Stormy Weather

Started off the week alright but Monday evening spent a lot of time in the shower house... We've had some serious storms, warnings and rain. The rivers are full and people are thinking about previous years. It seems like we are always watching the weather cause if we aren't getting a storm they aren't far away from here. Keeping us on our toes. You really need to be aware of the weather when living in a RV.

Friday June 20, My best friend came up for the weekend. She's never been to this park. Most of the time we just sat and visited. The weather was really good for us. Saturday morning we headed into town to try our luck at the farmers market. It was super busy again. We found some good things to purchase. Some of the stuff we included in our dinner plans.....(Apple pie) for dessert. Well our dinner plans changed cause we went back into town and met Justin & Molly for a late lunch...so just had popcorn for supper along with a movie ( Castaway). Since we didn't have supper and had it mostly ready we  had a big lunch on Sunday before Judy headed home. Went into see the grand kids cause Hailey kinda likes Judy. The weather started looking bad so  we got Judy on the road. She did run into some rain but made it home to Keokuk before the big storm hit.

Monday the gloomy weather continued so I stayed in and did some cleaning. I have started a quilt for my grandsons birthday, I got the top put together but to put the back and batting together I needed a bigger space. It dried up enough outside that I used our outside rug. I got that all pinned together and ready to start quilting.

Wednesday June 25, it was Ashton's last hockey practice so we made it  a point to go. He did great! Celebrated with pizza at Godfathers after practice.

Thursday June 26, the park is full for the weekend. We had plans to go to the BBQ roundup. It's happening downtown at the new amphitheater. They had lots of different vendors to choose from. Jeff was partial to the fresh peach bread pudding, I had a pulled pork sandwich, it was good. Then I spotted these spiral potatoes that looked delicious....I got some of them. Then we stayed and listened to some music. The weather held off... No rain.:)

Friday and Saturday it rained, felt bad for all the campers here. On Sunday I tried a couple new recipes...pulled pork and cheesy potatoes. I got the recipes off of Pinterest....love Pinterest!! Our pork called for coke and liquid smoke, the best pulled pork I've ever made. Gonna use that recipe again for sure.

Monday June 30, Started off hot and humid...we had lots of rain last night. I heard on the weather news that Cedar Rapids had 13.69 inches of rain this June, that broke a record from 1969 of 11.25...we have had so much rain. It's expected to rain again today.. We watched the weather and a big storms heading our way. We ended up heading into Seth's cause he was at home watching his basement.(flooding) the storm rolled thru about 3:00. It was a big one. They didn't get any damage, but other areas of Cedar Rapids did. Lots of people without power. We decided to head back home and see how the park looked. We drive thru the town of Palo, oh my my I bet there was a tree down in every yard. It was a mess. Drove up to the park and everything looked fine...yeah! We didn't have any power though. When the power goes out here you don't have water. The use a well and need a pump to pump it.  Back into town we went. The power came on at 1:34a.m. We considered ourselves very lucky. Some of the folks in Palo didn't have power for a couple days. 

The park filled up by Monday for the holiday weekend. The campers were here but no people in them yet. We had a visitor on Wednesday, Hailey came back with us and spent the night. The best thing about being close to the kids. When I took Hailey back home we spent Thursday afternoon at the Cherry Hill Pool. It was a beauty of a day. It's cooler than normal and no humidity today. 

Friday the 4th of July....you couldn't have asked for better weather, low 80's and no humidity. Jeff & I took the kayaks down to the lake. We claimed a picnic table and waited for the family to show up. Seth, Katie & the kids took the boats out. We had some chairs and we just enjoyed the day. They went over to the beach for awhile, but the dogs aren't allowed so I stayed with them. Justin & Molly came out as well. They stuck around for a late lunch before heading out. We didn't head in to watch the fireworks. We watched them on TV. Saturday it rained most of the day, I guess we are paying for that beautiful 4th. 

