Tuesday, July 8, 2025

A 'slow' day......

 7:52 am - Tuesday - July 8th - LPG&RVR - 66° F, humidity 18%, wind 2 mph out of the south.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 91° F.  On this date in 2019 TLE and I were having lunch at the Lost Abbey Brewing Company in San Marcos, CA.....




......during our nine month workamping job at Ramona Oaks RV Resort.  They don't serve food, so we bought those $1.50 hot dogs at COSTCO, then went there to have some brews, and eat the 'dogs'.

The last day of our 4 day work week the forecast high was to be 95° F, and I believe it got there; it certainly felt like 95° F.  After three straight days of organized chaos at LPG&RVR, Monday was the opposite.  For the first time in a few weeks we did not rent the Club Car electrics as they needed servicing.  All we rented, and all I staged were our Yamaha gassers, and we rented all but two of them, so it was a 'slow' day by this season's standards.  By 3 pm we had rented 18 of the 20 Yamahas.

After TLE and I went home Sunday a call came in from one of our customers out on the golf course advising their cart would not start, and wouldn't you know, it was Club Car #13.  At any rate, Dennis and DeWayne took a replacement cart out to them at the 14th hole, and left #13 there for me to tow back in first thing Monday morning.  After I had staged 14 Yamaha gassers for TLE I jumped in Club Car #7 (the one we use to push the ball picker around the driving range), grabbed the tow bar and headed out to the 14th hole.  It took a few minutes to connect the tow bar as I haven't had to do it for over a year, and then I was on my way back to the Clubhouse.....


.....I was back at the Clubhouse by 9 am where I disconnected #13, and then headed out to actually hookup the ball picker to Club Car #7 and use it for the first time this summer.  The entire range ball barrel was empty, so I figured there were at least 5-6 gallons of balls out there warranting the use of the ball picker.  It is a waste of time to use it for anything under 4 gallons of balls.  It took me the better part of 90 minutes to clear the range, and I got exactly 5 gallons of range balls.  I spent the rest of the morning before TLE's lunch break washing and drying those balls.  I figure there are at least 1-2 more five gallon buckets of balls in the forest on either side of the driving range, so Dave and I will need to do a 'deep cleaning' in the next week, or so.

After TLE's lunch break I washed 8 golf carts (four were left over from Sunday, and the other four were Yamahas being returned), then headed out on the Husqvarna 2 bag mower to mow around those tee boxes for which I am responsible (3, 15, 16, 17 and 18....I did #10 on Friday).  I was back at the Clubhouse by 2:30 pm to find another 8 Yamaha gassers awaiting their daily spa treatment.  By the time I finished washing and stowing them it was 3:30 pm, and time, thank God, to head for the cool confines of our Newell Classic (TLE turned on the front A/C when she was home for lunch).  There were still 5 Yamahas out on the course when I picked up TLE at 5:15 am to begin our four day  weekend.

As has often been the case the past two weeks we had some early evening rain showers......



It began raining shortly after I took these pictures

.....that little bit of rain helps settle the dust.  Even with the occasional showers the humidity here during the summer months, like today (Tuesday) is very low (18%), and things dry out pretty quickly after each rain shower, and then stay very dry resulting in a lot of dust.

Thanks for stopping by!

Monday, July 7, 2025

Biggest yet.....

 5:36 am - Monday - July 7th - LPG&RVR - 54° F, humidity 25%, wind ZERO mph out of the southeast.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 95° F.  On this date in 2020 TLE and I were having Frappuccinos at Grapes and Grind in Keystone, SD.....



Sunday we had the 'Red, White and Blue' golf tournament sponsored by the Modoc Cattlemen's Association.  In order to have enough carts for this tournament, and a few regular golfers we had to completely empty the cart shack by 8:30 am.......


