Time to Play Catch-Up

 Hi everyone. I am so bad….I was just reviewing my last blog and couldn’t believe it was posted last summer! Playing catch-up is something I swear I am never going to do, but guess what?? Here I am again, doing what I said I wouldn’t do again. And it isn’t like I haven’t had time to do it, just didn’t feel like it, life got in the way!

This past summer was rather challenging because besides having a “to do list” inside the house that is long enough to keep y’all busy, we also have a rather exhausting list outdoors too!  Our yard leaves so much to be desired, but we have the wisdom now (obviously wisdom comes with age) to know we can only do so much at any given time. We made great headway though, considering we started multiple projects….cleaning and redesigning flower beds, weeding, weeding, and more weeding. Trimming back bushes, redefining the yard and parking places, installing our mailbox permanently,  changing our deck entrance, getting all the screens and windows checked for leaks, damages or missing screens. So much more to do, but we will pick up this spring where we left off last fall.

This past winter we finally got around to finishing one of the spare bedrooms, creating a guest room. The bedrooms are not very big so creating as much usable space was important.

BEFORE

                                                                             AFTER

 

We are now in the process of redoing the 3rd bedroom which is actually our creative space. There is a desk that Rob uses for his hobbies and an upcycled chest of drawers for storage. The other side is mine where I have my sewing machine, crafts and other miscellaneous “stuff”. We have just started it, doing it in between our outdoor projects. Pictures to follow when done.

Before we were able to get around to these projects, we had some issues that needed addressing. Rob had cataract surgery on both eyes the end of Sept/early Oct.  All went well, and he has ditched his glasses at last. As for me, I had known for sometime that I was looking at 2 knee replacements and was never sure how I was going to accomplish that living in a motorhome. Well, unfortunately (motorhome being totaled) that decision was made for me since we are no longer wandering the country and have landed permanently. I had my 1st knee replacement September 20th. It went better than I had anticipated and was up and around in no time, thank goodness, because I had my 2nd replacement scheduled for December 6th.  The surgery was successful, but I had a few setbacks. Major swelling and bruising, for one thing and I believe the swelling was due to an allergic reaction to the tape they used to change out my dressing. Oh well, after a couple weeks of PT, I was given the green light to continue my healing journey at home. I am back to normal, whatever that may be, and ready to tackle “the list”!

As I celebrated a milestone birthday this year, my children threw a party for me. It was such a blessed day to have the entire family together, (almost everyone, one son and a couple grandkids couldn’t make it) under one roof. It was a beautiful day so it was perfect conditions for the photographer could get some great family pictures.

                                                                   My beautiful children

                                                                            The gang

                                                                           4 generations

And speaking of birthdays, can you believe our little Maren Mae turned one already. She is such an angel and keeps us all entertained.

It has been an adjustment being back in a stick built home as the list is never ending. Retirement does have many advantages though, like doing what we want, when we want. So eventually we know it will all be done, just no particular time frame as there is still so much to see and do. All work and no play makes for a boring life. We do have travel plans, although we have learned they are all tentative until it actually happens. First on our list is a trip to the UP.  We always seem to go in summer or fall so we hope to go up in the spring while it is still cool and not crowded. Hopefully it will be soon. Weather will be the deciding factor.  We don’t want any surprises by Mother Nature. We have made some long range plans for next winter. We are planning on spending 3 months in Arizona, hopefully January through March. We have found a campground that rents RV’s and we have reserved one in the southeast part of AZ. When April rolls around, we can take our time coming home, visiting along the way. 

What kind of outings do you all have planned? Plans for vacations? Short one day trips? They are all good. Whatever it is, or wherever you go, it will be a welcome to spend time in, and with, nature. Bring out the backpacks, walking sticks, camera, water, and hit the trails. So much to see and do. And don’t forget to look up, it’s amazing out there.

Oh My Aching Bones

Well, it’s summertime in Michigan  and we are here in Cadillac as new homeowners…once again. Y’all have to remember, we haven’t had these kinds of responsibilities for about 7 years. No grass to cut, no flower beds to tend to, no major remodels to do, etc, etc, etc! You got the idea and you now know what we have been up to.

