7/16/10

July 16, 2010




Today began by getting together for breakfast with friends. About a dozen of us were at Dahls this morning. Our great-granddaughters are with us some Fridays but not today. However, another couple had their two grandkids with them. I enjoy these times with friends and it gives us a chance to get caught up on the latest news/gossip.



After leaving there, we stopped by the church to drop of some pop cans. The youth group takes them to the redemption center and the money goes toward their projects.



We then stopped at the bank to deposit some cash (from working last weekend at Lake Robbins). That will cover the new-to-me used tire.



We picked our first two tomatoes this afternoon. They haven’t been taste tested yet so I’ll have to report on that later. I’ll need to remember to pick up a head of iceberg lettuce and then we can make some BLTs with the turkey bacon I bought yesterday.



My alarm just went off to remind me that I need to be at work soon. I’m on duty at the gatehouse from 3:30 to 10. Fridays are busy with the weekend campers checking in. A week ago Friday we did about $2800.00. Which is more than we did on the Friday before Independence day. (of course people had been showing up for the 4th for nearly a week beforehand.)

Of tires and sausage

July 15th 2010


Speaking of tires and sausage!

Oh yeah, we weren’t. But we’re going to be.

Coming back from Home Depot, I stopped to talk to somebody and they pointed to my front driver-side tire and said, “It looks like a hotdog!” When I got out and looked at it, I had to admit that the bulge in the tire’s sidewall did look like a hotdog or maybe a large brat. I’ve never seen the sidewall of a tire do that.

Thank God that someone noticed it and pointed it out so that it didn’t just blow-out while I was driving.

Rats! I’m going to have to buy a new tire sooner than I anticipated. I have a spare, but I’ll still need to get it replaced so that I can continue to have a spare.

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After Ella went to work, I got ready to change the tire on the truck. The bad news is . . . the spare isn’t much good. It holds air but has very little tread left. The good news is . . . ta da! I just bought a used tire for $30.00 and had it mounted and installed for $8.00.

It is still money that I didn’t want/have to spend. However, it was a lot less than the $150 to $175 that I thought I was going to be forced to spend.

I think I should be able to make it through one more winter before I need to replace all four tires.

July 14 & 15

July 14th 2010


It is HOT 95 degrees and 100% humidity.

There has been a strong south wind all day which is the only thing that keeps this from being a real killer heat. Yeah! I know that other parts of the country have been having high heat also, but not with this humidity. This is nuts. The only time we’ve gone outside today is to go to Village Inn for ‘pie rush Wednesday’.



Nathan brought the girls out to see us and we met there. I drew a cartoon of Ella & I on Charlottes cast. It is on the side facing away from her so grandma took her into the restroom to look at it in the mirror. She will be getting a different cast this next week and she wants to keep this one. And have everybody sign her new one also.



Adam is supposed to be in town for work today. He’ll call when he gets out of his meeting so that we can get together.



Ella is working this evening so she may miss out on that unless we see her at the clubhouse.

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July 15, 2010

This morning is starting off a bit better than yesterday. It is still warm but the humidity is down to only 80%. Yesterday the heat index was around 115 degrees.

We had lightning and thunder and some amazing gusts of wind last night. However, it appears that any storms went around us.

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I did get to talk to Adam for a while yesterday. We met at Arby’s for supper. We talked about his writing and desire to earn enough from it to be able to stay home and write more. We discussed some of his plot ideas and how he’d like to establish a stable of characters that interact in different stories. (My understanding of what he wants to do). I like the idea of minor characters reappearing in various stories or becoming major characters in other stories. Sometimes I feel like a minor character in my own story. Of course we also talked about how brilliant our children are.

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I’ve been burning up the data usage on my new air card this morning. I found an interesting blog called: “Wreath’s Adventures Living 1oo% Off Grid”. I was looking for information about building a small wind generator for our RV. I like the idea of using solar and wind for our electricity. And since the RV is already set up with 12 volt lights and outlets, plus the deep cycle 12 volt batteries (I actually have 4 – so that would store a lot of energy) What I don’t have is an inverter (it changes 12VDC to 120VAC). They are kind of pricey.

