This will only be a short note so my readers will know I'm still here. Last month we started getting some overly-warm days here. We needed to take a car trip one afternoon and we discovered just how HOT the car can get on a sunny day. We decided almost IMMEDIATELY that we do not want the car sitting out in the sun all day. Therefore we went to talk to Janice about the wonderful carports she sells. We selected one that will be 20 feet long, 7 feet high and 12 feet wide. The only sad part is that it will take four to six weeks for it to get here. I was waiting for it to get here to blog and include a picture, but alas, still not here. In fairness, it won't be 30 days until the 21st, so I must be patient for a bit longer. We are still sheltering in place, so we aren't going anywhere unless we really have to. We haven't even gone to TorC to my favorite place for my Philly Cheese steak sandwich in a few weeks, maybe soon. 😊
The second big piece of news is that our shed became unbelievably hot inside, despite the radiant heat barrier in the roof. We talked to Guy about insulating it. He suggested we use Owens Corning boards of insulation. We decided each section, between the upright 2 by 4 boards, to put one 2 inch thick board of R10 and a one inch thick board of R5. Since the upright boards are not exactly straight, or spaced evenly, each board of insulation have to be measured and cut to fit. It is time-consuming work, and the shed gets hot inside while we work. 😓 We had to move things out of the shed to make room to work. We have finished one 8 foot side wall, and most of the back 12 foot wall,and the front section where my craft table had been. We work at it from 8 am until noon, then take a break until about 6:30 pm, when we start back for another two hours. We have to cut and place 4 more of the one inch boards to finish the back wall. Then tomorrow we will have to move the shelves back into place so we can unload and move Jim's work bench, so we can do the other 8 foot side wall and finish the front wall beside his work bench. We decided against rolled fiberglass for insulating the roof because it is just too much work, and costly too. We have ordered enough Reflectix to put a double layer across the whole ceiling boards. That should be much better than it is now. That can be stapled up in 2 foot wide sections, so we HOPE it won't be too awful to do. At least this work has kept us off the streets during this "stay at home" period of time. LOL. I haven't done real labor in years. 😬 You can be sure that Jim is working harder than I am, but this is quite an ordeal for me too. By night time, there is no part of me that doesn't hurt. And the only good part so far is seeing how much we have gotten done!!! 😉 Hopefully our next blog will have pictures of the carport AND the fully insulated shed.
The last piece of news is a two-part item. Since we won't be spending all summer in California, we decided to try to find someone to take over our membership at Silent Valley. We really loved spending time there, when we were in CA, but it's too expensive to keep if we won't be using it. I called there to find out how to go about it and the lady I spoke to said we would need to put a posting on the Silent Valley Facebook page. Since I wasn't on Facebook, I asked Janice if she could place the posting for us. She said yes, but it turned out that she had to request to join the Silent Valley page before she could post on it. What a hassle, but she did it and this past Saturday I started getting calls from interested people. If all goes as expected, we will know tomorrow if we have someone to take it over. Once they qualify, and pay their fees, the paperwork will be mailed to us to sign and get it notarized and mail back to Silent Valley, and it will be a done deal. We will be sorry to give it up, but it is the right thing to do. We are keeping our membership in Thousand Trails, at least for the time being. We HOPE we might be able to get a tiny motorhome about 22 to 25 feet long) so we can still travel a bit. We still have 7 states we haven't visited of the contiguous 48. We shall see if that works out. The second part of this news is that I have signed onto Facebook. However, I'm not good at it. When I put my birthday into my profile, I didn't want to include the year of my birth, so I tried to leave it blank. But instead it says 1995!!! I don't know why. Also, it asked if I wanted to update my relationship status, and I wanted to put "happily married since May 27, 1983" It let me put in married. Then I noticed it said "I got married". Our friend Ric wrote back and asked me what Jim thought about that. LOL and OMG.
Tony sent me this and I just had to share it. I hope everyone is staying home as much as possible and staying well. One has to find new ways to amuse yourself. Have you seen the ad on TV showing the infant being dragged by the robot vacuum? Too cute.
I can't remember if I included the picture of our new seashell throne and seashell shaped bath rug. I love it! I'm pretty sure I posted the pictures of the rest of our redecorating.
