Thanksgiving Day 11-26

We had a great night with Ian last night and had a lovely Thanksgiving day. It started off weird, I spilled hot coffee all over me and the inside of the truck as we were getting ready to head over there...so a cleanup of the truck and a change of clothes for me and then we were back on track...jeez.

These pictures are ones Andrea took the other day of us and Connor and Ian.

Nice Weather 11-25

We are having stunningly gorgeous weather here in Northern California, in the low 70’s and sunny with nary a breeze.

On Monday we ran down to Santa Rosa for an appointment and to run into Trader Joe’s…I have a had a gift card burning a hole in my purse waiting to be used since my birthday (thanks again Aunt Gretchen) for the purchase of dark chocolate covered raisins…and the dark chocolate covered almonds are really great too.

Yesterday we walked down to the kids’ place, snuggled the baby and then Ian walked back with us. We got “are we there yet?” only about five times. He helped Grandpa wash the truck and trailer…he was the hose master.

Then they went next door to the driving range and Ian shot a bucket of balls…or whatever it is you do with golf balls at a driving range…I don’t know golf…I do know you don’t dribble them….

We took Ian back home and then braved the Safeway which was a zoo all day, but by some miracle we had timed it just right and we hit a lull at the check stands…no waiting and back home we went.

Today we took a walk for a latte and a donut…yum, totally enjoyed the sun and great weather. After we got back I did a little cleaning and tidying and waited for Ian to call. He is spending the night here with us and I didn’t tell him when we would be picking him up. I wondered how long he would hold out before calling us to find out when we were going to come get him….he lasted until about 1:30…I am evil…he drove his Mom crazy all morning asking when we would be coming over…laugh. It’s the little things that give us parents’ pleasure….payback.

Albany to Ukiah 11-22

On Friday we were up and out early…for us anyhow…on the road by 7:40, it had been raining all night and it was still raining. It wasn’t windy though and we were hoping that as the day wore on the passes would warm up and we would not have to worry about ice and snow.

No such luck, we called Andrea and had her look at the camera view of the Siskiyou Pass on her computer and it was snowing like crazy, Will told us that the wind was really bad there in Ukiah. Larry punched in the number for Cal-trans and there was no mention of snow but high wind warnings, not advisable to campers, trailers etc., between Weed and Yreka…hmmm, not good.

We came upon a 5 car accident south of Roseburg and north of Myrtle Creek that held us up for awhile, it was on the uphill side so we couldn’t imagine that standing water had caused it, as we trundled past four of the five vehicles were pointing the wrong way and were all heavily damaged and the fifth was a 36 foot 5th wheel trailer towed by a Freightliner. The trailer was pointing the right direction but the truck was jackknifed and the axle busted. We got there before the emergency vehicles had arrived, we were very thankful we weren’t involved of course.

It just ratcheted up my tension though about going over the passes…all it takes is for ONE person to not be paying attention and going too fast and with all the people enamored with their texting and gabbing on cell phones and the bad weather it added to potential trouble. People just don’t slow down in bad weather and just because their life takes a huge turn through pain and destruction I don’t want mine to!

We started thinking about taking highway 199 south from Grants Pass to the coast, one teeny tiny grade and several winding places but probably no snow and ice. We fueled the truck and had breakfast at Denny’s there in Grants Pass and it quit raining for the first time all morning, so we thought, hmmm, maybe it is getting better, so we called the kids again…they checked and nope, white out over the top…so nixed that idea totally.

We checked road conditions on 101 because they can get rock slides and the road can disappear, but it was good to go, so off we went. Sooo, much less stressful, no semi’s drowning you in water, not nearly as much traffic and it is a beautiful drive. You go through some stunning redwood stands…I love those trees. The really weird thing was there was absolutely no wind on the California coast, not until almost Eureka. The north Oregon coast had been having hurricane force winds and down by Ukiah and all up California’s north valley was big wind, but I jumped out of the truck at one place we stopped and my hair wasn’t snatched off my head. It was raining, and the ocean was churned up and angry, but no wind.

North of Trinidad these Roosevelt Elk were grazing right up to the road, and hopefully if they decided to cross people would be able to stop quickly enough…wouldn’t want to hit one of the adults for sure. We saw three big bulls lying down in someone’s front yard, not something I would want…a combination of a deer and a cow doing their destruction to your landscape….wow.

Larry wanted to stay at a Passport member park and there was one south of Eureka in Scotia that he was heading for. We got there just at 5 p.m. and just before it was getting real dark. We were all by ourselves back in the pull throughs and we got the only one that had a bit of gravel. A lot of the north coast RV parks…their sites are just on grass and dirt…slopposis in the rain. As it was, our blocks sunk in the mud and we were a little off kilter after awhile. But we were just there to rest, eat and sleep.

