New Grandbaby -- It's a Boy, a BIG BOY

 

My oldest son Michael and his wife Anna, who are the parents of my lovely Granddaughter Addie, are now the parents of their second child, a boy.  Meet....Otis Boaz, born this morning at 3:35 am California time.  He came into this world weighing in at 9 lbs 9 oz ... but still shy of my record of 11 lbs, 11 oz ... but he is healthy, I was not.  

I was an RH Factor Baby before they had the medical knowledge on how to control that situation.  I am positive, mom is negative, so her antibodies attacked my Red Blood Cells.  Bottom line, the good Doctor cut me out, removed mom's Uterus, and that was that.  Except she was able to go home, I had to stay in the hospital for over a month, but made it home for Christmas. 

In this case, mother Anna and Baby Otis are both doing very well.  And despite the size of this child compared to Addie who came in around 7 lbs, the delivery was much easier this time...Anna had a very hard delivery with Addie.

I had the privilege of telling my mom about her new Great Grandchild.  In a text with my sisters I commented that when they go over to see her, she may not remember that I talked with her and that the new baby was born.  My sister Sandy said, "Good news is we can tell her over and over and over again and it will be as if it was the first time!"  That girl can sure come up with some funny, and in this case true, lines now and then...

On a VERY SAD note, my Aunt Florence (In the above picture, she is seated to the far left, next to Marcia, and then my Mother) died last Friday, October 10th.  She was 80 years old.  Her and LeRoy, "Uncle Red" to all of us (my father's brother), were married for 42 years before he died...which is how old Uncle Red was when they got married...she was 22, he was 42.  He had four kids when Aunt Myrtle died of Cancer, Flo had three kids from a not so healthy marriage.  Couple years after they were married, Baby Lee came along, and the rest was history.  Aunt Flo became a school teacher...not just any school teacher, but one who taught the special ed students...the hardcore students in many cases.  She was a wonderful Mother, Teacher, and Aunt..she will be dearly missed.  

I was surprised this morning that the NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER and
CENTRAL PACIFIC HURRICANE CENTER showed absolutely no weather situations as of this morning.  October is Florida's busy time for bad weather...but not this year.  This evening they show possible, very low risk storms which might form in the next 7 days, but even these don't seem to be a threat to Florida or anywhere else in the nation.  The poor Weather Casters are besides themselves...nothing to report on.  Most the storms that came off of Africa ended up turning north into the open ocean...but on the radio I would hear this:

A tropical disturbance has formed off the coast of Africa and it has a 50% chance of becoming a Tropical Storm and perhaps a Hurricane.  If it develops into a tropical storm as we think it will, it will be called [insert name...the last one was Tropical Storm Lorenzo, which developed on the 13th, and was dead by the end of the 15th].   Then comes their disclaimer...Meteorologist say that this storm will turn north into the Atlantic and won't be threat to U.S. or any Islands.

Soon, Hurricane Season will be over...and so far, no Hurricane has hit the U.S., which is good news for all.

Mom, Granddaughter, 4th of July...Time to Go Home

 

I saw mom four to five times per week.  Sometimes we take the Camper Van, put out the awning, and enjoy the outside mornings (although it is a bit HOT now that we are in July), and Mom enjoys these visits the best.  In this picture from our visit today, she is pointing out and talking about all the trees that they have planted outside the "School", which is what she calls the Assisted Living Home she lives in.  Of course...they have not planted any trees.  A few days ago she talked about how when they planted a tree, they also buried a victim of the flooding in Texas.  What an imagination.  Overall, Mom is doing pretty well.  But she is one major UTI from passing away.  Not bad for 95 years of age!

We have seen Granddaughter Addie a few times each month.  On this occasion, we sat out on their patio and Addie was a hoot.  She took this "car" and with her feet (think Fred Flintstone) she drove over to the garage, parked, and started loading stuff up into the car.  "Where are you Addie?"  "I am at COSTCO getting stuff."  She drives back, unloads her imaginary goods, and goes back.  "What are you loading up now Addie?"  "I am getting the Beer!"  My son Michael and wife Anna start laughing...we have no idea where she got that from...can't ever remember her ever saying the word "Beer" before.  

