Happy New Year! 2008

Happy New Year!

We spent the last day of 2007 doing what I feel like I'll be doing for the next year...painting. Larry was prepping, filling holes, retexturing etc. and I was painting doors.

Fallon had a beautiful fireworks display at the Fairgrounds and though they were a few miles away we were able to see them from our back windows. They went on for about 20 minutes or so and were as nice as any we have seen elsewhere. Larry thought it was nice of Fallon to welcome us to town!

I could do a 2007 retrospective but why look back when there is so much exciting stuff to look forward to!

Grounded in Fallon (for now) 12-29-07

It was 28 degrees when we turned in late last night (we finally had dinner around 9 p.m.) but this morning when we got up it had warmed up…to 30! We weren’t in a hurry to get anywhere with it so very icy. Larry was worried that it would be too slippery to get the trailer in the backyard…puh-shaw I say! He can do anything.

The trailer and truck are the dirtiest I think they have ever been!

He unhitched the truck and we drove over to the house to scope out the situation. Our street hadn’t been scraped which wasn’t a good thing, it would take longer to melt off. We unloaded the stuff from the truck into the garage and then headed to Wal-mart, but they didn’t have what we needed. We then went down the road to the PV Ranch store and yup they had what we needed and what we thought we would never have a need of again!!!! A snow shovel. Then it was back to the house. Larry wanted to get the snow scraped off the grass and dirt where we would be backing the trailer into the backyard so as it warmed up we wouldn’t end up with slush. The snow was light so easily scraped away. It was very cold and Larry kept muttering about Arizona.

I walked down to our mailbox and it was full of our last tenant’s mail and even several pieces of our neighbors mail…doesn’t say much for our mail delivery person! Then after Larry was done scraping snow we headed back to the trailer to get it ready for winterizing. I wanted to get all the sinks and the bathroom clean while I had water; Larry added lots of dish soap to the holding tanks so they would clean (in theory) while they sloshed on the way to the dump station at the fairgrounds. The drainpipe had a nice ice plug but it released easily and the tanks weren’t frozen.

In the time it took us to get the trailer ready and the tanks dumped the roads melted off, so as I figured, we had no trouble getting the trailer into the backyard with nary a slip. I cranked the heater up in the house and plugged in the refrigerator and so begins the unloading of the trailer. It is tedious because we don’t have places for everything yet and with new carpet coming on January 10th we don’t want to load up the closets or bookcases. Our main concern is getting stuff out that could freeze, but we decided to keep a little heat in there so we won’t get a lot of sweating moisture bringing icy cold stuff into a warm house.

We brought our two recliners from the trailer into the house until we get our new furniture next month, have to have someplace to stretch out and relax. Larry drained the water tanks and put the antifreeze in all the drains etc. We placed a trail of stepping stones from the trailer door to the garage door so we wouldn’t track mud into the house and the trailer while making our multitudinous trips back and forth! Larry got the satellite dish set up for internet and we are comfy for now. I LOVE having a bathtub again!

From Phoenix to Fallon 12-28-07

What a day. We’ll go along in our travels lollygagging here to there, but then we have a couple of days like yesterday and today and we are like a pitbull with a bone. We are tired of winter weather in a trailer and need to get back to Fallon to get stuff done there and we are racing the weather systems that are trucking in one after the other!

This morning we weren’t rushing to leave Phoenix, Oregon because they still had chain controls over Siskiyou Summit just north of the California/Oregon border, but we were hearing about another storm that was going to hit in the afternoon and if we weren’t out by then we were going to be stuck for about three days. So that made us antsy and we noticed people starting to pull out, so we started putting stuff away to get moving. Then on the scanner I heard that they were lifting the chain controls so we got hopping.

We pulled out at 9:45. The road over the summit was mostly clear pavement. It was flurrying a little bit and high fog and cold, but not bad. The traffic bottled up at the top but all went well. We all crawled down the other side and it was pretty smooth sailing by the time we hit California. We stopped in Weed and fueled up. Larry so badly wanted to take 89 off of 5 but the road condition recording said vehicles towing needed chains. I’m not as brave as he is, we have experienced many times living in snow country that the roads are open even when the recording says chains required. I know that even if chains weren’t required those roads are shady and I knew I would be clinging to the seat the whole way worrying about sliding out on ice. So then I checked 299 and it was the same, chain controls and the same with our old Highway 36.

