Monday, June 29, 2009

Busy Weekend...

We left on Saturday to drive from Chambersburg down to Virginia Beach so Linda could spend some time with her kids and grandson before her doctor's appt. on Monday morning. We stopped in Williamsburg, VA and got to see our friends, Mike, Cindy and Biscuit. They are staying at the campground where we stayed last summer and Mike is also working there. We got to chat with them for a while and then had a wonderful supper that Cindy prepared. We also got to tour their new coach....what a beauty !!

We continued on from Williamsburg to Virginia Beach. At a Sheetz in Warrenton, VA we stopped to stretch and saw this trike, which is an Ecstacy trike, like the one I had. This one is a roadster model, whereas mine had a roof. This is a 2002 model, as the owner told me, but the styling is almost identical to the one I had. It was fun to see it as you don't come across them too often.

On Sunday, Linda, Boomer and I went to a Pride Festival with her daughter and her partner. There were many booths set up and a stage for live performances. Boomer was so well behaved...we couldn't believe it. We could never have taken both Schroeder and Boomer out to something like this before because they didn't interact well with other dogs and they wouldn't walk well in crowds. Boomer was a little shy...he would take in the events of the day, peeking out from between my legs. He walked well on a leash.....interacted well with other dogs and was such a joy to have with us. He didn't quite know what to make of Linda's daughters' chihuahuas...two of them. He kind of cozied up to the one but was scared of the male that kept growling at him. Still seems odd to not have Schroeder here. He would always greet us in the morning with a "Woo Woo Woo" kind of bark and do his little "happy dance". I missed him putting his head on my shoulder while I drove and there was only one pooch to make a waffle for at breakfast. A big adjustment from what I've know over the last nine years of having him in my life.

Sunday we spent time at Linda's oldest daughter's house, playing with Linda's grandson...Teagan. We had a great time with them and Linda got to do one of her favorite things...give Teagan his bath and put him to bed. In this picture you can see Teagan holding his "daddy doll"....a picture of his dad with a recorded message that he takes to bed with him everynight. Since Teagan's dad is often out to sea (he's in the Navy), this is a neat way to maintain that father/son connection. Teagan must have had an especially fun time bathing Sunday night cause I could hear him squealing, with delight, in the upstairs bathroom while I was downstairs. Boomer also took notice and sat at the bottom of the steps and whimpered. I think he thought they were having WAY too much fun without him !

This morning we had to get up early to get on the road for Linda's doctor appt. After that was over, we headed north for PA, stopping at Sam's Club to pick up a few things and then stopping at a "big truck" repair center to pick up a fuel filter for Bertha. I couldn't believe how much cheaper their filter was than the one I had found on-line...only $24 as compared to $41 ($32 plus shipping). Will definitely keep them in mind as the place to get my filters should we come through this area again.

We had been home for less than two hours and Linda got a call to work the overnight shift at a nursing home. She is now sleeping...in preparation for working that 11-7 shift. Boomer and I will have to watch the Law and Order shows without her :( doink doink

Friday, June 26, 2009

Thank You ....

Thank you to all of our friends and blog followers for your e-mails with your thoughts and prayers since Schroeder's passing. It means a great deal to us to know that so many people care. Bless each of you !!

Boomer's day.....

Boy, yesterday was rough ! Today has been better....have fewer "moments". Have tried to stay busy and that helps a great deal. This morning we mowed the lawn and then the sewer guy came to pump out our holding tanks. We then decided to go to the indoor farmers market in town and look around. Most of the booths are run by the Amish. Loads of fresh baked goods, fresh pretzels, fresh meats and produce. We went to the booth known for their hoagies and got a super size tuna salad hoagie for lunch...$4. We then had a cinnamon sugar pretzel for dessert.....yummy !!

We took Boomer with us as we are trying to keep an eye on him to see if he's going to mope or not eat since he saw the whole thing unfold yesterday and isn't quite sure what to make of it all. He's been quiet but did eat his supper (no breakfast but that's not unusual). We took him to our friends house to run and he seemed to be OK....he ran and chased the ball we'd throw and explored the yard. We've lavished him with lots of love today so he hasn't felt any neglect in that department. Tonight we went for a walk and he was an "angel". He has never walked so nicely nor behaved so well than he did today. We're hoping that since his alpha buddy isn't leading the way now, that he will be very good to walk with and much more obedient. During our walk he made a new friend. Across from where we are staying is Bender's Potato Barn and they have a small menagerie of animals out back. Boomer loves horses and there were three miniature ponies in one area and he got so excited when he first saw them. He smooched this pony although he really wanted to crawl under the fence and play with them. When he tried to do that and smooched the one ponies hoof, she didn't like that too well. We tried to explain to him that if his lips are smashed there will be no more smooching but he didn't have his listenin' ears on. We walked for about 45 minutes and now he is relaxing on the living room floor.

