Fall is Here, Or Is It?

We spent the weekend camping with our camping club at Green Lake Campground in Green Lake, Wisconsin.  We had a great time.  The weather was cool and gloomy.  Highs were in the low 60s and it was overcast all weekend with a few showers thrown in.

Green Lake Campground has a 9 hole, par 3 golf course.  Golfing on the course if free for campers.  It’s not very well tended, but it’s fine for a little fun for all levels of golfers.  We had a scramble tournament with members of our club.  In the evening we had a mini golf tournament.  Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves regardless of their golfing abilities. 

The camping fees are $45 a night for water and electric sites.  We got a club discount and paid $35 a night.  I think that’s just too much even if they do have a golf course and 2 pools. 

Some of my friends were teasing me by saying all I talk about in this blog is the weather.  Since we were camphosting in the same place all summer, sometimes I didn’t have anything new to tell you.  This summer the weather was so strange so I had lots to say about that :)

Fall is definitely in the air.  Tree leaves are turning colors and many leaves are already falling.  The other morning when I was walking through some leaves, it smelled so much like fall.  It’s funny how each season has smells associated with it.

Last night we camped at Cliffside County Park in Racine which is close to Burlington RV.  We had an appointment this morning for more warranty work.  These beautiful leaves were on the ground when we got there.

I’m sure you’re dying to know how our repairs went today :)  Since I am writing this blog from Burlington RV’s parking lot tonight, I guess it wasn’t exactly great.  They fixed some loose moldings and adjusted the awning arm which was not closing properly since they replaced the awning fabric last time.  They also tried to fix our leak.  The technician thought he had found the leak and fixed it.  After water testing it, water was still leaking in.  They’ll work on the leak again tomorrow.  They also didn’t get to fixing our bedroom slide today.  We sure are hoping they can get it done tomorrow so we can get on our way to Colorado. 

They did allow us to park in their parking lot tonight with electric and water hookups.  So, I’m enjoying the season premiere of Dancing With the Stars and hoping we can be done with these repairs once and for all tomorrow.

We spent all day today running errands and doing some shopping.  We went to an outlet mall and found some Christmas gifts for some wonderful young men in our lives.  They read this blog, so I can’t tell you what we got them :)

I’m not sure what we’ll do tomorrow.  No more shopping; we don’t need to spend any more money.  It’s supposed to be a nice warm day tomorrow so maybe we’ll try to find a nice park.  It’s supposed to be 83 degrees tomorrow with higher humidity.  Summer seems to be making a comeback!

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

Invasion of the Flies

We had the strangest thing happen a few nights ago.  Kevin was grilling supper outside, and there were a bunch of flies around.  We didn’t think much of it since we’ve had flies bothering us since July.  Well, the flies just kept coming and coming.  The whole side of our camper was covered with them.

Kevin brought the supper in along with dozens of flies.  After that, we didn’t dare open the door.  They were everywhere including all over the outside of the window screens.  Take a look.

I took the pictures from inside.  I wasn’t going out there.  We figured the food must have attracted them, and they’d go away once it got dark.  But, they didn’t.  They were still there in the morning.  Kevin had to take a broom and brush them all off.  Many were dead; some were still alive.

We don’t know what to make of it.  Maybe it was their last hurrah since there haven’t been many flies since that night.  Maybe it is some sort of dying ritual.  All I know is it was really strange!

We’re leaving our camphosting position today.  We’re camping with our camping club this weekend, taking the camper in for repairs on Monday and then heading towards Colorado.  I’m excited for the next part of the adventure to begin!!!

I’ll keep you posted :)

I wish everyone a terrific weekend.

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

Quilt Expo

On this anniversary of the terrorist attack on the towers in New York, I’d like to reflect on how lucky I feel to live in this country.  As I’ve said before, my parents immigrated to the US from Germany when I was a baby.  I have always felt so appreciative to be a citizen of a country where I have had the freedom to pursue my dreams; now more than ever!

This picture of Korey and myself was taken in 1998 during a trip to New York. Both boys were in band, and I chaperoned the band trip to New York for the Macy’s Parade.  The picture is taken from a look-out platform on the Statue of Liberty. 

On that tragic day 9 years ago, I felt such a connection to what was happening because I had been there a few years earlier.  We stayed at the Marriott Hotel in front of the towers (the building was crushed when the towers fell).  I kept thinking about what we would have done if it had happened while we were staying there.  My heart goes out to the families who lost loved ones in the brutal attack!

We’d like to thank all of you who sent your best wishes for a speedy recovery for Kevin’s knee injury.  He’s doing better.  He’s able to limp around, but still taking it easy to make sure he’s ready to leave next Friday. 

