Two last projects.....

 7:35 am - Sunday - June 7th - LPG&RVR - 46° F, humidity 37%, cloud cover 80%, wind 9 mph out of the west by southwest, sunrise 5:29 am, sunset 8:33 pm.....sunny right now with a forecast high of 69° F. On this date in 2020 TLE and I were spending a few days at Valley View RV Park....

A lot of snow on the local mountains one week into June

.....near Island Park, ID riding out a winterish storm for a few days during the summer of the Wuhan Flu....far, far away from the urban unrest, and face diapers.

We know the temps will be heading back into the higher 80's/low 90's in the next 10 days so we decided Saturday was the day to deploy the last two sunshades to cover the front windshield of the Newell.  We used pretty much the same system as last year which includes a 12 foot long, 1.5" diameter PVC pipe across the roof to which we attach the sunshades....

....to which we attach the sunshades, which we stitched them together with large safety pins....

....then tether it to the ground with nylon ropes.  It looks pretty cool at night....

....and from the inside....

....it took us about an hour beginning to end to find the right configuration, but in the end it is our best effort to date to keep the afternoon sun off the front windshield.  We do lose the view, but the reduction in interior temperature is well worth that sacrifice.  It will be in place until early September.

I headed over to the Clubhouse to do my usual practice routine on the day of the weekly putting contest.  I putted pretty well, but you never know how that will translate into the actual contest.  Upon my return to the Newell I spent about 45 minutes installing some 12 volt solar Edison lights inside the 'dining/gaming deck' canopy.....

....I'm not sure if one string will be enough, but if we do need an additional string I already have an additional one on hand.  We'll see.

Just before 4 pm I headed over to Clubhouse for the weekly putting contest.  I won my first two rounds easily making all of my second putts.  I putted well in the third round, and was tied with my opponent as we putted the 5th hole.  My putt was about 18" from the hole, and my opponent's was about 3 feet.  He made his second putt, and then it was my turn.  I've made this putt dozens of times, but my ball lipped out of the hole.....doh!  I hate it when I beat myself!  Instead of going to a one hole 'putt off' I was done.....

.....in spite of making an early exit I had a good time with good friends.  

Thanks for stopping by!

Counterparts.....

 8:28 am - Saturday - June 6th - LPG&RVR - 55° F, humidity 32%, cloud cover 32%, wind 16 mph out of the northwest.....partially cloudy skies today with a forecast high of 74° F.  On this date in 2018 TLE and I were in Bass Harbor, ME.....

Left to right: moi, Janet, Tony, Steven, Lois and TLE

....at Seafood Ketch Restaurant having dinner with co-workers Tony and Steven and their wives.

At last, the 4th and final day of our current four day work week arrived.  It promised to be a busy day, and we were not disappointed.  We completely emptied the Cart Shack, and I had washed, and pre-staged 5 of the old square front Club Cars we now keep in reserve.  As it turned out we didn't need those 5 carts, but if I hadn't washed them we would have....that's just the way it works, and you know it....lol.  We rented 28 carts, and that is pretty nice for a Friday.  The weekend promises to be even busier, but that will be for our counterparts to enjoy, as we will be enjoying our four day weekend.

I spent almost the entire morning in and around the Clubhouse environs staging carts, and washing the carts left over from Thursday.  Finally, around 11 am I retrieved one of the Husqvarna string trimmers and headed down to the 'Night Office' to do the trimming I hadn't been able to do when I mowed a few days ago, then up to the employee sites to trim them in advance of mowing them after lunch.  I finished just a few minutes before TLE's lunch break at 12 pm.  By the way, the new grass down at the 'Night Office' is coming in quickly.

...as you might recall I give TLE a 90 minute lunch break going back to last summer.  We go to work at 7:30 am, and she ends up working 8.5 hours.  We prefer not to report overtime, so by giving her the 90 minute break she ends up working exactly 8 hours.  This is particularly nice for me when it gets hot like Friday (86° F).  I still get off at 3:30 pm, just before the heat of the day, so after her lunch break I only have 2 more hours of work, which I like.

After lunch I hopped on the 2 bag Husqvarna riding lawnmower and headed over to the employee sites to mow them, finishing them in about 35 minutes.  Once that was done it was a matter of washing as many returning carts as possible before 3:30 pm, which ended up being 15 carts, leaving 13 for Steve to wash Saturday morning.  I don't like leaving that many for my counterpart (Steve), but it is what it is.  I can't work more than 8 hours.  By the way, Steve is doing a great job, and for the first time in 2 summers I have a great counterpart who is pulling his weight!

