Murphy's Law.....

5:54 am - Saturday - August 31st - LPG&RVR - 55° F, humidity 48%, wind 2 mph out of the south by southeast....clear, blue skies today with a forecast high of 94° F.  On this date in 2016 TLE and I were at Baldwin Beach in South Lake Tahoe.....

 Pretty much all that was on my mind Friday was the replacement phone (Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra) that was in the hands of UPS.  When I went to bed Thursday night it was in their possession in Louisville, KY.  When I awoke Friday morning it had landed in Portland, OR around 2:30 am, so at least it was in the same state as I.  Around 9:30 am I received a notice it had arrived at the processing center in Klamath Falls.....alright....it is now in the same city as I, and it was looking like I would receive my new phone before we left to make the 2 hour drive back to LPG&RVR, so TLE and I got dressed and drove over to Fred Meyers to do our big shopping, and to top off the VW fuel tank, which was right at 1/4 of a tank.  Knowing the phone would most assuredly be delivered to the hotel sometime between 11:15 am and 1:15 pm helped me focus on other things, but it was always in the back of my mind.

Upon arrival at Fred Meyers I headed directly for the Starbucks kiosk to order a Grande Coffee of the Day, while TLE began pushing the shopping cart up one aisle, and down another.  All the while I was walking behind her with a cup of coffee in one hand, and my damaged phone in the other.  Finally I got a notice that the package was being prepared for delivery....that is such a vague term, and no one really knows what that really means.

As we exited the hotel to go shopping we asked for a late checkout time, and they agreed to extend our stay until 12 pm.  Naturally, one is always hoping the package would be delivered closer to 11:15 am, than 1:15 pm, but it rarely, if ever works out that way.  We were back at the hotel with our groceries, and a full tank of gasoline by 10:30 am, and so began the wait.

Around 11:55 am we had finished packing, and headed down to the lobby to continue our 'phone watch'.  The PGA Tour Championship was on at that time, and the manager kindly changed the channel to the Golf Channel so I could distract myself.  All the while the status of the package NEVER changed from "Preparing package for delivery"....very frustrating.  The manager advised that UPS usually came by between 12 pm and 1 pm, but by 1:15 pm he had still not arrived, and the status of the package had still not changed.

I was in the process of calling UPS to see if I could go to their location and pick up the package when I heard the manger say "UPS is here"....I looked up from my barely usable phone to see the delivery guy walking toward me with my package....WHEW!  It was just 1:30 pm.  We quickly headed out to the VW to begin the 4 mile drive over to the local Verizon store to have them transfer my data from the damaged phone to the new one.  We arrived there around 1:50 pm, however, they were closed for lunch until 2:15 pm....doh!  The waiting game continues!

We walked across the parking lot to Big 5 Sporting Goods to browse around the store, and kill 25 minutes.   The manager returned right at 2:15 pm, and within a few minutes the 'data transfer' process had begun.....but wait, there's more. Before the data transfer could finish the phone, and all of my apps had to be updated, and that takes a while.  Finally, around 3 pm the data transfer has been completed, and the new phone is operational....but within a minute the phone turned off, and I could not get it to work. 

Ryan, the Verizon manager had to run the new phone in 'SAFETY MODE' to download some more information, and he said it would take a while, so TLE and I walked over to the local SUBWAY to get a foot long Club sandwich to kill some more time.  We were back at the store around 4 pm, and the phone had just finished downloading whatever it was downloading, and my phone, was, at last, working.  We were in the car by 4:15 pm for the 2 hour drive home, and made it home, without incident, by 6:15 pm....exactly.  A big THANK YOU to Ryan for his patience, and for working with us to get my new phone operational.  And with that, I will end this latest missive.

Thanks for stopping by!

Three for one....

 6:59 am - Friday - August 30th - Klamath Falls, OR - 57° F, humidity 56%, wind 1 mph out of the north.....clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 91° F.  On this date in 2021 TLE and I were taking a walk on Seal Rock Beach (Seal Rock, OR).....

