Improvements

As many of you know, I have started making afghans for the grand kids when they graduate, so while in Iowa I asked Emily what color she wanted. I had intended on making her one with same pattern I had made the rest. That was doing it with co-hooking..........a new technique I had learned a few years ago while here in Texas. Emily decided she wanted a Zebra afghan, not having a pattern for this, I went on the Internet and found a site what had pictures of one, I copied that picture then printed it on graph paper. To make it large enough for afghan size, I had to print 4 sheets and reverse two of them to match up the stripes. After doing this, I decided I couldn't see the graph squares where the black part was, so now I outlined all of the design on one sheet and then very carefully square by square drew it out on another piece of graph paper. Now I have the pattern on something I can read. I highlighted the part that was to be black and proceeded to count all the squares so I would know how many stitches of each color. Graphs are hard to read when working on them, so my next step was to write out the directions, one row at a time. The Internet site said I could carry my yarn across my work, I tried this for a couple rows and didn't like the looks of it. I was seeing white thread, behind the black stitches and black yarn behind the white. I ripped that all out and started over, this time I rolled the yarn in balls and I am now changing colors every time the pattern calls for it. Needless to say, at this point (I am about 1/4 of the way done) I am carrying 29 balls of yarn for each row. It is a challenge and as many of you know, I am up to a challenge. Besides, what do I have besides time. I have worked out a system, with two baskets to put the balls in. I put the ones I will be crocheting with in basket between my legs while sitting in recliner, I crochet across and as I finish with a color, that ball goes into a basket off to my right. When I finish the row, I switch the baskets around, putting the full one on chair in front of me and empty one to my right. Now I have to flip my work (afghan) over with out tangling the yarn. Here are a few pictures.

From 08 August

From 08 August

Roger has been busy too. We had talked about getting a carport for some time. He ordered one and it came the other night and was put up in about 45 minutes. It is 12 x 21 and sites on our driveway off alley. Now the car will sit under it and be much cooler when we need to use it. Things get pretty hot down here. He also paid extra to get the height he wanted. Standard was 5 foot on sides and he got 7 foot. That makes the peek 9 foot.

From 08 August

From 08 August

From 08 August

The next night we had two more workers here, Roger decided we needed some sun screens installed on windows in Texas room (sun porch) so ordered them and the 2 guys came to install them. He got a special deal to do the whole mobile home, so we now have new sun screens on mobile home. Check out the before and after pictures.

From 08 August

From 08 August

So what do you think ? We can see out, but you can't see in from the outside. Now we will see if it improves our electric bill. It is suppose to.

Our good friends that we met from RV.net that come down here in winter, just called me tonight and told me they bought a place in our park. I am so excited, we sure will enjoy having them so close and hanging out with them. Way to go Mary Ann and Larry, congratulations on your new place.

Roger and I will be celebrating our anniversary on Monday and since the park is going to Peter Piper Pizza, guess that is what we are going to do. I don't really consider that a anniversary dinner, but at least we will be with others. Till later, stay cool.

To view the rest of this album and my others click on the blue leak under pictures.

Back in Mission now.

Boy it has been awhile since I posted on here. What can I say, I have been mega busy. After looking over my last blog to see where I left off, I guess the best place to start is our camp out with family at West Overlook. We had reserved spots and a good thing we did as the lower area were we usually park was flooded. Met Roger's brother Larry and wife Sharon along with son Matt and wife Heather there. On Tuesday the night we arrived, grandson Marcus came over and told us his mom (Heather) had been bitten by their dog. To make a long story short, she had been trying to separate her two dogs and one of them bit her on knee cap when going after the other dog. I took her to hospital, and after xrays, they decided she needed surgery to clean out as he had bit her on knee cap and it had caused air to get under it, thus infection. Heather ended up staying in hospital till Sunday afternoon. She was going to help us drive to Texas and Doctors said she couldn't. She is still undergoing treatment and having some problems, but hope she mend soon and can return to the things she loves to do.

