We are very VERY happy to report that our new carport was delivered, as promised on June 18th. We were enjoying a cooler morning, sitting outside on our beloved glider swing, looking over to our beautiful view of the mountains, about 45 minutes before the delivery, when I had a sudden realization......if we have the carport put out front where we have been parking our car for the last four months, WE WILL LOSE MUCH OF OUR BEAUTIFUL VIEW. OMG we don't want to do that! Jim and I went out behind the shed to measure to see if we could have them put the carport back there. It looked very possible, so I called Janice to ask if we could make the change. She had to come check to make sure there would not be any problems with electric lines, etc. She said YES, so when the driver got here we told him of our change of location.
We took many pictures from the arrival of the"parts" on the truck through the stages of the set-up, but decided only to include these two pictures. We couldn't be any happier with the finished project and the decision to put it behind the shed instead of out front.
Here is a cute picture of Millie helping Jim get his exercise on our mini-trampoline. On the right you can see the glider swing that we enjoy whenever we can. As you can see here, it is sitting on the dirt and gravel. Not a good idea. Millie sometimes likes to get down off the glider and we DON'T want her lying in the dirt, so we have ordered another outdoor rug to put under the glider. It is exactly the same as the blue swirled rug you can see at the bottom of this picture. It should arrive today or tomorrow.
Earlier this month Diane had a birthday. I won't say how old she is, but now she is eligible for Medicare! Her family had a party for her, and she seems to be holding up pretty well for her age. And as always, her "girls" are looking great!
Our friend Mary has been here in her site in Arrey since last November, and has been busy working on her home, both inside and out. Here are some pictures of what she has been doing. She has a 19 foot long travel trailer that she and her two dogs live in.
Here is an arbor of "flowers" she set up.
On the right is her porch area, also decorated with "flowers" and license plates from states she had lived in before now.
This is her small dog, Matsi. She is cute, energetic and very friendly. This WAS a bird bath, but Mary cleaned it out and wants to put a wreath of "flowers" inside it instead.
On the left is one more picture of her "garden". In case you can't tell, the only care her garden needs is to occasionally wash the dirt off it. She never has to weed it, or feed the flowers, or anything else because all of the flowers are artificial! Isn't that a great idea, for those of us with a less than green thumb?
Now back to a few more pictures from our site.This is part of the amazing view we would have lost if we put the carport out in our front driveway.
These were taken one evening, looking east toward Interstate 25, one mile away. This last one, on the right, was taken one evening, obviously looking west to watch one of New Mexico's amazing sunsets.
This is the new custom welcome mat we ordered from walmart.com. I worried until it got here that they might misspell our name, but as you can see, they got it right! It was a little bigger than we had expected, but all is good. On the right is our main patio rug at our front door. The rug for under the glider will be just like this one, only it will be 4 feet shorter.
We had a wooden sign with our name on it, which Jim painted gray, and painted the letters in blue to put up on the shed. It turned out VERY nicely. I just love the personal touches.
I don't remember if I posted this picture before or not. I have FOUR tomatoes on my little plant. Yippee.
Here is one more picture I want to share. I was thinking that I would like to get a nice wine rack, but I couldn't figure out any place here in the RV where we could place or hang one. I was ready to give up when I found this, and knew that even though it's NOT a wine rack, we had to have it. Jim says it's a wine rack for one!