First things first, and that was to get the house to a point that we felt comfortable to move into. It was not a “move in ready” house but it has such great potentials. After a major cleaning and an almost full redo of our bedroom, (thank goodness my son is a builder, lives close and had some time to help us) it was time to make the move. Our life as we knew it was turned upside down. The days of doing whatever we wanted  and whenever we wanted were gone. We now had responsibilities and a “honey do” list a mile long. As we started checking things off our list it usually meant going to the store, sometimes multiple times in a day, if not for supplies then for tools that we no longer owned. Slowly, but surely, we are making progress. So far we have completed our bedroom and living room. We took time off from hammering, painting and shopping, to tend to a very sad looking yard. We had 6 trees removed (5 of them were about 80’ pine trees) and an almost dead, ugly maple tree (Stumps removed too.)  Every day we were outdoors while the weather was still on the cooler side, come evening we could hardly move. We are definitely too old for all this manual labor stuff but we are managing quite well, all things considered.

                                                               Trees being removed

Bedroom

                                                                         Living Room

With the warm summer weather here, we have limitations on how long we can work outdoors and what we can do while out there. Once again, we found ourselves revisiting the hardware store replenishing everything we left behind when we sold  our house to travel, including landscaping utensils and flowers. My dear friend Carol was so kind to split some of her beautiful plants and give them to us. We found an acceptable place for them to call home until I could get the flowerbeds worked and ready. Slowly, they made their way to a more permanent place to live, and, I’m happy to say they are doing quite well. There is so much more to do….what doesn’t get done this year, there is always next year.

All work and no play makes for a boring life. We have made trips to East Jordan to see my sister, a trip to Lewiston and Mio to see my step-daughter who has an amazing thrift store and then to see long time friends of Robs. We have made several trips downstate, the last to attend lunch with schoolmates from many, many years ago. I can’t forget to mention my trip to see my grandkids and great granddaughter, who is now 4 months old and has captured my heart.

                                                   

Today is officially the first day of summer with a promise of many more days of beautiful summer weather and lots of opportunities to be outdoors.  I know what we will be doing many of those days, what will you be doing? Going to the beach? Or maybe going camping and hiking? Or staying home and working on your own “honey do” list? Whatever it is, make every effort to enjoy the great outdoors, no matter where you are or what you’re doing. While out there, be sure to look up, it’s amazing out there.

The End of One Journey and the Beginning of a New One

This is a little late but now feel like sharing. We traveled full time for 7 wonderful years in our RV….Great memories, unexpected adventures, made many new friends and tried to be where the sun was, which didn’t always happen. We know life is full of surprises as we have been on the receiving end of many.  But we were not prepared for the events that lead up to our present circumstances. As many of you know, we were in an accident prior to Christmas this year which basically ended our “Fulltime” status of traveling. When our accident happened it was beyond devastating to us. There were so many more miles to travel, more friends to meet, and mountains to climb! Even though we periodically talked about finding someplace to park the RV for times when we needed to be stationary for a while, we didn’t plan on it ending like this. WE WERE TRULY HOMELESS! An RV that has been totaled and no place to call home. Now what do we do? During the many moments of uncertainty I could hear a voice, feel a presence, telling me that this could be the time to reconsider our plans for the future. A voice that we succumbed to. I truly believe angels walk among us.  Because we found ours. Kevin and Peg Anderson (Sara’s Dad and wife) were in the south, enjoying the much sought after sunshine, heard about our dilemma, and graciously offered their home in Michigan to us, for the time we needed to find a place of our own. Now you tell me God didn’t have a plan for us! Thank you from the bottom of hearts Kevin and Peg.