.....the only cart left is a four seater (in the distant background), which we do not rent anymore, plus my Club Car Villager #20.  When the dust cleared, and all of the tournament participants had left to begin the tournament at their assigned holes we had 10 carts left, and by 1 pm those had also been rented.  Once the tournament was underway I spent the next 3 hours 'marshaling' with Claude, and then gave TLE a 30 minute lunch break from 11:30 am to 12 pm.  During that 30  minute break I was kept pretty busy selling adult beverages, sodas and waters.

After lunch I made one more pass around the course, and then returned to the Clubhouse to await the return of all of our carts, most of which would come from the tournament participants.  Once again Claude took time off from his marshaling duties to help me wash the carts.  We ultimately had carts stacked up four abreast all the way into the parking lot.  Claude sprayed them off while I dried them, and within one hour he and I combined had cleaned 26 golf carts.  It took me another 30 minutes to put them away in the cart shack, and then my day was done.  There were still 7, or 8 carts outstanding when I headed home at 3:30 pm, so I'll have them to clean first thing.

The tournament was a great success garnering the most participants ever, and the most sponsors ever, and LPG&RVR did not do too bad either.  TLE was home by 5:20 pm, and then we only had one more workday before our four day weekends begins again.

Thanks for stopping by!

Sunday, July 6, 2025

You'd think......

 5:41 am - Sunday - July 6th - LPG&RVR - 48° F, humidity 29%, wind ZERO mph out of the southeast......crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 90° F.  On this date in 2013 TLE and I were driving the Kananaskis Highway in Alberta, Canada....



.....with good friends Forest, Cindy, Tom and Darlene.  Beautiful scenery!

Saturday was just as busy as Friday, only a little more so.  In all we rented close to 40 golf carts.  The only times I got away from the cart shack was to move sprinklers occasionally down at the 'Night Office', but that was it.  By the time I gave TLE her lunch break the cart shack was empty.  Usually I'm not that busy during TLE's lunch break, but on Saturday I was as busy as I have ever been.  You'd think this was a busy, urban golf course....lol!

Of course, Saturday was also our weekly putting contest, and on on this Saturday there was also an organized kids putting contest first at 3 pm.  Kind of cool seeing all those kids putting, and having fun.  There were 43 putters in the adult class Saturday, and I managed to get out of the first round by putting well, but in the second round my putting completely failed me and I was out just like that.  I stayed around until almost the very end, but TLE was finished closing the office for the day, and ready to go home so I obliged her.

Sunday we have the annual 'Red, White and Blue' tournament, so Claude and I will be busy marshaling out on the course after I get all of the carts staged.  There will also be regular golfing, so we will most likely put out all of our golf carts again.  With all of the tournament carts returning at almost the same time it will be a busy afternoon washing and stowing golf carts.

After getting home for the dayTLE and I watched the final 90 minutes of Stage One of the Tour de France which was replete with too many crashes, and the first two riders abandoning the race due to injuries less than two hours into the race.  The race began with 184 hopeful riders, and now they are down to 182.

Thanks for stopping by!

Saturday, July 5, 2025

July 4th.....

 5:37 am - Saturday - July 5th - LPG&RVR - 45° F, humidity 38%, wind 1 mph out of the south by southeast.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 83° F.  On this date in 2014 TLE and I were rafting on the Truckee River near Tahoe City, CA.....



.....with our daughters Kate and Sharon, and their future husbands.

We began Friday with 33 golf carts committed to 76 golfers who had reserved Tee Times.  Pretty much every tee time through 1:30 pm was reserved.  I sent out 5 Yamahas gassers to begin the day, before sending out the electrics, hoping to get them back by noon time to wash, and rent again.  We don't rent the electrics twice in a day.  We only have around 30 golf carts right now that can be rented, and have three on the disabled list awaiting parts, plus we sold one of the older ones to one of the members, so when we get as busy as we are right now we have to rent some carts twice.  In the end we sent out 6 carts twice.

