A Fancy Rooster is in the House!!

New Jersey Black Giant Rooster

We are still at the kids home in Ukiah. Yesterday the neighbor came over and visited. Jerome ask me to come look at his prize rooster (they have about 90 chickens). Well I guess I moved a bit too slow. He brought the thing into the house!!! This rooster is not fully grown yet and just starting to get his spurs. Weighs about 16 lbs. Holy Mackerel!!! When this thing is in the sun he has the most beautiful bright green feathers. Really nice looking guy. I just couldn't resist posting here!

Tomorrow we start making our way back to our winter home in Hemet. It''s sure been fun being here with the kids and Ms. Julia for Christmas!!

Happy Holidays to our Family and Friends

Christmas 2011 in Ukiah, CA

We are happily ensconced in Ukiah with our granddaughter, Julia, and her mom and dad. We left on the 20th in the afternoon and drove to Santa Clarita (just north of L.A.) and drove the rest of the way the next day. The roads were great and the weather was perfect except for some wind in a few areas. It was exciting to see the family and all the animals again. We've been busy here. First we attended a Christmas program at Julia's school where her class sang "The Little Drummer Boy" - very nice. Then we did a little Christmas shopping and headed back to the house for a little rest. Today Julia, Tom and I went Christmas shopping for Julia's mom and dad. She is a very fast shopper, knew exactly what she wanted, picked it out, we paid for it and were back in the car in about five minutes. The afternoon found us "building" a gingerbread house. Julia was the decorator and it was a lot of fun. She and Tom teamed up to make it really special. We are enjoying our time here. We hope you all have a wonderful holiday season and that you are all well and happy.

More 60th Birthday Stuff

I promise this is the last of the big birthday bash. Our good friends Tomcat and Ritaroo came over from Indio for lunch and suprised me with this very funny birthday card and the wonderful "monkey wine sock". Wah-hoo!! How appropriate. I love it. Thanks guys!

We are laying low as I've caught a cold and feel lousy. Donna is trying to protect herself as much as she can. Not much else to report. Weather is cool but sunny.

Tom's Surprise 60th Birthday!

Tom's 60th Birthday in SA

Tom went down to San Antonio to spend some time with his family and friends. While there he got a great big surprise of his life cause Toni threw a SURPRISE 60th birthday party at County Line BBQ. I've never been this surprised in my life! As you can imagine, I was speechless!!! In attendence I had friends from high school, many San Antonio friends, and my brother and his wife from Austin. These are just a preliminary set of pix as we had a lot of fine folks taking more pix. So stay tuned for more! I don't know how Toni pull this one off as I didn't have a clue. I don't know how I'll get this stuff home on the plane....but I'll figure something out. My life is THE BEST!!! How could it ever get better! Thanks to all for making this the best birthday ever!! Tomorrow we go to Toni's church Thanksgiving dinner at noon and then to another friend of mine is having us to dinner at 5:00PM. Unbelieveable! Weight Watchers...NOT

Safely in Hemet, CA

Mountain Shadows RV Resort Hemet, CA

After taking a week on the road (staying at least a couple of nights at each place), we are finally in Hemet, CA. We arrived yesterday about 10:30 am - we like to get in early enough so Tom can get a lot done the first day. Staying for serveral months, he likes to make everything look good and work well, so it takes a while.

On the way here, we stayed in San Jose, Monterey, Santa Barbara and Ontario. We met a very nice young couple in Monterey - Tim and Traci. Tim and Tom have been communicating for some time about the Excel. They are seriously considering buying one and wanted to see an actual rig as all they had seen were pictures. We had a very enjoyable evening with them and I think they were quite pleased with what they saw in the Excel. They are expecting a new addition to their family in a couple of weeks and of course, they are very excited by that.

Our friends, Wayne and Marianne are already here and welcomed us with open arms. I'm sure we'll have lots of fun with them. Our other friends are coming in January, February and March. It's going to be a fun winter! The weather is gorgeous, which we love. We have been getting things settled and I'm sure Tom will be washing both vehicles and the rig before long. They are all dirty from traveling and also from having to park in gravel/dirt lots.

We'll be keeping in touch, but the blogs may be further apart as we won't be traveling. We do plan to do day trips and hopefully, we'll see some things to share with you all.