To finish off our holiday weekend we drove to Keokuk. We stopped by and got the grand kids. My nephew Todd and his wife Jen, and son JT came to visit. We met them for breakfast and visited. It seems a pool party was in the plans. Went to my nieces house and the rest of the family came. The kids had a great time. The cousins took off with Hailey, Ashton played with the boy cousins. When the big kids got in the water they tossed the kids in the air to do flips. The kids didn't want to leave that's for sure. The good news was both were extremely tired and slept most of the ride home. We got back just in time for a severe thunder storm warning. We stayed a bit at Seth's til the weather passed. Boy what a busy weekend...sure had lots of fun.

Bring on Summer

Saturday June 7th was the opening of Cedar Rapids farmers market. It happens right in the downtown area and it's huge. You can find just about anything there. They offer produce, flowers, spices, meats, wines, crafts and every kind of eats a foodie would want. Jeff likes to get his honey there, also elk meat sticks and his favorite spice Jonesyz. It was unbelievably packed there. So crowded we pretty much got we wanted and escaped. Went with our daughter in law and the grand kids. As we were leaving there was a guy up on some steps making these huge bubbles. We called him the bubble man. The kids loved chasing down the bubbles and popping them. We let them play at that then left. They definitely offer something for everyone.

We finished this day out with a trip to Iowa City to see Steve Earle and the Dukes.  It was a little iffy cause we had a storm roll thru and wasn't sure if it was still on because it was outside. We decided to go, the concert happened but some of the equipment had gotten wet so they had to make a change. To our surprise Steve Earle came out and played solo....no Dukes. It was a really good show and the only drawback was driving home in the dark...we made it safe so it was a good day.

Sunday June 8th was family fun day. Both boys came out, but at different meals. For lunch Seth, Katie & the kids came out. We played outside with a huge glider and ate a yummy lunch. Then for supper Justin came out with his friend Molly. We enjoyed another good meal. We got to see both boys, maybe next time we can get them together for one meal.

We are still pretty empty during the week so our duties are light. I started a new quilt, got it cut out and laid out.... I love it already. I worked on that a lot this week, I got it all sewed together but put it away for quilting at a later date. Jeff has been working on maintenance of the camper. He drained and cleaned the water tanks, also worked on lubricating the slide seals .

Thursday June 12, was the last day of school (they had lots if snow days this year) We went and got Ashton to spend the night. On our way back stopped at Morgan Creek county park and saw that John & Janie are camping there. We stopped and visited awhile before heading back. We had a celebration supper, celebrating schools out. We were busy the next day with fishing, biking and even a little time at the beach. Always a good time with Ashton. Just having him around makes for a fun day.

Friday June 13, We took Ashton home and headed to downtown Cedar Rapids for another uptown Friday night. This one was a bit more special cause our son Justin was playing at 5 p.m. There band Well Strung sounded really good and I'm not just saying that because I'm partial...they were great! After Jeff and I walked to a restaurant for supper. It was White Star, my meal was really good, Jeff's pick wasn't as wonderful. He'll be ordering what I had next time. I ordered crunchy chicken with cheesy potatoes... On my so yummy. 

Saturday June 14th we had plans for dinner at Seth & Katie's. I made stuff to take, we dropped it off and went to a movie." That Fault With Our Stars"...it was really good but a tear jerker. After headed over for supper, the guys watched the fights. The girls worked on some decorations for an upcoming wedding.

Sunday June 15, Happy Fathers Day...the boys & kids were going to Air E -Fex trampoline park. We watched them have a wonderful time. Justin had us over for breakfast but somehow I ended up behind the stove. It's really nice to be close to the family, we get to join in on all of this fun actives.

Company's Coming

After the busy holiday weekend things got pretty quiet around here. We enjoy quiet. Jeff has been working on his maintenance list he has for our camper. We started the week with some scary weather, had some serious wind and hail. I really don't like hail. After the storm passes we were blessed with a pretty rainbow. When the weathers good Jeff has been working on our hitch, cleaning it up. Also he changed the transmission fluid in the truck. It's hard to get things done outside because of the bugs. They are horrible. The other hosts up here told us to get some absorbine jr., that stuff really works, who would of thought.