From 07 July

While camping at West Overlook, we had a RV service guy come out and look at our TV antenna and our toilet. After the full week of waiting we got a new TV antenna and a new toilet. We also got a nice hefty bill, think the guy got over paid for his service. But you learn, he was recommended to us by a guy that was camped across from us, we won't be calling him again.

We left West Overlook on the 13th of July and headed back to Morgan Creek campground in Cedar Rapids. The rest of the week went very fast, as before going to Morgan Creek, we went to Battery Plus to get new batteries in RV. Roger wanted to replace our 4 batteries for 3 and so they took out the old batteries, then after awhile told us they couldn't do it, so were going to put 4 batteries in like the 4 we had. Low and behold, they didn't have any, so they had to put the old ones back in. Roger new we were in trouble when the guy said, he should of made a diagram of how they were hooked up. He hooked them up and then it was my turn to drive to campground. Well, the step would not go in, so Roger called them back outside and they checked the connections and said it was right. Okay, I drove to campground with step out. After getting to campground we hooked up to the 50amp and turned on the air. All of a sudden the overload light came on so unplugged the electric and unhooked the batteries. Now what to do, we ran and extension cord from back of RV ref. to electric on pole, packed some things and went to daughter Sandra's house to spend the night. Next morning, Roger went over to RV and found the ref not working at all, so he pulled out what he could and brought it back to Sandy's to stash in her ref and freezer. The guy from Batteries Plus called a little later and we took RV over to get it fixed. He said he looked it up on line and found out he could hook up the 3 batteries so that is what they did. Everything working fine now, but all could of been avoided if they had done it right to begin with.

On Saturday the 17th we picked up the truck and went to Stanwood to load all our things we had in storage. Granddaughter Emily went with us and with her and Matt and Marcus' help we got it loaded in about an hour and a half. I must say, glad we ended up getting a 16 foot truck as we needed the extra space. We didn't load it to the top, but all the floor space was used up. We left on Sunday morning for Texas with Sandra going with us to help with the driving. We were planning on her being a relief driver, but she ended up driving the truck all the way by herself and Roger and I driving the RV. It took us 3 days on the road with 2 overnight stays. It sure was good to have all the help we had, both in loading and the driving.

We are now in Mission and still organizing things. It would of been so easy if we were just moving our things into an empty place, but we bought this place furnished so it is what to keep and what to get rid of. We now have a pile on our deck of stuff for a deck sale and still sorting things. I do have the the house pretty well done, a few boxes left in my craft (extra bedroom) room, but it is looking good. Now what to do with all the stuff on the deck, hoping to make room in small shed for it till sale.

While Sandra was here for a week, we got to take her to some of the things she wanted to see. Made a day trip to South Padre Island. It was up in air if we were going to make it to Mexico. They have some flooding here and the road going there was closed. She was to leave on Tuesday the 27th so on Monday after checking on the Internet for road closings, we took off for Mexico. The DOT didn't have it that road listed as being closed, but it was. We then decided to go the the outlet mall. While at the mall we talked to a clerk who gave us information on another route to take to get to Mexico. Off we went after stopping for lunch and spent the afternoon shopping in Mexico. She had a good time and we got back to the car just as a big rain storm was about to hit. We sure enjoyed having Sandy here, it means so much to me to have her come and see where we are living and share with her some of our life here. I am not sure if she enjoyed going to the park potluck and eating with all the seniors. LOL We miss her already, but life must go on.

Roger got me a gift card for my birthday in June for a new dishwasher and while Sandy was here we went and picked it out. It came in and Roger and Dick went to get it, so thanks to Sandy's suggestion, we decided to move the lower cabinets to other side of kitchen and put the dishwasher by sink. Roger and Dick worked on it one day and tore my kitchen apart, but it was all for a good cause, and I love the new dishwasher. Here are some pictures to help explain it all. Be sure to go to my web album to view all the pictures. Click on picture.

