Twenty-one and four...........

 8:28 am - 5th Saturday - April 30th - Seal Rock, OR - 54° F, 82% humidity, wind - zero mph out of the north......partly cloudy skies today with a forecast high of 57° F.....possible rain by mid afternoon....we'll see.  

On this date in 2016 we were arriving at Lake Tahoe for our third summer....our first view of Lake Tahoe that year.......↴

After a day of demolition (Wednesday) it was back to the 'gravel pit' for moi.  I had two sites (4 and 21) upon which I had done some work over the past week, but was interrupted by the arrival of customers.  Both those sites were vacant Thursday, so I continued my work getting them level with the large gravel, finishing with small gravel over the entire site.  In all I worked three hours......

Site 4 is now finished....

.....and so is site 21

This picture gives you an idea of how much gravel it took to get site 21 level front to back, and side to side

.....I was home a tad after 1 pm after driving the Massey-Ferguson loader back up to the barn for the 'weekend'.  I added up my hours for the week, and was surprised to see I hit 17.....my biggest work week since we arrived back in September.  The weather is warmer in general, and I'm back to wearing t-shirts and shorts to work.  The day I don't have to wear a jacket to work will be a milestone.

I was finally able to deploy all of my solar yard lights Thursday, as they are now all working again.  For some reason after sitting in storage for months some of them have to sit in the sun for a few days before they begin to work again, but as of Thursday they are all working, and when I got up at 5 am for a bathroom run they were still out there twinkling.  I'll try to remember to take a picture of them tonight.

Friday we head over the the hill to Albany, OR to the local COSTCO  for TLE's annual optometrist appointment so I'm sure there will also be a Trader Joe's visit, and maybe a micro brewery thrown in for good measure.

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Somethings rotten in Denmark......

 7:42 am - Thursday - April 29th - Seal Rock, OR - 46° F, 100% humidity, wind - zero mph out of the north.....heavy cloud cover today with a forecast high of 58° F.  On this date in 2013 we were camping at Greenbelt National Park (an urban forest) near Washington D.C. and the University of Maryland......↴

A few days ago we were tasked with the demolition of the old, rotting deck at the rental house up the hill (Fairwinds), and on Tuesday Fred worked on the section in the picture below.  Since he is off Wednesdays, and I am the only one on duty, it fell to me to finish the other half of the demolition......

....each plank had bout 14 stainless steel, square drives screws affixing them to the stringers underneath.  Unfortunately, the stainless steel screws lasted much longer than the wood, and was time to remove them so the planks could be replaced.....

I would unscrew a couple dozen screws, them remove them, and move onto the next row

....even though Terry was off Wednesday he came up the hill with me to show me what needed to be done, and while we were there one of the planks (above) broke under his weight sending him crashing to the deck injuring his shoulder and leg.  He ended up spending the rest of the day at the ER in Newport getting Xrays.  After delivering Terry back down the hill to his RV so his wife could drive him into the Newport ER, I headed back up the hill to finish removing the remaining planks......

About half way through the remaining planks

....I had removed all the screws in the section upon which I am standing when this picture was taken, and was about to remove the final planks when one of them gave way sending me falling into the bush on the left side of the picture below.  I was not hurt, but my pride was....I was being extra careful, and still fell victim to the rotten planks.....this is not a job for old guys......

....it took me four hours in all to finish the job, but now the deck is ready for the contractor.  I was home around 2 pm after my longest work day yet.  I'm not sure I want to put in too many 4 hour days, but one here and there wouldn't be too bad.  

It was a nice sunny afternoon until around 4 pm when the marine layer drifted inland once again obscuring any chance of a watchable sunset....thanks for stopping by!

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The afterglow......

 7:41 am - 3rd Saturday - April 28th - Seal Rock, OR - 41° F, 93% humidity, wind - zero mph out of the  north.  On this date in 2013 we were touring Mt. Vernon (George Washington's home).....

