Nine more.....

6:11 am - Friday - June 30th - LPG&RVR - 50° F, 62% humidity, wind 2 mph out of the southeast......crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 91° F.  On this date in 2015 we were celebrating 'Happy Hour' with great co-workers at Tahoe Valley Campground....miss these people, but not the drama of the ownership.....↴ 

Thursday the temperature edged up to 85° F.  There were no heaters employed...the first time in 3 weeks, but I am sure the next few weeks will be the same.  Whatever chill there may be in the Newell interior will be preserved by closing the windows when we get up each day.  Soon I'll be turning on the A/C at lunch time, and it will still be on when we get off work.  We've had almost 3 months of pretty pleasant temperatures, but summer has come, and there is no delaying it anymore.  There is, however, still snow visible on Eagle Mountain, so whoever picked a July date for its disappearance may be more prescient than we imagined.....lol.

For the first time we sat on the 'lido deck' mid morning drinking coffee, and were grateful one more time for parking our Newell with the driver side to the rising sun this year giving us total shade on the 'lido deck' in the morning.  I took a bike ride around the perimeter on my Haibike SDURO, and was just a few seconds off m record ride on Monday.  My back was a little stiff in the morning, but I did my stretching exercises and it loosened right up....not bad after playing 27 holes of golf the past three days.

We had a date with friends Duke and Cindy (members) to play another 9 holes at 3 pm.  It was the first time, other than the two tournaments I've played in the past 12 months, I've played golf with anyone but TLE.  The magic of Monday has dissipated, but I hit 9 good drives.  My chipping and putting were also good, but my short irons, and fairway woods deserted me.  I didn't keep score, but I'm pretty sure I broke 100.  We had a great time with Duke and Cindy laughing, and telling stories, and were home by 5:30 pm promising each other we'll do it again.

When we were in Alturas doing our weekly shopping we bought a beautiful London Broil to grill Thursday night, so around 6:15 pm I lit the Sea-B-Que, and by 6:30 pm I was grilling it to perfection.  It took about 21 minutes to get it to a perfect medium rare (125° F)......

.....TLE added a side of roasted garlic potatoes and sweet potatoes.......perfect dinner, and a perfect way to end our four day weekend.  Now it's off to toil in the fields of LPG&RVR for another 4 days.

Thanks for stopping by!

Last of the 70's....

8:02 am - Thursday - June 29th - LPG&RVR - 61° F, humidity 54%, wind 0 mph out of the northeast.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 85° F.  On this date in 2013 we were overnighting in Sheridan, WY with good friends who also own Newells, on our way to Alberta, Canada.......↴

Left to right: Our 1982 Newell, Forest and Cindy's 1998 Newell, and Tom and Darlene's 2002 Newell

Going left to right around the table: Cindy, Forest, Tom, Darlene, TLE....I took the picture

....we traveled together for about a month.

You can feel the warmth in the air increasing each day this week as we head into the 4th of July weekend here at LPG&RVR.  The high for Wednesday was only 79° F, but it is to be the last day boasting a sub 80° temperature for a long time.  It still cools off quickly after 5 pm, which is one of the benefits of living at 4,500' above sea level.

TLE and I slept in until almost 8 am Wednesday, which is typical for the 3rd day of our four day weekend.  Each day we sleep in a little longer, and you probably notice that the time of day I post when I begin typing my blog gets later and later each day until we begin our next 4 day work week, when it will be consistently around 6:15 am each of the four days.  It is so quiet here in the mornings making it easy to get up later and later.

For the first time this year I headed out to play golf for a second time during our four day weekend.  We left the Newell around 10:45 am, and  by 11 am I was teeing off at the 10th tee.  My good play from Monday carried over to the 10th and 11th holes where I posted bogeys on each hole.  Then came the 12th, 13th, and 14th holes where I hit very good drives....some of my best, but then flubbed the 2nd, and third shots badly.  I wasn't writing down my scores, but I'm sure there were a couple of triple bogeys, and one double bogey in that three hole stretch.  Then came the 15th tee which boasts a 90° dog leg to the right.  Most people try to cut the corner, shortening the hole, which I also do, but usually fail to keep the ball in the fairway.  This time I decided to use my 4 iron to tee off, and hit a nice 150 yard shot straight over the corner, and ended up in the middle of the fairway just 70 yards from the hole.  I hit a nice pitching wedge to within 10 feet of the hole, then sank my first putt for a birdie.....my first birdie this year.

Next up is my favorite hole on the golf course, the par 3 16th which boasts an elevated tee box, some 80+ feet above the green elevation.  For the first time this year I managed to hit my 7 iron pin high about 14 feet from the hole, and two putted for my first par on this hole this year.  I hit good drives on the 17th and 18th holes, and managed to bogey each hole.  So, for 6 of the 9 holes I was just 3 over par, and for the other three I was 8 over par.  A positive takeaway for me was that I was able to self correct my swing, after those 3 bad holes, and finished strong.