This morning we heard from Mini U about our training dates. We will be going to Whippany, NJ July 7 - 11 to train there and then travel to Woodbridge, VA to train for another two days. I spoke to the manager at the Whippany site and she was delightful. I think we will have a great time learning about our new jobs from she and her husband. We are excited to get started.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Goodbye, Dear Friend...

The sky has a bright new star out tonight.....named Schroeder. Schroeder got hit by a car today, while we were working outside, and his injuries were too severe so we let him go.
From the time we got him, at six months of age from the SPCA, it was obvious that there was something special about Schroeder. He was a little white snowball who could capture your heart with his intelligence, his gentleness and his intuitive behavior. He became known as an "old shoe" cause he was so steadfast, down to earth and just plain easy going. A few months later, Boomer joined the household and Schroeder had his sidekick. His little brother that he could frolick with and put up to no good....while he played it innocent and let Boomer take the blame. Boomer is too happy go lucky to know any difference. Schroeder was the cunning one...the plotter.

Schroeder absolutely loved our traveling lifestyle.... Just like in this picture, he could be seen with his head on the back seat, watching us pump fuel while traveling to some new destination. When we'd arrive, it would always take a few days for him to learn that we were staying "put" for a while otherwise every morning when we'd get up he'd be at the door, ready to hit the road.

I snapped this last picture yesterday when we took the boys to our friends' house so they could run in her fenced in yard. He was relaxing under a shade tree and in rare form, he let me take this picture. He usually would turn away when he saw me with the camera or get up and leave but he allowed me to take a couple of him. What a sweet old soul he was.....our hearts ache for we have lost something very special and precious.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Awaiting Instructions....

We are waiting for our company to finalize the details of where we will train. It looks like we may spend some time in New Jersey training and some time in Virginia. We are supposed to get more details tomorrow.

We got some errands done today after I finished applying the last of the sealant to the slide outs and storage bay areas. The syringe system that comes with the sealant is really nifty. I removed every other screw from the trim pieces on the slideouts and the 1.5" needle goes in the screw hole slick as a whistle so the sealant can be injected into the wood. The sealant follows the grain of the wood and if there is the presence of fungi (rot), it follows that path so the sealant will fill the channel created by the fungi. I must have slept through science class the day that they told us that wood rot/decay is caused by a fungi. Hmmm....I guess I just thought if you have a problem with wood getting wet on a consistent basis, you get rot....not that it's actually caused by fungi.Cool, huh ?

So anyway, for a couple of areas under the slideout that appear to be spongy to the touch and weren't near a screw hole, I took a small drill bit and angled off of the screw hole to "aim" towards these spots. Like I said the syringe is really awesome....just point and shoot the sealant (kind of looks and has the consistency of diesel fuel) into any hole where the wood needs hardening. I also brushed some sealant on the area under the shower where there had been a leak and it made that wood really strong. Total cure is 1-3 days so we'll let you know how things are in a couple of days. The tests they've done on this sealant show the penetration area as much as 16-20" from where initially injected....pretty amazing ! Other products that were tested against it only had a few inches.

We got the oil changed in the car today....went to visit Linda's 16 yr old niece who just had her gallbladder out and got some papers notarized. Took Boomer to Petsmart to get his nails trimmed and that was a lost cause....took two employees and they still couldn't get him still enough to do it. That boy is a hand full !! Guess it will take knock out drops to get his nails cut without any bloodshed....his or ours. After doing those errands, we came back home and are now relaxing for the remainder of the evening. Linda's brother and sister-in-law gave us some fresh Chinese pea pods the other day...fresh from their friend's garden...and we had the last of them for supper. Wow, were they outstanding ! So crispy and bursting with flavor. Can't wait to visit farmer markets along the road on our upcoming travels to taste regional culinary delights from all over this great country. Don't think Mini U has any locations in Maine cause I have a hankering for lobster about now....darn !

Monday, June 22, 2009

We Got It !

