Farm Progress

Painting the porch and adding shutters has really dressed up the place.
Whaddya' think?

The Farm

Teddy and I are moving part-time into the farmhouse on the Schlueter Cherry Farm here in Leelanau County, Michigan. Teddy's brother, John has his own house across the road and her sister, Deb lives just three miles from here. In fact the backyard of Deb's is where we have parked our trailer summers since 2005 when we first started fulltiming. So, as the farmhouse was going to be vacant, Teddy and I have decided to make it our summer home. I guess this means that we will no longer be official fulltimers but 3/4 timers instead.
The house has been in the Schlueter family for over three generations and dates back over one hundred years. Somewhere within the walls is an original log cabin, long ago covered up and encased within the walls of the current house. This is Teddy's girlhood home where she grew up so it's sort of a homecoming for her.The house though, needs a lot of work and TLC to bring it up to modern standards. Teddy's father and grandfather before him, being the thrifty German farmers that they were, were loath to spend any money on improvements that they considered unnecessary, instead investing their profits into improving farm production. We have been hard at work for the past two weeks, cleaning, sanding, painting, wiring, and plumbing. We still plan on redoing the bathroom this summer and perhaps the kitchen next summer. On the outside the house looks pretty good. Has vinyl siding and a fairly new roof. Next week I intend to enhance it's curb appeal with shutters on all of the windows. There is approximately an acre of grass to mow surrounding the house and to that end we have purchased a John Deere garden tractor/mower. As I have often said, "As long as I can keep Teddy working, I intend on furnishing her with the very best tools available." ;-)

We are in Cedar, Michigan (near Traverse City)

We left Bend, Oregon on Thursday May 28 as Teddy's mother entered the terminal stage of her life in Michigan, and passed away on June 5. She was 93 years old and had been suffering from heart disease for some time. The funeral was yesterday, June 9 and we are slowly getting back to normal. We intend to stay here in Cedar, living in the farmhouse till late August when we will head back to Pahrump, Nevada where we have reservations for September and October. Our trip east was fraught with difficulties as we had two tire blowouts on the trailer on consecutive days. To complicate problems even more they both occurred in sparsely populated areas of Montana and on a weekend (Saturday and Sunday). I guess the old adage "When it rains it pours" is true, at least in our case. As the ancient Greeks would say, "The Gods on Mount Olympus were having fun with us poor mortals again."
Here is what a tire looks like when it goes flat and shreds at highway speeds.
...and here I am on Sunday sitting in a camper chair trying to contact a tire dealer. The cell reception was so bad that I had to climb to the top of this hill to make a connection. The second tire failure was on Sunday and since I no longer had a spare, we had to wait about four hours to finally get someone to come out and mount two tires. I have Good Sam's road service which worked on Saturday but on Sunday they were having trouble finding help but promised to reimburse me for anyone that I could find. Finally a local sheriffs deputy got a tire guy to come out for us. In the meantime Teddy and I just sat and read books.

Pilot Butte

Smack dab in the middle of Bend, a big nob rises high up in the air. This is Pilot Butte, a 480 foot high cinder cone that erupted approximately 190,000 years ago. During the eruption, molten rock rose to the surface where it violently foamed due to escaping steam and sprayed glowing cinders hundreds of feet into the air. This eruption lasted a few months to a year or two.
The actual vent is located approximately 300 feet southwest of the summit. A two lane one mile road spirals up the butte to the summit in conjunction with another hiking trail spiral.
The drive up is a bit intimidating because of the vertical drop on the outside of the road but once there the view is well worth it.At the top there is limited parking along the road and a spectacular commanding view of Bend. It almost feels as if you are in an airplane flying over the city.I snapped this photo looking East......and Teddy with her trusty Olympus captured this view of the city looking West. The snowcapped peaks of the Three Sisters rise up from the Cascade range in the far background and in the foreground is the street from which I snapped the approach shot above.




On the way down Teddy elected to hike the trail...
























...so I drove down and waited in the parking lot at the trailhead.

The High Desert Museum

If you should have occasion to visit Bend, Oregon, a visit to the "High Desert Museum" should not to be missed.
Located about five miles south of Bend it has both outdoor live exhibits and indoor full size dioramas of early Oregon life.


While not in any exhibit per se this little fellow and his friends were ever alert looking for handouts from the many visitors.







Actually, I'm not as brave as this picture might suggest as this Northern Pacific Rattlesnake was behind a glass window.



















A pair of otters were frolicking in a large outdoor pool.












This is a rehabbed Swainson's Hawk that can't be released back to the wild because he/she has become imprinted on humans.











There is a small stream running through the property stocked with trout and salmon.

We throughly enjoyed our trip to the High Desert Museum.

Sisters

Last Friday, May 8, Teddy and I visited the small resort town of Sisters, Oregon. Sisters is located about 20 miles east of Bend and is apparently named after the three mountain peaks known as The Three Sisters which lie midway between Bend & Sisters. We left Bend on Rt. 20 which connects the two cities and as we were leaving Bend we were gobsmacked with this awesome view of Mt. Jefferson through our front windscreen.
Then as the road twisted and turned we were treated alternately with views of

Black Butte to the South of Mt. Jefferson...




...and further south the aforementioned Three Sisters.
That's South Sister to the left, then Middle Sister and North Sister on the right.
The Three Sisters and their neighbors to the north are mentioned in some of Oregon's earliest history. It is not known who first used the name Three Sisters to describe these peaks. In the early days they were often referred to as Faith, Hope, and Charity, starting from the north. These names, however did not prevail.
Lieutenant H.L. Abbot of the Pacific Railroad Surveys wrote of this view of the Three Sisters in his journal on September 4, 1855: "This morning, after riding a few miles, we emerged from the forest, and traversed an elevated plateau, dotted with cedars [junipers] and sage bushes...The air was uncommonly clear and pure...The snowy peaks of the Three Sisters appeared quite near."

After stopping for these photos we continued on to Sisters where we browsed several of the tourist gift shops and I snapped this photo of "Bronco Billy's" formerly known as the "Hotel Sisters", purported to be one of the most photographed buildings in Central Oregon.I was also able to capture a photo of this fierce looking desperado peering out from behind the bars of the local jail.

May 1, 2009, We get Bent!

This summer we decided to delay the 2500 mile trip back to Wisconsin & Michigan, and explore some of the Northwest. Our good friends, Jim & Carol Babcock whom we met in Lake Havasu City a few years back, live in central Oregon (Terrebonne) and suggested that we give Oregon a try. So on April 30 we pulled up stakes and headed north. On May 1 we landed here in Bend, Oregon and are safely ensconced in the side yard of the home of Jim Carprnter. Jim and Billie rent out a full-hook-up RV site next to their house. Our friend Jan Morse saw their ad in Motor Home Magazine and bought it to our attention. I called Jim and he still had May open so we took it. Jim and Billie are super friendly retired folks about our age (well...maybe a little bit younger :-)). He was in building sales and she worked in a nursery.
Terrebonne, where Jim & Carol live is a small village about 40 miles north of here and on Tuesday we drove up to see them. They treated us to dinner and took us for a scenic drive of the area. They live in a subdivision called the Crooked River Ranch. The Crooked River runs through the "Ranch" cutting a deep deep gorge with spectacular scenery. The walls of the gorge are absolutely vertical and you can walk right up to the edge of the (pit of the stomach knee weakening) precipices.
Back here in Bend we have been exploring the city & surrounds and it looks like we will not lack for things to see and do in the coming month.

4th Year Travels

Today, May 1, 2009 we began our fifth year as RV "Fulltimers". We began year four in Cedar, Michigan (Near Traverse City) and start year five here in Bend, Oregon. In the past four years in addition to Cedar we have spent at least a weeks time in or near the following cities. Sebring. Florida; Appleton, Wisconsin; South Bend, Indiania; Bement, Illinois; Lake Havasu City, Arizona; Dinosaur, Colorado; Niland, California; Puerto Peñasco, Sonora, Mexico; Pahrump, Nevada; & Florence, Arizona.We are eagerly looking forward to see what new adventures await us in the coming year.
Here is a map outlining our travels in each of the four preceding years.
Click on map for a larger image.

The China Ranch Date Farm

Last Saturday, April 18th, Teddy and I took a day trip to visit the China Ranch Date Farm. The China Ranch is located near Tecopa, California on the southern periphery of Death Valley about 45 miles from Pahrump. We decided to make a day of it so took our time and enjoyed the drive there. We left Pahrump on Nevada Rt. 372 which turned into California 178 at the border.


Along the way between Pahrump and Shoshone we spotted these delicate beautiful desert flowers growing wild along the road shoulders and had to stop and photograph them. They grew in bunches and the individual blossoms were about an inch and a half in diameter.






