Strange Storm And A Nifty Tool

Mama pays really close attention to the weather.  Obsessed?  Hmmmm....not sure.  She does her best not to leave us if a storm is predicted. I am not sure she has ever left us since we started RVing.  She has always been nervous with storms.  I think it goes back to her childhood. She was left alone a lot and she remembers one time when the sky turned like a strange green color and she had to run to the basement with her dog, Pebbles. She had to run outside and around the house to get to the basement because there wasn't an entrance from inside. She said she felt like she was going to drown trying to get there.  Her earliest memory of a storm was living in St. Louis and the sirens were going off and her Mom was screaming.  She was two or three. That is probably what caused her to be afraid.  Anyway, she says living in a motor home is even scarier in storms than in a house.  She always feels better when we have a safe place to go in a storm.  Today, she told us that we were going to have some storms, but she didn't think they would be bad.  I made her nervous because I told her I needed to go out even though I had been out three times already.  She thought I might sense that something bad was going to happen.  ::::shrugs shoulders:::  The girls who work here came by to tell us that a thunder storm watch was issued.  Okay, a watch is not that bad.  The warning is what you have to be concerned about.  It finally started raining and then the weather people came on and told us that after the rain ends, we will have straight line winds of 70-80 mph.  WHAT?  That is not normal. The weather people responded as if they heard Mama and said it was not normal.  It normally happens before the storm.  Mama said if the tent down the hill from us flew away, we would run to the restroom that is made out of bricks.  The winds came and our motor home shook.  We have experienced that before.  Mama was most concerned about the trees around us because they are so large.  A part of a tree did come down, but it was not close to us or anyone else.  It was closer to the tent people.  The tent stayed put, so I guess the wind was not as storm as they had predicted.  We were happy when the wind died down.  It probably only lasted 10 minutes, but seemed longer as we kept expecting it to get worse.  Luckily, we didn't loose power.  We heard that many people in the area are without power. 

Part of tree that fell during straight line winds.

While at Escapade, Mama took some classes on cleaning. She has now started cleaning with vinegar and water and alcohol and water.  The alcohol and water is really good at removing grease. She learned that she shouldn't use anything chemical in the toilet because of the holding tank.  You don't want to disrupt what goes on down there as far as stuff breaking down. That is all I will say about that.  BOL! She bought spray bottles at Dollar Tree for her new cleaning ingredients and then she labeled them with her label gun.  One of the things that was mentioned in the class was Zip-It. She got all excited about it.  Dad said he uses them at work.  Seriously, and he never told Mama about it?  What is a Zip-It?  It is a device that you stick down your drain and when you pull it back up.....it has tons of hair on it. YUCK!  Yep, it cleans out your drains.  Mama used it for the first time today.  She was disgusted, but happy that the shower drain is now clean.  It is so much easier than pulling the shower drain out and cleaning it that way.  She bought it at Lowe's and it was around $2.49.

Zip-It!

The folks have to dump tanks tonight.  It has been five days.  That is as good as it is going to get.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Is Relaxing After Morning Storms

Oh Noooooo.....Mr. Bill

A happy person is not a person in a certain set of circumstances, but rather a person with a certain set of attitudes - Hugh Downs

RIP, Mr. Bill.  I know he still looks really good, but he no longer says "OH, NOOOOO!"   He just goes "click, click, click".  Mama has tried to make it better by saying "OH, NOOOOO" when I squeeze him, but it is not the same.  He was my favorite toy.  I even picked him out at Petco.  Mama says she will get me a new one. 

Yesterday, Mama and I barbecued.  We really don't do it very often because Mama says it is a pain going up and down the steps to the motor home to fix the rest of the meal.  We just sat outside this time and when the pork steaks were done, we went inside and fixed the rest of the meal.  Makes sense, don't you think?

Here I am helping with the BBQ.

See, I really am watching the grill.

I normally sit here, but luckily my bed was on the grass when a gust of wind brought all this water off our roof. Can you imagine how surprised I would have been if I had been sitting there?

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Is Counting The Days Until He Gets A New Mr. Bill

No More Dumb Phones Here

Life is a matter of perspective.  For a worm, digging is a lot more fun than going fishing - Clyde Abel

Mama has been wanting a smart phone for a very long time.  The thing that held her back was the cost of the data plan.  She really couldn't justify it.  She kept coming up with "good reasons" for getting one though.  1) the GPS is not always correct and the folks end up at places that are no longer there. She used to carry her tablet with her, but that was kind of a pain because she needed the Mi-Fi too while in the car.  2) We have been staying at campgrounds without free Wi-Fi and our new Mi-Fi is 4G and really seems to use a lot more data. Mama can use a smart phone as a hot spot. 3) Mama really wants to be able to download coupons on it and not have to print them out. Just think of the paper and time she will save.  BOL!  She debated if she wanted to leave AT&T.  She wanted to stay with a no contract plan.  The folks do not like contracts. She thought about switching to Verizon or Straight Talk.  Straight Talk was tricky because some of their phones use Sprint and some use Verizon.  She wanted a phone with Verizon because their coverage is better, but no phones were available that she wanted that used Verizon towers.  She has been researching all of this for months.  BOL!  Dad bought his smart phone at Thanksgiving, but Mama held out. Finally, the price of the data plan came down enough that Mama could justify it, so she started looking for the phone she wanted. Dad has a Windows phone and Mama considered it, but she couldn't get all the apps that she wanted with it. Finally, AT&T's Pay As You Go (which is what she has used since it came out) came out with a new Android phone that she liked.  It has a 4" screen.  She bought it on Saturday at the AT&T store here.  She was surprised that there was a 15 minute wait to get help there.  The sales guy told her that they almost always have a wait at their store.  She was amazed by that.

