Wednesday, June 3, 2020 - Happy Birthday to my Dad; Moving Day; Meeting Hayden Grace

Wednesday, June 3, 2020 - Happy Birthday to my Dad; Moving Day; Meeting Hayden Grace

It was 4:15 when I woke up this morning.  Checking the thermometer is was 70 outside and 72 inside.  That's the warmest morning we've had this year.  Our humidity is at 59% with our dehumidifer running.  

I was unable to get my devotional to come up this morning - a message indicated their server may be down, so I'll try again later.

It was nice to read everyone's blog posts this morning.  I do enjoy them so much.  Even though I haven't met several of you, I feel like I know you from your daily comments.  

At 6:00 we got around to go to the park and walk.  I took several pictures today:

No rain, but the humidity was high this morning and this is what the front window of the car looked like when we walked outside.

What a beautiful sunrise we enjoyed this morning.

Pretty colors.  There was a slight wind - a perfect morning to walk in the coolness of the day.

When Cindy and I were at my friend Renee's house the other day, I mentioned this tree to her.  She told me what it was....a  Gold Tree Lilac.  Sadly the blooms are now gone.

This is a baby robin who was evidently learning to fly.  As we approached he did try to fly, but he didn't make it far.  We kept an eye on him as we walked around the park.  By the time we made our last lap we could no longer see or find him, so I hope he was able to figure it out.

The sun was shining through and brightening our morning!

So pretty!

I love this little evergreen bush.  It looks like falling branches.  Just click to enlarge it for a better view.

My Dad would have been 84 today.  We lost him in May 2008, the day after Mother's Day.  I sure miss him (and my mom).  I miss his laugh most of all.  He really enjoyed a good laugh and it always made me smile.  I'm sad this year as this will be the first year in many (around 40+ years) we haven't celebrated his birthday together with family on or near his birthday.  It started when Cindy and I were first married and Crystal and Jody were still in High School.  Over time, Daddy started to invite various family members and close friends.  We would all go to his house south of Chetopa.  Later he suggested we move it to Oswego Riverside Park as a family reunion, and finally inside at the Oswego Community Center.  He invited family members from both the Blackledge and Duncan sides (his dad and mom's families).  Had we had known our Governor would end up giving the decision making to our individual counties on how they chose to handle any Covid-19 restrictions, we might have gone forward with it.  Unfortunately, that was not the case.  At the time the decision was made by my sisters and I, we made the decsion to cancel it a few weeks ago.  It is what it is, but we will have it next year.

We had to take the car to the garage while we are gone and I took a few pictures there.

The trees my friend gave me.

 I was concerned about the trees while we were gone.  We put a little gravel in two buckets, (like the blue one shown) then put water in it just slightly covereing it.  We left the dogwood tree in one, and we put both the red bud and the Japenese Maple in the other.  We will only be gone 3 nights, so hopefully they will do fine while we are gone.  


Dean mowed yesterday and everything looks so nice.   

If you enlarge the picture below, you can see how far back he has been mowing.  He is working on clearing this area so it will be a nice grassy area to our property line.

From the garge to the street.  I hope someday we can eliminate this pole in the yard.

Today is moving day, from Oswego to Wichita - about a 3 hour drive for us.  It's a drive I never tire of as we pass through the Flint Hills between Severy and Beaumont, KS.  We left Oswego right at 10am, stopping only once at Fredonia, KS.  It was kind of strange, as we neared the roundabout south of town, I noticed the city entrance sign, which very nice.  I told Dean I should take a picture of that sign and send it to Joyce, one of our RV friends.  (She grew up in Fredonia).  There is a gas station, hotel and Subway on the east side of the roundabout, and as we turned in there to grab something to eat I received a text - from Joyce!  Talk about thinking of each other at the same time!!  I missed the sign coming in, so intended to take one as we left, but guess who forgot!

If you enlarge this you can see the LARGE flag Fredonia flys on a high spot of their community.  I always love seeing this flag as we drive by.