Reaching Shoshone we turned left (south) toward Tecopa.



We stopped in Tecopa to visit the hot springs which apparently are a natural phenomenon in the area.
The cost was $7.00 per person to go into the hot spring baths. It was highly commercialized, bathing was in the nude and there were separate baths for men and women. I couldn't see sitting in a pool with a bunch of other naked men so we decided to pass. If Teddy and I could have went together we might have went in. The kicker was that later in the day on the way back to Pahrump, about three or four miles north of Tecopa we spotted several cars pulled off the road on the shoulder of the road and people walking into the desert. Curious, we stopped and I waited in the truck while Teddy investigated. She came back about a half hour later and said that there was a natural hot spring pool/pond and several naked people were lounging there in the muddy water. Wrinkly old men and sagging breasted women, so I was probably better off that I didn't go with her. ;-)


Continuing on we finally arrived at the date farm.

These date palms are entirely different from the date palms that we saw two years ago down by the Salton Sea. I never realized that there was such a great variety of date palms.








While there I snapped these macros of some desert cacti.




















...and these three classes of wildlife...avian...reptilian...mammalian.



Needless to say we also sampled several varieties of dates before leaving.
And guess what?
Teddy made some date cookies when we got back. MMMMMMMM.

All fixed!

Update on blog of January 11, 2009.
Readers may recall my shower door fiasco last January. Well, in view of my initial research on replacing the door costing in the neighborhood of $600 (a neighborhood that we didn't want to visit), I rigged up a shower curtain solution as a temporary fix until we were a little more solvent. I had also contacted a glass dealer in Lake Havasu City and they didn't want to handle it.
So after we arrived here at Terribles Lakeside I decided to investigate local glass dealers here in Pahrump. Found a family owned business called "Quality Image" and they were confident that they could install a new tempered glass for less than $200. They said that they could cut the glass to size, then have it tempered and installed in less than a week's time. I was, WOW, go for it. The very next day an installer named Steve came out to the park, made measurements and true to promise came back with the glass a week later. The installation took about an hour and we are pleased with the new shower door. This time we opted for clear glass instead of opaque. Gives the shower an entirely different look and now I can watch Teddy while she showers, or vice versa.
Hmmm...well...probably not! ;-)

Home Improvements (floor project)

We have often thought of replacing the carpet in the Cardinal with a hard surface floor. Carpet is fine for occasional use RVers but for we fulltimers it can be a real nuisance trying to keep it clean. We have met other RVers who have replaced their carpet with "Pergo" or a similar wood floor laminate with good results. Our only concern was if the slides would mar the floor. I called Forest River, the manufacturer of our Cardinal, and they assured me that there would be no problem as long as the new flooring wasn't thicker than the carpet. I had also previously noted that there didn't seem to be any track marks on the carpet after extending the slides. So armed with this information I began researching alternative flooring ideas and discovered Allure flooring sold by Home Depot. On Thursday the 10th my friend, Hank Syberden and I visited the local Home Depot and were both impressed with the product. So on Friday afternoon in view of the fact that Hank volunteered to help with the install, we bit the proverbial bullet and I returned to the store to purchase the flooring.

By the time I returned Teddy had most of the carpet torn out...










...and was working on the kitchen vinyl.

We decided to start in the Cardinal's rear living room and work our way forward toward the Kitchen.







By six PM we were about halfway done and decided to quit for the day.












The following day (Saturday) we attacked the floor again with renewed gusto and by noon were well into the kitchen.
Here is Hank on his beleaguered knees trimming another piece.







Almost done!










Although the directions said that it was not necessary except in commercial applications, we decided to roll the floor for better adhesion.

Here is Teddy wielding the 100 lb. roller like a professional.
















So two days later, here it is all done except for some molding.
Teddy and I are quite pleased with the appearance and no more carpet cleaning.
We owe a big, big thanks to Hank Syberden for his help. My poor knees and flabby body make it difficult to get down to floor level and Hanks help was a godsend.





Hmmm...now...what project can I start on next? ;-)

Scotty's Castle

We are now in Pahrump, Nevada at Terribles Lakeside RV Resort. We left Florence Sunday morning, spent Sunday night in Henderson, NV and arrived here about noon on Monday the 30th. Monday afternoon we got together with our friends Don & Carol Dingman who were already here in Pahrump at the Winery RV Park. We then made plans for the following day to visit the famous "Scotty's Castle" located in Death Valley National Park. It was about a three hour drive to get there so we left here early Tuesday morning at 8 am.Arriving at 11 am we were greeted with this view of the building and grounds.


Admission to the "castle" is only available via a conducted 40 minute tour and our tour guide shown here sure looked the part. We entered through the door in the circular tower...




...into this inner courtyard.
Note the clarion clock tower in the background











From there a door on the left led to this sitting room on the lower floor of the living quarters.







We then were led through several rooms in succession with stops in each where the guide described what we were seeing.

We toured Scottie's bedroom (not shown) and this lower level music room with this large Don Quixote tapestry on the wall. This room also housed this player piano.

On the left, note the small keyboard for the clarion.









This hallway then led to the dining room and kitchen in succession.










Dinnerware in dining room.












Kitchen stove.









At this point in the tour we were led up a staircase to the second floor which contained several bedrooms, a bathroom and ...a glorious upper level music room complete with a Welte-Mignon theater organ with more than 1,000 pipes.
Chandelier in upper music room.


And now for the rest of the story!
It turns out that Scotty's Castle is essentially a big sham. Walter Scott aka Scotty, was a flimflam man that managed to talk a rich Chicago insurance magnate named Albert Johnson into investing large sums of money in a non existent gold mine in the desert. Mr. Johnson on discovering that he had been flimflammed decided that he liked the area so much that he undertook to build this magnificent Spanish themed manor house here in the desert as a vacation retreat for he and his wife, Bessie. He also became so enamored with the Scotty character that he entered into a quasi partnership with him using Scotty as a front man.

Florence Prison RV Park

While we were at the Desert Gardens RV Oasis we visited the prison outlet store in Florence at the Arizona State Prison Complex also known as Florence State Prison (FSP). It is one of 13 prison facilities operated by the Arizona Department of Corrections (ADC). FSP is located in Florence, Pinal County, Arizona, 55 miles east from the state capital of Phoenix.
There we found good news for RVers that enjoy a different kind of camping experience. We discovered that they are building an RV Park addition in the prison. There RVers will be able to mingle with the prisoners in the yard and participate in their various activities such as body building and running. Part time employment opportunities for work-campers will also be available in the prison laundry and license plate shop.
It is also rumored that it will be possible for minimum security prisoners to purchase their own RV, albeit with bars on the windows & doors, and live in them as opposed to a cell; motorhomes will, of course, have to have their engines disabled as well. This should go a long way in relieving the overcrowded prison conditions and may become a model for prisons around the nation.
So...if any of you RVers should find yourself in south central Arizona I suggest that you investigate what should turn out to be a unique camping experience. And who knows, some of you single or widowed RV ladies out there may even discover a new romance. ;-)

John & Sally

Yesterday, Sunday March 22, our friends John & Sally Dickinson from Tucson motored up to visit us. John & I worked together as summer intern recording engineers at the "Interlochen Center for the Arts" some 45 years ago when we were college students. We have kept in touch through the years but have rarely seen each other due to the distance of our homes. John works for IBM in Tucson and Sally is a retired school teacher. I regret that we got so caught up in visiting that I neglected to snap a photo...oh well...I'm sure that I'll get the opportunity next fall when we return to Desert Gardens. We introduced them to the full-timing RV lifestyle and gave them a tour of the park ending with an ice cream social at the clubhouse. After lunch we went for a drive and visited the museum in Florence, stopped at the prison outlet store and toured the town. Then we drove through the grounds of St. Anthony's Monastery but didn't stop as we weren't suitably dressed.

Noisy visitor

This is the view from our back (Living Room) window here at The Desert Gardens RV park. As you can see Teddy placed a hummingbird feeder in the tree directly behind the trailer in hopes of attracting an Anna's hummer which are prevalent in the area. As you can see we certainly didn't get what we expected.
This morning at around 6:30 am I was awakened by a rapid "rat-a-tat-tat" noise.
And what to my wondering eyes should appear, but a Gila Woodpecker assaulting my ear.
Nazzie and I were amazed to see this little guy whacking away at the top of this electrical box. I grabbed my camera and Nazzie got downright excited. He was apparently thinking, "Woodpecker Pie, woodpecker pie, gonna get me some woodpecker pie", but alas it was not to be.

