Fall is on our doorstep.....

 5:52 am - Wednesday - September 16th - LPG&RVR - 46° F, humidity 42%, cloud cover 33%, wind 11 mph out of the south by southeast.....partly cloudy today with a forecast high of 74° F.  On this date in 2020 TLE and I were living in Seal Rock, OR.....

....taking our first walk on Seal Rock Beach, right across US-1 from our camphost site.

The RV park since the Labor Day weekend has been so much busier, which means I'm busier, which means work time passes more quickly....all good things.  Once again our first golf customers didn't tee off until 9 am, even though there was no frost delay on Tuesday.  I staged 4 of the Club Car electrics, but only 3 went out before 10 am, so I restowed the fourth cart, and staged 5 of the Yamaha gassers.  Over the course of the day we rented 17 carts; very good for a Tuesday.....lately.

I spent time reinstalling the repaired right front wheel/tire on the 2 bag Husqvarna, and then proceeded to wash the 8 carts left over from Monday.  After they were washed I then refueled each of them, then used compressed air to blow the dust out of the engine bays and centrifugal clutches.  It has been a dry summer, and dust is the enemy of long life for centrifugal clutches.  We had the same issue with the clutches on the Polaris RZRs we rented back in 2023 and 2024.

I was kept busy throughout the morning staging more golf carts, and answering customer questions about the course, and the property, and soon it was time to give TLE her lunch break.  Lunch time was moderately busy for me, but the big rush came after TLE returned.  I think 7, or 8 RV's arrived in a 25 minute period.

Six carts awaited me at the wash station, so I got busy washing them, refueling them, and blowing the dust out of the engine bays.  Around 2:30 pm I took another run around the course, and took a couple of pictures....

.....the trees are beginning adorn themselves with the traditional Fall colors, so it appears Fall is on our doorstep.  By the time I returned just before 3 pm TLE had rented 5 more carts, so I'll have a buttload of carts to wash first thing Wednesday.  There were two more carts to wash and stow, so by the time I finished with them it was time to head for home to take a long, hot shower, and take a nap before returning to the Clubhouse to give TLE a lift home.  So with the completion of Tuesday's work we had reached the end of another pay period, and 'hump night' leaving just two more days of work before our next four day weekend.  By the end of Thursday we'll have just 8 work days left this season.

Thanks for stopping by!

A productive Monday....

 5:56 am - Tuesday - September 15th - LPG&RVR - 40° F, humidity 29%, cloud cover 5%, wind 13 mph out of the south by southwest......clear, blue skies today with a forecast high of 79° F.  On this date in 2020 TLE had just arrived at our home for the next 12 months.....

....Seal Rocks RV Cove.  Our employee site was on the hill behind the office (foreground), and this was our view, and was separated from the rest of the campground.  One of the best workamping jobs ever.....great place to live for the next 12 months.

For the second consecutive day it got down to freezing overnight, and we were met with frost on the putting green as we arrived at 7:30 am for our first of four work days.  Due to the frost there was a 90 minute frost delay for those wishing to play a around of golf.  As a result our first golfers did not tee off until 9:30 am.  There were six carts left over from Sunday for me to wash, but it was too cold to take care of that until closer to 9:30 am.  I initially staged 4 carts for the 9:30 am folks, and then later an additional 12 carts. By 3:30 pm 8 of them were still outstanding.

I spent time repairing the hose on the air compressor in the 'Caddy Shack'.  It had developed a leak last Wednesday (my last work day), and I had to cut off about 4 feet of the hose, and reattach the shortened hose so I could blow grass off the two Husqvarna mowing decks, and didn't have time to splice the four feet back to the hose that day.  In the interim I found a coupling to splice the two pieces, and was able to restore the full length of hose.  

