That didn't take long......

7:17 am - Monday - July 31st - LPG&RVR - 53° F, humidity 38%, wind 1 mph out of the southeast......crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 90° F. On this date in 2018 TLE and I were in Southwest Harbor, ME having dinner at Beale's Lobster Pier.....we had Lobster Rolls, of course......↴ 

Allagash White.....best Belgium White beer ever

Another weekend day, another walk out to Jess Valley Road and back.  On the way out we passed by some cowboys herding cattle into a pen....most likely it is vaccination time....

......after our return, and a suitable cooling down period TLE and I tackled a job we have been delaying for a few weeks.....reorganize the trailer so everything is easier to access.  This meant taking about 80% of the stuff out of the trailer, repositioning the two tables upon which my tools, and TLE's pantry overflow items reside, then repositioning the throw rugs we have had on the floor for years, and screwing them into place so they won't move.  The end result exceeded our expectations, and took way less time than we expected.  In all I think it took us about 90 minutes, and we were done.....

....it is funny how in my mind I imagined this taking at least a day, if not parts of two days to accomplish, and that is why I kept post postponing it.....lol.  It is amazing how much two people can get done working together.  Anyway, now the two tables are side by side on the driver side of the trailer, with TLE's pantry items occupying the forward table for much easier access for her, and my tools on the table to the rear, with one bag on the forward table....otherwise all my major tools are on one table now.  Two of our bikes are at the very rear of the trailer now. Before half my tools were on one table, and the rest on the other table, which used to be at the back of the trailer, with TLE's bike in front of it....we had to move her bike to get at stuff under the table.....not a very good plan.  The rug in the middle we have had since 2015....someone left it in one of the RV sites at Tahoe Valley Campground.  The other two used to be in the Newell salon.  You can see in the last picture we had one of the Women's FIFA World Cup matches playing while we worked.  We also loaded down the Club Car Villager golf cart with things we didn't need anymore, and hauled that stuff to the dumpster.  With these changes we actually gained about 20% more floor space, and it is easier to move from front to back in the trailer now.

There was still 20 minutes to go in the soccer match when we finished so we finished watching that in the Newell, and then watched another recorded match.  Other than the trailer reorganizing we spent the balance of Sunday relaxing, and out of the heat....I know...it was only 91° F, but it feels hot to us.  We are, however, very grateful not to be spending the summer in Phoenix, or Death Valley where it gets up to 120° F, or higher in the summer.  All that being said, the nights are definitely getting cooler earlier this year than last.  Last summer the over night lows would not get below 60 for weeks on end, but this summer they get to the low 50's virtually every night, which makes for much more pleasant sleeping conditions.  We haven't had to run the air while we sleep one time this year, while last year I lost count.

I just took TLE to work....she is trading work days with Kathie as we are going to Klamath Falls on Wednesday for her cataract eye surgery appointment.  I'll stage the golf carts on Wednesday morning (her appointment isn't until 1:30 pm, so we'll leave around 10 am for the two hour drive), and then Lynn (wife of Mike who mows our fairways) will wash them and put them away in the afternoon....she did that for us last year when we were punching the greens.

In a few minutes I will begin another much delayed project.....install the new fog lights on the VW that I bought 2 years ago, along with a new grill....

New VW grill

....which I just bought a week, or so ago....thanks for stopping by!

Idyllic.......

8:20 am - Sunday - July 30th - LPG&RVR - 64° F, 25% humidity, wind 3 mph out of the south.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today....air clarity is remarkable.....forecast high is 91° F.  With such low humidity, and it will get lower as the day evolves, it does not feel at hot as 91° F.  The 15 day forecast shows temps ranging from the low 80's to the low 90's......↴

.....could it be that we have unwittingly slipped over the hump of summer heat, and are now sliding, inexorably toward Fall?  One can only hope...lol! This time last year the temp was 101° F.