Next he flew into the tree and by cleverly clinging to a branch adjacent to the hummingbird feeder, was able to enjoy a hummingbird breakfast. Later in the day he came back with his girlfriend to buy her lunch. On reflection, I believe that the pounding away at the electrical box was just an attempt to impress his girlfriend with what a strong pecker he had. ;-)

St. Anthony's Greek Orthodox Monastery

Yesterday we visited St. Anthony's Greek Orthodox Monastery with our friends Hank & Eva Syberden from Cochran, Alberta. The monastery is located about five miles from the park and it is truly amazing; the monks have turned their little patch (107 acres) of the Sonoran desert into a veritable oasis. We had to comply with a strict dress code in order to tour the complex. The men had to wear long pants, long sleeved shirts, and closed shoes with stockings.



The women were required to wear a long dress that reached the ankles, and a long sleeved top with a closed front. Women were also required to wear a scarf over their head and closed, flat bottomed shoes with socks.
Here is Teddy dressed in the prescribed garb.










Once we had passed the clothing inspection we were turned over to a monk, Brother Nicholas for the first part of the tour. He gave a brief description of the church, answered our questions and even allowed us to photograph him, though it was proscribed that we should not take photos of the monks.

Our first stop was the main church, St. Anthony's. Entering we were gobsmacked at the complex ornateness of the sanctuary shown here.

From there Brother Nicholas turned us loose to wander the grounds on our own with no restrictions to photographs as long as we kept to the prescribed paths and buildings.


The grounds are absolutely stunning, lush with tropical vegetation of all kinds with gazebos, fountains and chapels interspersed throughout.





Such as St Nicholas' Chapel shown here.









Brother Nicholas said that although they were not completely self sustaining for food, they did have grape arbors, orange groves such as this and gardens where they grew fruits & vegetables.







Perched on a hillock overlooking the church and gardens was this beautiful white building which as it turns out is Prophet Elias' Chapel, under construction. It is expected to be completed sometime this summer and will then be open to visitors.













I did some digging on the internet and came up with this exposé part 1 and part 2 on the monastery done a couple of years ago by a Tucson TV station. This might explain why they were reluctant to have photos taken of the monks.

Florence

We are in Florence...no we didn't put pontoons on the RV and float to Italy, this Florence is in Arizona. We have some friends that we met in Lake Havasu who were staying in the Desert Gardens RV Oasis about five miles south of Florence on Hwy 79 so we decided to come down and join them for a couple of weeks. From here we plan on staying once again in Pahrump Nevada for the month of April.
This is a real nice park with a many varieties of desert flowers, plants and cacti. As you can see from this photo we have a magnificent saguaro right behind our trailer.

Yesterday, Sunday the 15th, we explored the little town of Florence which as it turns out, is the fifth oldest city in Arizona. Apparently it used to be quite a boom town in the old days with copper and gold mines.

I shot this panorama on main street which looks like it is right out of a western movie. We drove around town and discovered the Pinal County courthouse which, except for the palm trees, reminds me of the courthouse in the movie Back to the Future. This from the website: Florence contractors, A.J. Doran and T.A. Adams built the courthouse in 1891 for a cost of $29,000. A shortage of funds resulted in painted metal clock faces in the distinctive cupola. Thus, "time stands still" at 11:44.
There are a lot of attractions in the area so it appears that we will be busy exploring for the next couple of weeks.
Tomorrow we plan on visiting a Greek monastery not far from here.

The Desert Bar (revisited)

On Sunday afternoon several of us journeyed out to the "Desert Bar". Teddy and I had been there once before (see our blog of February 12, 2007) but not since. The occasion was to celebrate the 50th wedding anniversary of our friends, Pat & LaVerne Schumacher of Alden, Iowa. Some of us had gotten togather and suprised them with a mock renewal of vows. We had made up a wedding veil for Pat and a wide, wide tie for LaVerne, I had the music "Love and Marrage" on my notebook computer and our friend Gary Clark, from BC, Canada, acted as the priest complete with a paper collar. It was great fun and a lot of laughs.




Of course Teddy as is her wont, had to climb up to the top of the nearest peak to take a picture looking down on the rest of us.


















It would have taken me about a month and a half and a stout rope to get up there. ;-)

Potato salad and more!

click on photos for larger size

Sometimes some of the best times are those events that happen spontaneously with no advance planning. Such was the case early this evening. One of the RV campers here in the park left this morning so suddenly there was an empty RV site on our end of the park directly across from our trailer. Someone suggested that we should have a cookout on the empty pad and before long several of our friends were preparing snacks and drinks, bringing chairs and setting up a grill for burgers. Two of us expropriated a large round table from the clubhouse, rolled it over to the site and set it up for a serving table. Beginning around four o’clock we started in on the snacks and drinks followed by cheeseburgers with all the works including sliced tomatoes, two kinds of beans, pasta salad and Carol Babcock made some of the best potato salad that I have ever eaten. My willpower completely failed me, as I couldn’t resist going back for seconds of that.
And just about then Don Dingman started dishing out bowls of ice cream, which we topped with an assortment of goodies such as nuts, pineapple, banana chunks, crumbled brownies, and chocolate and caramel syrup.
What a wonderful time we had, even if it was a diet buster. It was one of those days that you hate to see end.
Finally as if to punctuate the evening we witnessed this glorious sunset

Verde Canyon Railroad

On Monday February 17th thirty of us (15 couples) from the park sojourned over to Clarkdale, AZ to take a daytrip on the Verde Canyon Railroad. Most of us drove over on Sunday in seperate cars (trucks) and spent Sunday and Monday nights at the Quality Inn in Cottonwood. Clarkdale is located in the north central part of the state north of Phoenix near Sedona. Because of the ubiquitous mountain ranges here in Arizona we had to loop around to the south or north in order to get there from Lake Havasu. Even so we still had to traverse some 6 to 7 thousand foot snow covered passes. It was a delightful drive though and the roads were bare. Teddy and I chose to take the somewhat famous mountain road from Prescott Valley through Jerome to Cottonwood. It is about thirty miles of mountain road with numerous switchbacks with sheer cliffs on the outside lane.






There aren't many places to pull off for pictures but Teddy did manage to snap a few out the truck window.












Jerome is an historic mining town built on the side of a mountain with houses and shops perched precariously on the side hills.

Several of us went out to dinner at an Italian eatery on Sunday evening and then gathered at the depot in Clarkdale on Monday noon for our train excursion.
The train trip that day was the Valentine's weekend Chocolate Lovers’ Festival an event that they run each year and because we had thirty people in our party we were given our own private car.
Included in the fare was complimentary champaign, snacks, sandwiches, hors d'oeuvres and more chocolate than I've eaten in the last year. A continuously flowing fountain of chocolate w/various dippers, and several cakes, truffles and the like. If chocolate does indeed cause pimples there's sure to be an epidemic here at Havasu Falls (smile).













We had a hostess, (Sallie with an ie) assigned to our car who pointed out landmarks as we passed them,










...such as this photo of a cliff dweling that ancient natives used...












...and this picture of a landmark called "Turtle Rock"











Teddy leans out of the doorway window on the platform between cars taken from the doorway window in the next car.







This proved to be a good vantage point to take photos as well, such as this shot of the following cars taken on a curve.





Here we are entering a tunnel along the way.



















... "the light at the end of the tunnel"























Then when we arrived at the turnaround point they unhooked the engines and shuttled them on a second track to the other end of the train for the trip back





.







There was an open outdoor car that we could walk to which I took advantage of on the way back to snap this pict of the Verde River Canyon, sometimes known as Arizona's second "Grand Canyon"
What a fine time we had!!! Teddy says that she would like to do it again. Trouble is though there are still too many other things to see. (Grin)

Ten things I like starting with the letter “C”

Deedee from “adventures on dumbar street” gave me the letter "C" I was to post on my blog ten things I love starting with my letter. If you would like to join in - just leave me a comment and I will send you "your" letter through a comment on your page. Have fun!


1. Computers: Technophile that I am, my computer is one of my favorite possessions.
2. Cookies: Teddy makes ‘em and I eats ‘em
3. Cutty-Sark Scotch: I also enjoy Grant's, & Ballantine blended Scotchs and if I’m feeling rich Knockando single malt is a pretty good choice.
4. Cats: We have always had a cat as a member of our family and our current cat is named NASDAQ, we call him Nazzie. He spends most evenings laying on my lap, purring loudly.
5. Canada: We have many friends from our neighbor to the north.
6. Cardinal: Our Cardinal trailer is our fulltime RV home.
7. Coffee: Must have my morning coffee.
8. Cheese: Being from Wisconsin, I consider cheese to be one of the seven basic food groups.
9. Cap: My Greek fisherman’s cap is my personal trademark. Without it no-one would recognize me.
10. Cuddle: I can’t get along without an occasional cuddle with my honey & life partner, Teddy.

