Various Pictures

Mission Accomplished

We are now owners of a new set of Corelle dishes. They other day we went to K-Mart to look at the Corelle that they had on sale. All of the sets of dishes that we considered came with glasses. Tom says, " We don't really need glasses, let's wait and go to the outlet store. That way we can buy exactly what we want." We go home after picking up a few other things, and it is really hot out. We get inside Emily, and Tom goes to the fridge to get a beer. He goes to the cupboard, turns around, looks at me and says, "We don't have any glasses do we?" I said, "I didn't think we needed them."( He had been using large syrophoam cups.) Well......a couple of days later we are back at K-Mart buying dishes. Boy have we had a few laughs over that one. We just have to make sure that they are stowed really well when we get on the move.

Today we went to Munsinger Gardens. It's a beautiful park and flower gardens on the banks of the Mississippi River. We only have to drive a few miles to sit and watch the flowers grow. It is so peaceful there. There are swings and benches all over, for just that use.

It has been very hot here. We haven't seen any measurable rainfall since we got here on June 18th. It may sprinkle now and then, but nothing significant. The grass is all dried up and brown. With all the grass here, the fellas have only really had to do a little weed-whacking for the last couple of weeks. Some of the seasonal campers water the grass in their own sites, so that has to be taken care of, but that is all. They spend more time watering the flowers around the campground than cutting grass. I feel so bad for the birds. They spend so much time hopping around trying to find bugs, or something else to eat. We all have bird feeders, water, suet blocks, and other such things to help them. God bless them, they still sing.

We'll try to get some pictures in, if not we will send a link, so you all can see the gardens, and some of the beautiful birds we have here.

Camping World

This morning we got up and got ready to go. We usually take our time moving in the mornings, why should we hurry. Tom goes in line and reads the Wilkes-Barre news and obits, and I do my daily devotions and verse of the day.( For those of you who don't know, I send out a bible verse most every say to those on my list who want it.) They only time we sort of rush is when we work in the morning.
We stopped at the office to get a list from Cris, and we were off. The trip was well worth it. They had our chairs advertised for 2/51. We got them for under 20 bucks each. We also picked up some tire covers, and a Stay-a-while. That's for our propane. You connect it to a cylinder, and you can just take that and refill it, instead of moving the motorhome to fill that tank. We picked up some things for Cris and some items that Kim wanted, and came on home. We stopped at the office to settle up with Cris, and came home and put on the air. I think that's where we will stay for the rest of the day. The 3 H's (hazy, hot, and humid) are going full blast today. It's best to stay in out of the heat. It's still better than January.

Pot Luck and friends.

Sunday was our pot luck appreciation dinner. John smoked the turkey, which was delicious, and everyone brought a dish or two. I took bacon cheesy potatoes, and I made a batch of brownies. Everything was very good. It seems with pot luck you always get a good variety.(Except the one time at church when everyone took vegetables.) I took some pictures so you all can see some of the folks we work with. We cover up the pool table, put on a table cloth, and fill it up with food. That way whoever has that shift can be included in the fun.
Yesterday we had the morning shift. It was getting really warm by the time we came home. We finished up the potatoes left over from the party, and had sausage patties for supper. The rest of the time we just lazed around. Today it was hotter than yesterday. We turned on the air late in the morning. I made a pot roast in my electric pot, which I plugged in outside. I threw in some potatoes and carrots. I also made some biscuits, and boy was it good. I brought it inside to eat, where it was cool. Tomorrow is left-overs, which are usually just as good, if not better.
We have plans to go to Camping World tomorrow. We told Chris we will pick up what ever he needs. He said he would fax it over to them. They have some chairs on sale that we would like to purchase. The ones we have are beginning to be not so reliable. It will be nice to have some extras. Our loungers have been getting a work out the past couple of days. We have been doing a lot of reading, it's to hot for much else.
The weather forecast is just more of the same.....only hotter. Climbing up to about 97 during the rest of the week. I'll be in the office which has air, but poor Tom will have to be outside. We always have our water with us, so we'll just have to have extra. He can always stop and pick up another cold bottle while he makes his rounds. It's still better than snow and cold!!!

