The countdown begins.......

 7:56 am - Thursday - December 31st - Seal Rock, OR - 48° F, 87% humidity, wind 14 mph out of the southwest......cloudy today with rain forecast later in the morning.  The forecast high today is 50° F.  On this date in 2012 we experienced one of the most beautiful sunsets ever in Cedar Key, FL......it seemed to go on for an hour....↴

As I reported yesterday morning I was called off work due to rain, and rain it did all morning, and into the afternoon.  Rain came down in sheets.....sometimes sideways as the south wind rocked the coach to and fro.  Just before Noon scampered out to the VW, drove down to the office to retrieve TLE, and then into Newport we went to purchase some groceries.  We haven't done a BIG grocery shopping for 3 weeks since the old Dometic gave up the ghost.  Now that we have the new Dometic Americana II fridge we can stock up again.

By the time we arrived at Fred Meyers the rain had slowed to a drizzle.  After filing the hatchback with our spoils we headed to the Fred Meyers fuel station to redeem our fuel points....20¢ off per gallon.  We haven't fueled up the Beetle since we drove into Salem on December 5th.  Of the 330 miles we put in this tank of gas 190 of it was driving to Salem and back, so we've only put 130 miles on the car since then.  In most places in Oregon you are not allowed to pump your own gas.  It must be done by an employee of the station.  On a day like Wednesday I was happy not to have to get out of the car to do so.

Within minutes after arriving back home, and carrying our groceries inside, it began to rain in earnest once again......good timing, no? I do not believe I left the Newell the rest of the day.  

I have been watching a streaming channel called Pluto....it's free, and it has a bunch of sports channels which show previously played football, basketball, soccer, golf matches, etc.  Wednesday they were streaming golf tournaments Tiger woods has won over the years....there are a lot of them....some 82 at last count.  They essentially boil 72 holes of golf played over four days into a one hour segment for each tournament.....very cool.  In one particular stretch of his career he won 6 in a row, and a couple of times 5 in a row.......that's more than most pro golfers win in their entire careers.

As I sit here composing my latest offering we are just 15.5 hours away from celebrating the arrival of the year 2021.  TLE and I will clink glasses of champagne at the appointed time wishing our world a better year than 2020 was, as well as good health, the continued pursuit of happiness, and love to all those we know.  Thank you for continuing to be apart of our seemingly never ending nomadic journey.  

Thanks for stopping by!

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Asymptomatic......still......

 8:14 am - Wednesday - December 30th - Seal Rock, OR - 48° F, 76% humidity (it's raining, how can that be?), wind 23 miles per hour....sometimes higher.  Heavy cloud cover with rain most of the night, continuing through the day with a forecast high of 51° F.  I awoke to a text message from Terry calling me off work today. On this date in 2012 we were experiencing one of our first Cedar Key sunsets.......↴

Originally we thought we might not be able to work Tuesday due to rain, but the rain held off until the evening.  I worked with Terry and Blake trimming more hedges, and transporting the clippings therefrom to the burn pile.  In all we hauled three full trailer loads of clippings to the burn pile.

After work TLE began the task of moving all of our refrigerated food into our new Dometic America II fridge, which is working wonderfully by the way.  As a result of that I am now able to utilize the 'dorm' fridge in the trailer for my beer stash.  TLE will continue to use the pullout Norcold refer for overflow from the Dometic having turned it back into a refrigerator from a freezer.  All the frozen food fits in the new Dometic freezer with room to spare.

We've had a slight uptick in Wuhan flu cases here in Lincoln County (868 total cases over 10 months now), and one more death for a total over 10 months of 17 deaths.  TLE and I continue to be asymptomatic.  A new study out of the Wuhan Province in China of 10,000,000 people who tested positive for the flu found that there was NO asymptomatic transmission whatsoever.  Of course, as you know, the possibility of asymptomatic transmission has been the underlying justification for locking everyone down over and over again.  The CDC claimed not too long ago that "asymptomatic transmission" of the virus accounted for 50% of all cases....a falsehood, of course.

