Fred and Wilma's Adventures

Final 4th. Bedroom is finally done.

2012-01-12T12:04:00.000-05:00

Today I put the finishing touches on the 4th. bedroom. With the help of Wilma, we hung the curtains, and an antique picture frame.

The finished 4th. bedroom.

I really took my time on this job. I actually started around December 3rd. removing the old carpet and patching the walls prior to painting. Then came the beginning of the installation of the new floor on December 17th. The walls and ceiling only took 14 days. Now that’s what I call “milking the job”! As there is just two of us living in a 4 bedroom home there was no rush to get the room completed.

The installation of the new floor.

Wilma wanted to keep the “Antique” look for this room, so the first piece of furniture that went in was the vanity dresser. It was from my parents first bedroom furniture set bought in 1949. So I guess that qualifies that piece. The next was the oval picture hung to the left of the the window. It came from my Grandparents next door neighbor, we called her “Aunt Becky” who gave it to Wilma. It’s vintage is somewhere around the 1920’s. It’s actually a convex piece of glass that was hand painted on the inside. I remember Aunt Becky telling us it was supposed to be a famous castle in Germany on the Danube River.

The gold colored round piece above the picture is what was used to hang the picture. Back in those days, the walls were plaster. There was a fairly large decorative molding that was on the walls about 8 inches from the ceiling. On the backside of the gold colored piece is a steel hook that actually fit over and hooked to the molding. We could have hung this picture without using the hanging piece, but I thought it gave it justice to show it just as it was back in the ‘20’s. This is something that Wilma will cherish forever.

Now that this job is completed we both can focus on getting the Motorhome ready for our “Snowbird” flight to Florida late next month. We both are getting pretty excited about that, as this will be our very 1st. time we will be living in Florida for more than a couple weeks.

Until next time, be safe and God Bless.

Inverter Installed

2012-01-06T21:58:00.000-05:00

I have been waiting for a week for today to get here. Why you may be asking? Because the weather forecast was for the temperatures to get up to 50 today! Can you believe it? This is January 6th. in Michigan, and it reached 50 degrees F. today! What a beautiful day it was indeed.

By 10am this morning I was outside getting my tools ready for the installation of my new Sunforce Pro Series 1000 Watt Inverter.

For what I need it for it is a bit overkill, but Amazon was having a sale on this model making it cheaper than the model below it. And we all know, I’m a cheapskate!

Wilma and I had talked a few weeks ago on where the best place would be to install the inverter. With the supply cables being 10 ft. long, I knew it would be somewhere close to the Deep Cycle House Batteries. Wilma came up with the idea of putting it under the kitchen sink. There is a shelf under the sink that is used, but the area under that shelf is available. So after taking some measurements, I found that it indeed would fit in that area.

I would have to first construct a platform between the tan enclosure and the front of the cabinet. To the garage I went and found in my lumber pile the plywood and material needed.

Removable platform in place.

Now it would be a matter of measuring, marking, and drilling the holes in the floor for the 12 volt wiring. Below is the largest outdoor storage area I have. The wiring must pass through this storage compartment, make a 90 degree turn and out to the battery compartment which is just below the steps at the entryway.

Wires dropping through the floor into the storage compartment.

The next step was to drill holes the size of garden hose in the metal compartment wall. This will then get the wires to the battery compartment.

The 12 volt wires going into the battery compartment.

I was lucky in that the 12 volt wires could pass through an old garden hose. So I used the garden hose to isolate any vibration of the wires when passing through the floor and the metal compartment.

The 12 volt wires connected to the “backside” of the inverter.

There is plenty of room available to store the needed Heavy duty extension cord next to the inverter.

The 110 VAC side. The on/off switch, 2 outlets, a 12dc outlet, and meter.

I realize that one of the cabinet doors will have to be slightly open for any cord to be plugged into the inverter. This is ok with me as it will allow for extra ventilation. The only time we will be using this inverter is at night, as we both must use CPAP machines when sleeping.

Last year I used a much smaller “Modified Sine Wave Inverter” to operate my CPAP machine. The batteries held out all night without any noticeable voltage drop. With this “Pure Sine Wave Inverter” we are unsure if both machines can operate the 6 to 8 hours needed without the unit shutting down with low voltage from the deep cycle batteries. The inverter will shut itself off if the voltage in the batteries drops to around 10 volts. We will be keeping our fingers crossed the first night we use the inverter. At the worst we just won’t get a full night sleep. If that happens I might have to be thinking of adding another deep cycle battery to the two we already have.

Until next time, be safe and God Bless.

Sister Judy finds “her” perfect car

2011-12-31T11:40:00.000-05:00

I was at Judy’s home by 9am yesterday to take her “car” shopping. Her plan was to go to the Ford dealer and look at the Focus and Fusion models. If those were not to her liking we would head back to the Chevrolet dealer to talk seriously on purchasing a vehicle. But before we would go to the dealerships, we needed to get everything out of her Toyota that was still at our local repair shop. Arriving there, Mark, the owner of Mechanical Man, asked if we made any deals with the dealerships for trading in the Toyota. I told him the Chevy dealer offered her $500 if we towed it in. He turned to Judy and offered to cut her a check for $500 and she wouldn’t have to pay for the towing fee to get it to the dealer. Judy accepted his check and signed over the title to him. I figured that just saved her around $60 in towing charges, plus she got rid of a car with a blown engine.

At the Ford dealership a salesman greeted us at the door. He showed her the Focus first, and as Judy was entering the car she banged her bad knee on the steering column. Check that model off the list! On to the Fusion. She looked one over on the showroom floor but commented that the price was way out of her budget. The salesman said that if she might be interested in a “slightly used” Fusion he had 1 left out of the 6 that they put up for sale yesterday. The price was in her range so she wanted to take it out for a test drive.

This photo is not of her car. Her Fusion is Silver.

She loved it! She said to me this is exactly what I’m looking for. She said it’s like a bride looking for her bridal dress. After trying on many dresses she just knows when that special dress comes along. So back to the dealership to close the deal.

While they were prepping the vehicle, we decided to go out to lunch. I phoned Wilma and she met us at Royal Café a local restaurant. Judy was excited telling Wilma of her new car, and Wilma was excited for her. After our lunch I took Judy to her insurance agent to get the necessary paperwork done to cover the new car. Then we headed back to the dealership for her to take delivery of her new vehicle. Her “slightly” used vehicle has just 600 miles on it. It was used by one of the management people at the dealership, so we figured it was well taken care of.

So this brings a happy ending to the stressful last few days Judy has had to endure. We all thank God everything turned out as well as it has.

Tonight brings the end of 2011. Wondering what the future holds for our family. What ever it is we look forward with a positive attitude, and know that God will take care of us.

Our wish to all of you is that you find Health, Happiness, and Well Being in the coming year. Happy New Year!

Until next time, be safe and God Bless

Troubling News

2011-12-29T21:24:00.000-05:00

My sister Judy mentioned to me at our Christmas family gathering, that she was thinking of replacing her 11 year old Toyota with a new vehicle. She asked my opinion on how I liked my Malibu, and if I had any suggestions for her.

She phoned me again yesterday telling me that she went to the Toyota dealer and test drove a new car. She asked me once again if I had any recommendations of other vehicles to test drive. We had a nice 45 minute talk and she felt that she had a much better understanding on the different makes and models to compare.

Just before lunch today I received a phone call with some troubling news from my Sister Judy. She told me that she went to the Buick dealer this morning to look at new cars. An appraiser took her 11 year old Toyota out for a test drive to get a better idea on how much they would allow her for a trade in. After a half hour or so a phone call came into the dealership from the appraiser. It seemed that he only drove the car a half mile and the engine quit. The salesman and Sister Judy drove to where the car had stopped. Of course Judy knows practically nothing about the mechanics of the vehicle other than the engine wouldn’t even turn over. They all suspected a dead battery, so they called a wrecker to come get the car. The car was taken to a local independent repair shop that our family has been doing business with for the past 15 years. “Mark” the owner of the repair shop did a quick inspection as the Toyota was being taken off the wrecker. There was a large puddle of oil on the bed of the wrecker under the Toyota. He noticed a large hole in the engine block! The salesman ended up taking Judy back to her home, and that’s when I received the panic stricken, very upset, troubling news from my Sister.

After talking to her, getting upset myself, I told her I was going to go talk to Mark. Possibly, from there go to the Buick dealership to talk to the management about their appraiser test driver. But after talking to Mark it was determined that the engine did indeed “blow a rod of piston” through the block. Could it have been caused from the test drive? Possibly, but proving that would be almost impossible. Mark said without actually getting any prices, he would guess that the cost to replace the engine with a used engine would be upwards of around $3000.00. That’s more than we both thought the car was worth. I thanked him for looking at it and told him we would be in touch tomorrow on what we are planning on doing with the car.

I left and went over to Judy’s home. Explained to her that her Toyota was a total loss, and that she needed to purchase another vehicle. She didn’t want to go back to the Buick dealership so I took her to the Chevrolet dealership. She test drove two vehicles. The first one being a sub compact, which model name escapes me. But after the drive I pointed out to her that the engine was made in Korea. Nope, we don’t want that. Talking to the salesman he suggested she take the Cruise out for a test drive. This vehicle was much better, and she even commented while driving it that she really liked that vehicle. Back at the dealership, we got the “out the door” price and bid farewell.

As we were on our way back to her home, I tried to calm her down a little. I told her that she has to look at “the other side of this coin.” It was almost a miracle that she wasn’t driving the Toyota on the free way when the engine blew. She could have lost control, and possibly been killed! God must have given you “His Guidance” that it was time to replace the Toyota. So instead of looking at the side of the coin that shows all the trouble that happened today, look at the side that shows you will be getting a brand new vehicle, and that your life may have been spared! She smiled, looked at me and said, “Thank you Fred, I didn’t think of that, and now I feel much better about this”.

Tomorrow morning at 9am I am going over to Judy’s, and possibly take her to the Ford dealership as she wants to go look at the Ford models. I believe she is interested in test driving the Focus and the Fusion. Afterwards I presume she will make up her mind as to which of the three makes of vehicles she may want to purchase, another Toyota, a Chevrolet, or a Ford.

My prayer to God tonight will be for asking for His guidance for her tomorrow, relieve her of the troubles of today, and give her the joy and excitement of owning a new vehicle.

Until next time, be safe and God Bless.

Christmas Past

2011-12-27T08:56:00.000-05:00

I’m really slacking on updating my Blog. Been reading other blogs on their Christmas Holiday and thought, OMG, I haven’t posted about our Christmas yet and it’s Christmas Past by two days already!

Gifts under the tree await the arrival of the Daughters and Grandkids.

As in the past, our daughters and Grandchildren come over to have breakfast before opening gifts. This year was no exception, and Wilma and I really enjoy cooking a great breakfast for our family.

Getting the biscuits out of the oven.

Of course I have to sample the Bacon!

Everyone arrived hungry, some of them still in their pj’s! Can you tell Dakota does not like his picture taken?

It doesn’t take long for the line of hungry family to start filling their plates. Eggs, bacon, biscuits, milk gravy, donuts, OJ, Mmmm Good.

Just as soon as everyone completed their breakfast, we all moved into the living room where the gifts were waiting to be opened. Rebecca, Savannah, and Brooke were the first, waiting for everyone else.

Everyone seemed to like their gifts that they received this year. I don’t believe any will end up going back for exchange.

Proud of my family

From my family to yours, We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Blessed, Healthy, and Joyous New Year!

Parties–Gifts–Cookies

2011-12-15T12:52:00.000-05:00

No hints from the weather that Christmas is just around the corner, but our activities prove different.

Yesterday morning Wilma and I attended our first “UAW Local 1248 Retiree’s Christmas Party”. We both got a chuckle out of the weather we had to drive through to get there. Rain…December 14th. and rain in Michigan! I can never remember it raining in December in Michigan, and I’m not complaining one bit.

9:30am, rain with temps in the high 40’s. On our way to the Retiree’s Party.

I’ll take the sprinkles any day over snow and cold.

The party was a huge success with over 300 in attendance. At a cost of only $5.00 per person you received a wonderful meal, open bar, and close to 50 chances to win a gift certificate to Red Lobster or Texas Longhorn. They also held 3- 50/50 drawings, and raffled off at least 40 other gifts ranging from liquor to gift certificates to local Target, and Wal-Mart stores.

As our local is shared with a Chrysler Corp. plant and General Dynamics plants, it was great to be able to see a few of my fellow workers from General Dynamics. We did get there early enough to reserve a table for 6 as we knew two other couples were going to meet us there.

Standing is Al M. (Union Steward Active) Myself, Bob M.(Millwright Retired), & Bob K.(Carpenter Retired)

I couldn’t leave out a picture of our beautiful wives! Here is Karen M., Donna K., and Wilma.

We all had a great time, and I look forward to next year to attend another.

Today Wilma started cooking the Christmas cookies while I started wrapping the gifts. As Wilma does all the Christmas gift shopping I feel that the least I could do is wrap them. I’m like most guys, I hate shopping! But Mom taught me as a child how to wrap Christmas gifts.

Here is Wilma hard at work baking those wonderful Christmas cookies. Tomorrow she will tackle the making of some fudge! Mmm Good.

Listening to the holiday music, smelling the aroma of Cookies baking, makes my job much easier. You know it does take a considerable amount of skill to handle those huge scissors without doing harm to myself!

That’s about it for now, so until next time, be safe and God Bless.

It’s Official, Winter is Here!

2011-11-30T18:30:00.000-05:00

First off I’d like to acknowledge and welcome two new followers to our Blog. Bud Russman of Arizona RV Guy and Bev also known by her chat room handle as Soulmate315. Welcome and I hope I don’t bore you too much with my ramblings.

Yesterday it rained constantly. The weathermen said we received almost 2” of rain in 24 hours, which was a record breaker for the Detroit area. It sure looked like we received much more than just 2” with all the news showing everyone’s homes flooded. I’m sure happy I live in an elevated area, I didn’t get a drop of water in my basement, thank goodness.

So with all the rain we had yesterday, the forecast was calling for a possibility of snow by the morning. We woke this morning to our official dusting of snow.

So I guess I’ll just say it’s official here at home, Winter has arrived! I was a little nervous seeing the snow this morning as I haven’t winterized my new John Deere Power Washer yet. So after my morning coffee I headed out to the garage and made sure there wasn’t any water still in the pump. Actually I started the air compressor and hooked up the air line just like I do the Motorhome, and blew what little water was still in the pump out.

My post from November 22nd. showed the Christmas deer that I replaced the original lights with LED lights. This evening I just had to show you how they look “in action” outside our bow window.

The one on the right has the new LED lights.

Until next time, be safe and God Bless.

Thanksgiving Dinner with Family

2011-11-24T21:14:00.000-05:00

We just had a total of 24 family members for a Thanksgiving Dinner. My sister Judy’s son Derek, his wife Veronica and daughter Marissa flew in from Utah to spend this Thanksgiving with his mother and the rest of the family.

Steve, Judy’s friend, my sister Judy and her son, Derek.

Everyone brought a plate to pass. So much food that we had plenty of leftover’s for anyone who wanted some. My job was mostly the Turkey’s.

Starting the carving of the first of two Turkey’s.

Just behind me was my brother Ken holding Hayden, his Grandson. Hayden wanted to see where the Turkey’s were because he was hungry!

In our basement we had a 6 foot table set up to hold the food. Two 10 foot rows of tables with seating on both sides and a coffee table set up to hold the deserts. Catherine’s husband Scott said the prayer and immediately the family lined up to fill their plates.

