The end.....

 7:49 am - Saturday - September 30th - LPG&RVR - 46° F, 88% humidity, wind 3 mph out of the north by northwest......heavy cloud cover, and raining......forecast high is 49° F.....rained steadily all night.  On this date in 2018 TLE and I were having lunch at O'Brien's in Newport, Rhode Island.....↴

We had frost upon the greens for the second day in a row, so the beginning of the golfing day was delayed until 9:30 am.  I staged 8 carts initially, but by the end of the day we had rented 16.  I'm sure the forecast of rain for most of Saturday influenced some to come out and play Friday.

On my first round around the course I raked the 18th hole sand trap for the final time this season.  Again, it is looking the best it has looked all season....completely weed free....

...the day began with mostly clear skies, but as it progressed the expected cloud cover arrived....

.....I mowed the employee sites for the final time this season, as well as the parking lot grass, and the large grass area by the group fire pit, then four, or five of the pull through sites before I headed back to the Clubhouse to begin washing, and stowing carts around 3:30 pm.  By 5 pm all 16 carts had been returned, washed, and stowed.  And thus comes to an end of my regular 4 day work weeks.  I will have just two days off work and then beginning Monday I will work 5 days in a row helping 'punch' the greens.  No more staging, washing and stowing golf carts.  No more rounds of the course raking sand traps, or marshaling.

Thanks for stopping by!

'The lasts.....'

6:08 am - Friday - September 29th - LPG&RVR - 36° F, humidity 68%, wind 2 mph out of the southeast.......partly cloudy today, with rain this evening, and a forecast high of 67° F. On this date in 2013 TLE and I had just arrived at the Fairgrounds in Sydney, MT to work the Sugar Beet Harvest.....one of the hardest jobs I have ever done......↴ 

Thursday was the next to last day I'll be staging, cleaning, and stowing golf carts this season.  It is also the second to last day I'll be making rounds of the golf course, and raking sand traps.  I raked the sand trap at #15 for the final time.....it is weed free, and looking the best it has looked all season.....

....it was a day of 'next to lasts' for me.  It has been an enjoyable 6 months.  We have watched Spring turn to Summer, and Summer to Fall, and if we were here a couple more weeks we'd hear Winter knocking on the door.  Time to head south with the geese to warmer climes.

We had frost on the greens at 7:30 am, so the start of play was delayed to 9 am....not good to walk upon frost bitten greens.  Initially I staged 8 golf carts, but we eventually rented 13.  I expect we'll do even better Friday, Saturday and Sunday...the last three full days when all 18 holes can be played.....green punching begins Monday, October 2nd in earnest.

As I made my first round of the day I could see the tee boxes for which I am responsible are mostly looking good, so I won't be mowing all of them on Friday....that is a first.  I will be mowing the employee lawns for the final time, however, on Friday.

For the first time this season, and really for the first time in two seasons we had a Yamaha fuel injected gasser breakdown on the course (11th hole).  I got the call around 2:30 pm from TLE about the issue, and enlisted Dennis, the owner, who happened to be in the Clubhouse, to help me get it back to the Clubhouse.  It tries to start, and we think there is an issue with the shifter (forward and reverse) electrical connection, because if you shift it back and forth several times it will finally start, and run normally.  Dennis managed to get it started, and drove it back. In the mean time I ferried the customer back to the Clubhouse to pick up a substitute cart so he could finish his round.

I also cleared the driving range of golf balls for the final time this season.  It took about an hour and fifteen minutes to do so, and I filled four 5 gallon buckets with the garnered balls.  I got them soaking, and will probably finish cleaning them Friday....another of the 'lasts'.

TLE and I were home by 5:10 pm, and by 5:30 pm we were sitting on the 'lido deck' to watch one of our last sunsets.....there will probably be no sunset to view Friday evening as it should be raining by then.  We sat outside until almost 6:30 pm before heading inside for the night.  We've been putting our plants in the trailer overnight the past few days as the overnight lows are getting down to freezing.  I turn on the small electric heater to keep the temperature above freezing inside the trailer.

We're down to our final week here at LPG&RVR, and, as always, are beginning to get those bittersweet feelings.....glad to be close to rolling our wheels once again, but sad to be leaving good friends,  and the beautiful LPG&RVR for another 6 months.

Thanks for stopping by!

In perpetuity......

