Merry Christmas Greetings

We had a great Thanksgiving, celebrating Craig's Mother's 80th Birthday with the entire family.  Mom and I have the same birthdate, so we celebrated on Thanksgiving Day with the immediate family and then had a great party in Portland on Saturday evening.

After Thanksgiving, Craig and I headed to Oregon and with our two friends from Estacada we headed to Walla Walla for our yearly wine tasting at the Holiday Barrel Tasting.  This year "the girls" went with us and enjoyed being included - but of course no wine for them!!  We were both a little concerned leaving the motorhome by itself in Estacada due to the very cold, cold weather.  Everything was fine when we got back, except it took about 45 minutes to thaw out some water lines. Again, another learning when living in a 40 foot metal box in the cold - Craig keeps asking me why we are still in the Northwest and not down South in the warmer weather.

We then headed to Eugene to get some enhancements made to the motorhome and of course it always seems like there is something for them to check out for us.  We knew this would probably be one of our bigger expenses, but so far everything has been working well.  Eugene was even colder with more snow so we were very happy when we were able to "thaw out".  During that timeframe, we were able to get some Christmas shopping done, see friends and participate in a retiree monthly get together in Salem.







We came back to Chehalis on Tuesday, December 17th in time for appointments to include Kyna's ophthalmologist and Lexie's surgeon follow-up.  Everything checked out on both of them and we are awaiting to hear from the surgeon the most recent x-rays results to determine if we are going to proceed with a new technique where they process the platelets in her blood and then shoot the processed blood back into the joint that seems to be giving her the "limping symptoms".

 For those that know we (really Craig) has a holiday tradition of making Chex Mix every year, I want you to know that we are still working on that.  Waiting for it to warm up a little so we can make the Chex Mix on the outside grill which is a convection oven  - we'll see how that turns out and whether it is good or not we'll need to share as we bought lots of stuff to go into it.

We both wish you all a very Merry Christmas and wonderful New Year.

In Chehalis preparing for Thanksgiving

Wow, I can't believe it's been almost a month since I've updated this blog.  I meant to keep it updated monthly, but when there isn't anything real news worthy, it's hard to come up with things to write that would be interesting.

So, we've spent the last month in Chehalis for a couple of weeks, back to Yelm and then just returned to Chehalis again last night.  Over the last month, we spent Halloween here in Chehalis at the leased campsite, had our good friends here the weekend before Halloween and participated in the trick or treating event in the campground.  We had about 40ish trick or treaters, handing out candy from around our campfire.  We didn't hand out that much candy while in our home.

We then went to the Veteran's Memorial Museum in Chehalis.  We've been meaning to stop and see what they had, but when the four of us got there, we were quite surprised how extensive it was.  We spent about 2-3 hours there and would definitely encourage others to attend.


We spent the last 3 weeks capturing a wild cat from our campsite, getting it neutered, and then helping the recovery process.  We kept him in the motor home a couple of days prior to having his surgery to see how wild he really was, and then we kept it for a week and 1/2 after the surgery for the healing process.  Craig released him today.

  

We've fixed a couple of meals on the new pellet barbque while at the campsite.  We decided to try a turkey and it turned out wonderful - very flavorful and juicy.  Probably the best we have ever done to include those we've cooked in the oven.  Of course as you can tell, Craig's new hobby, didn't stay just Craig's for very long.  I'm the one researching the brine or rubbing process, how to prepare and then what needs to be put on the meat once it's on the grill to help the grilling process.  We fixed stuffing at the same time on the grill.

We also enjoyed the visit from my Nephew and his family.  Since there was six of them, they rented a cabin in the campground for the night.  We did dinner together and the kids enjoyed running in the field behind our spot prior to it getting dark.  We then went to the cabin for bedtime and they almost had room for all four kids - one had to (or begged to) sleep in the closet.  The next morning they want onto celebrate their summer birthdays after all working together to earn a night at Great Wolf Lodge.