Next up I was able to repair the right front wheel of the 2 bag Husqvarna with two new bushings.  As you will recall I discovered the bushing on the outside of the wheel had broken, and I didn't think we had any other bushings, so I borrowed the right front wheel from the defunct John Deere mower which had two good bushings.  As it turns out we do have four of those bushings, so using a chisel I pounded out the remains of the old bushing, and pressed in the new one.  While I was at it I replaced the inside bushing as well, since it had worn unevenly for a period of time before I discovered the problem with the outside bushing.  It was actually a pretty straightforward repair.  By that time it was almost 12 noon, so I put away my tools, and headed inside to give TLE her 90 minute lunch break.

The office was pretty busy during that time with phone calls to answer, and customers to check into the RV park, so the 90 minutes passed by quickly.  Soon I was back outside washing and stowing golf carts.  I made one pass around the golf course since our Marshal (Claude) is off Monday through Wednesdays.  All was well, and folks were obeying the rules.  By the time I returned it was almost 3 pm, and there were a few more carts to wash and stow, so I took care of them, closed up the 'Caddy Shack', and was home by 3:30 pm.

As of this writing (Tuesday morning around 6:22 am) we have just 10 more early mornings left, and 12 more days off work, plus another 5 months after that of no early mornings until we return for our 6th season here at LPG&RVR.

Thanks for stopping by!

A couple of firsts.....

 5:49 am - Monday - September 14th - LPG&RVR - 33° F, humidity 47%, cloud cover 1%, wind 6 mph out of the northeast.....clear, blue skies today with a forecast high of 74° F.  On this date in 2020 TLE and I were just across the Columbia River from Astoria, OR....

You can see the Astoria-Megler bridge in the background

.....after having having spent a week driving US-1 from Port Townsend through the Olympic Peninsula in Washington.  We would arrive at our home for the next year (Seal Rock, OR) later the next day.

Sunday was another great football day.  It was NFL day, and there were quite a few good games throughout the day.  Although I had the outdoor TV up and running on the 'lido deck' it was too cold, and breezy to spend much time outdoors.  The temp had dropped from 81° F on Saturday to 65° F Sunday.  The overnight low was 30° F (7 am Sunday), which meant we had to move our many plants into the trailer Saturday night for the first time since we arrived April 27th.  We planned on taking another 1 mile out and back walk when it hit 60° F, which did not occur until 1:30 pm.

Just as the afternoon NFL games were about to begin we took our walk averaging 3 mph again (20 minutes and 10 seconds) burning another 166 calories.  After returning from our walk we sat on the 'lido deck' for a few minutes cooling down from our walk, but eventually had to head indoors as the cool temp combined with the stiff breeze made it feel much colder than it was.

That was pretty much the 4th day of our four day weekend.  We did watch the Sunday night game between the NY Giants and the Dallas Cowboys played in New Jersey.  Jim Harbaugh is the NY Giants coach this year, and has apparently worked wonders with their defense and offense.  The Cowboys were favored, but the Giants won 28-20, and it didn't really seem that close.  This was the first time the NY Giants have won a season opener against the Cowboys since 2016, and it was the first time since 2006 that both the NY Jets and Giants both won their opening day games.

Thanks for stopping by!

In the money again!

 8:10 am - Sunday - September 13th - LPG&RVR - 44° F, humidity 40%, cloud cover 7%, wind 14 mph out of the north by northwest.....clear, but hazy skies this morning with a forecast high today of 65° F.  On this date in 2018 TLE and I were in Bar Harbor, ME....

....we were up at 5 am to make the 20 minute drive to the summit of Cadillac Mountain to watch the sun rise.  Every day during the summer hundreds of people would make this pilgrimage to watch the sun rise, and we are glad that on this day we would be counted among those.....spectacular!

After composing my latest missive I headed out to the 'lido deck' to dump our black tank realizing at the same time that I would only be performing this ritual a couple more times before we haul anchor and head south for the winter.  I'm pretty sure I've mentioned previously that we have great water pressure here at LPG&RVR, so it only takes about 10-15 minutes to thoroughly dump and flush the tank two, or three times.

