Big Sky Country

Wayne & Tary and Joyce & Ernie in front of waterfall

This k's for you Kristin (this was in front a winery near Walla Walla)

Wayne and Ernie golf carting at White Sulphur Springs

Joyce on a 4 wheeler

Whenever we go to Montana I remember why I like it there so much. Wide open sky and spaces and very few people, plus beautiful land scapes. It took us 2 days to arrive in White Sulphur Springs (about 75 miles northeast of Helena). Our friends Tary and Wayne had invited us to park our RV next to their house and plug in to their electricity so it worked out well. They have a lovely new home a mile out of town set back from the main 2 lane road about 1/4 mile. From any window in the house was a view of expansive land and mountains - loved it!

On the first day we were there we drove to Bozeman (where I lived 30 some years ago). Sadly, it is not the charming small town I remember but an overpopulated town and an example of unchecked and uncontrolled growth at its worst. However, all 3 places I lived in are still there and basically look the same. I could see a small glimmer of what I remembered it to be, which is basically the older parts of town.

The following day we went to the Alberta Bair Museum in Martinsdale. Interesting history of a family that made their wealth in sheep ranching. On Saturday we rode ATV's thru the fields - fun! Ernie played his first round of golf on the course at White Sulphur with Wayne. Sunday we took a nice drive in the mountains and hiked up to a waterfall.

We spent many fun hours visiting, eating, and playing "Mexican Train Wreck" while we were there. It was a very relaxing vacation. Thanks Tary and Wayne!

Arrived in Stanwood last Thursday late afternoon. Unloaded the RV and headed home - pouring rain - welcome back to Seattle!

Will start packing for Chicago and New York City tomorrow. Ernie will be busy while I'm gone supervising the window installation and helping Keith with his new deck. The cat will keep him good company!

Hope to get some pictures posted along with this entry. - Joyce

September already

The view from the back of the speedboat

Paul at Yosemite
Yosemite Valley
Patrice and Paul at Lake Tahoe
Big trees

Today is Monday the 6th (Labor Day), the unofficial last day of summer. Officially there are about 2 weeks left, but the weather is saying Fall. I still have about 3 weeks left on my "Vow of Shorts" taken in Bakersfield California about the 15th of February.
Yesterday we were at Gail and Randy's for the Labor Day weekend BBQ. Must have been about 20 people there, and I had a couple of comments about the lack of blog postings. Apparently some people actually read this stuff! So, I will dilligently attempt to do a better job. If we start lagging again, blame Joyce!
We spent the last full week of August at Angels Camp California with Patrice and Paul. We had a good dose of summer there, as the temperature exceeded 100 degrees on 2 days (104 & 108), and the rest of the week was in the mid to upper 90's. But we returned to mid 60's, and that's where we're stuck. We had a great time on the trip. We put a little over 1000 miles on the rental car. We spent one day at Lake Tahoe, and one Day at Yosemite National Park, with the rest of the time poking around Calaveras County. We saw the Giant Sequoias and lots of neat little towns that sprung up just after the gold strike of 1849. We even rented a speedboat for a couple of hours one afternoon. We traveled a lot of roads that we had never been on before. The only disappointment on this trip was that the Ponderosa Ranch Tour no longer exists. We drove out there only to find that the ranch house is a private residence. I was looking forward to seeing the Hop Sing mannequin standing in the kitchen again. Everything is probably in a TV or Movie museum somewhere.
Tomorrow we are heading out on a short Motorhome trek to White Sulphur Springs Montana to visit with friends Tary and Wayne for a few days. There weather is about the same as ours, with highs in the mid 60's, and overnight lows in the low 40's. I've even got 2 pairs of jeans packed, along with several pairs of shorts. I'll definately need to bring a jacket along.
We will probably get home around the 15th-16th, which will give Joyce about a week to get ready for her trip (without me) to New York City with Patrice for an early birthday (Patrice's) girls getaway, for about 10 days. During that time I am hoping to get the new windows installed in the house and fire up the smoker a couple of times. I'm thinking it's about time to do a briskit again.
We are still looking at a 7 day Carribean cruise with Ron and Diane (Tulsa friends) on the 7th of November. It will be 2 years tomorrow that we met them on a similar cruise. I hope to get everything nailed down in the next couple of weeks.
Now that we are all caught up again, I will attempt to add a few pictures from the California trip.

