Slightly inebriated and loud.......

7:38 am - Monday - August 7th - LPG&RVR - 54° F, humidity 62%, wind 0 mph out of the east....partly cloudy today with a forecast high of 86° F.  On this date in 2020 TLE and I were riding the Hiawatha Trail (a rails to trails path), which begins in Montana, and ends in Idaho.....↴

We began the 2nd day of our weekend with another out and back walk to Jess Valley Road.  We ended up with our quickest out and back walk of the summer averaging 3.5 mph.....

.....in 34 minutes, and 56 seconds.....of course, I have to add this caveat.....there was a cow we met up with just after the 1st cattle guard crossing which began to follow us at a pretty brisk pace, which caused us to increase our pace until we passed the 2nd cattle guard, and she stopped following us.....lol.

Upon our return I set about extending the two lava rock borders I began a few months ago, and had good intentions of finishing every weekend since then, but never did until Sunday.  This entire area (Modoc County) is rife with volcanic rock 10 feet deep.  All we have to do is walk down the hill a few feet and begin harvesting them.....

The initial rock border we built....

...and the extension on the other side of the 'lower deck' extending out to the trailer tongue

....next I changed all four ropes holding the Ozark canopy to the ground against the prevalent winds as the old, original ones were beginning to rot due to UV exposure.......

....by the way, TLE's flowers, which were almost killed by an overnight freeze way back in April, have come back, and look great....all of them have been flowering for a month, or so.....

......I worked on a number of small projects all afternoon including the repair of one of our solar rope light strings which ceased functioning a week ago....I was able to revive it once again by cutting out a bad section of wire, and splicing the ends together.  We've had those two rope light strings since 2017 when we were at Yellowstone NP, so it is amazing to me they have lasted so long, including our stay at Seal Rocks RV Cove where the salt content of the air was overwhelming for most of our other lighting.  I also did some more weeding, washed the VW in preparation for our drive up to Klamath Falls Monday morning, while watering some dry spots on our lawn.  Once the VW was washed I called an end to my chores.  

The temp never got over 82° F, so we only ran the A/C for a few hours before the temperature was back into the 70's once again.  For the first time this summer I had to get dressed about 1:30 am this morning to walk up the hill to the pull through sites across from the Newell to tell a couple of slightly inebriated, loud talking guys to go inside, and go to bed.  It is always a surprise to me when we have to quiet people down here, because it so rarely happens.

We're off to Klamath Falls in few minutes, so thank you so much for stopping by!

Short timers......

6:37 pm - Sunday - August 6th - LPG&RVR - 80° F, humidity 28%, wind 12 mph out of the northwest....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a now realized high of 82° F.  On this date in 2015 my daughter, Meredith, paid us a surprise visit in South Lake Tahoe......↴

Ahhhh.....finally, I am writing about Saturday on Sunday instead of Monday....lol!

In keeping with our recent weekend history here at LPG&RVR we did our out and back walk to Jess Valley Road right after breaking our slumber Saturday morning.  We intended to begin our walk between 6:30 and 7 am, but spent about 40 minutes straightening up our 'lido' and 'lower' decks following the gusting winds from Friday night, so we didn't depart until almost 7:30 am.  No worries about heat, though.  It was barely 60° F as we began our walk....

......upon our return we both resumed the 'cleanup' of the 'lido' and 'lower' decks, at which time I decided to do some major weeding of the area around the trailer, 'viewing', 'lido' and 'lower' decks.  From there I spent time cleaning 100 grass hoppers from the new grill I installed.  I had to use tweezers to get them out of the grill....what a mess!  We're not getting a lot of bug strikes on our windshield lately, but the grass hoppers tend to be hovering less than a foot off the highway, and what a mess they make of the grill.....ugh!

There were a few tears in our 4 year old Ozark popup canopy from the wind, so I taped them as well as I could, and then ordered a new one off Amazon.  Frankly, we are both amazed at how well this popup canopy, which is a Walmart brand, has worn, and lasted.  We never take it down, even when it is windy.  A new 10' x 10' canopy (fabric only) costs around $55, so not too bad considering it is 4 years old, and has been outside exposed to UV rays most of that time....often in windy conditions.

