One down and 364 to go.......

8:05 am - Monday - August 31st - Coupeville, WA - 54° F, 86% humidity, wind - CALM......heavy cloud cover today with a forecast high of 63° F.  Rained on and off overnight.  On this day in 2014 we were having breakfast at the Getaway Cafe in Meyers, CA (5 miles west of South Lake Tahoe) after a tandem ride......↴

Sunday we began to count down to our 50th anniversary.....one down and 364 to go!

As you may recall I ran out of deck stain on Friday, so on Saturday Bob visited Home Depot in Oak Harbor and bought a 5 gallon can of the same stain so I could continue staining both decks on Sunday, and that is what I did.  I managed to get a second coat on the fireplace deck, and a first coat on the front porch deck........

 Fireplace deck with second coat

.....the front porch deck had very little stain remaining after years of wear, so after one coat it looks great once again........

 Front door deck.....after⤴ and before↴

 

....by the time I finished cleaning my painting equipment is was time to watch the final 9 holes of the BMW Championship PGA tournament.  The lead changed several times over those last 9 holes, and it came down to John Rahm finishing at 4 under par with only Dustin Johnson having a chance to overhaul him.  On the 18th hole Dustin had a 44' putt for birdie to tie John Rahm.  It was a double break, downhill putt, and he drained it dead center to pull even with Rahm after 72 holes.  They went to a sudden death playoff beginning with the 18th hole.  In spite of errant tee shots both men managed to reach the green in two shots, but John Rahm was 66+ feet away from the hole, with Dustin Johnson about 20 some feet away.  Rahm putted first, and once again he drained the double break, downhill putt to win the playoff.....a very exciting end to the tournament!

Sunday was also the 2nd day of Le Tour de France, so I finished Sunday watching the entire recorded 2nd leg of the race....only 19 legs to go!  We walked down to the main house around 5:30 pm to have dinner with Bob and Karen once again.  Bob grilled Korean short ribs for dinner.........

Short ribs for dinner....thank you Bob and Karen!

.....and were they ever delicious!  We ate and  talked until after 7 pm, and then retired once again to the living room to watch the final two episodes of Season 1 of 'Travelers'.....we are really hooked on this series!

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!

7 times 7 = 49

8:15 am - Sunday - August 30th - Coupeville, WA - 48° F, 93% humidity, wind 7 mph out of the east by southeast.......clear, blue skies today with a forecast high of 64° F.  On this day in 2015 we had arrived at Cape Blanco Lighthouse (south Oregon coast) to spend the month of September as docents....taking a walk on 'South Beach'........↴

What can one say after 49 years of marriage to The Lovely Elaine?  That I cannot imagine my life without her in it?  Of course, that goes without saying, but it must be said, nonetheless.  We first met in January of 1968, and became friends shortly thereafter.  Our first date was that summer at a pool party hosted by my father's employer.......

......we dated on and off over the next 3+ years, and became romantically involved in January of 1971, engaged by March of that year, and married by August 29, 1971.  We spent almost every Sunday that summer at Manhattan Beach, CA.......

......by 1986 we had five children, and TLE still looked amazing....this picture was taken at a church dance in the late 80's......

......our five children together at Sharon's wedding in 2015.......↴

The Hockwald children left to right: Meredith, Katharine, Sharon, Chris and Tim

.....by 2011 our kids were all adults, and I finally had my girl friend all to myself once again.  We moved into our 1982 Newell to live full time in February of 2011, retired in October of 2011, and by February of 2012 we began our lives as nomads.  Through thick and thin, up and down, and one adventure after another we have now racked up 49 years of marital memories.  She is still the most beautiful woman in the room.  Thank you my lovely Elaine, for choosing me, and making the rest of my life worth living!

We decided early in 2020 that we wanted to spend our 49th wedding anniversary with two of our oldest, and dearest friends.....Bob and Karen....at whose property we currently reside.  I made reservations at Frasers Gourmet Hideway for 7 pm Saturday evening (Yelp gives them 4.5 stars on 162 reviews....we would be at a solid 5 stars).  

I took Saturday off from my projects, relaxed watching a lot of the BMW Championship PGA tour event, and puttered around in the trailer for quite a while.  By 6:15 pm TLE and I had donned our Sunday best, and were waiting for our hosts to join us......

.....as we drove into Oak Harbor with Bob and Karen we reminisced about our lives and long lasting friendship arriving at Frasers a couple of minutes to 7 pm, and were seated shortly thereafter......

