Random thoughts on a Monday morning.....

 7:49 am - Monday - August 10th - LPG&RVR - 64° F, humidity 16%, cloud cover 3%, wind 13 mph out of the west by northwest.....smokey, hazy skies today with a forecast high of 97° F.  On this date in 2020 TLE and I were in Leavenworth, WA.....

....during the Wuhan Flu fiasco having lunch at Icicle Brewing Company.  Our alfresco dining table was less than 10 feet from the entrance, but we had to wear face diapers to walk the 10 feet to our table, then, inexplicably, perhaps miraculously, we were able to remove our face diapers, and enjoy the force field that surrounded our table keeping the dreaded corona virus at bay....lol.

The  quietness that permeates the RV park when we awaken each morning is difficult to describe.  If you have spent your entire life living in urban sprawl you get used to the continuous, ever present background sounds which never abate, but only increases in volume as the day progresses.  In deep rural America, where we spend 99% of our lives now that relentless buzzing, humming sound does not exist.  You may hear coyotes in the distance at night, or a cowing mooing, or birds chirping, but that is it.  Once the day is in full swing the sounds you hear are what you would expect in a rural RV park dedicated to the game of golf.....golf carts, conversation of folks sitting drinking their morning coffee, and ultimately the sound of a two stroke motor attached to a string trimmer, and the sound of a four stroke motor propelling one of our Husqvarna riding mowers.  Occasionally you may hear the sounds of a semi diesel truck's jake brakes as they slow down through Likely on US-395, which is about a mile in the distance.

On our days off work, such as Sunday we rarely leave our site except to take our trash to the nearby dumpster.  TLE has time to tend to her flower beds dead heading the flowers, watering them, and pulling weeds.  I work on small projects around our site, and sometimes set an oscillating sprinkler to run on the grass area which separates our site from Claude's site.  I spend a lot of time relaxing on the 'lido deck' until the heat of the day encourages me to seek out the cooler environs inside the Newell.  It is a simple life.  On days off work I'm able to spend more time, such as right now, composing my daily missive just letting thoughts morph into a storyline, and then convert themselves into sentences and paragraphs on on my computer screen.  There is no hurry, no schedule, no outside influences.....just the two of us enjoying the life we have created for ourselves on our never ending nomadic journey.  

As I have often remarked over the years, Elaine and I feel completely disconnected from our former workaday lives in SoCal.  It feels as if this has always been our life.  Our 5th summer here at LPG&RVR is slowly winding down with less than 7 weeks remaining until the park closes for the winter.  In a few days the  10 days of heat we have endured will begin to dissipate, and we will begin the multi week slide into Fall weather.  We'll begin to run our electric heaters again each morning, and then in the evening.  We'll eventually turn on the basement heater as overnight temps drop into the 30's.  We'll begin to feel that itch to change our view, and then we will do just that.

I was able to enjoy the solitude of our 'lido deck' Sunday until almost 2 pm before it was time to reposition myself into the cool confines of the Newell for the balance of the day.  I watched the latest PGA event, read, napped, smoked a cigar all the while delighting in the absence of schedules, duties, or even interaction with anyone other than my wife.  Whether working, or or relaxing on the 'lido deck' it is a good life; a life I dreamed of living from my earliest childhood days of cognition.

Thank you for taking the time out of your day to read my often random musings.  I enjoy writing, and the fact that a few thousand people a day enjoy reading what I have written is just the icing on the cake.  Thank you so much for stopping by!

Who is Rich Hamel????

 8:48 am - Sunday - August 9th - LPG&RVR - 74° F, humidity 12%, cloud cover 1%, wind 15 mph out of the northwest.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 98° F.  On this date in 2015 TLE and I were in South Lake Tahoe, CA......

at Sonney's BBQ Shack Bar having the best BLT in the lower 48.....ONE POUND of bacon!  I've never seen this anywhere else, and I have eaten BLT's from west to east, north to south, and everywhere else in between.

Another 99° F day is now in the books....the fourth 99° F+  day in succession.  Saturday was the day of the annual Rich Hamel Memorial Golf Tournament.  For those of you who may not be in the 'know', Rich Hamel was a cattleman in the Pitt River Valley for many, many years.  In the early 90's he sold his cattle, and with the help of his foreman, and ranch hands built an 18 hole golf course over the course of 10, or 11 years, and the current 50 site RV park.  Neither Rich, nor his employees had ever played golf, and yet they built this amazing 7,000 yard course by themselves utilizing the most ancient equipment you can imagine.  This annual memorial tournament is to acknowledge the amazing vision, and perseverance of this man, which resulted in Likely Place Golf and RV Resort. It is not possible for me to even imagine the back breaking work put in by a few individuals to build this amazing facility which we now call 'home' each summer.