But I don't think I posted a picture of our delightful glider swing. After we work on the insulation in the shed, we sit back on this and relax with a cold can of diet Coke. We LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the glider.
We know these weeks of self-quarantine are difficult and stressful for everyone. Please remember that God is still in control and we will survive this and return to the lives we once knew. Things may never be exactly the way they were. Someone posted on Facebook that the big box stores like
Wal-Mart and Target will get through this, but many small, local businesses will suffer terribly for what has been going on. When the stay-at-home orders are eased or lifted in your areas, I hope you will do what you can to help small business to get going again. Shop local stores, visit local restaurants, and return to your places of worship. They need your support. Check in on your neighbors too. If you are going to the market, see if they need any supplies, or even want to go with you. This is a time when we can make community a very powerful unit. I'll close now and wish you all the best in the days and weeks ahead. I'm praying for all of you, and your families, and your communities. Stay strong in the knowledge that Jesus loves you. Bye for now.
As soon as we got the RV parked and set up, we went to see Janice to place the order for the shed we wanted. Unfortunately, because we took the mini-vacation trip to Roswell and Alamogordo, we missed the first window of time that it could have been delivered. That was OK though because it gave us time to decide EXACTLY where we wanted to place it, and get the paving blocks we wanted it set onto. The picture above on the left was immediately after it was placed, and we had put an outdoor rug inside it. Soon after, we began getting things delivered to put inside. As you can see, Millie had to check out the work bench on the left and the shelves on the right.
We considered a larger refrigerator, but since we had the small freezer, seen on top of the refrigerator, plus the one in the RV, we decided on one that is 7.4 cubic feet, and it fit in the shed perfectly. Then we began filling the shelves.
As you can see, we had a lot of things we wanted to get out of the RV and the car.
We also have a clothing rack where we have put garment bags of out of season clothes, and our good hats are safely stored in sealed plastic storage boxes.
Here it is. Along with setting up the shed, I decided I wanted to start the next stage of our lives with some new items to "spruce up" the RV. You can see the new area rugs we got for in the living room, in the dining room, including under the table and also a matching hall runner.
After removing the plastic boxes we used under the table for storage, I got this idea. We bought this 24 inch tall book shelf. After Jim assembled it, we turned it on its side and put casters on it, then added these striped bins for magazines (on his side) and mostly cook books on my side. When we need to seat four people at the table, it can simply roll out on the casters!
This may not look very impressive, but I bought these hanging storage "cubbies" over a year ago, and was just waiting until we moved other stuff into the shed, so I could use these in my linen closet. Yippee. And last, but surely not least, we got a new toilet seat, with sea shells and a sea horse, and a matching bath rug to upgrade the privy! We had the old oak seat for almost ten years, and although there were no splinters yet, it was time to replace it.
Because of the high winds here, Jim had to get 10 inch spikes to hold down the rugs outside the RV and the shed. We had to move the portable step over to the entry into the shed, so we ordered a new outdoor step for in front of the RV doorway. Our 'over the door' towel rack we had on the bathroom door broke last week, so we are awaiting the arrival of a new one to hang our new towels on. Then our bathroom will be as new as possible. I had Robert (the guy who fixed our furnace when it died on us last month) looking for a blue sink for the bathroom, but no such luck. He's also looking for a new kitchen sink for us, but as yet, no luck with finding the size we need. Alas, we will live with this one for now.
