Monday, November 25, 2019 - Blog Catch Up, Gate Valve/Leak Issue?, Laundry and What to Have for Dinner?
We have really been busy the past couple of weeks and I think it finally caught up with me yesterday. I slept great last night. I think it was around 9:30 when I went to bed. I woke up at 4:30 and felt like a new person. The coffeepot was soon going. While I waited for it to finish, I did my morning exercises. By the time I was done with those, the coffee was ready. I set at the table to start my Chromebook. I was determined today to get caught up on the blog. I try to always start my dad reading a devotional, my Bible and with prayer. Sometimes I miss, but I find my days go better if I start them this way.
At 7:00 or so I laid the computer aside to make our smoothies. I'm using frozen strawberries and bananas today. We find them to be pretty filling, more so than some breakfasts foods. I think Dean starts getting hungry about an hour before lunch, but overall he likes it and doesn't mind having them at all.
After our "breakfast", Dean asked me to wait to do the dishes this morning. The last time he emptied our waste tanks there was hardly any water released from the holding tank for the kitchen sink water. He's not sure if the valve isn't closing entirely or what, so he wants to look at it this morning and see if he can find out what is happening.
In the meantime I washed a load of clothes, as this water goes to a different tank. He came to the door to see if I could come out and help him, so I had to change out of my pj's....yes, I was being lazy this morning. My job was to open the gate valve when he told me to and when he said to shut it, I was to do that. It was awful hard to open and close. After checking it a few times it appears to be working fine, so we'll continue to keep an eye on it. Possibly, at times it isn't getting closed entirely. He will continue to keep and eye on it. We may need to replace the gate valve at some point.
Shortly after that, he left for the garage. I hung up one load of laundry to dry and started a second one, then I was back to working on the blog. I did stop for awhile to read a few of the blogs I follow - I am way behind on those as well, but I had to set them aside so I could get mine up to date.
When the second load stopped, I folded them up to put back in to dry, then I took time to do the dishes. I decided while I was up, I may as well change the sheets on the bed since it's Monday.
Dean came home at noon for lunch. We cleaned the refrigerator of our leftovers for our lunch today, then we had our apple. It's been a few days since we've had one with all of the running around we've had to do lately, so it's nice to get back into our "normal eating routine".
After he left I hung up the second load of clothes, jeans, and put the sheets in the washer. Back to the blog. I am now downloading the most recent pictures, cropping them and transferring them to this month's album in Google. Next, to insert them in the proper places on the blog, so I'm getting very close to finishing through this past Sunday.
By now it was getting close to 3:15. Dean took Haleigh to school this morning. I didn't know if she would need a ride home, so I called Dean to ask him. He said she didn't mention it, so I sent her a text. She didn't answer but something told me I'd better just drive on out to check. Sure enough a few blocks from the school, she called to let me know she did need a ride. Her car has a window that won't go up all the way, and since there was a chance of rain, Papa came to the rescue. When it rains, we have been taking her to school. She and her mom have been talking about finding her something that is more reliable to drive. I have to say even though the car is no longer the greatest, it has served Misti, Logan and Haleigh for many, many years. A good old Pontiac - my Papa Blackledge would be proud! He owned an auto repair shop and sold Pontiac's for almost 50 years.
After I dropped her off at home, I headed to the grocery store to get some meat. My freezer only had a pork roast in it and of course there was not enough time to thaw it. I stalked up on a few things to last us through the end of the month. Because I've been busy with the blog and laundry today I decided to take advantage of a staple I try to keep on hand - Hamburger Helper, and a side of green beans. A one pan meal is easy and neither of us mind having it occasionally. I also made sugar free pudding for an after dinner snack. I had thought about making custard, but with all I was doing today I wanted something very simple.
After dinner, we watched the final show of this season's Dancing with the Stars. I say we watched it, we mostly listened and occasionally watched part of the dances. We really didn't have a favorite this year like we have in the past, and I don't think we were really in to it as much as we have been before either.
We have another busy day tomorrow, so it was nice to just stay at home today to get caught up, except I forgot Kamron had a basketball game tonight. I cannot believe we missed it, but maybe for today it was the right thing for us.....to just have a day of rest and catching up. It was her first game of the season and I'm sure we will be attending several of them before we head south.
Travels with Bentley
Bentley - our Heartland Bighorn
Tuesday, November 26, 2019
Monday, November 25, 2019
Friday, November 15 - Sunday, November 17, 2019
Friday, November 15 - Sunday, November 17, 2019
Friday, November 15, 2019
The Chevrolet dealership in Parsons called on Wednesday to let Dean know the parts to repair the back passenger door and the DEF heater were in. He scheduled the work for today and we are to have the truck there by 8am. Dean left at 7:30. I picked Haleigh up and dropped her off at school, then headed to Parsons to pick him up, since it will be a few hours before they complete the work.
Back at home, I got the morning chores out of the way, made a few phone calls, and somehow my laundry basket was getting full again.
Dean and I worked together to get the claim filed on the cracked wheel. After a little trial and error of figuring out how to post pictures of the wheel and the bill of sale of when we purchased the RV into their warranty form, we finally got that completed. Amazing how quickly you can forget something when you haven't done it for awhile.
I made plans to meet my former classmate and good friend Carolyn for lunch today. Even though we both are here in Oswego we don't see each other too much. We do visit via Facebook or text messages, but it was time to change that. We met at the Mexican restaurant here in Oswego. We enjoyed a nice lunch and visited for almost two hours before I had to leave to take Dean back to Parsons to pick up the truck.
Before we could leave Misti stopped by for awhile to visit. It's so good to have her do this. The past year or so has been so busy while she was attending college full-time, studying and keeping up with everything else she needs to do. I am thoroughly enjoying seeing and spending more time with her and seeing a smile on her face after passing the test and obtaining her license. She has been doing PRN (as needed) work for a few different physical therapy businesses and it has been keeping her pretty busy, but she is much more relaxed. I love seeing a smile on her face!
After she left, we headed to Parsons to pick up the truck. When we returned we immediately got ready to head to Columbus, KS. Tonight we are going to watch our grandson Tucker in the Columbus High School Jazz Musical. He plays trombone in their jazz band plus he has a part in the musical as well.
First we met Brett and family at the Mexican restaurant in Columbus for dinner. Yes I had Mexican food Wednesday night and it's my second Mexican meal today. It's a good thing it's one of my favorites!
We had some time to kill before the play started. We drove around for a little bit, then we parked at the school. We didn't have to wait long before someone unlocked the door near our parking spot so we headed inside since it was a very cool evening to be outside.
While we were waiting for the play to start, Marc called me. He is scheduled for lithotripsy, a surgical procedure on Tuesday morning where they use shock waves to break up a kidney stone, allowing the patient to pass them. He called to tell me he passed one this evening. I'm not sure how he managed it as it was a full centimeter in size. They had told him there was no way he would be able to pass it because of it's size and weight; that it was setting low in the kidney, and therefore too heavy to move. Hmmmm!
Tucker did an amazing job as well as all of the students participating in the Columbus High School Jazz Musical. While Tucker originally played the trombone in band, he now plays tuba, but tonight he played the trombone except for the last song. In the musical itself he participated in several scenes.
Another great evening watching our grandson Tucker. Again, we are so proud of our grandkids and we are so happy to be here in the area to attend their events. Fortunately November/December and April/May are times when a lot of activities occur at schools. We plan to be here in the area during these months primarily to attend them. Because we are here, we also plan our doctor visits during these times. It keeps us hopping, but it's worth it to attend events like these.
Saturday, November 16, 2019
I started my morning visiting with a couple of my sisters Cindy and Crystal. Crystal is going to the Oswego school musical with us this evening and she needed to know when we would pick her up, plus we are going to see our stepdad tomorrow after church. It's her Sunday and she has had two busy days so I offered to make a snack to take with us. We agreed I'd make some brownies.
Dean had filled the water tank yesterday as Todd notified us he would have the water off in the park to work on one of the water lines today, so I was still able to do some laundry this morning.
Dean left for the garage and I spent the morning going through all of our drawers, cabinets, under the bed, etc. and gathered up several things to take to storage. It's not a lot but anytime we can take something out it just means less stuff to deal with. Since we've just purchased some new clothing we are exercising the RV rule of - one thing in, one thing out.
When Dean came back for lunch he told me he'd tried out the new chainsaw he purchased last week. He loves it. It sure makes it much easier for him to cut the smaller trees/brush he has had to cut with a saw. He's only cutting the smaller trees. At some point we'll cut a few bigger ones down, or let someone cut them for the wood.
I visited with our granddaughter Kamron on the phone after lunch. We are trying to plan a shopping day and I think we finally decided on one. It is such a busy time of the year.
Dean left for the garage after lunch and worked on the desk project. He has all of the drawers built now. He's to a point he needs the wood that will be the desk/table itself.
I finished up some laundry then showered and got ready to attend the last night of the Junior High/High School musical tonight. At 6:15 we left to pick up Crystal and Misti before heading to the high school. As we pulled into the parking lot, Marc and his kids pulled into the parking lot across the street. We had a good time visiting with each other until the play started. My niece Amy set with us, as well as Misti and Marc's Aunt Rhonda and her husband Brian.
The Seniors were honored at the end of the play and afterwards we enjoyed visiting with family and friends, before heading home.
It was about 8:45 by the time we returned to Bentley and I can say we were both beat. We headed to bed a good 30 minutes before our normal time and I think we both slept well. This entire week has been busy but it's been a wonderful one!
