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!

Saturday, June 28, 2025

Whirlwind.....

 5:42 am - Saturday - June 28th - LPG&RVR - 50° F, humidity 39%, wind 1 mph out of the south by southwest......crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 89° F.  On this date in 2014 TLE and I were in South Lake Tahoe having breakfast on the 'lido deck', and watching World Cup Futbol.....


.....seems like a lifetime ago.....11 years...WOW!    

When you're having a great time, time always seems to pass by so quickly, and that was the case with our 5 day stay in Deer Lodge with my sister and her husband.  Seemed like we were just really getting settled, and it was time to make the drive back to Missoula to catch our return flight to Medford.  Our first flight of the day had a scheduled departure time of 1:15 pm in Missoula, so we were on the road by 10 am to make the 90 minute drive to Missoula, drop off our rental car, take the shuttle back to the airport, go through TSA, and then wait about an hour for the boarding call, but I get ahead of myself.

We were up around 7 am Friday, and having our first cup of coffee a few minutes later.  Slowly our other family members began to drift into the kitchen, and then we were all together for a final family pictures.....



......we took two.  Bob took the first one, and then Richard (far right in first picture) offered to take one with Bob in the frame (far right in second picture).  Soon it was 10 am, and we were saying our 'until next times' before getting in the Hyundai Sonata for the drive to Missoula.

The 78 mile drive was completely uneventful, with us arriving at exactly 11:30 am at the rental agency.  Within a couple of minutes we were in their shuttle and on the 15 minute drive to the airport.  We were through TSA Pre-check within a couple of minutes and at our departure gate soon thereafter; just a tad over one hour before our scheduled departure.  Our plane left on time, and since we were flying back to the Pacific Time Zone, gained an hour.  We landed in Portland at 1:40 pm, and within 45 minutes were getting on our final flight of the day to Medford where we arrived at 3:20 pm without incident.  By the time we retrieved our baggage, called for the hotel shuttle to come get us, and were in the VW it was 4 pm, and we still had a 3.5 hour drive back to LPG&RVR......


......I drove the first leg back to Merrill, OR (just south of Klamath Falls) where TLE took over for the final 90 minutes.  We arrived back at our Newell at exactly 7:30 pm, just as we had planned. We had barely unpacked and sat down to rest for an hour before our bed time when TLE pointed out the amazing sunset happening outside our window.  Of course, I had to memorialize it.....


......it will probably take us a few days to recover from that whirlwind trip, but being with family is always worth it, especially when you like your family.....lol!

Thanks for stopping by!

Friday, June 27, 2025

Family time.....

 7:19 am - Friday - June 27th - Deer Lodge, MT - 53° F, humidity 48%, wind ZERO mph out of the southwest......a few clouds today with a forecast high of 76° F.  On this date in 2013 TLE and I were in Keystone, SD (Mt. Rushmore) having lunch with good friends Tom and Darlene McCloud....


Thursday began with an ominous influx of storm clouds from the northwest....


,

....but is was a beautiful Deer Lodge kind of day anyway.  As I wrote yesterday I strained, or pulled a muscle in my right forearm Wednesday playing golf, and by 9 am it was pretty clear that I should forego anymore golf until that soreness abates (as I write this morning it is much better), so all of us took the day off from golfing.  I took a long nap after composing my latest missive, and just about the time I headed out to the living room it began to rain....


.....in earnest.  Bob and Philip had been outside sitting by the outdoor fireplace when the rain began to go sideways, and right into their corner, which forced them to retreat indoors while the storm lasted.  Eventually the squall passed, and order was restored.....



.....it was the perfect day to sit around talking, and while we talked the rain came and went for a couple of hours......

Jeannie and Hilary

Philip and Jeannie


Richard and Liz....Liz is the daughter of my Uncle  Bob, my mother's oldest brother....she is the spitting image of her mother. 

......we had kind of a late dinner consisting of elk sausage (like ball park sized hot dogs) and a watermelon salad, then retired to the outdoor fireplace for the balance of the evening.....