The “desert table.” Just gotta have a Pumpkin Pie! So how about 4 of them, along with a wide assortment of other deserts.

My youngest sister, Catherine, had a great idea she shared with everyone a couple weeks ago. She suggested that we all participate in a “show and tell” of what we are thankful for. Everyone should bring in something that has a special meaning to them and share their feelings with the rest of the family.

Everyone thought this was a great idea, so after dinner we started with the youngest and worked our way up to the eldest, which was my dad.

The children, my grand kids generation, did a superb job. Most everyone of them touched a tender spot on the hearts of their parents and Grandparents.

We continued up the age group and when it was Derek’s turn, he became a little emotional. His voice breaking and showing a tear really touched some of us. You could tell what he was saying was “from the heart”. Next it was my daughter Angel’s turn. But after listening to her cousin Derek, she was choked up and wiping the tears from her eyes! Actually there were more wet eyes from the “Guys” than from the “Gals”!

As these spoken words from my family members were from deep down and personal, I feel that I just can’t go into much more detail. Other than to say it was great that we all participated, and I personally feel that it brought the family even closer together. Thank You Catherine for suggesting this “show and tell”.

Wilma and I wish to extend a Happy Thanksgiving Holiday greeting to all our readers!

Until next time, be safe and God Bless.

This product really does work.

2011-11-22T13:28:00.000-05:00

We all have seen those infomercials on TV of products that just seem way to un-believable. One of those products that I have seen for several years now, only around this time of year is the Light Keeper Pro. This gadget is said to fix those strings of Christmas lights that just refuse to light.

I, being a gadget kind a guy, just had to try it out as I had several strings of lights that were either fully out or partially out. Getting on the internet, I found that Lowes was the least expensive for this item. So off I went and with $17.00 removed from the wallet, I was now the proud owner of a “Light Keeper Pro”!

I have a large wreath that I hang on the front of the garage. Only half the lights actually work, and for the past several years I just wouldn’t plug it in. An un-lit wreath is better than no wreath at all I figured. So I followed the directions and within 5 minutes ALL the lights now work! Amazing! I didn’t have to change a single bulb. A few pulls of the trigger and like magic they all came on.

So with the smile on my face for “fixing” the bad string of lights, I hung the wreath up on the garage for season decorations. I then proceeded to tackle an even larger problem. More than half the lights on one of our “metal frame deer” doesn’t work. Following the instructions again, and presto, about half the lights turned on. Success, now lets see if we can get the remaining half to light. I just knew this was going to be a little more difficult as the bulbs that were out showed signs of being burnt inside the bulb. All the lights on the neck, head, and antlers showed signs of being burnt inside the bulbs.

Wire frame deer that 2/3rds. of the lights didn’t light up.

I tried to get the rest of them lit, but it just wasn’t going to happen. Knowing how much Wilma likes her deer, I took a trip to Walmart and purchased some white LED lights. I really hated to buy lights before Christmas, because of having to pay full price. But I just needed to get this deer out front working for Wilma.

Just 4 strings of the $7.00 LED lights, and about 3 hours of work, and presto, a fully lit deer. I’m sure we will get many years of trouble free service out of this deer now, and as a plus, I have many spare bulbs for the other deer that still has the “old fashion” bulbs!

Same deer but with new LED lights.

I just have to say, the deer looks much much better outside in the front yard lit up than it does on the kitchen table.

Another update on our Samsung refrigerator. I first blogged about it HERE. It seems that the last repair was not the culprit. There is still a fan sounding like it’s hitting something and eventually slows and comes to a stop even while the compressor is still running. Another service call to Lowes was made, and tomorrow morning around 10am the service man will once again take a look and see if he can find a problem. Keeping my fingers crossed he does find a problem.

Until next time, be safe and God Bless.

A Special Veterans Day Experience

2011-11-12T09:49:00.001-05:00

Who knew what would be in store for Wilma and I this day, 11/11/11 Veterans Day.

I being a US Navy Veteran always had a special feeling deep down on this day and Memorial Day. But this day was to become a very special day for Wilma and I.

Wilma and I had talked early in the morning about going to Applebee's for dinner as they were honoring all Veterans with a free meal. Not that I’m a cheepo, or one who only looks for freebees, but I just felt that this would be a great time for Wilma and I to enjoy a dinner together.

We also had talked about going over to my brother Ken’s home, as he was having an open house for his son Kenny, his wife Jami and son Bryan, who were home on leave from the Marine’s.

Around 4:30 we left for Applebee’s. Arriving there we noticed that they had erected a small tent enclosure to handle the over flow of customers. The parking lot was full but we were lucky to find a spot just as a well satisfied customer was leaving.

Walking into the vestibule, I noticed a young vet with a Navy sweatshirt on. I gave him the thumbs up and told him I was also in the Navy. That was about the end of our conversation, as I proceeded to give my name to the Applebee’s gal putting me on the waiting list.

After a couple minutes, Wilma and I moved into the restaurant to wait, much warmer than the vestibule, or the tent outside. We were only there about 5 minutes when my name was called!

I was asked if we would mind sharing a table with another party of two. I said no I didn’t mind if they didn’t mind, not knowing at this time who we were going to share the table with. We were led to our table along with the young Navy man wearing the sweatshirt that I briefly talked to in the vestibule!

Arriving at our table, the four of us introduced each other. Sat down and immediately had conversation.

What a wonderful time the four of us had. Never a dull moment during the meal and each of us had a turn at conversation. Wilma and I met through a blind date, so did they. Something to say about blind dates huh? Told them of our plans to go to Florida in March, he said his Father lives in Naples, FL. the very city we were going to. I told them about my working experience since I left the Navy, and retiring from General Dynamics, a defense contractor for the TACOM. He said his Uncle works for TACOM and knew all about the contracts with GD. He told us about his working experience since leaving the Navy, starting out working on a farm in Yale, MI and ending up working for the VA Hospital in Ann Arbor, MI. where he is presently employed. We found it amusing when he said he was one of the “older” of employees at the hospital. Then we found out that he was 28!

Here we were, sitting with complete strangers almost 40 years younger than us, and the four of us enjoying each others company so tremendously during our dinner! Amazing to me, just amazing!

As we finished, we shook each others hands and bid farewell, we turned and as we walked away I knew that we would probably never have an experience like that ever again. Taking notice of all the Veterans in the restaurant, some eating, some waiting for a table, some alone, some with their families, you just couldn’t help but feel the comradery and the feeling of belonging.

Walking outside to the car, a couple asked if we enjoyed our dinner. Turning around was a couple walking to their car, about the same age group as us. We told them of the experience we just had and he said he also was in the Navy! Asking what year he said 69 to 73. I shook his hand and told him 68 to 72 US Navy and we departed company. Wow, another “small world” moment came to Wilma and I.

Thank You Applebee’s for honoring the Veterans on this Veterans day!

We left and visited with family at Ken’s home, concentrating on Kenny and his future plans as a Marine. The little nephew of mine has turned out to be quite an honorable man! Good luck and be safe Kenny!

Until next time, be safe and God Bless.

Bragging Rights Today

2011-11-10T18:37:00.000-05:00

Yesterday evening Wilma and I went to watch our Grand daughter Brooke play in her last of the season basketball game. There were a total of 10 games, and we were not going to miss this game. Angel, our daughter, Brooke’s mom, said that she has not made any baskets during a game. She doesn’t have any problem making a basket during the practice session. But when it comes to the game she just hasn’t been able to find the hoop.

That was until the last game, with only 6 seconds remaining in the game!

Our 11 year old Grand daughter Brooke

Brooke’s Basketball Team. She is 5th. from the left, top row. Jersey #9

The video below shows her last shot and basket and how excited she was to make it. In the background you can hear her coach yelling out to the team to pass the ball to Brooke. About all I could make out was him yelling out her name.

Her jersey is #9 but it’s hard to make out any of the numbers. After her shot and basket, you can hear her mom and Nana yelling with excitement. It was a perfect time in her young life to make this shot and basket! What a memory for all of us!

Brooke making a basket with just 6 seconds left in the game.

It was a night that we will never forget.

Until next time, be safe and God Bless

Fridge is Fixed and More Followers

2011-11-04T12:18:00.000-04:00

A thank you goes out to two new followers of our Blog. Jolly Ollie joined us along with Bud Russman. Bud has a very informative blog called Arizona RV Guy. His blog is really worth reading for the in depth information he furnishes on everything RV. Welcome to our Blog Ollie and Bud!

Last week I phoned Lowes and requested service on our Samsung Refrigerator. Seems that the condenser fan would start with the compressor, but after several minutes would come to a stop.

Within a day, last Friday, a service tech. confirmed that we needed to have a new condenser fan motor and ordered it. I was phoned yesterday by the service company that the tech would be out today to replace the motor.

The new condenser fan motor. A 12 volt DC motor.

The original motor lasted 10 months. Hopefully the new motor will last a lifetime!

Our service tech arrived this morning around 11am and by 11:40am he had completed the replacement and was leaving.

Our service Tech. I didn’t want to use the flash, that’s why the blur in the picture.

Later today I’m planning on re-stringing our last shade in the Motorhome. Then removing the batteries and putting them on a trickle charge until next February when I’ll be re-installing them back in the Motorhome.

Until next time, be safe and God Bless.

Halloween, Memories, and Yard Work

2011-11-01T14:50:00.000-04:00

Yesterday being Halloween brought back so many memories for me. Fond memories at that!

Growing up as a kid, Halloween was one of those holidays that stayed with me in memory. I guess it’s because of the way we were raised. Mom and Dad instilled upon us that you should do to others that you would want to be done to you. We always had that saying fresh in our minds in our daily lives growing up. I guess that’s probably what kept my brother and I out of some serious trouble in those growing up years.

However, on Halloween, or should I say Devils Night, Mom and Dad allowed us to go out and “soap” some windows. To us that was a pretty serious violation in our minds. That’s probably why this holiday sticks with me.

But most of all, it’s my Grand kids that keep bringing those fond memories back. Seeing them all dressed up in costume, all excited to hurry and go house to house trick or treating, reminds me of when I was a kid. Two generations later, and the same excitement is in the kids of today as for me when I was that age.

Savannah, Brooke and Rebecca

Today however the homes are decorated much better than when I was a kid. My neighbor actually starts decorating 3 weeks prior to Halloween. Every evening for those 3 weeks we almost have a parade of cars filled with admirers.

Some of the display in Benny’s front yard.

Brooke waiting to get a picture of the clown that jumps out of the box.

Mr. Clown jumping up and toward anyone who walks near him.

The clown jumping up and toward anyone who passes by scarred many trick or treaters. I could hear the kids screaming each time he jumped up and out! What fun!

Have to walk through the spider web to get your treats.

How about a hazy Grave Yard…

I believe the home owners doing this decorating have as much fun, or maybe more fun, than the trick or treaters.

As the Grand Kids arrived back at our home, tired from walking, they did exactly the same thing I did when I returned home after hours of trick or treating. Dump the baskets and bags of candy on the living room floor, separating the “best” candy to keep, the rest to trade off.

Checking out the treats on the living room floor

Yep, seeing my Grand Kids having so much fun at Halloween, really brought back those old memories of yesteryear.

Today brought sunny skies and temperatures in the low 60’s. A perfect time for me to get out and get some leaves picked up, especially today as the weatherman is calling for rain in a couple days.

Flower pots need to be cleaned out and stored for the winter, leaves need picking up.

I had a few flower pots that needed to be cleaned out also. I actually lost track of the hours spent working in the yard today, even after a lunch break there was a few more hours of work left. I would venture to say I spent at least 5 hours working, which means I’m pretty pooped out and plan on relaxing the rest of the day.

Before and After pictures. I just noticed you can’t even tell I had ALL the leaves picked up. They are falling fast today.

Six bags packed tightly, weighing more than 50 lbs. each is what was collected today.

This evening I plan on taking “My Hon” out to dinner at our local family restaurant. Afterward just relaxing and probably going to bed early tonight.

So until next time, be safe and God Bless

A Long Week, been Very Busy.

2011-10-29T16:47:00.000-04:00

Last Thursday, the 20th. we left with our friends Joe & Diane for an extended week-end of camping. We were headed for Rifle River in Sterling, MI. When we planned the trip back 3 months ago, we didn’t think the advancement of the fall colors would be so far south.

Taking a walk through the deserted campground.

On our way north, I commented to Wilma that the colors were about 95% at our home, but a 3 hour drive north there won’t be much color left. That’s just about how we found the colors to be at the campground. The only trees that still had any color leaves were the Birch and Oak trees. But they sure did look pretty and the cool temperatures got us in the mood for accepting the Fall weather. It was in the 50’s during the days and down to the lower 30’s at night.

Joe, Diane, Wilma and myself had the entire campground to ourselves until 9pm when Gary and Cheryl arrived. The next morning we did notice there was a couple in one of the rental trailers. We got to meet them Friday evening when they came over to our campfire and told us they were leaving Saturday morning and that we could take the remaining firewood they had. We appreciated the firewood and by the end of the Weekend all the firewood we had was burned.

Diane F., Joe F., Cheryl S., Wilma H., Gary S., and of course Kybee our Pug on the dash of our MH.

Wilma standing at the bank of the Rifle River.

Just on the other bank of the River is Whites Canoe and Campground. Just to Wilma’s right, in the picture above, is the canoe take out spot, not only for Whites, but for our resort. With membership reservations at our campground you are entitled to one canoe and a two hour paddle down the river, at no charge. Maybe some year we just might try it out. But from what we have been told this campground is full of the 20+ age groups that enjoy the canoeing, like we did at that age.

Along our walk through the campground, we came upon “THE HILL”. Just 3 or 4 years ago we went up that hill with little effort. BUT…..this time was a challenge for all of us.

Doesn’t look very high or steep, but it’s close to 25 feet high and steep! Plus the leaves were wet from rain the night before.

The video I shot below mostly shows everyone’s rear end. But I just couldn’t help myself as I thought it could have been one of those “magic moments” and wanted to get it on film. Don’t really know if it’s very funny to my readers, but for us we had a great laugh over our struggle to get up the hill.

We did pretty good considering our age!

We all had a great time camping this weekend. From sitting around the campfire exchanging lies, to having a Chili cook off dinner we all shared. More memories made.

We left Monday afternoon and headed back home, arriving home around 4pm. Unpacked the fridge and some essentials and then crashed in front of the TV. I believe we were in bed by 8pm.

Tuesday at 11am, I was to take Tina and Rebecca to the Children’s Hospital in Detroit. Rebecca needed to have some minor surgery. I drove so Tina could be with her on our return home later in the day. Surgery went terrific and we were back home by 5pm. We took the family out to dinner except for Tina and Rebecca who stayed back at home. For them we got a carry out.

Wednesday I worked on removing all the food items and liquids out of the Motorhome. Wow…we didn’t realize we had so many canned goods in the MH. Wilma said she won’t pack nearly half that amount when we go to Florida in February. After everything was removed from the MH that we needed taken out, I proceeded to Winterize it. Blew out all the water lines and added anti freeze to the traps in the kitchen and bathroom. Next will be to remove the batteries, bringing them into the house and putting them on a trickle charge until next February.

Thursday and Friday we had rain off and on all day, so no work was done outside.

Saturday came and I changed the oil and oil filter in the MH. Afterward I started up the lawn mower and hopefully cut the grass for the last time this year. Within a half hour after finishing up mowing the lawn, the skies darkened and we got another shower. Perfect time for lunch. Wilma had already prepared Tuna sandwiches for us.