 We had a really nice day and I thought the beach sounded like a good idea, well as I rode my bike down I spotted 4 buses...(school field trip) needless to say I didn't stay long, it was not a good beach day.

Then we were getting ready for a busy weekend. Jeff's brother and his wife are coming up to the park. They have reserved one of the cabins here. They are little log cabins, with a futon, bunk beds, a frig,microwave and an air conditioner. They arrived  Friday around 6. We got them settled into there cabin then went into town to eat. We had some excitement to start it off. Some how Shawn stepped in doggie doo, then got in our truck. When we got to the restaurant we cleaned that up. In the restaurant she spills a glass of water, so we left a good impression there. We wanted them to eat at Brogans since we were so impressed with there food.  Again the food was delicious. Went in to see Seth and Katie and watch the Blackhawks win!  

Saturday was a busy day....Fritz & Shawn came down and we sat outside and enjoyed the weather. We fixed lunch here then decided to do a movie. Went and saw Million Dollar Arm. We all liked that movie, really a pleasant surprise. Then we met our other son Justin & his girlfriend Molly back at the Brogans for another supper. This time pizza. It was a little late so we hung around and watched some karaoke...kinda fun. 

Sunday was a huge day here at the park. They are hosting a jr. triathlon  (pigman). It started at 7:30a.m. I was up super early cause my dog wasn't acting right, so I got up with her at 4a.m. People started pulling in at 5a.m. They say they had like 900 participates. It was crazy busy here. We walked down after it was over, still busy. They had perfect weather to run it in. We said our goodbyes to Fritz & Shawn and watched the park clear out.

We had more company showing up this evening. Brand new full timers Al & Nancy Moander. They arrived around 6. We let them get set up and made arrangements to get together tomorrow. I brought supper to them and we visited a little. It's nice to see the excitement they have getting started on there new adventure. 

More company, we got an early call, Haileys got a fever and so she's coming out for the day. I hate seeing the kids sick but boy does she get snuggly when she doesn't feel well. She did good all day then after her nap more fever and she didn't do so well...:( Katie came and got her. We went back to Moanders for margaritas and wish them good luck on there journey.

Wednesday, got an early call, both kids are sick so we headed into there house to watch them. We knew Ashton didn't feel good when he stayed on the couch all day and didn't ask to eat. Again after naps Hailey's fever was back so Katie took them to the Doctor, both have strep....yikes.

We finished up the week with a trip downtown to Cedar Rapids. They have a music festival called Uptown Friday Nights...it's a beautiful venue and the bands sounded good. They offer beverages and snacks there. The weather was great. It started off a little warm but turned out really nice. We went with Justin & Molly and after went for dinner at Jerseys. We got burgers and they were so yummy. We called it a night and headed back to our home sweet home.

Memorial Weekend Before/After

The weekend before Memorial Day was fairly busy here. It was decent weather wise with some sun and warmer temps. We went to a new restaurant to us...Brogans. It's just down the hill in Palo. My son use to live in Palo and told us it was good. We went there to try the pizza but saw the chicken and ordered it instead. So good and inexpensive. I think it's the best broasted chicken ever. We also went to see our sons brand new car. It's there first new car and are excited. I remember the first car we purchased, it was a big deal.

In this neck of the woods it's mushroom season. We aren't good at finding them but my boys have some friends that are willing to share. So Jeff has been enjoying those, I don't care for them but most folks do. It's quite a chore to hunt them down. Most people have there spots but aren't willing to share that information. What I don't like about hunting for them is the ticks. You have to go into the woods and the ticks are thick.  So I skipped this activity this year.

 Most of the week leading up to the big weekend was nice. We had some weather roll in but for the most part it was nice. Both Jeff and I are ready for some better temps. Starting on Monday people have started rolling in to secure a spot. In our camp loop it's about half first come the other are reservable.

