where does the time go?

The last 8 days has been a blur. Friday we did get together with Jerry(and Alison and Shawn and Cheyenne) and acquired a new Verizon cellphone to replace the one with the broken charging port. We also acquired a second verizon phone, figuring two verizons is better than one verizon and one Tracfone. anyway , our primary cell phone remains 716-390-8738, while the new number for the secondary phone is 716- 955-0800. all you verizon people can now talk to both of us at the same time. Since the old phone totally died, we could not have them transfer all the contact numbers, so I have been busy recreating and inputing all the phone numbers into two phones.

We have been busy working on the deck at the vikings.It lacks about 5 ft of completing the actual deck. Derek donated metal railing material that came from his dismantled swimming pool. We found some wrought iron stairway railings that will work well with Dereks' material.

Today, we repaired the lakeside catwalk and put it into place. This weekend, the boat lift will probably go in .Then the boat. Last year the boat never made it to the lake.

Memorial day was different this year. We heard that Ripley had a sizable parade, and since the route was near by, we decided to check it out. It was a typical small town parade, with lots of old cars and motorcyles, and tractor drawn wagons with local veterans and seniors, etc. After that we went to Erie and checked out the Presque Isle Pennisula, which is a beautiful public facility. It is about 10 miles long, out into Lake Erie. It has paved trails for bikes, walkers, roller bladers, etc. It has numerous beaches, and hiking trails along with volleyball courts. There is a water taxi available that will transport you and your bike. It is just a beautiful setting to enjoy and Erie area people are lucky to have such a facility.

It has been very difficult keeping up with our activities in the North. We go to aeorbics in North EAST , Pa. Twice since last writing. I have played golf two more times and am unsure of its effect on my knees. Anyway, on a par 35 course, I have shot 51 and 52. I usually have decent drives and putts, but have trouble getting to the green after the drive.

We have been working at the Vikings, where we have cleared out and mowed a large area around the site. Including community property , our usable site is probably 3 times as big as a normal site. We are also working on the deck. This week, we added about 10 more ft of additional deck, with about 7-9 ft yet to go. then have to figure out the railing system and add another stairway on the back end. There will not be any awning until next year. Until then we will put up our 10 x 10 awnings when needed.

We have to do some work at Lakeside, to get the catwalk and lift into the water. The boat did not make it in last year, but will this year. We are sort of looking for a pontoon boat for the vikings.

Laura is getting ready to do her garden, but our rototiller is being repaired. We have offers of others to use and probably will take somebody up on their offer.. I have started to implement some shelving and stuff to better utilize our beautiful new building.

Our verizon phone broke at the charging port, so it can not be charged, nor can it be used. We expect to get a new one on Friday, when we go in to Buffalo to play a Fiddle gig and meet Jerry at a verizon store.

My knee is gradually getting better but still has aways to go. The other day at K Mart I was walking along, really nic , when suddenly 3 severe spasms nearly took me down. As I am writing this it is quite sore. Of course, today was aoerbics and lawnmowing and some pushing things around in the building.

The Ripley Girls softball team has a super pitcher and several other super players and as a result they are sporting a record of something like 18 wins and no losses. So we went over to watch 2 of their recent games. Brings back some memories.

Sue had her surgery and despite some setbacks is progressing. Lester is busy taking care of her and doing his thing too.

Of course, we still do our garage sale thing. Last Saturday, we went to about 60 of them in North East. That means we missed about 25 as they had 85 advertised. picked up a nice microwave for the Vikings, as the other one only worked when it wanted to. also picked up another lawnmower to leave at the Vikings. Can you believe we only have 3 lawns to take care of?

So far, the Windstar has been behaving for us. We put 1000 miles on it the first two weeks.

Tomorrow the golf cart goes to see a doctor to see if its performance can be improved, plus Laura needs to obtain some supplies for her three places.

We are starting to work on reunion planning and scouting for the best deals on pop, hot dogs and hamburgs, etc.

I think this is enough for now.

When do we get to rest?

Monday started out with the aerobics at Northeast, some lawn mowing, some bike riding and then golf. With a few bloopers here and there, I shot a 58 on a par 35 course. Then Laura had supper for Ray and Luella, Lester and Sue and me at the vikings.