After lunch I taped plastic onto the whole house attic fan. I found that by doing this each fall it stops a considerable amount of heated air escaping through the movable louvers all winter. Saves on the heat bill.

No air can get through the plastic or the aluminum duct tape. Airtight seal is accomplished saving heating $$$.

That’s about it so….

Until next time, be safe and God Bless.

Baking and RV Blind Repair

2011-10-15T15:27:00.000-04:00

Today I re-strung one of two blinds in the Motorhome that needed repair. As I have re-strung both blinds in the bedroom of the MH, I didn’t for see any problems with the dining table blind. I removed the blind and took it to our kitchen table to work on it.

The first thing you notice is that the strings are connected to a pair of tension springs located in the top frame. Plus the strings that are threaded through the left side of the blind actually exit the blind on the lower right side.

Showing the “upper” section of the shade with the tension springs.

Taking a close look at the “lower” section of the shade showed severe wear. The old string actually cut through the plastic grommet and the frame. It was no wonder the old string broke!

Sorry for the blur, the cut from the string goes through toward the right

This cut of the grommet and frame had to some how be fixed or the new string would fall into the cut area and end up breaking. I figured a few layers of black plastic tape covered with some aluminum tape should do the trick.

Aluminum tape over 3 layers of black plastic tape

The aluminum tape has superb holding strength plus the string should slide over it fairly easily.

While I was working on the blind, Wilma was busy on the other side of the kitchen, baking.

She baked 2 wonderful looking apple pies, a chocolate cake and cupcakes, and several loaves of Zucchini bread. The baking smells of everything she was baking almost kept me from concentrating on what I was doing!

Chocolate Cake & Cupcakes, Zucchini bread, and Apple Pies

The dining table blind is repaired and back in the Motorhome. Hopefully the strings in that blind will never need replacing again!

Tomorrow we celebrate our eldest Grand daughter’s birthday. Haley turned 19 this year! Where is the time going?

Until next time, be safe and God Bless.

Yard/RV/Computer Work and a drive in the Country

2011-10-12T17:40:00.000-04:00

Thursday the 6th.

Note to self: Fix the date in the camera! The dates showing on the pictures on this blog are 3 days early.

We have another new follower of our Blog! Please welcome Levonne. She has two blogs that you might like to follow, one being A Camp Host's Meanderings: An RV Adventure, and the other Levonne's Pretty Pics. Welcome Levonne to my wanderings.

I have decided that I am just not talented enough to create a post every day. I would be happy with myself if I could just create a post once a week! Actually the real reason I started this blog was as a way of keeping track of events, and a way of going back in time to read about those events. Which I have to say, I’ve had to do many times.

My last post was of some of the maintenance that I had done to the Motorhome. As of today, I just have to re-string a few of the window shades. I figure I can do that job when and if we get a rainy day. Since last week, we have had great weather and I find myself doing jobs around the outside of our home.

Over grown shrub bed

The main thing I wanted to do was clean up the shrub bed in front of our home. We made the mistake this spring of planting Dahlia bulbs between the shrubs. This is not the outcome that we thought we would have. Way too “overgrown” and “messy” in my opinion. Wilma also felt that way. So I took a couple days to dig up all the bulbs and transplant them into a spot in the back yard. We will see next summer how that will look, and I hope it will be much better than the picture above.

Cleaned up with “new” mums planted. Hopefully they will grow next year.

Shrub bed cleaned up, and two new mum plants planted. We were told that they are “Hardy Mums” and that the winter won’t kill them. We will see next spring, as we have had those so called hardy mums before and they didn’t survive our cold winters.

Yes, I know my lawn is a mess. With our extremely hot summer and lack of rain, the weeds kind of took over. I will address that issue in the spring.

The garden seems to be done producing any tomatoes, so I think it’s time to clean it up also. I just noticed that my camera’s date is wrong, so don’t pay attention to the dates of the photo’s on this blog.

The size of the tomato plants completely hide the 3 pepper plants in the middle.

I’ll get to the garden in a few days.

Sunday the 9th.

Wilma and I decided we would like to take a ride North to our friends Gary and Cheryl’s home in Imlay City, MI. today. A perfect beautiful sunny day just can’t be wasted and we really enjoy the fall colors and the hour long drive to their home.

Wilma took control of the camera as I drove and got some great shots. Of course we were using our “Old” Kodak Easy Share camera, and we should have brought our Nikon D-40x. The pictures would have come out much better with the Nikon.

This one is just a block from our home.

Gary likes to play pranks, anything to get a laugh. Last week when I was working on the Motorhome doing the plumbing, he phoned me from his cell. Talked a while telling me what he was “doing around the yard” as we were talking. I took a break from the Kitchen plumbing project in the Motorhome, and sat on the couch having a conversation with him. Then the weirdest thing happened. I swear I heard his voice coming from the radio! What I thought, I don’t have “Bluetooth” in the MH like I do in my Chevy! I thought I was having a spell or something from working under the sink and getting up too fast. I got up and walked toward the dash of the MH. There he was, standing by the open window on the drivers door! He was fighting busting out laughing. He actually walked directly by me to get to the open window, but as I was on the couch I had my back to him and didn’t see him. Funny Gary….very funny! Even I had a chuckle on that one. It’s always great to see my best bud.

So I told Wilma of my plan for a “pay back” to Gary. I called him when I was just a half mile from his home, had the normal chit chat with him. During our conversations I learned that they just got up and was having their breakfast cereal. I mentioned that we might like to go out for a drive today looking at the colors and maybe stopping at a cider mill. He was planning on working on his step daughters car, which seems to have an intermittent electrical problem. I asked if they might like some company later this afternoon, which he said yea, stop by later. I then said that we would probably see him in about 4 hours or so and hung up. Imagine his face 5 minutes later when we walked up to their kitchen window waving at them in their bathrobes! Yep…like they say…pay backs are great fun! We all had a laugh and great conversations. We plan on seeing them again on our last camping trip of the year next week.

Monday the 10th.

Had another visit this morning from Bob, a fellow work buddy that just retired the end of September. He and his wife Donna, just purchased their first RV and he had a question about the cap that covers the dump line. It seems that he can’t get it to fit and wondered if they make different sizes. I showed him the cap on my MH and they are the same, so I’m assuming that all the caps are the same size in depth. Tomorrow he will be bringing his MH over and I am going to show him how to winterize his MH.

Got the lawn mowed after Bob left, and headed for the garden to clean it up. Wilma and I talked about it and decided we would like to make the garden larger for next year. So we should have plenty of tomatoes to can for chili and juice.

A few pepper plants remain yet. Next year another garden strip along the garage on the left is planned.

Later as the leaves fall, I’ll grind them up and bury them in the garden area like my father has been doing for the past 40 years. He has the very best fertile soil for a garden, and you wouldn’t believe the amount of earth worms! So I figure I’ll follow in his footsteps.

Tuesday the 11th.

Bob arrived around 10am in his new to him Four Winds Class C Motorhome. The main reason he brought it over to our home was to see how I winterize an RV. This RV is his first, and he was anxious to learn as much as I was willing to show him about the RV. He actually didn’t know where the water pump was located, so I figured he needed the very basics shown him first.

I started out explaining the two electrical systems first. He caught on quickly so I then moved on to the fresh water system. Showing him the water lines, fresh water pump, fresh water tank, and hot water tank. He didn’t quite have the “I’m overwhelmed” look yet, so I then moved on to how the waste is handled.

Then I proceeded to blow out his water lines with compressed air, and the other steps to completely winterize his MH. He caught on that procedure perfectly and feels confident that he will be able to do it himself next year. I assured him that I’m not planning on leaving this earth for a while yet, and that I should be around next year and he can bring his MH over again next year and I’ll watch as he prepares it for Winter. He really appreciated my help and actually took me up on that idea for next year.

Angel phoned me as we were finishing up with Bob’s MH and informed me that something went wrong with her computer. After explaining to me what happened I figured it might be the power supply. I told her I would come over later today, get the computer and bring it back home with me to work on it.

The first thing I noticed was it needed the dust blown out of it. After I got it cleaned, taken to my desk and plugged in, I noticed it did exactly what Angel said, nothing! No fans running, no lights blinking, no nothing. I got my meter out and to the best of my knowledge found that there was no voltage leaving any of the plugs coming out of the power supply. This shouldn’t be too hard to fix, so I phoned Angel letting her know what I found. She suggested that I look at her other computer, which I did. Her other computer has been sitting in her basement not plugged in for at least 3 years, maybe longer. I just knew Windows XP would have a gazillian updates. It turned out to being only 96 needed updates.

After all the updates were downloaded and installed there was some outdated software that needed to be removed. Making a long story shorter, 4 hours later we have a perfect running “older” computer that Angel can use until I get her main computer fixed. I will be taking it over to her on Thursday to introduce her to “Google Chrome” so she won’t have to use MS Explorer.

Wednesday the 12th.

Had a Dr. appointment at 1:30 today for my annual physical. I hate physicals! I guess every guy hates physicals, but knowing I’m over weight just adds to it.

Everything checked out better than last year! Well, except for the 2 pounds that I put on. The only addition that the Dr. wants me to get is a stress test, as the EKG test showed a little change from last year. The Doc wasn’t alarmed with the change, just wanted the stress test for the records. We will see how that turns out in the near future. He then asked if there was anything else that concerned me. I mentioned about the pain that my right hip has been giving me for over 2 years now. I figured that it’s probably arthritis so there wasn’t much I could do about it but live with it. He then ordered X-Rays to see exactly what was what. After the X-Rays were taken, I was taken back to the examination room to wait for his diagnosis. Within 15 minutes he returned. He said he was amazed that I wasn’t in more pain than what I tend to show. I must of looked puzzled as he said you need to see these X-Rays. We went into another room and he pointed out my right hip, with all the arthritis and spurs around the joint. I said “Well I guess that just about explains why I am having trouble with this hip, so what is the plan now?” Eventually, hip replacement surgery was the answer. Deep down I knew that was what he was going to say. How soon will I need it? You will be the one to determine that, as the pain will only get worse. I thanked him and told him I would probably have it done on my return from our Florida trip next April.

That’s all from this past week, so until next time, be safe and God Bless.

Motorhome Maintenance

2011-10-05T19:39:00.000-04:00

Before I start today let me introduce 3 new followers of my rambling.

Welcome Judy of Travels-with-Emma. Also we welcome Sherry and Charley of Sherryand Charley. Last but not least we welcome Jerry and Carol. I hope you all enjoy my ramblings and feel free to comment at the end of each blog.

Last week end while we were camping, I made notes for myself on things that must be fixed with the Motorhome.

The first thing I wanted to take care of was a small leak around the front windshield. In the 2 days of rain that we had over the past week end, it leaked a total of about a gallon of water. I remembered the glass man telling me when he replaced the windshield on the passenger side that there would be NO guarantee against leakage. He then pointed out to me the metal frame around the windshield was badly rusted. In some places was actually rusted away! He proceeded to apply the sealant extra heavy around the affected areas maybe prolonging any problems. On Monday morning I had my ladders, sealant, cleaning rags and anything extra I thought I might need to “re-seal” the windshield. By mid afternoon it started to sprinkle, so I put all my gear back in the garage until Tuesday.

Tuesday came and the weather was looking pretty nice, so out I went to finish the windshield sealant. After I finished that job, I remembered the amber marker lights above the windshield. I knew the center bulb was not working so back up the ladder I went. On a close inspection of the marker light, I noticed that there was water behind the lens. So I proceeded to remove the complete light. Being a Winnebago, it has unique parts in certain areas and this was one of them. When I went to my local RV parts supplier they could not match it for an exact replacement and recommend that I call Mobility RV who supplies Winnebago parts to older units. I placed the call, talked to a salesman and he is going to get back with me on availability and cost. In the mean time I used some Aluminum Tape to seal the opening where the light was removed. So now I’m in a waiting period for Mobility RV to phone me back.

Wednesday morning brings another beautiful day. More work to be done on the Motorhome. Today was work on the kitchen sink area.

The trap under the kitchen sink leaks and needed to be replaced.

Along with a trap that needs to be replaced, the faucet also needs to be replaced. Off to the plumbing supply store. I noticed that the line leaving the trap was 1¼” but the rest was 1½”. This I thought might be a problem matching up at the plumbing store so I took the configuration with me to show a salesman. Sure enough, they could not match exactly what I had, but recommended that I purchase the complete set up made for the 1½” size and just use the trap instead of changing everything. This was exactly what I did. Taking the easy way out was the best way for me as I HATE PLUMBING WORK!

The next item to be replaced was the kitchen faucet. As I had the drain lines removed from the sink, this was the time to work on removing the faucet.

The water lines behind and underneath the sink that had to be removed.

It must have been quite a site to see me laying on my back side, twisted underneath the sink trying to reach those water lines going to the faucet. I’m sure glad my arms were as long as they are and not a few inches shorter! Did anyone ever tell you how hard it is for us people who have bi-focal or like myself, tri-focal lenses and have to look up at something close? Well let’s just say that it is NOT easy doing this kind of work in a total blur. But I did indeed and got a new faucet installed.

Now it was on to installing the new trap.

New trap installed, job complete and everything works with NO LEAKS

I realize it won’t win a “looks great” contest because of the white color, but no one will be seeing it except for Wilma and I, and we don’t mind the miss match in color. After a water leak test, every joint passed. No Leaks!

The next thing that needed to be fixed was the electrical box that fell out of it’s opening in the ceiling behind the rear monitor.

The electrical box pulled out of the ceiling when I pulled a plug out of it last week end.

I noticed that the small plastic tabs on the screws were broke. They are used to clamp on the upper side of the ceiling holding the box in place. So off to Lowe’s to buy a new outlet box. As it turned out, I did buy a box with plastic tabs, but could not use the box because of it’s size. So I used just the tabs and replaced the original electrical outlet back in it’s original place in the ceiling. Didn’t get an after picture, but it is done and looks great. Another job off my list.

Next was to WD-40 the side door hinges and the electric step hinges. That took no time at all and it’s checked off my list.

Next was the windshield wiper pivot joints and arms under the hood. Upon a close inspection of the wiper motor and arms I found the 2 screws that mount the motor very loose. The top one almost ready to fall out!

Screws almost falling out! No room for a TORX screw driver! Oh No!

As there was absolutely no room for a TORX screwdriver I had to use what was available in my tool box. Found a needle nose vise grip pliers that worked and within an hour these two screws were back to being tight and holding the wiper motor securely. Another job well done. ( I hope I’m not sounding like I’m patting myself on the back, as I’m not really.)

There are still a couple window shades that need to be re-strung. That will have to wait until tomorrow.

Until next time, be safe and God Bless.

Cold Wet Camping Weekend

2011-10-02T15:14:00.000-04:00

This past weekend Angel and Brooke joined us in a camping weekend. Needless to say it was not the best weather one would want to have for a camping trip. But, we made the best of it.

Wilma and I arrived at the Campground mid afternoon on Friday. The weather then was cool, windy and with a few sprinkles of rain once in a while. Angel and Brooke arrived a few hours later. Wilma and I started preparing what was on the menu for dinner, which was grilled hamburgers, chips, mac and cheese, and your choice of drinks.

Grand daughter Brooke with her Mom, Angel

I headed outside to start the grill. What??!!! The little gas grill didn’t want to light! After lifting the grating I noticed that the burner had several large holes caused from rust, and probably age. Well I thought, no grilling this weekend. Next best thing was the electric skillet, and the burgers were delicious.

