Waiting...

The pastor at Koinonia Mennonite Church over in Chandler based his Advent sermon this morning on waiting. He admitted that he was not very good at waiting in line for anything -- five minutes being about his limit.

 I had to think about that...

I've spent a great deal of my life waiting. I can remember as a child anxiously awaiting becoming a grown-up. Grown-ups had all the answers. They knew things.

What a disillusion when the time came! To realize that technically I was a grown-up, but I still didn't have all the answers and there was so much I didn't know! I'm still waiting on that one.

So much of our lives is spent waiting. For small things -- for the guy at the part store to find the new part that will match the one I've brought in from the combine; for the line at the grocery store to finally reach the register; or for the stop light to change to green. And for the big things -- the birth of a baby; the end of a surgery and the arrival of the surgeon in the waiting room; or the transition of a loved one at the end of their life.

Sometimes the waiting ends in disappointment, sometimes it ends in joy and sometimes we wonder if that's all there is to it...

In some ways waiting is easier than it used to be. Can it be that I have become more patient? Or is it because I've usually got one of my electronic toys with me? I can play a game or check on Facebook on my iPhone or read the paper or my latest novel on my Kindle.

Waiting is also easier because time seems to fly by so much faster these days. It used to take forever for Christmas to arrive. Now it seems as though it was just a couple of months ago and here it is again. Our grandchildren were just babies and now the oldest is graduating from high school this spring.

Waiting.

Something to think about.

Something to ponder.

84 Degrees!

What a change today was after the last few wet, cold rainy weeks. The sun was shining when we got up and it stayed that way all day. It peaked out at 84 degrees early this afternoon! It was warm enough in the RV that I actually had to open the windows. Such a tough day!

It's the weekend after Thanksgiving, so the TV is full of football games. One after another. At least that's what it seems like to me. I try to bury my head in my Kindle and find other things to do and to think about, but sometimes even I get sucked into watching.

Late this afternoon we decided to make a Costco run to pick up some of the vitamins we were out of. There is a Costco in Chico which looked like it was only a half hour away. I looked on the web for the address and saw that it closed at 6 PM on Sundays. We left at five, but it took over 45 minutes to get there and they were getting ready to close. Well, that took care of that. Guess we'll have to go back over in the morning...

We did stop at a Sav More grocery in Orland and stock up on a few things. Then to Taco Bell for a nacho supper.

WET!

It rained last night. I mean it RAINED last night! It sounded like there were buckets of water being poured on top of Auntie Violet continuously. It sounded a lot like it did when we were at Niagara Falls last summer. I read in the Seattle Times (on my Kindle) this morning that a new record for rainfall in a 24 hour period was set at Sea-Tac airport yesterday. It was one humongous storm!

And wouldn't you know it, now we have another leak! This one is in the back in our bedroom -- right over the middle of the bed! It's most likely somewhere around the back air conditioner. We ended up putting a bowl on the bed, then emptying it several times during the night. I ended up sleeping on the couch while Forry slept in his recliner -- where he takes all of his naps.

Not sure how we will handle the leak. I DO NOT want Forry up on the roof! There is a mobile RV unit advertised on the RV Park flyer in nearby Myrtle Creek. I gave them a call, but so far we haven't heard back from them...

This is the sight we saw up the canyon when we went over to the hot tub this morning --

 

It never really cleared off today, but at least for the time being it has stopped raining. I did not want to cook tonight, so I called the shuttle and we got a ride up to Cow Creek Restaurant. It's a funny deal. They have rib steak special for $8.99 that is not on the menu. You have to ask for it! The shuttle driver told us about it the last time we were here, so we tried it out. It's actually a pretty good steak, about 3/4 inch thick and well-marbled. They serve it with a baked potato, garlic bread and vegetable. I had it for dinner tonight while Forry stuck to his chicken fried steak for a dollar more.

Saturday Golf!

