Sometimes.....redux

 7:58 am - Saturday - September 26th - Seal Rock, OR - 55° F, 100% humidity, wind - CALM once again.......partly cloudy today with NO forecast of rain today, or until next Saturday with a forecast high today of 62° F.

(I was reading what I wrote on this date in 2013.....sometimes I am surprised at how erudite I can be at times, and thought I would share my thoughts from 7 years ago again today since this is one of those days I run into on occasion where my mind draws a blank on what to write.)

From September 26, 2013: 

"Sometimes, like today, I wake up and wonder "what am I going to write about Wednesday (or whatever day I'm writing about at the time) that is noteworthy, or interesting, or informative?".  Sometimes I sit staring at the "Post" title box above for what seems like a long, long time trying to figure out what one word, or phrase will convey the gist of the day just passed.  Sometimes I think it would just be easier to take a day off, and post a link to the same date from a year ago.  Sometimes I just start with one word, like "Sometimes" and start writing what comes into my mind........okay, well not everything that comes into my mind.....just the stuff fit for civil society.  Sometimes I have the utmost respect for those who make their living "writing" books, or articles, and I do most of the time, but sometimes I think "they're good at what they do because they are just being themselves and writing about whatever comes into their minds, and for the most part their thoughts put on paper, or in digital format are consistently interesting to a lot of people", and therefore, they become popular.

When I first started this blog I only posted when we did something, mostly when we took a trip in the coach, or after we went full time, if we rolled our wheels that day.  It wasn't until we arrived at Amazon.com in Campbellsville, KY last October that I decided if I was going to become any good at this blogging stuff I needed to write something every single day, whether, or not "I thought" what we did might seem interesting, or informative to others.  What I found was that people just wanted to know about the experience, no matter how mundane it seemed to me.  I get comments often now from people who started reading my blog back then when I was writing on a daily basis about our Amazon experience.  At any rate, here I have written several hundred words about "sometimes".  I hope what I write about our daily life lived in an RV traveling around the U.S.  is interesting sometimes, but hopefully it is interesting most of the time.

Wednesday did not involve a lot, in my own mind, to write about......I started off as I always do pouring cup of coffee from our Starbucks Barista automatic coffee maker, which, by the way makes quite excellent coffee.  Then I pour a little half and half into it and watch it swirl, and change the color to a lighter brown.  I actually look forward to getting up in the morning just to have that first cup of dark roast coffee....it just makes me happy.  Then I turn on my laptop, and sit down to stare at the blank screen that is waiting to be filled with something that I hope will be interesting to others."

Present day:

Those who know me relatively well know I am a creature of habit.  I still follow virtually the same routine each morning that I did 7 years ago.  Sometimes something happens and my routine is altered for a few days like when I had my heart attack 18 months ago, or my double hernia operation 7 years ago, or in the summer of 2019 when I was going to work at 7 am, and writing my missives in the afternoon, or my stroke in December of 2017, but the rest of the time, barring any unforeseen circumstances I am sitting at my computer first thing each morning with a cup of coffee.....we no longer have our Starbucks Barista coffee maker, but we do have our wonderful Corningware electric percolator, which in spite of its simplicity produces an equally amazing dark elixir each morning.  It is an extremely rare occurrence to find me without coffee in my hand first thing in the morning.

Sometimes that routine is interrupted, but usually there is a cup of coffee somewhere in the near future. I'm reminded of a time years ago when we still owned our 1987 Fleetwood Tioga Class C motorhome we were on a weekend camping trip at a local State Park named Chino Hills State Park.  I got up Saturday morning to make the coffee and found we had forgotten the COFFEE!  Our location had us about 4 miles from the nearest Starbucks via a dirt road, and we had no car with us. TLE was not yet up, so I found a backpack and rode my mountain bike out of the park to the local Starbucks, filled our Starbucks Barista carafe, and then rode 4 miles back to the motorhome.  As I arrived TLE was just getting up....perfect timing.  Anyway, I say that to illustrate how serious I am about having a cup of coffee first thing in the morning.