From 07 July

We have built ins in the bedroom and the one on the end has no door so it was hard to put anything in it and I wanted it shortened so I could put our hall tree in corner. Once again, Dick to the rescue and he cut it and I now have a place for hall tree. Thank you Dick for all your help.

Guess that pretty well brings us up to date. We will be working around here to get things settled. We only work in early mornings and evenings due to heat. We are planning a trip to California to visit with daughter Kim, but no date as of yet. Everyone keep cool and have a good summer.

Surprise

Not sure how to title this entry, will have to think about it as I am posting this.

The 1st was Sandy (daughter) and Brian's 10th anniversary so we went out to eat with them. They wanted to go to Granite City, so off we went. I can't say we were over impressed with the food and it was high priced. Don't think we will plan on returning there very often. Sandy saved leftovers in a take out container to take home for Brian's lunch the next day.........and wouldn't you know, we walked out and forgot it. Poor Brain had to buy his lunch the next day. Anyway, Happy 10th Anniversary Sandy and Brian.

We hadn't had a visit with two of our grandkids yet, Aj and Mariah (Matt's two children), so on the 3rd we invited them to our campground to have a cookout. Joining us were Sandy, Brian with daughter Emily as well as Roger's daughter Jenny and her 2 daughters, Maggie and Heidi. We sure had a good time, had some yard games going and Emily brought a new card game along so some of them played that. We were very lucky as the rain stayed away that day and didn't make an appearance till the 4th............wouldn't you know it.

From Morgan Creek Camping

The 4th found Roger and I spending the day alone in the RV. Nothing exciting mind you, a little tv and then watched the fireworks in NYC on the blube tube.

Monday I took off and went to do some laundry, we were headed to West Overlook so wanted to get it done before we left. By afternoon, we were once again just passing time...............retired folks do a lot of that. About 3:30 I received a phone call and low and behold it was Dale and Terry Pace. They winter in Mission and we met them with some other people at an eat out with the RV.net group. That was 3 years ago and we have been friends since. I had just been reading Dale's blog earlier in the day and she stated they were headed to SD from Indiana, so I told her I would wave to her as they passed thru Iowa. It happened that they were spending the night at West Overlook, outside Iowa City. We were going to be headed down there the next day to do some camping with family. We decided to drive down and have a quick visit with them. After picking them up at campground we drove into Iowa City and took them to Jimmy Jack's Rib Shack. They seemed to enjoy the meal and we sure had a great time visiting with them. Upon returning them to there RV, we found son Matt and wife Heather setting up their pop up, so stopped and chatted with them.

While heading to West Overlook last night to pick up Dale and Terry, I was stopped in North Liberty by the town cop. At first I thought maybe he thought I was speeding, I might of been just a tab over, but no, he said my windows were tinted to dark. He got out his little meter and checked, it showed 70% and he said state of Iowa only lets you have 30%. He said I would have to have my front windows scraped, gave me a warning. I asked how much a ticket was if he were to give me one, $90. Not sure I want a ticket, but sure don't want to scrape the tinting off my windows either. We need that extra protection in the south. Have to give it some thought. I was thinking maybe I could just roll down the front windows every time I see a cop, or at least when I go thru North Liberty. He did say as long as we have Iowa plates it would be that way, if we had TX plates it wouldn't be a problem, he wouldn't stop us then. Oh well, you can't win them all.

We will be camping with family for this week and then back to Cedar Rapids and Morgan Creek campground. On the 17th we are picking up a 16 foot truck and taking it to Stanwood and loading our things in storage. We will leave the truck there and back to campground for one last night. Leaving on the 18th for Mission. My daughter Sandy and our daughter-in-law Heather are going to help us drive the truck and RV to Texas. Sandy said no way will she drive the RV but Heather has no problem with it as she drives school bus. Roger and I could of done it by ourselves, but neither one of us really like driving long distances and besides it will be more fun with the girls along. We have been teasing Roger about traveling with 3 women, he said he would just get in truck, lock the doors and be by himself.