I left my coronavirus comments to the end because I hardly know what to say. The news is changing almost hourly, and seldom is the news good. Businesses have closed, and some may not be able to re-open later on. Some stores are price gouging on essential items, and some shoppers are hoarding these same essentials. There are stories of people helping others. I loved the report of a newspaper delivery man who was going shopping for many of his elderly clients who were afraid to risk going out to shop for themselves. Sadly, some people are NOT following the orders to stay at home unless absolutely necessary. Some people are being put off on necessary medical care such as chemotherapy and radiation treatments because hospitals don't want them to risk exposure to covid 19. This is understandable, but also can increase their risks if they don't get treatments as needed. Patients with covid 19 may need respirators for longer than average patients do, so there is a severe shortage of ventilators for those who need them. This may result in hospitals having to choose between patients for who will get a ventilator and who will be left to possibly die because he or she could not get one. Obviously I don't have the answers to these very trying times, but I do ask one and all to pray for our nation, and our world. Please stay at home and avoid groups to reduce the spread of this virus. You might be healthy enough to avoid getting sick with the virus, but you can catch it and possibly spread it to others. They might be older, or immuno-compromised and might not survive it. Please do all you can to stay well. drink lots of water, get adequate rest, and wash your hands frequently. Please do NOT hoard food or other essential supplies as we are all in this together. It doesn't look like we will be able to celebrate Easter in our churches with our families and friends, but we must NOT forget the very, VERY important Easter message. Jesus Christ came to earth to live among us, to teach us about our Heavenly Father, and most of all to die for our sins and show us that He rose again, so we would know that He has a place for us in Heaven with Him. In spite of these difficult times, He is here for us. He loves us and His message has not changed. God has not changed, and His promise to us has not changed. We wish all of you good health, and a renewed faith in the future, because HE LIVES.
It doesn't seem possible that we have been here over three weeks, but we have. Our shed has not been delivered yet, but we hope it will be here soon. I have already ordered a rug for inside and a matching mat for outside of the shed. We want them here to put into the shed, when it arrives, before we start putting things into the shed. I think I will order at least a few shelves before it gets here too.
We wanted to show Diane & Jim a good time while they were here, so we took a road trip last week. We spent two days in Roswell, NM, where the aliens landed......and one day in Alamogordo. The trip was a lot of fun, but our accommodations left much to be desired, and I made the reservations, so I can't blame anybody else. Now for some pictures:
This green guy, and the sign on the right were in the office of our motel in Roswell.
This picture was taken in the visitors center, Jim was out in the car with all four of our dogs. Please remember that for clarification, I will refer to Diane's husband as Red, and my hubby as Jim. The picture on the right was displayed in the International UFO Museum in Roswell.
Red wanted to visit
with some of the "locals".
But the guys on the right didn't have much to say.
This handsome dude was also in the visitors center when we were there.
Here are Jim & Willie on the bed in our room.
We saw this on our way from Roswell to Alamogordo. Yes, it is wrong to deface natural things, but this was an interesting sight.
We had to stop here. So much to see. Jim had to say hello to the lady, but she was too shy to speak.
There were many funny signs, but Jim especially liked this one. Diane and I liked the one on the right.
I couldn't leave out this sign below that we also saw here in Hondo.
On our way to Alamogordo, we TRIED to stop and visit the Billy the Kid Museum, but wouldn't you know we came on the one day a week they were closed. We did take some pictures outside though. You can't miss the UFO and aliens on the right side of this sign. I think it said this guy was Black Jack Pershing.
In Tularosa we saw this and just had to get a picture of this cute lawn decoration.
Finally we got to Alamogordo, and stopped at
PistachioLand to see the world's tallest Pistachio nut. We bought some nuts, some pumpkin/pistachio butter, and souvenir stuff here. About a half mile down the road we stopped at Eagle Ranch/Heart of the Desert where we bought pistachio wine, pistachio candy and pistachio caramel popcorn. I signed up for the wine club so I will receive two bottles of wine of my choice every other month. Now that was worth the stop, and as a member, I get a 20% discount on my wines.
This was on the main street in Alamagordo. It was in a large park that had a smaller train running around that people could ride on.
If it is possible, the motel in Alamogordo was even worse than the one in Roswell!!! So we were ALL very happy to get back home to Arrey on Thursday. Diane took some other pictures, but she hasn't sent them to me yet, so I will have to include them in our next blog.
After we got back home and put things away, Jim hung up my newest owl. I love it, and now we don't have to hang the dog's leashes on those ugly plastic Command hooks! Willie and Millie were so happy to be home that they spent the rest of the day in their own beds! Traveling is a lot of fun, but it's always wonderful to come back home. Yesterday I baked a cake, and we all enjoyed it very much. I gave my big Kitchenaide mixer to a friend here in the park so now I have more room in my kitchen cabinets for my wine glasses and bottles of wine! All is good.