We've also enjoyed dinner with those we've worked with and have had lots more time connecting with friends and family.  Looking forward to spending Thanksgiving with Craig's parents and both of his brothers and wives will be their to celebrate their Mother's birthday.  We are all helping to fix the dinner.  All of us haven't been together for a holiday in many, many years.

We are continuing to keep Lexie as still as possible, luckily she's an older dog and it hasn't been too difficult, as we've had her on new medication over the last month.  She's on two different pain pills and an anti-inflammatory med. Unfortunately she really hasn't improved considering all the medication so we are reaching back out to the specialist again to see what's next.

Craig and I wish all of you a very wonderful Thanksgiving Day and hope that you can keep the Thanksgiving spirit all year long!!!

Back in Yelm

We returned back in Yelm on October 7.  Mom and Dad were getting a new propane tank and stove installed so we came to help out with the coordination.  We also had a few appointments to do in Tacoma and Puyallup so it makes it quite convenient to drive back and forth from Yelm rather than Chehalis.  We plan on being here into next week, with no definite plans but taking it day by day.












You would think there would not be any yardwork to do living in an RV.  Not true.  Our leased campsite gets plenty of falling leaves so we need to continue to keep the site cleaned up by blowing off the leaves.  While here at Mom and Dad's, we have been helping trim bushes/trees which I enjoy - the weather has been great and of course I do enjoy being outside.

Lexie did not improve from the steroid shot, so we took her back in a couple of times to the specialty vets and this time they had her looked over by a neurologist.  They did an MRI of her neck, shoulder and leg.  At first they thought she had a slow growing tumor, but the radiologist ruled that out, or at least for now.  So, the surgery doctor got a second opinion from another radiologist and they would like to do another MRI next week, taking it at different angles.  In the meantime, she is taking it all in stride and we just keep her in pain pills and as quiet as possible.  I think it's harder on us watching her limp than it probably is on her.

The week of October 7th, I enjoyed going into the office in DuPont and Tacoma.  First visit since I retired.  It was great to see everyone that I had a chance to visit with.  The Tacoma office and views are wonderful.  It was great catching up on all the people movements and new announcements.

Nothing else new.  We are getting the time to visit friends and family more than we did while working. We hope to start planning our trip agenda soon for when we head south in mid-January, but first we have to get Lexie taken care of.

Seahawks - 6 and 1 - Great Season!!!!!  We did enjoy attending the last home game against the Titans - not a wonderful game to watch - but great outcome!!!!

Back in Chehalis

We left Yelm and came back to our leased campsite in Chehalis.  We needed to get a few things out of our storage unit in Chehalis - warmer clothes, Seahawk jerseys and sweatshirts, fall decorations, etc.  We also thought if we were in camp, we could keep Lexie very contained so she could hopefully get better - she's doing OK, but still limping.

We went down to Salem last week for a funeral - my first boss at State Farm in Sept. 1974.  It was great to see everyone there, some I had not seen since moving to Puyallup in 1998.  We then bought Craig a "new toy" and visited a dear friend.

We had one good weather day since being here and we spent that day setting up Craig's new Barbecue.    He would like to start smoking and cooking meats with this new pellet stove, and this unit can also serve as a convection oven since our's in the coach can be a little small - baking cakes, pizza, cookies, etc.  I'm sure I'll be learning to make meat rubs and sauces for "his" new hobby:)

We had quite a wind storm yesterday with lots of rain - didn't seem to mind too much since it was a great day for football - Seahawks are now 4 and 0 - with the fantastic win in Houston.  Can't wait to go to our game in Seattle against the Titans.  We had to use the generator last night as we lost power a couple of times, but the generator gives us everything we need; lights, heat and TV.

We are looking forward to mid-January when we plan on heading for warmer and dryer weather.

