Back at Wilderness Lakes, and Happy to Be Here

Since I had appointments in the Menifee area for a few weeks, we put off going up to Silent Valley.  We had already extended our stay here by five days, so we went to a park in Hemet for seven days.  We stayed there once back in January before we left for Quartzsite, AZ.  There was one HUGE difference this time......in July this park was over-run with ants!  Big black ants, small red ants, and millions of brown ants.  They, of course, got into the RV and made life pretty miserable.  We used a powerful insecticide OUTSIDE of the RV but inside we could only use a pet safe product called EcoSmart.  It is good in that it kills on contact, but to be safe around pets it has NO residual effect, so the ants kept coming back again, and again.  Yesterday we came back to Wilderness Lakes and unfortunately we brought some hitch hikers with us.  We sprayed and sprayed and today they are mostly ALL gone!  Yay.

We found a pretty nice 50 amp site when we arrived and got settled in as quickly as we could.  It was a back in site next to the canal so we are visited by geese and a beautiful blue heron. 
 
I took pictures with my phone, but when I sent them to my computer, something went wrong and I was not able to open them, so I am trying again.  Yay the pictures are here.




Since my last post was before I started my therapy for the vertigo, I will now have to bring everyone up to date on that.  Last week, on Monday I went to Walker Physical Therapy in Sun City.  I was evaluated by Natalie Walker who said that based on my symptoms I was a good candidate for the therapy to be effective.  Apparently for some people it just doesn't work well at all.  After the testing procedures were completed she began the therapy.  She warned me that it WOULD cause vertigo when she put me into certain positions, but I had not expected just HOW brutal it was.  It was so bad it actually made me cry!  After going through the whole procedure, she said if I could stand it, she would like to do it all again..............OMG.  I really wanted to get over this so I agreed to do it again.  The second time was slightly less awful.  When we left Jim had to almost carry me to the car.  We got home (to Wilderness Lakes) and I was nauseated, and spent the whole evening on the couch.  I went to bed early and when I woke up in the morning I felt much better.  We packed up and moved to Hemet on Wednesday, and I had another therapy session on Thursday.  I was very nervous about it and dreaded going back.  Much to my surprise, it was not nearly as bad as it had been on Monday.  After that session I went back to Hemet and felt OK.  Today was my third session.  The treatments were not as bad.  On Sunday I had cut back my dosage on the meclizine from twice a day to once a day.  She had me do some balance exercises, and that caused some dizziness but not nearly as bad as it had been.  

This is a picture of Natalie.  How can a person who looks so sweet put me through such agony?  Just kidding.  She wants me to stop taking the meclizine after the end of this week.  I have one more session with Natalie next Thursday, and she has strong hopes that my vertigo will be completely gone by then.  Yippee.  


On Moday we drove up to see Donna & George (my sister and her husband).  I will try to include a picture if I can get it to go from my phone to my computer.  Fingers crossed now.  It was great to see them again.

 Donna is having problems with her memory and panic attacks.  It has been very hard on George to take care of her, but he is doing the best he can.  The doctor has put her on hospice care, so a nurse's aid comes out to give her a bath three times a week.  We are going to go up again next week for a picnic up at Oak Glen where it is much cooler!  Next week is supposed to get up over 100+ again so we need to find places to keep cooler, and we want to see them as often as possible.

This 5th wheel is parked in the site we were in before we went to Hemet.

 These are called "toy Haulers" because the back end opens down to let one drive inside with motorcycles, golf carts or other off road vehicles.  Once one brings the "toys" out this can be an additional room inside the RV.  Many of them also open the back and have a patio with a screen to keep bugs out.  As you can see, this one has a side patio too.  Very nice, but not our "cup of tea".

Last week I stopped at Dollar Tree store for some cards, and found a couple things I just had to have.  The one on the left has a bobble-head, too cute.  And the one on the right, of course has the legs that dangle.  OMG.  

I try not to buy more owls, but some times I just have to get
some that I see.  Right now we have Bella hanging inside.  She's the blue owl that is cross-eyed, that I posted back when we had her hanging outside in Arrey.  She will go back outside later on.  Life is good.

By the way, last Monday we had Brad Miller Jr. over to see if he could fix our steps that wouldn't move in and out when we wanted them to move.  It took a lot of work and searching, but he did find the problem.  The original motor was shot, so we did have to replace that, but when we blew the rear tire between Tempe and Quartzsite on our way to Blythe, it severed the wires that had been connected to the motor for the steps.  Happy, happy, happy, our steps are working like new again.  It wasn't cheap, but still maybe $400 or $500 less than if we had needed to replace the whole step system.  Yay.  Thank you God.  

Yesterday when we packed up to come back from Hemet, it was quite hot outside.  It was less than 20 miles to get back here, but the packing up to travel and setting up when you get where you are going is the same, whether you go 20 miles or 200 miles.  We felt very lucky to find a 50 amp site, which means we can use both air conditioners at the same time.  We were able to back the RV into the site without much difficulty..........not always the case.  I walked the dogs while Jim started setting up.  It seemed like we got finished in record time.  Some days it takes forever to get the satellite to lock onto a signal and get t.v. reception.  Yesterday Jim set the dish outside, using the satellite AR app on his phone and came inside.  By the time I found the remote control up in the cabinet and turned the t.v. on.........we already had reception!  Thank you Jesus for helping us with all we had to do.

We had lunch, went over to the post office to pick up our mail and came back here to enjoy our location.  Because it was so hot, we both got showers and I did four loads of laundry with our little home washer and spin dryer.  All in all, the day went amazingly well.  I have told you again and again to begin your day with an attitude of gratitude.  We believe we are very blessed by God in all we do.  Praise God always.  My sister-in-law Judy always ends her emails with this phrase
F.R.O.G. which means Forever Rely On God.  I just love that idea.  We always pray for a safe trip whenever we travel, not just for US but for all the others that are sharing the road with us.  Sadly, this time of year we see an increase in road rage incidents.  There is just no reason for it.  If a driver cuts you off on the road, Praise God that you are still safe.  No matter what stupid things other drivers may do, you won't make things better by getting angry.  Instead, realize he or she made an error in judgement, and be grateful if no one was injured by it.  As I have said before, we cannot know what issues or stresses other people may be trying to cope with.  Jesus wants us to love our neighbors, and that means everybody out there.  Getting angry will NOT make things better for that person, OR for you.  It could make your blood pressure shoot up to dangerous levels, or even cause a stroke.  Again, praise God for protecting you.  Praise God and trust Him to watch over you and provide for you.  God loves you and He will not give you more than you can handle, especially if you ask Him to help you.

Have a wonderful week ahead and enjoy the life God has given you.  F.R.O.G. and thank you Judy for that phrase.