My nemesis......

 7:54 am - Tuesday - June 14th - Likely, CA - 45° F, humidity 62%, wind - CALM....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 67° F on this the first day of summer.  On this date in 2017 we had just arrived at the west entrance of Yellowstone National Park, and were having dinner at the Slippery Otter Pub with good friend Art Young....ironically, yesterday all entrances into Yellowstone were closed due to flooding within the park.....↴

Then.....

Today......

.....unprecedented rainfall combined with normal June snow melt has caused massive flooding, and destruction within Yellowstone National Park, and many folks are stranded there with no way to exit the park......WOW!

As you know, I began tearing down Kathy's Columbia MTB Sunday during our rain event, which,  by the way, dumped quite a bit of rain on LPG&RVR, so on Monday morning I began the task of cleaning the chain, wheels, frame, derailleurs, handlebars, etc.  I then pulled out the axles and bearings from each wheel hub, cleaned and repacked them with grease, and did the same for the headset (where the stem, and handlebars attach).......

Headset

and bottom bracket (where the pedals, and cranks attach)....

Bottom bracket

  Once that was done I set about replacing the rear brake, and the front derailleur cables, then adjusted the front and rear brakes, then the rear derailleur to be sure it shifted through all 7 gears on the rear free wheel....

Rear derailleur

7 speed freewheel

.....then came the adjustment of the front derailleur.....my nemesis!  The front derailleur shifts the chain from the small chain ring, to the middle chain ring, to the large chain ring (three chain rings in all), and I could not get it to shift through all three chain rings....

The 3 chain rings

Front derailleur....my nemesis...lol!

......after several hours of repositioning the derailleur, taking apart, and reassembling the shifter, and two shift cables I finally got it to work and shift through all three chainrings.  Around 5 pm I took the bike outside for TLE to ride up and down our road to see if everything worked for her.....the bike is too small for me (lol)......

.....everything worked!  I'll spend about an hour Monday fine tuning the adjustments I've made, and then deliver Kathy's bike back to her fully functional once again.....the derailleurs work, the brakes work, the front shock works, and the headset, which had major issues, now works properly again.

It's been a while since I've spent an entire day working on a bicycle, but I loved every minute of it. Time just seems to melt away when I'm 'lost in the weeds' on a bike project.  The front derailleur stumped me for quite a while, but I never thought I wouldn't figure it out.

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The old man returns once again......

 7:34 am - Monday - June 13th - Likely, CA - 39° F, 74% humidity, wind 7 mph out of the north by northwest....heavy cloud cover today with a forecast high of 58° F.  On this date in 2016 TLE and I were visiting Squaw Valley, CA, home of the 1960 Winter Olympics......↴

The weather forecast called for rain beginning early Sunday morning, and that is exactly what we got around 1:30 am.  I remember waking to the sound of rain on our riveted aircraft aluminum roof and noticing the time.  Rain on the roof at night is such a delight.  As promised by the weather guessers it rained on and off all Sunday, sometimes quite hard, and sometimes driven sideways by the wind.  It was a perfect day to watch the final round of the RBC Canadian Open up in Ontario, Canada.  The final grouping of the day featured Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas, and Tony Finau.....all within 2 strokes of each other...Rory being in first.  All throughout the 18 holes birdies fell like the rain drops here in Likely, CA, and at one point Justin Thomas caught Rory McIlroy at 17 under part, but then Justin bogeyed the 17th hole, while Rory birdied it, and suddenly it went from a tie to a two stroke lead for Rory.  Justin ended up bogeying the 18th hole also falling out of contention, while Rory birdied the 18th to go 19 under par winning by 2 strokes over Tony Finau......a great final round by any standards!

While the golf tournament was in progress I began working on the bike of Kathy (office Kathy), which TLE and I had picked up on our Saturday evening walk around the park.  It is in a state of 'non-function', and in need of some serious tuning, which is right down my alley of expertise.  I decided to completely disassemble the bike, clean and lube everything, then put it back together.  I also needs a new brake cable for the rear brake, and a new shifter cable for the front derailleur, which I happen to have on hand.....

.....essentially this bicycle has good bones, it just needs to be cleaned, lubed, and put back together, then adjusted to work properly.  I haven't taken a bike completely apart in a long, long time, and nothing gives me more pleasure than taking a non-operable bicycle such as this Columbia, and restoring it to full functionality.   