Our 1987 Fleetwood Tioga Class C at Chino Hills State Park back 

in April 29th of 2006

So, after all that blather, what went on Friday?  Well, it rained all day long, sometimes quite hard, and we did not go anywhere, or do anything.  I made it out to the trailer a few times to retrieve this, or that, but really spent the entire day reading with random naps thrown in for good measure.  The rain finally abated around 5 pm, and Saturday promised some sun, and warmer temps...it appears we will have 4, or 5 days with temps in the 70's this week.

Thanks for stopping by!

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"Dark waters at the foot of the mountain....."

 6:58 am - Friday - September 25th - Seal Rock, OR - 59° F, 94% humidity, wind 23 mph out of the south.....windy, stormy, rainy since 4 am.....TLE and I had to get up at 5:30 am to stow the patio awning due to the unexpected winds.  Forecast high for today is 59° F, so we are already there at 6:58 am.....lol!  On this date in 2015 TLE and I were in Bandon, OR at Tony's Crab Shack......the best fish tacos, bar none, ever......↴

It occurred to me that I have not written about our weekly work schedule yet.  At this time we are slated to work Sunday through Thursday each week for approximately 2 hours per day, or more if the workload requires it.  There are at least two more couples arriving here to work over the next two months, so I am not sure if the workload will be great enough to require more hours on a regular basis, and if that happens it will be a bonus.  Our goal when we accepted this job was to basically work enough to cover the discounted monthly cost of our site, and that amounts to about 16 hours per week.  Personally, after working 27-30 hours a week for 9 months at RORVR (Romona Oaks RV Resort) it's nice to just work 8-10 hours per week.....very nice.  My start time each day is at 10 am, also very nice, and I'm done by 12 pm most days.  TLE works 9-11 am each day.

As was the case Wednesday, it rained on and off all Thursday morning which relegated me to indoor work, so I returned to painting the new to us shelving units in the tool shed.......

Almost done with the second shelving unit....

......and then they were both finished.....

......I finished with the second shelving unit around 11:30 am, and then spent the next 30 minutes doing touch up on both units......I think they turned out pretty well.  I rinsed out my brush, and then made the short walk home in a couple of minutes....another rough day at the office.

While I was inside the tool shed painting the shelving units it was storming outside....the Pacific Ocean appears quite angry.....

......we've only traveled as far south as Waldport since we arrived in Seal Rock last Tuesday so we decided to drive down to Yachats (A Chinook Indian work meaning 'dark waters at the foot of the mountain') around 3:30 to have an early dinner at Yachats Brewing, which is very highly rated by Yelp.....4 stars on over 300 reviews.  Ironically, by 3:30 pm the sun had come out, and we had blue skies as far as the eye could see.  We arrived in Yachats (13 miles south of Seal Rock) 20 minutes later......

......we opted for indoor seating as it was a little breezy outside, but even that had a little exposure to the outdoor patio area as the garage door was up which separates the patio from the interior.  We were quickly seated, and began to peruse the beer and food menus......

.....I chose a 16 oz. glass of their Marbled Murrelet (Dry Irish Stout - 5.5% ABV), and TLE their Nitro version of their barrel aged American Wile Ale (8.6% ABV)....both were exceptional......

Left to right: Nitro Barrel Aged American Wild Ale, and Marbled Murrelet

.....for our entrees we ordered the Brisket sandwich to split, and two bowls of their Smoked Salmon Chowder.....OMG.....I am still weak in the knees from that experience.  We both cherished every spoon full....

.....and the Brisket....what can I say.....I would love to have a plate full of that brisket.

Photo of the Brisket sandwich courtesy of Yelp

.....they have a short menu, and frankly I could have seen us ordering one of everything!  As our server said "There are no bad choices on this menu....", and we would agree, at least so far.  We shall return to find out if that claim is really true.....lol.

On the way home we had to stop to snap a picture of the sun hitting the Alsea Bay Bridge in Waldport....

....as the sun set on yet another amazing day at Seal Rock, OR I walked down to the overlook across the street to get this picture, and a short video for your viewing pleasure.....

 

.....thanks for stopping by!

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Rainy day stuff.....

