Camping!

Hello everyone.  We went camping for a couple of days for Dennis to just unwind and relax. This is our “little” trailer that we took out to a KOA in the mountains about 30 minutes from where we’re living in our “big” trailer. There was very little cell reception or Internet, so I missed reading some of your blogs, but I have tried to catch up. I apologize to any that I have still missed.

It was a lovely spot at a KOA up north. The nights were crisp and the days were warm. We did a lot of walking and reading. This is our spot.  Chloe seemed to enjoy it too. Please excuse my finger at the top of the picture. Apparently I still can’t take pictures!  We were virtually alone in this entire loop of the campground. I could hear coyotes during the night and I do believe a bear wandered around our campground, based on the paw prints we saw the next morning.

There is a little lake in the middle of the park.  I don’t know why it is so blurry. I do need to get a new phone. Mine is six years old and I hadn’t realized that until recently when it started acting up.

The trees were so pretty reflecting in the water.

Sunset was absolutely amazing. This picture does not do it justice. The sky was filled with pinks and lavenders and deep purples.

I haven’t even worked very much on my Pimpelliese Shawl. I do have it halfway completed and I’m starting the decreases now. I seem to have lost my knitting and crochet mojo recently. I am doing a lot of crosswords right now. Maybe that’s my way of dealing with stress.

I was sitting outside here at the RV park one evening last week while Dennis was gone and this bird caught my eye. That’s the top of our trailer and this tree was several spaces down the road. The bird was pretty high and sitting on the very tip of the top most branch. It sat there unmoving for almost half an hour. At first I thought it couldn’t be real and then my brain kicked in and I thought there was no way anybody could put anything up there either! It had to be real. And then it finally flew away. Look how blue the sky is. It has been gorgeous here lately.

Dennis‘s sister Karen is still holding on. Hospice did not think she would make it through the weekend, but when I talked to our nephew this morning, she is still here on this earth. Please continue to keep the family in your prayers. This is so difficult for the entire family. Her husband, her children, our kids, especially Mandy, and Dennis‘s mom. Dennis and his brother aren’t doing too well either. It’s very hard for them to see their baby sister like this.  We do realize that death is a part of life and it is inevitable for all of us, but it’s never easy for the people that are left behind.

Dennis had some wonderful conversations with Karen last week when he was there and we are forever grateful that he had that opportunity to spend time with her and his brother.

I’m wishing you all a good Monday. Where we camped last week we weren’t able to see any news so I had no idea what was going on with the hurricane. This morning I saw a news story for the first time and it looks like it has devastated the lives of so many people. I hope all of you down in the south are doing okay.

Many blessings, 

Betsy

National Dog Day

Since today was national doggy day I wanted to share one of my favorite photos of Chloe with you.

She is the best dog ever. Since we moved here to the RV park last week, she has made several friends at the dog park. She looks forward to every evening when it cools down when we meet up with a few of her doggy friends. She can run and play with these much younger dogs like she used to do years ago. We know that she will most likely be our last dog and I love her dearly.  I am so happy that she’s enjoying her time here too.

Dennis made it home today. He drove about 1200 miles yesterday from Omaha to Big Timber, Montana. He finished the drive today. It is so good to have him home, but it was a very emotionally draining trip for him. Not only was it a hard trip driving and sleeping in the truck, but emotionally it was devastating. He was able to spend quite a lot of time with Karen and they were able to say their goodbyes.

Thank you for all of the prayers and good thoughts. We appreciate it more than you would ever know.

And now, I’m off to bed. It’s been a long day.

And finally, to add some humor to your day, I saw this today online but I don’t remember where. I think it was Facebook . If it’s your picture I’m sorry I didn’t give you credit.

