SummerFest 2014

July 26, 2014 Day 45

Morning temperature was 49.

Trying to find different walking routes, so today I decided to walk to Ridleys as I needed some Cranberry Juice for my morning fresh fruit smoothies.  This route takes me by the fire station and the air port.

Nancy and Al invited us to join them for the final concert of the McCall Music Society Summer Fest 2014, Classical and Jazz Music Festival.  We started with dinner at the Toll Station.  High on their menu is Pizza, be they have other selections.  Sharon had a mini pizza and I had fish and chips.

Following dinner was the concert at the Mountain Life Church, pretty big crowd.  There were about 50 musicians in the Orchestra from all over the country, not sure how many locals were included.  The conductor, Yaacor Bergman is normally in the Portland area.  The musicians and soloists were excellent and the music was very very enjoyable.  It included Don't Cry For Me Argentina, performed by Nicole Greenidge Joseph, soprano, Music of the Night, from Phantom of the Opera, performed by Adam Wade Duncan, tenor, Bach's Little Fugue in G-minor, Bolero, remember the movie 10, this performance was just as good, Rhapsody in Blue, with Ted Rosenthal at the piano, along with his amazing improvisations and the concert ended with Colonel Bogie March, also known as March on the River Kwai.  The Hit of the show was the twin young ladies, Jacqueline and Katherine Audas, from Boise, winners of many awards for their musical accomplishments.

Sharon, Nancy & Al

Nicole

Adam

Wild Flowers on the Trail

July 25, 2014 Day 44

Don't know about the frost delay at Jug, but it was 45 here at the park this morning.

Took a big walk around the high school and skate park.  In the way back thought I would take a few pictures of the wild flowers along the trail.

Went for a visit with Al and to have a beer.  When I arrived Al and Nancy had a couple of visitors, Larry and Ed.  They were in town for the McCall Music Society Summer Fest 2014.  Both Larry and Ed were former professional musicians and had a big hand in putting together this year's, the fourth annual, Festival. While I was there Al conned me into playing a couple of hands of bridge as he was invited to play bridge this Sunday and needed the practice.  Larry ended up being a pro bridge player too.  So it was Nancy and me against Al and Larry.  I hadn't played a hand of bridge in many many years, even forgot how to count points, never the less Nancy and I killed them, who knows maybe bridge could be my new game, ha.

Back at the park, HH was well under way at Bev and Skip's along with Becky and Rick and Helen and Jim. But I got there in time.

Dead chicken on the grill.

Frost Delay Tomorrow?

July 24, 2014 Day 43

Morning temperature 54, and it was still 58 at 10:30.

We had the electric heater running and it barely made it up to 71 inside, so we were in sweats most of the day,

Sharon was off to the laundry as clothes had piled up during her absence and before.

Lunch at Growlers, which has a pretty nice salad bar.



This evening was golf at Jug Mountain.  Played with Skip and they added some extras.  Mike and Steve that live in the Jug Mountain development and Dave who works for Jug.  We ended up four under with birdies on four of the last five holes.  Probably not in the money but we were the leaders in the club house.

When we returned to the park, Sharon and I had HH and for dinner, Farmers Market tamales.

Should be cold tomorrow, forecast indicates 40 degrees at 6 AM.  The pro at Jug said that there may be a frost delay in the morning.

Half a Burger

July 23, 2014 Day

Morning temperature 56.

The main event of the day for me was golf at Tamarack, played with Steve, and a couple of fill ins, Erick, who cuts grass at Tamarack and Jim that is a local from a little south of Donnley.  We shot 1 under and had to birdie the last three holes to do that.  Not very good, not in the money.

While I was gone, Sharon had Happy Hour with Jim and Helen from Boise and then on to TPH for dinner. Sharon ordered a Big Hamburger which she only managed to get through half, so she shared with me.  Hit the spot after a hard evening on the links.

First Day Back for Sharon

July 22, 2014 Day 41
Morning Temperature 59

Sharon was still a little pooped from her big Kansas trip so not much exciting happen today.