The refrigerator can run on 120VAC (which it does while we are hooked up to shore power) or 12VDC or even propane. Our water-heater runs on 120VAC or propane. And really, other than for showers, we can easily heat water on the stove fast enough that we don’t need to run the water-heater all the time anyway. RV catalogs are full of appliances that work fine on 12VDC; everything from TVs and coffee pots to hairdryers and curling irons. About the only thing I would really need the 120VAC for is the microwave. We can live without it but would rather not.

I’ve been toying with the idea of capturing rainwater, filtering and storing it in our holding tanks. It should be easy enough. A small emersion pump hooked to a garden hose with a standard inline filter should work well enough.

I like the idea of being as self-sustaining as possible. (I better be careful or I’ll start sounding like a survivalist! – btw – I love their websites!) I’m not really concerned about “The Coming Revolution”, “The New World Order”, “The New Great Depression (oh, wait, THAT has started)”, or even “Life after the Sh*t H*ts the Fan”. I’m just a control freak and want to Do It Myself.

Thinking about "Not my will but Thine"

“We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing; He chastens and hastens His will to make known” So goes the old hymn. Do you see the two points of view here? WE gather to ask for blessings. HE is here to make His will known. This anonymous writer shares a remarkable insight here!


How often we come to God with our hands out and our list of wants. How like little children we are. Our own desires can blind us to that which God wants for us. God has his own list: a list of blessings that he is ready to give freely. However, we have to be walking with God (not running off on our own) for Him to give them to us. We pray, “Show me Your will, Lord” which is good. However, sometimes maybe we should pray, “Show me, tell me, guide me, push me, pull me into Your will, not my will but Yours, Lord!” Amen.

July 14, 2010

Well, a lot has happened since my last post.

I now have an air card for the laptop which should make it easier to update my blog.

We have a new granddaughter, Sabrina. (that makes 10)

The colonoscopy that was rescheduled to May was re-rescheduled to June 30th. Both Ella and I were given good reports on those tests.

Our Camping Resort has been very active with the snow birds all back and the weekenders and month long campers making use of the facilities. In June we had a Halloween Party with costumes and trick-or-treating for the kids. In July we'll have Christmas-In-July and of course Mrs Claus and I will be there with treats for the kids.

We've been continuing to watch the great-granddaughters, however on a reduced schedule. We've had them here at the North Pole where there are activities and playground equipment to keep them busy. And lots of swimming time also.

Speaking of the 'greats', Charlotte had a swinging accident while at her mother's and broke her arm. This tough little 5 year old didn't even cry when they reset it. Her only complaint was that they gave her a plain white cast instead of a pretty colored one.

Ella and I have been continuing to work part-time at the resort. She in the clubhouse and I at the gate.

I'm including an original reciepe for Cream of Lentil soup

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I made a tasty lentil based soup yesterday. I guess I’ll call it Cream of Lentil Soup. (I’m not the measuring kind, so the measurements are all approximate.) ½ Cup lentils (washed and sorted) ½ Cup chopped carrots ½ Cup chopped celery ½ Cup finely chopped cabbage 1/8 Cup finely chopped chives (I’d have used onion if I were not allergic to the tasty things) These were all combined in a medium sauce pan and covered with chicken stock to a depth of about a ½ inch. Seasoned with a couple generous pinches of cayenne pepper, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil then cover and simmer at low temperature until carrots and lentils are soft. (about 30 minutes). You want this to reduce the liquid but not run dry so watch and add more chicken stock if too dry or cook uncovered for a while if too wet. The goal is to end up with a thick creamy soup that still has some texture Tasted test and adjust seasonings. (at this point I thought it need a little splash of balsamic vinegar) Reserve about a fourth of the soup and purée the rest. Recombine the reserved and the puréed portions. Stir in a ½ cup of vanilla yogurt and serve with a sprinkle of shredded cheddar. This was enough to make two generous portions. Which was fine as a meal by itself. If you are serving as part of a larger meal, it would serve four.