Workin' it out.....

8:12 am - Tuesday - June 18th - Ramona, CA - 58° F, 87% humidity, wind 4 mph out of the west.......sunny today with a forecast high of 77° F.....the view this morning.......↴

We slept until after 8 am Monday....not because we needed to, but because we could.  Nothing better in the world than lying in bed with TLE snuggling, cuddling, and giggling about this and that.....having no where in particular to go, and no where in particular to be....just the two of us, and nobody else.....😁

You may recall that a few months ago we were battling dampness in the closets behind our bed.  Once we got things dried out we hung a bag of 'Damprid' in each closet....below is the result......

......each bag was full of water, and it was time to replace them with new 'Damprid' bags....these things really work, and the closets are completely dry now!

Around 11 am I walked up to the trailer to putter around, and maybe get in a workout.  I'm kind of working back up to what I used to do, and I am making progress.  After my workout I would usually go out for a 15-20 mile bike ride, and that is the part that is taking a while.  Monday was my best day riding so far.....

.....I rode my Intense 5.5 for about 32 minutes covering 3.41 miles, and burning 252 caloric units.  I probably could have ridden longer, and further, but I'm going to obey my doctor and work up to longer distances slowly.  Before my heart attack 10 miles was about the shortest ride I wanted to do....I felt like I was barely warmed up at 10 miles.  I really miss those long bike rides.

After taking a shower, we set up the outdoor TV and watched a couple of women's FIFA World Cup matches, before being chased in by the cold air by 4 pm!  I know in a few weeks we will look back longingly on this cool weather when it becomes too hot to sit outside in the afternoon.

For dinner the amazing TLE made us Chicken Marsala.....I think the picture tells it all......

.....I literally licked the plate to get all of the Marsala sauce.  TLE's rendition of this amazing Italian dish is about as close to restaurant quality as one could get.....

Thanks for stopping by!

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 kind of hush......

8:28 am - Monday - June 17th - Ramona, CA - 60° F, 90% humidity, wind 4  mph out of the west by southwest.......marine layer again today (YAY!) with a forecast high of 76° F......the view this morning.......↴

Sundays are like night and day compared to Saturdays.  A 'kind of hush' falls over RORVR.....all of the Saturday revelers are busy putting away all the stuff they brought in case they wanted to use it, but never did.  Within a few hours Sunday RORVR will be mostly deserted bearing little resemblance to Saturday RORVR.  There is no music, there are no 'corn hole' games in progress, and the pool area is deserted.......

......and a deserted pool area is just what I need Sunday morning.  Normally I would vacuum the pool Wednesday, or Thursday, but the heavy usage of the pool Saturday demanded a response Sunday morning.  Both the pool and Jacuzzi were a little cloudy first thing, and had PH's approaching 8.0, but by the time I finished adding water, vacuuming, adding chlorine and muriatic acid both had achieved beautiful clarity once again.  It took me until almost 11:30 am to finish my pool work, and then it was time for lunch.  

On Sunday's we take lunch at 11:30 am since we only work until 2 pm.  When we return from lunch at 12 pm we have another two hours left in our day.  For the last two hours I tended to the horseshoe pits putting them back in ready to use condition, blew the eucalyptus leaves off the mini golf holes one more time, checked the water tank level (added 1,000 gallons), and finished my day blowing leaves and gravel off Oak Street where it runs along the fishing pond.

We were home by 2:15 pm where I immediately deployed the outdoor TV so we could sit outside watching the USA women play Chile in their 2nd match of the Women's 2019 FIFA World Cup.  The USA won handily 3-0 (it was not that close), and except for exceptional goalkeeper play by Chile's Ender it would have been closer to 7, or 8 to nil.  After watching the USA match we settled in to watch the final 9 holes of the U.S. Open Championship which was won by Gary Woodland with a 13 under par score.....3 strokes ahead of Brooks Koepka.  Tiger finished at 2 under par for the tournament......he never really got it going.

We have now completed 7 weeks here at RORVR, and are really enjoying our summer home.  Our RORVR managers are the exact opposite of those for whom we worked last summer at Smuggler's Den, and I can not emphasize that difference enough.  It's one thing to enjoy the people you with whom you work, but if your managers are petty, unappreciative, and only critical it can make for a miserable experience.  Here we are treated like adults, allowed to take on tasks which we see need doing, and trusted to do our jobs.