Busy, busy, busy. . .

Misc. Pix of Julia

We've been in Ukiah for almost two weeks now. Our plan is to leave on Monday, the 24th and we'll take a week to get to Hemet. We're going to stop several places and do some exploring. We are going down the Hwy 101 almost all the way until we have to go inland. We are looking forward to it even though it's hard to leave Miss Julia.

Sunday, Jim (my son-in-law) built Julia a hut out of palm fronds. It's really neat. She is "decorating it". She's also got a new rope to climb. She has them all over the yard.

She's taking silks classes again and her parents are planning on getting silks for her at home. She can really climb high!

Tom and I have taken a couple of days when the kids were busy and gone for some great rides out to the coast. It's so beautiful driving through the mountains and along the beach. We found a nice little restaurant on the beach that serves really good fish and has a great view.

Saturday Tom, Beth and Julia all went to the pumpkin festival and parade in town. They had a great time, ate too much and saw lots of friends. I stayed home and had some "me" time. It was a good day for everyone. Today our friends, Mary and Paul, are coming to spend the night. We are excited about seeing them again. We spent time with them in Hemet last year and they are going to be there this year too. Mary is my knitting buddy and we're going to get some knitting in while she's here. Tom and Paul are going to look over our new Excel because they haven't seen it yet. Paul loves to see all the new additions on the rigs. They have an Excel also.

Life is good, fall has fallen and we have fabulous weather still. What more could a person ask for?

We Made it to the Kid's

The Ukiah Pumpkin Weigh In

We arrived in Ukiah, CA, on Thursday just in time to go to Julia's school and surprise her. She was very surprised. It rained the first two days of our trip but the sun started shining on Thursday morning and it was a beautiful drive after that. We are all settled in our daughter's driveway/yard and enjoying our time with her family. Yesterday we went to the Pumpkin weigh off and saw a pumpkin that was 1028 pounds! Amazing, is all I can say. Julia had a great time on the big slide and we even saw Superman! He's gained some weight and his hair is not dark anymore, but he was very friendly. After we came back home, Julia, Beth and I made Kale chips, cleaned home grown strawberries and tomatoes. Then we shelled black beans. It was a fun productive afternoon. Beth even made bread and butter pickles while we were doing other stuff. She's a regular dynamo. We aren't sure how long we'll be here, and then we'll be heading for the winter to Hemet, CA. Should be a fun year as we have several friends coming to Hemet this winter. Hope you are all having a great fall.

Almost fall

I didn't realize it had been so long since we wrote last and a lot has happened. We celebrated Donna's birthday, our anniversary, our daughter and granddaughter's birthday and Tom had a colonoscopy. I'm happy to say that everything came out okay on that (pun intended) and he did have 5 polyps but they were all removed. He had a couple of uncomfortable days, but is doing great now.

We are starting to prepare for leaving Portland and it seems like we just got here! Tom is anxious to be on the road again and I wouldn't mind staying here longer as I think October is very pretty here. But, when it's time, it's time. We are heading south to our winter home. We will stop for a while at our daughter's to spend time with them.

We are excited about this winter. We have a number of Excel friends and other friends coming to Hemet to spend time together. We expect a winter of fun, travel, happy hours, card playing, knitting and playing pool. That's just a few of the things I can think of now. Hope all of you are preparing for winter either by traveling south or hunkering down for the cold weather. Enjoy the great weather while you can!!

Rootin' Tootin' Lunch

Portland Fairview RV Employee Luncheon

Friday evening, our neighbors, Kriss and Dan, invited us over for salmon and fried green beans and sweet potatoes. There were salads too and we had a great visit. We all have fun together throughout the summer.

On Saturday, our park managers provided an excellent lunch for all the employees of the park. It was western based and the food was delicious! We all cut up a little and really enjoyed it. See the pictures above. Then on Saturday evening, there was a karaoke evening. We have a large variety of talent here - some of it is excellent and some is okay. There are a couple who are very enthusiastic but not highly talented. We clapped enthusiastically for all of them. It's been a fun weekend. I hope everyone else is enjoying it too.

Our summer is coming to a fast close and it won't be long before we are going on the road again!

Purple Hats

40 Little Baby Caps!

Here's the final product. I turned the hats in today and they were happy to get them. Forty hats and I really enjoyed making them. I love thinking about those little babies in their hats.