Garage Sale in Yelm

So we arrived in Yelm on September 4th.  We had a couple of appointments throughout the week and  the next week, but all four of us started sorting, pricing and arranging garage sale items.  We got everything marked by Wednesday and then had a full day on Thursday getting everything arranged in the garage and the driveway for Craig's parents garage sale.  Wow, what a long day and so much to arrange.  The garage sale started on Sept. 13 and over the two days we sold lots and lots and lots.

We have spent the last week cleaning up, hauling off all the donations, recycling, etc.  Everything looks great.  

For those of you who knew what our Mt. Rainier view looked like, this is our view at Mom and Dad's out our motorhome windshield - a little different view than at our Puyallup home, but we enjoyed it all the same.

We've also been doing a couple of appointments - wouldn't you know once we don't have dental insurance that I would break a crown - oh well - I got that all taken care of over the last couple of weeks.

Also, Lexie has been having some limping problems over the last few months and so we took her into a new vet that is closer to Chehalis and got a second opinion and new drugs.  He immediately referred us to a Tacoma specialty doctor and so we spent about 12 hours in Tacoma on Wednesday having her checked out, Xrays, ultrasound, etc. and they gave her a steroid shot in the shoulder.  We'll take her back at three weeks and again at eight weeks to make sure the shot is working and that she won't need surgery.  They said her injury was like a rotator cuff issue on a human along with some bursitis.  She is doing better and now we need to keep her very confined for the next 2-3 months so that the tendons can heal.

It's so great to have the time to do all of these things - Craig and I just looked at each other and said how strange it was that we could both just sit around and run errands all day on Wednesday when we only expected to do a consultations in the morning.   But now that our schedule is so flexible it worked out well.  But, as the nights are getting cooler, we can't believe that summer is already gone and autumn is here - the time goes by just as fast if not faster than when we were both working.

Arrived in Estacada, Oregon

We arrived Tuesday at our friend's campground of three spaces.  We got all set up in time to attend a get together of present and past workers of Stanley Hydraulics in Portland.  Craig worked there about 9 years before we moved to Washington in 1998.  He really enjoyed catching up with all the guys.  We then went into Portland for a great Tex Mex dinner.

Craig has been spending his days here going on motorcycle rides with John, doing ride alongs while John is making dump truck deliveries and the two of them are working on the trailer - adding a pulley system to help with lifting the kayaks.

Lynn and I, along with two of her daughters and granddaughters, made a trip to Costco and I have been taking the time to make phone calls, send emails and update the blog.  Last night I really enjoyed watching the last pre-season game for the Seahawks - they are really looking good.  Go Seahawks!!!

Tonight we'll attend their grandson's high school football game in Estacada.

Off to Pacific City

We both love the Oregon Coast and so we were able to stay on plan and be at the Oregon Coast, the park that we bought into the Thousand Trails system back in 1979 - Pacific City.  We were at Oregon MotorCoach getting items finished on the RV until Thursday afternoon and then we drove to the beach.    They still didn't have all the info for the security system, so we'll pursue that later.

We left August 15th and were able to stay til the 27th.  Overall the weather was great, only one day of a little wind and the day before we left it felt like winter - wind and heavy rain.

We did have quite a time finding a place large enough with good power - so we ended up moving twice while there, but on Tuesday the 20th, we found a great site that also had 50 amp service.  It's amazing the things you have to be concerned about - power, water, no sewer at this place, limited satellite service, length, somewhat flat so the motorhome will level up correctly and then lastly a strong enough phone/wifi connection.  The entire time we had very limited service and if we wanted to send emails or make phone calls, we would go into town.  Therefore, I'm a little behind in updating the blog.

We again just relaxed - Craig got the motorcycle out a few times, we spent time on the beach, if there was enough wind, he would fly his kite.  The "girls" would just sit wherever there was shade (Kyna in the grass trying to stay cool below).  We went on lots of walks, played miniature golf, etc.  It's amazing how fast the day goes bye doing whatever you want to do - and probably not really accomplishing a thing. It really is so much fun. We tried out a few of our favorite eating spots and a new barbecue place, went to the Air Museum in Tillamook, went to the Pacific City and Lincoln City Farmers Market, buying fresh salmon, flowers, berries, vegetables, etc. and then spent the last day in Canon Beach.

