On time!

 6:51 am - Thursday - January 7th - Seal Rock, OR - 45° F, 100% humidity, wind - CALM.....cloudy today with a forecast high of 52° F.  On this date in 2018 we were in St. Mary's, GA visiting good friends Roscoe and Geni.  We met them while working at the General Store in Mammoth Hot Springs, YNP back in 2017......↴

Right to left: Geni, TLE, Roscoe and moi

.....you can see in this picture that the cyst in my right cheek had gotten quite noticeable.  A month later I had it removed.  I had zero feeling in that area for a year, but now, two years later about 60% of the feeling has returned.

Another day (Wednesday), more rain, no work for me...for TLE two hours in the office.  For me, more reading.  Around 11:30 am I received a text message from FedEx advising our Dometic door panels had been delivered....wait, what?  An on time delivery from FedEx.....☝☝☝☝☝?!?!?!?! 

I looked outside to see the rain had briefly stopped, so I scampered down to the office, retrieved the package, and made a beeline for home, closing the door just as it began to rain again in earnest.  I'll get to work installing those new door panels, and finishing the installation of the fridge Thursday afternoon when it is not raining.....in fact, as I write (Thursday morning), it has not rained since 6 pm last night.

As I wrote a few days ago we finished watching the 'Arrow' series from which we moved through the brief two seasons of 'Taken', and have now finished watching Season 1 of 'Flash', which fills in several gaps in the 'Arrow' series.....5 seasons to go!

Thanks for stopping by!

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Rain? No. Work? Yes!

8:08 am - Wednesday - January 6th - Seal Rock, OR - 48° F, 94% humidity, wind 8 mph out of the east by southeast......heavy cloud cover, rain today with a forecast high of 49° F.  On this date in 2016 we were watching a rain storm come across the Anza Borrego desert toward our boondock site just off Rock House Road........↴

There was no rain Tuesday morning.  Since there was no rain Tuesday morning I worked.  I worked for 2 hours.....a rarity lately, but a welcome change.  Blake and I spent our two hour shift spraying more of the 'Moss Be Gone' solution on the roofs of some of our outbuildings.  This stuff does not remove the moss, as the name might suggest, but impedes its growth, and slowly kills what is there.  The only way to remove the moss would be to either power wash it off (probably not too good for the shingles), or remove it piece by piece by hand.  Since we are strongly discouraged from getting up on any of the roofs here at SRRVC that would not be an option, so what is killed remains.

I was home shortly after 12 pm.  TLE switched shifts with Gale (Blake's wife) so Gale could go to the dentist in the afternoon, so she (TLE) went to work from 2 pm to 4 pm......as a result I had the Newell to myself for a couple of hours.  The wind freshened significantly just after I returned home, and continued gusting all afternoon.

Another book was finished Tuesday afternoon, and I began another almost immediately.  By the time TLE returned from work a little after 4 pm, it was already dark due to the heavy cloud cover.  The winds continued to blow bringing in the next round of rain which began pelting our roof around 9 pm, and that rain continued all night long, and continues as I write this morning (Thursday).  

As one might expect, I have been called off work (Thursday), but this time I was actually called off work Wednesday evening due to the forecast showing 90+% chance of rain all day Thursday....oh well.

By the way, our new Dometic refrigerator door panels are slated to arrive today (Thursday) via......wait for it......FedEx!  On a positive note I received a text message notification this morning advising our door panels were on the truck, and out for delivery from Lincoln City (just north of Newport), so maybe, just maybe they'll arrive today as promised.

Thanks for stopping by!

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Sun shower!

 6:47 am - Tuesday - January 5th - Seal Rock, OR - 45° F, 87% humidity, wind 8 mph out of the south by southeast......cloudy right now, rain later today with a forecast high of 51° F.  On this date in 2013 we took our first paddle in our new Sea Eagle inflatable kayak at Cedar Key, FL......↴

Monday was another rainout workwise even though it actually stopped raining about 9:30 am for a few hours.  Of course it had been raining non-stop up to that point since late Sunday afternoon.  I spent a good portion of my day reading, and I remember at least two naps along the way.  TLE worked a one hour shift in the office (3 pm to 4 pm).  I ventured outside at least one time between rain squalls to make sure the trailer was locked, and it wasn't.  I had apparently forgotten to lock it Sunday evening....

.....of particular note, we did get a brief 10 minute 'sun shower' around 11 am, which I memorialized in the photo above.  Thank goodness we are taking vitamin 'D' everyday, because we are not getting much from from direct exposure to the sun lately.....lol.

As I write it is still dark.....I got up an hour earlier than usual as Terry asked me to meet him at the WDS plant at 8:30 am to clean the septic filters....WOW, that two weeks sure went by quickly!

Have a great day, and 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 for which we thank you very much!

Just too wet.......

