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I love this camera! I went out to snap some more blossom shots and look what I got. Here's the shrub that's blooming outside our door. See that little black dot near the top of the shrub just right of center.
With a zoom and a crop here's what I got.
Can't you almost hear him sipping the nectar? :) I just wish he'd opened his wings.
The camera is my Canon PowerShot S3IS.
The feeling of life is different in Montana than it is say in Hemet, CA. I thought about that Friday as I walked with Laura and Jim through her back "yard" which is actually about 5 acres of pine. There's little grass and lots of tiny wild flowers. Rocks and pine cones are scattered liberally. Pine trees and aspen fill the space with here and there a clearing where trees have come down in the wind or been toppled by Steve.
Steve and Jim cut trees, split logs and stacked over a cord of wood. So the kids are off to a good start for next winter. They now have two wood burning stoves to keep going (a new one in the office) so I think they need 4-5 cords ready. That why Laura says her life is trees!
We all went out for dinner to Spice of Life in Hamilton. Son Jim treated! The food and service were very good considering it was jam packed most of the time. It's a small restaurant with just 2 waitresses and they were running. We were happy as clams until we had to wait a long time for the check. Jim finally captured our waitress who thought she'd given us the check and wondered why we hadn't paid yet! Oh Well!
Here's blooming progress, from Friday...
...to Saturday!
The weather is warmer than when we arrived, very much Spring. Funny how we see people wearing shorts and sitting out at picnic tables drinking beer. It's not quite that warm to me but after a long winter I remember how that warm sun feels. We grew up in Illinois and those first Spring days always felt like summer!
I made a batch of brownies yesterday. Bad move. We just had brownies and red wine for dinner last night while we watched The Sopranos on DVD. Very decadent! But the bikes are out of the car so we'll do some healthy bike riding today.
What is Spring Fever? Laziness? If so, then we've got it :) We are sleeping in until 9 or 10 AM. It's very quiet here at Jim and Mary's RV. They even hold back on lawn moving until mid-morning.
Wednesday I went shopping in the rain with Laura...girls' day out. We had a nice lunch in the Southgate Mall at Cafe Dolce. It's a soup, salad, sandwich, coffee, dessert, gelato place :) I selected the Porchetta Sandwich which was really very good--roast pork, provolone and arugala on a very thin toasted foccacia bread. Just right for lunch.
Laura was looking for office furniture and accessories so we hit several stores. She was looking for a supply cabinet for the office bathroom and we just didn't find anything suitable until Ashley Furniture. We spotted an oak cabinet with tile inlays on top. It is really perfect for the look of the office but a $400 a bit pricey to store toilet tissue. But now nothing else looks good.
I made stuft peppers for dinner and we settled in to watch the Sopranos on A&E, with commercials. It will be fun to see the show uncut and commercial free when we get our DVD from Netflix.
Yesterday we got a late start again but I managed to get a hair cut appointment at Regis in the Mall. Jim shopped around but managed to not spend any money. We had a nice steak dinner with a bottle of wine. Haven't done that in awhile. It was a double feature movie night--Double Jeopardy with Ashley Judd and Tommy Lee Jones. then a commercial free Rising Sun with Sean Connery on FMC. I fell asleep on the last one.
Spring has arrived here at Jim and Mary's with the temps expected to be 77 today. Maybe we'll get the bikes out and get some exercise :)
Monday we went to see Steve for further body tune-ups. He'd had a really busy day so he asked to delay our appointment til after dinner. He felt like a celebration of the new office so they opened a bottleof Veuve-Cliquot. Here's a group shot. Their dog-kids were even allowed in the office. That's Dr. Stevo on the left, son Jim, Laura,The Founder Jim and in front are Blackjack and Charlie (the Wonder Dog).
Laura was worried about what to have for dinner. "What would you have if we weren't here?" I asked. Omelettes and salad. Well, that sounds good to me. She put together another amazing salad and then son Jim volunteered to make the Mexican Omelettes. Laura told him all the ingredients but he put them together a bit differently....and he flipped each omelette in the frying pan. Wow! We were all suitably impressed. He only missed one of five so the stove got a bit gouped up!