Bacani Plaza where we stopped on our way to Wichita.

We used our own restroom facilities before heading into Subway.  We both ordered wraps to go, eating them on the way.  It seemed like the drive just flew by today as we were both chatterboxes.  While we talked about lots of things the excitment of meeting our newest granddaughter was evident in our giddiness!  There is just something so special about new birth - a child is one of God's greatest gifts to us.

Random pictures of the Flint Hill area:

This is such a beautiful drive.  

These cows were on the move....must be lunch time.

The grass was such a beautiful deep green!

 As we were near Andover we saw the road work has now neared the I-35 interchange west of Wichita.

It was great to see this road nearing completion!

It was 1:24 when we arrived.  It didn't take us long to set up.  We turned on both air conditioners, then left to drive the short distance to Jarred and Andrea's.  Andrea's parents have had Emerson the past few days.  She was so excited to meet her new baby sister, and she told us all about her.  She is so proud to be a big sister!

Sweet Emmy and her new baby sister Hayden!

Papa holding Hayden.

Dad, Emmy and Hayden

Earlier, Jarred had brought in their mail.  He was looking through it, and told Emerson there is a package for you.  It was from someone Andrea knew through her work.  Here she is modeling her present!

Reading the card that was included

Such a cute jean jacket, with her name!
If you enlarge this picture, take a look at Jarred's shirt - "GIRL DAD"

Modeling the jacket for us.

We stayed for a few hours, taking turns holding sweet Hayden Grace!  She is such a good baby.  After visiting for an hour or so, Andrea went in to lay down and rest for awhile.  Hayden was up quite a bit the night before, so I'm sure she will need it.  We visited with her parents Bill and Diane, Jarred, and of course Emmy.  

Emmy took me downstairs to show me all of her gymnastic moves.  She is doing well and is anxious to go back to her gymnastic classes at the Y.  I didn't think to take my phone downstairs with me, so no pictures of those.

Dad turned on the water sprinklers for the yard, and let her go out and run through the spray.  She had a great time and we enjoyed sitting outside for awhile watching her.  It was very warm and humid today, so we didn't stay out there too long.

Cool and fun time for Emmy in the sprinklers!

Emerson drew pictures for Papa and Nana.  Papa asked her to write her name on it.  It will go on the refrigerator door at the garage.  He has several displays from the kids over the years.  I'm going to hang mine here in the RV on my magnetic wall.  I only put up two panels.  I should have put up four.  What was I thinking; with 16 grandchildren, space is at a premium! 

We were getting ready to leave just as Andrea's sister Kelly and her husband Chris arrived with their 7 month old son, Colin.  That little guy is so happy.  He kind of looked at us at first but in no time he was grinning from ear to ear.  What a cutie!

We returned to Bentley at 5:30.  I warmed up the ribs from yesterday, and we enjoyed them as much as we did the night before.  I think Dean wanted ice cream but I wanted to hold off until tomorrow, and maybe Emerson would like to go with us too.

As much as I wanted to finish the blog last night, I was just worn out between the early morning, the heat and the excitment of the new baby.  It felt good to just set down and rest before going to bed.

We have a few things we want to do tomorrow, so we will get out early to take care of those, then visit Hayden and family again later in the day.

Tuesday, June 2, 2020 - Things Slow Down Some

Tuesday, June 2, 2020 - Things Slow Down Some

It was a little after 5:00 when I got up and went downstairs to make the coffee.  It was 63F Outside, and 70F Inside.  At 8:15 it is already 72F outside.  It is supposed to reach 84 today.  Yesterday I added more reflectix to the windows to try and maintain cooler temperatures inside.  It really made a difference.  The bedroom A/C really cools well so I keep a fan up there to blow air downstairs.  With all of our windows it sure makes a difference in keeping it cooler inside.

We started our walk at 6:31 and walked 2.03 miles but we were slowpokes today - it took us 38.32 minutes to complete our walk.  

Calm day with sunrise clouds.

The pool is full!