Our Site

This is where we are living until October 12. The sign post has our names, and where we are from. Tom worked today to put the pictures in for me. Now I can show you all the beautiful birds we have here. Maybe some other wildlife. You can see by the color of the grass that we haven't had much rain. We did get some last night, but not enough.
We are, again, filled up for the week-end. This time you can hear some kids from the upper part of the campground. We also have more dogs than usual. Today we saw a pair of little black long-haired doxys. Of course we are partial to doxys because of George the granddog. There is also a pair of Goldens this week-end. A few days ago we had a Rodesian Ridgeback. What a really nice dog.
We are back to work tonight after 2 days off. We did the regular day-off stuff... laundry, groceries, etc. Today we got the humming bird feeders filled. We had one come by our window feeder already. Of course the finches are always here. Wait till you see the orioles. What beautiful birds. The male is, of course, the most colorful. There are no trees in our site, so we have to use shepherds hooks to hang things from. Everything looks nice in all the work campers sites. They are all fulltimers, and have all the bells and whistles with them. Some have worked here before, so they are old hands at this.
Tomorrow is the pot luck party for all the workers and volunteers. I am making bacon-cheesy potatoes to take. Maybe some brownies. One of the workers has a smoker and is doing turkey for us. The food should be really great. Good friends and good food. How good can it get!

More Hot Weather.

Yesterday was just more of the same. HOT AND HUMID. It is so dry here that the grass does not need to be cut. I made spaghetti outside with the help of a hot plate, and my electric pot. It was really good. The only problem was the mozzarella cheese. All the cheese seems more sharp here. The baby swiss is , and so is the mozzarella. We have been looking for white American cheese in all the grocery stores, and Tom finally had to settle for cheese from the deli section. All of the wrapped cheese is yellow American. Weird!! Another thing is we have only 1 dollar store close by. We looked in the phone book, and we found 3. All in different places. St. Cloud is a fairly big city, and at home we have them all over.
We mailed Connor a little box of stuff yesterday. Tom went into the Mississippi River to get him a Mississippi River Rock for his rock collection. That went in the box along with a few little things we picked up that we thought he might like. Should be there by the week-end.
Today it's very windy. We woke up to gusting winds rocking us around. We got the awning in as soon as we could, hoping the gusts would stay away till it was locked in place. All went well there. Now it is almost 10:00 a.m. and it is really blowing hard out there. We have to be at work by 1:00, and Tom will keep an eye on things as he does his work around the grounds. Chairs are falling down, and the outside lawn ornaments. We just had the today show on, and when he switched to satellite, there is no signal. The wind must have moved that, too. We'll fix it when we come back after work. I don't imagine there will be many RVs on the move today. Unless they have to be in a certain place, they should stay put. To dangerous for them out on the road today. If this keeps up, the contractors that are here working because of the hail storm a while back, will be here longer than they thought. That wouldn't be so bad. It's a great place. If we can find spots to keep them for awhile. They are having a pipeline put in near here, and some of the sites have been reserved for some of those workers. It has been a good summer for Chris and Deb. They have been almost full everynight since we have been here. Come tomorrow we will see if any damage has been done. I can't think we will get off scott free.

One Hot Day

Today and tomorrow we are off, and because it is so hot, we are glad. This morning we took a run to the Farmer's Market downtown. Not much there. We ended up at the dollar store, and Target. We are on a mission to get a little microphone for our computer so we can talk to Connor (our grandson) when he stays with our daughter. So far no go. We did get a small mailing box so we can ship a few small items we have for him.
We were back by noon, and inside with the air on. It got up to about 97 here this afternoon. There is a cold front coming in for Monday, when we start our shifts again. Makes it nice for Tom, who does the bulk of his work outside. I sit in the air conditioned office, so I don't feel it like he does.
Yesterday at the grocery store I bought stuff for wrap sandwiches. Tonight Tom opted for just a chef salad. I had a weeks worth of meals all planned out, but this heat has put a screw in the works. Oh well, we'll go with the flow.
We just went up to the office to check our mail. We passed the pool on the way, and it was full. Whoever wasn't out eating, was in the pool. While we were there, Barb, one of the other work campers, had a call looking for a spot. Sorry, all filled up. I have never seen so many RVs in here.
I guess I'll just go and read for awhile. Tom is doing that right now. We usually sit outside in the evening, not tonight. Maybe tomorrow.