Due to the current dictates from her highness, the Oregon Governor, it is almost impossible to dine out, and it has been more than a month since we have done so.  Of course, the small silver lining to that fact is we aren't spending much money on entertainment either. As a result buying a new refrigerator was not that painful at all.

Thanks for stopping by!

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COOL!!

 7:50 am - Tuesday - December 29th - Seal Rock, OR - 34° F, 93% humidity, wind 8 mph out of the east.....partly cloudy today with a forecast high of 48° F.  The view this morning......↴

First big frost of the season

....on this date in 2011 TLE and I rode our recumbent tadpole trikes on the Pacific Electric Trail in Fontana........↴

....we loved these trikes, and took them on the road with us, but they were not practical on the road, plus we had a tandem, two road bikes, and a mountain bikes.....too much rolling stock.....so we eventually sold them....I still miss them.....

Monday was a beautiful, sunny, clear, blue skies kind of day......

....so what to do for work on such a magnificent day?  Well, it has been two months since we last patrolled our adopted section of US-101 for trash.  TLE and I met Greg around 9:45 am at the office to receive our instructions, don our orange traffic vests, trash bags and pickers.  The last time we performed this job it took us two days, and 8 bags to clean up the north and southbound shoulders of US-101 from the parking lot of Seal Rock State Park on the north to Seal Rock Street on the south.  This time around we had to do the entire stretch in one day, and only were given 4 bags to do it.......

.....we initially walked south against traffic on the east side of US-101 down to Seal Rock Street, then crossed over to the west side and proceeded all the way back north to the Seal Rock State Park parking lot, before crossing back to the east side to walk back to the SRRVC entrance....

.....as it turned out we were able to do it all in one day.  Why?  Well, we did such a good job last time that there wasn't as much trash to pick up this time around.  We finished at exactly 11:45 am, and were done with our two hour work day.

Monday was also the new, promised delivery date for our new Dometic Americana II absorption refrigerator by FedEx.  We had barely gotten back to the Newell when the 30 minute warning call came from Jason (the FedEx driver).  He advised he would arrive at SRRVC around 1 pm, and he did, almost to the minute.

He unloaded the fridge in front  of the office as he was driving a large tractor/trailer combo, which was too big for the steep, narrow dirt portion of NW Cross Street.  Terry and I then loaded it upon the 'pickup' portion of our golf cart to haul it up to our site.  Once we had it unloaded, Terry assisted me in removing the old Dometic from its cubbyhole, and then down the stairs to the 'lido deck'.  Next up we unpacked the new Dometic and hauled it up the stairs, into the coach, and slid it into the aforementioned cubbyhole.  At this point I bid adieu to Terry thanking him profusely for his help.  He did return about an hour later to help me haul the old Dometic to our refuse pile up by the barn.

All that remained was to hook up the propane, the AC electric, the DC electric, and reverse the doors to open from right to left so I got to work.  Hooking up the utilities again was easy, but reversing the doors was not.  These fridges come from the factory with the doors opening from left to right, which does not work in our kitchen.  Reversing the doors was actually not very intuitive, and took almost an hour, but we got it done by 4 pm.  

By this time I was out of gas and didn't want to fiddle with installing all the new trim, so I just ran blue masking tape over the openings  to keep out the cold air.  I neglected to order new black plexiglass door panels for the new fridge, so I went back on the CampingWorld website and got them ordered.  They will arrive in about a week, God willing, and the river don't rise.....

.....this new Dometic actually got down to operating temperature within 90 minutes, and now we are moving our refrigerated food stuffs back into the house from the trailer fridge.  The freezer is actually about 25% larger than the old one, which we like.  Even though the fridge part is slightly smaller we have plenty of room for everything.  We both think the space allocation between the freezer and fridge makes more sense for our needs.