A little grocery shopping at both Ridleys and Pauls,  and took a long walk.

Went for a visit with Al and took over some more beer.  When we were at Costco had to buy a 30 pack, so I thought I could share some with Al for his visitors.

Back at the park we had Happy Hour and lamb on the grill.

40 Days and 40 Nights

July 21, 2014 Day 40

Morning temperature 62 and cloudy, kept it cool most of the morning.

A fresh fruit smoothie for breakfast and then a short walk around the park.  Then I needed to get ready for Sharon's return, which means a little picking up around the RV along with making the bed.

With that all accomplished, plus a little reading, I left for Boise around noon.  As I was leaving and headed down the road, Sharon called and said that she just arrived in Las Vegas, timing is perfect, her flight arrives in Boise at 2:40.

Sharon's flight

She arrived right on time and I picked her up at the departures level as she did not check baggage and was able to come directly out the front.

Then it was off to Costco for a Costco Run.  Not too much, some vegetables to share with Bev and Skip at the park, some fish and chicken, beer(had to be a 30 pack at Costco), rotisserie chicken, and a fancy chair.



Then we headed out of town for some more cheap fuel at Maverick.  Then some orange flamingos caught my eye and we had to stop to pick them up.

Guard Orange Flamingos

Back at the RV Park, by 7 PM, we had happy hour, split up the loot with Bev and Skip and consumed about half of the Rotisserie Chicken.

Sharon was pooped and headed off the slumber-land.

Bridge, any one?

July 20, 2014 Day 39

Morning temperature 46, two days in a row, nice and cool.

Big schedule for today, gotta keep busy.

First things first, watch some golf.  The British Open, not the open championship, makes for good early morning golf watching.  Here's hoping that Rory hangs on and Sergio doesn't do anything stupid.  Rickey is looking good also, wish Jordan was up there a little higher.  During golf watching I was switching back and forth between it and Sunday Morning.

After Sunday Morning it was off to TPH and will pick up the golf finish when I return.  Nothing says TPH like two kinds of syrup and two eggs over easy.  Sat alone at the bar, not too bad, being as the wait for the dining room was at least 30 minutes.




Back at the RV resuming the golf watching, Rory prevailed and Rickey had a chance to edge out Sergio with a putt on 18, but missed it.

It was time to put the finishing touches on the ceiling cleaning and then await Sharon's final inspection.  I think it turned out great.

Then a short walk to the bridge.  There were fishermen catching fish off the bridge.  They are trying to make it a park but with out too much progress year to year.  The roads were very dusty, a fine, almost talcum powder like texture.  Got all over my new walking shoes, need to put them through the wash.



Cleaned up a bit and then headed over to Al's for a beer and a little ball with Jake before Sunday evening golf.

Golfing was at the McCall Golf Club with Steve, Lou, Jimmy and Thad.  I don't know where these guys come from, but they all seem to be friends and my new friends when we are finished.  An OK 9 holes for me.  After golf, since I am still batching, I had dinner at the Club.  Dinner special was Shrimp Tempura, broccoli, and rice, washed down with a Stella.  The Shrimp Tempura was too heavily breaded, but the beer was great.  That was happy hour.



Golf bags for sale, $500 for the pair, OBO.  These are rumored to be once used by Johnny Football to carry his autograph pens, however the bags are not autographed, but that can be arranged.

Cold last night

July 19, 2014 Day 38

Morning temperature 46 outside and 62 inside.  Boy that snuck up on me, I wasn't prepared for that, but turned on the small heater in the living area and it was toasty in no time.  Need to check the forecast before I go to bed.

Today was project day.  We discovered a stain in the ceiling in the bed room, that we think must have occurred when the rubber roof was ripped last year on our return from vacation.  It's funny that we didn't notice it until we were on the road this trip.  It also may have occurred when the roof was repaired.  O well, it needs to be cleaned and this is my project for the day.