City crews filled the pool yesterday and I believe it is supposed to open later this week.  I know the kids (and many adults) will be glad to see it open.  I'd sure love to go take a dip myself!

Beautiful cloudy sunrise.  

I made our shakes after we returned and then started to work on today's post.  Dean finished his then headed upstairs to change into his golf clothes.  They typically play 18 holes, but he's only playing 9 today.  He needs to be at the lot by noon in case the Safelite guy shows up.  I have a feeling it will be later, but we don't want to miss him.  (Update:  The guy called him.  He will be here between 3-5, so he was able to play both games after all.)

I expected a phone call from the Cherokee Health Center yesterday to verify my lab and doctor appointments for the 8th and 15th of this month, since that is what they told me when I called to verify the appointments a week or so ago.  Since no one called me, I called to check on it.  For some reason my appointment to see the doctor on the 15th had been cancelled.  Fortunately, they were able to get me in on June 12th at 1pm.  I prefer early morning appointments, but this will definitely work.  We can leave early on Monday morning instead of closer to noon, so it's all good.

We still expect Matt and Megan to visit us in Kansas sometime in July.  We expect to get the dates from them soon - maybe even today.  Once we know when, we can plan the rest of our summer travels.  Since we plan to stay in the four states this year we can work around their plans.  We have quite alot going on in June and July, with graduations, Dr. visits, and Matt & Megan's visit to Kansas.  We will have approximately 25 days between each monthly campout starting with July's, giving us plenty of time to explore the 4 states for at least 75-80 days.  We do not want to rush...try to stay 3-4 days at a time, and only move 100-150 miles between campgrounds.  We can always leave earlier or stay later based on what there is to do in the area.  

Since Papa was playing golf he missed my video call with Jarred, Andrea and Miss Hayden.  Oh my goodness, what a sweet baby girl!  She is doing well, and tomorrow we will get to meet her in person.  Dean was able to video with them yesterday afternoon when I was gone, so he wasn't left out altogether.  Lol!

Dean returned a little earlier today from his golf game than he usually does when they play 18 holes.  He said things moved along well today.  He brought the ribs we ordered from Gale, one of the guys that he golfs with.  That will be our dinner tonight.  After lunch, I boiled some eggs.  (I LOVE my Instapot for steaming eggs - it's the best thing ever!)  Later I'm going to make a small dish of baked beans.  It should be a great meal!

Dean wanted a haircut this afternoon.  He took the trimmer/shaver to the garage so he could go over it.  I'll trim it up when I get there.  In the meantime I made deviled eggs so I could get them in the refrigerator to cool before dinner.  I grabbed the clothes I want to store at the garage, and headed to the lot.  He was almost done trimming his hair all over, and then I did the fine trimming.  When I finished with his hair, he helped me find a couple of half empty tubs upstairs that I could put my coat, his heavy sweatshirt jacket and a few clothes I don't wear anymore inside.  I'm glad they are out of the way now.

On the way back I stopped at Misti's and picked up my sewing kit.  I'm not sure I'll get the patches Dean wants me to iron on his shorts done today, but I will sometime in the next few days.  He won't be wearing any work shorts in the next few days so I'm good for now.  HaHa

Dean called me around 3:30 to let me know Safelite was there working on the windshield in the truck if I wanted to head that way.  He had been mowing and was close to finishing up.  I set on the lawnmower while we visited with "Anthony".  We were in the shade and despite the 84F temperature, we had a nice breeze that kept us pretty comfortable.  Anthony was a good conversationalist, and worked away at the job.  I arrived between 3:35 and 3:45, and he was finishing up shortly before 5:00, after repairing three chips.  He even cleaned our windows!  I had a window down, so I hurried to roll it up.  I didn't want to have to look out a dirty window!  HaHa!

I headed back to Bentley to start dinner.  I prepared the baked beans then put them in the convection oven to bake.  The deviled eggs are cooling in the refrigerator.  I'm anxious to try the ribs.  

