June Party, July Escape

At Bear River Casino, Loleta, Californi

On the last Saturday in June we had a family party, gathering, celebration...whatever you want to call it.  Essentially it was to celebrate Mom's birthday, Mom and Dad's anniversary, and Father's Day, all which had dad in the hospital or rehab when the actual days fell.  Happy to say, Dad is WAY BETTER, and it was party time.

Some folks, mainly Dad and Arny's mother Euleda, did not feel like being out in the 80 degree weather, so they stayed inside...but they both still got to eat, enjoy the party, and people came in and out to talk and wish them their best.

I was very happy that my son Michael and daughter-in-law Ana were able to come.  Michael was under crunch time at the State Capital as the Banking and Finance Committee in the Assembly, which is the committee he works for, has a huge Pay-Day Loan bill coming before the State Assembly and Senate to limit the amount of interest the pay-day loan sharks, I mean companies, (my son never ever called them sharks, those are my words and I will stick to them) who currently charge some of their victims 150% or more in interest.  YES, 150%!!!!  The bill, if passed, will limit it to the other type of loans in California which max out at 36%.  (Still too high coming from this former Arkansas where the highest interest is somewhere in the neighborhood of 22%).  To add icing to the cake, I even was able to have lunch with Michael on the 5th of July as he took an hour out of his day for dad.  Also, the girl bent over eating is my niece Kathryn who flew out for 9 days to see us all (lives in KC area).  It was so nice to see her, and she even had time to catch up with many of her school friends (she grew up in Sacramento) AND catch a SF Giants game to boot!

 

Of course, on Party Day we have to have food...ribs, tri-tip on slider buns, salad, fruit, and three different desserts.  Needless to say, no one went home hungry, and for many of us that was the only true meal of the day!  Arny does the BEST BBQs! 

Between the time that dad got home from rehab, and we left today, I have had some time to take a few fun pictures.  We always tease Arny that if he stops too quick, Bubba would be 'right up your butt'.  Well, this picture shows that scenario for sure.

One day in early June it rained and rained...the pictures above were taken on that day, the top one shows the huge water lake that formed on the patio.  Within 3 hours, the water was all gone, and it made for a nice sunset over mom and dad's old home.

And I took many bird pictures, these three are a few of my favorites.  In the last picture one bird is at the bird bath as another one just arrives.

Today, Sunday the 7th, we escaped Sacramento's heat (especially the upcoming heatwave where Friday is going to be close to 100), and we are sitting at the Bear River Casino in Loleta, California where we have stayed a number of times before.  We pulled out of Arny and Sandy's backyard and hit the road by 9:30.  Filled up our propane tank, emptied our waste tanks, and then headed over to mom and dad's to say goodbye to them and have a very quick visit with cousin Cassie and husband Rick who passing through on their way back home in Missouri.  (We had seen both of them while we were in the KC area for Ryan's graduation).  This past week was very busy for me getting shopping done, laundry (I do laundry on the road, Marcia does it at home but does sort and spot-clean as needed), groomed the dogs, packed up the car, took the driver front tire off the motorhome over to America's Tire (same as Discount Tires) because the stem would not hold air when I put the tire sensor on, changed the oil and checked and added fluids as needed to the motorhome, etc. etc.  For me it escaping the heat and the work...it was a very busy week before we left.

Not ONE picture of today's travels...we have done this so many times.  But as we passed by Clear Lake and saw how high the water level was, we wished we would have at least had the camera within reach.  Being the end of a long weekend, traffic was a concern, but most of it was headed the other way, and it was a long but uneventful trip.  Skruffy even cooperated by staying up on her bed for 75% of the trip!  Bubba, well, he is having 'missing Arny feelings', but little does he know that in 9 weeks we will be back for an even LONGER Stay.

Leaving California, Headed for Home

At Sister’s House in Citrus Heights, CA

We entered California four months and 15 days ago for our yearly visit.  This year, besides visiting with family in the Sacramento area, we visited the Santa Cruz, Yosemite, Kings Canyon, Alabama Hills, Carson City, and Truckee areas, along with a six week trip up in the Northwest portion of California, and Southwest portion of Oregon.  We celebrated Dad’s 90th birthday, Mom’s 88th birthday, both of their 70th anniversary, and the marriage of my oldest son Michael to his lovely bride Anna.  Tomorrow morning we head out…at this time tomorrow we will be somewhere in Nevada along I-80 headed to the Salt Lake City area to visit with my daughter Stephanie.  It has been a wonderful 4 1/2 months here…despite the hot hot hot weather, and the fires which are a yearly occurrence here in the west.  The Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys have always filled with smoke…accounts of early settlers talk about smoke layers due to winter fires used to keep people warm to wildfires which broke out from what is believed to be lightning strikes.  As a kid, I remember the heavy smoke from the burning of the dry rice straw left over from harvest each year on the western side of the Sacramento River, a practice which is less common now days.  And I remember many large wildfires, some in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and lower foothills, which others were in Southern California or along the Coastal Ranges.  It is a part of living in the west.