Larry's Pegs & Jokers project

At RV parks across the nation retired RVers often enjoy a number of daytime outdoor leisure pastimes such as golf, bocce, swimming & horseshoes. Indoor & evening activities include pool, puzzles, dominoes, and a variety of card games such as hearts, cribbage, poker and "Pegs & Jokers". We had never heard of P&J until we came to Arizona four years ago but quickly became fans. It is a derivative of the old Parker Brothers board game, Sorry and it's popularity has spread rapidly in RV parks probably due to the mobility of RVers. The game boards as of yet are all hand made, usually of wood and are quite easy to make with just a jigsaw and an electric drill. A Goggle search will find several entrepreneurs making and selling them on the Internet. As might be expected there is some variation in the rules from park to park as there is no official ruling organization.
Two years ago Teddy and I purchased a set of game boards from a website called Woods by Bill. It is an excellent set and well made. However, since I am somewhat of an Internet nerd as well as a retiree with time on his hands, I continued to a search the web every so often just to check out P&J boards. This led to me to last winter discovering a seller making boards from "Corian". So then I began to muse on what would be the ultimate P&J board set and my tiny brain seized on polished aluminum. I could find no such thing on the web and began to wonder how difficult, and expensive, it would be to make them myself. All of the other guys here at Havasu Falls told me that I was crazy to even consider it...but then again they pretty much think me to be nuts anyway.




In late November I ordered eight pieces of 6061-T6 extruded aluminum bar 3/4" x 3" x 13" from a metal supplier in Seattle, Washingon. I drew up plans on my computer and then made a couple of prototypes from pine using my jig saw. I then borrowed a tabletop drill press and set up shop right here in the trailer. Using 3/16" jobber's bullet drill bits & Tap Magic Aluminum Cutting Fluid, I drilled and countersunk all 216 holes without breaking a single bit. I then rough cut the first board and quickly came to the conclusion that I was not going to be able to cut them by hand. Having come this far there was no turning back so I found a local machinist to cut and mill the boards. When he was finished I had them polished and the result is downright beautiful, albeit expensive. To make them into an anniversary set I've had Teddy & my name and our wedding date engraved on them by a trophy shop. We will be married 45 years on February 22 and according to the charts the wedding anniversary symbol for 45 is Sapphire but as far as we are concerned it is Aluminum.
I then sealed them to prevent oxidation & tarnishing.

Then to complete the project I purchased some metal pegs from Pete's Pegs, an internet site that sells cribbage pegs. For additional colors Pete also made me matching white & red pegs from nylon.



Here is a photo of a mock set-up for eight players.


So in retrospect, I'm happy and proud of the way the boards turned out...everyone that sees them oohs and aahs. They are more than game boards, they are art.
"Would I do it again?"
Considering the expense, probably not, but one thing is certain, we have what is probably the most beautiful, the most perfect and the most expen$ive Pegs & Joker set in existence.

Pegs & Jokers rules of play

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Pegs and Jokers Rules
as played at
Havasu Falls RV Resort
Lake Havasu City, Arizona
Pegs and Jokers is a North American race game for four, six or eight players, using playing-cards to move pegs around a board. It is also sometimes known as Jokers and Pegs. It is clearly derived ultimately from the Indian race game Pachisi, a race game using dice for movement, perhaps via its American derivative Sorry, in which pawns are moved according to cards drawn from a special deck.
Pegs and Jokers is a partnership game played with standard playing-cards on from four to ten linked boards. It allows extra scope for strategy by giving players a choice of cards to play. Each player has five pegs, and the winners are the first team to move all their pegs from their START area to their HOME areas. Boards are usually made from wood and can be home-made or purchased in sets from sellers found on the internet. They are usually linked with Velcro or hinged pins. The pegs are usually made from golf tees

Players and Equipment
The players are divided into two teams - two against two, three against three or four against four. They sit alternately - each player seated between two opponents.
Standard decks of cards are used, with two jokers in each deck. Three decks (162 cards including 6 jokers) may be enough for up to six players: eight players should use four decks (216 cards including 8 jokers).
Four players use a four-sided board; six players use a six-sided board; eight players use an eight-sided board - one side for each player, each associated with a different color. Each player has five pegs in the color that corresponds to the side of the board nearest to them. Each side of the board has a straight section of track 18 units long: there is a corner hole at each end, shared between two adjacent sides, and 17 holes between them. The 8th hole after the corner is the "come out" position for the pegs on that side, and next to it is the colored "start" area with five holes where the pegs of that color are stored at the start of the game. The 3rd hole after the corner is the "in-spot" for that color, and branching off at the "in-spot" is a colored private track of 5 holes, which is the "home" or "safe" area, where the pegs end their journey. The diagram below shows one side of the board.


Here is a typical game set. You hook the individual boards
together according to how many players you have.


Object: To move all five pegs, clockwise around the board, from your HOME position, to your SAFE position.
Set-Up: Playing field is assembled with as many individual board sections as there are players.
Players: Six or eight players use the board and three decks of poker cards with the Jokers (two per deck). Play is either two, three person teams or two four person teams. Four players use the board and three decks of poker cards with the Jokers (two per deck). Play is two, two person teams
Game Pieces: Each player chooses five pegs in a unique color.
Winning: First team to have all of their pegs in the SAFE position wins the game.
Dealing: Deal each player five cards. Player to the left of the dealer makes play by playing a card to his discard pile and then making his move. He then draws one replacement card from the deck. Penalty: if player fails to draw a card from the deck prior to next player making a play, on the players next turn he must play from the four cards he has in his hand and can then draw two cards.
Card value for making board moves: Play begins by using a Joker, King, Queen, Jack or Ace to move a peg from any of the five HOME positions to the COME OUT position.
After a piece is out it’s HOME position play is as follows:
Ace moves forward one hole
2 moves forward two holes
3 moves forward three holes
4 moves forward four holes
5 moves forward five holes
6 moves forward six holes
7 moves forward seven holes, but must be split between two pegs
8 moves backward eight holes
9 move is split backward and forward in any combination. Examples: One space backward and eight spaces forward. Or, three spaces backward and six spaces forward, etc.
10 moves forward ten holes
Jack moves forward eleven holes
Queen moves forward twelve holes
King moves forward thirteen holes
Joker is a wild card and replaces any other peg in play with one of your own pegs whether your peg is in play or in your Home position. If you replace a partner’s peg, it goes to his CASTLE IN SPOT. If you replace an opponent’s peg, it returns to his HOME position.
Anytime, your peg lands on your partners peg, you send it to his CASTLE IN SPOT.
If your peg lands on your opponent's peg, it goes back to his HOME position.
Once a peg is in the SAFE position, it is safe and cannot be removed or backed up.
You cannot back into the SAFE position.
When entering the SAFE position, if your only move is for more holes in the SAFE position, you cannot enter the SAFE position and must go around again.
You cannot pass, or land on, your own peg. This is true even when you are in the SAFE position.
You must move if you have a play.
You must use the full count of the card played; i.e. a four card requires four moves, even into the SAFE position.
If you have only one peg that is not in the SAFE position, then a seven or a nine card moves a full count forward.
If you complete your board with a seven or a nine card; you finish the move on the first clockwise partner still in play
Each player must play his own pegs until all five pegs are in the SAFE position. Then he can help his
Teammates. When playing with partners, you will help the teammate player to your left (clockwise), if he still has playable pegs. Once all of his five pegs are in his SAFE position, then you help the next clockwise teammate.
If you do not hold a COME OUT card on your turn and you have no other possible move, you discard a card from your hand and make a draw. If on your fourth turn you still have not drawn a COME OUT card then you may start with any card from your hand. If you should draw a COME OUT card you must use that card on your next turn.
Hints for good play:
Avoid, if possible, positioning your peg 1) in your opponents COME OUT or eight back from his COME OUT spot; 2) in the opponents CASTLE IN SPOT.
The area between the opponents COME OUT and CASTLE IN SPOT tends to be a safe area.
Variations:
1 Another deck and as many as four (4) more jokers can be added.
2 Games can be played with as many as ten players. And it can be quite fun this way, especially if you add another deck and at least four more Jokers.

Stupidest thing (Part II)

My brother, Lyle sent me this email suggesting other "stupid mistakes" I've made in the past and suggested that I add them to the blog. So at the risk of further humiliation, here is his email:

Larry,
I think you should update your blog with other things you have done while RVing.