Other than my few forays out to the trailer to work on the bike, TLE and I were pretty much housebound all day Sunday.  The wind, and rain continued into the early evening, with overnight temps getting into the high 30's once again.  Every time we think old man Winter has relinquished his grip he returns for another few days to show us he is never far away.

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Scrambling......

 9:00 am - Sunday - June 12th - Likely, CA - 59° F, humidity 72% (lol....rainy cats and dogs.....must be higher than that?), wind 11 mph out of the southwest......heavy overcast with rain today, and a forecast high of 60° F.....20° lower than yesterday.  Our view this morning......↴

.....and on this date in 2018 TLE and I were sampling a 'flight' of brews at Atlantic Brewing Company in Bar Harbor, ME.....↴

Saturday the annual Likely Volunteer FD Golf Tournament was held at LPG&RVR.  I had not planned on playing the event, but Mike (course Marshall) talked me into joining the festivities on Friday, and I am glad he did.  It is a 'Scramble', or 'Best Ball' as I have called it over the years.  Each foursome tees off, and then they use the best drive of the four to take the second shots, so so forth.  The ball nearest the hole is where the putt is taken.  I was assigned to a threesome, which needed a fourth player.....my partners in the foursome were Steve, Diane, and Greg.....

Steve (the best golfer in our foursome) teeing off at the 10th hole wearing the fire hat.

Steve and Greg hamming it up....lol...that fire hat was really heavy!

Diane teeing off at the 12th hole using the fire ladder...I actually had one of my better drives on this hole....lol!

Diane getting ready to tee off at the 16th

.....on three of the 18 holes there were special requirements which must be met by each foursome for your final score to count......on the first hole we had to use a fire axe to make our first putt, on the 10th hole we each had to wear a heavy fire hat to tee off, and on hole 12 we had to stand in between the rungs of a fire ladder to tee off.  Each person in the foursome had to have one of their drives used on the front 9, and one on the back 9.  My drive at the 16th hole (par 3, elevated green) landed 12 feet from the hole....the closest in the group, and I sank the 12 footer for birdie.....my first official birdie here at LPG&RVR!  

Since we began our round on the 2nd hole, the 1st hole was our '18th'.  We began around 10 am and finished around 2:40 pm.  Our group score was 65 (7 under par) , and most of the credit for that great score belongs to Steve who at 75 is still an excellent golfer.  I had the privilege of sinking 3 birdie putts, including my own drive on the 16th, over the course of 18 holes, and Diane had 2 birdies. We had a great time, and laughed a lot, all contributed to our success, and I actually played 18 holes in one day without getting a sore back.  In all there were over 50 golfers who participated at $60 a head, so over $3,000 was raised for LVFD (Likely Volunteer Fire Department).

Fortunately the weather was wonderful, if not a tad windy at times, but the wind kept mosquitoes at bay.  Sometimes we were hitting into the wind, and other times we had the wind at our backs.....my longest drive of the day was on 18th hole with the wind at my back.  Overall, I was pleased with my game Saturday, and encouraged at the improvement in my short game...I'm actually beginning to get the feel of my short irons.  I hit a 9 iron from about 93 yards out on the 18th (we used Steve's drive), which landed 10 feet from the hole, and once again I was privileged with sinking the birdie putt.

Whilst I was playing golf TLE drove into Alturas for our weekly shopping foray, did a few loads of wash, and vacuumed out the coach.  When I arrived home she was relaxing in her recliner enjoying a good book.

We have now been at LPG&RVR for 2 months....it does not seem like it has been that long....in fact we feel sad there are only 4 months left in our contract....lol.  Also, I hit a new weight milestone this week.....181.....I'm now down 32 pounds since January 31st.  While the pounds are coming off much more slowly now, I am keeping off the weight, which is the point of all of this.  I rarely, if ever, think about having breakfast.  My body has adjusted to just two meals a day.....lunch (sometimes I have breakfast for dinner) and dinner.  I still eat all the foods I like, just smaller quantities.  I feel the best I have felt in years, have good energy levels, and TLE reports the same for her.  She continues to sleep very well, and has no acid reflux whatsoever.  She also reports I have not snored in weeks.

Thanks for stopping by!

When Friday is really Friday....