    

Sacramento is a wonderful place for flowers.  It is the Camellia Capital of the World…just ask the Camellia Society of Sacramento.  They use to have a Camellia Festival in late February or early March--which ran from 1955 to 1993 which featured a debutante ball, princesses and a parade with flower-covered floats.  I think in 4th grade we had to make a Camellia Poster as part of a city-wide contest to help promote the event.  My posters were only good enough for the trash can…  I don’t know why they stopped the huge festivities…but they do still have a yearly Camellia Show, this year was the 94th year, still held by the Sacramento Camellia Society.  Not sure, but I think the parade probably stopped due to the Naked Ladies.  All I know is that the Naked Ladies appeared again yesterday, and we are headed out tomorrow!

Naked Ladies are also known as Belladonna Lilies…and they appear each year in Sandy and Arny’s backyard.  In the spring they appear as a green, leafy plant, which lasts for 4-8 weeks before they seem to die off.  Then in July or August a single stem starts to sprout upward…and lily opens up.  In the picture above, the short ones will be as tall as the lily that is open in just a few days.  The lilies will last for a few days, then die off.  It is an amazing show…  I am glad we were able to see a few of them bloom before we leave.

     

These two fur kids are not going to be happy campers tomorrow…especially the one of the left.  Bubba (upper left) absolutely LOVES being at Sandy and Arny’s house.  Arny is Bubba’s best friend…and outside of our trip to Oregon for six weeks, and the three weeks we were sightseeing California, he has been here at their house for the past year.  However, we were here for all but three months of that time…this time we will be gone for 7 or 8 months…so Bubba is coming along with us.  Boy, he is going to be one depressed dog for a number of days…perhaps a couple of weeks…but he always adjusts to it.  We just hope that at 15 years of age, he has a few more visits back to see his buddy Uncle Arny, and also Aunt Sandy.  Skruffy, on the other hand, is fine as long as she is with me or with Marcia.  But she too LOVES Sandy and Arny’s house…the daily small treats of fried pork that I cook up and give them to hand out twice a day, the squirrels, the lawn, being in Sandy’s lap every now and then…she too will miss them.

  

For us it is a two-sided sword.  We have had some meals with mom and dad, including finding a great breakfast/lunch place called Annie’s right near to their Assisted Living facility.  We LOVE visiting family out here, we LOVE staying in Sandy and Arny’s backyard when we are here, we LOVE the sights we can explore getting here, short trips we take while here, and on the trip home.  We also LOVE our friends and family who don’t live here…and we miss our friends and family back home.  Next year my youngest son Ryan is graduating from Chiropractic School in the Kansas City area in April…and our plans will be to return to California sometime after that.  When, How Long we will stay is all up in the air for now.  But the Lord willing, we will return, and seeing family out here is always a wonderful thing.

Back to the map…this is our proposed route.  It will take us through Salt Lake to see Stephanie, through Kansas City to see Ryan, Aunt Vera and other relatives in the area, then down to Arkansas, and finally back to Florida.  I am not going to see my doctor until next March or early April since we pretty much will be going through Arkansas again on our way to Ryan’s graduation.  We decided to NOT go through the Chicago area, probably saving that for next spring.  Marcia’s driver’s license needs to be renewed in September, and they will require her to take a vision exam…otherwise we could do it over the Internet.  We want to take a bit of time going through the northern portion of Colorado, so we are not ready to set time periods for our Kansas City or Arkansas Visits as of now.

The 70th Wedding Anniversary

At Sister’s House in Citrus Heights, CA

There they are…all dressed up like they were seventy years ago on June 5th, way back when the Decoration of Independence still had wet ink…when the smell of gun powder was still in the air at Gettysburg…when smoke still billowed up along the shores of Pearl Harbor!   Yesterday we gathered together for the celebration of seventy years of marriage of Dorothy and Al Burdick.  Ok, so we were three days too early…so be it.

   

The event was held at Sandy and Arny’s house, mostly outside of our motorhome.  Weather was a bit hot, topping off in the mid-90’s around 4 pm.  In the upper left picture there is a sign on the fence which says “Happy 70th Anniversary”.  Table cloths had “70” all over them, as did the center pieces.  In the bottom right picture we were all taking it easy, around 11:30 am, awaiting the 1:00 pm start time.  My cousin Donald and wife Sherri came around 10 am from the Salinas area, and needed to head out before 3 to be back for another engagement of their own, so we had a chance to visit.