Another big improvement is the more robust door handles/latches.  The old ones would only last about 6 months of continuous use before they would break.  The old handle/latches cost about $35-50 each, depending on the source.  The new handles only cost $21 each, but I doubt they will break for a long, long time, if ever.  Ironically, the door latch for the old Dometic broke Monday morning.....lol.

So, our three week odyssey since the old Dometic went kaput is over.  As 2020 limps to a close we have replaced the last of our major appliances, and life has once again returned to what passes for normal in the Wuhan flu era.

Thanks for stopping by!

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Sunrise, sunset.......

7:47 am - Monday - December 28th - Seal Rock, OR - 41° F, 66% humidity, wind 15 mph out of the east......clear, cold, blue skies today with a forecast high of 50° F.  On this date in 2018 we were southbound on I-75 in bone crushing traffic near Atlanta, GA.....it took us 2 hours to traverse 30 miles, and sometimes the rain was torrential.......↴

For the first time in days we saw the sun dancing on the waves, and lighting up the rocks just off shore.  When I have to close the curtains on the driver side of the coach due to the sun you know it is going to be a nice day, and it was.  Terry and I spent 90 minutes moving a small kiosk from the office area down to the gate on the northern end of the park which leads to the beach trail......

.....we had to dig a couple of post holes.....nothing new for me.....level the posts.....

....enjoy the view, and then hoist the kiosk and mount it upon the posts......

.....at this point I only had 30 minutes to go in my two hour shift so we moved to another hedge (one of the last) which still needs trimming.....

....this hedge is just across from the hedge Blake and I trimmed last week.  Once this one is done I wonder what we will do.....lol.

TLE worked her one hour shift from 3 pm to 4 pm while I relaxed.  I'm saving up my energy for the delivery and installation of our new Dometic absorption refrigerator on Monday.  Due to the clear skies we had all day we were treated to a nice sunset, which I was able to memorialize.....

....and that was our day.  As I write I have received a text from FedEx advising our fridge is on the truck, and out for delivery as of 7:21 am....fingers and toes crossed....knocking on wood.

Thanks for stopping by!

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The day after Christmas.......

 8:04 am - Sunday - December 27th - Seal Rock, OR - 45° F, 81% humidity, wind 8 mph out of the east......cloudy, drizzling today with a forecast high of 52 F.  On this date in 2017 TLE and I were hiking the Bright Angel Trail with our good friend Art.  Unbeknownst to me I had had a stroke earlier that morning, and would be on my way into Flagstaff Medical Center via ambulance the next morning......↴

We awoke to partly cloudy, very cold skies Saturday.  We even had a little sun on the rocks just off shore.  So, what to do with a partly sunny day?  Well, I haven't washed the sea salt off the coach in a few weeks, so I got out my RV mop, and went to work.  It takes me about an hour beginning to end to wash the coach this way.  I don't really spend any time trying to dry it off as it will just rain in a few hours anyway.  This exercise is strictly a maintenance exercise to keep the salt off the coach.  Granted, she does look pretty again after I've washed her, but trying to avoid water spots by drying her off is kind of a waste of time.  In addition to washing her exterior, I also cleaned the big rear facing radiator for the 6v92, and the front facing radiator for the Kohler generator.  I also washed down the trailer exterior....I don't think our trailer has been this clean for this length of time in years.

Next up I pulled out our Honda EU2000 generator to give her a little exercise.  It's been a month, or so.  It took a few pulls to get her running, but she ran smooth.  I then plugged in the trailer cord (I have a heater in there running most mornings) to run her under load for about 40 minutes, while I puttered around in the trailer breaking down cardboard boxes which have accumulated from Amazon/eBay shipments over the past few weeks.

Around 1 pm we drove into Waldport to do our weekly shopping.  The market was relatively empty for a Saturday, which is nice.  We were home before 2 pm.  

Well, by the sounds in the kitchen I can tell TLE is about to tell me breakfast is ready, so I will bid you adieu for another day.  'See' you tomorrow, and thanks for stopping by!

