We're Ready

When spiders have taken up residence in the space between the slide top and it's awning, it really must be time to move on! I've been "dusting" the outside of the motor home for the past 3 days. I have displaced (thank goodness!) quite a few spider webs with their residents. I guess the ones that are left, or come back overnight, will get left behind in the wind. We can always hope!

Seven weeks ago today, we pulled in here. I think that's plenty of time in one spot.

It has been a good visit with friends and family. We've accomplished much of what we wanted to get done. We will most definitely miss those friends and family as we move on, but the good news is we'll see some of them soon at the family reunion in Amarillo. At the rally we'll also be seeing a lot of new friends, plus some we haven't seen for quite awhile. Life moves on, and we're ready for it.

This was the scene the day we drove here from Las Vegas, New Mexico, April 12:

Fountain Creek a few weeks ago:

The tulips have come and gone.

And, here's Fountain Creek a few days ago:

We'll see you down the road!

Wrapping Things Up

It's been busy for the past couple of days. We're trying to get everything finished up. When we first got here, we had several things on the list to be accomplished, plus of course, visiting and getting caught up with everyone. I don't know why, but it seems like we wait until our last week to get many things done, and here it is. We're leaving Sunday, so we've been trying to get everything wrapped up here.

Wednesday, I went to my friend, Karen's, house to help her with a couple of computer items, plus show her how to use her GPS for geocaching. We got her account set up on http://www.geocaching.com/ and saw that there are many caches in her area of town. We picked the one that appeared to be nearest her house and walked to it. She used her GPS and led us right to it.

That evening, the 4 of us went to dinner at a local German restaurant. It was delicious! We enjoyed the evening together, and it was hard to say our "see ya laters", knowing it might be close to a year before we get back here. Maybe they'll take a trip sometime and come see us!

This is the patio at Edelweiss Restaurant:

And at the table, Karen, Jim, and Karen's husband, Chris.

Yesterday was also busy, starting to get the motor home ready to travel. We also entertained my nephew, Rick and his wife, Marilia, for dinner last night. I made a King Ranch Chicken Casserole and Jim fixed our salad.

I guess yesterday was also my day to get lousy customer service! I wanted to get my hair trimmed, so I stopped in at a Fantastic Sam's. I have never particularly liked them, but it was handy, so I went in. They got me right in and the girl who cut my hair seemed nice. But when I asked her to blow dry my hair since I was about to go to the grocery store, she giggled and said she was sorry but she had a 2:00 appointment so she didn't have time. Gee, I didn't have time to give her a tip!


Then, when I checked our Directv bill which is automatically deducted from the checking account, I was surprised that it was $10 higher than I expected. When I looked closely at the bill, I discovered we'd been charged for HD service, which I cancelled last month. I called them, but instead of refunding my $10 right now, their computer system will only allow them to issue a credit on next month's bill. Sheesh! I expressed my frustration at them getting to use my money for a month when it was their mistake, but it didn't do me any good.


This morning, my sister's swim group put on a breakfast for her to celebrate her latest retirement. Yesterday was her last day of work -- at least for now. She's the type of person who probably won't ever stop working with visually handicapped children in one way or another. Thank goodness we have people like her in this world!

Ann gets a hug from Jim:



When we came home today, we started back in on the motor home. We still have a few things left to do before we leave Sunday, but we have a great start!

Last week, there was a lot of snow on Pikes Peak. Not so much now, it's finally warming up.

The next few days are supposed to be even warmer!

Running Around

Jim is finished with his dental visits. I thought he'd be gone for quite a while this morning, but it only took about 45 minutes from the time he walked out the door until he was back. So, another major item gets checked off the list.

I had several shopping stops to make today, so we went to breakfast at the Manitou Pancake House and then started shopping. Unfortunately, I can't provide many details about the shopping trip. Well, I guess it won't hurt to say that we stopped in at more than 6 stores.

Once home, we settled in for our afternoon relaxation time. We heated up leftover hamburgers for lupper and took a short walk down to the office to see if the mail had been delivered yet. It had not, so we'll just wait until tomorrow to check on it.