 7:03 am - Real Saturday - June 11th - Likely, CA - 60° F, humidity 39%, wind 5 mph out of the south by southwest.....mostly sunny today with a forecast high of 80° F.....NO heaters are being run this morning......suweet!  On this date in 2014 TLE and I were hanging out at the beach in South Lake Tahoe......↴

Friday was actually our Friday for a change.....lol!  We're in the middle of a 'warm wave'....I hesitate to use the term 'heatwave' at it hardly seems appropriate when the temps are in the mid 80's.  I began to pull out the carts around 7:55 am, and within 5 minutes the first five electrics were gone.  In all, including the electrics, I pulled out 26 carts, and they all got used at some point during the day.  When TLE and I left at the end of the day I think there were still 4-6 carts out there on the golf course.  I forgot to mention that when I arrived at the Clubhouse at 7:40 am there were 6 carts waiting to be cleaned, and returned to service.

Once the carts were staged.....

Look how straight those lines are!

.....I headed out to do some mowing with the Husqvarna riding lawn mower, including the big pavilion, and 4 pull through sites, which pretty much took the rest of the morning.  In the afternoon I took the small, slow John Deere riding lawn mower down to the tent sites to mow, and by the time I returned there were 10 golf carts waiting to receive their daily spa treatment.  Every time I'd get two washed, two more would arrive, and it seemed like I was treading water for about an hour before I finally began to make a dent in the long line of carts.

I was about to tackle the final two carts awaiting their spa treatment when TLE came out to tell me Jose (greens keeper) had run out of gas out on the 15th fairway, and would I take some gas out to him.....well, of course.  By the time I returned it was almost 5 pm, and I still had a lot to do before we closed the doors for the day.  By the time I washed those final two carts, put them away, and locked everything up it was almost 5:30 pm, and was I ever tired!  As TLE and I drove home I thought how nice it was that I now had 4 days off work to relax. 

TLE and I sat out on the 'lido deck' until almost 8 pm, and frankly, could have stayed there as the weather was so nice, but we hadn't eaten yet, and I was hungry, so we called it an evening and headed inside.  It is impossible for me to convey in words how much we like it here at LPG&RVR, especially now that winter has finally released its iron grip, and spring has been allowed to take hold for good.  Looking forward to many more  balmy evenings spent on the 'lido deck'.

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Keeping up......

 6:27 am - Friday - June 10th - Likely, CA - 50° F, humidity 64%, wind - CALM....partly cloudy skies today with a forecast high of 86° F.  On this date in 2013 we were having an early lunch at Bodega Brewing Company in La Crosse, WI.....↴

I could feel the warmth in the windless air as I motored to another day of golf cart washing around 7:40 am Thursday.  Knowing Walt would be working an extra day to get caught up on our mowing took away some of the anxiety one feels when one has more to do than hours in the work day permit.  I staged the 5 electric Club Cars, and 10 gasser Yamahas to start the day then took a run around the golf course to be sure all was well before the first customers of the day hit the links.   We've had people going out at 8 am every day this week, and others not finishing until well after 5 pm, which means there area always 1-3 carts to wash first thing in the morning.  We ended up renting 21 golf carts on Thursday....not a bad day.

Thursday was also my day to clear the golf balls from the driving range in advance of DeWayne mowing the grass.  I started around the edges of the driving range around 9:30 am with the hand held 'Shag Bag' picking up the range balls not reachable by the ball machine, and by 10:30 am I was pushing the ball machine up and down the driving range with the old Yamaha golf cart retrieving the balance of the range balls.  I was finished with that that task by 11:25 am.....just in time to give TLE her lunch break.  For all my efforts I had between two and three 5 gallon cans full of balls to be cleaned, and then returned to the large trash can in the Clubhouse.

By the time I came back from my lunch break I had 9 golf carts to clean, and return to the shelter of the cart shack, then I made a couple of more rounds around the course to be sure there were no bottlenecks anywhere....we don't want golfers to have to wait on other slower golfers.  Where necessary we ask slower golfers to allow the faster ones to 'play through'.  So far this has not been necessary as everyone seems to be spread out between holes keeping play moving along nicely.

Thursday was kind of a windless day, which makes the warm, sultry air feel warmer than it is, and I was seeking out shade as often as I could.  The golf carts trickled back in at a leisurely pace so I was able to keep up with their cleaning without getting overwhelmed.  By 5 pm I had all but 2 golf carts accounted for, and expect to find them at the cart station first thing Friday. 

Overall Friday was a good day, and I was able to get everything done that was required of me.  I headed home shortly after 5 pm to get a shower, and TLE was home about 10 minutes later as I was getting out of the shower.  We sat on the 'lido deck' until almost 7 pm enjoying the early evening breezes sipping some white wine.  Around 7 pm we headed back inside to watch the latest episode of this season's 'Alone'.....TLE made me a BLT for dinner.....how sweet is she?

