Whirlwind - Part 2

7:31 am - Sunday - December 8th - Ramona, CA - 56° F, 97% humidity wind - CALM......cloudy today with a forecast high of 60° F.........

A lot of snow on the San Bernardino Mountains Sunday morning

Sunday morning continued our whirlwind trip north to Rancho Cucamonga, and environs.  Whilst TLE headed to Claremont in the VW to Maxx Salon to have Amanda style her hair, I remained behind to experience a photo session featuring our two great grand children (Daniel and Jameson), and our grand child, Crosby.  Laila and Cynthia had gone together to hire a photographer, as well as purchase multiple outfit changes for the session.....

Matching pajamas

.....there were multiple costume changes, and getting those little guys to all sit still for more than 25 seconds was quite a feat, but it was accomplished.......

 Tim, Crosby and I

.......Chris made AeroPress coffee for those of us who love coffee, and we had a great time cheering the little guys when they sat still for more than a few seconds.  A number of great pictures, as you can see, resulted from the efforts of Laila, Cynthia and the photographer.

TLE returned from her Claremont hair styling adventure around 11 am, and we were on the road back to RORVR shortly thereafter.  We made the non-stop drive in less than two hours experiencing wonderfully light Sunday traffic.

There were several great NCAA college football games on television Saturday.  There was a very close game between #7 Baylor and #6 Oklahoma for the Big 12 championship, won by Oklahoma in overtime 30-23.  A surprisingly one sided SEC championship game between #2 LSU and #4 Georgia, won handily by LSU 37-10 (it really wasn't that close), a not surprising lopsided ACC championship win by #3 Clemson (2019 National Champion) over #23 Virginia 62-17, and a very close Big 10 championship game between #8 Wisconsin and #1 Ohio in which Ohio had to dig deep to come from behind (21-7 at halftime) and win 34-21.  It was a very good day for televised college football, and always one of my favorite weekends (championship weekend) of the college season.

We were in bed a little after 10 am, and slipping into dreamland shortly thereafter......a fitting end to a whirlwind 36 hours........thanks for stopping by!

When you shop Amazon, please use our link (below) to access their website.......we will appreciate every purchase you make using our Amazon Affiliate link, and  remember, using our link will not add one penny to your purchase, plus we will receive a small commission which over the course of a year adds up to enough to by a tank of diesel for which we thank you very much!

Whirlwind.....

2:59 pm - Saturday - December 7th - Ramona, CA - 60° F, 90% humidity, wind 3 mph out of the east by northeast.....cloudy this afternoon with a forecast high of 66° F.

And thus began our 'whirlwind' Friday/Saturday.....I began sweeping the pool around 9:10 am fully intending to vacuum it next, but just as I was finishing the sweeping part Rich arrived in his golf cart asking me to accompany him to check out a golf cart that was being offered to RORVR free of cost.  They say "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth", and that is mostly true, most of the time, but on this day it was wise to check it out thoroughly before accepting it.  The address where this EZ-GO cart was located was about a mile from RORVR, so it was not a big commitment to make the trip.  As it turned out, it was much older than we thought, and had several issues, including dead batteries.  Ultimately Rich decided not to accept the gift, and we headed back to RORVR.

By the time we finished the round trip it was closing in on 11 am, and TLE and I were only working until 11:30 am as we needed to make a trip up to my son's office in Rancho Cucamonga to drop one box off at his warehouse, and to pick up a few things, including our two pigmy Xmas trees.  Since the office closes at 2 pm on Friday's we needed to arrive about 1:40 pm to be sure we had enough time to complete our task before the office closed.

The drive north was uneventful, and we arrived at exactly 1:40 pm.  We were on our way to our next stop, COSTCO, by 2 pm, and then on to my  son, Tim's home to drop off his Giant MTB before heading to Riverside for dinner, and a tour of the 'Festival of Lights' at the Mission Inn.

We finally arrived at Pepito's Mexican Grill around 4 pm, and settled into a nice, long dinner which we began with an order of their LARGE Cadillac Margarita......

.....and it is a BIG Margarita......↗  We ordered their bacon wrapped shrimp for an appetizer.......↘

.....and then it was on to our entrees.......two alacarte shrimp tacos for TLE, and a Chile Relleño for moi.......↘

.....we left for the Mission Inn about 5:15 pm, arriving at our parking space around 5:40 pm.  We spent the next 2 hours just walking up and down the walking mall enjoying the Xmas atmosphere......

.....at some point TLE suggested, strongly, that we buy two tickets for the Ferris Wheel and take a ride, which I obediently did.......