After tasting them, I have to say I think these were some of the best ribs I've had.  The meat was so tender and while it didn't look like it would easily come off the bones, it did, just slipping right off with hardly any effort.  Yummm Yummm!

 We'll get one more full meal, maybe two!  They were really wonderful!

It's after 7pm and I'm ready to set down and enjoy the rest of the evening.  I hope your day was good too!  

Monday, June 1, 2020 - Morning Walk; #16 Arrives; Busy Day

Monday, June 1, 2020 - Morning Walk; #16 Arrives; Busy Day


After only one cup of coffee we headed to the park at 6:30.  It's already warm.  We talked about coming out earlier after today.  We may need to get up and go straight to the park, then have our coffee.

The sun was shining across the road.  The grass and trees are so pretty with the sun on them.

Sunshine....on my shoulders makes me happy!

These slipper slides have been in Riverside Park for many, many years.  I know they have been here at least 60+ years, that's how long ago I started sliding on them.  I'm sure it was many years before that. 

The slipper slides are being put to rest soon.  They are being replaced with new playground equipment.  I want to remember all of the fun times my sisters and I, our kids and our grandkids have enjoyed sliding down these.  It was one of the big highlights of coming to the park.  Times change, some for the better....maybe this is one of them.

While we were walking Dean received a text message about golf today.  He will be heading to the golf course after breakfast.  He really enjoys it and I'm glad he has the chance to play when we are here.  He' bought a membership for several years now and he's never failed to get his money's worth from it.  

At 7:51 we recevied a text from Jarred letting us know that he, Andrea and Emerson  welcomed Emerson's new sister - Hayden, (grandchild #16 for us) to their family circle.  Of course she is just beautiful.  Her and mom are doing great.  I will share some pictures in a few days when we see her later this week.

Dean left for the golf course and I got busy.  I put the vacuum to work, changed the sheets, and over the course of the day did a couple of loads of laundry.  We will be leaving Hillside RV Park Wednesday morning for Wichita.  We are anxious to meet that new grandbaby and let Emerson tell us all about her!  

I had several phone calls to make, two were to cancel reservations I made earlier this week for RV Parks, due to changes in plans.  We made an appointment with Safelite to have a chip fixed in the truck's windshield last week.  Originally I gave them the RV Park address for our location.  With almost every site in the park full, I wasn't sure they would be able to find a place to park, so I asked them to change the location to our lot.  Dean will be there already, so it makes sense.  In addition while I had them on the phone I asked if they could fix two chips in our car windshield as well.  It's free if we carry full coverage, but we only carry liability on my car.  Since they are here it's the perfect time to do it as well.  Fortunately, they had time to do it at the same time.

I finished up yesterday's blog and posted it just a little while before Dean returned from golf.  I made ham and cheese tortilla wraps for lunch, followed by the last of the peach crisp.  Yummm it was good!

My sister Cindy and I made arrangments to meet with my friend Renee this afternoon to see her garden.  I've been out there a few times and it is truly amazing.  She has posted several pictures lately and I knew Cindy would enjoy it too.  I picked her up and we made our way through the countryside to her house.  

This is the most unique clemetis I have ever seen.  Unfortunately, this picture does not do it justice.  

Gorgerous purple and white!  Go KState! 

She and her husband Bill reworked this entire area earlier this spring.  

I can just imagine sitting out on the front porch here, watching the birds and the bees having a good old time while they visit the gardens and trees.  What a wonderful setting!

I love the fern in this and how it looks like a minature tree to this little Fairy Village.  Her grandkids have helped provide some of the characters.  What a fun idea for them to be a part of!

Another wonder that I saw her post on Facebook recently.  They had to cut this tree down.  They decided to make it into a little Hobbit type house.  Her grandkids got involved in this too. 

Renee, thanks for welcoming us today.  We really enjoyed our visit and your gardens.  

