Discount Tuesday!

6:44 am - Wednesday - June 5th - Ramona, CA - 58° F, 94% humidity, wind - CALM.......clear blue skies this morning with a forecast high of 85° F....it's going to be a warm one!  The view this morning......↴

We had a very short lived marine layer event Tuesday morning, and when the sun came out from behind the clouds at 9:30 am it quickly began to warm.  We have had no mouse incursions for three days in a row now, which is good news.  Around 10 am I walked down to the office to retrieve a package delivered by Amazon late Monday afternoon containing some Dicor self leveling caulk which will be used when I install our new Winegard HD satellite dish in the next few weeks.  I don't remember if I have mentioned it, but DirecTV is discontinuing their SD signal (Standard Definition) this year, and if we wish to continue to be DirecTV customers we will have to get an HD receiver and the new HD satellite dish.  I have already purchased and received the new dish (it's at my son's warehouse right now), but am waiting for Chris, my son, to bring it down to Ramona....the box is way too big for the Beetle.

I next went up to the trailer to retrieve my Intense 5.5 for another short ride.  I managed to ride 1.35 miles around the park this time including 3, or 4 short climbs.  I got winded on all the climbs, but recovered quickly after each one.  Feels good to be exercising again.

Tuesday is Taco Tuesday (2 original fish tacos for $6.99 including drink) at the local Rubio's Coastal Grill so we left to drive into Ramona around 11:30 am to get a haircut at Supercuts, and then have lunch at Rubio's.  What I didn't know is that Tuesday is also discount day at Supercuts......instead of their normal $21 for a haircut, it was only $16, so now we have two reasons to go into Ramona on Tuesdays......

 Two original fish tacos with chips and beans.....yum!

.....the final surprise of the day was had when we walked over to Goodwill (it's in the same shopping center a Supercuts and Rubios) and found out it was Senior discount day.....wow, three reasons to visit Ramona on Tuesdays!  TLE found a pyrex baking dish to replace one she broke a while back for $3.99, and I found two long sleeve sports shirts to use for bike riding.

We were home before 3 pm, and a few minutes later we were relaxing out on the 'lido deck' for the rest of the afternoon.  We both read books while listening to Classic Vinyl on XM Radio.  TLE brought out some snacks (cheese, crackers, sliced radishes, and a bottle of wine about 4:30......

.....when we eat out for lunch we usually do not have dinner....the snacks and wine were just perfect.  It began to cool off around 5:30 pm so we retreated to the Newell interior for the evening.  

We watched a few recorded shows ('American Pickers', 'Deadliest Catch', and 'SYTYCD'*) before calling it a day.  Back to work Wednesday with higher temps in the offing!

Thanks for stopping by!

*SYTYCD =  So you think you can dance

P.S. - The Amazon Affiliate link below is the only one that works correctly for some reason.  I am trying to fix the numerous other links you will find on my blog pages, but for now if you wish to use our affiliate link please use the one below......↴

When you shop Amazon, please use our link (below) to access their website.......we will appreciate every purchase you make using our Amazon Affiliate link, and  remember, using our link will not add one penny to your purchase, plus we will receive a small commission which over the course of a year adds up to enough to by a tank of diesel.

"Wonderful tonight........"

7:08 am - Tuesday - June 4th - Ramona, CA - 58° F, 92% humidity (heavy dew last night), wind - CALM.......marine layer this morning with a forecast high of 82° F.....the view last night........↴

We were sitting in the salon of our Newell Monday evening reading, and listening to XM Radio's Classic Vinyl when one of the most beautiful love songs ever written began to play.....Eric Clapton's "Wonderful Tonight".....

.

This is probably my favorite version of  "Wonderful tonight" by Eric Clapton

....every time I hear this song I think of my lovely Elaine....a mist falls across my eyes, because I know how blessed and fortunate I am to have had her in my life for the last 51 years.  When we met in December of 1967 we were both just barely 18 years old.  She had long blonde hair.....she had then, and still has today this amazing smile that just begs to be memorialized in photo after photo.....