The trip was great, and we thanked God for our safe travels each day and getting home safe and sound. Our God is an awesome God and never let's us down.
Hopefully I will have the pictures Diane took and new pictures of our shed to include the next time we post our blog.
Bye for now, and if you are in a state that does this, don't forget to move your clocks ahead one hour tonight.
It feels SOOOO good to finally be here and get settled in. At the end of my January post I said we hoped to go to the Biosphere 2 in Oracle, AZ, but we didn't get there. My son Matt and his lady Shannon came to visit us in Casa Grande, which was wonderful.
As you can see above, Millie was happy to greet our guests! Both are well. I was hoping to see his beautiful dark blue Harley Davidson motorcycle, but it was cold and they came by car instead.
The next day we left for Benson, AZ. While there, we took a trip down to historic Tombstone. It's kind of hokey, but we had fun. We saw several
re-enactments of infamous shoot-outs. Then we had our pictures taken in the saloon.
One could take rides in this carriage, but we didn't take time for that. Our dogs were at home, so we had to keep an eye on our time. We saw the character on the right in the Bird Cage Saloon/Theater.
This was one of many street entertainers we saw there. After all of that, the guys stopped for some water from the horse trough, which was empty anyway.
The next day we drove to Patagonia to visit the Paton Hummingbird Preserve. It was cold, damp, and overcast so we didn't get a lot of good pictures, but we did have a grand time there.
These two pictures were taken by Diane's husband, Jim, who we are calling Red to avoid confusion with my Jim.
When we left there, we drove through pretty heavy rain to get back to Benson. After our three days there, we drove to Lordsburg, through rain and then SNOW.
This was our car, outside Kranberry's Chatterbox Restaurant on February 11th. We go there for dinner every time we drive out here. Janice sent us pictures and video of the snow at Arrey RV Park, our home park.
We weren't sure we were ready to face that, but the next morning much of the snow had melted and we were able to drive up here without any problems. We still had some snow in the park for a few more days. We got the RV parked in our permanent site and began setting up. Our 8 foot by 12 foot shed won't be here for two or three weeks, so we still have stuff in here that will later be moved, but we did order the shed the very next day. We have also ordered a 96 gallon propane tank that will be placed next to the RV and the company will come here to fill it, so we don't have to go get propane all the time. Yippee!!!
Sunday we took Diane and Red to our church in TorC, and they really liked it. That was when I really felt like we had come home. More people than I could count came up to us to welcome us home.
Pastor Ric and Mary were there, and after the service we stopped for lunch at Sam's Road Crew Restaurant.
Ric, of course called it the RoadKill Cafe.
We were glad to spend some time together, but we didn't think much of the restaurant. We had a better meal the day we first arrived in Arrey and took Diane and Red to the A B Drive-in and I got my Philly Cheese steak sandwich. I've been waiting for that for a very long time, and as always, IT DID NOT DISAPPOINT ME.
In a few weeks I will post pictures of our home site after we get the shed all set up. We are going to buy about a dozen concrete paving blocks for them to set the shed on so it won't be right on the ground.
For now I will close by saying that we KNOW God watched over us in all of our travels getting back home. I know I reported on our brake issue in January. Happily, we had no other problems of any kind on our trip. I don't, for one single minute, believe that was just luck. We are eternally grateful for God's traveling mercies. We know He watched over us and kept us safe from any harm. Our faith in Him is unshakeable because we have seen what He has done for us and for others around us. I pray that all of you who read this, if you don't already know God, will find your way to Him and find the joy we have, from knowing we are never alone. If I thought all we had to keep us safe was our own strengths, I would be so afraid of all the things we might do badly. It is such a huge comfort to know that God is ALWAYS with us and He will protect us from harm, as long as we permit Him to look after us.
Happy Trails to one and all!
Here's hoping everyone had a wonderful Christmas, and a happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year. I was sick through most of the holiday season with an upper respiratory infection, so we stayed home and tried to take it easy. It was still a nice, quiet time. We had a lovely lunch with Almita and Rueben before we left Menifee. It was the first time we saw their home. It is HUGE, and very beautiful. We are used to living in a "tiny home" meaning our motorhome, so it seemed really, REALLY big.