I spent most of the day right at the cart barn staging golf carts, but did take time to mow the three large residential lawns up the hill, the parking lot grass, the large grass area at the group fire pit, the tee boxes at #10, and 5, or 6 pull through sites, but that took less than an hour.  Just as I was getting ready to give TLE her lunch break two of the Yamahas came back, so I washed them, and restaged them to be rented.  I love it when a plan comes together.

By the time 3:30 pm came around there were still 14 carts out on the golf course, so I stayed another half hour to get as many washed as I could. I got another 4, or 5 washed in that half hour, so I'll have the rest to wash first thing Saturday, plus I'll have 4 five gallon cans of range balls to wash, dry and pour back into the barrel.  Why, you might ask?  Dave did not clear the range of golf balls Thursday as DeWayne was not going to mow, which is cool, but he neglected to check the barrel in the Clubhouse to see how low our supply was getting....a rookie mistake.  Anyway, he agreed to come down late Friday to clear the range of golf balls, so I could wash them first thing Saturday, and refill the barrel in the Clubhouse.  

Saturday the 2025 version of the Tour de France begins, so I'll be busy before and after work, and on my off days watching for the next 23 days, plus The Open (British Open), the last major of the year, begins on the 17th, so July will be a big sports month.

TLE was home by 5:20 pm....three more days of work to go.  The temp only got to 76° F Friday....that's the first time the temp has been under 90° F on the 4th of July in four seasons here at LPG&RVR.

Thanks for stopping by!

Friday, July 4, 2025

Happy 249th birthday America!

 5:36 am - Friday - July 4th - HAPPY 249th Birthday America!! - LPG&RVR - 52° F, humidity 42%, wind 3 mph out of the south......crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 76° F.  On this date in 2013 TLE and I were in Cochrane, Alberta, Canada having lunch.....



.....at Olive 'R' Twist Bistro & Bar...those sweet potato fries were amazing!

TLE and I were awakened around 4:30 am this morning (July 4th) by the sounds of our course superintendent, Jose Madrigal, spraying for mosquitoes.  How ironic that I devoted a large part of yesterday's post about our mosquito problem.  We should now see a dramatic reduction in the mosquito population for the next couple of weeks.

For the second consecutive day we had late afternoon thunder showers, although not quite as intense as Wednesday evening, the extra moisture will certainly help abate the dust for a few days.  Thursday, being the eve of the 4th, saw a large influx of long weekend revelers pour into LPG&RVR.  This weekend is always a big weekend here, and according to TLE we will need around 33 golf carts on Friday the 4th, so I will be quite busy on our first day back to work. Our 4 day work week perfectly coincides with the long weekend this year, so every day will be busy, I'm sure.

TLE and I both spent quite a bit of time reading Thursday, and that was pretty much my day.  I did a minor amount of weeding towards the end of the day, which was interrupted by the aforementioned thunder showers.  When she was not reading, TLE was preparing meals for the next four days, and putting a couple more loads of wash through the splendid Splendide.  The weather Thursday was actually very nice with a high temp in the low 80's.  For our dinner TLE made her famous burritos, and they were as good as ever.  I like it when she makes burritos, because I know there will also be cold burritos on which to snack over the next couple of days.

And that my friends is it for Thursday.....thanks for stopping by!

Thursday, July 3, 2025

Defensive living.....

 8:01 am - Thursday - July 3rd - LPG&RVR - 65° F, humidity 30%, wind 1 mph out of the south by southwest.....mostly clear, blue skies today with a forecast high of 85° F.  On this date in 2017 TLE and I were driving the 'Grand Loop' in Yellowstone National Park.....




....it was a magical summer!

We haven't been shopping for a couple of weeks, so we decided Wednesday was the day to make the 20 mile round trip drive to Alturas to do just that.  The drive does not have the feel of a 20 mile drive.  There is never very much traffic, often we may see only 2, or 3 vehicles each way, and the scenery is always stunning.  We left home around 9:30 am making stops at Dollar General, Grocery Outlet, and Holiday Market, and were back home before noon time. While TLE put away the groceries I headed out to the 'lido deck' to relax.

