Catch-up 9-24-08

I am trying to remember what we have been doing this past week.

Today I had my hair colored and cut…always so mood refreshing! I get to where I think I just might let my hair do its natural thing and let the gray show, but after getting it colored again…I always love it. It is just fun…maybe when I have tons of wrinkles in 20 years I’ll let it go gray. Maybe I won’t get tons of wrinkles…hey a girl can dream.

Yesterday our new Dell laptop arrived and it is RED, my favorite color and the wireless mouse is red too. Larry has been glued to the thing for the last two days and has a few more days of work getting it figured out, setting it up the way he wants it and getting our stuff loaded on it. The Vista makes him cranky because of course every single program is now different in so many ways and it slows down the loading process. Getting a new computer set up is always a pain, but now with Vista it will take him a lot longer. It isn’t painful for me because I’m not doing it, I wouldn’t know where to begin.

Before the arrival of Red, Larry has been busy scraping layers of sand off the yard, trying to get as many goathead stickers out of the yard as possible. They are wicked weed seeds that remind me of a vertebrae. When they are dried they are like needles and puncture bike tires, animal paws, shoes and if you are crazy…feet. I like to go barefoot in the house in the warm months so we have to be real careful that we don’t have any stuck in our shoes when we come in. If you get one stuck in you…you are inclined to say things like “gosh darn it”.

We’ve haven’t done much of anything else, been to the library for a pile of books. I would like to encourage you all to check out your local library if you haven’t been in years or decades. Most have quite a large movie selection and paperbacks nowadays. Saves a lot of money and your taxes are paying for all those things and you should avail yourselves of them! Most libraries are computerized now which makes it easier to renew your materials and find what is available locally and within the system. We’ve gotten library cards in various states/areas when we’ve been in areas for longer periods of time…as long as they don’t charge a lot of money for an out of area user. Most have been free, but Douglas County in Oregon was fifty dollars….I don’t think so.

I took an hour one day and cleaned out all the kitchen cupboards in the trailer, ran all the dishware through the dishwasher in the house and the shelves that hadn’t gotten it yet, I lined with the antiskid mats and then got everything put back away. Doesn’t ever take very long to clean your home when it is tiny!

My Sister Lori lucked out and got her house in Ohio sold; offer and closing within like 3 weeks and only had it on the market a couple months, maybe less.

The weather this past week has been really nice. It was hot when we first got back but the last few days have been really pleasant. No wind, sunny and in the low 80’s.

Revised Boating Story 9-16-08

It was brought to my attention that I downplayed our skipper’s phenomenal navigational skills during our boat ride on the Suisun Bay last week, so here is the story.

Soon after we cleared the walls protecting the marina the seas became rough. The captain steered us into the wind towards our destination, the seas were foaming like mad dogs, it was all he could do to handle his stalwart vessel and calm the fears of his passengers, but he did it with nonchalance.

As we passed under the mighty bridges the seas calmed but something wasn’t right! We were sharing the sea with battle ships from another era. Again the Captain kept us clear of danger, namely being steamed over by a mighty mountain of steel.

While dodging battleships the quick minded skipper kept us in deeper water as we traversed a maze of sandbars and kept us from the fate of this boat.

Soon we were clear and appeared to be in calmer waters until we spied…no, it couldn’t be….a pirate ship under sail and appeared to be in pursuit of us!

Again only the spry response of our boats captain saved us from certain death; he turned us in the direction of our home port and poured on the speed! I could hear the Miami Vice theme song pouring through my head as the boat sped away!

We soon passed back under the bridges and appeared to be back in modern times. We bounced through the curtain of time near this tanker being guided by a tugboat.

Our captain safely steered us back to our berth where we disembarked with nary a scratch!

Hail Captain Louie!!!

Getting settled in 9-15-08

Ah, a night where I caught all of my REM's. The neighborhood here is very quiet at night and dark!

Today was a day of settling in, putting a few things back in the trailer that didn't need to come into the house and getting a few things out of the trailer that I forgot to bring in the house.