2 Years Yesterday

It was exactly 2 years yesterday that we set off on our "Big Adventure". I remember our first day out we landed in Hermiston, Oregon; the temperature was 107 and we discovered that the rear air conditioner was not working! To celebrate that anniversary, yesterday the temperature here was 97 degrees and we have no air conditioning! It's cooled off a couple of degrees today and should drop to the mid 80's tomorrow, then it will be back to the 70 degree range for the rest of the week.

Saturday we are flying down to Angels Camp California for 7 days in the California gold country with Patrice and Paul. The temperatures there should be in the 90's, but there is A/C! We will be approx 50 miles from Yosemite National Park. We've only been in that vicinity once before, and that was about 15 years ago, so it should be a lot of fun.

When we return we will be heading out for a 10 day motorhome trip to visit Wayne and Tary (and Auggie) in White Sulphur Springs, Montana.

Upon our return from the Wild West, Joyce will embark on a 10 day journey to Chicago and New York City with her sister Patrice. Hairold and I will be on our own and we anticipate an increase in smoke from the BBQ over the 10 days. We will also be getting all of our windows in the house replaced during that same period.

We are still looking into taking a 7 day cruise with friends Ron and Diane in early November. We're leaning in that direction but haven't made reservations yet. November is never a good weather month here and the Caribbean sounds good to me, so I think that it will be happening. We will also have to start looking at Arizona reservations around the lst of October if we are going back down for Spring Training 2011. So as you can see, the "Travel Director" is going to be getting busy soon. And on top of that we are looking at duplicating the "Big Adventure" in the opposite direction in 2011.
Ahhhh, retirement....Ernie

234 Years

Today is the 4th of July, and summer in Seattle is just around the corner. We're still topping out in the 60's, but the forecast calls for mid 80's by the middle of the week. Some of us will transition to that easier than others. We probably won't see daytime highs in the 60's again until October.
We spent 3+ days in Las Vegas last week where it was over 100 degrees every day. At night it "cooled off" to around 80! We haven't seen 80 for a daytime high yet in Seattle. It will be interesting. I don't like anything over 80, but it will be nice to see some sunshine in the morning while having that first cup of coffee and reading the paper.
Our summer plans have taken a change of direction as the job that I was scheduled for fell through due to permit issues. It amazes me that a government agency is unable to work with other governmental agencies to secure the neccessary permits to fix a section of highway before it has to be shut down because it is no longer safe!But that's life in Washington State. Or at least on the west side. But we don't seem to have any problem funding and spending for electronic signs up and down our highways. Yesterday we were heading south on I-5 to visit Pat & Steph in Shelton, and the traffic became stop and go around Fife. Lo and behold the overhead message sign showed up to advise me that traffic was heavy and I should watch out for slow moving or stopped traffic. I'm sure glad that the sign was there. The carnage could have been terrible. I don't know how we have managed to survive up to now without signs to alert us to the obvious. It used to be that it was the drivers responsibility to monitor the traffic and watch out for brake lights. I guess now we just have to watch the signs and hope that we read them in time to avoid rear ending somebody! I can't wait for the first lawsuit when somebody sues the state because the sign didn't warn them in time that the traffic was slow or stop and go, or that they rear ended somebody because they were distracted from driving while reading the sign! Electronic message signs are my latest pet peeve. (if you hadn't noticed)
Today we will be getting together wit friends for the annual 4th of July BBQ, and to celebrate the upcoming begining of summer in Seattle. So happy 4th to all, may we have many more, and lets blow something up! Maybe one of those damn signs!!
Ernie

