Busy, busy.....

 6:18 am - Wednesday - May 31st - LPG&RVR - 51° F, humidity 93%, wind 1 mph out of the north by northwest.....heavy cloud cover today with a forecast high of 69° F.  On this date in 2016 TLE and I were enjoying a pitcher of Payback Porter, and amazing fish tacos at The Classic Cue in South Lake Tahoe......miss that place......↴

We were on the job by 7:40 am, and I still had 6 five gallon buckets of range balls to wash, and dry, plus all the things I normally do on a Tuesday like a lot of mowing!  Before any of that can happen I needed to head out for my daily first round of the golf course to see how busy the geese/ducks have been on the #3 tee boxes, then check the four sand traps for weeds, and rake if necessary, and look for any flags downed by the overnight wind.  Speaking of wind overnight, we don't always feel it here in the RV park, but out on the western edges of the golf course it can get quiet brisk, and almost every time I make that first round I find at least one flag down....it is never the same flag.....it can be #5, #14, #15, #6, #7, or even #8.  I'm glad we don't always get that kind of wind in the park, or we'd be stowing our awning all the time.  Anyway, there was one flag down on this date....#15...all the other aforementioned flags survived, and remained in their holes.

I was back around 9:30 am, and immediately began to wash the golf balls.  How this works is I soak them in soapy water (Dawn works best) for a period of time....usually for just a few hours, not overnight.  Then I pull about 1/2 the balls at a time out of a given bucket, clean them, rinse them, then put them in one of the wire baskets from the ball machine to air dry for a few hours before pouring them into the 55 gallon barrel in the Clubhouse.  I can do 25 gallons of balls in about an hour.  On this particular morning the outdoor temp was in the high 50's and the water felt colder....lol.

Both pavilions had emptied overnight so I headed there next to mow both of them, then mowed the parking lot grass, the large grass area next to site #30, the large grass area at the group fire pit, and then 6 of the full hookup pull through sites, which were also unoccupied, plus 2 of the employee lawns.  I'll get the other two on Wednesday, or Thursday.  In all I disposed of 5 trailer loads of grass cuttings by 4 pm.

We only rented the 5 Club Car electrics on Tuesday....quite a contrast to Monday!  They were not all back  at 5 pm, so I had to return after 6 to at least plug them in for the night. I'll wash them Wednesday morning.

We got rain on and off all afternoon, and another of those 30 minute 'toad stranglers' around 4 pm.....it rained well into the evening, and was still coming down when we went to bed around 10 pm.  In spite of the rain I got the range balls dried, and put away before the serious rain began.  

In between the showers

This Spring has been different from last year when we got snow 8 times before Memorial Day.  We've only gotten snow 3 times this year, but it has rained, and thundered much more than this time last year.  The mosquitoes are out there, but not bad yet, and most of the deciduous trees have leafed out.

TLE and I were home by 5:15 pm, and barely got inside before the rainfall   began in earnest once again....thanks for stopping by!

Behind the '8 ball'.....

 6:15 am - Tuesday - May 30th - LPG&RVR - 48° F, humidity 89%, wind 0 mph out of the west by southwest......cloudy today with a forecast high of 73° F.  On this date in 2018 TLE and I hiked to the top of Cadillac Mountain on Mount Desert Island, ME (near Bar Harbor)......↴

There are some days when one just never gets into sync with the workflow, and Monday was one of those days for me.  I felt like I was behind the proverbial 'Eight Ball' from the moment I arrived at the Clubhouse to stage the first 15 golf carts, until the moment I picked up TLE from work just after 5 pm.  There was a lot to do Monday, it being a National Holiday, and LPG&RVR being exceptionally busy anyway.  In addition to the initial 15 golf carts I later staged an additional 9 carts, of which 6 were rented, so 21 went out.