Mexican Omelettes: Slightly cook 3 whipped eggs in butter (in omelette fry pan). Sprinkle with drained and rinsed black beans. Cook then flip and flip again. Sprinkle with chopped tomatoes, green onions and grated cheddar. Fold in half and top with salsa and onion. Sour cream and quacamole are also good toppings. Serve with champagne and good conversation :)
After dinner son Jim treated us to a fashion show of lumberjack apparel. He was getting psyched up for some woodchopping adventures.
Yesterday was a stay-at-home-and-get-things-done day. Three weeks of laundry was at the top of the list. While I worked on that I hinted that Jim should vacuum...and he did. He did a little fix-up and maintenance while I relaxed with a book, A Dry Spell. I picked it up in the laundry room and was immediately into the story so I was lost for the rest of the day in a North Dakota drought. We had TV dinners and I'd have to say they were garbage. After Laura's cooking nothing else compares.
Today was moving in day, getting ready for patients on Monday. Here's Laura and Steve celebrating the new treatment room!
The floor and walls are blue pine all hand finished by the kids. Laura says she knows and loves each piece of pine! The floor was actually milled from trees on their property. The rooms have cathedral ceilings and the upper wall is a faux parchment paint job lovingly done by the kids. If you want to see more about how they converted the 2 car garage into this beautiful office / treatment center check out Laura's website. She hasn't had time yet to do the final page of her story. Wonder why?!
Son Jim needed time to "get acclimated" before he starts wood chopping so we found him on the deck surifng the web and playing catch with Charlie the wonder dog.
We helped move furniture and supplies into the new treatment room and then took off to do some grocery shopping and get home before the rain. I was really hungry so we stopped at Famous Dave's BBQ for some ribs. Yum! We've seen Dave's around the country but never stopped. Glad we did.
Our evening's entertainment with tea and chocolate was Remember the Titans. Jim says it's a great movie for us...little bit of chick flick and lots of testosterone with great music and a true storyline.
Son Jim arrived in Montana today for a weeks vacation....well, if you can call woodchopping a vacation. I guess any absolute change of pace is a vacation and Jim is looking forward to the ouside adventure. Laura and Steve have 10 acres with several pine trees down from storms. They are hoping to get a good stock of wood done this week for next winter.
Yesterday Steve took the big plunge and moved his treatment table into the new office so although a few finishing touches are still needed, he'll open for business on Monday in the new digs. Laura is ecstatic! For several years his office has been in a downstairs bedroom and patients have waited in the living room. She has "had it" with people in her house.
They've been working on this garage to office conversion for two years and it is beautiful. I'll get some shots after more furniture is moved in. I can't imagine doing all the work. I think the kids are in a state of shock and euphoria.
We had a great dinner of roasted chicken from Good Foods, steamed broccoli and my Spinach Artichoke Casserole. As usual that was a hit and the dish was nearly licked clean. We left the kids tending to a bonfire in the backyard. We're just not up to sitting outside in 50 degree weather. Better to be home in our cozy, toasty house.
Yesterday was a very gloomy winter day until late afternoon when the sky finally started to clear. Here's the view heading into Missoula with the snow level down a few thousand feet.
And here's the view heading down Laura's road toward the Kootenai Creek Trailhead. Looks menacing!
We each spent about an hour with our Dr. Stevo and have vastly improved shoulder and arm movement. Steve fixed my left foot and leg which were'nt even hurting but apparently were out of whack and impacting my body in many other ways. I slept like a log for seven hours and feel like a spring chicken today :)
We're staying out of the way at Laura's today as the carpenter is putting up trim in the new office and the kids are very involved in working with him. Everyone is now focused on moving the equipment into the new office this weekend and being ready for business on Monday. I bet it will happen!
Laura had worked really hard all day with the carpenter so dinner was a simple affair...Butternut Squash Soup and Scrambled Eggs with Mushroom/Onion topping. Very satisfying. The soup is so simple. Saute onions, add squash, carrots and veggie broth; cook till tender. Roto rooter it till smooth and add lemon juice and spices. In fact here's the recipe...Download file. Bon Apetit!
