UnFOURgettably 4 Friday!

Well, what a week this has been...we started with participating in the local TRUMP TRAIN that took a little spin around town. Nearly 100 cars participated. Lots of honks, waves and thumbs up. 

We added a little RW&B bling to SMARTie for the ride!

These were all sorts of trucks and cars, old and new it was quite a sight.

Now that this election is in the books I do hope we will get back to business in this country. As we have wasted more time and resources on this election then should ever be allowed. It really is shameful and we are still awaiting a winner...oh my!

On a lighter note, I'm now officially at the double nickel...celebrated with a little shopping, eating and indulging. Who doesn't love a good cinnamon roll! We were scheduled to celebrate another birthday this weekend but circumstances beyond our control have taken that off the calendar. There will still be cake though! Cheers to 90 years, dad! 

Stay safe, stay well.

Another RV year in review

It's been three, yes, THREE years since we started living in an RV.

I am shocked at the amount of time that has already passed. On one hand it feels like just the other day and then mostly it seems soooooo long ago...so much has transpired in our comfortable little world, which while that means a lot to us in the big scheme of things it's nothing.

We have had marriage, death and taxes, seriously, we have but we have had so much more...real life has happened. We have been sad, mad, glad. We have lost friends literally and figuratively. We have lost family in the same manner. It sucks, we have also gained family and that's awesome. I'm sure the loss/gain will continue, after all that is how it works. Sometimes though it seems wrong and unfair.

RV living for us is just living. We are living in much the same manner as everyone else, just without the same constraints of owning a home and being stationery. We are not on an endless vacation so to speak, we do not eat out every meal, we do not stop at every touristy attraction. We could not manage this lifestyle if we were living the vacation lifestyle. Instead, we pick and choose experiences that are enriching or intriguing and affordable to us. We choose to go without amenities to have experiences. Some of the best locations just do not have "full hook ups" which means electric, water and sewer and we are okay with that...at least for a few days so we can experience being right next to the ocean or on the mountain. Not to say I don't have preferences; I do and so does MiRV. I prefer to have flush toilets and running water. He is good with a great ocean view. We also try to be good citizens and spend some time volunteering. Sometimes it is official and other times we just do it. It's a good way of life, we know it will not always be this way so we are trying to savor it.

Looking back at our three years we have logged approximately 40,000 miles, popped in and out of approximately 30 states and visited a bunch of state and national parks. Paid no speeding nor parking tickets; decided Chicago and Boston are one time destinations that if you have the chance to experience you should and yet we would probably not choose to return. However, we would probably jump at the chance to return to Bar Harbor, ME or the North Carolina coast as well as most anywhere in Western Montana. Stopping to see friends along the way has been a huge bonus for us, reconnecting is always amazing; it's definitely been the highlight of many of our stops.

Since we "rightsized" from Sunny, our 31.5 foot class A to Roada, our 22 foot class B we have learned we can do with so much less stuff. And I do mean stuff, we have also realized there are some things we really miss...like the paddleboard (and for MiRV the surfboard)  but there bright side is there are usually rental options. Maybe we will come up with a way to add a board of some sort in the next year. We have enjoyed the fact that Roada is so much more maneuverable for us to get in and out and yet there have still been some areas we could not take her. While in Glacier NP we were not allowed on the "going to the sun" road nor were we able to travel on some of the pullouts in Yellowstone NP.

We are not naive enough to think this will last forever and actually we have started looking at options...only time will tell what transpires. It's gotta work for us, we are not run of the mill, average Joes; never have been, doubt we will ever be. When the time comes we hope we will know it and we would hope that we continue to experience life to the fullest. MiRV still continues to be aware and look for opportunities that he feels would be a good fit for him as far as employment but we are not rushing for another rat race position. Thankfully, that is a bonus that we do not have to find employment, we know we are blessed.

So happy three, yes, three years of RV living to us!

#YOLO 

This week!

This week was much like the last few. We did lots of little things and feel like much was accomplished even though we didn't do anything big...there are fences that have been mended, extra fence post have been stacked, hay has been moved, equipment was relocated, Littles pick up happened, more brush hogging was done, fence rows were cleaned, trees were trimmed, paths were cleared, a sheet was sewn, tools were organized, labels were made, birthdays were celebrated, gates were adjusted, sunsets savored, phone calls were made, road trips were taken, bookkeeping was done, barn walls were reinforced, wood was chopped, split and stacked, the tractor was stuck, (not once but twice), and last but not least there was more welding. And honestly, I may have forgetten a few things, but suffice to say it's been a productive week.

Setting out hay.

Birthdays :)

Sheet sewing

 Gorgeous sunset

 Stuck tractor times two on two; different days at least :)

#LifeIsGood

MO productivity!