Sunday, November 17, 2019
It was a typical morning getting things done before we left for church. Jim had a good sermon this morning. Back home we ate a quick lunch before Crystal picked me up to head to Joplin for our visit with Larry, our stepdad and his wife Verna. Cindy and Jody met us in Chetopa, and then we headed east.
We had a nice visit with Larry and Verna. Verna also made brownies - peanut butter brownies with chocolate chips in them so we had a browniefest! She always has a pot of coffee on for us as well.
After our visit, we drove back through Chetopa. Cindy left her car here on our way to Larry's. She went on home to help Elmer finish making his deer jerky - it's been a two or three day process, while Crystal, Jody and I attended a Celebration of Life for Roberta Bentley here in Chetopa. Roberta's son Deryl is our RV dealer, and was part of the reason we named our blog "Travels with Bentley". (Just a note for those of you who may not know the reason for that: Our Heartland Big Horn was new when we bought it. In the past we've owned other RV's, that were much older and had no special features like our new one did - and I made the comment to Dean that it's like going from a VW car to a Bentley; and since our dealer's last name was Bentley, we thought it was a perfect fit for our blog name.)
I first met the Bentley family many years ago, when their family moved to Chetopa. Jim and I were schoolmates during the seventh and eighth grade; Deryl was only a year ahead of us; and our younger siblings were in grade school together. Several years later Jim married Diane, a friend I went to school with in Chetopa from Kindergarten through 8th grade. Shortly after my 8th grade year, my family moved to Oswego. Several years later, JIm and Diane married and eventually moved to a house in Oswego about two blocks from where Dean and I lived when we first married. Dean's youngest son Jarred and Jim/Diane's oldest son Brandon became good friends. They were back and forth between our houses quite a bit during their school years and often Brandon's younger brother Derrick tagged along. Jarred often spent time with Brandon and his family at their grandparents (Gary and Roberta's) house or Jim and Diane's at Grand Lake over the years. Dean and I would also see them occasionally as we all owned a place in the same vicinity (Horse Creek) at the lake. In 2013, after we retired we started looking at RV's. After looking at many units, we chose to purchase our RV from Deryl at Chetopa RV. At the time of the purchase, Deryl and his wife Stephanie were our next door neighbors, and ironically, they actually bought the house from my parents. Last fall Roberta bought my Honda van, when we decided to sell it. Their mom Roberta and her husband Gary owned a wholesale RV supply company, and Bentley RV Repair in the past. She had worked along side her family for years in the RV business. My stepmom and stepdad both worked for Roberta's brother Bob Coons who owned Huntsman RV in Chetopa. I even worked there one summer when I was in High School. Roberta's brother Bud Coons owned Diamond Coach in Oswego. The family has a very long history of RV manufacturing and is well known in the industry for their efforts. If you visit the RV Hall of Fame in Elkhart, IN you will see her brother Eldo J. (Bud) Coons served on the RVMH board and was instrumental in its formation.
Anytime we visit a gathering in Chetopa we always see friends we haven't seen for awhile and it was no different today. My sisters told me before we went in that I needed to keep it short. Now, what do you suppose they meant by that? I kept an eye on them and made sure I made it back near the entrance door about the same time as they did. Lol!!
Friday, November 15, 2019
The Chevrolet dealership in Parsons called on Wednesday to let Dean know the parts to repair the back passenger door and the DEF heater were in. He scheduled the work for today and we are to have the truck there by 8am. Dean left at 7:30. I picked Haleigh up and dropped her off at school, then headed to Parsons to pick him up, since it will be a few hours before they complete the work.
Back at home, I got the morning chores out of the way, made a few phone calls, and somehow my laundry basket was getting full again.
Dean and I worked together to get the claim filed on the cracked wheel. After a little trial and error of figuring out how to post pictures of the wheel and the bill of sale of when we purchased the RV into their warranty form, we finally got that completed. Amazing how quickly you can forget something when you haven't done it for awhile.
I made plans to meet my former classmate and good friend Carolyn for lunch today. Even though we both are here in Oswego we don't see each other too much. We do visit via Facebook or text messages, but it was time to change that. We met at the Mexican restaurant here in Oswego. We enjoyed a nice lunch and visited for almost two hours before I had to leave to take Dean back to Parsons to pick up the truck.
Before we could leave Misti stopped by for awhile to visit. It's so good to have her do this. The past year or so has been so busy while she was attending college full-time, studying and keeping up with everything else she needs to do. I am thoroughly enjoying seeing and spending more time with her and seeing a smile on her face after passing the test and obtaining her license. She has been doing PRN (as needed) work for a few different physical therapy businesses and it has been keeping her pretty busy, but she is much more relaxed. I love seeing a smile on her face!
After she left, we headed to Parsons to pick up the truck. When we returned we immediately got ready to head to Columbus, KS. Tonight we are going to watch our grandson Tucker in the Columbus High School Jazz Musical. He plays trombone in their jazz band plus he has a part in the musical as well.
First we met Brett and family at the Mexican restaurant in Columbus for dinner. Yes I had Mexican food Wednesday night and it's my second Mexican meal today. It's a good thing it's one of my favorites!
We had some time to kill before the play started. We drove around for a little bit, then we parked at the school. We didn't have to wait long before someone unlocked the door near our parking spot so we headed inside since it was a very cool evening to be outside.
While we were waiting for the play to start, Marc called me. He is scheduled for lithotripsy, a surgical procedure on Tuesday morning where they use shock waves to break up a kidney stone, allowing the patient to pass them. He called to tell me he passed one this evening. I'm not sure how he managed it as it was a full centimeter in size. They had told him there was no way he would be able to pass it because of it's size and weight; that it was setting low in the kidney, and therefore too heavy to move. Hmmmm!
Tucker did an amazing job as well as all of the students participating in the Columbus High School Jazz Musical. While Tucker originally played the trombone in band, he now plays tuba, but tonight he played the trombone except for the last song. In the musical itself he participated in several scenes.
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| Tucker is 4th from the left. |
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| Tucker dancing to one of the songs. I apologize I cannot get the video to load where you can watch it. He and his partner were great. |
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| Playing with slinkies. |
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| With their stick horses singing "Don't Fence Me In" |
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| Taking their bows at the end of the show |
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| Group cast picture |
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| Proud Papa right here! |
Saturday, November 16, 2019
I started my morning visiting with a couple of my sisters Cindy and Crystal. Crystal is going to the Oswego school musical with us this evening and she needed to know when we would pick her up, plus we are going to see our stepdad tomorrow after church. It's her Sunday and she has had two busy days so I offered to make a snack to take with us. We agreed I'd make some brownies.
Dean had filled the water tank yesterday as Todd notified us he would have the water off in the park to work on one of the water lines today, so I was still able to do some laundry this morning.
Dean left for the garage and I spent the morning going through all of our drawers, cabinets, under the bed, etc. and gathered up several things to take to storage. It's not a lot but anytime we can take something out it just means less stuff to deal with. Since we've just purchased some new clothing we are exercising the RV rule of - one thing in, one thing out.
When Dean came back for lunch he told me he'd tried out the new chainsaw he purchased last week. He loves it. It sure makes it much easier for him to cut the smaller trees/brush he has had to cut with a saw. He's only cutting the smaller trees. At some point we'll cut a few bigger ones down, or let someone cut them for the wood.
I visited with our granddaughter Kamron on the phone after lunch. We are trying to plan a shopping day and I think we finally decided on one. It is such a busy time of the year.
Dean left for the garage after lunch and worked on the desk project. He has all of the drawers built now. He's to a point he needs the wood that will be the desk/table itself.
I finished up some laundry then showered and got ready to attend the last night of the Junior High/High School musical tonight. At 6:15 we left to pick up Crystal and Misti before heading to the high school. As we pulled into the parking lot, Marc and his kids pulled into the parking lot across the street. We had a good time visiting with each other until the play started. My niece Amy set with us, as well as Misti and Marc's Aunt Rhonda and her husband Brian.
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| Haleigh interrogating the "Three Little Pigs". |
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| Jaxson enjoyed the play....most of the time. |
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| I was focusing on Jaxson here, but son Marc, daughter Misti, Jax and Kamron are included. |
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| Mr. Wolf, and his attorney The Evil Stepmother (Haleigh) |
The Seniors were honored at the end of the play and afterwards we enjoyed visiting with family and friends, before heading home.
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| Seniors being honored. |
It was about 8:45 by the time we returned to Bentley and I can say we were both beat. We headed to bed a good 30 minutes before our normal time and I think we both slept well. This entire week has been busy but it's been a wonderful one!
Sunday, November 17, 2019
It was a typical morning getting things done before we left for church. Jim had a good sermon this morning. Back home we ate a quick lunch before Crystal picked me up to head to Joplin for our visit with Larry, our stepdad and his wife Verna. Cindy and Jody met us in Chetopa, and then we headed east.
We had a nice visit with Larry and Verna. Verna also made brownies - peanut butter brownies with chocolate chips in them so we had a browniefest! She always has a pot of coffee on for us as well.
After our visit, we drove back through Chetopa. Cindy left her car here on our way to Larry's. She went on home to help Elmer finish making his deer jerky - it's been a two or three day process, while Crystal, Jody and I attended a Celebration of Life for Roberta Bentley here in Chetopa. Roberta's son Deryl is our RV dealer, and was part of the reason we named our blog "Travels with Bentley". (Just a note for those of you who may not know the reason for that: Our Heartland Big Horn was new when we bought it. In the past we've owned other RV's, that were much older and had no special features like our new one did - and I made the comment to Dean that it's like going from a VW car to a Bentley; and since our dealer's last name was Bentley, we thought it was a perfect fit for our blog name.)
