Four Generations, All My Children, and Mom with Aunt Mary and 2 Cousins

 

Four Generations.  My mother, in the car, at age 92.  Me, in my mid-60's.  My son Michael in his mid-30's.  And our new 'Baby A'.  (Again, the parents do not want baby's name or close-ups of the baby out on the net.)

Here is the proud father bringing Baby A out to meet Great-Grandma and Grandpa (that's me)!

They are a lovely little family, and Baby A will be well taken care of by Anna and Michael.

We then headed over to a nearby park and met my daughter Stephanie (sitting), son Ryan, and his wife Kaelyn.  This was the first time mom had the opportunity to meet Kaelyn.  They were out in Sacramento over Christmas, but one of them (Ryan/Kaelyn) tested positive and had to isolate the entire time they were here.  We all stayed at a nice social distance for outside, which is good because mom tested positive yesterday...and thank goodness she is doing ok so far.  Covid is going through the Assisted Living Facility like the fires are going through the forests here.  We are lucky this is her first case, and that the current Covid is not nearly as dangerous as it was two years ago.

A little over a week ago two of my cousins, Stephanie and Yvonne, both daughters of mom's youngest brother Paul who died a couple of months ago, came through town.  We all met down at our cousin Debby's house, where Aunt Mary lives.  Now you have to remember, Mom and Mary came from of family of 11 children, all born from the same parents.  Mary is # 8, mom is # 9, and they are the last of the 11 children.  I knew their mother very well, but their father died in 1942.  They had one brother, Jimmy, who died in the war (WW2).  I knew each and every one of their other brothers and sisters.  Cousin Stephanie is who I adored her name so much that I convinced Shelley, the mother of my children, to name our daughter 'Stephanie'.  Cousin Stephanie is a year younger than I, and Yvonne is nearly four years younger than I am.  I have not seen Yvonne since sometime in the 1970's.  I last saw Stephanie in 1980 at a family reunion in Santa Cruz, where just about everyone of my Uncles and Aunts were in attendance, except Uncle Jimmy, of course.  Grandma was there too!  I can remember about a half dozen of these type of reunions in my lifetime...that was the last one I know about...Grandma only lived a couple more years.

Stephanie took these pictures of the get-together, and thankfully gave me permission to use them.  This sequence of five pictures above with Mary and Mom interacting is very precious.

Since Stephanie was taking the pictures, I did not get into one with her and I, but above left is one of Mary, Mom, Yvonne and I.  The picture to the right is my cousin Debby.  She is fortunate to live next door to her daughter Tara, along with Tara's husband and two girls.  Good support for help with Aunt Mary, and Debby also helps with Tara's children as needed.

This week is retirement week for sister Sandy.  After Friday, she is officially retired, and Friday is a personal day off, so Thursday is her actually last day of working.  Today they (her work) took her and about 30 other staff members she worked with over the years out to a nice Mexican Restaurant.  Since many have worked from home since 2020, they have not seen each other in person very many times the past two years.  She really enjoyed the honor they gave her...along with the gifts of coffee liqueur, sparkling wine (California's version of Champaign), some chocolates and some flowers.  Sandy has always been a hard worker, and I know they are going to be very sorry to see her go.

Speaking of going...we hope to hit the road by the end of next week to start our trip home.  Just hoping that I don't come down the Covid, because if I do, then Marcia is sure to also.  So far I feel fine, and have tested negative the past three days.

Isn't she lovely?

 

On Monday I took Indy over to PetSmart to get her nails cut...on Wednesday I gave her a hair cut.

Before (above) you can see how much hair she has compared to the picture below I took this evening..

She is such a trooper allowing me to groom her...just wish she was the same when it comes to cutting her nails.  I can grind her nails, although that is something she does not like...but a few times a year I have to have her cut, and I just cannot do it.

Now here are three lovely ladies.  On Sunday we got together for mom's 92nd birthday celebration.  Liver and Onions for everyone...except me, I had steak (thanks Arny).

