Thank a Veteran

 

Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom. -- General George Patton Jr

 

Yesterday we celebrated the 236th birthday of the U.S. Marine Corps.  Today we are thanking the veterans for their service.  Being raised and living in the United States we have a lot to be thankful for.  Much of our thanks go to those who served and are serving today in the military.  It’s because of them that we can enjoy the freedom in this country that many others throughout the world have never experienced. 

There are two blogs I read this morning that I would like to link here.  They both reflect back on their fathers who were POWs during WWII.  Both are definitely worth reading.  The first one is here and the second one is here.

My father was from Kerrville, Texas.  Uncle Sam claimed him and moved him from there to Fort Worden in Washington State.  Instead of moving back to Texas after the war he settled in Washington, married my mother and spent most of his life fishing in the waters around Port Angeles.

Terry was in the US Navy and spent time along with many of our generation in Vietnam.  He didn’t spend his time in the waters off shore as many sailors did but spent his time on land in Vietnam.   For the first time TV brought that war home to most Americans.  Those of us who had loved ones over there were glued to it.  Not only did the battles of the day cover the news, it was probably the first time coverage of protestors was on every channel.  Remember when?   He can also tell you about the spraying of what they now call “Agent Orange”  almost every single day for the time he was there.  Amazing what they’ve learned about it after the fact.

As most of you know, we also have a grandson, Justin  who has followed into the footsteps of his grandfather with military service.  He is now serving in the US Navy going through schooling in Pensacola, FL. We are proud of his choice and want Uncle Sam to keep him safe.

We were invited by our neighbors, Sue and Marcus,  to attend a birthday party with them on Thursday.  Actually, we went to two birthday parties on Thursday.  The first one was a big bash thrown by a Marine veteran.  It was the 236th birthday of the Marine Corps.  It was a fantastic party.  The party was put on and totally paid for by the Marine veteran, Jim.  Even souvenir Marine Corp glasses were given to everyone in attendance.  It was an amazing event.

Our second party  was a birthday party at Filly’s – another local restaurant and lounge where Kerry and Brant were scheduled to entertain for the evening.  Actually, this wasn’t a planned birthday party but since we were invited to share part of the birthday cake, we did.  This is another local dive that was amazing.  Again, entertainment was spectacular and so was the company we were with, Jim and Sandie.

Now with all that activity on Thursday, it didn’t mean we had time to spare.  We didn’t.  We had to get in a little ride.  We did just that.  We jumped on our quads and took a spin in the desert.   I also brought back a souvenir from our little outing.  I do that more often than I want.  Notice the little cactus on the tire.

How did we ever have time to work?  And, Marti thinks she just might get bored.  HA!

Where Are the Dixons?

Diplomacy is the art of letting someone else get your way.

Interesting cactus tree

We had visitors stop by on Monday.  Actually they didn’t come uninvited but certainly would have been welcome had they.    It had been raining earlier in the day so we were hoping we’d get a little relief in the rain drops and we did.

Highlights on the cactus after the rain

A little moisture does wonders to the desert.  It brightens the area and softens the very dry ground.

Terry testing the equipment.

That’s a good thing because it just makes riding so much more fun.

Sandie getting a little instruction here.

Where are the Dixons?  They were at our RV park taking a spin through the beautiful desert on the quads. 

Jim and Sandie posing.

I had trouble getting Jim to pose for this picture.  He wanted to finish getting ready to leave us in his dust.  We wouldn’t let him until we had the official picture of him and Sandie on the quads.

Arizona desert.

The tracks you see are ours.  Jim’s a little competitive.  Well, I can’t say he started it.  Terry found a straight path and came back with a top speed of 30 mph.  At that time my top speed was only 23 but I couldn’t let Terry beat me now could I?  Thus, I took another spin and beat him at 32.  Then, comes along Jim.  He waited until I cleared the path using me as his protector on the path just so he could beat us all at 40 mph!!  Of course, he didn’t tell us the speed until AFTER we were through riding.  According to one website the Suzuki has a top speed of about 54 mph and the Arctic Cat well over 65 mph. We're certainly not going to see if this article is correct!  However, next time I see Jim I'm sure I'll have beat his speed.  Beat by a woman!!  Yep ... not a competitive bone in our body!

