More Santa Ana.......

7:16 am - Friday - October 25th - Ramona, CA - 76° F, 8% humidity, wind 15 mph out of the northeast.....Santa Ana condition, and no power since 11 pm Thursday night....forecast high for today is 86° F......

We awoke to light winds Thursday morning, a prelude to the more severe Santa Ana condition, which was descending upon us along with the requisite threats of our power being turned off once again in the once great "People's Republic of California".  There was no point in blowing the blowing leaves off the mini golf course, and the horseshoe pits were still untouched after my grooming efforts on Wednesday, so I focused all of my attention on the pool area.  Unfortunately, the leaves fell upon the wind rippled waters faster than I could remove them.  I ended up cleaning out the leaf packed skimmers three times Thursday, and I'm sure they will be overflowing with leaves again Friday morning.

I spent the rest of the morning finishing the 16 sections of fencing I replaced Wednesday by adding dirt to each post hole, then packing it firmly around each post, and finally watering each one to help pack down the dirt.  I also retrieved the Kubota front loader to reopen a path down to a bench overlooking the creek near site #32......and that brought me up to lunch time......↴

.....before I could finish the path, and clear all the vegetation away from the bench customers began to arrive in site #31, so I had to wrap things up until next Monday.

After lunch I decided to spend the afternoon helping check in a group coming for the weekend.  There are times when it can get congested at the entrance if too many RV's arrive at the same time, or someone will pull too far forward and block the entrance while they are registering inside the office.  I was ready for an easy afternoon, and that is what it was.

Around 3:30 pm I headed back to the cabin #65 area to retrieve my tools, and haul all of the waste material up to the big roll away in the storage yard before retrieving TLE from the office at 4 pm.  The power was still on at that point, but SDG&E did finally turn off our power around 11 pm.

To close things out this morning I have an update on my poison ivy exposure.....I have some patches of rash on both legs, and both arms......not a lot, but it's there, and it itches.  I'm applying Benadryl Gel, Banadryl Spray, and taking Benadryl pills internally.  It's not bad, but it's there.

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Holes......

7:19 am - Thursday - October 24th - Ramona, CA - 59° F, 33% humidity, wind 3 mph out of the east.....clear and refreshingly cool this morning with a forecast high today of 88° F.

After taking care of the pool, horseshoe pits and mini golf course I headed back to the cabin #65 area to finish the fence project I began Tuesday.  I had to dig 6 more post holes, and then fit 16 sections (8 leftover from Tuesday) of fence together.  There were more large rocks, and even some more cement in a couple of holes to remove.  I essentially worked on those 16 sections of fence from behind site #63 past site #67 all day long.....

.....and am now down to one more new post, and about 40 split rails.  Hoping the remaining 20 posts arrive soon so I can finish the rest of the fencing up past our site to where it ends behind site #74.....

....I didn't have time to fill in all of the post holes to set each post, but that will happen on Thursday.  I can probably work another 6-8 sections with the one post, but that will be it as there are a number of bad posts after the next 6 sections.

I picked up TLE at the office just before 4 pm and we trundled home for another evening on the lido deck watching game #2 of the World Series, which was tied 2-2 until the 7th inning when the Nationals scored 6 runs, and ultimately won handily 12-3 putting them up two games to none over the Astros as they head back to Washington D.C. for game three of the Fall Classic.

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'Poison Ivy'.......

7:20 am - Wednesday - October 23rd - Ramona, CA - 47° F, 52% humidity, wind - CALM....clear, blue skies today with a forecast high of 91° F.

Tuesday was a continuation of Monday's 'Santa Ana' condition, only a few degrees warmer.  I began my day taking care of the pool, which had a lot of large leaves on its bottom, plus a lot of floating debris leftover from the winds on Monday.  It was after 10 am when I finished the pool, at which time I joined Rich and Alika out at the entrance to the park to help them cut down some brush that was blocking the view of people exiting the park.  We worked until almost 12 pm clearing that brush.  Just as we were finishing Rich pointed out some poison ivy, and then we began to look around finding more poison ivy.  Uh oh!  Rich and I headed immediately to our RV's to take our clothes off and take showers, while Alika headed to his home in town to do the same.