I was home by 3:30 pm to begin my four day weekend.  TLE would follow 90 minutes later.  The restaurant is booming, and now they are serving dinner 7 nights a week.  They have added to employees to serve, and wash dishes, so food is coming out much faster, and the customers love it!  So far, knock on wood, it is shaping up to be a great summer!

Thanks for stopping by!

More of a laid back day....

 5:59 am - Friday - June 5th - LPG&RVR - 45° F, humidity 29%, cloud cover 27%, wind 15 mph out of the west......crystal clear, blue, sunny skies this morning with a forecast high of 84° F.  On this date in 2022 TLE and I were enjoying a Likely Place sunset....

...for some reason we don't get a lot of great sunsets here at LPG&RVR, but when we do I try to memorialize them.

Day 3, Thursday, of our four day work week was not quite as hectic as Wednesday.  In all we rented just 15 carts.  When things slow down a tad I'm able to take more time detailing the carts left over from the day before, which I enjoy doing.  I also set out a couple of sprinklers down at the 'Night Office' to water the new grass being grown on the site of the old mobile home that was removed last winter, and then continued watering the rest of the large grass area as the day progressed.  With all the rain last week I haven't had to do any watering until Thursday.

Around mid morning I headed up the hill to the residential area to mow the three large lawn areas, which only takes about 30 minutes.  Upon return I headed out to the driving range to clear off the range balls.  I only garnered about 1.5 five gallon buckets of balls, which is what I expected.  By the time I finished, and then put the balls to soak it was time for TLE's lunch break.

I actually sent out two foursomes during her lunch break, and checked in a few RV's, so I stayed busy for a change.  After TLE returned I spent my final two hours moving the sprinklers down at the 'Night Office', and then washed the range balls.  By the time I headed home 8 of the 15 carts had returned, so I'll have the remaining 7 to wash Friday morning.  I headed home for my hot shower, and then a long nap before returning to retrieve TLE from the Clubhouse office.  And, thus, another LPG&RVR day came to an end.  Just one more day of work.  For a change real Friday is also 'our' Friday.  The temps will dive back into the 70's for the next week, so we've go that going for us.

Thanks for stopping by!

Back into the 80's....

 5:56 am - Thursday - June 4th - LPG&RVR - 44° F, humidity 42%, cloud cover ZERO %, wind 10 mph out of the northwest.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 82° F.  On this date in 2014 TLE and I were working at Tahoe Valley Campground.....

......and visited the world famous Emerald Bay, just 8 miles from the campground.  The view this morning....

.....first cloudless day in over a week!

After facing 10 golf carts needing their spa treatment Tuesday morning there were only 5 Wednesday morning.  People are beginning play golf later in the day now, and as a result many carts are not returning until well after 5 pm.  Before washing/stowing those 5 carts I staged all ten 0f our Club Cars (5 electrics, and 5 gassers).  I'm not sure if I mentioned this, but one of the gassers (#28) had not been running since 2020.  A lot of parts had been thrown at it over the years, but it would just not run consistently.  It would run for a day, then quit again.  It turned out the coil being used was not OEM, and not for that specific model. Once the correct coil was installed it began to work again, and we have now been renting it for the past 2 days with no issues.

After staging the first 10 carts (we rented 21 in all Wednesday) I set a sprinkler to water the grass in front of the Clubhouse deck, and then washed and stowed the 5 carts left over from Tuesday.  I then turned my attention to one of the Yamaha gassers which had quit running.  I was pretty sure the battery terminals needed cleaning, so I remove the cables and wire brushed everything, then reinstalled the cables.  Just as expected, the cart began working again.  Just to be on the safe side I put a charger on the battery for a few hours.

I spent the rest of the morning mowing the grass area in the parking lot, the large grass area next to site #30, and 3 more of the full hookup, pull through sites.  There is now only one left to mow, but there was too much lawn furniture on the grass, so I deferred it to another day.  By that time it was TLE's lunch break, which was pretty uneventful.  I sent out three golfers, and answered the phone two, or three times....pretty easy stuff.  