We had traveled 378 miles and had been on the road about nine hours and we were pooped. Larry had to do a bit of maintenance before he could relax though…our GFCI outlet was popping, which meant water was getting to an outlet somewhere and Larry suspected the culprit was a junction box under the big slideout and he was right, he said water poured out of it…only he can’t figure out how the water is getting in it…so he has a project coming up.

Yesterday, Saturday, we were on the road at 10 and it was a beautiful, sunny day after the morning high fog burned off. More redwoods to go through and some slow winding places but it is all beautiful. Those big bridges they were putting in across the river are done at Confusion hill, just to bypass a small portion of winding road. I had pictures on the blog last year, maybe the year before…I can’t remember, of them under construction. The southern-most one is scary tall and has quite the incline to it…I’d like to know how it will survive an earthquake.

We arrived in Ukiah around 1 p.m., 127 miles driven and got set up. It always takes us awhile here….they charge a ridiculous amount of money here at the Fairgrounds and you get nothing…they planted the trees in stupid places so they hit our slide and the sewer is way far back. Larry grumbles a lot when we have to set up here. I’m just…ya gotta do what ya gotta do, we don’t have anywhere else to go, so we have to just deal with it. There is a animal care place on the other side of the fence so there is usually dogs barking, its next to a Budweiser distribution place…so trucks and clanging, there is the freeway and during the summer you have motor-cross and car races. But the kids live here in Ukiah, this is it for RV "parks" and they have yet to live somewhere that we can park in their front yard…how rude is that….laugh!

We loaded up the truck with all the stuff we had to deliver…Christmas and birthday gifts, baby blankets and gifts, hand me downs from Michelle to Andrea for Connor etc….we have always been thankful that we chose the 4 door truck with the full back seat because we have used the heck out of it and not for people…it was loaded up to the ceiling. When we pull out of here in a couple weeks the trailer should feel lots lighter!

We got to see and hold our new boy…he is cute of course…but he isn’t much fun yet…laugh. He doesn’t play much and Ian was very glad to see us and was excited about showing us his new reading and math skills. We had a nice visit and then back “home”.

In Ukiah 11-21

Just a quick post...I'll get back for more tomorrow. We made it fine to Ukiah today. The weather was bad over the Siskiyou pass and high winds on 5 between Weed and Yreka, so we dove off I-5 at Grants Pass onto 199 to the California coast. Spent the night in Scotia and in Ukiah this afternoon.

Had dinner with the kids, pics and details later.

Last day in Oregon 11-19

Today was our last day in Albany, Oregon for this trip. The truck got its tires rotated and Larry was informed our rotors had cracks. Well, after 6 years and almost 111,000 miles things are going to start wearing out and need replacing, so we had the rotors replaced this afternoon.

I waited at Borders while Larry was with the truck, found a few magazines, a couple of books for the boys, Rod Stewarts new CD and enjoyed a latte in the Seattle's Best coffee shop there. After we got back I did a load of laundry and tidied up a few things. We went to Costco one last time...LOVE having it only a couple miles away, then went over to Michelle's for a last visit and dinner.

Our time here was longer than expected, but we had a good time and as always...amazed at how fast the time flies by!

We hope to get out quickly tomorrow and get out of Oregon before the snow slicks up the southern passes....we didn't enjoy the snow last winter when we left up here! We will probably be off the grid until late Saturday.

Larry's back 11-18

Larry got back this morning just after eleven, he was really tired. Tonight we took the kids out to dinner. Tomorrow it will be laundry, and rotate tires day, a little shopping and then visit the kids after they get home from work.

There is storm after storm rolling through up here and we are just trying to pick the best one to travel through. Tomorrow is big wind, big rain, Friday is rain, and Saturday is rain/snow mix, so we are shooting for Friday.

Larry is on his way home 11-17

Very erratic weather here, night before last it was 58 when I went to bed and about the same when I got up yesterday. Very windy last night with big gusts and then rain storms, and then today the sun would peak out from the clouds and it would get still and then it would get all dark, start raining and the wind would be rocking again. Tonight it is getting cold again.

Larry is on his way back up here today...he is hoping to make it as far as Weed before stopping for the night and then make his way the rest of the way tomorrow. He'll have Thursday to rest up and then Friday we plan on hooking up and getting on down the road into California before the next snows come through on Saturday.

I had lunch with Michelle yesterday and this evening they stopped by on their way home...Seth hoovered three cookies and some milk and eggnog and then they were out the door and on to home. That is the nice thing about living near family...the little hit and run visits, but neither of our children live anywhere we want to live, and visiting the area two or three times a year works too...we don't get sick of each other.