Our site here at the park only has electric hook-ups.  We don’t have water or sewer.  There is a water spigot for campers to fill their tanks up the hill from us which we can reach with two hoses.   Kevin has always been the one to take care of tank filling and emptying.  So, this week I learned how to do those chores.  On Wednesday, he came out and sat on a stool and walked me through filling the water tanks.  We put off emptying the black water tank, but yesterday it had to be done.  He was able to come out and hobble around.  Between the two of us, we got the job done.  I didn’t like that job one bit :)

On Thursday I went to the Madison Quilt Expo.  In 2002 I decided I wanted to learn how to quilt so I could make a t-shirt quilt for Korey, our youngest son, as a high school graduation gift.  He was very active in many organizations, and had all kinds of shirts as mementos of his activities.  I took a beginning quilting class and was very pleased with how his quilt turned out.  I never took a picture of it; I need to do that.  He really likes his quilt.

After that, I was hooked on quilting.  I took a few more classes at a local quilt shop.  Mostly, I’ve been making baby quilts with fabrics I had in my stash after years of crafting.  I used a few for gifts and donated a few to Project Linus.  I’ve also been making the “Snap Happy” bags I posted about on August 1st. 

I’d never been to a quilt show before.  Wow, was I impressed.  The Madison show was huge.  There were many classes offered and hundreds of vendors.  There was a very large display of quilts for judging.  There were so many beautiful quilts; my head was swimming by the time I got to the end of the display.  I don’t know how the judges can pick a winner.

I was especially blown away by the hand quilted entries.  It looked like these quilts were done on a sewing machine.  The stitches were so small and evenly spaced.  Wow!!!

I saw so many projects I wanted to buy.  I had to restrain myself, and came away with spending about $100.  I could have gone nuts!

I bought 3 projects.  One is a beautiful poppy quilt.  After I opened it up, I realized it’s pretty hard.  It’s kind of like putting a puzzle together.  I may save this one until I have a little more experience.

Another project was using photos to make placemats or other quilting projects.  I’m planning on making some placemats with beautiful nature pictures of places we will visit.  I’m also going to make some placemats for my mom with family pictures.

The third project I purchased were gorgeous flower fabric panels to make this quilt.  I love the colors!  I’ll be keeping this one for myself :)

 

 

I also purchased a small ironing wand to press open seams and iron small quilt pieces.  I used it yesterday, and it’s great!  No more digging out the portable ironing board and large iron.

These projects should keep me busy until next year’s show!

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

Unlucky Labor Day

I’m not usually superstitious, but let me just say that next year Kevin and I will be staying in bed the entire Labor Day weekend :)

Last year on the Saturday before Labor Day I fell off my bicycle and tore my ACL. I had surgery in October, and it is still not 100%. I have been assured by the doctor that eventually I won’t even know I had surgery, and it will feel completely normal. He also said it would take at least a year to heal completely. I’m sure hoping he’s right!

This past Monday Kevin was bending down while locking up the canoes. As he was getting up, he somehow twisted his knee the wrong way. This happens to him about once a year. He injured his knee about 30 years ago playing softball, and it’s never been quite right. We know that he just has to follow the RICE plan (rest, ice, compression and elevation) for about a week, and it will get better. However, I’m starting to think Labor Day is not a good weekend for us!

So, we’re pretty much sitting around doing nothing for a few days. The nice thing is with this lifestyle, we can. We had tickets to a Milwaukee Brewers game tonight, but we’re not going. Kevin was supposed to golf on Friday with some friends, but had to cancel. He’s taking it very easy so he’ll be ready to leave Wisconsin in 10 days.

Over the weekend we had company on Sunday and Monday. We had a great time visiting with friends we won’t see again until May. Thanks for coming!

It seems like I’m constantly talking about the weather, but it has just been so strange this year. The last two days we had winds of 20 to 30 MPH with gusts up to 50 MPH. There are branches and leaves down all over the park! I had a hard time sleeping Monday night with all the wind noise.

Night temps have been in the mid 40s. The next few days are predicted to be in the low 70s and sunny; beautiful September weather.

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

Brrrr!

The weather this summer seems to be all about extremes.  We’ve had record heat, rainfall and humidity.  Two days ago reality returned.  We literally went from running the air on Thursday to running the furnace the last two mornings.  Lows were in the 40s and highs in the 60s; yikes!  It was also incredibly windy the last two days.

Today highs are expected in the mid 70s and the winds have calmed down.  Perfect! 

The good news is the mosquitoes seem to have left town.  The flies,  however, did not get the memo.  They’re hanging in there.  I must have killed dozens in the camper this weekend.

We had two groups brave the cool temperatures and winds yesterday by renting canoes.  I’m thinking we may have a few more today.   Firewood sales, however, were very brisk!

The campground is only half full this weekend.  I’m really surprised since we were full Memorial Day and the 4th of July weekends.  Maybe people are winding down by this time of the year.  I’m sure the cool, windy weather didn’t help either.

