Victoria Day at North Whidbey RV Park

This was a long weekend for our neighbors up north (and we are a very close place to "get away to" for them) so we celebrated with Canadian flags and a nice pancake breakfast Sunday morning.


Barb the park manager and Sue a resident here do all the work.

Pirate Parrots and Other Nautical Type Stuff

Even tho it was a bit cloudy with "sun breaks" threatening( it happens up here) today was the Anacortes Waterfront Festival.
The hightlite for us was the Pirate Parrots. It was fun educational and had what I so Love. A PIRATE.


Chris actually has 70 parrots all in different stages of training but all obviously love and trust him.
And then of course there was the boat building,


And boat floating.


And just another example of what you do with a kayak and a few crazy friends.


I think it's "kayak polo"....but I not sure.

Getting Anywhere Requires a Bridge or a Ferry

It's Mother's Day, the sun is shining and we've been in Washington 2 weeks. It's time to go to Port Townsend.
You start with a short ferry ride from Keystone .


And because it's such a special day there was live music.


While the guys played golf and got to touch base with Jeannie (good friend , former employer, and creative force behind "Potpourri Northwest",an awesome interior design shop in P.T.) and my aunt Betts in Port Angeles.
I'm not sure if this next picture will make sense to anyone that doesn't know the story about Tim's home so this is for all who do.

All that cool stuff he was accumulating looks great when he gets his hands on it and the time to put it together. It's a true work in progress.
Now that we are back in the area we'll be able to watch it evovle.
But tomorrow is a work day so we can't miss the boat back home.

Deception Pass State Park

The coolest thing about where we are staying is the fact we are almost surrounded by Deception Pass State Park.
We try to get out and explore the park everyday(remember it stays light this time of year quite late) so taking Ariel out for a good walk after work is no problem. On the weekends we really go nuts.


Straight west is Cranberry Lake. Here you can see the lake water on the left and the straits of Juan de Fuca on the right. It's handy coz you kayak in salt water then walk across the parking lot and rinse the boat off in fresh water while checking out the new kids in the area.



Ariel loves it...coz of course this is a state park and dogs are everywhere.


Taking a break, and then its off again....Did I mention geocaching? There are a lot of very active cachers in the area. New ones popping up everyweek and this seems to be a very popular place to hide them. It's so much fun but we have noticed the dense canopy of trees is adding an additional twist.(finding a clearing in the trees to get a signal)

Week One - Washington

Getting used to a new job in a new area isn't really that hard. Everything is so overwhelming at times it doesn't sink in till a couple days later.
The area is awesome in itself. our drive to work is only 25 min.(Not freeway)
Over Deception Pass bridge,




This is my view heading north to work. We go from Whidbey Is. to Fidalgo Is.
Thru forests so dense if there really is a Sasquatch I wouldn't see "em. ( In some places it's kinda like Florida except no gators, cottonmouths and alot more hilly and cooler!!)
After passing through fields of hay and dairy cattle we arrive in Burlington... and a Fred Meyer remodel.
The people here seem exceptionally friendly.
This is Ryan the lucky"Dog " that get to ease us into the new world of remodels with Fixtures Northwest (the company we just joined)


We've already had a few firsts.... like the smell of brand new fork lift.


Yes they are out there...like baby pidgeons, you just don't see them till they are older.
And the sunshine..I've got a bit of a sunburn, something I definitely didn't get while we were in northern Ca...go figure!
To top off the week we spent an afternoon and evening at Claire an Annie's.


We are all so good at having fun...eating drinking and just plain enjoying life!

Settling Into Our New Home

Whew in a mere 5 days we arrived at our new job and home..... well
Thursday April 27 we were hooked up in Fidalgo Bay RV Park.
A really nice park near Anacortes Wa. We were close to the water and a great hiking path, not too far from the job site and resonably priced but we do need wifi and enough room to open the awning and set up a BBQ.( After all this is our home for how ever long.)

Here's John and Ariel out geocaching near the park.
Friday we got to meet with the owners and our new bosses. Jared and Tiffany of FixturesNorthwest.
Saturday it rained so it was off to the stores looking for rain gear...oops I guess we must have left it in the desert at the cabin. The rain didn't stop the 1st day of fishing season from bringing out the crowds... the little lakes were packed.
Sunday we moved to our new( and hopefuly) home for the next several months.
North Whidbey RV Park is like a park and Barbara the manager has been so sweet. We started in one spot and by Monday after work we had moved to a permanent spot where we can have the tool trailer right here with us and hooked up to power!