Between Addie and Grandma (my mom) those two are living in a world of their own!

The cul-de-sac that my sister Sandy and husband Arnie live on always seems to have a huge fireworks show.  Poor Indy, even while drugged up on 'ThunderWunders' Hemp Dog Calming Chews, had a hard time.  These fireworks ended around 11 pm...but the expanded neighborhood seemed to party well into the 2 am hour when, HUGE BOMBS went off for the next 15 to 20 minutes.  Needless to say, I finally got some sleep around 4 am.

Saturday is Addie's third birthday party, celebrating just a couple days early.  It will be at a park behind my son's house.  Temperatures are predicted to be in the 90's by the time it is over at 12:30.  On Monday we start the long trip home. 

 

 

Rested, Laundered, Mama

 

After driving some 3,250 miles over 9 days, visiting three groups of people, staying in four Cracker Barrels, one driveway, one rest area, and one free desert campground...needless to say we were just a bit tired.  On a trip like this, the hardest part is typically the Big Cities, and last 200 miles.  Tallahassee, Mobile, Houston, San Antonio, and LOS ANGELES...with the two hard ones being Houston and especially L.A.   Thank goodness, we have had a couple of good nights sleep.  However, I took a nap on Monday and when I awoke, it took a minute or so to know where I was.  I thought I was at a rest area taking a nap.

So Sunday we went over to visit my Granddaughter, who is 2 years 9 months old...and when she calls and says, "I am excited to see you Grandpa"...it makes all those miles worth every inch of them!  After a nice visit, we went to see mom.  I was so relieved that she knew me as soon as she saw me.  She turns 95 in just a couple of weeks, and things in her mind are a bit confused, to say the least.  She thinks my brother Roger is her brother Jimmy, who died in WW2 on a aircraft carrier that was hit by a massive Kamikaze attack. Last year she called me "Al" many times, which is my Dad, who passed on Thanksgiving Day in 2019.  She refers to my Sister Sandy and her Sister Mary...I think you got the point.  But she is, for the most part, pleasant to be around. We saw her again Monday, and will see her again tomorrow.

Today was laundry day...we both have enough clothes for two weeks, but I have found that the laundromat we use here in Sacramento area is not as busy on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.  Today was not exception to that, and I was able to load the washers, get them right into open dryers, and out the door in about 90 minutes.  Went over to a Safeway to stock up on some food and water, and the day was complete.  Did not like hitting the shopping cart in the parking lot of Safeway, but it is nothing that a sticker can't cover up...maybe something like this...

 

 

Grandma Has a Special Little Visitor

 

Thursday of last week Marcia and I went for a visit with mom.  If we get there earlier enough, I can put out the awning and we enjoy a cool outdoor visit.  Arrived shortly after 9 am, got everything setup, went in and got mom, and started to enjoy our visit.  A blue VW comes humming up (an EV) and mom says, "I don't have any idea who that is..."  Until it parks and my son Michael gets out.  Now he is parked a good 20-25 yards from where mom was and as soon as he emerges she says, "It's Michael!"  Her next words were, "I hope he brought Addy!!!"

Michael and Addy get setup, and Addy sits comfortably on her daddy's lap.

It does not take long before she is on the grass, and she is pulling out books, playing with her toys as we all converse and watch the show.

Soon she is off to the rocks where she starts to load up her dump truck.

Then she moves over to the other side and gets those rocks too.

Then she spots the small amount of water puddled on the sidewalk from the lawn irrigation system.  PUDDLES!!!!

So at first she jumps on the puddle, then squats over the puddle, puts her hands in it, then puts her hands in her mouth.  "ADDY, don't put that water into your mouth!", says Michael.

Well, like any two year old, that warning lasts for about 60 seconds...

... and back at it she goes.  Soon she is sitting in the water, then she is sitting on Dad's lap.  