We had a quiet weekend - Tom worked. I spent some time with my daughter, Sarah, and we just enjoyed our time. Friday evening we had happy hour with some of our friends here in the park. It turned out to be more of a dinner than happy hour - lots of good food and wine - yum. Unfortunately, they are leaving the park on Thursday and we'll miss them. It's hard to believe the summer is almost over.

Tom and some friends from the park went on an 18 mile bike ride on Saturday morning from Fairview to downtown Portland. They had a great time and didn't get back till mid afternoon. Of course, they stopped for a leisurely lunch during their trip. They rode the light rail back from downtown as they were all pretty tired. He felt a little stiff today, but it wasn't bad at all. I am encouraging him to go again.

Till next time. . .

Home Again!

I've already been home for almost a week and Tom has reminded me (several times) that I need to update the blog. My visit with my daughter and family was great. We canned many quarts of apple juice, after juicing the apples, and also pickles, beets and applesauce. We also had a great birthday pool party for Julia. She had about 15 friends over along with about 10 parents and grandparents. We had good snacks of veggies, fruit, cheese and chips and Beth and Julia made a gorgeous birthday cake - from scratch. Everyone loved it. The kids swam until they were exhausted and also visited the hot tub, slip and slide and even the trampoline! It was so much fun. While I was there we also went to Julia's school and had a work day with her teacher. Several parents showed up and in two hours we had the room all ready for the new school year, which starts tomorrow. I can't believe that Julia is already in the first grade! She's very excited because she's going to be there all day, have her own desk and her teacher is very nice. Oh to be young again!

Since I've been home, I've been very busy making baby hats for a special program through the hospital. So far I have 21 hats made and only 19 to go. It's fun and for a good cause. Tom is busy as usual. His first task when I got home was washing my car! He just couldn't let it be dirty. What would I do without him? He is working every night right now because his work partner has left to go to another job. His new partner will be starting in the next day or so. He doesn't mind as he enjoys greeting people and helping them out. They should call him "Mr. Friendly". We've also been entertaining a lot - which we really love. Life is good for the Claphams.

Ukiah, CA

My time in Reno flew by and I never even took a minute to update the blog! It was a very relaxing four days with a lot of knitting and yarn shopping. Tom will probably have to buy a trailer for me to pull behind the car! Not really, Tom, don't panic. I really enjoyed the time with Mary and Paul (and Bella, of course). They have a beautiful home in the mountains in Reno and what a view. I met some of Mary's knitting friends and even went bar knitting. Bar knitting is when a group goes to a bar (usually a sports bar with food) and has dinner, visits and knits. It was fun. The bar was very small and intimate and the owner obviously enjoys having the group come in. We were treated very well. The food was great too. On Friday, Mary and I headed out for Sacramento and after doing more yarn shopping and having lunch with her daughter, I left for Ukiah.

Now, I'm in Ukiah with Beth's family. She is in the midst of harvesting her garden. Yesterday we canned apple juice, beets, and lemon cucumbers. She has an apple tree that is very prolific. I think today may be the day for applesauce, but I'm waiting for my orders!! It's great fun and we all cool off in the pool after we're finished. Their pool is looking really great and although it's not heated, the weather has kept it warm enough to be comfortable even for me.

Time is flying by - I've been on the road for two weeks already! I'm sure this week will go just as fast. Tom is still staying very busy with his job, visiting his friends in the park, having meals out and cooking for friends, working on the rig, and even giving Tug and good wash and wax job. Busy, busy, busy. I don't think he has time to miss me!! That's good though. I'm glad he's enjoying himself so much.

Off to more adventures.

My Week on the Road

I can't believe it's been a week already since I left home! On Monday evening, I spent the night in Glendive, MT in a super B & B. It's called Montana Charley's and it's a very old house that's actually on the historical register in Glendive. I met some nice people and slept in "Paul's room". He wasn't there though!

I had a fabulous trip to Bismarck, ND, to meet my sister, cousin and friend. We hadn't been together for three years and it was also a 5 year celebration of our first get together. We had a wonderful time playing cards, dominoes, talking, laughing and eating out a few times. No, we didn't do any sightseeing or shopping.
It was perfect. We had so many laughs my stomach still hurts. It was sad to see them go but I was on to yet another adventure.