I got a kick out of watching people wrestle with tarps yesterday.  Some were trying some creative techniques to create wind protection.  Not all were successful :)  These people must have been really cold.  They wrapped both ends of their pop-up with tarps.

Today we’re expecting visitors.  Two couples are visiting for a cookout.  Kevin used to work with one of the guys, and we have all become friends.  Tomorrow, two ladies I used to work with several years ago are visiting.  I’m looking forward to the company.  We’re trying to get in visits with friends and family before we leave. 

An update on our camper repairs.  We have an appointment for Sept. 20th at the RV dealer in Wisconsin.  Jayco is working with the technician to make sure our leak and slide are fixed correctly.  I sure hope we can put all of this behind us!!!

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

Ouch!

Ouch, ouch, ouch!  That’s what I’ve got to say about our truck repair bill.

We’ve been debating over the last year or so whether we should get a new truck or pay for the maintenance our current truck was going to need.  We have a 1999 GMC 2500 Heavy Duty pick up truck with only a little over 60,000 miles on it.  We have used it almost exclusively for towing.

When we purchased our new camper in 2008, we knew we were at our weight limit with our current truck.  Kevin is a GM man.  The problem was that even the 3500 trucks didn’t have much more weight capacity than the truck we currently have.  The 2011 GM diesel truck has been revamped and has a much greater towing capacity. 

We were hesitant to purchase a new 2011 for two reasons.  New models sometimes have bugs to be worked out, and GM is not offering any decent rebates or incentives for their larger trucks.

So, we decided to keep the truck we have and do all necessary maintenance before we head west. That included four new tires, brakes and rotors, new spark plugs and filters and all the other tune up type stuff. 

Kevin was a service consultant at a GM dealer in his former life.  Even after a nice discount at his former work place, our bill was still $1,700.  OUCH!

I’ve been keeping very close track of our spending since we began fulltiming to try and figure out what our average monthly expenses will be.  So far, every month has had some large expense.  The first two months we had to buy items for the camper.  Last month was airline tickets for our boys to visit at Christmas, this month a large truck repair bill. 

I guess all those items have to be factored into the budget.  It will be interesting to see how our budget numbers look after a year.

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

A Bad Day at Golf …

A bad day at golf is better than a good day at work.  That’s what Kevin said on Monday after our weekly round of golf.  He had a rough day.  I played my usual round of golf.  Some very good holes; some very bad holes.  Some beautiful shots; some terrible shots.  We still had a good time.  It was a good sign that we could laugh at ourselves at the end of the round.

We had an inch of rain last night.  The first thing I did this morning was check the floor next to the bed in the bedroom slide to see if the floor was wet.  Yippee, it was dry!  Next, I checked the window in the front slide next to the dinette.  The carpet was quite soaked :(   So, one leak seems to be fixed; the other still leaking.  The leak did seem to be better than before.  There was not as much water as we used to have.  But, there should be no water inside when it rains!!!!

Since we hadn’t heard from the dealer or factory regarding our bedroom slide repair, Kevin gave them a call today.  Of course, they blamed each other as to why we hadn’t gotten a call.  We are supposed to be getting a call from Roger at Jayco within the next 2 days to set up our appointment for service at the factory.  I will not be leaving their lot until they prove to me we no longer have a leak, and our bedroom slide is working properly!

Today my mom and her friend Richard came for a last visit before we leave.  Aren’t they a cute couple :)  My dad passed away four years ago.  I’m so happy for my mom that she has found such a great guy to spend time with.  We went to dinner at a diner in town called Apple Tree Family Restaurant.  We chose this place because the parking lot is always packed when we drive by around lunch time.  I figured the locals know a good place.  The prices were very reasonable, but the food was very average.  Oh well; we didn’t leave hungry :)

We received some good news today.  We were told that Dodge County will hire us next summer for a 24 hour a week park attendant position at Derge County Park in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin.  We’re not sure where we’ll be camphosting yet.  If the camphosts at Derge don’t come back, we’ll be there.  That would be the ideal situation.  However, if they come back, we’ll be at Astico again next summer.  It’s about a 10 mile drive to Derge so we would just commute to do the job.  It’s lawn mowing, weed whacking and bathroom cleaning.  At least we know we’ll have a camphosting position and some income.

Today was the first day of school for most Wisconsin schools.  I was a school secretary in my former life, so I did some reflecting today.  No forms to process; no schedules to change; no parents to deal with; no crabby co-workers to tolerate!  I do not miss that life at all.  I’m so very happy we made this decision.  

I don’t miss my old life one bit.  There is only one thing I miss from our house.  It’s the dishwasher.  I’m fine doing laundry at the laundromat, but I sure miss the dishwasher.  I’ve heard some RVs are not being build with them, so that is on my wish list for the next camper :)

Kevin has subscribed to satellite radio.  He wanted to be able to hear all the Packer and Brewer games.  He’s been having fun today playing around with it.  He likes his new toy!

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!