Blessings,

Betsy

Getting Settled

We are getting settled into our new home. It was so, so, so hot Monday and Tuesday. They were the hottest days of the year so far and those were the days that we moved. Go figure! But we survived and we are pretty much settled in. Dennis still has to do the semi-permanent sewer hook up when he returns from Nebraska, but we just ran out of time. He was off of work Monday and Tuesday and then went back Wednesday and Thursday. He was swamped and worked 14 hours each day. Then he got up at 5:00 this morning and left for the drive to Nebraska. He just called me and he’s going through Billings, Montana right now. He’s planning to sleep in the backseat of the truck tonight at a truck stop somewhere in South Dakota. If you would say a prayer for his safety I would greatly appreciate it.

I will share some pictures of the outside of our new spot with you. It’s not the view at the lake, but we have made it very comfortable and we met some very nice people already.  Neal and Jenny brought Panda Express for us for dinner last night.  It was almost like old times except we have to keep our distance.  have I said recently how sick and tired I am of COVID-19?

We brought our steps from the lake so Chloe could get in and out of the trailer easily. When it starts snowing they will be a lot easier than the metal trailer steps.  Dennis put the extended doorhandle on our trailer and Larry and Nita‘s trailer a few years ago. It makes a world of difference and makes getting in and out of the trailer much easier.

This was the bistro table we had on our back deck. We’ve had dinner out here twice since we moved in and really enjoy it. At the end of the day it’s very shady over here, even though it’s on the west side. The trailer next-door and the trees above give us plenty of shade.

We had the reclining chairs and table underneath the deck at the house.

You can see the little slide in the background. There’s a young couple with two little children that have been here for two months. They’re leaving at the end of August to head over to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho for two months. He works full-time while they travel around the United States. He does something with computers from their trailer.

I brought all of my flowers from the lake and the little statues that I had around the outside of the house.  We also have the fountain there by the front of the trailer and our grill.  All of the comforts of home are here!

My birdbath came along too, as well as the angel statue. The birds have already found the bird bath and are a joy to watch, especially in the mornings.  I also have two hummingbird feeder‘s mounted on two of the  big windows of the trailer so I can watch the hummingbirds drink.  I love that!

Mandy was going to order some of these ear keepers when I talked to her Wednesday night. I told her I had just been looking at a pattern for them that afternoon and I would make some and send them with her Dad for her,  Piper and anyone else that needed them. The problem was that my buttons are in the storage facility. Somewhere. When it cools off we plan to organize it better but right now I have no idea where they are. I had to go to the eye doctors yesterday morning. Eek!   First doctors visit I’ve had since all of this Covid business began. It wasn’t bad at all and I was driving right by Hobby Lobby so I put on my mask and went in and bought some buttons. This is what I came up with. There are three different sizes to fit different size heads!  They were super easy to make and it took longer to sew the buttons on than it did to crochet them.

Here is Piper getting ready for her first day at school on Tuesday.  First the traditional picture.

Then the COVID-19 picture.  Look at those long legs! She’s going to be a tall beautiful girl. Let me tell you, her Grandpa can’t wait to see her tomorrow. 

It does seem strange to be here without Dennis, especially being in a new place.  It will be a long five or six days, but I am so glad he’s able to go back and see everyone, especially Karen. His brother got there yesterday and they will have some time together, the three of them, before Doug leaves on Monday to go back to Florida.

I’m praying that you all have a wonderful weekend and that you feel God‘s blessings and mercy all around you. I’m also praying for health and safety for each one of you. 

Many Blessings ,

Betsy

Moving Day!

It’s moving day! We’re moving today from the lake to the RV park. Dennis has today and tomorrow off for vacation. He has been busy taking the extra stabilizers out from under the trailer and I’ve been doing laundry. We have a friend who is going to move the trailer for us this afternoon. Our truck is not quite big enough to pull this big trailer. If we decide to hit the road someday, we’ll have to get another truck.  Since Dennis loves his truck and it’s been paid for for years that will be a hard step to take. We do not like owing people money.

I thought I would share a few photos that I took just a few minutes ago. The outside is a true mess. Since Dennis is taking all of the stabilizer jacks down, now the trailer moves me back-and-forth whenever we walk. It’s normally so steady it’s almost like walking around in a house.

