6 to 1

6:34 am - Thursday - June 13th - Ramona, CA - 58° F, 93% humidity, wind 3 mph out of the west by southwest......marine layer (yay!) this morning with a forecast high of 80° F.  So, the heatwave is now officially past tense, and for the next week we should see temps back in the 70's.  I will be going to work at the normal 9 am most days for the near future, which I prefer.....the view this morning.......↴

The marine layer has mercifully returned

I began my work day Wednesday at 6 am, which works out well as it is just getting light about that time.  After checking the water level in the water tower (1,000 gallons down) and turning on one pump for an hour I headed to brush and vacuum the pool.  It got quite breezy last Sunday, which resulted in leaves being blown into the pool......

A lot of leaves on the bottom of the pool

.....it was quite a mess.  I planned to be finished with the pool by 8:30 am, but one end of the vacuum hose had developed a crack, which made it difficult to maintain suction while I was vacuuming the pool.  On numerous occasions I had to reestablish suction to continue vacuuming, and lost it so often that it took me until 9:30 am to finish....oh well, right?  By that time it was already getting much warmer.  

 I had been on the job for 3.5 hours and it was time for 'lunch'.  Normally Rich is off work Wednesdays, but as I approached the office area I saw him working on the wiring for our propane station.....he has been trying to get it back into service, and was just about done with the wiring on Tuesday afternoon, so he wanted to get it finished.  We talked about what he was doing for a while, and I let him know about the cracked hose fitting on the vacuum hose.  By the time we finished talking it was going on 10:30 am, and I was hungry.  I took my 30 minute lunch, and was back to organizing the supply building by 11 am with just 2 hours to go in my work day!  By the time 1 pm rolled around I was about 95% done with the reorganization, so the end is in sight for that task.

It only got to 88° F Wednesday, but it was only 86° F when I clocked out for the day.  I bid adieu to TLE who had begun her day at the normal 9 am time, and advised her I would return at 4 pm to return my 2-way radio, and give her a ride home.  I kept my radio as TLE and I were the only ones on duty, and as a result I offered to be on call in case anything happened with which she needed help.

I was glad I was able to start my day at 6 am to avoid the heat of the day, and I look forward to having that option as the summer temperatures continue to rise, but it will take me a while to get used to it.

We had the 'CLOSE' shift Wednesday, and it took us just 15 minutes to make the rounds.  We returned about 9:45 pm, and I decided to read for about 15-20 minutes before going to bed.  Just as I closed my book the power went out in the park....the entire park.  I contacted Rich and found out it was not just us, but a large area around Ramona that was without power.  Apparently SDG&E (San Diego Gas and Electric) had a transformer go out, but advised we should have power by 1:30 am, so I went to bed.  I woke up around 1:20 am and saw the power was on once again......good!

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13 nil.......

4:53 pm - Wednesday - June 12th - Ramona, CA - 86° F, 43% humidity, wind 9 mph out of the west.....sunny, clear......forecast high for the day has past...it was 88° F.....the view this afternoon.....↴

Tuesday was a lovely day from beginning to end.  We have not been out for breakfast in Ramona since we arrived 6 weeks ago, and it was time Tuesday to visit Ramona Cafe (famous for their cinnamon rolls as seen on Triple D....Diners, Drive Ins and Dives).  They serve breakfast all day so we drove into town just before 10 am to have a late breakfast......

......unless I find Huevos Rancheros on a breakfast menu I almost always order eggs and bacon, and that I what I ordered this day.  The two eggs (any style....over easy for moi) come with 4 strips of very lean hickory smoked bacon, toast (I had an English muffin), and a generous portion of home fries.....TLE ordered their regular Eggs Benedict.......

.....she advised that the hollandaise sauce was excellent.  I always (as you can tell from the picture above) put my over easy eggs on top of the home fries, and then add Tabasco sauce liberally.  The coffee was very, very good.  One thing to keep in mind if you eat here is you must put, as my good friend Karen often says, 'your patience in your pocket'....where have I got to be, right?.....the food service is not fast, however, our waitress came by often to refill our cups with coffee.  I always tell TLE I don't care about slow service as long as the food is very good, and it was very, very good!

Our big goal of the day was to stay cool, and to watch the USA women's soccer team play their first match of the current installment of the FIFA World Cup.....they were matched with Thailand, and let's face it....Thailand is not very good at all.  At the end of the first half the USA led 3 to nil, however, the second half was a different matter.....the USA scored 10 goals to win 13-0....the largest margin of victory in any World Cup match (men or women) ever.....

 10-0 

 11-0

  12-0

13-0

......we were not expecting that at all....may 4, or 5 to nil, but not 13 to nil....WOW!

I went to bed at 9 pm since I planned to be at work at 6 am, as I wrote in my 'Heads up' blog post earlier this morning, to 'beat the heat' as they say.