.....TLE and I ordered two glasses of champagne to toast each other, and then a great bottle of Pinot Noir to share with Bob and Karen.  We spent the next 2+ hours in non-stop conversation about everything under the sun.  All of the food was exquisite.....I had their Beef Tenderloin (filet mignon), TLE their Duck Breast, Karen their Red Snapper, and Bob their Crab & Shrimp Lasgana....c'est magnifique!

Coffee ice cream filled profiteroles for dessert

We were home by 9:30 pm......more memories made, and many more to come....thank you 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!

Numero 49 - Happy Anniversary to US!

8:05 am - Saturday - August 29th - Coupeville, WA - 54° F, 86% humidity, wind - CALM......partly cloudy today with a forecast high of 64° F.  Today is our 49th wedding anniversary!  On this day in 2017 we were at Chico Hot Springs near Yellowstone NP celebrating our 46th anniversary with good friends Roscoe, Geni and Dodge.....one of our best anniversary dinners ever.......↴

Left to right: Moi, Roscoe, Geni, Dodge, TLE

On our first date in 1968

I have made it a point to not 'work' more 3 days in a row, but since I wanted to take off on our wedding anniversary Saturday I decided to work a while on Friday.  I knew I only had enough stain to finish covering the bare wood on the fireplace deck so I decided to finish that, and then do some pressure washing.  It took me about 90 minutes to finish the fireplace deck......

 All the bare wood covered now!

....I managed to get about half of the parking area next to the 3 car garage pressure washed before I called it quits around 2 pm.  With each successive day of work I find myself getting less tired, and recovering more quickly.  Now that we will be going back to work the middle of September I'm glad I've had this chance to get back into work form after so many months of relative inactivity.

The weather Friday was so delightful, and the air so clear we decided to walk out to the point and back.....

 High tide in the lagoon

 Another boathouse on Harrington Lagoon

....when we came even with one of the boathouses on Harrington Lagoon we could see the majestic Mt. Baker in the distance.......↴

Zero zoom on my phone camera

 About 1/2 zoom on my phone camera

 Full zoom on my phone camera

.....TLE whipped up one of her amazing taco salads for dinner which I paired with a Moose Drool brew.  While we ate we watched a Netflix movie called 'I see you' starring Helen Hunt.  It was actually pretty good with a very surprising ending.  Netflix and IMDB classify this movie as being of the 'horror' genre, but I would say it is more of a 'suspense, murder mystery' category.

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!

Benny and the Jets......

8:46 am - Friday - August 28th - Coupeville, WA - 54° F, 93% humidity, wind 7 mph out of the southwest.....fog over the coast, but sunny here....forecast high today is 64° F.....the view this morning.......↴

.....on this day in 2016 TLE and rode our bikes to Baldwin Beach at South Lake Tahoe......↴

Thursday began with the fog rolling in and out over Bob and Karen's property.  My plan was to sand the fireplace deck, replace a couple more planks,  remove any remaining flaking paint, and then, hopefully, begin applying stain to as much of the bare wood as I could before it was time to quit for the day.  I wasn't wearing a watch, and kind of lost track of the time.  When I realized it was closing in on 2:30 pm I put away the stain, and headed for home.   I did manage, however, to get about two thirds of the bare wood stained on the lower portion of the deck.......

......but it has now all be sanded and rid of all the remaining flaky paint.  I should be able to get all the rest of the bare wood on the side and front porch decks done by Friday afternoon....

Ready for stain

.....after an appropriately long, hot shower I retired to the 'Lido Deck' for a well deserved nap, and that is what I did until the jets returned for an hour and twenty minutes of 'touch and go' practice.  Every time I hear the jets coming I think of the Elton John song.....'Benny and the Jets'.  To counteract the sound I put on my 3M ear protection, which almost completely blocked the sound, and went back to napping......

.....around 6 pm TLE uncovered the Cowboy Disc Wok to cook her famous Jambalaya for dinner down at our hosts' dining room.  We ate, laughed and talked until after 8 pm, and then retired to the living room for two more episodes of 'Travelers'.  Life is good, the weather is wonderful, and I haven't had to put any lotion on in days.....nothing like the humid air of a coastal community to keep things from getting too dry.....lol!

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!

Wintering.......

6:50 am - Thursday - August 27th - Coupeville, WA - 53° F, 93% humidity, wind - 5 mph out of the west by southwest.....overcast and foggy right now with mostly sunny later this morning, and a forecast high of 64° F.  On this day in 2016 I took delivery on my Nixon Chronograph....I love that watch......↴

Wednesday was my longest working day since we arrived in Coupeville on the 14th.  During that 4.5 hours I managed to install 10 new planks on the fireplace deck, and two on the front porch deck.......

