Bob, Lee, and Dusty's Random Trips

[OTRA15]

All this talk of work is making me tired . . . think I'll take a nap . . .



Have a good weekend.

Peter

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Hi, this morning I went out back and rolled the third and final coat of sealer. [the third coat is the final coat. Confusing myself] Due to yesterday's workout, I wore my back support today. Job done and looking good. Next week I plan to pressure wash and seal coat the rest of the back yard walkway. Lee with my help has been dong some of her garden work. Weeds everywhere, but we have it mostly under control now. Gardening in the back is off limits until my seal coat jobs are done.

Lee bought an Iron Garden Ornament a few years ago. I tie wrapped it to her garden bench since it won't stand up by it's self. Today I got out some wood working tools and some scrap 2 X 4s and made a stand for it. For now it will stay in the front of our house instead of on the patio. Maybe tomorrow I will round off some of the corners and paint the stands. It will look much better then.

After dinner I had to go to the market for a few things. It's sort of a strange feeling. It's kind of like you're the target and you have no idea who's got the weapon. [there's probably a better way to describe it]

[rmkrum]

I tend to consider a red laser dot on my chest...when I’m feeling real paranoid.

I’m comforted by the fact that just because I’m paranoid does not mean they are not out to get me...

[Gene]

Originally Posted by ROBERTSUNRUS

After dinner I had to go to the market for a few things. It's sort of a strange feeling. It's kind of like you're the target and you have no idea who's got the weapon. [there's probably a better way to describe it]

I feel the same way. Very well described.

Today we put down floor covering, moved a few scaffolds into the guest room and taped where we needed for painting. That was exhausting. Tomorrow we mixed two gallons to make sure they are exactly the same and cut in. Just thinking about it I need a nap too.

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Hi, This is the area where I pressure washed the concrete patio and walkway. I used the shiny sealer coating on it. We have a red clay type dirt and when it gets on the concrete it stains it. Before the pressure washing, the concrete looks like it was starting to rust. This coating is supposed to be chemical proof.

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Hi, a few days ago Lee told me that it has been one year since her accident where she fell and broke her back. Even after one year of healing, Lee has pain problems. She is dealing with it as well as possible. Lee is staying away from heavy or addictive drugs.

Right now a random trip is to Costco, Winco, Lowes, Home Depot, and Super H Mart. None of which involves our trailer. Lee still likes to work in her garden and I have been helping quite a bit. I bought two trees and Lee bought several plants. [flowers] We have hanging plants on our patio cover for the first time. My trees are a tiny table top Lemon tree; This will be my third try to have a lemon tree in Oregon. My other tree is a Peach tree. We had one of these too but it died on us. Maybe the different location will keep this one alive.

Note: For some reason this forum doesn't like Portrait pictures any more; I will have to remember to take only Landscape photos from now on.

[Hittenstiehl]

I just made them slightly smaller.

[Gene]

Sorry to hear Lee is still struggling. I found out a long time ago that there comes a time when a lot of things never quite heal right. That was a bummer, but I adapted and complained and adapted. Now I wake up in the morning with a new pain or something not working right and am glad to just get through another day, pretty well for my age, but slower. There’s plenty of joy still left, just a little harder to get there sometimes. I hope Lee can travel again as you both have done that for so many years. We have great memories of travel all over the US and Canada and going far is not so important now. Sometimes I regret that. It was on our last longish trip (less than 5,000 miles) we visited you and we still want to get back to the northwest and Vancouver Is.

Your greenery looks nice too. Barb just planted flowers and put them out on the porch and deck—all very different than desert plants.

[rmkrum]

Just keep in mind that old age is earned, not given, and it’s not for wimps...

We won’t talk about my slowly healing broken ankle, either. Hang in there!

I will admit that as a youngster, I was not convinced I would live this long. I’ve been pleasantly surprised.

[OTRA15]

Originally Posted by ROBERTSUNRUS

. . .
After dinner I had to go to the market for a few things. It's sort of a strange feeling. It's kind of like you're the target and you have no idea who's got the weapon. [there's probably a better way to describe it]

Originally Posted by Gene

. . .
I found out a long time ago that there comes a time when a lot of things never quite heal right. That was a bummer, but I adapted and complained and adapted. Now I wake up in the morning with a new pain or something not working right and am glad to just get through another day, pretty well for my age, but slower. There’s plenty of joy still left, just a little harder to get there sometimes.
. . .

