It seems that summer is gone. We had that hot spell around the 4th when we had all the visitors, another last week around my birthday, but now it has turned much cooler - back into the 70s for our highs. I know it will make it into the 80s during these next few weeks but I'm thinking maybe those days in the high 90s are past for this year. At least I'm hoping so.
Since it's now late July - it is time to start transitioning into getting ready to travel mode. At least it is for me. Peggy has been diligently preparing for her week of leading a Vacation Bible School class next week - so she is pretty focused on that at the moment. Her "resource room" downstairs looks like a mini tornado touched down and her preparations for all the crafts she intends to do are noticeable throughout the house. No worries ... she seems to have it all under control. But that doesn't mean she will stop thinking about all the details she needs to take care of until sometime next Thursday when it's all over.
Actually I have already started my preparations for leaving in early September. I washed the Vue and got it waxed a few days ago so it is ready to follow Winne for some 8,000 or so miles. I also washed the truck last week. I would like to get it waxed before Winne comes home - but I'm starting to doubt that will happen. I have a few projects scheduled for next week, including helping Bailey do some body work repair to his new (to him) truck ... and after that I think Winne needs to come home to start getting ready.
I don't have any major work to accomplish on Winne before we are ready to travel but I do have enough I want to do that it will probably take a month to accomplish. I definitely need to give her outside a good waxing and that will take a while. Then there is the transmission fluid change, the battery storage compartment painting, the ScanGuage installation, the water system sanitizing ... . See - lots of little things to do that will probably take a month.
In between all that - we are scheduled to dogsit Tut the wonder dog for a few weeks while the Johansen's go on vacation to the left coast and we need to get in more visits with Taylor, Sophie, and their parents/siblings.
I may think summertime was over last week ... but busytime has no end in sight!
Only 40 and a Wake Up to go!
OK ... that's enough ... I have
had it with all this hot weather! Record highs of 96 in Portland yesterday - on my birthday no less ... what's up with that! Today is not much better with the high near 93 or so here in Topsham at 2 PM but I hear relief is on the way as a line of thunderstorms are forecast this afternoon with cooler air following behind. I don't necessarily want the damage that the storms can bring - but the cooler, and hopefully drier, air will be welcomed.
Yes indeed - I can no longer claim to be 62, or 50 twelve, any longer as I have chronologically improved by 1. "Improved by 1" is the way I choose to think of the whole getting older thing. Besides - getting older is 1) Better than being covered with dirt, 2) synonymous with wiser, and 3) a perfect thing for a fellow my age to do!
Taylor Anne doesn't care - as long as Papa reads her books.
Since Peggy was tired of sitting around the house staying cool with the A/C humming away - I invited her to join me on a road trip to New Hampshire for my birthday. So we jumped in the car yesterday and sped south while watching the Vue's digital Temperature Gage get high and higher. It was near 90 here when we left, about 94 as we drove through Portland, it hit 99 in Portsmouth, NH and then stayed near 98 as we drove inland a bit from Portsmouth.
So why NH? Well -- because NH is a beautiful state, has really cheap liquor prices, has the nearest Camping World Store, and has Zero sales tax. What better place to take a drive! Our first stop was the state liquor store near the Portsmouth Circle. The "Circle" is a traffic circle, rotary, round-a-bout - whatever you want to call it ... you know ... a traffic controlling device designed to back up traffic in several different directions at once while scaring the heck out of all who enter and put their lives in the hands of those who are already inside. Once inside - you maneuver for the best spot to cut in front of somebody else to exit the circle at the last second when your desired exit point is reached. These are relatively common in New England and becoming more popular throughout the US.