 1

I had to reduce the width of these two boards 

by 1/2" so they would fit the space

.....I painted the sides of the 2x4's before installing them as I will not be able to get at the sides after they are installed, and screwed down.......

......by the time the planks had been cut and fitted it was around 2:20 pm.  Two of the planks which I installed on the front porch deck had to be 'ripped' to a smaller width.  In all I took 1/2" off the width of each board before they would fit the space.  I also spent time repairing some of the molding on the glass window frames on the south side of the deck with finishing nails, and used a paint scraper to remove the loose paint.  On Thursday I'll spend most of my time finally sanding the planks on both decks in preparation for applying the stain on Friday....at least I hope I will be done with the sanding/scraping on Thursday!

While I was occupied with the work on the decks TLE went into town to do some shopping at the local thrift store for pants.  Why, you might ponder?  Well, on Tuesday morning we completed our phone interview for a winter job at an RV park located on the Oregon Coast between Newport and Waldport.  I first noticed workamping jobs being advertised for this park back in early July just about the time we had been discussing our plans for the winter.  We love the southern portion of the Oregon Coast, and have talked on and off over the past couple of years about getting a camp host job somewhere between Newport and Brookings.  I finally submitted our resumes for consideration on August 4th, and have been exchanging emails with Michelle in their office since then culminating in the phone interview on Tuesday morning.  We were officially hired at the end of the phone interview and will be arriving there by September 15th, which means we will be departing Coupeville around the 8th of September via the Port Townsend Ferry.  We'll take a week to cover the 442 miles separating us from our winter job once again traversing US-101 on the Olympic Peninsula.

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!

Demo time......

8:31 am - Wednesday - August 26th - Coupeville, WA - 54° F,93% humidity, wind - CALM......heavy cloud cover with a little fog for good measure.....the forecast high today is 64 ° F.  The view this morning........↴

.....on this day in 2013 TLE and I were having lunch with our friend Bob at Mukilteo Coffee Roasters here on Whidbey Island........↴

It was back to 'work' Tuesday, and time to focus on the two wooden decks I previously pressure washed.  In addition to clearing off all the pealing paint, pressure washing also exposes any rotting boards, and there were a few.....

......9 in fact, which needed to be removed, or "demo'd" as 'they' say.....8 of them on the fireplace deck, and one long 10' board on the front deck.  It probably took me the better part of two hours to remove those boards.  While I was at that Bob drove to the lumber yard in Coupeville to buy some pressure treated 2x4's to replace the ones I was removing.......

 Only one long 10' board on the front deck....

.....I also spent about an hour trimming the bushes in front of the house which were encroaching on the sidewalk, and parking area, then finished pressure washing the areas they covered, as well as the balance of the lower parking area.......

 The lower parking area now completely pressure washed

....in all I worked about 3 hours, and then it was time to put the tools away, and take a shower so I could spend some quality time on the 'Lido Deck' reading and napping.  On Thursday I'll cut the newly purchased 2x4's to length, then install them.  Once they are in place I'll begin to sand the deck in preparation for the application of stain.

Bob and Karen insisted on treating us to dinner once again.  TLE made Spanish rice, and Bob and Karen a salad, and shredded rotisserie chicken which we put in tortillas adding TLE's Spanish rice, salsa, etc......kind of like El Pollo Loco........

.....I finally remembered, with TLE's assistance, to take an 'usie' of us and our hosts.  We talked, ate, and laughed until after 8 pm before retiring to the living room to watch two more episodes of the Netflix series, 'Travelers'......just as we were sitting down I caught the setting sun lighting up a sailboat off the coast........

 .....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!

Out and back......

7:31 am - Tuesday - August 25th - Coupeville, WA - 48° F, 86% humidity, wind - CALM......partly cloudy today with a forecast high of 65° F.  On this day in 2017 we were in Yellowstone National Park, and just days from our 46th wedding anniversary....I have no pictures, but I was reminded by what I wrote about our activities on August 25, 2017 of how, and why I love our lifestyle......