 7:40 am - Thursday - September 24th - Seal Rock, OR - 59° F, 88% humidity, wind 9 mph out of the south......overcast and foggy this morning with a forecast high of 63°, and rain later this morning.  On this date in 2014 we were visiting a lighthouse in Bandon, OR with friends......↴

The forecast Wednesday was rain, rain, and more rain.  Fortunately, I had some inside work to do, and that involved painting some new shelving battleship gray.  The easiest way to paint something of this nature would be to spray it, but we do not have that kind of equipment here, so I painted them using a paint brush......it is slow, and ponderous, but what else do I have to do on a rainy day?  Of course, a little music wafting out of my Wonderboom bluetooth speaker, and the rain on the roof didn't hurt the mood a bit......

Unpainted unit

One shelf almost painted

......it took me most of my two hour shift to paint one unit, and I managed to get one shelf painted on the second one before I cleaned the paint brush, and headed for home....

I even painted a trim piece for Terry

.....TLE worked in the office from 9 am to 11 am, and was already home when I arrived in the rain an hour later.  At times during the afternoon the rain got quite torrential......

.....and it continued all afternoon just as the forecast had predicted.  Rainy days are perfect for curling up with a good book in front of our portable fireplace, and that is what we both chose to do.  I'm currently reading a series of 8 books written by William J. Johnstone about a fictitious bounty hunter named Luke Jensen.  If you like the Western genre you will like this series....I've read 6 of the 8 books so far, and they are difficult to put down.

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!

Forest port......

7:57 am - Wednesday - September 23rd - Seal Rock, OR - 63° F, 88% humidity, wind 22 mph out of the south......rain and wind forecast for today with a forecast high of 64° F.  On this date in 2014 we were taking a hike near Port Orford, OR.......↴

I love these 2-3 hour workdays!  Just about the time I begin to need a break it's time to clock out.  Tuesday Terry and I spent most of my shift working around the home of the owner of Seal Rocks RV Cove.  He lives in Florida, but comes out to Oregon on a pretty regular basis.  The home was built in the 1920's before there was a coast highway (US-101).  It is located on the hill above the RV park.  The owner is due to arrive here this week so we spent some time mowing the grass, and trimming away weeds via a STIHL string trimmer manned by moi....

The view from the owner's home

The backyard (mowed and edged)

The backside of the house facing the ocean

....in addition to the work on the owner's home we picked up some more cuttings from our hedge trimming foray the day before and it was time to head for home.  I'm slowly getting the hang of the layout here, and where everything is.  Taking it in short 2-3 hour doses makes it easier to take it all in.  

I worked 3 hours (10 am to 1 pm) Tuesday, because it's supposed to rain Wednesday which will limit work on Wednesday.  There are a couple of indoor projects I upon which I can focus Wednesday, but not much else.  It appears we will be getting daily rain for the next week, but then it appears we will have sun for the next 7 days....such is the lot of Coastal Oregon dwellers.  TLE worked in the office from 11 am to 1 pm, so was able to go home with me at 1 pm.

On the satellite TV front we have great DirecTV reception here in site A-3, and utilizing our U.S. Celluar phone for broadband are able to stream programs as we wish.  The Verizon broadband signal is very spotty here at Seal Rocks RV Cove so our phones are connected to the campground WiFi most of the time enabling us to get emails, texts and internet.  If we need to make, or receive a cell phone call we take our phones off 'Airplane Mode' as we usually get at least 1 bar of 3G which is more than enough for phone calls.  My laptop is connected to the campground WiFi also, enabling me to publish my latest missive each day.

We love our close proximity to both Newport and Waldport for shopping and 'junking', but also love the relative remoteness where we live....the best of all worlds.  Waldport, interestingly enough, was settled and named by German settlers who floated down the Alsea River from the Oregon interior in the 1870's.  Wald is German for 'forest'....so 'forest port'.....you may recall that my last name is Hockwald (German spelling  is Hochwald), and, of course, the 'wald' part also means forest.....the Hock, or Hoch part means 'high' in German.....so, 'high forest'.