Nice day 11-15

Larry made it to Marina fine early this afternoon and got everything set up.

Today I spent far too much time playing a silly computer game and then I spent over an hour editing some old photos.

Michelle and Seth came and picked me up for a trip to the grocery store and then to their house for a great dinner and brownies for dessert...yummy! Had fun watching Seth playing chess with his parents...I had trouble grasping the game when I was a teen-ager and he does pretty good for a 5 year old.

The weather was a bit warmer today, it was cloudy and didn't rain.

Good time with Seth 11-14

We had a good night with Seth, as always.

Today though, Larry got the call that it was a go for another prescribed burn at the old Fort Ord on Monday. After running through all our options, we decided that the easiest for Larry and the most time efficient was for him to just leave me and the trailer here in Albany and for him to take the truck and go. I am a mere 3 miles from Michelle, so if I need anything she'll give me a ride. He needed to get to Greenville, Ca. tonight to get the truck and trailer so he could get to Marina by 2 p.m. tomorrow so he could get all the trailers set up and ready to go for Monday.

He won't get back up here until the end of the week, but thats okay...Connor will just have to miss us a couple of more days! Ian has the whole Thanksgiving week off from school so we'll have plenty of time with everyone once we get there. Andrea and Connor both will be feeling more human by then too.

After Grompa (Seth has his own unique pronunciations for both of us) left Seth and I took a walk across the nearby soccer and baseball field to the play ground equipment. He had a couple of new cars to test out. We had a great time. The rest of the afternoon we did puzzles and he drew pictures on our dry erase board and we sold and bought fish on the Fish World game on Facebook. He missed his Grompa, but he is more laid back when we are one on one...very nice.

Seth went home after 5 and I was again able to walk through the trailer without navigating in and around boy stuff!

Seth time 11-13

Today was laundry day and the rain poured, but conveniently stopped every time I had to walk over there...very nice. Then we did a little shopping, came home and got it all put away and relaxed for an hour or so.

THEN it was Tornado Time....Seth arrived and is sleeping over.

It is supposed to get really cold tonight...Mount Hood has a 40 inch snow base already this year, so more snow for the mountains and a lot of the area snow hills are opening this weekend.

Playing with Seth 11-12

We had fun with Seth yesterday. Larry and he played most of the day. He and I read a book together and he actually sat still long enough for me to massage his legs and feet. He was ticklish at first and then he just kind of laid back and enjoyed it....I would stop and he would tell me, again, ...sounded like his parents.

I was knitting on a scarf and he wanted me to finish it and then make him one. Which of course being a good Gramma I did for him. He loved it and his Mom told me he wore it until he went to bed and then he wore it all day at school today...so cute and appreciative at this age.

Today we decided to get out of town and stretch our tires...we went up to Salem Center mall and walked around and had lunch and made a couple of purchases. We also had a Cinnabon...yum. It is an interesting mall, downtown and on four different corners with skywalks connecting them. Michelle called while we were up there and told us we didn't have authorization to leave town.

Tomorrow night we are having Seth over for a sleepover and then next week we should be in Ukiah to meet our new Grandson.

Some people wonder how we can wait this long to see our new little guy, but we are here now and don't want to cut short our time with our Oregon kids. It'll be maybe six months before we see them again so we want to enjoy them while we are here and even though Connor is important he'll still be there when we get there...laugh, then we can snoogle him and play with Ian and visit with Andrea and Will!

Truck is Back! 11-11

Sorry, I have forgotten or been too tired to do an entry.

We got the truck back Monday afternoon. They called after Michelle and I had left of course, so Larry walked down. He thought it sounded funny and vibrated when he started it up, but it was near closing and they told him to bring it back in the morning.

Michelle and Seth had a doctor's appointment and I went to sit with Seth in the waiting room until it was his turn. He played for awhile and then helped me with my knitting again by unwinding the yarn across the waiting room....I was knitting as fast as I could to take up the slack...the kid is a slave driver!

Being a Grandparent is so much more relaxing...if one of my girls had unraveled my yarn all over the place I would have had a cow and been worrying about what everyone around me was thinking. I am waayyy over that now...laugh!

It was good to get delivered back to the trailer and see the truck parked out front!!!

Yesterday we ran some errands (oh, yeah, Larry went to the mechanics, but nothing was wrong) and then because it wasn't raining and there was a bit of sun we walked aways up to the corner Chinese buffet for lunch. That was about our day...I made soup in the crockpot and then to help get rid of that nasty cooking onion smell I baked some triple chocolate brownies....they were WONDERFUL!!!