Friday night we had bouts of rain, along with gusts of cold wind. I had the awning tied down securely, but the gusts did rock the Motorhome a few times hard enough to wake me up from sleep. We had two electric heaters going and by morning Angel said they were a little cool during the night. The temperatures dropped down into the low 40’s.

Saturday morning cooking breakfast, Angel and Brooke trying to stay warm and Romeo, looking for a piece of bacon.

Saturday and the wind just kept blowing cold. I knew before we left home that Brooke wanted to have a campfire. So I had brought enough firewood to burn for two evenings. It took awhile with the wind, but I did manage to get a nice warm fire going. Brooke could hardly wait to start making Smores. Everyone enjoyed a Smore, some had more than one!

I kept the fire going all afternoon knowing that the plan for dinner this evening would be to cook hot dogs over the campfire. As the afternoon progressed, Brooke and Angel went for a walk around the campground. Going to the Arcade, Store and Weight room. Wilma and I dozed off watching something on TV, staying warm in the Motorhome.

By the time Angel and Brooke got back it was dinner time. The wind still blowing hard, it was decided that we would not cook the hot dogs over the campfire, instead we would have Brat’s inside the Motorhome.

After dinner we all went back to the campfire. Even though the weather could have been much better, we made the best of it. Both Angel and Brooke enjoyed themselves this past weekend, and I know memories were made for a lifetime!

Until next time, be safe and God Bless.

From the Combine to the Elevator

2011-09-26T14:44:00.001-04:00

Last August 30th. I posted in my blog A Ride in a Combine of how amazed I was at how complex today’s farming equipment is and the chances the farmers have to take to stay in business.

While we were at Greg and Charlotte’s home, Greg had made the arrangements for us to ride in the Combine. What a great and educating time it was for Wilma and I.

A week or so ago, Nicole, Greg & Charlotte’s daughter, flew in from Texas to stay with them for a summer visit.

Today I noticed that Nicole made a wonderful post on her blog 27 and Counting, further explaining the process. Great job Nicole! I hope you don’t mind me using a picture from your blog

The feed corn being unloaded from the trucks to the grain elevators

You must click on Nicole's Link to read about this wonderful time for the farmers. Her blog is one that you just have to follow. What an amazing writer.

No, Wilma and I have never had the opportunity of meeting Nicole, as of yet, but look forward to a day when we do meet.

Until next time, be safe and God Bless.

A Day at the Cider Mills

2011-09-25T19:14:00.000-04:00

Wilma had a great idea this morning. After we had our morning coffee, she suggested that we find an Apple Cider Mill to go to. So I proceeded to get on the internet and see if I could find one near by that we haven’t been to in the past.

I came upon THIS WEBSITE listing all Cider Mills and Farms in Michigan.

We decided to try OBSTBAUM ORCHARDS first. It was a fairly small Cider Mill in our opinion but a treat to visit.

The orchard is located in the country side near the small town of Salem, Michigan. Located approximately 50 miles West of where we live. Seemed like a great Sunday afternoon ride, so off we went with our list of Cider Mills that I printed out from the internet.

The grounds were very well kept up, and pleasing to the eye. Kind of got you in the mood for Cider prior to walking into the building.

They even had a small Pumpkin Patch for those visitors who would like to pick the “perfect pumpkin” for their Halloween decorations.

Next to the pumpkin patch, was a number of picnic tables set up for those who wished to eat their fresh donuts and drink their fresh apple cider.

Just inside the entrance were two antique apple cider presses.

We also noticed that each area that was designated to producing a food for the public, was behind glass windows. I thought they did this for health reasons, but who knows? It did make for a very clean atmosphere.

Some of the pastries being made fresh while you watched

Next was the automatic donut making machine. I’m already feeling the pounds jump on me!

This conveyor takes them to a tumbler where the sugar and cinnamon are added.

The apples arrive in large 20 bushel crates toward the rear of the building. There they are sorted by employees. The best of the apples are sold separately while the rest are processed into Apple Cider.

The modern apple press, also located in a separate room sealed off by windows.

From that area we entered the “store” area where you can purchase their products.

Wilma just had to have a bag of local grown apples. Of course we also bought a half gallon of cider and 6 donuts! Like I said, I can feel the pounds jumping on me.

We headed for the picnic tables, enjoying not only the cider and donuts, but the wonderful sunny day we were having.

We then left that Cider Mill and headed for our next destination.

We chose The Franklin Cider Mill located in Franklin, Michigan.

This Cider Mill is a much, much busier place than the previous one. With such a beautiful day, seemed like everyone in the area decided to visit the Cider Mill!

You parked in a large lot across the street from the Mill. Parking was crowded but manageable. As you walked across the street from the parking lot to the Mill, the first thing you notice is people sitting along the small river powering the Cider Mill presses.

Following the crowd, you cross over the river via a well made bridge.

Can you tell everyone is enjoying not only the river, but the wonderful Apple Cider?

As soon as you cross the bridge we had to stop and just take a look around, taking it all in.

A few vendors were set up outside selling their items. One fellow was playing a mandolin! Great for the atmosphere.

We found the prices a little elevated above the prices from the previous Cider Mill. But I guess as this is a much larger operation they might need to demand a little more for their products.

Just outside the Mill is this large plaque telling a little of the history of this Mill.

Upon entering the Mill, you will notice this sign on the door made from license plates. What a great idea! Must have taken quite some time to acquire all the different license plates.

To the right of the entrance is the Apple Press. Not wanting anyone to get hurt in the close quarters, the press was in a fenced in area.

Had to take a picture of this history that was hanging on the wall. Hopefully you can make it large enough to read.

Being quite crowded in the Mill and the “store front area” we decided to just take a photo and leave.

We really enjoyed our short stay in the Franklin, Michigan area. Someday we will probably stop by again when we have more time.

Until next time, be safe and God Bless.

Vent Fan arm Fixed

2011-09-24T12:55:00.000-04:00

First I would like to welcome another follower of my ramblings. Welcome Judy and Emma. She has a great blog to follow, "Travels with Emma".

Today was the day to fix the vent fan in the bathroom area of the Motorhome. It seems that the guide pin on the arm that raises and lowers the cover had failed. I knew the first time I looked at it where the problem was. A piece of plastic on the pin had become brittle with age and broke.

Taken from the roof looking down.

The white circular piece was much larger in diameter originally. But now it’s small enough to fall out of the groove in the guide arm fastened to the cover. This not only stopped us from opening and closing the cover, it actually would raise open while driving.

After removing the mechanical arm from the vent fan frame, I proceeded into the garage to look for a substitute bolt and nut that would work. Knowing this would be a long shot, and probably a lost cause, I pulled out the first of a dozen small drawers that I have filled with an assortment of nuts and bolts.

Amazingly though within a half hour I found one that might work.

Sorry for the blurred picture. This bolt only had threads part way up the shaft.

It looked to be about a half inch in length, with threads only part of the way on the shaft. Perfect I thought, after checking to make sure the head of the bolt would go through the large opening on the guide of the cover, which it did. So now back to my drawers of assorted nuts to find one that would fit this tiny bolt. Another half hour of looking and presto, I found one!

The “Before” picture showing the worn out guide pin.

After the installation of the new bolt.

I realize that it’s not perfect, but I believe it will work for many, many years. That’s much better than ordering a new roof hatch from the Winnebago parts company.

Until next time, be safe and God Bless.

Fall Colors in Our Tree

2011-09-19T18:43:00.001-04:00

Grey overcast skies, no sun today, rain off and on all day. What a dismal day!
In 4 days it’s officially Fall. Today I got a glimpse of the fall colors from our Maple tree in the yard.

You have to look pretty hard, but their there.

The leaves just starting to turn.

I like the Fall in Michigan. The 20th. of October we are going to head North for the last camping trip of the year. I really hope that there still will be Fall colors to see. It’s one of the prettiest times of the year.
Until next time, be safe and God Bless.

Pumpkin Pie? Nope!

2011-09-17T20:08:00.001-04:00

After cutting the grass this morning, I was just sitting down on the deck for a breather when a familiar face drove up. It was a fellow co-worker from General Dynamics, Bob K. I invited him up to have a sit on the deck. He said he was just passing through on his way to his daughters home a couple blocks away.

About 2 hours later he decided he better get to his daughters home as he told his wife he would be home by 12:30PM. It was now 12:45PM. Looks like your late Bob! During the conversations he did mention that he was retiring at the end of the month. Congrats Bob! Your going to really enjoy your new life. We bid farewell and he said he would return in a month and we would go visit a couple other co-workers. Sounds like fun and a plan!

Afterward I decided I would go to the store to buy a few items while Wilma did some housework. Looking at the kitchen counter at the Butternut Squash, and the recipe beside them for a Butternut Squash Pie, I decided I would purchase the ingredients and see if I could make this pie. Charlotte made one when we were at their home in Kentucky last month. Was it ever good! It kind of looked like a pumpkin pie, tasted like a pumpkin pie, but it wasn’t a pumpkin pie. It was just plain good!

When I returned home I started getting the ingredients together.

Doesn’t look like much, I should be able to do this I thought. So I started with the large Butternut Squash in the picture. I actually had enough with just that one Squash to make 2 pies, so that’s what I ended up doing.

The pies just before going into the oven for 50 minutes.

Here is the result.

Yep it kind of looks like a Pumpkin Pie. Smells like a Pumpkin Pie, taste’s like Pumpkin Pie. But No. It’s not Pumpkin Pie…it’s Butternut Squash Pie.

Here is the link to the recipe and reviews.

Remember that commercial on TV of the two little brothers. One not knowing if he would like something so he would give it to his kid brother and say, “Try it Mikey, you’ll like it!” Well, this is one of those times. I think you will like it.

Until next time, be safe and God Bless.

The Porch then the Carpet

2011-09-17T08:19:00.000-04:00

Today we welcome Bob and Vicky of Cedarcreekin Welcome Bob and Vicky, and I hope you enjoy my ramblings.

Dad and I usually go out to dinner on Thursday evenings. I decided to take my laptop with me so he could watch the video that I took last week of riding in a combine.

After our return from the restaurant, I put the laptop on his kitchen table so he could watch the video. Needless to say, he really enjoyed it! I think it brought back memories of when he was a kid and used to help his older brother and Uncle with work on the farm. Some of the stories were told to me later that evening.

Dad enjoying the video. (The date is wrong in the photo).

One of the stories was how his Uncle used to drive a team of horses pulling a 2 row combine. He was in awe watching the video of me sitting in an 8 row modern combine. How times have changed, from one generation to another!

We also talked about his front porch. It actually looks like a slab of concrete, 4’x10’x8in high. In years past it settles away from the house. He had many years ago used a floor jack and jacked up the front of the porch to add dirt under it to level it. Now it has settled again and was leaning away from the house. I mentioned that I would come back tomorrow and with his guidance, get the porch back level again.

Friday morning around 9 I arrived with my floor jack and shovel ready to jack up the porch. I had the camera on the front seat of the car to take pictures of my progress. BUT…in my concentration to do the job, I completely forgot the camera! Dang it! That would have made for a much better blog post if I only would have taken pictures.

It was much easier than I first had thought. Dad said the porch is actually hollow so it won’t be too hard to jack it up. A little digging in the front of the porch, just enough to get the jack under the front lip, and I started to jack up the porch. So easy, the porch rose with each pump of the jack. I got it lifted enough to get some 2X6 lumber under each corner for the porch to rest on. Lowered the jack and the porch sat in the perfect position that Dad wanted.

After returning home a couple hours later, I started on cleaning the carpet in our family and living rooms. Starting with the family room, the furniture is moved into the kitchen. When the carpet is dry, I move the furniture back into the family room and move the furniture from the living room into the kitchen. This gives me a much needed break while waiting for the carpet to dry.

Some of the living room furniture in the kitchen

As I wanted to get both rooms done, I didn’t end up finishing the job until around 7pm! Of course there was at least a couple hours between rooms while waiting for the carpet to dry, and this is when I had my supper.

Today is starting to look like a perfect day to do some yard work. So I’ll be heading outside after I move the furniture out of the kitchen and place it back in the front room.

Until next time, be safe and God Bless.

Shipshewana Double Rainbow

2011-09-07T22:51:00.000-04:00

We noticed another new follower has joined us.

Everyone, please join with me in welcoming NICOLE by clicking on her blog site 27 & Counting. What a fascinating young lady to follow, and I really like her Mom and Dad!

Today will be our last day in Shipshewana, Indiana.

As I’m going to post more pictures, they will be smaller. Just click on them to enlarge them.

We planned today to relax, take a drive through the country side, and maybe even stop for a lunch/dinner.

Once you hear the “Clip-Clop” of these horses, you will never forget the soothing sound.

There are many people who just don’t understand the difference between the Amish and the Mennonites. They seem to be almost the same but this link explains it best. After clicking on that link, you now know if an Amish family lives in any particular home or farm in our pictures.

No electrical wires, an Amish family lives there.

As Shipshewana is surrounded by farming, they have a huge processing plant for grain in the middle of town.

We walked up one side, and down the other, looking into the different buildings.

The only thing we did find was some fresh made jelly. No preservatives, just “the real thing” in these jelly’s.

We did find some “great deals” in these two large establishments.

We were working up a hunger so we decided to take in a lunch at our favorite restaurant here in Shipshewana.

This is a “Must Go To” place for anyone visiting this area. Great food, reasonable prices!

After having a great lunch/dinner of chicken, mashed potatoes, beans, etc., we were too full for the fresh baked pie. So we just had to ask for the pie “to go”.

As the day ended, while watching the local weather reports on the TV, I noticed that Ft. Wayne was getting some rain. They were to the south east of us, but the weather pattern was going in reverse of the norm. Wilma looked outside and said “I need the camera, a double rainbow”.

The sky was beautiful!

A Double Rainbow!

As the sun began to set, the sky turned from the rainbow to this:

Another “Sky by night, Sailors delight”. So we should have another nice day tomorrow for our travel home.

Until next time, be safe and God Bless.

Shipshewana Flea Market

2011-09-06T20:22:00.000-04:00

Aside from the “laid back” feeling of this Amish community, the Flea Market is our second favorite thing about this area of Indiana.

We took this picture of “our” entry gate. This place is large enough to get lost in and finding your car would be a feat

The Flea market has just about anything you can think of, at reasonable prices. One thing we have noticed though, is back 10 years ago there were many more local crafters set up then there are now. We had heard that the flea market is starting to get too commercialized. But we still love to walk up and down the many rows of vendors, never knowing what treasure the next row might have.

Can’t walk too quickly, or you might miss something to catch your interest.

I believe this day was one of the coolest days in months. While we were there it was a cool 64 F. with a wind blowing to remind you that fall is just around the corner. What a difference in temperature than what we had just 3 days ago, while in Kentucky, of 104 F.

I’ll bet this vendor made a fortune a few days ago.

You couldn’t miss this vendor selling fresh home made ice cream. The gasoline engine made a pop, pop, pop noise with each firing of the piston. Didn’t sound nothing like today’s modern gasoline engines. Notice the low RPM’s of this little engine.

Watching the outer workings of this little engine fascinated me and I just had to stand there watching it run for at least 15 minutes. All the exterior rods, springs, and rocker arms, moving in a slow rhythm, each doing a specific job to make this engine run flawlessly. This 3 horsepower engine runs 7 hours on just 1 gallon of gasoline! What the heck did those designers know that today’s designers don’t know! My little walk behind 5 horsepower lawn mower wouldn’t run 2 hours on a gallon of gas and it’s 1000 times noisier than this engine.

Notice the pulley and belt configuration to operate both ice cream turner mechanisms

This is usually a good hint that there are some great deals to be had here at the flea market.