Fast forward some months….we are starting to feel more settled in our home and realizing how great it is to be “home”,  be with our kids and families, visits from our friends and the joy of spending time with our grandkids…and now, great grandkids. Our travel days are not over but it will be for shorter periods of time with destinations unknown.  Sometimes our brains actually rule over our hearts and help us make decisions we may not make listening to our hearts! Such as in this case. We have had some pretty awesome moments since coming back home with more in the immediate future. My sweet and loving daughter, Janis and husband Trent, welcomed us into their home shortly after we made it back to Michigan. It felt so good to be in their presence again. They always have a way of making us feel special. It was just what we needed. Their warm hospitality helped put us at ease. And while there, we got to see our handsome grandson, Cody, if only for a short time, who is busy studying getting ready for college graduation.  We were near by when our beautiful granddaughter, Makayla and Ryan, gave birth to their first child and we were able to meet Maren Mae shortly after. What a true blessing. We found a house rather quickly, thanks to our realtor extraordinaire daughter-in-law, Sara, and getting it closed in a very short time.  Getting to see and spend time with my youngest granddaughter Grace makes my heart sing and swell with pride. And now she is an adult living a life filled with adult obligations and spending much of her free time with her “love”.  How can that be!? Where did the time go? 

Maren Mae

                  

   The new perfect family

We made a trip downstate to see Rob’s sons and families. It always a funtime when we are with them. The trip was made extra special by attending the wedding shower of our granddaughter Julia and groom-to-be, Larry. Time has moved quickly as we will be attending the much anticipated wedding in 2 weeks. How exciting. But the excitement doesn’t end there. Also in the same time frame Malloy and Dan, Robs 1st granddaughter, will be giving birth to the first great grandchild. Boy? Girl? Only time will tell. While down for the visit we were able to see all the grandkids too. It has become very difficult to get them all together now that they are all busy adults with jobs and obligations.

We were here to help celebrate the 1st birthday for our great grandson, Ryder John, and spend time with his ever smiling and adorable sister, Raegan and their Mom and Dad, Abby and Chad. And of course, also helping celebrate were our other adorable and fast growing grandsons, Czerney and Leland, with Mom and Dad, Marley and Austen.We have missed a lot in all their busy lives.

                                                              The birthday boy.

                                                   Great Gpa and Raegan  coloring

                                                   Looks like the boys want to help.

Now let me not forget my son Jason, who has been right by our side from the onset of this fiasco. He flew to FL to help us pack up our motorhome, he then drove the Uhaul home to Michigan and then helped us unpack everything into a storage unit. After finding a house, he has been here helping us through some rough times as we remodel. He is doing all this while fulfilling his own obligations (which are many) as a builder, husband, father and grandfather. I don’t know what we would do without his help. We were invited over for Easter to spend time with his family and dinner.  As usual, it was an amazing meal that he prepared for all of us (17 to be exact). It was so very good, and then there was dessert! Wow. It was absolutely delicious; carrot cake made from scratch! My very favorite cake. He also made another dish that looked, and was I was told, tasted equally as good. This family is lucky to have their own personal chef! Thank you Jason for all that you do for us and for sharing your talents with us. We love you all so deeply and are so grateful for you.

This weekend we will be making a trip to Kalamazoo so I can attend a tea at the church my daughters family attends. Janis will be taking part in the preparation and presentation. My granddaughter and great granddaughter will also be there so you all know it will be a great time for me.

What does the future hold for us? Lots of work on the house and yard. Something we haven’t done in a long time. But first we must buy before we can use! We are at peace with life again and are blessed to be with loved ones and be in good health…we won’t talk about the new aches and pains we have from using muscles we haven’t used in a long time though. All in all, life is good.

As a reminder though let’s be thankful for where we are, and what we have.

Spring is here. Get out out and smell the fresh air, listen to the sounds of nature and don’t forget to look up, it’s amazing out there!

