Rain Rain Go Away!

Hum just when I thought I left the wet Northwest it is pouring here today! The past couple weeks have been chilly 60's-low 70's ...lows at night in the 50's and tonight we have had a nasty rain storm. I know we will have a flash flood in our area. I locked up everything in the casita, winds were blowing pretty hard. Dan took the satellite dish down. Sure glad there are no trees next to the motorhome here. We already had a scare up at Tall Chief back in WA when a tree came down close to us. Casita is much higher than street level so the water hopefully will not go up into the casita. Right now the front and guest side parking area is underwater. The shed has water dripping in so had to put a big bucket on the floor and make sure stuff is up off the floor in there.
Don't have to worry about watering the plants for the next six months! My Aloe Vera plants are underwater!!

Shh....I no longer hear the rain and the wind has finally stopped blowing...HOORAY!! Went outside and the areas that were flooded are already soaked into the ground and did not come up near the casita. I'll have to mention that to Jerry our contractor who made sure the casita was up high. Dan says it is suppose to rain tomorrow too and then back to sunny skies all next week in the 70's.

I need to find a Christmas tree that is not prelit or find one that is half off...those trees are Pricey!! Also need my lights to go up over the arches. Neighbors are already setting up for Christmas and there is one street that does "The Night Before Christmas" and the whole street is lit up to the max!! I cannot wait to take pictures of that! We won't have snow but we sure will be lit up!

Nov 22 Happy Thanksgiving

Run Turkey RUN!!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving over at Bob & Terri Wiggins home who live behind our next door neighbors Earl & Sandy Estes in Yuma.

L to R

Dan, Terri, Sandy, Earl & Bob

Terri cooked us a fantastic traditional Turkey dinner. Sandy brought the yummy Sweet potatoes with marshmallows on top. I brought a Waldorf salad and Pumpkin Pie.

We were stuffed and it was good!!

Afterwards the gals challenged the guys to a game of Hand N Foot card game and we tied winning one game each.

Thanks Bob & Terri and Sandy & Earl for such a great Thanksgiving and our first one in Yuma.

Home at the Purr~fect Retreat

We have been home now for a month...lordy where does the time go, seems like it was just only a week or two!! We have been off and on the lot for construction and finally everything is finished so we are back on and now we just have to add our personal touches. We've gone to Mexico a few times. Bought a beautiful centerpiece for the top of the casita. We are getting lots of compliments and all our neighbors love it! I am loving having a large washing machine & dryer again. My clothes do not come out wrinkled in this one...aaaaah!

Cats are no longer scared of the casita. Felix would not go in it for the longest time. Sasha Mio gets curious but still spooked. They thought a house had dropped out of the sky like the Wizard of OZ .

Biff loves all the shade and thinks he's the guard dog and sit up on the chair on the porch and guard the casita. They are much happier because they have shade now and a big yard to play in. Before there was no shade to sit under and so they would jump the walls to find a cool place to lay outside. They still pop over the fence but not as often now.

We love the lighting made by the sconce lights, haven't wanted the porch lights on in the evening time because we like the other lights. I have to laugh that I finally have my porch to sit out on and wave at people walking by. It's so peaceful here and I guess we have done what we thought we wouldn't do for a long time and that's putting down ROOTS.

Now I just have to get enough table and chairs so I can have a housewarming party. Looks like I'm going to have to borrow some till I get my own!

We are having our winter here, temps are in the low 70's will get warmer by January.

Centerpiece for the top of the casita Jenny got in Mexico. Now Dan can brag that he has given Jenny the Sun Moon and Stars!!

Jenny trying to get a idea how big the casita center piece should be.

Our Sconce lights on the front of the casita

We're Home!!

We are back home in sunny warm Yuma AZ

Casita is totally finished, yard has been cleaned -leveled and extra gravel spred all over the lot.
When we got back here on Oct 27th the yard was a total HUGE mess! Dan said all construction areas are messy. We had to move off the lot so we could get the 2nd coat of stucco on and some other work like the yard. Ground was way too soft on the West side like a sand dune...not good so we had to have work done on the yard.It looks great now.
If you want to see the building from start to finish click on this site
http://cugoy.org/v-web/gallery/casita

Earl next door was a Sweetie and took all the photo's of the early stages of the casita build. I have to say Jerry did a good job and it looks great!
Where you see the Jeep parked is for our guest parking with a full hookup site.