So Larry decided we would take Highway 99 from Red Bluff through Chico connected to Highway 70 above Oroville, then picked up Highway 65 below Marysville to 193 east out of Lincoln which tied us into Highway 80 at Newcastle which is just west of Auburn. We were able to bypass Sacramento and it was nicer than I-5. We had never been on 193 and it was a pretty piece of road. We had decided to just push on to Fallon because the weather seemed like it was going to be bad for the next few days and the weather today wasn’t too bad.

I was on the phone a lot checking road conditions and talking to my friend Mary and our daughter Andrea for weather checks. Highway 80 over the Donner Summit can be ugly, but all reports sounded like we would be fine. It was nerve racking though because it was so very cold, we figured all the traffic would keep it from freezing up too soon after dark. It was 26 degrees over the top at 7,220 feet. It was snowing going up but quit as we got to the top. Most of the traffic traveled along at safe speeds and not doing anything crazy. We ran out of windshield fluid, forgot to fill it up at our last stop and couldn’t stop when our warning flashed on the dash. We were down to almost zero visibility out our windshield when we found an exit we managed to take without landing ourselves into a snow bank. The other reason we were having a hard time seeing was our headlights were coated in dirty road slush.

We hit Reno just about 7 and pressed on into Fallon. There is about 4 inches of snow on the ground here in Fallon and it’s icy. We are not ready for living back in snow country. We slipped and slid across the Wal-Mart parking lot to get more windshield fluid and RV winterizing fluid. The snow was covering our favorite place to stay with the trailer, the Fairgrounds, and we were afraid that if it snowed more we would get stuck in there so back through town to one of the two RV parks on the west side of Fallon. We pulled in after nine and after some jockeying back and forth in the slippery snow we found a place to light for the night where we could plug in our heaters and heat up a couple of frozen microwave dinners.

Its so cold Larry isn’t sure we will be able to empty the tanks in the morning and he is worried we won’t be able to back the trailer up the snowy slope into our backyard. I’ll let him worry, I have faith in his Superman abilities, and after all we made it over all the snowy passes with ease. We traveled 466 miles today, stopped for fuel twice, for lunch once in Red Bluff and at rest areas a few times.

Larry thought if we got an early start in the morning we could make it to Phoenix, Arizona by bedtime and it would be a lot warmer than it is here or in the Phoenix that we left from this morning!

The last two pictures are of Lake Shasta from the Pit River Bridge that is undergoing construction. The Lake is the lowest I've ever seen. It was dark when we went over the Sierras so no pictures.

Our Grandson Ian is 5 today! 12-29-07

Happy 5th Birthday Ian!!!!

You are growing up soooo fast and are a very handsome, smart boy!

Shut out of California 12-27-07

Last night after we got back from saying our good-byes at Michelle’s we got the trailer ready to hit the road. The weather was supposed to get bad again in the morning and Larry wanted to avoid doing all the outside putting-away of stuff in the rain. Freezing in the dark was bad enough. He hooked us up to the truck and disconnected us from everything except the electricity.

This morning it was raining again and mixed with snow. We pulled out around 9:45 and headed south on I-5. He was hoping we would make it over the Siskiyou Summit today. We had rain and high winds for awhile and then it was slushy rain and the hills all around the valleys were white. South of Roseburg where we start climbing the little passes was where we started seeing heavily coated trees; the roads were clear but everything was white. We stopped at a couple of rest areas and once for fuel in Center Point and we heard the attendant tell someone that south was not good…bummer.

We scanned the Highway Patrol and the CB on the scanner and what we were hearing wasn’t good. Serious chain controls over the summit and they were going after people that didn’t comply, so we stopped at the rest area south of Medford and contemplated our options. The rest area was already filling up with trucks and rv’s that were going to wait out the restrictions. By now it was three, three-thirty and we didn’t figure the restrictions were going to be lifted because it was still snowing lightly where we were and as it got dark it would most definitely be freezing over the pass.

