Darrell's Chair Archives 2009-06

From Darrell's Chair
June 2009 Entries

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"From Darrell's Chair" Archives

This page will be used to share my thoughts with you as I sit in my chair and contemplate the daily events that take place during our fulltiming journey. Hopefully you will enjoy the entries, learn a thing or two, and have some chuckles along the way as Judy and I continue "Wandering America".

Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Good bye to the first half of 2009. One more month and my pensions kick in, two more months and my Social Security kicks in. Two more weeks and I turn Golden Age Pass - yes, this will be a good year. After we leave LGE on September 8th we'll not have to "werk" any more unless we want to. I still plan to finish the H&R Block training next year (2010) so we can add a little extra moolar to our toy fund in the future, but SS and pensions will cover our annual budget.

We thought that 2009 would be a difficult year but it hasn't be all that bad. We weren't sure how we were going to make it to August 1st but have managed to stretch our income to cover us - even bought a 900 dollar mattress that we hadn't planned on as well as six new tires. On top of everything else, we drew $2,000 less out of our IRA than we had projected. Yes indeed, we were definitely frugal while hunkering down at Rainbow Plantation.

As I promised yesterday, Miss Judy has shared her week with you. You can read all about it in Judy's Corner. She is waaay busier than she has let on. The Honey Bear Store is extremely busy with people lining up just to part with their money. There are two clerks in the store and it is one continuous "Cha Ching" after another on the cash registers from 9 in the morning until 9 at night. As far as the activities are concerned, it is a continual three ring circus in Evergreen Square with one event right after another. There is hardly enough time to put away the "stuff" from one event and get out the "stuff" for the next event. This will be the biggest weekend of the year with LGE swelling to the likes of a small city (the other two big weekends are Memorial Day and Labor Day but they are not as big as the Fourth of July - especially when the 4th falls at the end of a week).

Yesterday we had a nice visit from Allan and Jeanne Webster who are fulltimers from Alabama. We first met them last year at Rainbow Plantation. They are currently camp hosting at a state park in Vermont, only an hour and a half east of us. We plan to visit them in July and then hope to do some projects with them while volunteering with Campers On Mission. Miss Judy and I plan to volunteer with Habitat for Humanity and Campers On Mission as we continue Wandering America. Thanks for the visit, Allan and Jeanne, we enjoyed your company.

Well. it's back to "werk" today so adios amigo for now!!! Until next time, keep on keeping on!!!

Monday, June 29, 2009
What a end to the week. Friday I had some tubers miss the beach. When that happens there is no way for them to paddle back because the current is just to strong so we have to throw them a life ring and tow them to the boat docks which is about a quarter mile further down stream. The current remains fairly strong in that area due to a bend in the river and it tends to push the tubes to the other side of the river so towing is the only option. We have life rings on board both tubing guide boats; I really love the Kay-Noe because it is easy to paddle even when towing someone to shore.

Saturday we had people tip over a canoe and one of the ladies in (or should I say out of) the canoe didn't know how to swim. The current was fast enough that they were heading down river at a pretty good clip with paddles floating away, the upside down canoe floating away, and two out of three "survivors" swimming toward the beach. They all had on life preservers and the woman who couldn't swim also had a boat cushion. She was smart enough to hang onto the canoe until I got to her with a kayak. When I got to her I just talked calmly to her and asked her some irrelevant questions to determine if I was going to have to go in after her or if she was calm enough so that I could tow her to shore with the kayak. Fortunately, even though she was scared, she didn't panic so I had her hang onto the handle on the back of the kayak and paddled her to shore.

Once I got her to shore I headed down river to collect our equipment. I picked up the paddles and then attempted to push the canoe onto the shore but the current was strong enough that it prevented me from doing so. Eventually, about a mile down stream I was able to get it ashore. It's tough "werk" to get a canoe filled with water onto shore amongst trees and small brush. My "co-werker" at boats had called for back up and two other "werkampers" came after me in the motorboat. They towed the canoe back "home" while I took a leisurely paddle back. It's amazing how many people that haven't got a clue when it comes to canoing will go to Honey Bear's Store and rent canoes claiming that they have been paddling for years.

