Fourth time is the charm!

 5:41 am - Sunday - August 31st - LPG&RVR - 51° F, humidity 29%, wind 2 mph out of the east......partly cloudy today with a forecast high of 90° F.  On this date in 2012 TLE and I were in Twin Falls, ID.....

 .....having dinner at the Canyon Crest Events Center overlooking the Snake River Gorge.

TLE and I knew that Saturday would a busy one, but neither of us expected that we would rent 35 golf carts, but we did.  At one point the cart shack was entirely empty....wish I had taken a picture....lol.  Anyway, my initial count, based on the tee time sheet, was that we would need 22 carts....was I ever wrong.  I rarely left the area around the Clubhouse all day long.  The driving range was the busiest it has been the entire summer, and I had to keep retrieving empty range ball baskets to refill for TLE to sell.  I even vacuumed the carpet inside the Clubhouse for TLE, and helped her get ice for customers.  The day passed by quickly, and soon TLE's lunch break had come and gone, and I was beginning to wash the carts as they returned.

By 3:15 pm only 15 of the 35 golf carts had returned, so I'll have 20 to wash first thing Sunday morning.....the most ever.  I took off at 3:15 pm to get ready for the weekly putting contest at 4 pm (hot shower and a nap).  I've been putting very consistently this summer, and fully expected to still be in contention at the end, and I was.  I was so 'on' Saturday that I never made it to the 5th hole before winning each round.  I was up 2-0 going to the fourth hole every single round, and by simply tying the 4th hole, won by default being up 2 points with one hole to play each time.  In the 'final four' round none of my first putts was more than a foot away, and some as close as a couple of inches.  Some days are just like that.  I made zero mistakes, which is rare for me, and won the final just like the other 4 rounds....tying the fourth hole up two points.  This was my fourth time 'in the money' (3 second places, and now first place), in as many months.  I've been in the money this summer more that the three prior summers combined, so I've definitely turned the corner on consistency.

On a side note, for the first time in the history of this blog it surpassed 100,000 views in a single month with one day to go in the month.....

......quite a notable milestone.  As I write the total views in August are approaching 112,000, and I owe it all to you!  Anyway, that's my story, and I'm sticking to it!  Thanks for stopping by!

Working on our 54th....

 5:38 am - Saturday - August 30th - LPG&RVR - 51° F, humidity 33%, wind 2 mph out of the east......sunny today with a forecast high of 89° F.  On this date in 2015 TLE and I had just arrived at Cape Blanco Lighthouse.....

Walking down the hill from our site to walk on 'South Beach'

....just north of Port Orford on the southern Oregon Coast to be docents for the month of September.  This was our second year in a row.  One of our favorite volunteer jobs ever.

When our four day work schedule has us working Friday through Monday it's kind of like two busy work days sandwiched around two light work days (Saturday and Sunday).  We don't do any mowing, or trimming on Saturdays, or Sundays, so whatever needs those skills must be done on Friday and Monday.  Saturdays and Sundays are relaxing days most often filled with staging a lot of golf carts, hand watering of dry areas of grass, and then washing/stowing those same golf carts.  On the later, we've had so much rain this summer that the grass areas are as green as I have seen them this late in August.

There was only one golf cart at the wash station when I arrived at work Frida morning, and all of the other carts were stowed in the cart shed.  That's a first this month.  We've had so many people playing late rounds of golf every day that there are almost always 5-6 carts (sometimes 12-14) needing a spa treatment first thing each morning.  I checked the tee time sheet and based on that felt we would need 20-22 carts, and we actually rented 22.  By the end of the day there were still 5 carts outstanding (back to normal).

Dave left me about 12 gallons of range balls to clean, and dry before pouring them back into the 55 gallon barrel in the Clubhouse, so I took care of them after staging the first 10 carts of the day.  That took me up to 10 am when it was time for me to begin to mow.  I began with the parking lot grass, then up the hill to mow the residential lawns, then out on the golf course to mow around those tee boxes for which I am responsible.  I returned from that foray around 11:55 am, just in time for TLE's lunch break.  That 90 minutes saw me answer 3 phone calls, and that was it. I spent most of my time talking with customers passing thought the Clubhouse for one thing, or another.