We took this picture of "America's Mountain" (Pikes Peak) when we were out and about a few days ago. The snow is starting to disappear!

When we were walking to the Territory Days, we saw these two finches having a dispute of some kind. Jim was able to get a couple of pictures of the encounter. They were flying at each other with great energy!

This is one of the beautiful, red rocks in the Garden of the Gods park.

The weather couldn't make up its mind today, so we've had cool, cloudy, breezy, sunny, warm and back to cloudy. It's been one of those days that if you don't like the weather, hang around a few minutes, it will change!

Memorial Day With Family

It didn't look promising for grilling today. The wind came up last night and rocked us most of the night. It was still very windy this morning, but as the day wore on, it got a bit calmer. Jim was able to get the burgers grilled and the kids came for lunch. We won't see Josh again before we leave, but he'll be at the family reunion in Amarillo after the RV-Dreams Rally.

In the red top is Josh's friend, Amanda, Robin with her back to the camera, and Josh.


Josh and Robin try our our loungers.

P.J. ,Amanda's son, and Jacob having their lunch.

We're headed over to Ann & Bob's in a few minutes for the second barbeque of the day. The kids all had other things going on this afternoon, good thing we got to see them early.

Even though we have a very hard time supporting war of any kind, today we acknowledge and thank the families of those who have given their lives in service to our country.

Six days from now we'll be somewhere in Kansas!

The Usual Drill and Meeting More Friends

I know you're familiar with the drill: I clean house while Jim does laundry. Since I was doing deep cleaning today, it took not only laundry, but two more trips to Walmart for Jim to avoid being here while I was in the cleaning frenzy.

Later, after we had showered and relaxed awhile, it was time to meet Peggy and David. I've been "talking" to Peggy for about 3 years on another online community that includes many people who camp and rv. Peggy and David live in Cheyenne, Wyoming, but were coming through the Springs today. They had invited us to go out to dinner so we could meet in person.

We had a good visit here in the Castle before heading over to Applebees. They are hoping to put their house on the market this year so they can retire and go fulltime. We discussed all manner of subjects, and found many commonalities. It was great meeting them, we hope to get together again "down the road."

Ok, I admit it, I am hooked on meerkats. When we were in San Diego at the beginning of 2007, we visited the zoo. All I really wanted to see were the meerkats. When we got to their enclosure, I stayed for as long as I could, just watching their antics. At the gift shop I looked and looked for a stuffed meerkat. I finally found the last one in the window and snapped it up. It now rides on the dash of the motor home. I was saddened when Animal Planet dropped the series, "Meerkat Manor" after the dominant female of the "Whiskers" gang, Flower, was killed by a snake. Tonight was the showing of the movie that detailed Flower's early life. Of course I had to watch it, so I'm late posting.

I named him "Shakespeare" after one of the characters on Meerkat Manor.

I was able to catch 3 birds at the feeder today.

It's been another great day!

A Street Fair and Going Way Back

Every Memorial Day Weekend, a street festival, called Territory Days, is held in an area of Colorado Springs now known as "Old Colorado City". It just happens that I grew up in that neighborhood. Only, when I was growing up, it wasn't the fashionable part of town that it is now, and it was simply called the West Side.

We haven't been to Territory Days for quite a long time, but Jim thought it would be fun, so this morning we got up and went out to breakfast downtown before heading over to the West Side.

Across the street from the restaurant is this building, where I once worked. In front of the building is a beautiful kinetic wind sculpture by Starr Kempf, an artist who lived in Colorado Springs for many years.

Here's a close-up of the center of the sculpture. The arms swing gracefully in the wind. I've always loved his work which used to be displayed in the front yard of his home.

At the festival, we saw a booth staffed by HawkQuest, a Colorado non-profit organization dedicated to "providing an educational opportunity to understand and appreciate the interaction of wild living things in their natural environment, and the importance of preserving the world in which they live." They had this owl with them:

In addition to hundreds of craft, jewelry, food, clothing and every other kind of booth you can think of, there are little shows put on by folks who love to play dress up.

The skits don't relate any actual history, but are good fun.