Oh …. and what was Sandie’s top speed?  I guess she’s just not as competitive as the rest of us.  She proudly announced she had the Arctic Cat up to 10 mph!!!  She gave some excuse like it was too cold or something like that.  Whatever, Sandie!  I'm sure you'll be up to 12 mph next time!

Anyway, if you were looking for the Dixons on Monday, that’s where they were.


**  A little note about the Dixons -- 

      

One thing that is so wonderful about RV clubs such as Escapees or following blogs written by RVers is that you actually get to know folks months or even years before you actually meet them.  After communicating via the Escapees forum and blogging, we finally met the Dixons in 2009.   We've been good friends ever since.  Every winter we have a little group that gets together.   We've met in "Q" and also in Yuma.  This year ... well, who knows but probably some place different yet.  It actually depends on who is in the area as to how many we have!  If you're out there ... come join us in early 2012.

RV Park Update – Memory Bank Overflow

Memory is a net: one that finds it full of fish when he takes it from the brook, but a dozen miles of water have run through it without sticking.

 

I’m not sure where to start.  My mind is stuffed with lots of new knowledge and the memory bank is even overflowing. 

It’s amazing what you learn from people doing laundry.  We had lots of loads of laundry and normally that hasn’t been an issue in the past.  We either stuck it in the kids’ machines or inserted quarters.  However, this place has these little cards you have to buy.  The machine only takes $5 bills and you can only do one transaction at a time.  First you have to buy it, then you have to fill it with $$$.  Figuring out how to buy the thing, then adding money to it was a chore in itself.  However, the hardest thing was getting the machines to turn on using this card.  Now I’m a techie person but this was way beyond me without help or some little info sheet to read.  Thank goodness, my new friend, Mary, came to the rescue.

It’s also amazing how many people you meet walking their dogs. The normal thing is to greet and exchange names and site numbers.  Once they walk past I’d already forgotten their names because someone new was approaching.  I wonder if a “hey you” works around here.

 

Next we decided to do the potluck thing that was scheduled Halloween night.  I had lots of things I wanted to find out about quad rides.  I figured that would be the place to track some of the riders down.  Everyone likes to eat.  Remember we still had one to buy since we sold the Ozark in Washington.  Another fella I met in the laundry (pretty popular place, you know) told me not to buy a little one.   I forgot to ask what he meant by “little one” but just knew I didn’t want a BIG one.  So, it was off to the potluck to get some answers to questions. 

One thing we did discover is that the trail riding is usually finalized  when the MEN have coffee at 6:30 AM to 7:00 AM each morning!  You think that’s early?  Have you ever noticed how many people are out walking in these parks even way before that time?  Now you all know I’m out of bed before then but the tricky part is getting ready to get outside.  What is the chance Terry will ever make one of these coffee get togethers to find out where the event of the day is?  That’s an easy answer -- almost zero.  However, we did discover he’s not the only one in that group who doesn’t make them. Why don’t they organize these better and post them?  I bet it’s because they don’t like the commitment thing any better than we do.

We met SO MANY people who had so many different names.  I’ll never remember their names.  Except I remembered Mary and Beverly.  I’m good with association.  Mary rhymes with Jeri so that one was easy.  Beverly?  Well, I called her the dog lady.  She does a lot of pet sitting for people in the park.  I had already heard about her and wanted to chat a bit.  We knew we still needed to figure out if we were driving to Washington over Christmas or flying?  Duchess doesn’t fly.  However, Beverly just might be the answer to leaving her here while we fly.  That would certainly be the easy way.  We like easy ways.