 First date

Married 2 months.....Lake Tahoe, of course!

 TLE and Jeannie (my brother Philip's wife)

 Ft. Meyers, FL

 Left to right: Jill (sister), Phil (brother), Virginia (mother), moi, TLE

 At her brother, Creig's wedding back in the 80's (TLE left, 

Phyllis [sister] right)

With Roscoe and Geni in Georgia

 Florida Keys

......I said "Yes....you look wonderful tonight...".

I spent a couple of hours at the trailer (powered by my Honda 2000) working on my mountain bike.  I haven't ridden it since June of last summer, and here it is June of 2019.  It is a crime to let this bike sit unused.  I wiped a year's worth of dust off her, sprayed some silicon spray on her full suspension pivot points, cleaned and lubed her chain, checked the air pressure in her shocks, added air to her tubeless tires, and brake fluid to her rear hydraulic brake......

With my beloved Intense 5.5 at Cape Blanco, OR a few years ago

.....I built my Intense 5.5 (5" of travel front and rear) from scratch.  The frame was acquired through eBay for $800, and then I gradually over the course of a month purchased all the parts and put her together.   If I had bought it new, completely assembled, directly from Intense in Temecula, CA it would have cost me over $5,000.  I built it myself for around $2,500.....it is the best mountain bike I have ever owned.....I have had it for over 12 years, and she still rides like she is brand new.  After tuning her up I took her for a ride around the park.  It's the first time I've ridden a bike since we were in Fontana back in early April.  I rode up to the water tower, down to the office, and back to the trailer for a grand total of 1 mile.  She runs great!  I hope to increase my distance over the next month to a few miles each time I ride.

We sat outside on the 'Lido deck' for a few hours enjoying the afternoon sun, and breezes whilst reading and listening to Classic Vinyl on XM Radio....a perfect afternoon capped off with a bowl of TLE's amazing chili con carne.  I finished reading a book, and then installed another string of red LED lights .......perfect!

Thanks for stopping by!

P.S. - The Amazon Affiliate link below is the only one that works correctly for some reason.  I am trying to fix the numerous other links you will find on my blog pages, but for now if you wish to use our affiliate link please use the one below......↴

When you shop Amazon, please use our link (below) to access their website.......we will appreciate every purchase you make using our Amazon Affiliate link, and  remember, using our link will not add one penny to your purchase, plus we will receive a small commission which over the course of a year adds up to enough to by a tank of diesel.

The end of Eddy.....

7:25 am - Monday - June 3rd - Ramona, CA - 57° F, 90% humidity, wind - CALM......heavy marine layer today with a forecast high of 77° F......the view this morning......↴

Have I told you I love Sunday's here at RORVR?  I have?  Well, I'm telling you again....I love Sundays at RORVR!!  Since we only work for 5 hours on Sundays we rarely ever begin big projects.  It is just a status quo kind of day.  After opening the storage yard, the Red Barn and pool I took care of a few small tasks on the 'To Do' list......replace a sprinkler near the kiosk, clean a couple of BBQ's, move some cots out to the two permanent tents in sites 10 and 11 (wooden platforms with large tents, BBQ's, water, electric), etc.  After lunch I helped a woman in site 58 check her outdoor propane fireplace for a propane leak (her fireplace was fine....the propane bottle she was using has a leak in the valve).  That was my Sunday....TLE spent the day in the office, but reported things were not that busy.  We were off work at 2 pm....TLE chose to walk home, while I drove the golf cart home.  I took a nice nap, and then read a book for part of the afternoon.  We had planned to sit outside for the afternoon, but it was just too cold......I don't think it ever got over 68° F, and the marine layer never really burned off until after 4 pm.  The park was not that full over the weekend, and while we did have the usual rush of departures Sunday morning, we had about as many new arrivals in the afternoon.  Right now I would say the park is about 50% occupied.  As the marine layer disappears, and it becomes warmer things will pick up significantly as they always do at almost any RV park during the summer season.

