Memorial Day Weekend in a Campground

We'd gotten pretty spoiled having the campground basically to ourselves for the last month or so.  It was like having a little hermitage all to ourselves.  But we knew this was coming.



It started with several campers arriving on Thursday to set up and spend the night, but then they were gone (I assume to work) the next day.

And then it was Friday with the mass of humanity descending on us to "get away" for the weekend.  This is where the campfires start up, even though it's already 80 degrees and higher...they simply must have a fire and they tend to leave it burning long after they've gone to bed while I lay there and worry about fire hazards.

Among the cacophony of barking dogs there are little boys throwing rocks in all directions and as I write this another little boy is on the roof of the trailer to our left throwing a Frisbee.  The counterpart to this are the little girls shrieking in those upper octaves that can shatter glass. Yikes. 

We're used to the occasional gawker driving by and proclaiming "Look at that!" when they spot our cat tunnel/slide and tent set up.  But now we've become a feature on the parade route as multiple golf carts sail past us.  I feel I should be either charging admission or at least waving as they go by.  But we pretty much just ignore them.

Yes, we are that crotchety old couple who enjoys their quiet and solitude and this is why we love 55+ RV parks where we are surrounded by our brethren.

It's still much better than our days of yore at Goose Island County Park as the quiet times are enforced here and there's much less open drunkenness.  At least here I don't have to endure a man wearing a pink tutu showing movies on the side of his RV at 2:00 am.

When the crowds descend you can pretty much kiss the internet goodbye, not that it was stellar to begin with.  The best part so far has been the on again off again rain that seems to keep things a bit more quiet.  Yeah...bah humbug and all that.

Long Live the Old and Cranky Queen

George's Post

Hey guys, George here.  The Queen is off playing with pickles or something like that, I don't understand it but she gets all excited and gives lots of love when she's back, so it's okay with me.

About this throwing up thing.  It's just something I've been doing for a long time, don't know why really...but it has the Queen very concerned.  I really don't feel sick and love to eat all the time, so what's the problem?  So she has to do a little extra carpet shampooing...big deal.

It's bad enough I have to go back for my teeth to be cleaned, but I heard them talking about an ultrasound.  Not sure what the heck that is, but they talked about having me stretched out and held very still to do it, so I'm thinking it must be something like being on the rack.  That got me shook me, let me tell ya!

I got so shook up that last night I hocked up this massive hairball.  Now, I have to warn you...the image you're about to see is pretty disgusting but I'm rather proud of it in a sick sort of way.  I think it's some of my best work.

It must have done the trick, because this morning the Queen called the Dreaded House of Horrors (aka the vet clinic) and left a message that we will proceed with the dental work and a shot of antibiotics on Thursday and then I'll visit a different Dreaded House of Horrors in our Ham Lake area for some follow up blood work.  Ewww.  Another needle.  What do I look like ...a pin cushion?

Then if it's absolutely necessary for the ultrasound thingee we'll come back to the Wisconsin location in the Fall before heading to Arizona for the winter.

I think that's a more reasonable approach and maybe we can avoid some unnecessary poking and probing on my furry orange self...I'd sure like that.  Well, I guess I'll take another nap.

Oh geez...look at Gracie.  If I'm getting a photo being cute she has to knock out a pose for the camera as well.  She's such a diva...you have no idea what I have to go through here. 

 Long Live Prince George

So Many Parting Gifts

We recently had an opportunity to meet with our friends Patrick and Becky for supper.  This should be interesting....Paleo VS Weight Watchers.

First we got a tour of their spacious home and I wished I had brought my camera to capture her art studio.

Becky is a weaver and has many looms set up in her studio.  She gave me the lovely place mats that were used during our meal. 

Weaving is not anything I've ever tried and I'm mesmerized by the whole process, it's such a mystery to me. 
I think I'll stick to sewing.