Once we'd walked the entire length of the festival booths which covered about 4 blocks, and back, I thought I'd like to go take a picture of the house we lived in when I was a small child.

On the way, we noticed some beautiful flowers, like this purple iris:

And the lilacs with their intense frangrance:

This is it, 116 North 24th Street, the first address I memorized. Our phone number was ME4-1995. The house used to be yellow with white trim. When we lived there, a small, wrought iron fence stood across the front yard, and there was a large lilac bush in the side yard.

This afternoon we practiced relaxing for a while. I also started to catch up with entering our monthly expenses as I'm way behind on that little job.

The weather has been sunny and a little cool, but still windy. Have I mentioned that I'm really hoping the wind will stop soon?

A Birthday, Grooming Dogs, and Friends

Yesterday was my sister, Ann's birthday. It was a treat to be here to celebrate with her. We went to dinner at Red Lobster, then went back to their house to play cards. It was a mixed night, the guys won cribbage, Bob won spades, but Ann & I took the canasta game.

Here's Ann, opening her card from us.


This is a view of Bob & Ann's front yard. The flowers are just beginning to bloom. in a few weeks, this will be a riot of color.


Much of the remainder of the past 2 days has been spent grooming the dogs. They were really looking shaggy, but they are much improved now. It's interesting how being out with the dogs on the grooming table draws a crowd. Usually, several people come by, asking if I'm a professional groomer, or just curious about why I groom my own dogs. I'm sure someone could make a few extra dollars on the road if they wanted to set up a campground service. I know I've been asked several times if I'd be willing to groom someone's dog.

Many of my readers also read the travel journals of our friends, Jo and Fred and JoAnn and Doug. These are the 2 couples with whom we traveled to Mexico in February. Lately, they have each experienced some challenges on the road. We're thinking of you, friends, and hoping you're through the worst! Another friend, Karon, of Discovery Travelers, is still in the midst of a major challenge with getting her microwave repaired or replaced. Karon, we hope today is the day!!! You need to be back on the road!

Another special note about friends. Today is Ginger and Jesse's last working day! Whooppeeee!! Congrats, both of you, and here's hoping your house sells very quickly now!

Finally, I need to make a correction to a bird. I was so excited when I thought I'd seen the female Western Tanager that I didn't even consider it might be a different bird. Grant helped me out, and is pretty sure this is actually a male Yellow Warbler. Thanks again, Grant!



We're looking forward to a fairly quiet weekend, watching the goings on at the campground for this Memorial Day.

Driving, Shopping, and More Visiting

Yesterday was sort of a laid-back day. We took a drive and ended up doing some shopping. I decided to replace the little "powder room" rug and toilet seat cover with green instead of the tan I had for the Bounder. That got purchased, plus a book, some computer cleaning supplies and a card or two.

Today I started the grooming process on Mr. BoJangles. It was cool and cloudy when I started, but before we finished, the sun came out, the wind started blowing and the temperature shot up. So, we postponed the rest of the grooming until tomorrow, and I came inside. This afternoon has been extremely windy. Now the clouds are back and it's spitting rain. It is still Springtime in the Rockies!

We're heading out to dinner with friends this evening, so I thought I'd better get a quick post done. I may not make it into the RV-Dreams Chatroom tonight, I was a little late last evening and my sister, Ann, called me to see where I was because people were wondering.

We are starting to really get itchy to be back on the road -- 11 days and counting!

Alls Well That Ends Well, or, An Interesting Geocaching Day

This has been one of those days that didn't turn out the way it was planned. Jim was getting picked up by his friend early this morning to go to Pueblo to help their other friend with the cows. That part worked fine. I got up and had coffee, walked the dogs and got my day started.

My plan included doing a little shopping for some grooming supplies at Petsmart, combined with some geocaching. I looked up the area around the Petsmart and decided on three caches that looked pretty reasonable.

I took the dogs with me so they could get some fresh air and sniff at Petsmart since that's one of their favorite activities. The first geocache was interesting, it was hidden under a base plate type of device on a lamppost. The coordinates seemed to be a few feet off, but I found it anyway.

