This last weekend was a scratch. Let’s just pretend it didn’t happen. Luckily I have some material from the previous weekend to blather on about, or a least a bunch of photos. So last Thursday, as in the 13th, we finally got to take our new motorhome out. We went in on one with some friends back in March, and about the time we closed the deal everything got locked down. Figures. Technically we’ve been out in it once, but it was so long ago I can’t really remember. This was a bona fide “Trip.” We took off driving Thursday night after work, and made it to a truck stop near the California/Oregon border. (A casino that allows overnight parking, actually.) We called it a night there, then the next morning took off again, destination Klamath Falls, OR. Our friends have family there, so we spent a few days visiting them. Had a big bbq, toured Alaina’s home town haunts, and that kind of good stuff.

We stayed through Saturday night, then got up and backtracked to Lake Siskiyou, which we’d passed by on the way to OR. It is in the middle of a mountain range, and made for a quite scenic weekend camp. Bit short though. We could have stood at least two more nights. Alas, stupid jobs and stuff. We rented a pontoon boat and cruised the lake, enjoyed the views, made some great food, and tried to keep the dogs occupied. Solid trip, but definitely ready to head out again. Of course, we did experience the requisite motorhome issue, as is the case nearly every time you take one out I think. When we were putting the slides in getting ready to leave her Dad’s house, there was a quite audible “crack.” After some searching, we found the slide is just a bit off, and had gotten caught, sheering off a pvc drain pipe in the process. Blech. Luckily her Dad has tons of tools and is quite handy with him, so he was able to save the day. (Well, he saved our day anyway; Probably ruined his, it took like 4 hours.)

[Show slideshow]

Another quarantine-ish weekend. Lame. We did have some friends up for a nice happy hour Friday I guess. A little dinner, a few games of pool, that kind of stuff. It’s hard to get people to come out here to the boondocks very often, but we enjoy our infrequent visitors when they come. It must have really taken the wind out of us though, because Saturday we didn’t do a thing. Well, we did go out to lunch I guess. On a whim, we decided to roll over to “downtown” Placerville to kick around a bit, and decided on Cascada for lunch. We’ve been there several times, it’s pretty solid for around here anyway. The only downside is the whole current outdoor-dining thing. C’mon, it’s 100 degrees out. I guess at least I wasn’t shuttling hot plates around like the poor wait staff, but geez it was hot. They put up some tents for a little shade, but that’s just stifling. Oh well, I guess we enjoyed some tasty enchiladas at any rate. It really knocked us out for the rest of the day though. The remainder of the afternoon and evening was spent on the couch watching B (maybe more like C- or D) horror movies and several 70’s Kung-Fu flicks. Quality entertainment.

Sunday we went over to a friend’s house for a big pool party. She’s only 7, but knows how to throw a pretty good bash. Plus, there was free ice cream and cake and stuff, so we weren’t about to miss it. There was swimming, tattoos, and a photo booth, so we were amply entertained. It was another hot day, but the pool definitely helped out. Not a bad way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

[Show slideshow]

We made a little go of things this weekend, but for the most part we remain on the dreaded “lockdown.” I’m not entirely sure this isn’t by choice more than anything else. We mixed things up a little though. Friday, for instance, we headed over to a friends house for what was intended to be a swimming party. It was just way too hot though, so we ended up grilling some dinner and hanging out in the a/c. Wow, it is hot.

Saturday, exhausted from our wild Friday out, we locked back down at the ranch. Eh, I had to work that night so probably for the best. We renewed our mlb.com subscription as always, so at least we have bad baseball to keep us occupied at home. Or, at least as much as we can watch with our sketchy Internet service. Ugh. We actually had to bump our service up a tier because it wouldn’t even work at first. Insult to injury. If you’re keeping track, I am now paying exactly twice as much, for 1/30th the speed I had at the last house. Ouch.

Sunday we declared an official Sunday-Funday. In the not-so-distant past, this was effectively a weekly event. Recently though, between work and the black plague, they’ve been few and far between. Time to jump back in the saddle. Well, maybe ease back in would be more accurate. Some friends picked us up and we went out on a little local wine tasting. We ended up at three places, none of which we’d been to before. Just really expanding our vino horizons. It was hot, yeah, but not miserable. They all had decent shade, and we made do. The “rules” are still a little off-putting; You have to have a reservation, and of course the masks when paying and stuff. It was good to get out and about all the same though.

[Show slideshow]

I gotta say, this weather just sucks the life out of me. It’s wicked hot. The evenings are “OK” I suppose, but the afternoons are very nearly unbearable. Guess it’s here for the summer, according to the extended forecast (sunny and hot, one day after another,) there won’t be a change in the near future.

The house project continues, very very slowly. We actually hung a TV finally, although it’s not actually connected to anything. The little “quirks” continue to pop up also. The A/C drain plugged and ran through the ceiling. The A/C itself is barely keeping the house cool, and at a price I don’t care to discuss. (I will say, as a little teaser, our monthly bill was TWICE our annual bill at the last house. Yes, you read that right.) The well pump tripped a breaker and left us without water for an evening until we figured it out. Probably more, I’ve just buried it in my subconscious. However, I continue to thoroughly enjoy my shooting range out back, and we’ve been wearing out the billiards room downstairs.

And now I guess I’ll just throw out a few pictures. Quite a bit of food, as usual. I guess we eat a lot. We also joined a meal service, and we’ve been enjoying that. Believe it or not, it is significantly cheaper than our grocery bill so it’s been working out pretty well.

[Show slideshow]

Well, we are still unpacking, cleaning, painting, hanging drapes & pictures, and the rest of the extreme drudgery associated with moving. Really, I am not sure there is anything worse. Maybe working while you’re trying to do it all I guess, yeah that makes it even worse. Has to get done though, I suppose. This weekend our project of choice was hanging a “proslat” wall system out in the garage. I bought this thing on a whim quite a while ago, and the large boxes sat on the garage floor of the last house ever since. How long ago? Well, my Costco order history goes back two years and I couldn’t find it. We figured we might need it here so we threw it in with the “move” pile. Sure enough, it is much needed. It took us all day Saturday and part of Sunday, but we got it done and it came out looking like the pictures; Can’t ask for more than that, especially where me and tools are involved. Also had a service guy come out and look at the dishwasher, and an electrician came to quote a generator hookup. Oh boy. Good times. We celebrated the relative victory of our proslat install with a little time on my back porch shooting range to wrap up the weekend. Now that, I must say, is a good finish to the weekend if nothing else.

[Show slideshow]