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Heads up......

5:18 am - Wednesday - June 12th - Ramona, CA - 60° F, 86% humidity, wind 3 mph out of the east by northeast.......still dark, but assuming it will be clear, blue skies today.  Forecast high is 91° F....a nice drop from Tuesday's 98° F high, but still hot!  No view today as it is still dark!  

As a heads up I am going to work at 6 am (today included) on days when the temperature is forecast to be over 90° F so I can be finished by 1 pm and avoid the worst of the heat.  It was an idea suggested by Rich, my manager, and I gladly accepted his offer as I do not know what I would have done the last two days it was so hot.  At any rate, I will not write my blog post about Tuesday until this afternoon as I need to get dressed and be off to work in less than 30 minutes now, and that will be the case on any day I go to work this early....thank you in advance for your understanding!

Have a great morning, and I will see you on the 'flip side'....thanks for stopping by!  Check back around 2 pm eastern time for the rest of the story!

Free at last!

8:19 am - Tuesday - June 11th - Ramona, CA - 80° F, 39% humidity, wind 5 mph out of the west by northwest.....clear, blue skies this day with a forecast high of 96° F.....the view this morning.......↴

3rd successive day with temps in the 90's....one more day to go and then back into the 80's

Monday marked one month since I had my right eye cataract surgery, and I had a date with my optometrist at Pacific Eye Institute to see how well my eye had healed post surgery.  The appointment was for 11:30 am, so we left a little after 9 am to make the two hour drive, which was totally uneventful. We arrived at PEI at 11:05 am, and by 11:45 am I was being shown into the examination room.  Within minutes I was pronounced completely healed, and able to suspend the night time eye patch, and 4 times daily eye drops.....ahhhhh FREE AT LAST!

We decided to stop by my son's office (Chris) to pick up any mail we might have, and spent a few minutes talking with he and his daughter, Cynthia, and then headed over to Rubio's for lunch where TLE had arranged to meet my daughter, Sharon and her son Brayden, as well as our daughter-in-law, Laila (Tim's wife), and her son Crosby for lunch at Rubio's in Rancho Cucamonga at 12:30 pm.  By this time the temps in Rancho has pushed north of 100° F.  We normally utilize their alfresco dining area, but wanted to sit inside on such a hot day.  Well, everyone else had the same idea....normally we are fighting for space outside, but when it's over 100° F the inside seating becomes the battleground.  There was one 4 person table  available inside, but we were a party of 6 so TLE and I snagged the shadiest cornier of the alfresco dining area and awaited the arrival of our kids.  Sharon is a teacher, and, therefore, is on summer break, and Laila is still on maternity leave so they were the only ones available for lunch on a Monday......

....what a nice time we had chatting and eating some amazing fish tacos.  By 1:20 pm it was getting even hotter, so we bid adieu to our kids and headed back to Ramona with planned stops at COSTCO and TJ's.  I've had all my prescriptions transferred to the COSTCO in San Marcos (next to Escondido) and it was time to refill my numerous prescriptions.  The blood pressure, beta blocker and cholesterol medications are not that expensive....about $50 per month, but the Brlininta (super aspirin.....makes your blood less 'sticky' so it won't stick to the stint in my artery) without any discounts is $418/month!  Fortunately I received my first 30 day supply free, and I received from Palomar Medical Center a Brilinta discount card reducing that cost to $275.  Fortunately I only have to take Brilinta for 12 months!  They do have other programs which could further reduce my cost, but I needed a valid RX# to apply for those discounts, and will do so now.

From COSTCO we drove a few miles over to the local TJ's where TLE stocked up on wine, and some other food items we prefer to get from TJ's.  We were on our way back to RORVR by 4:30 pm arriving just after 5 pm to a very hot Newell.  We had chosen to leave the A/C off while we were gone, but it got so hot during the day (the high ended up being 101° F in Ramona), that it took 45 minutes to cool off the interior of the coach.  I think we'll leave one A/C running next time it is going to be this hot and we are going to be gone all day.

We spent the evening watching recorded Women's FIFA World Cup matches, and were in bed by 10 pm  happy to be done with eye appointments, and doctor appointments for at least 6 weeks now.....I have a followup appointment with my cardiologist in late July.

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A pleasant surprise......

7:20 am - Monday - June 10th - Ramona, CA - 67° F, 52% humidity, wind 1 mph out of the east by northeast......clear, blue skies with a forecast high of 99° F (hit 97° yesterday)....the view this morning.....↴

We knew Sunday was going to be a scorcher, and it did not disappoint.  By the time we reported for work it was already in the mid 80's heading for a high of 97° F.  By the time I finished opening the pool I was already sweating and it wasn't even 10 am yet.