Once again we whiled away the afternoon reading, and watching the next storm move into the area.  Since pretty stiff winds are forecast for Wednesday we proactively stowed the patio awning around 6 pm....better to stow it when we are not under duress, rather than having to stow in in the middle of the night when it is raining and the wind is blowing.....not fun.....how do I know?

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!

Workaday life returns......

 7:24 am - Tuesday - September 22nd - Seal Rock, OR - 54° F, 100% humidity, wind - CALM......overcast....rained most of the night, but should be "dry" the rest of the day.  The forecast high is 62° F.  On this day in 2014 we ate dinner at Redfish in Port Orford, OR......↴

Civiche and fried plantains app

Monday was our official first workday here at Seal Rocks RV Cove.  I met Terry at the office at 10 am to take a tour of the park facilities, including the various tool, and equipment sheds.  A big part of my/our job here will be to keep the vegetation in check.  Everything grows quickly here due to the moderate temps, the amount of rain, and moisture, so the trimming never ends.  There are numerous hedges here which serve to separate the RV sites, and provide a certain amount of privacy......

.....above is one of the hedges Terry and I trimmed Monday, and all of the cuttings are in the trailer in the foreground.  This hedge was just trimmed about 1 month ago.  As a result of all the trimming needed the toolshed is full of Stihl string trimmers, hedge trimmers, pole trimmers, pole pruners, hand pruners, chainsaws, and on it goes.  

I worked about 2.5 hours my first day, and that will be pretty much our routine this winter.  We are essentially working for our site, and that amounts to a combined 16+ hours per week for TLE and I (8+ hours per person).....certainly not a very heavy workload.  We will be paid for any hours we work over the 16. As one might expect, it rains a lot on the Oregon Coast in the winter, and there will be days when I am unable to work outside.  At any rate, we are both happy with our limited work schedule.

TLE met with Michele at 11 am to get oriented on the office stuff she will be doing this winter.  She will also be working outside from time to time with me, so that will be a nice change.  They (Seal Rocks RV Cove) currently use a program called Campground Manager (different from Campground Master), but will be switching over to a new program called RMS allowing customers to handle all their reservations, checkins, checkouts online thereby reducing the amount of personal interaction on the part of park employees.....this is in response to the Wuhan Flu pandemic.

At any rate, we will have lots of time to explore, hike, bike ride, etc......even on days we work, as long as it's not raining, of course.  I was home by 12:30 pm, and TLE was home a little after 1 pm....it was raining so we spent the rest of the afternoon, and into the evening reading.

With the completion of Monday we have finished our first full week at Seal Rocks RV Cove.  We like our site, we like the people with whom we work, and we like our jobs....doesn't get much better than that.  What remains to be seen is how severe the winter will be.  We know from past experience when volunteered at Cape Blanco in the Fall of 2014, and 2015 that it can get quite windy (one storm brought us Cat 1 winds), and that it does rain a lot after the end of September.  So far we have had little, or no wind, but a fair amount of rain.

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!

Finale Sunday.....

 8:09 am - Monday - September 21st - Seal Rock, OR - 50° F, 94% humidity, wind - CALM......cloudy today with a forecast high of 61° F.  On this day in 2019 we were at the Angelika Film Center with my new Bob Marley's to see 'Last Blood'.......↴

Sunday was the first day we awoke to completely clear, blue skies since we arrived at Seal Rocks RV Cove last Tuesday.  We began our day by watching Stage 21, the final Stage, of Le Tour.  The final stage is almost always a formality as the winner usually has a large enough time lead that it cannot be overcome as the Pelaton arrives in Paris, and that was the case Sunday.  Tadej Pogŏcar began Stage 21 as the time leader, and ended the Stage in the same position.  He also won the white jersey, given to the best new young rider, the polka dot jersey for the 'King of the Mountains', and the yellow jersey worn by the winner.....quite a feat for the 21 year old.

After watching Stage 21 we jumped on our bikes and rode into Seal Rock to Seal Rock Espresso and Bakery for which Yelp gives 5 stars on 75 reviews.  We got coffee there the other day on our way back from Newport.  It's only .5 miles north on US-101 from the RV park, and it took us just a few minutes to arrive.....