We all had a wonderful hour-plus visit, and seeing her Great Granddaughter, her Grandson, Marcia and I all at the same time sure made Mom's day.  Michael took Addy's pants off and put them on his dash for the drive to Day Care down by the State Capitol where he works.  I hope they dried before he got her there...

Well, we find our time here in Sacramento is coming to an end.  We left our Condo on July 18th.  We knew when we left that we would be home before the end of October.  We plan to leave on Saturday the 14th, and take our time getting home...which probably will be before October 1st.

As for living in the Camper Van, the fix with the beds has worked out very well.  I find the cooking area to be much too small, but I work with the area the best I can.  Dropping a raw egg on the floor, a rare thing for me to do, is product of the small area.  We can go five days before emptying the waste tanks, which is not bad considering how small the black tank is.  There is a gas station a few miles away where I pay $10 to do the dirty deed.  We just make sure to include the dump station in any errands we needed to do on those days.  And the small fridge definitely has its limits, but we have been able to fit our most needed items in it, and we go to the store at least twice a week, and Sam's Club about every 10 days.  

Will try and post one more time before we leave, and every day or two while we travel back to Florida.

 

Yes, We Made it to Sacramento Area

 

Indy with her new Hair Cut

We arrived safely Thursday Evening at my Sister Sandy and husband Arny's backyard...a place we have found ourselves each year for a number of month since 2012.  All three of our dogs LOVE their backyard, and LOVE both of them too.  When we arrived, Indy squealed and squealed.  This is our first RV in which we did not need to have ramps since our first Class A which we could pump up the air suspension to get over the steepness of the driveway.  We did scratch with the luggage carrier, but very little, and it didn't even leave a mark.  Hooked up electricity, and we were set up for the night.  We only hook up the electricity because many days we will be leaving the backyard, going to visit mom, shop, do laundry, visit my precious Granddaughter...so using water stored in the fresh water tank makes coming and going easier.  Also, while out, we can empty our grey and black water holding tanks, which is easier than filling the blue tote and walking it over to the other side of the house to get rid of the holding tanks contents.

We have visited a number of times, and tomorrow Sandy takes her to a hearing aid appointment and then the four of us will have lunch.  Visiting her reminds me of when her mother was in the same environment, yet a larger facility, way back in the late 70's, early 80's.  I would visit Grandma and she would always say, "Now which one are you?"  Heck, she had 11 children, and 50+ grandchildren, so what do you expect???  Mom gets confused in that she thinks Sandy is her sister Mary...she has called me by my dad's name many times, but once you point out who you are, she remembers...some day that may not be the case.

The fires in California are a good distance away from us.  We do smell smoke in the air, but the air does not show any heavy smoke look.  We do hear Cal Fire planes going north, but most of the planes hitting the big fire are working out of Redding, which is closer to the active fire areas.  That fire, called the Park Fire, is nearly 400,000 acres and 90 miles north of us.  It was started by a guy who pushed his automobile/truck down into a gully while it was on fire.  He hung around to watch the fire spread, and others who saw him do it told the authorities, and he was arrested on site.  A new fire southeast of us called the Pedro Fire is 130 miles from us and is already 4,000 acres in size.  It is not burning as quickly as the Park Fire, but we are now coming back into a hot cycle, with temps hitting 100 again starting tomorrow.  Oh, how fun...

Saturday we have a date to see my granddaughter...now that will be fun...

January 2024

Crystal Beach Florida

Hard to believe that January is nearly gone.  The "good news" coming out of the month is that we saw our primary doctor, and we both had better results (blood test, etc) than last year.  I still have high blood pressure, Marcia still has high Cholesterol.  With me, it is more a case of "white coat hypertension".  My doctor in Arkansas realized that when he would visit with me for a good 15 minutes and then take a second reading (nurse gave the first upon my arrival) and each and every time it dropped.  Not that I don't have high blood pressure, I do...but not as high as the 'test' says when taken when I first arrive.  At home, my pressure taken by my wrist pressure kit, is normally pretty good, so I took my wrist pressure kit with me just to see if there is a difference and show results I had from the previous 10 days.  There was a difference, the wrist test showed even a higher one than the nurse got...so at least I know my pressure kit is working, perhaps a little on the high side.

