Where does the time go?

It seems once we return to AZ the time to the end of the year with all the holidays just goes by too fast! For Veteran's Day, since Dawn spent the week helping with her new granddaughter, Iliana, and Vince was helping a sick friend, we went by ourselves to Chili's on Sunday Nov 11 and then Golden Corral on Nov 12. The meal Monday night was one of the best either of us has had in a long time.

Larry at Chili's on Veteran's Day

Waiting in line at Golden Corral

We both have had several doctor's appointments this month and are trying to get everything wrapped up before year end.  Larry has been on a C-PAP machine since Nov 7 and had some trouble adjusting to the mask.  He is thankful he has learned to sleep on his back without moving all night, thanks to our adjustable bed, as he would really have problems with the mask if he was still a side sleeper.  God is so faithful and provided for us again beforehand!

I had decided I wanted to recover the dining chairs so we went to the local Fabric Store. While we were there Larry suggested we re-do the couch too so we ended up having both the couch and the dining chairs done professionally. We had to do without the couch for 10 days and put a lounger in its place and used our camping chairs for the table. The chairs had some padding added and they are so much more comfortable than before! The couch no longer has 'a dip' where it was worn down by 15 years of sitting.

Me in the lounger where the couch goes

Couch recovered

Dining chair

The annual Harvest Dinner at church this year served two purposes as our worship leader and his wife are moving to MI December 3 (reverse snowbirds) so we had a 'farewell meal' with them including some neat slides of them throughout the years.

Harvest Dinner at church

Thanksgiving was at Vince and Dawn's and I was able to see and hold the latest addition to the family,

Great grandma and our newest great granddaughter

Our newest great granddaughter is a good baby and didn't cry during the four hours Colby and Krista were with us. After they left the five of us played Train and Bethany won.

Nov 29 we had two and a half hours of steady rain during the night (the best time in my opinion) and once again our driveway is mushy. It is something we need to address in the near future. 

We have lots to keep us busy this last month of the year and have already received two Christmas cards.  Those folks are really on the ball!

Lots of things happening!

We started October off by a follow up visit to the VA to Larry's new Bend primary doctor. His sleep study showed he needs a C-pap machine which he does not have yet since we left OR and are now in AZ and the records have not caught up with him. A few days later when I was out walking I was able to see the 'resident' owl at the Ranch. He is a beautiful bird and seemed to be 'talking' to me as I walked before I spotted him. Then he flew away.

We had everything put away and ready to go by Sunday evening, Oct 7 and left at 8 AM Oct 8 only to have a red light warning on the coach. Larry put ¾ gallon of antifreeze in the overflow bottle but the light didn't go out. We drove to get our mail and Larry did more checking there and found the 'low water' sensor was not hooked up so how did it light up when it was low except a God thing? Larry found the unattached wires and was able to get the light to go out and we were on our way. We stopped at Basin Tire in Klamath Falls to get six new tires put on the back axles since we had to purchase larger than needed tires in 2014 for our quick trip to IN when my stepmother passed. Since the old tires were not that old we were given a wonderful trade-in on them and the new tires cost us $1800 less than expected—what a great PTL!! We spent the night in Tulelake, CA outside the fairgrounds since the RV park is all grass and they had recently had rain and the RV park was muddy. We didn't want to take a chance on getting stuck and a fairgrounds worker said it was OK for us to park in the gravel outside. We stayed in the old Walmart parking lot in Fallon, NV the second night and new for us, the Tonopah Casino RV park in Tonopah, NV the third night.

Our view at Tonopah Casino RV in T onopah, NV

We stayed at the Las Vegas TTN for four nights and saw our friend, Ron Wilson, who we hadn't seen in five or so years. On Sunday we went to church and then to AZ Charlie's for Brunch Buffet with our friends, Forrest and Rosie, using the 2 for 1 coupons we received at TTN. 

Rosie, Forrest and Larry at AZ Charlie's in Las Vegas

Ellen and Rosie at AZ Charlie's

We arrived back in Phoenix on Oct 15 and nearly got stuck in the new driveway since they had had 5.5” of rain in October! The weather has been great since we returned to AZ.

Rut the right front tire made in the driveway in Phoenix

I went to the eye doctor on October 16 and have officially been diagnosed with glaucoma so have had my eye drops changed to hopefully help bring my eye pressure down to acceptable levels.

Larry has been busy repairing and fixing several things that needed attention and I helped Dawn prepare for the baby shower on October 28 where we had a nice turn out and where we were able to see our granddaughter Cerét, Alen and Calvin again. Calvin has gotten a lot heavier in six months!