It’s All Part of the Journey

In my last post I said we were headed to North Carolina. Well, we are but first had an important engagement to keep. After making a trip to Grand Rapids, MI to have the RV worked on, we were able to spend a few nights back in Kalamazoo so I could attend my granddaughters baby shower.Thankfully, we were able to stay at the church our kids attend. They have RV hookups in the parking lot. Yes I know. We are so lucky. Well, almost. Little did we know that we were going to be smack dab in the middle of a blizzard that dropped 22” of the fluffy white stuff in 3 days! We, and the RV, are not prepared for this kind of weather. Thank goodness, a gentleman from the church was so kind as to keep the parking lot clear so we were able to at least get our car out. Saturday, the day of the shower, the sun came out and plows worked hard to keep the roads clear, and I was able to attend the baby shower. It’s was a bit smaller than planned because of the weather but was beautiful and fun. Mother Nature wasn’t done though. We got home and toward late afternoon the clouds opened up again and dumped the last of the snow.  That delayed us one more day. After all, safety comes first. The plows were ready and got to work again. By Monday morning traffic was moving good and we were able to pull out and find our way to North Carolina.

The trip was quite enjoyable, considering what we left behind until we were south of Raleigh-Durham, NC. Every RVers nightmare is to breakdown on a highway. Yep, you guessed right. Just like that, the RV stopped and luckily Rob could coast it off the highway onto the shoulder. He got out to investigate and it didn’t take him long to determine what part of the problem was. First indication was our car being towed behind us was covered in diesel fuel! Yuck. I am going to give you the very short version of what followed. We had to have it towed to a diesel mechanic 25 miles away. He determined it was a break in the fuel line that feeds the fuel injector. Oh ya, did I mention this was Thanksgiving eve? Everything shuts down, not just for the day but for the weekend. Without any other choice, we got to spend the next week in a motel room. And a very uncomfortable one at that. Thankfully the Wednesday after Thanksgiving, our bank account feeling abused but we were on our way again. We were only a days ride away from our destination so we could begin our next adventure. That’s our home being towed.

We arrived safe and sound but with a lot of house keeping to do and a refrigerator to clean out. We were thankful to have a few days to catch-up before we started our workamping job. This whole ordeal was very stressful but am thankful it all turned out just fine. Spending a week in a motel room sure made me appreciate our comfy motorhome. We had to remind ourselves, it’s all part of the adventure.

I hope all of you had a blessed Thanksgiving and were with your loved ones. Did you get a chance to take a nice walk after dinner, perhaps play a game of football? Regardless of the day or tradition, don’t forget to take time to enjoy the wonders of nature. And don’t forget to look up, it’s amazing out there.

Autumn in Michigan

Having packed up the rig, bid goodbye to our new found friends in the Volunteer Village, our summer gig at the Spearfish Fish Hatchery ended and we are ready to hit the road; destination Michigan. Can’t hardly wait to see our families and friends. It’s been way too long since we’ve seen them all and have lots of catching up to do.  We made a few visits on our way, to break the monotony of riding all day and it gave us the opportunity to relax and make plans for the up coming days.  Once in Michigan, we visited my sister in East Jordan, met up with friends we worked and played with this summer at the Volunteer Village, then on to Cadillac where we had reservations for a month. Seeing my son and family and those babies (well, some aren’t babies any more) was just what I needed. The energy those little bundles of joy have is something this old body can’t compete with, but, it’s so much fun interacting with them. And did I mention we have 2 more great grandbabies coming this winter? We are truly blessed.

Next on our agenda was to visit the rest of our family that lives in the southern part of the state. Finding campgrounds in Michigan that are open past mid October proved to be a real challenge but with a little research and lots of determination we found one that satisfied our needs. In fact, it’s just about half between both families. It was so good to be able to see all of Robs family in one place. And, can you believe, even the grandkids were all available and was able to spend the day with us. We so appreciated the family time with everyone.

 

The following weekend we made a trip in the other direction, this time to see my daughter and family. Being that it was deer hunting season, we knew the time spent with the boys would be limited but, we did manage to get some quality time in with them. My granddaughter and husband just bought a old farm house and are in the process of remodeling it, hoping it will be done in time to welcome their first child. We took them up on the offer to come see it and visit for awhile.They have their work cut out for themselves and will be very busy for sure!

 

We are moving to Auburn, IN for the remaining two weeks before we head to NC for the winter where we have accepted a workamping position. More about that in my next blog. The time will go quickly because we have several appointments and dates to keep before we leave. I must say though our time in Michigan – UP and lower has been pretty awesome. It has been several years since we have been around this time of year. We got to enjoy autumn twice, northern part of the state and then the southern. The colors were absolutely stunning and I had forgotten how magical autumn in Michigan can be. And let’s not forget the apple cider and donuts to make it complete.

