I was wrong.....

 5:49 am - Thursday - September 24th - LPG&RVR - 47° F, humidity 24%, cloud cover 33%,  wind 16 mph out of the south by southwest.....partly cloudy today with a forecast high of 84° F.  On this date in 2021 TLE and I were in Seal Rock, OR.....

.....for our last sunset fire....a cloudless, windless evening....sunset 7:08 pm.

As we wind down our 5th season here at LPG&RVR the sun is now setting before 7 pm (6:55 pm), and within a week will be rising after 7 am.  While the park is relatively active right now, there are not many golfers.  Wednesday we rented just 7 golf carts, and by 3:30 pm 5 of them had been returned leaving just two for Thursday morning.  I only put out our five Club Car electrics if we know they will all be rented by 10 am.  Why?  Well, when a customer rents a cart for 18 holes he has 5 hours to complete the 18 holes, which means if they tee off at 10 am the cart must be returned by 3 pm, or 5 hours later.  On this day the 5th cart was to go out at 10 am, so I staged them.

I washed the two left over carts a little after 8 am, then headed down to the 'Night Office' to turn on the sprinklers again.  I had done a lot of watering on Tuesday, and felt I could get the rest of the grass watered by Wednesday afternoon.  On my way back to the Clubhouse I also set out two sprinklers on the parking lot grass. During the rest of the morning I string trimmed all of the employee sites, and the small gazebo, cleared range balls from the woods on either side of the driving range garnering 1/2 a 5 gallon bucket to wash later in the morning, moved the sprinklers down at the 'Night Office', and parking lot grass, then mowed the small gazebo grass, and the employee grass.  By the time I fueled, and cleaned the 2 bag Husqvarna it was 12 noon, and time for TLE's lunch break.

It was a typical end of the year lunch break.  I checked 4 RVs into the park, and sent a few folks out to play golf; otherwise it was pretty quiet.  By the time I headed back outside four of the 5 Club Car electrics had returned, and I was sure the 5th one would return well before 3:30 pm, but I was wrong.  As 3 pm came and went I drove around the entire LPG&RVR campus in search of the cart, but it was no where to be found.  Finally I asked TLE to call them and request they return the cart ASAP.  Finally around 3:30 pm it was returned, but with an angry customer.  Why was he angry?  Beats me.  He and his wife had taken 5.5 hours to play just 18 holes.  I'm not a very good golfer, and I can play 18 holes in under 4 hours, and that's playing two, or three balls per hole.  As it turns out they didn't tee off until 10:20 am after picking up the cart at 9:40 am.  Had they teed off on time they would have been back well before 3:30 even taking as long as they did to play 18 holes.  Anyway, I quickly washed and stowed that cart and headed for home about 3:45 pm.

When I returned at 5 pm to pickup TLE from work she advised me one of our EZ-GO carts had quit working about half way to the 17th green, so after dropping off TLE at home I picked up Claude and drove out to retrieve the cart (#83).  I was hoping we would not have to tow it in, and that it would just start and run making it an easy rescue, and for a change I was right.  Why it quit working is a mystery as it had 1/2 tank of gas.  We'll have to check it out Thursday.  I was back home eating dinner about 25 minutes later, and my work day was finally over.

Thanks for stopping by!

And the countdown begins....

 5:50 am - Wednesday - September 23rd - LPG&RVR - 42° F, humidity 34%, cloud cover 20%, wind 8 mph out of the southwest.....partly cloudy today with a forecast high of 83° F.  On this date in 2015 TLE and I were in Gold Beach, OR.....

.....taking a ride of Jerry's Jet Boats on the Rogue River.....what a day!!!

As one might expect, our first day back to work on a Tuesday was pretty quiet.  In all we rented 12 golf carts.  There were two Yamaha gassers left over from Monday to greet me when we arrived at the 'Cart Return' area at 7:30 am.  The tee time sheet showed a need for just 4 carts, but we all know that will grow throughout the day, and as I reported above it did.  With the sun rising later and later each day it is still pretty cold at 7:30 am, so I wait until well after 8 am to wash any carts now.  I'm sure before the end of the season that I will be taking a lunch break each day after I give TLE hers, and working until at least 4:30 pm  since golfers are not really teeing off until 9 am, or later now.