When the local Amish women come here to buy items.

We ended up buying several items that we feel were a good deal, and after 4 hours of walking up and down the isles, we were ready to leave.

What a great time we had at the flea market of Shipshewana, IN.

Until next time, be safe and God Bless.

Shipshewana Campground South

2011-09-05T22:00:00.000-04:00

We left Linda’s around 9am and headed for Shipshewana, Indiana. I really didn’t think we would make all the way there as it was about 425 miles away. I did have the Super Wal-Mart and Cracker Barrel’s marked on our Google map of our route just in case we decided to stop for the night.
As we didn’t stop for any meals, Wilma prepared us a lunch while driving down the highway. One of the better advantages of a Motorhome, we actually made it there at 7:45pm. A long day of driving against the wind.

Even Kybee was a little tired of riding as shown from the picture below.

As I was setting up the Motorhome, Wilma noticed how beautiful the sky was.

Pink by night, Sailors delight. That’s the saying anyway so it looks like a good day for tomorrow.

Being almost 8:30pm by the time we had settled down, we were pretty hungry for some dinner. Boneless Pork Chops sounded mighty delicious to us, so as Wilma prepared the side dish inside the Motorhome, I was outside cooking the Pork Chops.

It wasn’t long after dinner before we were both sound asleep. Tomorrow we will venture to the “Flea Market” to see if there are any treasures to be had.

Until next time, be safe and God Bless.

Lunch at Mr. B’s Henderson, KY.

2011-09-04T21:44:00.000-04:00

We were planning on a visit with Eddie and Beth, Wilma’s brother and his wife, on Sunday. When she called him, he asked if we would like to go out for lunch. So a little while later they showed up at Linda’s. We jumped in the car and off to Henderson we went as they had a restaurant picked out for us to try. The restaurant they liked was Mr. B's. We found out why they liked it so well, as the food we had was delicious!
Waiting on the ladies to finish their smoke before entering

They specialize in wings and Pizza. Just our luck they were having a special when you order wings with the pizza. So that’s just what we did! Eddie also ordered Nacho’s as an appetizer. WOW now that was a great Nacho!
The table was filled with all the food we had. When we left we were ALL full!

You had to order 50 wings to get the wing and pizza deal. As I tend to like my wings on the hot side, the waitress said she could have 10 of the 50 wings put on the side with a hotter sauce. Great so I picked the second from the hottest, which was their XHot. The remaining 40 wings were ordered Mild.
The 40 wings were ordered “Mild” but seemed to be on the “Hot” side

My wings were just right for me. As I had the XHot, the next step down was Hot followed by Mild. As Wilma doesn’t care for any spice on her wings, that is what was ordered. When I tasted one of them though it didn’t seem to me to be mild. It did indeed have a little heat to them. But they were thoroughly enjoyed by Eddie, Beth and Wilma.
The thin crust Pizza

Each of us only had room for a small piece of Pizza. We were just stuffed from the Nacho and Wings! The Pizza was taken home in a carry out box to be enjoyed later.
Afterwards we headed back to Linda’s home for some family chatting.
Thank You Eddie and Beth for the Lunch. I enjoyed the left over wings and pizza later that evening.
Until next time, be safe and God Bless.

A Country Family Reunion

2011-09-03T23:32:00.000-04:00

The start of the day was a mild 78 degrees, beautiful blue skies and the sun was starting to shine. Little did we know that it was going to hit a record High temperature today of 104 degrees F.
We had set up the tables and canopy’s the evening before. Today the final touches were applied.

Table cloths, balloons, fans and coolers with plenty of ice. I filled up close to 100 water balloons for a game later on today. I had them filled and in two 5 gallon buckets that I placed in the basement for safe keeping.
Linda, Beth, Wilma, Eddie and myself took a break and was sitting around one of the tables trying to keep cool, as best as we could. I had an idea! Why don’t I go and get 3 of those water balloons and cool the girls off!? So I snuck around to the basement, got 3 of the water balloons and returned. Walked up behind Linda and squeezed the water balloon just under her chin. Of course this soaked her pretty good, and after the scream from the shock of the cool water, she said it actually made her feel pretty good! Well…..I just had to be a gentleman and help Beth and Wilma cool off too. So I proceeded to do the same for Beth and Wilma. Eddie and I got a pretty good chuckle out of it, and when the ladies saw us laughing I was told to watch out for pay backs, as it will happen. Oh oh, now I will have to keep a sharp look out for an attack later!
The family members started to arrive around 10 am and we were scheduled to eat around noon. Linda’s yard was starting to look quite festive for a family reunion.

As there was only one shade tree in the yard, it was a “First come first served” kind of thing for positioning under the tree in the shade. 11 am came and the temperature was into the mid 90’s and rising. No breeze was felt from mother nature, so getting a position in front of a fan was plus.

As it got closer to the time to eat Linda called everyone over to the food table for a family blessing. Two lines were formed and it didn’t take long at all for everyone to get their plates filled with an assortment of delicious country cooked food.

Usually just after dinner, there are several games scheduled to be played for the kids and adults alike. But as the temperature was by now just over 100 F. it was decided it was just too hot and nobody wants to see anyone get ill from the heat. We actually had a water balloon game scheduled but it was decided to play that game in the evening when it cools down a little.

So everyone just mingled and caught up with what has been happening in everyone’s lives.

A few of the family members brought gifts to be raffled out. Everyone had a chance to get a ticket to win a great prize. Some of the prizes handed out were:
An oil painting

A basket of household items

Garden fresh produce

Several hand made afghans

An artificial flower wreath

Everyone enjoyed and was quite happy with their prizes.
I was lucky enough to get a few pictures of the eldest and youngest of the family gathered here today.
Aunt Dean at 80 years of age, and her Great Grandson (baby McBride) at 3 weeks old who’s name escapes me

As the day progressed so did the rising of the temperature. It was now 3 pm and 104 F. outside. Most of the families left for home and had planned on returning later this evening. Linda had a Karaoke group scheduled to arrive at 8pm until 11pm.
The Karaoke group setting up and checking out the sound system

It didn’t take long and the talent’s of this family started to shine forth.

Even those who just wanted to “have fun” showed that they can sing too!

Getting back to the water balloon “cooling off of the ladies”. Remember that I have the camera, and I kept thinking that as long as I have the camera I should be safe from any “cooling off” from water balloons. That is until Wilma saw me standing next to Heather, and asked for the camera to get a picture of me and her. I handed her the camera.
I know now that Heather knew about the future water balloon attack upon me. Notice her sneaky grin?

Wilma took the picture but would not give the camera back. She gave me some excuse that I don’t remember now because I immediately went into a paranoia spell! Snapping my head back and forth looking around I just knew that Linda had a couple water balloons and was sneaking around behind us to “get me back” from earlier.
I headed for Heather’s dad, Eddie and sat in a chair next to him waiting for Heather to take the mike and sing another song. (I swear she is great enough to sign professionally).
He asked what was wrong, I wasn’t acting like myself. I reminded him of the water balloon “cooling off of the ladies”. I told him “I just know it’s coming, just don’t know when or where”. I just happened to have a plastic grocery bag in my pocket that I used to put my cell phone and keys into so they would not get wet. He laughed as I kept snapping my head around looking for “the attack to happen”. After a little while, I settled down and we were just having small talk when all of a sudden he said, “ Well Fred, I got to go”. As I watched him jump out of his chair and head away, I looked around and there was Wilma heading straight for me with 2 water balloons! My fat gut kept me from getting out of the chair quickly, when SPLASH from behind!

Linda, Beth and Wilma held good to their promise!

They got me good, but they used more than 3 balloons. From the looks of myself they probably used at least 50 balloons! I have to say though, it sure did cool me off from the heat of the day!
Another great reunion was had by all who attended.
Thank you Linda for hosting the reunion at your home once again this year.
And a very special Thank You for allowing us to park the Motorhome next to your home and plug into your electric. Memories were made that Wilma and I will never forget.
Until next time, be safe and God Bless.

Cousin Linda’s Home

2011-09-01T20:45:00.000-04:00

We arrived yesterday early afternoon at Linda’s home in Dixon, KY. She lives on a 2 lane blacktop road with a speed limit of 35MPH. But, just a few houses away the speed limit goes up to 45 MPH. There are a few cars that go by doing the speed limit, but the Semi-trucks are going every bit of 50 MPH or more past her home. This concerned us as this is hilly country, and I had to first pull into the neighbors drive across the street from Linda’s. Then back across both lanes and into her drive, to park next to their home.
Looking down Linda’s drive toward neighbor across the street.
Linda made life very easy for us though. She had arranged to have a friend in a car at the top of one hill with his four way flashers on, stopping traffic. Then there was the local police officer with his blue lights flashing coming from the other way. This did the trick and there was no traffic for me to worry about. It only took me a couple minutes to back into her drive, so it really didn’t have much of an impact on any of the local traffic. THANK YOU LINDA!
Yesterday the temperature got up to 99 F. missing the record by only 1 degree. Today though I believe it broke the record. The outside is now reading 100 F. in the shade! Earlier today I actually saw the temperature hit 104 F. for a brief 15 minutes or so. By the time I thought of getting the camera, it had dropped to what you see below.
Temperature readout of both outside and inside the Motorhome located on the dash.
The air conditioner in the Motorhome stays running constantly, not being able to get it below 83 F. inside the Motorhome during the day. However the night is cooler and the air conditioner actually shuts off.
At 1:14pm, on the table, 82.9 F. inside the MH 44.6 F. inside the fridge.
The family is planning on having a “Family Reunion” outside tomorrow. I only hope we don’t have temperatures like today!
Parked next to Linda’s home.
The backyard where the family reunion will be held.
Until next time, be safe and God Bless.

We Say Goodbye To Greg And Charlotte

2011-08-31T21:36:00.000-04:00

The evening before we left Greg and Charlotte’s home, we were sitting around under the Motorhome’s awning, enjoying life and talking about all the things we had done while there. We just couldn’t have had a much better time then what we had. Thank you Greg and Charlotte for making us feel soooo welcomed! Even Ben dropped by on the Kawasaki Mule to join us.
Meet Ben. He made sure the Coyotes kept their distance from us at night.

Of course the favorite, Tess joined in also.
Meet Tess. “The Favorite”

It just wouldn’t be a family gathering if it weren’t for Speck.
Meet Speck. Such a loving dog, just can’t get close enough to you.

Case, their female Boxer must have been on Coyote duty and missed the gathering. But when she does come around she always lets you know. I remembered when we first arrived, and all the dogs came out to greet us. It was Case that caught my eye. She looks intimidating but her warm heart will win you over in minutes. It was a funny moment when Case first met Kybee. Both dogs with their noses pushed in, one towering over the other. But it was Kybee who was the one doing the barking.
Greg felt that the Sycamore tree branches were just a little too low along his drive, and feared we might do some damage to the units on our Motorhome’s roof. So he decided it was time to do some trimming!

Greg and Charlotte load the saw and ladder on the “Mule” and off we go down the drive to the first of many tree’s that he felt needed trimming. Charlotte stopped the Mule under the first tree, Greg opened the ladder in the back of the Mule, and I braced the ladder so he wouldn’t fall. Very scary to me, but Greg had it all under control.

I tip my hat to you Greg! You have gone above and beyond helping us out. Thank you once again!
Wilma and I both extend our thanks to you Greg and Charlotte for your wonderful hospitality. You made our stay with you more pleasant than you could ever imagine! God bless you both!
Tomorrow morning we leave and head for Cousin Linda’s home.
Until next time, be safe and God Bless

A Ride in a Combine

2011-08-30T17:36:00.000-04:00

Today was very special to Wilma and I. Greg arranged with the Tapp family a ride in a combine!
The Tapp family own and operate a very large farming operation. I may be mistaken, but I believe I heard that they plant and harvest around 3000 acres.
The “Tapp Boys” as they are referred to, told us they would be more than happy to let us ride in the combine with them when they start their corn harvest this week. This afternoon was the time they started, and Greg had us at their farm.
Greg with Wilma next to one of several tractors.
We stood back and waited for a signal from Keith in the Combine. It took several short runs to get the Combine set properly for maximum efficiency. When that was accomplished he signaled for Wilma to climb up and get into the cab with him.
Greg looking on as Wilma climbs onto the Combine with Keith the operator.
Wilma getting her first ride in a Combine
While the “New Holland” Combine was working the corn field, another “Tapp Boy” lined up the “John Deere” Combine to connect the proper head and start working.

The John Deere Combine with it’s head being attached.
Both of these machines harvest 8 rows at a time. I was told they are capable of using a head up to 12 rows. As their planter is a 16 row planter, for efficiency they use the 8 row harvester. I don’t understand all the math involved that is used in figuring out which is the most efficient, but the Tapp Boys have it down to a science.
The Combine and Tractor moving in sync while transferring the corn.
The corn being harvested is “Feed Corn”. Even though it looks like the plants are dead and very dry, the corn was registering a “moisture count” of 20. The grainery needs it at 15 or they do not pay top dollar for the product.
If you break any ear in half, there will always be 16 cornels in diameter.
Waiting for the Combine operator to signal when he is full and needs to unload.
View from the Tractors seat.
It’s just amazing to me how massive and powerful these machines really are, and how efficiently they accomplish what they were built to do. Riding in the “Co-Pilot” seat in the Combine gives one a new meaning to what is involved in this type of work. The two computer screens and numerous types of sounds and alarms, makes one feel like your playing a video game. But believe me, this is no game and these men are very serious with their harvest. They told us it will take them about a month to harvest all the crops, working 12 to 16 hour days.
Like Greg said to me, “The TV show where people are gambling don’t really know what gambling is about. The Tapp boys take a real gamble, along with every farmer, each year after planting. They are completely relying on Mother Nature weather they make it or break it.”
My hats off to all the farmers in this great country of ours. This “City Boy” has a very new and appreciated knowledge of just a small part of what they have to do to survive. It’s amazing, just amazing!
A very special “Thank You” goes out to Greg, for arranging this experience for Wilma and I.
And an extra special “Thank You” to the Tapp family for taking the time from their busy schedule, and allowing us to “take a small peak” into their special lives.
Wilma and I will never, ever forget this special day.
Driveway leading up to one of the Tapp farms.

Getting closer to the farm equipment

Just after the corn harvest
A 2 minute Video of the Harvest from the seat in the Combine.

Wilma in the Tractor, I am taking video in the Combine

Until next time, be safe and God Bless.

A Day at the Shooting Range

2011-08-29T21:00:00.000-04:00

Greg also knows that Wilma loves to shoot rifles. (That’s why I really try to “tow the line” around her!)
So he planned on taking us to his neighbor’s property and shoot his rifles at a range that he helped build. And what a beautiful outdoor range it is!
I don’t know much about caliber of rifles, so I asked Greg. He said we started with the smallest and worked up to the largest. These are the caliber of rifles that we shot: a 22LR, a 220 Swift, a 243 Winchester, a 6.5/284 Norma, a 308 Remington, and a 308 Savage.
Wilma taking aim, the first shot of the “Big Gun”
After the shot, she was a little taken back of the power and loud sound
I really have to tell you, Wilma is a great shot! She really enjoys target shooting, and I believe Greg enjoyed it as much as she did.
Wilma pointing to her 3 shots. One of them in the bulls eye
The range that Greg uses is one to be proud of. Even the local police dept. is interested in possibly utilizing it. The targets are set at 50, 100, 150, 200, 250, 300, & 400 yards.
Greg & Wilma at the 50 yard site.