Monday was also the day we clear the driving range of golf balls so it can be mowed, and due to the busy Memorial Day weekend the range ball barrel was all but empty, so that meant there would be an enormous amount of balls to retrieve.  In all I filled 6 five gallon buckets with range balls.  I began around 10 am to retrieve those balls around the perimeter using the 'Shag Bag', but before I could use the ball machine to pick up the rest TLE called me to advise there were a couple of issues in the park which needed attention, which only further served to put me out of sync. By the time I returned to clearing the driving range it was almost 12 pm, which is when TLE normally begins her lunch hour, but DeWayne was going to mowing the range at 1 pm, so I had delay giving TLE her lunch break until I finished with the range at 12:40 pm.

I really needed my hour lunch as I was already tired from the hectic morning, so I didn't get back to work until 2:40 pm, at which time I found 13 of the 21 golf carts had been returned, plus I still needed to get the balance of the golf balls soaking in soap and water.  Once the golf balls were in water I turned to begin cleaning all the carts, which took me until 4:40 pm to finish, and I still hadn't cleaned the balls.  At that point I knew there was no way I was going to get 6 five gallon buckets of balls cleaned, and dried in 20 minutes, so I decided to defer that job until Tuesday morning.  I managed to get 20 of the 21 carts washed before 5 pm...the final cart did return right at 5 pm, so that will be added to Tuesday morning's tasks.

Thankfully, half the park's occupants departed on Monday, and the rest will leave on Tuesday, so the course will be a little less busy, and being that I will start Tuesday still behind the 'Eight Ball' that will help me somewhat in catching up.....I hope.

Thanks for stopping by!

A Sunday well lived.....

6:16 am - Monday - May 29th - LPG&RVR - 46° F, humidity 73%, wind 0 mph out of the west by northwest......cloudy today with a forecast high of 73° F, and rain this afternoon.  On this date in 2021 TLE and I were in Spokane, WA for a wedding....we visited the grave of my mother, Virginia Gale Hockwald for the first time since her death a year prior (think Wuhan Flu).....here I am with my two brothers......↴

Left to right:  Philip, Dwyer, and moi

TLE and I finally 'slept in' until after 7:30 am Sunday.  That was nice!  I was so involved in how nice it was to 'sleep in' that I walked out to the salon, poured a cup of coffee, and sat down in my recliner, never even thinking about writing my daily blog entry....lol!  Which goes to explain why it was not posted until 12:10 pm, when I did finally remember.  Getting old is not for the faint of heart.

Office Kathy was still under the weather, but another LPG&RVR worker, Lynn, offered to open the office and take care of business so TLE would have at least one day off work before beginning her next 4 day work week.  I spent time in the garage (trailer) repairing the ball washer for our golf car, which TLE nearly scraped off the side of the golf cart when she got too close to a dumpster whilst dumping a bag of trash a while back.  I used some two part JB Weld to put her back together, then remounted it on Club Car Villager #20.

I did a little weeding in our yard, swept a weeks worth of leaves off the 'lido deck', 'lower deck' and 'viewing deck' turf, and then took another MTB ride around the perimeter of the golf course.....

....just as the day before, I got sprinkled upon about half way around the course.  I was getting a little overheated as I was climbing one of the hills near hole #5, so the rain was a welcome interruption in my 25 minute ride.

Our grass was mowed while we were in Redding/Klamath Falls, and it is looking almost dandelion free after just a few weeks......

.....the 'lido' and 'viewing' decks are looking great, and that tilting umbrella on the 'viewing deck' does a great job of keeping the sun out of our eyes when we sit to watch the sun slide to the western horizon, which we did shortly after I took this picture.....

.....we sat on the 'viewing deck' until after 6 pm, then TLE got out those filet mignons she bought at Fred Meyer for me to grill on the Sea-B-Que, and we had another delightful 'lower deck' alfresco dinner to close out Sunday's festivities.  We didn't head inside until after 7 pm.....a nice, relaxing day!

Thanks for stopping by!

Some worked, some did not.....

 12:10 pm - Sunday - May 28th - LPG&RVR - 68° F, humidity 40%, wind 7 mph out of the south by southwest.....mostly cloudy today with a forecast high of 70° F.  On this date in 2011 TLE and I rode our bicycles to Simple Simon's in Riverside, CA for breakfast.....↴

TLE and I only managed to 'sleep in' until just after 6:30 am....oh well, there are always naps, right?  Office Kathy continued to be ailing, so TLE left the Newell around 7:45 am to open the office and take care of business, which was quite brisk due to the Memorial Day long weekend.