Till next time, happy trails.

June ......... Birthdays and Weddings

June is the month for weddings, we all know this, but for me it has always been a month of birthdays also. At least, my birthday. This one was one of those milestone ones. This is the year I start on Medicare. Boy...........that makes me feel old. Some say you get that feeling when you become a grandparent or hit the magic over the hill age. Not me, Medicare did it for me. Maybe it is all the ace and pains that I am getting along with it. LOL. Hopefully, I won't have to use the Medicare very much.

I knew my DH (Dear Husband) was up to something along with my DD (Dear Daughter) as she kept calling him on his cell phone and he would take off around corner to talk in private. What it was, I was not sure, but I knew they were planning something and who am I to spoil their surprise. Yes, they were planning a surprise party and it was fun to have everyone gather to help me celebrate my birthday. To start things off, I had a surprise visit at campground from my friend Dawn on the 10th. I didn't know it then, but she was invited to the party but was leaving on a vacation the next day, so couldn't make it. We had a nice visit and she brought me a plant and some balloons. Thanks Dawn.

From Alicia's Birthday

My birthdays use to always start with a phone call from my mother, very early in the morning. I was born at 8am sharp, and mom always reminded me of it with a phone call on that day. Now I get calls from my three daughters. All three live in different time zones, so first it was Sandy(central zone), then Janis (mountain zone) and then Kim (pacific zone). It was so good to get their calls, means alot to me. Next Roger took me out to lunch, he had called Sandy to join us, but she called and said she was too busy and had too much to do. Another reason to believe something was up. She had called he a few days before asking me to supper at her place, so she was busy cooking (sure). Anyway, Roger felt guilty for her doing all the work, so he took me back to campground and said he was going to stop to see if he can help Sandy with potato salad. Ended up she was done, so he went to get hair cut. That was ok, as I had a nice quite afternoon alone at RV. At 5:30 we went over to Sandy and Brian's, and surprise Jerry and Theresa were there waiting outside. I guess the real surprise to me was who they invited and getting to see everyone. Thanks Sandy and Brian and dear hubby Roger, it was a great birthday.

From Alicia's Birthday

Yesterday was the grand-daughters wedding. This is the first grandchild to get married. It started off as a very stormy day. Park ranger came by to tell us of bad storm coming. It came and was letting up when it was time to leave. We drove to Muscatine for the wedding and it was at the rose garden at Weed Park. (Sure hope that park was named after a person, and not because of weeds) LOL We were first to arrive as Sandy and grand-daughter Emily rode with us and Sandy was doing pictures for the wedding. Since it had just stormed, the roses were covered with rain drops and they were really pretty. We had 2 hours of picture taking then the wedding, so nice the storms stopped and the sun came out for the outdoor wedding. The only problem was the humidity and the sun. After have heat exhaustion a long time ago, I don't seem to do very good in heat or sun. Anyway, it was a very nice wedding and everyone looked so nice. After wedding everyone took off for the reception, which was a little drive out of town, but we found it. Fun was had buy all and the food was great.

From Elizabeth's Wedding

Here we are with the bride, Roger's grand-daughter Elizabeth. Be sure to click on the pictures to take you to the rest of them in my web albums.

We are camping at Squaw Creek Park, which is outskirts of Marion, IA and camping with Roger's brother Larry and wife Sharon and Roger's son and family will be joining us today. They already have their camper set up, just never made it back here after wedding. LOL It is Father's Day weekend, so will have a cookout and enjoy the family.

Till later, happy trails and enjoy your summer.

"May" a busy month

Where to start. We are in Iowa and are now at our 3rd campground. We are only allowed to stay in one campground for two weeks, so it is move every two weeks. We started off at West Overlook on Coraville Dam (North of Iowa City). While there we drove back and forth to Stanwood where we have our things stored in a unit there. The thought was we would sort though everything and have a sale in Stanwood on the day they were to have their City wide sales. This we did, we spent four days hauling things to Matt and Heather's building up town and setting up for a sale. I must say it was quite a job. The sale was on the 8th and after a week at working for it, we made a whopping $118. We both decided it was not worth all the work we put into it. If we had to do it over again, we would of forgotten the sale.