Did the laundry too, that is one of the two things I really miss living in a trailer, my own washer and dryer. I can do small loads and be creative with the washing and drying to suit the needs of the laundry that needs doing. When on the road, in the interest of doing full loads and not costing a ton of money I do not sort the laundry, my mother and all the mother figures in my life would be horrified but it works for us. If I have something brand new and might bleed I'll wash it with like colors for a load or two, but then it is wash and deal, but so far we have had no laundry tragedies! I wash the towels with the sheets most times, my towels are way beyond leaving fuzzies on the sheets!

Larry had called all three of the dental offices in Fallon on Friday and based on their responses picked an office to try. We don't have insurance which factors into the decision of who to go with, some insisted on full x-rays and exams. The one Larry chose sounded like one that would suit his needs. He called this morning and they got him in this afternoon. It seems he made the right choice, the Dentist is doing what needs to be done for the broken tooth...a crown, but isn't insisting on a full exam and xrays which Larry doesn't want or need right now. He goes back on Thursday and the crown will take a month to come in for installation!

We made a trip to the Dollar Tree...always an adventure and Walmart...we forgot it was the 15th...a mistake with people getting their checks or vouchers so we were in line forever, but we just spent the time reading the entertaining covers on all the gossip rags. Coming out of Walmart we discovered a car leaking gasoline badly, but even after telling someone and Larry called 911, not much happened. I guess the driver just drove off with the car...I wonder if someone even cleaned up the mess?

So that was pretty much our first full day back in Fallon. The other thing I miss most is a bathtub for taking long soaks in and tonight was my second soak...ahhhhh...bliss!

Now remember, the posts could get fewer with not much going on with us while hanging here in Fallon! I'll let you know when we take a field trip or go to the library! LOL!

Back to Fallon 9-14-08

We hit the road at 10:15. We headed east on highway 4, then took 160 north over the Antioch Bridge, which incidentally the toll for us with a trailer was $8.25. The first pic is overlooking the delta area and the second is of the wind farm that we don’t remember seeing there before.

From 160 we hit highway 12 east to highway 5 north and then we picked up highway 80 in Sacramento east all the way into Nevada. The levee road/delta area never really changes much, which is nice and being Sunday we didn’t have tons of traffic to deal with in the city.

We would have liked to meander back to Fallon up highway 88 through the Gold Country and over the mountains, but Larry had broken a tooth a couple days ago and we needed to get back to Fallon and find a dentist before the filling fell out or it became painful. We have family in Pine Grove, CA and Minden, NV and it would have been nice to visit, but we didn’t want to rush…we haven’t been through that area in a long time and we want to explore the next time we get there.

Interstate 80 through the Sierra’s is beautiful; the light was weird so I apologize for the reflections in some of the pictures. Remember most of these I take through the windows or I have the camera hanging out the window in the wind while we cruise along!

We stopped at a rest area at Donner Summit and had a great lunch…left over French Dip that was as great as the first time around even after a few days of hanging around in the frig., thanks Uncle Dan! So the rest of these pics are of the Sierra Nevada range and the Truckee River.

We arrived at the house in Fallon at 3:30. Larry pulled the trailer across the driveway and in three hours we had everything hauled into the house and put away. We traveled 267 miles from Antioch and with stopping a half hour to eat it took us almost five hours, but that time is pulling a trailer, we travel at slower speeds than cars.

It was a nice drive home and we were tired, but we found everything here at the house just fine. Not many weeds had grown in our absence this time and the lawn was green, unlike last time because we didn’t have the timer for the sprinklers set often enough. So time will tell how long it will be before we are on the road again!

Last day with family 9-13-08

This morning, at 4:30 to be exact, the charming sound of metal poles clanking and clanging began. I just told myself to sleep through it which I did fitfully and then a couple hours later you could hear cars and people adding their sounds to the Saturday morning symphony. It was Farmers Market/Flea market day at the Fairgrounds, missed out on my third REM yet again…missing too many REMS on too many consecutive days is not a good thing for me. The metal poles were the supports for the canopies on the booths. It is amazing how fast the landscape of a parking lot can change.