On this date in 2012 TLE and I were in Long Beach, WA on the Olympic Peninsula....it is truly one of the longest continuous beaches in the world.......↴

Saturday was just another one of those idyllic days here at LPG&RVR.  As has become our 'renewed ' 4 day weekend custom, we arose before 7 am, dressed, and took a walk out to Jess Valley Road and back.  This walk first captured my heart, and soul last year, and continues to do so....every time we walk this route it feels like the first time......

......sharing this walk with someone you love, and who also equally appreciates this life we have chosen, and share just magnifies the experience.  I am sure I am no different from anyone else who had a vision of what their life might look like 50+ years after meeting their soulmate.  That it turned out even better than I had envisioned takes my breath away.  The happiness I feel when we walk together, sometimes chatting, sometimes in silence, taking in this expansive, ever changing view is overwhelming at times, and I find myself getting lost in the moment.  It is so rare to find someone with whom to share your life, who is always on the same page as you, through thick and thin, the highs, the lows. To be sure, Elaine and I have been through all of that, but through it all we faced it all together....faces forward into the wind.....moving forward.....no recriminations....no regrets.

After our walks we sit on the 'lido deck' cooling down from the walk often talking about our plans, or no plans for the day.  As I sit there I put in the final details of our walk in to my Strava program, then save it.....

......after finishing my latest missive TLE and I watched parts of 3 Women's FIFA World Cup matches, then I headed over to the Clubhouse to spend time working on hitting my fairway woods (3, 5 & 7).  It is currently the weakest part of my game.  In all I hit two small buckets of balls, finishing with hitting 5, or 6 balls with my driver.  By the end of an hour I felt like I had made progress, and had figured out what I was doing wrong.

We both attended the weekly putting contest, and I managed to make it to the 3rd round before being eliminated.  Win, or lose, it is always a great time, and I wouldn't miss it for anything.  I've talked TLE into entering next week.  She has been working quite hard on getting used to her new putter, which she loves more by the day.

The evening was so delightful that we ate our taco salad on the 'lower deck', and followed that up with a game of Phase 10.  There were no mosquitoes.....there was a cool, light, balmy breeze that perfectly complimented the 'Classic Vinyl' (channel 26, XM Radio) music playing the background, and the cigar in my hand.  I managed to come from way ahead of TLE (I was up 3 phases at one time) to lose on the final hand.....doh!  She is good!  We headed inside around 8:45 pm.....what a beautiful, idyllic day spent with my best friend, and the love of my life.

Thanks for stopping by!

Getting the most......

 8:00 am - Real Saturday - July 29th - LPG&RVR - 65° F, humidity 34%, wind 3 mph out of the south by southeast......partly cloudy skies with remarkable air clarity, hence I am remarking.....forecast high is 91° F.  On this date in 2013 TLE and I were in East Glacier, MT (on the east side of Glacier NP) watching the storm arrive, and then the rain......↴

At last I am current, and am actually writing about yesterday (Friday) when I should be.  Friday was our 'Saturday', and we got an early start.  We used to 'sleep in', especially on our first of four days off after arising way too early on our work days.  We decided last week that we would try to keep a similar routine on our days off as far as getting up before 7, and going to bed between 9 and 10 pm.  As a result we have more time to do more stuff on our 4 day weekends, like take our 2 mile out and back walk to Jess Valley Road each morning before we have our coffee.  In the past we'd get up around 7, or 8 am, sit drinking coffee for an hour, or two, and before we could blink twice it was after 10 am, and half the morning was gone.

We were out on our walk before 7 am, and back around 7:30 am.  I wrote my first of two blog posts trying to catch up, and then we headed over to the Clubhouse to play the back 9.  I didn't really warm up, or hit any balls, deciding to warm up on the first hole.  I played two balls the entire round giving me, in effect the number of swings and putts I would attempt in 18 holes.  Gradually I began hitting good drives, and every single chip I hit on the first 4 holes was perfect.  I two putted every green, with a one putt on the 17th hole where I recorded a birdie.  I finished up strong with two great drives, and two great chips to record a par.  My lower back was never an issue, and we both had a great time.  TLE doesn't play golf, but she brings her putter and putts each hole.