We haven't BBQ'd in a while so TLE suggested we grill one of our filet mignons for dinner.  The evening weather was so nice we sat on the viewing deck until 6pm, before I lit the Sea-B-Que to grill the filets.  We decided to eat outside on lower deck, and after a delightful dinner filled with conversation we decided to extend our outdoor time and play another game of 'Phase 10'.  TLE is usually my better in this game, and she won handily, but it didn't matter to me.  The night was magical, and just being outdoors with my wife enjoying a romantic evening was reward enough.  Another day lived well!

Thanks for stopping by!

Summer is here......

7:58 am - Wednesday - June 28th - LPG&RVR - 56° F, 61% humidity, wind - mph out of the north....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 79° F.  This will be our last day of 70's temps for the foreseeable future....summer temps are here to stay, apparently...

.....and on this date in 2020 TLE and I were in Keystone, SD experiencing our first significant hail storm......we were hit with golf ball size hail for about 10 minutes....no damage to the Newell, but a tail light on the VW was cracked.....↴

After a very busy Monday TLE and I scaled back our ambitions Wednesday, and just settled for a leisurely trip to Alturas for our weekly shopping foray.  Our VW registration is due 7/22 so our first stop was at the Alturas DMV, where you can walk right up to a window, and take care of your business with no appointments, no waiting....we paid the $148 tab for our 2023-24 tag, and were back in the VW within 5 minutes.  

We haven't done any 'junking' for a few weeks so we paid visits to our two favorite local thrift shops, and spent about an hour in all browsing.  TLE found nothing without which she could not continue living, but I found an oversized Phillips head screw driver I wanted.  I thought it might cost $2-3 dollars, but the owner charged me just 25¢....I'd be stupid not to buy it for that, right?

After a quick stop at ACE Hardware to pickup a few things (gallon of Acetone, a refill for our butane lighters, and new portable fireplace grate) we were on our way.  Of course, you might be wondering 'why a GALLON of Acetone?'.  Well, on our next four day weekend, which begins July 4th we are going to remove the 10 year old vinyl plank flooring in the Newell, and finally install the new vinyl planking we bought at the Lowe's in El Centro this past winter.  The Acetone is to clean the linoleum moisture barrier over which the new vinyl planks will be installed.  The old planks will leave a sticky mess, and we want the new planks to have a fresh surface on which to adhere.......

New fireplace grate

....next up was Rite Aid where TLE bought some emory boards, and some new toenail clippers.  They have a Thrifty Ice Cream parlor in Rite Aid, and we've never availed ourselves of its ice cream, so we got a couple of scoops of Black Cherry ice cream....haven't had ice cream in months.

Our final stop was at Holiday Market where TLE bought mostly produce....they have the best produce!  After that stop we began the 20 mile drive back to LPG&RVR arriving home without incident around 1:30 pm.  While TLE put away the groceries I did some weeding around the edges of our site, and around the edges of our grass.

Around 3 pm TLE and I drove our golf cart over to the Clubhouse to work on our putting game for about 90 minutes.  I recently bought her a new to her (pre-owned) putter off eBay for about $29....it is a mallet style putter with a short shaft, and medium size grip....

Slazenger #4 mallet style putter, 33.5" long

.....she took an immediate liking to it, and frankly, she is putting much more consistently.  She does want to find a new grip that is not as big in diameter, so the search is on, but for now she really seems to like it.

We didn't get home until just before 5 pm at which time TLE began to prepare dinner, and I went outside to the 'viewing deck' to smoke a cigar and drink some iced coffee....

.....by the time TLE announced 'dinner is served' the evening had become quite pleasant with no mosquitoes, and no wind, so after dinner we adjourned to the 'lower deck' to play 5 spirited games of Backgammon....

.....TLE won the first game with double 4's on her final throw to beat me by one stone, but I recovered in the second game.  She won the 3rd game, and I the fourth, so it came down to the 5th, and tie breaking game, which went back and forth, but had me as the victor in the end.  If you look deep into the background of the above picture you can see what looks like rain over Eagle Mountain, and a close up (below) shows that it was raining quite hard over there......

....I sat outside finishing another cigar wondering if that rain would reach us, but it never did.  I love being able see rain so far away (15-20 miles.....not sure), and watch it move across the valley.  Tuesday was a laid back day off for us, and another day well lived.

Thanks for stopping by!

Eighty-seven.....

