The Wolf Costumes

My Brother-in-law Rich's FastPass (good for crossing the Canada/US border quickly) had expired on his birthday. He had an appointment to appear at the Border Crossing in Blaine in person this morning to get it renewed. On his way north from their home in Olympia, he dropped Sister Roxy off at Daughter Mary Mae's to visit.

After a stop at Starbucks to pick up lattes for all, we joined them to spend the day working on the costumes for the two wolves that will be in PAN, the Musical. Forry came along in his role as supervisor and found a comfortable chair to work on his Sudoku...

Sister Roxy brought her sewing machine with her. I cut out pieces and she pinned and sewed --

We were using a fleecy grey blanket that the costumer had brought to rehearsal. It took a bit of ingenuity to get enough material out of it for the two head hats and two sets of leggings and two sets of arm warmers, but we managed.

I think the head coverings turned out to be rather cute --

It took us most of the morning and the early afternoon, but we got the job done. (I definitely know it wouldn't have happened without Roxy!) MM did some shading on the ears, then put the elastic in the leggings. It truly was a group effort.

Roxy and Rich headed back to Olympia and we went back to Auntie Violet for a well-deserved nap. Later we met up with MM's family again for a Mexican dinner at Lorenzo's, then came home in the rain...

Toad II Gets Some First Aid

Going down Interstate 60 last week, Toad II was hit by a piece of gravel tossed by a vehicle in front of us. She got a nasty rock chip on the top right side of her windshield!

Concerned that the rock chip would spread and we would soon have a crack in the windshield, I looked for a place that might do rock chip repair. Juni suggested to us that car washes often offered this service, so I called the place where we had gotten Toad II washed and waxed a couple of weeks ago. The receptionist as Full Circle Auto Wash said that indeed they had someone there that provided this service and he was in this afternoon.

So off we went to meet Justin Harwood of the Auto Glass Shop, a national chain of auto glass repairs. He opened up the chip a bit -- I jumped almost as much as I did from the original hit when he tapped on it.

Justin agreed with us that it was a pretty bad chip as he went to work and filled it with resin, then left it to cure for a few minutes...

It probably didn't take more than twenty minutes and cost us $35 (guaranteed to be refunded if the repair failed...). You can still see the "spider legs" of where it was hit, though you have to look for them. Justin said he got the outside of the rig dirty, so sent us through the car wash with his compliments.

While we were out and about, we went to Barnes and Noble to buy Forry a new "Page-a-Day" Sudoku calendar as well as a calendar for the living room. It was nice to see that since it was the last week of the year, all of the calendars were 50% off.

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 Recovery Day

I was thinking today about the first trip we took across the US in our RV almost six years ago. We were supposed to report to our Mennonite Disaster Service work site in Louisiana the first of October. Because our church hosts the Washington State MCC sale, the Mennonite Country Auction, the first weekend in October, we made arrangements with MDS to leave right after the sale.

We drove pretty much straight through from Washington State, stopping at rest areas for four to five hours of sleep and an occasional hour's nap, then continuing on. I think we made it to the Diamond, Louisiana work site in just three days. I cannot even imagine trying to do that now!

Nowadays, a three hour drive is about all we like to do. That means we leave late enough in the morning to avoid the morning rush hour traffic and make it to our new site before the evening rush hour. It means we get set-up when it's still daylight and have a bit of time to relax before supper.

Then we usually use the next day as a recovery day, staying at home in Auntie Violet and just taking life easy. (Which for Forry means a couple of naps in his recliner and plenty of time with his Sudoku...) I may or may not catch up on the laundry, but I usually spend most of the day reading or knitting. If we're planning to go sight-seeing in an area, we usually plan that for the next day.

Neither Forry nor I are morning people, so this kind of schedule suits our retired life-style. Because we have been on the East Coast with the three hour time difference, we often end up watching Mariner's home Seattle Safeco Field baseball games starting at 10 PM at night. Depending how long the games last -- and whether they go to extra innings -- we may not get to bed before midnight or later.

Today was one of those recovery days.

More Around the Park

We had another fairly quiet day at home today. I did some laundry and a bit of cleaning, but that's about it. Forry's had his nose in the new Sudoku book that Leslie gave him before they left. The following pictures are some I took around the park this evening when I was out walking.

This "Mickey" is one of several around the park. There is a fellow here who makes them for sale --

It's interesting how this shot turned out. The globes are actually blue, but the blue color is reflected on the building while the globes look white --

I'm not sure what these flowers are -- they're down in the bottoms of these grass clumps. Five petals with a red spot in the middle of each...

It was working on the start of a pretty sunset when I was out walking --

 When I got back to the RV, Forry had taken this picture --

It was in the nineties again today, but cooled off nicely this evening. At least it was comfortable to be out walking. We've noticed there is a lot more activity around the park when it is a bit cooler.

107.3 in the Shade!

That's just too darn hot for anyone!

We had to go into Ritzville this morning to meet the crop insurance investigator lady and get some papers signed about the re-seeding that was done last spring. While we were in town, we stopped at the Post Office and picked up the package that Mac the Fire Guy had sent us. We had ordered some stuff from him while we were at the Gypsy Journal Rally in Arizona last winter. We had gotten the new extinquisher (for Auntie Violet's engine compartment) quite a while back but had to wait for a propane gas leak detector and a break-out hammer for the Toad.

Forry was out of eversharp pencils for doing his sudoku puzzles, so we stopped at the local drug store to see if they might have some with the school supplies. While we were looking for the pencils, we found a bunch of beading supplies and picked up a few things. Also found a beading magazine that has a neat idea for a bracelet that would be great for the handmade glass beads that Bill gave me.

As we were heading home, we went by Alice and Gilbert's beautiful house. Gilbert was out in that heat scraping paint off of the window trim! So we stopped and had a great visit with them -- we're are just going to have to meet them some evening for dinner so we can have a longer visit.