Fire Ban

Effective yesterday there are no campfires allowed in any of the Dodge County Parks including ours. The parks office had called people in advance to let them know, and we also informed them as they drove in. Kevin posted some signs on the bathroom doors. As of now, they are still allowing the use of charcoal grills.

Most people took it in stride. A few were not happy about it but understood. It is extremely dry. We haven’t had any measurable rain in over a month. June has gone in the record books as the third driest in history. Total rainfall was around .3 inches for the month. Many communities have instigated fire bans and are cancelling fireworks for the upcoming holiday.

It has also been very hot this week. Highs have been in the 90s each day. The heat is expected to continue through the upcoming week. I am so grateful for air conditioning. I sure am keeping my fingers crossed that it keeps on working!!!

The grass is BROWN. Kevin did not mow at all this past week, and he probably won’t mow this coming week either. He’s been doing other jobs such as repairing picnic tables and cleaning his work shop. This week he plans to spray for weeds, clean out fire pits and some other minor repair jobs.

Normally he spends two of his three work days mowing. If the grass doesn’t start growing again pretty soon, he’s going to run out of work to do. Less hours equals less pay :(

Yesterday we had our annual checkups. This morning the results of our blood tests were available online. The internet sure is a great thing. The good news is that Kevin’s blood sugars are good. Last year they were a little high, and there was talk he might be pre-diabetic. He had an A1C test which measures blood glucose for the past three months, and the results were very good. Good job, Kevin!

My cholesterol has been hovering just over 200 for the past few years. This year it is at 239. I’m guessing I’ll be getting a call from the doctor to start taking statins. My dad had very bad cholesterol numbers, so I figured it was only a matter of time. Kevin has been taking them for years, and his numbers are good. So, I guess my time has come.

I have been experiencing shoulder pain for the past two years. I thought it was arthritis, but after describing where it hurts, the doctor says it is tendinitis in the rotator cuffs. He gave me a pamphlet with exercises to do to help get things back to normal. He actually recommended physical therapy, but with our high deductible insurance, I told him I wasn’t willing to pay for it. I can do the exercises myself.

Otherwise, we are both in excellent health. Honestly, we haven’t felt this healthy in years. Our less stressful life is definitely agreeing with us. Even the doctor commented on how he felt less stress in our lives was keeping us healthier. 

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

She Lives!

The very good news is that our car seems to be just fine. When Kevin got back from golfing on Monday, he tried to start the car again. After some sputtering, she fired right up and has been working fine since. I had filled the gas tank over the weekend, so we’re thinking there may have been something bad in the gas. We’re not sure why it wouldn’t start Monday morning, but are glad the problem seems to have corrected itself.

It seems the weather is causing havoc all over the country. Flooding in Florida, fires in Colorado, lots of disasters for many people. The scenes of homes burning in Colorado are hard to look at. I feel so bad for those people.

Yesterday we got notice that our county is now under a burn advisory. Our fire danger is HIGH. We are on track to have the third driest June on record. Temperatures for the next week are expected to be in the 90s with no rain in sight. Some communities have already cancelled the 4th of July fireworks.

So far, we are not under a burn ban. We have been instructed to tell people to keep their campfires small and in the ring. Fireworks have never been allowed in the park. Crazy!

The birdfeeder continues to be a busy place. It’s rare to see cardinals in the park, but one of them did visit the feeder a few days ago. Someone told me that cardinals like pine trees. We have very few pine trees in the park, so maybe that’s why we don’t see many of them.

There was another new bird at the feeder yesterday. I haven’t been able to identify it. Maybe someone out there in blog land can tell me what kind of bird this is.

It’s funny, but it seems the sparrows are the main birds that actually sit at the feeder. They knock food down and then the bigger birds eat the food off of the ground.

I’m off for my morning walk before the heat gets too bad. The rest of the day will be spent inside the air conditioning. Stay cool everyone!

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

Can You Hear Me Now?

Things were very busy in the park this past weekend. All of our sites were rented and both shelters were rented for Saturday and the hut was also rented Sunday. It’s graduation party time.

With the graduation parties came some young people. Most of our clientele at this park is usually older people who enjoy peace and quiet. Saturday’s graduation party group had five sites in the park rented as well as the shelter. They brought more noise and commotion than we’re used to.

