Thursday, July 10, 2025

First 9.....

 7:22 am - Thursday - July 10th - LPG&RVR - 60° F, humidity 27%, wind ZERO mph out of the east by northeast.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 90° F.  On this date in 2017 TLE and I were in Bozeman, MT having lunch at Bridger Brewing Company....



Wednesday was to be the coolest day of our four day weekend at 85° F, so I decided I was going to play golf for the first time here at LPG&RVR this season, but not until early afternoon when the course would not be too busy.  I spent time watching Stage 5 of Le Tour which was time trial day, and was a 33 kilometer individually timed event over a flat, fixed course, in which riders head out at 2 minute intervals with the leaders after the first four stages going last.  Surprisingly Tadej Pogačar (Slovenia) placed 2nd in the time trial, and went from 4 seconds down (2nd place) to first place overall and 42 seconds ahead of his nearest pursuer, Remco Evenepoel, who won the time trial.  His primary antagonist, Jonas Vinegaard (Denmark), also surprisingly, fell to 4th place, and 1:42 behind.  Tadej and Jonas have finished 1st, or 2nd the last 5 years (Tadej 3 first places, and Jonas 2).

Around 1 pm TLE and I headed over to the Clubhouse to get a tee time, which turned out to be 1:30 pm.  For a change I didn't hit any balls on the driving range, but did stretch a little before hitting my first ball off the 10th tee.  As one might expect I didn't do well on the 10th hole, but on the 11th hole I hit a good 7 iron that just went over the green, then chipped to within 10 feet, and then two putted for a bogey.  I hit another good drive on the 12th hole, another good 7 iron to the green, and two putted for a par, and on it went.  Overall I was happy with my game, except for my mid range irons.  Overall I had two pars (12 and 17).  There was a nice breeze the entire 9 holes, which made it feel cooler than it was.

We were back to the Clubhouse by 3 pm, and after snagging a 9:10 am tee time for Thursday, we headed home.  The week after the 4th of July weekend it is always like a ghost town here, but it will pickup again this weekend. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Wednesday, July 9, 2025

Coiffe day......

 7:38 am - Wednesday - July 9th - LPG&RVR - 59° F, humidity 24%, wind 1 mph out of the southwest.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 85° F.  On this date in 2019 TLE and I had the day off work at Ramona Oaks RV Resort.....we took a walk around the park early in the day......


....and finishing the day with a nicely grilled filet mignon, and a bottle of Catena Malbec.....


The only thing taking us away from the Newell Tuesday, our first of four days off work, was a haircut appointment at Kaleidescope at 2 pm.  As a result I was able to watch a large portion of Stage 4 of le Tour de France (17 stages to go....lol).  We were in the VW by 12 pm heading into Alturas to first have lunch at 'Lazy B Grill' (Yelp gives them 4.5 stars on 59 reviews, and that rating is well earned).  We eat there at least once, or twice each summer, and really love their food.....


Diablo Burger

Diablo Fries

....TLE had their Diablo Fries (hamburger, bacon, Diablo sauce over fries), and I their Diablo Burger.  The Diablo fries are essentially a deconstructed Diablo Burger.  That Diablo sauce is very hot and spicey!  By the time we finished our entrees it was just after 1 pm, so we next headed over to Holiday Market to do a very small shopping, then to Desert Rose Air Fuels to refill our Beetle fuel tank.  The Desert Rose is Indian owned, and their prices are at least $1 less per gallon that the in town stations.  From there we headed over to Kaleidescope for my 2 pm hair appointment.  Sheila (the proprietor) has been trimming my coiffe for 4 summers now, and she really does a great job.

The drive home was uneventful, with very few vehicles on US-395, with us arriving at the Newell around 2:45 pm.  As soon as we had our groceries inside I began watching the remainder of Stage 4 of Le Tour which ran until almost 6 pm with Tadej Pogacar (pronounced Tajay Pogatcha, Slovenian, and a three time winner of Le Tour) winning the Stage in a very exciting final kilometer.  As I write I am watching the Stage 5 time trials.