 6:07 am - Thursday - September 28th - LPG&RVR - 33° F, humidity 90%, wind 0 mph out of the north......clear, blue skies in today's forecast (still dark) with a high of 68° F.  Sunrise is now at 6:55 am, and sunset at 6:49 pm.  On this date in 2018 TLE and I were in Providence, RI having lunch at Trinity Brewhouse......↴

You can tell we are in the waning days of the 'summer' season....I staged 8 golf carts, and we rented 8.  No doubt this weekend will be much busier as it will be the last weekend you can play the entire golf course as we will begin punching the greens on Monday, October 1st.  The blustery morning air had the distinct feel of early winter.  Once again I wore my LPG&RVR sweatshirt all day long except for the 1 hour I was doing office duty for TLE's lunch break.  With winter almost upon us the growth of the grass has slowed significantly.  As I drove around the course after staging the golf carts I could see that the tee boxes around which I mow once a week are just beginning to need attention.  Normally I would have been mowing them on Wednesday, but I do not think I will do that until Friday now.  I found two flags blown down on holes 7 and 8, and I did rake two of the 4 sand traps, and will probably weed, and rake the other two on Thursday.

Later in the morning I continued my 'deep cleaning' of the woods on either side of the driving range, and managed to garner two more 5 gallon buckets of range balls.  More golfers tend to have a 'slice' as opposed to a 'hook', so the forest on the right side of the driving range usually has more balls to be found, and that was the case Wednesday.  

I made one more round of the course just before TLE's lunch break, and then after hers, and then mine, I helped Bob (cart mechanic) tow two ancient, derelict Yamaha golf carts to the shop are where there will now reside in perpetuity as they slowly yield up their useful parts to keep other carts running.  On our way towing the 2nd Yamaha the drive belt on the older Club Car gasser we were using to tow it blew up, so Bob and I had to walk back to the Clubhouse to retrieve another Club Car gasser to finish towing the Yamaha, and then the broken Club Car back to the Clubhouse.  When the drive belt exploded it also took out the primary clutch, so as soon as we returned it to the Clubhouse Bob got busy replacing the clutch as that is the Club Car we use to push the ball catcher around the driving range, which is what I will be doing Thursday.

By that time 5 of the 8 golf carts we rented had returned, and were patiently awaiting their daily spa treatment, which I gave them in short order.  The afternoon passed quickly, and soon TLE and I were homeward bound once again.  Just two more regular work days remain for me as on Monday, after just two days off, I will be helping punch the greens for 5 days before TLE and I jet off to Missoula, MT.

Thanks for stopping by!

Free is good....

6:19 am - Wednesday - September 27th - LPG&RVR - 48° F, humidity 78%, wind 4 mph out of the southeast......partly cloudy today with a forecast high of 68° F.  On this date in 2017 TLE and I saw, and photographed the iconic Canyon Falls in Yellowstone NP for the first time....amazing.....↴ 

The winds came and went Monday night, but by 8 am they had abated.  On my first round of the golf course I found three flags blown down on holes 6, 7 and 8.....

Hole 8

Hole 7

Hole 6

.....Tuesday was a slow day with only 10 golf carts being rented, but the good news is the pergola has been finished....

.....all that remained was to haul away the rocks of all sizes which had been unearthed by the project....that was 4 wheel barrows full.  Then I spent about 90 minutes raking and leveling the area under the pergola so a load of gravel can dumped there, and then spread out before Bob moves his cart repair operation into the pergola.  I also moved two wood pallets, and three 16' long 2 x 6's back to the shop area. By the time I finished it was almost 11:30 am, so I made a final morning round of the course before giving TLE her lunch break, after which I took my lunch break.

I learned that this pergola along with 2 others were gifted to LPG&RVR by someone who had gotten them for free from COSTCO.  Why they were free is a little unclear, but we have two more of them over at the shop, which will be built at some future date.  These kits cost about $2,000 apiece.

The grass was still too wet from the overnight rain to do any mowing, but I kept myself busy washing golf carts as they were slowly returned during the afternoon, and by 5 pm all but one had returned.  I wore my sweatshirt 90% of the day as it was just too chilly to do otherwise.  Allegedly it got to 68° F Tuesday, but you couldn't prove it by me.  Looking at the l15 day forecast we will only have one day at 70° F, and all the rest in the 50's and 60's, and some rain Friday night and Saturday morning.  We have about 10 days left here at LPG&RVR....time is short!

Thanks for stopping by!

Weekenders.....