The next cache was right in front of Petsmart. I looked for awhile, but didn't find it, so we went on in to the store and did the required shopping. I didn't get a new clipper blade because they didn't have the right size. But I did find the other things I needed. I had the dogs in the shopping cart - sometimes they get rowdy in Petsmart. With two of them I didn't want to have any doggie incidents, so they rode in the cart.

After we loaded the goodies in the car, I looked more for the cache, but never did find it. On to the third one. That one turned out to be the most interesting one I've found so far. It was in the crook of a tree. It was a small log about a foot or 18 inches long and an inch or two in diameter. When I picked it up, I realized it was in two pieces. I pulled them apart and found the cache in a tube, stuck inside a hole that had been drilled in the log. The log was loosely held together with a couple of nails that were driven in one side and small holes drilled into the other half. Very clever!

Time to head home and have my afternoon walk and relaxation time. I drove home, pulled up next to the motorhome and turned off the car. I reached for my purse to get my motorhome keys out - what - no keys! I looked through the car. No Keys. Well, they must have slipped out of my purse at Petsmart. So I drove back to Petsmart, No Keys there either. Hmmm... I just knew I'd walk in and the clerk would hand me my keys. Not. Ok, so next stop was to look in the parking lot where I'd parked for the last cache. I didn't go in to the store since I hadn't taken my purse out of the car, and I'd parked way out from the building. I did drive by and didn't see any keys around.

So, on to plan B. I'd left the windows cracked open just a little, and I thought I might be able to get the ladder and get in through a window. Meantime, Jim had called me from Pueblo to tell me he was going to be delayed because they found one of Steve's cows had died, and they needed to move it's body out to the middle of the property, away from the water and food. So I knew he was going to be getting home later in the afternoon.

When I got back to the motorhome again, I was able to get the ladder down (thank goodness we decided to keep the 6 ft. ladder from storage!) and get a window open far enough for me to climb through. I'm also glad no one was around to take pictures of that adventure.

Once inside, I checked around here to be sure I hadn't accidently left the keys here. Nope. Well, time to take a break, have some lunch and relax until Jim came home. When he got here, he wanted to go through the whole search process again, so he looked all through the car to make sure they weren't in there. We went back over to the shopping center and retraced all my steps, going in to each of the stores near where I'd been. We checked again at Petsmart. Still no keys. Still no geocache, either.

I was beginning to think someone picked up my keys and kept them! We stopped at Burger King so Jim could get something to eat, then I said I'd stop back by the last place one more time, but I'd go in and ask this time. The guy in the store said someone from the business next door had found some keys in the parking lot, and I should go check there. Eureka! My keys!! What a relief. All is well with my world once again.

These pictures are some I've taken recently, showing Spring around the campground. Although the weather today has been more like Summer!

Project Complete!

One more item checked off the list. We no longer have a storage unit. The last of the boxes and things that we need to keep have been delivered to our childrens' houses to be kept for us. We both agree that was a big step for us.

We woke up around 7 this morning and took our time having coffee and waking up. We stopped at Village Inn for a quick breakfast on the way to the storage facility. That was all done and the rental truck turned in shortly after noon.

Late yesterday afternoon, I went out with the camera, and was lucky to see the female Western Tananger:

Many locals don't think Fountain Creek is very pretty, but if one pays attention, there is beauty everywhere:

This cute little "Teardrop" trailer was here last night:

Honeysuckle is one of my favorites:

Ann and Bob came over last evening for pizza and cards. I'm happy to report that the sisters had a great run of cards. We started with cribbage. Typically, we play 3 games. A lot of times, the guys "skunk" us and we end up playing only one. Then a lot of times we only play 2 because the guys win 2 in a row. But this time we played all 3. The sisters won 2, so we took the series. After that we moved to canasta, the sisters won that too. The final game was spades, which Ann won. It was a fun evening!

We are leaving 2 weeks from today. I spent some time this afternoon looking at possible stops along the way to Branson. I also did a search on geocaching.com and found that within 5 miles of the campground where the rally is being held, there are 33 caches. That could keep us pretty busy!