On Friday, I headed back west toward Reno, NV, to spend a few days with my knitting buddy, Mary. We are going to visit, do some knitting store shopping and knit our little hearts out. She and her husband, Paul, live in Reno, NV, and they are so much fun to spend time with. During my trip I've seen some beautiful sights, but I've also been keeping my eyes on the road. So far, everything has been very smooth and there hasn't even been much road construction - at least nothing that slowed me down. On

Tom is enjoying his time alone too. He has been helping out our friends with their rig, doing water aerobics, and having barbecues with our friends. I'm so glad he is having fun - he always does though. Our friends in Portland are concerned about him being alone, but he does fine as he can do everything - all the blue and the pink jobs. I'm sure having the rig to himself is fun too. We've talked plenty though and he even helped me find a room last night as I was unable to. It was a really nice one too!

Tomorrow I'll be in Reno - yay!!!

Donna's Adventure

Today started my summer adventure. I'm going to meet my sister, cousin and good friend in Bismarck, ND, for a fun few days of talking, laughing and playing all kinds of games. I left Portland at 6:30 am and headed east to Missoula, Montana. I had a gorgeous trip across Oregon (following the Columbia River is just unbelievable), up through Washington (it was kind of brown and dry though) and then through Idaho - the mountains were so beautiful! The trees were so green and it was fun driving in the mountains with the car and not pulling the 5th wheel. I got to Missoula about 5:40 PM our time (lost an hour because now I'm in Mountain time). Had a nice relaxing dinner right across the street from my motel and now I'm relaxing in my room to rest up for tomorrow. Sorry there aren't any pictures, but wanted to keep you all posted on my day. Tomorrow I'll spend the whole day driving across Montana.

Chilliwack, BC, Canada

Chilliwack Visit

Minter Garden

We have had a very quiet summer so far, so not much to write. However, on Sunday, we left home early and headed north for Chilliwack, BC, to visit our friends, Marianne and Wayne. After a beautiful drive through Washington, we arrived about 2:30 in the afternoon to a wonderful welcome from our friends. We had a good visit for the rest of the afternoon, followed by a great dinner with some of their friends. They were so brave to introduce their friends to Tom! On Monday after a leisurely breakfast, we headed out to Hell's Gate. It's an area of the Fraser River that is narrowed and has a very fast rapids. Right now it's also very deep - 174 feet. It's normally between 90 and 100 feet. It's a great place to watch salmon going upriver to spawn, but the water was too muddy and deep to see any. We had a good time riding the aerial tram over the river to the other side and learning about the area. After we left there, we stopped for a nice picnic, then headed back home. Another delightful dinner awaited us and because we had stayed up so late the night before, we all turned in early. On Tuesday, we went to Mitner Gardens - a beautiful garden right in Chilliwack. We spent a couple of hours walking around and drinking in all the beauty. We don't know the names of most of the flowers, trees and bushes, but they were so pretty, we didn't care. Tom took lots of pictures. After a nice ride to Harrison Lake, we went to lunch at a good Chinese restaurant to give Marianne a rest from cooking. We spent another very enjoyable evening visiting and of course, eating again. On Wednesday morning, after another wonderful breakfast, we headed back home to Portland. We took our time and arrived home early evening. We both felt rested and replete with all that wonderful food. I'm afraid our Weight Watchers plan kind of suffered for a few days. We're back on track now though.

On Sunday, Donna is heading out to North Dakota to meet with her sister, cousin and friend for a few days of girl time and lots of games and laughs. After a few days of that, she's heading to Reno, NV, for a visit with her favorite knitting buddy. Yarn stores are on the list for fun things to do. The last visit will be with Beth and family (daughter) for a week or so before heading back to Portland. Tom will stay home and hold down the fort. He has to work anyway. Both of us are looking forward to the time and will have lots to talk about when Donna returns.

The summer is flying by. We've been here two months tomorrow and we only have another two months to go. It has been a cooler than normal summer, but I don't mind. We are still doing water aerobics unless it's raining so we feel like we are accomplishing something there. The park has been quite busy this year, so Tom is kept hopping on his work nights. He really enjoys it though.

We have both had all of our doctor appointments and are doing quite well - yay. Life is good.