On Saturday Kevin had to deal with some teen boys who decided it would be fun to set off a firecracker in the bathroom sink. They were very apologetic and behaved after that. Luckily, no damage. I had to shoo some little kids out of the bathroom. They were filling squirt guns in the sinks and had the floor soaking wet and very slippery. I sent them to an outside water faucet. What is it with kids and bathrooms. Overall, nothing serious happened, just lots of activity.

There was another group in the park with ten sites reserved. They were from the Rock River Radio Club. They come on this weekend every year to participate in an international ham radio event. They set up all kinds of antennas in the park and spend most of their time inside their units talking to other ham radio operators all over the world. One site had this trailer on it. I think they slept in it. Do you see the antennas they put up on top the trailer?

The event is to help practice in case there were some type of emergency where regular communication was not available. It made me think of some of the movies where the world has some kind of catastrophic event and ham radio is the only type of communication available.

There is a contest involved for who talks to someone the farthest away and the number of people you talk to. One of the guys told us he was able to speak to many people in Europe, but the weather in Asia was bad so he didn’t reach anyone there. He also spoke to people in every state except Alaska.

These people had a small tent but a very large antenna. It’s on the left side between the tree and the tent.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They spent a good deal of time throwing wires into the trees using fishing poles. I guess these wires boosted their signals. Some of the wires had rectangular pieces between them. If you look closely at this picture you can see the wires between the trees with the white boxes between the wires. This was then attached to a pop-up camper. (Click on the picture to enlarge and you can see it better.)

On Sunday our son Eric and my mom and her friend Richard came for a visit. It was a belated Father’s Day visit since Eric was on call last weekend. We had a nice visit together although it was a bit hot and humid out.

Eric was pretty exhausted from a long week at work due to hot weather. Unfortunately, the second half of this week is supposed to be hot and humid again with highs near 100 degrees. Eric is looking forward to fall, not winter. Winter brings the opposite problem for someone in the HVAC business.

On Friday Kevin replaced our water pump. A few weeks ago he was sitting outside and noticed some water dripping from under our fifth wheel. Upon investigation, he found that our water pump was leaking, causing our basement area to be quite wet. He rigged up a ramp made out of aluminum foil to divert the water down the ramp and into a bucket since the space under the pump was too small to place the bucket. Even though we aren’t using the pump, it was still leaking. Twice a day he would empty the bucket.

The pump is in the top right hand corner of the picture. If you look closely, you can see the discoloration on the wood near the bottom left from the water that was in the basement.

This is the second water pump that has failed on this unit. Last year in April the original pump was replaced by an RV dealer because it had stopped working. Now, just over a year later the second one was leaking. Jayco agreed to send us a replacement pump. Kevin was willing to install it so we didn’t have to unhook to go to a dealer. We sure are pleased with the service Jayco has given us. Our unit is almost four years old, and they are still standing behind their product.

This new pump is supposed to be an upgraded model. It was tight working in the confined space, but Kevin was able to get the new pump installed. It’s working great and is much quieter. Hopefully it will last longer than a year. Kevin’s thinking about purchasing a seal repair kit that Shur-Flo sells for the leaking pump. That way we’d have a back up. Does anyone have any experience with the repair kits?

Today Kevin is off playing golf with some friends. He was planning on driving the car, but it wouldn’t start this morning. It would turn over, but wouldn’t start. He was running late so he just threw his clubs in the truck and took off. Hopefully, nothing is too seriously wrong with the car.

It’s a 2000 Grand Am with 184,000 miles on it. We only use it when we’re in Wisconsin in the summer. The rest of the year we store it at my moms. It is sure nice to have two vehicles in the summer. The car gets better gas mileage than the truck, and we don’t have to put all those extra miles on the truck.

We did one other small project on Sunday. Our storage cabinets above the big window in the back of the unit have glass inserts in the doors. The glass is frosted, but you can still see the stuff behind the glass, and I didn’t like how it looked. Two years ago I bought some frosted contact paper and put it over the back of the glass. It looked better, but you could still see some of the stuff behind it. After two years, the contact paper was starting to come off, so I needed a better idea.