Usually we are here at Jim and Mary's RV Park in July so we have beautiful flower gardens at almost every site. Now it's pretty barren and cold but we're staying cozy and DRY. Yeah!! The water leak is fixed.
Yesterday the temps hovered around 38 degrees in Missoula but that didn't prevent us from heading for the store to restock the pantry. We met up with our daughter, Laura, at the Good Foods Store for an organic lunch. Then we hit Albertson's for major supplies. We hadn't been to the store for six days so the fridge was pretty empty.
After dropping off the food at home we headed to Laura's in Stevensville, about an hour drive. They've been working on remodeling their 2-car garage into a treatment office for Dr. Steve and it's almost done! We may be here for the grand opening so I'll wait to post pics. It is a wonderfully warm, cozy and serene office.
Today we'll get our tune-up from Dr. Steve. Jim and I both have shoulder problems hanging on so we're anxious for Steve's magic touch. And, darn it, he scheduled us for 4 pm so we'll have to stick around for another of Laura's wonderful meals. Last night we had one of Laura's creative salads, asparagus Hollondaise, Montana beef steak and kona cake and coffee. Hmmmm...wonder what tonight will be :)
Originally, we planned to stop in Dillon, MT ovenight and then have a shorter drive into Missoula but the weather forecast for Missoula is snow/rain tomorrow. So we got up early and were out of the campground by 8 AM...new record! We drove through to Jim & Mary's RV Park, 350 miles. Really not a bad driving day at all. We got here before the rain/snow hit.
After setting up I checked in on the weather. YIKES! Dillon is getting heavy snow and wind with accumulation of 6-12 inches. The weather forecast can change fast here in the mountains. Jeez! I'm really glad we drove on through.
Here are a couple of our views today. Spring has not arrived in Montana so the hills and mountains are brown. The sun wasn't shining much so this is pretty much what it looked like.
We've never been to Montana this early so hopefully we'll get to see the arrival of spring, some green hills and flowers!
Heading north on I-15 we saw these mountains for miles. They are in the 10,000 ft. range and have a pretty good snow cover. I didn't get as good a picture as I'd hoped but believe me...around every curve today there was a view just as beautiful.
As usual, there was road construction in the Salt Lake City area. The worst part is north of the city. Miles and miles of two lane road with concrete dividers placed too near the lanes. Well, I'm better about keeping my mouth shut as we go through cr-- like this but I did let loose with a few four letter words as we were crowded by trucks on the left and barriers on the right. But we got through it without incident.
There sure are a lot of bozos on the road. Like the ones that follow closely as we pass a truck and then want to zip around and pass us on the right before we can get back into our lane. Pay no attention to turn signals! Or how about the ones that park in front of you as you are getting gas and don't leave enough room for you to make a turn? We were ready to pull out, lots of space, and this bozo pulls out from another pump and stops in front of us to make a phone call or something.
In any event, we drove 317 miles and landed at the Fort Hall Casino Campground in on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation in Idaho. It's pretty nice for a Casino; long pull throughs with grassy space between sites. Freeway close but very quiet and $21 per night.
Across the way is a fruit tree in bloom and you know I can't resist flower pictures. It was a little windy so I couldn't get perfect focus but I like these shots anyway. Pretty amazing that this will turn into a pear or apple.
Supper is defrosting! I love having left overs of soup on travel days. Tonight it's my One-Pot which is a veggie, beef concoction. A big bowl of that and we are happy campers :)
Yes, that is snow on the mountains in the background. And I bet we'll see a lot more, maybe even get it falling on us. Oh well, for an old Midwest girl that should be a non event. But after 27 years in SoCal...well I don't look forward to cold or snow.
I'm really glad we stopped here for a day. It's a great spot with a good Chevron station on the way in and a nice town nearby. Most people have moved on so it's really empty and quiet here. It's started to rain and is very cloudy. So what better to do than get a pot of chili cooking to warm up the MH and get the aroma going.