Crystal Beach Florida

I will be seeing a Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine specialist in two weeks.  Both of my knees are hurting, with the right knee being the worse.  Hope NOT to have major surgery, but this is my first visit to a Orthopedic Doctor, so let's wait to see what he says.

Pond at the Public Library, full of birds.

Our weather for January has been fairly typical.  We had a low one night in the upper 30's, although where we live it may have only got down to 40 or 41.  Our highs have been in the 70's and low 80's during most days, with just a small number where they were only in the high 50's and into the 60's.  

Wood Stork

Blue Heron

Wood Storks

Great White Egret

So far we have not had any sicknesses to speak of.  A few mornings we were a bit more congested than normal, but it did not amount to anything.

Mom, on the other hand, had another UTI, which is the third or fourth since she had the Antibiotic Infusion treatment back when we were still in California.  The doctor FINALLY has put her on a daily antibiotic pill, and we are hoping that this works.

In 1993 Joe Montana was traded to KC.  Being a 'loyal' Northern California boy, my football teams were the Raiders and the Niners, and among the 'hated' teams were the Rams, the Coyboys, the Steelers and the Chiefs.  This gave me a bit of a dilemma, because mom and dad moved to the Kansas City area in '92 or '93...so I relented and made KC one of my favorite teams.  In 2020 they Both were in Superbowl 54, Kansas City won.  Now they play again in this year's Superbowl, and my heart is with the Niners, but if KC wins, all is good.

 

Headed Home to Florida - Thanksgiving Update - Mom has Another UTI

We left Florida in late March, arrived at my sister's house in Citrus Heights around April 10th.  After 7+ months, all but 6 weeks camping up in Cromberg to get away from the heat, it is time to head home to beat the cold weather.  Our motorhome is not set up for colder weather...living in the Tampa area means we don't have to weatherize it...but it also means we need to limit temps below 32...we faced that back in 2017 when we stayed for Christmas, drove home in late December and early January and faced frozen water and sewer lines crossing Western Texas.  

We were off just before 8 on Saturday morning.  Drove to Lodi where there was a Flying J because we were in need of a RV Wash (Blue Beacon next door), Propane (we were nearly out) and gasoline.  Very small line at Blue Beacon, no lines at Flying J, so we were back on the road. Above is cell phone picture of the Propane being put in.  

In Stockton we moved from I-5 over to US-99 in light traffic.  Made it through Merced, where my Blog Friend Nancy had told me to expect very bad construction issues...but we got through without even a slowdown.  However, just south of Tulare we hit a car wall...and for the next 90 minutes we moved maybe a few miles.  In Tipton I got off the freeway, headed east, south, then west getting back onto US-99 near Pixley passing all the stalled highway traffic.  We got into the Orange Grove RV Park around 4:15, and barely got things settled before darkness hit.

We again were up and on the road by 8 am, and saw a lot of Desert (pardon the cell phone photo...to tired to get the few pictures out of the camera.)  We arrived in Needles before 2 pm and we are staying at Fender's RV Park and Resort, Passport America park for around $20.  Indy was happy to find this Oasis of Grass that they have near were we always stay (been here I think six times now, maybe as much as eight, and all but once we have stayed in the same spot.)

Tomorrow we meet our friend Laurie at a Cracker Barrel in Phoenix, we will stay overnight at the Cracker Barrel, and off again.  If our luck holds up, we should be past Houston Thursday night...at which point the cold weather chances vanish for this time of the year.

For Thanksgiving Arny deep-fried the Turkey (one of his best fryings in our opinion) and we had Mom, Ed (a neighbor), Patti (sister), Sandy (sister), Arny (brother-in-law) and Marcia and I in attendance.  Since it was someone's B-Day, we decided to not follow our diet and eat some of everything, but keep it to the one meal with dessert.  It was all delicious, and everyone took home some leftovers except mom, she does not have her own refrigerator. 