Kevin suggested poster board. I bought some black poster board and cut it to fit. We secured it with some duct tape at the corners. It looks more like smoke colored glass, and you can’t see what’s inside. The two on the left have the poster board, much better. No one needs to see all my junk, I mean treasures, in those cabinets.

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

Amazon Wants You

As you may remember, we will be working at Amazon in Coffeyville, Kansas again this fall. Although it was hard to be on your feet for 10 hour shifts, we feel it is worth it for the pay and benefits provided.

Amazon is offering a new referral program this year for the Coffeyville, Kansas facility only. For any name we submit of someone who is interested enough to receive a phone call from Amazon, we will receive a $10 Amazon gift card. If you are hired, we receive another $10 gift card. If you work for 30 days, we receive a $50 bonus. They had the bonus last year, but the gift cards are new.

So, if you are somewhat interested in possibly working for Amazon in Coffeyville, Kansas this year, let us know. We can submit your information to them and they will call you. This is not a commitment on your part, but you do need to be at least interested in speaking to them about it.

They are hiring beginning in mid-August and will continue to have start dates for work campers until the beginning of November. Like I said, we found it a great way to make a decent amount of money in a relatively short period of time. The pay is about $11 an hour with overtime for any hours over 40 per week. They pay for a full hook-up site at a nearby campground. If you stay through the end of your contract, they give you an additional $1 per hour bonus. Between the two of us, we made over $10,000 last year in a 10 week period. That allowed us to take the winter off. That’s our plan again this year :)

If you have any questions, send us a comment or email. We’d be happy to share our experiences with you.

By the way, we did get some rain last night and it is cooler today!

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

Are We In Arizona?

Kevin asked that question today. It’s been extremely hot, dry and windy lately.

As much as I complained about the three weeks of rain we got when we first returned to Wisconsin, it has hardly rained since then. Our area is extremely dry. The grass is brown which usually doesn’t happen until late July or August. At least we’re not dealing with fires like they are in the southwest.

The corn has still been growing, but it definitely needs rain. I was always told that when the corn is too dry, the leaves begin to curl up and get pointy looking. That’s exactly how it looks right now. We’ve been watering our little garden every day.

Its been in the mid 90s the last three days. The weather people are promising rain tonight and cooler temperatures the rest of the week. I sure hope so. I feel so bad for our son Eric in this type of weather. He is an HVAC service technician and this kind of weather is brutal for him. He’s pretty much working round the clock. Hang in there Eric!

The weird thing is they’ve had lots of rain in Minnesota to the west of us. In fact, parts of Minnesota are experiencing flooding. Their weather usually comes our way, but not lately. Its been going through northern Wisconsin and missing us completely. I sure hope we get that rain tonight!

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

I’m Back

I drove back home yesterday. There was quite a bit of traffic so it took me about 30 minutes longer to get home than it took to drive there on Wednesday. The weather was good for driving and other than a lot of traffic, it was an uneventful drive. Just long! I’m not used to being in a vehicle for 8 hours anymore. But, it was worth it to spend time with my son.

On Saturday was Staff Family Day at the camp. There were about 80 people that came for the day. Some spent a night or two, but most just came for the day. The majority of the camp counselors live within a few hours of the camp.

We started the day with a delicious breakfast cooked by Korey and Laura. They are both full-time program directors for Pathways Camping Ministries which owns the camp.

After breakfast Korey opened the ropes challenge course for any family members who wanted to try climbing the rock wall. I’ve tried twice before, but got scared of the height and have not made it to the top. On Saturday about 25 people tried it including one grandpa who was celebrating his 78th birthday that day. He not only made it to the top, but he rode the zip line down. Wow!

Here’s Korey explaining to one of the moms how he is going to hook her up for the zip line. He’s wearing the red shirt standing on the platform. The wall is over 32 feet tall. There was one dad who didn’t make it to the top. He had the same problem I have. He got about half way up and couldn’t deal with the height. I thanked him for making me feel better about not being the only one who didn’t climb to the top. I really am amazed at the parents who climb it successfully.