I bought drop cloths, oxi clean, spray bottle, and cleaning cloths.  I also looked at the videos on the Internet about how to use Oxi-clean to clean carpet.  You see our ceiling is covered with cloth covered panels, with a fuzzy pile type surface, similar to cheap carpet, so I call it carpet.  I covered the closet mirror doors and the bed with the drop cloths.  I mixed up the Oxi-Clean solution and poured it into the spray bottle, sprayed it on the stained area and scrubbed like hell.  It cleaned it up and looks pretty good to me, need to wait for the Sharon inspection to get final clearance.  After I had cleaned up everything, and put it away I noticed a pretty big spot that I had not noticed during the initial cleaning, guess it will have to wait until tomorrow.

Before

After

After the project I went for a long walk, along the bike trail toward the high school to the Disc Golf Course.  I walked the course through the tall grass, weeds and big trees.  When I got off the first tee, they do call them tees in disc golf, there were two guy finishing up on #9, so I stood by and watched.  The first guy through his disc pretty far right of the chains, hole, hole marker, what every you call it.  I commented to him that he needed a fore caddie, he said, what's that, I said it is someone ahead of you that watches where your disc goes.  He said that it wasn't needed.  Okay.

Small carry on #1

After I got back into the RV park I walked by Andi's rented cabin.



After the walk I went by and picked up some beers to take over to Al's.  Al only has three beers left in his frig and needed some re-supply.  Visited with Al again, this time when I got there he was headed toward the porch, guess his early warning system, Jake, alerted him.  We were joined later by one of his neighbors, Mike and then another couple dropped by.  Al likes the company.



I left Al's and went to Hometown Pizza for a salad and then headed back to the Park and made an early night of it.

On a Jet Plane

July 18, 2014 Day 37

Today we are in Boise and Sharon catches the shuttle to the airport at 8:20.  When I received a call from Sharon that she is past security, she was pre-approved and did not have to do all that long line stuff,  and headed for her gate, I take off to do a few things before I head back to McCall.

First on the list was breakfast and I thought I would grab some while I was headed for the hair cut place.  I was in luck, an I Hop was right on the way.  While I was there I made an appointment at Great Clips which is on the McCall highway.  With a appointment using their App, you are next, when you show up.

After the hair cut I asked them about a pedicure place.  They directed my to Rosie's, which was a few doors down.  The girl that did my toes was the same age as Gretchen, our daughter; we found out through our conversation and when she finished she said good by, father.  Makes you feel old.



During the drive Droop called and wanted to talk about golf.  He is interested in getting some hybrid clubs and want to talk about what he should get.  He shops at play it again sports.

When I got back in McCall, I stopped by Al's to pay him a visit.  When I got there he was in bed, but said he needed to get up.  We sat out on the porch, I had a beer, and we discussed his recent experience.  He looked very good, considering all that he has been through these last few days.  While I was there it gave Nancy a chance to go check the mail and a few other things.  Nancy came back from errands and Tony showed up, so I said my good byes.

Back at the park I had my own Happy Hour and then fixed a dinner that consisted of left-over angel hair spaghetti and shrimp, along with grilled trout on the grill, from Jim. It was quite tasty and very filling.

La Quinta not next to Denny's

July 17, 2014 Day 36

Morning temperature 57.

Today I take Sharon to Boise for her flight tomorrow morning.

Andi and David found some dates that worked for them to come for a visit in Mid August, so while Sharon was getting her hair cut, I went by the RV Park office and reserved a cabin for them.

When Sharon was finished with her hair appointment we left for Boise around 11.  It's a hundred miles and takes right at 2 hours.  First stop was fuel, price in McCall is $4.179 and Boise is $3.999, what a deal, pumped in 25 gallons.  Next was off to Chick-fil-A, Sharon has a gift card and a coupon for a free shake, another deal.

In the same strip center is the Nike factory store, so we never miss an opportunity for a little outlet shopping. Some shoes and a sack of socks and we were good to go.

We had made reservations at a La Quinta, near the airport using Expedia, what a deal.  Looked at the rate on Expedia, it was $79, called the hotel directly and the rate was $115.  I said Expedia had it for $79, can you match that, they said they could come down to $100, but would not match it.  Expedia won.