 

I think this has brought y’all up to date on what’s happening with us. Life is good! Needless to say, I have been out enjoying the colors, sunrises and sunsets and walking in amass of leaves. Oh how I love this time of year. I hope all of you have had reason to go exploring, if only to the cider mill! Enjoy what is left of the season because we all know what comes next. Remember wherever you, look up it’s amazing out there.

 

 

Explorations

The Badlands offers so many things to see and do, and is home to some of our nations most stunning monuments and historical sights. Because of circumstances beyond our control, we didn’t get to go to as many places  as we were hoping to, but what we saw was enough for us to take note of places yet to see. Some were repeats but worth visiting again.

One of the perks afforded us at DC Booth Historical Fish Hatchery was an all day tour in Keystone, SD which included breakfast at Ft Hays, a visit to Mt Rushmore, Custer State Park, Crazy Horse, lunch at Custer State Park Lodge, and because we were in a small bus (10 passengers), we were able to ride the Needles highway, go through the 3 tunnels and visit the Wildlife Loop before we headed back to Ft Hays for an awesome Chuckwagon dinner and entertainment that left us wanting more. It was a long day but so worth it.

                                                     Elvis was in the building after dinner

                                                          View from one of the bridges

                                               My travel buddy, Bonnie K, at Sylvan lake.

                                                    The dinner hall with LOTS of people

                                                 One of the small tunnels on Needles Hwy

                                                  Anything bigger than a large van won’t fit.

There were so many “moments” but many were repeats from a few years ago so I won’t bore you with more photos. What was new to us was the special comradery we had at the Volunteer Village. In all, there we 10 sites, most of which were filled for various lengths of time, from 2 months to the end of September. Folks from all walks  of life and that makes for interesting times and provided us with many fun nights of  competitive corn hole games, adult beverages and those mesmerizing fires we all love. There were many nights we had to forego the fire though because it was a very warm summer with evenings too warm for a fire.

In general the weather was good…but very warm. We did have the misfortune of experiencing 2 tornado watches with one turning into a warning. We saw it overhead as we were batting down the hatches. Rob has gotten pretty good at doing this since winds and weather seem to come out of nowhere. Luckily, the worst damage at the park was a very large tree being damaged. Did I mention South Dakota gets a lot of hail? Wow. From sunshine to hail in a flash! We experienced big and little hail but luckily, no damage. Unfortunately, Belle Fourche, a small town 12 miles away, wasn’t so lucky. They got hit pretty had twice.

I had the pleasure of reading a 2 book series by a local author titled Honoring Anna. It was based on the journals his wife’s grandmother kept while traveling from Norway to the US  in a ship. He was so impressed with the journey she made he wrote the series. It references a house in book 2 that was built for Anna in Reva, SD, about 80 miles north of Spearfish. The books made the round of the Volunteer Village ladies so 3 of us decided it called for a road trip before we all parted ways. One delightful Saturday we set out for Reva in search of this infamous house. Of course, we made a few stops along the way to check out the scenery before we found the dirt road that would lead us to her house. After traveling 6 miles on a long, winding, dirt road, we realized the house we passed 51/2 miles back was “the” house we were looking for! After a few laughs, I turned the car around and proceeded to put the wipers on so I could at least see my way back. Luckily I didn’t try to use wiper fluid because it probably would have turned to mud and we’d still be in  Reva.

