More little stuff.....

 7:50 am - Wednesday - May 7th - LPG&RVR - 53° F, humidity 51%, wind 6 mph out of the south by southeast.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 75° F.  On this date in 2021 TLE and I were enjoying another amazing Seal Rocks RV Cove sunset on the Oregon Coast.....

....we spent a year (October of 2020 to October of 2021) there, and loved it!

First thing Tuesday after I had posted my daily missive TLE and I set out to do our 2 mile out and back walk.  There was no wind, and clear, blue skies.....

.....about half way to our turn around point we caught up with Claude and his dog Jax....

.....so we took an 'usie' and I continued on while TLE walked more slowly with Claude.  I arrived back at the Newell about 10 minutes before Claude and TLE having covered the two miles in just over 38 minutes....another improvement in elapsed time.

I spent the rest of the day taking care of tasks around the site, which included dumping our black tank for the second time since our arrival (we dumped 7 days of effluent generated on our week long trip north) when we dumped immediately after parking in site #23.  I then returned to the trailer to finish what I had begun Monday.  I moved the two Stihl chainsaws back to the through bay along with our luggage, then began move my summer work clothes (LPG&RVR short sleeve and long sleeve shirts) into my hanging closet in the Newell, and my winter clothing into the trailer, which I hung in clothing bags to keep them free of dust.

Then I reorganized the 6 food storage containers we keep in the trailer by placing them on two 4" x 4" pieces of wood to keep them off the ground, and hung some more of my frequently used tools on the Black and Decker Workmate, moved my Haibike to the rear of the trailer, unloaded the Predator 5000 from the Newell passenger side engine bay, cleaned the dust off of it, ran it for a while, then moved it (with TLE's help) into the trailer, and, finally, hooked up the Bluetti AC200P solar generator to power the 12 volt Fantastic Fan ceiling vent fan when it gets warm later this summer.  It was a lot of little stuff, but now the trailer is organized, and ready for use....

My winter clothes

TLE's winter clothes....she has a larger selection than I, apparently

.....by the time I was finished it was getting close to 4 pm.  Our plans were to grill a salmon steak, and Claude would grill a hamburger for our communal dinner.  TLE provided green beans for a side, and Claude some leftover spaghetti.  I neglected to memorialize the food, or our gathering, but a good time was had by all.  We sat talking until after 7 pm, finally adjourning to our respective coaches for the evening.

Thanks for stopping by!

The benefits of rural living.....

 7:24 am - Tuesday - May 6th - LPG&RVR - 40° F, humidity 45%, wind 2 mph out of the north.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 69° F.  On this date in 2024 it snowed overnight at Likely Place Golf & RV Resort.....

.....it didn't really stick, but it did snow for the 3rd time since we arrived in early April.

After beginning our day at 5:30 am for four consecutive days we slept in Monday.  I was still awake at 5:30 am, but I didn't have to get up, and I didn't.  Instead I drifted in and out of consciousness for the next 90 minutes before deciding to begin the day a little after 7 am.  In fact I think it was exactly 7:07 am, which reminded me of my Dad waking me up....he would say "Clarke, its 707 and time to fly!"....funny the things you think about at 7 am in the morning.....good memories.  We were going to do our 2 mile out and back walk, but the winds had other ideas.  TLE doesn't like to walk in the wind, and with each passing year I like it less and less, so we didn't walk.

Around 9 am the UPS driver, Glenn, dropped off a package I was expecting from Amazon....a new polycarbonate folding windshield for Club Car Villager #20, so I spent the next hour, or more removing the old, tired, soft windshield and installing the new, very intuitive, polycarbonate windshield.....

.....I've wanted one of these ever since our first season here back in 2022, but the $120 price tag was a little off-putting at the time.  Not so much anymore, though.  I pulled the trigger and ordered it hoping it would fit, and it did.....perfectly.  Frankly, my day could have ended right there, and I would have been content with my accomplishment, but there was still the trailer interior needing some attention, so I took a break, then headed out to the trailer to work my magic.