I, on the other hand, had no where to be, and all day to arrive there.  I only put out our Stars and Stripes on National Holiday weekends, so after typing yesterday's missive, was the first thing I did.... 

....rain was forecast off and on most the day, and we got quite a drenching around 11 am.....think 'toad strangler' type of rainfall....for about 30 minutes.  I'm sure there were more than a few drenched golfers on the course, as we had most of our golf cart fleet rented on Saturday.

I fell asleep for my nap of the day watching the latest PGA event being held near Ft. Worth, TX.  I think I slept for over an hour.  Upon awakening I decided to do something I have not done for quite a while, and not since we arrived at LPG&RVR back on April 13th....I rode my Haibike SDURO MTB around the perimeter of the golf course, and was pleasantly surprised at my level of fitness....

....we had 40 putters signed up for our weekly putting contest.  I, as has been my habit this season, went out in the first round, essentially beating myself with poor first putts on the first and 5th hole.  I was tied entering the 5th hole, but, as I said, hit a poor first putt, and just missed my 2nd to remained tied.  It was a fun afternoon enjoyed by all.

TLE finished closing the Clubhouse office a few minutes before the putting contest ended, so good timing there.  We were home in a couple of minutes, hoping to sit outside for a while, but the rain returned, and came and went into early Sunday morning.

Thanks for stopping by!

The TJ's faux pas........

 7:16 am - Saturday - May 27th - LPG&RVR - 52° F, humidity 74%, wind 0 mph out of the west by northwest.....partly cloudy today with rain forecast for this afternoon around 2 pm, and a high temperature of 68° F.  On this date in 2016 TLE and I were at Pope Beach near South Lake Tahoe, where we had ridden our bikes....it was a cold, blustery late May day......↴

The sun began to brighten the large window in our Shilo Inn room around 6:30 am, and as is always the case, we began to regain consciousness after a wonderful night's sleep on that California King pillowed mattress.  By 7 am we were up, and getting dressed for our 2+ hour drive home.  By 8 am we had hauled our luggage down to the VW, and were on our way to Fred Meyers to top off our tank, then pickup a few items in the store.  It's been a while since we've fueled up in Oregon, and I forgot that civilians are not allowed to pump their own gasoline.  At any rate we took on about 5.5 gallons, then parked the car, and went inside the store to buy a few food items....TLE found two beautiful filets on sale for $17.99, so she bought them.  I needed a new beard trimmer as the bear trimming portion of my Norelco shaver had ceased working the day we left for Redding.  I found a nice Braun on sale for $19.99, and bought it.

We were back in the VW around 8:30 am and on our way cruising southward to the California border.  The drive was, for which we always hope, uneventful, and we arrived back in Alturas around 10:20 am where we made a quick stop at the Holiday Market to buy another week's supply of produce.  We don't buy our produce in Oregon as it creates a hassle re-entering California.

We managed to arrive back at LPG&RVR just before 11:30 am, and while we were putting away our groceries, and alcohol TLE discovered that the single malt scotch and vodka we had purchased at Trader Joe's in Redding were missing.  It was no where to be found....doh!  There was over $130 worth of liquor in that bag!  TLE called Trader Joe's and found a good, honest person had turned the bag full of liquor into the store manager, and that they would hold it for us when we return next Friday to get the smog work done on the VW....whew!  Crisis averted....lol!

After putting away our groceries we decided to drive the golf cart over to the restaurant for lunch.  I ordered their bacon cheese burger, and TLE their grilled chicken...we chose an alfresco table on the deck overlooking the putting green....