 TLE's video of our ride

.....we were the only ones on the ride, and we got to make 5 complete revolutions......

......by 7:30 pm we were done, and on our way to our son, Chris' home to spend the night.  I was pooped, and was asleep just after 8:30 pm......what a whirlwind!

Thanks for stopping by!

When you shop Amazon, please use our link (below) to access their website.......we will appreciate every purchase you make using our Amazon Affiliate link, and  remember, using our link will not add one penny to your purchase, plus we will receive a small commission which over the course of a year adds up to enough to by a tank of diesel for which we thank you very much!

Over on the dry side......

6:28 am - Friday - December 6th - Ramona, CA - 47° F, 86% humidity, wind - CALM......clear, cold this morning with a forecast high of 68° F.

Sunshine......at last....well, I know it only rained one day, but it seems like it has been raining for three weeks.  We barely get dried out, and here comes the rain again.  At any rate, we had sun most of the day, and being outside was pleasant.

I began my day taking the monthly delivery of our pool chemicals....primarily chlorine and muriatic acid.  In addition we received 6 cases of bleach (three for each pump house) which is used in our pump houses where it is injected into the pumped water to meet water quality standards.

I pumped propane, I helped a newly arrived customer unscrew the sewer cap in his site, I checked the water level at the water tank, I did the pool tests, and then headed up to the mini golf course to drill some new drain holes on some of the greens where the rain water is not draining as it should.  I also discovered that most of the holes already had 1-3 drains, but they were all plugged.  I unplugged the clogged ones, and drilled new ones where necessary using our Bosch rotary hammer/drill.  It drills through concrete like a hot knife through warm butter.  I had to run about 200' of electrical cord to reach some of the holes from the lone electrical outlet which is near the dog run.

Once that was done I retrieved the hand blower and cleared the greens of debris and leaves one more time.  When I began this task four of the 9 holes had standing water upon them, but by the time I finished they were clear of water, and finally drying.

I spent a few minutes sitting on the bench at the end of the pond trail I built a few weeks ago just enjoying the peace and quiet......

That's a while egret in the background

.....by the time that interlude was over it was 4 pm and time to put my tools away and head for home.  TLE was off at 3 pm, and was in town seeing her chiropractor.  The treatment she is receiving is working wonders......she only has pain in her shoulder and neck now when she does her exercises, but otherwise there is no more pain the rest of the time.  She is also regaining range of motion in her shoulder as a result of the exercises her doctor has assigned to her.

I had barely gotten home when she arrived in the VW, and that was another nice day at RORVR.  We'll be working an extra short day on Friday (getting off at 11:30 am) as we are driving up to Rancho Cucamonga to my son's office to put a few things in his warehouse, and retrieve a few others.  We'll also be returning Tim's Giant MTB to him, attending the Festival of Lights at the Mission Inn in Riverside, having dinner at Tio's Tacos, one of our favorite Riverside eateries, and spending the night at Chris' home (oldest son).

Thanks for stopping by!

When you shop Amazon, please use our link (below) to access their website.......we will appreciate every purchase you make using our Amazon Affiliate link, and  remember, using our link will not add one penny to your purchase, plus we will receive a small commission which over the course of a year adds up to enough to by a tank of diesel for which we thank you very much!

Inside job......

7:01 am - Thursday - December 5th - Ramona, CA - 45° F, 96% humidity, wind 3 mph out of the south by southeast.....clear, cold this morning with a forecast high of 63° F.

Going into Wednesday we knew it would be raining all day long, and rain it did.  I only worked until 2:30 pm as that is when I ran out of things to do that involved not being outside.  I spent my entire shift in the maintenance building cleaning, sorting, and organizing.....well, 99% of my shift......

....I had to walk down to the 'lift pumps' several times to be sure they were operating.  The 'lift pumps' pump the sewage for the park uphill to the septic tank, and spreading field.  If they stop working an alarm goes off, as well as a bright red flashing light.  Around 10 am the alarm sounded, and the light began flashing.  Apparently the breaker had blown, so Rich reset it, and go the pumps pumping once again.  He had to go into town so it fell to me to check the pumps several times to be sure they were operating, and that the flashing light had stopped flashing signifying that the sewage level in the holding tank had dropped, as it should.  In spite of those brief foray outdoors I managed to stay pretty dry.

Below is the creek which flows behind our site along the south side of the park.....for the past few months it was not flowing, but now it is raging......