Ms. Molly Duck

Well yesterday late afternoon I was doing my regular feeding and water of Momma Molly duck in her nest sittin' on her eggs. I notice she was hissing and snapping at me more than usual. I watched as she commenced to gobbled down the cracked corn. Then this afternoon I went to check on her and the rascal was gone!! Started to think, that this would be about right for her eggs to hatch. I saw the reminisce of hatched eggs and no signs of foul play. Guess the eggs hatched and she did her usual act of getting them ready for duck life! About 1 hour after hatched the babies are ready to follow Momma in a straight row to the pond to learn to swim. Think about it, one hour and the duckies are walking and able to follow mom's command. Amazing! I went down to pond but found nothing, so must of been too late. The swimming class takes a bit longer...like maybe 2 hours. Then she usually moves them on down to Blue Lake just a little down stream. Some of the little guys don't make it all the way to the lake due to predators. Unfortunately, I didn't get even one pic of all this big time event, dawg-gone it! Oh well, all in the life of park host at Portland Fairview RV Park!!

Tom's Bulking Up!!

Tom's been bulking up with his water aerobics class and Weight Watchers!!!

Our activities director in the park did this banner to advertise my water aerobics class. Way Kewl!! We sure have a lot of fun here. The 4th of July has been fun with lots of work for me and great weather.

Molly, the duck, is still setting on her eggs....hopefully she'll has some duckies in a week or two. We hope this year she does as last year her eggs didn't develop and we eventually had to destroy them as momma will set on them until they rot. Ducks have a 28 days gestation period, just like several other birds.

Other than that we are waiting patiently for our good friends Ralph and Cheryl to show up this Thursday. We will have a large time for sure!

Molly's Sitting on Some Eggs in Our Yard!!!

Not much going on here, but wanted to report that "Molly" (seen in photos a few posts back) is sitting on her eggs in a bush on our site. I've been taking care of her by feeding her cracked corn and water daily. She is a beautiful duck. I hope those eggs are fertile and hatch out. It's fun to watch nature at work. The mother usually walks the babies to the pond within 2 hours after hatching!! Then she teaches them to swim and and the very next day she takes them to the lake a couple miles away. Some of the ducks don't make it for one reason or the other but most do. Its amazing to watch these guys do their thing. Stay tuned for progress reports.

Lee and Loralie Come for a Visit!

Lee and Loralie, Rodies, and Pink Flamingos!

We finally got a visit from our fulltiming RVing buddies Lee and Loralie Parks!!!! Seems like we just keep missing one another on the road for several months and it finally came to pass. They have just begun their fulltiming adventures not long ago and we met on the Excel forum. We follow them vicariously with their blog. What fun we've had, visiting, playing cards, eating, and, of course, happy hour! We will enjoy their company for another week here, just hoping the weather will hold out. Yesterday, was our first day of great spring sunshiny weather in the NW. Speaking of weather, take a look at the "rodies" in the park. Beautiful. We fuss about all the rain, but the it makes the flowers absolutely beautiful, especially in the spring.

On another note, we had a MoHo come in the park with a couple of pink flamingos in their RV site. I took this picture for our friends, John and Janie Dean that are flamingo freaks!!! It doesn't take much to impress my friends!!!

What a wonderful and fun life we lead!

New Friends at Our Site!

Our New Friends

Just a note to show you are new found friends. Actually we had them last year. We call them our guard ducks! They found out that I (Tom) am a animal softy and always have fresh cracked corn for them. Isn't Molly (blonde) a beauty?. She actually even much prettier in person.

I start work tomorrow and Loralie and Lee are coming to our park. We are excited!!! Reckon they'll come bearing gifts? Ha! Tom

Portland Fairview RV Park

It Spring in the Park!

We arrived safe and sound at the park on Sunday and have been busy settling in and starting some of our doctor appointments. Donna saw the Oncologist today and got a good report. Over halfway to the five years now! Weather was beautiful today but don't think it's supposed to stay that way for the weekend. Tom is starting his park hosting job on Thursday and he's looking forward to it. I'm sure it will be fun and interesting as always. The flowers are blooming, the trees are green and everything looks so nice. Our friends were on hand to greet us as we drove in and it was great to see everyone. We look forward to some happy hours and dinners with them. We already miss Julia and her parents, but Donna plans on going down this summer at least once for a visit. It's always fun being with Julia and she keeps us hopping. Hope you are all doing well.