The final two hours of my 8 hour shift passed quickly as I washed and stowed 17 of the returned golf carts, and that was it for the day, or so I thought.  I was home just before 3:30 pm.  I did get a call from TLE around 4:15 pm that our Club Car #26 had stalled at the 7th hole, so I drove out there to see what was what, only to find that they had gotten the cart moving again, so I told them to drive it back to the Clubhouse without stopping, and exchange it for another so they could finish their round.  I was back home just after 4:40 pm with only 20 minutes to take a shower, and return to the Clubhouse to pickup TLE. Quite often when I arrive at 5 pm TLE says she has around 10-15 minutes of 'closing' rituals to complete, so I run down and flip the sign, then post the availability for those arriving after 5 pm with no reservations.  Usually by the time I return to the Clubhouse TLE is ready for her ride home, and that was the case Friday.  And thus went the day of our 54th wedding anniversary.

Thanks for stopping by!

Anniversary eve.....

 5:41 am  - Friday - August 29th (our 54th wedding anniversary) - LPG&RVR  - 50° F, humidity 32%, wind 2 mph out of the east......partly cloudy today with a forecast high of 86° F.  On this date in 2023 TLE and I were in Tahoe City, CA having lunch at The Bridgetender.....

....celebrating our 52nd wedding anniversary.  And here we are at Chico Hot Springs near Yellowstone NP.....

.....celebrating our 46th......good friends Rosco, Geni and Dodge celebrated with us that evening making it one of our favorite anniversaries of all time.

Usually we would be on our way to some cool place to celebrate our wedding anniversary on the eve of same, but our work schedule this summer has us working on our anniversary, and for three days after, so we made a new plan.  We'll head to Klamath Falls on September 10th to formally celebrate TLE's birthday (9/9), and our anniversary (8/29).  In the interim, a local celebration was in order, but I get ahead of myself.

We began Thursday talking about our upcoming anniversary.  When we were married 54 years ago it never occurred to either of us that we would not still be together all these many years later.  We were good friends before we became romantically involved, and it is that friendship that has been the bedrock of our over half a century of marriage.  Boy, when you say it that way it seems a lot longer than 54 years....lol.  Anyway we went about our usual routines on the 4th day of our four day weekend.  TLE ran another couple of loads of wash through our splendid Splendide, and I puttered around in the trailer, after which I retired to my anti gravity chair on the 'lido deck' to read.  

It was another beautiful, late August day, and even though the daily high reached 87° F, it never felt that warm.  There were, of course, a few naps thrown in for good measure, but I did manage to finish another book.  Around 4:50 pm TLE and I headed over to the Clubhouse so TLE could pick up the cash drawer, and I could practice putting.  My putting has become very consistent, and I was very happy with the results of my practice.  We returned to the Newell around 5:30 pm at which time I lit the Sea-B-Que to grill a couple of NY Strip steaks while TLE sauteed some mushrooms, baked a potato, and boiled some spinach for dinner....

Our favorite Malbec, which we discovered back in 2018 when we celebrated our 47th anniversary in Southwest Harbor, ME

The table is set

.....it was the perfect night to celebrate (in advance) our 54th anniversary outdoors....no wind, not hot.  The steaks came out quite well.  This is, by and far, our favorite dining canopy ever.  Lots of air circulation, and bug free!  We lingered there for over an hour before heading back inside for the evening to begin to wind down from our very successful, very pleasant four day weekend, and get ready mentally for our next four day work week.

Thanks for stopping by!

Mister Fix-It.....

 8:51 am - Thursday - August 28th - LPG&RVR - 66° F, humidity 25%, wind 3 mph out of the south by southeast.....partially cloudy skies today with a forecast high of 87° F.  On this date in 2020 TLE and I were taking a walking along Harrington Lagoon on Whidbey Island, WA near Coupeville......

on a very clear day, and spied Mount Baker in the distance....still covered with snow on August 28th.

I was actually out of bed before 7 am Wednesday.  I think it was all those naps I took Tuesday....lol.  TLE and I decided to give our legs a rest Wednesday, and not take our 10th out and back walk of the summer.  My knee was a little stiff after two days of walking, but as I write Thursday morning it feels pretty good.