1. Showing off on your Segway and breaking your arm with 3 operations and numerous $600 trips to hospitals around the country.
2. Dropping your 5th wheel on the siderails of your pickup.
3. Backing into your 5th wheel and cracking the plastic siding after you picked the 5th wheel off the siderails. See #2
4. Destroying your pickup tailgate by having it up and driving off with your 5th wheel unhooked.
5. Driving under a tree and punching a hole in the roof of your RV.
6. Looking out your window and watching a gun fight, not taking cover, in Pahrump NV.

These are just a few things I can recall off the top of my head ! ! ! ! ! I'm sure there are may other things that you have not shared with us and also things I don't remember. The shower door was nothing compared to this list.......

With love,
Lyle

Now in my defense, some of these I've already blogged about
See blogs of: 5/2/07; (4/25, 5/1, 5/13, 5/30, & 8/28)08; & 10/1/08
The tailgate incident (#4) was in '05 before I started the blog and #s 2 & 3 were when we were preparing to leave Dinosaur National Monument in Colorado where we hosted as volunteers in the visitors center from Sept. 1 to Oct. 15, 2006. It happened as were were leaving and was actually caused by a problem with hooking to our hitch. ;-(

Now that I have my tail tucked firmly between my legs, I must say that there have been several brilliant things that I have accomplished through the years and someday I'll list some of those in a subsequent blog. ;-)

Oh! I almost forgot. Notice that Lyle still says "Love" at the end of his message. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. :-)))

The Slingshot/Beanshooter Man

This is the story of a man who makes sling shots and shoots them like an expert marksman.

Click anywhere on text above to watch.

Stupidest thing I've done since RVing (well one of them)

In our Cardinal 34TS Fifth wheel there isn't a good place to hang your bath towel after showering so I decided that I needed to install a towel bar somewhere. However there wasn't a good place large enough except on the shower door itself. Knowing that it wasn't feasible to try and drill holes through tempered safety glass I abandoned the idea. But upon discussing my predicament with my fellow RV snowbird friends over morning coffee they were all of the opinion that the "glass" was not glass at all but hardened acrylic as glass was surely too heavy to install in an RV. So upon further examination (finger tapping etc.) I became convinced that they were indeed right. I then ordered, on line, a $55 shower door towel bar which was delivered by our friendly UPS man yesterday afternoon.
I happily got my drill, bits, & tool box from the RV basement an headed up to the bedroom. As I began to drill a mounting hole in the proper position, I thought to myself, "Wow! This hardened acrylic is really hard". After about a minute or so of steady drilling I decided that I should give the drill a rest. Now here's where the story gets real nasty! As soon as I released pressure on the drill and was drawing it back from the door...POW...instant crazing of the entire door into tiny glass pieces. Obviously, it was indeed tempered glass. I've since checked on the internet and these doors cost in the neighborhood of 6 to 8 hundred dollars. Ouch!!
And needless to say, I'm not too popular with Teddy right now. She had to clean up all the glass...as I was too busy trying to drink up all of my scotch..so now I'm also out of scotch and I have a headache. Sometimes it just doesn't pay to get up in the morning!
On the plus side, the boys at coffee this morning got a good laugh!

PICTURES FOLLOW!



Click on pict for fullsize image.
You can actually see the "epicenter" midway up the right side.



































Glass everywhere!





























In the words of Frank Barrone from, "Everybody Loves Raymond"
HOLY CRAP!!!

2009

Last evening we welcomed 2009 with a new years eve party. Around seven p.m. or so, about fifty of us park residents gathered in the clubhouse for snacks & drinks.




We began with a scavenger hunt that Pat Schumacher had organized. Those of us who wished to play lined up and counted off like we used to do in high school gym class to chose up teams of six people each. And then armed with a list that Pat handed out off we went. To the amusement of the rest of us, the members of the winning team were each awarded a prize of a roll of toilet paper.










After that we attacked the "Goodies Table" and settled in for drinks and conversation. And later on we turned the lights down low and had music from the Jukebox for dancing. Of course because we are all "Seniors" everyone was partied out by about eleven p.m. and by eleven thirty all had gone home.








After all, the ball had dropped in Times Square at ten, Arizona, time and that was good enough for us!
We're looking forward to a great 2009 and good riddance to 2008.
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU AND YOURS

Christmas 2008

Today we celebrated Christmas with a dinner in the clubhouse.

The tables were all decorated by some of the snowbirds here in the park. Here are Fran Clark and Donna Vig hard at work making table decorations.








I drilled half-inch holes in these glass blocks and then Teddy threaded Christmas lights inside to use as table center pieces. After the dinner was over we drew names and gave them away to six lucky recipients.


By 5 pm on Christmas eve we had the tables all set up.

At 3pm this afternoon we gathered at the clubhouse and I, as is my wont, had again written a poem for the event which I read to the assemblage before dinner.
Gad, I'm such a ham!


A visit from Saint Havasu

‘Twas the week before Christmas and all through the park,
The ladies were cooking, even Fran Clark.
Ovens were lit; cookies were baking.
I didn’t have a clue of what Teddy was making.

Jim Over was playing; his pipes were ‘a dronin’,
And Irene with her cell phone the grandkids was phonin’.
At Dingmans Carol was trying to be heard,
But Don with his hearing aid off hadn’t heard a word.

At Babcocks Jim was making his pie,
And dreaming of Carol, a tear in his eye.
Buck-up Jim No time for tears
She will be back in time for New Years.

And now, it’s here, it’s Christmas day,
Where the time went, I cannot say.
The years go by like Larry King’s wives,
Faster even than Larry Weber drives.

Now we must pause and think of those
Who cannot be here; Petersons & Bristows.
But they’ll be back, of that I’m assured,
With surgeries done and troubles cured.

But lets get back to the subject at hand,
And this glorious dinner that Pat has planned
The table’s piled high with goodies galore;
There’s naught among us could ask for more

Laverne & Pat have been working hard,
We all hold them in high regard.
We shout to them three cheers, at least,
For they have arranged this glorious feast.

So now we partake in our Christmas feast day
You see before you a glorious buffet
So pile your plates with gravy & taters’
Turkey, dressing and sliced tomaters’
Just help yourself, there are no waiters.

And later on after you depart,
And are about to pass an after dinner fart
Just pour yourself another glass of wine
Let’s do this again in two-thousand nine

Larry Page 12/25/2008

Then we went straight to the business at hand!
We had turkey, ham, dressing, potatoes & gravy, and a host of casseroles and deserts bought by the park residents. I, of course, made my famous "Spanish Deviled Eggs Supreme"
and Teddy made two clafoutis. (see our blog of August 20, 2008)

A good day! :-)

Stand by Me

Playing For Change: Song Around the World | Stand By Me from Concord Music Group on Vimeo.

Saturday Breakfast

Every Saturday morning from 8 till 9:30 volunteer snowbird residents of the park host a breakfast in the clubhouse. We serve up scrambled eggs, sausages, biscuits & gravy, waffles, juice and coffee. For legal reasons we don’t charge but instead ask for a “freewill” donation; most folks throw in a fiver per breakfast which covers our expenses and allows us to make a small profit which we use to finance our daily morning coffee in the clubhouse with pastries on Wednesdays. And also put on dinners at Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentines and St. Pats day. Yesterday, Dec. 20 was the second breakfast of this winter and we will continue through March.




Here are some of the kitchen staff getting ready for the morning rush.






Teddy and I both volunteer…she does pre breakfast set-up and works the dining room and I make waffles to order.









Here are some of the hungry RVers enjoying their breakfast.
(note: That's Teddy in the purple shirt walking down the aisle serving coffee.)




And, of course, there's always some washin'-up to do afterward as Gail Valentine & Teddy can attest.








I not only have a lot of fun making and hawking my wares but also get to enjoy a great breakfast at a good price.

