Where have I been?

That's probably what all my regular readers are wondering. It's been a long few weeks and while some things have gone well, other things have not.

We have been here in Elkhart Campground for a month and just signed up for another. Our plan this summer is to get the last duplex cleaned out and sold. Would like to get that done this year, but it's not looking good. Next year for sure.

Shortly after we arrived, Jocelyn, Tom, Ronan, Aenea, and Pepper the Poodle got here. We knew they were coming and I was planning on getting everything ready over at the house. But we walked in there and found mouse droppings all over the kitchen. What a mess. So I sent Terry out for more and better mouse traps and I set to cleaning and bleaching the kitchen. I spent the entire day on it and got little else done. But at the end of the day the kitchen was clean and new traps were set for those dastardly mice. I've caught three.

Jocelyn called and asked if they could come in that night and we said yes. Although I hadn't cleaned the rest of the house, I had cleaned in the fall before we left, and the house does not get dirty during the winter months. I did manage to clean the bathrooms and we were ready for them.

We enjoyed seeing them. They had been to Niagara Falls and into Canada, camping with the dog even! And in a tent! Tom had some shows with his band, including one in Toronto. Go Tom! I hope to hear them sometime. I have heard his one band, The Hollow Machine, but I have yet to hear Spider Lilies.

We were able to see the kids every day while they were here and they visited Mom a couple times. She enjoyed seeing them and the grandkids always enjoy their great-grandma. She is the only one they have left. I managed to take Ronan for a ride in the Miata. He loves it and always wants me to take him out.

We really enjoyed their visit. We don't get to see them often and it really helps us get our kids/grandkids fix when they visit us. We try to see them twice a year and we look forward to that.

We managed to go to Terry's 50th high school reunion. Wow! They had a really good turnout and we got to see quite a few people we hadn't seen for years. Well, that Terry hadn't seen in years. A few people I knew or had met at previous reunions. We attended a meet and greet on Friday night at a bar in downtown Elkhart. The food was good and we enjoyed seeing some of his classmates there. Then Saturday night was at the country club with a dinner buffet and some games. Our table won at trivia. We earned play money for that and then we bid on door prizes people had donated. We "bought" two thermos bottles that are really nice. And since we were using our "play money" they really didn't cost us anything. It was a great time and we enjoyed ourselves.

We enjoyed an evening of cards with our friends, Luanne and Jim. We girls won! The next night we had a campfire here in the park with other friends. They are from the Elkhart area, but live in Arizona in the winter and return here in the summer to visit their kids.

Terry's been really sluggish for some time and so we paid a visit to his doctor in Indianapolis a few weeks ago. They did a few tests and changed some meds which seem to have helped. But we are going back next week for some more testing. He's had heart trouble for 20 years and it may be time to change some more of his meds. There are a lot of new meds for various heart problems and we are hoping we find something that works better.

The last few days we have had some really heavy rains. That's okay, because we were needing rain desperately. I hope it was in time to help the crops. We had a couple inches yesterday and it rained more today and supposed to tomorrow as well.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Busy, busy, busy

When we got back from Amish country, we were able to park at Elkhart Campground once again. They have had so many rallies coming in and they are getting bigger and bigger, so it is hard to get a spot for a few weeks. If you can rent a spot for a month that is better and we are settled in nice and cozy. We have nice neighbors that are here for a while as well and we have made a lot of new acquaintances.

Duchess is making the transition to being an "only" dog. It's obvious she misses Butterscotch, but she is not exhibiting a lot of anxiety that Neal did when Bailey died. I think it really helped that she was there and with her friend when she died. She seems to understand that she isn't coming back. That has helped immensely.

We have spent some time down in Warsaw with Mom and helping rid her of some food stuffs she wants out of her trailer for the winter. Happy to oblige Mom! She now has bought her plane ticket and will be flying to Houston in November while we are there for Terry's cardiology appointment. We will then take her down to the valley with us. It will be a good trip.

Our little truck got sick and puked all over its engine a couple weeks ago. Since we were concerned that it happened in the manner it did, we didn't want to drive it, so we had her towed over to Bruce's. He was covered up and didn't get to it right away, but the news is mostly good. The puke was green and while most people screamed "antifreeze," it wasn't actually that. It was gelled which was a mystery to us, but not to Bruce. It was the dye he had earlier put into the A/C system to trace a leak. A pressure relief valve had popped off and that was what allowed the dye to escape. We actually could have driven it anywhere, but wouldn't have had A/C, which would not have been good the past few weeks. So we got her back the other day and all is well.