Once we were back home we changed clothes and headed into Alturas for our weekly shopping foray.  After a quick stop at Rite Aid we headed to the Lazy 'B' Grill to split a hamburger, and fries for lunch.  This is one of the best burger places we have frequented in our travels, and in a sense, this place passes for 'fine dining' in Alturas.....lol!

Next up was a stop at Grocery Outlet, and then Holiday Market, and with that we had resupplied for another week.  We will be driving to Klamath Falls on Wednesday, however, for TLE's second pre-op appointment for her cataract surgery.  At that appointment we'll find out her surgical date for her left eye.  Anyway, we'll do a big shopping at the local Fred Meyer when we are there.

Once back at the homestead we watched parts of a couple of Women's FIFA World matches, then headed over to the putting green around 7 pm to practice putting, then returned home to sit on the 'lido deck' as the sun slide down the backside of the mountains to the west.  There was a light, balmy breeze, and the temperature was already down to the high 70's.  By 8:30 pm we were heading inside for the night, but not because of mosquitoes, for a change.

That was one busy, but amazingly relaxed Friday, and we're both very glad we got up early, which enabled us to get the most out of the day.

On the home front we both continue to enjoy good health, and we both sleep very well each night....it is soooo quiet here!  We both continue to love our jobs, and, frankly, our lives.  The environment here is so stress free.  Starlink continues to 'WOW' us, and to date we have had ZERO issues.....just great internet 24/7.  In just a few short days we will have completed 4 months here at LPG&RVR, and will have just 60 days to go before we head south for the winter.  I'm not sure if I mentioned it, but we talked with Bob and Casey (owners of Colorado Outback Adventures) about them returning to Glamis North this year, and got an enthusiastic "YES!" from them, so out winter of soaking in the hot springs, and running the side by side rental operation for them again is set.  I think this will be the last winter we will work, as we would like to do some traveling, or spend 2, or 3 months boondocking outside of Borrego Springs before heading north again.  Life is good....in fact, way better than we could ever have imagined.

Thanks for stopping by!

Let the 'weekend' begin.....

 4:39 pm - Friday - July 28th - LPG&RVR - 90° F, humidity 14%, wind 14 mph out of the west......clear, blue skies this afternoon and the forecast high of 90° F has been realized.  On this date in 2012 TLE and I were 'glamping' on the shores of the Willapa River near Raymond, WA on the Olympic Peninsula.....↴

The fourth day of any four day work week is always the sweetest.  All the work days here pass by quickly, but time seems to speed up on the fourth day.  We had no tee times reserved until 9:30 am, so I staged 5 Yamaha gassers first, then another 5 as the morning progressed.  We ended up renting out 13 carts in all, while sending out 3 of the Yamahas twice.  It was Thursday, so that meant I needed to clear the driving range for mowing later in the day, but I get ahead of myself.  

Before heading out for my initial round of the course I grabbed a 5 gallon bucket, filled it with fine sand, then added some seed....why?  Well, on the par threes there tends to be a lot of divots which need to be 'sanded' once a week.  Basically I mix in grass seed on a 5-1 ratio.....5 parts sand, and 1 part seed, then, using a plastic cup, I pour the mixture into each divot.  Over time the seed will sprout, and the divot will be filled with grass once again.

Upon my return I grabbed a rock rake from the Caddy Shack to move some gravel that had migrated downhill from the entrance to the Clubhouse deck, which took about 40 minutes, then I washed some carts left over from Wednesday, after which I made a second round of the golf course to check on play, finding no problems.  By this time it was after 10 am, so I closed the driving range and began to clear the range of balls.  I managed to garner just one 5 gallon bucket of balls to clean, and return to the 55 gallon barrels in the back of the Clubhouse.

By the time I finished gathering the balls, and putting them into water and soap to soak util later in the afternoon it was time to give TLE her lunch break, after which I worked the final 90 minutes washing golf balls, and returned carts, which took me right up to 2:30 pm.  With that my 4 day work week was complete.