The high temp of the day was 91° F, but there was a nice breeze blowing all day, so it did not feel that hot.  The temp will drop to 85° F on Wednesday, then back to 90° on Thursday, and 95° on Friday.  Our next four work stint, beginning Saturday, will see temps ranging from 97-99° F....yup, summer is here!

Thanks for stopping by!

Tuesday, July 8, 2025

A 'slow' day......

 7:52 am - Tuesday - July 8th - LPG&RVR - 66° F, humidity 18%, wind 2 mph out of the south.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 91° F.  On this date in 2019 TLE and I were having lunch at the Lost Abbey Brewing Company in San Marcos, CA.....




......during our nine month workamping job at Ramona Oaks RV Resort.  They don't serve food, so we bought those $1.50 hot dogs at COSTCO, then went there to have some brews, and eat the 'dogs'.

The last day of our 4 day work week the forecast high was to be 95° F, and I believe it got there; it certainly felt like 95° F.  After three straight days of organized chaos at LPG&RVR, Monday was the opposite.  For the first time in a few weeks we did not rent the Club Car electrics as they needed servicing.  All we rented, and all I staged were our Yamaha gassers, and we rented all but two of them, so it was a 'slow' day by this season's standards.  By 3 pm we had rented 18 of the 20 Yamahas.

After TLE and I went home Sunday a call came in from one of our customers out on the golf course advising their cart would not start, and wouldn't you know, it was Club Car #13.  At any rate, Dennis and DeWayne took a replacement cart out to them at the 14th hole, and left #13 there for me to tow back in first thing Monday morning.  After I had staged 14 Yamaha gassers for TLE I jumped in Club Car #7 (the one we use to push the ball picker around the driving range), grabbed the tow bar and headed out to the 14th hole.  It took a few minutes to connect the tow bar as I haven't had to do it for over a year, and then I was on my way back to the Clubhouse.....


.....I was back at the Clubhouse by 9 am where I disconnected #13, and then headed out to actually hookup the ball picker to Club Car #7 and use it for the first time this summer.  The entire range ball barrel was empty, so I figured there were at least 5-6 gallons of balls out there warranting the use of the ball picker.  It is a waste of time to use it for anything under 4 gallons of balls.  It took me the better part of 90 minutes to clear the range, and I got exactly 5 gallons of range balls.  I spent the rest of the morning before TLE's lunch break washing and drying those balls.  I figure there are at least 1-2 more five gallon buckets of balls in the forest on either side of the driving range, so Dave and I will need to do a 'deep cleaning' in the next week, or so.

After TLE's lunch break I washed 8 golf carts (four were left over from Sunday, and the other four were Yamahas being returned), then headed out on the Husqvarna 2 bag mower to mow around those tee boxes for which I am responsible (3, 15, 16, 17 and 18....I did #10 on Friday).  I was back at the Clubhouse by 2:30 pm to find another 8 Yamaha gassers awaiting their daily spa treatment.  By the time I finished washing and stowing them it was 3:30 pm, and time, thank God, to head for the cool confines of our Newell Classic (TLE turned on the front A/C when she was home for lunch).  There were still 5 Yamahas out on the course when I picked up TLE at 5:15 am to begin our four day  weekend.

As has often been the case the past two weeks we had some early evening rain showers......



It began raining shortly after I took these pictures

.....that little bit of rain helps settle the dust.  Even with the occasional showers the humidity here during the summer months, like today (Tuesday) is very low (18%), and things dry out pretty quickly after each rain shower, and then stay very dry resulting in a lot of dust.

Thanks for stopping by!

Monday, July 7, 2025

Biggest yet.....

 5:36 am - Monday - July 7th - LPG&RVR - 54° F, humidity 25%, wind ZERO mph out of the southeast.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 95° F.  On this date in 2020 TLE and I were having Frappuccinos at Grapes and Grind in Keystone, SD.....



Sunday we had the 'Red, White and Blue' golf tournament sponsored by the Modoc Cattlemen's Association.  In order to have enough carts for this tournament, and a few regular golfers we had to completely empty the cart shack by 8:30 am.......