It's been one of those rather lazy days. Forry has been watching the Ryder Cup golf tournament most of the day on TV while I've had my nose in my Kindle. I would have been doing laundry, but we do not have a sewer connection here, so have been conserving water in order to delay our trip over to the dump station.

Out came the five gallon orange bucket into the shower. It gets the excess water that runs until it gets warm enough to use. That half bucket full of water after we shower is then used to reduce the amount of water used to flush the toilet. Out came the paper plates in order to cut down on the amount of dish washing. Oh, the tricks you learn when you are boon-docking!

We have quite a stack of "stuff" in the living room that we removed from Toad yesterday before we traded it in. It's amazing how much there is! Everything from the first aid kit to my gloves for hooking up to the motorhome to a headlamp to maps to reusable shopping bags to a bag full of emergency blankets to cartons of soda to extra jackets to the suitcases. And the lawn chairs and little table are set up outside along with the gossiping birds and my lavender bush! It's quite obvious that we use our tow vehicle as additional storage.

I Think We've Done Niagara Falls...

We were both tired today! Forry had to be a bit organized early as the Honey Wagon guy was here at 9 AM to empty our gray and black tanks. We spent some time vacuuming and picking up getting ready for tomorrow's move. I washed and changed the sheets, then read my Kindle a good share of the afternoon. Forry's been alternately napping and working on his Sudoku.

It was again very hot today, but we are west of the horrendous thunderstorms that were hitting eastern New York and New Jersey this afternoon. The outside thermometer was hitting 99 degrees, but Auntie Violet's air conditioner kept it quite comfortable inside.

The New York State Park fold have made arrangements with Kodak and there are photographers all over the park -- as well as at Skylon Tower last night. We did break down and buy this photo of the two of us at the Cave of the Winds yesterday.

I took a flank steak out of the freezer this afternoon and grilled it for supper along with some caramelized sweet onions and peppers. It was sure a lot more flavorful then that expensive tasteless meal we had last night at Skylon Towers! I had a Filet Mignon with a Bearnaise sauce that was just flat tasting -- no seasoning whatsoever. Forry had prime rib and he said that it's a good thing they served horse radish with it as that was all that made it palatable! Such a disappointment. I guess we have gotten used to restaurants and chefs who delight in making interesting meals with fresh ingredients that are a delight to eat. As one of the reviews I read today said, "You definitely go there for the view, not the food!"

We've definitely done Niagara Falls and have pretty much seen most of it. We both agree that we enjoyed the Jet Boat ride through the rapids the most, followed by the Maid of the Mist boat trip. In fact, I wouldn't mind going on the Jet Boats again!

A Day to Recuperate...

After several intense days of sight-seeing and traveling, we were ready for a quiet day today. I was really tired last night and was in bed by 9:30, only to be awakened several times during the night by the very intense and loud rainfall.

We saw on the news tonight that there had been several tornadoes along the east coast as well as flooding from all of the rain. I guess I shouldn't be complaining about just the rain waking me up!

I don't think either one of us stepped outside of Auntie Violet today. I've done several loads of laundry and still have to put clean sheets on the bed.

I've been reading a most interesting book on my Kindle, Skywalker -- Close Encounters on the Appalachian Trail. I was intrigued in the beginning by his description of that section of the Trail we walked on last week -- that bridge across the Shanandoah River into Maryland. Our son-in-law Todd walked a large section of the Pacific Crest Trail last year. Our other son-in-law Scott had joined him for a portion of the trip and I had enjoyed their stories about their experiences.

We did watch a great Mariners game this afternoon. It took them twelve innings, but they finally beat the White Sox.

My Kindle 2

I've been using my Kindle DX since Fall of 2009 and I really like it. I have over nine hundred books in the archives -- can you imagine how much space that many books would take up in Auntie Violet? Plus I've got about thirty more on my home page either waiting to be read or to be used for reference!

I wish I had kept track of how many of the books I've gotten for free from the Facebook on the Ereader News Today site. It's a good way to sample many different authors that I probably would not have considered. The bad thing about it that they often will have the first book of a series for free; you get hooked; and then you end up buying the rest of the series...