We still had a lot to learn on this quad thing.  Before heading south we tried out the Trail Boss, I really liked it and thought that might be what I wanted.  However, we put the skids on when we got here.  What I really thought I wanted was different from what I learned I should want.  So, now the search is on for a 4x4 and a utility.  I’m not so sure I’m real thrilled with this.  The utility ones are bulkier and heavier. I know I’ll stress when it comes time to pulling the heavy ones north but maybe I can just cross that bridge in a few months.

Another problem I have is that some of these are so ugly.  They look like hunters should own them … ugh!   And, I just can’t buy one that isn’t “pretty”.  Unless I can find another red quad, I’m going to have to buy a different helmet.  Remember my helmet is red.  I certainly can’t wear it on a green or blue quad!

Other than that I also discovered a big calendar on the wall in the North Hall.  The activities are planned out for ONE MONTH IN ADVANCE.  There were even sign up sheets for these activities.  I knew I was in real trouble when I saw that --- commitments beyond 24 hours.  Oh boy … I’m not sure the chalk and eraser work here as well as they do on my own calendar.

Like I said … my memory bank is overflowing with all the recent stuff I’ve had to add to it.  This is a whole new thing to me being on the road  -- staying in an RV park for more than a couple weeks or so. You can tell the trouble I’m in when I've added all these different thought patterns in one little blog.  Yep ….I think I’m definitely in trouble here. 

ATVs and Quads and RVing

I'm an idealist. I don't know where I'm going, but I'm on my way.

We got out Lee’s Polaris 500 Scrambler and practiced in his yard trying to maneuver it.  Actually, it’s an easy toy.  The thing is automatic and drives just like a car without power steering.  Next thing we’re going to do is find some ATV places to ride around here.  We’ll give it a good workout for him.

When we lived in Texas we rode around with them a few times.  That’s when he had two.  It’s always more fun to ride with someone than to go by yourself.

 

Check out this gorgeous helmet.  It’s definitely for the girls.  Lee found it for me at the motorcycle shop.  I didn’t say he bought it for me.  He found it and showed it to me.  Red is my favorite color and the roses just added to it.  However, when I looked at price I just about gagged …. $375!.  I knew instantly I wouldn’t be taking that one home with me.

Now on to the problem.  How does it work to take a couple of ATVs with you when heading south for the winter?  We’ve not done this.  We’ve seen others with quads but also know that riding is restricted in many places.   Maybe we’ll take two and maybe we won’t.  We just need to try to figure out where the parks are that allow the ATVs to enter and exit  attached to riding areas other than the BLM.  We’re certainly looking but still don’t know the answer yet.  If we find a place, it will most certainly change our plans for what we thought we might do this winter.  

Right now we’re trying to figure where others spend the winter with ATVs?   Hmmmm …..   There’s nothing like making travel plans more difficult.  I'm certainly good at it.

Catch Up Time

All my life, I always wanted to be somebody.  Now I see that I should have been more specific.

Meal time

It’s been well over a week since I actually wrote a blog.  Now it might not seem like that since they’ve been posting every other day.  Remember that we were so busy for a while and the only way I could remember what was happening was by looking at the photos of the day and jotting down something quick.  You’ve got to agree that after a while you get a little burn-out from all of that.  I had burn out.  Boy, did I have burn out.  So, a whole week went by and the blogs just posted automatically on the date I had them scheduled.  That’s a nifty little feature.

Getting their winter coats!

It’s been more than nifty though.  Our internet has been absolutely rotten.  I’ve struggled to comment on other blogs, write emails or do much else online.  I find the best time around here to do it is early morning or late night.  ATT is the only service in the area.  Our signal strength is excellent with 5 bars.  It’s just that since it’s the only service provided, it’s been packed with users.  We’ve decided we’ll hang around until after Labor Day and if it doesn’t improve by then, we’re going to move into town ....  maybe.

Remember, the little black cat from last year?  She's back!  I'm feeding her too along with a couple companions.

However, now it’s time to try to be brief and do a catch-up blog.  We actually have been doing a lot of the same old things.  Visiting, working, enjoying family, feeding the deer and so on.

The work, of course, has been on our home base.  We had 4 yards of gravel dropped off.  Tammi came up and we spread it around.  We also sprayed for weeds, pulled some and gave up on others. 