Our streak of finding mice in our mouse traps for five consecutive days ended at five.....no mice were found Sunday morning....finally.  I'm going to have to find out where they are getting into the RV.  Every mouse we have trapped has been in the water bay, but there are only two places (around the sewer dump valve, and where the city water comes into the water bay) where they could get it, but they are both sealed tight with caulking filling all the gaps around those pipes.  They must be ingressing somewhere else and heading for the water bay.  So far we have had no intrusion into the living area of the Newell, so we've got that going for us.

As we often do no matter where we are living, we order things from Amazon, and almost always get our items within 2 days.  Since we arrived here at RORVR we have been getting most things from Amazon in less than one day....seriously!  TLE and I ordered a few things Saturday evening after work, and all but one item was delivered Sunday afternoon!  I guess that's one of the benefits of living in SoCal, and being so close to so many Amazon fulfillment centers.  

We continue to enjoy our lives here at RORVR, and are looking forward to some warmer weather as the 'Catalina Eddy' begins to break up over the next 10 days!

Thanks for stopping by!

P.S. - The Amazon Affiliate link below is the only one that works correctly for some reason.  I am trying to fix the numerous other links you will find on my blog pages, but for now if you wish to use our affiliate link please use the one below......↴

When you shop Amazon, please use our link (below) to access their website.......we will appreciate every purchase you make using our Amazon Affiliate link, and  remember, using our link will not add one penny to your purchase, plus we will receive a small commission which over the course of a year adds up to enough to by a tank of diesel.

'Saturday in the park......'

7:05 am - Sunday - June 2nd - Ramona, CA - 56° F, 84% humidity, wind 5 mph out of the west by northwest.......cloudy (May/June gloom) today with a forecast high of 74° F......the view this morning.......↴

Saturday in the park by Chicago

Another 'Saturday in the park'.......the marine layer did not dissipate until after 12 pm.  It was quite cool, and I wore my RORVR hoody sweatshirt zipped up until then.  After opening the park, and checking the water tower level I reported back to Rich to see what was on his agenda for the day.  He gave me a new mixer valve to install in Cabin # 94's shower.  The old one was leaking, and was probably 10 years old.....no one knows.  I've changed a lot of shower mixer valves over the years, and it is normally a 10 minute project beginning to end, but then there is the 'Hockwald way' which means it will take two people working for an hour to get it loose without breaking anything.  When there is such a long interval in between mixers calcification begins to accumulate around the valve making it difficult to remove. Nevertheless, after a lot of tugging by Rich and I it finally came out.  After using a cylindrical wire brush to remove calcium deposits from the guide and smooth out the walls we installed the new mixer in a couple of minutes.

The old plastic stubborn mixer valve......the new one is brass

By the time we closed up the cabin it was after 11:30 am so I headed back to the office area to work on another project.....cut back the ice plant along each side of the gravel driveway leading to the tool shed so it would be possible to back the company pickup truck in there without driving over the ice plant.  This job took me up to lunch at 12:30 pm, and after lunch until almost 2:30 pm to complete.  Things were slow in the office so TLE came outside to do some weeding in the office flower beds.  When I was ready to pick up all the ice plant I had cut TLE came over to help me load 7 trash barrels full of the stuff.  A trash barrel full of ice plant weighs around 60 pounds.....about twice the amount of weight I am allowed to lift right now, so TLE helped me put each barrel on the back of the golf cart then unload it back in the storage yard where we pile branches, weeds, grass cutting, plant cuttings, etc.