When I'm working in the trailer on a project, or just organizing into a workshop it so it can be used as such, the time just melts away.  In about 2 hours I was about 90% done.  All that remains is to move our two pieces of luggage, and the 2 Stihl chainsaws back into the through bay in the Newell.  At some point I'm going to take them into town to the local Stihl dealer and have them serviced for the upcoming winter season at TWW, but that is five months away, so for now they will reside in the Newell through bay, and further declutter the trailer interior.....

.....I kept hoping the winds would abate so maybe I could hit a few balls at the driving range, but it got windier, and colder as the afternoon progressed, so I headed back into the warm confines of the Newell to have a snack, and take a nap.

We've been back at LPG&RVR for just over a week now, but it feels like we never left last October.  Both TLE and I have slipped easily back into the four days working, and four days not working routine......we love those four day weekends.  Frankly, the work days aren't that bad....it's just the getting up at 5:30 am that we could do without, right?  The work isn't that hard, and it really feels like a vacation from the work we did at TWW this past winter.  We both love being able to access the electrical grid again were we have access to 100 amps of power 24/7, and can run our quiet, electric heaters.  We love being just 20 minutes away from town where we have a large hardware store, and three grocery stores at which to shop.  

As you might recall, we changed the addresses for all of our rolling stock, as well as drivers licenses to Likely last year, and we just got the renewal registration for our 2001 VW Beetle.  Usually we have to get the VW smogged every two years (the odd years), and that would have been due again this year, however, now that we live in this extremely rural area where air pollution is not an issue, we are no longer required to make that 6 hour round trip drive to Redding....YAY for our team!  NO SMOG CERTIFICATE REQUIRED!!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Everyone was playing for second place.....

 7:39 am - Monday - May 5th - LPG&RVR - 40° F, humidity 46%, wind 11 mph out of the north....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 66° F.  On this date in 2012 TLE and I were at Granite City Brewing in Lincoln, Nebraska sampling some brews, and an appetizer.....

.....we settled on two pints of their Broad Axe Stout, and Asian Crispy Shrimp for the appetizer.....

....we were treated to a sublime sunset in Nebraska that night followed a few hours later by thunder/lightning and torrential rain.

Sunday was our Friday this week, and it began with very cold, overcast, breezy weather.  I wore two long sleeve shirts, my Levis, my hooded Carhartt jacket, gloves, and thermal socks....that was just about right.  With such cold, blustery, winterlike weather many golfers who had tee times decided not to play, and I don't blame them.  There were, however, 6 intrepid twosomes that did keep their tee times.  I staged 9 Yamaha gassers, and six of them saw action.....

The 3 which did not see action Sunday

......you've probably noticed I'm not making a rounds of the course, at least these first four days, and that is because we have a Course Marshal (Claude) who takes care of the goose leavings, and rakes the traps Thursday through Sunday each week.  Eventually I'll be doing that again, but not until this Monday when Claude is off work.

Every Spring, when we arrive for another summer season here at LPG&RVR I find the 'Caddy Shack' workbench is covered with tools, fasteners, irrigation parts, etc., and eventually, like Sunday, I spend time putting things away, and clearing the bench surface so one can actually find things, and perform small tasks on the now cleared workbench surface.  It only took me an hour, and soon the interior of the 'Caddy Shack' was useable again....

.....and the floor could be seen once again.....

.....I spent time cleaning golf balls Jose and Bob found out on the the course after a recent storm uncovered them, and re-parking around 10 golf carts in the cart shelter so I could once again walk in between the carts from the front to the back.   We resell those golf balls I cleaned for 50 cents apiece in the Pro Shop.  The really good ones go for $1.50.  I gave TLE her lunch break at 11:40 am as I was out of things to do.  I only had one phone call the entire hour.

Meanwhile Scottie Scheffler was lapping the field at the Byron Nelson Championship in Texas....at one point he was up by 9 strokes, and finally won by 8 strokes.  He led this tournament wire to wire for his first win of the season.  Everyone else was playing for second place.  He finished at 31 under par with rounds of 10 under par, 8 under par, 5 under par and 8 under par....a truly dominating performance.