Tuesday, we did some work at the vikings. cleaning up branches, cutting down skunk cabbage, etc. we are working at increasing the usable area of our site.

Wed, we are tired of working, so off to Erie with Lester and Sue, visiting Ollies, Walmart and the Erie casino.

Thursday was a big day for Sue, as she checked in to Mercy Hospsital`for surgery to repair a duosomething hernia. While they made the trip to Lackawanna, we made the rounds of our satellite locations, the Vikings and Lakeside. we resupplied the locations with supplies that had been removed fo safe keeping during the winter months. we did some shopping in Jamestown.

Friday was a trip to Mercy Hospital to visit Sue, who was doing fairly well, along with some dumpster diving for Laura. Not much luck in the dumpster department.

Today was a quick mowing day, worked on the other lawn tractor, worked on settting up the new building which is certainly a joy to have.

Tomorrrow is Mothers Day. Happy Mothers day to everybody.

We Made it Home to NY

It was with some trepidation that we left friendly little Satsuma last Wed morning. We had some key problems that kept us from leaving as early as desired. Once we did hook up, we discovered the trailer hitch on the motorhome was really too high, so we left and stopped at Rochester Import in Palatka and bought a device that dropped the ball height by 6 inches, which was a huge improvement. Thanks to the later start we had to wait only a few minutes for the store to open. Then we were on our way, committed to our big adventure of driving an unknown, unproven motorhome 1000 miles.

After about 35 miles, there was a new noise,that was definitely speed related. We stopped to check it out and found a rear wheel cover had come loose. We removed it and the noise was gone, hoorah. We proceeded North at a fairly leisurely rate, about 55-60 mph. which was a comfortable speed, because we were greatly afffected by the wind and by every passing truck. Anyway, we were eventually out of Florida, through Georgia, and South Carolina, mostly through NorthCarolina and were shooting for Ft Chiswell in Virginia, when it got dark, started to rain, with lightning. We had never used the wipers, and they seemed adequate, but the lights did not seem to be too bright,so we stopped in Elkin, NC, in a walmart parking lot. We often wondered about doing this, but it worked out ok.

The next morning we left about 6:00 and worked our way through N.C. into W. Virginia, and we began to think "we might make this trip". The "Monster" had to work hard in the hills of Virginia and W. Virginia, but continued onward. Then we reached Pennsylvania and knew we had done it. We arrived in our driveway about 6:10 in the afternoon. Foolish or not, we had done it.

So we had to turn on utilities, etc and learned we a water leak that could not be repaired immediatley. Our house is set up so that we can isolate different parts of it, and not shut everything down because of a problem. We learned to do this a long time ago. Every sink, toilet, whatever, has its own shutoff, plus as I mentioned the house has separate runs that can be controlled by use of appropriate valves. So we do have running hot and cold water in our bathroom , but not the rest of the house. We have been to busy to worry about it but tomorrow it will be fixed.

Friday, Lester loaned us a car so we could get the Windstar back on the road. and we all went to the Fiddle Club at Good Shepherd Church in Wendelville. We got to see Jerry, Alison,Shawn and Cheyenne, as they came to pick up some camping gear that we had .

Saturday, we went to Norheast Walmart to stock up on some supplies, and on the way back, a tire blew out. we had some help, got the little iity bitty one on and got home, but now it is Sat afternoon, and we have no spare. So we got the lawnmowers going, cut the grass and headed for Lakewood Walmart, get 2 new tires, and stop at Lester and Sues' on the way home to play cards.

Sunday, Derek and Liza and kids are coming to visit us at the Vikings. We get there and find the tarp we had put over it in the fall had mostly blown off. it had survived the winter but not the spring winds.others had the same problem but it was not a big deal. one of the campers had put up a new aluminum awning last summer, but it did not survive the heavy snowfall of the winter. Anyway, we survived the winter ok, and it was good to see Charlotte, Gracie and the little guy, Eli. We visited for a while, had lunch, and the kids played at the playground some. After they left we did some picking up of branches, cut down some skunk cabbage, and went back home to Ripley .We finished unloading the trailer , put up some new clotheslines,etc.

I finally got a chance to practice some guitar, and to bring this blog up to date. I also got my golf clubs out as I am going to try to play tomorrrow. enough for now. We are back in NY and loving it.