Here we are, on the road: Still here in Blaine, Washington

Sunday, August 08, 2010 Lorraine’s report

Hello again from 1000 Trails in Blaine, WA. As John Denver sang in his song, “Hey it’s good to be back home again”; and I have to say that I am loving being home again. Today the weather forecast is for more rain, high is supposed to be 64 degrees with the low down to 54 degrees. I have had to put on shoes/socks and jeans and a jacket in the evenings. The difference in weather from just a month ago is incredible, from burning up, with two air conditioners running day and night, just to make it bearable in the coach, to needing a jacket in the evenings.

Well, there’s not much to write about, other than we have been taking it easy, seeing lots of family and friends, and eating. We have seen Joe and Alice, friends. Joe started working with Chuck the same day 38 years ago; Joe retired five years earlier than Chuck and have a beautiful summer home here at Birch Bay. He and Alice spend the cold part year in warmer climates in their motor home.

We’ve gone to dinner at Northwood Casino with Tim, who showed us his beautiful new home in Lynden. We went to the $2.00 Tuesday buffet and had a great time catching up with him. He bought a new Bounder motor home and went south to meet us in Oregon last year.

Wednesday was my sister, Thelma’s birthday, and we went over to their home for hamburgers and hot dogs, and more catching up. I think we really missed each other!

I forgot, Monday morning Thelma and Ashley, Thelma’s daughter came by and off we went to the mall for a day of shopping. We all had a great time.

We took our daughter in law, Lora to dinner at Anger of the Wind Casino, for an all you can eat crab feed that evening. We enjoyed catching up with her what she has been doing.

Thursday was a stay at home day, cleaning, doing laundry and wrapping presents. We had errands and did that in the afternoon, coming home totally tired and happy to be staying in for the evening, our first since we have been back.

Friday was my birthday, and I spent the day getting food ready for my sister, Thelma’s and my birthday party on Saturday, with all her family. That evening Thelma/John, Chuck and I went to Silver Reef Casino for our free birthday buffet dinner, which was seafood and prime rib, with a delicious dessert. We all had a grand time.

Saturday, I finished making the various salads, gathering everything up and then we headed over to my sister’s home for the party. We all had a great time, in spite of it being a rainy day all day.

My niece, Kerri, her husband, Paul came with her three children, Rose, Patrick and Joshua; that was the first time we’ve seen them since we got back a week ago. The boys have sure grown, and Rose is as pretty as ever.

Thelma’s son John, with his son, Joey, and Joey’s mother, Michelle were there. Joey plays football for his high school, and is a big bruiser. Carl, Thelma’s youngest son as well as Ashley, the youngest girl was there; later on Paul, Ash’s boy friend came also.

There were 15 people there and I think everyone enjoyed a great day of eating, visiting and enjoying each other’s company. It was way to long coming!

I would like to send a big “Thank you” to all of my family and friends who wrote me on Facebook, or e-mailed me birthday wishes. I appreciate all of the good wishes and I miss those of you that aren’t with us now. Thank You!!!

This week I see my oncology doctor for my yearly exam. Sure hope it goes well. Thursday, we go for an eye exam, and I know I need new glasses.

So that’s it for now…Until next time….Be well.

Lorraine

8/8/10 Chuck’s report

We have been busy all week but I don’t know what we have actually accomplished. Seems like I just can’t get it in gear for some reason. But it does feel good to have some down time with no pressing activities that have to get done right now.

We have been able to visit with family and friends almost every day since we’ve been here, most of the time over dinner. That is about the only schedule we made and that was for their benefit more so than for ours, we are pretty flexible.

Last Sunday we had a knock on the door, it was a member of the Lewis and Clark FMCA Chapter we joined in Oregon last year. Sondy was parked next to us during that rally and we met her a few times. This time, she had our complete attention and we got to know her much better, a very interesting person. She invited us to attend the next rally in Chehalis, Washington later this month. Not sure if we will be finished with our doctor visits in time to attend this rally but we sure would like to see the folks we met last year once again.

Monday Lorraine, her sister Thelma and niece Ashley got together for a day’s shopping in town. I used the time alone to do some cleaning in the motor home, washed/waxed the shower and put down new anti-skid pieces. And I might have even checked the back of my eyelids for leaks for awhile too.

