THE OREGON COAST.................A BABY BOY!!

The closer we got to Oregon, the cloudier it got!

It wasn't long and we were in Oregon, where we will spend the summer.

We got to The Mill Casino RV around 4:30, a beautiful park, right on the water!

We got to choose  where we wanted to be........

We chose well........

We had our own private little place behind the RV to duty the dogs. It rained during the night, just a gentle rain, it had been a long time since we had heard the rain.  Woke up to this beautiful view the next morning.

After breakfast we walked over to the Casino to check it out.

Found the hot tub! Two of them!!

We drove around Coos Bay and found the Walmart and looked over the downtown area.
We found out that Annie and Zack are having a BOY!!

And then, got in the Hot Tub!!

Life is Sooooooo........Good!!

HEADED TO OREGON

We got an early start, we left by 9:00, it's a good thing too, because we encountered a traffic jam in Indio, Ca. that lasted all the way to Santa Clarita. It took us 8 hours and we were exhausted!

We kept thinking we would drive out of it.......we never did!!

YIKES!!!!!!

We have traveled this road several times before and had  never  seen anything close to this!! Poor Maggie and Marlee never got out of the crate for 8 hours, we felt bad, but you didn't dare pull over. We were grateful to get to Castaic Lake  RV Resort for the evening and were happy to eat the roast and vegetables I had made the day before and head to bed.
We left the next morning for Flag City RV Park in Lodi, Ca. We got to the RV Resort, halfway set up and Darrell drove me over to Riverbank to Denise's house. Irenc was there, they cooked a delicious dinner, we drank a little wine, and  had a good visit.

The next morning  Denise and I and the dogs went to Jacob Myer Park and walked the Loop, saw some of the "regular walkers" from last year, and got to see "The Cats" and  Wayne.

I met the Back Park Hosts, they are very nice and thanked me for leaving so they could have our spot. I loved the time I spent with the "girls"!  Denise and Irene drove me back over to Lodi, they are hoping they can come see us in Cottage Grove this summer. We were headed to Red Bluff today and Durango RV Resort, where they have a hot tub.

We were at Durango RV Park by 2:00, sadly, the hot tub was closed! The next drove we drove out to Los Molinos, where the fruit stands are located.

We had never been here at this time of year, there wasn't much to buy, but we did find these yummy oranges!

The next morning we left for North Bend, Oregon on the Oregon Coast.

GREAT GRANDPARENTS!!.... MEXICO DENTIST, YEARLY CHECKUP

We found out around the middle of March that we are going to be Great Grandparents! Zachary and Annie are expecting a baby on September 11, we are delighted!
Before leaving Yuma, I needed to get my teeth cleaned and possibly some fillings replaced. I made an appointment  with the dentist I had seen before, Dr. Escobedo and ended up getting  my three front teeth crowned. They look really nice, wish I had done it sooner.

Also, got my teeth cleaned. I called and  got an appointment with Dr. Alsaigh for my yearly wellness check. She ordered some blood tests, a Dexascan and Mammogram. Everything checked out fine. What a relief!

We also ordered and installed a tonneau cover for the truck.

We found an RV Park that sells RV lots, near Temecula, Ca., so we made an appointment and drove over for a look. It was only a 3 hour drive from Yuma. We found an RV lot hat we really liked and the price was right, we were just not ready to buy at the time, but, we will definitely think about maybe settling down here.

Started planning our trip up to Cottage Grove. We wanted to spend some time on the Oregon Coast before starting work.  We decided to take I-5 all the way up to Oregon, then, head for the Coast. We would go right by Riverbank, so I told Denise I would see her in April.
We were busy finishing up the Spring Cleaning and getting ready to leave, thankfully the temperatures were mild for April.  We  got the outside of the RV all  washed.

We enjoyed  a couple of free outdoor music concerts in April, the evenings were perfect!

We left Yuma on Monday, April 23, my 71st birthday. We stayed four months, instead of the three months that we had originally  planned.

We were one of the last ones to leave Carefree Village, it was pretty deserted!

CAREFREE VILLAGE RV RESORT

We  will be at Carefree for three months, we were here in March 2015 and really liked the park. We love our RV site,  near the dog park and hot tub. Our neighbors are  all nice, quiet and friendly.