Second Saturday was beautiful from beginning to end....when you open the curtains in the morning and can see sun on Seal Rock you know it is going to be a good day.  My shifts have kind of evolved, as we knew they would once the rain went away, into 3 hour shifts, sometimes a little longer, but that is totally up to me.  I'm not required to work more than 2 hours per day, but when it is so nice outside, and the work is agreeable why not work longer?

As I have for the past week plus I spent more time spreading gravel with the Massey-Ferguson loader, and a good old rock rake.  On Monday I laid down a good base of the large gravel in sites 3, and 5, and on Tuesday I covered it with the small gravel in each site.  I had barely finished with 5 when the customer who had reserved that site arrived, so I didn't get a picture of the finished product, however, I did get one of site #3......

....this site was really bad from side to site, and front to back.  Very difficult for customers to get level.  Now it is pretty close to level both directions, and looks a lot more inviting.

I was off work around 1:20 pm.....TLE had driven into Waldport after her two hour shift to do a small shopping, and returned just after I had finished changing clothes, so I helped her bring in the groceries.

There were two projects I have been needing to get to, and with such a beautiful, sunny day I decided to take them on.  First up I need to check the high voltage box which sits atop the battery box in the VW.  If you've been reading for a while you know we had to replace this box two years ago while we were living at RORVR.  The main black wire coming into the high voltage box tends to get corroded, and as that builds up the resistance increases, causing it to get hot.  I need to check it periodically by removing the nut affixing the black wire to its post, clean off the the post, the connector on the wire, and the nut, then reinstall them.....

The large black wire on the left can be a problem....this picture is of the old box before I replaced it

.....it took me about 30 minutes to service the box, and all was well.  If I wait too long the wire gets quite hot and will melt the plastic box.  The black wire comes from the alternator, which keeps the battery charged while driving.  If it gets too hot, or damages the connection the battery stops charging, and the car will eventually stop running...this happened to us at RORVR.

The second task was to retorque the bolts affixing the rebuilt Leece-Neville gear driven alternator to the 6v92.  You will recall I removed it when we were parked at the Quechan Casin parking lot at the Mexican border back in early March as it had stopped working.  I found out the problem was the 90 amp breaker for the alternator.  At any rate, I never retorqued those bolts, and needed to get that done to be sure the bolts would not become loose.  They required 40 foot pounds of torque.  As it turned out they were still pretty tight, but not completely, so I'm glad I torqued them.

As is often the case with sunny days we got a very nice sunset with a very, very long afterglow....

I took these pictures at 8:10 pm

....the sun sets around 8:10 pm now, and is usually done within 5-10 minutes, but on this night there was still a beautiful afterglow along the horizon at 8:40 pm.....

.....life is good along the Oregon Coast.....less rain, more sun, and long afternoons.....it only gets bette from here.

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From gray to blue.....

 7:48 am - 2nd Saturday - April 26th - Seal Rock, OR - 41° F, 100% humidity, ,wind - zero mph out of the north....clear, blue skies today with a forecast high of 55° F.  On this date in 2014 we were in Sioux Falls, SD visiting our friends Todd, and Dawn Flickma, as well as installing the 'new' rear bumper on the Newell......↴

Monday began with heavy, gray overcast but, overtime, evolved into a beautiful blue sky, sunny day with  a very nice, unexpected, sunset.  However, I get ahead of myself.  What happened in between?

As  long as there is gravel to spread , and more sites to level you know what I'll be doing for the foreseeable future.  On Monday I began to work on site #5, a long back in site which is high in back, and low on the side near the electrical pedestal (you can see the pedestal on the right in the background, across from the loader).  I spent the day hauling large gravel to raise the right side all the way out to the street......

Making my way out to the street.....

....the finished product awaiting a topping of small gravel

....while I was finishing up site #5 the gravel truck arrived with another load of small gravel, so I will have enough to finish a few more sites.  I finished up my 3+ hour shift doing the same thing for site #3.