A dear friend, VickiJo has asked me if we are happy about our decision to live here. She and her husband Jim live in southern California, and have family and friends there. I have one brother, Tony, still living in CA, and my brother-in-law George is still living in Yucaipa. I do have some very dear friends living in California, that I will miss seeing. Tony is already planning to visit us here....when it cools off, either late autumn or in the spring. Almita & Rueben, from Menifee, have a motorhome, and just might stop to visit us if they take a trip out this way. I'm pretty sure Diane & Jim will visit us again next year too. But to get back to VickiJo's original question, YES we are happy to be here. After we decided on this move, last year, I felt like we were just biding our time until we could take care of business and move out here. I would NEVER have put semi-permanent structures like the shed and carport up if I had ANY doubts about living here. I don't think we would ever be happy in a huge RV park, with so many people we didn't know. This is a small park, 23 sites if I'm not mistaken, and we are like family here. Because of this cussed covid-19 pandemic, we have not been able to get together with the other residents as much as we would like to. There haven't been any pot-luck dinners, or movie night get-togethers, but if this pandemic ever ends, we are looking forward to socializing a LOT more! We enjoy our church in TorC and it feels like a family there too. So yes, VickiJo, there are people and places we will miss, but we ARE happy, and we do NOT regret our choice to live here.
Last week on our news we heard a report of a huge spike in covid cases in California, so of course I emailed many friends and family to remind them to practice social distancing, wear masks and stay safe. Tony is being very careful, and still keeping his sense of humor. He sent me a cute picture that I'm going to try to share here.
Many states have rushed to open up businesses, and have seen serious spikes in new cases of covid 19. Tony says when he puts on his mask to go out, there are people who try to tell him that he doesn't need the PPE because the threat of covid is over. These people are WRONG. We also see people who come into stores like Wal-Mart wearing their masks around their neck instead of over their mouth and nose. Please don't be mislead by such people. On our news there are projections that until there is a proven effective vaccine, the threat will NOT be going away. Some people refer to this as the "new normal". I don't know if social distancing and wearing PPE really IS the new normal. I sincerely hope NOT. I like to hug friends when we meet up. I like to smile and see others smile. I hate having to wear masks.
BUT we will do it because we don't want to become infected, and we definitely don't want to be the cause of others getting infected. We want to do our part to keep everyone we meet safe. Still, we do have to maintain our sense of humor so we don't go screaming bonkers.
Life goes on, and hopefully, most of us WILL survive this nasty pandemic. Please don't ever forget that God is in control. He is watching over us, and He always will. This is NOT the time to move away from Him. It is a time when we NEED, maybe now more than ever, to read our Bibles, and grow in our faith as we deepen our personal relationship with Him. He will get us through this difficult period of time.
Have a great day, and stay safe and well. Keep in touch with friends and neighbors. Do what you can for others less fortunate than you are. Somebody sent me a cute joke recently. If you watch TV commercials it will have more meaning for you. It said "I'm so bored I'm thinking of calling Jake from State Farm to ask him what he's wearing." Hang in there everyone. Hugs and smiles to one and all.
Good morning dear friends,
With all that has been going on, it's hard to keep an optimistic outlook, but I will try. I fully agree that what happened to George Floyd is tragic, criminal and unimaginably awful. However, the behavior of so many rioters is still wrong, wrong, wrong. I do understand protests, but what does burning buildings, stealing big screen TVs, and attacking innocent other people have to do with what happened to George Floyd? What happened to him is being used as an excuse for deplorable, and criminal conduct. Is anyone besides me tired of hearing Black Lives Matter? I believe ALL lives matter! Yes, I do understand that what was done to him is MUCH more likely to happen to a black person than a white person, but the message should be that this kind of brutality should NOT be tolerated against ANYONE. Our Lord Jesus died for ALL people, not just white people. So let's stop causing division and hatred, and look for ways to unite everyone, and teach our children to love all people. Children are not born hating people who are different from themselves, they are taught to hate, and that MUST stop. Enough said on that.
By now I had hoped to be posting pictures of our beautiful new carport that was supposed to have been delivered this past Saturday. However, on Thursday I received a call saying there was some kind of emergency and there would be no driver to deliver it until June 18th. Considering that many days here are up over 100 degrees, I was not happy to learn that our car must sit out in the heat for another two weeks. I asked Janice if she could do anything to help. Janice is an awesome person and she does all she can for the folks who live here in the park, so she called them.
Here is a nice picture of Janice.