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Merry Christmas, 2020.......

 8:45 am - Saturday - December 26th - Seal Rock, OR - 46° F, 87% humidity, wind 7 mph out of the west southwest......cloudy, with a chance of rain and a forecast high of 50° F.  On this date in 2018 we were 'winging' our way back to Nashville after spending Christmas with our kids, grandkids, and great grandkids........↴

As expected we were treated to a 'Wet Christmas'.  The rain was torrential at times early in the day, but eventually tailed off towards late afternoon.  We enjoyed an hour long 'Zoom' call with our kids and grandkids, watched more Christmas movies, and then ended the day binge watching more of 'Arrow'......I think 9, or 10 episodes, and are now into Season 7.

When you don't do much, there is not much about which to write, and TLE and I did not do much on Christmas day except be grateful for our lives together, our nomadic life, our ability to change our view without going through escrow, bask in the love of our children and grand children, and look forward to the New Year.  It has to be better than 2020, doesn't it?

I don't think I've mentioned that when we first arrived here at SRRVC we had wonderful water pressure.  Suddenly, about 3 weeks ago, Greg turned the park water off for about 30 minutes while he repaired a leaking water spigot, and when he turned it back on our water pressure had dropped from a consistent 50+ PSI to between 25 and 30 PSI.  Some days it would be higher, and some days so low our tankless water heater would not come on unless we turned on our house water pump to augment the water pressure.   I tried taking the aerators off the faucets to check for debris which might blocking the flow, but found nothing that would cause our problem.  Finally on Thursday when I was installing the new heated hose I decided to run it over to the water spigot in the site next to us which seemed to have a good flow of water, still no change.  Our Newell has a built in water pressure regulator to protect our plumbing against excessively high water pressure, and it works well.  I had to replace this regulator back in 2014 when the original one began to leak.  These pressure regulators allow you to adjust the water pressure allowed into the coach, and it occurred to me that maybe the adjustment valve was stuck, or getting clogged, so I got a pair of plyers and began to rotate the adjustment knob back and forth....suddenly the water pressure increased from just barely over 20 PSI to close to 45 PSI restoring order to our 'water world'.  While it is not as high as when we first arrived, it is more than adequate to run our tankless water heater, and take nice hot showers without the aid of the house water pump anymore.

With that I will say goodbye until tomorrow.  Merry Christmas to all, and here is wishing you all a much happier New Year!

Thanks for stopping by!

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The Eve of Christmas.....

8:27 am - Friday - Christmas Day - December 25, 2020 - 41° F, 87% humidity, wind 11 mph out of the east......heavy, low cloud cover, and rain today with a forecast high of 49° F.  The view this morning.......↴

.....on this date in 2019 we were gathered together with our children, and their children at the home of our son, Chris, for brunch and the opening of many Christmas presents......↴

Christmas 2019

Thursday, Christmas Eve, was a beautiful, sunny day here at Seal Rocks RV Cove.  Blake and I finished trimming the inside of the hedge around the large gravel filter area.....in all it took us a combined 17 man hours over three days to trim it and clean up after ourselves.  I'm glad we do not have to worry about that one for another 6 months!  

I was off work by 12 pm, and puttering around the site for most of the rest of the afternoon.  I installed the new heated hose, fixed a couple of strings of Xmas lights by replacing the extremely small glass tube fuses that are about a 1/4" long.  When you buy a new set of lights they give you two spare fuses, which are not enough here on Coastal Oregon where the salt saturated climate, and rain corrodes everything.  I ended up finding the exact ones on Amazon, and bought a bag of 50.....with any luck that supply will last me a couple of months....lol.  I also redeployed our patio awning as we are expecting rain for the next few days.

We spent the late afternoon, and evening watching our favorite Christmas movies.....Christmas in Connecticut, The Bishop's Wife, White Christmas, Christmas Story...and on it goes.  I never tire of watching these movies.....why is that?