 7:57 am - Tuesday - June 27th -LPG&RVR - 54° F, humidity 76%, wind 1 mph out of the west by northwest......partly cloudy today with a forecast high of 76° F.  On this date in 2013 TLE and I visited Mt. Rushmore in Keystone, SD for the first time.....↴

I had ambitious plans for Monday, and somehow I managed to do everything I planned on doing, plus something I hadn't planned on doing.  First up I needed to finish cleaning about 100+ golf balls I had retrieved from the driving range that were NOT driving range balls.  Apparently someone had emptied their golf bag of unwanted balls, and used them on the range....not a problem....we love free golf balls....lol!  As we find golf balls customers have lost around the course, or donated to our driving range, we clean them, and sell them in the Pro-shop for about $1 each.  At any rate, I finished that task around 9 am, drove them over to the 'Caddie Shack' and dumped them in the resale barrel.

Next up was to take a bike ride around the perimeter of the golf course, which I haven't done in a couple of weeks.  I had no expectations as far as speed, but within a couple of minutes I realized I was feeling pretty strong, and pushing tall gears at a pretty good pace, so I doubled down and pushed myself to see if I could break my prior record of 23 minutes, 23 seconds, and what do you know?  I did.....my new personal best for the 4.2 mile circuit is now 22 minutes 51 seconds.....32 seconds faster.

Once I had cooled down from the ride I took a shower, then got dressed to play at least 9 holes of golf....maybe 18 if I was playing well, and my back felt good.  TLE and I putted for awhile on the practice green, then I hit about 20 chips.  Once I felt I had my chipping stroke down we headed out to the first hole.  I haven't played the front 9 since the Likely Fire Department tournament.  My goal every time I play is to play bogey golf....that's no more than 1 over par per hole.  If I manage that I can shoot a 90, which I haven't done in over 30 years.  Statistics show that 80% of recreational golfers never break 100 so to shoot a 90, for me anyway, is a nice aspiration.

After three holes I was only 2 over par....I managed to par the 2nd hole.  On the fourth hole, which is a longish par 5 I managed a double bogey, so I was exactly 4 over par after 4 holes.  I bogeyed the par 3 fifth hole, and had a triple bogey on the 625 yard par 5 sixth hole....I hit two bad fairway woods in a row.  Anyway, now I needed to par at least two of the remaining 3 holes to get my 45 for the front 9.  I managed to par the par 4 seventh hole, and bogeyed the 8th hole, so I needed a par on the 9th hole to get back to bogey golf.  I hit a great drive on the 9th hole to within 70 yards of the hole, then hit a very good pitching wedge to within 14 feet of the hole, then two putted to get my par, and the much sought after 45!

I still wasn't sure if I was going to play the back 9 as we drove back to the Clubhouse to have lunch, but as we ate our food I decided my back felt good, and I was kind of on a 'high' after shooting bogey golf for the front 9.  TLE was finished with riding in the golf cart....her allergies were beginning to kick in, so I dropped her off at the Newell, and headed for the 10th tee.  I hit a good drive on #10, but muffed my first fairway wood, and 2nd, but hit a good third to within a foot of the green on the left side, so I was lying 4.  I hit a great chip, and just missed my first putt, so I posted triple bogey on the 10th....not an auspicious beginning.   I managed to bogey the 11th, then parred the 12th, parred the 13th, and bogeyed the 14th, parred the 15th, bogeyed the 16th.  So, two holes left and I've got a chance to break 45 on the back 9 and post my first under 90 score since I was 36 years old if I can par them. 

I hit a great drive on the par five 17th hole, and two subsequent fairway woods to find myself on the green in 3.....I two putted for my par 5, then drove over to the 18th and final hole.  I hit my drive to within 60 yards of the hole, and then hit a great pitching wedge to within 8 feet of the hole, two putted, and got my par.....3 pars in the final 4 holes....WOW!  My score for the back 9 was 42, and that combined with my 45 on the front 9 got me in at 87....my best 18 hole score ever in my life!  That was the thing I had not planned on doing Monday....lol!

After finishing my round I cooled down on the practice green before heading for home to give TLE the great news.  Monday was the first time I've kept score in decades, and I am so glad I did.  

TLE and I sat out on the 'viewing deck' until almost 7 pm when dark clouds on the northwestern horizon began to move toward us.  We could feel the air temperature begin to plummet, so we took that as a sign to head inside.  Within minutes we began to see lightning flashes, followed quickly by extremely loud thunder, and then rain.  I continued raining for about two hours, never hard, but always steady....that was not expected.  We ended our day by watching a couple more episodes of 'Touch of Frost' on BritBox, and then headed off to dreamland.

Thanks for stopping by!

Community....