The picture above I took back in May 2015...one of my favorite pictures that I have taken in Sandy and Arny's backyard.

This one above I took this evening.  I still like the Doves better, but this one is pretty darn good too.  The Reddish bird is the male Finch, and he is sharing food with the female Finch who I assume has been sitting on a nest of eggs or little ones, most likely in the Oleander plant below the wires they are on.  Finches have nested in these plants for many years, and one year we saw a Hawk go in and get some eggs from a nest.

Took this picture a couple days ago...looks like the same male Finch, but they do all look alike.

So Indy was over in the corner by the shed, and she was seeing something.  When I looked through my camera lens I finally see it....

Yep, it is a nasty ole cat.  They had a 'stare out' for about five minutes, and finally Indy went up over the rock and started barking.  The cat, seeing that there was no way that Indy was going to get up on that fence, just kept staring at her.

Update on the car...  It is running real good.  Drove it up to Auburn and back this afternoon, and did not have any issues.  Occasionally the idle speed is just a bit high, but more often than not it is coming down to where it is suppose to be after 15 - 30 seconds.  I have not cleared the code yet, but did fill the tank at Sam's Club ($4.98 per gal) and wrote down the millage so that I can see what gas millage I am getting.

Update on A/C for motorhome...  Monday I got up on the roof and got the numbers of the capacitors that I want to replace.  While up there, I also cleaned the vent covers of the three fan air vents ... they were very dirty, but cleaned up real easy with a whisk broom.  Ordered the capacitors through Amazon, and one is in, the other should be delivered tomorrow since it arrived at the Sacramento Post Office Distribution Center this evening.  Plan to put them in on Saturday.

Head em' up, Move 'em out! (after a family day on Saturday)

 

I guess we were not the only ones heading out on Sunday.  This view above is on I-5, headed south around Los Banos, about due west of Fresno.  The cars heading the other way are coming out of the LA area...it was never ending.

We had our own traffic jam...this was taken near Santa Nella, home of Anderson's Split Pea Soup Restaurant.  Highway 33 and then highway 152 each flood the Interstate with people coming from the Sierras or from the Monterey/Santa Cruz area.  Add a couple of fender benders, and we crawled along for 20-25 minutes traveling just 5 or 6 miles.  Other than that, our south-bound lanes went along smooth, yet a bit crowded at times.  Always nice to see some guy try and fit between a truck and another car, just to reach out and pound on the car yelling at them to let him in, all the while we have backed off to where he could EASILY pull in right behind the car and go along his merry way.  (ps: his wife did not look too happy about it all)

We got off from Sandy and Arny's right at 8:00 am, and we headed down I-5 because they have a Beacon Truck Wash near west Lodi, to clean nearly 4 months of tree cra#...I mean 'stuff' off the motorhome.  Getting there around 9 am we did not have to wait except for the truck in the bay getting cleaned.  Had I pulled over to the middle or right bay we would have been done even faster...but once committed I was where I was because you just can't backup pulling a car with all four wheels down on the ground.  $49, which included a wash and Rain-X, and we were on our way to the Flying J next door to spend a mint and a half on 20 gallons of gas.  Well, one more fill up tomorrow and we will be in Arizona where the price will drop $1.20 per gallon or more.

Had we not got the RV washed, we might have missed much of the traffic...at least our side was not as busy as the northbound side.

It took Indy a good couple of hours to calm down and get back into the groove of travel.  She sure snapped out of it when I stopped at the truck wash, gas station and the two rest areas that I took her out for a walk and sniff.  Above she is at the RV Park trying to figure out where other dogs are barking from, and trying to catch sight of all dog walkers...mostly very large dogs.  If you look behind her you can see oranges on the tree/bush.  We are just a bit early to pick oranges to take with us, but I found a couple that were ripe and Marcia enjoyed one of them immensely. 

And at 4:35 I snapped this picture of the sun going down...wow, it sure gets dark early now days.

Family Day

Saturday turned out to be a family day, besides a packing up day getting ready to "Head em' up, Move 'em out".

