Thanksgiving is Coming Soon

Hello dear friends and readers,

I am sorry it has been such a long time since my last post.  We spent two weeks down at Wilderness Lakes before coming back up here to Silent Valley for another month.  We didn't get our favorite site (#400) but we got one at the four corners again, next to the one we were in last month.  We drove up here last Thursday despite very bad Santa Ana Winds.  Jim is an excellent driver and got us here safely.  We got into our site and leveled the RV and then Diane & Jim Hubert came over to help us get settled in.  I was so very grateful for their help because that day I had two brief but scary bursts of vertigo.  We now do NOT call by name as we only refer to this disorder as IT.  Our only problem with the setting up was that in the high winds (gusts up to 50mph) we couldn't get good reception from our satellite dish.  Alas, we gave up that night.  On Friday we heard about the tragedy of the shooting at the Borderline Bar in Thousand Oaks.  Along with that, the Santa Ana Winds and very low humidity increased the risk of brush fires, and California suffered from two very bad fires.  One called the Camp Fire completely devastated the town of Paradise in northern California.  The Woolsley fire and the Hill Fire continues to do a great deal of damage to the areas around Malibu, Calabasas, Westlake Village, West Hills and Thousand Oaks.  Sadly the death toll from the Camp Fire is about 48 and may go even higher.  I believe there have been 3 deaths and many injuries in southern California.  Last night another fire has broken out near Rialto and Interstate 15 which is only about 46 miles from where we are.  They expect the winds to ease up today but the relative humidity is still very low, and that means there is still quite a lot of fire danger throughout the area.  All I can ask is that you please pray for people who have lost their homes and loved ones in all these tragedies. It's hard to imagine Thanksgiving in the midst of so much destruction.  Donations to help the victims are being collected by the Red Cross and other organizations.  We saw them on the NBC news so one could check them out probably by going to NBC.com /California fires if you wish to make a donation.

We have been busy again with a few little home improvements.  First, Millie started trying to sleep in her little bed, which was really only big enough for her toys, so we got her a bigger bed.

As you who have been in our RV can see, we have removed the chair that was in front of the window beside the house door.  We put this storage ottoman there, and it still gives us more space in the room.  We moved the folding tables so we could look out the window.  The window shade was very dirty, and we have not had good luck cleaning them, so we replaced the shade with a new curtain for privacy.  It can be pulled aside to permit looking outside.  The dogs like getting up on the ottoman to look out the window too.
Diane and Jim are such fun people and on Friday I got this cute picture of them.Those are supposed to be sprinkled donuts...and after all we are all kinda nuts! Jim is wearing a deer head that's supposed to be mounted on a wall!  Luckily, I was holding the camera, so I am not in these pictures.  On Saturday Jim Hubert had to have extensive surgery on his shoulder, and of course Diane wanted to be with him, so we offered to babysit their two two adorable Chihuahua girls while they were away.  It was so much fun having them in our house.

In this picture Millie is in Willie's bed next to the girls in their beds.  At night Millie still sleeps with us in our bed, and Willie got to sleep in his own bed.  I put the girls' beds up on the couch and they spent the whole night in bed.  It was happy chaos when we  took four dogs out to walk!  We had a grand time, and the girls were happy here, although every time they heard noises outside they would run to the door expected Jim or Diane to appear at the door.  I got to spoil two more girls with loving care and doggie treats.  I was very happy when Jim finally got out of the hospital so he could come home and sleep in his own bed, but we were sorry to see these sweet girls leave us.  Diane and Jim are always ready and willing to help us out when we need anything, so we were delighted to be able to do this for them so they would NOT have any worries about their beloved girls.  That's what friends are for.  We are so glad to see that Jim is recovering well with no apparent problems or complications.  He has been through a lot with his shoulder, and we hope now his problems are over.

I'm running out of time to write now, so I will close with a brief message, asking all of you to be grateful for your many blessings and share your blessings with those less fortunate than yourselves.  Happy Thanksgiving to one and all.