will have a little more power.
We walked Twilly around a rest stop a few times today. He is really cute and starting to get the hang of it and is not so fearful of all of the things he has never seen.
Good night, all and live your dreams.....
January 8, 2008
Well, here's where the faith part comes into play; blind faith!!!! Many will understand. We just did the footwork and ended up parking in front of the bay door at Cummins West that just "happened" to be empty. We went into the office at 8:00 a.m. to a very polite Derek, who took our information and said he would work us in as 2 of the mechanics were out and that t hey were booked for a month out. They did their diagnostics and nothing bad showed up and looked a little further to find that the adjusting screw to the rocker arm had come loose and the 1 rocker arm had completely come off. One cylinder out of the 6 wasn't firing at all blowing lots of smoke out our exhaust and causing a very bad smell. Two of our cats blew chunks which may or may not have had anything to do with it but it was rather coincidental. They fixed it and adjusted the other valves as a," just in case" and we were on our way at 12:30. Talk about lucky! We listened and did the right thing which was to stop as they said lots of RV's and buses trash their engines because it is so hard to hear them in the rear and they keep on going,
A HUGE THANK YOU TO CUMMINS WEST IN ARCATA, CALIF. AND BOB AND TROY AND EVERYONE ELSE THAT HELPED!!!!!! We will definitely put this out on the internet and maybe it will end up on google under our names. They deserve every bit of our gratitude as we are heading South in the rain at this very moment and we are only $300.00 lighter. It was one of the easiest $300.00 we have spent in a long time. Cummins West, Cummins West Arcata, Calif!!!!!! We just passed where we turned around yesterday.
Jon, Erin, Jack and Lilli Mae.....trust me......it was not easy to pull out without waiting to meet for lunch or just one more good-bye. I figured it would be much easier on my crackling heart and on GrandChet as he is the one who has to do the driving. We love you so very much!!!! AAAhhhhhhh.
I also called Anza-Borrego State Park and talked to Brandi who said she would save my prescriptions that Prescription Solutions had to send out in 3 separate parcels for some reason. They never make it too easy.
It is foggy and very wet. We did snuggle down for a 2 hour nap as they finished their work. Chet heard the knock at the door and had to start the engine several times along with climbing over me to get up. I never heard a thing as usual and caught up from a fitful night of anticipation.
God doesn't fix engines but the footwork put it all into action and all was taken care of.
My battery is low so I will sign off and may add more later. We got a call from our friend Randy again this morning. He is checking on our house for us and our frozen antifreeze that Chet put in the toilets before we left. That is a bit of an oxymoron!!!!!!!!!! Check out his web page www.randyhann.com and see some exquisite work.
Oh x!%*! we just passed a big rig in the river with a couple of policemen and a wrecker standing and looking. I hope nobody was in it. The rivers are very full and it was a little frontage road. Yikes!!!
Later
I'm back....we just stopped and had a late lunch of chicken, cucumbers, hot and sour soup from Costco which was really tasty, and bagels. We are up around 1500 ft. and the place is covered with snow. I remarked that in all of the years I've been this way I have never seen snow. He did graciously remind me that all of the years that I traveled with Lorin and the boys that it was summertime. I said thank you.
It's probably better that we didn't drive through the area yesterday as the rain has melted a lot of the snow and we don't carry chains. Chet just stopped for a rest so we can drive through the San Francisco area after rush hour. We are night travelers.
January 7, 2008
Type, knit, type, knit; mind whirling....how do I get away and maintain my sanity, composure, heartache, excitement, joy, freedom. Their little faces, Jack and Lilli's, the sound of Jack yelling goodbye this morning as I drifted in and out of sleep. Can it be put off one more day, week, hour, minute. Oh, how we all want to be the favorite child or favorite parent. It's funny as all of these things become so much clearer when we get older. Lilli was squeezing the skin together on the back of my hand as I did my mother's. She asked me why my skin was like that and I told her it is because it is what happens when we get older. EEEyikes....it's like a dream. Read Water for Elephants. It is quite a book but brutal as I am relating to a lot as the hair under my arms and a few other places disappears.
Something doesn't sound and feel right with the motorhome as we pull away from Eureka. Are we supposed to head back??????? or do we push on. We both heard a sound of a small child's voice and to me it sounded like "daddy" but was not discernible to Chet. Strange. We are not quite sure what to do re: the motorhome feeling funny as we ride. We just turned around to head back to Eureka as it will be better to be there than somewhere else. Good try.
I guess we will have a little extra time after all!! Careful what you ask for.
We woke yesterday with blasting headaches and were green all day. Lilli had "puked" as she so eloquently puts it the day before and two days prior to that when we took them to the park. We have had the continuous Humbolt crud for weeks but fortunately it didn't get into my chest this time. I just seem to be blowing my nose constantly. Oh were we looking forward to some drier weather.
Erin and Jon had a house full of family last night and I think Jon was dearly looking forward to some downtime as there is always somebody there. His dad will be back at the end of the month and we plan on another visit before we head back East. (Come on motorhome, you have to make it back to Eureka.) There was a lot of snow on the mountains heading South on 101. We've never seen that before. Yow, it is sounding not so good. May it just be a small problem!!!! The motorhome, that is.
We are packed to the gills with yarn and I want to start all of my projects at once. Probably wouldn't be a good idea. I bought great amounts of wonderful colors and textures to do all sorts of fun things with.