Dining room decorated for the baby shower with a 'space' theme

Granddaughter Cerét and Calvin

Grandson Colby with his "doody" belt at the shower

Larry holding Calvin and grandson -in -law Alen

October 30 grandson Shane and his daughter, Millie came for a visit and it was great seeing them again! Millie is quite the talker and kept me entertained, asking to sit on my lap and giving me hugs.

Larry, Grandson Shane, Ellen, Dawn and Great granddaughter Millie

The really exciting news is we were up late last night waiting for the arrival of our third great grandchild.  She finally made her appearance at 3:45 AM weighing in at 6 lbs 4 oz and 18” long. 

Critters

We started off September by going to the Labor Day weekend Potluck where there were 85 in attendance, a really nice crowd with lots of wonderful food! On the 4^th of September Larry went to the VA clinic in Bend for a sleep study which we will learn the result of today, October 1.

Getting ready for the Labor Day Potluck

On the 5^th we moved once again to Cascade Meadows where we encountered smokey skies. Fortunately they did not last all that long. We went to the Potluck on the 8^th where the crowd was much smaller but still we had lots of good food.

Larry spent the week of the 10-14 working on installing the recording cameras he purchased on line. He had to string the cable from the back of the MH to the front and enlisted my help. He had left a string in the rails from a previous “stringing job” so it went very easy and it still ready in case he needs to string something else in the future. However we have run into a problem with the camera system as it doesn't work past 90 seconds so since then we have been working with the supplier to get the problem fixed and it is on going.

Passenger side camera

On the 17^th we moved back to the Ranch for our remaining time in OR. It had been really cold at night at Cascade Meadows (22º) but at the Ranch the nights have not been freezing so that was a nice perk.

On the 20^th our friends from Winnipeg came for a week visit. We played Mexican train many times with the fellows winning each time, played miniature golf and the highlight was horseback riding, something I had not done since 1977 and they hadn't done in 50 years. Larry was not able to ride because of his back so he was the designated cameraman.

Currying Utah and Buddy before our ride

Betty on the straw bull

Me riding Buddy with wrangler Louie

Larry roping the straw bull

Betty and Jamie at the Lodge for Mexican Train

Jamie and Larry playing Mexican Train

Getting Jamie ready to ride

The handle on our big bay door broke on the 20^th and that is were all Larry's tools are located but fortunately he had left a drill out so he was able to drill our the lock so we could get into the bay with a screw driver until the new handle arrived on the 25^th. The new handle (chrome as opposed to painted silver) looks really nice.

New chrome handle on the big bay door

Larry took a short walk around the campground and had a neat encounter with an owl. He did not get a picture but another camper did. We also had 'visitors' in the park, deer, the first that I've seen.

Deer in the campground

Owl that Larry saw on his short walk

On the 28^th we rode to the mailbox to get Larry's new Apple Watch 4 that he ordered at midnight on September 14. He is like a kid in the candy store!

We ended the month going to another Potluck where we met some fellow owners and had a good conversation.

Stuck in a rut

/On Aug 4^th we went to the Saturday night Potluck at Cascade Meadows where they had 'build your own sub sandwich' and they were wonderful! Probably the best Potluck we have been to in a long, long time.

Sunday Aug 5 after church and our usual Chinese lunch we took a ride up to Paulina Lake and East Lake on the bike. It was a great day for a bike ride and we went all the way to the end of the campground at East Lake.

August 6 we moved back to Sundance Meadows in Bend and our friends Art and Sherry welcomed us back.

We experienced smokey skies several days in a row so didn't do much outside.

Smokey skies but contented cows at the Ranch

Hard to see the sun through the smoke

On Sunday the 12^th the skies cleared so after church we took a ride to Prineville the back way, stopped at Dairy Queen for ice cream and then returned via Redmond and north Bend, stopping for gas getting 45 mpg. A great day for a ride. The only rain we had all month was on the 15^th and it rained all of .03”!

I had a shop at Costco but when we went, what I was to critique was not there! That has never happened to me before in the five years I've been 'shopping'. I did the report anyway (not much to report) which was accepted so time will tell if I get paid or not.

One of the items we bought at Costco was 'Take and Bake at home' sourdough bread. It is wonderful, makes the place smell great, and takes only 12 minutes to bake. We've gone back for more it is so good.