We had planned to drive out to Palm Desert on Monday, January 6th, but decided to wait a day since there was a forecast for high winds, and gusts up to 75 mph. On Tuesday we packed up, bought propane, and set out for Palm Desert. We got as far as Beaumont when our brakes failed and started alarming. Long story short, we had to replace both rear brakes, and were delayed another day! We finally got to the RV Park on Wednesday, after spending a night in Jim & Diane's 22 foot motorhome in Yucaipa. I'm absolutely certain that God was watching over us, and saved us from harm both on Monday and on Tuesday. If we had been running at our usual speed on the freeway when the brakes quit working it could have caused a major accident, and people could have been killed. Praise God for His loving care.
Tony was supposed to come out to Palm Desert on Wednesday, but since we were exhausted from all that happened, he offered to wait until Thursday to come out. Again, I'll make a long story short, and tell you that Tony was almost ready to leave Oceanside when his blood sugar plummeted and he passed out. When he didn't arrive or answer my texts and calls, I called his girl friend who had someone go check on him. His blood sugar was down to 39 and he could have died. Praise God again for getting help to him before it was too late. Now he is much more careful about making sure he eats something after taking his insulin. I'm only telling this story because there may be another diabetic person reading this who is sometimes careless about monitoring blood sugar, or taking insulin as ordered, or making sure to eat something after taking insulin. It is very dangerous, and could be life-threatening if you don't take your diabetes seriously. Tony, I hope you will forgive me for sharing this story, but maybe it will save another person's life.
After a few more days in Palm Desert, with Tony, we packed up again and traveled to Quartzsite, AZ. Diane & Jim came with us in their motorhome. Praise God again, no problems driving out here. Unfortunately, Diane had a broken tooth and we had to drive over to Parker, AZ to see a dentist there. She was able to get an appointment quickly and have the tooth removed and started on an antibiotic. She said the dentist was really great and took very good care of her. Praise God that she didn't have to suffer with the bad tooth very long.
This week we have visited many of the vendors in the Big Tent, and bought a few things there. We found more great stuff in the booths in Tyson Wells.
We found these cute owls in a booth that sold all kinds of pewter items.
The beautiful rose quartz tree was an item I found on Main St. Rose quartz represents never ending love. I have both of these little items on our dining room table.
Jim found this amazing owl in a shop on Main St. The owl is carved from a piece of quartz. It sits on a block of fool's gold. It is breath-takingly beautiful and I just love it. In Tyson Wells we found this water fountain with two owls on the top. The ball on the upper left side spins and is illuminated by a color-changing light while the paddle wheel turns. We have to turn it off at night as the sound of the water keeps Jim awake. I'm getting more deaf every day, so I don't even hear it when I'm right next to it!
On the left are Diane and Jim dressed to go out on the town. LOL. Then Jim and I had them take pictures of us too. We still get pretty silly at times.
In case you can't tell with that hat on, Jim is on the far left, next is Fred Wantz and then Jack North. Standing between Jim and Fred is Carol North. Carol and Jack have been married over 60 years, I believe. The taller lady behind Fred and Jack is Peggy. I'm sorry I don't know her last name. She is a delightful person and has been a close friend and companion to Fred for several years.
One afternoon we spotted this guy flying over the park we are in. This is a very nice park. It's close to everything and not too expensive. Fred & Peggy and Carol & Jack arrived on Monday and stayed until Friday. It was great seeing them again.
On Tuesday, Joan and Jim drove all the way out here from Laguna Hills, CA for a visit, and drove back the same day. We went out to lunch at the Mountain Quail Cafe. I was sorry to see them leave so soon, but life can be hectic, and I'm glad we got to see them before we move on to the east.
On the news a few days ago we heard about a place called Biosphere 2, north of Tucson. It's a rain forest out in the desert. I am hoping we can make time to go see it while we are staying at the Elks Lodge in Casa Grande. If we do, I will take as many pictures as I can to share on our blog.
It's getting late and I need to fix dinner now, so I will close and wish everyone a wonderful year ahead.
I can't remember if I included the picture of our new seashell throne and seashell shaped bath rug. I love it! I'm pretty sure I posted the pictures of the rest of our redecorating.