......I was home a little after 2:30 pm changing into dry duds, but had to return to the office to pick up TLE as her shift ends at 3 pm on Wednesdays.  Having that new rain cover on the golf cart is wonderful.....no dew on the seat in the mornings, and I can stay dry when driving around the park in the rain.

It was the kind of an afternoon that required more hot coffee, so TLE got out her AeroPress coffee system, and made us some wonderful coffee to sip as we listened to rain on the roof, and watched the falling rain through the front windshield.  I love rain, but I am looking forward to Thursday and Friday with no rain, and some sun.

Thanks for stopping by!

When you shop Amazon, please use our link (below) to access their website.......we will appreciate every purchase you make using our Amazon Affiliate link, and  remember, using our link will not add one penny to your purchase, plus we will receive a small commission which over the course of a year adds up to enough to by a tank of diesel for which we thank you very much!

The Professionals......

6:43 am - Wednesday - December 4th - Ramona, CA - 55° F, 93% humidity, wind - CALM....raining now....rained most of the night, and is supposed to rain all the day long.  Forecast high for this rain soaked day is 58° F.....the video view this morning.....

When I got in the golf cart Tuesday morning to head down to the office I noticed that Rich was already at site #57 with the roto-rooter using the newly purchased auger line to try and unclog the sewer line we began working upon Monday.  The auger line is about 50' long, and after deploying all 50' of it we had not yet found a clog.  It's about 160' to the next 'cleanout' so we had no choice but to call in a professional with a bigger machine.

While we were waiting for the professionals to arrive I headed off to take care of other tasks, one of which was to take a new tarp Rich had purchased and cover the two spools of large gauge electric cable to protect them against the elements until they are used someday in the future.  After that I retrieved the hand blower and headed to the entrance to blow leaves and dirt off the road from there up to restroom #1.  By lunch I had cleared the road from the entrance up to the Kiosk.

After lunch I was going head back to the Kiosk and continue where I ended at lunch, but I noticed the professionals had arrived at site #57 with their 160' auger line.  At about the 140' mark they found the clog.......whew!  Within minutes the clog was cleared and the sewage was once again flowing downhill, as it should.  While they finished up I headed back to the Kiosk to continue my unfinished task.

I got as far as site #2 when I received a call on the 2-way radio from Rich asking me to help him with some work he was doing to repair the fire road up to the water tank, which was damaged by someone, not an employee, driving their unauthorized vehicle up that road after the last rain storm causing quite a bit of damage.

Once done with that I again returned to site #2 to continue clearing the road of leaves, and dirt finally finishing just after 4 pm.  I wanted to finish, because I knew on Wednesday it would be raining all day long.

TLE was on until 5 pm, so I headed home by myself, took a long, hot shower, and had just barely settled down in my recliner when TLE arrived home....Rich and Marnie had let her go home early.....sweet!

Now that the rainy season has arrived I took time a couple of days ago to install the weather cover on my golf cart, so now I will not have to wipe down the seats every morning, plus I will be able to stay a little dryer during those inevitable rainy days, like Wednesday.......

......it is the season for Hallmark Channel Christmas movies, so we treated ourselves to one Tuesday evening, because like Jim Valvano, a very short time before he died of cancer, said in his famous speech ESPY speech......"You need to laugh once a day, think once a day, and cry once a day".....there is no way you can watch a Hallmark Christmas movie and not shed a few tears, right?

The famous ESPY speech

Thanks for stopping by!

When you shop Amazon, please use our link (below) to access their website.......we will appreciate every purchase you make using our Amazon Affiliate link, and  remember, using our link will not add one penny to your purchase, plus we will receive a small commission which over the course of a year adds up to enough to by a tank of diesel for which we thank you very much!

The unexpected.........

6:57 am - Tuesday - December 3rd - Ramona, CA - 47° F, 90% humidity, wind - CALM.....cloudy, cold skies this morning with a forecast high of 68° F.

Every Monday morning Alika and I meet with Rich as he lays out what he wants us to accomplish during the week.  Of course there is always the unexpected.....sometimes an emergency......which must be dealt with immediately.   Up until 2 pm my day was pretty routine.  I was minding my own business up at the pool/playground area blowing leaves off the surrounding sidewalks, the parking lot, and getting ready to take care of the leaves in the playground when I received a call over the 2-way radio from Rich asking me to come up to the storage area to help him move a trailer.  Once that was done I stopped off at site #59 to help our customer back her Class C RV into her site.  After helping her I walked down to site #57 to talk with Rich......as I approached he was standing beside his golf cart looking at the ground.