Today we were up early and at Michelle's to hang with Seth all day while he is out of school. Larry is keeping him entertained downstairs and I am typing quick before he discovers I am missing! Otherwise there would be more typos and jibberish than there is!

While the truck was at the mechanics Larry had them replace the serpentine belt...boy is that thing long....looked about 12 feet...probably half that, engines are amazing things. We should be good to go now for another 100,000 miles or so!

Grandsons 11-7

We had a good night with Seth, as always. He slept in his fort...blankets draped on the dinette and chairs and was in our room at 5 a.m. telling us the sun was up. He went back to bed but couldn't get back to sleep and in a half hour he was back by our bed, so I lifted the covers, he scrambled in and was asleep in about a minute. My sleep was pretty much over, because he is one twitchy little kid. He slept until after 8. Then it was games and playing the rest of the day.

It was very windy all night and most of the morning...quite heavy gusts and there was a lot of rain, several drenching downpours. It rained most of the night and today.

We had dinner at Michelle and Darel's after we took Seth back home.

Talked to Andrea several times today, they were back home this morning. Ian got to meet his baby brother for the first time...Ian thinks Connor is "awesome".

Happy Birthday Larry! 11-6

Happy Birthday to Larry today! We had the kids over for dinner and Seth is staying the night with us and spending the day tomorrow.

They are leaving one of their cars so we can go joyriding....I mean run some errands this weekend. Payback....hmmm, where should we take their car...over every dip and speed bump we can find at 20 mph over the speed limit? Through muddy, rocky fields...romping as they called it in their day....the possibilities for payback are endless....evil parental laugh!

Andrea and Connor are doing great and will be going home on Saturday (tomorrow). He slept pretty good through the night.

Okay, that is all I am apparently going to get to write for today. Seth is walking all over our bed turning on all the lights and talking to me and then turning all the lights off. And wanting to push the slide out button...curious kids.

New Arrival! 11-5

Welcome Connor Eugene Laberdie! He joined the rest of us at 4:29 this afternoon and weighs 8 pounds, 2.5 ounces and was 21 inches long. He, Mommy and Daddy are doing fine.

Shopping and Labor 11-4

Here are some more of yesterday's fall photos.

Today we had Michelle visit us for lunch, we took her back to work and then used her car all afternoon to get some shopping done. We are getting our Christmas shopping done while we are here so we can get it all wrapped and deliver it before we head south and hopefully we won't have to mail anything.

Andrea has been at the hospital all day being monitored, she is in early labor but they were inducing this afternoon...some slow, easy method first...she was having some blood pressure and other issues and as she is only a week from her due date they decided to go this route. We might have a new grandson tonight or tomorrow...will keep you posted of course!

We had a nice sunny day after the fog burned off, but rain is predicted for tomorrow.

Beautiful Fall Day 11-3

Not much going on for us...took a walk and enjoyed the fall foliage and flowers. We had dinner with Seth and Michelle tonight.

Seth was very excited the other day about his spiked hair and Grandpa got his picture and the rest of these are here in our RV park in Albany, Oregon and the neighboring community park.

Transfer Case 11-2

The verdict is in on our truck...it is the transfer case...it will be about 5 days being rebuilt up in Portland and then getting it all back together, so next week some time probably. Larry is having them check the transmission too and replace all of the belts on the engine while its in there.

We had some sunshine today, if we get some tomorrow there are some fine fall foliage specimans here in the park that I will get to pose for me and my camera. A tall bright holly tree and some stunning maples and smoke trees.

That is about it for us today. Larry walked the 3 miles from the auto shop...which isn't far when you walk as much as we do, but people are horrified that you want to do it. I washed sheets, towels and a blanket at the laundry while he was gone and cleaned the bathroom...thrilling stuff!

I also spent far too much time on the computer playing that stupid fish world game....I may need an intervention. I expect after the new wears off I will find something more constructive to do with my time...but I am exercising my brain right now with strategies for increasing my coinage and levels. I had better get the blanket I am currently knitting done so I can get started on another yarn project.

Quiet Day 11-1

Today was just a quiet day for us. I've gotten hooked on that stupid Fish World game on Facebook...selling and buying fish, and cleaning tanks and saving other peoples fish...laugh.

Michelle came over with Seth in the afternoon and took me to Safeway so I could get enough groceries to hold us over while we are truckless and she is at work. Seth stayed and played with Grandpa. Then we went over to Michelle's for dinner, Seth had called earlier and invited us.

These pictures are of our little super heroes...Ian was Superman and Seth was Ironman. Seth's parents, Michelle and Darel weren't wearing costumes. Ian is the oldest and 18 months older than Seth who is 5.