Getting ready, taking aim at the 250 yard target

Thank you Greg for another great day. We really enjoyed ourselves, and admire your rifles.
Until next time, be safe and God Bless.

Fresh Tomato Juice and A Surprise Birthday Party

2011-08-28T21:11:00.000-04:00

It has been my fascination how many different items Greg has canned and frozen. I asked him if he might be able to tell me how to make tomato juice from garden fresh tomato’s. He decided today that he would not only show me, but let me help him!

Two 5 gallon buckets of tomatoes, washed and being cored.

Greg and Charlotte explained how they have a “system” and explained the several steps involved in making the very best Tomato Juice. First we went out into the garden and picked tomatoes. Enough to fill two, five gallon bucket’s!

After cleaning, then coring the tomatoes, it was time to grind them up in the food grinder.

I load the food grinder with tomatoes as Greg operates the grinder

Greg explained that it takes 2 grinds of the tomatoes before all the juice is extracted. He also knew from experience that the 2 buckets of tomatoes should produce at least 5 gallons of juice or more.

After all the tomatoes were ground twice, it was time to wash off the equipment used outside and then move inside the shop for the cooking and canning.

Tomato Juice on the left, V8 on the right

After boiling the juice, and pre heating the jars, Greg showed me how he fills the jars. It wasn’t long before I was given the opportunity to fill the jars to get the hang of it.

They were all placed on the table to cool and wait for the “pop” of the tops indicating the jars were sealing properly.

Tomato Juice at the rear, V8 in the front two rows.

Greg actually gave us all that we made to take home! My goodness Greg, we were not expecting that at all! Just wanted to learn how to do it so we will be able to can juice next year. But Greg wouldn’t hear of it. He is just that kind of a great guy. I won’t even go into all the extra items he and Charlotte ended up giving us to take home. Let’s just say the Motorhome was full going back home! Thank you so very much Greg and Charlotte!

Later that evening we were going to a restaurant to meet part of the family to celebrate Aunt Dean’s 80th. surprise Birthday party.

Some of the family gathering prior to entering the restaurant

There must have been close to 50 members gathered in a special section in the restaurant waiting for Aunt Dean to arrive.

She was totally surprised by all of us there to celebrate

What a great place to pull off a surprise get together! If the family would have all met at someone’s home, Aunt Dean would have known as soon as they arrived by the amount of cars that something was going on. But at a restaurant, that was eliminated! Great plan family, she was totally surprised.

Daughter Linda gets the first hug

Wilma, her niece, was next

Followed by her son, Danny

Everyone got a “Happy Birthday Hug” from Aunt Dean. Then we all enjoyed a delicious meal before watching her open several gifts that were brought for her.

From the restaurant, a few decided to meet at Aunt Dean’s home.

Wilma, Linda, Aunt Dean and her dog Tiny

Mark, Eddie, Beth, Ed holding Tiny, and Myself

We all had a great time sitting in the yard until the mosquitoes started biting.

Happy 80th. Birthday Aunt Dean. And we wish you many many more to come in the future!

Until next time, be safe and God Bless

Arrive at Greg and Charlotte’s home

2011-08-26T16:43:00.000-04:00

Only being at Greg and Charlotte’s home once before, last year, I was relying on the GPS to get us there from last nights campsite in Henderson, KY about 22 miles away.

We knew they lived on a narrow gravel road, and we would have to disconnect the car prior to pulling into their driveway. There is a small church at the corner of the main highway and Greg’s road, and we decided that it would be wise to stop there and disconnect the car from behind the motorhome.

A phone call was made to Greg while we were at the church and he was home waiting for our arrival.

The Driveway looking from the workshop, splits right to the home, left to the main road.

It was a little tricky getting parked close to their “workshop” but Greg had a plan. Drive up toward their home, turn around in the yard, head back toward the road. When you get to the split in the drive, back upward into the drive toward the workshop.

Parked in front of their “Workshop”

Greg accommodated us with a newly installed 30 Amp plug that we could plug our Motorhome into. Thank You Greg!

Wilma had a great idea a couple years ago to bring Greg and Charlotte a gift of items “Made in Michigan”. She gave them a basket last year and they really appreciated it, so this year Wilma put together another “Made in Michigan” container.

We believe it was another big hit with them.

Opening their gift inside their “Workshop”

Greg is known for canning and freezing many items from his garden. One of those items is Tomato juice. He knows how much I enjoyed his Tomato Juice so we just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to have a “Bloody Mary”.

Enjoying a Bloody Mary at the counter in the workshop

As the day progressed, Greg wanted to take us to one of their favorite restaurants. I handed the keys to my car to Charlotte and she drove us to Feedmill Restaurant.

Wilma’s plate of delicious food

A piece of gator, “Delicious!”

Wilma and I had our first taste of gator and fiddlers. Greg explained fiddlers was a farm raised catfish served ‘bone in’. All I can say is “I wish we had a Feedmill Restaurant where I live”! What a delicious dinner. Thank you Greg and Charlotte.

Until next time, be safe and God Bless.

John James State Park, Henderson KY.

2011-08-25T11:37:00.000-04:00

After a long, long ride we finally made it to the John James State Park in Henderson, KY.

This is the first time we have been to this State Park, and we noticed right away that this Campground had been designed many years ago. Most of the sites were set up for smaller trailers leaving only a handful for large Motorhomes such as ours. We were given site #3. I’m very happy there was no camper in the site just across from ours, as I had to back into there site to make the swing into our site. Many of the sites were just laid out reverse of what is normal, making it very difficult to park. I guess the people who first designed the layout of the campsites were NOT campers.

The tree made it difficult to get into this site.

After settling in, we drove around the park in our car. I was really impressed with how large of a park it really is! From the main entrance, most of the park is hidden by trees.

Wilma remembered that her parents brought the family here to go swimming when she was a small child. We found the lake and where the beach used to be, but is no longer there. Now the small lake is just for fishing and paddle boats.

We had a great night sleep, and felt this was a very nice Campground to stay at if one is in the area and is looking for a campsite.

Looking at the reflections on the lake

There was a car show locally

Tomorrow morning we are heading to Greg and Charlotte’s home. Greg and Wilma are related, his Grandmother and Wima’s Grandfather were brother and sister. Would that make them third cousins?

Until next time, be safe and God Bless.

Amishville Country Campground

2011-08-24T18:52:00.000-04:00

We left this morning at 11:15 am, stopped at a Cracker Barrel for a lunch which took an hour out of our travel time. Google maps said that it should take 4 hours to get from my home in Mt. Clemens, MI to here at Amishville Campground in Geneva, IN. When we settled in to our back in campsite we looked at the time and figured it took us 5 hours of drive time to get here. Pretty good considering that we were going against the wind all the way here. There was a 40 mph wind blowing, hitting us head on, sometimes from the passenger side causing the motorhome to pull to the left. It was a two handed drive all the way here. A thought crossed my mind. If the wind is hitting you straight on at 40 MPH, and you are moving at 60 MPH, does that mean that the wind hitting the windshield is equivalent to 100 MPH?

Thank goodness for our TomTom GPS. If it wasn’t for it, we would have never found this campground. It is at least 35 miles west of I-75. Most of the way though was on a very nice two lane road (IN 67) with a speed limit of 65 mph. Then the GPS took us off that highway to a country black top road. I didn’t feel safe going faster than 35 mph on those roads. We must have taken a half dozen turns on different roads, all through farm land and Amish areas. What a treat it was traveling through this Amish area. Each person we passed waved at us, and of course we returned it with a wave and a smile.

This campground is a Passport America park, so our total cost of only $12.79 including tax. The sites are fairly close to each other, but the new owners are placing people in every other campsite. That makes it feel much more spacious. As we are only staying here for the night, we are very happy with this campground.

They also have a restaurant and a gift store on the campground, but it’s only open on the week-ends. So we won’t have a chance to check them both out.

There is an Amish field adjacent to the Campground and Wilma noticed there were some work horses there grazing. She just had to take the camera and see if she could get some pictures of these beautiful horses.

A couple horses came close enough for Wilma to pet them.

There was another person from the Campground that was watching the horses and when he saw Wilma petting the horse, he tried. But the horses never let him get close to them. I wondered if the horses probably relate a male to work and a female to a carrot treat?

We leave here tomorrow morning, heading for Henderson, KY. There is a state park there named “John James State Park”. I believe it’s a little over 400 miles away, so our ride is going to be long one tomorrow.

Until next time, be safe and God Bless.

Kybee seems to be OK!

2011-08-23T13:48:00.000-04:00

We have been keeping a very sharp eye on Kybee, our little 7 year old PUG.

Last Friday afternoon, he took a leap out of the drivers door window of our Motorhome, down onto concrete. That’s a little over 6 foot from the window to the concrete below. We did notice a little blood on the bottom of his chin. Probably when he hit the concrete.

He did show signs late Friday and Saturday morning that something was wrong. By that I mean he acted like he was chasing something in front of him on the floor. He would lower his head, look back and forth a few times, then dart forward a few feet. He would then stop and repeat the process several times before he would finally lay down.

Sunday he was showing signs of being back to normal, meaning that he didn’t “go after” the invisible something on the floor. When we arrived home from our week end trip, he just laid around the house sleeping quite a bit.

Monday he slept more than he was awake. Every time I passed him where he was laying, he would open his eyes and follow me with his eyes, never moving a muscle. After about 6 hours passed I noticed his eyes still following me and he had not moved! I became a little alarmed and went over to pet him. He rolled over to his side, stretched, and stood up looking at me. Ah ha I thought, your playing lazy bones today aren’t you. The rest of the day he acted normal.

I have to say, our little guy sure did give Wilma and I a bad scare. It actually crossed my mind that I might have to get prepared to have him put down.

Today I’m happy to say that he is back to being himself. Every thing seems to be working, food goes in his mouth and exits the other end with no problems. Welcome back Kybee!

Until next time, be safe and God Bless.

A Wedding then a Brake Repair

2011-08-22T18:07:00.000-04:00

Last Friday, Wilma and I had the Motorhome packed and ready for a trip to Imlay City, MI to stay at our friends Gary & Cheryl’s home for the week end. We were invited to the wedding of the Grandson of our friends Joe & Diane, that was held Saturday afternoon in Inlay City.

Everything was going well as we pulled away from our home. We planned on stopping and getting the LP Gas tank filled on the way. Pulling into the supplier for a fill up, we were met by one of the workmen. “We can’t fill up any RV’s any longer. There is a broken part and the boss determined it to be to expensive to fix” is what he told us. Well I thought, that’s ok, we can just head over to the other supplier that I have done business with in the past.

Pulling into the second supplier we found a note on the door. “No longer selling retail.” Well dog gone! That’s not good, I’m thinking. So I call Gary and left a message asking if there were any suppliers around Imlay City that I could get my tank filled.

Onward to Imlay City we drove. About 2 miles outside of the city I noticed the Motorhome pulling to the right. I made a comment to Wilma that there is something wrong with the right front tire or wheel, because it is pulling to the right. We came up to a stop light, Wilma say’s she smells something like rubber burning. I figured it was the brake because I’ve had problems with that brake before.

Just as the light turned green, Gary phoned me telling me to turn left at the next light and the LP Gas dealer is on the right. So within a half mile I made the left and pulled into the dealer to purchase the LP Gas.

As the attendant was filling the tank, I walked over to the front tire. Sure enough there was a small amount of smoke rising out from behind the wheel. No fire, just a very hot wheel and brake pads. As I was only within two miles of Gary’s home, I decided to drive slowly the rest of the way, and take the gravel back roads.

After filling the LP Tank, the attendant and I walked back to the office. This is where (not so happy things) started to happen.

Wilma stayed in the Motorhome with Kybee as I went to pay for the LP Gas. As I was returning, Wilma was calling Kybee’s name. As I arrived, she said she used the bathroom and when she finished, Kybee wasn’t in the Motorhome. I walked back around the Motorhome to see Kybee walking to the Motorhome from the fuel pumps, a few hundred feet away! We were frantic wondering how he got out of the Motorhome. Then we saw that I left the drivers window open. There was no other way for him to exit the Motorhome except by jumping out of that window to the concrete below. That’s just a little over 6 feet from the concrete! We did notice some blood on his chin, but other than that he seemed to be fine.

Now we both are worrying about Kybee AND the brakes.

It was a good thing I could take gravel back roads to Gary’s home from the dealer, because the brake pedal was going almost to the floor to stop the Motorhome. We parked in our designated area, walked over to Gary’s covered deck and enjoyed a cool refreshment. (The type to calm one’s nerves.)

Joe was telling us that his brakes on his trailer quit working on the way here also! Seems he has a wire that is shorting out and needs to be found and repaired. (Bad luck following BOTH of us!)

Tomorrow everyone will be going to Joes’ grandson’s wedding. It is an outdoor wedding with the reception behind his home. Joe mentioned that the bride is going to “Ride up on a Horse!” This I thought is going to be an interesting wedding.

Saturday….

We wake up, have our breakfast and notice Kybee not acting quite right. He is looking like he is getting ready to chase something across the room. With his head lowered, looking back and forth, he darts across the floor, stops turns and darts again. This happened a couple times before he stopped and acted normal again. Wilma and I knew we needed to keep him quiet today and watch him closely.

Gary and I pull the front tire off the Motorhome. The caliber and pads need to be replaced, along with the brake hose and more fluid.

The brake hose even turned a different color from the heat generated

We head over to NAPA and I purchase what’s needed. We decide that as NAPA is open Sunday, we would wait until then to start the repair job. Plus, there is a 40% chance of rain today, and we didn’t want to be working on the brakes in the rain!

The wedding was beautiful! The rain held off until after the ceremony, there were plenty of tents for everyone to stay out of the weather.

Wilma & I. ~ Cheryl & Gary. ~ Plenty of tents to stay out of the weather.

The sky was getting darker as we were seated. The groom looked anxiously for his bride. Then the DJ started the music chosen by the Bride. We all rose, turned around and watched as she arrived on horseback!

The Brides father waiting to help his daughter off the horse

The rain held off, and the wedding ceremony concluded. Everyone then walked over to the tent area and chose a table to sit at. From the catered dinner, to the DJ, everything went great. Everyone was having a great time, and I believe it will be a wedding I’ll never forget!

Grandpa Joe blowing bubbles in the fish bowl centerpiece

When we arrived back at Gary’s home, the four of us decided we would like to play some cards, which we did until a little after midnight. So much fun with so much laughter!

Sunday…..

After breakfast, Gary and I started working on replacing the brake system on the right front of our Motorhome.

Laying on your back, looking through tri-focals is NOT fun!

We knew the hardest part was going to be removing the rubber brake line from the brake system. We had to make sure we didn’t twist the steel brake line going up to the master cylinder. We were aware of this yesterday and pre soaked the fitting with a penetrant.

Monte, Gary’s dad, came over to watch us in action

The penetrant worked it’s wonders and the fitting was removed easily. However the new hose was a very tight fit getting the clips back on to secure it through the frame. After 6 hours of hard work, we completed the brake job.

We then moved over to Gary’s Motorhome where he had previously replaced the cooling unit in his refrigerator. It takes two guys to lift the fridge into the Motorhome, over the dinette area, and lowered into place. With that installed, we both sat and had a refreshing beverage.

As we departed to head back home, I worked the brakes a few times on the back country roads. The brakes felt as though they were working perfectly. Needless to say, I drove very cautious the rest of the way home.

Arriving home, the first thing I did was crawl underneath the Motorhome and check the brake line going to the right front wheel. All dry, everything looked perfect. A phone call to Gary ensuring him that the brakes worked perfectly.