That's pretty much it for Saturday.  As of Monday, August 7th, we have exactly two months until it is time for us to head south for the winter.  This summer has passed by so quickly!

We will be driving back to Klamath Falls on Monday (7th) for TLE's much awaited, and anticipated cataract surgery Tuesday morning, so I'm not sure if I will have time then to post about Sunday, but I'll try.

Thanks for stopping by!

When Friday is really Friday......

 7:46 am - Sunday - August 6th - LPG&RVR - 55° F, humidity 66%, wind 1 mph out of the west by northwest......crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 83° F.  On this date in  2015 I had the best Huevos Rancheros ever at Bert's Café in South Lake Tahoe....↴

Still the best ever!

I had good intentions to write about Friday yesterday afternoon, but I forgot, and then remembered around 9 pm last night, but then it was too late, so here I am still owing you two posts.

I write a lot about the different guys who do the major mowing on our golf course, but have never posted videos of them doing their jobs, so here goes.  First up is a video taken from the 15th hole of DeWayne mowing the rough on the 17th fairway with the big Jacobsen......

.....and here is Mike mowing the 18th fairway.....

....and finally, George mowing the 9th green with the John Deere.....

.....the rough, and fairways get mowed twice per week, and the greens 3 times per week.  These guys are the backbone of the golf course, and keep the course looking its best 7 days a week.  We get compliments all the time from golfers visiting from Reno, Susanville, and Redding on how good our course is compared to courses they play in their local areas.

Friday was much busier than the rest of the week, and we sent out 20 carts in all during my 8 hour shift.  After staging the first 16 carts, and making my initial round of the course I retrieved the small Husqvarna and began mowing the two long strips of grass along the cart path leading to tees 1 and 10, then around the putting green.  After that I made another round of the course to be sure play was moving along, and found no issues, so I returned to the Clubhouse, retrieved the big Husqvarna 3 bag riding lawnmower, and mowed the the last 3 employee sites....you'll recall I mowed our grass on Thursday.

Before giving TLE her lunch break I made another round of the course checking on play and found everyone spread out nicely, with no bottlenecks.  I got back to the Clubhouse around 12:30 pm to give TLE her lunch break, then after lunch I washed, and put away around 15 golf carts before heading for home at 2:30 pm, and the beginning of our 4 day 'weekend'.  For the first time in a while this Friday was actually our 'Friday'.

The storm moving in....

The weather forecast predicted rain sometime Friday afternoon, but it didn't arrive until around 7:30 pm.  The, sometimes, hard rain was accompanied by lightning and thunder.....a lot of lightning and thunder for about an hour.....was then followed by winds gusting into the 30's for about an hour as the storm left LPG&RVR.  The wind left our 'lido' and 'lower' decks in disarray, but no serious damage was incurred.

The sum total.....

 9:00 am - Saturday - August 5th - LPG&RVR - 62° F, humidity 67%, wind 2 mph out of the north....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 84° F.  On this date in 1981 our daughter, Katie Johanna Ruth, was born at home with a midwife in attendance......she celebrates the 3rd anniversary of her 39th birthday today....↴

I'm in familiar territory again this morning (Saturday) having failed to compose a post about Thursday's happenings yesterday afternoon after work.  So, before I work on Friday's happenings, I'll recap Thursday.

Normally, as you know, Thursdays involve clearing the driving range of golf balls, so it can be mowed, but it has been so dry the past month the grass is not growing that fast out there, so we're mowing it just one per week on Mondays now.  Of course this leaves time for other work to be done.  This Thursday it was slow again, so I staged just 5 carts initially, and 5 more more later in the afternoon, of which 3 were rented for a total of 8 Thursday.

After doing that, and making my first round of the golf course I headed out on the small Husqvarna to mow around tee boxes at 3, 10, 15, 16, 17 & 18, as well as the grass behind the 11th green, all the grass from the entrance to 20 yards past the yellow tees (closest to the green).  I was back around 11:15 am, so traded the small Husqvarna for the larger, 3 bag Husqvarna and mowed the parking lot grass, as well as the large grass area at the group BBQ area, as well as the grass at site #55, our site.  By the time I finished it was time to give TLE her lunch break.  I continued working at 1 pm for 90 minutes more, washing golf carts, and parking them in the cart shed for another night.