.....while we were enjoying our lunch TLE found out that office Kathy, the Kathy who shares TLE's office job, was not feeling very well, so she offered to take over for her at 2 pm for the last 3 hours, so I ended up home, alone, after that taking a long nap.  I woke up around 3 pm, and decided to take my seemingly defunct Noreclo beard trimmer out to the garage workbench to see if I could disassemble it to see what was wrong, and if it was fixable.  There were just two allen screws affixing the cutting blades to the plastic assembly, so I removed them, and found that it was something I could fix, so I did, and reassembled it.  It worked!  Now I have an extra beard trimmer, which I can take with me on overnight trips.  I've had the Norelco for probably 6+ years, so I'm happy I was able to extend its life....

That's the shaver head in the stock photo

.....around 4:50 pm I walked over to the Clubhouse to use the putting green, while TLE closed down the office.  I putted for probably 40 minutes and managed to sink a hole in one on each of the 5 holes, then on #1 I sank three consecutive hole in ones. I've never even come close to doing that well, ever!  

By the bye....while I was putting I got a call from Brent at A-1 Smog in Redding that he had sourced all the parts we'll need to restore our emissions systems to visual inspection condition, and that it will only take 1 hour to install them.  We will drive back to Redding next Thursday via an overnight, again, in Burney, then arrive at A-1 at their 7 am opening time on Friday. If all goes well we'll be back in LPG&RVR by noon time Friday.....we hope!

Finally, TLE was done around 5:30 pm, and we headed home for the night.  We sat on the 'viewing deck' until after 7 pm, before heading inside for the night.  We watched the series finale of 'The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel'.  It is not often I like finales, but this one was perfect, and we both appreciated the choices the writers, producers and directors made.

Thanks for stopping by!

Foiled again.......

 7:11 pm - Saturday - May 26th - LPG&RVR - 69° F, 46% humidity, wind 8 mph out of the west by southwest.....partly cloudy today with a forecast (passed) 73° F.  On this date in 2013 TLE was directing traffic at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) at gate #2....one of our best seasonal gigs ever......↴

We were up before 5 am Friday morning in Burney, CA, and on our way covering the final leg to Redding, CA and A-1 Smog by 5:40 am.  The drive was uneventful, and we arrived at A-1 20 minutes before their 7 am opening with Starbucks coffees in our hands....

Mt. Shasta from the south on our way to Redding Thursday morning

....our car was the first car taken into the shop, and within 20 minutes we had passed the emissions test, but FAILED the visual test.  While our emissions was performing as it should, several emissions hoses, and a pump had visible cracks, and damage, so to pass we must get all that stuff replaced...doh! We arrived with no check engine lights, but were foiled by the visual inspection!  Instead of hanging around town all day, which we've done before, we asked Brent, the owner, to source the replacement parts, and call us when he had them ordered, and received.

Around 8 am we headed over to Trader Joe's to get our fix of things we only buy there, which includes potato vodka, and Finlaggan Single Malt Scotch, and a few other food items.  Apparently, while we were putting those items into the hatch of the VW we forgot to pull out the bag containing 4 bottles of the aforementioned Finlaggan, and 2 bottles of potato vodka, and left them in the cart (about $130 in value).....double doh!  That faux pas was not discovered until we got home Friday morning.....more on that later.

From there we headed to COSTCO, completely unaware of our mistake, to fuel up at $3.89/gallon, and then into the store at their opening, 9 am, to buy a few things we only get at COSTCO.  We did not leave anything in the cart that time....lol!

From there we headed north on I-5 to Weed, CA where we merged onto California Highway 97 to Klamath Falls, OR....

Mt. Shasta from the southwest off I-5

Mt. Shasta from the west

Mt. Shasta from the northwest

You've got to have at least one picture of Weed, CA, right?

Mt. Shasta from the east

.....once again the drive from Redding to Klamath Falls was uneventful, but extremely beautiful.

We arrived in Klamath Falls around 11:30 am, and headed directly to The Falls Taphouse for some more great brews, and for moi more BBQ.  TLE got The Octoberfest Hot Dog from the hot dog food truck.  For our brews TLE ordered their 'Blonde', and I their 'Amber Ale...both brews went well with our orders.  We sat outside this time, and the temperature was perfect....

....we lingered over our lunch enjoying the food, the ambiance, the conversation, and the view for over an hour.