As I write this Christmas day missive it is once again raining here in Coastal Oregon, so I guess you could say we are enjoying a 'Wet Christmas'.  Elaine and I wish you all a Merry Christmas, and thank you with all our hearts for stopping by each day to get a peak of our lives as full time nomads.  Bless you all!

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Screwed again by FedEx......

 7:51 am - Thursday (Christmas Eve) - December 24th - Seal Rock, OR - 37° F, 75% humidity, wind 9 mph out of the east......mostly sunny today with a forecast high of 53° F.  On this date in 2018 we boarded a plane in Nashville, TN to fly home for Christmas after working another Peak Season at Amazon in Campbellsville, KY......↴

We expected delivery of our new Dometic absorption refrigerator sometime Wednesday.  FedEx had called us Tuesday afternoon to set the delivery for Wednesday, and advised they would call us 1/2 hour before delivery so we would be ready to receive it.  I expected a call at any time as I worked trimming hedges, but none came.  I was home from work around 12:30 pm, and worked around the yard awaiting that call, but still, none came.  Slowly that gnawing feeling began to grow inside me that FedEx would once again let us down, and not deliver it on time.

After work I began to remove the wood screws which secured our old Dometic in place, and then detached the propane line, the AC plug, and the 12 volt wires.  I went as far as to remove the doors and pull it out about a foot in preparation for its imminent removal.  Around 2:30 pm we got what we thought was the 30 minute delivery notice call, but instead what we got was disappointment.  The FedEx caller was calling to set up our delivery.....wait, what?  I patiently told the lady someone had already called Tuesday to set the delivery for Wednesday.  She said the computer notes indicated they had not been able to reach us, and left a message....FALSE!  The lady from Tuesday talked with TLE personally....no message was left!

I asked this current lady if our Dometic was still in Salem, OR, and she replied 'yes'.  I then asked her if it would be delivered Thursday to which she replied in the negative as they would not be delivering for the next four days due to the Christmas holiday weekend.  The next available delivery date would be Monday, December 28th.....doh!  I am sure you have some idea of our disappointment.....screwed again by FedEx.  

It is a mystery to me how both the USPS and UPS manage to deliver on time, or ahead of the estimated time every single time since March, but FedEx, with one lone exception, has delivered every single item we have ordered since March several days after the promised date, if not weeks late as happened in two cases.  

After I hung up with FedEx I set about reinstalling the fridge doors, and pushed it back into its cubbyhole so we may continue to use it as an 'ice box' for the next 5 days.  I would love to hear from any of you who may have had a similar experience with FedEx, or any of the delivery services.

We ended up with clear skies at sunset, and were treated to a beautiful, lingering sunset......

Thanks for stopping by!

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A three hour work day......

 7:58 am - Wednesday - December 23rd - Seal Rock, OR - 37° F, 87% humidity, wind - CALM.....clear, very cold, blue skies today with a forecast high of 49° F.  On this date in 2018 TLE and I visited the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, KY.......↴

2017 C7 Grand Sport Corvette

After days of rain Tuesday provided us with a respite, but everything was quite saturated.  This Tuesday was clean the filters day at the WDS plant.  We found out shortly after arriving at the WDS plant that we could not drive the golf cart back up the hill as it was too saturated with water, and all we did was spin our rear wheels.  It was bitter cold as it was mostly cloudy with a breeze, and within minutes our latex clad hands lost all feeling, but we got the job done.  We did manage to get the golf cart back up the hill with me driving and Terry and Blake pushing to get me rolling.  Needless to say, we did not drive back down that hill again on Tuesday.