Remember the wasp nest we got into a few weeks back?  Well, that one is now history.  We’re no longer providing food or property for their hive.  We are still feeding the deer.  They stop by to visit in the morning and in the evening. 

 

Tammi ended up getting moved into her apartment in Vancouver. The moving van finally showed up only a couple days after schedule. It took them all day to unload the truck and carry the stuff up three flights of stairs. Ugh!

This past weekend (or is it 2 weeks ago since I actually wrote this?) this place was packed with people and boats.  It’s been a crazy summer in this area.  The temperatures crawled into the mid-90’s for the first time and we didn’t like it.  We're thankful it gets cool at night.  That does help.  The boaters liked the hot weather just fine.  We prayed for Monday or prayed for rain.  We didn’t care what came first.  We just wanted something to happen so everyone would head home.  Monday got here first.  Temperatures have stayed close to 90.  Isn't fall coming soon?

Sabrina and Tammi at the church picnic we attended last Sunday.  Sabrina organizes it and the rest of us go  and feed our faces.

We also had visitors spend a couple nights with us.  The visitors were three teenage girls who took over the cabin.  You realize, of course, that it meant we also needed to do more grocery shopping before they came.  We did!

Jordie, Sandi and Molly enjoying our community swimming pool

The company Tammi relocated with announced this last week they were getting out of the Pacific Northwest for the position and the product she was in charge of.  Another UGH!  Of course, she has a few options.  She could hang around the area she has tried to get transferred to for three years without a job or she could go back to New Jersey and have a job.  This much I’ll tell you … she’s not going back to New Jersey.  It took a long time to get away from the East Coast.  Also remember that Robert quit his job in New Jersey to go along with Tammi's then exciting transfer.  New Jersey is one of the few states that does not pay unemployment to an individual who moves with a spouse who is transferred.  Another UGH!  So, keep your fingers and toes crossed that they'll both find a job and SOON!  Here's a question for you ...... is the economy ever going to improve??

Why are you taking my picture?  

Jordie hasn’t received any information yet regarding what the insurance company is going to do about the accident and her car.  The only thing she knows is that she wants another car.

Justin just sent a message along with his belongings to his mom not to send cookies.  I guess he didn’t want his chief to get them.  What do you think?  We did get the approximate date of passing review (I’ve been corrected from saying graduation) and have made car and hotel reservations for it.  Of course, everything is subject to change.

This deer thought the birdseed was for her.  It wasn't.

And, for the rest of the clan .... Lee's leg is healing fine.  He is finally in a boot cast and able to walk on it a very little bit.  He's getting pretty bored staying home and is certainly ready to get back to work.  However, that's not going to happen for a while.  Sabrina?  She's working and holding down the fort for everyone!

That’s it for now.  This isn’t as brief as I said it would be but I did get it summarized and brought life a little more current.

Jordie and Sandi -- cousins

To be finished in a few more days -- perhaps.

- August 23rd

School Registration and Joe’s Place

If you die in an elevator, be sure to push the Up button.

 

Tuesday I went to school for registration.  Obviously, it wasn’t my registration.  It was Sandi’s.  This is her first year in high school and it took two of us  (mom and grandma) to get her to school and to the orientation for new students transferring from out of the area.  It wasn’t a tough day.  There wasn’t any homework and it only lasted about a half an hour.   School starts next week and I don’t need to tell you what that’s going to mean to the RV parks  or campgrounds around the area.

I want you to know that I really struggle with the name SANDI.  This Sandi was named after my father, believe it or not.  Sandy was his nickname for two reasons.  His hair was sandy colored and it was an abbreviation of our last name.  I also know another Sandy who I occasional correspond with.  Then, there is Sandie, another good friend.  Sandie and I have spent a bit of time in our RVs together over the last few years.  So, many times I send Sandie an email spelled Sandi and many times I write about Sandie when it’s really Sandi.  Even I’m confused about this.