I first met the Bentley family many years ago, when their family moved to Chetopa. Jim and I were schoolmates during the seventh and eighth grade; Deryl was only a year ahead of us; and our younger siblings were in grade school together. Several years later Jim married Diane, a friend I went to school with in Chetopa from Kindergarten through 8th grade. Shortly after my 8th grade year, my family moved to Oswego. Several years later, JIm and Diane married and eventually moved to a house in Oswego about two blocks from where Dean and I lived when we first married. Dean's youngest son Jarred and Jim/Diane's oldest son Brandon became good friends. They were back and forth between our houses quite a bit during their school years and often Brandon's younger brother Derrick tagged along. Jarred often spent time with Brandon and his family at their grandparents (Gary and Roberta's) house or Jim and Diane's at Grand Lake over the years. Dean and I would also see them occasionally as we all owned a place in the same vicinity (Horse Creek) at the lake. In 2013, after we retired we started looking at RV's. After looking at many units, we chose to purchase our RV from Deryl at Chetopa RV. At the time of the purchase, Deryl and his wife Stephanie were our next door neighbors, and ironically, they actually bought the house from my parents. Last fall Roberta bought my Honda van, when we decided to sell it. Their mom Roberta and her husband Gary owned a wholesale RV supply company, and Bentley RV Repair in the past. She had worked along side her family for years in the RV business. My stepmom and stepdad both worked for Roberta's brother Bob Coons who owned Huntsman RV in Chetopa. I even worked there one summer when I was in High School. Roberta's brother Bud Coons owned Diamond Coach in Oswego. The family has a very long history of RV manufacturing and is well known in the industry for their efforts. If you visit the RV Hall of Fame in Elkhart, IN you will see her brother Eldo J. (Bud) Coons served on the RVMH board and was instrumental in its formation.
Anytime we visit a gathering in Chetopa we always see friends we haven't seen for awhile and it was no different today. My sisters told me before we went in that I needed to keep it short. Now, what do you suppose they meant by that? I kept an eye on them and made sure I made it back near the entrance door about the same time as they did. Lol!!
Friday, November 22, 2019
Wednesday, November 13 - Thursday November 14, 2019
Wednesday, November 13 - Thursday, November 14, 2019
Wednesday, November 13, 2019
With coffee in hand, I set down at the table to see when we could schedule our dentist appointments for May. We have some rallies and an 8th grade graduation next May that were not on my calendar yet, so I wanted to check those before setting a date, and I called them after 8 to get a date scheduled.
My daughter-in-law Jennifer called this morning to let us know Jaxson's school was having their Thanksgiving lunch Friday, November 22. We are invited to attend and I told her I would be there. I'm excited to attend. I know Marc will be there and possibly Jen's mom (Mimi to Jaxson).
It was only 25 degrees outside this morning. I went out to warm my car at 7:15, so I could pick Haleigh up and take her to school. Brrrr!
When I returned I asked Dean to try on the clothes we bought him yesterday to make sure they fit - trying them on at a store is not going to happen with him! LOL! Well, they are all going back when I return to Joplin in a few days.
At 9:30 I headed to Bible Study for a couple of hours. I love spending time with these ladies.
When I returned home, I noticed the trailer across the road from us, had water coming out of a water outlet on the side of their trailer. No one was there, so I told Dean. He went over and turned the water off at the faucet outside, then he called Todd to let him know. I never did hear what the issue was but there was a pretty good pool of water around the RV. Eeek!
We left at 3:25 to pick Haleigh up and take her home from school before we left for Garnett.
We are meeting Dean's siblings for their monthly dinner tonight at the Mexican restaurant there. His brother Larry called him to let us know he wouldn't be there as he wasn't feeling well, but his two sisters and sister-in-law will be. We stopped at Larry's to visit with him and Sandi for a short time before we met the others at the restaurant. I chose a "Vegetarian meal", that included a cheese enchilada, and a chalupa, served with rice, beans and guacamole. It was pretty good.
We enjoyed our drive home. We saw deer both driving up and back but they stayed out of our path and we are very thankful for that.
We are so thankful for our families!
Thursday, November 14, 2019
I was up at 5 this morning as I have my well women exam this morning in Joplin. I had my breakfast smoothie, showered and left at 7:45 for my 8:45 appointment. I knew I had some time between my doctor appointment and my mammogram. I stopped to check how much time between them, thinking I might be able to run an errand in between. That's when I realized I had the time for this appointment mixed up with another one next week. Oh no, I was not going to be able to make it on time. I called their office, but since I could not make it within 15 minutes I had to cancel and reschedule it. I should have double checked that time last night. I don't think I've ever had this happen before and it was embarrassing and frustrating. Since I had errands in Joplin, I drove on over.
My first stop was at Kohl's, where I selected a different pair of jeans for Dean and some sweatshirts that ended up costing me much less than the ones I had purchased at Sears on sale. I was able to buy three sweatshirts and the jeans for nearly $30 less and he liked them, so I was relieved! I guess those 30% coupons really do pay off sometimes.
Next I went to Sears to return the clothes we bought last week, and while the Mall doors were open, the stores were not. I needed a little exercise anyway, so I walked from one end of the mall to the other to have something to do. I knew people walked there but I had no idea how many. What a great place to be able to walk when it's cold or hot outside.
I headed home after that stop and I was back in Oswego before noon. Haleigh is in a Junior High/High School Musical. Today they are having a performance at 1, so I joined Misti there to watch it.
All I can say is WOW. These kids did such a great job and I was so proud that Haleigh and my sister's daughter Dani had lead parts. Haleigh's character was The Evil Stepmother, and the attorney for Mr. Wolf; Dani was a reporter for a TV station, giving commentaries throughout the trial and she also sang a solo. All of the kids did a great job. I wish my mom could have been here to see this. She loved things like this and would have been so proud of them, as we were.
Misti wanted to leave her car for Haleigh to get home, so I took Misti home before heading back to Bentley. I made a number of phone calls - the dentist; our friend Janie to see how she was doing; my friend Carolyn to touch base on our lunch date tomorrow; and sister Cindy. Finally I sent a text to a friend of ours that is currently at Val's, where we go for the winter months. I had called the office almost a week ago at Val's to talk to them about our arrival, and no one had returned my call. She let me know the office's winter hours, so I'll call them tomorrow or Monday.
While I was gone this morning Dean was going to take the tires off to have new metal valve stems put on, as we've had problems with the rubber ones leaking, as well as the one that had failed us entirely as we were leaving for Yellowstone back in August. When he took the first two off, he noticed that one of the wheels had a crack in it. Well, that resulted in a change in his plans for the day. He took several pictures of it, then headed to Chetopa to visit with Deryl at Chetopa RV. Fortunately, the wheels have a lifetime warranty, however the style has changed a bit. They will send us two new wheels at no cost, so that match each other. We can choose to purchase two more at half price if we want them all to match as the design had changed slightly. We decided not to purchase the two extra.
We called the company to find out what was needed and got the process started on getting the tires sent to us. In the meantime, we also took time to register the various tools Dean has acquired in the last 30 days. That's done!
After dinner, we watched part of the Country Music Awards that we had taped the night before. Country Music just isn't what it used to be. Other than a few songs and entertainers I was disappointed. However, it was good to see Loretta Lynn and Willie Nelson, even though they both look frail.
We are so thankful for all of our grandchildren who constantly amaze us with their talents. We are so very proud of them!
Wednesday, November 13, 2019
With coffee in hand, I set down at the table to see when we could schedule our dentist appointments for May. We have some rallies and an 8th grade graduation next May that were not on my calendar yet, so I wanted to check those before setting a date, and I called them after 8 to get a date scheduled.
My daughter-in-law Jennifer called this morning to let us know Jaxson's school was having their Thanksgiving lunch Friday, November 22. We are invited to attend and I told her I would be there. I'm excited to attend. I know Marc will be there and possibly Jen's mom (Mimi to Jaxson).
It was only 25 degrees outside this morning. I went out to warm my car at 7:15, so I could pick Haleigh up and take her to school. Brrrr!
When I returned I asked Dean to try on the clothes we bought him yesterday to make sure they fit - trying them on at a store is not going to happen with him! LOL! Well, they are all going back when I return to Joplin in a few days.
At 9:30 I headed to Bible Study for a couple of hours. I love spending time with these ladies.
When I returned home, I noticed the trailer across the road from us, had water coming out of a water outlet on the side of their trailer. No one was there, so I told Dean. He went over and turned the water off at the faucet outside, then he called Todd to let him know. I never did hear what the issue was but there was a pretty good pool of water around the RV. Eeek!
We left at 3:25 to pick Haleigh up and take her home from school before we left for Garnett.
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| The fields are so pretty with the sun hitting it - and there's the shadow of our little car! |
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| Glorious Sunset as we approached Garnett. |
We are meeting Dean's siblings for their monthly dinner tonight at the Mexican restaurant there. His brother Larry called him to let us know he wouldn't be there as he wasn't feeling well, but his two sisters and sister-in-law will be. We stopped at Larry's to visit with him and Sandi for a short time before we met the others at the restaurant. I chose a "Vegetarian meal", that included a cheese enchilada, and a chalupa, served with rice, beans and guacamole. It was pretty good.