We got the call today that we got the job we interviewed for almost two weeks ago. We will be full-time roving managers for a storage company that has 90 facilities in 10 different states. We will be filling in for site managers who are taking vacation or if there is a change in management at a facility, we will cover the facility until a new manager is hired. We are excited! This job is ideal in that we can do what we love most....travel and see different parts of the country...but also work all over the country. Each of the sites has a little store, kind of like a U-Haul store where you sell moving supplies....tape, boxes, packing supplies, etc. and hundreds of self storage units in all different sizes. We will stay on-site as most of the facilities have power and access to water. Even if there is a slow period of time, when there isn't a need to cover a facility, we are guaranteed a base rate each month.

Linda has a doctors appt next week so they are working out when and where we will train. Trying to finish up projects around the rig before we head out. Tonight we ran to Lowes and got the supplies we needed for the toolboxes on Bertha. When the guys built the bed and installed the tool boxes underneath of Bertha, they didn't secure the tool boxes enough. They are attached on the bottom but not at the top and there is too much flex in them. They do not lie flat against the I-beams that the guys welded up underneath the bed so if we hit a bump the boxes would shimmy and shake really bad. So much so that it has created stress cracks in the metal bottom where the bolt goes through. We bought bolts, bumpers to take up the slack in space between the I-beam and box,rubber washers and locking nuts to pull the whole thing together. It was really tough drilling through the tool box and I-beam.....my arm muscles are really fatigued tonight from bearing down on the drill to get it through the steel. Whew !! But two hours later, we had the four bolts through and everything finished up. Much better ! Hardly any play in it now. Will seem good not to have guys pull up along side of us, going down the highway, and point frantically at the tool boxes cause they think they're gonna fall off. Wouldn't have been a pretty sight to have our tool boxes fall off onto the highway as we're driving.

Tomorrow I have another project I'm gonna tackle on the rig. I have found some soft spots in a few areas under the slideouts where it appears to be starting to rot and I've bought some sealant that I will inject into the screw holes on the end of each slideout. The supplies arrived today and it should be a fairly straight forward job. After reading the test results of this product and it's penetration ability, I'm anxious to see the final results. More on this later...

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Project

We've been helping out our friend, Kathleen, with projects around her new house. The other day we went to pick up the boxes that held a garden shed for her yard tools and mower. Bertha came in handy with her big flatbed since the boxes were large...one weighing 145# and the other being #165. Took those back to her house and then Kathleen and I worked on cutting the chair rail for her dining room project. Kathleen and Donna had put up wallpaper and border and then wanted to put a chair rail around the room. We got all but two pieces cut and I left my miter saw there so Kathleen can finish up her project.

Today Kathleen asked us to pick up some 4 x 8 sheets of OSB that will be the floor of her new garden shed. Linda and I stopped by Lowes and got 2 sheets and headed over to her house. Storm clouds were moving in so we hustled around and got the wooden base built that the shed will sit on. Once that was built we moved it out, into the yard, where it will sit. Linda helped Donna get the OSB painted to help give it more protection. We left early in the afternoon with Kathleen and Donna needing to get the base leveled up before commencing assembly on the vinyl shed. Just got a text message tonight that they were able to get the whole thing put together except for the doors. Wow !! They worked like crazy to get the base leveled and the shed assembled.

It was fun to help them out with these projects around the house but it didn't give me any longing for a house. Wasn't sure how I would feel but I know that I don't want to give up this nomad lifestyle for a "sticks and bricks". I love the freedom that comes with our lifestyle....meeting great people, seeing the country and developing new skills with each new job that we take. Was fun to help out a friend....always happy to do it.

Couch Potato ?

Wow....if you think you're a couch potato, check out this guy. He doesn't even have to walk to the frig to get a beer...he can ride.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Ask Not

Last night Linda and I watched a great show on the local PBS affiliate. It was called "Ask Not" It covered the history of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" military policy and its affect on our country. This policy of blatant discrimination has accounted for over 12,000 military personnel being discharged from the military, due to their being gay. (Women were disproportionately fired, totaling only 15 percent of military service members but nearly half of DADT discharges in 2007.) Almost 800 of these discharged members were considered critical specialists, including linguists, pilots and intelligence analysts—all positions for which the military was suffering a shortage. The cost of training and replacing these specialists between 1994 and 2003 is estimated to be more than 363.8 million dollars. It is believed that our inability to have known about the 9/11 attack was due to the serious shortfall of skilled linguists that we had at the time that knew Arabic.