On the way back from school we made a couple stops.  One of the stops was at Joe’s Place.  Our property used to border one of the fields owned by their farm but that was over twenty years ago.  At that time the fields behind us were planted in strawberries.  Our kids picked strawberries from that field.  At that time the fruit trees were planted closer to the farm.  Perhaps, it was so they could watch over them and keep the neighborhood kids from picking the fruit.   At that time Joe's Farm mainly sold to local residents and local retailers.  That’s not the case today.

Today Joe’s Place is very different and has spread out considerably to include acres of fruit and produce grown for wholesale.    Much of the food is picked ripe from the vine and sold during the growing season to locals as well.  They also maintain many u-pick fields.   We stopped at the farm store and made a few purchases of vine ripened fruit, vegetables and other goodies.  

One thing I could not pass up was the strawberry rhubarb jam.  After tasting it, I can guarantee you that we’re going back for more  .. lots more!  It may not be especially cheap but it certainly is especially good!

Back at our home base, we had a lot more visitors.  The word has gotten around that we’re back and the herd has increased in size.  Our grocery bill is definitely going up! Handouts welcome.

Home Base

And, home base, again.  We have one RV spot about 75 feet long and the other about 40 feet long.  Lots of room and very unlike RV parks.  We're here for just a few weeks this time.

Home Base and Jordie’s Accident

You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say will be misquoted, then used against you.

When we moved into our site at Woodland we only paid for one night because we weren’t quite sure what the next day would bring.  We figured we’d probably need two nights but for a change, we didn’t pay for two.  This is what happened.

Can you imagine hauling groceries up 3 flights of stairs .... or, you could just eat out and not bother.

Monday morning we were supposed to be at our daughter’s new apartment in Vancouver.  The moving truck with all their belongings was scheduled to arrive between 8 AM and 10 AM.  That’s the time frame she was given.  We figured we’d probably need one more night at the RV park as we were sure we wouldn’t be able to get it all done by check-out time.  However, just maybe that might happen so we didn’t pay.  Usually we pay in advance for all the nights we think we might need and then leave early.   That’s  not the way we want it to work.



Citronella bucket we bought at the festival for Tammi's birthday gift.



A phone call was received close to 8:30.  Evidently, the moving truck broke down in South Dakota on Saturday.  I’m sure you know what that meant.  There was not going to be a delivery that day or for several days afterwards. Oops!  Thanks for the notice, Atlas.  However, in the end ... it worked out best.

Lots of twins this year.

Next stop … back to the motorhome.  It doesn’t take long to get that thing ready to move anymore.  We were closed up and on our way to our property just a few miles away.

Just the small pile of the gravel we had delivered.  There were more piles.  Want to help?

There certainly is a lot of work to do when you only visit once or twice a year.  The 4 yards of gravel needed to be moved, dust and debris needed to be cleaned up but at least the deer were happy to see us.

Home Base

We settled in and started doing what we needed to do.  The place looks a lot better today but we still have a couple yards of gravel to finish spreading.  Tammi came out and helped spread.  Jordan volunteered but we figured we’d try to get her to help a little when she a few of her friends showed up on the weekend to spend a few days with us.  Well, we know they aren’t really coming to spend the time with us.  We do know that.  Don’t we?  And, they aren’t staying in the motorhome with us.  We got the cots out for the cabin.  The only thing left to do is go grocery shopping.  We know they aren’t bringing their own food.  Teenagers don’t do that.

Out our window ... Bambi wants to know where the wet cob is.

Tuesday we worked most of the day.  It actually felt good.  It was a little physical labor but no stress.  This place is so nice and peaceful during the week.  There are no trains, no freeways and very few people around.  However, on the weekends it can get pretty crazy as a lot of folks from the city bring their boats and want to party.

Boy, did we ever need a nap after all that work …. and, then, the phone rang.  “Have you talked to my husband?  Jordie’s been in an accident!”  We don’t like those phone calls.  I was out of that bed with shoes on and ready to head back into town in no time.

The frame was definitely sprung.