We had reservations at the local Shilo Inn (across the street from The Falls Taphouse)...

....and there she is inside that red circle.

Before we checked into the Shilo Inn we had several errands to run, and began with a stop at Holiday Jewelers where I had left my Nixon watch the week before to have a new battery installed, and to fix one of the small hands, which had fallen off its post.  The watch was ready as promised....

The hand inside that red circle had fallen off its post

....next we picked up a few things at Walmart, then headed over to the local Goodwill where both TLE and I found a few things without which we could not live.

We checked into the Shilo Inn just before 3 pm.  We managed to get a room on the top floor (4th), and had a nice view of Klamath.  We played a bunch of Backgammon games of which I managed to win just 2 (I think we played 7, or 8)....it was just not my night....lol!

We were in bed by 10 pm, and slept like the dead....the bed had a pillowed mattress, and was of the California King variety......so comfortable.

Thanks for stopping by!

Whipped....

 6:49 am - Thursday- May 25th- Redding - 51° F, 47% humidity,  wind 10 mph out of the south by southeast......crystal clear,  blue,  sunny skies today with  forecast high of 89° F. On this day in 2020 TLE and I arrived in Meeker, CO to snag a spot in the city park right on the aggie White River......

Wednesday was the final day of our 4 day work week,  and it was a busy one for me.  Before heading out to make my first rounds of the golf course I staged 15 golf carts,  of which 10 were rented.  

The duck/goose leavings were less than I expected,  and I only had to weed,  and rake the 18th sand trap.  From there the day got quite busy. 

When I mowed all that grass the other day I left the weed/grass whipping for Wednesday, so I grabbed our Stihl weed whipper and headed to the parking lot grass. Over the next 2+ hours I worked over all the grass areas,  then headed down to the creek in the middle of the driving range to cut the long grass down on each side of the fence.  I was about 2/3's done when I ran out of gas,  and happily,  it was time to give TLE her lunch break. 

After lunch I washed the 6 golf carts which had been returned,  and then hopped on the SLOW John Deere riding lawn mower to mow 7 of the 10 tent sites,  which had not yet been mowed this season.  What a dusty,  dirty task that was!

I started my day at 7:30 am, and took just a 30 minute lunch so I could be off by 4 pm to take a shower,  and take a nap before beginning our 100+ mile drive to Burney, on our way to Redding. I retrieved TLE from the Clubhouse around 5:05 pm, and by 5:15 pm we were on our way to the Shasta Pines Motel in Burney. After an uneventful,  but beautiful drive we arrived in Burney, CA at exactly 7:15 pm... perfect!

Mt.Shasta in the distance

 

We watched the two hour finale of Survivor season 44, and were in bed by 10 pm.

Thanks for stopping by!

Rain and hail....

 6:13 am - Wednesday - May 24th - LPG&RVR - 39° F, humidity 77%, wind 0 mph out of the northwest.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 72° F.  Rained overnight, but clear this morning.  On this date in 2020 TLE and I were walking around Old Town Grand Junction, CO, and spied a micro brewery open for business, so snagged an alfresco table and ordered appetizers and brews.....↴

Rockslide Brewing Company

Walking around Old Town Grand Junction

....it was a tonic to be able to walk around and see people not wearing masks and just living normal lives once again.

Tuesday was to be another busy day at LPG&RVR, so I stagged 15 carts to begin the day, and we rented every single one of them.  For most golf courses 15 golf carts being rented is a very slow day, but here, mid week, it is a big deal.  

After completing my morning rounds of the golf course I fueled up the big Husqvarna riding lawn mower, and began to mow one large piece of grass after another.....there was the parking lot grass, the small Pavilion grass, the large grass circle next to site #30, the large grass area at the group firepit area, and then 5 water and electric sites....all before lunch time! In all I hauled 4 large trailer loads of grass cuttings out to the cow pasture....the cows came running when they saw me arrive....they love fresh cut grass!