After TLE returned I headed out to mow that tee boxes on the golf course for which I am responsible, which took about an hour.  By the time I returned it was 2:45 pm, and time to begin washing and stowing carts.  By 3:30 pm only 14 carts had been returned, so I'll have 7 to wash first thing Thursday.  The temperature hid 81° F Wednesday, our first day back into the 80's in about 10 days.  I headed for home, took a hot shower, then took a nap until it was time to return to the Clubhouse to fetch TLE.  As we always do, we celebrated 'hump night'....the night in the middle of our four day work schedule.  Just two days to go before another four day weekend!

Thanks for stopping by!

The beginning of another 4 day cycle....

 5:45 am - Wednesday - June 3rd - LPG&RVR - 55° F, humidity 34%, cloud cover 27%, wind 15 mph out of the west by southwest.....heavy cloud cover this morning with a forecast high of 80° F.  On this date in 2012 TLE and I were bicycling around Spokane, WA....

.....here we are in front of Spokane Falls on the Spokane River in downtown Spokane.

Tuesday it was back to work for TLE and I.  The skies were clear, and sunny and it promised to be a great day.  I was greeted by 10 unwashed carts at the Cart Return, so I had my work cut out for me.  By 10 am we had rented 10+ golf carts, and by the end of the day we had rented 17 in all....a very good day for the golf course.

After washing, and stowing those 10 carts I headed out to do a round of the golf course checking for goose/duck leavings at the #3 tee boxes (not much), and raking 3 of the four sand traps.  I was back by 10 am to find that TLE had pulled out three more golf carts to add to the 10 I had already staged, which were already gone.  I added a few more then spent time replenishing our sand/grass seed stockpile.  Once the grass seeds are mixed with the fine sand I refilled a number of the sand/grass seed bottles which are on each cart for the purpose of filling in divots at the tee boxes, and on the course so grass will regrow in those divots.

I made another round of the course just before lunch time, then gave TLE her lunch break.  Things were pretty quiet, but I did send a couple of twosomes out to play golf before TLE returned.  I spent time mowing in the afternoon (all five water electric sites, 6 of the 10 pull through full hookup sites, the grass area at the group fire pit, and the large grass area down at the 'Night Office') then connected all of the water lines we use to irrigate the trees.  

By the time I returned from mowing the 'Night Office' grass it was almost 3 pm, and time to begin washing the carts which had been returned while I was mowing.  In all 12 of the 17 carts had been returned at that point.  The rest came back around 5 pm, so I'll have them to wash/stow first thing Wednesday.

I returned to the Clubhouse just before 5 pm, and by 5:10 pm TLE and I were on our way home....one day down, and three to go.  When I am busy like I was Tuesday the time really flies.  It did not seem like I was on the job for 8 hours.

Thanks for stopping by!

How is our vision?

 6:01 am - Tuesday - June 2nd - LPG&RVR - 45° F, humidity 27%, cloud cover 34%, wind 10 mph out of the west by southwest.....mostly sunny skies today with a forecast high of 84° F.  On this date in 2020 TLE and I were at a boondock site on the Teton River with a view of the Grand Tetons....

The Tetons

The Teton River

.....the rest of our vintage bus entourage has finally arrived.  You can stay for free at this site for up to 10 days.

Monday was the day of our annual eye examinations at Modoc Family Optometry in Alturas.  We left LPG&RVR around 8:50 am arriving in Alturas around 9:10 am.  We made a quick stop at the local fuel station to fill up the VW for the first time since late March.....the day we had the massive coolant loss.  We arrived at Modoc Family Optometry right at 9:20 am, which was our appointment time.  Within minutes TLE and I were taken to the first small room to do a number of eye tests, then to the final small room where we had our prescriptions checked, and updated.  By 10:15 am we were exiting the office with stellar exam results.....we both have healthy eyes, and nothing has really changed in the last year....all good news.

Next we made quick stop at Dollar General, then off to Holiday Market for the majority of our grocery needs for the next week.  On our way out of town we stopped at 'Wild Mustard' to buy coffees, and pastries which we consumed at one of their tables on the sidewalk.....

You can see the Niles Hotel in the deep background

Wild Mustard is right behind me

.....we discovered this place last summer, and really like its ambiance.  On our way home we made a stop in 'downtown' Likely to take pictures of two of the town projects.  You will recall that last year the town church was moved across the street to sit next to the Fire Department, and was sitting on large steel girders for a long time.  Well, the church is now on its foundation, and work is being done to get it ready to reopen.....