Great 4th of July

Monday we drove to Minneapolis to see the Mall of America. If you're into shopping and doing the mall thing, it's the place to go. We, however, are neither. Don't get me wrong, I like to shop, but not in a place where you don't go outside. I can do those outlet strip-malls all day. This place even had an amusement park inside. Also an aquarium. I suppose we should have been impressed, but weren't.
On the way home, we stopped at Denny's to have lunch. We spent more time there than the mall. It was neat. It looked like one of those old shiny metal diners.We each had a sandwich. I brought half of mine home. Our next stop was Cabelas. The outdoor/sporting goods store. It was a pretty cool place for hunters and fishermen, and campers, etc. Then it was on to Camping World. We always go into Camping World when we see one. Sometimes you can get some really good buys. Tom bought a 90 degree bend hose connecter for the side of the motorhome. It works alot better than trying to screw the hose straight in.That was about the extent of our purchases for the day. 160 miles for a hose connection.
Tuesday was an exciting day. I did laundry. It was very humid, and some things I don't put in the dryer just didn't want to dry. It was really to hot do do much else.
Wednesday, the 4th, was very busy at the campground. We are filled up right through the week-end. Folks coming and going all the time. Lots of visitors and cook-outs. Folks just want to get out of the city. Over the week-end we have a group coming in for a family reunion. We'll see how that goes.
Today was moving day for us. We came in a bit early, and our site was booked for the month of June thru the 4th. It is much more quiet here. We were very close to the bathhouse. There was always someone walking by. All of the work campers are in this section. This is where we will be for the duration. One more day of work and we get the week-end off. We are loving it.

July 1 week-end

Let me just tell you, the week-end past very quickly. Saturday we helped with the root beer floats. It was really busy there for a while. Then came the animal races. What a cute concept. 6 little stuffed animals on sticks race against each other. The sticks are cemented into numbered flower pots. A grid is drawn with chalk on the floor, 6 squares across and about 20 squares long. Anyone who wants to play gets to buy 1 or 2 numbered chips for a quarter each. The chips are pulled from a pot. The number on the chip tells you what animal to root for. A caller rolls 2 colored dice. One tells which animal to move and the other tells how many squares. Anyone with a chip that matches the number of the winning animal gets to split the pot with other winners. The kids just loved it. I thought is was great fun. I love it when kids have so much fun.
Sunday morning we had to set the alarm. (What's an alarm). We use it so much, Tom couldn't remember how to turn it off. We were going to the pancake breakfast. By the time we arrived at the Rally Center, some of the folks were already cooking. We not only had pancakes and sausages, but we also had biscuits and sausage gravy. I poured the juice, while Tom made sure the supply of cups never ran out. The workers ate before everyone else started to arrive. Tom chose the pancakes, while I had the biscuits and gravy. Everything was delicious. After the Rally Center was all cleaned up, we went off home. We enjoyed a nice quiet afternoon.
After dinner, we went back up to the Rally Center for bingo. There were many 4th of July celebrations and festivities going on in and around town, so the turn-out for bingo wasn't quite as expected. Be that as it may, we all had a good time. Tom and I had offered to do the concessions. Some chips, candy bars, soda, and water. After it was all over, we helped with the cleanup, and closed up the Rally Center. We walked back home and sat out till the bugs started to bite, then came inside.
I think anyone who camped here for the week-end had a really good time. I know we all did our best to make sure they were all happy. And they call this WORK camping???