Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Time To Update

Saturday we went to visit Dave’s Aunt Wilma, she is going to be 90 years old this August 19th and she is just doing great. We sat and visited then went to lunch and she just gets around like a champ, Steve, one of her sons, is having an open house for her in August , hopefully we can make it back up. OK That Was Saturday.
Sunday we got together with Dave’s half sister, Virginia, we visited for a little while then went to lunch. It was great seeing her again but it is hard visiting because she is deaf and I don’t believe she is around hearing people as much so she doesn’t speak as much as she use to when we were around her. She had lost her hearing when she was very young but use to be able to hear that’s why she knew how to talk.
After we left Virginia, we went driving around Auburn and found out they had a big time Rodeo going on at the Fairgrounds so we decided to go to it. I believe it was the first rodeo I have ever been too, even though, my cousin, Baxter, was a big Cowboy guy. Anyway, it was fun but of course I kept rooting for the calf’s to get away on Steer Wrestling, Team Roping, Tie Down Roping and for sure I was rooting for the Bull’s on the Bull Riding. It was great fun, something I would do again, but the people watching is the best past time of all, do these people not look at themselves before they walk out of their houses? Too funny and very entertaining.
Monday, we drove to Paradise California and visited with Dave’s nephew John and his wife Colleen; we got there late morning and stayed all day. John was diagnosed with a tumor, growing in his tail bone and it is cancerous, in the beginning of March, I believe. He is only 52 and going thru a series of chemo treatments for the next 9 months at UC Davis.
Today, Wednesday, we are driving up to Oakland and seeing my Uncle Bob and Jim, will write more tomorrow.

Friday, April 25, 2008

NO PICKLE BALL

Forgot to mention, this RV Park doesn't even have a Tennis Court, so there is no way we can play Pickle Ball. Our night time entertainment has been Ping Pong and Pool. I can kick Dave's ass in ping pong but he kicks mine in playing pool, although, I must say I did win one game in the last 15 games that we played.

Bodies Revealed & Marshall Gold Discovery

I forgot to mention that Tuesday night after walking around the Resort (ha ha) it started to sprinkle but the next morning it was really raining and cold. Bummer, leave Bakersfield and end up in cold weather again. It did stop raining and like I said in the last blog we went into Rocklin to Camping World and got the new dish thing so we are able to get TV.

Thursday, we went into Sacramento and went to “BODIES REVEALED” An Exhibition of Real Human Bodies, which is being shown around the world. One hell of a fascinating exhibit, look it up on the web and if you get a chance to go, it is worth the $26.00 to see it. www.bodiesrevealed.com
Kim and Danny being in the medical field would really find this fascinating but even if you aren’t in the medical field it is really something to see. One thing to remember, it is 99% men’s bodies and some are well hung and some are not, but all the bodies are of oriental descent, very small frames. It is really something to see the whole human body and I mean every bit of the human body.

Today, Friday, we went to Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park. This is where James Marshall found some gold flakes and sparked one of history’s largest human migrations. Oh my gosh, I’m back to history lessons again, Native People, Chinese Immigrants, African American settlers, how we settled some of the Mexican American stuff, enough is enough. I guess, living full time in a motor home I am going to have to learn to like history, sorry but I think I’m too old for this stuff.
At night here in this Resort(ha ha) Dave and I go and practice Ping Pong, then we play Pool. I have won 1 game so far, but I do come close, I just shoot and get lucky with the shots, Dave is really good at the game, I think he likes it better then the physical games we play because I have good eye coordination then he does, besides the age thing. Give him credit for still putting up with me though because I sure don’t give him a break. (like hell I don’t)

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

WE HAVE LANDED IN LOTUS, CALIF.

Sorry, I should have written yesterday, but we are now at a Thousand Trails RV Park called Ponderosa Resort in Lotus, California. It's another 1000 Trails park that is way back in the hills, with lots of trees, we were able to get our satelite dish for the computer to work, but no cell phone service and no TV. This place has one little section that has full hook-up and lots of trees and that is where we are at. The rest of the resort (ha ha) is right on, or near, the South Fork American River and it tends to get flooded. They have the snow melting from the Sierra's and lots of rain that's why they don't have sewer hookups on the lower part of the resort.
Today we drove into Rocklin to Camping World and purchased a new satelite dish for the TV, one of the ones that you put out under all the trees with a cable reaching back to the RV TV so now we have TV again. I guess after Mexico, we don't want to go without TV again? No, actually we need one because of all the 1000 Trail Parks that are so out of the way from city life it really will come in handy. Anyway, we went into Rocklin, then went to the visitor center to see what is around this area. We then went to Down Town Auburn and walked around and just checked out things. We got back in the afternoon and hooked up the new satelite dish, yea, TV again, and hung around.
Tonight, I said to Dave, we didn't get a nap today, and he said it is the 1st day we didn't work hard, we are away from Bakersfield, no dog, we could just relax for once.
That's it for now. American Idol is on, and got to see who gets kicked off.