6:56 am - Monday - June 26th - LPG&RVR - 46° F, 83% humidity, wind 0 mph out of the west by northwest.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 72° F.  On this date in 2017 TLE and I were at Yellowstone National Park where we took a hike, had Elk sliders at the Roosevelt Lodge, saw a petrified tree, saw the Yellowstone and Gardiner Rivers, and saw a glacial boulder left over from the ice age.......↴ 

Gardiner River

Petrified tree

Glacial boulder

Hiking

Yellowstone River

.....other than that it was kind of a slow day.....lol!

Our 4 day work weeks seem to go by quickly.   I mean it seems we have just finished day one, and suddenly it's 5 pm on the fourth day.  I never find myself thinking "I wish it was Friday" like I did in my former workaday life.  Our jobs here at LPG&RVR are interesting, and varied.  We both get to talk with interesting people all day long while doing our jobs.  TLE and I have a good working relationship, and while her job rarely crosses over to mine, I do sit in for her for one hour each day in the office while she takes her lunch.  I've become pretty adept at working the credit card scanner, and cash register, and rarely make mistakes anymore.  The customers know me now, and accept my limitations, and by that I mean they know I don't take reservations, cancel reservations, or apply money to RV site balances.  I can check to verify they have a reservation, and check them into the park, but that is where my expertise ends on the campground management software.

What I do each day outside is up to me except for Mondays and Thursdays when I must have the driving range cleared of balls before noon time, but otherwise I choose what I will do each day.  Walt, my counterpart, and I talk with each other before we begin our respective 4 day work weeks so I know what he has done, and he knows what I have done.  Walt does more mowing within the confines of the RV park, but I do all of the golf course mowing (tee boxes, and other large areas of grass the big mowers cannot reach), so it balances out.  I like doing the mowing I do, because I don't have to empty the bags in the grass catcher any more than I have to.  The biggest plus for me is I love being outside, and that is where I am all day except for the hour I'm giving TLE her lunch break.

All that being said, Sunday was more of a laid back day for me....no mowing of any kind.  I spent more time wearing my 'Course Marshal' hat than anything else.  As I make my multiple rounds of the course I stop and talk with customers, many of whom I now know by name....

Left to right: Terri, Mike and Greg putting on hole #5 (par 3).  Greg and Terri have been members here for 10 years, and drive up from Reno every Friday to stay in their onsite 5th wheel, and play a lot of  golf.  Mike and his wife Debbie have a park model in the permanent resident section, but spend the winter in their 5th wheel down in Parker, AZ....they are just a few of the people we have become close with....there is also DeWayne, Mike and Lynn, Fritz and Joan, Dennis and Kelli, John and Wendy, Rich and Patrice, Gene and Becky, Bernard and Julia, Duke and Cindy, Rich and Kathie, Walt and Theresa, and Miracle Bob....lol.....a wonderful 'small town' community....just the kind of community for which we have been searching.

.....a number of our regular customers have either RV's, actual houses, or Park Models up in the permanent resident section.  They pay $250 per month year round (plus electric) for the right to have a permanent site, and another $850/year (per couple) to be members.  If you work here, you have the same privileges as a member.  A member can play as many rounds of golf per day as they wish, and have the right to use one of our golf carts, however, most of them have their own golf carts.  Many of them drive in from Reno, Redding,  Susanville,  Klamath Falls (Oregon), or Lakeview (Oregon) to spend the weekend each week.  It is a nice little community, and they have accepted TLE and I as part of their community.  We've actually gotten our names on the waiting list for one of the future permanent sites, which were recently staked out, so hopefully in the next year, or so we'll get one, too.

We rented out 19 golf carts Sunday, and I had them all washed and put away by 5 pm.  The cart path beginning at employee site 51, which leads to holes 9 and 18 needed to be dragged again, so I took care of that just before I gave TLE her lunch break.

As I sit here at my laptop composing today's missive I feel blessed to have found this place.....we both do.  We've been asked too many times to count what our future plans are as we age, and for years we didn't know, but this year when we arrived back at LPG&RVR I told TLE it felt like we were finally home, and she agreed.  There have been many places we have visited over the years that we have liked, and have returned to often, but none of them has felt like home until we arrived here last year.  When we asked Dennis to put our names on the waiting list he replied "You've both got jobs here for as long as you want", which felt good to hear, and only served to confirm what we've both been feeling for a while now.  To be clear, we would not be spending the winter here....lol.  One winter at the Grand Canyon cured me of living with snow on the ground, and temps in the single digits...we'll still head south each winter.

Thanks for stopping by!

So close once again......