He said "Do you smell that?", to which I replied "That sewage odor?", to which he retorted...."Yes!".  I looked at the ground and saw a large wet spot.....everything around it was dry.  The inevitable conclusion one must draw in this situation is that sewage is leaking underground, and that must be investigated right away, right?  So a little after 2 pm we began to excavate the area.

We were puzzled at why sewage was leaking in this spot as the sewer lines run from pedestal to pedestal down the hill from site #59 to #52.....this wet spot was right next to the road, quite aways from the nearest pedestal.  As we dug we were hoping we would not have to go too deep.  Within minutes we found where the leak was and it was only 6" below the ground surface.....it was a buried 'cleanout'........  

 
.......if you are familiar with 'cleanouts' you know that sewage is not supposed to be bubbling up out of the cap.  It's just a place to access the sewer line....the sewage water should be visible flowing down the line, not coming out.  If it is coming out of the 'cleanout' it means you have a blockage somewhere 'downstream'.....

......Rich retrieved our 'roto-rooter' machine to find, and remove the blockage.  Unfortunately, this machine has not been used for a long time, and the last folks to use it (no one now working at RORVR) misused it, so we will have to buy a new auger line.  By the time we realized the current auger was not working correctly it was fast approaching sundown, which is 4:40 pm......

It's not working correctly....

......so we wrapped up things, and decided to work on it Tuesday morning after a new auger line has been purchased, and installed.........

......the little blue thing in the hole with a hose attached to it is a sump pump, which we used to pump out the sewage as it bubbled out of the 'cleanout' over to a sewer connection at one of the pedestals.  It took about 90 minutes for the pressure to abate, and for the sewage to finally stop coming out of the 'cleanout'.

By the time we put our tools away it was almost 5 pm, and dark.  On Mondays and Tuesdays TLE now works from 11 am to 5 pm, so she was still in the office when I came into clock out.  You just never what is going to happen in an RV park from day to day.

Thanks for stopping by!

When you shop Amazon, please use our link (below) to access their website.......we will appreciate every purchase you make using our Amazon Affiliate link, and  remember, using our link will not add one penny to your purchase, plus we will receive a small commission which over the course of a year adds up to enough to by a tank of diesel for which we thank you very much!

Less daylight.....

6:28 am - Monday - December 2nd - Ramona, CA - 43° F, 86% humidity, wind 6 mph out of the east.......clear, and cold today with a forecast high of 67° F.

It seems like just in the past 10 days, or so it has gotten significantly darker at 6 am, and way colder.  Of course, sunrise is now at 6:33 am, and sets at 4:40 pm, which explains the darkness at 6 am now, but it just seemed to sneak up on us so quickly.  Sunday was December 1st, which kind of blows my mind.  We are now in our 8th month of residency here at RORVR, but it does not seem like it has been that long.  A number of our monthly customers have departed for the winter, so our population has diminished a little.

Sunday was a very pleasant day here at RORVR.  Even though it was partly cloudy it warmed up nicely to 62° F.  I spent another hour, or so at the trailer finishing off Tim's Giant MTB, and then taking it for a test ride.  It doesn't matter how well it shifts through the gears on the bike stand, it always acts differently when being ridden, and, as often happens, the test ride showed there were a couple more adjustments needed, and then it was officially done.

While TLE was gone doing the weekly grocery shopping I took my turn at taking inventory of my clothing by emptying out my closet, and drawers onto the bed, and then making the hard decisions about what stays, and what gets re-donated.  I go through my clothing every few months so I didn't have quite as big a pile as TLE did, but I increased the volume in the large trash bag by 50%.....in other words, my discard pile was about 1/2 of what TLE contributed.

Of course, there were NFL football games playing in the background all day.  My Denver Broncos, who have not had a good year managed to win their game against the Chargers at the last minute (20-17) to reverse a season long trend of losing games at the end.  The 10-1 (now 10-2) Patriots lost at Houston 28-22, but it was really not that close.  There was a rain soaked game at Baltimore between the Ravens and 49ers that truly could have gone either way, but was won by the Ravens 20-17 on a last second field goal.

Time to go back to work after 4.5 days off work.  That's the longest stretch off work we have had since May.  It is a good thing we love our jobs, right?  Anyway.....thanks for stopping by!

When you shop Amazon, please use our link (below) to access their website.......we will appreciate every purchase you make using our Amazon Affiliate link, and  remember, using our link will not add one penny to your purchase, plus we will receive a small commission which over the course of a year adds up to enough to by a tank of diesel for which we thank you very much!