As we left to head over to Martinez this little guy was hanging on the side of our trailer, a lovely praying mantis.

It was just a lazy day of hanging out together at the Narasaki’s. Some of us just relaxed and watched movies while visiting.

Uncle got antsy and decided Brandon’s car needed washing. The first picture is Michael hamming it up behind Uncle’s back and the other…..well Brandon’s intentions seemed questionable!

This last picture I actually got Michael and Brandon together…Michael is on the left. For some reason they are looking at me like I am pointing a gun at them instead of a camera!

We had a great day, we grazed on leftovers and brownies. Michael’s girlfriend Misa was there too.

We headed home around eight and YAHOO the races were running at the track! Where the Farmer’s Market had been this morning, was now a parking lot for the spectators of the races. Cars going round and round, roaring and booming and exploding, we forgot that is usually what happens on Saturday nights at fairgrounds with raceways. They quit at ten and the cars leaving the parking lot took until after eleven before we had quiet again. This is our last night here and such as it is, it is the only RV park in the entire county that we could find.

Narasaki's 9-12-08

Yesterday we spent the day at the Narasaki's. Uncle Gene and Auntie Bonnie are there visiting and we decided to hang around an extra day or so to visit.

Hank and Michael were working, but Brandon was home. When we got there we just missed Gene & Bonnie as they were heading out for Costco. I made the mistake of saying how I had forgotten to make brownies before coming over and Brandon perked right up and offered to take me to the store....so off we went! I made a big boo-boo when I doubled the batch...twice doubled the fluids, I won't bother explaining how that happened, and we just decided to let it bake to see what happened. So off to the store again for more brownie mix and we returned videos and went to Kinder's for wonderful roast beef sandwiches.

In the first picture Brandon is showing Larry the merits of a Mac versus PC.

Our experiment was ready to come out of the oven when we got back. It was very edible, was more like cake, than brownies, but I still made brownies...when you are wanting a brownie, you want a REAL brownie...not a cake brownie! Auntie Bonnie made spaghetti for dinner, which was wonderful, with crusty french bread, salad and wine.

The motley crew enjoying dessert and Hank relaxing after work!

We only saw Michael for a short time, but lucky for him we have no where we need to be so he'll get to see us today...he only works until noon today! So after I post this we will be off for another day of eating and visiting!

This last pic is of Uncle Gene's new hair style!!! Very nice!!!

Cruising the Bay 9-11-08

Today we went for a cruise on the bay. Our friends Lou and Vickie have a 21 foot cabin cruiser. We left from Martinez Marina, it was sunny and breezy and the bay was a little choppier than they would have liked. Once we passed under the Benecia Bridges into the Suisun Bay the water was calmer. It is late again and rather than try to describe each picture I'll just mention a few highlights and you'll have to just figure them out.

We cruised by the moth ball fleet (retired military ships), which has greatly diminished numbers from what I remember seeing 20 years ago. They looked so sad. We saw a boat that was capsized on a sandbar and has been there a couple of years, we saw an old sailing ship with sails that was anchored way off in the distance and the last picture in this post is of the moth ball fleet as we returned to port and they looked so ghostly.

Lou & Vickie would have like for us to be able to anchor and stay out longer but it was too rough. I was extremely glad I didn't get seasick, not that it was THAT rough but I was a child the last time I was out in the bay in a small boat...at one point today I felt like it was trying to come on but I changed my perspective and that worked.

After we returned, Vickie and I spent the afternoon visiting while Lou and Larry went back to the boat to install a battery selector switch. They kindly allowed us to do our laundry. We had pizza for dinner which was great, Larry & I never think to have pizza when we are by ourselves. Tomorrow we will be visiting still with family.

