Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.

Mark Twain

Monday, July 23, 2018

Where Do The Days Go?


Monday July 9- We decided to get the kayaks out today. We have gotten so lazy with them here. I don't have an Iowa fishing license so no fishing for me. Jeff hasn't had much luck fishing here. I'm fine with just a paddle, Jeff not so much. Well we added a bit of excitement to the excursion today,...we decided to take Miss Ruby out with us. When I say us I really mean me.  I put her in Soffee's old life jacket and she didn't seem to mind that. We had great weather. It was warm and not a lot of wind. No problems getting them in. Jeff had cleaned both boats up so they were clean and ready to go.







Ruby did really good but seemed like she was getting hot. I dipped her feet in the water to cool her off. She didn't seem to mind it. Next thing I know she is jumping in the water. I had her tied in but still I didn't really like how brave she was. I would bring her back in and after a bit she would go in again. I think she went in 3 times. The last time she was cold and wanted to sit on my lap. I wrapped her up in my sweatshirt and she was fine. We were only out for a few hours but she did pretty good for her first time. It felt really good to be on the water and in the sunshine.

Tuesday July 10- Road trip for me. I left the park a little before 7 a.m. On my way to Keokuk. My oldest sister is in the process of moving. Her husband has health issues and can't do much. I told her I would come down and give her a hand for a couple days. I arrived in Keokuk at her place at 9 and got busy. We did some cleaning up of the old place and then over to the new place to start putting stuff away. They have been moving stuff a little at a time but just putting the boxes in and leaving. We got started putting stuff away. I left there around 5 o'clock and went to my friend's house to stay the night. Judy arrived home from work as I pulled in her drive. We sat around and visited. We had supper and talked more. It was nice to see her. I talked to Jeff and the boys came out to the rig and moved out our couch getting ready for the delivery of our new hide a bed tomorrow.


Wednesday July 11- Didn't really sleep that good. When I got up nobody was there. Judy went on a bike ride. We visited until she left for work. I wasn't too far behind her. I needed to get me some coffee and fill up the car with gas. I met my sister over at the new place and got busy finding places for everything. We were just making some progress when I get a call from Jeff. They delivered the couch and guess what....it is wrong again. Needless to say he was a bit upset. This is the second time our ordered was messed up. We have waited over 10 weeks for them and they already have the money for it. The first one had no bed in it. This one was the wrong size, instead of a love seat with a full mattress in it, it is a couch with a queen bed in it. It is completely the wrong color. It is so long that our table won't fit in there. Well long story short they came back out and picked it up, brought back in our old one and told us our money would be refunded. That is fine but all the trouble we put in to get everything moved out and excitement about the new one....we were both very upset. So as of now we will just live with this old couch until we can find something we can see before we purchase. I got back to work and worked on putting everything away we could.  They still have some stuff to move over but are waiting for someone with a truck to move it. I left there around 4PM.  I got home and got my stuff unpacked...oh boy what a couple of days.





















Thursday July 12- Katie brought Hailey out this morning. When she walked in she was all excited about a loose tooth. She wanted papa to pull it out. We all decided it wasn't quite ready to come out just yet. Thought we would get her mind off of it by making her some breakfast before going to gymnastics. Then off to gymnastics we go. Today Hailey worked on the beam. She was working on her back walkover. She did a great job.

























After class we went back to her house to fix her some lunch. It has been so hot and she has been asking me to go to the pool with her, so that's what we did. We got our suits on and sunscreen in hand and away we went. We went to Cherry Hill and did some swimming. The place was packed but we got a chair and managed to find us a spot in the pool to swim. We had fun just her and I.






















After leaving the pool came back to the rig. We hung around here for a bit. Then we went back in to Seth and Katie's for supper. We left Hailey there before we came on home. It was a full day for sure.


Friday July 13- This was going to be a whole lot of do nothing day. I have been running and was ready to do nothing. Jeff went in to town. I stayed here and watched all the campers pull in. About supper time we had some stormy weather roll in. We were lucky, not getting the wind and stuff but made up for it with plenty of rain.


Saturday July 14- With a full park and the hot weather I got up early and cleaned. I also walked Ruby early trying to avoid the heat. She even got a bike ride today. Then I took cover inside with the A.C. on. Wellstrung has a gig tonight at a new place. It starts at 6 and is over at 9. Those are the shows we like to go see. This one was a combo bar/. pizza restaurant. So we went in early and met up with Justin and Jordan and had pizza for supper. It was really good pizza. When we first arrived at this place Mr. B's, we weren't sure what to expect. It is a local hangout and we weren't local. It turned out to be one of the funner places I think. The crowd loved them and really got into the music. Jeff even got up and played a couple songs with them.






It was a fun night. After the show we drove Justin home and came home ourselves.

Sunday July 15- Woke up to super foggy weather. We had to go to church early because we get to greet today. After church a quick trip to the store and home. We watched lots of campers leave but we had campers pull in too. It was a super take it easy day.