I’m so blessed to have a close friend as my buddy Gary! Thank you Gary for once again coming to my aid. I couldn’t have done it without you!

Until next time, be safe and God Bless.

Block Party then a Storm

2011-08-13T20:53:00.000-04:00

The block party that we attended this evening was a great hit. More food than everyone attending could possibly eat.

We were told there was even going to be a live band. Cool! So around 6pm Wilma and I walked over to the next block to join in the festivities.

It didn’t look like it was a full block long but we intended to meet a few of the neighbors and socialize.

Cute sign on Christian’s shirt

Christian with Dad, Jeff

As we approached the gathering, we were greeted by Karen who seems to know “everyone within a mile”. She led us around introducing us to several of the neighbors. It was really great getting to know several of the families. Now we can put faces of who lives in which home.

Even the band played good, especially for just a 3 piece band.

Around 7pm, Angel phoned us and told us there was a severe thunderstorm heading our way. According to the TV weathermen and the radar, there was no way it could miss us.

Wilma passed the word around and before long everyone was helping to put the tables and chairs away. Within a half hour you couldn’t tell there was a block party. Everything cleared and put away.

By 8:30 the sky was lit up with lightening and the rain came falling down. Within a half hour it was over. Not as bad as everyone expected.

The rain did cause the block party to end a little early, but it didn’t spoil the fun had by all before it arrived.

Until next time, be safe and God Bless.

M-3 Bridge Replacement

2011-08-11T21:52:00.000-04:00

Last year it was decided and approved that the two M-3 bridges that span over the Clinton River be replaced.

“Old Southbound M-3 Bridge”

Copied from the Michigan Dept. of Transportation web site:

M-3 bridge replacement over Clinton River begins Jan. 15

January 10, 2011 -- Work to replace the M-3 (Gratiot Avenue) bridges over the Clinton River in the city of Mt. Clemens will begin this weekend, according to the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT). On Saturday, crews will close the northbound M-3 bridge and shift all traffic to the southbound structure.
During the closure of the northbound bridge, two-way traffic will share the southbound structure with a single lane open in each direction. Local streets Wellington-Crescent and Clinton River Drive will be converted to one-way streets during the traffic shift to facilitate all traffic using the southbound structure. The northbound bridge is expected to open in late April.
After the northbound bridge is completed, all traffic will use the newly constructed bridge in order to replace the southbound structure. Again, the local streets will be converted to one-way status in order to shift traffic.
All work on this $8.6 million investment is expected to be completed in late October.

Everyone in the area was thrilled that the bridges were going to be replaced. After all, the old ones were actually crumbling into the river.

((Click this link to map and information about the original bridge))

For the past week now, every day for at least 10 hours a day, we have heard this pounding noise coming from the construction zone of the Bridge Replacement. You could tell from the rhythm of the pounding that Pylons were being driven into the ground.

My curiosity got the best of me today, so off I went on my bike with video camera in hand.

Southbound M-3 Pylons being installed at the Clinton River.

After shooting the video, and heading back home, I came across two workers taking their lunch break under a shade tree. I asked them if they knew how deep the pylons are pounded into the ground. They told me that they are 60ft. long. That they are driven 40ft. into the ground unless they hit rock.

The taller pylons are resting on rock. The shortest are sunk in 40ft. New Northbound M-3 bridge is in background

They are expecting this new bridge to outlast a century before needing replacement.

The weather has been just great this past summer for the construction crew, and they have been putting in many hours of overtime on this Southbound bridge. Unlike the Northbound side, which they worked just 40 hours per week. They expect to have it completed by the end of next month. If I were a betting man I wouldn’t bet on them getting this job done on time. But I do wish them luck, and hope they do complete it on time.

Until next time, be safe and God Bless.

Tree Trim Day

2011-08-07T20:29:00.000-04:00

When we went out on the deck this morning to have our coffee, everything was wet. We had a thunderstorm yesterday afternoon, and it has been so humid that nothing dried throughout the night.

Sitting there sipping my coffee, I looked up and noticed the tree branches actually laying on the roof of the house. All the extra weight of the water made them heavy enough to actually reach the roof.

Can’t have tree branches on the roof at anytime! That would pretty much wear out the shingles in no time. So I planned on doing some tree trimming today.

Tree limbs just reaching the roof line.

You know, 30 years ago I could climb ladders and get right up onto the roof of our Colonial home. But today I figured I could reach the branches with my extended ladder and tree trimmer.

Extension ladder and tree trimmer leaning against our home

Yep, from down on the ground it looks like it will be a “piece of cake.” After all, I have one of those “Little Giant Ladder Systems!” Plenty sturdy to hold up a guy of my stature.

So I asked Wilma if she would assist me outside, just in case I would fall!

Stretching to get the branch

Looking at these pictures, it just doesn’t look all that high to me. Of course that’s from down here! It looks a little more scary from up there.

Just a little higher….

Can’t look down! Nerves are starting to get the best of me. Now why does that happen with age? Like I said, 30 years ago, I actually was up on that roof, leaning over the edge painting the white trim!

A little higher and a little more stretch and I could have reached them all

Oh well. Most of the branches were removed. More has to be trimmed back, but that can wait for another day after my nerves settle down.

Until next time, be safe and God Bless.

Brooke & Savannah–Beach & Ice Cream

2011-07-30T12:35:00.000-04:00

Another night of rain, lightning and thunder but that didn’t bother either of the kids. They slept right through it.

First on the agenda this morning was Eggs & Bacon, Toast, Juice, Milk, Coffee…..the list goes on.

After breakfast Pa tagged along with them to the beach, as NaNa cleaned up the breakfast dishes. Brooke assured us she would be extra careful and not get her cast wet, so we didn’t wrap it in plastic this time.

High and Dry is the cast

The girls tried for at least an hour to catch minnows. Brooke finally caught a few. All were released. Brooke feels strongly that they are part of nature and shouldn’t be destroyed or killed. Our small list of camping rules are starting to show and made us proud.

Brooke on the hunt for minnows

After a couple hours on the beach they were ready to go back to the Lazy River. So back to the campsite we went where I wrapped Brooke’s cast up in a white plastic bag secured with duct tape. This has proven to keep it dry so she can ride the tubes in the lazy river, get wet and not fear for the cast.

NaNa took the girls to the Lazy River while Pa stayed back at the Motor Home enjoying the AC and catching up on his E-Mail. The plan was that after they were done with the Lazy River, we would all go play Putt Putt Golf followed by Ice Cream.

Three hours passed before they were back at the campsite. All three of them were pretty wore out from the heat now and agreed to skip Putt Putt for now. “Let’s get our Ice Cream first” was there suggestion to NaNa and Pa. Of course that was a brilliant suggestion and off we went to the Café in the campground.

Another improvement this year is a covered cement patio area for the picnic tables behind the Café.

New this year, covered patio for the picnic tables. One of two outdoor Pools in background

NaNa headed for the picnic table area, while Pa took the kids to the Café to order their Ice Cream. The choice: vanilla, chocolate, or combination vanilla chocolate.

Getting $6.00 out for 3 ice creams

We chose to take the ice cream in cups instead of cones. I kidded with them about having to lick the melting ice cream off each others elbows as it melted in the cones and ran down our arms. “No way!” was the response, so in the cups the ice cream went.

Started enjoying the ice cream even before getting to the picnic tables

NaNa just had to get a sample of each of our Ice Creams, but that was ok with us! We all love NaNa!

Back at the Motor Home, supper was cooking in the Crock Pot. NaNa started it in the morning, roast beef, potatoes and carrots. It was ready to eat by 5pm but everyone was still full of Ice Cream. Isn’t camping great!! No rules to follow, eat when hungry not when the time of day says to. So it ended up around 7PM before we all wanted to eat our supper.

Brooke didn’t want us to start a campfire until it was dark outside. We reminded her that it didn’t get dark until 9:30! She just wanted it to be dark when we had a campfire. NaNa and I assured her it would be dark before we went inside to go to bed for the night.

The campfire was started, and Brooke and Savannah could hardly wait for the wood to burn down before starting to cook their marshmallows for their smores.

Let the roasting of marshmallows begin!

Mm Good. Nothing beats Smores!

That first bite is always the very best

Even left handed Brooke has no trouble with her Smore

Careful, that marshmallow can find a way all up and down your arms.

After eating their share of smores, telling ghost stories, and hitting mosquitos, it was time to go “feed the fish”. With a couple pieces of bread each, off to the bridge over the lake to feed the fish they went. NaNa and Pa stayed back tending the campfire, keeping a close eye on them. As night was starting to fall, Pa went over to the bridge to get the girls. They were just about done, so the last few pieces of bread was thrown in for the fish and turtles.

As we walked back to our campsite, Brooke was bothered what she had seen and told Pa. It seems a few boys had caught a small turtle and took it out of the lake. “Don’t they know your not supposed to keep them?” was her question to me. I told her that their parents probably didn’t teach them how to respect “mother nature” like her mom, NaNa and Pa taught her. She was so upset about it she just had to tell NaNa about it when we got back to the campsite. NaNa always seems to be able to comfort them better than Pa when they are so upset, and this time was no different.

Good job NaNa!

We phoned Tina, making sure Dakota would be ready tomorrow to come camping. I was planning on taking Brooke and Savannah back home, getting Dakota and bringing him to the campsite. Tina told us that he decided that he didn’t really want to go camping this year. So tomorrow we are planning on breaking camp and heading back home.

Until next time, be safe and God Bless.

Brooke & Savannah Camping

2011-07-28T19:56:00.000-04:00

Yesterday Angel brought Brooke and Savannah to the campsite and took Haley and Rebecca back home.

The weather turned to dark skies. Looking on the internet we saw there was a 90% chance of thunderstorms. As it turned out it rained constant all night. No down pour rain, just a constant good soaking rain. Along with that we had a show with the lightening. It was a different kind of lightening than usual. By that I mean, usually you hear thunder after each flash of lightening. But last night there was thunder for every 4th. or 5th. flash of lightening. I think that suited the kids just fine.

Both girls woke Nana up at different times also last night. Seems there was a mosquito that was biting them pretty bad. Wilma had the lights on looking for that pesky mosquito but just couldn’t find it. It wasn’t long afterward the girls did settle down and fell fast asleep.

This morning after a pancake breakfast, Pa took them to the fishing dock.

Savannah & Brooke going after the biggest fish ever!

We didn’t have the ordinary bait. Most fishermen use worms. We had cooked chicken breast! Yes sir’ee, and it was mighty tasty too.

Savannah catches the first fish

Savannah proves her chicken was the best! Within 5 minutes of fishing she hooked the first fish. A couple boys commented that they had been there for at least 2 hours and hadn’t caught anything. They asked Savannah what bait she was using. Savannah gave them a funny look and said “Chicken of course”. The boys looked at each other in amazement. I’ll bet they went back and told mom and dad they wanted chicken for supper tonight!

Brooke not to be out done found a different spot on the fishing dock. It wasn’t long and she caught a fish. Actually she ended up snagging it but we counted it as a fish caught.

Brooke found a “hot spot” and ended up catching a fish also

Little Savannah, to her total surprise caught another fish, this one larger than the first. Of course they were both un-hooked by Pa and released.

You just gotta love that toothless smile

The chicken was flying on the hooks. But no other fish were caught, and the bait ran out. So back to the Motorhome to tell Nana about their catches.

After lunch it was time for the Kiddy splash pool and Lazy River.

Savannah & Brooke floating down the Lazy River

As Brooke has a broken arm with a cast on it, Pa wrapped it up with a white plastic bag and good ol duck tape! Have no fear now of getting the cast wet.

The photo below shows the outdoor covered lounging area with the swimming pool behind. To the left is the building that has a very fancy lounge with fireplace, stuffed leather sofa’s and big screen TV. The red buildings in the background are the “cabins” that are rented out.

The Kiddie Splash Zone is a hit not only for the kids but adults and big kids also.

Nana has to be commended for this trip to the Splash Pool and Lazy River. She managed to stay there with the girls for the entire 3 hours the kids played in the water.

Tomorrow will be another fun filled day I’m sure.

Until next time, be safe and God Bless.

Haley and Rebecca Camping day 2

2011-07-26T15:42:00.000-04:00

Shortly after breakfast Haley and Rebecca headed for the boat launch. They were looking forward to checking out the Kayak’s and paddling the length of the lake.

Wilma and I headed for the South side of the park. Wilma to soak up some sun at the outdoor pool, and I to get some much needed exercise on the bike.

The day seemed to fly by and before we knew it was noon and we were getting an appetite. We decided we would treat ourselves to a fish and chips lunch from the grill.

Wilma enjoying her Fish & Chips for lunch

Sitting and enjoying our lunch we discussed how many improvements have been made to this campground. They have been doing construction now for the past 5 years doubling the size of the campground. I believe the website says something around 300 sites but I’m certain they are close to 800 useable sites with more being constructed. I’m certain I made a wise investment in joining this group of campgrounds, the going rate today for membership is around $7000.00. No where near to what I paid for my membership.

The shoreline is still under development on the North side.

In the past year we have noticed the main Office/Store has had a facelift on the outside. The check-in area is completely new and much more efficient for the employees, and the members.

On the North side of the lake the newest addition this year is a “Lazy River” where at least 10 tubes can be on it at a time. Next to that is a kiddy pool with a “Splash Area” for the little tikes. Plus there is a heated (when needed) outdoor pool. The building in the photo below houses restrooms, maintenance area, and an air conditioned adult lounge with fireplace. Very nice.

The latest addition this year, Lazy River area

It’s traditional now that we play a round of Putt Putt Golf with the kids with no score card. No score card because it’s all in fun AND we are all winners!

Rebecca lines up her next shot as Wilma and Haley look on

Rebecca stands by the “Hole in One” that she did as our golf balls are in line waiting

After watching ‘Becca, Haley has this shot all figured out.

I can’t count the amount of jokes and laughs we all had playing this game. Some quality time NaNa and Pa had with our Grand Daughters Haley and Rebecca.

Another tradition we have going is a serving of “Soft Ice Cream”. We chose the scoop in the cup instead of in the cone because of the heat outside. We didn’t want to see our ice cream running down our arms melting faster than we could eat it.

Heading for the covered picnic tables to enjoy our ice cream

This evening we decided to cook Hot Dogs and Brats over the campfire for dinner. Neither girl had done this before. Rebecca asked how do you tell if the hot dog is done? I explained to her that as she is the cook, she takes them out of the fire when she wants to. BUT if she burns them, guess who’s going to eat them?

Rebecca asking for my opinion on doneness

Giving both Rebecca and Haley credit, they did a great job cooking our dinner. Mm Good those “Dogs and Brats” were!

Just as we were finishing up with our dinner, our friends Gary and Cheryl dropped in for a visit. The girls couldn’t wait to show them the Marshmallows that Nana had bought so they could make smores.

Wilma, Gary, Cheryl and Myself

As Gary and I were enjoying some liquid refreshment, we passed on having a smore. Wilma and Cheryl just had to try one which they really enjoyed!

Haley and Rebecca’s Camping Trip

2011-07-24T15:51:00.000-04:00

It was hot and humid when we arrived at the campground Sunday. Both Haley and Rebecca were excited and anxious to get to the beach.

Rebecca and Haley, nets in hand, ready to catch some minnows.

Seemed that the small nets that we purchased in Myrtle Beach had netting that was not made for the small minnows. Every time they scooped a net full, the minnows seemed to swim right through the net!

Letting the minnows swim to them.

As the day started to come to an ending, it was time to get the campfire going so that smores could be made.