I had just finished unloading the final barrel of ice plant when I got a call over the 2-way radio from Rich asking me to get the the keys to the Kubota loader from the office, and bring it up to the storage yard where he was attempting to unload some large metal posts with concrete attached to the bottoms.  He had used the Kubota to load them on the company pickup, but thought he could roll them off the back of the truck, however, they were a little too heavy and awkward for him.  Using a large chain attached to the loader bucket I lifted each one off the truck as Rich gave directions.....my first time using the tractor and no small animals, or children were harmed.  The metal posts with concrete were removed from the area of the propane station so it could be moved to a better location.  Rich was digging a trench for the new electrical conduit which will power the propane station in its new location, which, in turn, necessitated moving the old posts which were laying the path of the trench.

Caroline, our housekeeper, had been trimming the hedges on the north side of the Red Barn before lunch, but she went home for the day not feeling well, so for the last 90 minutes of the work day I finished what she was doing hauling away the hedge trimmings, cleaning up, and putting away her tools.  Every day here at RORVR is different, and I like that a lot.  The time seems to fly, which I like even better.  The work is satisfying and varied.

Thanks for stopping by!

P.S. - The Amazon Affiliate link below is the only one that works correctly for some reason.  I am trying to fix the numerous other links you will find on my blog pages, but for now if you wish to use our affiliate link please use the one below......↴

When you shop Amazon, please use our link (below) to access their website.......we will appreciate every purchase you make using our Amazon Affiliate link, and  remember, using our link will not add one penny to your purchase, plus we will receive a small commission which over the course of a year adds up to enough to by a tank of diesel.

Catalina Eddy......

6:59 am - Saturday - June 1st - Ramona, CA - 57° F, 86% humidity, wind 3 mph out of the southwest......cloudy today with a forecast high of 75° F.......the view this morning.......↴

We're temporarily back into the 'May/June gloom' scenario caused by a local weather phenomenon called the 'Catalina eddy'.  Typically, in May and June each year, the normal northwesterly winds are funneled inland by the channel islands,  of which Catalina Island is one, which can be blocked by the local mountains causing a reverse vortex which creates a thick marine layer.  This marine layer is rarely ever more than 100 miles in diameter, but can extend as far inland as the Mojave desert on some mornings, and can be as much as 6,000' thick.    I look forward to a healthy 'May/June gloom' cycle when I am in SoCal during the summer as it means lower temperatures for as long as it lasts.  Some years it has extended far into July making for a cooler than normal summer.  Never fear, however, by Tuesday it will be gone for a while and we will have temps as far as the 'eye can see' (well, about 10 days, anyway) in the 80's.

We began our work day Friday at 12:30 pm, which will be our norm for the summer months.  TLE had  a very busy day in the office taking one reservation after another, and checking a small group into the park for the weekend.  I spent the first half of my work day doing a lot of small tasks (install a new door handle assembly, glue some vinyl flooring back down, assembling new new shelving for housekeeping, blow the leaves off the mini golf course, spray weed poison on a bunch of weeds, blow dirt and rocks off of one of the interior roads), and in the afternoon got to learn how to operate our Kubota front loader tractor, as well as the Craftsman riding lawn mower.  I took the riding lawn mower up on the road to the water tower to mow down the weeds on the dirt road, and along each side of it.....that was fun....😉......that was pretty much my day.

I picked up TLE from the office around 7: 15 pm, and drove with her up to the water tower to check the water level.  It was about 1,500 gallons down so I ran one pump for an hour to add a 1,000 gallons for overnight.  Around 9:30 pm we headed back out to 'close' the park (lock the storage yard, Red Barn, and pool, as well as check the two bathroom facilities to be sure there were no clogged toilets and plenty of paper (towels, and TP).

On the domestic front our mouse traps have collected 4 mice in the last four days.  I think the most we have ever caught was 2 over the course of two days, and then nothing, but the local mice seem to be quite active, and successful in entering our home.  We have 7 traps deployed in the basement compartments, and I am hoping the plague is over.....(not.....just checked and caught another in the water bay! 5 days in a row now!).  We were in bed a little after 10 pm.

Thanks for stopping by!