Knowing that I would be busy Friday preparing to leave, I went by to visit mom at the Assisted Living Home on Wednesday before Thanksgiving.  For the most part she was happy, talking good with just a little bit of the dementia showing through like when she asked how my Thanksgiving Dinner went (without her).  Unfortunately, by the time she arrived for the real Thanksgiving Dinner the next day, she was entering a Delirium stage.  By Friday she was back in the hospital, which is not the easiest condition to leave...but I had already said my goodbyes, and we both (mom and us) know when we say goodbye, it could be the last goodbye.  Today Sandy said she is going to be in the hospital until at least Tuesday to finish up antibiotic treatment...and when they send her home she will have a antibiotic pill to take for who knows how long.  Overall the Delirium is fading fast, but it always takes its toll on her.

May not post every day of the trip...and we have taken this trip so many times we are running out of pictures to take. 

Addie Visits GreatGrandma, Ice Cream - Ice Cream - We All Scream For Ice Cream

 

Who do you think Mom is looking at?

Her Grandson and Great Granddaughter of course!  Her room has a door to the outside, and it was a pleasant day, so we kept the door open during their visit.  Of course, Addie wanted to be outside most of the time.  She was collecting rocks from the rock garden just outside the door, bringing them and putting them into a pile.  At one time she had a dozen rocks.  One time when she was 'gone', Mom said, "Where are you?"   She comes back to the open door, her upper body bent over to the open door side to look through the door with this look (and smile) that said "Here I am!", and then starts laughing.  She is saying a few words here and there.  One time a small dog that lives there barked and she said, "Bow Wow".  Some other words we heard were mom, bye, oops, and she even used sign language to tell Michael that she was thirsty.

I texted Michael later to thank him for coming.  They are headed to Italy with Ann's mother at the end of the week for ten days, so it was a busy time for them.  His reply was that Grandma was doing much better than last time he saw her about five weeks ago...just another sign that the infusion was working...so far, no signs of any UTI's.

When I arrived for the visit, getting there about 30 minutes before Michael and Addie arrived, Ben (one of the 'chiefs' of the Assisted Living Home) was giving mom a quick manicure.  Two of the staff were watching training videos, which when I asked Ben said that they are required by the State of California to keep their training up-to-date.  Good to see that.

A week earlier when I was there to visit, I surprised mom with a Hot Fudge Sundae from Leatherby's.  (click the link to see what Leatherby's is)  Before her infusions she had an appointment with her Primary Care Doctor, and after she told Sandy that she wanted Ice Cream, real Ice Cream, not that stuff that McDonald's sells.  That meant a trip to Leatherby's and she had a big Hot Fudge Sundae that day.  Well, she was suppose to see her Primary Doctor again, but both Sandy and Patti were not able to take her.  I don't mind taking her to other appointments, but not the Primary where the doctor might suddenly say, "Let's remove your shirt so I can hear your heart and lungs better."  So they rescheduled, and on that day I took over the Hot Fudge Sundae so she did not miss out on that treat!

 

The previous week I took her to see her Dermatologist, and like last time, we went by Sonic.  This time she wanted a Burger...and a Shake.  Can you believe she finished them both!  (Although she saved just a little of the shake to take back to the "Home" so the others can see that she had a wonderful treat, and they didn't!  And I am NOT kidding...)

Besides the visit at Mom's place, I went down to see my Granddaughter, Son and Daughter-in-law a few times.  The house across the street from them has this lady living there.  Her longtime partner had passed a few years ago, and she LOVED Halloween, so the survivor still loads the front yard each year with decorations in memory of her deceased partner.  

Note:  It is interesting to watch the developing of my little 1 year old granddaughter...learning to walk, learning to talk, letting her personality shine through....while at the same time watching my mother, 93 years old, as she heads in the other direction...losing her short term memory, seeing things are not there, being disturbed because she can't do what she wants to do (I don't want to get up out of bed, I don't want to go to bed this early, I want to eat in my room, I want to go home).  Circle of life...