TLE and I were on the job by 7:30 am, and within minutes I was staging 22 golf carts for the participants of the annual tournament.  DeWayne estimated we would need 17 carts, and in the end we rented 18 of the 22 staged carts.  Once that was done it was just a matter of waiting for the golfers to arrive, pay their tournament fees, and then tee off around 9 am.  By 9 am it was already too hot; any shred of morning coolness had disappeared by 8:30 am.  Once the golfers headed out to their assigned starting holes I put away the leftover carts, and washed the 5 carts which had been returned late Friday afternoon.

As is usually the case I helped Claude with the marshaling making numerous trips around the course before it was time to give TLE her 90 minute lunch break.  On hot days such as Saturday I always look forward to that 90 minute interlude where I can sit in the cool confines of the Clubhouse office with a small fan pushing air at me for an hour and a half.  The problem is when I go back outside the temp is usually in the mid to high 90's by then and it feels like walking into a blast furnace.  Since there was the tournament in progress no one came into the Clubhouse to sign up for golf, and the phone only rang twice, so it was a quiet 90 minutes.

By the time I headed back outside 9 of the 18 rented carts had been returned, and Claude had already begun to wash them; what a great buddy!  By the time 3:30 pm rolled around all 18 carts had been returned.  I gratefully headed for home, and a much anticipated long, cool shower.  Interesting side note: Over the course of the day our fresh water hose, through which the city water makes ingress into our Newell, heats up.  When I turn on the shower I turn the mixer knob to 100% cold water, and what I get for about 10 minutes is 103° F water.  By the time I'm done rinsing the soap off my body, and shampoo out of my hair it settles in at the 101° F temperature I've programmed into the tankless water heater.  I then adjust the mixer to get the water temp down to body temperature, which feels cool to me.

Once I finished with the long, cool shower I settled into an hour long nap in my recliner in the 74° F interior temperature in the salon.  On hot days like Saturday I look forward to that moment all day long.  Now, as I type, we are in the early hours of our four day weekend.  The temperatures will begin to decline beginning Sunday to 90° F by Wednesday, and on our first day back to work (Thursday) it will be 85° F.....thank you Jesus!!!

I am now finished recording the events from Saturday, and it is around 9:30 am Sunday morning.....I look at the temperatures being displayed on our temp display.....

.....the first temp is the trailer interior, the second is the 'lido deck' temp, the third is the water bay temp, and the inside temp is 73° F.....time to head outside to the 'lido deck' and watch a little golf.

Thanks for stopping by!

Triple digits.....

5:49 am - Saturday - August 8th - LPG&RVR - 60° F, humidity 19%, cloud cover 2%, wind 14 mph out of the west by northwest......partially cloudy today with a forecast high of 99° F.  On this date in 2018 TLE and I were in Southwest Harbor, ME.....

 ....we had just quit our jobs at Smuggler's Den, and moved to the property of Tony and Janet....we worked with Tony Smuggler's Den, and he offered his property for the balance of our stay in Maine.  Tony quit his job the same day....in all five of the 10 workers quit that day.

Friday would be the hottest day this summer at LPG&RVR topping out at an even 100° F.  As is our habit, we were arriving at the Clubhouse at 7:30 am.  By 7:45 am we had rented the first of 18 golf carts.  That's the biggest rental day we've had in over 10 days, and about time.  Initially, not knowing how the day would go, I staged just four carts, and they went pretty quickly.  Most of the folks who played golf Friday did not have reserved tee times.

Over the course of the morning I spent about an hour repairing, and straightening the bracket which fastens the golf ball washer to my cart.  Over the past 4 years it had gotten bent, and the ball washer was kind of handing at an angle.  A little persuasion with a baby hand sledge straightened her out, so I could remount the washer.....

Nice and straight now

Previously there were just 4 screws attaching it 

to the hand rail, but I added 3 more for good measure

....next I headed down to the 'Night Office' to coil up the hundreds of feet of water hoses we use to water that large grass area so I could mow the grass. Without that old double wide mobile home there I can mow the grass in about 20 minutes.  On my way back to the Clubhouse I mowed the group firepit grass, and the large grass area next to site #30.  By the time I refueled the Husqvarna, and blew the grass off the mower deck it was time for TLE's lunch break.