Sundays, as you know, are short days for us.....we only work from 9 am to 2 pm, and was I ever thankful I would not still be working at 4 pm!  Rich encouraged me to stay out of the sun for which I was grateful, so I started doing some more cleanup in the tool shed.  I was walking into the shed when I noticed, for the first time, what appeared to be some sort of street sign affixed to the inside of the shed door, but backwards so you could not see what it was.  Being a curious sort of guy I removed the two screws holding it in place to find out it was a warning sign for our park exit.....we have these spikes which prevent people from entering the wrong way, and bypassing our security gate.....one sign advises you are going the wrong way, and severe tire damage will result.  The other, the one I found on the shed door, faces the way you would exit and warns you not to back up or you will have severe tire damage.......

....I'm not sure who took down the 'SEVERE TIRE DAMAGE, DO NOT BACK UP' sign, but it was obvious to Rich and I that it should be put back on the pole, so I did just that.  I took down the one sign which was still there and then remounted them back to back with a piece of wood on one end to act as a spacer.....came out pretty nice.....

.....now people are properly warned about 'severe tire damage' no matter which direction they may find themselves going.

After I finished reinstalling the sign I moved over to the supply building to continue the reorganizing I had begun a couple of weeks ago when it was raining.  There is an air conditioning unit in that building so it was the perfect place to work on a very hot day.  By the time 2 pm rolled around the heat was beginning to overcome the small window A/C unit.  I picked up TLE from the office and we headed for the Newell.

There are reported to be 40 wineries in the Ramona area, and one of them, Ramona Ranch Winery (Yelp gives them 4.5 stars on 33 reviews) is just a mile down the road from RORVR.  They only do wine tasting on the weekends, and we had meant to visit them after work on a Sunday since we first arrived, so I took a quick shower, got dressed and we headed down the road arriving at the winery about 2:40 pm.

They have this lovely covered patio area just off the tasting room where we headed after tasting 4 of their wines.  We settled on their Savignon Blanc (2017) to sip while we sat outside.  They charge $2.00 per tasting, and a glass is $8.00.  Even though it was 97° F the steady breeze we encountered, plus the very low humidity made it quite pleasant....

.....much to our surprise they provide live music on the weekends from 3 pm to 6 pm.  On this day there was a guitarist providing the entertainment, and he was very good.....

.....by 4 pm we had consumed two glasses of their Savignon Blanc and it was time to head home for a nap.  Next time we go we will take some snacks to enjoy with the wine, and spent a little more time.  This winery and the patio setting was a very pleasant surprise!

We spent the evening watching recorded FIFA Womens World Cup matches.  We were finally able to turn off our A/C units around 8 pm when the temp got back into the 70's once again.  That's the first time we've run our A/C since the first day we arrived at RORVR, and I am sure it will not be the last!

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Saturday projects......

6:35 am - Sunday - June 9th - Ramona, CA - 55° F, 82% humidity, wind - CALM.......clear, blue skies today with a forecast high of 96° F.......the view this morning........↴

Saturday had a warm feel to it from the very beginning....it was cooler inside the Newell at 8:50 am than it was outside as I got ready to leave for work.  I put on my RORVR hoodie sweatshirt thinking it was cold, but as soon as I stepped outside I realized my mistake.....this was not going to be a hoodie day!

As days go Saturday was a normal day.  I opened up the facilities, checked the water level in the water tower.....turned on the pumps for an hour to add 2,000 gallons, then headed back to the office to see if I had any special assignments....there were.  Some replacement parts had arrived (parts for one of our Stihl weed trimmers, a new filter for our water fountain at the pool, and a new light fixture for the pool room), and I spent the rest of the morning taking care of those projects.  Unfortunately, the water filter was not the correct one so that will have to be returned, and a new one ordered, but I took care of installing the other items.

In the afternoon I received some new signs to install in the pool area (gender neutral bathroom signs, no smoking signs, and then two signs which feature the summer hours for the Red Barn and Pool area (10 am to 9:30 pm).  I removed the winter hours signs, and hung the summer ones.

Once that was done I retrieved some 'liquid nails' caulk and headed back to the Red Barn to re-glue a piece of vinyl flooring on the dance floor which had popped up at one end.  I thought I had fixed this a week, or so ago, but apparently I did not apply sufficient 'liquid nails' on my first attempt.  So we'll see if my second, more generous application will do the trick this time.

So, now it was 2:30 pm....what to do for the last 90 minutes?  Well, those rascally eucalyptus trees keep shedding their leaves upon the mini golf holes, and I had not had a chance to blow them clean yet, so I retrieved the Stihl hand blower from the tool shed and went to work.  As I finished the 9 holes I transitioned over the paved road (Maple Street) to remove more eucalyptus leaves from that surface.  I slowly worked my way down the hill (moving my golf cart occasionally so I would not need to walk all the way back up the hill to retrieve it when I was done).  By the time I reached the intersection of Maple and Oak Streets I could see that there was a lot of sand, leaves and gravel on the section of Oak that passes by restroom #1, so I kept going.  By the time I finished cleaning that section it was almost exactly 4 pm, and time to head for the barn once again......