Now, you maybe wondering why I didn't take the motorboat in the first place. It's not set up for "rescue at sea"!! It is a flat bottom "John" boat with a 5 horse outboard motor and is difficult to maneuver especially in a current; I would've most likely run over the lady with the darn thing. We use it only to tow boats back to the docks, mainly electric boats that fail because of various reasons like dead batteries (seldom), switch the fails (often), or grass, weeds, or fishing line wrapped up in the propeller (most likely).

Just before quitting time I get a call from the tubing guide that another tuber had missed the beach. Whenever I am the tubing guide I stay out in the river until all of the tubers are into the swimming area but not all of the tubing guides do that. Some of them beach the Kay-Noe so they can help the tubers get out of the water; therefore, if someone misses the beach then they have to depend on the people manning the boat docks to provide "rescue at sea". So I threw a kayak in the water and paddled up stream to fetch the wayward tuber. Couple all of the rescuing with moving around boats all day - I was one pooped pup to say the least.

I enjoy "werking" at boats but it can be a lot of "werk". Canoes weigh 85 pounds (we have 12 of them), single kayaks weigh around 50 pounds (we have 8 of them), and double kayaks weigh around 80 pounds (we have six of them). We, also, have 12 electric boats that get tied up at docks and six row boats that get pulled up onto a roller bed (pulling them darn things back up onto the roller bed is a PITA 'cause they weigh over a hundred pounds each). Fortunately we aren't renting row boats right now because the current is too strong to row them up stream (I don't care if we ever rent them). On a busy weekend, like the one coming up, it will be a steady stream of boats going out and coming in with waiting lines of people to use them.

As I mentioned before, I have three tubing days and two boat days each week so that means I will be a busy little boy this coming week. By next Sunday it will take two weeks for me to just recuperate, however, I will only get two days. Geeeez, just 10 more weeks to go!!!!

Tomorrow Miss Judy will fill you in on her weekend - she is just as busy as I am; sometimes even busier. So, until then; "Happy Paddling!!!"

Friday, June 26, 2009
Here we sit, Ol' Folks at Home!!! We have "werked" three days in a row and now we are ready for some time off. It doesn't take long to remember why they call it "werk".

Miss Judy "werks" in Honey Bear's Store three nights each week (until 2130 hours) where as I only "werk" one night (until 2200 hours). She enjoys Honey Bear's Store but she is a morning person (her and PEST, aka Alex) so by the time the day comes to an end she is pretty tired. On top of that, when she gets home she wants to relax and unwind for a little bit before going to bed which means she doesn't hit the hay until 2230 or 2300 hours. On Wednesday and Saturdays Miss Judy "werks" in GCE (Games, Crafts, and Events) which has "regular" hours like what real people "werk".

I have three tubing days (W-T-F) which means that I will be "werking" until 1830 to 1900 hours on those days, however, it makes it a loooong day as I start at 0900 hours. Of course, if there is no one signed up for the last tubing trip then I get off "werk" early. Tuesday is my late night as I "werk" boats in the afternoon and drive the shuttle in the evening. On Saturday I "werk" boats all day. Judy is scheduled for about 38 hours a week where as I am scheduled for 42 hours but I won't actually "werk" that many hours.

I'm happy to report that we have been seeing some sunshine over the past several days, however, rain is always in the forecast. Thunderstorms seem to have a way of developing quickly and giving us "a run for our money". Yesterday afternoon we had good weather and all of a sudden, just as we got the "tubers" into the water and on their way a thunderstorm formed. Fortunately it wasn't a severe storm, however, it not a good idea to be in the water when lighting is present. It started raining before we "hit the beach" at the campground but no one got fried - Hooray for our team!!!!

The temperatures have been in the 80's the past couple of days and the locals are whining. Us "sutheners" are just sucking it up with smiles on our faces. We felt like it was winter again with all the cooooooold weather.

Well, it is time to ready my body for "werk" so I must "get a wiggle on". Be good, be happy, and be safe!!!