I busied my self with several small fix-it projects Tuesday morning.  I have an analog, battery powered clock in the trailer I bought at 'Savers' Thrift Store in Flagstaff last winter, and it would not keep running from day to day, even though I've changed the battery several times thinking I just had a bad batch of batteries.  It was not as simple as that, but in the end the fix was very simple.  When I put on my reading glasses to examine the battery compartment I discovered a small piece of plastic stuck in there that was preventing the battery from 'seating' properly, and once that was removed the clock began to work, and was still working when I closed the trailer last night......

Taken this morning....still working!

....next up was to examine the drip rail on the passenger side of the Newell back by TLE's bedroom window.  She has been unable to leave her window open when it is raining (hasn't been a problem in the past) as water comes in through the screen, so I got out our step stool and examined the area above her window closely.  Again another simple fix....the drip rail (like a rain gutter) channel right above her window opening was clogged with fine dirt, which prevented the rain water from traveling to the back of the coach where it could fall harmlessly to the ground.  Once that was cleared the backed up rain water from the previous day flowed as it should....another problem solved.

Another small fix-it task was the small vice I mount on the corner of my workbench table.  The jaws had ceased to move in and out, so I took it apart and found that the 'C' clip which secures a large washer against the movable jaw had popped off.  Once I reattached it, and lubed the threads on the screw it began to work as it should.....

'C' Clips

Bench vice

......finally, TLE and I bought a solar gnome at the store Tuesday, but the lights on it would not light up at night, so I removed the small solar panel, and found the 'ON/OFF' switch had become detached, so I reattached it, moved the switch to the 'ON' position, and it began to work......

'He' has three LED lights in his hat which light up at night

....with that final, very simple, fix my 'to do' list for Tuesday was complete, and it was time to retire to my anti gravity chair on the 'lido deck' for the balance of the day.  I read, napped, read, and napped some more for several hours, completely mosquito free, but not because Jose has sprayed recently, because he has not....he's been on vacation in Alaska for the past 10 days.  I was mosquito free because I deployed every single mosquito repelling device we have, and they, combined, did the job.

Around 5 pm TLE brought out some snacks for us to enjoy on the 'dinning/gaming deck'.....

......neither of us was very hungry, so these snacks were the perfect anecdote.  We sat snacking and talking for the better part of an hour, and as we did the forecast afternoon thunderheads rolled into the Pitt River Valley (for the record, that's what I call this valley in which we reside.  Why, because it is a valley, and the Pitt River flows through it.  I have no idea what its actual name is, but I like the sound of 'Pitt River Valley').  We did get a little thunder, and a few sprinkles, but that was the extent of it.

Thanks for stopping by!

Customs.....

 7:20 am - Wednesday - August 27th - LPG&RVR - 55° F, humidity 44%, wind 2 mph out of the southeast.....cloudy today with a forecast high of 83° F.  On this date in 2017 TLE and I were hiking the 'Hellroaring Creek' trail in Yellowstone....

.....an 11 mile loop hike.  Once again we encountered no Grizzle bears, but did see some elk in the distance one time.

We were not up early on the second day of our four day weekend as one familiar with our 4 day weekend customs might assume, that is, if you were the assuming type.  There was a little cleanup from the night before resulting from windy conditions which caused a little chaos on the 'lido deck', but once order was restored we headed out for another 'out and back' walk for the second consecutive day, which used to be our custom on our 4 day weekends, back before my knee issues in late May. We managed to pick up the pace Tuesday making the round trip in 39 minutes and 53 seconds.....

.....which means we averaged just over 3 mph...a nice, noteworthy achievement....and my knee didn't 'click' or 'pop' the entire time.....

......there was just enough cloud cover to keep the temp down, and with a little breeze it was even more comfortable.  

As is our custom we go shopping once during our four day weekend, and Tuesday was the designated shopping day this time around.  We finally got our act together, and were in the Beetle around 12 pm heading for town.  There was no stop at ACE Hardware this week, but we hit Dollar Store, Grocery Outlet and Holiday Market filling our hatchback with another week's worth of groceries.

On our way out of town we made a stop at Rubio's Taqueria to buy some of their amazing street tacos, which we then, as is our custom when partaking in Rubio's street tacos, took them to the local park near the Modoc County Museum, which we toured last week.  We found an adequate, clean picnic table with shade, and the proceeded to consume those amazing tacos....