6:18 am - Tuesday - September 26th - LPG&RVR - 52° F, humidity 71%, wind 8 mph out of the south......cloudy today with a forecast high of 66° F.  On this date in 2015 TLE and I were walking South Cape Beach at Cape Blanco on a day off docent duty.....↴ 

.....the view this morning.....↴

Winds were forecast for Monday morning, increasing in intensity in the afternoon, and wind is what we got...20-24 mph out of the southeast until after 5 pm....seems like a day to work inside the trailer continuing to organize it for VW insertion in a couple of weeks, so that is what I did.  I also put away the air compressor, the Sea-B-Que, and the associated tables for same.  The 'viewing deck' take down was next, so all that is left now is the 'lido deck' which has only the Adirondack chairs, and green tables remaining.  We're beginning to look like 'weekenders'....lol!  

After working for a couple of hours in the trailer I'm ready to take down the two tables upon which set all of my tools, plus our overflow pantry items.  That will happen this weekend, and then I will be able to stow the three bicycles, the back machine, and my Workmate work bench, and bench grinder.  I bought a large Milwaukee tool bag to stow all of my larger power tools when we are in transit, and they all fit rather nicely.

Due to the winds we both mostly remained indoors....whether in the Newell, or in the trailer.  Unlike last season, the wind has not been a real issue this year, except on rare occasions.  Most of the time there is just a light, pleasant breeze out of the north.  This past month it has been mostly out of the south, and southeast.  We've only had to stow the patio awning twice the entire time we've been here, and never had to take down the popup canopy on the 'lower deck'.

It rained on and off Monday night, and into Tuesday morning, and as you can tell from the pictures above, taken  this morning (Tuesday) it still looks like rain is possible.

Last, but not least, I took delivery Monday (via USPS) of a new Nixon 51-30* chronograph watch.....*the 51-30 refers to the face size, which is 51 mm in diameter, and it is water proof to 30 atmospheres, or 300 feet.....

....a Rolling Stones tribute watch....I know, I know....it's a little gaudy, but I like it.

Thanks for stopping by!

It can be taxing.....

7:36 am - Monday - September 25th - LPG&RVR - 52° F, humidity 41%, wind 11 mph out of the south by southeast......cloudy today with a forecast high of 73° F.  On this date in 2015 I took this picture of TLE at Tony's Crab Shack in Bandon, OR......↴

Sunday morning I spent an inordinate amount of time finalizing my 2022 Federal 1040 Tax return, by actually filling out the form online, and then printing it.  I had already done the hard work of figuring my taxes out about 10 days ago, and it was just a matter of transferring the information I had entered with a pencil on the form into the actual typewritten form online.  One might think that would be easy, and it used to be, but nothing ever remains easy when the government is involved...it only gets more complicated.  At any rate I finally succeeded in entering the information on the online form, and then successfully printed it.  All that remains is to sign and date it, write the check, and mail it before October 15th.  My taxes are not really complicated, but since we travel it takes a while for our mail to catch up with us, and we didn't have all the W-2's before April 15th so I filed for the 6th month extension, and then forgot about it until about 10 days ago.  Well, I didn't really forget about it, I just ignored it until until 10 days ago.

By that time it was 11:30 am, and we were going to play golf with good friends Duke and Cindy at 12:30 pm, so I needed to get my back stretched, which takes a while, and get over to the Clubhouse by 12:20 pm.  We decided to play the back 9, which is the favorite of most people.  Once again I managed to play bogey golf with a birdie at the par 4 #13, and a par at the par 5 #17 thrown in for good measure, so I shot 42 again.  We finished at the 18th hole around 2:40 pm, and took an 'usie' to memorialize the occasion....

.....Duke and Cindy are from the Reno area, and spend most of the summer here at LPG&RVR in their 5th wheel playing golf most every day.  They became 'members' this year, and have their name in for a permanent spot up the hill.

TLE took a few pictures of me chipping on the 16th hole, which show good form, and a good result....

Addressing the ball....

.....back swing.....

....ready to strike the ball.....

.....great result

Our time is short, and I will probably spend most of Monday beginning to organize the trailer for near future VW Beetle insertion, then back to work Tuesday through Friday, then two days off before we begin the annual ritual of 'punching' the greens October 2nd.  I'd better get busy!

Thanks for stopping by!

Another take down......

8:23 am - Sunday - September 24th - LPG&RVR - 52° F, humidity 39%, wind 6 mph out of the south by southeast......heavy cloud cover today with a forecast high of 71° F.  On this date in 2021 we enjoyed one of our last sunset fires at Seal Rocks RV Cove....I had been taking down our camp all day in preparation for our departure a few days later.....↴ 

Just as I was doing 2 years ago, Saturday I began to take down our camp....in exactly two weeks we will drive to Medford, OR to catch a flight to Missoula, MT, and our work season here at LPG&RVR will come to a close.  I began with our 'lower deck', which is the biggest outside installation to take down.....