Tuesday, June 22, 2009
It just had to happen! Sooner or later we knew it would happen and sure enough it did. This morning the skies were completely cloudless and bright blue with a fire ball rising in the east bringing an end to life as we knew it. Life was rain, rain, rain so it seems absolutely, positively wonderful to see the sun again. Hopefully, from here on out, we'll see more sunny days than rainy days for the rest of the summer. "Rainy days and Mondays always get me down." Well, not so much Mondays anymore as one day is pretty much the same as any other.

Today starts our first five day "werk" week since we arrived at Lake George Escape; sheesh, hope we can handle it. We both begin "werk" at noon and it will be a short day 'cause we are having another "Kick Off Dinner" this evening. All the International students are now here in the park with most of them being from Poland so that's the reason for the dinner. Meeting and "werking" with them is one of the best parts of being here at LGE.

How do you spell Alex - P E S T. Yes, he is a mischievous little stinker at times especially at 0430 to 0500 hours. We can't seem to get him to sleep in in the morning. Katie stays in bed until Dad and Mom get up, but not Pest. He walks across us, he meows loudly, and he gets into things until Mom gets up and tends to him - Dad just won't do. Guess what he does after he has managed to get both of us out of bed? That's right, he goes back to bed!!!

Our Eureka vacuum cleaner has "bit the dust" (pun intended). We have a Dirt Devil central vacuum system but it is cumbersome to get out of the closet and use. The Eureka is a small upright bagless model that used to do a fair job but I had the bright idea to get some of that carpet deodorizer powder that you're supposed to be able to sprinkle on the carpet and vacuum up. Well, that powder ruined the vacuum cleaner or, at least, contributed to its demise so now we are on the lookout for a small inexpensive vacuum cleaner that will suck dirt; preferably a bagger model (the bagless models just don't seem to do as good of job and are messier to dump).

Well, I guess I had better get going. Even though we are "werking" we still have daily chores to do and my coffee is all gone. So, Ta Ta For Now.

Sunday, June 21, 2009
Happy Father's Day to all you dads out there!

"How deep's the water, Mama?" We've had soooooooo much rain up here in the Adirondacks that webs are beginning to grow between my toes. The poor ol' boat docks are pretty much flooded. We have floating docks that we tie the electric boats up to and, yet again, we had to pull them in yesterday. However, the river continued to rise after that making us still have to wade in the water just to get on to the docks. The weather forecast is for more rain over the next six days - pretty soon we'll have to issue out boats at the front gate if this keeps up.

For Father's day, my bride bought me some scallops (lick my chops here), some clams for steaming (lick my chops again), and some cannolis (now I'm drooling, excuse me while I go get a napkin). Okay, that's better! We are planning to have Lupper around 1400 or 1500 hours and I'm starting to get all excited just thinking about it.

Last night we went over to the Woodland Grill (which is the restaurant located here in the campground) for their buffet. They had prime rib (absolutely excellent), chicken cordon bleu (fair), baked fish (not bad), and fried clam strips (not my favorite) along with baked 'tater, veggies (both good), and deserts (yummy, yummy). That prime rib stole the show, hands down. I had to go back for seconds on that one (now I'm licking my chops again).

After chowing down, Miss Judy and I went for a walk about the park. The river has gone over its banks in several places totally flooding out a bunch of campsites. The water is almost six inches deep across River Road in a couple of places. There have been times in the past where the campground has had to call people and cancel their sites for the Fourth of July week due to flooding; this maybe one of those years. I hope not because people deserve a vacation this year after experiencing high fuel prices last summer followed by the "Recession of 2008". They just need to get away, relax, have some fun, and not think about it anymore, so:
ENOUGH RAIN, ALREADY!!!!!

Well, that's about it from Lake George Escape - Miss Judy informed me that we have 78 more days to go, not that we are counting. One of our fellow workampers had mentioned that the other day and Judy just counted up the days to keep him honest (and, no, the him wasn't me). Anyway, take care and don't do anything I wouldn't do!!!