We enjoyed our drive home. We saw deer both driving up and back but they stayed out of our path and we are very thankful for that.
We are so thankful for our families!
Thursday, November 14, 2019
I was up at 5 this morning as I have my well women exam this morning in Joplin. I had my breakfast smoothie, showered and left at 7:45 for my 8:45 appointment. I knew I had some time between my doctor appointment and my mammogram. I stopped to check how much time between them, thinking I might be able to run an errand in between. That's when I realized I had the time for this appointment mixed up with another one next week. Oh no, I was not going to be able to make it on time. I called their office, but since I could not make it within 15 minutes I had to cancel and reschedule it. I should have double checked that time last night. I don't think I've ever had this happen before and it was embarrassing and frustrating. Since I had errands in Joplin, I drove on over.
My first stop was at Kohl's, where I selected a different pair of jeans for Dean and some sweatshirts that ended up costing me much less than the ones I had purchased at Sears on sale. I was able to buy three sweatshirts and the jeans for nearly $30 less and he liked them, so I was relieved! I guess those 30% coupons really do pay off sometimes.
Next I went to Sears to return the clothes we bought last week, and while the Mall doors were open, the stores were not. I needed a little exercise anyway, so I walked from one end of the mall to the other to have something to do. I knew people walked there but I had no idea how many. What a great place to be able to walk when it's cold or hot outside.
I headed home after that stop and I was back in Oswego before noon. Haleigh is in a Junior High/High School Musical. Today they are having a performance at 1, so I joined Misti there to watch it.
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| My niece Dani letting the audience know of the trial about to take place for the Big Bad Wolf. |
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| Haleigh making her entrance to represent the Big Bad Wulf - her part was the Evil Stepmother, that's her stepdaughter (Cinderella) on the floor cleaning --- she hurriedly left upon her Stepmother's arrival. |
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| Haleigh to the left. |
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| Kaitlen was the entertainment at intermission telling lots of jokes. She did a fabulous job! |
Misti wanted to leave her car for Haleigh to get home, so I took Misti home before heading back to Bentley. I made a number of phone calls - the dentist; our friend Janie to see how she was doing; my friend Carolyn to touch base on our lunch date tomorrow; and sister Cindy. Finally I sent a text to a friend of ours that is currently at Val's, where we go for the winter months. I had called the office almost a week ago at Val's to talk to them about our arrival, and no one had returned my call. She let me know the office's winter hours, so I'll call them tomorrow or Monday.
While I was gone this morning Dean was going to take the tires off to have new metal valve stems put on, as we've had problems with the rubber ones leaking, as well as the one that had failed us entirely as we were leaving for Yellowstone back in August. When he took the first two off, he noticed that one of the wheels had a crack in it. Well, that resulted in a change in his plans for the day. He took several pictures of it, then headed to Chetopa to visit with Deryl at Chetopa RV. Fortunately, the wheels have a lifetime warranty, however the style has changed a bit. They will send us two new wheels at no cost, so that match each other. We can choose to purchase two more at half price if we want them all to match as the design had changed slightly. We decided not to purchase the two extra.
We called the company to find out what was needed and got the process started on getting the tires sent to us. In the meantime, we also took time to register the various tools Dean has acquired in the last 30 days. That's done!
After dinner, we watched part of the Country Music Awards that we had taped the night before. Country Music just isn't what it used to be. Other than a few songs and entertainers I was disappointed. However, it was good to see Loretta Lynn and Willie Nelson, even though they both look frail.
We are so thankful for all of our grandchildren who constantly amaze us with their talents. We are so very proud of them!
Thursday, November 21, 2019
Sunday, November 10 - Tuesday, November 12, 2019
Sunday, November 10, 2019 - Not the Best Sleep; Sisterfest at Cindy's - Family Pictures; Steak Dinner and Another Hallmark Christmas Movie.
I woke up a couple of times last night with my neck hurting. I keep a roll-on bottle of Biofreeze by the bed, so I put some around my neck and upper left shoulder. It does help quite a bit and before long I was waking up at my usual time. (I failed to note the day, but I asked Dean to change pillows with me. I've been using My Pillow and the one he has is flatter. Since I've done that my neck has hardly hurt at all. I think it was keeping my head at an awkward angle while sleeping. I have not woke up with a neck or headache for almost a week now!)
With the freezing weather coming, I wanted to be sure and get my laundry done today. Tomorrow Dean will fill the water tank and pick up the water hose to prevent it from freezing overnight. That meant changing the sheets on the bed this morning and getting those in the washer, followed by towels after we showered this morning. I still need to do a load of jeans but I can do those in the morning before the weather changes and then I'll be good until later in the week.
Dean was playing golf with Elmer, so I made a salad for lunch since Cindy will have a dessert for us at her house. I left a little before 1 and was first there today. Once all of us arrived, we had our snack. Cindy was busy yesterday so we had a "store bought cake". I can't remember the name of it now but it was very good. We had been visiting for awhile when I remembered to bring in the pictures my cousin had given me earlier this week. We had a good time going through the pictures and reminiscing. Here are a few:
Dean was at the garage when I got home. I laid out filet mignon that I bought at the grocery store the other day. It was the last day of the "to be sold by date", so it was $2 off. I bought them and put them in the freezer. It's what's for dinner tonight. Where can you get two filets for less than $6? I love those bargains!
Would you believe I walked over to the pantry and happened to look at the shelving I added to the door last winter - and there in plain sight was my apple butter?
I looked there several times. Evidently the jar was turned where I could not see the label, and looking through the mesh basket it looked like something else. Gee whiz! At least I found it. Unfortunately, I couldn't get the lid off, so I had to wait for Dean to open it when he returned. (It was very good. I'm going to enjoy having it occasionally. It's made with honey rather than using sugar.)
After I returned from Cindy's, Dean was still at the garage, so I straightened my desk area. I haven't had time to sit down to work on anything but I have a few things needing attention so it was good to get things sorted, ready for tomorrow morning. With the table pulled out to its full length I have more room. An additional foot makes a big difference. I also went through my closet and pulled out a few tops that I can't wear anymore (not because they are too small - but too big! - which feels good. It's been the other way around for way too long), and stored them under the bed. My closet was getting too full. Since I use part of my closet area for putting on my makeup and drying and styling my hair, it was getting difficult to do. I also moved my little storage cabinet back next to the table/desk which makes it much more handy, having everything I need near me. I also took time to dust the entire RV - all 400+ square feet of it. It really needed it, so I was glad to get it done.
Dean returned from the garage about 5:15 or so. He lit the grill for the steaks. I had two small russet potatoes I microwaved, and with a simple lettuce salad it was a perfect meal.
We ended the evening with another Hallmark Christmas movie. This is the last new Hallmark movie until next weekend, unless we want to watch re-runs. I doubt that will happen! Dean's very good about watching the few shows I want to watch, but he pretty much controls the TV the rest of the time, which is fine by me.
It was another wonderful day!
Monday, November 11, 2019
I watched some events on TV and Facebook today in remembrance of Veteran's Day. I'm so thankful for our Veterans who have given their all for our country. I'm proud of my family - my Great Grandfather Duncan, my Great Uncles, my Dad, Uncles, Cousins, Brother-in-Law, Sons/Daughter-in-Law, and our Grandson for their service for over 120 years. That's only the family members I know. I'm sure there are more if I studied our family history.
After straightening the desk yesterday, I was ready to get busy handling paperwork to get it out of the way. Always a good feeling to get it done.
It was bitterly cold today and the wind was blowing very hard. You could feel the wind bursts in Bentley. It started to sleet/snow about 2:30. Shortly before 3:00 I bundled up, ran out to start my car and let it warm up a bit, before I left. While we are in Oswego I've decided to make an effort to pick Jaxson up at school at least one day each week - more if I have the time, and take him home and spend an hour or two with him. It's a chance to spend a little one on one time with him.
I was not looking forward to driving in this weather. Fortunately, I was barely out of the city limits when the sleet/snow stopped. It's only 11 miles from the RV Park to the school; not a bad drive and I saw two deer today. Since they were well in front of me I enjoyed watching them. I went inside to wait for Jaxson to be dismissed. We bundled him up good, got in the car, and headed to his house, visiting on the way. We had a great afternoon together, including reading a book. He read most of it to me, as he's still learning words, but he does a pretty good job of sounding them out. He's improved in his reading quite a bit this year. My original plan was to take him to the Library in Parsons and check out a book, but it was just too cold. We'll save that for next week. We also played Dog Bingo. What a fun game. The bingo cards had pictures of different dog breeds on them, with individual cards with the dog's pictures we drew to match the ones on the cards. That was a lot of fun. We had a really good time together and I look forward to our next adventure.
Marc came in from his shop shortly before I left. It was good to visit with him too.
As I was backing out of their driveway to head down the lane, I couldn't help but stop and take a picture of the moon - GORGEOUS!
Back at home, we had a bite to eat, then watched Dancing with the Stars. I'm so grateful for our grandchildren. We are so blessed!
Tuesday, November 12, 2019
We have a dentist appointment at 10 in Columbus this morning. As we were leaving town, I noticed I had a message that Todd had a card for me at the office. I told him we'd pick it up when we got back to Oswego.