Unfortunately they gave her the same excuses, and we are still hoping that it will get here on the 18th, and not be delayed anymore. I am told that the quality of these carports is excellent, so we are still hoping to get it, but the quality of the delivery service is very, very disappointing. We know of one customer who, after multiple delays ended up cancelling his order. I don't blame him for deciding to do that, but we really want the one we ordered, so we hope we won't have to cancel it and start over looking for another provider.
I don't think I posted any pictures of the shed since we put up the insulation. I didn't know it was going to be lavender colored! Jim is not thrilled, but I like it. We also put two layers of Reflectix, with a large air space between, inside the roof to keep it cooler inside. It didn't do as much as Jim had hoped, but it does keep it 20 to 30 degrees cooler inside than outside. We still wouldn't want to spend time in the shed between noon and 5 p.m.!
As I said on Facebook, I spend a lot of time, and money too, shopping online. Since our silverware (stainless steel really) is over 47 years old, even though it still looks like new, I was tired of it and wanted something different. I looked through the choices on walmart.com and found one we both liked, so I ordered it. It's beautiful......BUT the knives are a little too long for the tray in our silverware drawer, so I had to order a new silverware tray.
Some of you may be aware of my recent love affair with rose gold items. I have gotten jewelry, barrettes, clothes and candle holders in this beautiful shade of pink known as rose gold. Imagine my delight when I found a service of stainless steel flatware and napkin rings in rose gold! Again, I clicked on walmart.com and in a couple weeks it was delivered. However, now I was disappointed because the rose gold flatware doesn't "go with" my red, white and blue lighthouse Corelle dishes.......so yesterday I went back on walmart.com and found a set of Corelle dishes in white with a rose and gray and green border of small flowers. It should be arriving before the end of this week! I also found a salt and pepper set in rose gold, which will be my next purchase. I know that in an RV with limited space, one doesn't NEED two sets of dishes and two sets of flatware, but soon I will have them.
News flash! Although I have never
been much of a gardener, we are trying
with ONE plant. We bought a tomato plant at
Wal-Mart, and Jim put the barrel together to hold it. We put some flat-ish rocks in the bottom of the barrel so water can drain out of the pot, and we have three small tomatoes on it! Here's hoping I don't kill this poor plant. If I succeed with this, then next year I might try a few more plants. Maybe sweet green peppers, cucumbers, and some lettuce too. I'd love to grow a small patch of strawberries if I can, but that remains to be seen. I was thinking of putting my little garden in a wagon, so I can wheel it out of the sun, if it gets too hot for the little plants.
Our church suggested wearing masks, but it was not mandatory. Still Jim wanted to comply. He's such a health and safety conscious person! Good health to one and all. It's also important to have a sense of humor during such difficult times. Despite this terrible pandemic, we must not live in fear. Remember that God is still in control, and know we will get through this. Joke for the day: do you know why so many people are stockpiling toilet paper? Because many people are eating their own cooking for the first time in years. LOL
My dear friend Vicki Jo is making masks for many of her friends up at Silent Valley. She sent me pictures.
It looks like she did a great job on them.
She also made covers for people to keep dust off their Instant Pots. I'm not posting a picture of my Instant Pot here, because I think most people know what they look like.
But here is a picture of the cute owl design cover she made for my IP. I just love it. When I store it out in the shed, I have a large plastic box with a cover to keep it in, but I will use this cover when it's in the house. Now I want to include a picture of my IP with the air fryer lid I got for it. I gave my other air fryer to a friend here in the park since I have this one now. It has a basket that goes inside the pot, and a rack that one can use to air fry two different foods, one under and the other on top of the rack. It also came with a cooling surface to put the lid on when you are done air frying. We still haven't tried to air fry donuts, but one day we will.
In three days (June 11th) will be what was my sister Donna's birthday. There hasn't been a day since she died in January that I haven't thought about her, and missed her. I just want to suggest that you cherish each of your family and friends. My brother Mike died in November of 2018, and Donna died January 13th of this year. Mike is the one in the middle of the picture on the right, between Tony on the left and Jeffrey on the far right.