After we left, Cindy mentioned she needed to go to the grocery store, so I told her I'd just take her by since I needed to get a few things myself, then I'd take her home.  From her house, I drove by the lot to talk to Dean.  He was almost finished painting the back part of the garage foundation.  Since I still had the groceries in the car (cold items), I didn't stay too long.  He is golfing with our grandson Tucker this evening at 5:15.  He made it back in time to change clothes and leave again.

Before he returned from the garage I had started entering our expenses in to our monthly spreadsheet for May.  I knew my grocery bill was going to be higher, but I was shocked at how much higher.  A little of that way my own fault as I had let my pantry get low.  When I replenished those items this month, many of the items were priced much higher, so I got a a double whammy in my pocketbook!  

I was going to make a sauage pizza for dinner, but Dean said when he gets home we'll just grab something locally instead.  I didn't argue!  I started working on the blog and made it this far when he came home.  Todd stopped by soon afterwards to get the desserts I set aside for him yesterday.  We visited for awhile, before we left to get dinner.  

As we left the park - this was tonight's leftovers from the sunset.

We finally decided on a pizza, I ordered it online and picked it up about 12 minutes later.  Enough time to drive through the park and get some more sunset pictures from the bluff.

No wind this evening.

Beautiful skies tonight.

I happened to look towards the park as we left the overlook and I saw this owl on top of some park equipment.  It's not real clear.  I was trying to focus in to get a better picture when a car came through the park with its light shining right on the owl - and he took off.

The owl I saw.

We headed back to Bentley and enjoyed our pizza, watched a little TV and headed to bed.  I

Sunday, May 31, 2020 - The End of Another Month; A/C Woes?; Early Baking; Afternoon Trip with Sisters; Change of Plans - More Trip Planning

Sunday, May 31, 2020 - The End of Another Month; A/C Woes?; Early Baking; Afternoon Trip with Sisters; Special Phone Call; Change of Plans - More Trip Planning.


Shortly before 4:00am we woke up to a loud noise coming from the bedroom A/C.  It almost sounded as if something was in it.  I got up and turned it off, then laid back down hoping to go back to sleep, but it wasn't happening.  I had several things to do this morning, so I may as well get to it.

I cannot believe this is the last day of May.  The year is going by way too fast.  

After I started the coffeepot, I started baking.  I made a peach crisp, then a pan of brownies.  They are going somewhere - I'm not making them just for us.   If there are leftovers from this afternoon, I will share some with our neighbor next door (who has shared some of his steak and chicken with us) and my cousin Todd.  

The nice thing about getting up so early is I have some extra time.  After reading my devotional and my bible reading, I started writing yesterday's blog - well, actually I finished writing it then proofed it so I could get it posted this morning.

We noticed something with the refrigerator yesterday and Dean is taking a closer look at it this morning.  When I opened the top right side, it opened when I barely pulled on it.  I closed it, then reached up and just pulled on the door with my fingers, not using the latch.  It opened up.  Hmmmm....that's not right.  Dean looked at it, just to make sure all the screws were tight, etc.  We decided when we return from Wichita we need to have it looked at again.  However, this morning, I tried opening it with my fingers and that didn't happen.  I don't know what is going on, but I do know the frost on the right side is always much worse.  We never had a problem until after we went full-time.   We didn't carry that much frozen food with us unless we were gone for quite awhile and even then it was limited to what we keep in it now.  Back then when we returned from a trip, we always took the food out unless we were going to leave again within a week or so.  In looking back at my blog June 2019 is the first time I mentioned the frost problem.  We started full-timing in November 2018.  Sorry for all the info on this.  Sometimes things I mention may seem mundane, however it sure is handy to be able to look something up later with the search capability.  

I plan to vacuum tomorrow, so I cleaned out the dust container and cleaned the filters as best I could.  Dean took it outside and blew the dust out of the vacuum and the filters. One "filter" is a sponge and I washed it, setting it out to dry overnight.  They are looking pretty rough after 6 years, so I googled the Model # and filters.  I will be ordering a new set this coming week. 

