Weed whack Tuesday.....

 5:48 am - Wednesday - July 31st - LPG&RVR - 56° F, humidity 66%, wind 1 mph out of the east by southeast......partially cloudy skies today with a forecast high of 94° F.  On this date in 2018 TLE and I were in Southwest Harbor, ME eating lobster rolls, and drinking Allagash White (Belgian White) brews at Beal's Lobster Pound.....

Back to work we go for another 4 days, which will see us leave July in the rearview mirror, and embrace the month of August.....just two months to go in the season!  The forecast high for Tuesday was just 86° F....anything under 90° is nice this time of year, and it was a very pleasant day.  On my four days off Dennis and Bob mowed practically every piece of grass, and now that we are into the part of the summer where the grass growth begins to slow we are only mowing everything once per week.

When I went down to flip the sign there were three deer grazing on the grass behind the Night Registration office

After checking the tee time sheet I staged just 5 golf carts, and I think we actually rented 6.  For the first time since we arrived in April there were ZERO goose/duck leavings.....ZERO!  I did, however, rake three of the four sand traps before returning to the Clubhouse.  With all the mowing pretty much done I had time to get out the Stihl string trimmer, and trim all the mowed areas, which included all 15 upper pull through sites, the small Pavilion, all four employee sites, all 10 pull through sites down the gravel section, the entire Meadow area around trees, and a dozen, or so electrical pedestals (the pedestals were installed years ago to accommodate large 'Stargazer' groups which come here for the 'dark skies' each year to power their telescopes), the group fire pit area, and tent sites 1-3.....that's a lot of weed whacking!

I finished just before 12 pm, and it was time for TLE's lunch break.  After she returned I made a marshaling round of the course, then hopped on the Husqvarna 2 bag mower, and headed out to mow around the tee boxes for which I am responsible (3, 10, 15, 16, 17 & 18).  I'm only mowing them every 10-14 days now as that grass growth has also slowed way down.  I was back by 2:30 pm, and all that was left was to wash, and stow the rented carts which had returned.  By the time 3:30 pm rolled around all but one of the six had been returned

As we enter the month of August the golf courses, and RV park are looking their best, and the work is is getting easier to maintain it.  The smoke from the Park Fire is lessening day by day, mostly because the wind direction has changed.  I think the fire is less than 20% contained, so it is not as if the fire has been quenched.  Tuesday was the clearest day we've had in over a week.

We had dinner with Charles and Phyllis again, and watched a movie before bidding our adieus.  Hard to believe there is only one more day left in their stay before we say our 'until next times', and look forward to seeing them this winter.

Thanks for stopping by!

"In and out fast"....yeah, right!

5:55 am - Tuesday - July 30th - LPG&RVR - 55° F, humidity 59%, wind 2 mph out of the southeast.....less smokey skies today, no clouds, with a forecast high of 86° F.  On this date in 2012 TLE and I were in Long Beach, WA....aptly named....a single named beach that is 28 miles in length.....

 TLE and I began the renewal process for our California driver licenses a couple of weeks ago online.  You can't do anything at the DMV in person unless you've already gone online and started the process.  Being able to go into the Alturas DMV in person to renew vehicles registrations was one of the things I loved about living in rural America, but the California bureaucracy has taken that simple pleasure away from us.  It seems the urban DMVs are so crowded they are forcing everyone online, even in remote, rural areas.....government's one size fits all mentality.

Anyway we had done all of the online stuff including uploading the required documents to obtain our California Real IDs, and, according to the email that would get us "in and out" of the DMV office more quickly....

...note that no where in the email does it say we must bring those same documents into the DMV when we are ready to complete the renewal process.  It does say, however, that uploading, and getting pre-approval of these documents will 'get you in and out faster'....well it did get us out faster, because they wanted the local DMV personnel to 'see' those documents in person, as well.....doh!  We left home around 9 am, with Charles and Phyllis to get to the DMV early so we could 'get in and out fast', but that was as far as we got....lol.  Now I need to print off those documents, and return next week to complete the process....government spoils everything it touches.

After a couple of other quick stops in town we were on our way back to LPG&RVR.  We did stop off at the food truck in town to get some fresh Mexican food, before completing the return trip.