Monday, April 21, 2008

Last Day in Bakersfield at least until May 27, 2008

It's Monday night and Kim is fixing us our farewell dinner, which I'm sure Danny is very excited to see us leave. He is getting tired of us working him to death, he seems to think we have been here 6 months already, or at least it feels that way. We head out tomorrow for the Sacramento area for a couple weeks to see Dave's side of the family. This afternoon I went with Kim to her doctors appointment and she has gained another 9 lbs. so I believe she is up about 30 lbs now. The doctor said normally women gain around 35 lbs but Kim is going to go way over that, which he said is just fine because she is tall. People have been remarking to her that she seems kind of small for as pg as she is and the doctor said to tell them "Thank you" She measures out to 28 weeks and this Friday she will be 28 weeks so the doctor said she is just fine. He also said the 1st baby is normally held in close to the body, you don't get real big, because the stomach muscles are tight and not use to being stretched out. We all listened to the heart beat and heard the baby kicking around he said everything looks good.
About the broken window, Danny was throwing trash away and noticed all the glass and kept asking Dave where all the glass came from. Danny walked around until he said the one window looked new, but he thought Dave had done it. When Kim got home Saturday night Dave couldn't stand it and pulled my blog up for her to read, shit head.
David, Jodi and Riley came up on Saturday afternoon and after lunch the boys went to the casino and Jodi, Riley and I went shopping for stuff for the baby shower. After shopping we girls went by the RV Park so Riley could do some swimming until the guys got back. We waited until Kim got home from work to have dinner, then afterward we all piled into Jodi's van and went to an ice cream parlor, it was a fun evening. Sunday Danny and I cooked a Mexican breakfast at the house then it was back to work on the house, and David and the gang had to get back on the road. Sunday night Dave and I went and picked up all the paint for the house so when we get back we will have something to do all summer long. Although Danny said he will have the facer board (don't know how to spell it) done by the time we get back, yea right, will see.

Friday, April 18, 2008

Bummer Busted Window

Every morning after I take Valley out walking we have been going over to the house and working for 2 to 4 hours, or until it gets too hot. In the afternoons we have been playing pickle ball then hit the jacuzzi at night. Every once in a while I manage to make it over to the gym. This morning while starting to clean up I was trying to take the ladder down, it's one of those ladders that can extend up really high, and I had never taken it down before. Anyway, as I was trying to get the one slide to come down, Dave made a comment about it isn't that hard to do and started to say that I should move it 1st, but of course I didn't hear that comment and the one slide came flying down and the ladder then fell forward, right thru the spare bedroom window. That was one sound I never wanted to hear, but there it was, Dave just started laughing and said "Oh well, shit happens" of course I wasn't a happy camper. Dave went in and called a window repair place and I am now sitting at the house waiting for them to show up, Dave went out to Home Depot for more supplies for the house. I don't think I will tell Kim and Danny, they will have to read it on the blog to find out about it.
The other day quess who showed up at the RV Resort, the owner of 3 Way Chevrolet again, I wrote about them last year when we were here because they were here too. They are the couple that drive their corvette to the RV restaurant just about every day and who also have 2 Great Danes that are show dogs. Too funny, there is another couple that have a red and black RV that showed up and they were also here when we were here last year, such a small world, ha ha.
That's it for now, we leave on Tuesday and Valentine is going to stay with Kim while we are gone for a month, will see how I can handle not having a dog with us, I sure hope Valley's collar fits Dave for when I take him out for his morning walks.

Monday, April 14, 2008

At least I get to keep my tan

It’s time for another posting, another week in Bakersfield and the weather is starting to get hotter. This last week we weren’t at Kim and Danny’s too much until Friday. We just stayed around the coach, did some shopping, played pickle ball and rode bikes at the beginning of the week but then on Wednesday we took our bikes in for an overhaul, got them back on Friday. Friday Dave and I started sanding the facer boards in the front of the house. Then we decided to get a big power washer and spray down the house 1st to clean it all up. Dave started the washing on Friday afternoon, then when Danny got home from work he started playing with it to wash all the mud off of his car. Saturday, Dave and I went over early to wash and sand the house, Dave did the washing and I was up on the ladder sanding the wood. Danny mowed the lawn then at 10:30 Kim and Danny left because it was baby register day, Kim has been trying to get Danny to go with her and they just don’t seem to have the time to do it. Dave and I worked until around 2pm then gave up it was just too hot. The kids got back about 4 then at 5:30 we left to go to the car races.
Sunday, Dave did some sanding and I did digging up trees and picking thru rocks to save to use when we redo the front yard. Oh, forgot , Saturday Dave got rid of the Xmas Tree in the front of the house, cut the sucker down and boy did it open up the yard. The house looks a lot better without that tree, even Kim, who didn’t want it to go bye bye, had to admit it does look better without the tree.
Anyway, at 10am, after the kids got out of church, we met them for brunch, then when we got back Dave and Danny moved the patio stuff out then washed down the rest of the house. Kim and I worked on raking thru the rocks for saving for the front yard but it was just too hot so we had to quit. See the pregnant girl doing some work. Dave went to the dump with all the bushes and trees we took out then it was back to the coach.
Today, Monday, we hung around, rode bikes and played pickle ball it was another hot day, tomorrow it is going to be cooler so we will go and finish, hopefully, sanding the wood and get it prepped for painting, which we plan on doing ourselves. We leave next Tuesday for Sacramento, David, Jodi and Riley are coming up this weekend so more than likely the painting of the house won’t get done until we get back which is on May 27th. Damn, you know I am getting too old for this stuff, we have to win the lottery so we can pay to have someone do all this work, oh well. At least I get to keep my tan going with doing all of this work.
That’s it for now, will update again before we hit the road.

