We're Still Here

Funny what three days without wifi does to your blog updates!  We had cell service, but picture uploads just went in circles, so I gave up.  Which means I need to review the last three days for ya.

Golf, Eat, Baseball, Eat, Golf and we are now eating again.  

We had a terrific three days visit with Tom's brother Jim and his wife Doty, and nephew Darren who is temporarily over in the US again from Germany.  

The first golf was a fun afternoon together, the baseball was the infamous Rockies game you saw on TV news last night where the Brewers scored THREE runs on a wild pitch, and today's golf was at the Eisenhower course at the USAFA.  

Tom has been wanting to play this course since he retired, and finally he did.  The weather went from sunny to showers to thunderstorms to windy to sunny again in four hours, but we got all 18 holes in.  

We are currently relaxing in the Beach House watching the USA-Portugal soccer game (in Spanish because we get Univision by antenna, but not ESPN).

We should be home tomorrow.  The leak from last trip has not reared it's ugly head on this trip, so we are continuing to 'investigate', and that loud pole with the announcements.....we were informed it is a 20 mile pole.  Yes, it is very loud.

On the road Again

Seems like we were hardly home before it was time to leave again.  We are doing a short trip up to Colorado to see Jim and Doty before they head back to Lower Alabama.  We are spending a night on the grounds of the US Air Force Academy on our way up, mostly so Tom can check out the golf course.  We have a pine forest location, but occasionally you see gliders or tow planes flying overhead.  We are just a stone's throw from the stadium, but it is everything seems far away and remote from our tucked away corner.  The office has signs warning of bears in the area!

ETA-7 pm update:  We have discovered the train tracks run somewhere about 1/4 mile east of the campground.  Not that much noise from the train wheels, but you do hear the whistle, which the train HAS to blow going through the base because they have bears and cougars and it supposedly scares them off the tracks.  Not sure how often they run, but so far we have had three trains in six hours, and the office has a notice in their materials that 'the Air Force has no control of the timing or frequency of the trains'.  Well, OK, we have endured worse noise in cities, and we are only here for one night.

 I had forgotten what daily life is like onboard a military base.  If you don't know, 'colors' is played at the end of the day, and all movement comes to halt while the flag is hauled down and the anthem plays.  Our idyllic camp spot is maybe 50 yards from a 75 ft tall pole (hidden among the trees) and colors is played at full volume out of one of perhaps a dozen speakers.  That is fine, just a little loud, but you want the sound to carry as far as the next pole, which I think must be at least half a mile away. Could be more.  Taps is supposedly played at sunset, and I am not sure what time they do Reveille in the morning.

Then the lovely blue sky turned grey with thunderclouds.  We heard some thunder, and about two minutes later comes this announcement, again at full volume.  "Attention this is USAFA command, lightning has been spotted within a five mile radius.  You are directed to take shelter immediately.  Command OUT".  Well, OK, I kinda thought the cadets, some of the smartest people on the planet, were smart enough to figure that out themselves from the thunder, but maybe the announcement was for the visiting public.  Except the announcement came on again every time there was a thunderclap.  

The sky has now cleared, and I can see blue sky peeking through the fluffy white clouds once again.  The rain has stopped, and the trees have stopped swaying.  Storm is over, and we know it for sure because the pole just screamed "Attention this is USAFA Command.   All Clear.   Command Out."

I keep giggling every time the pole yells "Command Out".   Tom is wondering if there is cutoff time for announcements, but he doesn't have earplugs and I do.  ☺️

Number 32

Yesterday was our 32nd anniversary.  For those of you who have not known us for a gazillion years here is a 'then and now' photo.  Who are those skinny, unwrinkled youngsters on the right???

All I can say is take note all you 20-something nieces and nephews......you too will post a picture like this one day.  

We received a wonderful unexpected present on  Facebook yesterday.  I am copying the link here for those of you who don't follow FB that often:

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10204032450681379&id=1527206164

All I can say is we are blessed to be here, and blessed to have friends like these.

Well...not so fast

Turns out we have two leaks.  The bigger one we fixed.  The other, hopefully smaller, is under the toilet in a completely inaccessible place behind wood panels.  So we need to go to a dealer, have them remove the toilet and find which of the five possible clamps is so very slightly loose that the leak only manifests itself when tilted to the right and/or the temperature goes below 60.  At least it is covered by warranty.