The weather has turned warm, almost hot. We are happy about that!

Shopping and Visiting, and What's "Linner"

As we were eating breakfast yesterday morning, I glanced out the window and saw a flash of yellow in the pine tree by our door. I'd seen a yellow bird in the tree a day or two ago, but it didn't stay around long enough to identify it or get a picture. This time, Jim grabbed the camera and got a couple of pictures. Then I took a couple too. I got a good look and guessed it might be a Tananger. I looked it up and I think it's a male Western Tananger. It's not a great picture, but it's the best we got through the screen. What a beautiful bird!

A little later, Jim decided to go shopping for a different air compressor. While he was gone I was walking the dogs over by the creek and caught a climpse of what I believe was the female Western Tananger, hopping around in the trees. Of course, I didn't have the camera with me at the time. Maybe I'll see her again when I do.

When Jim came back with his new air compressor we headed out to Kohls. I'd decided it was time to switch out some of my clothes. You know the rule -- if something new comes in, something else has to go. I found 5 new shirts and Jim found a few for himself. When we got home, we went through our closets. I ended up sending 14 old shirts to charity. I'm not sure how many Jim sent, but I think it evened out pretty well.

We were meeting Ginger and Jesse at Red Lobster in Pueblo at 4:00, so it was time to get cleaned up and ready to go. We left in plenty of time and were there a little before 4. We all had shrimp of one kind or another and had a great dinner. We followed them to their house afterwareds and spent the evening visiting and playing partners canasta. I was just sure my partner, Ginger, and I would beat the guys, but it the card gods were not looking at us favorably, so the guys won both games. Ginger made a delicious pineapple-cherry dump cake which we enjoyed along with her homemakde cookies. Yum! I couldn't believe it was nearly 10 when we finally said time to get going. The evening flew by! We had a wonderful time visiting with our new friends and can't wait to see them again in Branson at the RV-Dreams Rally! They have one week left to work, then they are on the road. Safe travels, guys!

This morning, we went back over to storage with a rental truck to deliver various items that were going to charity. That all filled one load. Lots of stuff. I'm sure people will get a lot of good out of the items we donated, at least I hope so. Some of the things we donated were items we thought we'd want if and when we came off the road, so I had a couple of twinges about letting some of it go. Tomorrow, the very last boxes will be moved to the kids' places to be stored. These are the boxes of family things that we truly can't let go.

Once we had that done, we headed home for some organizing time. Jim also bought a new toolbox so he could consolidate the two or three small boxes he's been carrying around. I went outside to find a spot out of the wind where I could sit and enjoy the sunshine, oh yes, and endure the wind.

When did it get so windy here??? We've talked about how the weather seems different this year, but maybe we just forget from one year to the next.

Yesterday, I had a question from a friend about my use of the word "Linner" - that is our mid-day meal and is a combination of Lunch and Dinner. When we have breakfast late, we typically only have 2 meals for that day. Sometimes we call it Linner, or it might be Lupper or Dinch.

This evening, Ann & Bob are coming over for pizza and cards, so I probably will miss another night in the RV-Dreams chat room.

Still a great life!

Chores

These days do come around every now and then. I told Jim a couple of days ago that we were either going to need to get the laundry done or go shopping! He chose laundry, go figure.

We slept in a little this morning and took our time having coffee. We decided to go to the local diner for breakfast and then go to the grocery. Once those chores were done, Jim loaded up the five loads of laundry and went off to his favorite laundromat while I cleaned.

I got down to the nitty gritty, and it was definitely gritty. With the wind we've been having, the Castle sure gets dirty in a hurry. I cleaned from one end to the other and got done just before Jim came back with the clean clothes.

We got a roasted chicken at the grocery, so I fixed the sides and salad and we had a nice Linner. The leftover chicken is already in the freezer to be used for enchiladas one day soon.

I guess today is the "big, expensive, rig day" here. We've seen two Allegro Buses, a Prevost, and several other large rigs pull in today. The park typically starts filling up on Thursday and really gets busy Friday. I find it interesting that some days we see mostly fifth wheels come in, and other days, like today, most of the rigs pulling in are motor homes.