Yes, we are still in MO and still busy. There is always something to be done no matter the day or weather. It's been quite lively in our world and we haven't minded a bit. A body in motion stays in motion...or at least that's what the commercial said, LOL! Our bodies have definitely been in motion though the day after that motion is sometimes slower :)

And who knew September would be so stinkin' hot! Crikey, it's been warm! 

A few pictures from the last few days...

 

Tree trimming...we are NOT professionals but we get the job done!

GO #61!!!

LOOOOOOOONG phone calls from the daughter ALWAYS make my day....

Gate installer...you just never know what you will be doing around here!

#family

Busy Days

It's been a busy few days since the daughter left. We've done lots of yard work from mowing to weed eating to hauling off old mowers to tree trimming to weed eater repair to brush hogging to more mowing to wheel replacement to weed spraying to belt replacement to more mowing. Like I said it's been busy days! But good days, thankful we have the time and energy to be helpful. Life is good!

Pictorial note - Old uniform pants can come in handy when you have gas all over your other clothes and nothing else to wear! LOL Glad they still fit and he even went out in public in that get up for the rest of the evening.

Helping theBuilders

When we stopped by the Park we weren't exactly sure what we could help with but we knew we could do something!

We ended up helping out on a few fronts. MiRV assisted in the running of the comm for the house. He also helped to get the fridge to the BIG house.
That was fun to watch as they made their way across on the moving track!

I did some picking up, cleaning, moving around and such. Right up my alley! I'm not too technical so grunt work or menial tasks work well! Okay, I did some bird watching, too. They had a pretty mountain bluebird who was a chunk! Also saw a hummingbird and various other flying friends I have no idea their names.

We also learned a bit about guineas. Did you know they get pasty, poopy bums when they are little so you must do daily bum checks. Yep, tis true! So this was a truly educational visit in addition to a help out visit...seriously, you have NO idea how enlightened we became! It's always an adventure to meet up with these folks and educational, too, they are just cool like that!

Twenty nine and counting...

Today marked 29 years that MiRV and I have been married. Not an easy feat with all of the things we have been through but we took our vows seriously and still do to this day.  It's not all rainbows and sparkly glitter but it's a lot of real life fun and we go to bed at night content with our life choices. We are not just what you think you see on the outside, we have had many ups and downs, we have weathered storms, we have  laughed together a lot, we have had spats and we can trust in the fact that when the baby needs to be called ugly we can do it and still love each other. It's work but it's rewarding work and worth it to keep our relationship together.

Today MiRV made a Facebook post and then we bantered a little back and forth throughout the day. His post is below.

Happy Anniversary!!!!!
In the past 29 years, we've traveled to 44 states and 16 countries while living in 8 states and 3 countries. I'm looking forward to topping that in the next 29 years and I could never imagine doing it with anyone else.
Thanks for the adventures!!! You are simply "THE BEST"
143

‪#‎lovemywife‬ ‪#‎lovetotravel‬ ‪#‎hittheroad‬ ‪#‎vandweller‬ ‪#‎militarymoves‬ ‪#‎ParliItaniano‬ ‪#‎NaoFazMal‬




My response was

It's been awesome good! Let's not forget those 3 states you have slipped into w/o me along with the 14 other countries and 1500 plus days you were away in these last 29 years! It's a good thing we have going, wouldn't want to be Living the Dream with anyone else but you!

He chimed in with this-

Living the Dream...with many more years (and miles) to go! 

And then popped back on to add this-

BTW: that's still about 9,000 days next to you smile emoticon #rightthere



My post to him was not so in detail, it simply said this -

Happy anniversary to myMxxxxx! We've definitely had the life and I look forward to many more years together on this road called life...what an adventure we've had!

We didn't have too big of a day. We did go to the movies over the weekend, Pitch Perfect 2 is hilarious, but honestly also somewhat crass; however there was lots of fun head bobbin' music! Tonight we did go to dinner at my favorite local Mexican restaurant. But the real pièce de résistance was me starting to burn the brush pile while MiRV was on the phone, I thought it would be our 30th anniversary before that thing was torched to the ground. It's so wet here, which is great and things are lush and green, but it made it hard for me to get the brush pile burning. Once he was off the telly he of course charged right over and started flames on the opposite side of the pile then made some adjustments to the flames I had going and before long he's got singed hair on various limbs and his head!! This man of mine certainly does nothing half way. After a nice bowl of potato soup for lunch we were going to burn pile number two. Easy, right? Yeah, no, he decides we will just move pile two over to hot burning pile one..UGH! Did I mention the yard is saturated? Yes, well, hey, there's been a lot of rain here and the yard is saturated. I did mention that about the yard being saturated, right? Sooooooo my shoes got soaked and my jeans were muddy but we moved that pile and got rid of three of the four stumps from a previous job we did.

