ahhhhh – Home!!

Its true, there is no place like home!  Drove down the coast in fog and cool weather…I could of stayed there for days,  however the pull of home was tugging on our heart strings, then we crossed over and headed into the heat…we stayed at Tehachapi, about 6 hours from home, and we got up and left at 3a to try to beat the heat and be home before the temps were up…it was 105 at 10a when we got home… by 4p it was 115′ at our house..  we were gone for over 6 weeks and were really excited to see how the house, plants and everything did without us…I must say it did just fine…I just went out and watered and all my desert plants were happy as can be….how they can grow in this heat is beyond me…but they all looked happy and hot…LOL  just gave them all a little drink and had to fight off the  little tiny mosquitos…they were very happy to see breakfast out and about early…LOL  heading to the DMV to register our new ride…which by the way drives and rides a little like a being on a cloud…

Well Tuesday was the hottest day of this little heat wave we are having….the weather channel clocked us in at 120′ and our weather station, which is out back on a very tall pole read 125′, we are about 5 miles from the weather stations thermometer, but they also have more wind than we did….regardless it was hot….

Today is Wednesday ant we are at about 112’…you may think that’s hot, but its not bad considering the 120’…we were out and about until noon and it was 105’….not bad….

Life is getting back to normal, being home, sleeping in our own beds….catching our breath from the whirlwind we have been on….we have to be back in Calif in August to deal with a couple jobs lined up on the house…

Diet is going along just fine…getting back at it ….still working at incorporating more protein daily…checking the time the pool opens in the morning as its the only time I can go when the UV rays are low….they close at 5p so that makes it hard to swim after sunset….

I hope this finds everyone having a wonderful summer or enjoying the winter on the other side of the world….until later….

Well back in California. after that little whirl trip north….but I am in heaven driving….I had switched to 4 cylinders years ago, saving on gas and emissions, doing better for mother nature and all….well let me tell you, having 6 cylinders under the hood is a lot of fun….LOL  and Subaru has an eye sight program, I drove for over 90 miles on the freeway and never touched the gas or breaks, she does it all…slows down gently when coming to close and you can set it 1,2,or 3 car lengths in front of you… very nice feature….of course you still have to be alert and focused the entire time, but we sure saved on gas….got our optimal gas mileage it offered…yay….very happy with our new purchase…

we are resting up here for a couple days and heading back to Arizona….its going to be 96′ here today so I think we might head to the beach…but we are ready to head home and settle in and regroup and head out again for a new adventure…..

Sure going to miss the greenery of Washington state….this was on the way to my sisters..

along Hood Canal

The Olympics off in in the distance, this was the most I saw of them the entire time, always covered in clouds….

Sunset from my sisters deck…..the sky was beautiful….

Good Ole Shasta on our way home…..she is always a beauty and showing off!!!

Well life is getting better, we are getting rested up and starting to feel better about our decision to leave the RV world behind, who knows what the future will bring, but for now we are going to hit road in our new ride and see where it takes us….

eating a lot of salads and soups…..need to get the car snacks better organized…make better choices…perhaps stop at a grocery store instead of the mini mart at the gas stations…that would be a good start…

So I will catch up with everyone when we get back to the desert home….xxxx

 So instead of getting a new RV – we have decided to travel by car….pros and cons all weighed out, this little beauty won the draw, meet our new Subaru Outback   LOL   we are heading to Port Angeles Washington to pick it up, its on a truck heading in that direction should be there Monday or Tuesday. We are saving over 2 grand buying it there and get to see my sister and her husband too!!!  We are very excited to try something new, I think my husband is having more trouble understanding the entire concept of traveling in a car, but I have great faith I can change his mind —

Seems like we are dealing with one little crisis after another at this time – right now we are trying to out smart a huge, at least 40# raccoon that has taken up house under out bath tubs. I believe that we have won – he was unable to get through the massive door my husband built – will it never end !!!