Thursday, June 18, 2009
"The Party's Over......" Yep, today is the last day before we go to "werk" fulltime, i.e. five days a week. We will get Sundays and Mondays off this year; not sure how we will like that (we like mid week days off when everyone else is "werking") but we are still hunkering down until the first of September so we won't be doing a whole lot of "touristy" things anyhow.

Tuesday we drove over to Rutland, Vermont to meet up with Stan and Denise (fellow neighbors on East Traveler Street at Rainbow Plantation). We met them in the Dunkin' Donuts parking lot around noon and from there went to lunch at Seward's Family Restaurant. Seward's is a local creamy that makes yummy ice cream. The lunch was good but the desert was even better; or at least I should say the ice cream was better. I had the Strawberry/Rhubarb pie and was very disappointed in that. Judy J. had a Peanut Butter/Chocolate yogurt which she said was absolutely delicious. It was fun to just sit and visit with Stan and Denise who "summer" in the Burlington, Vermont area. We hope to get together again in July or August.

After lunch we did a drive through of downtown Rutland. Rutland is a nice medium sized city that is fairly clean and has stunning views of the Green Mountains. If it weren't for the cold months we would love to live in an area like this - we love the mountains in New England.

Yesterday we went on another outing. This time it was kayaking on the Schroon River with fellow "werkampers" Craig and Bonnie and Jesse and Ginger. We spent a couple of hours on the water just loving it. It has been a real wet spring leaving the river higher than normal which meant that we had to paddle upstream against a pretty good current before entering a little cove area that I really enjoy. The fishing is good in the cove and there is a small island that you can paddle around when the water is high enough like it is now. Everyone enjoyed the trip and it is something that Judy J. and I will do several more times before our summer is over.

The weather people are calling for rain over the next six days. I sure will be glad to see this weather pattern change. We've had so much rain that I'm starting to develop web feet. Today will be another play inside day for us so I hope to finish up the Travelogue for January, February, and March. Then I'll need to get started on the April, May, and June Travelogue. Hopefully I will get back on track by September when we start traveling again. Then I'll go back to posting more timely Travelogues. It's hard to be motivated to write Travelogues when we are just sitting in one place and that place is the same place that we sat in last year.

Until next time, may all your paths be straight and the wind be at your back.

Monday, June 15, 2009
Another week has rolled by with not much happening. I've been working on the Travelogues for 2009 and am making really slow progress, but progress not the less. I didn't get the last six lambrequins done due to inclement weather. It has been raining on and off just about every day over the past week and I need sunshine to get the lambrequins sanded and to apply the polyurethane. I use the picnic table with some cardboard spread out over it so rain in any size, shape, or form just doesn't help. The weather forecast for the next few days is just about the same - rain off and on throughout the day.

Oh well, there are other things on the old Ta Do List that I can work on. Today is defrost the refrigerator and go to Uncle Wally's to see if we can bag some grub. We're down to the last of our venison and salmon with no fowl left what so ever so it time to go "a huntin" again. We're also running low on our grains meaning that it's time to do some harvesting as well. Uncle Wally's farm is a great place to go to rustle up some grub for restocking the food storage units.

As Miss Judy and I sit here trying to figure out what we did last week we determined that we didn't do much. I mowed the lawn, went to the library and picked up some more books to read, read four novels, and was on call for the Lake George Escape Shuttle for a couple of days. Miss Judy worked on her basket weaving and did a little reading. We did get out for a couple of walks, in between the rain drops, and checked out the boats at Honey Bear's Boat Docks along the way. The river is rising again which means that the docks will have to be reset once more. They are floating docks and we have to keep moving them in and out as the river rises and recedes - aarrggghhh, what a pain!

Wednesday evening we had Jesse and Ginger Haman, Kram-A-Lot-Inn, over for a cookout. They are a great couple that we met on the internet (through the RV-Dreams website). We enjoyed chatting and laughing our way through the evening and before you knew four hours had passed. We look forward to having many more gatherings with them over the summer, however, our "werk" schedules are opposites. We have Sunday and Mondays off while they have Wednesday and Thursdays off but we'll make it happen in any event.

