We wish you all a happy and healthy 2014!

We have had a very quiet week since Christmas so have had nothing to write about.  We are still avoiding the shopping lines and the tourist places with all the kids on vacation so we have hung out around the RV park and caught up on reading, emails, end of year financial stuff, etc.  

We are both well and working hard at eating right and walking for exercise.  Not being a creative cook (or any kind of cook for that matter) it does get a little boring, but we are healthy and maintaining a good weight, so I guess it is working.  We have our "ache du jour" most mornings as do most folks our age but that is expected, I guess.  When we think about how old we are we marvel that we are in as good a shape as we are.  

We've had a great year, starting with a visit by our kids and grandkids last January.  (It was a good visit until daughter-in-law, Pam, shattered her upper arm bone on her first attempt at snowboarding.  It took a while but she is all healed up now.) After everyone left, we dug the RV out of the snow and ice and headed south!  We added our Maggie to the family in April after returning from our "wintering" here in Santee.   Roger did his woodworking during the summer and we kept busy with our trips to the gym and projects around the house.  We took a two month RV trip starting in late July, returning in mid-September. We visited our Colorado Springs family as part of the trip.  We then left again mid-November to come here so that we wouldn't have to dig out again this year.  (It worked well, as we got out before the nasty Arctic storms brought the frigid temperatures and snow and ice to Sparks.)   We are looking forward to our trip east  to Florida when we leave here. (Except the part where we have to cross Texas.)  We probably won't make any summer trips this year since this current one will be about 6 months long.  We plan on heading back here late November next year if all goes well.    

Our kids and grandkids are doing well and we enjoy hearing from them when they email or text!   

The weather has been awesome here since Christmas!  We have had sunshine every day with temperatures reaching the high 70s.  We do start out cold, though, with Maggie's first trip outside around 8am at about 40 degrees.  (The furnace is still running at night!) We turn the fireplace (aka space heater) on while we have our first coffee/tea and breakfast.

 We start our two mile exercise walk between 9 and 9:30 and it's about 50 degrees by then.  We start out in sweatshirts but by the time we turn around and head back home we are ditching them because it is already in the mid 60s.  By the time lunch and showers are done it's warmed up to the low 70s outside with the inside of the RV already in the 80s.  (ALL our big windows face the sun.) Then the sun sets about 4:30 and the temperature starts dropping precipitously!  Back into sweatshirts and long pants for the evening.  The space heater goes back on about 8:00 until bed time and then we start the cycle all over again.  Several changes of clothes are required per day!  But, that's OK.  The forecast for the next 10 days is the same, so we are quite happy!  That is why we are here.  

The neighborhood has been busy with families that came for the holidays but we suspect by the weekend it will be back to just us old geezers again.  Across the street the lights have come down, the inflatable decorations and the snowman have disappeared.  We still have the shrine to the Virgin Mary and the fallen soldiers, but it is so much nicer to look at.  (Next year they tell us they will be in a spot along our row behind us so we won't see their site except passing to get to ours!)  Several people went out and bought new motorhomes and 5th wheels for Christmas. There is one two spots down that we checked out on the web. $389K.  Wow!   In contrast, yesterday a tow truck hauled away a motorhome that caught fire on Christmas Eve.  It was a burned out shell.  Fortunately the people were away at the time and no one was injured.  A very sad sight.  

The "shrine people" have a dog named Maggie and she comes over to play.   The two of them chase each other back and forth between sites running at top speed.  They tussle and play and have a great time.  Yesterday our Maggie grabbed her ball and was teasing the other Maggie with it.  She was not sharing very well and at one time actually curled her lip and bared her teeth when the other dog attempted to get it.  Eventually she did get a hold of it and took it back to her home and it took forever to get it away from her!   They are funny to watch and the exercise off leash is really good for both of them.  

Our Maggs still hates her coat which she wears on the first trip outside in the morning, but she tolerates it.  Today I decided that with it on, her head and tail down, and with a slow gait she looks like an armadillo going down the road!  She is funny!!

Again,  Happy New Year, everyone.  May you have only good things come your way in 2014!!!

Merry Christmas from Santee!!

Waiting for Roger to catch up.

It's been a while since we have posted an entry.  Just nothing to "write home" about.  We were staying in the park and trying not to go anywhere near the stores or main traffic areas, so it's been rather quiet on our part.  We've enjoyed some warmer weather (although it starts out cold first thing in the morning, the afternoons are wonderful!) and lots of walks. We start out with long sleeves on our morning exercise walk, and most days even sweatshirts but with sun hats!  By the time we are on the return leg of the journey, I've got my sweatshirt wrapped around my waist and Maggie has her tongue hanging out!  We did go off "campus" one day this week to get haircuts and a few groceries and it was a mad house!  The haircuts were partially successful (she got mine a wee bit too short) and, as always, we bought more food than we intended!  We did go to the library and pick up some DVDs to watch and discovered a cupcake shop two doors down. Oh, my, oh my, were they good!!!  We have books and DVDs to return soon and I think another visit to the cupcake shop will probably happen.