Dean and I both have routine cleanings at the dentist and an hour later, we left and headed to Joplin. We have a few errands to run. He needs a new pair of jeans. We stopped at Sears to see what they had since everything there is on sale with the closing of their store. We also found a couple of sweatshirts we thought would work. Getting Dean to try on clothes in a store is next to impossible, so we just took them home and he'll do that later. (We ended up returning all of the items when I had to make another trip to Joplin the following week)
Next stop was at Kohl's. We looked around but didn't buy anything here. By now Dean was hungry. We like Steak and Shake, and while busy it wasn't as bad as many of the other places we considered, and I needed to stop at Sam's as well. We alternate between Slimfast protein shakes and smoothies in the morning. They have larger containers that will last a couple of months and for the number of servings, it is much cheaper than the smaller version we typically get a Walmart. Dean spied some 4' LED lights that he thought would be good for the garage, and bought a couple of them. (He loves them, and we may be picking up a couple more on our next visit.)
We also made stops at Lowe's and Home Depot looking for wood he needed for the desk Dean is building. He didn't find what he was looking for today, but he did decide on a chainsaw. He really needs one for all of the brush around the lot that needs to be cut. It will sure speed up the work he will do over time. We definitely want to keep it somewhat wooded around us, but there are many smaller trees that he can take care himself with the saw.
Our last, quick stop was at Walmart to pick up a couple of items. We had been thinking about the shakes at Steak and Shake's since we were there earlier. We've never tried them before, so since they were half price (certain hours, I think it's 2-4) we decided it was time. I ordered white chocolate oreo cookie and Dean chose a turtle shake. Mine was pretty good, but not so much for Dean. All of the toppings - caramel, chocolate and nuts was at the bottom. He wasn't too impressed. Maybe we'll try it again sometime, but not in the near future.
It was a full day. As we were returning home, the sun was putting on an amazing display. This was taken east of Sherwin, KS - where we had wide open views.
As we neared Oswego I took this picture of Horseshoe Lake. If you enlarge it, you can see a light glow to the trees and reflections in the lake.
I had Dean stop at the office to see if Todd was around, so I could pick up my card, but he didn't answer the door. He is probably out in the Park somewhere or in his storage building, so we went on home. No worries, he had left the card at the RV. It was a birthday card from my dear friend Carol, my former Deputy Clerk. Evidently it was in the "group RV mailbox" and Todd found it. You could tell it had been there awhile. It was such a nice card. I miss seeing her every day, but we manage to get together at least once or twice everytime we are back in Oswego.
I'm thankful for our friends!
I woke up a couple of times last night with my neck hurting. I keep a roll-on bottle of Biofreeze by the bed, so I put some around my neck and upper left shoulder. It does help quite a bit and before long I was waking up at my usual time. (I failed to note the day, but I asked Dean to change pillows with me. I've been using My Pillow and the one he has is flatter. Since I've done that my neck has hardly hurt at all. I think it was keeping my head at an awkward angle while sleeping. I have not woke up with a neck or headache for almost a week now!)
With the freezing weather coming, I wanted to be sure and get my laundry done today. Tomorrow Dean will fill the water tank and pick up the water hose to prevent it from freezing overnight. That meant changing the sheets on the bed this morning and getting those in the washer, followed by towels after we showered this morning. I still need to do a load of jeans but I can do those in the morning before the weather changes and then I'll be good until later in the week.
Dean was playing golf with Elmer, so I made a salad for lunch since Cindy will have a dessert for us at her house. I left a little before 1 and was first there today. Once all of us arrived, we had our snack. Cindy was busy yesterday so we had a "store bought cake". I can't remember the name of it now but it was very good. We had been visiting for awhile when I remembered to bring in the pictures my cousin had given me earlier this week. We had a good time going through the pictures and reminiscing. Here are a few:
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| I loved this picture - my Great Grandparents Daisy & Fred Duncan when they visited their son Robert (Bob) Duncan, his wife Roberta (Bert to us) and their son Bobby Dee. Uncle Bob lived in California. |
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| My dad's Senior picture. |
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| Back: Sister Cindy, Nana Blackledge, my Dad's mother. Front: Great Grandma Duncan, My Dad Donnie, holding Cindy's daughter Nikki, his first grandchild. |
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| Valentine cards my dad gave to his grandparents - Daisy & Fred Duncan |
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| Back: Uncle Kenny Blackledge (my dad's older brother), Jeannine (Heath) Armstrong (my dad's cousin, parents Orville & Suson Heath) Front: My Dad, Donnie Blackledge; and Martha Sue (Paul) Walker (my dad's cousin, parents Bill & Inola Paul) |
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| My Dad - Don Blackledge (Not sure how old, but would guess around 40? |
Dean was at the garage when I got home. I laid out filet mignon that I bought at the grocery store the other day. It was the last day of the "to be sold by date", so it was $2 off. I bought them and put them in the freezer. It's what's for dinner tonight. Where can you get two filets for less than $6? I love those bargains!
Would you believe I walked over to the pantry and happened to look at the shelving I added to the door last winter - and there in plain sight was my apple butter?
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| Jar to the right! |
I looked there several times. Evidently the jar was turned where I could not see the label, and looking through the mesh basket it looked like something else. Gee whiz! At least I found it. Unfortunately, I couldn't get the lid off, so I had to wait for Dean to open it when he returned. (It was very good. I'm going to enjoy having it occasionally. It's made with honey rather than using sugar.)
After I returned from Cindy's, Dean was still at the garage, so I straightened my desk area. I haven't had time to sit down to work on anything but I have a few things needing attention so it was good to get things sorted, ready for tomorrow morning. With the table pulled out to its full length I have more room. An additional foot makes a big difference. I also went through my closet and pulled out a few tops that I can't wear anymore (not because they are too small - but too big! - which feels good. It's been the other way around for way too long), and stored them under the bed. My closet was getting too full. Since I use part of my closet area for putting on my makeup and drying and styling my hair, it was getting difficult to do. I also moved my little storage cabinet back next to the table/desk which makes it much more handy, having everything I need near me. I also took time to dust the entire RV - all 400+ square feet of it. It really needed it, so I was glad to get it done.
Dean returned from the garage about 5:15 or so. He lit the grill for the steaks. I had two small russet potatoes I microwaved, and with a simple lettuce salad it was a perfect meal.
We ended the evening with another Hallmark Christmas movie. This is the last new Hallmark movie until next weekend, unless we want to watch re-runs. I doubt that will happen! Dean's very good about watching the few shows I want to watch, but he pretty much controls the TV the rest of the time, which is fine by me.
It was another wonderful day!
Monday, November 11, 2019
I watched some events on TV and Facebook today in remembrance of Veteran's Day. I'm so thankful for our Veterans who have given their all for our country. I'm proud of my family - my Great Grandfather Duncan, my Great Uncles, my Dad, Uncles, Cousins, Brother-in-Law, Sons/Daughter-in-Law, and our Grandson for their service for over 120 years. That's only the family members I know. I'm sure there are more if I studied our family history.
After straightening the desk yesterday, I was ready to get busy handling paperwork to get it out of the way. Always a good feeling to get it done.
It was bitterly cold today and the wind was blowing very hard. You could feel the wind bursts in Bentley. It started to sleet/snow about 2:30. Shortly before 3:00 I bundled up, ran out to start my car and let it warm up a bit, before I left. While we are in Oswego I've decided to make an effort to pick Jaxson up at school at least one day each week - more if I have the time, and take him home and spend an hour or two with him. It's a chance to spend a little one on one time with him.
I was not looking forward to driving in this weather. Fortunately, I was barely out of the city limits when the sleet/snow stopped. It's only 11 miles from the RV Park to the school; not a bad drive and I saw two deer today. Since they were well in front of me I enjoyed watching them. I went inside to wait for Jaxson to be dismissed. We bundled him up good, got in the car, and headed to his house, visiting on the way. We had a great afternoon together, including reading a book. He read most of it to me, as he's still learning words, but he does a pretty good job of sounding them out. He's improved in his reading quite a bit this year. My original plan was to take him to the Library in Parsons and check out a book, but it was just too cold. We'll save that for next week. We also played Dog Bingo. What a fun game. The bingo cards had pictures of different dog breeds on them, with individual cards with the dog's pictures we drew to match the ones on the cards. That was a lot of fun. We had a really good time together and I look forward to our next adventure.
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| Before I left he showed me a video game he likes to play |
Marc came in from his shop shortly before I left. It was good to visit with him too.
As I was backing out of their driveway to head down the lane, I couldn't help but stop and take a picture of the moon - GORGEOUS!
Back at home, we had a bite to eat, then watched Dancing with the Stars. I'm so grateful for our grandchildren. We are so blessed!
Tuesday, November 12, 2019
We have a dentist appointment at 10 in Columbus this morning. As we were leaving town, I noticed I had a message that Todd had a card for me at the office. I told him we'd pick it up when we got back to Oswego.
Dean and I both have routine cleanings at the dentist and an hour later, we left and headed to Joplin. We have a few errands to run. He needs a new pair of jeans. We stopped at Sears to see what they had since everything there is on sale with the closing of their store. We also found a couple of sweatshirts we thought would work. Getting Dean to try on clothes in a store is next to impossible, so we just took them home and he'll do that later. (We ended up returning all of the items when I had to make another trip to Joplin the following week)
Next stop was at Kohl's. We looked around but didn't buy anything here. By now Dean was hungry. We like Steak and Shake, and while busy it wasn't as bad as many of the other places we considered, and I needed to stop at Sam's as well. We alternate between Slimfast protein shakes and smoothies in the morning. They have larger containers that will last a couple of months and for the number of servings, it is much cheaper than the smaller version we typically get a Walmart. Dean spied some 4' LED lights that he thought would be good for the garage, and bought a couple of them. (He loves them, and we may be picking up a couple more on our next visit.)