I wish there was more to relate about Thursday, but the previous two paragraphs pretty much sum it up, so with that I will end this post, and then move along to work on Friday's post.

Thanks for stopping by!

The eyes have it......

2:50 pm - Thursday - August 3rd - LPG&RVR - 86° F, humidity 21%, wind 7 mph out of the west by northwest......mostly cloudy today with a forecast high of 85° F, which has been exceeded as I write.  On this date in 2020 TLE and I were boating on Priest Lake in northern Idaho with college friends George and Brenda Cheney......↴

George and Brenda are seated on the right in this picture (stage right)

TLE's pre-surgery appointment was set for 1:30 pm Wednesday, so I went to work for about an hour to stage 10 golf carts before heading home.  We were in the Beetle, and on our way to Oregon around 8:30 am, and after an uneventful 2 hour drive we arrived in Klamath Falls around 10:30 am.  Our first stop was at Holiday Jewelers where I handed my 32 year old Casio Quartz diver watch to the staff member to install a new battery. It has been 3 years since I last replaced that battery, and I had noticed, on occasion, the watch would begin running slow, then would be fine for a week.  At any rate, 3 years is about the life span of batteries for that watch.....

Good for another 3 years

....I bought this watch just prior to our 20th anniversary trip to Kauai (Hawaii) back in August of 1991, and it is the watch I wear the most frequently.

From Holiday Jewelers we drove 2 blocks over to Fredy Meyer to do a big shopping....we were there for over an hour before heading to Falls Taphouse for lunch around 12 pm....

Back at our happy spot in Klamath Falls, OR

....they finally put up sail shades on the roof deck, so we took our food and beverages up there for lunch.....the view is great......

....we lingered over our food, and drinks for over an hour before heading down to Klamath Eye Center, just a couple of blocks away, for TLE's 1:30 pm appointment.  We arrived there around 1:25 pm, and within 5 minutes TLE was being whisked away to undergo a bevy of eye tests, etc.....I was able to accompany her, and ask questions.  This is a very efficient place, and I love how they were still on time even at 1:30 pm with their customers.  At the end of an hour TLE met with the surgeon who examined both her eyes, and pronounced her ready to have the lens in her right eye replaced on August 8th!  Perfect! She'll have a follow up appointment in Alturas a week, or so later to check on her healing, and then we'll get her next surgery appointment set up....hopefully for late August, but prior to our annual anniversary trip to Lake Tahoe.

After taking on fuel at the Fred Meyer service station for our return trip, we were on our way home around 3:15 pm, arriving back at LPG&RVR at 5:10 pm.....again, a totally uneventful, but beautiful drive.  I've made reservations to stay at a local hotel in Klamath Falls for next Monday evening, so TLE can be on time for her 7:40 am surgical appointment Tuesday morning.  TLE's vision has been slowly deteriorating over the past 6 months, so she is very happy to finally be getting a new lease on her vision.  After both eyes are done, she will only have to wear 'readers' to read, but will need no corrective lenses for distance....she is very excited about not having to wear glasses all day long, every day as she has done for decades.

Thanks for stopping by!

A bridge too far?

5:53 pm - Wednesday -  2nd - LPG&RVR - 85°  F, humidity 19%, wind 15 mph out of the west.......partly cloudy, and the high of 89° F has been realized.  On this date in 2020 TLE and I visited the grave of my mother, Virginia, who died in April at 90 years of age.....↴

TLE and my sister, Hilary, lay flowers at the grave....no headstone yet

Tuesday started slowly, and ended that way, but the time in between flew by quickly.  I staged 5 golf carts initially, and we ultimately rented out 7, so another slow day on the course.  Since it was the first day of my four day work week I headed out to weed, and rake all four of our sand traps, and had them done by 9 am.  On my way back to the Clubhouse from the sand trap at the 18th hole I found the owner, Dennis Tate, working on repairing the bridge we must cross to get back to the RV park, and Clubhouse.  We were having to drag the bridge almost every day as it became washboardy after just a few hours.  The solution was to remove all the gravel, lay down 2 x 4's side to side, then lay down 4 x 6 pressure treated boards length wise to provide a level surface on which to transition the bridge.....below is the final result, and it is so much better.....