Patiently Waiting For Summer

This is the longest gap that we have ever had since we started this blog almost 2 years ago. My Mother passed away on the 24th of May. She was almost 95 years old, and had been in and out of the Hospital about 8 - 10 times over the last 2 years, so it wasn't a complete surprise. I only hope that I can stay in good health as long as she did.
Joyce and I will be celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary later this week with a short 4 day trip to Las Vegas. It will be near 100 degrees there, which will be a shock to our systems since it has only reached 70 2 or 3 times this spring! We have not seen 75 since we left Arizona in April. It's beginning to look like it may be "one of those summers" in Seattle. This is the only time that I can remember that it hasn't hit 80 at least once by now. And the long range forecast doesn't show anything above the low 70's. Maybe after the 4th of July our summer will start. That's been known to happen.
It looks as if I will be returning to the work force for about 10 weeks beginning in mid July. There is a small project that I have been approached about doing the inspection on. I have committed myself to do it, so unless something unexpected pops up to circumvent that plan, I will be working until the end of September. If for some reason it falls through, we will probably get in a road trip for a couple of weeks or so. Otherwise, we have a week scheduled in mid August at Angels Camp in the Sierra Nevada's in California. We are now in the "thinking stage" for a BIG road trip in 2011. It will probably be a bigger (more miles and more time) than the original "Big Adventure".
We are also in the beginning stages of figuring out where to hang our hats for the next stage of our lives. Now that we are both officially retired, except for my occasional transgressions, we are trying to figure out where we want to live. We know that we don't want to be too far away from Seattle, but would definitely like to get out of King County. We've looked a little in all directions over the last couple of years, but are now concentrating on heading north. We shall see. I'm sure that nothing will happen for at least a year. We're not in a rush, but don't want to wait too long either. So right now, we're just doing a little talking and looking. We have decided that when we do make a move, we will not go much more than an hours drive from Seattle. Almost all of our friends and family are in the Greater Seattle area, and we don't want to lose contact with anyone.
Today is Father's Day, and we are getting ready to head up to Keith and Sheila's for dinner. And now that our lives are back to normal(?), we will try to not let the blog slip again. Ernie

Hairold T.(the) M.(miracle) Cat

On Thursday the 29th, Sheila called to say that Chandler was pretty sure that he had spotted Hairold T. Cat while weed whacking around the house. So we drove up after dinner, and after about an hour of calling and whistling for him, he walks over to me. He was so light when I picked him up. that I had to check for the lack of front claws to make sure it was really him. After making his break on the 29th of March, he resurfaced on the 29th of April! He appears to be doing all right other than losing 1/3 of his body weight. That would be like me losing about 70 pounds in a month!! So, if you really want to lose some serious weight, just live out in the wild for a month or so and just eat what you can find. Guaranteed to lose weight in a hurry.
We had pretty much given up on him. I figured there was about a 10% chance that he would have been able to survive this long. He has no front claws, so that seriously cuts down on his hunting ability. And to take into consideration that he is 16 years old, who would believe that he could survive a month in the wild. But he did. He must have some damn good genes. He will be staying in the house for a few days to get some meat back on his bones before going out to take on the neighborhood dogs. He's probably not out of the woods yet, but so far so good.
Ernie

Home

Altering our plans, we decided to drive the 500 miles from Boise to Seattle and arrived Sunday evening. Managed to unload at least half of the RV when we got home. Yesterday we drove the RV to Stanwood and parked it back at its' home at Sheila and Keith's place.

People are asking us where we are going next...at this point it's Colorado for one week in August to meet up with my sister and her husband.

During the 2 1/2 months we were gone we also enjoyed visiting with a lot of different people we know which was a highlight of the trip for me. In all, I counted 20 people we know that we were able to get together with at some point on this trip - friends and/or relatives from Calif, Montana, Phoenix, Seattle, Tulsa, Salt Lake City, Boise, and Texas.

We had a good time and saw a lot of interesting sights; of course, it's always good to be home, especially since it's Spring in Seattle. - Joyce