After two hours, everyone was done and Korey made his way back down using the telephone pole on the right side. I’m very proud of the job he does. He is the High Adventure Director so the challenge course is a big part of his job. He’s so good with encouraging everyone and helping people conquer their fears. During the week he works with the older kids and they do all kinds of amazing things on the course. He is also in charge of the Wet and Wilderness program which involves the kids and counselors going out in canoes and camping out along the river for a week. Korey certainly works hard during the summer.

It rained for about 2 hours during the middle of the day. We were going to go canoeing, but the weather wasn’t that nice. So, instead we took a long walk on some of the trails on camp property. They have about 300 acres so there are lots of trails and campsites they use for overnights with the kids.

I stay in the lower level of the retreat center. There are several rooms with separate baths, and they let family members stay for free. Much better than staying in the cabins or a tent :)

The sun came back out and we had our picture taken on the back deck of the retreat center. The lake is behind us.

Then it was dinner and evening worship. I think they have a great group of counselors this summer. They all seem very enthusiastic and seem to work very well together.

Kevin and I took our walk this morning. Now I’m chilling out inside. It’s supposed to be in the mid 90s, very humid and windy through Wednesday. Tomorrow I’m going to Eric’s to start painting his spare bedroom. I’ll finish the outside painting when the weather is a bit cooler.

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

Having a Wonderful Time

Cathryn arrived around noon on Thursday. Korey had to get some work done, so we girls had some time to chat and get caught up on each other’s lives. We took a walk and had a nice time.

I treated the two of them to supper at the Life is Good Café in Park Rapids. The owner is a former camp employee. It’s a kind of yuppie health food place with very good food. We had a nice dinner together.

After dinner we took a walk around the lake with their friend’s dog.

We stopped at the swimming beach and let the dog romp in the water. After our walk we played some games together and then it was time for bed.

Last year when I was up here around this time of year, the tics were quite bad. This year I’ve only found a few of them on my legs. I’m not complaining about that!

 

 

Friday morning we had breakfast here at camp and then Korey had some work to do. Cathryn and I hiked around some of the camp paths. We were gone for about 1-1/2 hours. We went to a suspension bridge which was kind of rickety.

 

There were some beautiful wild iris plants growing next to the water. After lunch Cathryn left for a wedding she is attending in Minneapolis this weekend. Korey had to do some lifeguard refresher training with his camp staff.

 

 

 

 

Here he is instructing them at the swim beach.

I took him out to dinner at a Mexican restaurant in town for his birthday dinner. My baby will be 28 on June 28th. Hey, I just realized it will be his golden birthday. I wonder if he’s thought of that.

After dinner we sat on the dock for a while. There is a pair of loons that build a nest on Lake Morgan every year. Here’s one of the loons sitting on the nest. There are a couple of turtles in the water near the bottom of the picture.

Here’s the other loon swimming in the lake.

Camp Emmaus is located on Lake Morgan. The lake is the camp’s property and there are no homes or other structures on the lake other than the camp. It’s such a peaceful and beautiful setting. I just love it here.

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

I’ve Arrived

Just a quick note to say that I arrived safely yesterday afternoon at Camp Emmaus in Menahga, Minnesota. It was a 7.5 hour uneventful drive. That’s always a good thing.

It was cool when I got here late yesterday afternoon. During the night we had thunderstorms and it’s overcast and cool again today. It’s supposed to clear up later today and be sunny and warm tomorrow. I’ll take some pictures when the weather is a bit nicer.

This week there are elementary and middle school groups at camp. I’d forgotten how noisy a bunch of kids can be. We eat with them in the dining hall, and its fun to watch them enjoying camp.

Korey’s girlfriend Cathryn will be here soon. I’ll post pictures later in the week. I’m so happy to be spending time with the two of them!

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

You Asked For It

Thanks for the anniversary wishes. Several of yesterdays comments asked for a picture of my new hairdo. You asked for it, you got it. As much as I bug others to take their picture, I don’t like having mine taken. But, here goes.

I had highlights put in which I really like. It now has that sun-kissed look. My hair had been short since I was ten years old. Two years ago when we started full-timing, I decided to grow it long so I could just put it in a ponytail and not have to worry about wind and humidity.

It has taken some getting used to. It was cut in a blunt style, but the back had this strange wave in it and it just wasn’t working. Yesterday she cut lots of layers into it. I like it much better. I think it will be much more manageable when its not in a ponytail. I plan to grow it even longer and have more layers cut into it. We’ll see how it goes.