For dinner we went to Carino's, hadn't had Italian for a while, it included Happy Hour.

On the way back to the hotel we had to stop at Walmart for a quart size bag for Sharon's carry-on stuff.

Sharon's friend Andi and her Husband David

July 16, 2014 Day 35

Morning temperature 58.

Breakfast was a frozen scramble, First Choice (diet?), spiced up a bit with some hot Pace Pecante Sauce and some pepper jack cheese, tasty.

Went for a short walk around the park, up two hills and down another.

Andi is coming, Andi is coming, shouted Sharon as see ran around the park, with a big smile on her face.  I checked on cabins, and they are available, while they looked at flight schedules to see what worked into their schedule.

Tonight was golf at Tamarack, Fred, Steve, Skip and Ken, Steve's friend.  We set a record for unfound golf balls and as a result we did not do very good, only 2 under and it started with our first hole #2, a Bogey.  We did keep it Bogey free for the rest of the round and that was an accomplishment.

No HH tonight, just a nice cold beer after the round and the trip back to McCall.  When I got home Sharon had already eaten and I just picked around the frig for a make up dinner.

Got a text message on the way home from golf from Nancy, Al's home.

Disc Golf

July 15, 2014 Day 34

Morning temperature 61.

Started the morning with a fresh fruit smoothie, again.  Strawberries, Blackberries, Kiwi fruit, Cranberry Juice, Protein powder and Yogurt, sounds healthy, tasty.

Spent most of the morning talking to the bank trying to arrange to transfer money via the Internet and I think I was successful.  Sent a trial transfer that will take three business days, so I should find out soon.

We had lunch at Stax and ran into the Williams Sisters, Becky and Rick.  They have been busy with tennis and a gym that they joined down by the golf course.  This evening they were going down there to play Pickle Ball.  I know its hard to believe that a hard line tennis player would be playing Pickle Ball, but that's the case.

Fuel prices are still up and McCall is blooming.



Went on the big walk this afternoon from the park, down and around the tennis courts, and back to the park.  Total distance is about 3.6 miles and takes about an hour, morning walks are about 30 minutes.

Made a couple of discoveries on the walk.  There is a Disc Golf course at the end of the walking path, just before you get to the school.  Looks like a nice set up, could see a few of the, goals, nets, holes, greens, what ever you call them.  Next time up there I will take a tour of the course.

Also observed a helicopter coming into the airport with a long tether and a bucket on the end used for fighting fires in the area.  There are some, but so far small, and not anywhere near us.  Last year they use helicopters fitted with a water sucker that sucked water into a tank on the Heilo and then dropped it on the fire.

We had HH with Skip, Bev was at bible study and joined us later.  Becky and Rick were tied up on the Pickle Ball court.  Sharon had a small artichoke dip kitchen explosion, but it

was successfully cleaned up, nothing major but one hell of a mess.

Salmon on the grill and a chilled chard followed by brownie brittle and pudding for dessert.

McCall Skate Park

July 14, 2014 Day 33

Temperatures were a bit warmer this morning due to the night time cloud cover.  It rained early in the morning at 5 AM I had to get up and go outside to the truck and get my golf clubs and shoes so they wouldn't get too wet.

No Internet on the PC wifi this morning again and I called the wifi support line which is Tengonet, located in Austin, Texas.  I explained my problem to the service guy that I was getting Internet on my Apple gadgets but not on my Windows 8 PC.  He said no problem, let me take a look, and he determined it was a software problem.  He entered a few codes and told me to enter some numbers in my browser and it was fixed.  I stayed on with him a little longer and made sure I could do what I needed to do and now no problems.  So the big question is why didn't they do that earlier so we did not have any problems in the first place.  Who Knows.

So I added the pictures to the text and published the blog this morning.

After that big accomplishment I decided I would go for a big walk.  From the RV park, past the airport, down to the high school, where they have a skate park, practice fields for soccer, baseball, football and tennis courts.  On the way back the Smoke Jumper Planes were warming up along the air port.