I took a long shower, took a nap then drove back over to the Clubhouse around 4:30 pm to practice putting until TLE was ready to be escorted home.  Around 5:10 pm she informed me she was ready to begin her 4 day 'weekend'.

Thanks for stopping by!

A vicious cycle.....

 8:09 am - Friday - July 28th - LPG&RVR - 65° F, humidity 40%, wind 4 mph out of the south by southeast......crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 90°  F.  On this date in 2013 TLE and I were hiking near Glacier National Park......↴

I seem to have slipped into this 'mañana' frame of mind lately, and the ultimate result is I am once again a day late posting about Wednesday, and here it is Friday already.  Since today is the beginning of our four day weekend I will get to writing about Thursday later today.

Usually by the 3rd day of our work week I am thinking about heading out to mow around the tee boxes, which have been assigned to me.  Over the last month I've been having spread out the mowing (3, 10, 15, 16, 17 & 18 plus large sections of grass too small for the regular mower) over 2-3 days depending on how busy I have been, but this day was a slow day....a really slow day.  How slow you ask?  I staged just 4 golf carts to begin the day. 

I took my time making my first round of the course, stopping to talk to some early golfers who went out before 8 am, checking, and re-raking a couple of the sand traps which had seen some human activity since I last raked them on Monday.  After my return I hopped on the big Husqvarna to mow around the large and small pavilions, plus the large grass area next to site #30, and then the two large grass sections which run along each side of the cart path which leads one to the #1 and #10 tee boxes.  By the time I finished mowing those two large strips of grass it was time for TLE's lunch break.

Since there were only 4 golf carts out on the course I decided to go ahead and tackle mowing around those tee boxes, and get them done in one trip.  As the summer heat has descended upon LPG&RVR the grass has begun to grow more slowly, which means I can mow much faster, and I managed to get all of the tee box mowing done in a tad over an hour.  I was back at the Clubhouse just in time to wash the four golf carts, which had been returned, put them away, and head for home at 2:30 pm.

 If I would just take my shower after work, and then sit down at my laptop I could get the blog done, but I always feel like a nap after my shower, and by the time I awaken again it takes me a while to become functional again, by that time I've lost my motivation....it is a vicious cycle....lol!

Thank you for your patience, and thanks for stopping by!

Acceptance.....

5:30 am - Thursday - July 27th - LPG&RVR - 52° F, humidity 62%, wind 2 mph out of the south by southeast.....skies are forecast to be crystal clear, blue, sunny skies with a high of 88° F.  On this date in 2012 TLE and I were visiting the Hoh Rainforest on the Olympic Peninsula near Forks, WA....TLE in front of the Hoh River, and moi in front of a 200' Sitka Spruce.......↴ 

Once again I find my self in arrears....having NOT published a blog post about Tuesday, so I'm up extra earlier to do just that, and be to work on time at 6:30 am.

In addition to finding myself adjusting to the warmer temperatures more easily this year, I am also adjusting to the mosquitoes more easily this year.  Make no doubt, they are still there, but I'm more able to accept them as part of life than I was last year.  Part of my adjustment is just simply dressing to reflect the conditions.  When I'm clearing balls on the driving range, or spending extended periods of time out on the golf course I wear long sleeve shirts, and pants, and apply an adequate amount of mosquito repellant.  Last year I resisted, insisting on short sleeve shirts, short pants, and as little repellant as possible, which did not work, and made those parts of my job unpleasant....not so this year.

We sent out fewer than 15 golf carts Tuesday, and after staging the initial 10, and making my rounds of the golf course I spent the balance of my morning mowing the tent sites which is always a very dusty proposition, and involves the use of the very slow John Deere riding lawnmower.  By the time I returned to the Clubhouse at a brisk 2.5 mph just before 12 pm I, and the 'still life' John Deere were covered with thick layer of dust.  I used some compressed air to blow the dust off each of us before heading inside to give TLE her lunch break.