The inside is a mess too! We can’t leave anything on counters or heavy things hanging on walls as we go down the road, so I have lots of things packed in a couple of bins. Plus, our bed is covered with things too.

The geraniums are looking beautiful. I’m going to take all the flowers in the back of my car and hopefully they won’t be damaged too much in transit.

Isn’t this gorgeous? I’m sorry about the shadow but it is so sunny today I had to stand in front of the pot just to be able to get the blooms to show up.

Geraniums by the side of the bank are also doing very well. Everything else is so dry and we’re having fires everywhere around us. We water this every day and just look at the bank anyway. It would go up in flames with just a small spark.

The blocks are ones Dennis had extra jacks on under the trailer to stabilize it. We will take those with us to the new park. The small rocks are chunks of granite that I collected the first year we were here. I had those arranged around the front of the hitch with river rock inside the circle and flower pots around the hitch itself. It made the front look much nicer.  Our spot is already spoken for and we are leaving two piles of rock like this for the new lady to put around her hitch. She said she wants to do the same thing.  Her trailer will be in our place tonight!  With the view that we have it is a very in demand spot!

Our view. One last look.  The new place will be absolutely nothing like this. The trailers are in a row right next to each other with no view at all. But, it’s much closer to town for Dennis to drive in the winter and the amenities are nice. There is an indoor pool and a dog park and the people we’ve met seem very nice.

Chloe has no clue what’s happening. She has been following us around on our heels all morning as we get things ready. This was her a few minutes ago. She’s exhausted.

I know people move trailers all of the time and it’s not a big deal. However, we’ve been in this spot for nine years! This trailer has only been here for one year, but we have a lot of things that we have to put away. And when you are permanently in a spot, you leave a lot more things sitting out on your counters and more decorative objects around too. Once we get into the new place we will probably be there at least until the beginning of 2022.

 Oh, did I mention that it is supposed to be 104°F here today? Of course we are moving on the hottest day of the year. It’s already 86° in the trailer and it’s 10:45 AM. Fun times ahead!

This is a bit short but I have to get moving. Jeremy will be here in two hours and I still have one more load of laundry to finish and some more things to pack up. Take care everyone and be safe.

Blessings,

Betsy

It’s done!

We signed on our house yesterday. It’s done! Well, almost. Apparently it won’t fund until tomorrow or Friday, which means we don’t get our money until then. That’s okay, it’s just going to go into an account until we get ready to buy some thing else someday.

Goodbye sweet home. We’ve made some wonderful memories here and admittedly, when I dropped off the keys yesterday and walked through the empty rooms, I cried many tears.

I’m going to miss my flowers and my rhubarb patch.  Dennis will miss his shed which Piper named “Papa‘s House.”

We move from the lake next Monday. There’s not very much we can do until that day, so it feels like it’s been a hurry up and stop kind of week.

I did finish the prayer shawl that I’ve been making.

It is 5 feet long and 2 feet wide. The top photo is more true to color.

I delivered it to the church this morning and it will be given to my friend Sunday morning. We are still not going to “in person” services because of my health conditions, but a few people are starting to attend on Sunday mornings.

My sweet friend Lorraine sent me these sweet bags and hearts. When she showed the fabric on her blog, I fell in love with it. Aren’t they just wonderful?  Lorraine and her husband Gerard live on an island in the middle of the ocean between Scotland and the UK. She has a blog, “Mama’s Mercantile” which you can find on my side bar.

I also received this beautiful card from my dear friend Shaz who lives in Australia. She makes all of her cards herself despite her many physical ailments. Isn’t it lovely? And my favorite color. The Lord IS my fortress. Shaz also has a blog, “Calligraphy Cards, Shaz in Oz” that you can also find on my side bar.

Dennis‘s sister is not doing very well and hospice has been contacted. He is planning to drive back to Nebraska next weekend after we get settled at the new park. My doctors still say I can’t go. I would appreciate your prayers for Karen and the entire family and for Dennis as he drives such a long distance by himself. He is planning to sleep in the truck so he doesn’t have to go into any hotels. He also wants me to pack him sandwiches so he doesn’t have to stop and eat anywhere. It makes me very, very nervous, but I know and I understand why he needs to do this. It breaks my heart that I can’t go with him.