Looking toward holes 9 and 18

Looking toward the RV park

.....it has been a while since either Walt, or I have gone way into the forest on each side of the driving range to retrieve errantly hit golf balls, so since it was a slow day I decided to do that.  Walt and I call it 'deep cleaning' the driving range.  In all I retrieved around 4 gallons of balls, some of which I think have been out there since last year.....lol.

By the time I returned to the Clubhouse with the golf balls 4 golf carts had been returned to I first washed the balls, then the four carts before giving TLE her lunch break at 12 pm.  After lunch I made a round of the course to see how play was going, but, not too unexpected, I found no issues with only 3 carts still on the course.  I also mowed the grass around the large Pavilion, as well as the large grass area next to site #30 before it was time to wash, and put away the final 3 carts, and head for home.

Today.....Wednesday.....we just returned from Klamath Falls for TLE's pre-surgery appointment and are excited to tell you that she will have a new lens put in her right eye next Tuesday (August 8th), and we hope a new one in her left eye one later in the month, if not the first of September!

Thanks for stopping by!

Delayed gratification......

6:16 am - Wednesday - August 2nd - LPG&RVR - 51° F, humidity 53%, wind 0 mph out of the southeast....partly cloudy skies today with a forecast high of 90° F.  On this date in 2017 TLE and I were having lunch at The Corral (a great little hamburger place) in Gardiner, MT after a 5 mile hike.......↴ 

Once again I am remiss in not posting about Monday while it was still Tuesday, but as luck would have it I am only working about an hour today.....just long enough to stage golf carts for the day, and then TLE and I will be heading into Klamath Falls for her eye appointment (upcoming cataract surgery).

While I was enjoying the fourth day of my four day weekend, TLE worked Monday, so I can take her to Klamath Falls on Wednesday for her pre-surgery cataract appointment.  She switched work days with Kathie, and I was going to switch with Walt, but he had appointments down in Reno on Wednesday to keep, so I asked Lynn (wife of mower Mike) to take my place after I stage carts for Kathie first thing Wednesday.  A nice alternative for me as it means no switching.....I do, however, get one less day of pay this pay period.

I've had a project on the back burner for over 2 years to replace the fog lights on our 2001 VW Beetle.  When we were still at Seal Rocks RV Cove back in 2021 I noticed one of the fog lights was not working, so I ordered new aftermarket ones off eBay.  I kept procrastinating because I thought it would be a very involved job just to replace the lights, but now I'm glad I did, because I decided to replace the grill in which those fog lights are mounted since the brackets on the old grill to which the fog lights are attached were broken.  Anyway, since I had a whole day to myself, which is rare, I decided to take on the project.

The most difficult part of the project was removing the old grill, and the old fog lights attached to it.  I borrowed some ramps from the Caddy Shack that are normally used to elevate the front, or rear of golf carts in order to work on them.  The front of the VW is only a few inches off the ground, and getting my head under there without getting the front off the ground would not be possible.  Once I had the car elevated I began to remove the grill, which is basically held in place by plastic clips.  I used a flathead screw driver pop each one out, and then was able to remove the grill after a little bit of a struggle.....

.....once the grill was out I detached the fog lights from it, and then began to install the new fog lights into the new grill.....

The old grill to the left

The new grill with new fog lights installed

....then all that remained was to attached power wires to the new fog lights, then snap the new grill into place.....

Before cleaning the front of the VW

.....before reattaching the license plate I cleaned the bug apocalypse off the front of the VW....

After......ahhhh, much better!

.....once that was done I backed the VW off the ramps, and washed the rest of the car for our trip to Klamath Falls.....I know, I know....it will just get spattered with bugs again, but I like beginning a trip with a clean car.  So, what do you think?  I actually like the blacked out look of the front grill much better than the old painted one, which was much the worse for wear after 22 years of being hit with road debris, and bugs.

After throwing the old grill and badly pitted fog lights away I turned my attention to putting up a few more of my solar rope lights on the locals trees......by the time I was done with that the heat of the day had arrived, and it was time to head into the A/C cooled interior of the Newell for a shower, and a nap.  I'll post pictures of the new rope lights in my next missive.

I picked up TLE from work a tad after 5 pm, which was the end of my last weekend day, and time to myself.  At last another of those oft delayed projects is done, and there is a little more room in the trailer.

Thanks for stopping by!