.....the only cart left is a four seater (in the distant background), which we do not rent anymore, plus my Club Car Villager #20.  When the dust cleared, and all of the tournament participants had left to begin the tournament at their assigned holes we had 10 carts left, and by 1 pm those had also been rented.  Once the tournament was underway I spent the next 3 hours 'marshaling' with Claude, and then gave TLE a 30 minute lunch break from 11:30 am to 12 pm.  During that 30  minute break I was kept pretty busy selling adult beverages, sodas and waters.

After lunch I made one more pass around the course, and then returned to the Clubhouse to await the return of all of our carts, most of which would come from the tournament participants.  Once again Claude took time off from his marshaling duties to help me wash the carts.  We ultimately had carts stacked up four abreast all the way into the parking lot.  Claude sprayed them off while I dried them, and within one hour he and I combined had cleaned 26 golf carts.  It took me another 30 minutes to put them away in the cart shack, and then my day was done.  There were still 7, or 8 carts outstanding when I headed home at 3:30 pm, so I'll have them to clean first thing.

The tournament was a great success garnering the most participants ever, and the most sponsors ever, and LPG&RVR did not do too bad either.  TLE was home by 5:20 pm, and then we only had one more workday before our four day weekends begins again.

Thanks for stopping by!

Sunday, July 6, 2025

You'd think......

 5:41 am - Sunday - July 6th - LPG&RVR - 48° F, humidity 29%, wind ZERO mph out of the southeast......crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 90° F.  On this date in 2013 TLE and I were driving the Kananaskis Highway in Alberta, Canada....



.....with good friends Forest, Cindy, Tom and Darlene.  Beautiful scenery!

Saturday was just as busy as Friday, only a little more so.  In all we rented close to 40 golf carts.  The only times I got away from the cart shack was to move sprinklers occasionally down at the 'Night Office', but that was it.  By the time I gave TLE her lunch break the cart shack was empty.  Usually I'm not that busy during TLE's lunch break, but on Saturday I was as busy as I have ever been.  You'd think this was a busy, urban golf course....lol!

Of course, Saturday was also our weekly putting contest, and on on this Saturday there was also an organized kids putting contest first at 3 pm.  Kind of cool seeing all those kids putting, and having fun.  There were 43 putters in the adult class Saturday, and I managed to get out of the first round by putting well, but in the second round my putting completely failed me and I was out just like that.  I stayed around until almost the very end, but TLE was finished closing the office for the day, and ready to go home so I obliged her.

Sunday we have the annual 'Red, White and Blue' tournament, so Claude and I will be busy marshaling out on the course after I get all of the carts staged.  There will also be regular golfing, so we will most likely put out all of our golf carts again.  With all of the tournament carts returning at almost the same time it will be a busy afternoon washing and stowing golf carts.

After getting home for the dayTLE and I watched the final 90 minutes of Stage One of the Tour de France which was replete with too many crashes, and the first two riders abandoning the race due to injuries less than two hours into the race.  The race began with 184 hopeful riders, and now they are down to 182.

Thanks for stopping by!

Saturday, July 5, 2025

July 4th.....

 5:37 am - Saturday - July 5th - LPG&RVR - 45° F, humidity 38%, wind 1 mph out of the south by southeast.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 83° F.  On this date in 2014 TLE and I were rafting on the Truckee River near Tahoe City, CA.....



.....with our daughters Kate and Sharon, and their future husbands.

We began Friday with 33 golf carts committed to 76 golfers who had reserved Tee Times.  Pretty much every tee time through 1:30 pm was reserved.  I sent out 5 Yamahas gassers to begin the day, before sending out the electrics, hoping to get them back by noon time to wash, and rent again.  We don't rent the electrics twice in a day.  We only have around 30 golf carts right now that can be rented, and have three on the disabled list awaiting parts, plus we sold one of the older ones to one of the members, so when we get as busy as we are right now we have to rent some carts twice.  In the end we sent out 6 carts twice.

I spent most of the day right at the cart barn staging golf carts, but did take time to mow the three large residential lawns up the hill, the parking lot grass, the large grass area at the group fire pit, the tee boxes at #10, and 5, or 6 pull through sites, but that took less than an hour.  Just as I was getting ready to give TLE her lunch break two of the Yamahas came back, so I washed them, and restaged them to be rented.  I love it when a plan comes together.