Facing a severe personnel crisis during wartime, the military has had to lower its standards for accepting recruits to compensate for the more qualified members discharged under DADT. From 2006 to 2007, the number of moral waivers granted to Army and Marine recruits, who would otherwise be ineligible for service because of their criminal convictions, doubled. In 2006, the Army issued 511 waivers and enlisted seven soldiers convicted of rape, incest or sexual assault; three soldiers convicted of manslaughter; one convicted of kidnapping; three convicted of performing indecent acts with a child; and three convicted of making terrorist or bomb threats. That same year, 612 service members were discharged under DADT. The old excuse of " I wouldn't want to be in a foxhole with a homosexual" goes out the window when you consider that there are over a million veterans of military service. Just like in civilian life, chances are you were in a foxhole with a gay person or had several in your platoon.

So what is the status of Don't Ask, Don't Tell ? In the 1990s, there were several challenges against the constitutionality of DADT, but 1998’s Able v. United States firmly upheld the law. During his campaign, President Barack Obama pledged to end the policy, but the power to do so remains with Congress. As of March 2009, the Military Readiness Enhancement Act of 2009 (H.R. 1283), which would replace DADT with a nondiscriminatory policy, still lacks Senate sponsorship and the necessary number of House votes to pass.
While repealing DADT still faces strong opposition among some active-duty military service members and the Congressional armed services committees, a 2008 poll revealed that 75 percent of Americans support allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military—a significant increase from only 57 percent in 1993.

In comparison to other countries stance on allowing gays into the military we are way behind what others have done (is that surprising?) These countries allow openly gay people to serve in the military:

Australia
Austria
Belgium
Canada
Czech Republic
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
The Philippines
Slovenia
South Africa
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
United Kingdom


To test your recruitment skills against that of our military go HERE and see who you would enlist. It's an eye-opening exercise on who the military is accepting into service these days.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Slow News Day....

Apparently the sagging economy, unrest in Iran, demise of GM, increase in global warming and a zillion other topics aren't important enough that we've had to hear about President Obama killing a fly during an interview the other day. I think our news media needs a slap of the same scale and magnitude that Obama gave that fly. And of course, as I predicted, PETA weighed in today on the whole thing and gave their "statement". Give me a break !! I don't advocate cruelty to animals...quite the contrary. I have two dogs that came from an SPCA and they themselves suffered cruelty at the hands of their previous owners. But as a friend of mine once said...the spiders and critters are free to live and exist outside but when they come inside...that's my domain and I won't guarantee their safety. That's my take on flies, ants, spiders, etc. that I find in the rig....turn me over to PETA if you want but there will be no peaceful co-existence in this household with outdoor critters.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Death of A Music Legend....

Today the music world lost a great performer...Bob Bogle from The Ventures


I cut my teeth on music, listening to albums such as The Ventures. My mom had a great collection of their records and I loved their sound. I guess I didn't realize that they had created the Hawaii Five O theme, although that was also one of my favorite TV shows...Kind of a predecessor to Law and Order. The Ventures instrumental style was fresh, vibrant and one you couldn't sit still listening to.

Bob Bogle formed the group with a fellow construction worker in Tacoma, Washington in 1958. Bogle had non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, which he had been battling for the last 12 years. The Ventures were voted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008.

Monday, June 15, 2009

DUH or A-ha ?

Since we've been staying in Chambersburg, we usually go to Linda's brothers house on Sunday so we can watch the race and do our laundry. There is a 70's style den set up in the basement, where we can watch TV and not disturb him upstairs. The laundry room is in the next room so it's handy for us as we can hear when the washer has stopped or the dryer beeps at the end of its' cycle. Yesterday Linda was comfy on the couch so I took my turn to go and retrieve the clothes from the dryer and start a load in the washer. A couple of weeks ago we had bought some Gain at Sams Club as we were running low on liquid laundry detergent. I thought it looked awful "milky" as I poured it into the washer and looked at the bottle....Turns out that Gain also makes fabric softener and not just detergent. For the last two weeks we've been "washing" our clothes in fabric softener....Just think how clean they might get if we actually used detergent ? They sure do smell nice though....

Still waiting to hear about the job we interviewed for last Tuesday. We know they are working on our background checks and references. I'm hoping we'll hear more by end of week. Once we know for sure we have it, I'll give more details about it...Don't want to jinx ourselves by spilling the beans now. Linda was off yesterday and although she got called this morning to go to a different facility, than she's ever been to, she declined so she could spend time with her niece. We were watching Linda's 7 yr old niece, Karlee (the hula hoop twirler from our pictures) this morning while Karlee's mom worked. We had a good time talking to her and running errands to Lowes and Wal-Mart.