So, at long last we come to August 29th and the 53rd celebration of our wedding day.  When I last left off we had spent the afternoon relaxing in our hotel room at the Shilo Inn after doing a little shopping, and making that insurance claim for my wounded cell phone.  Thursday morning, as the dawn was breaking I heard my phone buzz, so I checked to see if there was news about the shipment of my phone, but it was not.  It was an email asking me to complete the claim process so they could ship my phone....wait, what?  I thought we had done that Wednesday....doh! There was a toll free number to call, so I called and was connected with Ria, who explained to me that my claim "had not been successfully submitted" by the gentleman who helped me Wednesday afternoon.  I think that means he didn't submit the claim.  At any rate, I asked Ria to help me complete the process, and she did.  At the end of the conversation I paid my $99 deductible, and she advised the phone would be shipped via UPS overnight to me at the Shilo Inn, and that I would receive it Friday, August 30th late morning.  Of course, by now I'm a little sceptical....wouldn't you be?  Of course, this whole process is really out of my hands, and all I can do is wait to see if Ria is a truth teller, or a liar....lol.

Originally our trip to Klamath Falls was to celebrate our anniversary, but during the week leading up to our departure I broke my phone adding a 2nd reason, and I also had my annual optometry appointment to check on the health of my eyes, and generate a new prescription should I wish to purchase new prescription glasses.  During the exam Dr. Deering and I discussed the need....well, my need.....to take care of the haziness in the lens in my left eye.  It was installed over 8 years ago, and apparently this can happen.  The fix is a simple laser treatment to 'polish' the lens, which takes around 2-5 minutes, so he (Dr. Deering) faxed over a referral for me to Klamath Eye Center hoping I could get a consultation appointment during our visit.  I got a call from the Eye Center Monday afternoon, and they set that appointment for August 29th at 9 am....perfect.....so now our trip to KFalls is a 3 for 1.  The Eye Center is about 2 blocks from the Shilo Inn.  

Around 8 am we headed over to a local coffee place called Brevada to get a couple cups of REAL coffee (the coffee served in the Shilo Inn lobby looks like coffee, but is a poor substitute) before heading over to Klamath Eye Center for my 9 am appointment....

.....ironically, whilst standing in line for a refill, I ran into Dr. Deering with his wife, and young daughter....lol!  He is from Klamath Falls originally, but moved to Alturas to run the Eye Center there a couple of years ago.

We were at the Eye Center by 8:50 am, and by 9:05 am I was called back to the little room where they did another complete eye exam, to confirm Dr. Deering's findings, and at the end Dr. Stevens agreed that I needed to have my left lens polished.  Normally they would have to schedule me to come back at a later date, but to avoid a return trip they squeezed me into the schedule. By the time I walked back out to the lobby my lens had been polished, and I could see clearly once again out of both eyes.

Since they had to dilate my eyes I could not drive, and even though we had planned to spend the rest of the morning/afternoon 'junking' I needed to spend the next few hours in our room with the curtains closed, and lights off to allow my eyes time to return to a non-dilated state, which took around 4 hours.  Finally, around 2 pm we headed out to do the aforementioned 'junking'.  We first headed to the local Goodwill, which is one of our favorite Goodwills, and spent about an hour, or more browsing through aisle after aisle of clothing, etc.  I found one thing without which I could not live, a nice, heavy duty Old Navy vest (almost brand new), and TLE a few pairs of jeans, and a heavy duty winter jacket.  From there we headed to the old town area on Main Street, which is not that far from the Shilo Inn, and spent another hour or more browsing through junk in this cool antique store called 'Everyone's Vintage Antiques', a really cool place with a main floor, and a large basement of junk.  Even though we did not walk out with anything it was really enjoyable to spend time browsing through a lot of really cool stuff.

We were home around 4:15 pm.  All during our 'junking' adventures I was checking my email to see if I had gotten notice of my phone being shipped, and did get an email with a UPS tracking number, but the package had not been received by UPS yet.  The label was created around 9 am our time (12 pm EST), but by the time we left for our dinner reservation at 'Basin Martini Bar' at 6 pm, the package had not yet been received by UPS.  Of course, I'm getting anxious, but what can I do?  I decided to forget about it for a couple of hours, and enjoy our anniversary dinner with TLE.