Just Enough Time To Say Hi

We had just enough time to visit , get hugs and check out Wendy's new home.


Wendy is as close to a daughter as I will ever get. Sabrina was generous enough to share her and Kendric(aka Roscoe) with me.


And then it was off on the road again.

Although John and I have, and always have had this insatiable need to travel , it has taken us to so many great places we have called home. Following him north past Mt. Shasta.


barely visable here brought back a ton of memories. We have been lucky enough to live on both coasts , Lake Tahoe, the Cascades and the desert SW. Now we are heading north again.
Tonight we are in Bend Or. parked in front of Dave and Sabrina's.

The last time we were here the rig was smaller and the street less busy, but the hugs and hospitality are the same.


Here's her new front yard.(and that 's Sabrina and John checking out her new GPS. aha another convert to geocaching!)
And to top it off one of there neighbors has a wifi router and told me to help myself. Cool

Dust off the GPS

Enter N 48 28.9400
W 122 36.5873
Hit "Go To" and hang on! After almost 2 mos. of visiting friends and finishing the building projects we'd come here to do we are continuing on.
Next stop, Washington state and a new job with a new company in a place pretty close to our hearts.
It was the 1st place we lived after leaving Tahoe a mere 10 years ago.
Yeah ! More old friends( I use the term loosely) to visit and things to do that we missed out on last time.
Thanks Dick, Joanne and the rest of the Red Bluff RV Park crew for a great time.

Ships Passing In the Night

Like so many of our friends that Rv getting together in the same place at the same time can be tricky. Even tho Chris and Lou still live and work in Redding Ca. we haven't gotten together it quite a few years.
But they are alive and traveling again.... they also have been voted "He who dies with the most toys wins". A kinda sick quote that a few years ago seemed much to real. Great to get hugs and see them playing with the worst of us.


With any luck we'll be seeing more of them in Az. in the winter...OHOOOOO!!

The Williams Pergola North

Just like Arizona the summers in Redding Ca. can pretty hot, so Tom and Brenda decided we should build a pergola in thier back yard up north also.
It starts like this.


and ends like this( It will be white when they paint it...but till they have a few dry days this is it)

Debbie's New Carport

It doesn't rain constantly. We do get that occasoinal tease of sunshine, so a week or so ago we removed the old roof from the pergola.


and yesterday and today we put a whole new roof on it.


Thats our mark on Red Bluff Rv Park. Cool huh?
Of course we didn't do it ourselves.


(It was really Ron that drove the tractor to lift the beams but Joanne looks better on it. Sorry Ron!!!)

Spreading the Joy of Geocaching

As promised Claire and Annie stopped by on their way north so in between showers we introduced them to geocaching.


Here's Annie with her 1st find.
Its so much fun I just can't help but show it to everyone we meet.


Happy cachers (Claire and Annie). You can participate alone or in teams and there is such a variety of types of caches. Check out the link. You'll get hooked and you'll be exploring your area and getting alittle exercise to boot!

April Fools Day

It's not raining!! Ha!! Well not constantly so it's out to do a little geocaching and take a trip back in time.
First to Whiskeytown Lake (a great place to hang out as a kid)
And then it's to a place I'd never been before.

It's Still Raining

We were hoping for a little fair weather.... you know golf and all those other outdoor kinda things. OH well I guess we'll just do all those things you don't do when it's really nice outside like clean your computer!


I know this may seem weird to write about but I've been having a bit of an overheating problem and all it took was a little old can of air! Seriously. Of course I also tipped it over and opened up the bottom to blow out the fan and then just for good measure picked up one of these inexpensive cooler trays. Hopefully this will hold off the inevitable(new laptop and transferring everything till I am in a safe and secure spot to do it...Like sitting between Jim and Chris!)


Trust me a little time learning how to not only clean up your computer system (back up , defrag, run your spyware and virus controls along with a bit of old fashioned dusting) works wonders.

Updating the"CAJL" Photo Album

Last night we headed about 40 miles north of where we are staying to try and find some good friends that were heading south for alittle sunshine(its been alittle damp lately in Washington).
Like the goof I am I didn't ask the name of the RV Park...what the heck there were only 3. We lucked out got them 1st try!!!