Visiting Friends & Family 9-10-08

How nice, it has only been a week and we are with the Circus…the same circus, again! Fortunately they are way on the other side of the fairgrounds and other than the thunking of the music and the announcer’s loud voice we aren’t really affected by them this time. We would have had to laugh though if they had set up on this side!

Yesterday we were in our hometown visiting long time friends the Colemans. I have so much to write, pictures to edit and post that I’ll have to walk you through our hometown of Rodeo another day.

Then it was off to Martinez to surprise our brother-in-law Hank and nephews Brandon and Michael. Brandon and Hank were home and then we went to where Michael works to visit with him for a bit and darn it all he works at Starbucks…double darn, had to have a latté! We were very metropolitan and went for dinner at eight p.m. at the best Chinese food restaurant I have ever been to. We had five platters of food and I have never left a Chinese restaurant without take home boxes of leftovers, but with the nephews…Hoover and Eureka, there wasn’t any left! Those boys are twenty one, tall and slender…where do they put all that food?! Then it was back to their home and we visited until twelve thirty…in the morning….yikes! By the time we got home and showered, when we got to bed it was an hour later! Darn, I totally forgot to get pictures of anyone.

We were off this morning to spend the day with my Aunt Gretchen, Uncle Dan and Cousin Darcy in Concord! These pictures of Aunt Gretchen’s little Morning Glory vine that she planted ten years ago shows how invasive it can become in the right environment. Uncle Dan is worried that some night he is going to awake to its tendrils around his neck…..hmm, maybe that will be Aunt Gretchen’s hands…Smile! We had a great visit and great food. Uncle Dan loves to cook and we had pot stickers for lunch and a heavenly garlicky beef dip for dinner with crispy French fries.

If you remember, Darcy is my cousin who was as near death as you can be last year in Texas and darn it, the only picture I got of her today she had blinked and her eyes are closed, but I want to put it in here so you can see how great she looks now all tanned and her hair all long again! She is as back to normal as the rest of us! A very happy ending!

I’m rushing to get this posted so I hope it makes sense and there aren’t a bunch of typos! Tomorrow’s plan is a day on the bay! Looking forward to that!

Antioch, Ca 9-8-09

For those of you that follow our travels, here we go: Today we left Ukiah at 10:30, headed south on highway 101 and it was great timing as the commute traffic was done through Santa Rosa, Rohnert Park and Petaluma. We take 116 to Lakeville Highway (121 south), these are shortcuts to highway 37. They are beautiful drives by vineyards that were once fields of cows that were part of the many dairies in the area, now I only saw one dairy. This grand canopy of old huge Eucalyptus trees line a small part of the highway, they are stunning, but we noticed a sign about saving the trees, so it sounds like someone wants to remove them. I think that would be a very sad day if they do.

So from highway 37 we head east through Vallejo and over the Napa River where it empties into the San Pablo Bay where the Mare Island Naval Station sits. I decided that I should take some pictures for those of you who have never been through here….I’ve been going over these roads since childhood and never think about taking pictures. We picked up highway 80 from 37 then took the exit heading for Martinez which is highway 780, then picked up 680 and we trundled over the Benecia Bridge and then got on Highway 4 heading east to Antioch.

Our destination was the Antioch Fairgrounds, the only place we could find that had an RV park in the entire east bay! We got in at 1:15, a couple hours before the afternoon rush hours and traveled 138 miles. We have family and friends we have wanted to visit in this area where we grew up and this keeps us from having to drive great distances. It isn’t a beautiful RV park by any means, but it has all the hook-ups and seems quiet at night, we are away from the highway…we did hear a train in the distance…of course. During the day there is a truck driving school in the parking lot just on the other side of the fence in the picture, you can even see a truck out there. We don't plan on being around during the day so they shouldn't bother us too much. We are here for as long as it takes to see our friends and family, but not more than a week. With our Escapee discount it is costing us $17 a day, regular price is $20.

After we got settled we drove to Martinez to surprise our friends Lou and Vickie…very fun!!!! We had a great visit and great food as always!

Happy 4th Anniversary of Marriage to Michelle and Darel!