Charles and I wanted to play golf one more time before TLE and I go back to work on Tuesday, so we headed over to the Clubhouse around 11:30 am to snag a 12 pm tee time.  The girls joined us once again.  We decided to play just the back 9 this time, and were on our way up the fairway after hitting our tee shots just before 12 pm.  I managed to bogey the 10th hole with a long par putt, then drove the green on the par 3 eleventh hole getting a par.  I bogeyed the 12th hole, and really messed up the 14th hole with a triple bogey, but then things turned around.  As you know the par 4 fifteenth hole is a sharp dog leg to the right, and if you can cut the corner with your tee shot you can really shorten the hole.  My tee shot was perfect, and my ball ended up just past the signs which direct carts to the left of the hole....

I circled the ball in red....

....I was less than 20 yards from the hole....my best shot ever on this hole.  I chipped on, just missed my birdie putt, and got par.  Next up was the par 3 sixteenth hole.....122 yards....I hit a 6 iron, and dropped the drive onto the green about 10 feet past the hole.  Once again I just missed a birdie putt, but got par.  Two pars in a row, and I hit both par 3's in regulation.  On to the 17th hole, a long par 5.  I was on the green in 4....a little disappointing, but get this.....I sank a 25 putt for par!

Finally, the par 4 eighteenth hole.  I hit the longest drive I've ever hit on this hole and found my ball right at the 50 yard marker....

Right next to the 50 yard marker!

....I hit a nice pitch over the sand trap, and onto the green, then two putted for my par.  Once again I parred the last 4 holes, and 5 out of the 9....a nice way to end three days of golf!

Since we had eaten lunch we didn't have dinner, but did spend a couple of hours with Charles and Phyllis discussing our winter plans.  As we walked home we saw this amazing sunset....the smoke is finally dissipating......

....thanks for stopping by!

Is this the apocolypse?

 7:27 am - Monday - July 29th - LPG&RVR - 53° F, humidity 47%, win 2 mph out of the east by southeast......smokey skies again today with a forecast high of 84° F.  On this date in 2013 we were in East Glacier (Glacier National Park) where threatening skies of the night before gave way to rain the next morning.....

The night before....

On this date.....

I always expect a little lower back pain the day of, or at least day after I play golf, especially after a long layoff, but Sunday there was no pain anywhere, not in my lower back, or in my right knee.  We had decided the afternoon before that we would tee off Sunday at 10 am for another 18.  On this particular day Charles and I were hitting the ball off the tee with pretty good consistency, and often ended up within a few yards of each other.  I managed a bogey on the the 1st hole, and an unexpected par on the 2nd.  I followed that up with another par on the par 3 third hole.  Playing two days in a row has its advantages, and I played pretty well.  Even in a few cases where my tee shot was a little off line I was able to recover with my second shots from some pretty sketchy lies.  A great example of this was my tee shot on the par 3 sixteenth hole (elevated tee box).  I hit it way to the left, and ended up in a ditch about 20 yards away from the hole.  My ball was in the middle of some tallish weeds, but I managed to hit a good chip, anyway, to within 3 feet of the hole, and sink my putt for par.  In all I had 6, or 7 pars on the day, and a bunch of bogeys, and  I parred the final three holes.  I only hit one of the par 3 holes in regulation (#11), but I managed to par three of them, anyway.

We actually played all 18 holes in 3 hours and 10 minutes...now, where else can one do that?  We arrived back at the Clubhouse around 3:15 pm, and ordered 4 Bloody Marys, and two orders of fries.....

....a very nice way to end our golfing day!  We were the only ones at the restaurant as the park is only about 25% occupied right now due to the heavy smoke we have had for the past week from the Park Fire.  This is a large fire (the largest in California history) north of Chico, CA (way northwest)...quite a ways away from our location, but the winds have been out of the northwest for about a week now, making us the unhappy recipients of all this smoke.  This is how the sun looked at 7:30 pm as we walked home from Charles and Phyllis' 5th wheel after dinner, and a movie.....

....that, my friends, is a pretty thick layer of smoke to turn the sun into a small red orb.  Of course, the heavy layer of smoke has kept the temperatures here pretty cool the past week, and we've had a week's worth of low 80's temperatures as a result.  Personally, I'd rather have the clear, blue skies and temps in the 90's, but it is what it is.