Our weather last weekend was very hot and humid. Last night a cold front came through and this morning it was in the 50s again. It’s been like a yo-yo around here. We golfed this morning, but between the very slow group in front of us and the strong winds, it wasn’t the greatest round. Oh well, we still had a good time together.

I’m packing for my trip to Korey’s tomorrow. I’m so excited to see him!

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

Thirty-Five Wonderful Years

Today is our 35th wedding anniversary. We didn’t do anything much to celebrate because the cruise to Hawaii in January was our anniversary trip.

On Friday we did go out for a fish fry dinner at a place in Beaver Dam called Walkers. We had heard from several people that they have good food.

I thought the food was just average. They advertise their fresh baked pies, so I bought a piece of lemon meringue pie to take home for later. What a disappointment. I’ve never had such terrible meringue, it was like rubber. So, Walkers was a bust, and we won’t be eating there again.

Today I had my hair highlighted and cut. I really like how it turned out. Kevin worked and tonight we’re having leftovers for dinner. Tomorrow we’ll be golfing. Even though we aren’t doing anything special to celebrate, we are grateful for 35 wonderful years together.

On Wednesday I’m driving to Minnesota to visit our son Korey at the camp he works at. They are having staff family weekend again. I had a great time visiting him last year and am very much looking forward to this visit. I’ll be staying until Sunday and then driving back to have Father’s Day dinner with Kevin. Our son Eric will be visiting the week after Father’s Day because he’s on call that weekend.

Korey’s girlfriend Cathryn will also be at camp for a day. I haven’t seen her in two years so am very excited to see them both. 

My post yesterday on the cost of weddings brought some interesting comments. Sounds like most of you agree with my views. I really like Janie’s point stating “my big fear is they place so much importance on the wedding ceremony and not enough on the marriage itself”. After all, there wouldn’t be a TV show about Bridezillas if some people didn’t go overboard!

We had quite the pig out at the birdfeeder this morning. There were lots of sparrows all vying for a spot. It was a hoot to watch. Can you see the two on the right trying to get a spot at the feeder? The corn behind us is really growing fast. It seems like it grows a couple of inches a day.

 

I picked these pretty wildflowers on my walk last week. I pulled out the WonderVase I bought on eBay last year. I didn’t use it much over the winter since there aren’t many wildflowers to pick in the desert :) I like this little vase. It folds flat for storage, and is easy to set up for use.

 

 

 

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

A First For The Park

Yesterday there was a wedding in the park. As far as anyone connected with the parks can remember, there has never been a wedding in the park before.

It was a pretty small affair. I would estimate there were maybe 60 to 70 people in attendance. They rented our Quonset hut for the day on Saturday and held the ceremony outside in the park.

On Friday evening they came and set up an arch and some chairs in the shade. What a beautiful location to have a wedding ceremony. You can’t see it from this angle, but the lake is behind the arch making for a beautiful view.

They also did some decorating in the hut on Friday evening. It’s not the most beautiful location for a reception, but the price is right. It costs $55 for the day to rent it and they were only charged for one day even though we let them in on Friday evening to set up and on Sunday morning to clean up. Can’t beat that price.

Saturday’s weather was fantastic. It got a little warm with highs near 90, but the dew point was low. There was a bit of a breeze to help keep you comfortable. We sat out in the shade and watched the festivities.

There were about 30 cars here. We don’t have parking for that many cars, but since it was so dry we let them park on the grass. Once the reception got underway, they opened the back garage door you can see above. They had a bunch of picnic tables outside and spent most of their time outside. Eating was done inside.

Do you see the lake behind them? A beautiful site for a beautiful wedding.

One of the attendees told us it would be an Indian wedding. We weren’t sure what to expect. I believe the groom was Native American. The music and the man who conducted the ceremony were Native American. Otherwise, it was pretty much a standard ceremony, although very short.

They had a sound system set up so there was music and dancing after they ate. The wedding was at 1 pm and then they went right on with the reception. Originally they had asked if they could use the building until 11 pm. Normally, the rental period ends at 8:30 pm. Kevin said sure, but with such an early start they were actually out of there by 8:30. Several of them had rented campsites, and those that remained enjoyed a campfire. This morning they’re out there cleaning up.