Next up was more hedge trimming.  There is a large settling field for the septic system which has a large hedge surrounding it on all sides.  It is probably 80' x 60', and the hedge has not been trimmed since I have been here.  While we were in the midst of the trimming, and the raking a customer from site #23 approached us asking if we had some way to jump start their Class C RV, whose battery appeared to have died overnight.  The park has no such device, but I have one of those battery pack devices which I bought while we were still at RORVR, so I volunteered to retrieve it and meet the customer at their site.  Within just a few minutes their engine roared to life.  I've used this battery pack to jump start our diesel tractor here at SRRVC, so I was sure it was up to the task of jumping a Ford V-8.  As a sign of their extreme gratitude they gifted me a slab of smoked Wild Caught Coho Salmon.....cool!

After a 30 minute absence I returned to the settling field, and we continued trimming and raking until almost 1 pm.  I haven't worked 3 hours in succession for weeks, but it was nice after a week of no work whatsoever.  TLE also worked an hour more than she usually does on Tuesdays. 

You will recall I wrote about the impeding delivery of our new Dometic fridge via FedEx, and my concern with their ontime delivery record since March.  I am happy to report that I received an unsolicited call from them advising it would be delivered on Wednesday as promised.  As my Mom would say "the proof is in the pudding", so we shal see what we shall see.

We had no precipitation whatsoever Tuesday, and it appears we are in for the same Wednesday and Thursday according ot to the 'weather guessers', but will have rain again on Christmas.

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!

Rainy Days and Mondays.....

 7:46 am - Tuesday - December 22nd - Seal Rock, OR - 43° F, 81% humidity, wind - CALM......mostly cloudy today with a forecast high of 47° F, but NO rain!  On this date in 2017 I posted a picture our our "Merry Christmas" flag......↴

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Rainy days and Mondays......the Carpenters

You remember the Carpenter's song from back in the late 60's entitled 'Rainy Days and Monday"?  Well, on Monday we had both....a Monday, and Rain, but it didn't get me down.  There is light at the end of the tunnel, and it begins Tuesday....no rain forecast for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.  Nevertheless, the onslaught of non-stop rain continued Monday.

I kept my self occupied watching old episodes of 'Tiny House Nation', a couple of English Premier soccer matches, and then reading.  All the while the drum of rain on our riveted, aircraft aluminum roof, and Christmas music filled the air.  I went outside twice Monday....once to retrieve something from our 'dorm' type refrigerator, and then later that evening during a brief rainless interlude to lock the trailer door for the night.

Our new Dometic refrigerator has made it all the way to Salem via FedEx, and should be delivered by FedEx sometime Wednesday, and then the fun begins.  On a side note, everytime we have ordered something that was shipped via FedEx since March has been delayed for inexplicable reasons....I'm hoping this time will be diffferent.  We'll have to remove the old one, and then install the new one.  I've done this once before back in 2012, and the most difficult part is moving them both.....they are heavy, and awkard....it is definitely a two adult males operation.  The disconnecting, and reconnecting part is actually quite easy, and there are only 4 wood screws holding the fridge in place, and then you connect the gas, AC electric, and then the 12 volt electric.  Of course, then there is the 'Hockwald Way', right?

Well, that wraps up another episode of our life in rainy Oregon....thanks for stopping by!

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Choices.....

 8:21 am - Monday - December 21st - Seal Rock, OR - 52° F, 100% humidity (raining), wind 21 mph out of the south.....has been raining for 3 days straight now, and will continue raining all day today with a forecast high of 54° F....I was just called off work.....not a surprise.   On this date in 2017 we awoke to snow on the ground at the Grand Canyon (Desert View).......↴

Back in 2017 we chose to live at altitude (7,300') during the winter.....our location?  The South Rim of the Grand Canyon near the east entrance, which is called Desert View.  We expected snow, and we got snow that winter, but not a lot.  What we did get were temps in the teens at night, and in the low 40's during the day.  We lived there from early November, 2017 to late March of 2018, and while we will never do that again, we did thoroughly enjoy our time there.