Monday Martinis (a tradition)

In our previous life before we went “fulltime” we had a tradition that stretched back over some thirty odd years of hosting what was known as “Martini Monday” at our home. Several of our friends would drop in around 5 pm on Mondays for martinis and sometimes snacks. The rule was that you had to have two martinis, no more, no less because martinis were like boobs, i.e. “One’s not enough and three’s too many”.
It all started with my good friend Kevin Fenner who lived in Appleton at the time. Kevin worked with me at Lawrence University and we started to meet at my house for martinis on Mondays after work. Before long we became martini snobs and even experimented with stuffing our own olives by replacing the paste pimentos that come in store bought olives with real pimentos. We also made them sans ice, eschewing ice for fear of diluting the martini. Instead we kept the gin in the freezer and the vermouth in the refrigerator. We also began adding, in addition to an olive, a pickled onion and a “little tickler”* to each martini under the theory that it was healthy to eat vegetables and decided that three was the optimum number. After a time we were joined by another friend, Lawrence alum Dick Orr who had moved to Appleton to open a Law Office.
The years went by and Kevin’s job took him to Naperville, ILL but Dick and I faithfully kept up the Monday Martini tradition, with other friends and/or wives joining us on occasion. Eventually the core group of Monday Martini club members stabilized to myself & Teddy, Dick & Jenny Orr, Tom & Carol Sykes, and Greg Madson. While we all couldn’t always make every Monday invariably one or two members always seemed to show up and if Teddy & I couldn’t host for some reason it would get shifted to someone else’s house.
I must say that we were probably responsible for a significant amount of the gin sales in Appleton.
Fast forward to 2005. Teddy and I decide to sell our home, buy an RV and hit the road as fulltime Rvers. Would this be the end of the Monday Martini club? Not on your life, the remaining members have stepped into the breech and alternately host it. And I, wherever I am, always have my martini at ~5pm on Mondays. However I am now in the habit of substituting a Jalapeño slice for the “little tickler”* and, depending on the time difference, I sometimes phone back to Appleton to check in.
LONG LIVE MONDAY MARTINIS


*Little Tickler – A small olive size pickled tomato

Traverse City snow scene

My brother and sister-in-law, Lyle & Kathy Page recently emailed me this photo of their home in Traverse City, Michigan taken after an overnight snowstorm. While it is a beautiful Christmas card type scene, it doesn't seem nearly as beautiful after two hours of shoveling just to get your car out of the garage. Just thinking about it makes me happy that we are now spending our winters in Arizona.
Merry Christmas Lyle & Kathy, bet you can't wait to head for Myrtle Beach, SC, where you usually spend the winters.
You should come to Arizona this winter, there's an empty RV spot right next to us. ;-)

Decorating for Christmas

Yesterday afternoon we all met at the clubhouse to decorate it for the Christmas holiday season. While the others decorated I wandered around snapping picts.





Teddy and Sharon started by putting strings of lights on the tree.



















Meanwhile Jim V. decided to try and untangle the outside lights...
























...and Ray V. thought he could help.
















And then in turn, first George...






















...and then Al got in the act.




Eventually they got them all straightened out.















So that Shorty and Laverne could take them and start on the outside decorations.
















Leo and Ray U. were in charge of setting up the music system.













Donna was hard at work preparing a table display.



















After the tree lights were all strung, Teddy and Fran unpacked the tree ornaments.


Finally it was done and the tree was lit in all of it's glory.

In the meantime Pat was in the kitchen making chili and potato soup to feed the hungry volunteers.













I had the chili and Teddy had the potato.
It was a real fun day!

Happy Hour!

Sorry to have not blogged recently but have been busy on another of my projects, making aluminum game boards for P&G. Will post a blog on them when the project is finished.

In the meantime, yesterday was this winters first all-park "Happy Hour Thursday" in the clubhouse. From now till spring we will gather in the clubhouse for a park wide BYOB get-together at ~ 4:00 pm on Thursdays.

Here are some of the folks just getting started. Notice how happy they look!








Most folks bring goodies as well...here is the goodie table after being attacked by the hungry hordes.
















On other days of the week a lot of us gather in smaller groups outside of each others trailer or MH for drinks at around the same hour of the day. I generally will have a Scotch except on Mondays which is, of course, "Martini Monday" as our good friends in Appleton will attest.

Thanksgiving at Havasu Falls RV Resort

.
Out of the RV and across the park
To the Havasu clubhouse we go;
See the Nescos all set up
And the tables all in a row.

Out of the RV and across the park,
Look at the snowbirds go,
As they limp and shuffle all the way
The going is awfully slow.

Out of the RV and across the park,
Hurry-up don’t be late.
Line up at the buffet table
And fill-up your paper plate.

Out of the RV and across the park
Bring your dish to pass.
Lime flavored Jell-O with peas on the bottom;
It’s sure to give you gas!.

Out of the RV and across the park
Bring your bottle of Tums;
And don’t forget your false teeth set,
Or you’ll be chewing with your gums.

Out of the RV and across the park
I’m sure that you have heard;
The park has donated a great big turkey
And the staff has cooked the bird!.

Out of the RV and across the park
After the dinner’s done;
It’s back to the RV for a nap
Isn’t retirement fun?

.                                                                                    Larry Page 11/27/2008

Home Improvements (shutters)

As a homeowner when we had our home in Appleton, WI, I tended to be what I call "project oriented", meaning that I enjoyed "do-it-yourself projects around the home. I always felt that it was better to tackle a job that you could do yourself rather than pay someone else. My theory was that I should at least start the job and if I got in over my head then that was the time to bring in the experts. And through the years I gained valuable skills in carpentry, roofing, plumbing, electrical etc. I would be working on a project and heading out to the garage for something and my next door neighbor, Norbert Schemm would yell over at me, "What'cha doin' now, Larry!" and my standard answer was always, "Home Improvements, Norbert." Well...when we sold the house and started the full-time RV lifestyle I originally thought that my home project days were over, but it was not to be. Owning and living in an RV presents the same if not more challenges as living in a "stick built" house. As well as normal maintenance I am always looking for modification ideas. (see our blog of Sept. 24)
The latest was to replace the pleated curtains in the Cardinal with something more substantial. Pleated blinds and soffits are de rigueur In just about all of the pull-behinds, fifth wheels and motorhomes sold and ours was no different. They look nice and work reasonably well for occasional casual use. However, with the repeated use of a fulltime living the pull strings wear out and/or the pleats get distorted. So when the strings on the large blinds on our rear picture window failed recently Teddy and I decided to go with something different rather than restringing them. On a shopping trip to Lowes we spotted moveable shutters and I decided that I could adapt them to the Cardinal. I just finished the job and we are well pleased with the result.Here are the original pleated blinds...

...and here are the new shutters.

They should outlast the blinds by a long shot.

House on the Rock

All Wisconsinites are familiar with Wisconsin's famous landmark"The House on the Rock". From time to time we see an example of an Arizona house on a Rock, .ie., a home built high on a mountain ridge or mountain side. They always appear to be quite palatial and isolated from nearby homes. To get to such a home one would also have to have built an access road, not always apparent to the casual viewer. Here is an example that I shot the other day from a city street in Lake Havasu City. While it must be nice to have that kind of money, I think that I would prefer to live in closer contact with others. Here in the RV park there is always someone around with whom to share a howdy, a cup of coffee, or a story with. ;-)

Why are we voting for Barack Obama?

Why are we voting for Barack Obama? One reason is the difference in the tenor of their campaigns. Is Barack Obama saying nasty things about John McCain or Sarah Palin? No, he has always spoken respectfully about McCain and simply blew off Palin as the divisive ploy that she is. Are the Democrats or any of their supporters spreading false hateful, racist, fear-mongering literature and phone messages in these final desperate hours? Not a one.

Perhaps we no longer recognize true leadership because of the vacuum that has been created by the two party system, and the resulting nasty politics has not encouraged the best and the brightest to the forefront, but instead promote the most politically malleable. But Barack Obama beat the system with his leadership abilities. The Democratic Machine did not have him in mind as the candidate - the heir to the throne was supposed to be Hillary Clinton. Instead, Senator Obama inspired millions of people who had never voted in a primary in their lives to come to the polls and the caucuses and, because he inspires respect and ability and trust, (you know, the stuff that leadership entails) he was chosen as the nominee.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a really really smart person in the White House? Someone who is an expert on the Constitution, who will listen to divergent viewpoints and make well-informed decisions that are best for the entire nation instead of his own political party?

Obama is a Christian- not a Muslim. But, even if he was a Muslim, as Colin Powell says, "Why would that matter? It shouldn't in the United States of America," a country founded on the very notion of religious tolerance.
When a party is out of ideas- when they have nothing positive to run on, they use fear and and wedge issues as a platform. FDR cleaned up after Hoover- Clinton after Bush I. McCain and his party are not equipped to clean up after the mess made by Bush II- Obama is.

And lastly, McCain is 72 years old and has had four melanomas. There are many doctors who believe his life expectancy is less than one term in office. The idea of a President Palin scares the hell out of us and it should you too.