I've also spent time learning to do baking in the motorhome.  I didn't do much real baking when we went out for just a week or so.  So I baked a carrot cake for the picnic while in Salem and while in Pacific City I baked a blackberry cobbler.  The carrot cake turned out great (good recipe) but didn't quite get done in the very middle but still edible.  The cobbler cooked great and I'm ready for the next baking project.

Wish we could have spent longer - but that will hopefully be next time.

Off to Oregon

We came to Oregon on Friday, August 9th.  Took a little bit to get the motorhome, trailer and Explorer onto the road.  Our first stop was just west of Salem to a RV Premier Resorts.  They thought they had a site long enough for us so we would not have to unhook but unfortunately their sites were only 55 feet long and with the trailer we are 60.  So we had to unhook trailer from motorhome, park motorhome, take bikes off the Explorer, hook trailer to Explorer, maneuver trailer and then unhook from Explorer so we could have vehicle at site.  The joys of taking all the toys!!!

The RV Park that we stayed at did allow washing of vehicles, no charge.  For those of you who do not travel via RV, that's a big plus.  So as I was off having lunch Craig washed his bike and the Explorer.  I was going to help him wash the motorhome, but when he was ready it was pouring down raining, thundering and lightening - so I stayed inside and he washed by himself.  He was totally drenched.  Once it quit raining, I did go out and helped him finish and clean - up.

We saw family and friends to include a yearly picnic with the Larson's and then on Monday we went onto Eugene.  We stopped first at RV Glass to get a window which had broken a seal replaced and then today we came to Oregon Motorcoach to get a few maintenance items done and we are looking at having a security system put on coach and trailer.  We met a fun couple in the "sites" that we stayed at in the parking lot who had two 7 month old puppies - very well behaved.  Got lots of visiting in during the evening once they brought our coaches back to the sites.

Yesterday we took the "girls" to their first self-dog wash in Eugene.  In 1 1/2 hours, "girls" were bathed, blow dried (which they never had been blow dried before) and then brushed out.  They took it really well and the best part of it was that we had no wet towels to deal with (as we used all of their supplies) and no mess to clean up.

Getting Prepared for trip to Oregon

We had a great weekend watching the Wenatchee Youth Circus with the Marty family as well as camping with them.  Great to catch up on everything going on with everyone else.

We then spent a couple more days getting ready for the big garage sale at Craig's parents.  This also gives me a very convenient way to catch up on laundry.  Then a day in Puyallup to do appointments and one day for Craig to get his trailer set up to haul.  He still hadn't had a chance to secure his two tool boxes into the trailer and then I gave him the extra challenge of asking him if he could haul by pot of lilies as the pink ones were just coming out.

Maintenance and Upgrades to Motorhome

We've now been retired just two months and have spent approximately 6 days in maintenance and RV shops.  Mostly minor adjustments, but this is something that goes along with having a RV.  There is always some type of leaks, adjustment, upgrades, alignment, etc. that needs to be done.

Of course it's great when you have a great shop to work with.  One of our favorites is Brazel's in Centralia.  We just spent three days there this week, luckily they have an RV park at the site that we can stay at.  We get out of the RV around 8:00 am in the morning and they bring the RV back to the site about 4:30.  In the meantime, we either sit in the car, do errands, etc.  Craig enjoys watching what they are doing and getting involved in the repair process.  Of course this gives me time to catch up with phone calls, updating blog, and reading.

Life at Camp

Since we've been back, we've had lots of things to do - company at the site, appointments in Puyallup, rearranging our self storage so we know what is there, rearranging our storage shed and Craig's garage (enclosed trailer) so he could get the Harley out to ride, etc.

We've also been helping Craig's Mom and Dad get ready for their garage sale - now that I have a little experience having one in Dallas with my Mother's estate and then two of our own in the last year.