Monday July 16- Today we took a road trip. There are a couple little neat towns around here we wanted to visit. We drove first to Marquette. They had a casino right on the river we looked a bit but didn't stay. It really was smokey.




Next we drove on to Prairie du Chien. In Wisconsin. We drove around the town and then we spotted Designer Homes. They actually build them here. We have looked at the manufactured homes before. Since we were there we did some looking and got some prices. You never know what will happen and Jeff likes to be prepared. We did see one that we both kind of agreed on.




After looking at the houses we went to get something to eat. After a quick bite we did some exploring and I found a couple really neat shops.




Next stop the little town of McGregor. This town had a really cute downtown area with lots of neat little shops. I went in and found some things I had to have. We also got some walking in. Then to our final destination. Pikes Peak State park. It was a pretty park but the camping there wouldn't have worked for us. It would be too tight for us. We did go look at the beautiful view over looking the river.




We had a fine day of exploring. We made our way back to our park. It is always good to be home. The dogs were really excited to see us too. You would think we were gone for a week.


Tuesday July 17- Since we went on a road trip yesterday, today is my Monday. I got busy and did lots of cleaning out...closets, drawers, and cabinets. Getting rid of all we didn't need. I love to keep things organized especially in my small home. Since we didn't get our couch I figured I needed a different solution. I can't stand looking at that wear on the arms and seat cushions. I came up with an idea. I decided to go in and look at Joann's to see if they had some of the fabric I used for the valances left. Well it was my lucky day. They had a new bolt of fabric and it was on sale for 50% off. I got what I needed and then went to Kohl's looking for throw rugs to make our carpet look better, or cover. Well again they had what I needed and on sale for 50% off. When I came home I was super happy. I got busy right away making the covers for the couch. Not only do they match but it covers everything up. We are happy with the results, and it only cost about $30.00. I think it could last another year.





















What a productive day we had.

Wednesday July 18- Well since I went in to town yesterday I had some cleaning to finish up. I also got Belle's clippers out and gave her a haircut. Then Jeff gave her a shower outside. She looks so much better. It was perfect weather for her. I don't like to make her sit outside in the heat to groom her. She is spoiled. After supper we went in and saw Maddyn. She was just as happy as can be.























Thursday July 19- Woke up to raindrops this morning. Went in to get Hailey. We took our laundry as usual. It rained quite a bit today. We got our errands done and got to watch Hailey. After we went back and picked up Ashton. We drove to Iowa City to go for lunch at Red Lobster. Everyone had a great lunch. Then to Trader Joe's to pick up a few groceries. They have some things that we really love and can't get any where else.



We dropped the kids off at there house. We could see there was bad weather coming our way. When we arrived home the T.V. was running weather warnings. They were still a ways away but they looked horrible. It looked as if they were coming right at us but we got lucky. The people of Marshalltown and Pella, not so lucky. They both got hit with tornado's. They did so much damage. I watched the radar rather close the rest of the night. Jeff went to Palo to play guitar.

Friday July 20- Today it was very cloudy, gray and gloomy. The temperatures were rather cool too. We hung around here, the park most of the day. My hummingbirds were going crazy. I picked up the handheld button feeders and gave it a try. They came right up to me and drank. I had my phone in my pocket. I went and gave Jeff  my phone and went back out to try again. They came back.





















We fixed an early supper and went to town. We brought our chairs and attended Rock The Block at Newbo. We listened to the band Bamboozled. The weather had cleared up and it was still cool. We decided to take Miss Ruby with us. She had a  great time. She was really tired but wouldn't go to sleep because she was afraid she would miss something.
























Saturday July 21- Boy did we jam a lot into this day. We left the park at 9 and stopped to get some breakfast at The Doughnut Experiment. You pick your frosting and toppings. They are warm too. We have drove by this place a number of times but never tried it.

















We didn't waste any time getting to our next destination. Went in to Cedar Rapids to the Marriott. They are having a Buick car show. A guy that Jeff plays with in the Palo band has a 1916 Buick that has been in his family since it was brand new, over 100 years. To make it more special is it is all original. It was super cool to see and hear the stories about how his grandpa traveled all over the country in it. It has over 120,000 miles on it. Now there was a lot of really neat cars to look at as well. We looked around and took some pictures before moving on.




















Next we drove to Galena Illinois. Our first stop here was Ulysses Grant's home. We took the tour. There was not really any charge but they asked for a $5.00 donation per adult. It was quick and really neat. Almost everything in the home was original. Here are some of what we saw.







One to downtown Galena for lunch and some shopping, well looking. We decided to have lunch at Durty Gurt's. It was a great choice, everything was super good and so was the service. We had a burger, fries and an old fashioned milkshake...all good.




After eating, off to explore. Such a neat town. It was super busy but still neat to visit.





