The First Name Basis Sinage Project

A sometimes hobby of mine is The First Name Basis Sinage Project which involves taking photos of signs advertising businesses/places, etc that are named after someone's first name, such as "Jim's Barber shop" or "Shorty's Pizza". It all began several years ago in the 90s when I began collecting photos of such signs just named "Larry's Whatever" thanks to my friend "Kevin Fenner" who gave me such a picture as a joke. However I later discovered some other folks (The Stakhanovite Twins) that had organized an online photo group that were seriously doing the same thing but not restricted to just one name.
It can become somewhat obsessive and Teddy thinks it to be a little bit crazy and refuses to accompany me on my occasional photo safaris to find such places. The photos are all on Flickr, which is an online photo storage site where one can upload photos so that you can share with others. I have also kept on collecting my more narrowly defined "Larry" pictures and have started an open group for just those picts here. I also have started another group reserved just for pictures of people named "Larry".
When there are enough of us, We will rule the world!  he...he....he....he....he

Havasu Falls RV Resort

We are now in Lake Havasu City, Arizona at the Havasu Falls RV Resort where we intend to spend the major part of this winter. This will be our fourth winter at this park, first stopping here for two months in Februrary '06. We have made many friends with the other snowbird regulars here and it is always good to see them all again to catch up on their summer adventures.
We arrived here on Tuesday October 14th after an uneventful four hour trip from Pahrump, Nevada where we had been for the last month. Our friends Rob & Sharon from Kenosha, WI, Jerry & Barb from Bronson, MI and Buzz & Linda from Custer, SD were already here. Don & Carol from Wheatland, WY arrived an hour before us and Jim & Carol from Terrebonne, OR arrived yesterday, Friday. So the past few days have been filled with hugs, kisses, hearty handshakes and inquires as to each other's health. After all, we are all pill poppin' old farts. ;-)

Pahrump

Before we leave Pahrump and head on down to Lake Havasu City, we want to let you know a little about the area. Pahrump is 60 miles west of Las Vegas over the Spring Mountains. About 45 miles east of Death Valley, and about 100 miles from Area 51. Pahrump serves as the eastern gateway to Death Valley National Park. Tucked into a long, narrow desert valley, Pahrump is surrounded by public land with Charleston Peak and the Spring Mountains to the east. The mountains to the west of town are the Nopah Mountains which you drive thru on your way to Death Valley. From Vegas you drive the Blue Diamond highway west, and climb up to 5,400 ft and go over the Spring Mountain range. Once over the summit there is a long valley ahead of you leading to Pahrump. The town is at an elevation of 2,725'. The name Pahrump comes from the Southern Paiutes. Pah meaning water, Rimpi meaning rock. Pah Rimpi became Pahrump, the Paiute description for springs or flowing water emerging from rock. There are springs here and at the turn of the century they grew cotton in the valley. The valley is 26 miles long and about 12 miles wide. The population of Pahrump was 24,631 as of the 2000 census, and is presently estimated to be in excess of 32,000. There are several large casinos, and gambling is available just about everywhere. Pahrump is also the location of the closest legal brothels to Las Vegas, including perhaps its most famous, the Chicken Ranch. However brothels are not allowed within the city limits. At one time Heidi Fleiss wanted to open a brothel here for women! We are staying at Terribles Lakeside Casino & RV Resort with 159 RV sites surrounding a spring fed seven- acre man made lake, about 5 miles from downtown. Modern Pahrump is a rambunctious little city, one of the fastest growing communities in the west. It attracts refugees from Las Vegas and Los Angeles, and much of it is still the modest pioneer amalgam of mobile home, cinder block and crackerbox homes. Lately, though, new urban features are conspicuous — there's a two-story bank building, three bright casinos now compete for attention along the highway (Nevada 160), and the tasting room at the Pahrump Valley Winery on Winery Road is busier than ever. There are three traffic lights, city-sized supermarkets, a Wal-Mart Supercenter, and a brand new Home Depot (can Lowe’s be far behind?). The first light is bordered by the Nugget Casino, Terrible's Downtown Casino, Walgreen's, and the Bank of America on the 4 corners and that is the main intersection. The Casinos have on-going buffets which are quite good and very economical. Teddy and I had dinner at the Nugget Casino on Wednesday evening 10/8 (2 for 1 night) for $9.60 total. There is also a sizable retirement community here. Honeysuckle is highly recommended by local nurseries as a great plant for your yard. Grows easily and likes the desert! The mountains are rock, rocks of all colors, no vegetation, and they loom so beautifully. The light bouncing off the many colored rocks changes the colors. It is never the same. The sunrises and sunsets are spectacular. The mountains show them off so well. Few houses have "lawns." Most yards are landscaped in desert rock, cactus of all kinds, mesquite, and cowboy/western motif! Very low maintenance! No wasted water here.
We really like this park and have already made reservations for the month of April after we leave Lake Havasu City.

Gunplay in Pahrump

On Friday night Sept 19 I was awakened at about 2:30 am with what sounded to me like gunshots. Nah, I thinks to myself, can’t be must be some over enthusiastic fireworks fan.
Then about five minutes later there were several reports in rapid succession accompanied by police sirens and fast moving car engines that left no doubt in my mind. “What the hell is going on”, I sez to myself as I got up to investigate. Stepping from the trailer I witnessed several muzzle flashes from behind the rest rooms (about 100 yds away) and about that time an officer yelled at me to get back inside. Thinking that that was an excellent suggestion, I immediately complied and by then Teddy also was up. For the next 45 minutes we (stupidly) sat by the window and witnessed that turned out to be a gun battle between the local police and a well armed nutcase. He evidently had been drinking and got into a violent argument with his wife, shot up her computer and his motorhome and then armed with two automatic handguns and a carbine rifle took a position behind some rocks for the ensuing gun battle where he ambushed and wounded two police officers.
We later found out that he was a “Gulf War” combat vet so he definitely knew how to fight. He was eventually shot and captured and as of now, was released from the hospital and is sitting in jail under a two million dollar bond awaiting prosecution. The two police officers that were shot are also recovering in a Las Vegas hospital.
Several campers suffered bullet damage to their Rvs and or trucks/cars from either direct shots or ricochets but no campers were injured. Thankfully we were spared. The camper across the road from us got two bullets in his motorhome including one into his refrigerator and an Alfa fifth wheel got a bullet through his large rear window. The motorhome where it all started is one of those several hundred thousand dollar models and is still sitting there about a 1/2 block from us. I understand that they can’t move it as he shot up the engine as well as the hydraulic system so that they cannot raise the landing jacks. It appears that they will have to get a large wrecker in here to move it. The police tend to get really pissed when one of their own gets shot in the line of duty so I don’t think that he will be using it any more as he will in all likelihood be spending the rest of his days in the greybar hotel.Here is a scan of the newspaper account that came out the following week. (Click on it for a larger image) (The local Pahrump paper only publishes once a week)
All I can say is, "Things just get weirder and weirdier."

Home Improvements (counter extension)

From time to time we come up with an idea to modify and/or improve on our home on wheels. Last week I embarked on a project to add a foldable counter extension on the back side of our kitchen sink counter.Here is a pict of the finished project. We just finished it today and are pleased with the result. I purchased a pine table top at the local Home Depot, cut it to size with my skill saw and Teddy stained & varnished it. Now we have a breakfast nook in addition to our dining table. I attached it to the underside of the sink counter with a long piano hinge; I then made a fold out support on the right side as I could attach the support to the vertical end of the counter. However, the left end of the shelf ended in a portion of the the sink cabinet where it was too flimsy to attach a support to.



At first I intended on removing the back panel and beef up the counter but with a sudden burst of creative insight, came up with the idea of making a table leg from a baseball bat.











I found this Louisville Slugger at Amazon.com for $24.95. I attached a leg leveler on the handle end and a table leg stud on the other end and...VOLA! A cute table leg support.








Here it is in the travel position. It has to be folded down for travel so that the TV/Computer slide can be retracted.









The final step was to find two counter height (24") stools. A Google search came up with these European designed birch bentwood stools. A big bonus for us is that they are remarkably light, weighing less than ten pounds each and stackable for space saving storage when we travel.

All in all Teddy and I are very pleased with the way that this project turned out....
...and we had dinner on our new countertop tonight.