Originally Posted by rmkrum

. . .
I will admit that as a youngster, I was not convinced I would live this long. I’ve been pleasantly surprised.

Well said, gentlemen.

Was just wondering what happened to this thread.



Hope everyone is doing OK with the virus, and the Colorado fires.

Things have settled down in our neck of the woods, but life certainly has changed.

Happy trails,

[Gene]

Seems like we are all traveling less. I miss the northeast because I grew up there and would like to see more green, but am now a desert dweller. We used to travel to at least one ocean per year (one year we did three). Haven’t seen an ocean in three (or four?) years. I can see better than a month ago. I keep on keeping on.

Hoping for another random trip, but maybe only one this year, and not very random. Lee’s had a long and arduous recovery from her fall. When we met her 3 or 4 years ago she was healthy and in great condition, so life changes fast and often without warning.

[rmkrum]

We’re keeping the Airstream close at hand because of all the wildfire danger and stuff, but our usual epic September trip cross country to DisneyWorld has been rescheduled to late next year. The problems with traveling due to COVID-19 stuff have restricted us to staying close to home. We’re both still fully employed and I’m working from home permanently now.

We had a brush fire less than a mile from our house, but city fire department and CalFire got it out with a lot of air support. Burned about 75 acres.

Parked in our driveway:



But it’s ready to go at short notice.

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Hi, well this has been two bad years for traveling. Lee's broken back last year and the virus this year. We were able to go to our once a year Rally, last year, at Jackson Rancheria in Northern California. That was going to be our only trip this year. We are signed up and fully paid for. There is no refund this year for cancelations. I can live with that. Some of the questions about the rally are what can we actually do when we get there? Will a potluck be safe? Will we just spend four days inside of our trailer to be safe from our friends?

With fires all around us, I thought to myself, It would be stupid to not have our trailer ready to go if we have to evacuate. I put some things in my trailer and loaded my truck bed with all of the usual items that we travel with, especially my generator. I filled my fesh water tank too. My trailer is still winterized, but that can be undone quickly.

Every day for about a week now our view is slowly disappearing due to all of the smoke. Originally the smoke came from Wasnington State. Then local Oregon fires took over and filled our valley with smoke.

[pmclemore]

Holy moley, Bob. Bad time to travel, not so good to stay home, either.

Hopefully, this too shall pass.

Pat

[Gene]

Just when we think the smoke is gone, it blows in again from somewhere. I worry about being several hundred miles from home because of a death in the family and our house back near Grand Jct. being at the edge of a forest. But we have a place to live if the house is in a fire The fires in western Colorado are controlled, but the whole area is super dry. Maybe it is time to move to the city, though I just don't see how I would like it there.

No choices feel good. Just being between one rock and one hard place would be easier than the present, but I feel sometimes like there are only rocks and hard places and nowhere to relax. I keep reading in the papers that mental health issues are increasing constantly. Everyone is on edge.

I know how long it takes to recover from a back injury. I have never fully recovered and now am seeing a pain specialist for ablation of certain nerves (basically cuts them since they do not do anything except cause pain) and steroid injections in other nerves to calm them. It has helped. I have had this before, but I found a new guy who does it much better. Perhaps Lee hasn't tried this. I was kind of skeptical but this is working much better. Truck seats can be uncomfortable for us when traveling, so we got extra cushions for back issues at Costco and they help quite a bit. And I do exercise to keep back muscles strong.

Let's hope better times are ahead.

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Originally Posted by pmclemore

Holy moley, Bob. Bad time to travel, not so good to stay home, either.

Hopefully, this too shall pass.

Pat

Hi, I sure hope everything passes. Just too many bad things happening right now.

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Hi, Gene; The back cushions from Costco are too short and don't help Lee. Although the first back cushion that we found at Costco was from Brookstone. Then Costco switched to the short ones. I ordered, on line, two more Brookstone back supports for Lee. One we keep in the house and the other two are in the Lincoln and my F-150.

[Gene]

Bib, I meant the ones you sit on.

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Originally Posted by Gene

Bib, I meant the ones you sit on.

Hi, Gene; I have two of those, mostly for me.

[Gene]

Those are they Bob. Has Lee tried them? Maybe she needs to be encased in pillows. It sure is hard to be limited. Hope you get a little travel in.