Talked to my mom Saturday and she's been busy making jams and jellies lately...getting ready for the craft show circuit. She made 66 jars this week...Wow !! She made some blackberry jams and jellies, some sweet cherry and some strawberry rhubarb. Yum !! Every time I talk to her and she tells me about making jelly I think of her going out in the blackberry patches, climbing a ladder to get wild grapes or bending over picking strawberries. She doesn't do that as much any more as she used to (especially the climbing part)but she is still an awesome cook. She bought a trunkload of rhubarb from a local lady and she got 15# of rhubarb out of that and has been making all sorts of stuff. I love strawberry rhubarb pie and am happy to be a guinea pig for anyone who wants to make one. Yesterday Linda's sister gave us pieces of strawberry pie, that a neighbor lady made, and it was outstanding. Summer time is a great time for strawberry shortcake, pies and all that yummy stuff. My last trip home, mom stocked me up on sweet relish. She makes a zucchini relish and tomato relish that is to die for on a burger. In fact we had a smattering of it on our veggie burgers last night...on top of the melted cheese, sauteed onions and mushrooms.

Well June 12 came and went and our TV still works. Yeehaa ! I was worried but thought we'd take a "wait and see" approach to it before buying a converter box. Although our rig and TV are from 2007, when I looked up the model number on the govt. website, it said that it wasn't a digital one and we would need the box. We don't have a satellite....just count on "local flavor" wherever we are. If we are in a metropolitan area, sometimes the selections are quite good. Here in Chambersburg, we get NBC, PBS and the ION station. Summertime usually isn't a great time for shows but we can usually find something to watch or we just play cards. Many of the parks where we have worked or stayed have cable TV included in the site cost so we get plenty to choose from during those stays.

Hard to believe that we are almost half way through June....wow, the summer is just flying by. Most people are probably planning their summer vacations....I've been on one for six months now...I just want to get back to work !

Friday, June 12, 2009

It Just Hit Me.....


Some friends of ours are trying to sell their house. I think it's been on the market for about 3 months now with no success. As I was thinking about their dilemna, it dawned on me to ask them whether they had the statue of the saint buried to help them with the sale. Seeing how it's been on the market for 3 months, it seemed pretty obvious to me that they had forgotten this essential step.

Take it from me...I had heard about the St. Joseph statue but had kind of scoffed at the whole thing. That is until my house had gone through three realtors, over an 18 month period and no offers. I thought what harm could it do...Bought St. Joseph...followed the step by step instructions and one week later I had an offer on the house and was on to the RV'ing lifestyle that we now know. I would have lent my statue to our friends but I forgot to dig him up out of the flower bed over the septic system. He's still working his magic, I'm almost sure, at growing the most beautiful flowers that neighborhood has ever seen. Good thing I'm not Catholic. I'm pretty sure that faux pas would have cost me a whole bunch of Hail Mary's or some other penance.

A short while ago some other friends of ours were getting their house ready to sell and we told them not to forget about St. Joseph. We didn't think they'd have any trouble selling their house at all as it was amazing but in light of the recent real estate market, a little extra "insurance" couldn't hurt. But they wanted an "experienced" St Joseph..... Friends of theirs had sold their house quickly and offered to loan them their statue. Only thing was that in their haste to remove their statue from the ground, after the quick sale of their home, they inadvertently decapitated St. Joseph....Yikes ! Apparently the glue they used gave him "super" powers cause when our friends buried him they sold their house the first day it was listed !! Holy Smokes ! I'm sure they gingerly retrieved him from his burial spot and returned him to their friends until his next assignment.

I wonder if his powers extend to other things like cars or RV's...I mean it's just a house on wheels...could be another niche market for St. Joseph. In fact, Linda's niece is trying to sell her car. Maybe I could test it by "burying" him in her glove box or trunk. Hmmm....Hold on GM....Help is on the way !

The scoop...

Linda has been picking up shifts everyday this week. Last night she worked an overnight shift in Harrisburg and then got a call to work 3-11 here in Chambersburg today so she took it. She works the same shift tomorrow night in Harrisburg again and that is all she has taken so far. They have asked her to work beyond that but until we know if we're leaving next week, the week after or a later date, it is hard to know what to tell them so she'll take it day by day. Nurses seem to call off pretty regularly so it has worked out well so far.

Yesterday before work we took a quick trip down to Winchester,VA to Camping World to look at some items. We knew that Linda was going into work later that night and considered going today instead but thought, what the heck, we'd go on Thursday. Turns out that was a good thing as there was a really bad accident on 81 south this morning that shut the highway down for 10 hours. A car collided with a tractor trailer and the truck, loaded with fuel, burst into flames and even spilled alot of the fuel on the highway. Area residents were evacuated and the driver of the car that caused the accident left the scene of the accident.