Before....

.....after

.....with TLE's help it only took about 90 minutes to disassemble the 'lower deck' until next season.  Once that was done I deemed the 'take down' activities for Saturday complete, and headed inside to watch a few NCAA Football games.  

Normally we would have the weekly putting contest at 4 pm, but due to the scheduled Likely Volunteer Fire Department anniversary party being held at the same time it was cancelled....at least we though it was.  Around 1:30 pm Mike Bratzler (runs the putting contest) dropped by our site to ask if I wanted to putt at 2 pm, and I replied that I did.  He was able to round up 10 people to putt, and made it a triple elimination.  I sank my first putt on the 5th hole to win the first round.  Then I ended up tied in the second round, but won the single putt playoff hole with another hole in one.  I won my third round on the 5th hole when my opponent uncharacteristically missed a short putt.  I lost my third round in a one putt playoff by 6" for my first loss.  I ultimately made it to the final three, and once again lost in a one putt playoff by 6" again....doh.....one putt away from the final!  I ended up in third place, and was really happy with my putting.  I only missed two second putts, had two holes in one, and put the ball pretty close to virtually ever hole on my first putt.

At 4:30 pm TLE and I drove over to the Likely Volunteer Fire Department to partake in the rib eye steak dinner.  We had a great showing from employees, and residents at LPG&RVR......

The LPG&RVR gang

.....we sat talking and eating until almost 7 pm before heading for home....as we were driving the 1 mile road into the park I stopped to snap a picture of the beautiful afterglow of the sunset....

....a fitting ending to a very productive day!  

My USC Trojans won a hard fought late game on the road at Arizona State 42-28 after having a 'bye week' last weekend.  They looked a little rusty, but even so, they scored 42 points.  All of the other top 6 teams won Saturday as well, and there were no upsets.  We finally turned out the lights and headed to bed around 11:15 pm....a late night for us....lol!

Thanks for stopping by!

Time is short!

7:51 am - Saturday - September 23rd - LPG&RVR - 39° F, humidity 55%, wind 4 mph out of the southeast.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 74° F.  On this date in 2014 TLE and I were hiking near Port Orford, OR.....↴ 

....the view this morning.....↴ 

It has been about a month since my last haircut, and TLE and I both had hair appointments at Kaleidescope in Alturas at 9 am to get our coifs trimmed.  We were out the door by 8:25 am, arriving in Alturas at 8:55 am. TLE hasn't had her hair trimmed in a number of months, so she was a tad overdue.  I had my ears lowered first, then it was TLE's turn in the chair.  

While Sheila worked her magic I walked down to the local US Bank to withdraw some money to pay Sheila, and some for the Likely Volunteer Fire Department 75th anniversary dinner Saturday afternoon.  This dinner is an annual event, and also a fund raiser.  We went last year to support the fire department, and had a great time.  By the time I returned Sheila was just finishing with TLE's trim.  From there we drove over to Holiday Market to do a small shopping, and were home by 10:30 am.  We had stopped off at the Likely P.O. Office on the way home to pick up a couple of packages which had arrived, so when we stopped off at the Clubhouse to drop off the mail key we decided to have a late breakfast.  The special was a spinach omelet with hashbrowns, so TLE and I ordered one to split, then snagged an alfresco table on the deck and sat drinking coffee until our order arrived a few minutes later.

I haven't washed the Beetle in a couple of weeks, and after another drive into Alturas her front was a bug spattered mess.  The local bird population has removed most of the larger carcasses, but I still had to get down on my knees with tweezers to remove the rest from the grill. We had to move our geraniums indoors Thursday and Friday nights as the temps were down to freezing, and below overnight, so before I could wash the car I needed to move them back outside to get at my car washing implements.  I haven't detailed the VW in a long, long time, so I took about an hour washing her, and thoroughly cleaning her wheels.  By the time I finished it was 1 pm, and time for a nap.

That's the best they have looked in a year!

I wanted to play at least 9 holes of golf Friday, but the course was quite busy.  I think they rented close to 40 golf carts.  Anyway, I decided to tee off around 3 pm and play the front 9.  It worked out well, as we had no one behind us, or in front of us....by this time of day everyone has played the front 9, and are on the back 9.  I didn't have my best stuff but still managed 3 pars, and 6 bogeys for a 42.  My short game from 50 yards in was spot on most of the round, with only a couple of bad results, and my putting was also spot on....no three putts, and a couple of 1 putts.  As we were driving to the first tee I noticed a lot of progress had been made on the pergola......