Neither of us really knew what to expect as to how we would feel about not being in Reno on Christmas Eve.  For the last 26 years we have celebrated the evening with our oldest, Mike, and his kids. A few times our other kids, Pam and Andy, joined us but it wasn't often due to distances and time off not being available.   We missed Cookie Day this year and our get together on Christmas Eve.  Well, it was OK!  We had our moments but overall we did well. Stephanie sent pictures of the cookies (and mess) that were baked last Sunday; then last night we were able to FaceTime (Apple's Skype) with them as they opened their gifts from us.  It was fun!!  We were a little sad to miss things but very happy to see our traditions (cookie day and apricot/walnut balls for Christmas Eve dinner) were carried on!   We also got to FaceTime with Pam and Ben in Colorado Springs as we opened our gifts from them and we had a long phone conversation with Andy and Pam in Pensacola.  We also talked with our sisters and so we connected with everyone! It was a very nice evening!!!

Christmas Day usually finds us on our own as the Reno group spends it with other family members so today wasn't so different for us. What was different was that we didn't go to a movie, but, instead we went to the beach!  

This morning Roger googled "dog friendly beaches in San Diego" and it seems almost all are listed as "dog friendly."  So, we picked one we had been to before in La Jolla and liked.  We packed up our beach umbrella, chairs, a blanket, water, a snack, sun hats and sweatshirts!  It was 79 degrees in Santee but we knew it would be cooler on the water. 
 

As I was packing up the truck Maggie decided she didn't want to be left so she climbed in and stayed there while we got ready to go.  I could not coax her out for anything!  We had no trouble finding the beach but had a rude awakening when we got there.  It was packed.  Wall to wall people.  I suspected that it might be the case when we were driving on the side streets of La Jolla.  It's an old town with very narrow streets, but with parking on both sides, leaving a small lane to drive in.  With our truck it was a treat - no way could two vehicles go down the street!  

Anyway, we got to the parking lot and did find a space without too much trouble but,  

it wasn't easy. We didn't unpack everything but figured we would do a recon mission first to figure out where we would go.  Good thing we did. 



It seems that, yes, the beaches are dog friendly, but only between 6pm and 9am!  Thus, no dogs allowed between 9am and 6pm! We were so informed by many signs and one very rude man!  So, back to the truck to regroup! 

Another google search led us to Mission Bay where there is a huge island (Fiesta Island) that is devoted to dogs.  The beach and a huge trail system are off leash areas for dogs!  The "beach" wasn't really a sandy beach - just dirt/sand - but there was water, birds, kayaks, canoes, and dogs!!  We pulled off the road and let Maggs wander.  It was a bit breezy and cool, but we enjoyed the afternoon out.  

Now we have a place we know we can take her and next time will probably try the trail system and do some hiking!  

For dinner Roger cooked salmon on the grill, we had some Trader Joe's butternut squash/spinach gratin, and fresh green beans. Then there was the pumpkin pie filling for dessert.  Yes, filling.  I attempted a pumpkin pie in the toaster oven yesterday.  It was semi-successful.  It took almost an hour and a half to "gel" and then the crust didn't cook on the bottom, so we have been eating the filling!!  I've decided that my 7 year old toaster oven needs to be replaced!!!  

All in all, a very nice holiday week!!  Hope you all had the same.  

There is something inherently wrong with this picture!

Taken on Tuesday. Temps in mid 80s.

Rainy Day Fun!

There hasn't been a whole lot happening today.  Cloudy and rainy (lots of it) and a bit on the chilly side today.  Indoor activities were the order of the day.  Some soup simmering in the crockpot, with good smells emanating, helped to make it feel warmer.  Roger watched movies on my phone, Maggie napped, and I worked on my sweater.  

I started this sweater in October!!
Speed demon I'm not when it comes to knitting. My excuse for taking such a long time is 
stopping to make hats and a gift. 

 

We did get out this morning between downpours for our walk, though, which was good.  Maggs came back with very wet and dirty feet and a wet belly from the tall grass! It has been raining steadily since around noon and we are getting some pretty good sized ponds in our space!  Unfortunately, I can't upload any pictures of them tonight for you.  😁

Today the internet has been very iffy and frustrating - even more than usual.  Probably everyone staying at home streaming movies or the like.  The system they have set up, like in motels and other public places, limits the bandwidth so it is often slow when there's lots of traffic.  It's not been bad here until the last few days.  (We've also noticed a lot of previously empty sites are now occupied. Not many left to fill to make it a full house. The snowbirds are flocking to Southern California!)