Visiting the Kids in Ukiah, CA

More Shots of the "Chicken Whisper"

I know it's about time we did a little update, but we've been busy with the Salomones. We've been here about a week and the weather has been great (until now) and we've been having fun. Julia is a hoot with her after school job of taking care of the chickens next door. There are 81 total!! She really gets out there and does all the feeding, which includes feeding them oyster shells and special feed for each age group, watering, gathering of eggs, and making sure they are all well. The chickens are sagergated into 3 different groups according to age. She's been showing us how she does it all and I've learned an awful lot. And she's only 6.5 years old!! I think it's a good thing for her to learn things like this.

We'll be leaving here Friday AM to head to our summer park in Portland. Time to get back to my little workamping job of evening park host! It's always fun and dealing with people is amazing!

Tom has been whipping Charm into shape by adding all of the bells and whistles to the new rig. Just wanted to give you a quick update on the lives of the Claphams!

The Latest News!

"Charm" Our New Home!!!

We haven't posted on the blog lately because we've been very busy - moving into our new 2012 GKE Excel (pictures included). We are very excited about it and although we aren't completely settled, we are getting there. It's a completely different floor plan from our RSO and it has a "gourmet kitchen" which means there's a lot more room for cooking and prepping meals. I think Tom will really enjoy it when he has a chance to relax and use it. We are in Las Cruces, NM, right now for an Excel rally and it's fun seeing our old friends and meeting many new ones. Everywhere we look there is an Excel! This is the first New Mexico Excel rally we've attended and so far it's fun and it hasn't even officially started! Tim and Rosie are here and we spent the evening with them and some new friends - it was great catching up. From here, we're headed to Ukiah, CA, to spend time with family before we head up to Portland for the summer. Take care.

Our Time in Mesa, AZ

Air Museum in Mesa

This is the Plane (Stearman AT-6) My Dad Used to Train the RAF to Fly

Well we are now in Mesa, AZ with our good friends Paul and Kathie at the Valle de Oro RV Resort. We’ll be here ‘til Thursday AM. Our other good friends Ralph and Cheryl are coming tomorrow to join us and we’ll have lots of fun! Weight Watcher points……watch out!!!

Yesterday Tom and Paul went to the air museum here in Mesa and saw some really great old aircraft. Paul spent his life working with aircraft so he is so knowledgeable it is unbelievable. The stories he has are almost endless. What fun we had. As an added bonus, when we got to the museum and got out of TUG, we hear a roar and looked up and saw the star of the show, the beautiful “Sentimental Journey”, a B-17G that looked like brand new! I understand that there are only 8 left that are in flyable condition! OMG. The plane seemed to be about 100 foot above us. Of course Paul and I were scrambling to get our camera’s turned on. In the picture, you’ll see blue smoke coming off of #4 engine. Later we found out it was just a pinched pushrod tube seal and the oil was leaking onto the exhaust making the smoke (thank goodness that was all). As we were trying to pay for our admission the phone started ringing off the hook from concerned neighbors seeing the trail of smoke and wanting to report it! What an experience! Anyhow, please check out the pix and enjoy.
The separate slide show of one airplane in restoration is one that is very near and dear to me. This is the plane my Dad taught the RAF (Royal Air Force) to fly on at wartime. It is a plane that was built by Stearman (later Boeing) from the mid 30’s to the mid 40’s. This plane was primarily used for training. The Air Corp (Air Force) called it an AT6, the Navy “SNJ”, and it was nicknamed “The Texan” and the Brits called it “Harvard”. I was so excited to see one close up and imagine what it was like to be 18.5 years old and being an “advanced pilot instructor” teaching British guys, who were mostly older than you, to fly. Wow! There are a few still flyable out there.
The girls stayed back at the ranch and made homemade chicken noodle soup which was delicious and we had it for dinner. Yum!
More adventures today!!!

Baby chicks

A few weeks ago, Donna went to Ukiah to visit our granddaughter. She has become the helper feeding and watering the chickens for the neighbor. She also gathers eggs. Her neighbor calls her the "Chicken Whisperer" because the chickens see her coming and they follow her around. I think it helps that she always feeds them while she's there. Because of her diligence in helping, the neighbors have let her have two baby chicks as her own. She has named them Chocolate Brownie and Buttercup. When she's ready, her parents plan to let her have her own flock. She's fun to watch with them. She takes her chores seriously too.