We also made stops at Lowe's and Home Depot looking for wood he needed for the desk Dean is building. He didn't find what he was looking for today, but he did decide on a chainsaw. He really needs one for all of the brush around the lot that needs to be cut. It will sure speed up the work he will do over time. We definitely want to keep it somewhat wooded around us, but there are many smaller trees that he can take care himself with the saw.
Our last, quick stop was at Walmart to pick up a couple of items. We had been thinking about the shakes at Steak and Shake's since we were there earlier. We've never tried them before, so since they were half price (certain hours, I think it's 2-4) we decided it was time. I ordered white chocolate oreo cookie and Dean chose a turtle shake. Mine was pretty good, but not so much for Dean. All of the toppings - caramel, chocolate and nuts was at the bottom. He wasn't too impressed. Maybe we'll try it again sometime, but not in the near future.
It was a full day. As we were returning home, the sun was putting on an amazing display. This was taken east of Sherwin, KS - where we had wide open views.
As we neared Oswego I took this picture of Horseshoe Lake. If you enlarge it, you can see a light glow to the trees and reflections in the lake.
I had Dean stop at the office to see if Todd was around, so I could pick up my card, but he didn't answer the door. He is probably out in the Park somewhere or in his storage building, so we went on home. No worries, he had left the card at the RV. It was a birthday card from my dear friend Carol, my former Deputy Clerk. Evidently it was in the "group RV mailbox" and Todd found it. You could tell it had been there awhile. It was such a nice card. I miss seeing her every day, but we manage to get together at least once or twice everytime we are back in Oswego.
I'm thankful for our friends!
Wednesday, November 13, 2019
Thursday, November 7 - Saturday, November 9, 2019
Thursday, November 7, 2019 - Possible Hack?; It's Cold Outside; Park is Filling Up; Property Info; Apple Butter has Disappeared
I was working on the blog trying to get caught up from the past few days, when I received a text message from a friend with only a ? mark. I thought she was wondering if all was well since I had not posted in several days, so I let her know I would be posting an update today. Then she sent a copy of a text message she had just received from me - only I had sent it to her on Feb 14 of this year. I looked back in my text messages and found it, but when she looked in her messages, it appeared she had never received it. I was a little concerned - was this just a random text message that got hung up somewhere or was something else going on? I spent the next hour or more looking at possible ways I might have been hacked. Almost two hours prior to the first message I received a text message from another friend responding to an email I sent her earlier this year asking her how she was feeling? She had an upper respiratory infection the first part of the year, but since she is fine now, she wasn't sure why I was asking her how she felt. Both messages were sent while we were in Texas. This really raised some concerns so at this point I googled to see if your text messages can be hacked, and found they could be. My next step was to call Verizon to seek their help. While the person I talked with thought it was probably just a random thing she first had me restart my phone, then she had me change the settings to the way the phone was originally programmed. I did not lose any of my information - just the settings were changed, such as the print size had changed, and things like notifications I wanted to receive were no longer working, etc. I've not had anymore problem but it took a good three hours out of my morning. Ugh. I have triple verification on everything so I've always felt pretty protected, but my passwords have now been changed. What a pain that is when logging in every day - sometimes more than once a day as I get used to a new one. However, it is worth it to protect yourself.
It has been cold. I've been uncomfortable, especially mornings - and today even more so. Dean went to the garage to get the silver reflective insulation sheets we cut for all of the windows two winters ago. We've put them in all the windows, except the two large ones. When the sun is up we like it shining in - but next week, they may go up too, with the expected lower temps they are calling for. In addition, we took one of our fans that tilts and placed it in a corner of the room to blow air straight up, to keep the heat moving around instead of it sitting above us. Between the two, it made a significant difference.
We've seen a lot of RV's pull in this week. There were only 5 or 6 when we returned in September and it has almost doubled. Some are working here in the area and some are just passing through as they move south.
We were hoping to get our property surveyed this fall or in the spring, so we could plant some trees and be sure they are within the property boundaries. I called my niece last fall, who works at the abstract office to get the names of surveyors. She told me before doing that, give them some time to go through surveys they had to see if they might have one for our property. She called me a day or two ago to let me know they had found one. After lunch, we stopped by to get a copy of it. There are pins on the property, so we'll see about getting a metal detector and locating those. We are so thankful they had one.
My sister Cindy called me a short time later. Her voice sounded terrible. I could hardly hear her it was so hoarse and weak. She works at the school and it's that time of year! We won't be getting together for dinner and cards tomorrow night. 😢
I am still looking for that Apple Butter we won at the Treasure Lake Annual Meeting. I have looked in every nook and cranny and I cannot find it. I even went through all of my clothing drawers - although I was sure I didn't put it there. I sure missed having it on my cornbread yesterday and for leftovers tonight!
Friday, November 8, 2019 - Senior Day at LCC; Chiropractor Visit; Full-Time Freedom Week and Thoughts on Our Travels
Today I visited the campus of Labette Community College for Senior Day, but it's not for my kind of seniors (citizens); it's to accompany my granddaughter Haleigh. As you know, Misti passed her Physical Therapy Assistant state test and she is now getting calls for PRN (as needed) work at various locations. She has to work today, so I'm privileged to fill in for her. Never having attended a Senior Day before, I was looking forward to seeing what it was all about. We arrived shortly before 10, and joined many other High School Seniors from the surrounding area in the college's theater at the Main building.
The President of the College was the first to speak to the students and then a number of faculty and administrative personnel talked about specific items, such as Financial Aid, Support Services, Resources Available to students through the College, Student Life and the new Campus Villas if they need a place to stay during college. It was very informative. This took approximately an hour, and then they broke the Students up into smaller groups - based on their chosen field. Haleigh plans to go into Psychology. Her group was small, with only two other young people joining her. Their group leader took us on a tour of the college, which I enjoyed. While I've been on the campus numerous times for meetings and some classes, I've never had a full tour. I thought they did an excellent job of covering issues and giving a good overview of what the students can expect as a college student at the LCC campus. Many of the kids, including Haleigh, are already taking dual classes while in High School, which will result in shortening her college time by a year.
Afterwards, we headed to Walmart - not to shop - but to eat at Subway. It's one of Haleigh's favorite fast foods restaurants. The two of us are creatures of habit, I guess. We always order the same sandwich every time we visit. She likes chicken, bacon, ranch, and I prefer the Subway Club with LOTS of condiments. We enjoyed visiting with the young lady that made our sandwiches who we found out is a Junior at a local high school, but they were out of school today.
We drove back to Oswego where I dropped Haleigh off at school, and then I returned to Bentley. I have an appointment with the chiropractor at 3. In the meantime I watched a video of Howard and Linda Payne of RV-Dreams on Full-Time Freedom Week (FTFW). FTFW was a four day event with videos that discussed many RVing topics. I signed up under the email that Howard and Linda sent to their blog followers (of which I am one). Dean and I talked about buying an RV that we could travel in after we retired many years prior to retirement. When I first started reading RV-Dreams' blog, neither of us knew there were so many people who full-timed in their RV's. I was researching what to look for in an RV when I ran across RV-Dreams, Howard and Linda's blog about six months prior to our retirement. At that point they had been RVing full time for eight years. They were in their 40's when they quit their corporate jobs (he was an attorney and an accountant), bought an RV and started the full-time life. I was hooked on their website and had the entire daily blog of almost eight years read in a matter of a week or two. They did a variety of things to earn money during those first few years and over time they started holding three rallies a year as a way to teach others about a full-time RV lifestyale, as well as working RV shows, workcamping, and advertisements on their blog page. At the RV shows they offered classes to potential RVer's covering a number of topics. Shortly before we retired I read they were going to present classes in Sevierville, TN the first full week of January 2014 at a large RV show there. We retired the end of December and I suggested to Dean that we take a week to get away, to Sevierville so we could attend their seminars. At the time I was concerned about not having anything to do would impact us, especially during the winter months. He agreed and it was a great trip. It was one of the best things we ever did. One of the sessions was how to choose your first RV and that proved to be well worth the entire trip. We loved the RV we purchased and still love it today. Our floorplan is the best one we've found that fits us, for the size of our rig. It has the wide open windows we love when we are in a beautiful setting and also great storage options. From all of the information they provided us, it made our selection so much easier and I appreciate that God directed us to them when he did. It's not unusual for people to have gone through at least two and maybe three RV's in the time we've had Bentley because they didn't know exactly what they wanted before making their first purchase. Howard and Linda covered everything and in detail. From that seminar we made our wish list - things we had to have, and things we wanted but could live without them until we could add them later, and things that would just be a plus if they happened to be on the rig but we would be okay without them. We were able to look at that list as we toured many, many RV's during January and February - good months to attend RV Shows.
After listening to them talk about RV life, one of the things that really spoke to me was how people find themselves not always doing what they set out to do in their full-time travels. I realized that is somewhat the case for Dean and I. The whole point of full-timing was to see as much of the US, and possibly some of Canada as we could. Life gets in the way sometimes as it did the past two years when Dean had some medical issues that kept us from traveling during some peak periods, but that's okay. He's well and that matters more than anything. However, it reminded me that we only plan to full-time for two or three more years. Once we build our home, we will still travel but with a house to take care of it, it will be limited compared to now. One of the things that hit me, is our decision to spend approximately three months in Texas. While we love it there and all of the people we knew that encouraged us to join them there, plus all the people we have met, I realized that we were losing some good travel time. The best time to visit the southern states is in the winter months we go to Texas. If we really want to head west into New Mexico, Arizona and southern California - we should really give thought to it now. We talked about it over dinner. We will go to Texas, but we may not stay the full 2.5-3 months we originally planned.