 8:11 am - Monday - January 5th - Seal Rock, OR - 50° F, 94% humidity, wind 17 mph out of the southwest.....heavy cloud cover, raining, windy today with a forecast high of 52° F.  On this date in 2016 we were hiking with good friends near Borrego Springs to see the rock snake for the first time......↴

After another night of rain we began to see patches of blue sky appear overhead Sunday morning, and I was pretty sure I would be working, and I did, but only for an hour.  It was just too wet to do anything else other than empty the trash cans from the rental house on the hill behind the park we call 'Fairwinds', and pick up some storm debris.  By 11 am I was home, so TLE and I decided to drive into Newport to buy a few things at Walmart, the main item being a new mattress topper for our bed.  That was the extent of our outdoor activity for Sunday, and by mid afternoon it was raining once again.  Based on the current weather forecast it does not appear I will be working Monday due to more rain.

On the 'leveling' front I am happy to report that the Newell is still completely level 5 weeks after our efforts to level our site pad from front to back.  On the patio awning front it has not been deployed for 10 days now, and I'm not sure when we will be able to do so in the near future due to the winds getting up to 20 mph, or higher at least once a day.  We actually had winds in the mid 50's Saturday night/Sunday morning.

We had 13 departures from the park Sunday, which leaves just the 4 camp hosts in occupancy right now.  This would be a perfect time to whittle down the 'to do' list for the park, except for the wall to wall rain.  We have trimmed all the hedges now, it is too, too wet to do any mowing, or weed trimming, too wet to light our very large burn pile, and too wet to work on any of the minor electrical issues we have at a few pedestals.  In short, it is just too wet.

As I write I have just been called off work once again due to rain, so it is time to get out a good book and do some reading.....thanks for stopping by!

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Sounds of Silence......

 8:00 am - Sunday - January 3rd - Seal Rock, OR - 45° F, 100% humidity, wind - CALM for the first time in days....heavy cloud cover, but no rain until later today, and a forecast high of 52° F.  On this date in 2016 we arrived at one of our favorite boondocking sites....Rock House Road, near Borrego Springs, CA.....good friend Michael Vaccari in the foreground......↴

January 2nd wasn't at all different from the 1st......rain, wind, sheeting, wind driven rain....then torrential rain....oh my!  Combine that with several more uninteresting college bowl game offerings, and shy of watching the college football final bowl game on January 11th between Alabama and Ohio State this New Years has been a wash, both figuratively and literally.  The cloud cover was so bad we lost satellite reception entirely (until early this morning....Sunday) for the rest of the day around 3 pm.  That is a first in almost 10 years of full time living in our Newell.  Eventually, due to the high winds, I decided to stow the Winegard Traveler HD dish to protect it from possible damage.

Once again we did not take a step outside the Newell until around 4:30 pm when TLE briefly stepped outside to retrieve something from our pullout Norcold chest refer....I, personally, did not step outside of our 220 square feet of living space at all Saturday.

Around 3 am I got up to go to the bathroom and noticed the winds had finally abated, and the rain had ceased.  The silence after 48 hours of rain on the roof, and wind whistling around the exterior had an almost eerie quality.  As I often say...."change....sometimes any change.....is nice".

As I sit at my small desk composing today's post it would appear I will be working for the first time in 4 days, which also means I will setting foot outside the confines of the Newell.

Thanks for stopping by!

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"Happy" New Years?

 8:42 am - Saturday - January 2nd - Seal Rock, OR - 50° F, 100% humidity, wind 25 mph out of the south by southwest......heavy cloud cover, rain, wind today with a forecast high of 51° F.  On this date in 2013 we were having breakfast at Kona Joe's in Cedar Key, FL.  During our five weeks in Cedar Key this became one of our favorite coffee/breakfast places ever......↴

.....sadly Kona Joe's did not survive two hurricanes, and an economic downturn.....RIP Kona Joe's!  The best Kona Coffee in the world.

If I told you this New Years Day was a big disappointment to me I am sure you would not be too surprised in light of all of the totalitarian restrictions imposed by a government, which is no longer for the people, by the people, and of the people.  How is that so, one might ask?  Let me count just a few of the ways......1) For the first time in my life time there was NO Rose Parade, and 2) the Grand Daddy of all bowl games, the Rose Bowl, was not actually played in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, but it was played. Where, one might ask?  Well, of course, it was played in the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.  That's obvious, isn't it?  3) Of all the New Years day college football games played Friday there was just one that was competitive.....all the others were boring, lopsided affairs.  4) There were no midnight fireworks New Years Eve, but I really cannot blame that on the Wuhan Flu, or a dictatorial government.....pretty hard to set off fireworks when it is raining cats and dogs 24/7.  In short, nothing about New Years Day, 2021 was memorable, or inspiring.