TLE and I spent a lot of time trying to pick just the right restaurant.  It had to be fine dining, and while there are a lot of restaurants in Klamath Falls none seemed to fit the bill of fine dining until TLE showed me an ad for 'Basin Martini Bar'.  The menu, and pictures of the restaurant seemed to indicate fine dining, so we made a reservation for 6:15 pm, and headed over at 6 pm.....

.....to begin our celebration we ordered two Mango Passion cocktails served in Martini glasses

Spicey Chicken Poppers for our appetizer

A bottle of Pinot Noir from the Willamette Valley Vineyards

TLE had their Scallops and Corn Risotto.....

....and I their Honey Glazed Salmon

For dessert we had their Creme Brulee and two Expresso Martinis....OMG!

....the food, ambiance, and service were way beyond expectations, and our conclusion is that this is definitely a fine dining establishment!  We ate, laughed, talked, drank, and then drank some more.  The Expresso Martinis were the crowning touch to a wonderful evening.  By the time we paid the bill, and walked back to our car it was 8 pm, and a perfect time was had by all!

Around 9 pm I got the notice that UPS had received the package in Louisville, KY, but when we went to bed around 10 pm it had still not departed Louisville.  So as not to keep you in suspense, when I awoke this morning (Friday), the package had landed in Portland, OR around 2:30 am, so it would appear I will have my replacement phone sometime today.

Thanks for stopping by!

Reason to celebrate......

 5:31 am - Thursday - August 29th - Klamath Falls, OR - 55° F, humidity 53%, wind 3 mph out of the north by northeast.....clear, blue skies today in Klamath Falls with a forecast high of 87° F.  On this date, 53 years ago, in 1971 TLE and I were married in Pasadena, CA at 1 pm.....

Mr. & Mrs. Hockwald

.....my life forever was changed that day, and I am unable to imagine my life without TLE.  Of course, we are in Klamath Falls, OR to celebrate the 53rd anniversary of that wedding day, a lifetime ago.  

A few days ago I dropped my phone onto the floor of Club Car Villager #20.  I've dropped that phone (Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra) numerous times over the past 15 months, but each time I picked it up I found no damage.  This time, however, there was a crack in the lower right hand portion of the touch screen with a spider web of fractures spiraling outward, ultimately covering the entire screen.  Trying to replace a cell phone in rural America can be, and is, indeed, complicated.  Since my current phone was acquired in Klamath Falls last summer at the local Verizon store I knew I could get it replaced on our anniversary trip.  As the intervening days have progressed the damaged has worsened to the point where the phone is barely usable, so quick replacement is imperative....

I've lost about 1/4 of my screen, and the phone is very difficult to use as a result

.....we left home around 10 am Wednesday to make the 2 hour drive to Klamath, arriving at the local Verizon store without incident a few minutes after 12 pm.  I was hoping it would be a quick process, but hoping was fruitless.  Since the phone was less than 2 years old I had not yet paid off the contract, and still owed $700, which I would have to pay to get a new phone.  To his credit, the store manager talked me out of that, and had me call the insurer who is Asurion.   I've never filed a claim (there is a $99 deductible) with them before, and could imagine it would not be a simple process, and would involve me being without a functioning phone for days, if not weeks, at least that is how I imagine it.  After completing the filing of the claim I was assured by the claims representative that I would have my phone before we leave Klamath Falls.....we shall see what we shall see.

By the time we exited the Verizon store it was after 1 pm, so we decided to do some shopping at the local Walmart before heading over to Nibbley's for lunch.........

.....we've eaten there several times since we first visited Klamath Falls last year, and we love their alfresco dining area, their coffee, and food.  We tarried over our coffees and food (Hot Pastrami for TLE, and a BLAT for moi) until close to 2 pm.  