I’m trying very hard to keep up with all of your blogs. I’m hoping my Internet service will be better at the new RV park when we get settled. Sometimes it’s hit or miss here at the lake. Wishing you all a wonderful Wednesday. 

Stay well and healthy. 

Blessings, Betsy

This and That

We’re still having some hot, hot weather and we’re still waiting to close on the house, so there are a few days of a lull before we move on August 17 to the new RV park.  Meanwhile, we have been making a few improvements to make the trailer more livable long-term. I ordered a spice rack on Amazon Sunday and it arrived yesterday!  This is going to make my life much easier. The spices have all just been thrown in a box in the pantry and I would have to root through them whenever I wanted something. I still don’t have a lot of them that I used at home but I brought the ones that I use most frequently.

We have also ordered lots of different command hooks that we’ve used throughout the camper. They have command hanging thingys for just about everything! I have hung my broom with them and our towels and soaps in the shower too! Our key holder is also made by command.  Dennis ordered two vent covers for the top of the trailer that arrived today. Those will protect our vents when it rains and from snow sitting on them in the winter.

Have you ever heard of a Berkey?  It is a water filtering system. Apparently you can take water from a river and run it through this Berkey and it will be drinkable. I must admit, it has made the water here at the lake much more drinkable this year. The first few years we were here it was very good, but the last six or seven years it has tasted terrible.  It was definitely a good investment. We know campers who have used this to filter water from their trips in Canada all the way down into southern Mexico. They have never gotten sick from any water.  We bought this last February and we are really glad we did. Supposedly the filters last for thousands of fill-ups. At our rate of consumption it should last us about eight years before we have to buy new filters!

It is starting to look bare here at our lake place. We gave our patio furniture to Paul and Lori who just built a new deck at home. All you see here now is my clothes dryer with a towel and a pair of Dennis’s jeans on it!  We have given the gazebo and the table with six chairs to the people who are moving into our spot.  After all, we can’t use it at the new RV park, our spot will be much, much smaller there and they can get some good use out of it here.  We also have a brand new roof and screens for the gazebo that they’ll be able to put on it next year.

I have no idea what flower this is. It was growing in the flowerpot with the geraniums but it was crowding them out. I moved it to its own pot and it’s filling it up too.  This is an 18 inch pot!

This has been happening all afternoon. These two planes have been practicing touch and goes on the lake.

*** Edited to add... I just found out that we actually have a wildfire burning right on the other side of the lake and I can see the smoke billowing right now. We are now up to four planes and they aren’t practicing touch and goes, they are picking up water to fight the wildfire. 😲😮😲

Our son-in-law Brad, who is a pilot and certified to fly float planes, says that these are some of the most dangerous planes to land and takeoff. If you hit the water the least bit wrong the plane can flip very easily.

I tried to add a video I took of all four planes taking off and landing and picking up water but for some reason Blogger won’t let me add a video.

Remember this?

I frogged the 18 inches of shawl that I had completed because using two strands of yarn was making it very thick so it had no drape and it hurt my hands terribly to knit.

It is now becoming this.

Much more fun to knit. I’m using a single strand and size 8 needles. I have no idea why the pictures are so blurry. I’ll try to take a better one next time.

My friend who is receiving this shawl had her surgery this morning. It was a four hour surgery where they removed two larger tumors and numerous smaller ones from her diaphragm down into her abdomen. Please pray along with me that the results of the biopsy will be that they are benign tumors.

Finally, I’ll leave you with the photo of Miss Piper. I asked Melba from the Henny Penny blog if she would send a couple of her dolls to Piper. You all know how much Piper loves her babies. This face says it all. Mandy sent me the cutest video of her opening the package and I sent it on to Melba. Thank you again Melba for making my little girl so happy!

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13

Blessings,

Betsy