Roger will start watching a movie on his laptop and when his bandwidth gets to the point that the buffering is at a creeping speed, he changes devices.  He then goes to his Kindle and watches until he hits his limit and then he goes to his phone and then to mine if he needs it to finish what he's watching.  Today, though, he couldn't get on Netflix via the internet at all because the  WIFI was down or extremely intermittent.   He doesn't have enough data on his phone to use his 4G, so he ended up watching his movie on my little iPhone w/3G but with unlimited data!  Do you think maybe, just maybe, he's part of the problem?????  

Maggie was hoping he was
watching "Lassie."

I'm working on the phone with one-finger typing so if there are typos that's my excuse!  Back to the knitting. Soup was good!!

We've been gone a month now!

Osprey

Wood ducks, Mallards, and ?

Egret

Our walk this morning was lovely as you can see!  The day started out cold, but we had sunshine and 84 by mid-afternoon!! By Thursday it is supposed to be barely 50 and rainy. We enjoy the nice days as we get them!!  It's hard to believe we have been gone for a month and been in Santee for two weeks already.  Seems like a lot longer :-)

I spent a good portion of the day dealing with the USPS and with Nevada DMV!  Our rent for the post office box is due.  The invoice is sitting in our box!  Because they dropped it in there it never got mailed, thus, never got forwarded.  I had a note on my calendar for today to remember to pay it.  I ended up doing it on-line, but only after a conversation with a Sparks post office employee who was slightly helpful.  The DMV - our notice for the truck tag renewal hasn't made it to us, either.  Not forwarded? Sitting in the mail box?  Who knows?  I emailed DMV late yesterday and got a very helpful reply this morning!  They will accept California smog certification, so once that's done I can fax all the info in and we are good to go.  Bureaucracy!  Love it!!

Well, Roger finally gave in!  My Christmas decorations are complete now that I have a snow person!!!  We were at Goodwill looking for a rug for the dog to put under the RV where she likes to be and he spotted Mr. Snowman and bought it for me.  What a guy!!!  This is why I like him so much!!  Just realized that the snowman is designed to sit on a mantel and hold a christmas stocking - no wonder the thing is so darned heavy - duh!!  It's perfect, though!

Roger: the new Mike Rowe!

It has been a pretty mundane week.  We've been taking long walks, shopping, wrapping, shipping, and doing laundry.  That is until today when Roger did his Mike Rowe impersonation.  It was a dirty job and he volunteered to do it.

As you know RVs have a waste water tank called the black tank. For the two of us it needs to be dumped once a week.  When we were in El Centro Roger dumped it for the first time on this trip but the flush mechanism didn't work.  It sprays water into the tank to wash down the sides and help clean out the waste. We thought it was because the water pressure was so low there that there wasn't enough oomph to get the little sprayer spinning. Well, we got here and it still didn't work despite decent water pressure.  Rog has been fretting about it for a couple of weeks now trying to figure out the problem.  He first tested the check valve which sends the water from outside to the spinner mechanism.  It was working but no water was getting into the tank.  After another few days of ruminating on the issue, he decided to tackle it today.  It took him several hours to dismantle the underside of the RV, trace the water line to the black tank and hope it had a screw on connector.  It did.  He put water in the line and it flowed out.  Hmmm.  Where is the blockage?  Problem is now IN the black tank.  Does he call a repair guy at $100/hr or try to tackle  this gross project himself? Well, he went for it, albeit with trepidation. It turns out that there was "stuff" plugging up the mechanism openings and with some effort, and an old toothbrush, he was able to clean it off enough that water would flow and rinse off the rest.  It was an ugly, dirty job, but he did it! Then he had to reassemble everything, put the undercarriage insulation back on and fasten it back to the frame. It probably saved us several hundred dollars by not calling in a mobile RV repair person.  It's not something Rog wants to tackle ever again and has been reading RV articles this evening on how to prevent the problem from recurring.  His motto is he will try to fix things if he can before calling a repair guy as a last resort.  Mr. Fix-it saved the day again!  Unfortunately, he wouldn't let me take pictures to share with you.  

