Community....

 8:04 am - Sunday - September 21st - LPG&RVR - 57° F, humidity 54%, wind ZERO mph out of the southeast......partly cloudy skies today with a forecast high of 77° F.  On this date in 2107 we had a dusting of snow in Gardiner, MT....

....Gardiner is near the northern entrance to Yellowstone National Park, and where we lived for 4 months whilst toiling in the General Store in Mammoth Hot Springs that summer.  Ironically, September 20th that year was the last day of Summer.

Saturday was full of college football games from 9 am PDT until well after 11 pm.  The USC game did not commence until 8 pm, and for the first time in years they have begun a season 4-0 by defeating the Michigan State Spartans 45-31.  I was tempted to watch that game until the end, but I'm old now, and staying up past 10 pm rarely happens anymore....lol.  They were up 31-10 midway through the 3rd quarter, so there was a lot of scoring in the last 25 minutes, or so.

Around 1 pm I drove over to the putting green for one last practice session before the final at 4 pm.  Around 3:45 pm TLE and I headed over to find seating room on the grass between the Clubhouse deck and the putting green....

TLE found her seat...I always bring one of our camp chairs

....as is often the case not everyone who placed 1st, or 2nd during the summer was able to be in attendance, so out of the 20+ folks who placed in the money this summer only 8 where able to be present Saturday, but they were 8 of the best, and most of them had placed in the money 2, or 3 times.....some 5 times like moi...lol....

.....my first match was against Greg Plumlee who had won this championship in 2023 and 2024, but I was able to best him to move to the second round.  My second match was against Rich Samco, who I believe placed in the money twice this summer, and entering the final hole we were tied.  We both made good first putts on the 5th hole, but I barely missed my second putt.  On this day Mike Bratzler had set us up for double elimination, which means you can lose once, but play out of the losers bracket until you lose a second time.  My first match in the losers bracket was Terri Plumlee, wife of Greg, who is also placed in the money 3 times this year.  Both Greg and Terri are terrific putters, and I have never beaten them both on the same day, but this day I was able to do that pretty easily.  Then came my second match in the losers bracket against Dewayne Matthews (Fire Chief), with whom I have split all of our previous encounters pretty much 50/50.  On this day he was on fire, and I lost my mojo losing the first three holes to be ousted from the tournament, but finished in 4th place.  

Rich Samco was undefeated going into the final match against Dewayne, and beginning the 5th and final hole DeWayne was tied with Rich.  Both made good putts, but DeWayne's 2nd putt lipped out giving Rich the Championship.....

DeWayne on the left, and Rich on the right at the first of 5 holes

.....win, lose, or draw, it was a fun time for all.  I'll have the knowledge that I placed in the money 5 times this summer, and managed to defeat both Plumlee's on the same day to tide me over for the winter.

As I sit here composing this missive I can't help but smile at how integrated TLE and I have become in this golfing community of LPG&RVR.  We can truly call all of these people good friends.  Everyone here gets along famously, and regardless of political persuasion we all have the love and appreciation of this place in common, and that is what binds us together into a very tightly knit community.

Thanks for stopping by!

'Slug' for a day.....

 7:21 am - Saturday - September 20th - LPG&RVR - 57° F, humidity 54%, wind 1 mph out of the southeast.....heavy cloud cover, chance of rain and a forecast high of 77° F today.  On this date in 2018 TLE and I were standing on top of Mt. Washington in New Hampshire.....

.....can you imagine winds of 231 miles per hour?!  We drove to the top and back, which I do not recommend.  Was very hard on our brakes going back down the mountain.  We were in first gear all the way down, had to apply the brakes constantly, and stop every few minutes to let the disc brakes cool.  Take the funicular train instead...lol....

....and on this date in 2022 there was snow on Eagle Mountain.....

.....Likely Place Golf and RV Resort.

After a task filled day Thursday I took off Friday from all work type activity.  I drove Club Car Villager #20 over to the Clubhouse to sign up for the putting contest finale, and spent about 30 minutes on the putting green practicing Saturday morning, then spent the rest of the day on the 'lido deck' reading, and listening to 60's Gold on Sirius/XM radio (73).  The forecast high for Friday was 80° F, but I do not believe it exceeded 76° F as it was cloudy all day long, and I mean very cloudy, as in 'leaden skies' cloudy.