I was planning to do some mowing Tuesday, which I haven't done for over a week as Steve has done most of it, however, as I drove around the park first thing Tuesday I could see that the grass at the 'Night Office', the parking lot grass, and the three residential lawns needed attention.  In order to mow the 'Night Office' grass I have to roll up the very long four hoses we use to water the large area to make it easier to mow, so I did that, and then around 10 am I retrieved a string trimmer from the 'Caddy Shack' to trim around the residential lawns, and the 'Night Office' lawn before mowing them.  By 10:30 am I was on the 2 bag Husqvarna mowing first the three residential lawns, then the 'Night Office' lawn, then the parking lot grass.  By the time I finished mowing, refueling the Husqvarna, and blowing the grass clippings off the mowing deck it was time for TLE's lunch break.

It was relatively busy  in the Clubhouse office for the 90 minutes I was there.  I checked in a couple of RV's, sold some merchandise, and sent a few golfers out on the course.  By the time TLE returned there were several carts awaiting their daily spa treatment, which kept me busy for the balance of my shift.  I was off by 3:30 pm, and on my way home for a hot shower, and a nap.  Now there are just 7 work days remaining, and as I write, only 6 more early mornings before our season ends on October 3rd....the countdown has begun!

Thanks for stopping by!

'Pub Crawl'......

 5:52 am - Tuesday - September 22nd - LPG&RVR - 48° F, humidity 40%, cloud cover 27%, wind 11 mph out of the northwest......partly cloudy today with a forecast high of 80° F.  On this date in 2016 TLE and I were in South Lake Tahoe, CA....

....at Tahoe Valley Campground.  Fall weather was already upon us.  We stayed that year until the end of October.  They had their first snow of the year the day we left.

This Friday (September 29th) LPG&RVR is hosting a 'Pub Crawl', and TLE and I are individually hosting a brew pub called High Forest Pub (our last name is German, and means High Forest).  I've been collecting craft brews all summer long in preparation for this event, and needed a few more to add to the collection, so we did something we do not normally do on our four day weekend; we headed into Alturas for a second time.  We left the park a little after 9 am, and after stops at Dollar General, Holiday Market, and the local fuel station, we were back home a little after 11 am.

We're going to be offering 'flights' of beer for people to sample more than one type of beer, so using a scrap piece of 3/4" plywood I cut out five 'flight' platters which can hold three samples each....

.....I used a 1 ½" hole saw to cut out the circles in which the sample cups will sit.  It didn't take more than 40 minutes beginning to end, but I put them together in stages over a few days.  They turned out well.  We're offering folks the chance to taste three different brews before making their choice.  There will be typical 'pub' snacks such as popcorn, mixed nuts, etc. offered, too.

After completing those platters, and buying the extra brews my work day was done, and I retired to the 'lido deck' to read for the rest of the afternoon.  I'm pretty sure a pretty long nap in my anti gravity recliner was had, also.

As I type this post we are about to begin our second to last 4 day work week, which will take us through Friday.  Then there will be just one four day weekend, and then our final four day work week before we head south for the winter.  I'll leave you with this Simon and Garfunkel song.....

.....thanks for stopping by!

'Lido deck' life.....

 7:53 am - Monday - September 21st - LPG&RVR - 57° F, humidity 48%, cloud cover 19%, wind 6 mph out of the west.....cloudy today with a forecast high of 82° F.  On this date in 2017 TLE and I were in Mammoth Hot Springs, WY....near the North Entrance of.....

.....Yellowstone National Park where winter came early that year.  This is the General Store where we worked for four months that summer.  I wrote about that here.

Time is marching forward day by day, and soon we will be offering up our 'until next times' to our family here at LPG&RVR.  The sun is noticeably lower in the sky as it repeats its daily arc across the increasingly southern sky from east to west.  In a few days we will be taking down the sun shade which has dutifully kept the summer sun from direct contact with our front cap and windshield these past months, and within 2 weeks we will begin to organize the trailer for VW insertion sometime near the beginning of the 2nd week of October.  That I am even mentioning the word October seems surreal, but it is undeniable that today (Monday) is September 21st, and our last work day is a mere 12 days in the future now.  Tonight the sun will officially set at 7 pm....it seems like it was setting well after 8:40 pm just a couple of weeks ago.  The sun isn't cresting the Warner Mountains until well after 7 am now, and within a week, or so the daylight portion of our day will be less than 12 hours.

