Busy, busy, busy

We are back at Elkhart Campground after about a month away. We are on site 203 and we really like this site. They rarely put anyone in the two sites to the east of us which means we have a really large front yard! It makes it nice to sit out. We don't have anyone right next to us and can see a large part of the campground. They've had a lot of rain this spring and summer and the grass is really green. Our friend, Roger, is helping Bobby with the mowing at the camp this year and he is doing a really great job. The camp looks better than it has in years, we think. He also makes sure the dog park is mowed frequently.

Last Friday, the 24th of June, Jocelyn, Tom, Aenea and Ronan along with their dog, Pepper, arrived very late. We were still at the Passport America Rally, so we didn't see them till the next morning. They came to help surprise Mom and Dad. My sister, Nita, had planned a surprise for their 70th wedding anniversary. We were able to visit with the kids quite a lot on Saturday after we left the rally.

On Sunday we drove Phaeton Place down to the Warsaw fairgrounds so we would have a place to leave our dogs while we went to dinner. It's hard to leave Butterscotch for very long with her bladder cancer. We got there early and got set up and then got ready to go to dinner at Mad Anthony's. All the nieces and nephews and their families were able to make it except for Brandon and his family. I know he felt badly about that, but he changed jobs in December and this week has been the end of his quarter and he couldn't take any time except the weekend off. That would mean he would have to fly up on Saturday and back on Sunday. Just no way to do that. I'm sure they will try and come see Mom and Dad when they can. They do make a good effort to do that even though it's so far away and it costs a considerable amount to make the trip.

The plan was to wait in the room we had reserved. Jim and Nita were taking Mom and Dad to dinner and sat them at a table out in the restaurant. The great grandkids all walked out to their table and said they they had a better table in the back and wouldn't they want to come join them? So when Mom and Dad got into the room, everyone else was there. They were very surprised and quite touched by the fact that so many of us were there. All together there were 29. That includes one "girlfriend" of one of the boys. LOL We had a lovely time at dinner. Terry and Jim split the tab down the middle so none of the grands or greatgrands had to pay anything. A fun time was had by all.


 The first picture is all the great grandkids in attendance. They have one more, Brynlee.

 The second picture is the great grands and the grands with their spouses. Missing are Brandon, wife Megan and daughter Brynlee.

Last picture is the kids (Nita and I) and spouses, grands and spouses and great grands.

Afterwards, we went over to the motorhome to let the dogs out and then we followed everyone to Nita's house south of Warsaw. There we had cake and ice cream and the card games commenced. I played one round, then Terry and I decided to head for the motorhome. A storm was approaching and we wanted to make sure we were with the girls when it hit. They were doing fine, but glad we arrived. It actually blew through rather quickly and all was well.

We left the fairgrounds the next day and drove over to the Elkhart Campground on Monday morning and plan to stay a month.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Welcome Back to the Blog. . .

It's been a while, but we haven't been doing much of anything interesting. Just trying to get some doctor and dentist visits out of the way.

I was a bit bummed out by our family doctor who decided I had some mysterious ailment relating to my "dry eyes and dry mouth." He insisted I see a rheumatologist and an ophthalmologist. I don't mind seeking second opinions, but with a month before departure on the Great Alaskan Adventure, it wasn't exactly on my calendar. He accused me of "recreation over health." I guess what really aggravated me was that whenever I suggested testing for something, he blows me off. Then out of the blue he comes up with this strange diagnosis when I was certain (and still am) it was the result of taking an OTC acid reflux pill on a daily basis, which is when my symptoms developed.

But I did see a rheumatologist Friday and he agreed with me. He did order a lot of bloodwork, so if anything strange pops up we will know. But most likely the problem is related to the pill and the fact that those symptoms occur as a natural part of the aging process. He did also indicate that my arthritis is more likely the early early stages of psoriatic arthritis, since I have been plagued by psoriasis for 53 years. He talked about some of those new meds, the biologics, which I will totally resist taking. We talked about my love of a cortisone shot twice a year and at that "infreqency" he agreed I was likely to suffer no side effects from that medication. And because of that would consider it much safer than the biologics. At least for now. Whoo hoo. He injected my aching bursitis plagued hip, too! So I'm feeling much better than I did when my doctor heaped all that on me.

Tuesday I see the opthamologist, but I'm not worried about that. Never a bad thing to have the eyes checked out.

We have found a new dentist and we really like him. Thanks to sister Nita who recommended him to us. We have two trips back to see him and get all our work done before leaving for Alaska, but we will be fixed up then and shouldn't have any worries about having problems on our trip.

Last week Tab and Deanna, fellow Alaska travelers called and wanted to get together, so we are camping at the Elkhart County Fairgrounds here in Goshen. They brought their little motorhome and we could have brought MinnieMee since we just got her out of storage. But we did need to dump the tanks on Phaeton Place and decided this would be a better place to do that since we have full hookups. Terry will be able to dump and rinse the tanks and get things really clean before putting her in storage for the summer. And I had a few cupboards I wanted to clean out, foodstuffs, etc. Easier to do here with the slides out and on level ground. So we have a working morning ahead of us. And. . . wouldn't you know. . . it's raining! But no matter. . . not raining hard, so we will "get 'er dun. . . "

Yesterday we spent running around to the rv surplus places for a few spare parts Tab and Terry wanted. We actually found everything they wanted, then celebrated by having lunch at Essenhaus in Middlebury. Afterwards we came back to the camp and built a fire. Eventually we put on some hobo stew and cooked it over the fire.

The real treat last night was that here at the fairgrounds there was a "training session" for teaching people how to safely set off fireworks. Apparently it was for people who put on the big professional type displays. So we got to see fireworks! Pretty cool. I got my new camera out and took some shots. I got some pretty impressive shots, but afterwards doing the editing, I found I had a "FIREWORKS"

 

 

 

shot setting on my camera. Whooda thunk? Guess I should have been learning more about my camera, eh? Maybe practice a bit more before trying to shoot wildlife on the trip. LOL

Today we will return to the condo, park Phaeton Place beside MinnieMee to make the final transfer of stuff. Then when it stops raining, we will wash PP and take her over to storage. We have three weeks to go. We have moved our departure date to May 20, provided the satellite phone has arrived by that time.

Till next time. . .

Dale