6:11 am - Sunday - June 25th - LPG&RVR - 45°F, humidity 85%, wind 1 mph out of the northwest......partly cloudy today with a chance of thunder showers this afternoon......forecast high for today is 73° F.  On this date in 2020 TLE and I arrived in Keystone, SD with Mt. Rushmore in the background.......↴

With the weekly putting contest lurking at the end of Saturday I began my workday at 7:20 am, took a 10 minute lunch, and was off work by 3:30 pm, in time to take a shower and return to take part in said contest, but I get slightly ahead of myself.

I only had 4 golf carts left over from Friday to wash, and stage for another busy day at LPG&RVR.  The tee time sheet was not quite as full as Thursday and Friday's were, but there was a need to stage at least 20 golf carts.  Once I had washed the four holdovers, and staged the 20 carts I headed out to make my initial round of the course.  There were no goose/duck leavings anywhere in the #3 tee box area, in fact, there have been no goose leavings in about 10 days....just ducks, so I believe the geese have headed north as is their instinctual habit.

Upon my return to the Clubhouse I hopped on the small Husqvarna to finish mowing around tee boxes 3, 15, 16, 17 and 18.  I was back by 11 am, and promptly exchanged the small Husqvarna for the larger 3 bag Husqvarna and mowed the parking lot grass, the small Pavilion grass, and two, by request, pull through sites.  The folks in sites 21, and 24 have been here for a couple of weeks, and we normally do not mow grass when sites are occupied, unless requested.  I finished just in time to give TLE her 1 hour lunch break.  Upon her return I headed home to get a quick bite to eat, and was back on the job in 10 minutes.  I needed to make another round of the course to see how play was progressing, and found no issues.  By then time I returned there were about 8 carts ready to be washed, and put away.  

Right in the middle of washing the 8th cart TLE called to advise one of our carts had broken down out on fairway #6, right across from hole #16, so I grabbed one of the older Club Car carts, and a tow bar we use to tow disabled carts and headed out hoping it was something minor, but it was not.  I decided to give the customers my running cart, then called Dennis (owner) asking him to bring out another older Club Car to tow me in.  He arrived in about 10 minutes, and we were back at the Clubhouse in less than 15 minutes.  By this time it was after 3 pm, and almost time for me to clock out for the day, take a shower, and return by 4 pm for the weekly putting contest.

Once again I putted very well, and once again I got within one round of playing in the final.  In my 7th round I was tied with my opponent after 5 holes, so we had a one hole putt off.....one putt, closest to the hole.  I made a pretty good putt, but my opponent was about 12 inches closer to the hole.  Still, all in all, I was very happy with my consistency.   We were about 15 minutes into the contest when we saw lightning, then heard thunder, followed by a torrential downpour, which lasted abou5 15 minutes......

Rain delay

Play has resumed

.....in the end, the person I lost the one hole playoff to won the contest, so that makes me feel pretty good.  I am so close to winning I can taste it.

TLE and I didn't get home until 6:30 pm to find the power was out, so I pulled out our Honda 2000 generator to power up the coach so TLE could make dinner while I dumped our black tank for the first time in 10 days.  Within 15 minutes the power had returned, the tank was dumped, the generator got exercised, and dinner was ready.  About 9 pm it began to rain hard again, but it was done in 30 minutes, just before we went to bed.

Thanks for stopping by!

38

 6:16 am - Saturday - June 24th - LPG&RVR - 41° F, humidity 75%, wind 0 mph out o fthe north......partly cloudy today with a forecast high of 76° F.  On this date in 2018 TLE and I were at Jordan Pond (Bar Harbor, ME) having coffee and popovers....cloudy, but beautiful...↴

If I thought Thursday was some kind of record day I was wrong....Friday was a record day.  We sent out 38 golf carts, and 5 of those were out for the second time.  With so many people on the course I needed to put on my 'marshal' hat making numerous rounds of the course to be sure there were no bottlenecks.  There were a coupe of places where players were waiting, but I talked with them, and they were not concerned.  They were just enjoying the view, and the course, and waiting a little bit was no issue.

First thing up was to finish washing the golf balls left over from Thursday, which was 80% of them.  I finally dumped the mostly dry balls back in the 55 gallon trash can around 9 am before heading out to make my initial round of the course.   Upon return I needed to mow the tee boxes for which I am responsible, so I began with the 10th and 11th holes, beginning at the back of hole #11 to mow the grass the larger mowers cannot reach, then worked my way back to the tee boxes at #10, and then mowed the grass on both sides of the cart path which takes one to either the 1st, or 10th tee boxes.  

By the time I finished mowing the grass along the cart path it was time to stage more golf carts, and by 11:30 am every cart in the cart shed had been staged, with most of them already rented.  We had demand at that point, based on the tee time sheet, for 8 more carts than we have on hand, so as carts from the early rounds were being returned I was washing them quickly, and putting them back on the line to be rented a second time.  We managed to just keep ahead of the demand, but it necessitated me working straight through until 1:30 pm before I could give TLE a break.  TLE and I each took just 30 minute lunches, and were back at it again.  