I was home around 1:30 pm and working on other projects, namely painting the legs of our round patio tables black.  When we were in Newport the other day I picked up a couple of bottles of Black Gloss Rustoleum for just this purpose.....

....and now they are officially finished.  The rest of the afternoon flew by, and before we knew it we were witnessing another magnificent Coastal Oregon sunset.....

....in the last picture you can see all of our rope lights at once.....red, white and blue....perfect!

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Humpback......

 7:44 am - 1st Saturday - April 26th - Seal Rock, OR - 45° F, 93% humidity, wind - zero mph out of the north......partly cloudy right now with a forecast high of 53° F.  On this date in 2016 we were having dinner with my son Tim, and his wife Laila in Fontana, CA at Mariscos del Pacifico....best Mexican seafood ever (4.5 stars on over 400 reviews).......↴

Early on Sunday it appeared I might get called off work due to rain, but by 9 am it had stopped, and I reported for work at the usual 10 am.  We still have gravel to spread so I headed up to the barn to retrieve the Massey-Ferguson loader to do just that.  Sunday's assignment was to work on site 40 to take the crown, or hump out of the existing gravel pad, and to widen it about 6 feet......

.....I spread a row of large gravel down both sides of the existing, humped gravel pad (the darker looking gravel is the 'new' gravel)....

.....then covered the new, larger gravel pad with the small gravel to finish it, and driving back and forth over its length with the Massey-Ferguson to pack it all down......

....in all it took me just over 3 hours to transform this uneven, humped pad into a more useable one, which is now level, has no hump, and is 6 feet wider...I think it turned out well.  By the time I finished the sun had come out from behind the clouds.  I parked the loader in site #2 instead of taking it back to the barn.  There will be more gravel work on 1st Saturday, to be sure.

I was home about 1:15 pm, preceded by over an hour by TLE who is now working mornings again on Sundays.  After a brief snack, and a nap I headed out to the garage (trailer) to putter around, and listen to a little music.  The sun played 'peek-a-boo' all afternoon, but eventually went missing in action to be replaced by the marine layer when sunset time arrived.

Thanks for stopping by!

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Bus Grease Monkey.....

 7:46 am - Sunday - April 25th - Seal Rock, OR - 45° F, 93% humidity, wind - zero mph out of the north......cloudy, rainy today with a forecast high of just 50° F.  On this date in 2014 we were in O'Neill, NE staying at Carney Park staying for free.......↴

For the first time in weeks we were awakened in the early Saturday morning hours by rain upon our riveted aircraft aluminum roof.  It was still raining when the sun returned from her trip around the earth, and still raining as we bid adieu to the sun once again.  It is still raining Sunday morning as I write today's missive.....

....it has been a while since we were housebound by the elements here at SRRVC, but Saturday was just such a day.  With continuous rain there is not much to be done outside that does not involve getting wet, so the obvious alternative to to remain indoors where it is dry, warm, and comfortable.  

It was a day for streaming programs on our ROKU TV.  I've been watching a YouTube channel called 'Bus Grease Monkey' in which a very talented mechanic (Scott) works on Detroit Diesel 2 stroke engines all over the country.  He travels to each job site in a converted Greyhound Silver Sides bus powered by a DD 671.  His specialty is Detroit Diesel Series 71 engines of all configurations, but mostly 671's, with an occasional 471 thrown in (four 71 cubic inch cylinders in line).  A 671 is six 71 cubic inch cylinders in line, also called a 'straight 6'.  These Series 71 engines also come in 'V' configurations....such as 6v71, 8v71, and 12v71.  He also works on Series 92 engines, which is what we have.  Ours is in a 'V' configuration, involving three 92 cubic inch cylinders on each side of the 'V'.  All of the 2 stroke engines operate the same, and look the same on the inside.  The Series 92 engine comes in the 6v92 configuration (ours), and the 8v92 configuration.  I spent the better part of the day watching his videos, which I find totally fascinating.  Some of the most fascinating videos are the 'bus rescues'.  He'll find an old, abandoned bus which has been sitting in a field for 10 to 20+ years, and get it running, and rolling again.  That is how resilient these old buses with 2 stroke engines are.