.....when they built the shelter for the 1904 Baldwin locomotive, they also remodeled the park adding new grass, picnic tables, and  a basketball court at one end.  It was another beautiful, slightly breezy, late August afternoon in Alturas.

We didn't get home until after 2:30 pm, and by the time we unloaded the spoils from our shopping foray it was well after 3 pm, and the clouds had begun to move into the Pitt River Valley once again.  The forecast promised lightning, thunder, wind and rain and we got them all.  The rain finally came around 6 pm, and it actually rained on and off well into the early morning hours Wednesday (today).  I believe we've had more precipitation this summer than the three previous summers combined, and this has certainly been a much more mild summer than the prior three for which we are most grateful.

Thanks for stopping by!

Walking revisited.....

 8:39 am - Tuesday - August 26th - LPG&RVR - 62° F, humidity 41%, wind ZERO mph out of the east by southeast.....cloudy today with a forecast high of 85° F.  On this date in 2012 TLE and I were eastbound on I-80 to work at Amazon in Campbellsville, KY, and spent a couple of nights at a marina RV park on the Columbia River......

in Arlington, OR.  These sites were first come, first served, and we got the last one available that day.

We did something Monday we haven't done since late May....took an out and back walk out to Jess Valley Road.  You will recall that at that point in May we had just completed our 7th out and back walk since we arrived at LPG&RVR in late April, however, my right knee was really beginning to give me problems so we stopped walking.  We travelled down to Reno in late May so I could get my second cortisone shot in as many years, and it worked, however, I developed a new symptom shortly thereafter.  My right knee began to 'click', and 'pop', signs of further deterioration of the knee joint (loss of cartilage and ostio arthritis), so we never got back to walking until this Monday.  My knee has mostly stopped 'clicking' and 'popping', so I thought it was time to give walking another try.  Obviously, I've been walking around a lot doing my job, but on my days off I have avoided it as much as possible, because of that bothersome 'clicking' and 'popping.  Nevertheless, TLE and I began our first out and back walk in three months around 10 am.....

....this was the 8th out and back walk we've taken this summer.  Our 7th two mile out and back walk took us 37 minutes and 27 seconds to complete.  Our 8th, 3 months later, took us 41 minutes and 24 seconds.  While we were slow, we did enjoy our walk.  By the way, after talking to numerous folks who have had knee replacements I have found out you get the same 'clicking' and 'popping' with the knee replacement....doh!  I'm not looking forward to that, even a little.

We spent the rest of the morning, and into the afternoon relaxing on the 'lido deck', something else we haven't done for a while.  All the while the clouds were rolling into the Pitt River valley once again in advance of the forecast thunder showers in the afternoon.  By 5 pm the winds had freshened, then the thunder had begun to rumble, followed by light showers for about an hour.  We had planned to BBQ a couple of steaks on the Sea-B-Que, but with the rain, thunder and lightning we decided to wait until Tuesday.

Thanks for stopping by!

Vagabonders Supreme......

 7:34 am - Monday - August 25th - LPG&RVR - 58° F, humidity 47%, wind ZERO mph out of the east by southeast.......mostly clear skies today, with possible thunder showers in the afternoon, and a forecast high of 86° F.  On this date in 2017 I wrote the following:

"Also, just over the horizon of this current weekend will be the celebration by TLE and I of our 46th wedding anniversary on Tuesday..............I have to just sit here a few moments letting that amazing truth sink in to its fullest........46 years together through thick and thin.........ups and downs........through one adventure after another......and now we find ourselves in the midst of the grandest adventure of them all as 'Vagabonders Supreme' (a phrase coined by 'Tioga George' back in the year 2003).  For those who have only begun to read our blog recently we began living fulltime in our 1982 Newell February 1, 2011, and traveling fulltime February 1, 2012.  With each passing month it feels as if this is the way we have always lived.....our former 'sticks and bricks' workaday life seems almost surreal in retrospect.....almost like someone else's life....we are different people than we were then.  We had no idea, really, into what we were getting ourselves, but we went forth anyway.  Our five children, 6 (now 10) grand children, and one great grand child (now 2) are mute testimony of that life we once lived, and are, frankly, our greatest accomplishment.  