We stayed until 3:00. Then off to Dubuque Iowa's casino Diamond Joe's. They are having a 4 o'clock show. It is a Beatle tribute band, Rubber Soul. The venue was really nice, the band wasn't really our favorite. Still glad we came but by the time it was over I was ready to come home. It was a long day but a fun one. I think we will visit Galena again, maybe during the week when it's not so busy.



Sunday July 22- Well we went to church but had planned to do a whole lot of nothing today. Then at 3 o'clock I received a text from a friend who is driving through town. We ended up driving in and meeting them for an early supper. We met at Zeppelin's. We had a great dinner and conversation. What a great way to end a busy weekend.


Monday July 23- Today was the day we had scheduled the second dose of our shingles shot. We weren't too excited about this because last time my arm killed me and Jeff felt like crap for a few days. Well I had to go in before the shot to get some blood drawn. I told the nurse in there why we were back and she told me that some of the employees there refused to get the second dose of it. They didn't like the way it made them feel. Oh great, Jeff and I had told ourselves maybe it wouldn't be so bad the second time around. Well when we went in to get it the nurse told us it wouldn't be any different. Well at least she didn't sugarcoat it. After leaving the doctor's office we went across the street to Kathy's Pies to get us a pie. Then out to breakfast because I had fasted for blood work. We made our way back and hung around the rig. We both felt find most of the day. Then about bedtime I started feeling chilled, Jeff didn't feel that good either....great.


Tuesday July 24-Oh boy what a miserable night. Neither of us slept well, tossing and turning most of the night. My arm wasn't as sore but I felt horrible. I got up but didn't stay up to long. My head was killing me. So this day was really a bust. We felt horrible the whole day. I decided to give it today but was confident that tomorrow would be better.




Wednesday July 25- Happy Birthday to our first born Seth, he is 39 today....can I be that old? Yes I can. I always start there birthday with a special rendition of Happy Birthday sang by me. They have got to love that. I definitely felt better today and got busy doing somethings I didn't get done yesterday. I also made a cheesecake for the birthday boy. We were meeting the family tonight at Los Compadres for Mexican food. Before going to the restaurant we went by Seth and Katie"s to drop off the cheesecake. Seth, Katie, Ashton, Hailey, Justin, Molly, and Maddyn all made it. We had quite a table full. We got our food ordered and everything was really good, We love this place, the service is as good as the food...clean too. We had a fun celebration.







Thursday July 26- Today is Hailey day. After dropping her off at gymnastics I ran my errands. I made it back to watch the last hour or so. Then took her home to change and get some lunch. Then her and I went on a little shopping adventure. She is getting a new bed pretty soon and has decided she would like a new room. She is thinking mermaid, go figure. I told her I would get some paint and paint her room. Then I would make her a new quilt for her bed that looked like mermaids. Her job was to help pick out fabrics. Our first stop on was the quilt store. She cracked me up because as soon as we walked in she said "I'm in heaven". I thought I was the only one that thought that going in to a fabric store. We went to a few different places and found a few fabrics to start with. She was super good and so much fun to be with. We had a great day.



Friday July 27- I started off my day cleaning the shower house. I going to spend the weekend at Seth's, taking care of there 2 dogs. They are in Chicago at the Blackhawk Convention. I went over late morning. I brought lots of laundry to get done. I also decided to clean the kids rooms. I started with Ashton's. I rearranged everything, I mean everything. It took most of the day. He has a few big hockey team pictures that I wanted to get up on his wall. I think that's what started all this. Well about 4 o'clock Jeff came over with Miss Ruby. We are heading down town to Newbo Market to attend Rock The Block. Really nice weather again. We say a lady, Pat from church and set our chairs by her. Ruby was a big hit with the kids tonight. We actually had our supper there. They have venders set up to take care of all your hunger and thirst needs. We had a brick oven pizza.




We got back to Seth's and then Jeff headed back to the rig I stayed there.


Saturday July 28- Oh boy, I miss my bed. There puppy, which is a bernese mountain dog. So it is not like a puppy at all, she is huge. She also gets up at 4:30. I let her out and back to bed with us. When I got up I needed to get to a Starbucks. I needed some coffee. Then I came back home to finish up Ashton's room and start on Hailey's. Well while I was cleaning I found lots of clothes so more laundry to do. I got finished and felt like I really accomplished something. Hopefully they will stay clean for a few days at least. I went and got a bite to eat for supper and took the rest of the day off.

Sunday July 29- I got up early...3:30 this morning but went back to bed. Then I got dressed for church. I gathered up all my stuff and went out to the campground. I got everything put away before church. We were greeters today. After church went for breakfast. Then back over to let there dogs out. Seth and Katie will be back today. I just didn't want them dogs to be alone for long. They were pretty good after they got used to me.

Waffles
Noodles





















After taking care of there dogs we stopped over to Justin and Molly's to see Maddyn. She was napping so we had to wait awhile. When she got up she was very happy. We also got to witness her crawling skills. We had a nice visit before calling it a day and getting home to our pups.