Becky is a woman that knows how to cook and since she runs the Weight Watcher meetings I knew our meal would be healthy.  We dined on a lovely apple cinnamon pork loin with cauliflower mashed potatoes.

Her "potatoes" were far superior to what I had made, so I paid close attention to how she was doing this and now I'll have to make another attempt using my new knowledge.

She had some quilting books she wanted to part with, so I became the new owner of this Scrap Quilts one.  There are a lot of nice patterns in this that will be fun to try.

In her pantry she showed me some solutions to our loss of noodles with the Organic Edamame Spaghetti.  This is so exciting!  I never knew such things existed.

When I told her of my attempt to make cauliflower rice, she introduced me to farro.  This is the traditional grain of the mediterranean and looks a lot like rice.  She says it has a lovely nutty flavor and I'm going to attempt using my rice cooker to make this.  I found a You Tube video that showed it could be done.

In her pantry she also had a machine for making hard boiled eggs.  At first I thought this was extraneous, but then I started to reconsider.  I'd been purchasing the ready to eat ones in the deli, but I'm sure these are not the best eggs to start with. Plus I'm not sure what that fluid is they are floating around in.  So, when I saw this smaller version of an egg cooker at Kohls I snapped it right up.

It has little inserts for poaching and making an omelet as well.  A very tiny omelet, but I'll give it a whirl.

We ended the evening playing a dice game that Patrick found called Qwixx.  Now THAT would be a fabulous Scrabble word!

It took a while for me to catch on, but we were soon into the spirit of the game.  It's small and fun...I may have to add that to our arsenal of games in the RV.

Who knew food could be so fun!

Long Live the Queen of Good Eating

Crunch Time

May is a busy month for us as we visit all our health care providers to ensure we are healthy enough to have this much fun.

We now have new glasses, new hearing aids, our teeth are good, the mammogram completed, meds renewed, physical completed and thankfully...my last pap smear.  After 65 this is not deemed necessary and I can't say I'll miss this procedure.

The car went in for a minor repair that was covered under warranty.

The cats went to the vet for their check ups and rabies shots.  All was going well until here.  Gracie was fine, aced her exam as she always does and received many treats for being so charming. 

George is another story.

I knew he'd need dental work again, this is visible even to my untrained eye.  But his liver counts were high again and that has the vet concerned.  Add to this his penchant for vomiting on a more regular basis than we'd like and it's time to take action.

The vet moved his dental work up a week to fit us in before our departure on June 1st.  But after checking his blood work further she was quite concerned about possible problems with his pancreas.  His diet was confirmed as good, so no changes there.  But he will need an ultrasound before we know what course of action to take.

Luckily there is a mobile vet unit that comes to the clinic when needed for this kind of thing.  Now, getting her schedule and my vet's schedule to coincide prior to our departure may be tricky.  The call is out to the ultrasound vet and it's a waiting game to see how this all plays out.

He will not need any kind of surgery, our vet was certain of that.  It should be treatable with medication.  Whether this will be an ongoing medication or one time I have no idea.

Hopefully this will all play out on schedule, but if not...we are on wheels and our plays are written in jello.  If we need to delay for another week, so be it.

Long Live the Queen of Cats

Playing with almond flour

Let the experiments begin!  Left Brain is craving some bread in his diet, so it was time to break out my new supplies and get baking.

My first mini loaf is a date walnut bread, made with dates and pecans because he found and ate all the walnuts.

Next was the paleo bread, which doesn't seem high enough to be bread, but my pan was larger than recommended.  But, it was the best I could do in a pinch.  If the taste is okay, I'll invest in the pans.

The cookies were not from almond flour, although I have a recipe for that. These were from a gluten free mix and they are tasty, even though the consistency is different from what we are accustomed.  But then again, I've never met a chocolate chip cookie I didn't like.

This is my favorite part as I absolutely love to bake, so hopefully some of this will yield satisfactory results.

Long Live the Queen of Baking