......talking endlessly about everything under the sun, including many travel stories.  Finally, around 9 pm we all began to drift back inside to our rooms to wind down, and get ready for bed.  It was a wonderful day filled with interesting conversation, a lot of silliness, and laughter, and a perfect conclusion to our time here in Deer Lodge.  TLE and I will be off to Missoula Friday morning around 10 am to return our rental car, and then to the airport to catch our 1:15 pm flight to Portland.  We should be back in Medford, and our VW before 4 pm, and on our way home to LPG&RVR.

Thanks for stopping by!

Thursday, June 26, 2025

A return to form......

 7:08 am - Thursday - June 26th - Deer Lodge, MT - 56° F, humidity 47%, wind 2 mph out of the north....cloudy today with a forecast high of 74° F.  On this date in 2017 TLE and I did some hiking in Yellowstone NP.....




.....and then stopped off at the Roosevelt Lodge for some Elk Sliders.....


Well, Wednesday TLE and I slept in again.  Just like LPG&RVR, it is so quiet here, which is very conducive to deep, uninterrupted sleep.  We finally roused ourselves a little before 8 am, got some coffee, and spent more time talking with our every increasing troupe of relatives.  By Wednesday afternoon our reunion will be 8 strong when my cousin Liz, and her husband Richard arrive for a 4 day stay, and then beginning Friday our group will begin to dwindle again when TLE and I head back to Missoula to catch our flight back to Medford (MEF), which goes through Portland (PDX).  We only have a one hour layover this time.

The temperature got all the way to 78° F, which is about 10 degrees cooler than it is back at Likely right now.  We all headed down to the Pro Shop around 10:30 am to pick up our golf clubs, and rental carts to play another 18 holes.  I was a little disappointed in my play Tuesday, so was hoping Wednesday would see a return to better golf, and I was not disappointed.  By the time we had finished the first 9 holes I had 2 pars, and one birdie, and was playing just under bogey golf (averaging one over par for each hole).  My short game improved a lot, as well as my putting as I get used to the golf clubs, and the speed of the greens.  I had one amazing sand trap shot that landed just 18" from the hole; one of my best ever.

We had a great time with Bob, Hilary, Philip and Jeannie.  TLE and Jeannie don't play golf, but Hilary does, and she has become quite a good golfer.  I never, ever expected to see my sister play golf, let alone become quite proficient at it.  We stopped off at the 'snack shack' located between the 8th and 9th holes for some sliders, and drinks, as well as a restroom break, then continued to the 9th hole.  We had a few small rain showers, but managed to stay dry.

By the time we reached the 18th and final hole I had two more pars, so I felt like I was getting back into golfing form, however, I strained a muscle in my right forearm, so I'm not sure if I'll be able to play Thursday; we'll see.

We skipped the 19th hole (bar) and headed directly home to get showers, and await the arrival of Liz and Richard from Missoula.  I think they finally arrived around 6 pm, and shortly thereafter we sat down to another wonderful dinner prepared by the loving hands of my sister.....wild caught salmon, and asparagus covered with a hollandaise sauce.

After dinner we sat on the patio enjoying the sunset, and talking non-stop for quite a while, but by 9:30 pm I was 'talked out' and headed to our room to unwind before I went to bed. TLE followed 30 minutes later, and by 11 pm we were sound asleep.  No pictures were taken on this day, but a lot of fun and fellowship were had.

Thanks for stopping by!

Wednesday, June 25, 2025

Round number one.....

 7:00 am - Wednesday - June 25th - Deer Lodge, MT - 54° F, humidity 31%, wind 4 mph out of the south....partially cloudy skies today with a forecast high of 78° F.  On this date in 2012 I was having lunch with my mother, Virginia.....


.....at MacKenzie River Pizza Company in Spokane, WA.  I think she was about 85 in this picture.