The RV sites are large.

The pool and hot tub are top notch. We spent a lot of time in both.

We were in the hot tub almost every day.

A view of the park from the air.

 We took some time and got rested up, then started catching up on things that we had let go for three months.  We started looking for summer jobs also, and  around the middle of February, we got an email from the Corps of Engineers inviting us to bid on  Gate Attendant  positions at Schwarz Campground in Cottage Grove Oregon. We had bid the Rovers Gate Attendant position last year and didn't get the bid. We talked about it and decided to try for it. I called the ranger, Mark Chappell, who I spoke with last year and he helped us get the bid together.  We  needed to have paperwork filled out about last job and performance.  Darrell called Deidra, and even though she was on vacation she said  she would fill out the paperwork and get it right back to us. She did, we got our bid together and submitted it. It wasn't too long and we got word that we had won the bid! We were excited! We were enjoying once a week movies and playing cards with some new friends, Leona and Dean, and  going to all the Farmers Markets we could.

One day, we went with the Nagy's  to Martha's Garden and took the tour of the date farm.

We were also going over to the theatre room and watching DVDs from Netflix. Leona and Dean left March 1. We started spring cleaning the RV.

MORE CHRISTMAS TREES

We got another load of Christmas trees on December 6, Doug said this was out last load, he wasn't able to get anymore. He thinks we will all be sold out by December 20th.  We sold 290 trees, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. We didn't have a very good selection of trees left.   We had more customers walk out than buy.  Then, on Tuesday, December 12, we got 72  Nordmanns. I had a list of folks to call "just in case" we got more trees. They went like hotcakes!

Our customers were still very picky....even though we told them there was a shortage of Christmas trees and we wouldn't be getting anymore trees.  One last weekend! By  Saturday, December 16, we only had 118 trees left to sell. Santa Anna winds back Sunday.....we thought we were going to blow away!! 78 MPH winds!  This was the last weekend for our boys, we would work by ourselves after Sunday. We started getting ready to close and get things packed up for the trailer.
Darrell made reservations for Carefree Village RV Resort in Yuma  for January, February, March.
On Wednesday morning we had 12 trees standing in the tent, Doug's crew would be here sometime  today to take the tent down, they had already taken the second tent down.  Darrell sold three more trees before they took the tent down!
I left at 8:00 to go shopping, I had a lovely time, went to MacDonald's and had a leisurely cup of coffee and a breakfast sandwich.

When I got home the tent was down!

We had never been on the lot without a tent set up.....it was very strange.

 We sold $1,074 trees, Darrell made $335.00 in tips plus one $25 gift card, not too shabby, we were happy!

Santa Anna predicted for tomorrow, hoping we can leave for Yuma. 

We were lucky! No Santa Annas today. We got to Carefree Village at 5:30, looking forward to such much needed rest!

OFF AND RUNNING

We were fairly busy Friday, Saturday and Sunday, our crew did a great job, we about doubled what was projected every day. It was pretty slow during the week, gave me time to get some decorating done. I put up my Christmas tree.....

Darrell put some lights up on the tripod.

I had saved some pumpkins for a few projects....I thought the snowman turned out cute.

And the pumpkins made to look like Christmas ornaments......

We got some taller  trees this week.......

More Nobles than we thought we were getting.

And Darrell got some flocked, we were ready for a busy weekend.

And we were busy! We sold  225 trees over the weekend! Our boys were hustling!

On Monday the Santa Anna winds were really blowing! Doug and Deidra stopped by, Doug thinks we could all sell out by  the 15th if he can't get anymore trees. We had to lay most of the trees down that were outside. 

On Tuesday the Santa Anna was blowing even harder! It blew out  two corner posts from the tent, had to call Doug to come help get them back in. Doug and Greg came to help Darrell. Gusts up to 60 miles an hour, while they were putting the posts back in a fire started not too far from us!

We didn't feel it was safe to be open, so we stayed in the RV most of the day watching news reporting of the big fire in Ventura, burning neighborhoods down. We were able to open at 4:00.

The firemen got the fire out that was near us, I don't know how they did with the awful wind, but we were grateful.