Liberating ourselves from most of our physical possessions back in 2011, which kept us anchored in one place for so many years, and becoming 'Vagabonders Supreme' is our second greatest accomplishment.  We attempt daily to live what remains of our lives to the fullest extent possible, and cherish every minute, every hour, every day we have left together.  The recent passing of our friend Michael has reaffirmed the importance of living every day, every moment as if it were our last.  Life is fragile enough to begin with, and now in our advanced years has become even more fragile as we see a steady stream of people we have known for decades passing one by one.  We must not allow anger and unforgiveness to steal our peace, contentment and happiness.  The easy path in life is to passively stew in these negative feelings.......it seems odd to say, but I am convinced one must actively, daily choose to be happy......fight for it, if you will.  As Abraham Lincoln famously said...."Folks are usually as happy as they make up their minds to be....."."

Within just a few days now TLE and I will celebrate the 54th anniversary of our marriage, which took place August 29, 1971 in Pasadena, CA.  Just under 58 years ago I met Elaine Frances Houghtaling for the first time, and my life has never been the same.  I am humbled that she chose me, with whom she would spend the rest of her life. She makes me happy, and the life we live together as Vagabonders Supreme makes me happy!

Our first date

....it's hard to believe I wrote that 8 years ago.  It seems like just yesterday TLE!

Sunday began with a lot of cloud cover, and that is the way it remained all day long.  Not only had the temps dipped back into the 80's for the first time in several days, but there was very little direct sunlight....all positives for me.  There was a 'night golf' tournament Saturday night (they use glowing golf balls, etc) so there were quite a few golf carts left over from that which needed my attention.....

That's a log of golf carts!!

......before I washed them I checked the tee time sheet and found we would need  up to 20 golf carts staged over the course of the morning, and we ended up with 19 being rented.  Once the first ten golf carts had been staged I turned my attention to the 14 golf carts needing a spa treatment.

Since the large gazebo was vacated by the group which occupied it for a week, I headed up to mow it (Claude did the trimming), then proceeded to mow two of the 'buddy sites', then mowed the two pull through sites I wasn't able to mow on Friday due to too much lawn furniture.  I did a lot of watering including the large grass area by site #30, the parking lot grass, the grass between the Clubhouse deck and the putting green, and the 'Night Office' grass.  Soon it was time to give TLE her 90 minute break, which passed quickly.  When I headed back outside it was apparent that rain was on the way....

How it looked just before the lightning and thunder began

......so I quickly washed and stowed the 8 golf carts which had been returned, and just as I finished I could hear lightning, then I began to see lightning flashes.  The wind rose, the rain began to fall, and then we lost power....the time was 2:30 pm.

I headed home to pull out our Predator 5000 dual fuel generator/inverter to power the coach until the power came back.  I also had to turn off all of the sprinklers I had going as when we lose power, the pump which pressurizes the water system for the RV Park shuts down, also.  No point in draining what little water pressure is left by running sprinklers, right?

Since the power was out TLE joined me at home until the power returned just before 4 pm at which time she returned to the office to close up for the day.  It took her until after 5 pm to get that done, and then we began our four day weekend with Margaritas.  For dinner we had a wonderful stew TLE had prepared sometime ago....the perfect dinner for a raining evening.

Thanks for stopping by!

One putt.....

5:58 am - Sunday - August 24th - LPG&RVR - 64° F, humidity 49%, wind 1 mph out of the east by southeast....cloudy today with a forecast high of 87° F.  On this date in 2023 TLE and I were playing golf with Charles and Phyllis at LPG&RVR.....

The heat never left the air Friday night like it has most of the summer.  We awoke to temps in the 60's Saturday morning, and even though the high was projected to be 95° F, I knew it would be warmer earlier in the day than normal, and it was.  By 10 am it felt more like 1 pm the day before.  Nevertheless, we began our day knowing this was day three of our four day work week, and we just had to endure one more day of 90's before temps dropped back into the 80's.

I initially staged 10 golf carts, and then another 11 around 10 am, and that took care of the day golf cart wise.  Other than turn on sprinklers, and move them around I did not do too much except try to work in shade whenever possible.  Finally 12 pm rolled around and I was able to head into the cool confines of the Clubhouse for 90 minutes whilst TLE broke for lunch.  It was actually relatively busy during lunch, which made the time pass quickly.