September - Mom's Infusion Therapy Month

 

Of course, before the medical stuff...she has to enjoy a Sonic Hot Fudge Sundae!  Actually this was after a visit to her dermatologist.  She had a small skin cancer removed in latge August, and in mid-September I took her back to get her stitches taken out.  

It just happened to be very close to the only Sonic Drive-in in our area, which is weird since Jefferson County Arkansas, population 65,000 has three, and use to have four Sonics!   This Sonic serves a population of nearly 400,000 people!  The Hot Fudge Sundae was a good treat for mom, and I had a large Diet Coke, of course, my normal daily drink for 23 years while living in Arkansas.  

So over the past six to eight months, mom has had UTI after UTI.  It put her into the hospital a few months ago.  So they recommended that she see a specialist dealing with body infections.  This specialist decided that an Infusion (Infusion therapy — also known as IV therapy — involves administering medications intravenously) of an Antibiotic, twice a day over 20 days might rid her body of the underlying infection that constantly attacks her urinary tract.  This treatment needed to be done in a medical facility -OR- the family could be taught how to administer it.  With younger people, the person needing the infusion could be taught how to do it.  So on Saturday, September 8th, Patti, Sandy and I, along with Mom, went to be taught (while mom had the needle inserted and got her first, initial treatment.)  That evening they (Infusion's Pharmacy) dropped off all we needed to get started the next day.  Sandy pretty much did the mornings, I did the evenings, and Patti, who still has a job, filled in as needed (Sandy and Arny went up to Reno for the Air Races one weekend.)  They provided a link to a online training video which I used the first few nights just to be sure I was doing it all correctly.  After the third time I no longer used the video and left my Kindle Fire at home.

Since I had my Kindle Fire with me, I showed mom the latest video of Addie walking.  In mid-July she wasn't taking any steps.  Michael said that during August she would take a step or two, then sit or grab onto to something.  In late August they put her into a daycare, and by Labor Day she was walking all over the place.  In the video I showed mom she took over 30 steps before she purposely sat down to play with a toy.  LOOK at that smile on Mom's face...it really perked up her mood.

Marcia and I got back to Citrus Heights from Cromberg on the 7th.  On the 21st we went down to Michael and Anna's for a visit.  Above you can see Addie waving at Marcia (who is just out of the picture.)  She was not only walking, but climbing up on the some furniture, bouncing a basketball (a REAL basketball!), and saying a few words.  She is so precious.  Hoping to get back for a visit this weekend!

Tomorrow is the 20th day of the Infusion, and mom can't wait to get the needle and stuff out of and off her arm.  Although her mild dementia is still there, the UTI's are gone and the delirium that is associated with the UTI's have diminished.  Unfortunately, some of the things she saw in a delirious state remain with her.  For instance, a tree fell on the house across the street (no, it did not, but she still believes it did).  Sandy was her sister Mary...I was Dad.  (Mom, I am David...look at my beard...dad never had a beard...realization hit, but she still called me Al from time to time, but not anymore...for now.)  Only time will tell if this process truly rids her of the constant, recurring UTI situations.

Finally Camping After a 1st Birthday & Mom in Hospital

We made it up to Truckee yesterday...here for four days (on our second day right now), and then headed to Golden Coach RV Resort in Cromberg, 15 miles outside of Quincy.  More on the camping later...first...

Addie had her first birthday in mid-July.  Mom, who had been fighting another UTI attended it and had a very good time.  Also there was Marcia, Michael & Anna (parents of baby), Shelley (my first wife and mother of my children), and my daughter Stephanie, who had a birthday just a couple days later.  I have many pictures of the day, but the parents are very 'shy' about letting close-up pictures out on the Internet due to hackers who use such photos to do nasty dirty things to them.  We all had a great time, and watching her eat her first watermelon, which was in place of a birthday cake (sugar is not yet one of the foods she has had yet...once you go down that path there is no end to it, says my son.)  She finally held it, took a bite, then made Michael take a bite of his...they have these games they play.  Looking at pictures of her dad at year one, Addie is a spitting image of him. 