Fast forward to 2020, a year that we all wish would just go away, we chose to spend our winter at sea level in a place known to have a lot of rain....in this case this stretch of the Oregon Coast averages 78" of rain per year, and you can expect precipitation on 168 of the 365 days each year.  One of our reasons for choosing this particuar location was its ruralness.  While we believe that our dear government has greatly overestimated the severity of the Wuhan flu for the general population, it is quite deadly for very specific segments of the population, and we happen to occupy one of those demographics.  Here in Seal Rock, OR we feel quite safe, and far from populations centers where you are much more likely to contract this disease.  In fact, as I have reported repeatedly, there have been just 17 deaths, and slightly over 780 cases in ten months in Lincoln County where we reside, and that is pretty much reflective of what is happening in most of rural America.  Our summer travel plan kept us in rural America 95% of the time, and finished with our arrival in another part of rural America where we will spend the winter. 

Our other reason for choosing Seal Rocks RV Cove was we have always loved Coastal Oregon, especially in the Fall and Winter.  Do we love being stuck inside for 3-4 days when constant rain dictates it.....of course not.  But do we love Coastal Oregon in general, absolutely!

Sunday I was called off work about 8:30 am.  While I was workless Sunday, TLE worked from 3 pm to 4 pm, as is her normal winter schedule.  At 4 pm I drove the VW down to the office to pick her up, and drive her into Waldport to pick up a few things at Ray's.  As you know we are using our former Dometic absorption refrigerator as an ice box until our new one is delivered, and it appears it will be delivered on December 23rd.  At any rate, for the time being we go through two 5 pound blocks of ice every 2+ days, and it was time to replenish that supply. We were back home 40 minutes later.

We spent our evening watching a few more episodes of 'Arrow' from Season 6, and called it a day around 10:30 pm....thanks for stopping by!

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Diluvian......

 8:32 am - Sunday - December 20th - Seal Rock, OR - 52° F, 100% humidity, wind - CALM....heavy overcast, raining now, and all night long.....continuing rain today with a forecast high of 53° F.....so we're 1° from the high today at 8:32 am.  On this date in 2014 we were at Rincon Parkway (Ventura, CA) getting ready to watch the sunset with Margaritas in hand......↴

And the rain continued relentlessly all day Saturday, all night Saturday, and would continue through the early Sunday morning hours without interruption.  We are pretty much hunkered down for the duration, and it appears the duration means around Wednesday, but for a couple of days only, then the rain resumes.  This kind of rain is kind of a new experience for us, but we are continuing forward with style.  We knew, in advance, what to expect of a winter on the Oregon Coast.  Looking at the picture above kind of makes me just a tad envious of that time we had on Rincon Parkway 6 years ago.  

I don't think I went outside all day long.  Of course, there were English Premier matches, and NCAAF football games to pass the time.  Sometimes the rain came down with such force that I had to turn up the TV volume quite high just to barely hear what the announcers were saying.

I wish there was more to share about Saturday, but the above is the long and the short of it.  As I write  I have already been called off work today (Sunday), which means I now have a 4 day weekend, and counting.  Why "and counting"?  Well, based on the current forecast this rain will continue through Tuesday afternoon, or evening, so I may end up with a 6 day weekend when it is all said and done.

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Sleep in, sleeping in, slept in.....

 8:46 am - Saturday - December 19th - Seal Rock, OR - 48° F, 94% humidity, wind - CALM......heavy cloud cover, rain all night, and will rain most of today with a forecast high of 53° F.  On this date in 2019 the staff at RORVR had their Christmas party.....a few weeks later we were given our pink slips......↴

.....and on this date in 2018 we were having our farewell dinner with our good friends from Amazon......↴

As is our wont, we slept in Friday morning until 8 am.  It's really kind of funny to say we 'slept in', because we always 'sleep in' 7 days a week....I mean, after all, getting up at 7:20 am on a work day is just the same as 'sleeping in', right?  Way, way back in our woraday life TLE was often up before 4 am, and I was always up before 6 am.  On weekends when I had soccer matches to officiate I was often up at 5 am.  Back then when we both worked, were paying a mortgage, and simultaneously raising 5 children 'sleeping' in' was a rare, but cherished luxury.  In reality, since on workdays I don't go to work until 10 am I could sleep into 9 am if I wished.  When you get to 'sleep in' accompanied by rain on your roof it is even more delicious.