Over the course of the 90 minutes I checked in 4, or 5 RV's, and answered a number of phone calls.....things are heating up once again.  Then it was back out side to begin washing golf carts.  By the time I turned off the water I had washed, and stowed 13 of the 18 rented golf carts.  That last two hours fried me.  I headed for home, took a long, cool shower, then plopped down in my recliner and took an hour nap.  As I napped the heat of the day came and went, and by the time I returned to the Clubhouse to give TLE a ride home it was down to 95 from 100° F.  By 8:30 pm it had dropped to 78° F, which is when we turn off the AC.  Overnight the outdoor temp got into the mid 50's, and that is what makes living here in during the dog days of the summer so bearable.

Thanks for stopping by!

The heat box....

 5:52 am - Friday - August 7th - LPG&RVR - 58° F, humidity 18%, cloud cover 3%, wind 14 mph out of the west.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 100° F. On this date in 2012 TLE and I were in Astoria, OR.....

....having a late lunch at Rogue Pier 39 Public House (Rogue Brewing Company)....isn't she gorgeous?

Thursday dawned warm, but no smokey skies.  For the 2nd, or 3rd time this summer I did not wear a sweatshirt to work.....just a t-shirt, shorts, bucket hat, and shoes.  It would hit 99° F Thursday, and feel every bit of that.  The RV park has begun to fill once again, and as a result 11 carts were rented.   Of course, Thursday is also the day we clear the driving range so it can be mowed, and the 10 back up sites, plus tent sites 1-3 needed trimming, so I had something to do to keep me busy, but not out of the sun.  For the first two hours I staged carts as needed, and watered areas of grass that were getting dry.  By 10 am the grass in the backup sites/tent sites was dry enough to mow so I spent the next hour mowing them.  

I could tell there were not many range balls on the driving range, but one still must walk the entire range (250 yards in length, and 75 yards wide) to be sure no balls are missed, so it still takes 45 minutes to an hour to do the deed.  I only collected about a 5th of a bucket of balls, or less than one 'shag bag'.  After putting them to soak I headed into the cool confines of the Clubhouse to give TLE her lunch break.  The humidity levels have been in the teens lately, and that is when our swamp cooler is at its best.  The 90 minutes passed quickly with just a couple of phone calls, and one guy going out to play golf.

Over the course of the next two hours I washed 9 of the 11 carts we had rented, and continued to water down at the 'Night Office', and finally it was time to head for home and wonderful air conditioning.  Our roof top AC's are managing to keep the Newell interior in the mid 70's day after day.  By 5:10 pm TLE was home, and together we celebrated 'hump night' (the night in between day 2 and day 3 of our 4 day work week.  Just two more days in the heat box that is currently LPG&RVR.

Thanks for stopping by!

Blast furnace.....

 5:58 am - Thursday - August 6th - LPG&RVR - 56° F, humidity 17%, cloud cover 1%, wind 13 mph out of the southwest....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 99° F.  On this date in 2012 TLE and I were in Astoria, OR.....

 ....visiting the 'Goonies' house from the movie 'Goonies'.

On the first day of our four day work week the forecast high was 98° F.  For the following three days the forecast shows 99°, 100° & 99° F.  I began the day wondering if I would make it until 3:30 pm.  To be fair, our employers do not expect us to work outdoors when it is that hot, and on this day, Wednesday, there was not a lot to do.  Upon arrival at the Clubhouse I saw only one person signed up to play golf at 8 am, so there would not be a lot of carts to deal with.  I staged four to begin the day, knowing that people always show up without a 'tee time' to play golf, and there were just two.  We rented three carts in all.  

When we drove our cart to the Clubhouse at 7:30 am there were just 6 RV's in the park....SIX!  After staging the four carts I spent time straightening the workbench in the 'Caddy Shack', which took awhile, then another hour plus checking the distilled water levels in the 30 six volt batteries (six batteries per cart times 5 carts).  They were all doing pretty well, and just needed a little water in each cell to be 100% full.

Next I turned on a few sprinklers around the park to water some dry spots in the grass, then hopped on the 2 bag Husqvarna to mow around the two gazebos, and the four 'buddy' sites.  By that time it was 12 pm, and time for TLE's lunch break during which I answered 2 phone calls, and checked in one RV over 90 minutes.  Thankfully the Clubhouse was being kept very cool with the 'swamp cooler'....there is no AC in the Clubhouse.

When TLE returned I headed back outdoors to what felt like a blast furnace.  I still had two hours to go on my shift.  Two of the three carts we rented had returned, so I slowly washed them.  I usually dry the carts afterwards, but it was so hot barely any moisture remained on them after just a few minutes.  I spent the rest of my shift moving sprinklers around on the parking lot grass, and the 'Night Office' grass.  At last it was time to head for home....I made it!