The very next morning the Assisted Living Home could not get mom out of bed, or even very alert.  They called an ambulance which took her to Sutter Hospital.  Test after test, looking for signs of stroke, heart, cancer...it all came down to her having a UTI.  Click on this Google Search "UTI Delirium" and you can see how a UTI can make an elderly person very 'out-of-it', to say the least.  They put her on a IV drip for antibiotic and when the culture came back that it was a E. coli variety of a UTI.  A person's body contains  E. coli bacteria that normally live in the intestines of healthy people ... most types of E. coli are harmless.  When they get into the urinary tract, well that can hurt anyone, and can kill an elderly person.  Five or six days later and she went back to the group home.  Seems each UTI puts a dent into her memory, so her dementia is getting worse with each one, and with each month that passes by.  She is 93, pretty much the last of her generation.

So, here we are up at Granite Flat, one of our favorite campgrounds close to Sacramento.  Good Verizon for the aircard (only two bars, but we are seeing speeds in the 10-20 Mbps range, good enough for our needs.)  We liked it better when it was all 'first come first serve', but that changed a few years ago.  First about 2/3rds of the park was by reservation...now all of it is.  However, 'if' you come in on lets say a Monday, and find a spot which has no reservation until Friday, you can pay for two nights, then go online and pay for the later two nights...which is what we did.  $11 a night with the America the Beautiful Lifetime Senior Pass.  We are closer to the highway 89, but the noise never seems to bother us much, especially at night when there is very little traffic.

One of the things we wanted to do was to get away from the Valley heat.  It is 84 here near Truckee, it is 97 in Citrus Heights.  Our low tonight will be around 46, Citrus Heights will be around 65.  Since we have been out this year, the weather could not have been better for the month of June...then July came and Citrus Heights hit a high of 109 and 105 or over about 4 other times.  A few nights got down to the low to mid 70's, and we had to sleep with the A/C going all night.  One thing about RVing, the AC is very loud and it can be hard to get a good nights sleep with it circulating on and off all night.  

A few times in the past we spent a bit of our summer in Quincy at Pioneer Park.  They were full for the number of weeks we wanted to stay.  But Golden Coach RV Park, just 15 miles to the east in Cromberg, is about 800 feet higher than elevation than Quincy and 1,200 feet lower than Truckee.  So Cromberg will be a bit cooler than Quincy, a bit hotter than Truckee, but way cooler than the Sacramento Valley.  And they have a monthly price of $625, and she (the owner) prorated the rest of our stay through Labor Day at the same rate, just under $20 per night for our stay.  And it is full service, which means electricity, water, sewer, along with showers and pay to use laundry.  "IF" we need to run our A/C, it won't be needed at night because the lows will be around 50 degrees.  And as Verizon goes, the owner said they put a new tower right across the street from!  Verizon is great, AT&T is not...so we will be in Internet fast zone for sure!

Our original goal was to go up to Southwest Oregon to spend 6 weeks or so at Huntley Park.  The same day mom went into the hospital, a fire started just outside Agnes and this fire has grown to over 22,000 acres and is only 3% contained.  The fire is now 5 miles from Huntley Park, but we axed the idea of going there when it was 14 miles away and only 4,000 acres.  So plan "B" is what we are doing, and we feel we are going to like Golden Coach RV Park as we did Pioneer Park in Quincy.

Could not resist few more picture of Addie...she is opening up her first book delivery of her book subscription that her proud grandpa (me) and Marcia provided for her birthday, along with a kid friendly book case, one in which she can sit on as she gets older, for these and other books she will get.

Grandma Shelley and Great Grandma Dorothy.

Very proud Aunty Stephanie. (Addie is looking at a book that was already in her collection. The girl loves books, she is going to go a long way, such a smart child.)

And this girl here celebrated her third anniversary being adopted into our home on July 4th.  She loves to growl at all the people that she hears and sees passing by our campsite..but so far, no barking.  She is a good little girl for sure.