We had seen a couple RV parks back at the next exit and we opted for comfort instead of “roughing it” at the rest area or a parking lot somewhere. As expected a lot of rigs were diving off the highway, we pulled into the Holiday RV Park in Phoenix, Oregon behind a couple other rigs and there were two behind us…how lucky were we feeling. Phoenix, Arizona would be the place to be right about now, but as I haven’t mastered teleportation yet, we are stuck here. Oooh we lucked out, we were the last one in.

We pulled into our site at four and had gone 220 miles today. After getting settled in and “connected” we scoped out the highway cameras and we were glad we decided to stay put for the night. We’ll see what tomorrow brings! Storm is moving south so we’ll have to decide what route we’ll be taking tomorrow!

Our Christmas Day 12-26-07

We had a lovely Christmas Day. We left after seven to head over to Michelle’s; it was still dark and very cold. We did get to see a glorious sunrise as we arrived at Michelle’s, I don’t see many of those!

Seth was still asleep and even after he was up he still wasn’t awake. It takes time for both of our Grandsons to wake-up in the morning. He had a great time opening his gifts and enjoyed every one AND nothing needed batteries, nice.

We spent the rest of the day playing and eating and watching the rain change into snow and back into rain. Michelle cooked all day, first a wonderful breakfast and then a great Christmas dinner with ham and turkey and all the fixins. Finished the day off with pie.

We were home by 7:30 and needed to warm up the place, it never got above 38 degrees all day and we had left the heater low.

Today is laundry, shopping and tying up loose ends day. We hit the road tomorrow and we are spending a lot of time watching road conditions and the weather. Ideally we would like to head down 5 to Weed to McCloud and over to Susanville to Fallon, but the passes and roads are all looking icy and snowy so we may end up heading for the coast and going south until north of Ukiah and heading across 20 to 5 to 80. Larry is not a fan of pulling the trailer on icy roads, not as tough as our Canadian friends…smile!

Merry Christmas 12-24-07

Merry Christmas All!Today we went over and played with Seth for a little while. I gave him the blanket I made for him in his two favorite colors; he was very excited about it because he has watched me make it. While he was visiting us if I took the time to have lunch or go to the bathroom he would ask me why I wasn’t working on his blanket…little slave driver. I made it in five days which was quick, so now he is happy and that was the only blanket he would use for his nap.

Tomorrow we will be spending the day at Michelle, Darel and Seth’s. Gift opening in the morning and then grazing and playing the rest of the day! We send our Best Wishes and Love to all of you.

Winter Solstice 12-22-07

Today is my favorite day of winter, the first day of winter, the winter solstice, and with it being the shortest day of the year it means that starting tomorrow the days start getting longer….YAY!

Winter is probably my least favorite time of year, but I can appreciate it now for it is a time of rest, reflection, incubation and planning. I don’t really like the cold, but I can wear my knit scarves, sweaters and favorite heavy shirts. I can stay inside doing quiet things; reading, knitting, crafts and napping…smile.

We finished our shopping a few days ago and surprisingly there wasn’t a frantic run over your neighbor atmosphere anywhere we were. We had Seth for the night again last night, he was really wound up having had a Christmas Party at his day care. I think the daycare provider “sugared” him up before sending him home…revenge.

Yesterday we had almost a full day of sunshine, the first since we have been here in Albany, a little over a week now. Today it is back to wind, rain and cold.

The first picture is of Seth and Larry on “Seth’s” bed in our trailer. The second picture is of the Slavedriver Seth holding the yarn I am knitting his blanket with…he’s helping, and every time he sees me doing something besides knitting he asks me why I’m not working on his blanket, I started it on Tuesday and I’ll be finished tomorrow, pretty quick! The third is a reversible baby blanket I crocheted last month for friends having their first baby. The last two are projects I’ve done the last couple of weeks, the blue and yellow blanket that I knit for Ian and two cards I made for my nieces.

Happy 24th Birthday Michelle!!!! 12-16-07

Happy 24th Birthday Michelle! Our baby and her baby are blowing the candles out on her birthday cake! Where has the time gone?

Seth spent the night with us last night and spent today with us. Hurricane Seth...he is always on the move and always talking.

These last pictures are of Michelle on her first day in the world and then two days later on her first day at home being held by her big sister Andrea.