I love the final 90 minutes after TLE's lunch break as the seem to pass by pretty quickly, and being home at 2:30 pm just as the heat of the day descends upon LPG&RVR is sweet  I managed to get all but four of the carts washed and put away before heading locking up the fuel station, and the 'Caddy Shack' and heading for home and a much deserved shower.  In spite of blowing all that dust off my person at lunch time I watched lot of dirt swirling down the shower drain.

I took my usual post work nap, and then returned to the Clubhouse around 5 pm to retrieve TLE and call the end to another LPG&RVR day.  We watched a couple of Women's  FIFA World Cup games played at locations in New Zealand and Australia before heading to slumberland.

Thanks for stopping by!

Sameness......

 5:24 am - Wednesday - July 26th - LPG&RVR - 52° F, humidity 59%, wind 1 mph out of the south by southeast....it's supposed to be a crystal clear, blue, sunny sky today, but it's too dark to tell....the forecast high is 91° F.  It appears we will continue to have temps in the high 80's to low 90's for the next 15 days, so no triple digit days in the offing.  On this date in 2013 TLE and I were in Great Falls, MT having lunch at 'Front Public House'......↴

First of all, mea culpa, I forgot to type my blog post about Monday on Tuesday afternoon after work.....bad boy!  So, now I'm sitting at my laptop doing just that, but very early Wednesday morning.

When you go to work at 6:30 am every day, at least every day that you work in your four day work week, every day seems much the same at the beginning.  I did the usual things....stage golf carts commensurate with the number of tee times reserved...I think that was 14 on Monday.  There were no carts left over from Sunday....Walt is pretty good about that, and I try to reciprocate when I'm working my last of 4 days each week.

I made my rounds of the golf course weeding and raking all four sand traps....there were NO duck/goose leavings on the #3 tee boxes, but I take a square point shovel with me each day just in case.  I was back at the Clubhouse by 8:30 am as the golfing day was just getting underway.  By 10 am I was out on the driving range clearing it of all golf balls, and was done by 11:30 am.  I picked 4 five gallon buckets of balls in all, and had them soaking in soapy water before giving TLE her lunch break.

After her break, I went back to work, as is my habit on days over 90° F, and had all the returned carts washed, along with the 20 gallons of range balls by 2:30 pm.....quitting time....working another 8 hours straight shift.  I am still kind of amazed how well I have acclimated to the warmer temperatures this year. 

TLE was home by 5:10 pm, and thus another LPG&RVR day came to an end.  Time to get dressed, and do it all again.....thanks for stopping by!

A Finlaggan kind of day....

 8:27 pm - Monday - July 24th -  LPG&RVR - 78° F, humidity 28%, wind 6 mph out of the west by southwest......blue skies at sunset, and the forecast high of 90° F has come and gone.  On this date in 2017 TLE and I were at Yellowstone National Park watching the sun set......↴

Sunday was a perfect 4th day of our 'weekend'.....we began the day watching the final round of 'The Open', which featured rain, and wind.....more typical of the kind of weather one has come to expect at 'The Open'.  The round began with Brian Harman holding a commanding 4 stroke lead at 10 under par.  Brian hit 10 under par on Friday, and little did we know then that he would be the only one to reach double figures under par.  He ended up winning easily at 13 under par, by 6 strokes.  Next we watched a couple of FIFA Women's World Cup matches, and finished off the afternoon watching Stage 21 of Le Tour de France.  

In between the soccer matches, and the 21st Stage I road my mountain bike around the perimeter of the golf course.  It was hot, probably around 95° F, which contributed to my slightly lethargic mood.  I knew pretty early on that riding in the 1st assist level would not be possible for me, and I ended up riding mostly in assist level 2, and then level 3 for the final climb up the local hill at the end of the ride.....

....and it showed in my final ride numbers.  Even though I rode in level 2 and 3, I got a good workout, and that is really the point of the eBike.....even when I am not at my best, I can use the higher assist levels, and still ride the same distance.

We had bought a nicely aged sirloin tip steak a week, or two ago at Holiday Market, and TLE suggested we grill it for dinner.  Around 5:30 pm I lit the Sea-B-Que, and by 5:45 pm I was grilling the steak.....