Not much else going on here. Had a clear, sunny day so I mowed the lawn where we have the rig parked. Watched a city worker out front of our rig this morning open up the manhole cover that I mow around so was curious what he was doing. Turns out it's a sewer clean out point and the top half of the sewer line has been cut away so he can put a high pressure water hose inside the line to flush it out. All of the waste water can be seen as it runs down the exposed pipe. When he turned the water hose on, wow, was it forceful....I stepped back as it sprayed up a bit out of the manhole. He can extend that line up to 500 ft up the street inside the sewer line and it cleans out all sorts of things. He said he's found sheets, towels and even watches come out of the line when he flushes it. I was surprised that it wasn't messy or smelly at all in there but I suppose it helps that he does this on a monthly basis to keep it clean. It was interesting to see and good to know. You never know when you might need access to a sewer line... :)

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Caledonia Park


Today we decided to take the boys to run and then go to Caledonia State Park to hang out for a while. We got a table close enough to the water so Boomer could swim but still be tied up. Schroeder was perfectly content over near the picnic table with us. Linda and I played cards and developed some follow up questions for yesterday's interview that we can ask the next time we hear from them. After we'd been at the park for a little while, Linda's phone rang and it was the nursing agency she just signed on with in Mechanicsburg. They asked her to work tonight and she told them that it would take her till 4 to get there and they said that was fine. So we gathered up the cards (I think I was almost ready to win anyway) and headed home so she could get changed for work. She just called a little before 4 and said that she was almost there and had run into a heavy downpour that had everyone going really slow. They have been calling for thunderstorms to pop up in the area this afternoon.

Yesterday we had the last of our interviews. It went very well and they said that they would begin the background checks and references. We are excited about this position as it will accomplish several key things for us. First, it allows us to travel and see the country. Second, we get to work together at a job that will utilize skills that we each possess and last, but not least...it's pays enough to pay our bills. That is the problem we've found with workamping jobs is that they don't pay enough to quite cover everything. The couple that interviewed us said that we would hear something within the next 10 days so we'll be anxiously awaiting that phone call. The other two jobs we interviewed for on Monday also went very well but not ideal jobs for us. We could and would do them (if offered) if we don't get this other job so we'll see what happens. Until something changes, Linda will keep working assignments from the nursing agency...they pay very well and it has been nice for her to be near her family here in Chambersburg.

Monday, June 8, 2009

Words To Live By....

Each time we hit the road we usually gather up some of our little stuff, around the rig, and put it away so it doesn't fall or break. Something I came across this last time, that we had stored for that very reason, was a little plaque that is very special to Linda and I. It now holds a prominent place on the ledge over my chair. It reads...

Every Day Brings....

more books to read,
more songs to sing,
more friends to hug,
more trips to plan,
more faces to kiss,
more reason to trust,
more people to love,
more life to discover.

This was a going away gift to us from our friend Karen, who we met in Baltimore. We don't get to see Karen much but this gift expresses to us our feelings about our new life on the road and the bounties of this life....more of everything ! We find that the longer we sit somewhere, the more our thoughts wonder to getting back on the road in search of our next adventure. Woven in their somewhere is also the thought of...how can we intersect with our friends to see them for a bit (that's the "more friends to hug" part of the poem or perhaps the "more faces to kiss" part depending on how good a friend they are)...LOL
This is one of those times. We had some interviews today and another one tomorrow. We hope that very soon the "more trips to plan" part of this poem will be necessary and we'll be back on the road again..with "more life to discover".
It sounds like an Rv'ers credo and words that everyone might want to live by....Here's hoping that each of you have all the bounties that this poem speaks of, in your own life.

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Hoops, Scoops and Shoots....


The weather has been gorgeous this weekend...bright and sunny with warm temps. The chance of rain is supposed to return tomorrow so we got our outdoor tasks done this morning. I got the oil changed in the generator and checked the water level in the batteries. Linda checked the fuses for our cigarette lighter in the Xterra as our power converter won't work in the one socket. Fuses are fine but socket still won't work, even though the other one does.