Thanks for stopping by!

Let's Play 18!

7:21 am - Sunday - July 28th - LPG&RVR - 53° F, humidity 44%, wind 2 mph out of the east......cloudy/smokey skies today with a forecast high of 85° F.  On this date in 2013 TLE and I were hiking 9 miles around 2 Medicine Lake in East Glacier National Park.....we saw two waterfalls....Twin and Aster along the way....

It has been a rough 5 smokey days since the winds blew said smoke from the northwest where there are several large fires being fought.  Some mornings it seems like the smoke is dissipating until the winds shift, and the Pitt River Valley turns into some sort of post apocalyptic nightmare.  I'm not sure the smog of SoCal would be much worse right now.  I'm sure some have cancelled their plans to come to LPG&RVR due to the forest fire smoke, because the park is emptier now than it would normally be.  That being said, with low occupancy right now it means one can play golf on an uncrowded golf course, and that is what we did Saturday.

The temperatures have dropped into the low 80's the past few days, and with the combination of cloudiness and smoke it feels like the May/June gloom caused by a heavy marine layer we used to experience in SoCal when we resided there for decades.

We (TLE, Charles, Phyllis and I) had a tee time set for 11 am.  I hit about 10 balls prior to starting the 18 hole round to avoid the usual issues I have on the first few holes when I haven't played for 2.5 weeks, and it paid off with decent drives on the first two holes.  I managed a double bogey on the first hole, then a bogey on the 2nd, and on the 3rd hole (par 3) I hit the green in regulation with a 6 iron, and just missed my birdie putt, but got par.....

....I managed a bogey on the par 5 fourth hole, a bogey on the par 3 fifth hole, and a triple bogey on the very long par 5 sixth hole, and finished with bogeys on the 7th, 8th, and 9th holes.  The back 9 was a mixed bag, but more good shots than bad, and I managed to par the final two holes....on the par 5 seventeenth hole I was lying 2 just 50 yards from the green.....my best position ever on this 499 yard hole after two strokes.  I hit a great drive on the 18th, and was on in two, just missing my birdie putt.  Overall I was happy with my game, although a bit rusty, but I was able to self correct when I made bad shots, which means I'm figuring out what I did wrong, and getting a better result on the 2nd attempt at that shot.  I often play more than one ball so I can get in as many strokes as possible in a single round, while trying to improve my game.  When I keep score, which I do not most of the time, I only play one ball.  We finished right at 3 pm, so 4 hours to play 18 holes.....you can't do that in a large urban area, right?

It being Saturday meant there was another putting contest at 4 pm, so TLE and I headed over around 3:45 pm.  Once again I got the fourth round, but lost in a one hole playoff, AGAIN, to DeWayne....that's 5 times in a row....lol!

We spent the evening with Charles and Phyllis having dinner (Ruben sandwiches prepared by the loving hands of Elaine and Phyllis), and talking.  We were home around 7:30 pm, and in bed by 10 pm.  The overnight temp inside the Newell got down to a delightful 53° F, and we slept well.

Thanks for stopping by!

And the verdict is.....

7:02 am - Saturday - July 27th - LPG&RVR - 61° F, humidity 35%, wind 4 mph out of the northeast.....smokey, cloudy skies continue with a forecast high of 84° F.  On this date in 2012 TLE were on US-101 crossing the Olympic Peninsula....we stopped at a turnout by Crescent Lake for a break.....

 

.....the view this morning.....

Ash on our umbrella and dining canopy from the local fires

As you know I had an appointment at Great Basin Orthopedics set for Friday at 10:45 am.  It takes around 2 hours and 40 minutes to make the 150 mile drive, so we were up early, and on the road by 7:30 am.  As we drove west on Jess Valley Road to US-395 I happened to glance at the gas gauge and was slightly alarmed to see that we had just over 1/4 tank.  This meant we had just over 4 gallons of gas left in our 12 gallon tank.  Theoretically we get around 28-30 mpg, so that meant we would have to get gasoline well before we reached Reno.  The nearest gas station south of Likely is in Standish....70 miles away.  To the north, in Alturas, are gas stations, but that would be a 40 mile round trip, and have us arriving in Reno right at my appointment time.....too close for comfort.  We rarely ever let the tank get below 1/4 tank, and rarely, if ever have we seen the low gas warning light flash in the 10 years we have owned the 2001 VW Beetle.  The reading on the odometer was 262 miles, and we have been over 300 on a single tank of bas before, but to reach Standish we would see the odometer exceed 330 miles for the first time we have ever owned this vehicle.  How accurate is the gas gauge, right?  