It felt like a Finlaggan Single Malt kind of night

......by 6 pm we were sitting down to a delicious dinner with sides of roasted potatoes, and roasted sweat potatoes, plus some broccoli.

To cap off a great day we watched another episode of 'Touch Frost', and I was in bed by 9 pm in anticipation of getting up Monday at 5 am to begin my work day at 6:30 am.

Thanks for stopping by!

Another LPG&RVR day....

7:45 am - Sunday - July 23rd - LPG&RVR - 67° F, 38% humidity, wind 0 mph out of the south by southeast.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 95° F.  On this date in 2013 TLE and I were visiting Glacier National Park for the first time....we still had the 2002 T-Bird then, and took her top off for the occasion....off the T-Bird, that is......↴ 

Topless

Lake MacDonald

We stayed in the Visitors' Center parking lot that night

Another 'weekend' day, and another out and back walk to Jess Valley Road.....

3.3 mph

.....we were out and back before 7 am to beat the heat to find we had a visitor attached to the cover for our outdoor TV.....

.....we were going to sit outside while we watched The Open, but a few mosquito bites later we changed our minds....lol.  The forecast high for the day was 98° F, but it just reached 97° F before retreating once again.

We spent most of the day indoors watching first The Open, then a couple of FIFA Women's World Cup matches, then the 20th, and next to last Stage of this year's Le Tour, which had an exciting finish.  Now, all that is left is Stage 21, and the ride into Paris for the 110th time.  This is the 120th year since the first Le Tour, but the tour was interrupted for a total of 10 years over the course World Wars I and II.  Hard to believe that 3 weeks have elapsed since Le Tour began.....time continues to slip away this summer!

I did participate in this week's edition of  'The Putting Contest', and won my first match easily....3 up after 4 holes.  Once again my second match went to overtime when I was tied with my worthy opponent after 5 holes.  I putted first on the playoff hole, and made a good put, but my opponent put his putt 3" inside my putt to win closest to the hole.....bummer....again!  

Usually we get strong breezes, or even out right wind late afternoon every day, but did not on this day, which made the outside air feel stifling as the heat of the day slowly left the air.  We watched another episode of 'Touch of Frost' on BritBox, and were in bed shortly after 10 pm with all the Newell windows open, and our 'attic' fan running on low to draw in the, by now, sweet, cool evening air.

Thanks for stopping by!

A touch of decadence.....

 8:09 am - Saturday - July 22nd - LPG&RVR - 66° F, humidity 33%, wind - mph out of the north....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 98° F.  On this date in Lakeside, MT (south of Kalispell) having lunch at Tamarack Brewing Company on the shores of Stoner Creek......5 out of 5 stars for us......↴

Just as we did Thursday we began our Friday with an out and back walk out to Jess Valley Road.....

3.4 mph

....once back from the walk we both poured cups of coffee and settled in to watch The Open.....all 12.5 hours of it....lol!  How much more decadent can we be?  Of course, there was the drive into Alturas to do our weekly shopping, which interrupted our decadent repose for a couple of hours.  Our first stop was at Rite Aid, then Rubio's Taqueria for our monthly Rubio's fix.  Once we had our orders (3 carne asada tacos for moi, and a chicken taco for TLE) we headed back to the city park to eat our lunch at a picnic table in the shade of a large weeping willow.  Those carne asada tacos are things of which dreams are made!

We then did a moderately big shopping to restock our pantry and fridge stores, then headed for home, and more decadent The Open viewing.  While TLE put away the groceries I busied myself with refinishing one last piece of wood trim left over from our floor remodel.....it is the trim piece which sits at the base of the shower entrance.  The piece was essentially 'blonde' in color and stood out like a sore thumb, so I removed it, sanded it down, then applied multiple coats of dark stain to help it blend in better....I think it came out well....

.....other than that I spent the balance of the afternoon watching The Open.  We capped off our day watching the USA women play Vietnam in the FIFA Women's World Cup match, which they won handily 3-0.

Thanks for stopping by!