.....they've got two of the four roof panels installed, and should be able to get the other two installed Saturday to finish the assembly.....looking better than good!

After a couple of very cold days Friday evening was so delightful TLE and I sat on the 'viewing deck' until after 7 pm sipping adult beverages and talking, finally retreating indoors as the sun set, and the temperature dropped significantly in just a few minutes.

We had a phone call with Bob Williamson of Colorado Outback Adventures before we went golfing, and made arrangements to meet them at Glamis North Hot Springs by October 20th.  Kyle is already there, and awaiting the imminent arrival of the 12 brand new Polaris RZR's....ten 4 seaters, and two 2 seaters.  He will complete the assembly of the units by installing the tops on all the roll cages.  We should be renting our first units by the 21st....almost 3 weeks earlier than last year.

We've only got 5 more days off work before we fly to Montana, and we want to have most everything put away before we leave on our trip, so when we return we can just hook up the trailer and head south.  In fact, I need to get started right after I finish posting my latest missive!

Thanks for stopping by!

Give me shelter!

7:16 am - Friday - September 22nd - LPG&RVR - 34° F, humidity 74%, wind 1 mph out of the east by southeast......partly cloudy this morning, with clearing later in the day, and a forecast high of 69° F.  On this date in 2017 we had a foot of snow at the Yellowstone General Store in Mammoth Hot Springs......↴

It occurs to me that I speak of 'flipping the sign' down at the entrance of LPG&RVR, and that you may not know whereof I speak.  From the hours of 8 am to 5 pm you must continue up to the Clubhouse to check in/register......

....and that is the way the 'sign' points during those hours, but after 5 pm, and until 8 am the next morning we must 'flip the sign' to point at the RV night office where they will check in/register.......

.....now when I speak of 'flipping the sign' you know whereof I speak.

We awoke to an overnight low of 31° F Thursday morning, and by the time we were ready to go to work it was only 36° F.....time for watch caps, gloves, long sleeve shirts, and pants again....

....just like the past 3 days Thursday was another slowish day at LPG&RVR.....I staged 10 golf carts, and we rented 9.  Most of our golfers did not tee off until after 10:30 am as it was way too cold, and cloudy to play golf before that.  Frankly, it didn't feel warm enough to play golf at 1 pm.  The forecast high for Thursday was 58° F, but it only got to 56° F.  I took off my zip up sweatshirt a couple of times when the sun made brief appearances, but otherwise I wore it most of the day, as well as my gloves.

Thursday was also mowing day for the driving range, and as you might recall, I cleared the range on Tuesday, garnering five 5 gallon buckets of balls using the 'ball picker'.  On Thursday I just took a couple of 5 gallon buckets and the Shag Bag to the range to clear what few balls had been hit since Tuesday.  I filled one of the buckets with those balls, and then headed into the trees that border the driving range on both sides and garnered another 5 gallons of balls.  It has been a while since either Walt, or I went way into the forest gathering balls, so there were a lot of them.

I've mentioned 'Miracle Bob' to you before.  He is our resident golf cart mechanic, and frankly our everything mechanic.  He repairs most of the mowing equipment we using on the golf course, too.  Anyway, he has been using a pop up canopy for the past two years to work on carts out of the sun....at this elevation (4,500') it can get pretty intense in the middle of the summer, plus when it rains he needs something to keep the carts dry when he has them all opened up to work on the engines, etc.  Dennis, the owner, recently bought one of those do it yourself pergolas, and it will look something like this when it is assembled.....

....they had to pour four concrete footings before they began to erect it, and that was done a few days ago, so Wednesday they began to assemble everything on the ground, and then Thursday we stood the first two sections up.....

"Give me Shelter" - Rolling Stones

.....once they were up things began to move a little more quickly, but the two main sections were not raised until almost 5 pm, so the balance of the assembly will probably take place Friday, when I am not at work.  This pergola is about 12' x 14', and will allow Bob a permanent shelter under which to work on golf carts.

By 4:30 pm I had the two 5 gallon buckets of balls washed, and 8 of the 9 golf carts washed and stowed.....there is always someone out late, and I can't blame them.  After 3 pm the course is wide open, and it feels like your own private course.

TLE and I were home a little after 5 pm....I didn't do any putting while I waited for her to finish closing the office as it was too cold, and breezy.  And with the end of this four day work week TLE has just 8 days of work remaining, and I have 9.

Thanks for stopping by!