We are back home for a few days and then heading up to Colorado to visit Tom's brother Jim before he and Doty head back to Alabama.  We will send more from our next jaunt.

Jemez Mountain Cabin

Very close to home, a little over an hour's drive, sit the Jemez Mountains.  (If you want to sound like a local, you need to know the correct pronunciation is 'HAY-muss', not 'huh-MEZ').  This is the region of the Valles Caldera National Preserve, Bandelier National Monument, Jemez Springs/River, part of the Santa Fe National Forest and the town of Los Alamos is just over on the other side.  It is also the closest mountain escape for us west-side-of-Albuquerque residents.  Tall pines, lush meadows, spring flowers in June that disappeared from our yards back in March or April.

Blue flax in the meadow behind us.

We are in a campground we had previously visited and car-camped in a decade or so ago, but it was refurbished a couple of years back.  It now has paved roads, nicely graveled campsites, retaining walls, new tables, concrete fire rings, new grills and six sites even have water and electric hookups.  Before it was just dirt sites and roads, which were OK, but this is much improved.  

We are lucky and were able to reserve one of the water and electric sites, which means we have easy living.  It is so peaceful and pretty here, with the wind whistling through the tops of the trees, the smell of the pines and the birds chirping.  Last night we enjoyed the bat show at sunset as they swooped high above the trees chasing the bugs.  The creek runs about 30 yards behind our Beach House, and Tom might go trout fishing while we are here.  I figure he has to catch about 10 pounds of trout before he breaks even on the cost of the 'couple extra things I need for the tackle box'.

He had intended to go fishing this morning, but when we arose we found a little water puddle on the floor, maybe a 1/4 cup.  It took us a while to figure out the exact source and how fix it.  Long story short, it was a tiny little leak from a 'loose' clamp on a water supply hose that had to be tightened less than an eighth of a turn.  But the hose was in the bathroom, behind the toilet and until we found it we were thinking we would be facing a toilet repair and even contemplated leaving here tonight to get back home and take the Beach House to the local dealer for repair.  The leak probably has been going on sporadically for the entire time we have had the Beach House, but it is so slow we did not see it until we parked on a slight slope on the downhill and to the right.  We had seen some water on the floor in previous trips, but we attributed it to splashing from the sink or the dog's water bowl.  So we are relieved we don't have a major repair, and a little proud that we were able to track down the source ourselves (Go Tom!)

We have a couple new additions to the Beach House.  Since we bought this rig earlier than originally planned all because of Hercules, we added a small memory of him so he is always in the Beach House with us:

Hangin' around in the kitchen, because that is where the food is.

The second addition is a sign from Tom's sister, Gigi.  It is just perfect and exactly what we have been looking for:

The lighting makes it hard to read, but it says "BEACH HOUSE" and is even color-coordinated with our paint job.

Back Home Again

Actually, we have been home nearly 2 weeks now, but I got a note from regular reader Barbara, and she said she wondered where we were. So I guess it's time to catch you all up. 

We have been home doing chores and trying to avoid the heat. Yesterday, Tom completely took apart the toilet in the guest bath. We had a very small leak from the tank to the bowl and he decided to repair it and everything else, all at the same time.  The toilet was completely apart and there was just a gaping hole in the floor.  I would have taken a picture, but we were both afraid it would always look that way if I did. Suffice to say everything is back together working normally and there are no leaks!  But as you can see it kind of exhausted him.

I wanted to add my thanks again to all of you for your condolences on Hercules. We have saved all the cards and have placed them on the table for now, alongside his ashes until we figure out the next step.

We are lucky to have our neighborhood Rent-A-Dog, Rosebud, with us for a couple of days. She belongs to the neighbors across the street, but thinks of us as her third home, with more toys.  It is nice to have a critter around again, especially one as smart as this.  Here she is playing camouflage dog on the blanket and pretending to sleep.  Notice the fully alert eyes, however.....she tracks every single move I make, waiting for an instruction.

Next project will likely be re-doing the backyard landscaping, starting with a replacement drip system since the first one is around 10 years old, hardened and weathered beyond patching.  But with this weather, one can only work outside between 5-7am and maybe 7-8 pm.  I will keep you updated on our progress.