Instead of taking a shower right away, I just changed clothes, and sat in my recliner where I promptly fell asleep for an hour before waking up and realizing I needed to take my shower before I returned to the Clubhouse to give TLE a ride home at 5 pm, so I did that, and had just a few minutes to relax before it was time to get TLE.  I am not looking forward to Thursday, Friday, or Saturday!

Thanks for stopping by!

Time marches onward....

 5:57 am - Wednesday - August 5th - LPG&RVR - 58° F, humidity 20%, cloud cover 7%, wind 13 mph out of the west....partially cloudy today with a forecast high of 98° F.  On this date in 2013 TLE and I were in Kalispell, MT.....

....aka: Big Sky Country, watching a rain squall move across the horizon.  The view this morning.....

....the Warner Mountains and Eagle Mountain are once again visible.

Each of the previous three weekend days I have sat in my anti gravity chair looking at those two blue/gray camp chairs in which I installed new side tables using Masonite.  That was over a month ago, and I still hadn't painted them in order to water proof them.  Tuesday I decided it was time to get that done....

.....I used blue masking tape to mask off the aluminum before applying three coats of paint....a primer coat, then two additional gloss black coats.  In all it took me less than one hour beginning to end, and I believe the final product looks way better than I expected it would.

Once that was done I was free to settle into another day on the 'lido deck' reading, napping, and just enjoying the outdoors.  TLE has been battling her allergies as of late, so she has been remaining indoors on our days off work.  By the time 2:30 pm rolled around the temperature had surpassed 92° F on the 'lido deck' and it was time to surrender, and head indoors to the cool confines of the Newell.

Late afternoon the winds switched, and began coming from the south by southwest and blowing the Washington/Oregon wild fire smoke back north, and by sundown we could see the Warners and Eagle Mountain again.  By the way, sunrise is now 6:01 am, and sundown is 8:13 pm.  We are now getting up on work days in the dark.  By August 19th sunset will be well before 8 pm.....time is marching onward.

Thanks for stopping by!

The smoke has arrived.....

 8:04 am - Tuesday - August 4th - LPG&RVR - 64° F, humidity 13%, cloud cover 7%, wind 10 mph out of the north by northwest.....clear skies, but smokey today with a forecast high of 96° F.  On this date in 2013 TLE and I were in Kalispell, MT.....

....overnighting at the local Walmart Supercenter.  Kalispell lies just a few miles north of Flathead Lake, and about 20 miles to the southwest of Glacier National Park.

We awoke Monday to smokey skies.  There are numerous wildfires in Oregon and Washington contributing to our currently smokey conditions here at LPG&RVR.  You may have heard about the catastrophic fires burning on the northside of Spokane where entire neighborhoods have been burned to the ground.  Reminds me of the Pacific Palisades fires almost two years ago.  My sister lives on the south side of Spokane, and is fortunate to have downtown Spokane, and the very large Spokane River between her home and the fires.  This is the first time this summer LPG&RVR has been impacted by wild fires smoke wise.  

Around 9 am TLE and I headed into Alturas to do our weekly shopping, and the smoke is much, much worse there (Alturas is 20 miles north of Likely).  As we neared Alturas the hazy skies reminded me of driving into the L.A. basin on a smoggy day; not much difference.  We made our usual stops at ACE Hardware, Dollar General, Grocery Outlet, and Holiday Market before heading back south to the much less smokey LPG&RVR.  Sometimes a little perspective on how bad it could be if we were living 20 miles further north helps.

We were home a tad after 11 am, and once the car was unpacked I headed out to the 'lido deck' to spend the rest of the day.  I did set one of our sprinklers to water a dry patch of grass next to the coach, but that was the extent of my physical activity for Monday.  I read, smoked a cigar, drank ice coffee, and napped until after 4:30 pm in spite of the 92° F high for the day.  There was just enough breeze to keep the 'lido deck' comfortable.

Our good friend Claude Banker, who works, and lives here at LPG&RVR, had to make a run up to his mother's home in Oregon last Thursday as she had been admitted to the hospital unconscious.  I believe she was either 105, or 106 years old, and has been in failing health for a couple of years.  Anyway, we got a text from him Sunday that his mother had passed without regaining consciousness.  So he and his family have been in our thoughts and prayers since then.  I'm sure he and his family would appreciate your thoughts and prayers right now.  She had a very long, and full life.

I just took this picture towards the Warner Mountains, and Eagle Mountain....

....you cannot even see the mountains, or Eagle Mountain because of the smoke.

Thanks for stopping by!