It was fun to be entertaining again and I got a chance to use my new electric grill. Every year we have purchased a cheap electric grill at Wally World but this year they aren't stocking any so I ended up turning to the internet where I found a Sanyo Smokeless Indoor Grill. After doing some research I found that it is highly rated so I purchased one from Cooking.com. It arrived Tuesday morning making it available for our Wednesday evening cookout. I used it several times since then using it both outside (when it wasn't raining) and inside as well. It does a great job but I can't add wood chips to it like I used to with the "cheap" electric grills that I used to buy at Walmart.

We updated our May may expenses and our June, July, and August budget. We're going to survive without incurring any debt. My pensions will begin in August and my Social Security will begin in September (I turn golden age pass in July) so we'll have income from now on - that'll be neat especially considering that that income will cover our annual budget. We still plan on volunteering for our site occasionally and doing some "werking" to build up our emergency and toy funds.

Katie and Alex enjoy it up here in the Adirondacks. We've put the bird feeds out and there are lots and lots of birds that visit all day long. Alex loves to sit in the dining room window and watch the birds flying in and out of the feeder. Katie likes to sneak up on the feeder and startle the birds, they are getting used to her antics and kind of give her the "yeah, right!" look as they keep chowing down. There is a wide range of cute little song birds who dine at the "Katt Cafe" on a daily basis - I have to keep filling the bird feeder. We, also, have our humming bird feeder with many guests visiting there as well. All four of us enjoy seeing the birds come and trying to identify them.

This is our last week before the fulltime schedule kicks in for the summer on Friday. So we'll have to make the most of our time off (the next four days). We have a couple of mini trips planned that we'll share with you in our next entry. Until then we hope you are all well and enjoying life to it's fullest.

Monday, June 8, 2009
Wow!!! It's been a whole week since I last wrote. So what have the not-so-wandering Pattersons been up to? Well, not a whole heck of a lot.

Miss Judy, other than w*rking, has been working on her basket weaving stuff. She's doing a little bit of this and a little bit of that (a little bit of this and a little bit of that adds up, ya know?). My task has been working on the lambrequins. I've got six windows completed leaving three more to do. Today, I will sand and poly the last six so that they will be ready for installation tomorrow.

Our w*rk schedule is light this time of year. We w*rked Friday afternoon, Saturday, and Sunday morning with the rest of the time off. We have two more weeks like that and then we'll be on a regular schedule of five days on / two days off. Makes me tired thinking about it!!!

Other than that, we have been enjoying our friends, attending some of the buffet meals at the cafe', doing some reading, and watching some television. We manage to squeeze a few walks into our busy schedule as well.

Each morning begins with Five O'clock Charlie (aka, Alex) getting us up. We amble to the livingroom where we pump several cups of coffee into us (go juice). Then it's showers, get dressed, and head over to the store to pick up the morning paper. After perusing that for a few minutes (not much news up here in the Adirondacks) we begin our morning chores. When we've completed our chores it's at this point that we'll go for a walk or join our friends for a breakfast buffet. After that it's generally 10 or 10:30 so we get started on our projects. Around 2:00 we are flat worn out so a twenty minute power nap is introduced (remember the katt training I took last year - katts know how to power nap better than any other being on the whole earth). Then we have enough energy to get us through the rest of the day. We'll do a little reading, after which, it is time to rustle up some grub for dinner. That's followed by watching the evening news (I don't know why since it's alway the same - one damn crisis right after another). After the gloom and doom session ends, and since we are sitting comfy in our recliners with the TV remote being handy, we'll do some channel surfing to see if there is anything worth watching on TV - if not, then we'll do some more reading. Bed time rolls around real fast and before you know it another fun-packed-full day ends. This fast pace is definitely giving me stress!!!!!!