Next we headed to the local Fred Meyers to buy some adult beverages, which we had forgotten to bring with us, but realized after arriving that they only sell beer and wine....in Oregon you must go to a local 'bottle store' to buy hard liquor.  Since we were there, and there is a Starbucks inside the store, I bought a vente Mocha Frappuccino, after which we headed to a local 'box 

ttlestore' to acquire the aforementioned adult beverages.

By the time we were done it was after 3 pm, so we headed to the Shilo Inn to check into our room for the next two days.  Asurion is supposed to ship my new phone to me here at the hotel via UPS with it arriving by Friday morning at the latest.....hopefully it will arrive today, Thursday.

Thanks for stopping by!

PT101....

7:35 am - Wednesday - August 28th - LPG&RVR - 48° F, humidity 65%, wind 1 mph out of the southwest......crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 86° F.  On this date in 2023 TLE and I were at Lake Tahoe to celebrate our 52nd wedding anniversary....

Dinner at the Bridgetender on our anniversary eve

The view from our room in Tahoe City

Moonrise over Lake Tahoe (north shore)

For the first time in ages I drove into Alturas by myself.  My only reason for being in Alturas on a Tuesday was for my weekly PT appointment at Modoc Medical Center with Michelle, so TLE opted to remain home and do some laundry.  Usually she does a little laundry each day of our 4 day weekend, but we are going away for our anniversary for two days, so she needed to get as much done as she could before we leave for Klamath Falls Wednesday morning.  Since we are going to Klamath Falls where there is a large Fred Meyers, we will do our weekly shopping there before we return home Friday morning.

My PT sessions last about 45 minutes as Michelle first massages my knee to loosen up the connective tissue, then puts me through different exercises designed to increase the range of motion of my right knee, as well as reduce the discomfort.  Each week my range of motion increases, and the discomfort decreases, and Tuesday was no different.  I was out the door by 12 pm, and home 20 minutes later.

My main objective for Tuesday was to wash the VW, check the oil and coolant, and remove and adjust the center console arm rest in advance of our anniversary trip. The center console armrest is on a hinge so you can adjust its height, and angle.  It has been out of adjustment for a long time, and would not hold its position.  I always intend to take it out and adjust it after getting home each time we drive the Beetle, but I seem to forget as soon as I get out of the car....lol.  Not so this time.  I did, however, wait until mid afternoon when the shade from the tree in our 'yard' was casting a big enough shadow to cover the VW, and keep moi out of the direct sunlight on what turned out to be a rather warm August day (87° F).

As is often the case, we are kind of lazy on day one of our four day weekend, so not much else to report.  I did wash the car at 3 pm, did check the fluids, and I did fix that pesky armrest, finally!  We ran the A/C for the first time in days, and it was still pretty warm until almost 8 pm, so we did not spend any time on the 'lido deck' Tuesday evening.

Thanks for stopping by!

Moments in time.....

8:05 am - Tuesday - August 27th - LPG&RVR - 54° F, humidity 37%, wind 1 mph out of the west.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 87° F.  On this date in 2017 TLE and I were doing an 11 mile hike in Yellowstone National Park....water crossings, foot bridges, and suspension bridges were included....

 .....free of charge......lol.

The final day of any four day work week is always a little bitter sweet for me.  I am always looking forward to being off work for 4 days, who wouldn't, right?  But, I also really enjoy my job.  This gig really gives TLE and I the best of all worlds, which is why we have returned for a 3rd summer.  We have lots of down time, and the work gives our lives purpose.  We cannot be just retired all the time.  Each of us still has the desire to accomplish, to contribute, to make new friends and be able to experience both sides of the LPG&RVR experience....the relaxing side with not a care in the world, and the working side where we are part of something bigger than ourselves.

We kind of live in an insulated world here at LPG&RVR where the outside world is kept at bay by the remoteness of our location, making it so much easier to just enjoy the moment wherever we may find ourselves at any particular time of day, like when I was driving down the 10th fairway and turned to see that the snow on Eagle Mountain from Saturday has already disappeared.....