Dean spent most of the afternoon at the garage. He cut boards for the file drawer to go in the desk today. He's decided before he goes any further he needs to get the tools back that we stored at Brett's. Dean sent a text to see if he would be home tomorrow, and if so, we'll be making a road trip.
Saturday, November 9, 2019 - Early Morning Phone Visit; Jaxson's Last Soccer Game; Picking Up Tools; Back to Oswego; Pizza Hut Meal; Hallmark Christmas Movie - It's That Time of the Year
My sister Cindy and I often talk early in the morning between 5-6 on the weekends. Through the week, she's already headed to work at this time. This morning she told me she was able to get in to see the doctor yesterday. They gave her a shot and some steroids to take. Her voice was still strained but it had more strength to it today.
Dean heard from Brett and we'll head that way after Jaxson's soccer game, stopping to spend a little time in Pittsburg (that means Home Depot). Grandson Tucker is playing at District Band Auditions in Ft. Scott this morning. He plays tuba, although he originally played trombone. They expect to be back by 1.
Today is grandson Jaxson's last soccer game of the season. Hopefully it will be a little warmer with the sun out than it was earlier this week when the sun was waning fast soon after we arrived. We were not sure when we would get back from Brett's today, so we took my car to the lot and left it. If it's too late and already dark, we do not want to unload things from the truck, so we can leave it in the garage for the night.
From there we headed to Parsons. Jaxson's game is at 10:00. We were running a little later than we had planned but still had enough time to make it on time. However, a short distance from Parsons, I told Dean we'll have to make a pit stop. I can't set through a game without finding a restroom first. Those darn water pills!!! Fortunately, there is a convenience store not far from the school grounds where they play. We made it just as they were getting ready to go on the field! Marc, Jen and Kamron were already there. Today we brought our bleacher seats (the ones we bought in Hutchinson earlier this year). They are perfect for short sports events like this one. If we had realized they had bleachers earlier this week that's what we would have used rather than hauling our chairs to and from the car. (We couldn't see the field from the parking lot - it was about a block away). I was hoping for a warmer day....and it was....if the wind had not been blowing. Unfortunately, it was blowing more than not! I kept Kamron's ears warm with my jacket sleeves as she leaned back against me through the game. It was good to have a chance to spend some time visiting with her. She told me it was time to do another shopping trip - and I think one will happen soon!
This is Jax's first year playing soccer. I think he had more fun just running up and down the field than really playing the game. It's good for him to be outside and enjoying himself. I'm sure next year he'll understand a little more about it.
Shortly before we left Parsons (fortunately), Brett sent a text asking if he could borrow one of Dean's tools (I don't remember what it was, just some kind of drill). If so, could we bring it with us. We detoured back to Oswego to pick it up. Since we were here, we just had a quick bite to eat at home before we headed to Brett's.
We still needed to stop in Pittsburg to pick up our mail. I was surprised we still had so much coming in. Almost every piece of mail we received here has had the address changed for well over a month or more now, yet we are still getting several at the Pittsburg address. UPS will hold our mail for three months, so hopefully by the end of that time frame (Feb 7, 2020), the addresses will all be changed. I'm keeping everything so I can monitor them so I can follow up if needed. However, even with the hassle, I love our new mail service. They scan the front of each envelope we receive and send it to me in an email every day we receive mail.
Brett purchased a pre-constructed building that he is converting to a tiny house/apartment for his daughter, Dacy. With a baby on the way, and a 5 year old step-daughter who needs a room full-time this works out well for Dacy when she is there. She graduates from High School this spring. Dacy is looking forward to having the space for herself. We went out to take a look and it's going to be small, but perfect for Dacy. It has a bedroom area, a bathroom (no shower, but it's just a short walk to the house for that - and she told me she doesn't mind), with a small living area. There is storage above. It's really cute and I think Dacy will have a great time just fixing it up to suit her once it is done. Done the road it might also work well when family is in the area (all three of his brothers are a distance away), as it would be a great place for them to sleep too.
While the guys were loading Dean's tools in the back of the truck, I went inside to visit with Emilee and Dacy. Emilee was napping, so Dacy and I visited for 30 minutes or so. Her birthday is coming up in just a few weeks. I usually take her, Haleigh and Kamron shopping in the fall (kind of a birthday trip but most of all to spend time with them). Dacy is going to check her calendar to see what dates would work for her - and we talked about a few that might work. Hopefully, we'll get that set in the next few days and on the calendar. We just have to pray the weather cooperates for us. You never know this time of year.
After our visit, I went back out to see how things were going. Dacy reminded me to get my "blue and gold" sausage that I bought from a fund raiser Tucker was involved in. We've been buying this sausage from Dacy/Tucker for several years now. Each sausage roll is 2.5 pounds each. I love the sausage and it helps the kids, so we try to buy some every year. I'd buy more if I had the room. I almost exclusively use it for our sausage pizzas, cooking one roll at a time, then dividing each roll into about 10 small bags to be frozen. It's great to pull out a bag and in no time have a nice hot pizza waiting for us.
Speaking of pizza, when we returned to Oswego, I called Pizza Hut and ordered a pizza for dinner. They had a special for a two topping pizza for slightly over $8 with tax, so we "splurged" tonight. It has been a long day and I was too tired to cook. After our dinner, we settled in to watch a Hallmark Christmas Movie.
A great day, visiting with a few of the grandkids, and getting things done!
I was working on the blog trying to get caught up from the past few days, when I received a text message from a friend with only a ? mark. I thought she was wondering if all was well since I had not posted in several days, so I let her know I would be posting an update today. Then she sent a copy of a text message she had just received from me - only I had sent it to her on Feb 14 of this year. I looked back in my text messages and found it, but when she looked in her messages, it appeared she had never received it. I was a little concerned - was this just a random text message that got hung up somewhere or was something else going on? I spent the next hour or more looking at possible ways I might have been hacked. Almost two hours prior to the first message I received a text message from another friend responding to an email I sent her earlier this year asking her how she was feeling? She had an upper respiratory infection the first part of the year, but since she is fine now, she wasn't sure why I was asking her how she felt. Both messages were sent while we were in Texas. This really raised some concerns so at this point I googled to see if your text messages can be hacked, and found they could be. My next step was to call Verizon to seek their help. While the person I talked with thought it was probably just a random thing she first had me restart my phone, then she had me change the settings to the way the phone was originally programmed. I did not lose any of my information - just the settings were changed, such as the print size had changed, and things like notifications I wanted to receive were no longer working, etc. I've not had anymore problem but it took a good three hours out of my morning. Ugh. I have triple verification on everything so I've always felt pretty protected, but my passwords have now been changed. What a pain that is when logging in every day - sometimes more than once a day as I get used to a new one. However, it is worth it to protect yourself.
It has been cold. I've been uncomfortable, especially mornings - and today even more so. Dean went to the garage to get the silver reflective insulation sheets we cut for all of the windows two winters ago. We've put them in all the windows, except the two large ones. When the sun is up we like it shining in - but next week, they may go up too, with the expected lower temps they are calling for. In addition, we took one of our fans that tilts and placed it in a corner of the room to blow air straight up, to keep the heat moving around instead of it sitting above us. Between the two, it made a significant difference.
We've seen a lot of RV's pull in this week. There were only 5 or 6 when we returned in September and it has almost doubled. Some are working here in the area and some are just passing through as they move south.
We were hoping to get our property surveyed this fall or in the spring, so we could plant some trees and be sure they are within the property boundaries. I called my niece last fall, who works at the abstract office to get the names of surveyors. She told me before doing that, give them some time to go through surveys they had to see if they might have one for our property. She called me a day or two ago to let me know they had found one. After lunch, we stopped by to get a copy of it. There are pins on the property, so we'll see about getting a metal detector and locating those. We are so thankful they had one.
My sister Cindy called me a short time later. Her voice sounded terrible. I could hardly hear her it was so hoarse and weak. She works at the school and it's that time of year! We won't be getting together for dinner and cards tomorrow night. 😢
I am still looking for that Apple Butter we won at the Treasure Lake Annual Meeting. I have looked in every nook and cranny and I cannot find it. I even went through all of my clothing drawers - although I was sure I didn't put it there. I sure missed having it on my cornbread yesterday and for leftovers tonight!
Friday, November 8, 2019 - Senior Day at LCC; Chiropractor Visit; Full-Time Freedom Week and Thoughts on Our Travels
Today I visited the campus of Labette Community College for Senior Day, but it's not for my kind of seniors (citizens); it's to accompany my granddaughter Haleigh. As you know, Misti passed her Physical Therapy Assistant state test and she is now getting calls for PRN (as needed) work at various locations. She has to work today, so I'm privileged to fill in for her. Never having attended a Senior Day before, I was looking forward to seeing what it was all about. We arrived shortly before 10, and joined many other High School Seniors from the surrounding area in the college's theater at the Main building.