'Poison Ivy' by the Coasters

Years ago I was exposed to poison oak in a serious way, so I was concerned about this exposure to poison ivy. Fortunately, taking a shower and removing our clothes seems to have worked as no one is breaking out in a rash.  TLE took my clothes in a bag over to the laundromat to wash them, and I changed into a new set of clothes before returning to work at 1 pm.

I spent the rest of the day taking about 8 sections of fencing down behind cabins 64 & 65, and then time digging 5 post holes.....there were a few large rocks.....

.....these 'doll head' sized rocks came out of the post hole in the background......why me?  Once again, it appears that whomever dug this post hole years ago quit when they hit these rocks, and just inserted a shortened post.....¡no bueno!

It took me until 3:30 pm to finish digging the post holes.....spent the balance of my shift hauling 16 split rails and the six remaining posts down to cabin #65 in preparation for their installation Wednesday when I reassemble these 8 sections of fencing.

The heat (temp got to 96° F, or higher) really took it out of me Tuesday.  By the time I took my second shower of the day and made my way outside to my anti gravity chair I was ready to take a nap, which is exactly what I did.  With the sun much lower in the horizon as it makes its way towards the winter solstice the heat leaves the air quickly each day, and we were back inside a little after 6 pm.

We watched game #1 of the Fall Classic (World Series) featuring the Washington Nationals at the Houston Astros.  The Astros' #1 pitcher, Gerrit Cole, who had not lost a game since late May (had won 19 in a row entering this game) finally lost a game as the Nationals held on to win game one 5-4.  All indications were that Cole would win his 20th in a row, but that is why they play the games......you just never know, right?

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The unexpected.......

7:29 am - Tuesday - October 22nd - Ramona, CA - 52° F, 41% humidity, wind - CALM......clear, blue skies today with a forecast high of 94° F.

We had a another minor Santa Ana condition Monday wherein the wind comes from the east, or northeast, meaning the desert area, meaning it was breezy.  I did, however, take care of the pool, horseshoe pits, and even the mini golf course in spite of the breeze.  From there I headed back to the pond area to reset a few existing fence posts, not intending in any way to replace any posts, or even take the fence apart, but once I got going I found that three of the 8 posts were totally rotten, and about half the split rails were no longer usable.   I ended up taking apart a short 3 section fence.......

 ......and two short sections......

.....so I ultimately had to dig EIGHT new post holes, which I was not at all expecting to have to dig.  By the time lunch came around I had all of the fencing dismantled, saving the digging of the post holes for after lunch when that area would be more in the shade.  Thankfully, all but 2 of the post holes were pretty easy to dig, and no big rocks were found.  By 3:45 pm I had the fence posts set, and all of the split rails installed......

.....I had to cut a couple of split rails down to size to fit the shortest section of fence, but it is all put back together.  I'll finish packing the dirt around the posts Tuesday, and then, finally, I will be done with the pond area fencing......↴

Had to cut a couple of split rails down to size for the short 

section of fence on the left side of the picture above.

Around 2 pm the power went off in the park.....apparently SDG&E had to replace some faulty equipment.  They promised to have the power restored by 5 pm, and as promised the power did return at exactly 5 pm!  Monday the temp got to 92° F, and Tuesday promises to be even hotter, so I guess we are in the midst of another mini heatwave here in the waning days of October, 2019.

We were home a little after 4 pm relaxing outside in our anti gravity chairs as the heat of the day quickly left the air making it quite comfortable, but between 5:30 and 6 pm it became too chilly to remain outside without donning more clothing.

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Errands.......

7:23 am - Monday - October 21st - Ramona, CA - 51° F, 41% humidity, wind - CALM.....clear, blue skies today with a forecast high of 90° F.

It' been awhile since we made a stop at the local Starbucks on a Sunday morning, so stopping by for a cup-a-Joe and a pastry was our goal as we departed RORVR around 9:30 am Sunday morning.  We had a lot of stops to make Sunday (7 in all), the first of which was to put fuel in the Beetle for the first time in weeks.  Gas prices have really climbed here in SoCal over the past month, and we ended up paying $4.49/gallon at the local Union 76.....the last time we filled up at the San Marcos COSTCO we paid just $3.69/gallon.  This is the first time in a long time we have had the 'low fuel' light come on, and we took 11.98 gallons....our tank holds, I think, 14.5 gallons.