After another successful dump/flush TLE and I headed out to do another 1 mile out and back walk; just the fourth of the summer.....

....we managed to complete the out and balk 1 mile walk in 19 minutes and 46 seconds averaging just over 3 mph, plus another 166 caloric units were consumed.  We've really beeen lazy this summer, but we need to get back to walking on a regular basis.

Upon our return I changed clothes and headed out to the 'lido deck' to watch some college football, and were there ever some great games to be watched.  In all I counted three significant upsets of top 25 teams beginning with Michigan (unranked) outlasting the University of Oklahoma (#11) 17-10, unranked Oklahoma State defeating #6 Oregon Ducks 39-31, and #4 Texas beating #1 Ohio State 24-23 on a last minute touchdown and extra point.  Texas was down 23-3 to begin the second half, but scored 21 unanswered points to win at the buzzer.

Saturday was also our final weekly putting contest of the summer before the final next Saturday (September 19th).  There were only 15 putters, and normally we would have run a double elimination format, but the annual Likely Fire Department steak dinner was at 5 pm, so we went with single elimination.  I'm happy to say that the magic that was mine last week continued this week, only this time I came in first place!  I still can't believe it.

Around 5 pm TLE and I headed over to the Fire Department dinner.  I think well over half the people there were from LPG&RVR (customers, residents, members, and employees).  For $30/person you get a larger than life Rib Eye Steak (TLE and I were hard pressed to eat half of ours), baked potato, corn on the cobb, salad and dessert.  When we arrived there was a line out the door, and it took us a good 15 minutes to get to our table with our food.  At the end of the dinner there is a raffle drawing for three prizes: 1st place is an expensive hunting rifle, 2nd place was an expensive wine refrigerator, and 3rd was a $200 gift certificate for the Likely General Store (we won that prize two years ago).  When it came time to draw the much coveted hunting rifle DeWayne Matthews (Fire Chief) asked a lady from the audience to make the draw.  You can't make this stuff up.....she drew her own raffle ticket out of a box of hundreds of tickets.  She only bought ONE raffle ticket.  How cool is that?

We were home by 7:30 pm, just in time to see most of the 2nd half of the Texas/Ohio State game, and then transition to the late game (8 pm start) featuring my USC Trojans vs. Louisiana.  As expected my Trojans won handily 49-30, but I was in bed long before the game finished sometime after 11 pm.

Saturday was quite a day....thanks for stopping by!

Two for ones......

 7:44 am - Saturday - September 12th - LPG&RVR - 57° F, humidity 28%, cloud cover 37%, wind 21 mph out of the south by southwest.....partly cloudy today with a forecast high of 81° F.  On this date in 2014 TLE and I were in Cape Blanco, OR.....

In those rock formations in the background (above) you can see what appears to be a caricature of a whale (below)

....in our 15+ years of travel we have found the Oregon Coast sunsets are consistently the most beautiful, and amazing we have seen anywhere.  Between Cape Blanco (Fall of 2014 & 2015) and Seal Rock (10/2020 to 10/2021) I have enough sunset pictures to make up a dozen calendars.

I still owe you a 'what happened on Thursday' since I dedicated yesterday's post to 9/11, so I'll do my best to describe Thursday's happenings first, before I transition into Friday's happenings, so you'll get a 'two for one'.

Thursday, September 10th:

In less than 3 weeks we will be able to sleep in every day until late April 2027, but for now we are in those 8 day cycles where we can sleep late on four of those days, but need to be up by 5:30 am on the other four, and Thursday was one of the four days every eight days that we do not have to rise early, so we didn't.  By the time I finished, and posted my daily blog about Wednesday's events it was after 9:30 am.....how delicious!