That, sadly, or maybe not so sadly,  was the extent of my rainy day Saturday.  It appears our run of balmy, sunny days has come to an end for a while...such is Coastal Oregon life.

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'Hockwald definition.....'

 9:26 am - Saturday - April 24th - Seal Rock, OR - 45° F, 100% humidity, wind - zero mph out of the north.....it began raining sometime after midnight, and continues raining as I write this morning....there goes our rainless streak....lol.  On this date in 2014 we were eastbound on I-70 passing through the Eisenhower Tunnel (1.7 miles long) on our way to Denver, CO......↴

Light traffic in the eastbound lanes of I-70 in the 

Eisenhower Tunnel on this morning in 2014

For the past 4, or 5 days we have been introduced to the local marine layer phenomenon.  In SoCal we call it 'May, June gloom'.  Since this is our first winter and spring spent on the Oregon Coast we are experiencing the weather which is typical during these months of the year for the first time.  I know that sometime this summer when the days get much warmer we will be grateful for this daily, morning overcast.

As you know, Friday at SRRVC* is our Saturday, but technically, if you apply the Hockwald definition**, it is really 5th Saturday.  We have learned over the years of our retirement to avoid doing any retail shopping on Real Saturday, or Sunday.  The best days for shopping (groceries, hardware, or any retail) are 2nd (Tuesday) and 3rd Saturday (Wednesday), but any day other than Real Saturday, or Sunday is better.  The retail outlets, as well as the streets are way less crowded on these days.   Once and a while we forget (another symptom of retirement) which day of the week it is, and mistakenly go shopping on Real Saturday, as we did a few weeks ago after we had a late breakfast at The Coffee House on Yaquina Bay.  Newport was crazy crowded on that Real Saturday, and it only takes one mistake like that to jerk you back to reality, and recommit to shopping on 2nd, or 3rd Saturday until the next time you lose track of what day of the week it is.  We do have a 'day clock' to help us remember what day of the week it is, but you have to actually look at it once and a while to be reminded......

The big arrow is pointing to Saturday today, so it must be Real Saturday

....well, in keeping with the preceding we spent part of 5th Saturday (Friday) in Newport shopping.  We didn't leave SRRVC* until around 12:15 pm to drive into Newport.  I needed a few things at Ace Hardware, so we stopped there first, and then headed over to Walmart.  We don't shop at Walmart often here in Coastal Oregon, but there are some staples TLE prefers to buy there, and some of those staples were getting low in supply.  As is often the case, both stores had very few people in them on 5th Saturday, and traffic through town was quite light.

On the way home we stopped at a new bakery/coffee place in Seal Rock called 'Chubby Lil' Mermaid' to check them out.  We got two cups of coffee, and a bowl of French Onion soup to take home (no indoor, or alfresco dining there yet).  We sat on the 'lido deck' enjoying the soup and coffee as well as the mid afternoon marine layer.  Even though it was in the low 50's there was no wind, so it was quite pleasant.

While TLE put away the groceries I spent time outside checking out some solar yard lights I haven't deployed since we spent a month near Borrego Springs, CA boondocking last February.  They've been sitting in the space under our entry stairs since then, and need to be out in the sun for a day, or two to get them recharged, and ready to use again.  I had totally forgotten about them, and wish I had deployed them a long time ago.

Before I knew it 5 pm came and went, and it was time to head inside for dinner, which consisted of some white fish, and an avocado, tomato, corn, red onion, black olives and cilantro dressed with a lime vinegarette.....yum.  I spent the rest of the evening finishing the latest Jack Carr book, Devil's Hand, I wrote about a few days ago.  It's a little over 500 pages, and is a really good read.  It is the fourth book in a series called 'Terminal List', which I highly recommend.