Back Row L-R: Roger, Charlene, Bob, Mom, Me, Indy with Patti and Sandy down front

My brothers Bob and Roger both dropped by around the same time for quick (too quick) visit.  Arny took this picture, Marcia was still in the motorhome.  Bob brought along his 'friend' Charlene, which gave us all a chance to meet her, except mom who met her a few months ago.  Roger's wife was driving up from the LA area and did not make it.  My older brother Jim and his wife Carol were in Texas where they live.

Sure was a good day for mom based on that smile!

Indy Groomed and Vaccinated and Happy As Could Be

WHO the HECK is THIS?  That CAN'T be our little hairy Indy, can it????  Yep, that is her, on the way home from the groomer today (Sunday).  Last Friday (a week ago Friday) I took her to the Vet.  She had her vaccination shots, de-worming (just in case), Heartworm Test and 6 month Heartworm shot (because that is important to have in Florida).  Since she seemed to be going into Heat, we decided to have her Spayed in Florida. 

The Vet said she is probably closer to 8 months old, and not 6 months like we initially thought.  She said she is a mix breed with some Terrier, some Yorkshire, and other 'stuff'.  In looking at pictures on the Internet, I think she is close to a Yorkie Maltese Terrier mix, also known as a Morkie.  However, a Morkie is typically around 7-8 pounds, and Indy is already at 10 pounds, and not an ounce of fat on her...so she might have more Terrier in her than a typical Morkie.  But in doing a google image search for a "Morkie" there are a few which look just like her.

We don't think she ever had a haircut.  Her hair is very fluffy, very fine, very soft.  It was hard to even decide to cut her, she looked so 'cute' and 'cuddly' with her long fluffy hair.

She loves to roll on her back, and she likes her belly rubbed, especially by her daddy.  She is definitely another "Daddy's Girl" dog.  😍

Look at how much hair there was as I grabbed it as close to the skin as I could get.

    

 

Now she looks so thin and tiny...more like the 10 pounds that she is.  With this hot weather, I am sure she will enjoy it.

Of course, if Uncle Arny keeps feeding her all those "Arny Treats", she will bloom way out like her daddy!  Honestly, Sandy and Arny give very little treats, but they make a big ordeal over it when they do.  Now with Bubba, that's a whole another story...but he sure isn't bursting out of his seems, that's for sure.  Speaking of Bubba, I groomed him on Friday.

It took Indy about a week to get use to getting her Arny Treat first thing every morning.  I cooked up a batch of Pork, and that did the trick...now she is on some chicken strip treat which comes out of a bag.  Here she was wondering if there might be another treat in store from the nice couple who lives next to us

It is going to be different not seeing all that hair.  Amazingly, she did not shed at all!  That is definitely going to be nice.  I also bought her a blue collar, and we will use the vest when she is playing "service dog" once we get home to Florida...it is perfect to attach the cell phone to so that if Marcia falls, Indy will be there to rescue her from the ground.

Made it to Sacramento

We had a decent nights sleep, despite having the AC on until 2 am, then having to turn it back on at 4 am because Bubba was panting.  At 4:30 Marcia woke up, I told her I reset the alarm clock on my phone to 5:30 since it was very dark still at 4:30.  Since we have traveled each and every day, I don't think the "time changes" had totally set in on our systems yet...so 4:30 is really 7:30 to our minds and bodies.  At 5:15 I see a bit of light coming through our windows, and up we were, and we pulled out of the park at 6:00 sharp.

From Bakersfield you have two choices...go up US-99, or go over to I-5 and go up...both go through Sacramento, but from where we were, I-5 was 10 miles longer.  In a car, I would have gone I-5...but in a RV pulling a car with a 55 mph speed limit in California, I decided to stay with US-99.  Sailed through Bakersfield, and cruised along towards Fresno, and I see the GPS icon which essentially says, "You have a delay ahead".  Pushing that icon and I find out it is a wreck, 7 miles ahead, and it would be a 30 minute delay....NUTS!