Pleasant Creek Lake

 On Wednesday I ran my baby toe into the door and ouch!!! I think it's broke and it hurts. We also headed back to Brogans for pizza, they have special on Wednesday a large pizza for a medium price. When they say large they mean LARGE... Jeff got taco on his half and said it was extremely delicious. Next time we come for pizza we are bringing more people.

Thursday was a busy evening for us, we had lots of people knocking on our door asking questions. Most were looking for campsites but we are full and have been since Tuesday. Our schnauzer Belle doesn't really like it when people knock on the door. We are trying to get her more acceptable to that. Not working well yet.

Another kinda exciting thing.....one day as we were driving into the park I noticed some  little animals in some brush out in this field. I asked Jeff to stop. We watched and they were baby foxes. We were in the truck and they were a ways away but I had my camera. I got some pictures. It was hard to get good pictures because of the distance but I tried. They were so cute. So now we keep our eyes open hoping to see them again.

Friday we got to attend our grandsons program from his after school program. We haven't been able to attend many functions at school so that was nice. Most of them sang but he choose not to. I was ready with camera in hand... What's up with giving them the choice? We didn't do too much over the holiday weekend. This park was hopping. Even the beach was getting used. Even with all the people things ran smooth in our loop. On Monday a lot  of the campers headed out early. The park was still busy, with people swimming,fishing,boating and picnicking. It's a big day. Just wanted to say a big THANK YOU to all the veterans that enable us to live in this great country. Your service to our country is greatly appreciated!!! Your sacrifice not forgotten.

Mothers Day Week

Well the end of the week was rainy,windy and way below normal temps. So for me it means keeping busy inside. I did some quilting and baking. The day before Mother's Day was really pretty and you could tell with all the people at the campground. Everyone was out and enjoying the great outdoors. Kids biking, people fishing and boating, it nice to see families enjoying this nice park.


We had planned to have a Mother's Day get together at Justin's place. Guess what it's raining on Mother's Day. We brought back fish, shark, and a couple lobster tails. That's what we are cooking. Both my boys were there and my daughter in law. We were joined by Katie's mom and sister. The food was great, we tried some new things... And enjoyed some of our favorite things as well. The weather was lousy that's for sure.

We left to come back home with our grand daughter, her mom has to travel for work so we are her daycare for the next 4 days. The weather was still really cool with rain. We kept ourselves busy inside with movies and watching the birds. We have a couple hummingbird feeders, one is on our window. We also have a couple other feeders. What I learned is that orioles like hummingbird nectar. They would land on the feeder at the window drink and then peck on the window so you would look at them. With all the yucky weather I also finished my quilt I've been working on. Thursday the day we took Hailey back home it rained most of the day. Our power kept going out so Jeff would have to go reset the breaker. It's pretty annoying. It quit for awhile but it went off at 3a.m. When the power goes out the refrigerator beeps. Again out to reset. It went off a couple more times. We called the park manager and she had an electrician come take a look. Kinda annoying but I'm sure we'll get it taken care of. I'm hoping that this weather will change... I'm ready for some sunshine and warmer temps....bring it on...

May is here.....

Thursday May 1, Rain,rain,rain , I'm beginning to think this spring thing is never gonna happen. Not only with the rain but the cooler than normal temperatures. On the other hand I'm getting lots of quilting done. Jeff had to go fill up our propane tank, we've been using it to heat the rig. It's been so cold the heat pump doesn't cut it. I think we've become babies with the cold weather. On a good note Jeff brought me home a plant for May Day.