It's been a fine day! Happy Anniversary to you myMiRV and to me, here's to 29 more!!

Flower Bed Removal Part 2

We have already removed one flower bed and I guess we did a good job since we were  requested to remove a second one! There is never a shortage of work when you own a home, glad at this point we are able to help out around the homestead for those in our family that request our assistance. We enjoy the physical activity for the most part and aren't afraid to tackle the chores others cannot or don't want to!

The bed scheduled for removal!

 I employed the use of a sledgehammer...it's a wander there were no injuries... 

 We also employed the use of the breaker bar and a spade.

 

It was a nice cool day for the work to be done. I prefer it to be cooler rather than warmer, however, this may have been on the slightly a little too cool side for me. Nonetheless, mission accomplished! 



Think we will throw down some grass seed after we spread the mound out in the next few days. I will get another picture when it is all done if I don't forget!

 

There may or may not be sore muscles tomorrow after swinging that sledge! And after all that fresh cool air I anticipate a wonderful night of sleep! We capped off the day with Dad at Del-Way.

 

#LifeIsGood

#YardWork

Snapshot of life as it is...

It's just been a myriad of goings on and comings in our world and without a doubt we are staying busy. It's been running the gamut on activities...from more plumbing, weed removal and tree trimming, lawn mowing, getting poison ivy, oh yes, that's been awesome, NOT! To enjoying eating yummy cake, to fun family dinners in and out, cleaning for a soon to be new homeowner, hanging out with the Littles, more fresh veggies, football games, steri-stiches (oh yes, yes indeed), sanding and staining our BBQ table as well as going to the races again and having .50 corndogs at Sonic. Yes, yes, it's been good in our world, very, very good!

 Yummy good foods!!!

 The NOT SO FUN poison ivy I am battling...

Boogity, Boogity

Seriously, it's not all that terribly exciting or extremely difficult, it's just life for us right now. We are certainly enjoying being with the family and just doing life along side them.

I will say without a doubt some days are better than others depending on what we do and who we are trying to please, LOL, it's not always easy trying to do for someone else, their vision is not always clear and our skills are NOT professional. We just have the willing, somewhat capable bodies to do what they cannot. Let me state that again...we aren't professionals...sometimes we are hilarious to watch I suspect but we are having a good time so that's what counts and we are sleeping well at night!

And just an FYI Internet access is still a challenge,sometimes it's so maddening, most of the time it's down right scarce and very slow, hence the low posting activity, sorry! I want to try to post more directly from my phone but it's just not that easy (at least for me).

#poisonivysucks
#LucasOilSpeedwayWheatland
#Sonic

Nail Pop Fixer

Nail pops are not inherently bad, they are just unsightly, or so some of us think. When we had our home in the Big O I repaired them before we sold. I think it just looked better not to have them. At my folks place there have been a few nail pops over the years and today was the fix it day for them.

We started in the kitchen, moved to the living room, on to the hall, the bath and bedrooms and finished with the closet. I think we repaired 9 all together. Some holes were easier than others...MiRV was working hard for sure. We replaced the nails with screws and we filled the hole, a few holes took more to fill than others, some we will fill some more tomorrow. But for today the job is done!

 Nail pop fixer!
 

MiRV is a handy man! I think our folks are thankful for these few weeks we have been able to help out around their homesteads, in fact, I think the soon to be homeowner niece is too! We have enjoyed working like homeowners and are still glad we are not. Though I think we are certain we will need a "little place" at some point. The BIG discussion is where would that "little place" be? Food for thought for us for sure!

#nailpops
#agingparents

Sea Turtles

I love, love, love sea turtles...one of the COOLEST things I have gotten to do in life is hold a leather back sea turtle, it happened while we were stationed here at Patrick a few years ago, it was just totally the most awesomest thing to get to do!!!

Several days ago while on the beach we came across a dead sea turtle on the beach. So sad! We immediately called the Sea Turtle Preservation Society to report it and within minutes the volunteer was there to take the stats and make a formal report. MiRV even helped him out. We have talked about volunteering with this organization in the past but when we were living here we just had too many commitments. I think this was just the nudge to get out there and DO IT.

 Recording the stats.

 Such a sad sight to see...

We have now joined the cause!!! We are official members of the STPS and will soon be full fledged volunteers!!! I'm so excited! 

I hope you have or will find causes to share your time and talents. There are so many worthy organizations out there and one could run ragged trying to help them all but it never hurts to join in and help out no matter where you are or what your status in life. Volunteering is a good thing and I think we should all be doing it. Usually we put our main focus within the church we associate with but since we have a little more time right now we are expanding our horizons!!

#SeaTurtlePreservationSociety