So far the weather here in Ramona at 2,200' elevation is even more moderate than we expected, and the long May/June gloom season bodes well for a comfortable summer.  We do expect it to get into the high 90's, and even low 100's, but those occasions should be the exceptions this summer and not the rule.....we'll see, right?  The humidity, while sometimes in the 90's some mornings, quickly drops to somewhere in the 50-60's range by late morning.

Thanks for stopping by!

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.

Crazy Saturdays......

6:46 am - Sunday - June 16th - Ramona, CA - 58° F, 90% humidity, wind 3 mph out of the northwest.....foggy again this morning with a forecast high of 78° F.....the view this morning......↴

As one might imagine Saturdays are the busiest, and craziest days during the summer in an RV park.  Friday has its own craziness, but by Saturday mornings all our customers have arrived, and are in full weekend mode attempting to cram as much 'fun' into a short weekend as is humanly possible.  Saturday, June 15th, was by far our busiest day so far this summer.  The pool was being utilized in a big way......

Within a hour of this picture it was even more crowded!

.....pretty much everywhere you looked there were kids and adults on bicycles, skateboards, battery powered cars....there were a dozen'corn hole' games in full swing, with the horseshoe, mini golf, tetherball, volleyball, shuffleboard facilities all being fully utilized.  The sounds of music are everywhere you go.  At the pool there were the sounds of no less than 5 different music genres wafting over the continuously roiled waters.

After doing my 'opening' thing I settled into the day installing new locks around the park to reduce the number of keys we need to lock and unlock doors.  By 3 pm I had reduced the number of keys needed by 3.  Now one key opens all the bathroom storage areas, the pool pump house, the supply building, and eventually the Red Barn attic.....we had an issue programming one of the new locks to accept the new key.  

I spent part of the last hour vacuuming out the supply building now that I am pretty much done reorganizing it, and then blowing the eucalyptus leaves off the mini golf holes for the third time Saturday.  It seems that just the slightest breeze sends the leaves cascading down to earth literally forming a blanket of vegetable matter on the astro turf for each hole.

On Saturdays in an RV park I always find myself looking forward to Sundays when the large, unseen vacuum sucks all the workaday folks back to their workaday lives, and the park returns to its quiet, sleepy, empty self once again.

I spent the rest of the afternoon watching the U.S. Open Championship at Pebble Beach.  We had all the windows open, as well as the screen door while enjoying the gentle afternoon breeze...a nice end to a hectic day.....thanks for stopping by!

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.

Split shift.....

6:45 am - Saturday - June 15th - Ramona, CA - 59° F, 81% humidity, wind 3  mph out of the southwest......marine layer once again this morning.....should burn off by 10 am.  Forecast high is 79° F.....view this morning.......↴

After working the late shift for a few Friday's I decided I would prefer to start work on Friday's at 9 am, work until 2 pm for 5 hours total, then return at 5 pm for my final two hours to help TLE close down the office.  Rich agreed as it is only TLE that needs to come in at 12:30 pm.  I just need to be there the final two hours when TLE and I are the only ones on duty.....perfect!

I performed my usual opening shtick finishing at the pool to do the chlorine and PH tests, add a little chlorine to the spa and pool, and clean the skimmers.  Once that was done I returned to the tool shed to pick up the pressurized weed killer backpack dispenser, a trash can, and the Stihl hand blower.  I had noticed some weeds beginning to emerge again in the playground area next to the pool, and around the Red Barn, as well as some leaves which needed to be blown off the artificial turf in both locations.  I mixed up four gallons of the weed killer, and ended up using all four gallons.  By the time my lunch break rolled around I had finished treating both locations with the weed killer, and blown the artificial turf clean once again.

Just as I was finishing lunch I got a call on the 2-way radio from Rich asking me to go to site  81 to help the customer there with an electrical issue.  They were tenting there, and were attempting to use the 20 amp receptacle to pump up their air bed, but the breaker kept popping.  I felt it was the breaker that was at fault.  Rich came by and after a few more tests concurred, so we headed over to the supply building to pick up a new 20 amp breaker to install.  Within 20 minutes we had installed the breaker, and everything worked as it should once again.