Speaking of the weather, we have had some hot, stormy weather, but mostly tons of rain. We are now enjoying some relief from the heat and yesterday and the next few days promise to be cooler and sunny days. Cooler, but still nice and warm during the day.

Unfortunately, there has been another death in the family. My brother-in-law Jim's father passed away last week. He was 96 and while no one was surprised, it is still hard to adjust to life without a parent. There will be a lot of decisions and changes to make in the next few months for the family. His calling and funeral will be Monday, the 12th. So starting in July when Daddy died, my niece's dog died, then our dog died, Jim's dad died and his little dog died as well. That's a lot for any family, so we hope we are done for awhile. We have stayed close to northern Indiana to try and be with and around family. It's been a bad few months.

We are ready to head south. . .

Till next time. . .

Dale

A needed respite. . .

We were in Warsaw for a few days visiting with Mom and yesterday we took her out for the day. We started by visiting the cemetery to see Daddy's grave. We took off the wilted flowers left from the spray we had placed on his casket.

We continued on, stopping at one Amish scratch and dent store and then went over to the house in Goshen. Mom hadn't been there for some time. We dropped off the dogs there and then drove over to the Elkhart Campground. We had to leave our spot there last week because a large rally was coming in. It was "Vintage Trailers" and we wanted to go and see the old rigs. Some had come in before we left and we thought it would be fun to drive around and look at them. I thought Mom might enjoy it and she did. Mom and Dad camped from the time I was in junior high and were in a camping club. They really took camping to the next level and it was fun to see trailers similar to ones she and Dad had owned.

Here are some pictures of some of the "oldie but goodies."

There were over 100 of the old rigs. It was quite a sight. They were having "yard" sales while we were there. They all had color themes and they had color coordinated awnings, trim, table covers, and dinnerware. It was clear they were having a lot of fun. We met two women who were on their own and had bought old trailers and joined the club. They enjoyed having people to camp with and enjoyed the camaraderie. It was certainly a fun atmosphere.

Mom seemed to enjoy herself and after we left, we headed back over to the house. We picked up the dogs and headed back to Claypool. I think she was tired, but she said she enjoyed the day. Mission accomplished.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Elkhart Campground for a bit!

We arrived at Elkhart Campground on May 9. It seems like we never left. We found that our friends were back and everything seems to be in order. They have added some pads to about half the campsites which is a big improvement because now we don't have tall grass growing up around our feet when we get out. It's easier for them to mow because they don't have RV's sitting on the grass. It's a big improvement.

We made arrangements with Gerald at Charger Enterprises on getting our one broken jack replaced. We ordered it from Tiffin and it came a couple days later. So last week we closed Phaeton Place up and took her in. They told us to have her there by 7 a.m. and they would "work her in." They called at 9:15 and she was all done! Wow. Can you spell service? What a great team they are at Charger. So now we are finally sitting on all four jacks and no one can tell now if our rig's "rockin." LOL

I had an appointment last week with a neurosurgeon in Indianapolis. It's time to find out if anything can be done about my back. I have struggled with it for my entire adult life and it isn't getting better. Course I knew when the doctor explained it at age 20 that it wasn't going to get better. He said to put off doing anything as long as you can. Back then back surgeries and treatments were not as successful as they are now, so I thought 46 years was long enough to wait. I would like to know if I have any options for helping me deal with it. I don't want to wait until I'm too old to have anything fixed. I'm in good health now, so the time is right. This was my initial consultation and I have to go back in July for MRI's, x-rays and a talk with the surgeon.

We had dinner with my high school classmate Luanne and husband Jim on Sunday. It was good to see them. We always enjoy our time together. We went to Red Lobster. It's been a long time since we've been to one of those, but we had great food with great friends.
 
Later in the afternoon, we got the Miata out and put the top down and went for a drive. We ended up on the shore of Lake Michigan up at St. Joe, Michigan. It was a little cool, but it was sunny and we were comfortable. We stopped to look at the lake. It happens that where we stopped is the place where in the 1950's, erosion along the lake led to the destruction of several homes. Some homes were actually moved and still stand elsewhere in the town. Some were destroyed and a few remain today, precariously close to the edge of the cliff. Foundations can be seen where the homes once stood. We also could see the St. Joseph Light from our perch atop that cliff.

I also had to have a tooth pulled. It had a crown on it and this winter it snapped off. There was no saving it, so I made the appointment and was sedated and had it pulled. I don't remember much after that. The next few days are a blur. Hah. But that is a good way to have that done. I had one pulled years ago without being sedated and that was okay. I was in so much pain at the time I didn't care that I was awake. At any rate, it is healing nicely.