This event got me to thinking about how Americans spend money. I just happened to hear on the news last week that the average cost of a wedding is now $27,000. Yesterday showed that it can be done for much less money and still be a meaningful and wonderful event.

Neither of our boys are married yet, so we haven’t had the joy of a wedding for our children. I don’t know that I’d be happy with the Quonset hut for a reception, but I also don’t buy into the media and marketing people’s idea that the more you spend the happier you’ll be. Our lifestyle is an example of how that’s just not true.

So, kudos to these families for putting on a beautiful wedding for their children on a limited budget. I’m sure their memories will be just as wonderful as if they had had a huge, expensive event.

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

I’m Sore!

Yesterday I was back at Eric’s house doing some painting on his garage. Last summer he redid the siding on his garage. It looked so nice, but the trim around the doors, the window and the top needed to be painted. As you can see, the paint was peeling.

He left me a 12 foot ladder to get the job done. I had no idea how big a 12 foot ladder is. It was too heavy for me to lift so I managed to get it set up and then dragged it around the garage. The routine was drag the ladder a few feet to the next spot, climb up and scrape the old paint off, climb down and get the paint can, climb up and paint the section. Move ladder and repeat. That was a lot of climbing up and down the ladder which has me rather sore today. I guess I’m not as spry as I used to be :)

I got all of the trim painted with the primer paint. I will have to go back and do the top coat in a few weeks. Next time I told him to leave me a smaller ladder. The next coat should be much easier because I won’t have to do any scraping.

Eric is very appreciative of the work I’m doing for him. And while I’m there, I get to use his washer and dryer and do our laundry. So, everyone wins.

Last weekend was very nice here in the park. About half of our sites were occupied. We had a nice group of campers and the weather was great.

One day last week a large truck pulled up to the boat dock across the road. There was a large water tank on the back. Two guys got out of the truck and began scooping fish out of the tank. They filled a five gallon bucket and released the fish into the lake. All in all, they released five buckets of little fish into the lake. They told Kevin they were from the DNR and were releasing Northerns.

The birdfeeder continues to be a busy place. We have lots of little sparrows visit on a regular basis. They knock lots of the seeds onto the ground when they are at the feeder. I had some grape jelly on the ground under the feeder and some of the seeds got into the jelly. This oriole seemed to like it just fine.

A blue jay also visited under the feeder. I’ve heard that they are very aggressive and mean birds. I think this must be true. Usually there are lots of birds around the feeder. But when the blue jay was there, no other birds came to the feeder.

Yesterday there were two birds at the feeder that I’ve never seen before. At first glance I thought they were orioles. Then I realized that they had yellow heads instead of yellow chests. I did a little research, and I believe they are yellow headed blackbirds. Very cool. As you can see, the sparrows were right there next to them.

On Monday we golfed. We both had decent rounds. I am definitely playing better this year. I guess the saying that practice makes perfect is true. I’m far from perfect, but playing more than a few times a year seems to be helping my game. We had a great time.

I’m not a very political person, but I must say that I’m very happy with the results of yesterday’s recall election in Wisconsin. Regardless of your political affiliation, I was very disturbed by this entire recall process. I believe the laws regarding a recall were meant to be for someone who was guilty of moral misconduct in office. I don’t believe a recall should be allowed because a group of people didn’t like a policy that was enacted.

It’s great to see that the democratic process is still alive and well. The people have spoken. Hopefully, this type of foolishness is over once and for all!

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

*Safety Sign*

Have you ever needed a special sign? Whether you are an individual or a business, safetysign.com may have exactly what you need.
They have a large selection of traffic and road signs. These can be ordered from their stock supply or customized. Their site has a live chat feature so you can get immediate answers. You can also contact them at their toll free number.
I can definitely think of several signs a campground could use such as “Slow Children Playing” or just signs saying “Slow” or “Stop”.
If you need a street sign, they have those as well. Wouldn’t it be fun to order a custom street sign with your family name or a special slogan. They have aluminum novelty signs just for that purpose.
There products are made in the USA. If you are in need of any signs, you might want to check them out.