With the overcast skies we had Sunday it remained cold on the 'lido deck' until after 12 pm, and that is when I moved out to the 'lido deck' to watch NFL football.  The main afternoon game (for me anyway) was the Raider vs. Charger game being played at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.  The Raiders have delivered one dismal season upon another for the past decade, or more, but something seems different this year.  They make very few mistakes, and have won two games in a row to start this season for the first time in 10, or 12 years.  My oldest son is an avid Raiders fan, as I have been since the 70's.  He and his wife often head to Las Vegas on weekends when the Raiders are at home, and as an extra treat they were able to attend the Raider vs. Chargers game in L.A. this past weekend.  It turned out to be a well played game by the Raiders who won 24-14.

I remained on the 'lido deck' well after 5 pm when TLE rang the dinner bell.  Sunday evening's dinner fare was a Cobb Salad, one of my favorites.  While we ate we watched the Sunday night game between the Indianapolis Colts and the Kansas City Chiefs.  We weren't expecting much of a game, but the Colts' offense showed on Sunday, and at the end of regulation time (60 minutes) the game was tied 27-27.  Overtime in the NFL consists of one 10 minute over time period with each team getting at least one possession of the football, unless there is a defensive touchdown; at least that is how I think it works.  Anyway, ultimately each team kicked a field goal to remain tied at 30-30 with 3 minutes to go in the overtime.  The Chiefs got the ball and marched down the field to kick the winning field goal as the overtime expired.  It was a good day for watching football outdoors.

Thanks for stopping by!

We're adults, after all....

 8:32 am  - Sunday - September 20th - LPG&RVR - 58° F, humidity 23%, cloud cover 34%, wind 8 mph out of the southeast......partially cloudy skies today with a forecast high of 82° F.  On this date in 2013 TLE and I were in Fairmont Hot Springs, MT.....

.....with Tom and Darlene McCloud.  They were on their way back south to Arizona on I-15 from Canada, and we were heading east to the sugar beet harvest in Sydney, MT via I-90.

We slept in again Saturday until after 8 am....two days in a row!  It feels like we're doing something wrong, and are going to get in trouble, but then we remember we're adults, and require no outside supervision....lol.  We can do what we want on our days off work.  Saturday was the day of the annual putting contest final which features all those who have finished either first, or second on any given Saturday during the summer, putting for bragging rights.  Around 10 am I drove cart #20 over to the Clubhouse to practice putting for 30, or 40 minutes, then returned to spend the rest of the day (until 3 pm when the putting contest was scheduled to be played) on the 'lido deck' reading, and watching NCAA college football.  

There were a number of upsets of Top 25 teams such as #8 Ole Miss upsetting #7 LSU, unranked Kentucky upsetting #9 Texas A&M, #23 Louisville upsetting #16 SMU, and unranked West Virginia upsetting #20 Missouri.  My USC Trojans (#12) won a close game (as they should have) at unranked Rutgers 42-35.  Other than those upsets, everyone who should have won, won.  Oregon came back from a humiliating loss to an unranked team last week to win 84-0 over Portland State, so I'm sure they're feeling better about themselves.

Soon it was time for the putting contest finals at which only 8 of the former 1st and 2nd place winners were on hand.  Since there were only 8 of us the format was double elimination.  I lost my first match to the ultimate winner, Don Kittleseon, who is a club pro at another golf course.  At the end of 5 holes in my losers' bracket match I was tied 2-2 after 5 holes, so we went to a one hole putt off....closest to the pin after one putt.  I made a terrible putt losing to Terri Plumlee, so after two rounds I was out.

At 5:15 pm we attended the Club Members annual dinner.  We are not 'Club Members', however, all employees are invited.  It was potluck this year, and as usual, there were many great dishes, and a great time was had by all.  We were home by 6:30 pm, and I was ready for another nap....lol.