We are here another week, then we are headed south to Terry's family reunion. Hard to believe it's that time of year again. But we are headed down to Mississippi and from there will visit Red Bay, Alabama, where Phaeton Place was born. We're having the chassis checked out this time. Everything is going well with her now. We've had our trials over the past year, but she is running great now and everything is working like it should. Talking with other people and problems they've had, I feel fortunate that we have run trouble free for 10 years and then just a few corrections after that. Here's to the next 100,000 miles!

The other night Mars was visible. I don't know if you got to see it, but I did. While I was outside, I was able to snap this picture of the moon. While I did see Mars, it was much too small for me to capture on my camera, so I chose the next best thing!

Till next time. . .

Dale

Project time!

We have been busy working at the apartments since we left Shipshewana last Wednesday. Terry has been doing some maintenance that popped up and I have been working on cleaning out the last vestiges of our former life which have been stored in the basement at the storage condo. Every year we whittle away at it and I about have it completed. A few years ago I had cleaned out all the closets, etc., and now it is time to start going back through all of that once again. But once I have this room cleared out and usable again I will probably leave the other for another year. No need to spend every waking hour on it. We have been meeting with contractors as we have some more work we want to get done on the apartments. With the winters they have been having here (what's that about global WARMING?), we wanted to replace some windows that were leaky and a couple sliding glass doors that were leaking so badly they couldn't be fixed. The fuel bills last winter were high for our tenants and since we want them all to stay, we are doing what we can to help make their apartments more energy efficient. We have great renters and they like us as well. We will try to get this work done within the next two weeks.

The weather has been very unusual for northern Indiana. I believe they said last month was the coldest July and only 2 days at 90* or above. Today was cool and then later the wind started blowing and it got up in the 90*'s. Now the wind is still blowing but it is cooler, down to 81*.

We are in the Elkhart Campground now and WOW! What a difference a year makes. Last year there were a lot of people through here, but it appears they fill up about every night this year. And that is a lot of campers. There are numerous camping clubs here. We have an end site (Bob takes care of us) and a lot of people stop by to chat while we are outside. Bill Adams (http://www.internetanywhere.us/) was parked just across the road from us last night. We asked if he had time to come and tweak our Datastosrm system and he came over this morning. He made some changes in the way it was set up and it is really running fine now. Anyone who needs any help with that should hook up with Bill sometime at a rally or elsewhere. He makes his living doing this now and he is extremely knowledgeable and very nice to deal with.

Last winter I started a project. It was a rag quilt for the bed. A rag quilt is sewn with the seams on the outside on the one side. There are various versions, but they are very simple. The biggest job is clipping the edges so it will ravel. They are very pretty when they are done and very durable. I have the quilt half done, having decided to make two sections, get them all washed and ravelled, then put them together. Otherwise it is too big for any washing machine I have handy. So the bottom half was done except for the clipping. I clipped and clipped. I tried to do at least two rows a night, but my hand would get sore and then I would have to wait a week before going back to it. I tried the spring loaded snippers, but they were too small to be effective. Last week while I was clipping, my shears broke, so I was off to Jo-Ann's to get another pair. I decided to get good ones this time, perhaps they would work easier. Then I saw THEM! Fiskars "rag quilt snippers!" Wow! Custom made for snipping thick seams. Large enough to do some serious snipping. So I bought them. . . three short sessions later I WAS DONE! Love those snippers. Here is the finished product. . . keep in mind, it is only half finished. The top half will be custom shaped to fit the motorhome bed. With two nightstands, it will be easier if I make the quilt narrower there and then I am going to make it longer to fold it back OVER the pillows instead of the customary tuck. It is a patriotic theme and the white panel you see has the Pledge of Allegiance on it. I even made corners at the foot of the quilt to fit the bed. In a motorhome, you just have no place for a lot of extra fabric to be hanging off the end. Now I just have the top to do.

Oh, if you feel compelled to tackle such a project. . . I cut out all the blocks with a rotary cutter which is must faster than scissors. And then get the proper snippers and it will go easier on your hands. BUT, my sister found a quilt shop in Warsaw, Indiana. For ONE DOLLAR a yard, they die cut the fabric for you and the die also cuts the fringe! WOW! So when we were staying at the fairgrounds down there two weeks ago, I bought fabric for a "camping quilt" for Ronan and had it all cut! We'll see how it goes. I found flannel fabrics that were novelty with camping pictures on them. The girls at the store thought it was going to be really cute. I'm going to give it to him for Christmas.

Tomorrow is a lazy day as we will watch the race. Will my favorite win? I have so many favorites now, one is bound to win. Hah!

Till next time. . .

Dale