The Café was busy from 8 am until well after 3 pm, its normal closing time.  I worked steadily at washing carts, and putting them away, until after 5 pm, but ended up with only 4 carts still unreturned at 5 pm.  I quit working a little after 5 pm after hitting the 9 hour mark, and practiced putting until TLE was finished counting down her cash drawer (cash and credit card receipts) at 5:30 pm.  We both worked hard at our differing tasks all day.  We're both interested in seeing how busy Saturday will be.  The park is full, and there are zero sites available for those arriving without reservations.

Thanks for stopping by!

A doozie.....

6:14 am - Friday - June 23rd - LPG&RVR - 43° F, humidity 66%, wind 2 mph out of the southwest.....partly cloudy skies today with a forecast high of 72° F.  On this date in 2020 TLE and I were visiting Devil's Tower.....the view from our campsite.....↴ 

I glanced at the tee time sheet in the Clubhouse office and counted the need for at least 20 golf carts Thursday morning....we ended up renting over 30 for the day....the entire cart shed was empty.  The same thing happened Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.  We didn't empty the cart shed until the 4th of July weekend last year so we are definitely getting busy earlier this year than last.  After staging 20 golf carts (all 5 of the Club Car electrics, and all 15 of the Yamaha gassers) I headed out to make my first round of the golf course.  

Only one of the four tee boxes at the 3rd hole had duck/goose leavings, and it wasn't that bad.  I ended up needing to rake just 2 of the 4 sand traps, but I'll need to do some weeding Friday, or Saturday.  I was back at the Clubhouse by 9 am with an hour to kill before I could begin to clear the driving range of balls for its twice weekly mowing.  I still had 4 carts left over from Wednesday to wash, and it was clear I would need to stage more carts as the first 20 were almost gone.  By the time I finished washing the 4 carts, and staged another 10 it was after 10 am, so I headed out to the driving range.

It took me over an hour to clear the balls from the edges of the range, plus balls that had gone into the trees, and brush on both sides.  I ended up with almost 5 gallons of balls....that is a first for a Thursday.  Of course the 55 gallon barrel was empty, so that no surprise, I guess.  Next up I hooked the ball retrieval machine to the front of the #5 Club Car and began roaming up and down the range. I didn't finish until just before 12:30 pm....wow, 2.5 hours to clear the range....that is also a first for a Thursday. All six baskets were completely full of balls, so that was the equivalent of another six 5 gallon buckets of balls.....so 10.5 five gallon buckets of balls to clean....another first for a Thursday.

After giving TLE her lunch break, and then taking mine I headed back to Clubhouse to find 10 golf carts already returned, and the 10.5 gallons of golf balls to wash.  I only had two hours left in my 8 hour day, and I was pretty sure I was not going to get all of those balls and carts washed.  Getting as many carts washed as possible is the priority, so I began with them.  Every time I'd get 4 washed, another four would arrive.  By 4:40 pm I still had 8 carts left to wash, and I needed to get at least 10 gallons of balls washed to put in the barrel for Friday morning, so I worked another 1/2 hour getting that done before calling it a day, so I worked a 1/2 hour of overtime, and still have 8.5 gallons of balls to wash, and 8 golf carts when I report for work on Friday morning.

TLE did 'land office' business in the Clubhouse office, also, and did not get home until 5:30 pm, while I was in the shower.  We didn't eat until almost 6:30 pm, at which time I took a much needed nap.  Thursday was a doozie of a day, and now we are entering the weekend, which most assuredly will be even busier.  I can see a scenario where we send out well over 30 carts, with some of the Yamaha gassers going out twice.  Time to get ready for Friday's onslaught.

Thanks for stopping by!

Reorganizing....

6:10 am - Thursday - June 22nd - LPG&RVR - 41° F, humidity 48%, wind 1 mph out of the east by northeast.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 74° F.  On this date in 2014 TLE and I were in South Lake Tahoe making breakfast on the 'lido deck' and watching the Women's World Cup......↴

Wednesday was the fourth day of our long weekend before returning to work on Thursday (Thursday through Sunday this week), so we slept in until after 7:30 am.  It was quite cold overnight, and remained that way until almost noon.  When I went out to the trailer to box up a new stereo system I had bought for the trailer I had to turn the heater on for the first time in weeks.

The stereo I have in the trailer right now is an old TEAC wall mounted stereo I bought back around 2004.  It was pretty nice for the day boasting a CD player, and a separate sub-woofer.  The CD player ceased functioning years ago, and now one of the wall speakers has a rattle in it, so I thought it was time to update it.  The one I was boxing up was made by Jensen, and cost around $65.  I was immediately disappointed in the quality of the sound, so decided to return it and continue my search.....apparently $60 does not buy good sound these days.  Even in its declining state the TEAC is still 4 times better than this new one.