Thanks for stopping by!

One man down.....

 8:21 am - Thursday - June 9th - Likely, CA - 47° F, humidity 63%, wind 1 mph out of the north by northeast.....mostly sunny today with a forecast high of 85° F.  On this date in 2020 we were dry camping on the shores of Henry's Lake near Island Park, ID......↴

Wednesday I staged 24 golf carts, and we ended up renting 21.  Of course, what goes out, must come back.....

All staged and ready for the day....about 8:30 am

....the wife (Debbie) of the guy (Mike) who is normally the course Marshall had to have an emergency appendectomy a week, or so ago, and she is still recuperating so he has been attending to her needs, which necessitates me, or Walt to fill in for him when we are on duty, which means we need to make several rounds of the golf course each day in addition to our normal mowing, weed whipping, cart staging/washing duties, which means we are each stretched pretty thin each day.  This has been going on for a week now, and by the end of each day I am whipped.  Once again I don't think I stopped moving all day long except for lunch.

On Wednesday I made three rounds of the course to be sure all the twosomes, foursomes, threesomes, etc. were moving along, and there were no bottlenecks.  I also mowed 6 pull through RV sites, plus the employee lawns, plus hauled two large loads of grass clippings out to our dump site.  There was the normal cart washing in the afternoon, and a trip out to the tee boxes on 10 and 3 to mow them.  To mow the employee sites, and pull through sites I have to physically pull the picnic table off the grass in each site to mow, then pull the table back onto the grass when I'm done.  That's a lot of heavy work for a 72+ year old guy, and I feel it at the end of the day.  Additionally, one of the older Club Car gassers would not start when I went to put it away at the end of the day, so I had to push it over to the 'sick bay' area for Bob to work his magic, and get it running.

Fortunately, Walt has offered to work an extra day this week to help get caught up on the mowing, so I can concentrate on my normal duties.  Thursday I will spend a couple of hours clearing all the golf balls off the driving range so it can be mowed, so I will not have any time to do any mowing, or weed whipping.  All that being said, I'm doing fine, and not really complaining.  I like feeling tired at the end of the day....I like the feeling of getting everything done which needs to be done each day, and how good the park looks in spite of us being a little behind.  Hopefully Mike's wife will be back on her feet soon, and we can all return to regularly scheduled programming!

We headed over to Charles and Phyllis' 5th wheel for our farewell dinner around 6 pm.  Phyllis made Chicken Alfredo for us, and was it ever delicious!  Those Houghtaling girls can really cook!  We were home a little before 7 pm, and by 9 pm we were heading off to dreamland once again.

Thanks for stopping by!

23 Carts.....

 6:26 am - Wednesday - June 8th - Likely, CA - 51° F, humidity 54%, wind - CALM.....cloudy today with a forecast high of 80° F....for the first time in a few weeks we turned NO heaters on this morning.  On this date in 2020 we were in Island Park, ID where it was windy, snowy, and rainy all day long......↴

We have entered another 'warm' spell here at LPG&RVR, and beginning Tuesday it will be in the low to high 80's through Saturday, and dipping back into the 60's and 70's beginning Sunday.  Another new thing in the past few days is I have begun to notice mosquitoes, and have been bitten a few times.  We've been lucky over the years avoiding places where there is a major mosquito infestation, but it appears this summer will be different, and that mosquito repellant will be used liberally.  I notice the mosquitoes mostly when on the driving range picking up range balls, or out on the golf course itself.  On Tuesday I spent a lot of time out on the golf course mowing tee boxes (15, 16, 17, and 18), as well as 'Marshalling', so I had to reapply the repellant numerous times to keep the buggers at bay.

Tuesday was also a very busy day....we rented out 23 golf carts, and there were also numerous privately owned carts out there, too.  Needless to say I spent the better part of the afternoon washing, and putting away golf carts.  Other than lunch time I don't think I stopped moving all day long.  The views out on the golf course were big, long, and beautiful.....

....when I was assigned Club Car Villager #20 it only had one lone hubcap, but I managed to find 3 more in the Caddy Shack, and polish them....they look nice....

....TLE reported that it was also quite hectic in the Clubhouse all day, so we arrived home around 5:10 pm both a little the worse for wear.  After a short period of rest we headed over to Charles and Phyllis' for dinner.....we actually had breakfast for dinner.....Phyllis made gravy, and hash browns, and TLE made scrambled eggs and maple sausage.....a nice way to end a busy day!

Thanks for stopping by!