By the time 3:30 pm came around there were still 14 carts out on the golf course, so I stayed another half hour to get as many washed as I could. I got another 4, or 5 washed in that half hour, so I'll have the rest to wash first thing Saturday, plus I'll have 4 five gallon cans of range balls to wash, dry and pour back into the barrel.  Why, you might ask?  Dave did not clear the range of golf balls Thursday as DeWayne was not going to mow, which is cool, but he neglected to check the barrel in the Clubhouse to see how low our supply was getting....a rookie mistake.  Anyway, he agreed to come down late Friday to clear the range of golf balls, so I could wash them first thing Saturday, and refill the barrel in the Clubhouse.  

Saturday the 2025 version of the Tour de France begins, so I'll be busy before and after work, and on my off days watching for the next 23 days, plus The Open (British Open), the last major of the year, begins on the 17th, so July will be a big sports month.

TLE was home by 5:20 pm....three more days of work to go.  The temp only got to 76° F Friday....that's the first time the temp has been under 90° F on the 4th of July in four seasons here at LPG&RVR.

Thanks for stopping by!

Friday, July 4, 2025

Happy 249th birthday America!

 5:36 am - Friday - July 4th - HAPPY 249th Birthday America!! - LPG&RVR - 52° F, humidity 42%, wind 3 mph out of the south......crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 76° F.  On this date in 2013 TLE and I were in Cochrane, Alberta, Canada having lunch.....



.....at Olive 'R' Twist Bistro & Bar...those sweet potato fries were amazing!

TLE and I were awakened around 4:30 am this morning (July 4th) by the sounds of our course superintendent, Jose Madrigal, spraying for mosquitoes.  How ironic that I devoted a large part of yesterday's post about our mosquito problem.  We should now see a dramatic reduction in the mosquito population for the next couple of weeks.

For the second consecutive day we had late afternoon thunder showers, although not quite as intense as Wednesday evening, the extra moisture will certainly help abate the dust for a few days.  Thursday, being the eve of the 4th, saw a large influx of long weekend revelers pour into LPG&RVR.  This weekend is always a big weekend here, and according to TLE we will need around 33 golf carts on Friday the 4th, so I will be quite busy on our first day back to work. Our 4 day work week perfectly coincides with the long weekend this year, so every day will be busy, I'm sure.

TLE and I both spent quite a bit of time reading Thursday, and that was pretty much my day.  I did a minor amount of weeding towards the end of the day, which was interrupted by the aforementioned thunder showers.  When she was not reading, TLE was preparing meals for the next four days, and putting a couple more loads of wash through the splendid Splendide.  The weather Thursday was actually very nice with a high temp in the low 80's.  For our dinner TLE made her famous burritos, and they were as good as ever.  I like it when she makes burritos, because I know there will also be cold burritos on which to snack over the next couple of days.

And that my friends is it for Thursday.....thanks for stopping by!

Thursday, July 3, 2025

Defensive living.....

 8:01 am - Thursday - July 3rd - LPG&RVR - 65° F, humidity 30%, wind 1 mph out of the south by southwest.....mostly clear, blue skies today with a forecast high of 85° F.  On this date in 2017 TLE and I were driving the 'Grand Loop' in Yellowstone National Park.....




....it was a magical summer!

We haven't been shopping for a couple of weeks, so we decided Wednesday was the day to make the 20 mile round trip drive to Alturas to do just that.  The drive does not have the feel of a 20 mile drive.  There is never very much traffic, often we may see only 2, or 3 vehicles each way, and the scenery is always stunning.  We left home around 9:30 am making stops at Dollar General, Grocery Outlet, and Holiday Market, and were back home before noon time. While TLE put away the groceries I headed out to the 'lido deck' to relax.

The mosquitoes are making their presence known again, and I think it is time for the golf course and RV park to be sprayed again.  Mosquitoes are an issue here at LPG&RVR from about mid June to the end of September, and we have reached that point where we must deploy every anti-mosquito defense we have......