Albany, Oregon for two weeks 12-13-07

Today it was a very frosty morning, got down to 34...brrr. Larry was in no rush to get outside and starting breaking down with it that cold...hard on the digits. After dumping the tanks we were on the road by about 10:30.

We headed inland from Newport on highway 20. AFter we went over the coastal range what little weak sun there was disappeared in the clouds and fog. We only traveled like 79 miles and it took an hour and forty five minutes to get to our home in Albany for the next two weeks. It is gray, damp, foggy and frigid here...yuck. The high today was 38, did I say brrrrr?!

I didn't take any photos today, I even forgot the camera when we went over to Michelle's this evening. Seth was in fine form, very excited to see us and I missed a lot of cute photo opps...well, next time.

So as you know when we visit family the blog gets very sporadic...ta ta for now!

South Beach SP, Oregon 12-12-07

Today was overcast, grey and cold, not much wind. We left Bullard’s Beach at 10 and headed north on 101. The tide was coming in and the waves were huge. We stopped in Florence at the Safeway for some milk and a Mocha at Starbucks.

We got behind this lumber truck and I found the patterns on the end of the 2x4’s fascinating. These were made from very small trees.

We traveled 119 miles and are spending tonight at South Beach State Park in Newport, Oregon. It is a very large campground and extremely popular in the summer. It is a ¼ mile walk to the beach but the path is paved. We got in at 1:30 and needed to get set up and have lunch so we could get to the beach. The sun sets around 4:30 so we wouldn’t have very long to scavenge.

The best time to visit the coast is now; no traffic, no crowds, the pick of campground sites and the light on the beach is so interesting with the sun so low in the sky!

Tomorrow we head inland for Albany where we’ll be for two weeks spending the Christmas Holiday with Michelle and her family.

Bullard's Beach Treasures 12-11-07

Today was an overcast day and cold, but at least it was only slightly breezy and not windy.

My first order of business was to drive into Bandon to get a new hair dryer. Mine died after many years of faithful service, at least 10 and lately was pulled into service as a back-up room heater. It worked better that the space heater we had, BUT I couldn’t use the space heater to dry my hair and this time of the year air drying is NOT an option. My head would be frozen in no time. Tiffany’s Drug store had just what I needed and lots of things that I didn’t expect to find there, so I came out of there in a half hour with a whole bag of things. Lovely bath salts and bubbles for the baths I’ll be able to take at the house in Fallon and some wonderful aromatherapy all purpose cleaner I haven’t found since I had my own shop, so it was an exciting little shopping trip.

High tide was around 11:30 so we were waiting for that to hit before hitting the beach. We got to the beach around 1:00. We layered our clothing so we were comfortable out there in the damp cold. Oddly enough we were the ONLY people on the beach all afternoon, we’ve never experienced that before, and it felt kinda weird.

You’ll see lots of this huge tree stump/root natural sculpture in these pictures from different angles and as the tide went out it of course seemed to move up the beach. We loved it and wished we could get it into our backyard up in Fallon, it would take up a huge hunk of the landscape!

We walked almost to the lighthouse but we had been gathering beautiful rocks and fossilized shells and with about 5 pounds of rocks in my one pocket and carrying a few pounds in my hand we had to head back. Larry had been gathering too and on the way back as much as we tried to resist looking down, we kept finding another treasure and then another. We were pooped when we finally got back to the truck and thought our arms were going to fall off; but freaks that we are we went back for some more! Larry even lugged a huge, heavy piece of wood back to the truck, the one I found was lighter but longer and Larry found a really big agate. Our hands were blocks of ice with holding rocks instead of keeping them tucked into our pockets…oh yeah THOSE were filled with rocks. This was a really nice beach of treasures! We were too tired to hang around for the sunset. We wanted to get back and get warm and eat! It was a very refreshing afternoon for us and we had great fun.

What are we going to do with all these rocks you ask? Hmmmm, I guess I’ll have to let you know when I figure that out. At our house in Chester I had the concrete guys put the rock collection I had at the time in the edge of our patio and it turned out really nice and was fun to look at. So who knows where all these beauties will turn up? Christmas gifts? Tee hee.