Reva, SD is so small we had already stopped at the one and only building when we got into town, so we continued on our way taking a different route back. Our stomachs were reminding us that we had not eaten in a long time and it was our plan to head on down the road about 25 miles to the only place in the area to eat. It was worth the trip as it had a pleasant environment and the food was quite tasty. But on our way there we got a surprise  There appeared to be what looked like huge sandstone “castles” off in the distance. Not believing what we were seeing, I pulled off the road to get a better look. These formations seem to go on forever. We needed to get closer so we found a State Forrest campground up the road and  climbed up to the lookout. It was absolutely breathtaking, almost like a fairy tale. After climbing to the top for a better view and taking pictures, we came back to the car to continue our journey. We felt like this was an added bonus to an already awesome day. With our eyes and bellies full, it was time to head back home feeling pleased that we accomplished what we set out to do, and didn’t even get lost. Thank you Bonnie and Bonnie K for sharing this memorable day with me.

Anna’s house    

  

Long dirt road                                                                               

                                                                            The Castles

More structures

                                               My sidekicks….Bonnie, Bonnie K with me.

Some time afterward it seems it was time to think about our upcoming travels. One by one, we pulled out of camp with promises to reunite in the future. If at all possible, it will happen. As our leave time rolled around, we packed up, turned in our work supplies and said our goodbyes. Parting is such sweet sorrow. But oh, what memories!! Our travels will take us back to Michigan for some much needed family time.

I’m hoping you all have had an exciting summer and were able to get your fair share of outdoor time. Remember to look up, it’s amazing up there.

DC Booth National Historic Fish Hatchery

It’s now July, and I have once again fallen behind, even though I swore I would not allow that to happen again. It turns out life gets in the way…..in a good way.  We arrived here at the Spearfish City campground in May as planned. What we didn’t expect was all the rain and wind that would be coming our way. We prolonged our visit so the nasty weather would be gone when we got here, but it didn’t happen that way. There had been a major 10” snow dump just prior to our arriving so we weren’t sure what to expect, but we were really surprised to find green grass and sunshine. Well, not all days were like that. We have had rain (lots of it) wind, snow, hail and tornado warnings. I am so ready for some consistent nice weather. I think we may have arrived at that point now that July is about half over. It seems we will now go to the extreme on the thermometer! There seems to be no happy medium.

We are in a lovely campground across the street from the Hatchery where we are doing our volunteer work. They have provided a “Volunteer Village” for the 10 couples that we are volunteering with. The sites are large, grassy and back up to the Spearfish Creek. Not a bad place to call home for 5 months.

The Booth Fish Hatchery is quite a major attraction here in Spearfish. SD and is supported in many ways by the community. I had no idea fish could eat so much food in one day! The folks start arriving after sunrise to walk the grounds and feed the fish. And it goes until sunset.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D.C._Booth_Historic_National_Fish_Hatchery

I can’t say enough about the extended family we have here. We all are here for the same reason, most of us fulltimers  and we’ve got each other’s back, no matter what it may be for….rv repair or advise, ideas on where to go or what to see, trading volunteer hours, beating each other in games of corn hole and figuring out who has the best technique for roasting marshmallows. And not to worry about the fire, we have 2 retired firefighters among us.

When we are not playing or exploring we can usually be found across the street at the Hatchery fulfilling our weekly obligations at one of the venues. I typically will be in the Pondshop (gifts) or the Museum, and Rob will be a Rover (wandering the grounds) or in the Rail car.

                                                                       Inside the Railcar

                                                          The Ice House and the Railcar

                                                                Pond shop

                                                                 A few of the raceways

                                                               The DC Booth House

Next door to the Fish Hatchery is the Spearfish City Park that is used continuously for play, picnics, weddings, Wednesday night music, and of course, swimming in the creek on these hot, humid days. We walk the park daily, enjoying the sounds of the water rushing over the rocks, the dogs enjoying the cool grass to roll in, kids on the playground and making room for the many bikers using the trails for their enjoyment. 

                                                       A favorite spot in the creek in the park

                                                        Bike rentals in the Park parking lot.

                                                  Many a dogs favorite pastime on a hot day

                                                            The kids love the cold water too.

With summer half over I hope you all have had the opportunity to explore, go on vacation or just relax in the moment and to appreciate all that is around us. Wherever we are, we find something new that piques our interest. I am amazed each day how many beautiful places we are surrounded by.No matter where you are, remember to get outdoors, give thanks to the Lord for the beauty around you and don’t forget to look up, it’s amazing out there.