One of my past co-workers stopped in at sale and asked me if I was going to the retirement party the following Tuesday. I hadn't heard anything about it, but said sure. There were 11 bus drivers and attendants retiring and most of them were there when I drove. I had a good time visiting with some old friends and getting a first hand view of why I am glad I am no longer driving school bus. My good friend Julie is retiring after 32 years of driving, I sure wish her well and hope she enjoys her retirement.

From May activities

While at West Overlook, we spent one afternoon visiting my good high school friend, Janis and her mother. She lives not far from West Overlook. Seems the only time we really get to see each other is once a year when we stop. Had a very nice visit with both of them. Found out Janis was going in for knee replacement the following Monday. I haven't talked to her since but hope to make it down to see her once more before we leave.

Our next move was on to Squaw Creek Park. This is a county park and on the outskirts of Marion. The county parks have a coupon book you can buy that brings the cost of camping down buy at least $5 a night. If you get the larger book, you can save $6 a night. We had a nice spot on a hill and a clear view to set up our satellite dish. I must say that was a challenge. After working at it for a time, we called good friend Dick and he came over and after about a half our standing out there moving it ever so little, he got a good signal. I came to the conclusion, I just don't work at it long enough. It is good to have satellite back again. We had been without it since we left Mission. While at West Overlook we weren't even able to get ABC or NBC in on our antenna, so this was a real treat. Thanks Dick for your help.

Our grand daughter, Elizabeth is getting married on June 18th, and what is a wedding without a shower. On the 22nd, my daughter Sandra and I drove to Davenport to attend a wedding shower for Elizabeth. She got some nice things.

From May activities

Next on our calendar was Sabrina's graduation. She hasn't had her party yet, it will be the 5th of June, but we went to the ceremony and afterwards to the house for a cookout. Had a good time. I had gotten an idea from our grandson's graduation to roll money up and give it that way. I went to bank and got 200 one dollar bills and made two rolls of 100 each. One for Sabrina and one for Elizabeth. I taped them end to end, put a few sticky notes along the roll to encourage them to keep on rolling and put the roll in a small purse I had bought. Sabrina and family could not stop laughing and everyone had a ball watching her unroll all the bills and then take the tape off them. I also made each girl an afghan, Sabrina's was orange and lime green and Elizabeth's was purple with purple variegated. Here is Sabrina with her roll of one's.

From May activities

On the 30th we drove to Muscatine to attend Elizabeth's graduation party. I must say, she was not as excited over the roll of ones, but everyone else had a good time watching her unroll them. Sandra took a video of her.

From May activities

Be sure to click on one of the pictures or the link below picture to view all the photo's I took. I think you will enjoy them.

We are now at Morgan Creek Park on the NW side of Cedar Rapids and will be here till the 14th when we will return to Squaw Creek. We went to Riverside casino, South of Iowa City today. Met up with Iowa people from our park in Mission (Valley View Estates) and had lunch and a little gambling. We are not gamblers but did put 4 dollars in and lost it all. LOL We still have birthday parties, a middle school graduation and doctor appointments to take care of, then we will be planning our trip back to Mission.

Till next time, happy trails.

Update

We were in Canton at the "First Monday Trade Days" for 2 days. I went the first day and we walked and walked and walked, bought some things and after 5 hours, I had had enough so we went back to RV. Roger went again on Friday with Dick and Darlene and about noon, Darlene's cousin was parking his RV next to ours, so I tried calling them to let them know. Wouldn't you know, all I could get was voice mail. I tried Dick's phone, Darlene's phone and Roger's phone. I couldn't get anyone. About 1:30PM, Darlene called me wanting to know if I had heard from Roger or if I could get him on phone. Told her I had been trying and no luck. She said, they couldn't find him and if I got him to tell him to go to car. I kept trying all afternoon, couldn't get any of them. Finally at 4:30, Darlene called me to let me know they found Roger and were on their way home. What a day!!!!! Roger came home with some more stuff he found there. Seems he was sitting on bench at gate and Dick and Darlene were at next gate down (1 block away) waiting for him. Dick finally rented a scooter for an hour and found Roger.