Dean kept busy this morning emptying our tanks, then taking a look at the air conditioner in the bedroom.  It seems to be working fine this norning.  Of course there is no sun on it until about mid-afternoon, so we'll see what happens.  He is going to bring his drill back when he returns this afternoon/evening so he can take the cover off and check it further.  (He forgot to bring the drill back, however, it worked fine all evening, even in the late afternoon heat. I guess the towels and reflectix over the windows did the trick, and we have no idea what caused the noise.)

My friend and former co-worker Renee sent me a message yesterday to see if my sister, Cindy and I might want to come out to see her garden this coming week, since the weather is looking so well.  You may remember we were going to do this a few weeks ago but it started raining.  We are going Monday afternoon.  I'm excited to see what all she has done since I was last there several years ago.  I'm sure I will gets lots of inspiration!

I was going to let the winter clothes set until Monday, but I had more time this morning than I had anticipated, so they went in to an X-large vacuum bag.  I sucked the air out, and it fit perfectly under the bed.  I love the storage area under our bed and I love those vacuum bags.  In fact I like the storage so much under the bed, I have told Dean when we are back in a house, I'd like to have him build a platform similar to what we have in the RV.  However, I would like drawers on each side.  I think it would be a great place to store blankets, sheets, and extra pillows in vacuum bags.  We will definitely have another mattress like we have now.  It's almost 2 years old and we still love it.  It was so affordable and we sleep better on it than any mattress we've ever had.  What I like most there are no dips in the mattress where we have laid, and we can not feel the mattress give at all when either of us gets in or out of bed.  

I had made myself a note and laid it on the island earlier that I needed to put gas in the car.  I was on my way out to the car to take care of that, when my phone rang.  It was our granddaughter Emerson calling to remind me what was happening tomorrow.  She is so excited to be a big sister.  Her dad, Jarred told me they had been sitting outside talking about "the old days".  How cute!  He was telling her what he used to do with his friends when he was growing up.  I think that is just great!  Especially that she wants to hear it!  We are excited to see them all in a few days!

After showering, I put a load of towels in the washing machine.  I realized I still had my hair wrapped up in a towel, so I turned the machine off (it had not been running more than a minute or two).  The lock wasn't on so I opened it up, added the towel, then turned it back on.  I've never done this and I will not do it again.  I believe it caused the machine to run two full wash cycles.  I turned it on at 10:30 and at 12:20 it finally shut off.  That has never happened before.  Fortunately, it doesn't use much water.  It was frustrating as I didn't want to leave the wet clothes in the washing machine since I was going to be gone for 3-4 hours.  I was glad it finished the wash cycle.  I was able to take them out, and fold them before I left. I stacked them on the kitchen counter until I get home and can dry them.  With the A/C on I think they will be fine.  

I left first picking up Cindy, then Jody, and finally Crystal, before heading to Joplin.  We are going to see our step-dad Larry and his wife Verna.  Cindy and I stopped to see them a few weeks ago but this is the first time we've all been there since December or January.  It was a good visit for us all.  That was the reason for making the desserts.  Verna had some lemon cookies and all of the treats were great.  We stayed for an hour and a half then headed back to Oswego.  I took Crystal home last and we visited for awhile before I drove back to the RV Park. 

When I returned, Dean was home, paying bills on the computer.  He told me he ran out of paint and will have to get another gallon Monday so he can finish up at the garage.  I wanted to go look at it.  I was surprised at how much he was able to get done.  He painted the entire north side, the small portion in front, and then most of the way down the south side.  He needs to finish the far end of the south side and the back.  I think the color looks much nicer than the original blocks which had become stained over the years.

Notice the discolored blocks from years of sitting there with mold and dirt on them.

We had a light dinner of meat/cheese, and veggies.  Dean watched TV and I was back to our trip planning, making a few changes to allow us to spend time with Matt and family when they visit in July.  At 9:30 we called it a night!  

We received this cute picture of Jameson and Dad Brett this evening!

Dad Brett & Jameson (5 months)

Tomorrow morning we will have a new granddaughter!  We can't wait to meet Hayden Grace Peine later this week when we visit them.