I wish I had more to report, but I do not.  That is the price of being a 'slug' for a day.  I must say, however, that being a 'slug' on occasion is quite rewarding in the micro sense.  In the macro sense it is not a habit which should become a part of your daily life style.....lol!  I did not receive a single mosquito bite in the 3 hours I was outside, which is noteworthy, as the mosquitoes have been quite bad this summer.   There was also a delightfully long 30, or 40 minute nap thrown in for good measure.  Finally, around 4:30 pm the outdoor temp began to fall, and I had to make the choice of either changing into long pants, and a long sleeve t-shirt to remain outdoors, or go inside....I went inside.

For dinner TLE prepared, for the second time this summer, Mississippi Pot Roast in her Vita Clay Organic Multi-Cooker.  It's kind of like a 'crock pot', but way more versatile.  TLE has had several 'crock pots' over the 13 years we've been on the road, but this Vita Clay slow cooker has them all beat, and she uses it on a regular basis, whereas she rarely ever used the multiple 'crock pots' we've owned over the years.  Oh my goodness, is that ever a great dish!  That needs to become a more regular menu item in the Hockwald household.

Thanks for stopping by!

Repairs.....

 7:58 am - Friday - September 19th - LPG&RVR - 61° F, humidity 40%, wind 1 mph out of the northeast......heavy cloud cover today with a forecast high of 80° F.  On this date in 2013 TLE and I were driving I-90 in the Big Sky Country of Montana.....

.....heading to Missoula.

You may, or may not remember that a few months ago, just after arriving here for the summer season, I repaired one of the damaged wire ropes on the rear ramp door of the trailer.  While we were in Bishop, on our way here, it had unraveled when TLE was lowering it to attend to her plants.  It took us a couple of hours, but we rewound both wire ropes over the spring loaded spools, and were able to close the ramp door, but in the process damaged the driver side cable.  All that being said, when I was repairing the wire rope on the driver side, just after we arrived here, I unwittingly partially unwound the wire rope on the passenger side.  The repair involved shortening the driver side wire rope to remove the damaged section.  I wasn't sure at the time if it was still long enough to lower the ramp door all the way to the ground, but didn't deal with it then as I was 99% sure it was still long enough.  Fast forward to Wednesday evening, TLE and I were going to lower the ramp door to be sure that driver side wire rope was long enough to lower the door to the ground, enabling us to insert the VW next month.  That's when we discovered that I had partially unraveled the spool on the passenger side, and the wire rope completely came off the spool.....doh!

As this error had serious implications for our ability to haul anchor next month I had to first rewind the wire rope on the passenger side spool, and once that was done, lower the door to see if the wire rope on the driver side was long enough.  If not I would need to visit ACE Hardware in Alturas to buy new wire rope and completely redo the whole system....

That is way, way too much slack!!

.....in short the wire rope was long enough to lower the door to the ground, and we were able to get the passenger side rewound, then lower the door, but it had a little 'slack' in it (above), so ultimately I had to shorten the driver side wire rope to match the length of the driver side.  By the time I finished it was almost noon time, and some 3 hours had slipped into the past.  That aside, the door is now repaired, and VW insertion early next month will go on as scheduled.

My next, and very important task was to removed the old expansion tank in the water bay.  The expansion tank only comes into play when we are using the house water pump to push H₂O through our copper plumbing.  The tank prevents the water pump from surging.  We had a serious problem with the pump surging last winter, and didn't realize the bladder in the expansion tank had ruptured, thereby rendering it useless.  I thought it was the water pump, but it wasn't.  When our friends Tom and Darlene were here a couple of weeks ago I discussed the problem with Tom.  He suggested adding a little air pressure to the tank, but I told him I had tried to and water came out the Schraeder valve.  He, in turn, said then the bladder has ruptured, and I needed a new tank.  Fast forward to 10 days ago....I ordered a new 2 gallon expansion tank, and it arrived a few days ago.  I had assessed what needed to be done, and I had all the parts necessary to install the new tank.  Unlike the wire rope incident, this was a pretty straight forward installation....

The old 43 years of age, 1 gallon expansion tank

This picture gives a little perspective to where in the water bay the tank resides.  As I look at this picture I realize how much work I've done in the driver side of the water bay.....I've replaced the electric heater (upper right), the water pump (lower right), both rubber gaskets in the two dump valves (lower left), and now the expansion tank (center) since we purchased the Newell in 2008.  Not to mention that we had to remove the fresh water tank back in 2013 to make a repair to the black tank.

I've also replaced the water pressure regulator (lower right), and the city water gate valve (lower center).

.....I keep in stock numerous 'Sharkbite' fittings for just such a repair and already had the 1/2" elbow, and the 1/2" connector with a threaded male end to screw into the new expansion tank.  I just unscrewed the old compression fitting to remove the old tank, the cut off the flare, and the rest was quick and easy....

