Another Day...Not Much Going On

 

There isn't much going on.  Picking up our new home was pushed to Tuesday.  We have most of everything packed up and stored in a u-haul van outside our trailer.  During the packing, Ethel Louise found out that she can squeeze her fat behind in a paper bag.  It was a tight fit...

For the holiday weekend, we drove over to our buddy's house in Raymond to do a barbecue.  They lived about 4 1/2 miles from us when we lived in Lebam, as the crow flies.  Since we can't fly, it took us about 25 minutes to get to their house.  Today, it took about an hour since we were coming in from Chehalis.  It is such a nice drive, and hardly any rain!  And no traffic!

Tully had a blast and was able to do a couple of zoomies.  Running back and forth like some crazy dog.  There were lots of wild animal smells on the property which Tully loved.

Here are Gene's barn quilts.  

And here is Gene talking to Road Hog about his apples.

Thanks Gene and Aune for all the food!!!  It is nice to sit back and relax and visit with friends.  And eat dessert!  Blue berry buckle that was to die for!  

A Small Update

Because we haven't done too much is the reason I haven't been updating.  But since we did do something today, I will update.

Here is Ethel Louise and Tully sharing a bed and blanket.  It is a bit chilly in the mornings....

Here is Tully later on by herself.

Eventually Ethel took over the blanket.

Finally!  Lucy Lu!!  At least this time she is on the top of her blanket and not under it.

A chestnut tree blooming at the rv park.

We went into South Bend to meet some friends at Chesters.  Chesters is famous for Willapa oysters.  But instead of oysters some of us had halibut, which is excellent!  Gene, Dean and Road Hog started the pool games.

I'm not too sure who won, but I saw Gene scratch the 8 ball a couple of times....(not that anyone noticed...or counted how many times....dang, was it up to 4? 😂.)

It was nice to get out and hang with our BFF's. The boys and Road Hog were able to practice their pool games, and we filled up with good bar food.  Wednesday is Pub day in Pe Ell!

We have an appointment at 10 am on Thursday in Woodland for our PDI, (Pre Delivery Inspection) for our new home.  When that is over, we will move our belongings from our old home to the new one.  We'll have a busy Thursday and hopefully we will be back here in Chehalis before dark!

It's Been A While!

 

Believe it or not, we are missing Texas!  And their chicken!  (And Aunt Jackie!)  So we went hunting for the ingredients to make our own.  Here is what I need....Achiote!  This is the best spice ever!  It isn't a pepper, but a seed.  It isn't hot.  It is just great flavor!  They grind the seed to make a powder.  

I cover the chicken and Road Hog barbecues it.  Let me tell you something.  I am a chicken breast and wing girl.  I absolutely hate the dark meat on chicken.  With this rub, I love the dark meat.  Now I don't know exactly why this changes the way I feel about chicken thighs and legs, but I go with the flow.  And the flow is this chicken with this rub on it.  Hello Texas!  😂. You can pick up this ground seed at Mexican food stores near you.

God bless America!

Ethel found Lucy's hideout.  Here is the problem.  Ethel has a little bit more weight than Lucy, and it is a tight squeeze back there for Ethel.  Does Ethel care?  Nope!  She thumbs her nose up at Lucy and us, and squeezes her fat little body back there to lay in the sunny window.

Things are moving along for our new home.  We got a solar price today, which was a lot cheaper than what we paid for our set up last year.  We were told that the washer and dryer, and the satellite dish won't be able to get moved over so we are in the middle of negations with those things.  We will drive down next Tuesday to move our things from the old trailer to the new one.  And we are pretty excited about it.

We have been visiting friends while being parked here in Chehalis, doctor and dentist visits, and just plain kicking back while all the FRICKEN rain happens!  What is up with this rain?  PLEASE MAKE IT STOP!!

When we pick up our new home we come back to the golf course RV park and we will be here until the end of May.  Then on to Bothell, to Lake Pleasant RV Park.  Good times.

Some Dealings Going On....

We have been looking at some new RV's!  Don't you love the white inside?  It is so bright!  This is the one we are dealing with.

These are photos off the internet.  It is about 42 feet long, (ours right now is only 35), and the Vanleigh has so much storage!  And the furniture is USA made!  Huge difference for us!

The kitchen is to die for!  It has a residential fridge!  I hate the RV fridge that we have and I have missed my residential fridge.  And look at all the storage!

The kitchen itself has two slides.  When you come into the trailer, you go to your left, upstairs, to the kitchen.  Because you have stairs, it means you have more storage outside in the back.

This is in the kitchen looking towards the living room.  Then there are more stairs past the living room to go to the huge bathroom and the big bedroom.  And yes, that is a fan in the living room ceiling!  How fancy!

The beacon has full body paint and this one is gray and blue.

Do you see the storage door on the back?  That door lifts open, and an 8 foot drawer slides out.  Big enough for bikes!  This is the end where the kitchen resides inside!

Even though we just started negations, I will keep you up to date!

Lucy and Ethel are doing fine.  Once the door opens, this is their hang out area.

We had such a nice mothers day!  Katie, Isabelle and Lucas came down for lunch.  Here is Isabelle with Tully.  Gary, Road Hogs brother, also came down to visit.

We took Tully in to the vet since we think she came down with something that she got from the bacteria in the wet grass.  And yes, the grass has been wet since we left last year.  While we were in town, we stopped in to see our BFF's.  Here is Tully and Gene.

And Tully once again.  It has been kind of chilly here in Chehalis, so she is always in my blanket.