Thanks for stopping by!

Sleepin' in......

 7:50 am - Saturday - September 19th - LPG&RVR - 47° F, humidity 34%, cloud cover 1%, wind 5 mph out of the north by northeast.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 79° F.  On this date in 2020 TLE and I were in Seal Rock, OR.....

watching an amazing Coastal Oregon sunset.  A million dollar view in trade for a couple hours of work a day, four days a week for a year!  The view this morning....

.....Fall colors are everywhere now!

We must have been really tired, because we didn't get out of bed until AFTER 8 am Friday morning!  After posting my latest blogosphere offering I decided to wash the Beetle for the first time in a few weeks, and then around 11:30 am we headed over to Canby to have coffee and a breakfast sandwich at Coffee Adventure before returning to Alturas to do our weekly grocery shopping.

It's less than 38 miles door to door from site #55 here at LPG&RVR, and we were there before 12:30 pm.  The drive is always enjoyable, with very little traffic.  This little coffee shop opened three summers ago, and we have always made time every year to make the drive there just to have their coffee.  On occasions when we are going, or coming to and from Klamath Falls we make a point of stopping there at least once.  We were on the road back to Alturas a little after 1 pm, and back in Alturas 20 minutes later making our first stop at Holiday Market, then over to Grocery Outlet before heading back to LPG&RVR where we arrived around 2:30 pm.

After unloading the VW I headed out to the 'lido deck' to enjoy what was left of a balmy afternoon.  I read, and napped until after  5pm before heading inside for the evening where I continued reading.  It was a wonderful first day of our four day weekend, which is the 2nd to last of our four day weekends.

Thanks for stopping by!

Just 8 left....

 8:19 am - Friday - September 18th - LPG&RVR - 48° F, humidity 51%, cloud cover 15%, wind 10 mph out of the north by northwest......kind of hazy, blue skies today with a forecast high of 72° F.  On this date in 2012 TLE and I were in Denver, CO.....

Not that far from downtown Denver

.....visiting Red Rocks Amphitheater.  Many famous Rock Bands have played there over the years, including the Beatles and Stones, plus there is an onsite museum detailing all of those bands.

Day four of our four day work cycle came, and went quickly as it always does.  After staging the 6 EZ-GO golf carts I got busy washing the 12 carts left over from Wednesday.  The sun is not high enough in the sky to hit the 'Cart Return' area when we report for work now, so I wait until after 8 am to begin washing carts so I can do it in the warmth of the morning sun.  For the first time since last May I worked all four days wearing pants, long socks, and a long sleeve shirt.

After washing the carts I spent time disconnecting the positive and negative cables from the battery in Club Car #26 (round nose) to clean the terminals, and the cable ends as it seemed the starter was not  getting full power making it difficult to start.  When I reconnected them it started as it should, and cleaning the terminal seems to have done the trick.  On the other hand, #77 Yamaha runs like it has a fouled plug, but I pulled the plug and it was clean, so back to the drawing board on that one.

By the time I finished with the carts it was around 10:45 am, and time to begin clearing the range balls off the driving range.  DeWayne is only mowing the range once a week on Thursdays now, so unless we are running out of range balls we don't clear it on Monday's anymore.  Based on the 55 gallon barrel being about half empty I estimated we could glean between 2 and 3 buckets of balls.  Claude was not busy so he helped me clear the range, and it is a good thing he did as it took us 45 minutes to fill 3 five gallon buckets, and without his help it would have taken me well past TLE's lunch break.....thank you Claude!

Just as I finished filling the buckets with water I noticed the group using the large gazebo had departed, and I knew another group would be arriving soon, so I hopped on the 2 bag Husqvarna and had the grass mowed in less than 10 minutes.  By that time it was 12 pm, and time for TLE's lunch break.  Things were moderately busy during that 90 minute interlude, and soon I was back outside washing golf balls, and then golf carts as they began to return.  I stayed busy until 3:30 pm, then headed for home to begin my 4 day weekend.

And with the finish of Thursday we now have just 8 work days left in our 5th summer season here at LPG&RVR.

Thanks for stopping by!