My first memories of New Year's Day go back to the early 50's when I remember watching my first Rose Parade on our Silvertone black and white TV.  Later, in the early 60's we moved from Pico Rivera, CA north to Pasadena, CA where I remember walking the parade route with friends on New Years Eve, or even spending the night on Orange Grove Blvd. to save seats for family and friends.  Over the years I lived in Pasadena (1962 to 1985) I watched the parade in person each year......we never lived more than a mile, or two from the parade route.  Even after we moved to Ontario from Pasadena I was still up early enough each New Years Day to watch the Rose Parade pre-show on KTLA, Channel 5 every single year.  There is something about continuity in life that breeds optimism, and hope, and when that continuity is disrupted day after day, week after week, month after month it begins to crush the soul.  Am I the only one who feels this way?  We are no longer the home of the free, and the land of the brave.  We are slowly trading liberty for safety.....hour by hour, day by day.  When will people rise up in mass to say enough is enough?  When?

Neither of us left the coach for most of the day, until I ventured out during a lull in the rain and wind to take a bag of trash out to the trailer around 4 pm.  I had to live stream each football game during the day as the cloud cover was so heavy I could not get a satellite signal.  Thank goodness we have such good WiFi here at SRRVC!

In spite of all that TLE and I are cautiously optimistic about 2021.  After all the world has endured this past 9 months there is no where to go but up....at least I hope so.  At any rate, thank you 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 for which we thank you very much!  

The Eve of the New Year......

8:37 am - January 1, 2021 - Friday - Seal Rock, OR - 50° F, 94% humidity, wind 7 mph out of the south by southeast....cloudy, rainy today with a forecast high of 52° F.  Since it is January 1st it is time to make the annual calendar change.....out with the old, and in with the new.......↴

.....on this date in 2014 I went mountain biking with my long time friends Paul, Brenda, and Ryan.  It is one of the few things I miss about my sticks and bricks life......↴

Chino Hills State Park, Chino Hills, CA

For the second day in a row I was called off work due to rain, but TLE worked her normal shift in the office.  So, inadvertently, I have been gifted a 4 day New Year's weekend due to rain.  TLE headed into Waldport after her shift to pick up a few New Year's Eve food and beverage items.  

As has been our habit for 15 years now we 'binge watch' a TV series on New Years Eve.  For many successive New Years Eves in the early 2000's we would binge watch the show '24' on New Years Eve.  One New Years Eve, recently, we 'binge watched' 'Breaking Bad'.  This year our 'binge' choice was Season 8 of 'Arrow', which is the final season.  The other 7 seasons were mostly composed of 23 episodes, however Season 7 was just 22 episodes, and Season 8 was just 10 episodes.  

We began our 'binge' session around 5 pm, and finished all 10 episodes about 11:45 pm.  We have to say, we really enjoyed the final season, and the way the writers and producers tied up all the many loose ends.  Episode 10 is a tear jerker.  If you are looking for a prime 'binge watching' series you can't go wrong with 'Arrow'.

We were in bed just shy of Midnight, and talked for a while about the past year, our present, and our future.  We managed to still be awake as the clock hit midnight closing another year.  2020 will forever be remembered by us as one of the strangest years of our lives.  We spent 8 months traveling with friends, and visiting with friends all over the western states.  We saw some things we had never seen, and visited places we have not been before.  

Over the course of 2020 we renewed all of our major appliances (except the air conditioners) in the Newell as many of them just 'aged out', or failed.  We have a new toilet, a new washer/dryer, a new HD satellite dish, a new tankless water heater, a new refrigerator, and new basement refer.  I rebuilt, by myself, our black and gray tank dump valves.  Through it all we were able to effect these replacements/repairs mostly on our own, sometimes with the help of friends, but without the aid of professionals. We have become pretty self sufficient over the almost 10 years we have called our 1982 Newell Classic home.

During 2020 we managed to avoid large population areas, managed to remain asymptomatic to the Wuhan Flu, covered some 4,700 miles, imbibed a lot of draft beer, visited a lot of micro breweries, dined out as often as was possible, and spent time with many friends and relatives.  It was not the summer we had envisioned.....we had planned to spend the summer touring Alaska, but that was not to be, so we made the best of it, and I think we carved out a rather remarkable travel schedule in spite of the Wuhan flu, and draconian governmental restrictions.  

We have deep empathy for those who have been locked down for months at a time, lost their lively hoods, their businesses, their freedom, and are so grateful our chosen nomadic lifestyle enabled us to live what amounts to a pretty normal life for the past 12 months.  We find ourselves living out the end of 2020, and the beginning of 2021 in a safe, remote, rural locale at the very edges of government overreach, and far from the craziness which engulfs all large population centers.

What does 2021 hold in store for us?  We have no idea, but we will continue on with style....thanks for stopping by.  We wish you all a Happy New Year!

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