Christmas Village above closet, bathroom and then shows you the back door. You get a better idea how wide the bathroom is.
I have two fan lights on the ceiling.

Kitchen area in the casita....note there is no stove...why?....because it is coded as a RV SUPPORT BUILDING not a HOUSE. We pay less taxes on the property if it is not a house. Besides we want a BIG outdoor grill outside and cook out there!

Dan & Jenny's Purr~Fect Retreat casita is finished !!
Finished just in time to start decorating for Christmas! Hooray.
We love it and so do the neighbors! We got everyone's vote that it's beautiful!!
Cats love sitting up in the chairs watching people drive by.

Motorhome on the West side facing North to avoid the hot Sun. The awning just about touches the wall of the casita

West side of casita where the motorhome goes. There are no windows on the West side because of the heat from the Summer Sun can get up to 115 degrees .

Looking at the North ( back side)and East side ( kitchen and air-conditioner side) of the casita . Notice we have the front door of the motorhome lined up to go straight back to the back door of the casita.
We finally have shade in our back yard!

Can't fit much more in here! Waiting to put stuff into the casita.

Biff guarding the shed

Oct 26th...almost home!

Dan grabbed us some breakfast sandwich's across the street from the Seven Feathers casino to eat before heading out. Nice sunny day with some fog.

Drove a whopping 565 miles to the Harris Ranch truck stop in Coalinga CA.
Very noisy place to park for the night because trucks are coming and going and running all night, but it's Free.
Guy in a small RV did not like hearing our generator and we had to shut it off before 9P.M.and then the trucks came by and was noisy all night so none of us got much sleep.
I did have WI-FI for the computer from the hotel next door so at least I was able to let Sandy & Earl who live next door to us in Yuma that we would be home the next night. Grabbed us a Subway sandwich so we did not have to cook that night.

Oct 25th

We drove 351 miles to the Seven Feathers Casino in Canyonville Oregon. We parked in the Boondocking section next to the casino. The Boondocking area is for overnight stay with no hookups. Pretty much everyone pulls over for the night and does not put out their slideouts ( actually not enough room to do that) and leave in the morning. We went inside for the buffet dinner and I did not gamble that night. SHOCK!! I actually was feeling down that night, I think from all the stress of having to get everything out of storage and the damp weather. Besides the NON- Smoking room did not have the games I liked so I went back to the motorhome and went to sleep.

Oct 21st-24th

We headed to the Puyallup Elks club for our last stop in WA and get the rest of the stuff out of storage. It's easier to do being closer to the storage unit.

Said our good-byes to everyone. Took Nancy out to dinner to say thanks for helping us move stuff out of storage and borrowing a corner of her attic for storage.
Had a great time with Dan's cousins and Aunt's. Had a great time at friends Bob & Sue Morgan's house before leaving. Got the recipe for Bean & Corn Salsa that was so yummy!! Made some by the time we got to Yuma and everyone at the Welcome back party loved it!!
Bumped into church friend Julie Zimmer, was so nice to see her again, I really miss being with our old church friends. A new church is being made in Yuma and I can't wait for it to be finished.

Biff went to the Vets to get his shots and he had gone from 26.9 LBS to 28.4 LBS.....glad he is going to be in Yuma till the first week of May so he will lose some more and not gain!!!

Oct 20th-24th Storage GONE!

Oh My Lord.....where do I begin????
The challenge of getting EVERYTHING out of storage in Oct was going to be a doozy. We took two car loads and a old trunk to Best friend Nancy's and two car loads back to the motorhome and several trips to the thrift shop and pitched some and we completely got everything out of storage for good.
The deal was that Dan did not want to keep paying storage fees but this was stuff I enjoyed...MY Crafts and Holiday decor.
So I told Dan if he made me a casita down in Arizona I can shift the stuff down there where I CAN use it.
He took me up on it , had a contractor build a casita and now half of it is in the casita.