Annie, Claire, John and I go back all the way to Tahoe, a really nice place to start, where we worked and mostly played together. They are definetly "KEEPERS". No matter where we live(they were a big part of our moving to Bend Or....very good) or how long between visits it's like no time has passed. This was a quickie but on their way north we'll spend alittle more time(and I'll post a couple pics of the great woodworking they've done for their motor home. (Unlike us they don't sell their wares, you have to be a very good friend or familly to reap the rewards of their skills.)

LEPRECHAUN ?

If it's in the woods, in possession of treasure and a little Irish is it a leprechaun?


Not neccesarily !

It's Never Too Grey To Play

Here in Red Bluff "Mother Nature " has been dishing out extremely large doses of inclement weather but that won't stop us from checking out a few geocaches. It gets us out of the RV and Ariel loves the ride.
I remember this park from high school days(enough said) It has been preserved and even spruced up alittle.



Now that's a live oak! (See how little John is?)

A Little Champagne

MMMM champagne for a job well done? Ha it's Carl and Robin's anniversary we just happen to be there re-routing their dryer vent and crawling around in their attic.

Just another perk of construction... Happy anniversary !!!!

Stopping...for awhile

We left "Allen's RV Park and Spa" aka Lauri, Rich and Annie's place in Madera and arrived at Red Bluff RV Park . It will be our home for the next month.
We have stayed here many times before when Mom and Dad worked here. It has all the amenities(pool, green grass, close to shopping and food and dogs are welcome) .
Visiting friends and doing a little work is the plan ,with some golf tossed in if it ever warms up! SNOW???

Last fall as we were heading west from Minnesota we didn't take the time to visit my Aunt and Uncle in southern Iowa. We wish we had, so when I found out they were in central Calif visiting their kids we invited ourselves over. It was great.
It was supposed to be a quickie, you know "HI" and hugs. After a slight detour( I was navigator) We found Cousin Brian and his families place.

Here's Brian and Zack.

And Brianna (looking very studious) She is really into animals (alot like her mom)
Unfortunately I missed getting pictures of everyone. Like Rachel( Brians wife )and Emma (who was visting friends) Next time for sure!
But Uncle Lee and Aunt Betty convinced us to head a bit south and spend the night at Lauri's so we could see her and family. If we got lucky Diana and her husband Tom might come out.
As it turned out it was the next morning till we all hooked up.

Lauri,me,Diana and Aunt Betty.
Turns out Diana is expecting her first baby this fall. CONGRATS!
We spent another day visiting. Here's Uncle Lee. Yes I believe that is a smirk. I wonder what he's thinking.

I used to think as little kid it was a bummer to not have any cousins close. But now that we are all grown we can do anything we want its much more fun!!

Cartwheels and Mountain Lions

If you wake up the morning after a birthday and wonder if you can still do a cartwheel , go for it!! If you succeed stop while you are ahead. DO NOT continue trying to get that perfect picture to prove it or you might get hurt.( OOPS, pulled a hamstring!)


The weather was so great we decided to stay another day. It would give us a chance to go geocaching with Jim and Chris one more time and take a nice hike to the beach. (It would also keep me moving...slowly)


Notice I am bringing up the rear. I was just kidding when I said I was the lame member of the pack and sacrificing myself to the mountain lions. When we returned to camp as it turns out a lion was spotted in that same area while we were there .

Looms' New Home

Since moving full-time into the Cosmic Muffin certain things had to be left behind. Like a full size floor loom and everything that goes with it. We travel with 3 sewing machines and a large assortment of woodworking tools so I guess I can't complain but 3 years in the desert had taken its toll on the loom so this year my mission was to find it a new home.
Once again through the friend of a friend( or sister in this case) we were put together with Kathleen at the Strawbale Barn Weavers Studio and she said "yes" she would take it.
Of course getting it there was fun.



I bet we were quite a site driving down Hwy 101
But we made it and after unloading everything what we thought would be a quick visit became several hours. Kathleen was so gracious giving us a tour of the studio (a strawbale structure) and showing us everything and answering questions .

the first floor is spinning, dying, office and an extensive library with many foreign and antique objects used for spinning and weaving.


and the second floor gave me goosebumps.


There were so many looms of different kinds , in different stages of set up and John was loving hearing all about the different places they'd come and how they were made. Of course it doesn't hurt that they are wood!
And to think my little loom gets to live here and be used was so cool. Here's Kathleen and I by my loom.


We also got a tour of the surrounding property. Its the kind of place you don't want to leave but we'll be returning so it's only" Cya later".