Once that was done I headed over to the Clubhouse in cart #20 to pick up my golf clubs, all the putters I own, and the two boxes of balls I've found around the golf course since the beginning of last season.  I needed to go through all the pockets on my golf bag, which are full of golf tees, as well as many other balls I've found, and bought, plus I needed to reorganize how I have the clubs in the bag to make them more accessible.  I had come to the conclusion I had them in the bag in a way that made it hard to see the numbers on the irons, as well as extract them when I needed them.  I had never cleaned any of the balls I've found over the last 12+ months to I used the ball washer on the cart to do so.....I think there were over 100 balls cleaned.  The manufacturer names are all over the spectrum.....Titleist, Callaway, MaxFli, Wilson, Spaulding, Vice, Cut, Srixon, Bridgestone, Taylor Made, etc., but most of them are Titleist, and Callway, so I put all the Titleist and Callaway balls back in my bag, and put the rest in a couple of small boxes to save for a rainy day.  I had a couple hundred golf tees, so I got rid of most of them, and just kept the plastic ones, as they are more durable.  By the time I finished all of that it was almost 1 pm, but I was happy with my reorganizing results.

TLE and I headed over to the putting treen around 3 pm to practice, then played several putting games before the mosquitoes convinced us we had gone as far as we could.  By the end TLE was putting pretty well, and tied me a couple of times.  Now that we are officially in summer they, the mosquitoes, have gotten exponentially worse.  Apparently it was a good day for the golf course as every single golf cart was rented....that's over 30!  Not bad for a Wednesday.  From the looks of the driving range Thursday will be a major ball retrieval day for moi.  The barrel is almost empty, so that means around 1500 range galls are out there for the picking, and washing Thursday.

TLE made biscuits and gravy for dinner....I love breakfast for dinner.  She has gotten really good at biscuits and gravy, and I think we're getting close to restaurant quality here.  We watched another episode of 'Touch of Frost' on BritBox, and were in bed by 9:30 pm.

Thanks for stopping by!

A promise made, a promise kept.....

7:43 am - Wednesday - June 21st - LPG&RVR - 45° F, humidity 49%, wind 1 mph out o f the northeast.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies (finally) today with a forecast high of 71° F.  Today is the summer equinox, which means this day will have more daylight time than any other day before or after....sunrise 5:28 am, and sundown at 8:38 pm...so 15 hours and 10 seconds of daylight.  On this date in 2012 TLE and I were at Manito Taphouse in Spokane, WA drinking a coupe of pints of Steelhead Extra Stout......↴

Just shy of a month ago I picked up my repaired Nixon Chronograph from Holiday Jewelers in Klamath Falls, OR, and dropped off a ring to be resized, repaired, and cleaned.  The ring was my Grandfather's (Brian - on my mom's side) wedding ring, which my Grandmother (Cornelia) gave to me 17 years ago under the condition that I would wear it, and keep his memory alive.  When TLE and I got married it was a single ring ceremony, so I had never had a wedding ring.  I agreed, and wore it for a number of years before it became too tight to put on, or take off my ring finger, so I stopped wearing it, but with the intent of getting it resized.  Years passed, but there was always that little voice in the back of my mind reminding me of my promise.  At any rate when we got home from Klamath Falls over three weeks after dropping of my watch for repair I asked TLE to put the ring in her purse so we would not forget to take it with us when we returned to pickup my watch.  Fast forward to this past Thursday....I received a call from Holiday Jewelers advising the ring was ready for pickup, so TLE and I decided Tuesday would be the day we would drive back to Klamath Falls to pickup the ring.  It was supposed to rain on and off all day Monday, which it did, making our decision a good one.

We left home a tad after 9 am to make the 114 one way drive to Klamath Falls stopping off briefly in Alturas to fill our fuel tank....it was down to 1/4 tank, and there are no fuel stations between Alturas and Tulelake, which is about 30 miles from Klamath.  It was a very chilly day with the forecast high only being 58° F.  We did arrive in Klamath Falls around 11:15 am without event.  Our first stop, of course was to pickup the aforementioned ring at Holiday Jewelers.  The ring has three small diamonds, each held in place by prongs, or as they call them Mellee Tips.  Four of the tips had broken, or come lose so they they had to be replaced.  The ring was originally a size 10, which fit me for years, but had to be resized to a 12.75 in order to fit over my knuckle, and be easily removed.  I think all this outdoor living, and working the past 12 years must have enlarged my fingers quite a bit....lol.  When the lady removed the protective wrapping on the ring I was stunned at how beautiful it is....I've never had it cleaned in all these years.....