Sure enough, traffic was at a crawl...and then at a stop.  However, within 20 minutes it was all over.  A wreck?  Maybe...it was gone when we went by, but we did see a fire truck putting a foam along side the road, so there was something.

The rest of the trip was non-eventful, other than the stretches of construction, bumpy roads especially near Atwater, and traffic was just fine going all the way through to my sister's house.  We pulled in right at 12:35, and by 2 pm we were settled in.  Bubba was/is one happy camper!

It is ALWAYS nice to be back in our home away from home, sitting on the concrete pad in Sandy and Arny's backyard, 30 amps, water, and way to dump our tanks with the use of our Blue Boy Tote, and enjoy family.  It was so nice to see mom doing so well, and being "SAFE" in her new normal at Sandy and Arny's house.  Even Patti came by for a short visit with her little dog Parker.

It was exactly six months today that we lost little Skruffy.  Just a few months ago Patti lost one of her dogs, Charlie.  More importantly, seven months ago, on Thanksgiving, Dad passed.  For the most part the grieving is done with...the memories are fond, full of love, and miss them all so very much.

Today it was 100 in Citrus Heights, just north of Sacramento.  Despite the heat, the Sacramento Area normally gets a sea breeze every night and cools down into the 60's, and the predictions are a few hot days, cool nights, and in the 80's by Sunday...typically weather for June in Sacramento.

Gathering for Dad's Celebration of Life

Family and friends are coming together for dad's Celebration of Life tomorrow (Friday).  I wanted to share a few pictures from the hundred or so pictures which will be on a slide show for people to enjoy before and after the service.  Above is dad standing with his mother Edna and father Edwin.  My best guess is that this was taken when dad was around 16 years old.  Grandpa was also a Bishop, and grandma played the organ and/or piano and sang in the church choir.

  

Here dad is with his older and only brother, Leroy, who was 2 1/2 years older than dad.  My guess here is that dad was around 8 while Leroy was around 11 years old in this picture.

 

This is mom and dad's wedding day back in 1948...it lasted for 71 1/2 years.  Having four boys and two adopted girls, their secret to a long lasting marriage was that 'the person who jumped ship had to take all the kids with them.'  (They LOVED telling people that)

Uncle Red (Leroy) said it best in this picture...perhaps that was also a key to the long lasting marriage.

 

Of course, had they stopped after these three (Bob, Roger, Jim), the marriage would have been a breeze...  Funny, I only remember dad with grey hair...I guess son number four caused him to age faster...

 

But then the two BEST kids came along, and the younger kids (especially the youngest boy) tried to control the rest of the kids.  I assume that Jim is taking this picture in our backyard.  Here we have me (Dave), with Bob behind me holding MY DOG Snoopy (ok, family dog but EVERYONE KNEW it was my dog), with mom, dad, Sandy (foreground) and Roger (behind dad).  By this time, we ALL wore glasses...but Roger, Sandy and I were pulled out of the pool for this family picture.  WHERE is Patti you might ask?  Sandy and Patti are biological sisters, and Patti was adopted into the family as an adult at mom and dad's 50th wedding anniversary.  Only wish she had come into our lives much earlier...

 

At first I missed the fact that Snoopy (Snooper was her official name) was in the picture...brought tears to my eyes until Skruffy came over and bit my big toe which really brought tears to my eyes.  One day soon...too soon...they will meet at the Rainbow Bridge.  I know they will be good friends.  Snoopy, I hope that day does not come soon...

 

Now that is a motley crew for sure...Jim, Dad, Roger, Bob and me (Dave), taken in the early to mid-1980's is my guess.

 

Patti and Sandy took mom and dad up to Donner Lake (Truckee area) and they all enjoyed one last trip to the mountains together.  I know that this trip really made mom and dad's day, and is a very fond memory for Patti and Sandy...the 'true' Angels of the family.

 

Tomorrow is the Celebration...no tears allowed...but how the heck do we do that????