TLE went to bed around 8:30 pm Monday night, and I about 10 pm.  We both slept in Tuesday morning until almost 8 am; so, so nice after 'the longest day'.  We lazed around until almost 10 am drinking Americanos, and talking with Bob and Hilary before we decided it was time to get dressed and go play 18.  I've never played this course, although TLE and I have been here two times before, so I was determined to do it this time around.  As you know, I have not played golf yet this year, but have hit a couple of buckets of balls at LPG&RVR.  

Before we travelled to Deer Lodge this time I had considered shipping my club set through an outfit called 'ShipSticks', but the cost to do so was almost as expensive as the rental car we are using, so I decided to rent a set of clubs here at the golf course, although I did bring my own golf balls, golf glove, shoes and tees.  Around 10:30 am we headed over to the Pro Shop to pick up a set of clubs, and a golf cart courtesy Bob and Hilary (thank you so much!).  The clubs are made by Titleist , and are actually quite nice.  The golf cart is a Club Car electric with all the bells and whistles.....Bluetooth stereo, range finder, ice chest, etc.  Bob and Hilary each have their own cart so they can play faster, so TLE and I had the rental all to ourselves.  Hilary and I played from the shorter tees while Bob played from the white tees.

After hitting a few balls at the driving range we headed out to the first hole to begin our round....





I got my only par of the day on the 18th hole.....a nice way to end the round

At the 18th hole

....I hit a good tee shot on the first hole, and actually a pretty good second shot, a decent chip and got a bogey; a nice beginning.  In fact for the first 6, or 7 holes I did decently, lost no balls, and was playing just over bogey golf.  And then the difficulty factor of the course began to come into play.  You really have to hit certain areas on the fairway to have a good second shot, as many of the remaining holes you are not able to see the green from where you land your first shot, so the second shots are mostly 'blind' shots.  Additionally, these greens are extremely fast, and not being familiar with them made it difficult for me to judge which way the ball would break towards the hole.  I began to lose one ball after the other in the sage brush, and by the end of the round I had lost all 6 balls I had brought with me, plus several balls TLE had found while looking for my other lost balls.  All that being said, I hit enough good shots on the remaining holes, in fact I almost drove the 15th green with my best tee shot of the day, and managed to finally get a par on the 18th and final hole; a very nice, positive way to finish the round.  By the end of the round I was getting used to the Titleist clubs, and am looking forward to a return engagement on Wednesday.

After turning in our rented cart, and the rental clubs (they put a name tag on them so I will get them again on Wednesday) we headed to the '19th hole' for some adult beverages.  We sat at the outdoor bar talking for close to an hour before heading back to the house to await the arrival of Philip (my brother) and his wife Jeannie.  Hilary made a great dinner for us (she is a very good 'chef') called Chicken Piccata, which we ate alfresco on the patio.....



It was almost 10 pm when it finally began to get dark




Left to right: Moi, Philip, TLE, Hilary, Jeannie and Bob

.....Philip and Jeannie arrived around 4 pm, and after they finished unpacking we sat around talking while Hilary prepared our dinner.  We didn't eat until well after 7 pm, and had a lovely meal, and then sat around the outdoor fireplace on the patio talking until well after 10 pm before I finally surrendered and headed to inside to get ready for bed.

Thanks for stopping by!

Tuesday, June 24, 2025

The longest day.....

 5:27 pm - Tuesday - June 24th - Deer Lodge, MT - 74° F, humidity 50%, wind 6 mph out of the northwest.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 73° F.  On this date in 2020 TLE and I were overnighting near Devil's Tower....


.....in Wyoming at Devil's Tower View Campground.

I just realized a few minutes ago that I had not posted about Monday and our travel from Medford, OR to Missoula, MT, so here goes.

We got our wake up call around 3 am, so we could be ready for the short 5 minute ride over to the airport at 4 am.  We actually boarded the shuttle around 3:45 am, and were walking into the airport just before 4 am.  It was amazing how many people were up that early....lol.  We obtained our boarding passes at the Alaska Airlines desk, then were whisked through the TSA Pre-Check line in about 3 minutes......love TSA Pre-Check!  We were at gate B-7 by 4:15 am awaiting the departure of our flight at 5:14 am to Portland, OR where we would have FIVE hour layover.....ugh!  Originally, when we booked our round trip flights our departure was at 8:15 am, but it got changed about 2 weeks ago.