After lunch I found 3 of the 6 golf carts we rented had been returned....

....so I cleaned them, and put them away....only three to go!

It was a slow afternoon, so I planned to clock out at 2:30 pm.  I took a few pictures of the Clubhouse area, and Eagle Mountain in the distance....

Everything is SO green right now

...around 2:45 pm I headed home to watch the last few holes of the aforementioned golf tournament, and take a nap before returning around 4:45 pm to wash the last three golf carts, and bring TLE home......

TLE toting a bag of trash from the office

....she's done for the day, and now our four day weekend begins.

Thanks for stopping by!

Surprise, surprise!

 6:04 am - Sunday - May 4th - LPG&RVR - 40° F, humidity 76%, wind 9 mph out of the north by northwest.....windy, cloudy today with a forecast high of 57° F.  On this date in 2020, early in the Wuhan Flu debacle, TLE and I were in Flagstaff at Black Bart's RV Park with Glenn and Laureen visiting with our niece Christina Wilson (daughter of Charles and Phyllis) who lived there at the time....

....we had just escaped the heat of Wittmann, AZ where we spent a few weeks working on Glenn and Laureen's 1984 Newell.

TLE and I were on the job at 7:30 am Saturday.  I knew I had 6 Yamaha golf carts left over from Friday to wash, and when I arrived at the Cart Return area I discovered this surprise....

.....someone had crashed one of our carts (#77) and did not report the accident.  I'm not sure what they thought would happen, or not happen when we discovered the damage, but we do know who rents each cart.  I took the above pictures and sent them to Jose Madrigal, the Manager, and within 30 minutes he was onsite inspecting the cart with Bob Longacre (our mechanic).  While they inspected the cart, I got on with washing the other 5, and staging 10 golf carts.  We expected to rent at least 14 carts Saturday, but the weather forecast was for thunder showers beginning at 2, or 3 pm, so you never know.

Once the first 10 carts were staged I began to check out the two Stihl string trimmers we used for weed whacking here at LPG&RVR to be sure they would start after their winter hiatus, and they did.  Bob puts Stabil in them at the end of each season, so they usually start without much issue.  There is a lot of string trimming to do after all the mowing Dave did the other day, so it was up to me to begin to make a dent in that backlog.  I began with the area between the Practice Putting green, and the Clubhouse deck, then moved over to the large grass area in the parking lot, then up to the small and large Gazebo's.  Once that was done I hopped on the 2 bag Husqvarna riding lawnmower and headed up the hill to mow the three large grass areas in the residential area.  As I finished the third lawn I checked my watch to find that it was 11:45 am, and almost time for TLE's lunch break.

I always enjoy that hour that separates the morning and afternoon manual labor, and soon I was back outside cleaning returning carts, and dodging rain drops....the rain came a little earlier than expected.  I had barely put away the carts I had cleaned when the skies opened up for about 45 minutes, so I took a break on the deck of the Clubhouse until this first storm cell passed.  When 3:30 pm came I still had two golf carts out of the course, so I headed for home to change, and return for the weekly putting contest.....

.....we had 27 putters signed up for the contest as we sat under threatening skies.  I actually made it out of the first round, and was tied going to the 5th and final hole of the second round, but made a bad first putt, and missed my second putt.  I did better than I expected after not putting for almost 7 months, but a little more practice will help me do better next week.

It rained on and off during the putting contest, and it ended with rain pouring down on the final two contestants.  A part of me was glad that was not me out there getting soaked.....lol!  TLE and I were home drying off after a wet drive home around 5:30 pm.  I had turned on the heaters about 30 minutes earlier when I had run down the hill to flip the sign, so we arrived to a warm, and cozy Newell interior.  Three days down, and one to go before our first 4 day weekend in a long time!

Thanks for stopping by!

Things are heating up.....