Welcome To Washington - Land of the Wet Skies!!

 

We left Portland yesterday and had a break between rain showers to pack up and leave.  We liked this park and I am sure we will be back.

Back in the day, Portland used to be a beautiful city.  Now, not only is it over run by the homeless, the graffiti is everywhere!  It is really sad.  Everywhere you look, there is garbage, tents, and more garbage.  Almost every city sign had graffiti.  Portland was where I and two of my siblings were born, (just like 25 years ago for me, 😂), so Portland always held something special to me.  Hopefully it will get cleaned up soon.

As you can see, once we started on I-5, the rain started again.  

Hello Washington!  It has been since the end of Sept 2021 that we were here last.  It looks like it hasn't changed much.  Maybe a bit more wet?

How many shades of gray do you see?  This is heading north on I-5, heading to Chehalis.  Traffic was easy, as you can see.

Here we are all set up.  We are at the Golf Course RV Park.  This is the last place we stayed at before leaving last Sept.  

Our best buds came to see us and Tully was so excited to see her most favorite human.  (Well, besides me!). 😂. She has always loved Gene and couldn't wait to get in his lap.

We haven't seen Gene and Aune forever!!!  It was so good seeing them and it seemed like we hadn't even left.  Fun times!

This pup is Snowball.  She reminds me so much of my little Petey.  Well, except Snowball is a girl.  Do you see her little pink nails?  She is such a doll.  Trish and Tommy are the camp hosts and Snowball is their little pup.

They also have Moe, who is new to the family and such a sweetheart.  Moe was in a puppy mill and Trish and Tom saved him.  Isn't he a little cutie?  He is one lucky pup!

Guess What? It's Raining!!

 

It's like we never even left!  It's raining, it is so wet outside, and we are sitting in front of the fireplace taking the chill off.  I think we were doing the same thing this time last year but in a house!

The robin's hatched blue egg is what reminds me of spring.  I found this on the road.  It was soon in millions of pieces.  

The thing that has been very nice is being so close to Jaime and her family.  She had us over for dinner yesterday, (chicken taco's, yum!!), and we got to spend a bit more time with them before we move to Chehalis tomorrow.  Above is the Montgomery Wards where Grandma used to work.  It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and it is located on property once used for the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition of 1905.  The building is now called Montgomery Park and is used as an office building.  Mind you, Grandma worked in Montgomery Wards in the department store area and had no part of Lewis and Clark Exposition!

Aren't these pretty?  And they smell beautiful!  Granddaughter Addy gave them to me yesterday.  Thanks Addy Mae!  💜😘

And this is our rock star Addy!  😂. She has the best sense of humor!  Just a little jokester!  Owen was so busy yesterday that we didn't get a photo of him.  The handy man was over fixing a couple of things, and Owen was learning lots of things.

Thanks Jaime for dinner! It was great!  Time pretty much travels so fast when visiting, and I hope we see you again soon!  

What A Weekend!!!!

Portland is busy!  I don't think I have ever seen so much traffic!  I could do without all the Oregon drivers!  And all the sirens!  Our park is pretty much away from all the traffic, it is like we are in our little world here.  But to leave to go anywhere?  We took a drive up to Willamette National Cemetery.

Look at the beautiful drive up to my dad's.  I have missed him so much!  He passed away Sept. 1997 and there still isn't a day that I don't think of him.  He was both a mom and dad to me and my siblings, and according

to some relatives, and us, he did a pretty phenomenal job.  One of my last conversations with him was who will I go to if I had any questions that I needed answered.  He said, like what kind of questions?  I told him about the huge cement walls that separated the highway and the houses.  You know, those big walls?  And once in a while there would be door?  Who had the keys to those doors?  And why are the doors even there?  He told me that the department of transportation would have the keys, and the doors are fire doors.  If there was a car fire on the freeway, a water hose could come through those doors to help fight the fire.  I said to him, see Dad, you can't die.  You're giving me good information, and I am not done asking questions.  It wasn't too long after this conversation that he passed away.  But not before telling me that he wanted to be buried with his son Wayne.  

So my dad is buried near his son, my older brother Wayne, who passed away when he was 2, and he is my brothers identical twin.  I know my dad had a hard time when he lost his little boy.  A death like that affects a person.  Thank goodness I haven't gone through that and I hope I never will.  A parent isn't supposed to bury their child.

I'll be back dad.  You would be proud of the legacy that you have left behind.  All your grandkids and great grandkids will always be a part of you and your sense of humor is all around us!

Now on to another awesome day!  The park that we are in is right next to the Tualatin River.  It was a gorgeous day today!

We have end spot which is nice because then Tully has a large grassy area.

I'm not sure if you can see Road Hog but he is standing with another man at the end of our truck.  I think Road Hog knows everyone here at the park now.  I think I should change his name from Road Hog to Chatty Cathy.  😂

Lucy and Ethel sitting in their favorite spot.

And now for the best thing ever that happened this weekend.  Grandkids!!!  Their mom surprised them by saying that they were going shopping at Costco and let's bring your bikes just in case we find a place to ride.

Both kids were so surprised to see us!  And we were so surprised to how big they have grown!  

And they were so surprised that their papa and grammy were here!  We have missed these kids so much!  Owen will be 7 towards the end of this month, and Addy will be 10 in Sept.  We barbecued burgers and the kids got to ride their bikes around the park.  I think they will sleep good tonight.  We will visit them on Wednesday at their house before we have to leave the park on Friday.  But they have property in Sun River which they invited us to use, so we will see them in the late summer.