Larry replaced the front brakes on the Volvo and then decided he needed to do the back brakes also so he had them delivered. He had a problem with the jack while doing the back brakes but in the end got everything back in place and finished so we now have good brakes. He decided not to replace the rotors and just ground the groove down with his grinder while spinning the wheel. Worked like a champ!

Larry grinding the rotors on the front brakes

Getting ready to work on the back brakes

Fortunately several days we had beautiful blue skies with no smoke (all depended on the wind) so I was able to enjoy my daily walks again and took some nice pictures of the ranch.

ATV/Dirt bike track at the Ranch

RC track at the Ranch

Beautiful skies without smoke

We ended the month with a visit to Applebee's in Bend for Larry's birthday and then stopped at Dairy Queen for blizzards with his 2-4-1 birthday coupon.

Summer has arrived!

The 4^th of July the RV park had a BBQ Potluck and we took brownies. The night before the night time temperature went down to 34º so I wasn't too keen on going into town to see fireworks at 10 PM on the 4th but did manage to view about 15 minutes worth from the park. They were nicely spaced so you didn't have to wait very long for the next one. La Pine had some very pretty ones that I saw but I'm sure they were much nicer closer to town.

We made a trip into Bend to get our mail and then stopped at Sundance for a package that arrived after we left and they wanted us to come get it and not wait until we returned in August. It was something I ordered two weeks before we left there and it was coming from Corpus Christi, TX so I never imagined it would take three weeks!

We moved to Bend-Sunriver on July 14 for two days and enjoyed seeing our Chapel in the Park church family on Sunday. Several of us went out to eat afterwards where we cobbed at ride with the pastor and his wife. Always fun to visit with friends.

Chapel in the Park family lunch

Monday July16 we headed to Eugene for our appointments stopping on the way in Oakridge at Subway. We spent the first night at Monaco in Coburg and Monday morning headed out at 7:30 for Camping World just ½ mile away to have all three A/C units replaced. After we got signed in we walked to the TA truck stop on the corner and had breakfast, really was a nice breakfast and we decided we liked it better than Gordy's truck stop in La Pine. I walked to see a friend from Phoenix who I hadn't seen in many years and we had a very nice visit. We left Camping World around 4:30 and headed to Kaiser's Alignment for the night. They were able to work us in and we left there around 4:30 on Wed. and headed back north to Cummins for our 12:30 appointment on Thursday to have the grease in the differential changed. Thursday evening I discovered a problem with our A/C units so Friday morning we headed back to Camping World. They were unable to get the necessary parts until Monday around noon so we left and arrived at our appt. at AM Solar in Springfield about an hour late (we called them to let them know). Once our appointment with the solar folks was done we headed to Dexter Shores RV Park in Dexter, OR where we had reservations for one night. We were able to stay there the two extra nights so on Monday July 23 we could go back to Camping World to get the problem fixed. Searching on the internet I found a church next door to the RV park so Sunday we walked to church and then after the service we stopped at the Rattlesnake BBQ located between the church and the RV park (how convenient is that?) Sunday afternoon on my walk I discovered lots of ripe blackberries so I picked a big bowl full of them and enjoyed them for the rest of the week. (Larry doesn't like the seeds so I had them all.)

Our view of Dexter Lake from Dexter Shores RV Park

We were well taken care of at Camping World as our favorite Monaco tech, Steve, is now the service manager at Camping World and he treated us right. We left Camping World on Monday around 4 PM and after stopping for fuel at The Towne Pump in La Pine arrived back at Cascade Meadows at 7 PM. We had a smokey trip from the fire near Crater Lake (now out) and have since had a few smokey days due to other fires in southern OR and northern CA (Carr Fire). Summer has arrived as we have had a week of mid 90º temperatures.

When we returned to Cascade Meadows we discovered the battery on the bike was dead and would not take a charge (we never took it off the coach since we left Cascade Meadows on July 14) so we had to order one in since we had no way to go get another one. This is the third time in less than a year that we have had to replace the battery so Larry is hoping BMW will step up to the plate and reimburse us for the new lithium battery (we didn't want another BMW battery since they don't seem to last.) It seems it is always something but God is good all the time and has provided and protected us through it all.

Where's summer?

As soon as we arrived in Bend we started looking for a vehicle to drive on BLM land since there are thousands of acres adjacent to Sundance. We traveled to Redmond, La Pine, Tumalo and Sunriver all to no avail. We found people lie. So we decided we didn't need a vehicle after all and if God wanted us to have one He would have to drop it in our lap. Well He did! Two days after saying that as I was coming back from the office with a package, I saw a car in the campground with a 'for sale' sign on it. We test drove it and bought it on the spot.