My leave blowing route Saturday afternoon (in green)

......TLE followed me home about 15 minutes later, and after my shower joined me outside to enjoy the early evening breezes before heading inside for dinner around 6:15 pm.  We spent the evening watching a couple of recorded FIFA Women's World Cup 2019 matches.  The World Cup (women) is in France this summer.  There is a 9 hour time differential between France and California so a lot of matches will have to be recorded as they will be played in the early morning hours while we are getting our beauty rest.....:-).  The USA plays their first match this coming Tuesday (June 11th).  

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Blowin' in the wind.....

6:52 am - Saturday - June 8th - Ramona, CA - 57° F, 88% humidity, wind 1 mph out of the south by southwest......clear, blue skies today with a forecast high of 83° F.....the view this morning......↴

Love seeing that shadow back on the road this morning!

Blowin' in the wind....Bob Dylan

Prior to beginning our work day at 12:30 pm TLE took a 2 mile walk around the park, and took a two mile ride around the park on my Intense 5.5 mountain bike.  That is the furthest I have ridden since my cardiac event.  I can already see an improvement in my breathing.....not getting as 'winded' climbing to the water tower.

I always feel a little out of sync when we go to work at 12:30 pm.....normally we would be at lunch, and have only 3 hours of work left in the day, but on Friday's we are just beginning our work day.  Since Rich opens the park on Fridays I usually just get right to work on whatever project on which I am currently working.  Each month at the end of the first week we change the security gate, and bathroom codes.  Rich asked me to perform this task this month.  Whatever code we assign to the security gate will be the same for the bathrooms to keep it simple for our guest....just one four digit code to remember.  Within 30 minutes I was done and then it was time to retrieve the Stihl hand blower and head back to the storage area entrance where I left off Thursday.  I spent from 1 pm to 4 pm blowing dirt, gravel and leaves off Oak Street down to restroom #2 (across the street from our site).......↴

Cleaned from the storage area entrance to site # 70 (in blue)

......the breeze came up about 3:30 pm....nothing like trying to blow leaves, dirt and gravel in one direction with the wind blowing them in the opposite direction!   

At 4 pm on Fridays TLE and I take our lunch, which is really an early dinner for us.  By the time we get back to the office it is 4:30 pm and almost time for Marnie and Rich to finish their workday.  Instead of heading back up to site #70 to continue cleaning Oak Street, I decided to head back out to the entrance to blow the oak leaves off the entrance road.  I did this about 10 days ago, but oak leaves never stop falling and it was time to do it again.  I finished with that around 5:45 pm.  Rich has been digging a ditch from the propane tank to the new power shutoff switch and had dug up some old conduit and wire in the process.  He asked me to pull the old wire out of the pvc conduits and put in in the recycle bin in the supply building.  That took less than 15 minutes, but when I went to drive the wire down to the supply building I discovered my left rear tire on the golf cart was flat as a pancake!

These golf carts are very low to the ground, and to jack them up you need a floor jack.  We have a bottle jack in the tool shed, but it is too tall to use under such a low slung vehicle, so I picked up the housekeeping golf cart and drove up to Rich's 5th wheel to see if he had a floor jack, and as I suspected, he does.  Once I had the floor jack the rest was easy.  I retrieved a spare tire from the supply shed (we have several), picked up a 3/4" socket from the tool shed, and headed back to my disabled golf cart.  My Porter/Cable impact driver works well to remove lug nuts on golf cart wheels (I used it several times at Tahoe Valley Campground to change gold cart tires).  Within 5 minutes the old wheel was removed, and the spare installed.  In all it took me less than 40 minutes, beginning to end, to get back on the road.

I decided not to do any more work on Oak Street as it was going on 6:15 pm and I did not want to disturb our customers with a loud blower as they sat outside enjoying the evening, so I went up to the Red Barn with some wood screws to fix a few of the Adirondack chairs, which were missing a few screws.  Then down to the pool to straighten up some of the pool furniture, and then to the office.  By this time it was going on 6:45 pm, and I was out of gas.  I spent a lot of time Friday in the sun, and it got up to 85° F.  I got a Dr. Pepper out of the fridge, and sat outside the office on the porch relaxing for about 10 minutes before heading back inside to wait for TLE to finish closing the office so we could go home.

We were home by 7:30......I took a long, hot shower, and then retreated to my recliner to 'veg out' until it was time to close the park at 9:30 pm.  I was in bed by 10 pm, and asleep a couple of minutes later.....thanks for stopping by!

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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.