P.S. - The Amazon Affiliate link below is the only one that works correctly for some reason.  I am trying to fix the numerous other links you will find on my blog pages, but for now if you wish to use our affiliate link please use the one below......↴

When you shop Amazon, please use our link (below) to access their website.......we will appreciate every purchase you make using our Amazon Affiliate link, and  remember, using our link will not add one penny to your purchase, plus we will receive a small commission which over the course of a year adds up to enough to by a tank of diesel.

Stop the leaking!

8:01 am - Friday - May 31st - Ramona, CA - 56° F, 93% humidity, wind - CALM....foggy this morning with a forecast high of 77° F.....the view today.......↴

Thursday means pool vacuuming day here at RORVR, and after opening the storage area, and the Red Barn I headed over to the pool to test for PH and chlorine levels, clean out the skimmers, put a few hundred gallons in the pool, and then vacuum it.......

 Listening to some tunes

.....of course, the ducks made an appearance sometime during the night and left another deposit, so I had to retrieve the long hose from the tool shed to wash off the deck once again.  By the time I finished with the pool I had about an hour until lunch so I retrieved the pressure washer from the tool shed and took it up to sites 17, 18 and 19 to pressure wash the 3 picnic tables in those sites.  I finished just before it was time for lunch....perfect!

I spent the afternoon pressure washing the hast two cabins in sites 98 and 124.  It take about an hour to pressure wash each cabin including the setup and take down time for the pressure washer, so I was finished with them just after 3 pm.  I had an hour left until quitting time so I had planned to move the pressure washer down to the 80's to pressure wash some more picnic tables, but on my way I received a call over the 2-way radio that the water faucet in site 16 was spraying water, so I headed there to check it out.  Sure enough water was spraying out of a crack in the galvanized pipe just below the coupling.  It appeared someone had backed into the pipe bending it just below the coupling resulting in a crack.  

I contacted my co-worker, Alika, to see if he knew where the valve was that turned off the water to site 16.  He went to Rich's golf cart (he and Marnie were off  work Thursday) to retrieve the water schematic for the park.  It indicated the valve controlling the water flow to site 16 was up by site 30 next to the fire hydrant, so he went there to turn off the water while I waited at site 16.  Within minutes the water pressure went down, and soon there was just a trickle of water coming out of the cracked pipe.....

The faucet and coupling removed from the cracked pipe

 The cracked pipe waiting to have about an 

inch cut off the top so it could be re-threaded

I next retrieved the pipe cutter, pipe threader, teflon tape,  and pipe wrench from the tool shed to begin the repair.  Using the pipe wrench I removed the coupling from the pipe coming out of the concrete, verified it was, indeed, cracked, then began to use the pipe cutter to remove the bad piece, however the pipe cutter was missing a couple of screws and would not work properly.  About that time Rich and Marnie arrived home, and he brought his 'Sawsall' down to finish cutting the cracked piece off the pipe.  Once that was done it was time to re-thread the top of the pipe, and then reinstall the faucet.......

The repair is complete....turn on the water!

......I looked at my watch as I loaded the tools back on the golf cart and it was 5 minutes to 4.....perfect.  On Thursdays TLE is the only person in the office in the afternoon so she stays on to 5 pm to close the office.  I bid her adieu and headed for the barn with another day in the books.  I felt pleasantly tired....a far cry from two weeks ago, right?

TLE told me she would walk home, and she arrived about 5:10 pm.  As I have written before, I love working at RORVR.....every day is different, and I'm even allowed, and trusted to 'fix' broken things when I find them.....quite a contrast to last summer's experience.

Since we don't report for work on Friday's until the afternoon we were up until 11 pm watching some recorded shows ('The Amazing Race', and 'Elementary').....thanks for stopping by!

P.S. - The Amazon Affiliate link below is the only one that works correctly for some reason.  I am trying to fix the numerous other links you will find on my blog pages, but for now if you wish to use our affiliate link please use the one below......↴

When you shop Amazon, please use our link (below) to access their website.......we will appreciate every purchase you make using our Amazon Affiliate link, and  remember, using our link will not add one penny to your purchase, plus we will receive a small commission which over the course of a year adds up to enough to by a tank of diesel.