As we neared US-395 I made the decision to turn left, and head south for Standish, hoping we would not run out of gas.  Well, to make a long story a tad shorter the low gas warning light came on about 1 mile from the gas station in Standish, so we probably had around 1 gallon left....maybe a little more.  Gas prices in Northern California for premium unleaded are quite high, and at the Standard Station in Standish it was $5.89/gallon, so I took on just enough gas to get us to Reno with a couple gallons to spare.  The same gas is around $4.59/gallon in Reno.

We arrived at Great Basin Orthopedics around 10:10 am for the 10:45 am appointment, and I'm glad we did, because my name was called around 10:25 am, and by 10:30 am I was getting my knee XRAYed.  By 10:40 am Dr. Hyda entered the small room to give me the diagnosis of what is causing my kneed pain.  In my mind I was imagining a torn meniscus, or the Baker's Cyst some thought I had.  What I heard was none of those things.  I have some minor arthritis in my kneed, plus some bone on bone contact on the left side of my knee joint.  Dr. Hyda indicated I was a long way from needing a knee replacement.....Thank You Jesus!  He opted to give me a cortisone shot, which would 'calm' everything down in the knee, which should be good for 6 months.  That will relieve the swelling, plus abate the pain.  He is referring me to a physical therapist in Alturas, and wants me to continue walking, and riding my bike.  Within 30 seconds of administering the shot the pain and stiffness began to recede, and by the time we finished our shopping at the local Smith's I was walking normally again......double WOW!!!  As I write this morning the swelling on the front and back of my knee is gone, and I have ZERO pain.....my cup runneth over!

After shopping we filled the tank with $4.59/gallon premium unleaded (a full $1.30/gallon less than California), headed over to TJ's to get a few things, then began the 2 hour and 40 minute drive home arriving without incident around 2:40 pm....just a tad over 7 hours after leaving LPG&RVR.....not bad!  The air quality in Reno was exceptional, but as we entered the Madeline Plains, just south of Likely, the smoke returned.  It almost has the nuclear winter kind of look right now.

We spent the evening with Charles and Phyllis eating good food, sipping good wine, and talking non-stop as we always do.  When you've got two Houghtaling (Hoteling) girls in the room, there is never a shortage of conversation.....lol!

In just hours I am going to play 18 holes with Charles (another thing Dr. Hyda said I could do), and I am really looking forward to doing that with no pain in my knee for a change.  Age catches us with us all, eventually, but here I am at almost age 75 with very few joint problems....my hips feel great, as do my ankles.  Until a few months ago I could have said the same about my knees.

Thanks for stopping by!

Eventful.....

 6:00 am - Friday - July 26th - LPG&RVR - 55° F, humidity 47%, wind 4 mph out of the southeast.....smokey skies today (there is a forest fire northwest of us) with a forecast high of 91° F.   On this date in 2013 TLE and I were headed to Great Falls, MT on US-2 from Browning, MT in our 2002 T-Bird.....

.....the view this morning....

Very smokey this morning

We awoke to clear, blue skies Thursday, but by mid morning smoke from a fire to the northwest of us, being pushed southward by north winds, filled the Pitt River Valley, and the mountains all but disappeared....

....these pictures were taken from the 8th hole tee boxes around 1 pm.  In our three summers here this is the worst smoke from any fire by 10 fold, but the show must proceed, so I staged 20 golf carts to begin my day knowing we would probably end up renting close to 30, but there is only room for 20 at a time. 

My first round of the course found every few goose/duck leavings, so that is 4 days in a row I have seen a decline.  All four sand traps showed no human occupancy since Wednesday, so I left them alone, returning to the Clubhouse around 8 am. It being a Thursday meant I would need to clear the driving range of balls, so it could be mowed, then wash/dry those same balls, plus I needed to mow the lawn at the Night Registration office, the parking lot grass, and the grass next to the restrooms.