We had a great time in Eureka and it seemed like a big city compared to Twillingate which really seemed funny as it always seemed so small to us.
I called Jon and Erin's and she found us a truck repair south of Eureka, in Fortuna, which we have already passed twice so we are headed South again. Sort of like running in circles. It is just as well to find out now. At least we were able to dump and get some propane as we were at the critically full stage and had no propane for heat. Thursday would have been 5 weeks which is really stretching the tanks!!!! No pun intended. We have been driving for over 2 hours and have gotten nowhere. At least there is a good restaurant near here if we choose.
They're going to take a look at the engine now and see if they can figure out what's going on. Please God, let it be little.
In all reality, God, cannot repair a broken engine but we were sent to a place, that after emptying the entire closet of all of its' contents, had a look-see and decided it was too big for them to handle as they think it is a fuel injector problem. They sent us packing 30 miles North to a Cummins dealer and we are parked in front of one of their bay doors eating dinner. It took a little getting to as they moved from where we were told to go so we had to do a little reconnoitering and alas, we found it. At 8:00 a.m. I expect a knock at the door and a fit of laughter when they say, "you want it when?" I guess that's where the faith part comes in. We had a lot of things to take care of and I have 3 different prescriptions making their way to the Anza-Borrego Desert as I write. Oh my, I'll think about it tomorrow.
January 4, 2008
We are at our favorite Arcata breakfast place right now and it is 2:17 p.m. We do get off to some late starts! I just deleted everything but Chet reminded me of the Control z function so we are back at it. I think I will change my handle to "I'm dangerous". When we finish here we will hit the movies this evening. There is a lull in the weather right now as we are expecting a BIG storm and I am real anxious about being under those redwood trees tonight as they were howling last night and the big storm isn't here yet. It is more than a bit unnerving so we may sleep inside tonight...well, inside their house.
We all went to dinner at Jack's favorite restaurant last night...the Teppanyaki place where they cook in front of you at the table. He has been asking since the first day we got here so we made it last night. The glee on his face is priceless and the chef/owner puts on quite a show. Lilli didn't eat as the day before we took the kids and Twilly to the park and they all ran and ran and played themselves out. Twilly is as nutty as any cat I have ever seen and climbed up all of the playthings and would go down the slide with the kids. They were all too cute. Lilli, in her own words "puked' all over herself on the way to ice cream so we went home. It is killing me as we are pulling out Sun or Mon due to how the weather and heading to Anza Borrego Desert where it is supposed to rain today. That will be good as they haven't had any rain in 2 years. Chet is on the other computer reading the weather and reminded us of the time at the Salton Sea when it was flooding Hwy. 111 and we, in all of our stupidity, decided to go through a wash to get back to the motorhome and there were people pushing their cars thru it . I was so excited, translated to anxed, I started to open the door to see how deep we were as he yelled no as we were above the door line. It was exciting but really stupid and others who had been to dinner had to wait hours to get back to their rigs. I never know where these muzes will take me!
I was googling things the other night and lo and behold I was on google. That really gave me a kick and saw that Chet had already been on there for several years.
I'm waiting for the plumber to call as we have a major boo-boo at one of the houses and he will have a big job....changing out the old tub and putting in a new tub/shower enclosure. Landlording is a drag when you aren't there.
Hmmmm maybe "minefield" would be better for me as I am always getting into some kind of trouble on the computer.
I will sign off and get this posted while we are at this wifi spot.
We are going to have lunch with the Bradners' tomorrow if we are not floating.
January 1, 2008
Well, it is the first day of the year. I celebrate this day because it is the beginning of the year we can vote and......let's see, hmmmmm, no it is not that my next birthday is only 4 months and 10 days away....I don't celebrate them anymore except to say whew! I made it another year!!!!!!!!!!! Kidding aside, we had a marvelous day today.
We went to Jon's new property and spent several hours scouting around and discovering the beauty of the land, streams, old trees, a used to be orchard, gazillions of cow pies and a view of the ocean that goes on and on. It is hard to wrap my head around the expanse of the place and imagining what Jack and Lilli Mae will experience being able to grow up there. Wow, all I can say is wow because I am more than a little stupified. I said to Jon that it would be fun if we could all go back and grow up there together all over again. We bought a tree for them but I think it will live at their present home until they decide where they are going to build and then I asked him to plant it near the house so when the leaves rustle he will always hear my words and when it blooms they will feel my love. He told me it was a big responsibility to keep that tree alive!
I was so grateful to be able to do some walking at the property and not have my knee act up. I have 2 days of Celebrex left so we will see what happens as I can't take it all of the time. It is the first quasi hike since Newfoundland. I even bought some hiking/wet ground boots and they were great. They're the first real shoes besides my Uggs and Teva sandals that I have worn since I broke my leg and ankle over 4 years ago.
Twilly had a rough time on his walk today; 3 different horses, a dog, another cat so he did get carried part of the way. Poor little guy has a few fears to conquer but he wants to go out sooooooo he will have to get over himself. He loves to play in the strean by the mailboxes for the houses along Jon's driveway. People keep checking us out as we probably look like we aew ready to rifle through the mail.
We had a beautiful day and told the kids we would be leaving on the weekend. There is a big storm coming in tomorrow so we will wait it out and there are supposed to be some pretty large tides. Perhaps we won't forget the camera this time.
The best of everything to us all this coming year and may I make someone's life a little better.....
January 1, 2008
Happy New Year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
May this year bring you the best.
Love,
Us