Thanks for stopping by!

*SRRVC = Seal Rock RV Cove

**Hockwald definition = When you retire each day of the former work week feels like Saturday.  In honor of that 'feeling' TLE and I renamed Monday 1st Saturday, Tuesday 2nd Saturday, etc making Friday 5th Saturday.

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Fourth Saturday.....

 8:33 am - 5th Saturday - April 23rd - Seal Rock, OR - 48° F, 82% humidity, wind - zero mph out of the north......heavy marine layer this morning, again, with a forecast high of 52° F, and a 46% chance of rain....personally, I don't think it's going to rain.  On this date in 2013 TLE and I were visiting Harper's Ferry, West Virginia........↴

Fourth Saturday...Thursday, if you will......saw me working all by myself.  I fired up the Massey-Ferguson loader just before 10 am, and  finished up site #2 adding gravel to the side nearest the electrical pedestal to make it level side to side, then finishing the driveway apron.  I did the same for site #39 (finishing the driveway apron), raked out a bucket of gravel where the dumpsters sit, and then worked at leveling site #4 side to side using the larger rock as a base.  I had not quite finished with site #4 when I glanced at my watch to see it was approaching 1:30 pm....where does the time go?  When I am working with the loader day after day I usually will park it overnight in the site upon which I am working, but since it was my Friday I took it back to the barn until Sunday when I return to work.

TLE had another split shift Thursday, so she headed back to work at 2 pm for another two hours.  There weren't many calls in the afternoon, so she was home a little after 3:30 pm.

The sun came out for a very short time late afternoon, but by 5:30 pm it had retreated behind the ever present marine layer.  We knew there would be no sunset this day, but decided to have a fire, nonetheless.  TLE made popcorn, a small plate of cold cuts, and opened a bottle of Malbec for the occasion.  We had the Siriusly Sinatra channel playing in the background as we talked, and read until after 7 pm, when we decided to call it an evening......

....another day without rain is always a good day on the Oregon Coast.  We continue, of course, to be asymptomatic here on the rural Oregon Coast.....life seems almost normal here.

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Rockin' around the clock........

 7:50 am - Thursday - April 22nd - Seal Rock, OR - 46° F, 87% humidity, wind - zero mph out of the north......marine layer this morning, and all day according to the forecast, which also suggests a high of 53° F is in the offing.  On this date in 2018 we had just entered Oklahoma on our way east to Maine for the summer......↴

Wednesday was a busy, 'long' day for moi.  I fired up the Massey-Ferguson loader shortly before 10 am, and three hours and forty-five minutes later parked her at the back of site #2 for the night.  That is now, officially, the longest work day I've put in since we arrived back in September.  Over the course of that time I finished hauling the smaller gravel to site C to cover the larger gravel I pulled from the back of the site, to site D to finish the entrance apron, and to site #2 to cover the entire site.  When the gravel truck arrived Tuesday Terry had him dump half the small gravel in site #39.  When I had transferred as much of it as I could with the loader to other sites, I took a rake and spread what was left over about 2/3's of the site (39)....I'll need a little from the pile in the back of the park to finish it, as well as site #2, which is about 80% finished.  We are slowly, but surely freshening many of the sites, and getting them more level.  We've already received positive feedback from returning customers about how much easier it was to get level in the sites which have already received our attention....

Site #2 - the pad was all grass before

Site D

Site #44

Site #39 (background)

......TLE worked a split shift Wednesday.....10 am - 12 pm, and 2-4 pm....she and I are the only ones on duty Wednesday and Thursday, so she needs to cover the afternoon shift.  At any rate, the day went quickly, and before we both knew it the afternoon was gone, and the marine layer, which never left all day, intensified, denying us another Coastal Oregon sunset.  At the same time Wednesday was another Coastal Oregon day with no rain....it seems to becoming a habit.

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