.....so, once again, I am able to honor my promise to my Grandmother Cornelia and wear Brian's wedding ring to honor his memory.

By the time we finished with our business with Holiday Jewelers it was well after lunch time, so TLE looked up local restaurants and found Nibbley's Café and Bakery which Yelp gives 4.5 stars on 414 reviews....that's pretty impressive, and so is the restaurant.  It was under 60° F, so we were a little concerned about sitting outside, but they have this wonderful, enclosed alfresco dining area on which we could not pass, so we retrieved out jackets from the VW and sat outside for lunch.....a good decision.....

....we both ordered coffee, while TLE ordered their Hot Pastrami sandwich with sweet potato fries, and I their BLAT with criss cut fries......delicious.....

....it took a while to get the food, as the restaurant was very busy for a Tuesday, but we are never in a hurry when there is good food to be had, and the wait was well worth it.

Our next stop was Fred Meyers where TLE did a small shopping, not involving any produce....there is always that pesky California border checkpoint where the only question they ask you is do you have any produce.  By the time we were finished shopping it was almost 2 pm, and we knew we would not be home until after 4 pm.

The drive back to Alturas was uneventful....we stopped off at Holiday Market to get some produce, and then at ACE Hardware to pickup a new light switch plate (dark brown) to replace one in the Newell kitchen, which had cracked, and were home with our spoils around 4:20 pm.  While TLE put away the groceries I did a little weeding around the 'lower deck' (picnic table), and then, with TLE"s help moved the picnic table so I could sweep dirt, and gravel off the artificial turf.  I was still not ready to be inside for the day, so we moved over to the 'viewing deck' with our adult beverages and enjoyed the early evening views.  We didn't retreat inside until the mosquitoes convinced us otherwise......the time....7:30 pm, and the sun was over an hour away from setting!

Happy Summer Solstice, and thanks for stopping by!

Sometimes 'they' are right.....

7:11 am - Tuesday - June 20th - LPG&RVR - 35° F, humidity 76%, wind 2 mph out of the north by northwest....partly cloudy today with a forecast high of 60° F.  On this date in 2022 TLE and I were at Surprise Valley Hot Springs near Cedarville, CA.....just over the Warner Mountains from LPG&RVR......↴

Monday was forecast to be a cold (52° F) day with rain on and off throughout the day, and into the night, and that, my friends, is exactly what we got.  During those times when the rain would adjourn for a while we would venture outdoors to work on a couple of projects.  

The first project needing our attention was fixing the sun shade, which had been damaged in multiple wind events recently.  The main damage was to the end that attaches to the roller on our patio awning via snaps.  Three  of the snaps had torn out of the fabric, so we needed to take it down, take it into the trailer, and setup TLE's Brother sewing machine so she would restitch the hem, and then repair the three holes left by the torn out snaps.  After that I would install new snaps to replace the missing ones.  The process took less than 45 minutes, and just as I was snapping it back to the patio awning roller it began to sprinkle once again.....good timing.

The next interval I tackled a job repairing the place where the door latch for the trailer door is mounted.  When I am in the trailer, and it is not windy, or raining this latch holds the door open.  As with the sun shade a recent wind event (I shouldn't have had the door open) caused the aluminum skin to which the door latch was affixed to tear, and the screws to be torn out of the skin.  I always keep a piece, or two of flat aluminum sheeting for repairs such as this, and I had a piece left over from another project that was the perfect size.  I began by removing the two screws which were not completely torn out, and then using my metal dollies pounded the torn aluminum flat again.  I then placed the square piece of flat aluminum behind the tear, drilled one hole, then using my snap rivet gun installed a rivet, then drilled another hole, and repeated that process several times until I had 6 rivets holding everything in place.  I next redrilled the four holes used to affix the door latch in place, then using 4 stainless steel bolts reinstalled the door latch.....

....it came out pretty nicely if I do say so myself.  Once again, just as I was tightening down the final bolt it began to sprinkle again....good timing, again..

Once it began to rain again there were few, if any interruptions in the rain the rest of the day.  Sometimes the rain would turn to hail.....very tiny hail...

.....I spent the afternoon catching up on some of the YouTube channels I follow interspersed with a couple of naps....a nice way to spend a rainy, drizzly, cold Monday afternoon.

TLE made a great Cajun sausage soup for dinner, and we spent time watching a new to us BritBox series called 'A Touch of Frost'....another murder/suspense series.  We watched the first two episodes, and have decided we like it.  As we headed off to slumberland we could hear the rain's pitter patter upon our riveted, aircraft aluminum roof....sometimes the weathers are right.

Thanks for stopping by!