"Also, just over the horizon of this current weekend will be the celebration by TLE and I of our 46th wedding anniversary on Tuesday..............I have to just sit here a few moments letting that amazing truth sink in to its fullest........46 years together through thick and thin.........ups and downs........through one adventure after another......and now we find ourselves in the midst of the grandest adventure of them all as 'Vagabonders Supreme' (a phrase coined by 'Tioga George' back in the year 2003).  For those who have only begun to read our blog recently we began living fulltime in our 1982 Newell February 1, 2011, and traveling fulltime February 1, 2012.  With each passing month it feels as if this is the way we have always lived.....our former 'sticks and bricks' workaday life seems almost surreal in retrospect.....almost like someone else's life....we are different people than we were then.  We had no idea, really, into what we were getting ourselves, but we went forth anyway.  Our five children, 6 (now 7) grand children, and one great grand child (now 2) are mute testimony of that life we once lived, and are, frankly, our greatest accomplishment.  

Liberating ourselves from most of our physical possessions back in 2011, which kept us anchored in one place for so many years, and becoming 'Vagabonders Supreme' is our second greatest accomplishment.  We attempt daily to live what remains of our lives to the fullest extent possible, and cherish every minute, every hour, every day we have left together.  The recent passing of our friend Michael has reaffirmed the importance of living every day, every moment as if it were our last.  Life is fragile enough to begin with, and now in our advanced years has become even more fragile as we see a steady stream of people we have known for decades passing one by one.  We must not allow anger and unforgiveness to steal our peace, contentment and happiness.  The easy path in life is to passively stew in these negative feelings.......it seems odd to say, but I am convinced one must actively, daily choose to be happy......fight for it, if you will.  As Abraham Lincoln famously said...."Folks are usually as happy as they make up their minds to be....."."

.....it is even more meaningful for us today than it was then.

While I was pressure washing decks, and concrete Sunday TLE was busy picking more black berries.  This time she made Black Berrrie Jam, and I was the recipient of her culinary urges Monday morning.....there is not much better than Black Berry Jam on sourdough toast.  Add to that a wonderfully sweet and ripe nectarine and one might think they have achieved nirvana..........

....it's been a couple of weeks since we last rode our eBikes, and Monday seemed like the perfect day for another ride.  When I drove down to Freeland with Bob last week he showed me how to drive most of the way without using SR-525, and, therefore, avoid the ever present north/south traffic.  He also took me by a place called Greenbank Farm which features local wines, cheeses, hiking, picnic areas, etc.  As a result I made the farm our half way destination on this 19+ mile out and back ride.  We left home around 11 am following the same route Bob drove a week ago.  When you drive a route you sometimes do not realize how many hills there might be, or how steep they might be, but believe me, riding a bicycle along that same route you find out very quickly how many hills there are, and there are a lot!  Of course, with an eBike hills are really a nonissue......you just up the assist level and power up the hills, and then coast down them.....you still get a good work out, but there is no suffering involved.  At 70+ years old we are not into suffering anymore.  

It took us just 55 minutes to cover the 9.85 miles to Greenbank Farm.  What we did not expect was to find them open for business.  I had checked Yelp earlier in the morning and saw they were only open Thursday through Sunday, and so we just planned to take a break there, and then ride back, however, we found they were open for business....at least the business of selling wine, and cheese, but their restaurant was closed, and they could not offer wine tasting under the current COVID-19 mandates by the governor of Washington state.  On the spot we decided to buy a couple of small bottles of wine, some crackers, kettle chips, cheese, salami and sit at one of the outdoor picnic tables to consume them, which is apparent legal.....

 Apparently I was holding the temple piece of my dark glasses in front of the camera while taking this pictures of the Greenbank Cheese store.....lol.....

 A couple of bottles of chilled Rosé, please....

 .....and some cheese, crackers, chips and salami!

......at first I did not know what we were to use to cut the cheese, but then I remembered I always carry a Swiss Army knife in my Camelbak!  It was the prefect, unexpected interlude for which we always strive when on a bike ride, or hike!

By 1 pm we were on our way back along the same country roads we had ridden out to Greenbank Farm, and home just before 2 pm with big smiles upon our faces.  We were both tired, but not worn out, and our eBikes performed up to expectations.  There were some very steep climbs, and I actually, for the first time, used assist level 4 (the highest on my Haibike) up a few of them, while TLE used assist level 5 (the highest on her eBike).  In all we covered 19.74 miles, burned 937 caloric units, and had a total elevation gain going and coming of over 1,900'.....thank goodness for electric assist eBikes......

.....for Happy Hour TLE trotted out our new Margarita goblets.......

.....which made me quite happy!  TLE has become the resident sunset photographer, and has provided another great sunset picture......

......life is good.....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!