After surviving the "Circle" and purchasing said spirits at 1/3 off the Maine price - we were off again - destination Camping World Chichester, NH. For you non-RVers out there -- Camping World is the "go to" store for all things related to RVing. You can buy everything from a whole RV to RV friendly toilet paper. That's right folks ... you want to buy the stuff that dissolves quick if you want to keep that holding tank from clogging up! But I digress -- we weren't on a mission to stock up on TP - we were birthday shopping ... and birthday shopping for Mikee usually involves some type of gadget that he couldn't justify buying yesterday -- but seems just fine for a birthday present. Today's mission was to procure a ScanGuage II for Winne.
The ScanGuage II is a gadget that hooks up to the diagnostic port for your vehicle's Electronic Control Module (Computer) and then provides a digital readout of all sorts of information about your vehicle performance. Although the ECM can read all sorts of data from various engine sensors - only a small amount is usually available to the driver without use of a gadget like the ScanGuage. Some of this data is really pretty useful info. Some is ... well ... just info. I mainly wanted the ScanGuage so I could monitor transmission fluid temperature and get a more accurate indication of coolant temperature. But now I will also be able to monitor intake manifold vacuum, engine horsepower, and a host of other stuff that nobody but a motor-head would care about.
Having procured my new birthday present without having to pay sales tax (if the Maine Revenue Service is reading this ... I'll be sure and claim the purchase on my 2013 Income Tax form .... along with all my internet purchases this year) and after receiving $10 off from a coupon I didn't know about -- we we're back on the road home ... A/C on full blast and outdoor temperatures hovering at about 95 degrees.
I figure the round trip cost us near $35 in gas. We saved about $15 on the vodka, about $7.50 on taxes on the ScanGuage ... and then there was the $10 coupon. So I guess we broke about even on the financial side. But then Peggy got out of the house and we got to see some pretty country.
Sounds like a pretty good birthday to me!
Yesterday was the start of Birthday season. Stacy turned 31 yesterday, my birthday is next week, then we have Kaj and Nicky, then Eric and Brian. I hope I didn't forget anybody ... too many to keep track.
Yesterday turned out to be a pretty nice day with high temps around 80 and reasonable humidity. Perfect Maine day for a Birthday BBQ at the Johansen House in Richmond. Here's a pic of the birthday girl with Taylor Anne and new cousin Sophie Ann. What a gorgeous threesome!
"Stuff Floating Around in Mikee's Head"
So ... the stock market is back up after a recent drop and gas prices are starting to shoot up as well. Locally, the price of a gallon of regular gas has increased right around $0.25 a gallon in three days. Does that mean people are figuring the economy is improving then they are driving more and because of the supply-demand thing then the price of gas goes up? Or perhaps the gas station owners are anticipating that attitude by drivers and are raising their prices because they can? Or is the more likely scenario that the outlook for Chinese manufacturing is up ... so the oil companies will be anticipating more sales to China ... so they will be charging more for refined gas in a few weeks ... so the local gas station has to make more profit on the gas he has today to make up for the lower profit he will make in a few weeks? Or is it because the station across the street raised his prices ... so I will too? I suspect the later.
And then there is the big hoopla surrounding the George Zimmerman trial down in Florida. "Who cares?" you ask! Well apparently we all care because it's the lead story in all the news media. The question isn't whether or not he's innocent of a crime - the question is whether or not the media can create enough hatred among enough folks on both sides to create further violence. I'm hopeful that the media fails --- again!
I'm trying desperately to get excited about Obamacare. I'm not sure why .... but I understand that the big push is on to make me excited. Or is it? As I understand the present situation ... the government's goal is to get 7 million young people, who presently do not have health insurance, to start getting health insurance coverage. Now these 7 million kids presently don't have insurance because they can't afford it ... and the government wants them to buy it because they don't need it ... therefore the insurance companies will make more money by insuring them so they won't mind losing money on the new mandated coverages for everybody. And because the 7 million kids still can't afford the insurance - we taxpayers are going to pay for it through a number of increased taxes. Yup - I can see where this is going to work well! I remain in the camp with those that realize that Obamacare was meant to fail so that we will embrace government controlled socialized health care in a few years. Yes indeed - death by a thousand cuts!