Life to its fullest.....

 7:19 am - Friday - July 21st - LPG&RVR - 60° F, humidity 36%, wind - mph out of the south by southeast.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 98° F.  On this date in 2012 TLE and I were near Coupeville, WA (Whidbey Island) having dinner with long time friends Bob and Karen Fenstermacher.....good times....↴

TLE and I were up much earlier than normal on the first of our 4 day weekend.  Why were we up before 6:30 am?  We've been remiss in walking, so we determined that this 'weekend' we would resume our 2 mile round trip walks out to Jess Valley Road and back, but earlier in the day before the heat arrives.  At 6:30 am it was under 60° F, with no wind, so perfect conditions for a brisk out and back walk....

3.2 mph

We can hardly believe we get to live in a place like this!

....upon our return I pulled out the 'outdoor TV' so we could sit on the 'lido deck' watching The Open......

.....life is good!  We sat out until around 9 am, then the work of the day began.  I had several small projects I wish to be completed on Thursday....in no particular order: 1) affix the 2024 tag to the rear VW license plate, 2) bury our sewer line, so we're not always tripping over it, and to help it drain better, 3) pull out our Toro blower to blow rocks, dirt and dust off all of our artificial turf pieces, 4) and wash the bugs off the VW.

The first task, and the one I absolutely wanted completed Thursday was to bury the sewer hose.  It took me about 45 minutes beginning to end, and I am pleased with the results....

......next up I got out the Toro blower and created a big dust cloud clearing off all the artificial turf.  After that I actually watered all the turf to settle what dust was left, and sort of clean it, and it worked well.

While I was creating the dust cloud the UPS guy arrived with our latest Amazon purchases....two new throw rugs....one for the bedroom between our two closets, and a round one to go under TLE's recliner in the salon.....

....the round rug fits the space much better, and helps us achieve our goal of exposing more of our new 'wood' vinyl flooring.

Affixing the 2024 tag to the VW license plate was easy, and I had the VW washed, and dried in about 15 minutes.  By this time the heat had arrived, and it was time to retreat into the air conditioned Newell interior to watch The Open, then Stage 19 of Le Tour, then a couple of FIFA Women's World Cup matches being held in Australia, and New Zealand this time around.  Just like I saw our day going.

We hadn't yet eaten at the Niles Hotel restaurant in the two summers we have been here so we decided Thursday evening would be the day.  There aren't really any what we would call 'fine dining' establishments in Alturas, but we were told the restaurant (Roadhouse) in the Niles Hotel was good, so we drove into Alturas around 5 pm to do just that, arriving just after 5:30 pm after filling up the VW with another month's worth of gasoline.

We ordered a couple of their appetizers.....beer battered mushrooms, and potato skins, and for our entrees TLE ordered their Chicken Marsala, and I their bacon wrapped Filet Mignon along with a baked potato, and dinner salad....

.....the appetizer portions were quite generous, and while we thoroughly enjoyed them, we could not eat all of them, or we would not have room for the main course, so we got a doggy box for them, and then dived into the entrees.  TLE said the chicken cutlets were very tender, and moist, but the Marsala sauce was not thick enough, but she enjoyed it overall.  Again, the portion was quite large, and she ended up putting half of the dish in a doggy box.  The filet mignon was a little dry, under seasoned, and grilled unevenly....the bites ranged between rare, medium rare (what I ordered) and medium.  The baked potato, and salad were fine.  Yelp gives them 4 stars on 35 reviews, but we'd be closer to 3 stars.  So, the search for fine dining in Alturas, and surrounds continues....lol.  I must say, though, the service was spot on the entire meal.

We were home by 7:30 pm, and headed directly (at TLE's request) over to the putting green at the Clubhouse where we practiced putting for about an hour before heading home at 8:30 pm, just as the mosquitoes began to make their presence known.

We finished the evening watching the Canada vs. Nigeria soccer match, and were in bed by 10 am.....a great day packed with activity....now it's time for me to finish this missive, and get to watching The Open.

Thanks for stopping by!