only one more MD appointment tomorrow and that will conclude all doctors seen and great reviews for both myself and hubby….glad that’s over….

the only problem we have come across is with the roofers….the one real reason we are here…LOL  we have signed up for a maintenance plan with one of the local business but the man that does the job is out sick, so I am thinking that we will have to wait until we get back from up north—

Life is getting back to feeling more normal, the RV is gone so its not sitting out there reminding us of the accident…money is in the bank and all the i’s have been dotted and T’s crossed so I am thinking that bad experience is behind us…and on to making new memories—

Starting to get my eating under control, handling the stress better…working on a new beginning again, .so here we go!!!  Will I ever learn, I am hoping !!

planning to be back in Arizona in the next 2 weeks to regroup and plan a trip to the East coast—

Until later

Well life is going on here in  finally, sunny Cal…I am getting the better of my office sorted out and that feels good, can’t believe how much “crap” I have been carrying around, can’t give it away   LOL    We had some estate sellers in to give us some words of wisdom and it seems that the best way to make money off of your “crap” is wait to sell it in a huge estate sale, they would only give us $2 per piece….that’s nothing compared to what we think its worth  LOL  so we have put that behind us and are just starting to sort through it all….as I sat in my office and opened drawers full of this & that and then some more of that,  it was just over whelming…..so I grabbed a box and started at one corner working my way around the room….I got my desk out and all the old computers we were keeping, for what reason I have no idea, so that cleaned up a complete wall, and then the books, between my husbands late wife’s German cookbooks all in German of course and all the gardening books I had, that counted over 50 alone….estate sale, all boxed up and ready when we are…so will be back in there today and try to sort out the huge built in armoire, stuffed to the gills….LOL   so that’s what I been doing, besides running here and there looking at RV’s, we still haven’t heard back from the insurance yet, so that little ordeal still isn’t over….

Did have a wonderful weekend filled with family and friends…BBQ, laughter and love felt by all.  My eating could be better, I am trying rein it in…my cousin and I are not the best for each other, we come from the same gene pool, we like to eat, and eat we do!!  I woke up feeling the need to say no, no more..

Will add a few pictures of part of the yard….we have been doing some yard work, we had to put up a new siding around the bottom of the deck, so we dug up 2 huge aloe Vera’s and cleaned out the flower beds along the deck, replacing them with old fence boards to sit cactus pots on…so that was great exercise session…LOL  still having trouble sitting from the sore muscles in the back of my legs and again we filled the 2 big green yard waste containers…will it ever end….nope don’t think so….LOL

The colorful front of the house and some of the blooms on the her cactus….

hope everyone is having a great day…..

 

So this is what a cement bridge will do to a RV doing 30mph, you can’t see the cracked mirror or broken out passenger window…..pretty sad….I am just so thankful that my husband wasn’t injured…..the fire department was amazed that the propane tank didn’t explode, it was completely moved back and all the knobs sheared off…  It has been a long week of coming to grips with the fact we no longer have our beloved RV, its like loosing a good friend, we have seem many states and logged almost 75 thousand miles with her.   She will be missed….We have heard from the insurance company and they are going to total her, now it will be interesting to see what they will offer us, we aren’t expecting a bank roll, we just hope they are fair.  Should know by tomorrow….fingers crossed….

 

My cousin and I went out toward Sonoma, the wine country is in full swing…we stopped at a few quaint shops and a good ole fashion rummage sale at one of the churches along the way…was a beautiful day and I was happy to accompany her for a nice ride out and about….