Donald and Sherri just bought a 25’ motorhome two months ago, and are going to try and meet up with us in southwest Oregon next month when we are up there.  I suggested they try for the week after the 4th of July, and that is what they are shooting for.  Donald is the son of my mom’s brother Harold, a true Pearl Harbor survivor who visited Pearl Harbor shortly before he died.

   

We figured around 40 people would be able to attend, and if I counted right, we had 35 there, plus Skruffy and Bubba.  Two of my brother’s were unable to attend, but we did all get together at Christmas.  Only one grandchild made it, and he brought his son so a great-grandchild was there too.  A few friends, many nephews and nieces, great nieces and nephews (even some great-greats in there), a sister-in-law, a son-in-law, daughter-in-law, former daughter-in-law, and…

Fern who is 96 (far right) and Euleda 95 (being helped down the step in a wheelchair by Sandy with Patti making sure everyone is doing well too).  Eudeda is Arny’s mother, Fern is Aunt Florence’s mother (Aunt Flo was married to my dad’s brother.)

 

Mom and Dad did not want any gifts…but their children, who never listened to them when we were younger, didn’t listen to that command either.  Mom enjoyed the heart shaped etched glass heart with their wedding day inscribed on it.  They both are going to enjoy “Lyft” much more now since we pooled our resources and got them $500 worth of Lyft Rides.  The hardest part of living in the Assisted Living place is that they also gave up their car…and thank goodness for Lyft and Uber, but they seem to like Lyft much more than Uber.  We gave them a $50 Lyft Gift Card, and the other $450 is being sent as email gift cards…

   

   

If you hold your mouse over the pictures, you can see the names of these folks above and below…

  

And the day ended with the presentation of the cake, which was gobbled up and by 3:15 nearly everyone was gone, forced away by the heat of the day.  Poor Arny was cooking up burgers and hot dogs over that hot fire of his BBQ…he was glad to be able to sit down and rest, that’s for sure.

On Tuesday, dad intends to take mom out to dinner at a fancy Steak and Seafood place in Roseville…their first trip by Lyft via the gift card! 

Look at what Dad gets to take off later!

(Won’t be the first time!)

Ninety Years Old

At Sister’s House in Citrus Heights

   

Both mom and dad have birthdays in April…dad’s was on Sunday, an April Fools baby.

To celebrate the occasion, we thought “wild turkey” would be in order…but alas, them critters are hard to catch….so….

Black Angus was our secondary choice.  Saturday late afternoon, before they are too busy, those children and spouses who were able to attend, took dad there for his favorite…Prime Rib.  Pictured left to right are Marcia, sister Patti, sister Sandy, Arny (behind Sandy), mom, dad, Rochelle (Roger’s wife) and just out of the picture to the right, brother Roger. 

    

On Sunday we gathered again for an Easter – April Fools – Birthday dinner.  Easter has fallen on Dad’s birthday only four times in his lifetime, 1934, 1945, 1956, and 2018…and will do so again in 2029, but dad says he does not want to be around ‘that’ long…which is understandable. 

We asked permission from the Fire Department to put 90 candles on the cake…but they said ‘no way’.  I think there are 90 sprinkles on it instead…

    

In the upper left picture are dad’s brother’s two children who were able to attend, Richard (far left) and Barbara (next to Richard), along with Richard’s wife Marci, and Roger’s wife Rochelle.  Barbara lives in Italy, and I had not seen her for many years, and it was the first time she had met my wife Marcia.  In the upper right picture is my son Michael (far right behind dad) and his wife to be Anna (July wedding) to the left of Michael (his right, picture left).  In the bottom picture is Arny’s mother Euleda (left) along with my mom and sister Patti.

Above, Sandy and Arny, whose home we all gathered at, enjoy talking to Marci and Richard, who live in the Santa Cruz area…and Marcia and I plan to go over to their place in early May for a few days as part of our May excursion. 

   

And now that I got these two in the blog, I think I got a picture of everyone, although Roger only got his arm in a picture.

When I took mom and dad home, mom asked me to get a picture of their front door…the Independent Living Facility had decorated it for Dad’s birthday…so sweet of them. 

Unfortunately, Sunday also brought with it some sad news.  Marcia’s cousin, through her first husband, Sophie, passed away.  The above picture is from October 2016.  Every year we have driven through Fort Smith to visit with Sophie, who was 95 years old.  She will be missed, but we know she is no longer in any pain, and with our Lord.  Prayers to her family and friends who are mourning her loss.  We still plan to stop in Fort Smith to see her son Jim and wife Pat later this summer/fall.