As the day progressed the smoke infiltrated everything.  The smell of smoke was everywhere you turned.  It kind of reminded me of living in SoCal in the 50's when the smog would get so bad your eyes would water, and lungs would burn with every breath.

Just before noon time the chef (Kathie) of our onsite restaurant became violently ill, and began throwing up for about 45 minutes.  The paramedics were called, and she was rushed to the hospital in Alturas.  Initially some thought it might have been food poisoning, but turned out to be a gall bladder attack.  By the end of the day she was stabilized, the pain had been managed, and she will be released Friday morning.

Needless to say, but that kind of threw our day into disarray, but Carolyn, Kathie's assistant, kept the food moving, and with the help of TLE, and a couple other people, the food was served, and tables bussed.

By 3:30 pm I was out of gas, but 8 of the 28 golf carts we rented had not returned.  I headed for home, took a long shower, and relaxed in my recliner icing my knee, and then applying heat.  All of that seems to help, but there is this underlying stiffness in the back of the knee that is not normal, and does not disappear.  Hopefully I will find out what is causing that on Friday.

I picked up TLE around 5:10 pm, and we were home a few minutes later.  As is our customer when Charles and Phyllis are in town we had dinner with them again, but by 7:30 pm I was ready for a nap.....the heat, combined with the smoke in the air really did a number on me! Thursday turned out to be quite eventful! 

We'll be leaving for Reno in about an hour, so time to get cracking!

Thanks for stopping by!

Mixed bag....

5:53 am - Thursday - July 25th - LPG&RVR - 67° F, humidity 55%, wind 6 mph out of the east by southeast....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 93° F.  On this date in 2017 TLE and I were hiking the Lava Creek Trail at Yellowstone NP to Undine Falls.....9 miles round trip....

When the over night low only gets to 63° F you know it is going to be a warm day, and although it only got to 94° F Wednesday, the humidity was higher than normal, and you know how that turns out, right?  Thankfully, there was a breeze most of the day, and for good measure we hand several rounds of thunder showers in the afternoon, which cooled things down, but as soon as the sun returned the humidity soared once again, so Wednesday's weather was quite a mixed bag.

We ended up renting 17 golf carts Wednesday, and considering the park is about 70% empty, that was not bad at all.  We've had a lot of offsite golfers playing here this week.  By 'offsite' I mean they are not staying here in the RV park, but driving here from somewhere else to play golf.

On my first round of the course I found the goose/duck leavings to more scarce than ever, and I think I know why....we're down to one pair of geese....

.....I raked 3 of the 4 sand traps, and was back at the Clubhouse just after 9 am.  I spent some time moving sprinklers around at the Night Registration office grass area, then hopped on the 2 bag Husqvarna to do some mowing.....I mowed the three large grass areas in the residential area up the hill, then the grass around the small pavilion, and finally around the putting green.  Since I had no grass clippings to dispose of it rent rather quickly.  

I made another run around the golf course as marshal.....

....and by the time I returned it was time for TLE's lunch break.  Once her lunch break comes and goes the rest of the day flies by quickly.  By the time  I headed back out to the Cart Return area there were 11 golf carts needing their daily spa treatment.  I had them all washed in less than 20 minutes, and back in the cart shed in another 15 minutes.

I made another run around the course to check on the progress of the remaining 6 golf carts and found 4 of them on the 16th and 17 holes, so I knew the other two would be returned later than 3:30 pm.  I was able to get 4 more carts put away, but had to return around 4:45 pm to wash the final two before TLE was ready to go home.

We had dinner with Charles and Phyllis at their 5th wheel again, and were home by 8pm.  One more day, and then our 4 day weekend arrives....nice.

Thanks for stopping by!

Doh!

 5:53 am - Wednesday - July 24th - LPG&RVR  - 63° F, humidity 56%, wind 2 mph out of the southeast.....partly cloudy today with a forecast high of 95° F.  On this date in 2017 TLE and I were camping along the Yellowstone River in Gardiner, MT.....

The sun is now setting at 8:26 pm, and it regresses about 1 minute per day now.  We'll blink a couple of times and before we know it the sun will be setting before 8 pm.  That's how fast this summer seems to be going.  We're kind of enduring the current heatwave, which seems never ending, but all that being said I'm tolerating the heat much better this summer.  The only time it really bothers me is when I leave the cool confines of the Clubhouse after giving TLE her lunch break.  During that one hour the heat seems to magnify itself 100%.  Knowing I only have 2.5 hours left in my day does help, though.