Yesterday we went to Twin Bridge campground and hung out with Linda's sister and her nephews. There was a Civil War re-enactment going on there this weekend. The two base camps were set up and around 1:30 the "battle" began. Seemed a little odd to see Union soldiers marching past campers but to get to the battlefield that's what they had to do. Some soldiers were on horseback and they even had cannons. As you can imagine all of the gunfire and cannon blasts made Boomer really nervous. Not sure who won as we didn't see any soldiers "die" so I'm not sure how they keep score of who wins. Maybe they take turns each time they have a re-enactment.

Later on in the day we went to Greencastle to the Car Hop.

Here is our handsome waiter,Coby, who took our order.....

They had a DJ there spinning classic tunes...Some of the kids taking orders had roller skates on as they zipped from car to car taking orders and then taking the orders to the kitchen to get the food. Here Karlee is showing Linda the two arm technique for hoola hoops....

It's a family affair...Jayden on the left..Carol on the right(Linda's sister)
Jake is patroling the parking lot...

They had a hoola hoop contest that went on for a long time. Two young ladies had this thing down pat...song after song kept ending and another starting and they were still going with their hoola hoop. Not me, man....I'm as bad at hoola hooping as I am at jumping rope..I think they fall in the same classification of coordination...none of which I possess. It would be called hoola oops if I did it cause it would be around my ankle right off the bat. They had a great menu of burgers, hotdogs, floats, french fries, shakes and sodas. Linda's sister, Kay was helping in the kitchen getting the food orders put together on each tray except she kept forgetting to put the hamburger patty on the bun. All the fixins were there...lettuce, tomato, mayo, etc. but when the kids would bring it back and say "Where's the Beef"...she'd see that she had forgotten the burger patty...minor detail...low cal version. It was a fun time and great for the youth working the event.

Today we're hanging out at Linda's brothers house, watching the NASCAR race at Pocono. Tomorrow we have an interview in Camp Hill and one in Gettysburg. On Tuesday we head to Maryland for an interview with a nationwide company that we want to work for. We're looking forward to getting these interviews in so that we're a little closer to knowing where we're headed next.

Friday, June 5, 2009

Just Lock Me in The House...


Waiting to take Jake into vet's office..

I told Linda the other day that it seems every time we wander out of the house and go to Wal-Mart or elsewhere, we end up spending at least $40 or $50. We had scheduled Bertha for a front end alignment today since she is pulling to the right. Two hundred bucks later the front end is aligned but they said the drag link is bad on the front end. They located one at a truck center in Hagerstown...just down the road...so we picked that up on our way back from taking Jake (Linda's sister's dog) to the vet. $165 for the part and now we need to go back to the garage to get it installed for another blow of $50 or so dollars. Holy Mackerel ! And to make matters worse, I thought for sure that the part we needed would certainly be under warranty but of course it isn't...So after what will be a $400 dollar repair on the truck, just lock me in the house !!

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Cold and Rainy....

It's been really chilly today....after wearing multiple layers of clothes I finally gave in and turned on the furnace...just once...but I felt like such a weenie. Living in the tropics of Baton Rouge, where it's 80 degrees in springtime and then having a cold and dreary day in the 60's was bone chilling to me. Just have one more day of cold and rain to get through and then the sunshine and warm temps will be back. Calling for 80 degrees (the Pennsylvania style of 80, not Baton Rouge....drastic difference)and sunshine on Saturday. Yeehaa !!

Tired of looking at dreariness, Linda and I went to the mall to get some walking in. Seemed good to see the colorful store displays and see what was going on in the mall. Took three laps around and here's some of what we saw. Lap 1...mall is really SLOW but Auntie Anne's display case is loaded with product. They expecting a bus to get dropped off from the area senior center ? A few empty store fronts...Sears has taken the empty windows near them to display their products...I catch a glimpse of tools and gadgets on first go round...

Lap 2....A cute little girl is in the chair at the piercing place...Hmmm..Yep, that's an air compressor in the Sears window...$45 for child's sneakers..Are you nuts ?....Boy those leather couches look comfy over there....No, sir we're not interested in a chance at a $25,000 home makeover.....getting hot...time to take off sweat shirt and wear only t-shirt..Whew !

Lap 3...."Piercing" scream from the little girl in the chair who got new ear rings. Clerk is trying to console her by holding up mirror and telling her how cute she looks. Oh boy....her life of vanity begins.....Do a lap "through" tool dept in Sears to look at air compressor...yep, it's a beauty !....feel so old...all the movies sound like they were made for kids....Boy, my leg muscles burn...Time to quit....