Mama really likes her phone so far. It is super easy to use.  She downloaded the Emeals app today and it looks like it will be fun to use.  It gives you your shopping list and you delete any meals that you don't want and they disappear from your list.  She will take her paper list with her for a few weeks just to make sure it works correctly.   She downloaded a larger keyboard because she has "fat" fingers.  She downloaded a flashlight which she loves.  Dad said his phone doesn't have a flash, so the flashlight app doesn't work for him.  :-(

The campground was pretty full this weekend.  It was fun watching all the weekenders.  The folks dumped the tanks on Saturday night.  Mama did laundry yesterday and someone had cleaned up all the bugs.  She was really happy about that.  We paid for another week to stay here. 

We had rain last night.  This morning, it was cool enough that Scout went with us on a long walk. 

Me trying to get Mama and Scout to walk faster. Mama says I am being bad here.

Another view of the lake.

The winding path that we walked.  There are 27 miles of trails here.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Needs To Walk More If He Is Going To Complete All 27 Miles

Kansas City, One More Time

We are back in the Kansas City area.  We are staying at a county park.  They do not take reservations.  We arrived around 2:30 pm on Memorial Day.  We figured the check out time would be around 2 and we wouldn't have a problem getting a site.  It turns out that they do not have check out until 5 p.m. on holidays.  The gate keeper said she couldn't take payment until 5 p.m.  Dad asked where we could wait and she said the dump station. Well, the dump station was full of people dumping.  We deciding to drive around. We found an empty site and took it.  We didn't want to totally set up in case there was a problem with us taking the site.  At 5 p.m. the folks went to pay.  Well, it turned out that there was a line of people waiting for sites.  They had to take a number and wait in line.  Mama was nervous that they might give our site to someone else.  She talked to one of the volunteers and told him that we had already taken a site.  He said that is not the procedure.  He then started talking to them and it turns out that he is an Escapees member too and they are "virtual neighbors" in the Escapees mail system.  He became nice after that and said it was fine that we took the site, but don't do it again.  They waited in line for a half hour and finally paid for the site.  Their system definitely needs work.  They may start taking reservations later this year.

Our site is nice.  We have a big front yard.

Our front yard.

The backyard faces the street.

There are lakes.

I like this place!

 Mama and I have been exploring in the mornings. Scout has decided it is too hot to walk, so she stays behind.  She doesn't like sitting outside much either, so it's just me and Mama.

Staying here is kind of an experiment for us.  We only have 30 amps and no sewer.  We are doing okay with the 30 amps.  We dumped with a portable tank Wednesday night.  It took almost an hour as the dump is not that close.  Dad said he will take "Navy showers" from now on and we will see how long we can go without dumping.  Mama hoped she could use Buddy to transport the portable tank but there is not way.  It is too heavy.  Mama did laundry in the washing machine that the park has, but she is not sure she wants to go back. There is only one washing machine in each building. The first washing machine had several water bugs in it.  The sink was full of them.  She went to the next building and only found one water bug in the machine and he was dead. She got him out and then tested the water to make sure it was clear and not brown.  BOL!  The sink there was also full of water bugs. She said she was scared to look in the dryer, so she brought the clothes home and hung them up here and dried what she had to in our machine.  She used Buddy to carry the laundry and that was pretty easy.  She also used Buddy to transport our trash yesterday.  Scout and I hate when we are the "trash dogs".  That is what we call it when we have to walk with Mama when she is carrying trash.

This place is really quiet and feels more like camping than in a private park.  We like it so far.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Is A Happy Camper

Our Visit Home

We forgot to tell you what happened before we left the rally.  We had to call another RV repairman.  We were turning the RV around so that we could get out the next day.  The brakes, I think, wouldn't hold air.  We can't drive in that condition. Dad called Good Sam's.  The repairman required $200 up front since it was a weekend.  He didn't have the part to fix it.  He was able to do a temporary fix though and we were able to get home.

On Sunday, we had our rig weighed.  We are not overweight, but we can't add much.  They weigh each wheel to see if one tire has more weight than the other.  We do, but there isn't much we can do about it.  It is how it is built.  They put the washer, propane tank, and air conditioner all on the same side.

We were "home" for a week.  The folks were on the go almost the entire time.  They filled up the Jeep three times and that added up to $155.  Crazy, right?

The folks had their yearly check ups.  We visited the vet.  Dad went trout fishing.  Mama went shopping.  Dad went to a company picnic and Mama went shopping.  BOL!  Mama didn't buy anything big. She bought supplies for a cross-stitch project.  The folks visited Grandma and Grandpa several times. They also visited Grandpa and Grandma E.

Saturday, was the folks anniversary and Grandpa E gave them an anniversary card.

 This was printed on the inside!

Yep, Grandpa E. printed our picture!  BOL!

Mama wasn't happy with our campground. We have stayed there before, but this time we couldn't get satellite.  The regular antenna didn't work either. They ended up buying a new antenna that worked sometimes. They were able to watch the finale of Suvivor, so that was good.  The campground doesn't have free Wi-Fi or cable.  It was really crowded . We hadn't seen that many kids in one place EVER.  It was crazy!  We took photos, but they have disappeared. POOF!

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Is Relaxing After An Exhausting Vacation