Anyway, our plane to Portland was in the air a little after 5:15 am, and we landed, without incident, in Portland around 6:15 am.  We immediately walked over to a restaurant for breakfast....


Before the 7 am flights departed....

....and then after

....I had intended to bring my Bluetooth earbuds so I could watch a movie during our 5 hour layover, but discovered they were not in my computer satchel, so I walked way down to the 'C' concourse to find a store selling them, and I was successful.....


.....now I have two pairs of Bluetooth earbuds.  I ended up watching a movie called 'Accountant 2' with Ben Affleck.  I had seen the original 'Accountant' years ago, and enjoyed this 2nd installment, too.  The movie was almost 2.5 hours long, and by the time I finished watching it the time was 11:30 am, and just over 40 minutes until our flight.....


......our second flight of the day departed on time at 11:10 am, arriving in Missoula, MT at 1:35 pm Montana time (we moved from Pacific DST to Mountain DST).  By 2 pm were in the shuttle heading to the car rental agency where we picked up our rental car, a Hyundai Sonata, for the 1.5 hour drive to Deer Lodge.....the car is a hybrid (electric and gas), so it took me a few minutes to figure everything out, but within about 10 minutes we were on I-90 headed west to Deer Lodge....




....we arrived at the entry gate to Rock Creek Cattlemen's Club around 3:30 pm.....


....and in another 5 minutes were at the Clubhouse awaiting Bob's (brother-in-law) arrival to lead us up to their home.  By the time we unpacked, and sat down to relax we had already been awake for 13 hours.  It was a very long travel day, but we arrived safely without incident, and that is what is really important.....


.....we'll spend the next three days relaxing, playing at least three rounds of golf, and spending time with my brother Philip, and Jeannie (sister-in-law)....nice!

Thanks for stopping by!

Monday, June 23, 2025

On the 5th day......

 3:00 am - Monday - June 23rd - Medford, OR - 54° F, humidity  59%, wind 8 mph out of the north by northwest......clear, blue skies and the high for the day has been reached.  On this date in 2020 TLE and I were at Lake de Smet in Wyoming......


Sunday was my 5th consecutive day of work, which will be now be followed by 5 days of no work....YAY!  I arrived at the 'Cart Return' area at 7 am to begin my day, so I could be off by 2:30 pm.  After checking the tee time sheet I staged 20 golf carts, then another 9 later in the day for a total of 30....a very good Sunday for LPG&RVR.  Once the carts were staged I headed down to the night office to turn on a few sprinklers, then back to the parking lot grass to do the same....

A beautiful day at LPG&RVR  

....I noticed on my drive back from the Night Office that 6 of the 10 back in sites had been vacated, and needed to be trimmed, and mowed.  By the time I finished mowing/trimming I had mowed 7 of the back in sites, the large gazebo grass, the grass by site #30, tent sites 1-3, and the grass area next to the restrooms.  Since TLE was off Sunday I did not have to give Kathy (TLE's counterpart) a lunch break, as she has Lynn give her a lunch break.  I just kept on going all the way to 2:30 pm, by which time I had been able to wash and stow 6 of the 30 golf carts.  Claude agreed to take my place from 2:30 pm through 3:30 pm, and I'm hoping he was able to get a good portion of the remaining 24 golf carts washed and stowed.

TLE and I were in the VW headed northwest to Medford, OR by 2:40 pm.  We have a 5:14 am flight out of Rogue Valley International Medford Airport Monday morning.  It's about 3 hours and 25 minutes to Medford, so TLE drove the first 90 minutes to Merrill, OR where we refueled, and I took over the driving.  We arrived right at the hotel right at 6:05 pm, and were in our room a few minutes later.  We'll be up at 3 am to catch the 4 am shuttle to the airport.  We'll leave our car here at the hotel while we're gone.  As is usually the case our 3+ hour journey was without incident.

Thanks for stopping by!