Citronella candles

Mosquito coils....we light them, and they smolder for about 6 hours, and are really quite effective

Of course!  This, for me, is the most effective mosquito repellant I have found

Small Tiki Torches, or as we call them, "smug pots"...a nice addition to our defenses

Mosquito proof dining canopy

....and when the mosquitoes are bad, which they are right now, all of these defenses barely hold them at bay.  For our interior defense we have the 'Katchy'.....


......this handy electrical device catches a lot of mosquitoes, and other small flying insects.....

The one TLE removed 24 hours ago was three times as dense with flying insects

......this adhesive pad shows the results of about 24 hours worth of defense....big mosquitoes, and very small 'no see ums'.  Thankfully we do NOT have this issue at The Wilson Wilderness.....lol!  When you live as close to nature as we do, this can be one of the consequences.  I don't write much about this issue, because what would be the point?  It is what it is, and we have learned to cope.  Once they spray again the problem will recede more into the background.

It was not nearly as warm Wednesday as it was Tuesday prior to the thunder showers, so I was able to relax on the 'lido deck' until nearly 3 pm.  The temp Friday will be 76° F, and that will be the last daily high in the 70's we will see for quite some time....at least for the next 2 weeks.

Thanks for stopping by!

Wednesday, July 2, 2025

Sometimes the 'weather guessers' are right....

 7:17 am - Wednesday - July 2nd - LPG&RVR - 62° F, humidity 37%, wind 1 mph out of the northwest......crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 88° F.  On this date in 2019 I finally set up some shade for our VW Beetle at Ramona Oaks RV Resort near Ramona, CA.....



......we only drove the car once a week into town to shop, but when we did it took all the way to town for the A/C to cool down the car interior.  After this the car was in the shade all afternoon each day.

For our second day off work TLE and I worked around the 'lido deck' watering plants (her), and resecuring the front sun shade on the coach (me), as well as doing some weeding (both of us), otherwise we spent the rest of the morning, and into the early afternoon sitting on the 'lido deck' doing what we do best.....relaxing.  Even though it would get to 90° F it was comfortable on the 'lido deck' until 1 pm, when we finally retreated into the cool confines of the Newell for the balance of the day.

The Weather.com app warned of thunder showers in the afternoon, but we get those warnings almost every day lately, and nothing ever materializes, however, on this day they did, and big time.  We got the whole ball of wax over 2 hours.....loud thunder, bright flashes of lightning, wind, and quite a bit of rain, especially for July 1st.  The temperature plummeted from 90° F to under 67° F in a matter of 30 minutes.  We were able to turn off the A/C before 5 pm, and enjoyed cool zephyrs blowing in the coach windows out of the northwest for the rest of the evening.  We did not see that happening at the beginning of the day.  Sometimes the 'weather guessers' are right. That water proofing we sprayed on the patio and window awnings back at TWW really works well.  The rain water just slides off the fabric onto the ground, and the area under the patio awning stays pretty dry now.

Temperatures will return to normal Wednesday, but by Friday they should be down to 78° F for a day, or so, then back into the 90's through the 16th.  Hard to believe we've already been back 2 months, and have just 3 to go before we head south again for another winter at TWW.  Oh, I did take a picture of the new solar powered LED light we installed in the dining canopy....


....after dark.  I am surprised at how much light it provides.  You will recall we hung our Edison bulb string lights inside last year's dining canopy, which meant we had to run an electrical cord out to the dining canopy to power them. It was not much brighter than this, and it is all solar powered.

Thanks for stopping by!

Tuesday, July 1, 2025

July and summer have arrived.....

 8:10 am - Tuesday - July 1st - LPG&RVR - 68° F, humidity 31%, wind 4 mph out of the northwest....partly cloudy today with a forecast high of 90° F.  On this date in 2013 TLE and I were northbound on US-191 in Montana.  Good friends Tom and Darlene McCloud took this picture of our rig.....


....this is one of my favorite pictures from the last 14 years.  Next to driving US-395 for its sheer beauty, this is our 2nd favorite highway.

I've been slacking on taking daily pictures, and for that I apologize.  I guess I'll have to paint the pictures with words.  As is our habit on days we do not work we slept in until almost 8 am.  We were both really tired after the week 'vacation' in Montana, and were really just running on fumes Saturday and Sunday.  Finally Sunday evening arrived, and with that the prospect of being able to sleep in was now a reality.