Our next stop was, of course, Starbucks, which was really jumping Sunday morning.....the 'drive through' business at this Starbucks is amazing.  There are at least 20-25 cars in line at all times, but we prefer to park and go inside to order our coffee, and sit for a while in their very nice alfresco dinning area.....

....we actually sat in the sun for a change it was that nice of a day!

Next up we stopped in at the TruValue Hardware store to pick up a few things (Acetone, blue masking tape, and a weed puller for TLE), then on to Stater Brothers.  While TLE shopped I headed over to get my ears lowered for the first time in 6 weeks.  I managed to get into a chair within 3 minutes, and was out the door about 15 minutes later.  While TLE was still shopping I walked over to the Rite Aide to buy a bag of cigars, then joined TLE as she finished with her 'BIG' shopping.......

....we made yet another stop at the USPS to buy some FOREVER stamps, then after one more stop back at TruValue to buy a couple of boxes of Diamond® wooden matches we were on our way home for the day.....it was just after 11:30 am when we arrived back home where we would spend the rest of the day sitting outside....TLE reading, and me watching some NFL football...

.....we remained outside until well after 6:30 am....it was a very relaxing weekend....just what the doctor ordered.


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The anecdote......

8:14 am - Sunday - October 20th - Ramona, CA - 42° F, 73% humidity, wind 5 mph out of the northeast......clear, blue skies this day with a forecast high of 86° F.......the view this morning.......

 One can feel 'Fall' in the air....so crisp, clear and cool!

Saturday was just as advertised......we did nothing all day long except relax outside in our anti gravity chairs enjoying our patio environment.  It never got past 78° all day, and by 3 pm we were donning pants, and long sleeved shirts as the patio began to take on the chill of late afternoon.  Much reading was done with a little NCAA Football, and periodic naps thrown in for good measure.  Most of the featured college football games were very one sided, but there were a couple of close games, and even one upset.   

In night action the Houston Astros downed the N.Y. Yankees in game 6 of the ALCS winning the series 4 games to 2, and advancing to the 2019 World Series to face the Washington Nationals, who are making their first trip to the Fall Classic leaving only one Major League Baseball team, the Seattle Mariners, which has never been to the World Series in their entire history since their enfranchisement in 1977.

I wish I had more to share with you about Saturday this Sunday morning, but the last paragraph perfectly sums up what turned out to be the perfect anecdote to three weekends of social interaction.

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Alone again (Naturally).....

7:58 am - Saturday - October 19th - Ramona, CA - 45° F, 86% humidity, wind - CALM.....clear, blue skies today with a forecast high of 81° F.  The view this morning.....

I spent most of the morning tending to the pool area, including sweeping and vacuuming the pool for the first time since last Saturday when Dave took care of it.  We had several windy days early in the week so there was a lot of wind driven debris on the bottom of the pool which needed removal before our weekenders arrive.  It took me until just before 11:30 am to finish the pool, and playground areas after which I headed up to the horseshoe pits, and then down to the mini golf holes to clear off several days worth of eucalyptus leaves.  

I spent the last hour of my 4 hour Friday shift distributing more squirrel bait around the park, and then it was time to pick TLE up from the office and head home to begin our long awaited 'Alone again (Naturally)' 2.5 day weekend.  The last three weekends have been filled with family and friends visitations, and while we love family/friends time it does wear us down, and usually means no significant nap time for moi.

Alone again (Naturally)

Within minutes we were both ensconced in our anti gravity lounge chairs listening to XM/Sirius radio channel 26, Classic Vinyl and reading.  Around 4 pm we took a long 1.25 mile walk around RORVR......

.....when we returned I pulled out our new TCL ROKU TV to watch game 5 of the ALCS (American League Championship Series) in which the Houston Astros lead the N.Y. Yankees 3 games to 1 in the best of 7 series to see who will play the Washington Nationals in the 2019 edition of the World Series.  By 6:15 pm it was getting to chilly to be outdoors anymore, so we headed inside for the balance of the evening.

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