We are both adjusting well to retirement, not missing the work schedule at all but do look forward to catching up with friends and family as we get time.  Attended our great niece and nephew's birthday party in Portland and had a great weekend with Craig's brother and sister-in-law and his parents this last weekend.

We are also working with the park to make a few adjustments to our site as it is a little uneven and this will make it more usable when we have company.

After returning from out trip in Wyoming, I needed to repot my "traveling pots" of flowers, as the hail had sheared them off just as if someone took a weed eater to them.  So I now have flower pots at the site - not quite like my 18 rose bushes and 15 pots I had at home, but the color definitely helps make the site more
homey.

Traveling Back to Washington

We decided to travel back to Washington going through Yellowstone and Jackson Wyoming, then across Idaho, up through Washington wine country and then back across the mountains to Chehalis.  We had a small detour in Casper Wyoming as we had issues with our coach air conditioning system so we spent three nights in Casper, waiting for Monday morning to arrive to have someone look it over.  Didn't find much to do in Casper, so we spent time doing more laundry in our washer and dryer in the coach, started designing our blog and updated our change of addresses to our Escapee mail address - since they now forward our mail to wherever we are.  Of course now that we are on the road, I've been looking for places to wash the "girls" and even though it wasn't quite bath time for them, we discovered that they are putting dog washes in with car washes - I'll now be on the lookout for them.

After more hail, thunder and lightening in Casper, we decided that Wyoming has now been crossed off of our bucket list - except for the very Western tip as we would really like to spend time in Jackson, Grand Tetons and Yellowstone.  We drove through this area on our way home, but would like to come back and spend a month or so as it's had been about 25-30 years since our last trip through this area.

I also found out as "navigator" that I may need to do a better job of looking for our routes as I found great routes, also the quickest routes but not necessarily the easiest as we climbed some pretty high mountain passes coming out of Jackson.  But to my defense, I definitely didn't think Craig was going to keep driving - now that we are retired - but he drove over 350 miles that day, and we didn't get started until 2 pm.  When we got into Idaho Falls at about 9:30 at night, the host educated Craig on how you travel in retirement - no more than 200 miles a day, leave at 10 and stop by two and stay at least three nights t every stop.  Not sure we'll make all of these, but I definitely like the 200 mile limit.

From there we travelled Hwy 20 across Idaho and then stopped north of Ontario at Farewell Bend State Park.  It was very hot - about 106 degrees and the air conditioner had a hard time keeping "our metal box" cool but we enjoyed the great view of the lake from our campsite.

We the went onto Prosser Washington, did some wine tasting and then back to our campsite.  We were met by some of our friends for the weekend to welcome us back from our trip.

Our first Escapee Rally

From Sundance we went back to Gillette, Wyoming to attend our first Escapee Rally.  This was much smaller than the FMCA rally with approx. 600 vehicles in attendance.  Again, we attended many seminars and enjoyed meeting people from all over the country.  Again, we experienced some interesting weather to include a great Fourth of July fireworks show competing with God's thunder and lightening which was directly above us.  The thunder was so loud that you couldn't always tell what was thunder and what was the boom from the fireworks.

The "girls" were in a pet parade and got lots of attention in their little costumes.  Not something I do to them very often - but they were so cute.

Onto Sundance Wyoming

We had a week off between rallies so we spent six days in Sundance Wyoming.  We did some "homework" from all the learnings from our seminar attendance.  We also closed on our house so we made our full-timing official - home is where the wheels are.  We also did some site seeing in the area to include South Dakota - Devil's Tower, Sturgis, Crazy Horse, and Mt Rushmore.  The country was beautiful, lots of green fields and lots of wildlife.

We again experienced lots of great weather, but again we experienced thunderstorms and lightening along with a hail storm while Craig was barbecuing steak one evening.

The "girls" are enjoying retirement life with us, but can't wait til they get a chance to catch up on all the sleep they are missing now that we are up and going all day long with them.