Doing well in-regards to exercise….getting a lot of yard work done, we had some huge aloe plants growing along the deck that needed to go, we need to replace the bottom of the deck to keep the wild animals out from under the house, so it took 3 of us and several hours of work but we won…just a lot of sweating and my hands look like I have been fighting with a cactus….LOL  but a great at to exercise, trying to eat well, I have had to confess I have had pizza once, our favorite pizza place is here…Mary’s Pizza… yummmm

hope everyone is having some sun and fun…

Good Morning

Well its been one long week for us…..finally coming to terms with the situation….not happy,  could be better, but “it is what it is” !  the Adjuster has been here, now were waiting for the RV department to call us…..otherwise life is good…..after I wrote my last post, the old fridge of 9 years felt left out so it decided it was time to retire…so there is new fridge in kitchen full of food again…nice and cold this morning….nice not to have to chase my creamer for my coffee around…LOL we had food in a cooler (just lilke camping, LOL)  in the garage and we pluged in the RV and filled it too !!! we are waiting for a roofer to come out today to check the damage we have, the real reason we are in California to begin with ….LOL   life is good, just expensive….LOL

Eating is going okay…..I am loosing again and that feels good….no scales to weigh in on, but I can feel the difference in my body…..I will continue to fight the urge to binge, at least I have not stuffed my emotions this time with food…believe me I have wanted to…but really working hard to keep it reeled in…

Hope everyone is enjoying the sight of summer on the horizon…….

later

Good news first – then the bad…..

Well I will start with the good news….we are back in our home in sunny California…its beautiful out and my cousin has the house and yard looking great…lots of flowers blooming and color everywhere….really nice to be home….

I will share some pictures from the stay in Minden Nevada…we left early on Saturday morning and headed over the first pass…

  it was over 7000″ straight up….then on to South Lake Tahoe..

then over Echo summit (7380 elevation) down into Placerville…beautiful drive…

 Waterfall on the way down….not a great picture as I couldn’t walk across the busy road…..

Ok – so the bad news started in Lake Tahoe, the engine light comes on in the RV….so I call and find an open repair shop in Placerville that can do a computer diagnostic on it…we assumed it was the O2 sensor….which it was….big relief….just had the one side replaced and was waiting for the second one to go off….bingo…it did…no problem….at this point we were about 4 miles from Camp Lotus….right on the American River…which is running at full capacity with lots of white rapids…so we head off to the camp on the backroads, I was driving my car in front and hubby was bringing up the rear…country roads, small narrow bridges with cement barriors on the sides….it was a busy road, heavy traffic…I looked up and saw my husband all over the road….somehow the mirror on the passenger side hit a pole which caused it to slam into the passenger window and it exploded…my husband said he thought someone hit him…so he tried to correct what ever it was and in the meantime the right side of the RV made contact with the cement bridge, causing all sorts of nasty damage, including ripping the front and handles off the propane tank, causing it to leak.  We of-course travel with a full tank…my husband is a little dazed and confused at this point, I run over to turn off the gas, however the valves are missing….so after much coaxing I get my husband away from the rig, in the meantime I am on the phone with 911….trying to figure out where the heck I am…I didn’t even know the name of the road….so after much explaining where we were, the CHP showed up….I expressed my concern about all the traffic driving by the RV on the side of the road….anyone could throw a lit cigarette out the window and BOOM we would all go up in a big bang….so he closed down the road, and the fire department had arrived…they were unable to get the propane tank to stop leaking so we had to wait for it leach out on its own time….took 2 hours…they just kept spraying it down with water…no citations were given…no one else was involved,  just my husband…so we were free to go after the RV was considered safe, we had it towed back to our house in California, we were only 120 miles from here…thank goodness…as my kids said we could of been back east up on a mountain no where near anything….so we are in the process of getting an adjuster out to look at it and let us know what the next step is, fix or salvage it….not sure its going to be able to be repaired….the door looks like an accordion, the steps up into it are hanging down, the entire side looks like a can opener tried to open it….we are sad, however we are relieved that everyone is safe and no injury’s…..does this put a kink in our summer plans….yup!!!  Someone was watching over my husband Saturday for sure.

Nice to be back in California….heading out to meet my daughter at a pub called The Plow, they make there own beers and ales,   my son in law plays his guitar on Monday nights there for a couple hours…always nice to spend time with them..

Until later…..