To begin my day I opened the large gate valve to the pond so we could irrigate the back in sites, plus the tent sites, then staged 12 carts before heading out to make my first round of the course.  I'm cautiously happy to say the goose/duck leavings continue to decline, and I'm beginning to believe I am not being 'punked' by the geese/ducks.  I raked just one of the 4 sand traps, and was back to the Clubhouse by 9 am.

I needed to have the starter belt on my gas powered Club Car Villager #20 tightened, so I left it with Miracle Bob to work his magic, and picked up one of the 'duty' carts to which I attached the small dumping trailer to go around and pickup weeds I had pulled a few days earlier.  By the time I returned Miracle Bob had finished with my cart, so I headed out to make a marshaling round of the course.  As I drove up the 8th fairway I heard something snap, and reflexively took my foot off the gas pedal....that was a mistake.  The snapping sound I heard the the starter belt giving up the ghost.  Once the engine shut off I could not start it again without the starter belt. Had I just kept going I could have driven back to the Clubhouse, but I didn't....doh!

I called Jose whom I had just seen at the Clubhouse, and he picked up one of the 'duty' carts, as well as the tow hitch we use for towing disabled golf carts (it is rarely used), and within 10 minutes he was hitching up Club Car Villager #20 for a return trip to see 'Miracle Bob'.  Once back at the Clubhouse I left the cart to be repaired, then hopped on the 2 bag Husqvarna, and headed down to the tent sites to mow them before the water from the pond made its way down there.  By 11 am I was finished with my mowing for the day, cleaned the Husqvarna using compressed air, refueled it, then headed out to make another marshaling round of the course before TLE's lunch break.

In all we rented 15 golf carts Tuesday, which is not bad for a Tuesday, and had all by 4 of them returned by the time 3:30 pm rolled around.  By then Bob had installed the new starter belt, and I headed for home, and a nice cool shower.  Oh, by the way, Charles and Phyllis arrive around 12:30 pm, and were set up in site #54, right next to us, within an hour.  We headed over after work to spend a couple of hours with them before calling it a day.  They'll be here through the 30th.

Thanks for stopping by!

Monday, Monday....

5:49 am - Tuesday - July 23rd - LPG&RVR - 62° F, humidity 63%, wind 1 mph out of the east......crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 98° F.  On this date in 2013 TLE and I were driving along 'Going to the Sun Highway' in Glacier National Park....we drove all the way to Lake MacDonald where we had lunch....

 

....we were able to spend the previous night in the parking lot of the Saint Mary Visitor Center at the east entrance.  Over the next month we entered the park from every U.S. entrance, and hiked many miles.

Every once and a while our four day work schedule lines up with a Monday being our first day of work, which is the case this week.  Being a Monday, the park is pretty empty right now, but we've had a lot of folks coming to golf from offsite.  In all I staged 15 golf carts Monday morning, and 11 went out....not too bad for a Monday during the 'dog days of summer'.

On my first round of the course I found far less goose/duck leavings at the #3 tee boxes, but am not sure whether, or not I am being 'punked' by the geese/ducks.  I raked 3 of the four sand traps, and was back at the Clubhouse a little after 9 am.  Around 10 am I hopped on the 2 bag Husqvarna and began to mow.  I mowed all four water electric pull through sites, 6 of the 10 back in Meadows sites, 9 of the 10 full hookup sites, all four employee sites, and the large grass area next to site #30.  I did that in one hour!  Why so fast?  Well, since I was not having to dispose of grass clippings (the two bags were removed from the 2 bag Husqvarna last year) it went quite fast.  The grass has stopped growing as fast as it had been, so there is no need to collect the clippings.

After giving TLE her daily lunch break I made a round of the course as marshal, then got one of the 'duty' carts and hooked up the screen to drag the usual cart paths.  It's been at least a month since I've done that, and they were long overdue.  By the time I returned to the Clubhouse it was 3 pm, and time to wash the final 6 carts, and put everything away.  The temperature at 3:30 was 99° F, and was I ever glad to be able to head for home, and take a nice, long, cool shower!

Thanks for stopping by!