Oh yeah --- Happy Birthday Darrell --- Welcome to Birthday Season!
We continued our busy last week by having Miss Taylor Ann stay overnight last Saturday. Her mom and dad took the day and drove up to more northern Maine for a day of riding their 4-wheeler on some Maine trails. I remember those days when nothing was more fun than riding my motorcycle(s) for hours on end. Those were the days when all my body joints worked well and the connecting muscles still had some oomph. I think I'm better off driving the Winne in its nice soft captains chair these days.
We had a fun day with Miss Taylor marveling at all she has learned and the boundless energy of an almost two year old. She played inside, she played outside, she had fun in her swimming pool, she went for walks with Grandma, and helped Papa blow bubbles. Yep she had fun with Grandma and Papa but she really lit up when mom, dad, Kayla, and Bailey showed up on Sunday to take her home.
After a day of rest here on Monday we took off for a drive up US 1 - Maine's coastal highway yesterday. The day started off a bit rainy as we traveled north but cleared up about halfway to our destination in Belfast, ME. In spite of the weather we sure did notice that tourist season is in full swing here in Maine. The shoppers were busy along the streets on Camden, the RVers were everywhere, and Route 1 was full of outah state license plates. I've certainly seen it worse, and it probably would have been on a full sunny day - but lots of "summer people" are here enjoying our picturesque scenery.
Our trip to Belfast was mainly to visit our RVing buddies Darrell and Judy Patterson who were resting up from their big family reunion held last week at the ancestral Patterson home in Belfast. Darrell and Judy have their 5th wheel home parked in the dooryard at the home of his brother Mike and wife Shauna-- which is also the home where Darrell and Mike were raised. We arrived just about lunchtime and joined the Pattersons for some yummy crabmeat rolls. After enjoying our lunch and some visiting WE decided to find the local DQ for an ice cream dessert. Now I say "WE decided," but my long time readers know that it's usually "Judy's Fault" when these DQ runs happen. I'll leave it up to all y'all to figure out whose idea it was this time!
We'll get further opportunities to visit with D&J this next week as they plan on spending a week here in Topsham starting this Thursday as they continue their summer trip through the northern states before heading back to their home spot in Alabama.
I'm pretty sure there will be more opportunities for ice cream ... but we'll have to wait and see if Judy is in the mood.
Holy Mackerel has it turned busy around here! First the NJ Gang showed up last Saturday for a visit so we have been busy visiting with them, and then we needed to add in some family getogethers with all the Evringham kids and grandkids including an Independence Day BBQ yesterday, and then we sorta played B&B for Darrell & Judy's son Mathew and his family from Tennessee while they were in the area for a few days as a layover during their trip up to Belfast for the big Patterson Family Reunion, and then today we joined the NJ Gang and some of the Richmond Gang for a morning at the Maine Wildlife Park for some wild animal viewing.
Whew!
This sorta reminds me of when my family moved from the city (Sacramento, CA) to the mountains (McCloud, CA) back in 1965. Since we lived in some beautiful country we instantly became the vacation spot for our relatives and friends from the city. I don't think we really minded all the company - but it sure felt quiet when nobody "extra" was around.
All-in-All I think we have enjoyed all the recent activity around here. It was fun having the Tennessee Patterson's and watching 8 1/2 year old Catia eat her first lobster,
and there was 5 year old Kalina showing me all her new Disney Princesses
and giving goodnight hugs - and then there was 3 year old Radek being all-boy playing with his army men, trucks, and hockey stick. Yup that was fun - and then we sent them along to wear out their Grandma and Grandpa Patterson! It's also been fun being around our three kids - we don't get to see them all together too often anymore. And of course it's even funner watching them interact with their kids and nieces - and vice versa. And of course it has been great fun seeing our grandkids all together. Counting Bailey and Kyla (and we do) we had 'em from 16 to just a few weeks old for the BBQ yesterday... we certainly are blessed.
Now this is what it's all about!