5:47 am - Saturday - May 3rd - LPG&RVR - 40° F, humidity 80%, wind 1 mph out of the south by southeast......partly cloudy today with rain in the forecast this afternoon, and a high of 61° F.  On this date in 2018 TLE and I were visiting Niagra Falls, NY....

.....doing the 'Maid of the Mist' boat tour....you really do get quite wet, and without those rain jackets they provide, you would be soaked to the skin.

Day two of our four day work week began with clear skies, and remained that way until early afternoon when clouds began to roll into the Pit River Valley in advance of a storm forecast for Saturday.  I staged 9 golf carts initially, and we ended up renting 13 in all.  With David helping catch up on the mowing I was able to focus on other things like taking the CART signs out to the golf course....these signs are placed about 20 yards out from each hole pointing golfers to the location of the next connecting cart path.  I took Claude with me, and we had a great time.....

.....it is really nice to be able to spend the Summer with one of my best friends of the last 40 years.  After returning to the Clubhouse area I went up to the small gazebo to retrieve the three 55 gallon barrels I had filled with hoses last Fall before our departure for Arizona in order to redistribute them around the RV park.  All the while David was mowing around the 'Night Office', all 10 tent sites, the 5 employee sites, and many of the back in Meadows sites....what a great worker!  On Saturday I'll give him a brief tutorial on the operation of our Stihl string trimmers.

By the time I finished with the hose distribution it was almost 12 pm, so I headed back to the Clubhouse to give TLE her lunch break.  On this day I decided not to take a lunch break of my own so I could be off work at 3:30 pm.  

After TLE returned from lunch I began to pull out more golf carts (the older ones) to get them washed, and re-parked in the cart shelter.  That took most of the remainder of my shift, and by 3:30 pm I was heading for the Newell to enjoy a snack, and a nap before returning to the Clubhouse at 5 pm to retrieve TLE.  Friday was a good day with lots accomplished.  Claude is enjoying his role as 'Course Marshal', and I am enjoying not being spread so thin as I was last year.  The park is looking great, and the customers are arriving for Veteran's Day Weekend....things are heating up.... at least in a figurative sense....lol!

Thanks for stopping by!

Opening day chaos.....

 5:48 am - Friday - May 2nd - LPG&RVR - 41° F, humidity 57%, wind 4 mph out of the south by southeast.....clear, blue skies this morning with a forecast high of 75° F.  On this date in 2018 TLE and I were visiting the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, OH.....

It's been a while since I broke my slumber at 5:30 am, but that is what I did Thursday morning.  I really prefer to awaken slowly, as the sun slowly illuminates the morning sky each day, but when you have a paying job that requires you be on duty at 7:30 am that is what you do.  I need to slowly ease into my work day, and I need that two hours to do so.  TLE usually gets up about 6 am, which works for her as she doesn't compose a daily blog.

It's still cold in the morning here at 5,500' elevation, and by that I mean it is routinely in the low to mid 30's each morning, but the time will come in the not too distant future when I will not be turning on any electric heaters, and not even wearing a jacket to work anymore.  Just before 7:30 am I was in Club Cart Villager #20 heading down the hill to flip the sign which directs new arrivals  from the Night Office to the Clubhouse office to register for their stay.

Opening day is always a little chaotic as I must pull virtually all the golf carts out of the shed to wash them, and stage them for golfers.  Although they sit under a roof in the cart shack all winter, there are no sides on the shelter, so they get dusty from sitting all winter.....really dusty!

The person who will work the four day shift when I am off is Dave, and he showed up at 7:30 am so I could show him what the daily routine looks like.  Having his help to move all the carts outside the cart shack, and help wash them really sped things up considerably.  Once we had enough carts washed, fueled and staged to handle those who had signed up for tee times, and a golf cart I took Dave around the course to show him the sand traps needing raking, and the tee boxes at hole #3 where the geese like to take their potty breaks.