I emerged from the chilly confines of the Clubhouse into another blast furnace of heat to find 15 of the 21 golf carts we rented had been returned.  Claude helped me wash them by spraying them down, while I dried them with towels.  It took less than 3o minutes to wash and dry them, and another 15 to stow them in the shade of the cart shack.  I moved more sprinklers around, spent some time inside the Clubhouse then headed home around 3 pm to get ready for the weekly putting contest.

There were only 20 putters on this day so Mike set up a double elimination, meaning you had to lose twice to be eliminated.  I made it through the first four rounds, putting very well, but lost in the fifth.  All I had to do to get to the final two was win one match in the losers' bracket.  I came within one putt again of making it to the final, but it was not to be.  I putted well, and didn't beat myself.  The guy I lost to in the only match I played in the losers' bracket ended up winning it all, so I can't complain. I just lost to a better putter.

TLE and I were home by 6 pm, and thus ended our third of four work days this week.  One more to go!

Thanks for stopping by!

Until next time.....

 5:40 am - Saturday - August 23rd - LPG&RVR - 61° F, humidity 29%, wind 1 mph out of the east by southeast......partly cloudy today with a forecast high of 95° F.  On this date in 2016 TLE and I were having dinner in Meyers, CA (near South Lake Tahoe).....

For the first time since last Saturday we rented over 20 golf carts.  Things are beginning to pick up once again.  I staged 10 carts initially, then washed the four carts left over from Thursday, then staged another five carts.  By that time it was 9 am, and time to begin three hours of hectic mowing, as I would have no time after TLE's lunch break to get all my mowing done for this week.  I began slowly with the parking lot grass then moved up to the RV park to begin mowing pull through sites, and managed to get 13 of the 15 pull throughs mowed (two had too much lawn furniture), then the small gazebo, then the group fire pit area, then up to the residential lawns, and out to the golf course to mow around those tee boxes for which I am responsible.  I returned to the RV park around 11:40 am with just enough time to mow the employee sites, clean the two bag Husqvarna, cleanup, and give TLE her lunch break.

I'm not sure if I mentioned this, but TLE has been taking a 90 minute lunch lately to avoid having to charge overtime.  Ever since we've worked here she arrives at the Clubhouse to begin the day at 7:40 am, and doesn't finish closing the office until 10, or 15 after 5 pm each day, which is really 8.5+ hours each day, but she only reports 8 hours.  I appreciate that in her, so I suggested that she take the longer lunch.  She still arrives at 7:40 am, and leaves 10, 0r 15 minutes after 5, but now she is really working just 8 hours, and I get an extra 30 minutes out of the heat, which I appreciate.  I, also, have tried avoid charging overtime, and have done so rarely this year.  Anyway, this arrangement works out well for TLE and I, and our employers don't have to pay overtime.  After all, we're not in it for the money (of course the money is nice), and we really only want to work a maximum of 8 hours per day, otherwise it begins to feel too much like real work.

When I exited the Clubhouse at 1:30 pm there were 13 golf carts, again, to be washed and stowed, and by the time I had finished that it was well after 3 pm, so I closed up shot, and headed home for a cool shower, and a nap.  I returned at 5 pm to get the RV park availability from TLE, then headed down to flip the sign and post the availability.  By the time I returned at 5:10 pm TLE was ready to be driven home.  I'll have 8 carts to wash first thing Saturday. Two days down, and two days to go.

Today, Saturday, the temp will hit 95° F (down from 98 yesterday), then Sunday it will drop dramatically to 83° F.  It will stay in the low to mid 80's through the 2nd of September when it will drop into the 70's.....Fall is on the way!

We had one last dinner with Tom and Darlene Friday evening (Taco Salad) as they will be leaving LPG&RVR Saturday morning to continue their long trip home from Alaska to Arizona.....

Until next time, Tom and Darlene

....we will see them again in October on our way back to The Wilson Wilderness.  We were in bed by 9 pm....I think the temp in the bedroom was still 79° F, and I slept outside the covers until after 2 am this morning.  One more day of 90's then back into the 80's....YAY for our team!

Thanks for stopping by!

Grin and bear it.....

 5:43 am - Friday - August 22nd - LPG&RVR - 56° F, humidity 24%, wind 1 mph out of the east.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 98° F.  On this date in 2022 we headed to Lake Tahoe to celebrate our upcoming wedding anniversary....