.....Eagle Mountain is just under 10,000 (9,897') feet elevation, and is the extinct volcano responsible for all of the lava rock which covers the landscape of the Pitt River Valley.  In fact, in the foreground of the second picture you can see the lava rock wall that separates the first fairway from the 10th....all that rock had to be scraped away to create the grassy fairways.

Work days here at LPG&RVR always seem to go fast for me, even on less than busy days.  We only rented 3 golf carts Monday, which is not surprising, considering the park is about 90% empty right now.  In fact, all the golfing done Monday involved folks coming from offsite to play.

I did some weeding prior to 10 am, and then spent the balance of the morning mowing, and trimming.  By noon time I had mowed the grass around both pavilions, the employee lawns, and tent sites 1-3.  I managed to get the grass trimmed around both pavilions with the Stihl string trimmer before I gave TLE her lunch break.  After lunch I trimmed around the 4 employee site grass areas (there are 5 sites, but only 4 have grass), plus the playground equipment in the meadow, as well as around the electrical pedestals provided for the star gazing group, which will arrive this Thursday for the Labor Day weekend.  

I made another round of the course to find the last two golf cart rentals on the 14th fairway.  I think they were taking around 20 minutes to play each hole, so I knew they wouldn't be back by 3:30 pm.  By 3:15 pm only one of the 3 rented golf carts had returned, as I suspected, so I washed and stowed it.

I was home by 3:30 pm, and after a hot shower, relaxed in my recliner until almost 5 pm when I returned to pickup up TLE to begin our 4 day weekend.  The last two carts had been returned so I quickly washed and stowed them, and then drove TLE home to begin celebrating our 53rd wedding anniversary, culminating with our two day trip to Klamath Falls.

We sat outside on the 'lido deck' talking (adult beverages were involved) until after 6:30 pm when I finally lit the Sea-B-Que in preparation for the grilling of two New York Strip steaks.  For the first time in a couple of weeks there was no evening wind, so we ate dinner in the comfortable confines of the dining canopy/tent while watching the replay of the Tottenham Hot Spurs vs. Everton.  This was the 2nd game of the new season.......we have really missed British Premier soccer.....

.....the medium rare New York Strips were delicious!  TLE added sides of spinach, and sliced tomatoes....YUM!  Life continues to be good here in the remote Pitt River Valley.  Oh, and by the way, Tottenham won 4-nil.

Thanks for stopping by!

100% empty.....

 5:45 am - Monday - August 26th - LPG&RVR - 44° F, humidity 73%, wind 3 mph out of the south by southeast.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 82° F.  On this date in 2013 TLE and I were having lunch at a little bistro on the south end of Whidbey Island.....I love this picture of TLE.....

Have I said lately that I love working Sundays here at LPG&RVR?  Well, it bears repeating....I love working Sundays at LPG&RBR!  I staged just 6 golf carts Sunday as the park was almost empty.  Many folks left Saturday when it was raining to head back to their workaday lives....not sure why.  I hate packing up to leave in the Newell when its raining, but there they were Saturday packing up to leave a day early in the rain. By the end of the day the entire upper part of the park was 100% empty....that is very rare!

At any rate, what few RVs were left in the park were on the road before 9 am.  I made a round of the course raking 3 of the four sand traps.....the one at the 15th hole was just too wet to rake.  Upon my return I headed down to the gravel pull through sites (1-10) to finish the new 'gore' point I built after clearing the area of weeds.  I promised pictures, so here you are.....

....there was really no reason for me to do this, except for the fact there was a very large rock already there, which would have taken a tractor to move, so, instead, I added MORE rocks to form the 'gore point'.  That whole area was thick with weeds just a few days ago.

At various times during the day I stopped to take pictures of Eagle Mountain which was sporting a lot of snow from the storm on Saturday....

.....the locals say they haven't seen snow on Eagle Mountain in August in years.