Friday May 2, Ok I think I see sunshine.....:) I definitely made good use of the good weather and went for a walk. It's just nice to have some sunshine, changes your outlook on everything. With the nice weather we had some ambition to get some things done. I did laundry and Jeff got started on his long list of things to do. He did some cleaning of the vents and tightening down of the air conditioners. When you travel it's amazing how everything gets shaken loose. Had a few campers last night so went to clean the shower house. Just getting a routine started on our duties here. The good thing is we also have help keeping the shower house clean. I went back up to check on them and noticed it had been cleaned again. Good to know we have help when it gets busy. Well we've figured out that Friday evening is a busy night. We watch all the campers pull in and set up. We had someone pull into our site...our grand kids are staying tonight so there parents can go out to celebrate there anniversary. We had a nice dinner and a good evening together.

Saturday May 3, Sunshine again!!! I'm loving this. We all enjoyed a big breakfast. It was nice enough that we could go outside and enjoy it. The guys went a for a walk in the woods, us girls went to the playground and found some dandelions. Headed into town to meet up with everyone for lunch at Red Lobster. I went with my son to get frames for his house. We watched the Kentucky derby and then headed back home. It sure seems quiet after those kids leave....extra quiet.

Sunday May 4, Well, we watch them pull in on Friday now we watch them pull out on Sunday. Went back in to help Justin hang all those frames we got yesterday. Then over to Seth's to watch the Blackhawks win!!!! When we got back to the campground it was empty...only us.

Monday May 5,  Finally a really nice day. Went up to clean the shower house. We decided Mondays would be a good day to do extra cleaning. That's what we did, starting on the shower stalls. It's rewarding getting something done. With good weather I caught up on laundry. Then I noticed the washer was leaking. Had to pull it out and clean up that. Not sure what happened just have to watch it. I also got all the screens out and washed them. They really get dirty quick. What was really good about today... The birds were singing and it felt more like Spring.

Tuesday May 6,Today was a lazy day, sorta. That's what's so good about this life style, you can feel very ambitious and do lots or sit in a chair and read the day away. Nobody gonna care.....The weather was pretty good but very windy. Went for a walk and then pulled out my clippers. First Jeff's haircut then Belles.... Different clippers of course. I did cut Belles ear a bit, I'm blaming it on the wind. Jeff also emailed some fulltime rv friends, wanted to get together and hear about there winter. That's always fun to hear about others adventures. That's one reason we are doing this. Jeff follows lots of blogs and learns many things. So many tips and lessons to learn. My feeders are starting to get some visitors, I spotted some finches today.

Wednesday May 7, It was really nice today it was in the 80's, felt good with the warmer temps and sunshine. Did a little extra cleaning in the shower house. We went into town and ran some errands. Jeff had some things he needed to get to start the maintenance on the rig. With the warm weather I felt springy, so I bought a pretty red geranium, got home and replanted it. Starting to look a little homey here. It was warm enough to give the dogs a bath, neither dog cares for them but sitting in the sun after they enjoy that. It's Wednesday so we went in to watch Ashton's hockey practice.  I think I'm gonna do some changing with my posts. Since we won't be traveling about and most if our adventures will be with family I'm gonna just do a weekly overview.. This is new to me so I'm trying to post some things for me but want to keep it somewhat interesting to others.

Pleasant Creek State Park/Palo,Iowa

April 22, Big moving day, we are heading to our new home for the next 5 months. We lucked out with the weather, it was really pretty. We didn't leave early, no reason to its just about 15 miles. When we arrived we knew where to go and what we needed to do. We are located in the first campground loop. Our site number is 27. All the sites in our loop are pull thrus, but all the sites are 30 amp. That will be the hard part. We've survived 30 amps many times before. Just have to be careful when we turn on things. Since we are hosts we have a water hookup and sewer. The second loop has 50 amp service. Still no water or sewer hookups. Our site is the campground host spot but our sign hasn't been put up yet. Guess we aren't on duty yet. Carl stopped by to welcome us, he is the park ranger. Next we were welcomed by Joan the park manager. It's very pretty out here and our site is located right across from the lake. The feel of all those that work here is super friendly. Really excited about our new position. We had one more visitor, our son Justin brought out his puppy Barkley, he's a miniature dachshund. He's staying with us a couple days while both our boys go to Chicago to watch the Blackhawks.

