Wednesday, December 7
2011
I did the
normal Wednesday morning thing by attending our Men’s Bible Study. This is always a rewarding experience and
well worth the drive across town.
Shortly after returning home, we
went to our grandson, Nathan’s to babysit Lorelie. Granddaughter, Audrie has been watching the
great-granddaughters lately. However she
has a new job and was going in for training.
Lorelie does not have preschool on Wednesdays so we got to spend time
with her all afternoon. Charlotte
Thursday, December 8
Most of the
morning I worked on the Sermon and Bulletin for Saturday’s Praise Service. Nathan came out and took Ella in to babysit
while he and Beth had a doctor’s appointment for the first ultrasound of the
new baby bump.
I held my first Bible study at
Emeritus Bible Study from 1:30 – 2. I
really didn’t know what to expect since it is a care facility specializing in
Alzheimer and dementia patients. I was
told to keep it to a half hour and to schedule it after lunch because that was
when people were most alert. I had a DVD
presentation that took about fifteen minutes and then I had Christmas Carols
(printed in large clear type) and had planed to have music to accompany the
singing. That didn’t work out so well
because I did not have internet connection that I needed for the music. We sang a couple verses of three old
standards without accompaniment. We
aren’t going to start a choir but we had fun with the hymns anyway.
Before I left Emeritus I called to
find out if I needed to go to the grandson’s to get Ella. But she was a home sitting in MY
recliner. She said she couldn’t sit in
HER’s because SOMEBODY had left his stuff in it. Yep! It was my stuff. Books and Bible and CDs plus the laptop and
the printer that I had out when I was working on the sermon and the Bible
study. I, generally, am the person who
puts everything away as soon as I’m done with it. However, I just plain ran out of time. Good thing she was only pretending to be mad.
Since she was home, I told her to
get ready and I’d pick her up and we’d go to Sam’s Club and WalMart for
groceries and gas. I felt lucky that we
not out of both Sam’s and Wally World with spending only a little of fifty at
each. Not so luck with the gasoline – a
little over $80. My pickemup truck was
thirsty.
Friday, December 9
I got up
and got a picture of the sunrise today – complete with an inch or so of fresh
snow. The first snow that we had this
year was very wet and heavy. This snow
is dry and light. Instead of shoveling,
I just swept it off the steps and patio.
I had written earlier about the
unpleasant surprise we had when we went to move our Road Ranger fifth wheel and
how that was causing us to rethink our plans.
Since that time we have been looking (mostly online) at fifth wheels and
travel trailers. A couple days ago,
while online, Ella found an older Excel at Plaza RV in Bondurant. There were lots of photos of the trailer and
it looks like it is very similar to the Road Ranger in size and layout. The biggest difference is the placement of
the entrance door. The Excel’s is near
the rear of the trailer (like the Hitch Hiker’s) instead of in the middle like
the Road Ranger’s. Today, being a bright
sunny day, we decided to drive over an take a look at it in real life. The battery was down and the slide out was in
and the baggage door locks were frozen shut, so we didn’t see it quite as
completely as we’d hoped.
I told
the salesman that we were not ready to buy and that we’d check back in the
spring. If it is still there, we’d be
interested. The salesman said that if
we’d take it now, he’d knock $1,500 of the price. I said I did not want to have to store it
until spring. He said he’d store it for
us. Darn! Now we have to decide what to do.
Insert
passage of time here.
Later that same day. We decided that we needed to take another
look at the trailer. I called the
dealership and told them that we would like another look with the slide out and
with the baggage doors open. Dave, the
salesman, said to give him an hour to ninety minutes and he’d take the trailer
inside to thaw out.
So for an additional hour, we did
some praying, soul searching, some considering “what ifs” and then went back to
take another look.
I got up
and got a picture of the sunrise today – complete with an inch or so of fresh
snow. The first snow that we had this
year was very wet and heavy. This snow
is dry and light. Instead of shoveling,
I just swept it off the steps and patio.
I had written earlier about the
unpleasant surprise we had when we went to move our Road Ranger fifth wheel and
how that was causing us to rethink our plans.
Since that time we have been looking (mostly online) at fifth wheels and
travel trailers. A couple days ago,
while online, Ella found an older Excel at Plaza RV in Bondurant. There were lots of photos of the trailer and
it looks like it is very similar to the Road Ranger in size and layout. The biggest difference is the placement of
the entrance door. The Excel’s is near
the rear of the trailer (like the Hitch Hiker’s) instead of in the middle like
the Road Ranger’s. Today, being a bright
sunny day, we decided to drive over an take a look at it in real life. The battery was down and the slide out was in
and the baggage door locks were frozen shut, so we didn’t see it quite as
completely as we’d hoped.
I told
the salesman that we were not ready to buy and that we’d check back in the
spring. If it is still there, we’d be
interested. The salesman said that if
we’d take it now, he’d knock $1,500 of the price. I said I did not want to have to store it
until spring. He said he’d store it for
us. Darn! Now we have to decide what to do.
Insert
passage of time here.