Look at the size of those marshmallows!

Let the cooking begin!

Now that’s a mouth full!

Even Nana had to have one. That’s a lot of Marshmallow on that Smore!

The day ended and Nana and Pa actually beat the two girls to bed! Seems that the older we get, the less chance there is of us staying up to the wee hours of the night. Haley mentioned that they were up to around 11:30pm before they turned out the lights and went to sleep.

Brooke’s Broken Hand!

2011-07-23T13:40:00.001-04:00

We have been packing up the Motorhome for our Annual camping trip with our Grand kids for the last several days.

In the past we would take 2 of them on one week-end. Then on a separate week end we would take the other 2. As we are retired now, and little Savannah wants to go also, we have decided to reserve a campsite for 2 weeks. Sunday afternoon we are scheduled to leave for our 2 week trip.

As Haley is staying with us for the summer, her stay will be the entire trip! Lucky her!

When we leave on Sunday, Rebecca will be going with us. On Wednesday, Angel will be bringing her daughter Brooke and Savannah. When Angel leaves Wednesday evening she will be taking Rebecca back with her. On Saturday I will be bringing Brooke and Savannah back home and picking up Dakota who will stay until Tuesday.

The campground we always go to is one of the FIVE PARKS that we “became members” of. Lake Shore Resort is our choice of the five, as it’s the largest, and they have much more for the kids to do. Boredom is unheard of at Lake Shore Resort!

This morning at 8am it was already a warm 80F and the humidity was up to 70%. So it was slow going for us as we loaded the last minute items into the Motorhome.

Then around 11:00AM Wilma received a call from Angel. It seems that Brooke was riding her “Razor scooter” in the parking lot yesterday evening. Not aware of the joints between the slabs of concrete being filled with the usual tar material, which because of the heat became very soft. Her wheel managed to get caught in one of those joints and she flipped off her scooter.

Running into the house crying for her mom, Angel applied cold cloths to her right hand comforting Brooke, and hoping she would be fine in the morning.

Angel was up at the crack of dawn, worried about Brooke. As she was having her morning coffee, she heard Brooke moan in her sleep. After several minutes, Angel woke Brooke and asked her how her hand was. Brooke told her it was still hurting her.

In the car within minutes and headed for the “Urgent Care” where X-Rays were taken.

Confirmation was made that she had a broken bone in her right hand just below the wrist. A “soft cast” was applied, and Angel is to make the appointment with the Orthopedic Dr. first thing Monday.

Angel pointing to the area where Brooks bone is broken.

Na Na and I feel so bad. Just days before she is to go camping, this happens. These kids start planning this camping trip back in the Winter, so we know how excited they get about it.

Brooke says the cast helps relieve the pain

We will know more on Monday when Angel phones us with the update after the Dr.’s visit.

Brooke is the kind of kid that just lives for getting in pools and the water at the beach. Plus this year a new area of the park opened called the “Lazy River” where you sit in an inner tube and drift down a man made river. We know all the kids are looking forward to that!

Looks like we will have to wrap her arm in a plastic bag and seal it up with some good tape.

Brooke has informed us that she is going to get a “Waterproof Cast” on Monday so she can still go swimming!

“Old Pa” has never heard of that, so it looks like I’ll get educated with that phone call we will be waiting for on Monday from Angel.

Until next time, be safe and God Bless.

Did Someone Move Michigan to Arizona?

2011-07-20T22:39:00.001-04:00

I’ve heard on the news that most of the country is getting some higher than normal temperatures. But today we felt it here in Michigan first hand.

Wilma, Haley and I were driving with the air conditioning on. Passed a store sign showing it was 100 F.

We looked at the outside air temperature reading in the car and saw this at 3:20pm this afternoon.

Yep, that’s 102 degrees F outside temperature

You will notice the “Recirc” light on. I had to have the air conditioning air recirculating instead of bringing outside air inside the car.

Here is the time of day today when it hit 102F.

Was wondering if that Tsunami in Japan actually moved the state of Michigan into Arizona with temps like this!

Until next time, be safe and God Bless

133rd. Consecutive Family Reunion

2011-07-19T15:58:00.000-04:00

First I would like to welcome Merri and Steve from Jammin' Along for joining our list of followers. Hopefully I won’t bore you too much!

Last Sunday we attended the One Hundred Thirty Third Consecutive Hagedorn Family Reunion. It still just amazes me that my family has kept this reunion going for so long!

As the family grew larger, it was necessary to keep looking for a suitable area to have the reunion. For many years now the family has enjoyed “Camp Rotary” which is part of the Walcott Mill Metro Park.

Camp Rotary has many features that our family enjoys. Mostly the river that runs through the park.

Gathered under a shade tree with the river in the background.

The depth of the river is directly effected by the amount of rain we receive in June and July. This past June and July we haven’t had much rain, and the river shows it.

Brooke looking on as Savannah jumps from rock to rock on the river bed.

Angel with Daughter Brooke, in the middle of the River!

In the wet years you can’t even see the stones on the river bed. Jumping across them is not possible because of the current and depth. That’s when you use the “suspended bridge” to get to the other side.

Our Grand daughters on the suspended bridge

The most fun the kids have is looking for aquatic treasures! So every year we bring small buckets and nets.

Brook is prepared for her “catch of aquatic treasures”

Sometimes there are treasures that just appear out of no where! Not all of them are aquatic.

A dragonfly lands on Brook’s shoulder, giving her a little scare

It is a known fact that through the years, the pot luck dinner is served at 1PM sharp. There is always a moment of silence as a prayer of thanks is said. Then a double line is formed with the eldest going first.

This year my Aunt Ella at 95 was the eldest. Followed by my father who is 84 years old. They are the last living of their generation.

Aunt Ella, my Grandmothers eldest and last living daughter at 95!

Aunt Ella is still sharp as a tack mentally. I just can’t resist telling her how much she looks like Grandma to me. That always brings a smile to her face. I still see the resemblance don’t you?

My Grandmother taken in 1974

Like mother above, we have my father with my Grand daughters.

Grand Daughters Haley, Savannah and Rebecca with Great Grandpa (Opapa)

After the delicious dinner, many found the “cool” area’s under the shade trees. As I looked around the several “clans” were gathered in their own little circles. Looking at those circles, I was reminded of my Aunt’s and Uncle’s who have passed away and are no longer with us except in spirit and memories.

This is just about 25% of those who attended this years reunion

Also following dinner there were games held for all age groups. From infants to adults there were organized games. No losers could be found, and prizes were presented to all who participated.

Watching the games of other age groups awaiting their turns

After each game, prizes were awarded to all. Everyone was a winner!

Despite the temperatures in the high 90’s and the humidity around 5000% everyone had a great time!

One other great tradition that has been kept, is the taking of pictures and posting them up each year for all to see.

Taken in 1997, this photo shows just a small portion of the pictures from years past that are displayed.

Just before we left I met the Grandkids inside where all the pictures from the past were displayed. Savannah told me she was 8 years old now, and I asked her if she would like to see me at a family reunion when I was 7 years old. Her face lit up with excitement, along with Haley and Rebecca’s.

I’ll never ever forget their faces, when I pointed out an old Black and White photo taken back in 1957, where you could see Opapa, Omama, and their Pa at only 7 years old! (My Grandkids call my father and mother, Opapa and Omama, I’m known as Pa, and Wilma is known as Nana.)

What a wonderful day we all had. Full of memories that we all will cherish a lifetime.

Until next time, be safe and God Bless.

Wilma’s Birthday Party

2011-07-18T14:52:00.000-04:00

We just couldn’t let a special birthday go by without sharing it with family and friends! So Saturday evening at 6pm the party commenced!

Wilma had been a little jittery about the party. She said she likes a little attention, but she doesn’t like to be the center of attention! And the center of attention she was Saturday evening.

Wilma’s Special Birthday Cake

Everyone lingered on the deck before heading for the basement where the food was, and much cooler temperature.

There had to be 20 different conversations going on at once

Everyone having a great time, catching up on how their summer has been going. Everyone that was expected showed up, and we had a house full of guests. What fun!

A variety of food and drink available

As we finished eating and enjoying the cool temperatures in our basement, it was “back to the deck”. I never thought that everyone would rather be outside in the heat and humidity. As it turned out though it worked out best.

It wasn’t long before Wilma started opening her gifts and taking her razzing! All in fun of course, and we all had a great laugh at Wilma’s expense.

Wilma just couldn’t hold a straight face reading her birthday cards!

Everyone looking on as Wilma opens another gift.

Some of the cards just a little too embarrassing to read aloud, so she passed them around for all to enjoy.

The party lasted until midnight, and as we headed for bed Wilma said it was a “Great Birthday Party with friends and family”.

Sunday morning we will be getting ready for another Hagedorn Family Reunion, which has been going consecutively for over 130 years!

Until next time, be safe and God Bless.

New Cell Phone Case

2011-07-16T10:56:00.000-04:00

Wilma told me to “Stop being so cheap and buy myself a new Cell Phone Case”.

I just don’t ever think of buying a replacement for anything as long as the old one still works. And I paid good money, $20.00 at Verizon for the leather case I’m using only 15 months ago. So I started looking on the internet for a replacement. I really like the cases that clip to your belt, stays horizontal, and have magnetic flaps that close the case.

Enter “Overstock.com”. They had a case, just what I’m looking for, but their description didn’t include any size. Looking at the price they wanted I figured it could only be as large as a match box!

The New Case

I just couldn’t believe that a “Leather” cell phone case could only cost $2.49! Of course there is a shipping fee of $2.95 but when added up that’s a total of only $5.44. Well I figured I would take a chance and order one. If it’s as small as I’m figuring, it would make a great conversation piece around a campfire.

Now looking at my “15 month old Verizon $20.00 case” you will see that it can still function. May not look the prettiest but it still works. Just a good string and some aluminum tape and I was good to go.

A little aluminum tape made it pretty ugly

What was happening was the belt clip was ripping away from the leather. So it hung on my belt pretty loosely and I have to admit, it didn’t feel very secure.

A strong string wrapped around the flap and under the clip with tape over it held it together.

I know…you all are laughing and agreeing with Wilma right about now. And she told me to put it on the blog, so I must obey her and be humble.

So I placed the order with Overstock.com, paid the $5.44 and waited for my new leather case to arrive. It took just 6 days and I was holding it in my hands! Wow what service, and the quality is as good or better than the Verizon case! I can’t be happier and I am now the proud owner of a new cell phone case!

Sure looks prettier!

If you have a “flip” cell phone and might be interested in this case, the size is this: 4.5” X 1” X 2.3” . Measure you cell phone closed and if it’s within these measurements you might want to buy this case.

Until next time, be safe and God Bless.

Dakota’s 14th. Birthday

2011-07-10T15:04:00.000-04:00

Friday afternoon we celebrated Dakota’s 14th. Birthday.

Tina furnished Pizza, cake and ice cream. Great Grandpa furnished a sweet watermelon.

Dakota on his 14th. Birthday.

Dakota could hardly wait to open his gifts and cards. Especially when asked a few weeks ago what he wanted for his Birthday, the answer was always “Money”.

Aunt Angel got him this shirt and a pair of really neat shorts.

Brooke and Rebecca kept a close count of “the cash” Dakota received.

It was a perfect gathering of family. Everyone having a great time, especially Dakota! For a kid that just hates to have his picture taken, he did really well in front of the camera.

Proud Mom Tina, with her “kids”.

Nana even got a chance to get in a photo with Dakota!

The little guy is really growing up. Already taller than Nana and as tall as his Pa. But I just have to remind him “The taller they are, the harder they fall”. Always said jokingly of course.

Next scheduled gathering is next Saturday. Wilma’s Birthday Party! She is starting to feel jittery, saying that “she likes attention, just not the center of attention”. Her party will have many friends along with family. I’m sure it will be a great, memorable birthday party for her.

Today the cake was ordered from Costco along with some additional supplies for the party.

Seems like never a dull moment in our summer so far, and we love it!

Until next time, be safe and God Bless.

Motorhome Wax Job Complete

2011-07-08T14:18:00.000-04:00

Finally after working for at least a couple weeks off and on, I finished hand washing and applying the wax to the Motorhome.

It was quite a bit of work, especially washing it by hand, every square inch of it! But the outcome is very nice in my opinion.

Now time will tell how long the shine will last. Hopefully for at least a year. Hopefully next year it will also be easier to give it it’s first wash of the year after a long winter. Like I said, time will tell.

Now sitting on the deck, enjoying the great weather, watching Haley fill out her “thank you’s” from her Graduation gifts. Wilma is helping her out. What a great Na-Na to help her out with them.

In a few hours, the rest of the family will once again assemble on the deck to celebrate Dakota’s 14th. Birthday. Sounds like we are in for a Pizza dinner before the ice cream and cake. Hard to believe my only Grandson turned 14 today!

That’s it for now….

Until next time, be safe and God Bless.

A day of rest and a Festival

2011-07-02T21:09:00.001-04:00

This morning I decided to take a day off from cleaning and waxing the Motorhome.

Yesterday I just had the front to wash and wax. The drivers side was washed and one coat of wax applied. Then the hornets came buzzing me again. This time they were in the drivers outside mirror! I prevailed though when I introduced them to some WD-40. They get lubed and now have to find a new place to build there hive.

Wilma and I were planning on going downtown Mt. Clemens for the Stars and Stripes Festival today sometime. As the day progressed it was getting hotter and hotter outside. It actually hit 98 today, a record breaker.

Dad called and wanted to bring Wilma her Birthday card and a watermelon. He arrived about 3pm and stayed an hour or so. We each had a slice of the watermelon, cold, juicy and sweet!

After he left we decided that now would be a good time to go to the festival. That way we could get some festival food for our dinner.

Off we went, paid our $5.oo parking fee and proceeded to walk the short block to an entrance. Many venders selling everything under the sun. From all sorts of food to jewelry, clothes and many veterans booths. I bought a USN license plate bracket to support the Viet Nam Veterans of America. There were some pretty good live bands playing also. I noticed that the organizers had them spaced out very well so none of them over powered each other.

The food assortment was overwhelming. What a large variety. We ended up purchasing a Philly steak sandwich. It was fair, but the strawberry smoothie I got was just watered down strawberry cool aid. Got the smoothie from the Elks, so I didn’t take it back and ask for a refund, figured it as a donation for the “good things they do” for the community.

It was still hot outside, the car temperature gauge reading 97 but I bet where we were walking it had to be a heat index of well over 100. We only lasted a couple hours and Wilma noticed the sky darkening. Time to head back as there were severe thunderstorm warnings announced.

Arrived home and within an hour the storms hit. Just some lightening and thunder, mixed with a little rain. Nothing real severe at our home, but our friends north of us about 10 miles lost power. I guess they had the severe storms that were predicted.

As I sit writing this blog, I hear the bands starting to play again. The rain is over and it looks like a pink sky to the West. Let the celebration continue.

Now we can resume to here the neighbors trying to out do each other on who has the loudest fire crackers. They were dueling until midnight last night. Kybee hates it and paces the house from them. Then there was the winner, a double bang at 3am this morning.

I’m all for celebrating the 4th. of July. But come on people! Give us a break! Stop the fireworks at 11pm, there is always tomorrow, seeing how you all like to do this for at least a month.

Ok…I’ll get off my soap box now. Taking a deep breath, and feeling better now.

Tomorrow is Wilma’s birthday! She is hitting a mile stone but I won’t say her age. In my eyes, she is still that sweet 19 year old bride of mine….and that’s all that matters! Love ya my hon! Happy Birthday.

Until next time, be safe and God Bless