I've found a great way to use porterhouse steak for chili and my One Pot recipe. We use the filet for a nice steak dinner, using two porterhouse, and then I cut the large outside part into tiny pieces to brown for the chili. Often we find porterhouse on sale but a whole steak is too much for us.
Dinner is cooking and it smells great!
It's great to have the IMax movie playing through the front window again :) We had a good nights rest then headed out of Las Vegas this morning. I'm convinced that the best time to drive through that city is on a weekend morning. We had to fill up with gas and knew of a good TA station right across the freeway...BUT because of construction we had to go 2 miles north then back track 2 miles on the freeway. What a town!
One of my fave drives is the 10 miles through the Virgin River Gorge on I-15 in the little corner of AZ you go through to get to Utah. It always amazes me how you drive right up to the mountains before you see how you'll get through. The road follows the cut of the Virgin River which was also responsible for the beauty of Zion National Park. Here's a view of the curvy, zany, tilty land of the Gorge.
We drove 284 miles to Fillmore, UT and will stay over tomorrow to rest and we hope to ride out a rain storm. It's been a very cold, wet spring here. The KOA lady said they had 2 ft. of snow a couple of weeks ago. Sure hope we don't see more of that.
This KOA is off the freeway enough that it's quiet and with the spring flowers and leafing trees it's quite lovely. Here's to sleeping in on Sunday!
We may be a bit crazy but we are headed north into the cold and wet spring. We took 58 east from Lancaster then I-15 north to Las Vegas. 240 miles
Here is our site at the Antelope Valley Fairgrounds....just a huge parking lot but a safe haven in the wind.
...and here's our site at Oasis Las Vegas, south of the strip. Notice the hotel going up next to us!
We had an uneventful, nice drive. I am soooooo glad that we did not drive yesterday in the wind. Today was gusty here and there but nothing like yesterday. It's warm and beautiful in Vegas. Not my favorite town but a good stopping point on the way north.
We'll have an easy supper of Newman's Spaghetti sauce on pasta, watch a few flics and hopefully fall asleep early so we can get out of town before the traffic heats up.
Yesterday was the windy day from hell. I don't think we've ever been in such strong sustained winds. We opted not even to go to the Reagan Library. With gusts up to 60 mph...well we just holed up. We even put Mr. Moto down for the afternoon. The MH was rockin and rollin, stuff was rattling outside in the wind and the sky filled with brown dust. It was a little tense. So we just read, had soup and sandwiches and took a nap. Finally, late in the afternoon the wind started to subside, the dust storm cleared and we had a peaceful nights sleep.
Today we head for Las Vegas and then up the I-15 to Montana. Looks like a cool-cold trip but it will be interesting as we've always done this in the hot summer.Time to pack it in!
I snapped some pics of this funny looking pair out at the Poppy Reserve. They're pretty smart to look both ways before crossing the double yellow.
I think these are Black-necked Stilts. They are about 14" long and their legs are the same. It was so windy that they were being blown sideways and were doing sort of a line dance side step. Pretty funny. I never thought to take a mini-video with my camera! The bird book says they winter in wetlands....yeah right. I think these two have their signals mixed because I don't see wetlands out here in the Antelope Valley :)
Repair Day went pretty well once we got past the shock of getting up at 6 AM. We arrived at 8 and waited around for things to get started then took off for the mall and an early lunch. We had soup and salad at Olive Garden wth a spinach artichoke dip starter. I guess I'm feeling better because it all tasted really good and I was pretty hungry.
We shopped the new Antelope Valley Mall, bought a new pair of tennis shoes, got some Starbucks and arrived back at the Service Center about 2 PM. I couldn't believe it! They were almost done. They found a "bad seal" that caused the leak (we can only hope they are right) so that got fixed and a new piece of trim put on to replace the water stained part. They cleaned the water heater starter so it works and removed some old awning hinges and repaired the fiberglass. They realy did a nice job. They threw in tightening up the carpet so it doesn't buckle up when the slide comes in. So all fixed!