Later that same day. We decided that we needed to take another
look at the trailer. I called the
dealership and told them that we would like another look with the slide out and
with the baggage doors open. Dave, the
salesman, said to give him an hour to ninety minutes and he’d take the trailer
inside to thaw out.
So for an additional hour, we did
some praying, soul searching, some considering “what ifs” and then went back to
take another look.
We looked it over very carefully,
looking for bowed or warped walls, soft spots in the floor, rust, damage,
excessive wear etc. We opened every door
and drawer, tried every light and inspected all appliances. The only thing I could not check was the
roof, because there is no roof ladder.
We really liked it, partially I
think because it is so much like our Road Ranger, which we really have enjoyed. The only part that I’m not thrilled about is
the ceiling height in the living room area.
The ceiling is only about 6’6”.
I’m 6’1” and a lot of my family are taller than that. Well, I guess we just won’t be doing any
jumping around it it. Dave gave us a lot
of ‘alone time’ to discuss it and we decided to buy it. We’ll go Monday to get the money out of
Ella’s retirement account.
We got home
from the RV dealership with just enough time to get cleaned up and dressed for
our Sunday school’s Friendship Class’ Christmas Party. For years and years we have had the party at
a local restaurant. And over the years
it has become more expensive while our aging class members’ incomes have been
decreasing. This year one of our
members, Nita Brower, volunteered the use of their home for the party. We had food catered from another local
restaurant and served ourselves buffet style.
It was very enjoyable and much more relaxing than the restaurant. Nita had several games for us to play and we
had time to visit and just chat. Pastor
Lee brought his guitar and we sang some Christmas hymns.
Oh, I almost
forgot, sometime during the day, I got a call about being Santa at another
party on Sunday. That makes two partys
on Sunday, one at one o’clock and one at six-thirty.
Saturday, December 10, 2011
We
awoke this morning to the lowest temperature so far this season, five
degrees. I took another ‘sunrise’ photo
plus some of the frozen and snow covered lake.
Ella
works 8-2 today and I preach this evening at 5:30. We will have our monthly pot luck after the
service. I have a meatloaf mixed up and
will get it in the oven later this afternoon.
So far today the meatloaf and doing dishes is all I have accomplished
outside of getting this blog caught up to date.There were lots of photos of the trailer and
it looks like it is very similar to the Road Ranger in size and layout. The biggest difference is the placement of
the entrance door. The Excel’s is near
the rear of the trailer (like the Hitch Hiker’s) instead of in the middle like
the Road Ranger’s. Today, being a bright
sunny day, we decided to drive over an take a look at it in real life. The battery was down and the slide out was in
and the baggage door locks were frozen shut, so we didn’t see it quite as
completely as we’d hoped.
I told
the salesman that we were not ready to buy and that we’d check back in the
spring. If it is still there, we’d be
interested. The salesman said that if
we’d take it now, he’d knock $1,500 of the price. I said I did not want to have to store it
until spring. He said he’d store it for
us. Darn! Now we have to decide what to do.
Insert
passage of time here.
Later that same day. We decided that we needed to take another
look at the trailer. I called the
dealership and told them that we would like another look with the slide out and
with the baggage doors open. Dave, the
salesman, said to give him an hour to ninety minutes and he’d take the trailer
inside to thaw out.
So for an additional hour, we did
some praying, soul searching, some considering “what ifs” and then went back to
take another look.
We looked it over very carefully,
looking for bowed or warped walls, soft spots in the floor, rust, damage,
excessive wear etc. We opened every door
and drawer, tried every light and inspected all appliances. The only thing I could not check was the
roof, because there is no roof ladder.
We really liked it, partially I
think because it is so much like our Road Ranger, which we really have enjoyed. The only part that I’m not thrilled about is
the ceiling height in the living room area.
The ceiling is only about 6’6”.
I’m 6’1” and a lot of my family are taller than that. Well, I guess we just won’t be doing any
jumping around it it. Dave gave us a lot
of ‘alone time’ to discuss it and we decided to buy it. We’ll go Monday to get the money out of
Ella’s retirement account.
We got home
from the RV dealership with just enough time to get cleaned up and dressed for
our Sunday school’s Friendship Class’ Christmas Party. For years and years we have had the party at
a local restaurant. And over the years
it has become more expensive while our aging class members’ incomes have been
decreasing. This year one of our
members, Nita Brower, volunteered the use of their home for the party. We had food catered from another local
restaurant and served ourselves buffet style.
It was very enjoyable and much more relaxing than the restaurant. Nita had several games for us to play and we
had time to visit and just chat. Pastor
Lee brought his guitar and we sang some Christmas hymns.
Oh, I almost
forgot, sometime during the day, I got a call about being Santa at another
party on Sunday. That makes two partys
on Sunday, one at one o’clock and one at six-thirty.
Saturday, December 10, 2011
We
awoke this morning to the lowest temperature so far this season, five
degrees. I took another ‘sunrise’ photo
plus some of the frozen and snow covered lake.
Ella
works 8-2 today and I preach this evening at 5:30. We will have our monthly pot luck after the
service. I have a meatloaf mixed up and
will get it in the oven later this afternoon.
So far today the meatloaf and doing dishes is all I have accomplished
outside of getting this blog caught up to date.