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| While we waited for the presentations to start - checking things out on her phone. |
The President of the College was the first to speak to the students and then a number of faculty and administrative personnel talked about specific items, such as Financial Aid, Support Services, Resources Available to students through the College, Student Life and the new Campus Villas if they need a place to stay during college. It was very informative. This took approximately an hour, and then they broke the Students up into smaller groups - based on their chosen field. Haleigh plans to go into Psychology. Her group was small, with only two other young people joining her. Their group leader took us on a tour of the college, which I enjoyed. While I've been on the campus numerous times for meetings and some classes, I've never had a full tour. I thought they did an excellent job of covering issues and giving a good overview of what the students can expect as a college student at the LCC campus. Many of the kids, including Haleigh, are already taking dual classes while in High School, which will result in shortening her college time by a year.
Afterwards, we headed to Walmart - not to shop - but to eat at Subway. It's one of Haleigh's favorite fast foods restaurants. The two of us are creatures of habit, I guess. We always order the same sandwich every time we visit. She likes chicken, bacon, ranch, and I prefer the Subway Club with LOTS of condiments. We enjoyed visiting with the young lady that made our sandwiches who we found out is a Junior at a local high school, but they were out of school today.
We drove back to Oswego where I dropped Haleigh off at school, and then I returned to Bentley. I have an appointment with the chiropractor at 3. In the meantime I watched a video of Howard and Linda Payne of RV-Dreams on Full-Time Freedom Week (FTFW). FTFW was a four day event with videos that discussed many RVing topics. I signed up under the email that Howard and Linda sent to their blog followers (of which I am one). Dean and I talked about buying an RV that we could travel in after we retired many years prior to retirement. When I first started reading RV-Dreams' blog, neither of us knew there were so many people who full-timed in their RV's. I was researching what to look for in an RV when I ran across RV-Dreams, Howard and Linda's blog about six months prior to our retirement. At that point they had been RVing full time for eight years. They were in their 40's when they quit their corporate jobs (he was an attorney and an accountant), bought an RV and started the full-time life. I was hooked on their website and had the entire daily blog of almost eight years read in a matter of a week or two. They did a variety of things to earn money during those first few years and over time they started holding three rallies a year as a way to teach others about a full-time RV lifestyale, as well as working RV shows, workcamping, and advertisements on their blog page. At the RV shows they offered classes to potential RVer's covering a number of topics. Shortly before we retired I read they were going to present classes in Sevierville, TN the first full week of January 2014 at a large RV show there. We retired the end of December and I suggested to Dean that we take a week to get away, to Sevierville so we could attend their seminars. At the time I was concerned about not having anything to do would impact us, especially during the winter months. He agreed and it was a great trip. It was one of the best things we ever did. One of the sessions was how to choose your first RV and that proved to be well worth the entire trip. We loved the RV we purchased and still love it today. Our floorplan is the best one we've found that fits us, for the size of our rig. It has the wide open windows we love when we are in a beautiful setting and also great storage options. From all of the information they provided us, it made our selection so much easier and I appreciate that God directed us to them when he did. It's not unusual for people to have gone through at least two and maybe three RV's in the time we've had Bentley because they didn't know exactly what they wanted before making their first purchase. Howard and Linda covered everything and in detail. From that seminar we made our wish list - things we had to have, and things we wanted but could live without them until we could add them later, and things that would just be a plus if they happened to be on the rig but we would be okay without them. We were able to look at that list as we toured many, many RV's during January and February - good months to attend RV Shows.
After listening to them talk about RV life, one of the things that really spoke to me was how people find themselves not always doing what they set out to do in their full-time travels. I realized that is somewhat the case for Dean and I. The whole point of full-timing was to see as much of the US, and possibly some of Canada as we could. Life gets in the way sometimes as it did the past two years when Dean had some medical issues that kept us from traveling during some peak periods, but that's okay. He's well and that matters more than anything. However, it reminded me that we only plan to full-time for two or three more years. Once we build our home, we will still travel but with a house to take care of it, it will be limited compared to now. One of the things that hit me, is our decision to spend approximately three months in Texas. While we love it there and all of the people we knew that encouraged us to join them there, plus all the people we have met, I realized that we were losing some good travel time. The best time to visit the southern states is in the winter months we go to Texas. If we really want to head west into New Mexico, Arizona and southern California - we should really give thought to it now. We talked about it over dinner. We will go to Texas, but we may not stay the full 2.5-3 months we originally planned.
Dean spent most of the afternoon at the garage. He cut boards for the file drawer to go in the desk today. He's decided before he goes any further he needs to get the tools back that we stored at Brett's. Dean sent a text to see if he would be home tomorrow, and if so, we'll be making a road trip.
Saturday, November 9, 2019 - Early Morning Phone Visit; Jaxson's Last Soccer Game; Picking Up Tools; Back to Oswego; Pizza Hut Meal; Hallmark Christmas Movie - It's That Time of the Year
My sister Cindy and I often talk early in the morning between 5-6 on the weekends. Through the week, she's already headed to work at this time. This morning she told me she was able to get in to see the doctor yesterday. They gave her a shot and some steroids to take. Her voice was still strained but it had more strength to it today.
Dean heard from Brett and we'll head that way after Jaxson's soccer game, stopping to spend a little time in Pittsburg (that means Home Depot). Grandson Tucker is playing at District Band Auditions in Ft. Scott this morning. He plays tuba, although he originally played trombone. They expect to be back by 1.
Today is grandson Jaxson's last soccer game of the season. Hopefully it will be a little warmer with the sun out than it was earlier this week when the sun was waning fast soon after we arrived. We were not sure when we would get back from Brett's today, so we took my car to the lot and left it. If it's too late and already dark, we do not want to unload things from the truck, so we can leave it in the garage for the night.
From there we headed to Parsons. Jaxson's game is at 10:00. We were running a little later than we had planned but still had enough time to make it on time. However, a short distance from Parsons, I told Dean we'll have to make a pit stop. I can't set through a game without finding a restroom first. Those darn water pills!!! Fortunately, there is a convenience store not far from the school grounds where they play. We made it just as they were getting ready to go on the field! Marc, Jen and Kamron were already there. Today we brought our bleacher seats (the ones we bought in Hutchinson earlier this year). They are perfect for short sports events like this one. If we had realized they had bleachers earlier this week that's what we would have used rather than hauling our chairs to and from the car. (We couldn't see the field from the parking lot - it was about a block away). I was hoping for a warmer day....and it was....if the wind had not been blowing. Unfortunately, it was blowing more than not! I kept Kamron's ears warm with my jacket sleeves as she leaned back against me through the game. It was good to have a chance to spend some time visiting with her. She told me it was time to do another shopping trip - and I think one will happen soon!
This is Jax's first year playing soccer. I think he had more fun just running up and down the field than really playing the game. It's good for him to be outside and enjoying himself. I'm sure next year he'll understand a little more about it.
Shortly before we left Parsons (fortunately), Brett sent a text asking if he could borrow one of Dean's tools (I don't remember what it was, just some kind of drill). If so, could we bring it with us. We detoured back to Oswego to pick it up. Since we were here, we just had a quick bite to eat at home before we headed to Brett's.
We still needed to stop in Pittsburg to pick up our mail. I was surprised we still had so much coming in. Almost every piece of mail we received here has had the address changed for well over a month or more now, yet we are still getting several at the Pittsburg address. UPS will hold our mail for three months, so hopefully by the end of that time frame (Feb 7, 2020), the addresses will all be changed. I'm keeping everything so I can monitor them so I can follow up if needed. However, even with the hassle, I love our new mail service. They scan the front of each envelope we receive and send it to me in an email every day we receive mail.
Brett purchased a pre-constructed building that he is converting to a tiny house/apartment for his daughter, Dacy. With a baby on the way, and a 5 year old step-daughter who needs a room full-time this works out well for Dacy when she is there. She graduates from High School this spring. Dacy is looking forward to having the space for herself. We went out to take a look and it's going to be small, but perfect for Dacy. It has a bedroom area, a bathroom (no shower, but it's just a short walk to the house for that - and she told me she doesn't mind), with a small living area. There is storage above. It's really cute and I think Dacy will have a great time just fixing it up to suit her once it is done. Done the road it might also work well when family is in the area (all three of his brothers are a distance away), as it would be a great place for them to sleep too.
While the guys were loading Dean's tools in the back of the truck, I went inside to visit with Emilee and Dacy. Emilee was napping, so Dacy and I visited for 30 minutes or so. Her birthday is coming up in just a few weeks. I usually take her, Haleigh and Kamron shopping in the fall (kind of a birthday trip but most of all to spend time with them). Dacy is going to check her calendar to see what dates would work for her - and we talked about a few that might work. Hopefully, we'll get that set in the next few days and on the calendar. We just have to pray the weather cooperates for us. You never know this time of year.
After our visit, I went back out to see how things were going. Dacy reminded me to get my "blue and gold" sausage that I bought from a fund raiser Tucker was involved in. We've been buying this sausage from Dacy/Tucker for several years now. Each sausage roll is 2.5 pounds each. I love the sausage and it helps the kids, so we try to buy some every year. I'd buy more if I had the room. I almost exclusively use it for our sausage pizzas, cooking one roll at a time, then dividing each roll into about 10 small bags to be frozen. It's great to pull out a bag and in no time have a nice hot pizza waiting for us.
Speaking of pizza, when we returned to Oswego, I called Pizza Hut and ordered a pizza for dinner. They had a special for a two topping pizza for slightly over $8 with tax, so we "splurged" tonight. It has been a long day and I was too tired to cook. After our dinner, we settled in to watch a Hallmark Christmas Movie.
A great day, visiting with a few of the grandkids, and getting things done!
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