The forecast high for Monday was 96° F, so we did as much outside as we could before the rising temperature forced us back inside the cooler confines of the Newell where we did not have to turn on the A/C until after 1 pm.  As I wrote yesterday, we are both still acclimating to 90+ temperatures.  It seems the older we get the less we can tolerate heat, and we are now into the hot part of the summer, and with the arrival of July comes the summer heat.  The forecast shows mostly 90+ days for at least the next two weeks with just a few days in the 80's.

TLE spent a lot of time Monday morning tending to her flourishing plants, and garden, and they are flourishing.  She has developed quite a green thumb over the past few years.....

This is an onion she has allowed to grow and flower


We've now had that aloe plant for a year, and it is thriving





We're going to have to get her a shed to house all of her gardening supplies 

.....I think I forgot to write about the LED light we bought for the 'dining/gaming deck' dining canopy.  I found it on Amazon, and it is really bright.....


....I should have taken a picture of it last night so you could appreciate how bright it is, but for now you'll have to take my word for it.

I spent a lot of the heat of the day catching up on my YouTube channels which I follow, while TLE ran load after load of wash through our splendid Splendide combo washer/dryer.  It is so nice to be able to wash and dry our clothes without sitting in a laundromat.  TLE can start a load, and then go about her business until it is done.

It wasn't until 9 pm that we were finally able to shut off the A/C when the temp finally dropped to 77° F.  That's the nice thing about living at 5,500' elevation in the summer here in Likely, CA....the heat does not stay in the air overnight.  We're sleeping with all of our windows open at night and the low temps are still in the low 50's overnight.

Well, I guess I did take some pictures after all......thanks for stopping by!

Monday, June 30, 2025

Thank you.....

 7:53 am - Monday - June 30th - 73° F, humidity 20%, wind 1 mph out of the north......crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 96° F....the hottest day this year so far in Likely, CA.  On this date in 2015 TLE and I were at Tahoe Valley Campground having cocktails with our co-workers.....a wonderful group of people.....

Left to right: Moi, TLE, Marilyn, Harry, Merlin, Mel, John and Deb

.....who had been coming to TVC for years to spend the summer, and work at the campground.

I've been blogging daily since October of 2012, when we began working at Amazon in Campbellsville, KY.  Some call what I do 'journaling', but I have always associated journaling with hand writing your daily thoughts in some sort of journal book.  I guess the tech term 'blogging' has replaced 'journaling' in today's lexicon.  In reality both are the same, but now one uses a computer, laptop, or phone instead of a pen to publish their story, or thoughts as the case may be.  Blogging has been a daily habit for me going on 12 years now, and I think I've only failed to post a missive on very rare occasions.  As of today the 'statistics' show I've posted 4,926 times, excluding today's post.  TLE reads my blog to get my perspective on each day.  As you know, I don't post often about what TLE did on any given day, but pretty much only about what I did, or experienced.  Everyone has their own story to tell, and this blog is my attempt to tell my story as seen through my eyes, heard through my ears, and based on my personal experiences.  There have been times when I've thought about closing down 'Whatsnewell', and there may come a time when that happens, but I cannot imagine when that would be, or for what reason.  You've been with me through so much in the last dozen years.....a double hernia operation, a stroke, a heart attack, the excision of a cyst from my right cheek, almost cutting off the end of my left middle finger on a bike ride, and several cancerous excisions.  If it has happened to me you know about it shortly thereafter.  Some think I am too transparent, but I don't see it that way.  With me its 'what you see is what you get', and I'll let it go at that with just one more comment.....thank you for reading my daily ramblings so faithfully....I am truly humbled, and grateful that anyone  other than my family reads my blog....lol!

Even thought we only worked 2 days in this current work cycle, it felt like 4.  TLE and I are still in recovery mode from our trip to Deer Lodge last week, and were so looking forward to being able to sleep in Monday morning, but I get ahead of myself.