As I was heading back to the Newell to pick up a new pair of gloves I was stopped by one of our full time tenants who was having difficulty stowing the patio awning on her Class C motorhome.  It took about 10 minutes to figure out what was wrong, and get it stowed.  I finished the first part of my workday blowing those rascally eucalyptus leaves off the mini golf course for the 3rd time in three days, and no doubt I will have to do it again Saturday.

The three hour break between 2 pm and 5 pm was a time of rest, and watching day two of the U.S. Open Championship, plus a nap, or two.  I reported back to work at 5 pm, and began by puttering around in the tool shed cleaning, straightening, and vacuuming a week's worth of sawdust, grinding dust, pipe threading, and then proceeded to do the same in the supply building.  Once that was done I transported 3 trash cans of accumulated trash from the two buildings to the dumpster.

For rest of my shift I made runs to the pool area to see how things were going there (the chlorine levels were doing fine), and to the barn to tidy up the horseshoe pit area.  We are at about 90% of capacity this weekend.....not bad for a non-holiday weekend!  7 pm came pretty quickly, and soon TLE and I were headed home for the evening, save for the closing we do 4 nights a week at 9:30 pm.  

Thanks for stopping by!

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.

Monthiversary.....

6:32 am - Friday - June 14th - Ramona, CA - 57° F, 87% humidity, wind 4 mph out of the south by southwest.....foggy this morning with a forecast high today of 75° F.....the view this morning......↴

Hell of a marine layer this morning!

The forecast high for Thursday was 80° F, but I don't think it got above 78....there was coolness in the air all day, and after our 5 day heatwave it was a welcome relief.  After doing my opening rounds I settled in at the pool to do the tests, clean the pump filters and repair the pool vacuum hose fitting......

The fitting with the crack....the tape really didn't help at all!

I had to cut off the old fitting to screw on the new one

Easy peasy......

.....these fittings just screw on to the hose (they are reverse threaded), but the old one would not unscrew so I just cut it off and screwed on the new one.  Once the pool was done I headed down to the tool shed to retrieve the hand blower, a square point shovel, a rake, and a broom to take to the Red Barn.  After the wind last Sunday there was debris covering the artificial turf, and I needed the blower to clear everything away.  The shovel, rake and broom were for the horseshoe pit area specifically, and the shovel was also for the road down by the mini golf which had a layer of silt still remaining from our last rain....it's too thick to blow away, so I needed to shovel most of it, before finishing with the blower.  All of that took me up to lunch time.

After lunch I returned the shovel, rake and broom to the tool shed and retrieved a string trimmer to trim some weeds and grass down by the fishing lake.  I did a lot of trimming there, along the fence up near our site, weeds around our site, the grass in front the of the restroom across from us, as well as the big hill behind it.  I finished at the mini gold trimming weeds around the 9 holes, then blowing the weed debris and leaves off each hole.  By the time all that was finished it was almost 4 pm, and time to return the Stihl tools to the tool shed, and call it a day.  TLE works to 5 pm on Thursdays, so I headed home with my 2-way radio in case she needed any help between 4 and 5 pm.

After taking rather long hot shower I settled in to watch the men's U.S. Open Golf Championship being held at Pebble Beach this year (near Carmel, CA).  By the end of the day there were five players tied at 5 under par....Tiger finished at 1 under par, just 4 strokes back.....a good opening round for him.

After TLE returned home from work we watched a couple of recorded women's FIFA World Cup matches (Australia vs. Brazil.....won by Australia 3-2 after being down 2-0, and South Africa vs. China....won by China 1-0).  We finished the evening watching 'Alone', and a recorded 'Masterchef' from the night before.

Thursday also marked one month exactly since my 'cardiac event'.  I'm feeling really well, and find myself recovering much more quickly after working all day.  I have to keep reminding myself to take breaks, and not push too hard even though I feel so good.  My only real Kryptonite seems to be heat, as it always has been.  I'm hoping I will begin to acclimate to the warmer temperatures over the next month.

Thanks for stopping by!

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.

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!

Thanks for stopping by!

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.

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.

Thanks for stopping by!

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.