On Thursday Jesse told us that we only have 88 more days left (which means that it must be about 85 now). By then I will officially be retired and we can begin our Wandering America journey in full. We are still planning on doing our visiting "thang" this fall. That is, to visit my brother and his wife in Belfast, Maine as well as Mike and Peggy in Topsham, Maine. Then we will go back to New Hampshire for another grand children fix before heading the to Cape to spend some time with my aunt (Uncle Clyde passed away last September). Then we will slowly proceed down the east coast visiting and sightseeing as we make our way to the Gulf Posse Rally in Florida toward the end of October. We'll arrive back at Rainbow Plantation around the first of November where we'll hunker down for a couple of months. Our 2010 travels are still being planned - we loosely plan our future travels 'cause things do have a way of coming up.

We may want to do another w*rkamping stint just to pad our emergency fund with a little more cash. There are still some more "toys" we want to purchase as well. We are still talking about finding a small used motorhome for our travels. The plan would be to leave the fifthwheel at Rainbow Plantation and do six to eight week trips from there. We want something small enough that we wouldn't even have to tow a car. In any event, that would take a little extra capital thus a little more w*rkamping.

Well, I guess that's about it for now. Being that rain is in the forecast for the rest of the week (beginning tomorrow) I hope to start working on the travelogues this week. We still have all our digital photographs to go through and organize as well. Hopefully, we can squeeze these efforts into our already busy schedule!!!

Monday, June 1, 2009
Well, thar ya go!!! Another month has gone flying by and here I sit not having published one travelogue this year. Shame on me, I must get my act together.

We were only scheduled for two days of w*rk this past weekend and now have four days off. Miss Judy has our shopping list ready for today so that means a visit to uncle Wally's. We'll stop by Lowe's to pick up some brackets for mounting the lambrequins; I plan to work on the first four lambrequins (for the two windows over the desk) this afternoon.

I will need good weather for sanding and polyurethaning the lambrequins as I will do that outside on the picnic table. We have a H-U-G-E picnic table (8 feet long) where I will lay out some cardboard to work on. Before I go to far, I need to get some "before" photos for the website.

On rainy days (which there are plenty in the forecast) I will spend time getting our travelogues up to date. Procrastination is a terrible thing, but, I will get around to it one of these days. After all, why do today what you can put off until tomorrow?

Speaking of rain, we have had so much that LGE's boat yard is pretty much under water. The docks are only held in place by some ropes as the current tries to wash them down the river. Water is right up to the back of the kayaks so that we have to stand in water to issue them. And there is only enough room to pull the canoes out of the rack with hardly no beach left to outfit them. Actually the river's current is so swift that only experienced canoe-ers or kayak-ers are allowed to rent the boats.

With the water level up, some of the sites along the river are now underwater and a portion of River Road is underwater. However, this is not entirely uncommon; in times past whole sections of the campground have been underwater. The boat house (which is a converted travel trailer) has sat in as much as two feet of water. Hopefully we don't see that this year - that would make a lot of work for the Fun and Games Department.

While we have these next four days off, Miss Judy is going to work on some of her basket weaving projects. She really enjoys her digital scrapbooking and her beading. Maybe, if I'm a good little boy, she'll make me a bracelet or necklace or some ear rings, but don't hold your breath. Those of you who know me realize that I don't wear any type of jewelry, not even a watch (just a wedding ring). In any event, Judy's basket weaving activities gives her something to do and keeps her off the streets.

Alex and Katie continue to chase birds. They love their bird feeders and the birds are learning that the katts can't get to them so they just keep smiling as they fill their little bellies with free food. We did change the katts food again. They liked the Taste of Wild katt food but it was causing them some digestion issues so we changed them to Wellness brand for Indoor Katts. It seems that every time we change katt food we end up with smaller bags and higher prices. This stuff costs $33 dollars for a twelve pound bag (we used to pay that for a twenty pound bag of Nutro but the katts quitting eating that stuff). The Wellness has taken care of their digestion issues and they like it so I guess we'll just keep shelling out the money; maybe I'll try some with a little milk poured on for breakfast - after all, it is healthier that most of the stuff I eat.

Well, I must get going so enough is enough. Until next time, Stay Safe, Have Fun, and God Bless.

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