By the time I returned from my lunch break at 2 pm there were 9 golf carts awaiting their daily spa treatment, but right in the middle of washing them the power went out (most of Modoc County was out due to a lightning strike).  When we lose power we also lose water pressure, so I put aside the cart washing, fueled up the small Husqvarna and headed out to mow the tee boxes I mow once a week.  

The skies were quite foreboding as I arrived at the #3 tee boxes, and as I mowed I could see rain falling on the local mountains in the distance.  This is one of the things I love about this area.....you can see weather coming from miles away.  Knowing my time was short I moved quickly from one tee box to the next, and just as I was finishing the final tee box on hole #18 it began to sprinkle so I made a bee line for the Clubhouse, arriving just before it began to rain, and then hail in earnest.  I parked the Husqvarna, and got under cover quickly.  The initial rain lasted about 10 minutes, and then I was able to finish washing the remaining 5 golf carts (all 15 had been returned while I was mowing tee boxes), as the power had come back on just before I returned from my trip around the golf course.

Just as I was putting the last golf carts away it began to hail again, but I was under cover....nothing like great timing.  And to make things even better TLE had closed the office down, and was ready to go home...perfect!

Today, Wednesday, TLE and I are driving to Redding to get a new smog certificate for the VW.  A new one is required every other year.  We've had no 'CHECK ENGINE' lights for 4 months, the last one being when we had issues with the ignitions coils.  Since then we've had the car in for service in early April, and just this month I replaced all the ignition coils and spark plugs with OEM stuff, so she is running like a champ.  We'll be leaving right after work today, and driving about a 100 miles (its 160+ to Redding) to a small town named Burney where we will overnight before arriving at A-1 Smog at 7 am on Thursday morning.  Here's hoping there are no 'CHECK ENGINE' lights between now and then....lol.

During dinner it began to rain again, accompanied by lightning and thunder for about an hour.  I think that is the first significant lighting and thunder we've experienced here at LPG&RVR.  After dinner we caught up on a few episodes of Amazon Prime's The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.  This is one of the best written TV series we have ever watched.  It is in season 5 now, and if you have not watched it take a look....I think you will like it.

Thanks for stopping by!

Weeding, raking, washing....another day in the life.....

 6:10 am - Tuesday - May 23rd - LPG&RVR - 48° F, humidity 59%, wind 7 mph out of the north by northwest......cloudy today with a forecast high of 71° F.  On this date in 2016 I was headed to work at Tahoe Valley Campground in the rain.......↴

We are into that part of the season when the vacuum doesn't really do its job on Sundays anymore.  We have a large group of over 44 people occupying most of the sites in the park, and they will be here for a week, so the demand for rounds of golf, and golf carts only increased from Sunday.  In all we sent out 24 carts.....a lot for a Monday.  Monday is also one of the days we clear the golf balls from the driving range so it can be mowed.  

I headed out to make my rounds of the golf course and found the ducks/geese had  been quite active overnight....there are four tee boxes which they use to relieve themselves, and one of them took me 15 minutes all by itself to clear.  From there I headed to the sand trap next to hole #12 to weed it, and rake it.  Each week I weed the traps there are fewer and fewer weeds with which to contend, so it is taking less time to do so.

The two ponds straddling the #3 tee boxes

After completed my initial rounds I headed back out to see if any of the many foursomes were bunching up, and only found a couple, but they were happy with the rate of play, and did not want to 'play through'.  As one of them said to me....."I have no where to be today, and I have all day to get there".  That is a good way to live your retired life.....lol!

By the time I returned to the Clubhouse it was time for me to begin picking up the balls along the boundaries of the driving range where the ball picker cannot go, so I retrieved a 'Shag Bag' from the Clubhouse, and headed out to the range.  It took me about 45 minutes for that initial phase, and then I headed back to the rear of the range to run the ball picker up and down the upper, then lower driving range.  In all it took me another 45 minutes to get all the balls, then another 25 minutes to run them up to the 'Cart Return/Wash Stand' to put them in 5 gallon buckets to soak in soap and water until after lunch when I would wash finish washing them.

