SAN FRANSISCO WOW I NEED A REST!!

We had a whirlwind time with our daughter & grand-daughter. We arrived at noon and went straight over the Golden Gate bridge to Sausilito for lunch at a quaint italian resteraunt on the bay. Then stopped at the North end of the bridge at the overlook. What a great view of the bay & Alcatraz Island. Next day was a little rainy, but it stopped around 10:00am. So we took the granddaughter to a local park to play for awhile.Next was a trip to Muir Woods. Fabulous park!! Giant redwoods & sequoias, beautiful lake at end of trail. About 3 miles round trip. Then down to Ocean Beach to play in the tidepools. Next day: Dollar races at the horse track. $1entry $1beer $1 hot dogs $1sodas & $1bets!! Live band & horse racing! Spent 28$ and won 12$. Had a blast! Dancing, Betting, drinking!! Monday headed to Yosemite! Had to stop at Goodwill to purchase heavy coats because it was 30 up in mountains and had to borrow snow chains for the park or you couldn't enter. Stopped at 6000 feet to play in snow! was about 1' deep and coming down heavy. Made a snowman & had a snowball fight in the middle of a beautiful snow covered pristine meadow, not a sound except the snow plopping down from the tree branches!LOVELY! Got down to the valley floor and was back to around 57 degrees. hiked to the lower falls(1 mile round trip) went to the lodge, and checked out a couple more waterfalls. Around 3 pm left the valley for Oakhurst for a nights rest at the casino hotel.Very nice also!. Next morning went back into Yosemite, even more snow coming down! Got back to the valley and it was t-shirts & jean weather!More hiking, more waterfalls, deer, chipmunks, and even saw a brown bear! Now you know our knees are aching!!! Left Yosemite back into the snow & headed to my daughters apartment. Weds. Up and take the subway into downtown, grab a trolley and hit Fishermans Wharf first. Saw the sea lions at pier 39. Got on a double decker bus for a loop around city. Got off at Union Square and had lunch at the top of Macy's at the Cheescake Factory. Great viewpoint. Then back on the bus to Telegraph Hill. Forget it daughter our knees can only make it up one block!!!! Back on the bus to see ChinaTown, Most curvy road, city hall, Coit Tower, The painted ladies(victorian houses) & back to the docks. Then Home to die on the couch! Thurs. went to San Fransisco Zoo for the day. Friday went to Napa Valley, stopped at the castle for a wine tour, and then a few more winery's.Whew getting wore down. Saturday went to Tilmekin Park in Oakland, more hiking a picnic lunch & petting zoo, and carousel. Then dinner at our daughters Mother-in-laws.Sunday: off to 8-mile long Golden Gate Park. Walked through parks gardens and sat in the amphithearter for a band that was playing. Up the observation tower for a view of the city & bay. Back downstairs to an art gallery then back through the park. My legs are screaming at me to SIT DOWN!! Stopped to join in the Lindy in the park dance. Then back home again. Monday helped daughter pack up apartment. Tues. waited for the furniture guys to pick up rental furniture, turn in keys &  got some homemade ice cream at Fentons. Before we headed to a motel not far from Airport. Wed. morning kissed grand-baby & daughter goodbye they were driving back to Washington. We caught a shuttle to airport and headed home! I'm to tired to go on more latyer.

APRIL WAS MUCH BETTER!!

Got the Gazebo completed and the Lean-to also done! Weather is getting hotter fast.!! Got a lot going on at work for both of us. The new govener Rick Scott has messed with our pension plan. Now Ed has to pay in 3% of his salary to his pension.No problem with that at least we can afford it.But he also looses the 3% cost of living increase during our retirement years. And the drop program will no longer yield 6% but what ever is the current variable rate. (Also his insurance went up 5% and mine went up 3-1/2%) and no raise this year AGAIN.And when we retire as of right now no increases for cost of living, and insurance is adjusted by $400.00 per month.So basically Ed's pay will be about 5-6% less this year. And they are talking about averaging over the employee's history for the pension pay-out.I guess we keep rolling with the punches, but our plans have not changed yet we still will retire in 3 years!!! We paid off the boat last monday! WHOO-HOO!!:) Now to put the old boat payment into the 457b plan. We moved some money to a fixed income plan, and that will also contribute to our 457b. Getting ready to go to San Fransisco on friday to see our Baby-girl(Dannielle) and our grand-daughter(Malia).Matt (Son-in law) is back in Washington to open the Surf Shop for the season. Dannielle has a full itenarary for us. Yosemite, Muir Beach, downtown San Fran., Napa valley. WHEW! Were gonna need a vacation from our vacation!