The good thing is that no one was hurt.  However, the bad thing is that  both cars were totaled.   Jordie’s fine but she has only had her license for a short few weeks and may not be driving for a while.  She’s safe and that’s what’s most important.  (We later found out the estimate to repair her car would be $10K ... the car wasn't worth that much so they totaled it.)

The airbags worked in both vehicles.

It must have been the day for accidents.  On the way back to the motorhome, there was another big one and the whole road was shut down.  These people weren’t so lucky.

-- August 16th

Heading Back Across the Ferry

When preparing to travel, lay out all your clothes and all your money. Then take half the clothes and twice the money.

Sunday was departure day.  This was definitely one day you’d want to make sure you had reservations on the ferry to cross back over from Coupeville to Port Townsend.  After all, there had been lots of shows and festivals going on over the weekend on Whidbey Ialand and the ferry would be packed.  We already knew the only open ferry of the day was the 7:15 departure.  However, our reservations were for the one right after that at 8:45.

This time we tried to plan our arrival for a few minutes after the first ferry left.  We didn’t want to have to find a place to park if they weren’t going to allow us in the ferry lanes.  However, as luck would have it, we did get there earlier than planned and actually got on the earlier ferry.  It was the only ferry of the day that had any availability.

Crossing the ferry early meant that we would also have a head start on the trip we had ahead of us for the day to Woodland.  The drive was about 190 miles.

 

It was a piece of cake and we were in our slot at the Woodland Shores RV park early enough to take a jaunt to “Williams Hideaway”.    That was actually our destination but we needed to check out the parking since we had ordered 4 yards of gravel before we headed north.  We were hoping that the gravel hadn’t been dumped where we planned to park the motorhome. We were pleased to discover that it hadn’t.

We also discovered we had a few unwanted visitors.  These visitors were very unwanted.  We had a nest of wasps a short distance from our outside fireplace.  You can go ahead and ask how I discovered them.  It wasn’t a friendly confrontation and I’m sure everyone within a couple of miles heard the commotion.  I was a little luckier than Terry.  I only got two stings.  They liked him better.  He got five.  However, in the end, you can bet we got the best of them and their hive.

The other visitors we had were quite a bit more friendly.  They were also begging for a few handouts.  These are the visitors we much prefer.  We had a few vittles left over from last year.  They were pleased to sample the feast.

The intent wasn’t to do a lot of work on this trip.  It was just to check it out and get ready for the move in the motorhome.  We did pull some weeds and spray.  That was just about it for the day.   It had been a long day but we were happy to be back.


-- August 14th

First Class on the Port Townsend – Coupeville Ferry

Living on Earth is expensive, but it does include a free trip around the sun every year.

The ferry the following morning didn’t quite work out as smooth as we hoped. We left early but the problem was we left too early. We discovered you don’t really want to arrive until the ferry before yours departs if it’s full.  We didn’t check to see if it was full but that’s what we were told.  We just thought we’d park in the line and wait until the one we had a reservation on showed up.  It doesn’t work that way. 

We had to make a u-turn through the ferry payment booths and find another lot to wait in.  Whee! That wasn’t fun. However, it did mean that we were absolutely first in line for the next ferry. It was like being upgraded to first class.  Being first in line also meant that we had a front row seat as the ferry traveled across the water to the Coupeville Terminal on Whidbey Island.  What a gorgeous view that was.

Our original plan was to spend a few nights on the waterfront at Fort Casey before heading to Spiker’s RV Resort.  However, we all know plans are made just so we have something to break … and, that’s what we did.  Actually, it wasn’t really our fault.  The RVs were packed into the sites at Fort Casey.  Two spaces were not to be found. So, up the road to Oak Harbor we went.

Mr. Spiker himself had told us he wouldn’t be back until the next day.  That’s what he told us but that’s not what happened.  Just about the time we pulled in and got set up, he came hauling around the corner. We had no time to raid his place before he arrived.  I think he did that on purpose.

Then, it was catch-up time …………… and, that’s what we did.

Catch-up time

-- August 10th