We came back to the Fair Grounds Park and debated what to do next. The wind is still blowing like a banshee all over the southland and into Nevada. Looks like this will continue for a couple of days. So I think we'll rest for a day and then just run down to the Reagan Library (70 miles) in the car on Thursday. Maybe that will get us past the wind and we'll take off north over the weekend. I really don't like driving the MH in those wind blasts!
I forgot to mention that we drove out to the Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve, about 15 miles, but no poppies yet. It's pretty dry but I think it's also a bit early for the display. Tomorrow maybe we'll check out the nearby state park....Butte something or other. Time to snooze :)
After five days on meds we are feeling quite a bit better. But boy oh boy this has taken a lot of time and energy. We just hung out and rested until Sunday when we celebrated our April birthdays. Then said our goodbyes to the family (a little hard for me this time) and today we drove to Lancaster.
It was a pretty uneventful drive until the last 20 miles when the wind kicked in and we had gusts that actually moved us sideways. Yikes! We arrived safe, sound and wind blown at the Antelope Valley Fair RV Park which is around the block from the Rexhall service center.
We hope they'll be able to find and fix the little water leak we have on the slide. Water just slowly seeps in at floor level when it rains for awhile. We'll also have a few cosmetic things fixed and hopefully get that done tomorrow. I'm not too anxious to leave my house and stay in a hotel.
The wind died down as the sun set and it's pretty quiet now, thank goodness. I doubt I would have slept with the banshee winds we had blowing. Looks like there are a few more days of wind here so we'll see what happens and where we'll go after repairs. Wish us luck!
We did pull out of Mesa on Tuesday and took a slow trip to Salome, AZ. I made the mistake of routing us on surface streets from Mesa Regal to US 60 in Phoenix, probably 25 miles. That took us two hours :) It was just stop and go the whole time and took us through some pretty shabby areas. i swear that some hovels were having a contest to see how artistically junky they could be. Often it looked like someone took bags of garbage, shredded it and sprinkled it around the property like a topping. Pretty depressing.
US 60 turned out to be a good trip. We stopped for lunch at a great rest area on the Hassayampa River. It was peaceful and cool so we took a short nap. Wish I'd taken some pictures there but my body and spirit were not moved to do so.
We stayed overnight at the Desert Palms Golf and RV Resort in Salome. We missed the road, had to make a U-turn and almost missed it again. Thanks to son-in-law Tom for this recommendation because it looked to be the best around and it was $14.50 on Passport America. Nice easy pulll-through and a peaceful spot except for the water sprinklers that came on about 4 AM. Pretty crazy to see a golf course in the middle of the desert.
The drive into Hemet was uneventful and we were pleased to find that our fave space was saved for us. We collapsed and did nothing.
Yesterday we both went to the doctor and were diagnosed with bronchitiis. I suspected this and really pressured Jim to go get help. So we're both taking Zithromax and have a cough syrup to let us sleep. It's working. We didn't wake up until 10 AM today.:)
The weather in Hemet is very pleasant so we'll not mind being here at all. We have a couple more appointments and family affairs (it's birthday time) then we'll be heading to Lancaster, taking our house to the factory and it looks like we'll have decent weather to do that.
Today I'm off to get a final check on my pinkie. I don't think it will ever bend like normal but it is very functional so I'm OK with that. As long as I can hit the "A" and Shift keys when typing I'm happy :) Yesterday the doctor checked out my thyroid cyst and said it's feeling just the same so not to worry. Things are looking better all the time!
After a bad week of flu, both of us, the sun shown thru the black cloud on our space and we feel well enough to move on tomorrow. Man, it was a bad flu. And when I'm sick everything thing in the world looks black. Jim is my lifeline to reality. When he gets sick I think the world is ending. Well maybe it's not all that bad but it sure was a nasty week here.
Finally, last night, after a week of restless sleepless night with coughing, I got a full nights sleep and felt immensly better. Jim had a temperature for three days and it finally broke last night so now he seems on the mend. We may be moving on too soon but it's a short trip, 130 miles up to Salome. We really need to be headed for CA as we'd blocked a lot into the week we'll be there. Barring nothing else we'll be pulling out of this site in the morning. Bye to Mesa Regal until next year.