HOPE APRIL IS BETTER!

Well we got settled back in our coach. Gave her a wash down & repaired a few small things that needed it. Still got to do the roof & re-caulk, and condition the slides. And definitly a wax job!! Got the deck done & the lean to. The gazebo is up, and got a few little things to decorate in there and it will be done too. Still have fence to put up and the RV to get a good wash & wax. This is the 12X16 deck> And this is the start of the lean to.

Still Homeless!

Well they found out what the burnt smell was! The transfer switch for the generator melted to an unrecognizable mess. Lucky it didn't burn down the coach!! The extended warranty wil cover it. It did take out the microwave & Water heater element. So that's covered too! I had a little bit of water showing up around my washer, that turned out to be a cracked drain pipe(also covered). My kitchen window came off the little crank tracks and they wanted 220.00 to fix it. NO WAY! I can do it myself. Some of the things they suggested we get done are re-seal the roof. Which we were planning on doing in April after we scrub her down. Has anyone re-sealed (caulked) their rubber roof? What type of caulk , clear silicone? What should I use to clean around the vents & a/c units? Any suggestions or tips are welcome.

WE ARE TEMPORARILY HOMELESS!!

Last week we had an odor of burning electronics in the RV. It went away after we looked and checked everything, figured it was just the new table fan we put in the bedroom. Then while Ed was home taking a nap we lost all shore power. We had 4 different electricians(friends) come over and tried to help out. But everything checked out up to the breaker box, then the wiggy went all over the board. So it's something in the coach itself (shore power was fine, pigtail was fine, no breakers tripped , no fuses blown?????? We had to take it in to LazyDays on Sunday & we are waiting to hear from the tech's just what it was. Warranty will cover it. They said they would check everything to make sure we didn't burn up any appliances. So we are staying at our sons house until we can pick it up whenever. Ed went back to work today.THANK GOD!!!
He said he kinda liked not knowing what day it was and fishing when he wanted and his afternoon nap. Reality set in about lunchtime today that he still has to work! The hospital bill, and surgeons bill came in.
OMG he's the $100,000.00 man now! We have some more decisions to make come Saturday about our investments and where we go to next. Hopefully we can come home to our RV by then.

Ed and Cabin Fever!!

O.K. I hope the doctor releases Ed to go back to some activities soon! He's got cabin fever, he keeps fussin about stayin home all day long. BUT GET THIS! He has taken off runnin the streets a few times, and gone fishing with his buddies every other day. And yes he has caught quite a few bass. But he really wants to let loose and go do some flats fishing, maybe some flippin, maybe even get some of the projects we have waiting to do. The to do list has grown. Build a deck for the Gazebo. Build a lean to for the Riding mower. Build a cover over the well. Get the RV washed & waxed. Condition the roof. Put a new water line inground. Change the water filter & the annode rod. And put up the 15 panels of privacy fence we got. Of course that is with the help of our son & a few friends! Whew!! We got a busy spring & summer ahead. I almost forgot we are going to San Fransisco on May 13th! To visit with our baby girl & granddaughter. Does anyone know a good motel around Yosemite National Park that we can stay in for a night or two??? We plan to take a few days to check out Yosemite.

LONG WEEK!!

Well Ed is recuperating nicely, but bored to tears. He goes for a follow up with the surgeon on March 8th. He did sneek in a little fishing with our brother-in-law. Managed to catch a few bass. I've been busy at work with a lot of meetings at city hall. They are working on a new computer software system, and want my input for some of the purchasing procedures. We are getting our taxes done friday(wish us luck). I'm getting the wood to build a small deck for the gazebo I have in the basement. It will be nice to sit outside in a screened gazebo on a cool evening. I'll post pictures when it gets underway. I'm also getting Ed to make me some drawers to put under the island in the kitchen. That will make it easier to reach the pots & casserole dishes in the back. Also looking for someone to wash & wax the RV! It needs it badly! Need to condition the roof also. My son is helping us run a new underground water line to a more convieniant place near the RV. Lots to do! Just need the time & energy. Bought our tickets for San Fransisco today! Mama's coming baby girl get ready for Poppa too! Well got to go get paper work together for the taxes. See Ya'll later!!