Nancy got quite a giggle watching me pitch stuff out of the storage room....lordy I got my exercise and not the kind I like !!
I'm getting there....pitched alot!!
Mental note: Less is better! Lordy I hope I never have to do this again!!

Some of my stuff up in Best friend Nancy's attic.....She said I could put it up there so we took advantage and did it! It will be back out of there though in the Fall of 2008 . Don't worry Nancy you only need to hold it for 10 months....grin.

Hey this is what I think of cleaning out the storage unit ha-ha but I'm almost there!

I DID IT!! Storage unit is all cleaned out and no more storage! Whew never thought I was going to get it all out but so glad I did!

Oct 1-20th 2007

We arrived to Tall Chief Resort to site 177. Felt good to sit for awhile, had a nice site near the restrooms.We were able to get the satellite off the roof for the TV and the Internet dish behind the motorhome so we were happy campers till all the cold rainy weather decided to dump on us.

We have come full circle with out journey 6,362 miles.....Whew! We had a fantastic time in Alaska and Canada and will go back in a heart beat. We saw scenery and beauty beyond our wildest dreams and we had a fantastic time with Hannah & Joe Dubuc, Karen & Richard Hugo, Barb & Pat Pintus and Marcheta & Larry Barker.

We had fun also with friends Charlie & Gloria Goss in Anchorage visiting their Daughter and meeting my chat friend Gill & Bob Rogers in Wasilla.
Had a great time with Cousins Richard & Johnnie Moinet and Sister Jeannette & boyfriend Bill up in Wasilla & Palmer, we FINALLY caught up with them as they were ahead of us on the trip and now they are all back in Louisiana.
I can't count all the photo's I have taken but it's into the thousands!

Coming back home we got to visit with Mom & Dad, Sisters Sheryl & family, Kathy & Scott, Kevin & Dina and family.....goodness the Niece's and Nephews are growing like weeds and getting so pretty and the guys so handsome! Got to see Sister Chris and best friend Nancy.
Enjoyed visiting with Dan's family, Aunt Barbara, Aunt Alice, Audra & David and meeting Dan's distant Cousins.
Had great visit with my children Jason & Jeanevee and the grandkids.
We had a blast taking the younger ones to the Pumpkin Patches. Halloween time is my favorite time of the year to have fun with the kids.

Enjoyed visits with Metro friends Lou & Rianna and Bob& Sue. Dan enjoyed going to the retirement breakfast with the others from Metro that have retired.

Had some stormy wet weather and had a small tree break in half and fall near the motorhome. Luckily it was a small tree! You can see it to the right of the motorhome.

Dan and I started to hate the rainy cold weather and being cooped up in the motorhome, we knew it was time to move on. We kept saying "I wanna go to Yuma!!"

Sept 24th-30th

Fall colors

Arrived to Cascade campground, found Mel & Carolyn Carpenter around the corner from us and Bill & Diana Swain. Good Thousand Trail friends . Mel & Carolyn just bought a new motorhome so we were really excited for them.

Found out that Cascade campground has been sold to the county suddenly and all the $100,000 improvements that they made are all going to be plowed over for a Hospital and clinics!! Members and staff were shocked at the sale because it was not expected.
Bill & Diana will be staying behind to help dismantle the park.

Thank goodness Groundskeepers Sanchez, Alena, Marcelino have new jobs to go too, These kids came from Mexico years ago and have put their heart and soul into Cascade to make it so beautiful. We all wanted to make sure they were taken care of. Many of the members became attached to this wonderful family of Cousins.

The park really was looking good too! So now the closest we can be to family is the Elks club in Puyallup and Tall Chief in Fall City but we have restrictions in the Summer time as to how long we can stay there. Which means we will go over to Monroe probably.

So fun Summer times comes to a close but at least we have alot of photo's of the good times there with the kids & grand kids. Sasha said goodbye to his birthplace for the last time.