Later we met our daughter-in-law, Lora, for a seafood buffet at a casino a few miles away. We haven’t seen her in quite awhile and got caught up on what’s going on with her. We were sorry to hear her mother isn’t doing too well right now and wish her well.

One item we want to do while we are here is to reduce the amount of “stuff” we are carrying with us and not using. Tuesday we were able to go through some of our storage areas get rid of some stuff. Later we met our friend Tim for another buffet at a local casino, this one costs all of $2. They don’t have prime rib or anything like that but it was good and we definitely got enough. We also stopped off at Tim’s house, first time we’ve seen his place. Very nice, Tim.

Wednesday we stopped off at our old house to put some stuff in the barn. The renters are wanting to put in Direct TV satellite service and the tech wanted to mount the antenna on the roof. This would require putting 10 holes in the new roof and I said no. So we compromised and they are putting a pole next to the house and I dug a trench for the cable. No way did I want 10 lag bolts in the roof with as much rain as they get around here. Sure wish someone would make an good offer and buy our house.

Later we did some running in town and afterwards went over to Thelma’s house for her birthday. We had a good Bar-B-Q and another good visit. Happy Birthday to Thelma.

Thursday we once again headed into town for some more errands. We got back to the coach and for the first time since we’ve been back, we had dinner alone.

Friday was Lorraine’s birthday! Happy Birthday Hon!

We were busy around the coach and before I knew it, it was too late to take her out for breakfast so she cooked. Lorraine also spent a lot of time getting stuff ready for their combined birthday party on Saturday. (I did my usual good job of trying to stay out of her way.) Later we picked up John/Thelma and went to yet another casino for yet another seafood buffet. This casino gives everyone one free buffet for their birthday so we all got a coupon for our birthday, whenever it happens to fall. I think the gals mostly ate crab while John tried a bit of almost everything and I had roast beef. We all had a very good dinner and all for the price of the tip.

Saturday we woke up to a rainy, cool day. It’s been quite awhile since we’ve been in weather like this, the rains this past spring were mostly all thunderstorms and it rained hard and got it out of its system. Here we just had the gentle rain that keeps everyone inside. It rained or spit almost all day, the temperature never got above the mid 60s. I still refused to give in and wear long pants but I was one of the few, we saw some folks wearing their heavy winter type coats. Now that’s overkill, I think.

We went over to John/Thelma’s for the sister’s combined birthday party. We started out with too many snacks and drinks, then had dinner. John fixed a roast with all the trimmings and everyone else made salads or something. We once again had a good visit and a good meal.

This is the first time we’ve seen their daughter Karri and her family since we’ve been back and it was good to see them. Sorry Patrick if I picked on you too much.

After dinner we lounged around for awhile, then the gals opened their birthday presents, Lorraine even acted surprised to get her Black Hills Gold watch band that she had picked out in Rapid City. Later we had cake and ice cream and then called it a day. A Good day, I might add.

The weather here has been really nice, high 70s, low high 50s until yesterday and today. We had clouds and rain all day yesterday but just sprinkled today so far. It’s expected to get into the 70s, maybe even 80s starting tomorrow.

We didn’t do any traveling this week, a good thing. We have to move to a different campground on Wednesday as we can’t stay here but two weeks in a row. We will move just down the road to Beachwood. Lorraine has already been in touch with some of our friends from Canada and they will be there the same time as we so let the party begin.

Next weekend is the annual picnic for the refinery where I used to work. They allow us retirees to attend, Lorraine and I will be there Friday afternoon, we aren’t sure about Saturday yet. Looking forward to seeing the folks I used to work with and their families. They have a chili cook off and a pie baking contest, I might just have to see about being a judge in one or both of them too. Tough life, huh?

Lorraine has her first doctor visit tomorrow, first of many for both of us. I think the last doctor visit we have planned is on September 9th. We haven’t planned much beyond that yet but I have made a couple of reservations for down South for the time we aren’t with our daughter and our grand daughter in California. We have plans to go back to Laughlin, Nevada, Palm Springs, California and will make a reservation at Yuma, Arizona this week. Boy I don’t like making plans that far in advance but to insure we have a spot - - -

So with that, I’ll add a few pictures. As I said, we didn’t do any traveling so all the pictures will be of family and friends and I didn’t get pictures of all the folks we were with, sorry.

Sondy of Lewis and Clark Chapter.