TLE took her customary lunch break at 12 pm, and the hour seemed to fly by as I dealt with one customer after another in TLE's absence.  After my lunch break I returned to find that 15 of the 24 carts had been returned, and awaited my attention, but first I needed to get those 4 buckets of balls washed, dried and put away.  After washing them I put them in wire baskets so they can air dry for a couple of hours before I put them back in the 55 gallon barrel.

Then the big task began....it was about 2:45 pm and I had 15 carts backed up in the Cart Return area with another 9 on the way, so I got to work washing them, and putting them away.  I was washing three at a time, but every time I finished with those there were three more added to the back of the line by returning golfers.  Finally, around 4:15 pm twenty-one of the twenty-four carts had been returned, washed and put away.  The final three would not be back until after 5 pm, so they will have to wait until Tuesday to get washed.

After dumping the now dry range balls into the 55 gallon barrel I mowed around the putting green until around 4:45 pm.  There will be more mowing Tuesday as I need to mow the usual tee boxes (3, 10, 15, 16, 17 & 18) again as it's been a week since the last time.  At any rate, while TLE closed the office down for another evening I ran down to the 'Night Registration Office' to flip the sign, and write down the available sites for those who arrive after 5 pm without reservations.

TLE and I ate dinner on the 'Lower Deck', and then sat on the 'Viewing Deck' until almost 7:30 pm watching the sun slowly slide to the western horizon one more time.

Thanks for stopping by!

The end.....

 6:15 am - Monday - May 22nd - LPGR&VR - 42° F, 83% humidity, wind 3 mph out of the north by northwest......crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 77° F.  On this date in 2012 TLE and I were watching a 'partial' eclipse of the sun at Craters of the Moon National Monument......my phone camera actually, somehow, captured the crescent shape of the sun......↴

See the crescent shape of the sun in that red spot in the picture?

After four days off work the first day back is always a little hectic, especially when your first day back is a busy Sunday.  Saturday, according to Walt, they rented out close to 30 golf carts, and there were still a couple to be washed first thing.  While Sunday wasn't that bad, it was busy with 17 golf carts being rented.  I initially staged 15 carts (finally got back the #21 Yamaha gasser which has been in 'sick bay' for two weeks).  Once the carts were staged, and the two washed, I headed out to do my daily course rounds.  There, surprisingly, were not many duck/goose residuals to be cleared, but the sand traps needed a good raking.  I was back at the Club house by 9:15 am, at which time I staged four more carts, and that seemed to satisfy the demand, as only two of the final 4 were rented.

I made another round of the course as 'marshal', and found everyone to be moving along at a good pace, so I chatted with a few of the groups passing by, then headed back to the Clubhouse to see how the final round of the PGA was going.  It was about 11:45 am, and I wanted to sit and watch the PGA while TLE took her lunch break, so I sent her home early.

Brooks Koepka was still in the lead at the 7th hole,  and as it turned out, he never surrendered the lead the rest of the day, leading by 3 after the 16th.  Ultimately he won by 2 strokes to win his 5th major championship.  He battled a leg injury for a couple of years, but he is now back playing some of the best golf of his career....he finished 2nd at The Masters.

The carts began returning just before lunch time, and by 3:30 pm all of the carts had been returned, and put away....that's the earliest I've had the carts put away in a few weeks.  Since I had time I worked at getting all the carts put away in numerical order so it will be easier, and faster to stage them for TLE....she likes them in numerical order. We always stage the 5 Club Car electrics (1-5) first, then the 10 Yamaha gassers (13, 21, 27, 56, 75, 96, 107, 118, 119 & 140....they were bought used), and then come the Club Car gassers (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29, & 30.....28 is in the 'sick bay').  I know, it's kind of weird that I know all those numbers by heart, especially the oddly numbered Yamahas, but it is a gift.  I know TLE's social security number better than TLE....lol.

I started my day at 7:40 am, so at 4:40 pm I was off work, and waiting for TLE to close the office, so I putted for 20 minutes before driving her home.  Sunday was warm, and humid, and by 5 pm I was knackered, as the British are wont to say....heat takes it out of me.  I took a long, hot shower, then sat down in my recliner to vegetate for awhile, and gradually perked up again.