I've been VERY impressed with Kindle's customer service. I told you how they replaced my first Kindle DX last month for the minimum service price after the five-way switch quit working -- even though it was out of warranty.

Today I was trying to buy the last book of Lauraine Snelling's Daughter's of Blessing series, Rebecca's Reward. When I went to the store, it kept telling me I had purchased the book last December, but I could not find it in the archives anywhere, searching under both title and author. When I called Customer Service, she reviewed what I had already done; put me 'on hold' for five minutes; then came back and told me to look on my HOME page -- and there it was!

And this Customer Service Rep was every bit as cheerful and nice as the one I worked with last month! Kindle definitely has the customer service thing down pat!

Football and Ribs

Good grief, there's ANOTHER football game on TV! I'm not sure how many that makes today!  Even though I turned the clocks back last night, Forry woke up early (by the new time) and was already watching a game when I got out of bed.

I made chocolate and almond croissants for breakfast (frozen -- put them out to raise last night), waited until almost eleven, then took a couple over to Juni and Tom's to share with them.  Other then that, I mostly spent the day with my Kindle.  There have been so many free books on Facebook for the Kindle that I am well-stocked with many different genres.

Later in the afternoon Tom called and suggested that we go out for barbecue this evening. A quick check on UrbanSpoon revealed at least fifteen different BBQ places in the area without going downtown.  Tom had picked out a place called Calhoun's, a chain that they had eaten at before.

We had a bit of a debate about what everyone wanted and all decided on racks of baby back ribs.  Then the waitress told us they were all out! And out of pulled pork, our second choice, as well! ;-(

After a bit of whining on our parts, we finally decided on some chicken, catfish and shrimp.  Then the waitress came back and said that if we were willing to wait another fifteen minutes, they would have two racks out of the smoker. It was well worth the wait!  The ribs were great (and there was enough for ribs tomorrow for lunch). They also had corn pudding as a side that was delicious.

We just got back to Auntie Violet and sure enough, there's another football game on TV...

Rainy and Cool

It rained off and on during the night, but not an awful lot. Forry's rain guage says we got a whole .128 of an inch. Today we had one more shower, but it didn't last very long. It would be nice to get a nice 1/2 inch or so of rain. But we always have to remind ourselves that this is a desert with 7-9 inches a year of average rainfall.

It was cool enough today that I put on my velour pants and top and even have my slippers on -- quite a change from shorts and sandals.

I've spent most of the day with my nose in my Kindle. I've been reading a new (to me anyway) series by Karen Marie Moning, set in Ireland.

A Lazy Day...

Today was a very lazy day. It was really too hot outside to want to do much of anything. I'm certainly enjoying having the Kindle. Today I was reading another of the Sheriff Brady books. I like the way JA Jance lays out her plots -- she's hard to out guess!

Tonight it's very smokey and hazy outside. We drove to the top of the hill and drove a ways to see if the fires were anywhere close. It's pretty smokey all the way towards Moses Lake, but we didn't see anything close.

Laundry and Housework and Gardening...

It's always worse when we stay put for a while. When we're moving every couple of days or even a week, we seem to be able to keep "stuff" put away and it doesn't pile up. We've been here at the ranch for almost a month and you can tell!

Even though we did transfer some of the things we had acquired this winter into the storage unit, we still seem to have more things then we have places to put them! We've not been at an RV park where I could take some of my paperbacks to the lending library and they're starting to pile up. I'll be so glad when my Kindle arrives!

Today I've spent most of the day doing laundry and cleaning the bathroom and kitchen. Forry's been vacuuming this evening. It really doesn't take that long to clean the whole motorhome, it takes longer to put stuff away than it does to clean.

I've replanted my AeroGarden and have tiny shoots of both basil and tomatoes showing. My basil did the best of all the herbs I planted before, so I'll try to see if it will co-exist with a yellow cherry tomato plant.