A day in the life......

6:26 am - Thursday - May 30th - Ramona, CA - 55° F, 87% humidity, wind 1 mph out of the west by southwest.....sunny, clear blue skies today with a forecast high of 81° F.....the view this morning.......↴

A new monthly neighbor

Beginning Wednesday we are finally on our regular weekly schedule.  We are off work Monday and Tuesday, and work Wednesday through Sunday.  Rich and Marnie are off work Wednesday and Thursday.  Both TLE and I are working 33 hours per week (7 hours per day for four days, and only 5 hours on Sundays), which is perfect.  We are off work by 4 pm 4 days per week, and off by 2 pm on Sundays.

The only work duty that repeats everyday for me is opening the storage yard, pool, the Red Barn, and checking the water level in the water tank (was down 3,000 gallons so I ran both pumps for 1.5 hours.....the pumps add about 2,000 gallons of water per hour).  The pool takes the longest as I must complete the daily pool tests for chlorine and PH levels, as well as empty the skimmers of any debris they have collected in the past 24 hours, and then add water to the pool/Jacuzzi as needed.  Sometimes Rich goes to work earlier than 9 am, and he takes care of the pool, but most days I do.  Right now I vacuum the pool once a week, but as it gets warmer and we have more customers that will be happening more often, but still on an as needed basis.

Once I am done with the opening activities I then check the 'To Do' list in the employee break room and choose something to do.  As of Wednesday I still have 4 cabins to pressure wash so I saved the next two for the afternoon after lunch.  In the morning I cleaned up around the barn, raked the horseshoe pits, got a long hose to wash some duck poop off the pool deck, installed a couple of new "KEEP LOCKED" signs to the pool gate, installed a couple of screens on a heater vent on one of the cabins where some woodpeckers were trying to store acorns for next winter, and then spent the rest of the morning with the Stihl hand blower blowing leaves off the artificial turf in the playground.

At 1 pm I gathered up the pressure washer, an extension cord, and the long 100' hose to take up to cabins 64 and 65 to pressure wash them.  It takes about an hour per cabin, which includes setting up and taking down the pressure washer, pressure washing the deck, the cabin itself, the plastic stackable chairs on the deck of each cabin, and the picnic table.  While I am in the vicinity I usually pressure wash any picnic tables within 100' on either side of the cabins.

I ended my work day with the Stihl hand blower up at the mini golf course blowing leaves and debris off each hole, which takes just about an hour.  Before heading back to the office I checked the water tank water level once again and found it just 500 gallons down, so I took no action.  I picked up TLE from the office at 4 pm and we were home a few minutes later.

On Wednesday's and Thursday's TLE and I also close the park which involves locking the storage yard, Red Barn, and pool, plus checking on the condition of the two restroom facilities, plus verifying the office, tool shed, and supply buildings are locked.  It takes just under 20 minutes to do it all.  Now that we are into the summer schedule we do the 'close' at 9:30 pm.  On the weekends we split the 'close' duties with Rich and Marnie....they take on day and we take the other.

In just a few short days we have gone from temps in the high 50's combined with rain, and heavy overcast to clear blue skies and temps in the low 80's......my body is having a difficult time keeping up with the whiplash like weather changes, but I'm sure I'll adapt to the warmer temps in about a week.....for now it feels like it is much warmer than 81° F!

Thanks for stopping by!

P.S. - The Amazon Affiliate link below is the only one that works correctly for some reason.  I am trying to fix the numerous other links you will find on my blog pages, but for now if you wish to use our affiliate link please use the one below......↴

When you shop Amazon, please use our link (below) to access their website.......we will appreciate every purchase you make using our Amazon Affiliate link, and  remember, using our link will not add one penny to your purchase, plus we will receive a small commission which over the course of a year adds up to enough to by a tank of diesel.