We were in our favorite site 112 for the last time, 112 is a very large shady site and it was always a challenge to get in through the years because it was the one site EVERYONE wanted.
Goodbye Cascade, we'll surely miss you!

We had a nice visit with Larry & Marcheta Barker after they came out of Canada and spent one day with us before going on their way to Yakima. They surprised us with Alaskan King crab...YUM!! We had a feast!! We wished that we had more time with them but they were heading to Yakima in hopes to possibly get a new camper for their truck. They let us know later that they did find a bigger one and quite happy with it. We hated to say good-bye to them. It really was a joy to meet them in Alaska. Some day we will head to Tennessee to go visit them over there.

Sept 17-23th 2007

We drove 178 miles to Mount Vernon to stay at the Elks club. Was shocked to find out they charged $22.50 a night YIKES!!! We ONLY spent two days there to visit Dick & Pat Phillips and Cliff & Lauri Williams and get our rear left jack fixed because we lost the hydraulic fluid in the jack. Luckily it happened a short distance from Camping World and not in Alaska or Canada. Had to get that fixed.....hum we had to go to camping world in Burlington for the generator not working at the beginning of the trip and now the jacks at the end of the trip. Dan said we are avoiding Mount Vernon any more Ha-HA, we're jinxed

Here is a view of Campbell lake up on the Mount Erie lookout in LaConner WA. You can see the San Juan Islands in the distance. We went out for lunch with Alfa Friends Larry & Lorna Emmons who were parked at the La Conner Thousand trails park and took them up to the lookout. Beautiful view!!

It was nice to See Dick & Pat, we had dinner at their house and Pat cooked a yummy dinner and played Mexican Train Dominoes afterwards.

Sadly we did not get a chance to see my friend Sydney & her hubby Randall. Hopefully next Summer.

When we had to go to camping World I got a new step cover and door mat...sure helps to keep the dirt and goatheads ( stickers) out of the RV. Also got Dan a new brush to wash the RV with.

With the prices high at the Elks club we decided to bag it and head to LaConner instead and camp the rest of the time.

I got us parked in site 72 so we could put the satellite dishes in the meadow with a clear view of the SouthEast sky. Noticed the park had been changed and improved. Noticed the indians have an area being made for the spawning Salmon to return home.
Weather was great and the trees & park were pretty with the Autumn colors.
Lorna and I decided to go shopping without the guys in LaConner, oddly the only thing I bought was catnip at my favorite store " Good Kitty-Bad Kitty" . Anacortes had the Oyster Run that weekend so thouands of motorcycles invaded Anacortes & LaConner and the surrounding areas. Cousin Marc was one of them but did not know at the time he was there close by us. Finding parking was a challenge that weekend.

Had lunch with Leisure Time friends Emily & Marion Brockman, good to see them again it had been at least a year since we last saw them. We usually have Halloween every year with them since we retired but this year I did not do Halloween since we knew we would be on the road and heading back to Yuma.

We're getting anxious to get back home to Yuma.

Sept 16 Whistler B.C.

We drove the Jeep over to Whistler for the day, pretty foggy so we did not get to see Blackcomb mountain. Did not bother to go up the chairlift because you could not see anything. I guess this area is just beautiful in the winter. I saw some pictures and it was all lit up and pretty. I know my Son Jason loves to come here for snow boarding.

We did see people taking their mountain bikes up on the chair lift and ride back down.
Lots of shopping in pricey stores. Lots of Restaurants with smells that tantalized your taste buds!

Someone tried to talk us into a time share. We did the tour, beautiful rooms but the guy realized he was wasting his time. Nice place to stay but not our thing. The guy giving the tour used to be a Ski racer there in his younger days. Dan and I sold the skis when we sold the house

We drove around the neighborhood and saw some really expensive homes, I think this one topped them all! It has a 3 story waterfall going through the middle and looks like a glass elevator to the right. All perched up high on a cliff.

We enjoyed the farmers market that had been also in Pemberton. The views were pretty and I loved all the log homes that were HUGE.

This area is for the RICH and RICHER!!

Autumn colors in Whistler B.C.

Pretty scenery around Whistler B.C.