I've already heard from my doctor's office about my bone density screening. It seems my bones are not as strong as they should be. They want me to keep up with my calcium with Vitamin D. Now the "Catch-22" in that advice -- there are new studies showing an increased risk of heart disease in conjunction with taking calcium. Sheesh.

An update on the cat rescue operation - I didn't hear from the rescue organization yesterday as I'd expected. However, last evening when I saw the cat and was on my way over with some food, a neighbor also came out with milk. We chatted, and I think these neighbors are going to adopt the cat. They're moving into a house soon, so they should be able to accommodate it. Until they move, the cat will still be around, because they have 2 dogs and they're living in a fifth wheel right now.

Today's pictures are from a few days ago, around the park and the area:




In spite of chores, wind, and less than great news from the doctor, it's still a great day!

Typical Spring Day

Another early morning-- today I had my bone density screening scheduled. I could have sworn I made the appointment for 9:30, however, when they called yesterday to confirm, the receptionist said it was 8:30, but I needed to be there by 8:00 to register. Now, what self-respecting retired woman would make an appointment that early in the day! Oh well, one more early day probably won't hurt!

So, I was up and out the door by 7:30, and back home just after 9:00. Jim was busy with the paperwork to fill out for the registration and license plates on the Castle. We finally got that all straightened out and ready to mail. We paid Arizona sales tax when we purchased the motor home, but Texas has a slightly higher tax rate. I was glad it was not more, but we still had to shell out over $200 for the difference. That and the registration fee, plus various other small fees brought our total to just a little over $400. That is next-to-nothing compared to Colorado's registration fee. In 2004, when we first purchased our Bounder, we had to pay over $1,400! Texas is definitely less costly in that area.

When we get to Texas after the RV-Dreams Rally in June, we will need to get the Castle inspected. We'll also need to upgrade our drivers licenses, since this vehicle is considerably heavier than the Bounder. In Texas, the class of driver's license is dependent on the weight of the vehicle driven. We need to take a written and driving test. Yikes, I need to start studying!

Once we had the paperwork complete and ready to mail, we were ready for a breakfast on the way to the storage unit.

We turned in our notice to vacate the storage unit today. After sorting the remaining boxes into various piles - one for donating to charity, one for Josh's storage and one for Robin's storage, we realized we'll need a truck to get it all moved. On the way back home, we stopped at U-Haul and reserved a small truck for this weekend.

Back home, we took a break and rested for a little while. Then Jim took his new air compressor back, as something was broken inside. While he was out, he stopped at Chipotle's for take out. While we ate, we had a visitor to the hummingbird feeder. I'm not positive, but I think it was a male Ruby-throated hummer. We're getting regular visits from a female, but this was the first male we've seen.

I didn't take new pictures today, so these are some I've taken over the past several days.

This pretty flower basket was on the street in Manitou Springs:

Our "resident" geese:

A view of Pikes Peak through the trees in the lower level of the campground.

We've had perfect weather today. No wind, nice temperature, and sunny to partly cloudy skies. I wish it would last, but they're saying we can expect colder temperatures and rain mixed with snow later on tonight. Oh well, it's still a great life!

Exploring

In the last entry, I ended with a critter report. I'll start this time with this small lizard I saw sunning on the rocks by the creek yesterday morning.


Here's a view up the creek, the trees are really getting green!

A couple of nights ago, Jack Mayer was in the RV-Dreams chat room. I know he and Danielle are working at Diamond Campground in Woodland Park again this year. We had talked about staying there, however, it wasn't open yet when we came back. We wanted to check it out for possible future stays, so yesterday, we took a drive and went to look at it. We introduced ourselves to Danielle and Poppy, then went to find Jack. We spent a few minutes visiting with Jack before we drove around the campground and decided it would work out fine for us. I'm not sure when we might stay there, but next year is a good possibility.

This is one of my favorite views of Pikes Peak, it was taken from Woodland Park.