.....in Tahoe City, CA.....we had a room across the street from the lake....it was our 51st.  In about a week we will celebrate our 54th.

We knew in advance that Thursday was going to be a hot 95° F, and there was nothing about it which we could do except just grin and bear it, so we did.....TLE grinned and I bore it....lol.  When I arrived at the wash station there were just 4 golf carts to wash, so everyone must have finished playing golf pretty early Wednesday afternoon.  Based on the reserved tee times I initially staged 6 golf carts, but by 11 am we had rented 14, and by the time I left at 3:30 pm we had rented a total of 17 golf carts....not bad for a post 4th of July Thursday.

In between the beginning and end of my work day I spent over an hour whipping and pulling weeds in preparation for a massive amount of mowing I will do Friday.  I trimmed around 7, or 8 pull through sites, the parking lot grass, the residential lawns up the hill, and all five employee sites.  By 11:30 am it was getting hot, and I was overheating, so I headed indoors to cool down for 10 minutes before making a run around the park to set a couple of sprinklers, then back to the Clubhouse to give TLE her lunch break.  Thankfully, it was not too busy in the office and I was able to relax for a change.

By the time I headed back outdoors again there were 13 golf carts to wash and stow, and that pretty much took me to around 3 pm.  I was overheating again, so I headed into the Clubhouse to cool down again, and that was my day.  I headed home to take a shower, and take a nap.  Heat really drains my energy quickly, and I needed a nap in the worst way.  I returned to the Clubhouse to find that the final golf carts had been returned, so collected their keys and delivered them to TLE in the office.  While she finished closing the office I drove down to turn the sign and post Thursday's availability.  We've got two more hot days Friday and Saturday, but by Sunday, our final work day this week, it will be back into the 80's.  This brief heatwave appears to be the last gasp of summer heat before temps slide back into the low 80's, and then into the 70's.....sweet!

Thanks for stopping by!

1904 Baldwin.....

5:47 am - Thursday - August 21st - LPG&RVR - 51° F, humidity 28%, wind ZERO mph out of the east by northeast....clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 95° F.  On this date in 2017 TLE and I were hiking with friends up to Bunsen Peak in Yellowstone NP to watch the total eclipse of the sun....

 .....mid background, Roscoe and Geni, and far background 'Dodge' (Kristen Dodge).  Made great friends that summer, and are still in contact with them.  Sipped wine, and ate cheese whilst watching the eclipse.....

......good times!

On the last day of our four day weekend we decided to head into Alturas to visit the Modoc County Museum, which we have now driven past for four consecutive summers without visiting.  Since we had Tom and Darlene visiting this week we decided it was finally time to cross that one off our list, but I get ahead of myself.  Around 10:30 am we headed over to the Clubhouse to putt with Tom and Darlene....

......Darlene caught on pretty quick, and was making really great putts, and TLE actually won one of the 3 competitions.  I putted quite well, and was wondering where that skill was last Saturday....lol.

Right after that (11:45 am) we headed into Alturas for our Museum outing arriving there around 12:20 pm....

An artist's rendition shortly after the 1904 Baldwin was delivered to the Museum ground many years ago

1904 Baldwin Locomotive built in March of that year

.....this 1904 Baldwin Locomotive (Southern Pacific) is the center piece of the Museum grounds.  Last year they received a grant to build a beautiful shelter for the locomotive, which was just finished a few months ago....

.....the museum itself is very interesting with lots of local artifacts displayed very professionally.  We spent the better part of an hour touring before we bid our adieus to the docent, and headed over to ACE Hardware to pickup something Tom had ordered when he first arrived, then over to Lazy 'B' Grill for some great comfort food.  TLE, Tom and Darlene all ordered the same hamburger (Pork Candy Hamburger), while I ordered their pulled pork sandwich.....

......lunch was great, after which we headed directly to Holiday Market so TLE and I could buy a few things for the pantry, then back home to LPG&RVR by 3 pm.  TLE headed down to Tom and Darlene's motorcoach to play cards, and TLE emerged victorious once again.....

.....I, on the other hand, was slipping into a food coma when we arrived home, so I took a nap, and that was it for Wednesday.  Now we begin another four day work week, and our mini heatwave.

Thanks for stopping by!