Wednesday April 23, Oh my gosh.... Note to self, 3 dogs in 1 bed= no sleep. Our dogs are fine in bed but throwing that 3rd one in there was horrible. I couldn't even get him to lay down til after 2. Then he just wouldn't sleep, it was a long night. The weather today cloudy and rainy so I stayed in and quilted. The dogs are starting to get used to each other again. It was a long day with the weather, but it was good for me to get rested up. Watched tv and waited for updates from the boys about the hockey game....they got a lot of excitement for there money and a victory for the Blackhawks.

Thursday April 24, Again today it's very rainy and chilly. Welcome to Iowa spring.

Jeff went to town to get a different wifi hotspot. We had sprint and it just wasn't working. Now we have Verizon and it's way better. My phone is still sprint and it's not working all that great but with a booster I can work with it until our contract is up. The phone parts ok but anything with internet is so slow and sometimes impossible. While Jeff was in town our daughter in law called to say Hailey needs to get picked up from the daycare early. I called Jeff and he went to get her and take her to there house cause Seth was on the way home. I stayed at the rig with 3 dogs. Did have a bit of excitement....had a bird fly into our back window. He hit hard and then feathers were flying everywhere. Never found the bird but lots of feathers. When Jeff came home he had an extra passenger. Looks like we will have a overnight guest, princess Hailey. Justin came and got his puppy, so 1 dog gone but one princess added. We had to play inside cause of the weather. Found out that Sissy is pretty good at playing memory. We didn't use the whole game but she had a great time as long as she won.

Friday April 25, We got a nice day. One thing about it here, there's lots of wind.Hailey wanted pancakes for breakfast, hello kitty pancakes. Joan called us to set up a time to show us what to do at the shower house. It doesn't seem too bad, I think we can handle it. We got the dogs and walked up to the playground. Spent a lot  of the day outside cause it was so nice. We headed into town to watch the Blackhawks, they won in overtime.

Saturday April 26, It was the first day of our job. We headed up to the shower house to get started. It's not gonna be that bad. We just need to get a routine started. We headed into town, Seth & Katie was cooking out on the grill. I made potato salad. It was another nice day and we played outside with the kids. Went to cold stone for ice cream.  It was yummy but kinda cashy. We came home and spent the night at home, watching TV.

Sunday April 27, Happy Birthday Judy (my best friend). Jeff woke up and didn't feel good. It's suppose to be stormy today. We were suppose to go to Justin's house and watch the  Blackhawks. Since the weather is really suppose to be bad and Jeff's not feeling well we decided to stay home. At the last minute Jeff felt better so we grabbed the dogs and headed in. The weatherman was right and the sirens went off, we were in Justin's basement watching the Blackhawks win the series!! The game was over and the storm looked as though it passed. We headed back, both Carl and Joan called to check on us. We didn't know what to expect, there was a tree that was blown down. Our camper was safe. We went in and it started raining again.  Then our power went off. Jeff went outside to check things out, he couldn't get the 30 amp plug to work. So we used the 20 amp plug and really watched it really close. 

Monday April 28, Rainy again. We are still running with 20 amps. Went to the shower house and did our job. Then we headed to the camper store to get a new plug. The one we had is damaged and can't be used. When the power went out there must have been a surge or something. It was cold and rainy all day do we spent a lot of time inside. I did finish quilting all the rows on my quilt now I just have to quilt the borders.

Tuesday April 29, Rain,rain,rain.....Carl the park ranger came and checked out our electric box, it's melted and needs to be replaced. He worked on that, it was just sprinkling then. We had to have the power off so it got down to 58 inside....brrrr. After it was fixed it took awhile to warm up. Stayed inside most of the day. Where's spring?

Wednesday April 30, Another rainy day, seriously this is crazy....I'm definitely tired of this rainy gloomy weather. Went to town had pizza before watching Ashton's hockey practice. Maybe May will be a little more like spring? We can hope.