....in addition to that the new Rest Area bathrooms in the Fire Department parking lot are now open, and being used....

....we were home a little after 12 pm, and while TLE put away the groceries I installed one of our purchases from Dollar General....

....an indoor/outdoor carpet piece in front of the trailer entrance.  

We were expecting a FedEx delivery of two more 4' x 6' artificial turf pieces sometime in the afternoon, so I spent about an hour on the 'lido deck', smoking a cigar, waiting for the delivery....

...they finally arrived, and I unpacked them ....

.....and laid them in the sun to flatten out prior to installing them in the 'gaming/dining deck' area....

Before installation.....

.....after installation

....we've been waiting for these new turf pieces to arrive so we could set up our enclosed dining canopy.....and now the setup of our site is complete.

By the time TLE and I finished setting up the dining canopy it was after 4 pm, so I returned to the 'lido deck' to relax before dinner.  TLE headed over to the Clubhouse to meet with Kathy and pickup the cash drawer as we head back to work on Tuesday for our next 4 day work shift, and then we had dinner on the 'lido deck'.

Thanks for stopping by!

Back to wonderful weather.....

 7:20 am - Monday - June 1st - LPG&RVR - 52° F, humidity 30%, cloud cover 2%, wind 8 mph out of the north.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 77° F.  On this date in 2020 TLE and I had just arrived near Driggs, ID.....

....at a boondock site right on the Teton River with a view of the backside of the Grand Tetons.  One of our most memorable boondock sites.  We were eventually joined by Glenn and Laureen, and then Claude and Gail.  The view this morning....

....nary a cloud in the sky, and no rain forecast in the foreseeable future.

Sunday was a beautiful day.  No wind, no rain, no clouds....in fact you could clearly see Eagle Mountain, and it got a lot of snow since this past Tuesday....

.....I spent time in the trailer installing a new battery in our Predator 5000 dual fuel generator.  I've had the new battery since before we left TWW, but just hadn't taken the time to remove the old one.  Harbor Freight doesn't sell these replacement batteries, so I found an exact match on Amazon for $39 shipped.  The Predator now has 620 hours on its time clock.  The first winter we used it we put on over 400 hours of run time, but as you will recall we greatly reduced its use this past winter, and only added around 200 hours of run time.  We relied mostly on our various solar arrays to recharge our various battery banks, and only used the Predator when it was raining, or snowing, or very heavy cloud cover.

Once the new battery was installed I connected our propane tank to it to give it some run time.  It started right up, and ran smoothly for about 10 minutes.  I know at some point during the summer we'll have a power outage, so it's only a matter of when, not if we'll need to fire it up, and I want the Predator to be ready to use.  You may recall I ran all of the gasoline out of it before we left TWW, and the gas that was in it when I ran it the final time had Stabil in it.

Late in the morning TLE came to me advising that the carpet around our Dometic toilet was damp.....uh oh!  This is the 2nd Dometic toilet we've had in the Newell, and it was installed back in the summer of 2019 when we were working at Ramona Oaks RV Resort.  The first one was installed back in 2009, and lasted 10 years.  We haven't had an issue with this new one in the 7 years since we installed it.  After a brief inspection I determined that the two connections on the stainless steel braided supply line were not as tight as they should be, and that is where the leak was originating, so I tightened them, and the leak stopped.  Fortunately, when I replaced the toilet back in 2019 I treated the wood base upon which the toilet sits with polyurethane spray to make it waterproof, and it worked, so no damage to the wood.  TLE cleaned the carpet piece, and once it is dry we'll reinstall it.  We are so grateful it was not a leaky valve in the toilet, or something much more complicated.

Around 4:30 pm I fired up the Sea-B-Que to grill a London Broil we purchased at Holiday Market a week, or so ago.  Claude arrived around 5 pm just as I was taking the London Broil off the grill....

....TLE added roasted potatoes, and opened a bottle of Zinfandel to chase the meal.  As always, we had great conversation, and a wonderful alfresco setting which only enhanced the meal.  Here I'm taking a rare 'usie' with my left hand....I'm not quite as adept at this as I am with my right hand....you can see my left arm in the upper right corner of the picture....lol.  We talked, and drank wine until well after 7 pm.  

Thanks for stopping by!