Sunday began slowly, but by the end of the day we had rented 23 carts.  As you know, Sundays are big departure days in campgrounds such as ours, so things are usually a little more laid back on the golf course, but we had a lot of people coming to play golf from offsite, so it felt just as busy as Saturday.  After staging enough carts to keep TLE happy for a while I headed down to the 'Night Office' to trim around the trees, and the office prior to mowing.  While I was at it I also trimmed around the two back in sites (#19 and 20), which I had mowed on Saturday.  I usually try to trim first as it makes the mowing easier, however, I mowed them as an afterthought on my way back to the Clubhouse Saturday.  Next up I retrieved the 2 bag Husqvarna and began mowing the grass at the 'Night Office', which took me the better part of 45 minutes.  From there I headed up the hill to the three residential grass areas to give them a a quick mow before giving TLE her lunch break.

The high temp Sunday was close to 95° F, and it felt every bit of that.  With very little wind for most of the day it felt even warmer than it was.  I've pretty much acclimated to high 80's, but when you get into the mid 90's it takes a little longer, and I am not there yet.  I was in the sun mowing and trimming for quite a while in the morning so I was inclined to spent more time in the shade after lunch.  A lot of our cart rentals went out from noon on, and as a result I had only washed and stowed 11,or 12 carts when 3:30 pm rolled around, so there will be more than 10 carts for Dave to deal with first thing Monday morning.  Typically when temps get into the 90's people go out early and finish early, so I'm able to get all the carts put away so Dave starts his four day work week with a clean slate, but that was beyond my control Sunday.

I don't take a traditional lunch break, but TLE does, so when she goes home for lunch on 90+ days she turns on the front A/C so that when I go home at 3:30 pm it is already cool inside the Newell, for which I am very grateful.  She called me around 5:20 pm to advise she was ready for pickup, and by 5:30 pm we had begun our four day weekend.  We slept in until 7:45 am this (Monday) morning, and it is now almost 9 am as I finish with my 4, 927th blog post.  This month has been one for the record books for my blog....we have had almost 90,000 views this month....almost triple the norm....again, thank you so much!

Thanks for stopping by!

Sunday, June 29, 2025

The return of 'Cart Boy'.....

   5:44 am - Sunday - June 29th - LPG&RVR - 52° F, humidity 32%, wind ZERO mph out of the south by southeast......crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 93° F.  On this date in 2020 I used my drone for the first time....you can just see Mt. Rushmore in the background....


It's always a little tough going back to work after a four day weekend, but after a 5 day whirlwind trip to Montana and back it is even more daunting.  My instinct was to sleep in Saturday morning, but I had no such luxury.  Had to be up by 5:30 am to be ready to function, and work by 7:30 am.  It is the price you pay when you squeeze in a 5 day vacation to your normal schedule, and I am a person who likes a schedule, so when we mess it up like we did there is a price to pay....lol.

Saturday was busy, but it did not feel that way; it was very quiet....almost eerily so.  We rented 21 golf carts even though the park was not very full, which is not unusual the week before the 4th of July weekend, when we will be very, very busy.  We're in a warming trend which will see the temps hit into the mid 90's this week, so standing in, working in, and parking in any shade available is your top priority.  

It's been over a week since I last mowed those tee boxes for which I am responsible, so I headed out on the 2 bag Husqvarna around 10 am to do just that, and returned to the Clubhouse around 11:20 am.  I topped off the fuel tank, and then headed down to sites 19 and 20 to mow them in advance of the upcoming long weekend.  There were also a number of sprinklers set to water dry spots.

After TLE's lunch break I spent the last 2.5 hours of my shift washing, and stowing golf carts, and and done so to 19 of the 21 carts rented by 3:30 pm when I headed home to change clothes for the weekly putting contest.  On such a quiet weekend there were only 12 participants on the putting list, so Mike made it double elimination.  The magic I had last Saturday did not show its head this Saturday, and I was gone after the 3rd round.  I'm not saying I didn't put well, but not well enough on the critical putts. For some reason I tend to do better (I don't know why) in larger groups.  The first time I placed 2nd this season there were 38 putters, and last Saturday there were 40 when I finished 2nd again.

TLE and I were home by 5:20 pm, and having dinner shortly thereafter putting another LPG&RVR day into the rear view mirror.....thanks for stopping by!