The final installation

.....once the tank was installed I had TLE turn on the water pump (after having closed the city gate valve) and run the shower......it worked!  No more surging!  You may wonder why I used such a long nipple to connect the tank to the elbow.  Simply put, the original nipple I cut was about 3" in length, but when I tried to connect the tank to the elbow the hose bib to the left in the picture was in the way, so I had to use a longer nipple to get the tank above the hose bib.

By the time I finished putting away tools, and cleaning up the area it was after 3 pm, and another day at LPG&RVR was basically in the books.  I took a shower, and then took a nap.  Later we watched the Thursday night NFL game between Miami and Buffalo.  It was a very good game, and close until the end, which is all for which we can ask, right?

Thanks for stopping by!

Eight to go.....

 7:21 am - Thursday - September 18th - LPG&RVR - 48° F, humidity 26%, wind ZERO mph out of the east by southeast.....partly cloudy today with a forecast high of 87° F.  On this date in 2017 the summer season was beginning to wind down at the Delaware North General Store.....

....at Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone.  Roscoe and I became very good friends that summer, and we still have occasional contact.  We both worked in the 'Fountain' scooping ice cream, serving hotdogs, pretzels, sodas, etc.  One of my favorite workamping jobs ever.  Not just because of the location, but more so because of the friendships we made that summer.

Wednesday I staged 10 golf carts (5 Club Car electrics, and 5 Yamaha gassers), and we rented 10.  That's the first time this summer I've staged exactly the number of carts we actually rented.  Needless to say, with only 10 carts on the course, and not all at the same time, it was a very unbusy day golf course wise, but it was busy for me in the RV park.  I mowed the parking lot grass, and the grass by the restrooms, and also string trimmed around the trees at those sites.  I turned on the water for the large grass area by site #30, and discovered there was an issue with one of the sprinklers not being able rise above the grass.....

.....the hole in the grass through which the sprinkler would rise when water is flowing became too small.  Notice that big bubble of grass above the sprinkler.  The fix was pretty easy....I got out my knife and cut the hole bigger, and then turned on the sprinklers again, and it worked as it should.....

......that was my 'excitement' for the day.  After mowing and trimming the aforementioned grass areas I headed out to the golf course to mow around tee boxes 3, 15, 16, 17 and 18 returning to the Clubhouse with just enough time to blow the accumulated grass off the top of the mowing deck, and refuel it before giving TLE her lunch break.   Just like Tuesday, it was very quiet in the Clubhouse.  I answered a few phone calls, and talked with a few customers passing through, but that was it.  TLE was back promptly at 1:30 pm, and it was time for me to wrap up the fourth day of our four day work week by washing/stowing 9 of the rented carts.  To pass the final 30 minutes of my shift I watered the grass area between the Clubhouse deck and the putting green. 

Fall is here, and the overnight temps are getting lower by the day.  As a result the grass is growing less fast, and looks good for 4, or 5 days now.  I can see that we will only need to mow most areas once a week now, not once per four day shift as we have been doing since early July.  Many of the deciduous trees are changing colors, and soon will be shedding their leaves....

.....I flipped the sign, and posted the availability around 5 pm, and then retrieved TLE from the Clubhouse a couple of minutes later.  Just eight more work days remain in our annual summer sojourn here at Likely Place Golf and RV Resort.  It doesn't feel like almost 5 months have passed, but they have.  The seasons are changing, TLE and I both have 'hitch itch', and it is time to change our view again without going through escrow.  Life continues to be good as we near the beginning of our 14th year of retirement.  As I wrote about where we were on this date in 2017 I realized it has been EIGHT years since that amazing summer, but it only feels like two, or three.  So many wonderful friends made over that span, and so  many memories created, with so many more to come!

Thanks for stopping by

Mow, mow, mow.....

 5:34 am - Wednesday - September 17th - LPG&RVR - 49° F, humidity 31%, wind 3 mph out of the southeast......clear, blue skies today with a forecast high of 88° F.  On this date in Seal Rock, OR walking on the beach.....

.....when we noticed that you could see the line between the clear, blue sky and the fog which was trying to erase it.....very cool!

As we began our day three of our four day work week the park was about 60% full, and except for the arrival of two RV units, would stay that way.  I staged just 5 golf carts to begin the day, and we ended up renting 12.  By the time I went home for the day 10 of those carts had returned....in fact, nine of them had returned by 1:30 pm.

I had a lot of mowing to do Tuesday morning, so I began my day a little after 9 am trimming the residential grass sites, tent sites 1-3, and then all 10 back-in sites.  By the time I was done with that it was after 10:30 am, so I got the Husqvarna 2 bag mower and began mowing the the residential grass sites, then the tent and back-in sites, which took me right up to 12 pm, and TLE's lunch break.  The 90 minutes I was in the office were very unbusy until those two aforementioned RV units arrived for check-in just as TLE was returning from her lunch break.