The only substantial thing I accomplished Thursday was to install a new center console in our 2001 VW Beetle.  The center console is like an arm rest, but it does have a lid can open to access whatever one might put in there like current registration, insurance cards, etc.  The one that came with our Beetle had a damaged hinge, which prevented it from being adjusted to whatever height you prefer.  It would remain in a given position for a few minutes, then fall.  I found a previously owned on on eBay about 10 days ago when we were at Holiday Market shopping.  I had finally had it with the malfunctioning one on the way into Alturas, so as soon as we arrived at Holiday Market that day I began searching for a replacement on eBay.  The replacement arrived on Wednesday, so around 10 am Thursday I removed the old one, and installed the new one....

.....the old one was black on top, but gray on the bottom.  This one is all black, but unless you knew there was a difference you wouldn't even notice.  In all it took me about 15 minutes beginning to end to install the 'new to us' center console.  Over the years I have replaced the right door 'card', the grab handle on the passenger side, and the glove box; all off eBay.

Once that was done TLE and I did something we have rarely done this summer....take a 1 mile out and back walk.....

.....we averaged just under  3 mph for 1.01 miles taking just 20 minutes and 36 seconds to do the walk, burning a meager 168 caloric units.

I spent the balance of the day relaxing on our 'lido deck' until late in the day.  With temps back into the low 80's I can use my anti gravity recliner all day long.  I spent time reading, and napping as is my custom on days off work.  

TLE and I watched a documentary that evening on Nolan Ryan, the pitcher, on Amazon Prime. It's over an hour (1 hour 42 minutes), but if you are a baseball fan it is well worth it.  It gets 5 stars on Amazon.  He pitched well until age 44 when he tore a tendon, or ligament in his right elbow, and retired.  He pitched 7 no hitters during his 27 year career, the final one at age 43.  He played for the Angels, Astros, and Rangers during his amazing career.  At his prime his fast ball could hit 108 mph.  He holds around 56 Major League Baseball records.  He won over 300 games, and had just shy of 5,800 strikeouts in his career.  Randy Johnson is in second place strikeouts wise, and he is 1,000 strikeouts behind Nolan Ryan.  Anyway, if you are so inclined, check it out.  The title of the documentary is 'Facing Nolan'.  I believe you can find it on Netflix, and Amazon Prime, and an abbreviated version on YouTube.

Friday, September 11th: 

I had a hair appointment Friday morning at Kaleidescope at 9 am, so we were up right at 7 am....no sleeping in until 7:30, or 8 am on this day.  It seems like my hair is growing at a faster rate than a few years so, and getting a haircut once a month is no longer working.  I'm going to have to reduce the intervals between haircuts to avoid an out of control coif.  Anyway, we were on the road in the Beetle before 8:30 am, and I was enjoying the convenience of the new center console that works as it should.....lol.  We arrived at Kaleidescope at 8:50 am, the same time Sheila arrived....great timing.  On this day TLE was also getting her hair length, and bangs adjusted, so she went first.  By 9:35 am we were on our way to do our weekly shopping making stops at Dollar General, and Holiday Market where we found two large London Broil steaks on sale from $36 down to $18....killer deal.  It's like buy one, get one free (2 for 1).  They'll go into the freezer to be enjoyed at a later day, perhaps after our return to The Wilson Wilderness.

We were home by 11 am with virtually the entire day still in front of us.  After helping put away our purchases I retired, once again, to the 'lido deck'  where I remained until almost 5 pm reading, napping, smoking a cigar, and listening to music (Classic Vinyl, channel 26, Sirius/XM Radio).  The mosquitoes are slowly disappearing as the overnight lows begin to eliminate them  I think I got one bite all afternoon.

Thanks for stopping by!

Have you forgotten?

 7:25 am - Friday - September 11th  - LPG&RVR - 50° F, humidity 39%, cloud cover 2%, wind 15 mph out of the west by southwest.....partially cloudy this morning with a forecast high of 84° F.  On this date in 2001  Islamic Terrorists flew passenger jets into the twin towers in Manhattan, NY, and into the Pentagon in Washington D.C......