With the end of Sunday we have reached the end of our current heatwave (temps in the low to high 80's), and are now in for a 15 day stretch of mid 70's temps....much more to our liking.

Thanks for stopping by!

Back to nature.....

6:27 am - Sunday - May 21st - LPG&RVR - 48°, humidity 73%, wind - mph out of the northwest......partly cloudy skies today with a forecast high of 82° F.  On this date in 2020 TLE and I were in Telluride, CO with Glenn and Laureen......↴ 

TLE and I began our day with a walk on LPG&RVR's nature trail.  As you may recall, back when we first arrived I was assigned the duty of attaching new numbers to each of the 9 viewing stations along the 1.1 mile loop trail, and had found one of the directional arrows broken.  I brought it home, and successfully glued it back together, but had never returned it to its post.....

No, I am not holding the arrow together with electrical tape...the tape was to hold the stainless steel screw in place until I reached the post to reattach it

The arrow reattached to its post, and once again 'pointing the way'

....we reached the post to which the broken arrow would be reattached within 10 minutes at which time I screwed it back on the post.......we could have just turned around there and walked back, but decided to continue walking the loop trail.  We stopped by one of the numerous ponds on the property to take an 'usie'....

.....our favorite viewing station is Jose's View, #7, which overlooks fairways 9 and 18.....

....this is the high point on the trail.  The picture below is looking back toward the RV park....that pond you see is near the trailhead of the nature trail...

....of course, Saturday was the 3rd round of the PGA tournament.  It rained on the players most of the day, and the scores reflected that.  A majority of players were over par for the day, with only a handful posting scores under par, including Brooks Koepka, who was four under par for the day, and leads everyone at 6 under par beginning the 4th round.  There are only 9 players with scores at par, or under par....that's how hard this course is.

It was another beautiful LPG&RVR day, and perfect for sitting outside watching the PGA, and taking a nap, or two.

Thanks for stopping by!

Site bound.....

 7:46 am - Saturday - May 20th - LPG&RVR - 57° F, 52% humidity, wind 0 mph out of the west by northwest......crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 86° F.  On this date in 2012 TLE and I were camping at 'Craters of the Moon National Monument' in southern Idaho....one of my favorite Newell/trailer pictures......↴

After our whirlwind trip to Klamath Falls Thursday I was determined to spend some time watching the PGA Championship on ESPN, so for the first time this season I set up the outdoor TV for just such a purpose....

.....I began live coverage ensconced in my anti gravity chair....at some point I lost consciousness, and woke up just after 12 pm.  A nice way to spend a Friday morning.

I did spend a little productive time applying a systemic weed killer to the sprouting dandelions in the grass area next to our site.  It is an annual battle, which I won last year, but they are back, so I am trying to get an earlier start this year.

TLE likes to use the larger washing machines/dryers the park provides down in the restroom area to wash the bed sheets, so she actually left our site several times Friday, but I did not leave the site for the first time until late afternoon around 4:45 pm after the conclusion of televised coverage of the PGA.  In needed to practice putting for the upcoming putting contest on Saturday.  I've gotten to where I can putt the ball and it runs along the line I have chosen each time.  I still need to work a lot on putting each ball the same distance.  I can putt 6 balls in succession, thinking I am using the same exact stroke, but each ball goes a different distance.  I need to putt 6 balls and have them stop within a few inches, not feet, of each other....preferably near the hole....lol.  Over the hour I putted I was able to get 4, or 5 balls within 6-8 inches of each other several times.  The key to doing well in the putting contest is to put your first putt near enough to the hole that the second putt is easy.  If you make all your second putts the odds are you will win each match.  Of course, no one turns down a hole in one, of which I had several on Friday.

After returning from my putting foray I joined TLE on the 'lido deck' for a drink....the view to the west was pretty sweet.....

.....it was a pretty nice, laid back, pretty much do nothing day spent mostly within the friendly confines of our Newell encampment.....just the kind of day I wanted, and needed.

Thanks for stopping by!