Many people have suddenly, and unexpectedly lost loved ones to this terrible corona virus. Many did not even get to be with them in the hospital as they were dying. I'm sure many people, not just since this virus but other times as well,have painful memories and regrets because they didn't go to see loved before it was too late. How often have you said to yourself "we should go see grandma" or another loved one, but you put it off? If nothing else, maybe we should learn from this virus that no one knows when someone will be gone, and we should tell people we love them NOW. We should call or write our loved ones more often. If we have had a dispute with someone and aren't speaking to them, we should get over it. Jesus taught us we must forgive others. If we refuse to forgive others, how can we ask Jesus to forgive us our sins?
Every day in the news we see the actions of haters. Do we want to be like them? I hope not. Please learn that we must live each day as if it is the only one we have, because we re not guaranteed of tomorrow. Be the best you that you can be TODAY. Be a friend to someone who may need a friend more than you could ever know. Reach out to family and friends with love. Just go that extra mile for some one today. Then maybe it will feel good to you, so you will want to do even more tomorrow. If you are going to the store, and you have an elderly neighbor, maybe you can offer to take him with you, or pick up things for him so he can stay safely at home. We have also learned that because of the stresses of this stay at home situation, domestic violence has increased. Please be kinder than usual to the people around you. If you see problems in around you, report it to local authorities. Do whatever you can to help relieve stress in yourself and others. Offer help when you can. Maybe you can donate food, clothes or money to your local food banks or other charities. Even though we are told to practice social distancing, we are still part of our communities, and our help is needed.
I will close now, and wish everyone a good day and good health. 😃
We took many pictures from the arrival of the"parts" on the truck through the stages of the set-up, but decided only to include these two pictures. We couldn't be any happier with the finished project and the decision to put it behind the shed instead of out front.
Earlier this month Diane had a birthday. I won't say how old she is, but now she is eligible for Medicare! Her family had a party for her, and she seems to be holding up pretty well for her age. And as always, her "girls" are looking great!
Here is an arbor of "flowers" she set up.
On the right is her porch area, also decorated with "flowers" and license plates from states she had lived in before now. 
This is her small dog, Matsi. She is cute, energetic and very friendly. This WAS a bird bath, but Mary cleaned it out and wants to put a wreath of "flowers" inside it instead.
On the left is one more picture of her "garden". In case you can't tell, the only care her garden needs is to occasionally wash the dirt off it. She never has to weed it, or feed the flowers, or anything else because all of the flowers are artificial! Isn't that a great idea, for those of us with a less than green thumb?
Now back to a few more pictures from our site.This is part of the amazing view we would have lost if we put the carport out in our front driveway. 
This is the new custom welcome mat we ordered from walmart.com. I worried until it got here that they might misspell our name, but as you can see, they got it right! It was a little bigger than we had expected, but all is good. On the right is our main patio rug at our front door. The rug for under the glider will be just like this one, only it will be 4 feet shorter. 
We had a wooden sign with our name on it, which Jim painted gray, and painted the letters in blue to put up on the shed. It turned out VERY nicely. I just love the personal touches.
Here is one more picture I want to share. I was thinking that I would like to get a nice wine rack, but I couldn't figure out any place here in the RV where we could place or hang one. I was ready to give up when I found this, and knew that even though it's NOT a wine rack, we had to have it. Jim says it's a wine rack for one!
Last week on our news we heard a report of a huge spike in covid cases in California, so of course I emailed many friends and family to remind them to practice social distancing, wear masks and stay safe. Tony is being very careful, and still keeping his sense of humor. He sent me a cute picture that I'm going to try to share here. 
BUT we will do it because we don't want to become infected, and we definitely don't want to be the cause of others getting infected. We want to do our part to keep everyone we meet safe. Still, we do have to maintain our sense of humor so we don't go screaming bonkers.