I spent time out in the woods that border the driving range doing a deep cleaning for errant golf balls, and managed to garner around 1/2 of a 5 gallon bucket.  I ran another marshaling round of the course...there were only 3 golf carts out there at the time, but I found one guy out in the bushes with his cart....why do people think these carts are ATVs (all terrain vehicles)?

After giving TLE her lunch break I spent most of the afternoon dragging the sites around both pavilions, the road for the employee sites, the road for the back in sites (11-20), and every site I hadn't been able to get to on Saturday.  By the time I finished it was around 2:45 pm, and time to wash the 5 golf carts which had been returned.  The 6th cart didn't go out until just before 3 pm, so I knew he would not be back until well after 5 pm.

By the time I finished putting them away it was 3:30 pm, and time to head for home.  Before I could take a shower I spent about 25 minutes dumping our black tank.  It usually doesn't take that long, but I needed to remove the 'sight' tube to clean it as it has been hard to see how full the tank is getting when I'm flushing it.  When I finally got out of the shower (took a long, hot one) it was 4:30 pm, and almost time to pickup TLE from work.  I didn't really have time for a nap, but then again, I really didn't work that hard Sunday.

Thanks for stopping by!

Rain day......

 05:45 am - Sunday - August 25th - LPG&RVR - 41° F, humidity 89%, wind ZERO mph out of the west by northwest....clear, blue skies today with a forecast high of 73° F (the temp Saturday only got to 54° F).  On this date in 2019 I was replacing damaged vinyl faux wood planks in the Newell.  We had installed this floor back in 2013, and kept a box of the unused planks for just this purpose.  As you know, we replaced this flooring last summer (2023).....

....that it lasted 10 years is amazing!

We awoke to the forecast rain, and it continued to rain, sometimes hard, until late afternoon....something we have not experienced for a couple of months.  The dust was becoming bad, so this long, drawn out rain was very welcome, and definitely settled the dust for at least a couple of days.

I didn't stage any golf carts until 9:30 am, and over the course of the day we rented just 6 golf carts.  Most of them got rained on multiple times during their rounds....

Standing water on the putting green

.....I made just one round of the golf course around 9:45 am, and then picked up a couple of 5 gallon buckets to remove the piles of rock, which I had created when I was pulling weeds the day before.  I'll have to take a picture of that area now....it turned out well.

I gave TLE her lunch break at 12 pm, and then spent the afternoon dragging the cart path which connects holes 9 and 18 with the Clubhouse, then most of the upper RV park (sites 21-50) while it drizzled. By the time I was finished my pants were wet, so I changed into some dry pants, and headed back to the Clubhouse where preparations for the weekly putting contest were underway.  Miraculously, the rain stopped around 3:45 pm, and the contest went off without a hitch.  I managed to make it to the 5th round before being eliminated, but putted well for the most part.

While I was putting the last 3 of the 6 rented golf carts returned, so when I was eliminated, I headed over to the wash station to wash them, and stow them.  After the putting contest we celebrated the upcoming birthday of Kelle (owner Dennis Tate's wife) with cake and ice cream then headed home for the evening....it was almost 6 pm.  The forecast high for the day had been 57° F, but it only managed to get to 54° F.  I wore my watch cap, and winter coat for my entire shift.  I'll be thinking back fondly of Sunday when the temps hit 90° F next weekend, which also happens to be Labor Day weekend.....time is flying!

Thanks for stopping by!

A brief interlude.....

 5:48 am - Saturday - August 24th - LPG&RVR - 48° F, humidity 77%, wind 7 mph out of the south by southwest.....heavy cloud cover, raining today with a forecast high of 57° F....COLD, COLD, COLD!  On this date in 2012 TLE and I snagged the last available site at the Port of Arlington Marina on the Columbia River in eastern Oregon.....

....this was one of several serendipitous RV sites we found that Fall on our way east to work at Amazon in Campbellsville, KY for the first time.