Our 'new' car for Oregon

But God knew we needed it because two days later Larry's computer died and we needed to take it to Mac for repair and that would have been really hard on the bike (it's a desk top 27”). Then Larry started having pain that ran from his left ear down to his chest and the pain didn't go away so we ended up taking him to the hospital. After five hours in the hospital and the pain had not subsided and lots of tests, they decided to keep him overnight. Without the car I would not have been able to visit him. They were ready to release him on Sunday (Father's Day) until he decided to take a walk and when he returned to his room (these rooms are really nice, nicer than many motels we've stayed in!) he set off all kinds of alarms and the nurses came running. He was diagnosed with A-Fib. This is the fifth time he has been in the hospital for basically the same thing but when he arrives, all the tests show him to be in great shape. At least this time he was attached to a heart monitor when 'something' happened so they could see what was going on. He doesn't have the usual symptoms and he was unaware anything was happening to his heart during this episode. They changed his meds slightly and he came home on Tuesday and has felt fine ever since. He has been to the VA clinic in Bend twice and has a wonderful doctor there. It is nice that he now has doctors in both Phoenix and Bend to look after him.

Larry's hospital room, all rooms are singles

View of Mt Bachelor from Larry's hospital room

It has been unusually cool here and we have had the heat on nearly every night.  It has gone down to 36º on several occasions.  Will we have summer or not?

During our stay at Sundance we each got new glasses, mine from Costco and Larry's special tactical glasses from Sports Vision, the only place in Bend we could find that could do them.

Since we are 'owners' of the ranch I mowed our grass twice in the month we were there. The ranch truck died while we were there and since it is a Ford F350 dually with a 460 engine (Larry's favorite) Larry volunteered to look at it and fixed it. It needed a new battery and starter which we used the car for (again) to get at NAPA. We also picked up his computer which needed a new logic board.

Sunset at Sundance Meadows Ranch

Pond at Sundance Meadows Ranch

Bluebird I saw going to the office at Sundance

We moved to Cascade Meadows on June 30 for two weeks, about 30 miles away. We detoured to Gordy's truck stop to have the MH washed before checking into Cascade Meadows. It really needed a good washing as we came though rain several times on our way to OR and it was quite dusty at Sundance.

New park in Oregon

We left AZ May 1 and spent the night in Palm Springs.

our site in Palm Springs

We then went to Menifee and on the way there met a fellow who does work on Aqua-Hots and sold him our left over parts and tools. While at Menifee Larry replaced the fluorescent bulbs in several of our light fixtures with LED strips. They are so much brighter and take less electricity so it is a win-win situation.

Larry working on the ceiling lights

Geese and their goslings at Menifee

While we were there we took a nice bike ride to the Sundance Meadows in Aguanga, CA and the SKP JoJoba Hills RV park just to 'check them out'. Along the way we saw some awesome sculptors along the road.

Sundance Meadows clubhouse in CA

sculptor we saw on the road

Another sculptor along the highway in CA

I had a nice text from Todd and Dawn sent me a gift card for Red Lobster for Mother's Day and I received this red rose at church. We rode to Winchester to Jolene's for lunch and then stopped at Stater Bros. for a few groceries before heading back to the rv park.

my mother's day rose

We went to Girard to have our awning repaired on May 15 and left for Acton, CA May 16 traveling right through LA –not fun!

out our windshield at Girard in San Clemente, CA

Hope we never have to do that again! Since there was no Red Lobster near Menifee but there was one in Palmdale (15 miles from Acton) we went there after church May 20. The wind was really bad and Larry had a hard time keeping us going so we returned taking the side roads instead of the freeway where we could go slower.

We were at Soledad Canyon TTN over Memorial Day weekend and I wish I had taken pictures of all the 500 tents plus hundreds of trailers, 5^th wheels and motor homes that were there. I've never seen so many campers in one place before! I did walk down to the pool on Monday after most everyone had left and it is a big pool.

Pool at Soledad Canyon in Acton, CA

We were glad to leave CA May 29 and spent the night at Preferred RV in Pahrump and May 30 at New Frontier RV park in Winnemucca, NV, a new park for us. It is further from I-80 so less interstate noise and nice views of the surrounding mountains.

We arrived at our new RV ranch in Bend May 31 around 3:30 PM to very cool weather, 57º! We set up only the necessary things and will finished today when it is supposed to be warmer. So grateful to be back in OR and to be sitting for a month.