.....their 'dine in' area is still closed due to the pandemic, but their drive through window is doing big business.  You can drive through, ride your bike through, or walk through to get your coffee, so we parked our bikes and walked through.  Just after we had gotten our coffees we met Felix who is a long distance bicycle rider and was riding his bike through the drive through.  He began his trip this June in Alaska, and his final destination is Teirra del Fuego at the southern tip of Argentina.  We must have talked for 40 minutes about his trip so far, and what was ahead before bidding him adieu....

Felix on his way again to new adventures

.....we returned home to find the fourth and final round of the USGA U.S. Open in full swing with the leaders just completing hole #9, and Bryson DeChambeau at 5 under par with a one stroke lead over Mark Wolff.....both players sank eagle putts on the 9th hole....how rare is that?  Ultimately, Bryson finished at 6 under par, and his closest competitor, Mark Wolff, at even par.  He was the only player to post an under par score Sunday, and the only player to finish the tournament under par.

Around 3 pm I decided to repeat my bike ride from Saturday by doing the 10 mile out and back ride to Waldport again......

....I improved my roundtrip time from 44:33 on Saturday to 42:54 on Sunday, and my average speed from 13.7 to 14.0 on this second attempt.  I'm hoping to break the 40 minute mark over the next few weeks.

To close out our perfect weather day we sat at our picnic table enjoying the scenery for happy hour, then I grilled a couple of filets on the Sea-B-Que for dinner, which we also ate alfresco....

.....TLE retrieved a bottle of Malbec from our wine cellar, and contributed a side of sauteed rice and mushrooms.  We sat talking until sundown, which we had expected to be spectacular, but the fog rolled in leaving us with more subdued version.....

......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!

Bad, bad boy......

 7:47 am - Sunday - September 20th - Seal Rock, OR - 52° F, 100% humidity, wind - CALM.....clear, blue, cool skies this morning with a forecast high today of 64° F....the view this morning......↴

Saturday began with rain, but ended with clear, blue skies.....our first clear, blue skies in two weeks.....no more smoke, no more fog, no more heavy overcast, no more rain.  It is days like Saturday afternoon that makes the Oregon Coast so amazing.  

I watched the 3rd round of the USGA U.S. Open, and by the end of that round there were only three golfers under par.....everyone else was either EVEN, or over par.  The round ended around 4 pm, and I thought a great way to end the day would be to take a solo ride south on US-101 to Waldport, and back.  I haven't ridden my Cannondale Bad Boy bike since February 5th during our boondock stay outside Borrego Springs.  It has been way too long, and what better time to ride it than on a clear, blue skies afternoon!  The highway between Seal Rocks RV Cove and Waldport is mostly near sea level, but there are some ups and downs, including the ride over the Alsea River bridge right on the outskirts of Waldport.......

The Alsea River Bridge

....it is exactly 5 miles from the entrance to Seal Rocks RV Cove to the south side of Waldport....

On the south end of  Waldport on US-101 looking south

.......where I turned around to make the ride home.  In all I rode 10.1 miles in 44 minutes and 33 seconds averaging 13.6 mph, and burning 640 calories for my efforts....

....as I wrote earlier, the afternoon skies were crystal clear and blue.......

......after taking a shower I brought up the recording of the 20th Stage of Le Tour which featured the individual time trial, including some 3,000' in elevation gain over 22 miles.  For the past 11 days the yellow jersey has been worn by the 27 year old Primŏz Roblič (Slovenia) who had a 57 second lead over the second place rider, Tadej Pogŏcar (21 years old), also from Slovenia.  Most thought it possible that Pogŏcar might gain 30-40 seconds on Roblič during the 20th Stage time trial, but no one thought he would gain almost 2 minutes 10 seconds to take the overall lead, and win the 120th installment of Le Tour de France, but that is exactly what happened.  What an amazing Le Tour de France this year!

Another amazing thing which happened Saturday was we had a real sunset.......

....the perfect ending to our 6th day here at Seal Rock, OR.

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!