Friday was one of the coldest days we've had in almost 7 weeks, and for the first time in that time span I wore pants, a long sleeved shirt, gloves, and a winter jacket to work.  Also, for the first time in that time same span I took a cup of hot coffee to work in my YETI coffee cup.  I took the jacket off for maybe 30 minutes around 11 am whilst I was weeding, but had to put it on again when I finished as it was just too cold without it.  To begin the first of 4 work days I staged 8 golf carts, and we ended up renting 14 before the day was done.

With the weekend fast approaching I had a lot of mowing to get done, and by the end of the day had mowed the 3 large lawns in the residential area, the parking lot grass, the grass area next to site #30, the group fire pit area, the tee boxes at the 3rd hole (the grass at the other tee boxes I take care of hadn't grown enough to justify mowing), and 5 of the pull through sites....the rest were occupied.  I also did some more weeding down in the gravel pull sites, and those sites are now 99.9% weed free for the first time this summer.

By the time I went home at 3:30 pm all but 10 of the 14 carts had returned, been washed, and stowed.  I returned around 4:50 pm to putt while TLE closed the office, then we headed down to the entrance together to flip the sign, and post availability for those arriving after 5 pm.  The forecast for Saturday is for rain until early afternoon, so not sure what I will be doing.  It is raining as I write.  But, alas, this two day cold spell is just a brief interlude.  Temperatures will return to the mid to high 80's by Wednesday.

Thanks for stopping by!

Underlying fitness....

 5:47 am - Friday - August 23rd - LPG&RVR - 51° F, humidity 63%, wind 7 mph out of the south.....cloudy today with rain forecast, and  a high of 63° F.  On this date in 2016 TLE and I were having lunch in Meyers, CA (a few miles from South Lake Tahoe) at Verde Mexican Rotisserie.....

It is still dark outside, and sunrise is not until 6:20 am now (Friday morning)....don't like getting up when it's dark, but it is what it is.  Sunset is now 7:48 pm....almost an hour earlier than early July.  So, if I'm up this early it must mean we're working today.  This week we work Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday.  Next Wednesday we'll drive up to Klamath Falls for two nights to celebrate our 53rd wedding anniversary....only 6 days away now.  So what happened Thursday?

Well, we took another 2 mile out and back walk averaging 3.2 mph again....nothing like consistency....

....we didn't begin walking until it was over 50° F this time, so it was around 7:30 am.  Once it gets above 50° I don't need to wear the vest.  Due to the later sunrise now we cast very long shadows.  My knee continues to improve, so I'm really invested in keeping up with my PT exercises, however, there is that interlude on the 'lido deck' sipping coffee, and talking with TLE after our walk that is a must before any work is done.

The PT takes less than 30 minutes, and my toning workout takes around 20 minutes.  Combined with the almost 40 minutes of walking we do makes it about 90 minutes I spend exercising on our days off work.  As the Apostle Paul famously wrote 2,000 years ago while imprisoned, 'A little exercise provides much benefit', and I have found that to be true over my lifetime.  You don't have to exercise a lot, but you need to do it consistently, and that is the rub, no?  Over the 12+ years we've been on the road I have struggled with the consistency part, but as we have spent more time each year in one, two, or three locations it has become easier to develop a routine, and be more consistent.  I know I've had my health issues over the past 7 years, but think where I'd be if I did make an effort to stay fit?  It has been that basic, underlying 'fitness' that has enabled my body to mitigate the damage, and recover quickly.  That basic, underlying 'fitness' also improves my quality of life.  

TLE and I stayed close to home Thursday, she cooking, and doing laundry, and me fixing stuff, breaking down boxes resulting from the receipt of recent Amazon purchases, and hauling trash to the dumpster.  Around 5 pm we headed over to the Clubhouse so TLE could pick up the cash drawer, and so I could practice my putting.  For the first time in weeks I was able to putt without the application of mosquito repellant....of course, I think the windy conditions contributed somewhat to that.

We spent another hour on the 'lido deck' watching the sun slowly make it daily slide to the mountains on the western edge of the Pitt River Valley, and then headed inside for the evening.  Another 4 day weekend slips into the rearview mirror, and what a nice, relaxing one it was!

Thanks for stopping by!