Monday, April 07, 2008

Happy 53rd B/Day Marty plus Happy 29th Anniversary Marty and Dayna

Been staying somewhat busy since I last wrote. Last Wednesday Dave and I started tearing out the built in cabinet by the fire place at Kim's. That cabinet, come to find out, was put in by the builder of the house because once the cabinet was out to could see that they had never finished bricking the fire place plus it had an unfinished wall. Thursday, Dave worked on patching the wall and fixing the unfinished fire place, I was doing the kids laundry and cleaning their house, no bathrooms though, I hate bathrooms. Friday Dave primed the wall for painting and in between we ran to the park to play pickle ball. Friday night Danny painted the wall to match all the other walls, with the cabinet gone it looked really good, after all it was a 30+ year old cabinet. Saturday Danny mowed the lawn while Dave worked on something, but damn if we can remember. I took off later to Longs and Danny and Dave worked on the kid's taxes. Saturday night Dave and I went to Bakersfield Speedway for the car races, Danny said he would stay home and cook Kim dinner when she got off work, which he didn't because he was playing X-Box and lost track of time.
Sunday Dave, Danny and I went to breakfast, Kim had to work again, then did some running around for some padding for the wood flooring they needed to put in from where we took the cabinet out. When we were leaving Home Depot, Dave had bought some spray paint for the ceiling, where the cabinet was, and we were in self checkout. Of course the spray paint set off the alarm for the manager, I wasn't paying attention but the manager was asking Danny for his drivers license, Dave looked over and said the spray paint was for him, why did he need Danny's license, the manager said "Oh, are you with them?" meaning Danny, and Dave said YES! Prejudice, weird seeing right in front of your face, we laughed it off but if you really thought about it, it really wasn't funny. Brown skin, shaved head and dark sun glasses on your head, it really makes you think about how you really perceive things, does that sound right? Hopefully you know what I'm trying to say, I know with someone covered in tats, I'm very prejudice, they could be great people but I look down at them, which really isn't right. Enough of that crap.
Sunday Dave and Danny finished the floor then we started moving the desks and table around. We made the dining room back into a dining room, we moved my mom's old desk into the alcove where the cabinet used to be, now that will be the computer desk again. It looks really good with the changes that have been done, it really opens up the house.
Today, Monday, Lowes came by and measured the 3 bedrooms for new carpet, the baby's room needs to be done really bad so we might as well do the other 2 rooms too. When we get back at the end of May, Dave has this great plan, so we can save money, is that he and I will paint the whole outside of the house, because it needs it really bad. I think that's it, I'm all caught up again.

Happy 53rd Birthday to my brother Marty, and Happy 29th Anniversary to Dayna and Marty.

Tuesday, April 01, 2008

April 1st-Happy Anniversary to us/Happy Birthday to Jim Mello

Today is our 30th wedding anniversary, 30 years, boy it went by fast. We have had our good times and bad, up and downs, but all in all it’s been, and still is, great. Thank goodness too, with the little space we live in now it would have been over a long time ago. As my brother, Mike, said don’t leave him now he relies on the GPS systems too much and he could get lost forever if he were on his own.

Happy 68th Birthday to James Mello, Uncle Bob’s partner of 34 years.

This morning after my walk and workout we went and played pickle ball, just marked up a tennis court again and played for over an hour. Tonight we will go out for Japanese food, Kim and Danny both work late so the 4 of us will go out tomorrow. The RV Park here delivered a bottle of wine and some of their logo glasses for our anniversary, very nice of them.

Last I wrote it was Kim’s birthday and we had cooked dinner for her since she worked late. Wednesday the construction had started and he finished up on Friday afternoon. Dave primed the wall and Danny painted the wall so everything looked good again. I know they wanted to knock out the whole wall between the den and living room but it is a bearing wall and there was no way they could do it without it costing a fortune. They ended up cutting to big squares out of the wall and it looks really good, really opens it up. Saturday the 4 of us drove down to Simi Valley and met a bunch of people at El Patio for lunch. Kim and Danny then left and went to North Hollywood to visit friends and to spend the night at Danny’s parents. Dave and I went over to John and Amy’s and visited for a few hours, we even went next door to our old house and got a tour of what has been done to it since we left. The people that bought it from us just got done spending 50K redoing the pool area and backyard and they have also made some nice changes to the inside of the house too.
Dave and I stayed at the Marriott then on Sunday we met up with Jesica and the girls, David, Jodi, Kim, Danny, and Danny’s parents at Home Town Buffet for breakfast before heading back to Bakersfield.
Dave set up a blog for Kim, let’s see if she uses it, I think she will be worst then Spanky on updating it.
Berlyg.blogspot.com