The mosquitoes are making their presence known again, and I think it is time for the golf course and RV park to be sprayed again.  Mosquitoes are an issue here at LPG&RVR from about mid June to the end of September, and we have reached that point where we must deploy every anti-mosquito defense we have......

Citronella candles

Mosquito coils....we light them, and they smolder for about 6 hours, and are really quite effective

Of course!  This, for me, is the most effective mosquito repellant I have found

Small Tiki Torches, or as we call them, "smug pots"...a nice addition to our defenses

Mosquito proof dining canopy

....and when the mosquitoes are bad, which they are right now, all of these defenses barely hold them at bay.  For our interior defense we have the 'Katchy'.....


......this handy electrical device catches a lot of mosquitoes, and other small flying insects.....

The one TLE removed 24 hours ago was three times as dense with flying insects

......this adhesive pad shows the results of about 24 hours worth of defense....big mosquitoes, and very small 'no see ums'.  Thankfully we do NOT have this issue at The Wilson Wilderness.....lol!  When you live as close to nature as we do, this can be one of the consequences.  I don't write much about this issue, because what would be the point?  It is what it is, and we have learned to cope.  Once they spray again the problem will recede more into the background.

It was not nearly as warm Wednesday as it was Tuesday prior to the thunder showers, so I was able to relax on the 'lido deck' until nearly 3 pm.  The temp Friday will be 76° F, and that will be the last daily high in the 70's we will see for quite some time....at least for the next 2 weeks.

Thanks for stopping by!

Wednesday, July 2, 2025

Sometimes the 'weather guessers' are right....

 7:17 am - Wednesday - July 2nd - LPG&RVR - 62° F, humidity 37%, wind 1 mph out of the northwest......crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 88° F.  On this date in 2019 I finally set up some shade for our VW Beetle at Ramona Oaks RV Resort near Ramona, CA.....



......we only drove the car once a week into town to shop, but when we did it took all the way to town for the A/C to cool down the car interior.  After this the car was in the shade all afternoon each day.

For our second day off work TLE and I worked around the 'lido deck' watering plants (her), and resecuring the front sun shade on the coach (me), as well as doing some weeding (both of us), otherwise we spent the rest of the morning, and into the early afternoon sitting on the 'lido deck' doing what we do best.....relaxing.  Even though it would get to 90° F it was comfortable on the 'lido deck' until 1 pm, when we finally retreated into the cool confines of the Newell for the balance of the day.

The Weather.com app warned of thunder showers in the afternoon, but we get those warnings almost every day lately, and nothing ever materializes, however, on this day they did, and big time.  We got the whole ball of wax over 2 hours.....loud thunder, bright flashes of lightning, wind, and quite a bit of rain, especially for July 1st.  The temperature plummeted from 90° F to under 67° F in a matter of 30 minutes.  We were able to turn off the A/C before 5 pm, and enjoyed cool zephyrs blowing in the coach windows out of the northwest for the rest of the evening.  We did not see that happening at the beginning of the day.  Sometimes the 'weather guessers' are right. That water proofing we sprayed on the patio and window awnings back at TWW really works well.  The rain water just slides off the fabric onto the ground, and the area under the patio awning stays pretty dry now.

Temperatures will return to normal Wednesday, but by Friday they should be down to 78° F for a day, or so, then back into the 90's through the 16th.  Hard to believe we've already been back 2 months, and have just 3 to go before we head south again for another winter at TWW.  Oh, I did take a picture of the new solar powered LED light we installed in the dining canopy....


....after dark.  I am surprised at how much light it provides.  You will recall we hung our Edison bulb string lights inside last year's dining canopy, which meant we had to run an electrical cord out to the dining canopy to power them. It was not much brighter than this, and it is all solar powered.

Thanks for stopping by!