Friday was a repete of most days the past week......rain, rain, rain, and then there were a few hours in the afternoon with pretty high winds buffeting the Newell.  We still haven't redeployed the patio awning since we stowed it earlier in the week as we have had afternoon winds virtually every single day.

Years ago when we spent each summer at South Lake Tahoe, and began arriving there earlier each Summer, and leaving later each Fall we bought one of the heated water hoses to protect against freezing.  That hose really came in handy when we spent the winter at the Grand Canyon, and the low temps were often in the teens at 7,300' elevation.  Well, in anticipation of our trip to Alaska last year we left that heated hose in our son's warehouse along with other items we felt we would not need during our summer sojourn there.....one of those items was that heated hose.   Eventually, we will get temps below freezing here in Coastal Oregon, and we will need that heated hose again.  I'm not sure where it is in the warehouse, but if my son could locate it he would then have to box it up and ship it to us....that would be expensive, and I didn't want to inconvenience him, so I just ordered a new one through Amazon, and it arrived here on Friday.  Our overnight lows are still mostly in the mid to high 40's, but we have had a few nights where it got down into the mid 30's, so no point in not being prepared.  

Other than a brief foray to the Post Office to pick up the heated hose, and then into Waldport to buy some more block ice for our Dometic 'icebox', we spent the entire day inside out of the elements doing some housework, and reading.  Since I only worked an hour on Wednesday, and none on Thursday I'm essentially getting a four day weekend this week.....nice.

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Doctor, Doctor.....Mr. MD......can you tell me what's ailin' me?

 8:29 am - Friday - December 18th - Seal Rock, OR - 43° F, 93% humidity, wind - CALM......partly cloudy today with a forecast high of 51° F.....rain later this afternoon.  On this date in 2018 we were having dinner with my son Tim, and his wife, Laila at Pepitos Mexican Restaurant in Riverside, CA........

Memories of family time will have to suffice this year

I was called off work once again Wednesday due to rain, although TLE did work her two hour shift in the office.  In spite of all the rain I did manage to log 7 hours of labor this week in exchange for our site, which I believe equals TLE's output under dryer conditions.....lol.  If our travel plans had not been sidelined by the Wuhan virus we would be enjoying time with our children and their families right now.  Instead we are separated by a thousand miles of real estate.  While drizzle turned to downpour, and then back again all day I read a good book.  Books have really been my friends these past months....I think since we left Wittmann back in early May I have read close to 100 books.....almost all of them Westerns.

On our now cancelled trip to SoCal I was to have seen my cardiologist, Dr. Mulvihill, in person for the first time in a year.  Since we had to cancel our travel plans, the visit was changed to an audio/visual meeting.  Dr. Mulvihill had received the results of my blood work done on December 5th, and the news was great.....my 'bad' cholesterol is at 78, and my 'good' cholesterol reading is 40....both are exactly what he wanted to see.  He asked me what my latest blood pressure reading was......128 over 78, with a heart rate of 60, and was very happy about that, also.  It was not a very long meeting, but he was on time for the virtual meeting as he has always been for our in person meetings.  In closing he asked me to set up another appointment in 6 months, which I will do.  I am so pleased that the cholesterol medication is doing its job, which means my arteries are staying clear.

The rain, and the reading continued into the early evening hours when we switched gears and watched a couple of recorded Hallmark movies....the second one, 'Love, Lights, Hannukuh' was my favorite this year.  Many Kleenex's were consumed by all present.

So, here we are on the Oregon Coast, just one week from Christmas.....hard to believe another year has come and gone so quickly.  It will be a bittersweet Christmas this year, but we will proceed in style, no matter what.....I will leave you with this song by the 'Rascals' from 1966......

The Rascals.....'Good Lovin'.....1966

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!