I took the last of the Christmas packages to the post office this afternoon. There were two lines.  One about 30 people long for the clerks at the counter, and one about 3 people long at the kiosk.  I always use the kiosk if it is working, so getting in that line was a no brainer.  An "older" woman standing in the long line asked if she could mail her stuff at the kiosk.  She had two large envelopes.  I told her that she could but got  "I don't know how to use it" response.  I offered to show her. Immediately three other people of an age that is generally indicated by gray hair, jumped out of the long line into the kiosk line and watched intently as I processed my package.  I then stayed and helped the lady behind me with everyone looking on. When I left I got a hug and a "you're an angel," and "the post office should pay you for helping us."  I am sometimes amazed at how frightened older folk are of trying technological conveniences. Anyway, today's good deed done!  Good karma passed on!

We will be sticking around the 'ole homestead this weekend.  We don't want to be anywhere near the highways or the stores. I'm guessing it's going to be a madhouse. It is supposed to be warm  (low 70s) and sunny (with some Santa Ana winds tomorrow) for the weekend so should get some nice walks with Maggie and some sitting outside time.  

Dog Coats, Christmas Tree Redo, Coyotes, and Neighbors

We got out for a long walk today after two days of not being able to.  Saturday it rained all day and yesterday we had company.   It was a bit nippy this morning but the sun was shining and we all felt better being outside.  From the looks of the avian population we saw we weren't the only ones!  The egrets and herons were hunting for breakfast! We didn't see them catch anything, but they were so intent on watching for fish that Maggie didn't even phase them as she passed by.  She really doesn't seem to take

 any interest in doing anything but sniffing where they have been.  She will pretend to chase the ducks for a split second as they waddle away from us but that's about all she does.

Dog Coats - After the journal entry the other day about Maggie and her new coat, I received an email from an anonymous reader that was intriguing and informative. Intriguing because I didn't know you could send anonymous emails and interesting because this person kindly sent a link to an article about whether dogs really need coats.  Thank you, Reader, for taking the time to share the information.  The article confirmed what I had been thinking might be the case - dog coats (for most dogs) make the owners feel warmer!!  The picture in the article is of a Doxie and does look an awfully lot like Maggie.  Here's the link if anyone is interested:  Do Dogs Need Coats?   It was 32 degrees when Roger took Maggie out this morning at 7am - with her coat on!!!

Christmas Tree Redo - Last week when we bought our little fake tree, lights and ornaments Roger picked up a package of teeny tiny white lights and handed them to me.  I immediately put them back and grabbed a set of multi colored ones as I am not a real fan of one color of lights on a tree.  We got home, I put them on the tree and they twinkled!!!  I am even less a fan of twinkling lights.  They drive me crazy because they are distracting.  So, our next trip out to a different store I picked up a string of small, frosted LED lights.  I decorated the tree.  The lights were really too big and too bright.  In the evening with the room darker you couldn't see the ornaments - just the lights. Today we were back at the first store, I returned the twinkly ones and bought the original ones Roger had picked up!!  This afternoon I took off the larger lights and re-decorated the whole tree.  Should have listened to Roger in the first place (not something I normally do)!!  He's the creative one in the family and usually knows best what looks good.  The little tree with teeny white lights and small ornaments now looks good.

Coyotes - They were out in force last night!  At 4:30am it sounded like a whole pack had found some prey and were howling their thanks to the coyote gods.  It also sounded as if they were in our site but I'm sure they were further away. Roger heard them again around 6am but not as many nor were they as loud.  The guy across the way said that he had raccoons under his coach last night and thinks maybe that the coyotes were after them.  Needless to say, taking Maggie out for her evening wee after dark is a bit scary.

The Shoe People
live in this RV

Neighbors -  Roger and I have always had the habit of giving people we see, and don't know, nicknames that match some characteristic of that person or persons. Examples:  one guy the first couple of years we were here got his morning walk as he shaved with an electric razor.   He was dubbed "Razor Man."  We haven't seen him yet this year.  Then there was the guy who rode his bike every day with zinc oxide on his nose, thus earning the  "Zinc Man" moniker.  Or, last year's favorite - a guy who wore a white hat like Pinky Lee.  "Pinky's" not here this year either.   We do have some neighbors down the way, though, who leave what looks like all of their shoes outside.  Lots of shoes.  As you probably have guessed - "Shoe People." Wouldn't it be interesting to know what other people call us - NOT!!

My response to comments posted on the last journal entry:  I guess I can never deny that little Kinsey belongs to me if she loves shoes and snowmen!  She's her grandma's girl for sure!!!  I can't wait to see her in April.  

Speaking of grandchildren, we had a great visit from our other granddaughter, Stephanie, and her boyfriend, Pierce, yesterday. It had been a long while since we had seen them and we really enjoyed the visit!  Thanks, kids, for making the long drive to see us!!!!  Hope to see you two again soon. 

Tomorrow the agenda is the post office and laundry.  I'm sure it will make for an exciting day!