After lunch I mowed the large grassy area next to site #30, the group fire pit area, the area between the Clubhouse deck and the putting green, and around the #10 tee boxes.  After that I began washing and stowing those 9 golf carts.  Just as I finished putting away the 9 I had washed, the 10th one arrived, so I make quick work of it, and I was pretty much done for the day.  I'll still have the other tee boxes, for which I am responsible, to mow Wednesday along with the parking lot grass and the grass area by the restrooms.  If I have time I'll mow around the 'Night Office', and the rest of the tent sites.  I don't know if I'll have time for them, but  we'll see.

We're going to see our first sub 40° F nights in the next 10 days.  As it is we're running all three of our electric heaters each morning until we're ready to go to work.  

Thanks for stopping by!

A lot to do.....

 5:36 am - Tuesday - September 16th - LPG&RVR - 42° F, humidity 35%, wind 2 mph out of the southeast......clear skies today with a forecast high of 86° F.  On this date in 2020 TLE and I were taking our first walk in Seal Rock Beach, right across the street from our site.....

.....there is nothing she likes better than walking barefoot on the beach....any beach.

The day time high was forecast to be above 80° F for the first time in a few days, but I don't think it got there.  When I arrived back at the Newell after work it was only 76° F.  Based on the tee time sheet we only had reservations for THREE golf carts, so I staged 5, but that was not nearly enough.  By the end of the day we had rented 14 golf carts, and all but three were back by the time I headed home for the day.

In between all that I cleaned 5 sets of loaner golf clubs, cleared the driving range, mowed around both gazebos, plus 9 of the 10 pull through sites,  string trimmed around both gazebos, all five water electric sites, and two of the back-in sites.  I'll get the rest of the back-in sites Tuesday before I mow them.  That took me to TLE's lunch break.  

Monday was also the start of the annual 'punching of the greens', but I chose not to participate this year.  My right knee is just not up to that anymore.  In spite of my absence they had plenty of people, including a few that volunteered for the task this year.  I'm interested to find out how the newbies faired.  There is no way to prepare yourself for that work, and most people are surprised at how hard it is on you knees and lower back.

After TLE's lunch break I began washing the eight carts which had already been returned, and continued washing more until I had washed 11 of the 14 we rented.  I also cleaned the one 5 gallon bucket of balls I had gleaned from the pretty empty driving range.  Overall, Monday was busier than we expected.  Now that we are past 'hump night' the rest of the work week will go quickly!

Thanks for stopping by!

Nothing to do....

 5:36 am - Monday - September 15th - LPG&RVR - 40° F, humidity 42%, wind 1 mph out of the east.....clear skies today with a forecast high of 81° F.  On this date in 2020 TLE and I were enjoying our new view from our employee site at Seal Rocks RV Cove.....

....we would enjoy this wonderful view for the next 12 months.  Seal Rock OR is 10 miles south of Newport, OR.

After a pretty busy Saturday there were 6 golf carts left to wash when TLE and arrived for the first of four work days Sunday morning.  I staged 10 golf carts, then got busy washing those left over from Saturday.  In all we rented just 8 golf carts Sunday, which reflected the relatively empty nature of the park.  After washing/stowing those carts I literally had nothing else to do.  It hasn't been that hot lately, so the grass areas that usually needs hand watering on the weekend didn't need any intervention.  Since we don't mow, or trim on the weekend, there nothing to do but spend time talking with customers, and running errands for TLE.  Kind of a nice, laid back work day.

Meanwhile, Scottie Scheffler was busy coming from behind, once again, to win his 6th PGA Tour event this year.  In 10 days the European and American Ryder Cup teams will convene in New York at Beth Page Black, and then the season will be pretty much over except for some minor PGA tour Fall events remaining.  

I gave TLE her 90 minute lunch break, and then began washing the 8 golf carts we had rented as they slowly returned.  I was home by 3:30 pm watching the afternoon NFL game between Kansas City and Philadelphia, a rematch of the Super Bowl.  Just as in the Super Bowl, Philadelphia won the rematch 20-17, which puts the Chiefs at 0-2 to begin the season.

I picked up TLE from work just after 5 pm, flipped the sign, and posted the availability for late arrivals with no reservations.  And, with that, we were done with the first of four work days.  We'll have Thursday thru Sunday off this week, and then there will only be 8 days of work left before we haul anchor to head south for the winter.

Thanks for stopping by!