Friday night we all got together and Gary (Darlene's cousin) was telling us about his trip to Iowa a few weeks earlier when his mother died. They had gone by way of I-35 and told us about all the construction. I woke Saturday morning thinking about the construction and checked the map for a different route. I had already spent time going over I-35 route, so now I had to start all over. We decided to try something different to bypass the construction. It was a good route and I think we will do it again. Bypassed all the BIG towns and it saved us close to 100 miles. Just goes to prove you don't always have to go with the interstate.

Got into Des Moines on Sunday afternoon and wouldn't you know, rain storm with some hail. We headed out to Sailorville Lake and got a spot across the road from Roger's brother and spent the rest of day visiting and evening visiting with them. Hadn't seen them since our side trip to Corpus Cristy in March. Good to visit and catch up on everything.

Left Monday morning for Iowa City and our next camp ground at West Overlook, at Coraville Lake. We are parked along the lake shore, but haven't gotten to spend much time in RV. After getting here, we spent close to 3 hours trying to get satellite hooked up and running. Have it hooked up, but still not working. Guess I will have to call again to find out what I am doing wrong. I told Roger, I can't keep calling every time we move the RV. Maybe I should take a crash coarse on satellite hook up. We have been running every day, going to Stanwood and our storage unit. Have now gone through everything and moved the stuff we want to get rid of, down to son Matt's place to sell this Saturday. The town of Stanwood is having city wide garage sales. That is one of the reasons we came back early. Will be going there tomorrow to set up and make everything. What a job, we are getting just toooooooo old for all this moving. We still have to move the things we will be moving to Mission, over to Matt's garage to wait till we leave here. Then move it again into a truck, drive to Mission then out of truck. That's a whole lot of moving. I am tired just typing about it. LOL.

That pretty well sums up this past week. We did get some bad news today. Seems Roger's good friend Ron Keeney passed away on April 30th and the service was Monday. Roger's a little upset that he didn't make it to service. He and Ron worked together for many years. We did get to attend Ron and Nancy's open house last summer and had a very nice chat with them.

That is my update. The weather here is getting colder so we have the electric heater going at night. Going to get down in the 30's, and we thought we were coming back late enough that we wouldn't have to worry about that. I only brought one sweatshirt, so hope this cold snap doesn't last too long.

Happy Trails

Woops

I never seem to have anything newsy to write about. We left Mission yesterday morning and drove to Georgetown, TX following our friends Dick and Darlene. We were headed for Canton for the first Monday flea market. We spent the night at a corp of eng. campground at Georgetown and due to the fact they did not have pull through, Dick and Darlene went to Walmart to camp. Ours was a nice quite night of camping for $9 and theirs was free but bright lights and noisy.

From Leaving Mission

We met up at Walmart in the morning and proceeded up I-35 with us flowing them again. Before we made it to our turn off at Waco, Roger found himself trying to change lanes as the lane he was in was ending. He checked his side mirror but didn't see the van next to him. Yes...........he hit it. Not a whole lot of damage, some scratches on the van and a few on our motor home, but Rog wiped them off the motor home. The front fender was a little loose, but nothing major and he fixed it till we get back to Iowa. Here is the damage to the van.

From Leaving Mission

We will be doing flea market for the next 2 days, they are talking of rain..........sure hope it doesn't. Leaving Canton on Saturday morning and will try to make it to Witchita that night. Then on Sunday hope to make it to Des Moines and spend the night camping with Roger's brother at Sailorville Lake.