We needed some groceries from Ridleys as Sharon is concerned that when she leaves for Kansas, for her family reunion, of sorts, that I will have enough food.  After Ridleys we went to My Father's Place for lunch which consisted of two soft serve cones, very adequate.

I have been having some trouble with the instrument cluster in the truck, so I decided I would track down the fuse that controls it.  With a few viewings of the owners manual I determined where the fuse was located and headed off to the NAPA auto parts store.  You can't buy just one fuse, you have to buy a package, these are mini auto fuses and they come 5 to a package for $5, Littlefuse probably makes them for less than a penny.  After removing the old fuse, which looked pretty good, I replaced it with a new one.  Cranked it up and the instruments are working for now, just have to keep an eye on them to make sure they continue to work.  If they fail again, may need a trip to the dealer.

Sharon took off for her trial pedicure appointment and I went down to Bev and Skip's for Happy Hour where Sharon joined us later along with Becky and Rick.  If Sharon likes her pedi, I may go.

A nice little steak on the grill with some good Cab, followed with pudding for dessert.

Bad Blogging

July 13, 2014 Day 32

Temperature 57 this morning.

Sunday morning means breakfast at TPH and you have to get there before 9 AM.  We made arrangements to meet Bev and Skip, and Becky and Rick at 8:45.  We got there at that time and the wait was 20 to 30 minutes, lucky for us Bev and Skip got there earlier and already had a table, no waiting.  This was Becky and Rick's first time at TPH so the menu and ordering process was different to them and they did not know exactly what to order.  In the end what they ordered was too much food.  Both of them had a plate sized pancake and didn't make it to the end without giving up.  For Sharon and me it was great as usual.

After breakfast went for a walk in the Park, starting to get warm.

After breakfast I tried to update the Blog, with significant difficulty.  I could get to the Internet via wifi on my IPad, but not on the PC, where all my pictures are down loaded.  Since to do the Blog requires the Internet I did all the text but not the pictures on the Ipad.  I down loaded the pictures from the camera to the Ipad, but could not access them from the Blog site.  I tried everything I could, even Picasa without success.  So I decided to leave it as it was and see if I had any Internet access tomorrow.

In the evening, when the cheap rates are in effect at McCall Golf Club I met up with Steve for a quick nine holes.  This time we played the Birch Nine, so this year I have played all three Nines and they are in good shape.  It was a pretty quick round so after the seventh hole we decided to play six and seven again, since we had not scored very well on six.  It was better the second time around, but not by much.

After the golf, it was back to the park for dinner and Happy Hour.  We had burgers on the grill and mine was a Green Chile Cheese Burger.  We couldn't find a proper wine to pair so we just went with Iced Tea.

Looking for better Blogging tomorrow.

Tennis Any One

July 12, 2013 Day 31

Morning temperature was 64°, night time cloud cover held the heat in.

Today was the big day for the McCall Tennis Club, the annual mixed doubles tournament, and it was very well attended, 16 teams.  They came from all over the United Stated, including California and Mesa Arizona. It was a double elimination format, which means that you play and play and play. Only the lucky ones play two matches.

I walked to the courts, which are at the high school about a half hour from the RV park. Saw a lot of familiar  faces from last year, Tony, Steve, Skip, Robert, The Williams Sisters(Franz' name for Rick and Becky Williams), Al, and others that were not as familiar, but recognizable.  The Williams Sisters came in second, loosing two matches to a couple of professionals, maybe next year they will outlaw professionals.  Looks like Al is going to have to get his battery recharged.

Becky

Rick

Skip

After the matches Sharon and I met up with Bev and Skip and Becky and Rick for a late lunch at the Shore Line Lodge, always an enjoyable experience and a great view.



With the late lunch we went straight to HH and skipped dinner.  Later in the evening we had some dessert.

Wasp count is up to 9, got 2 in the upper chamber.  Andi says that when we get up to 12, they will come and see us.