We are on our last week in Hemet before heading to New Mexico. We are planning to see several of our friends along the way and we are excited about getting back on the road again. The weather should be good for us and we always enjoy a fun trip. There are a lot of people leaving every day and the park is getting pretty empty of snowbirds. However, this park does have many permanent residents so stays pretty full all year around. We will keep in touch as we travel along.

Mountain Shadows Variety Show

Mountain Shadows RV Resort Variety Show

Ain't much going on here but the rain....but tonight we went to the variety show here in the park. What fun! Not bad for a $buck$ I snapped a few pics. Check the Auqa guys in the video clip below. Very funny! We will be leaving here about April 8 to head south to New Mexico. We plan on attending the spring NM Excel Club Rally in Las Cruces. Should be about 50 rigs and folks down there. Should be great fun! Take care and remember to have fun!

Radio Controlled Airplanes

Hemet Radio Contolled Airport

'Bout time for a Hemet update. I (Tom) have been going out to the local field to watch the guys flying their planes! I did some of this when I was a kid, but not radio controlled stuff. I have been following it for a while and this stuff is really gotten pretty fancy and also high dollar. On Wednesday morning the local RC club meet and fly their wares. This usually last for about 3 hours or until the wind comes up or you ruin your plane(s)! The public is welcome to come and get free entertainment. Sure is a lot cheaper! My friend David who lives in Golden Village Palms RV has gotten into this hobby big time. He has a truck and 2 cargo trailer that carries his stuff, probably to the tune of $75,000 worth of goods. I've been with him when he's ruined 3 planes in one morning!!! Ouch!!!! I asked him if I was bad luck for him!! He just laughed.

Now-a-day they have 4 different types of powered airplanes. The old fuel propelled, electric, Duchess fan jet, and ultimately the turbine jet (like a real jet plane). The later planes cost in the $10,000-$12,000. each and use JP-4 fuel. The guys buy their jet fuel at the local airport!!! And they fly top speed at about 200 MPH!! Boys and their toys. We hope to go out Sunday AM to watch the big jets if the weather holds out!!!! I try to snap some pix. What fun we're havin'.

Tom Does CERT Training!

While Ms. Donna is having fun spending time with Beth and Ms. Julia, our GD, in Ukiah, CA, for a couple of weeks, I decided to do a post! In Donna’s absence, I’m trying to maintain some sense of reasonableness in my life, so I decided to take a class offered by the state of CA, supported by their coffers. Yes...that means free for me! The class gives us the basics on how to respond to emergencies. Stuff like, medical issues, earthquakes, fire, hurricanes, tornado, flooding and yes, even terrorism! While this doesn't make us experts, we are able to support the experts in a disasterus event. In these hard economic times, having a lot of true professionals available to assist is not realistic, hence the CERT team. CERT stands for Community Emergency Response Team. We make initial assessments of emergency situations and relay this info to the professionals in their field of expertise. This course is 24 classroom hours and quite rigorous. Here are a few pix of our training. I’m having lots of fun and hopefully learning how to be a part of the solution and not the problem in event of a crisis!!!





CERT Training!

February almost over

Our Park in Hemet, Not Fancy but Nice! And a Reasonably Priced Park $$

Where did THIS month go? We are amazed at how fast this winter is flying by, even though we know it doesn't actually go any faster, just our perception of it. Our weather hasn't been bad, a little cool, but very bearable. It certainly doesn't slow us down. Tom is still going to water aerobics even when the temperature is in the 40's. Not for Donna though - it's just too cold then. We are having fun with our new Wii. Donna uses it more than Tom, but it gives us a lot of laughs. We are enjoying our new park. It seems more residential than like a regular winter rv park, but we are making friends and keeping busy. We are still going to Weight Watchers. Tom is doing very well and Donna isn't losing as fast as Tom, but is still losing. We're finding it to be a very manageable eating plan and don't feel deprived most of the time. Some days are better than others. We don't have any exciting adventures to report this month, but are just happy that life is going well and we're healthy. We can see snow on the mountain, but it never gets this far down - thank goodness. Life is good.