The Trip West

We are now safely ensconced at Terribles Lakeside RV Resort in Pahrump, Nevada. We left Michigan on August 31 and drove through Michigan's UP to Escanaba where we stayed overnight in the driveway of our RV friends, Dan & Pat Martenson. They took us on a sightseeing drive around the Escanaba area after which Pat had prepared another of her wonderful dinners complete with homemade rhubarb pie. In the evening we played "Mexican Train" dominoes and stayed up talking until well after midnight.
The next morning, Sept. 1 we continued on to Appleton and dropped anchor at Appleton Camping to have some warranty work done on the Cardinal. They kindly let us park in the back of their lot and provided us with electricity. Since it was Labor Day weekend we had to wait until Wednesday the 3rd before they could start the repairs. We didn't mind the wait as it gave us time to visit with our son and daughter-in-law, Mike & Toni. During our stay we also were treated to a dinner with our friends, Dick & Jenny Orr, Tom & Carol Sykes, and Wes Evans at the "Orr House" Jen, as usual put on a great feed. During the week we also had lunch with our friends, Tony Welhouse and his sister Becky Welhouse.
Our repairs finally completed, we again hit the road in the afternoon of Sept. 9 and after overnighting in Tomah, WI, arrived at the Comfort Inn in Sioux Falls, SD on the 10th.
As we are fulltime RVers we have established residence in South Dakota for legal reasons and had to spend a night in a motel/hotel there in order to register to vote. We will now be able to vote in the upcoming November elections by absentee ballot.
I have always wanted to go over the Rockies on I-70 through the famous "Eisenhower Tunnel" so on leaving Sioux Falls the following morning we dropped down to I-80 at North Platte, NB and from there on to Denver and I-70.
It was a hard climb up to the tunnel with an approach grade of 6 percent for several miles. We were glad that we had our GMC diesel but even so we were down to 30 MPH and there weren't many trucks or other RVs passing us.The Eisenhower Memorial Tunnel is located approximately sixty miles west of Denver, Colorado on Interstate 70. It is the highest vehicular tunnel in the world, located at an elevation of 11,013 feet at the East Portal and 11,158 feet at the West Portal. Verified here by our GPS just after entering the East Portal.We saw snow along the road on the east side but although hard to see in this pict., we were surprised by spitting snow upon exiting the West Portal.The 6 percent climb on the east side was replaced by a 7 percent descent on the west. As you can see from this pict., in order to save the brakes I put the truck into low gear to hold us back and still had to gingerly tap the breaks every so often to keep the engine from redlining.
After overnighting one night in Rifle Colorado and another night in Cedar City, Utah,...

...we arrived here at Terribles RV resort in Pahrump' NV on Sunday the 14th.












We paid for a month so will be here till Oct. 14 when we will head on down to Lake Havasu City, Arizona for the balance of the winter.

On the Road Again

Fall is approaching here in Leelanau County, Michigan and it's time for us to pull up stakes and join the annual snowbird southern migration. 

Here we are, all hooked up and ready to pullout tomorrow morning, Sunday August 31. We will spend tomorrow night parked in the driveway of our good friends Dan & Pat Martenson in Escanaba, MI. Then, Monday we will continue on to our former home town, Appleton, Wisconsin where we will spend a few days visiting "old" friends (smile) and our son and daughter-in-law. After we leave Appleton we will travel west to our 'legal home of record', Sioux Falls, SD where we have to spend a night at a hotel in Sioux Falls in order to satisfy residency requirements so that we can register to vote in the upcoming November election(s). Leaving Sioux Falls, we will then continue on westward and plan on staying for a month in a lovely park in Pahrump, Nevada. Then in mid October we will head for Lake Havasu City, Arizona to join up with our many snowbird friends at Havasu Falls RV Resort. Between now and then I'm not sure what internet connections we will be able to connect to, so this blog might be silent for a few weeks. :-(

Till then....

Larry & Teddy (traveling America in order to help the "big oil companies" remain solvent)

Final update on my arm

These photos chronicle the healing progress of my left arm from April to present. I am slowly gaining more momentum to the point that I can now bend my elbow enough to reach my face. I'm told that it might take up to a year before it stops improving. I cannot yet close my hand all the way and my little finger is semi paralyzed, but I don't need my little finger except to dig earwax from the inside of my ear and my elbow still doesn't bend enough for that anyway. I can close the other three fingers enough to comfortably grasp the truck steering wheel so driving is no longer a problem. Teddy is relieved that she will not have to drive the rig back to our winter digs in Arizona.

Clafouti

Clafouti
Originally uploaded by .Larry Page

Today Teddy, made this delicious Clafouti (kla-foo-TEE), a traditional dessert from the Limousin region of France. During the peak cherry season it is often served as a breakfast dish. In France, the dish is often made without pitting the cherries because the pits are thought to enhance the flavor of the batter with a perfume faintly reminiscent of almonds. Whole cherries are also less likely to bleed into the batter.
When other kinds of fruit, such as plums, prunes, apples, cranberries or blackberries are used instead of cherries, the dish is more properly called a "flognarde".

The Birth of a Monarch

Teddy went out looking for monarch caterpillars feeding on milkweed leaves and bought six of them back to the trailer so that we could observe them metamorphose into adult butterflies. The Monarch is a common poisonous butterfly that eats poisonous milkweed in its larval stage and lays its eggs on the milkweed plant. Animals that eat a Monarch get very sick and vomit (but generally do not die). These animals remember that this brightly-colored butterfly made them very sick and will avoid all Monarchs in the future. The monarch gets its poison (cardenolide glycosides) when it is a caterpillar, from eating the poisonous milkweed plant (genus Asclepias) while in its larval (caterpillar) stage. The poisonous Monarch is mimicked by the non-poisonous North American Viceroy butterfly (Limenitis archippus), which has a similar shape, coloration and patterns. Predators who have learned to avoid the Monarch will also avoid the similar-looking Viceroy.
Some groups of Monarchs migrate for over 2,000 miles during August-October, flying from Canada and the USA to overwinter in coastal southern California to the transvolcanic mountains of central Mexico; this was determined by the Canadian scientist Dr. Fred A. Urquhart in 1975. Females lay their eggs along the migratory route. This migration takes up to three generations of Monarchs to complete.
Other Monarchs stay in one area their entire lives. The life span of the adult Monarch varies, depending on the season in which it emerged from the pupa and whether or not it belongs to a migratory group of Monarchs. Adults that emerged in early summer have the shortest life spans and live for about two to five weeks. Those that emerged in late summer survive over the winter months. The migratory Monarchs, which emerge from the pupa in late summer and then migrate south, live a much longer life, about 8-9 months.

I took this series of photographs of the metamorphic process.

(click on picture for a larger image)

CLASSIFICATION
Order: Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths)
Family: Nymphalidae (over 5,000 species of butterflies with dwarfed front legs)
Subfamily: Danaidae (milkweed butterflies)
Genus and species: Danaus plexippus

Breakfast

I just love breakfast, it’s my favorite meal. Eggs, bacon, ham, spam, grits, breakfast steak, toast, biscuits & gravy, sausage, French toast, waffles or pancakes in any combination. All washed down with strong black coffee and a side of V-8 juice. However, unlike Jerry Seinfeld I rarely eat breakfast cereal & milk. Just not a cereal guy.Here is my breakfast from this morning. French toast, bacon & coffee with maple syrup and PB. Spread a generous amount of PB on the FT and then mix in maple syrup to a gooey consistency. Mmmmmm! I can’t eat like this very often though or I’d blow up like a balloon.

Here are some other breakfasts that I have enjoyed in the past.



Spam 'n eggs









Boiled egg, toast & coffee













Soft boiled egg in an egg cup & coffee














Fried egg, bacon, toast & coffee.















Hard boiled egg, tomato slice, banana & coffee

Creepy Crawlies

This summer I have been skulking outside in the yard & garden taking close ups of various insects. Then I try to identify them using the internet. Here are some of the results.



Six-Spotted
Tiger Beetle





















Ant





















Antlion


























Bee on a Lion



















Pallid-winged
Grasshopper
(Trimerotropis
pallidipennis)
Photo taken in Arizona

















Common Fly

















A different
Fly

















Garden Chafer




















Grasshopper



















Mayfly

















Daddy Longlegs

















Another
Mayfly
















Stink Bug
aka Shield Bug




















Another member
of the Shieldbug
aka Stinkbug
family
(Banasa dimiata)

















Inflated Beetle
(Cysteodemus armatus)
Photo taken in Arizona




















Japanese Beetle




















Stag Beetle



















Dining on
a Fly

Cherry Bounce

Teddy's brother, John Schlueter has now started harvesting this years crop of cherries. Teddy and I took the opportunity to produce 10 liters of this years "Cherry Bounce". It is an infusion of vodka, sugar and red tart cherries. We got the original recipe from Teddy's Mother and have tweeked it to our own through the years.



Here is a pict of the bounce aging in gallon jugs.
















Just before we leave here for our winter digs in Arizona we will rebottle the "Bounce" in 750 ml bottles.

Beating the high cost of fuel

With diesel fuel hovering around the $5.00/gallon mark we aren't firing up the truck as often. Traverse City is 20 miles away so we don't go into Traverse unless we have to. We make a list of what we need so that when I have a doctors appointment we also visit Lyle & Kathy (my brother); then go grocery shopping at Sam's & Meijer's, and visit Ace, Lowe's, Staples etc. if necessary. Teddy's mother is homebound and has to have help with meals etc. so Teddy has to visit her daily. Her home is about four miles from here and instead of driving Teddy rides her Greenspeed trike over there.





Here she is all loaded up and ready to go.
















She also rides into the village of Cedar (14 miles round trip) to pick up necessary inci-dentals such as milk, meat, saltpork, bullets and whiskey.