We were back at the Clubhouse around 10:40 am at which time we closed the driving range to clear the range balls so DeWayne could mow it later the the day.  Again, having someone to help pickup the balls really sped up the process, and we were done by 11:30 am.  Dave went ahead and took his lunch break while I hung a couple of signs for TLE, and then it was time for me to give her a lunch break.

Dave returned after his break, and did quite a bit of mowing.....everything needs mowing, so having his help to catch up on the mowing really takes a lot of pressure off moi.  I was able to focus on washing and fueling the rest of the golf carts, and washing the range balls, plus clean the carts returning from the golf course.  

It was also a day of a lot of hugs from returning residents whom we haven't seen for 6 months, followed by discussions of what everyone did over the winter.  LPG&RVR is really a close knit community full of good people, who have become good friends over the last 3 summers.  By 5 pm I was out of gas.  I haven't worked an 8 hour day in over 6 months.  While we worked almost every day at TWW, it was only for 3-4 hours typically, followed by a nap.  At any rate, after a chaotic beginning the day went quite well, and by the end of day Friday we should be caught up on mowing.

The new Course Marshal (my friend Claude) will be taking care of the goose leavings, and the sand traps on his work days (Thursday through Sunday), so I won't have that to deal with as much as I have the last two years.  Over all my work load seems to be shrinking a tad, and I could not be happier about that turn of events.

By 5:15 pm TLE and I were on our way home for the evening.  She had a very busy day, but all the money balanced out at the end of her shift, so she was wearing a big smile as I drove her home.

Thanks for stopping by!

The last day.....

 5:52 am - Thursday - May 1st - LPG&RVR - 35° F, humidity 72%, wind 1 mph out of the east by southeast....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 74° F.  On this date in Ashtabula, OH at the Elks Lodge.....

.....we chose to stay east of Cleveland to be out of the city, and then drove back to Cleveland to tour the 'Rock & Roll Hall of Fame' the next day.

Wednesday was our last free day before we begin working the summer season here at LPG&RVR.  On my menu was to complete, or at least make a big dent in the conversion of the trailer into a garage for the next 5 months, plus install our water filters system, change hoses from the heated hose to our regular fresh water hose, and finish setting up our 'dining/gaming deck' since the plan was to grill a steak for dinner, and eat outdoors for the first time at LPG&RVR this summer.  Just enough to keep me busy most of the day, but first we needed to take our second 2 mile out and back walk of the summer.....

.....we were able to complete the 2 miles in just over 39 minutes this time breaking our very slow time from the day before of 40+ minutes.  It was a nice morning for a walk.

Once we were back TLE headed over to the Clubhouse for a 10 am meeting, and orientation, and I headed out to 'lido deck' to install the aforementioned filters, and regular fresh water hose.....

.....as well as TLE's brand spanking new garden hose....I actually bought it just after we arrived at The Wilson Wilderness, but we never used it there......

.....once that was done I headed over to the Clubhouse to putt for the first time in over six months.  The putting green is still a little 'fuzzy', and needs a little closer mowing, but it is in good shape after the winter.  I did surprisingly well.  About the time I finished TLE was also finished with her meeting so we rode back to site #55 together where I got busy putting some more touches on the 'dining/gaming deck'.....

.....and then turned my full attention to the trailer interior, which was total chaos.....but looked much better a couple of hours later.....

......by the time I finished it was after 2 pm, and time for a nap.  I got way more done in the trailer than I expected, leaving just another hour, or so of work before it is officially a garage again.  Having so much less stuff to organize has made the job much easier.

We grilled our steak, and my good friend's (Claude Banker) steak a little after 5 pm....I failed to memorialize the dinner in pictures, but suffice it to say, it was great.  Claude is going to be one of the 'Course Marshals' this summer.  He made the trip out from Kansas about 2 weeks ago, so he could take a side trip up to Oregon to visit his 105 year old mother before beginning the summer season, and just returned on Sunday.  He is staying in his 1984.5 Blue Bird Wanderlodge, which has the same Detroit Diesel 6v92 that our 1982 Newell has.

Time to get ready for our first of four workdays, so thank you so much for stopping by!