....today's blog will be brief, and a tribute to those 2,996 innocent people who's lives were snuffed out by those terrorists 25 years ago.  So many seem to have forgotten.  The question is "Have you forgotten?".....

"HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN?" - Darryl Worley

....I haven't.  Please take some time today to reflect on what happened a quarter of a century ago, and what we are facing today, and in the future.

Thank you for stopping by!

Time for the 'until next times'.....

7:35 am - Thursday - September 10th - LPG&RVR - 63° F, humidity 30%, cloud cover 92%, wind 15 mph out of the southwest.....heavy cloud cover today with a forecast high of 85° F.  On this date in 2017 TLE and I were in Gardiner, MT where we lived that summer while working at the General Store in Mammoth Hot Springs.....

....Mammoth Hot Springs is in Wyoming, so we were crossing state lines twice a day 5 out of every 7 days.  We came home from work on this date in 2017 to find two deer in repose on our artificial turf....how cool is that?  Our RV site was right on the Yellowstone River....what a great summer it was!

As I sit here wondering what to write about Wednesday I realize that as of today, September 10th, we have exactly 12 days of work left, and 12 days of days off work; 24 days total, or 3 weeks and 3 days....lol.  When you break it down like that it seems so short, and it actually is.  Sometimes you get wrapped up in the ebb and flow of day after day working, or relaxing that the time slips away from you, and suddenly our 5th summer season here at Likely Place Golf & RV Resort is slowly slipping into the rearview mirror.  It has been another great summer season spent with 'salt of the earth' folks.  Some of those folks will begin their annual migration back south for the winter this weekend, so there will be a steadily increasing 'until next time' scenarios playing out over the next few weeks, and on top of that, I saw more geese heading south.

TLE celebrated the 38th anniversary of her 39th birthday on Wednesday, and had a steady stream of folks stopping by to deliver her their birthday well wishes.  Sunny, who is the restaurant concessionaire for the foreseeable future, made her a special birthday dinner of her choosing, which was a double/double Smash burger (I got one too!), but I get ahead of myself.

In spite of the limited warming trend we are experiencing right now, it is very cold in the mornings, and I find myself wearing my hooded sweatshirt until well after 9 am most mornings.  It is right on the edge of being too cold (first thing) for shorts.  Since the forecast high was 90° F I added a short sleeved t-shirt to my work attire ensemble.  Upon arrival at the 'Cart Return' area I found 5 carts left over from Tuesday awaiting their daily spa treatment.  The tee times sheet indicated we would need at least 10 golf carts staged to begin the day, so I staged them, then washed/stowed the 5 holdovers from Tuesday.  In all we rented just 12 carts Wednesday, and by 3:30 pm all but two had returned.

Between the beginning of the day, and the end at 3:30 pm I replaced the right front wheel on the 2 bag Husqvarna as the existing one had a bad bushing, so the wheel was wobbling on the axle.  I borrowed the left front wheel from the defunct John Deere mower as it had two good bushings.  We'll have to get a new bushing for the wheel I removed.

Later in the morning I helped TLE install a new printer (a Brother) to replace the old Epson, which is beginning to fail.  They've had the Brother being stored down at 'Night Office' for over 5 years, and it is still in good working order, it just needs to have a new black toner cartridge installed.  It has been ordered, and should be here next week.  Otherwise we were able to install the appropriate 'drivers', and get the computer to connect to it, so all we need now is the new toner cartridge.

I gave TLE her lunch break at 12 pm, and stayed very busy for the 90 minutes answering numerous phone calls, and checking in 6, or 7 RVs.  At 12 pm it was getting warm, but not bad, but by 1:30 pm it was hot.  10 of the 12 golf carts had been returned so I busied myself with getting them washed, and stowed.

When 3:30 pm finally came around I was more than ready to head for home to take a shower, and a nap, in that order.  Sometimes I take the nap first, but it was hot, and there was no way I was going to live with myself without washing off the dust and sweat from another hot LPG&RVR workday.

Thanks for stopping by!