Back at home I'm writing an article for the next issue of RVing Women magazine and Linda is outside puttering around. I notice that Schroeder is rocking back and forth. I check him and it appears he is having a seizure...it really scares me. I go to the door and holler for Linda but no answer. I call her on cell phone and she is next door and says she'll be right over...I go to Schroeder and hold him till it passes. The only other time I've seen him have a seizure was back when we were still living at the house and I think it was from something he had gotten into (chemicals I had put on lawn). Not sure about this time but it makes me so nervous when it happens.

Rest of day has been spent playing Skippo with Linda or watching TV that isn't really worth watching. Tomorrow Linda has an interview at nearby nursing home and we have to take Jake (Linda's sister's dog) to vet in Hagerstown. I also need to get some salads prepped for our picnic on Saturday and the lawn mowed. Lots to do...hope the weather cooperates for the outside stuff.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

On Tap....

Today was pretty uneventful. We had our black water tank pumped out this morning. We didn't think $20 was bad to get this done, although we've never had to have it done before. I wasn't real keen on how he did it but hopefully before we need to have it done again, we'll be on our way.
We took the dogs to a friends house to run in her fenced-in yard for a bit after that. It was just starting to rain when we got there so we didn't stay long. Linda's sister lives nearby so we went over there and visited for a bit before resuming our task of running errands. Found out about a Car Hop that the kids will be running this Saturday night as a fund raiser. The guys will have their hair slicked back...50's style and be going to the cars on roller skates to take the food and drink orders. The adults will be cooking up the food inside and giving it to the kids to deliver to the cars. Sounds like a fun time and something we might go to. We are having a cookout for some friends Saturday night so we might go to the Car Hop for "dessert". They will be serving up floats and milkshakes...sounds like a yummy dessert to me and a nice ending to burgers, pasta salad, deviled eggs and potato salad.

Stopped off at Lowes and Wal-Mart to pick up some other things we needed. Returned home and settled in for the afternoon. We got some calls and e-mails today to coordinate days and times for some interviews, which we are thrilled about. We haven't heard yet from the employer that we'd most like the job with. Should hear from them anytime.

Weather has been yucky today....temps are still nice. In the 70's but rain off and on. Last night we got a rousing thunderstorm which sent Boomer into "berserk" mode...and up into the bedroom he came. He is steadily getting worse with loud sounds. Tonight I'm watching a suspenseful movie, complete with Linda's shriek at one tense moment and that added to his agitation. We now have him tied to the pot and pan drawer so he isn't literally climbing the walls or trying to climb into my lap. Oh brother.....Movies with gunshots, glass breaking, screaming (on TV or that of Linda)makes him a basket case. Guess I'll have to switch from watching Assassin to watching Obama and Bo in the white house special on NBC. That will be more his speed....

Monday, June 1, 2009

Ice Cream Makes Everything Better.....


Well....a pint of Ben & Jerry's Chunkey Monkey and 1200 calories later, I don't know that I concur with that theory. Our friend is still dead and we're still very sad.

We got a call this morning, from a friend of ours in Williamsburg,VA that the man we came to know as "Mac", who we lived next door to last summer, was missing. A return call this evening told us that they had found him but he is dead.....our guess is that it was suicide. I don't think that it would make it any easier to comprehend if there had been some other means by which he had died.

Mac lived in a Pioneer travel trailer right behind us when we lived in Williamsburg last summer. He was new to RV'ing and he would come over and ask me questions about our rig or his. We had a fire ring and we'd make a fire at his place and go over and sit and talk with him. You learn alot about a person when you sit around a fire for hours, make smores and partake of "adult" beverages. We learned a lot about Mac, got to meet his daughter and his parents and the pooch that he adored...Rocky. Mac was a colonel in the Army and although we didn't know anything about his work (top secret stuff at the Pentagon), we knew that he was our friend and we were his. On the trip back from Connecticut on Friday, Linda texted him and told him about our wedding and he extended his "congrats" to us. He often told us that he missed our company and that he was thinking of us, as we would with him. We gave our fire ring to him, when we left, and he continued to enjoy having a fire at his site with his little pooch by his side.

My emotions are running the gamut right now....pissed off, deep sadness, remembrance, confusion and disbelief. For someone who was so "together", I can't fathom how it came to this. He was a "rock" and although he was going through some personal stuff, we were never concerned that he wouldn't come through the other side A-OK. That is why we are so blown away by this...it's senseless and a shame for his kids and those of us who cared about him. Was there something that anyone could have done to have averted this outcome ? I guess no one will know.

As I state repeatedly on here, the best part of this RV'ing lifestyle are the friendships that you make on the road. This is one friendship that will be sorely missed !