On our way home, I wanted to do some shopping in Manitou Springs. As we drove into town, I was struck with a vivid memory. The Ute Indian statue below played quite a part in my childhood. At one time, there were several locations where "Manitou Water" flowed. This Ute Indian is one of them. He's dry now, but when I was very young, we would drive up to Manitou on Sunday afternoons during the summer and collect a gallon or so of soda water to mix with lemonade or Kool-aid. The water was famous for its supposed healing powers and was actually prescribed for tuberculosis patients. I didn't know or care about that, I just knew it gave our summer drinks a wonderful fizz!



These days, Manitou Springs is primarily a tourist shopping destination. It seems that each year, some of the shops are different, but there are a few that have been around for some time. Since I bought a few gifts for some folks who might read this, I won't go into more detail now about my shopping trip!

This is a view of a small side alley containing more shops.

We got back home late in the afternoon and settled in to wait for the cold front to arrive. It did so, right on schedule. The wind came up, the clouds came in, and the temperature dropped like a rock. Once again, we were rocking and rolling in the gusty winds all night.

Today I had a routine medical test scheduled, so we got up and around fairly early. Jim had a lunch scheduled with a friend of his. I stayed home and watched for the cat.

The cat showed up in the place I've been leaving food. I grabbed the bag of cat food and headed over. She was very happy to see me and let me pet and hold her. I gave her some food and left her alone. I came back in and called Dream Power Animal Rescue. Someone from there will call me back tomorrow. I hope they can take this cat! My last choice is the Humane Society, I don't trust that she would get adopted from there.

I've enjoyed the time away from the storage unit project....back to it again tomorrow.

Happy After Mother's Day

It's been a couple of busy days, with a little relaxation sandwiched in.

Saturday night we went to Louis & Marie's house for a fabulous dinner and tour of their great house that they're about to put on the market. They've put in extensive work remodeling and it is a beautiful home.

This is Louis with one of their dogs, Sylvia. She's reportedly a "schnoodle". She has more of the poodle look, but I'm wondering if there's a little dashound mixed in there because she has very short legs, a slightly longer body, and a distinctive bark that isn't quite schnauzer or poodle.

Here's Marie with their other dog, Strumper. He's also a schnoodle, with a more schnauzer-like appearence. He's about the same age as Mr. BJ. In fact, the two of them romped as puppies. They've both settled in to middle-age dogdom now!

Yesterday was wonderful. All three of the children called me. Jim treated me to breakfast, the kind I like, quiet and at home. I forgot to mention the other present he got me in addition to the new inverter for my laptop. Now this is true love -- he got me the new Neil Diamond CD, even though he can't stand Neil Diamond.

We were able to go for our Nordic walk before heading over to my nephew and his wife's home for a barbeque with most of the family yesterday afternoon.

Rick is my sister's son, here he is with his wife, Marilia.

Catrina is my great niece. She's pictured below (left) with her mom, Tami, who is my sister's daughter, and Berta, my cousin. The dog is Robusto (we call him 'Busto). He's Rick's dog.

Below is Tami's husband, Tyrone and their oldest daughter, Sharitta.

This is Cousin Berta's daughter, Cindy, and her boyfriend JR.

And below is Rick and Marilia's son in law Ryan, and daughter Tashi.

And here's Busto.

Last night we settled in to watch the finale of Survivor. Of course I was multitasking with the RV-Dreams chat room and working a puzzle. As soon as the Survivor winner was announced,, I switched over to the season finale of Brothers and Sisters. Later, I went back to the west-coast feed and picked up Desperate Housewives. Gee, it was a busy tv night!

This morning, I noticed we have a little female (I think) hummingbird at our feeder. I was able to catch this one picture.

I'm also working on a little cat rescue operation. A gray & white cat was abandoned here at the campground several weeks ago. It is very friendly around children, but I haven't been able to get close to it since the first time I encountered it right after we got here. I'm putting a little cat food out for it now, in the hopes I can pick it up to take it to a rescue location.

To round out the critter report, I'm sitting here listening to the bird wars behind me at the feeder. I think we have several families of finches and sparrows. They get really agressive with each other over the feeder rights. There is a lot of flying and squawking going on!

And so it goes in our lives...