Camping at Golden Hill State Park

Monday

Wow a big storm came through about 5am.  Lots of thunder and lightning.  I got up to close windows and opened the front drape to watch it lightning out over the lake.  But it was foggy and raining hard so it was nothing special, back to bed until 9.  There is a stiff breeze today and hopefully we will be able to pick cherries today.  It is overcast but the skies seem to be getting a little brighter.

Bonnie did some clean-up with the vacuum

Still no Internet but my phone slowly gathers my email and an occasional message.  So at least we will not miss anything significant.

The Rindo’s our camping buddies should be here around noon and we will see if we can go over to Brown’s Berry Patch this afternoon.  Rumor has it that Caroline has the makings for a Cherry Pie if we can get some cherries.

Bob and Caroline arrived and got set up, they came over after noon and we chatted for a while.  Then we decided to head to Browns Berry Patch to pick cherries.

When we got there we had good cellular so I stayed behind for a few minutes and published my blog.  Then I joined them out in the orchard.  They were busy picking.

Bob went deep into the trees

Bonnie picked the outside

Caroline was quick and hers were in the wagon

Bob and Caroline all finished

I even found a 1938 John Deere B

In the end they picked 29.58 lbs of Sweet Cherries.  By combining them together and having over 20lbs we got a 10% discount.  Then the cashier asked if anyone was a AAA member, the Rindo’s are so that was another 10% off.  We tried Good Sam, Senior Citizen, AARP and anything else we could think of but no go.  But we were happy for the 20% off and the young lady was a really good sport to put with us.  Bob was ready for some ice cream so we all went back in and he treated us to a cone and while it melted fast it was really good.

Some well deserved ice cream

We drove around Lakeside SP on the way back and only saw about 5 sites that had a lake view, a bit disappointing.  Once back we headed for the coaches and the ladies got started pitting the cherries.  Bonnie is freezing most of hers.

Bob and Caroline came over as we were finishing supper to try to watch the sunset.  But its really cloudy.  We took the chairs across the road and sat down.  The first couple that came by were recognized by Caroline and Bob.  They are Holiday Ramblers from Chapter 1, we have met them also but did not remember them.  They are the Camp Hosts here this week and next.  So it looks like we will get our lighthouse tour from them.  About that time we heard some thunder and before long a few rain drops.  We decided to call it a night and by the time the chairs were put away and we stepped into the coach it was pouring.

This was at 8:33pm

It only lasted about a half-hour and now it looks like there will be a sunset.  And there was

This was taken at 9:11 pm

Time to call it a night.

Tuesday

We slept in pretty late this morning as it was a bite overcast.  After breakfast I went out to take a few pictures.  

The gulls like this little pier

This is the Thirty Mile Light House

Another view

You can rent this Yurt at the Park, sleeps 6

Our site

While I out I chatted with the camp hosts some and they told me we were to get some thunderstorms again this afternoon.  I chatted with our neighbors.  Then John and Kathy came over.  I had talked to him the other day about Escappees.  He came over to let me know that they had joined and said thanks.

After lunch Bob and Caroline came over and we got the chairs out to sit and watch the water and watch for the storm.  Well it rained with in a few minutes and we moved inside.  It did not rain hard and a little after 2pm we went over for the lighthouse tour.  Diane and Gene the Campground hosts gave the tour and we enjoyed it.  

I don't think Bob wanted to do the wash this way

Looking out one of the window while climbing the steers

Looking down from the top of the lighthouse.

 Our coach is in the trees in the center of the picture.

Caroline stayed on the ground

A couple kayakers paddled by

Then we took a quick look at the little museum.  Then once again over to get the chairs out and sit by the lake.  We were out maybe five minutes when the rain started.  Put the chairs away again and Bob and Caroline headed for naps.  It poured and we even had thunder.  Lots and lots of rain as we tried to watch a movie.

There was a knock at the door.  Special delivery, Bob brought over pieces of the Cherry Pic Caroline had made.   It really poured while he was here and then it slacked off and we saw three swans out in the lake diving for fish.  I have never seen swans in the lake here before.

Wow this was the best Cherry Pie ever

Bob left for his nap again and I could not wait and ate my piece of pie.  It was delicious the best Cherry Pie I have ever had, Wow.

Well now the movie is over and the sun is out.

The Rindo’s came over again to catch the sunset.  Lots of folks are sitting out and the last storm that went through was a cold front so the humidity is gone and it is breezy and cool, so break out the jackets.  We set up our chairs again and the Camp Hosts Gene and Diane came over and sat with us.  We had over an hour until sunset so we had a good time chatting and catching up on what we all have been up to. 

Life is Good, take time soon to watch the Sun go down

Three nights in a row

Once the sunset the bugs came out and it was quite cool so we all headed in.  Now its time for some shut eye.

Wednesday

Third night was a windy one and the slide toppers were blowing around quite a bit.  We have some trees to block the wind but a branch did come down out of one of the trees next to us and the neighbor is taking care of it.  I see the park maintenance truck always seems to have some branches in it when it goes by.  Bonnie thinks they have been the same branches all week.  Lots of white caps on the lake today and it has a muddy color here close to shore as it is all churned up.  We will take our time packing up but will soon be on our way this morning

On our way, Co-Pilot on at the Wheel

Time to unload

UPS left a replacement DISH Hopper while we were gone.

Tomorrows Project

Good to have Internet access again

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"Life is not a Race, find Joy in the Journey"

Independence Day

Thursday

Raining this morning when I woke up.  I went out to check on the wasps and there were still a bunch buzzing around.  Closer observation and I found the nest.  When I pulled the drawer out it must have knocked it down and it was on a shelf with some other things.  In the darkness last night I did not notice it.  I pulled it out onto the ground.

Bigger than I thought

So the nest was about 3 inches across.  It was full of hundreds of eggs and larva.  I have taken care of the nest now for sure.  There are still a couple stray Wasps flying around looking for the nest but hopefully they will find a new home.  Now to figure out how to seal up the cart.

It rained off and on all morning.  My post office app told me I had a package to be delivered and just before noon they delivered it and the mail.  It was the Cradle Point router that I had bought on eBay, it came quickly, finally score one for the post office.  I put the 3 antennas on it and plugged it in.  It also has wireless and it showed up on my list of networks.  It was the secured network that the previous owner used.  So I reset it to factory specs.  Five minutes later it was up and running and connected to my wireless.  This is called WiFi as WAN and allows me to extend not only my home network but also campground and hotel networks.  I am hopeful that this will give me a more usable signal when out on the road.

New MBR-1400

I took the router out to the coach a while ago and it reconnected to the network and is working great out in the coach.  The refrigerator is cooling off nicely should be ready for use in the morning.

Bonnie and Elizabeth have gone off to a home party, something to do with scents I think.  The rain may have cleared out and it is cooling off nicely.  I have another webinar tonight with the www.rvillage.com  Ambassador Program, then it will be time to relax.

Friday

Happy Independence Day! May God Continue to Bless America and Watch Over Those Who Guard Our Freedom!

Looks like it is going to be a Beautiful Day!  I was getting ready to head out and heard the sound of a chainsaw.  Must be Darien is getting some firewood.  I headed out to check on the coach in preparation for our Sunday trip.  I checked on the mouse traps, one was still set the other was missing.  I opened the other door and there was a mouse sitting on the sprung trap eating the peanut butter.  Well that one got away.  I cleaned all the stuff out of the bay, no mouse nest.  I did vacuum up the bits of paper that had been chewed up.  Then I got the crystal lite containers drilled with holes and put the cotton balls in them after I saturated them with peppermint.

Ready to drive the mice away

So after I spread the peppermint cotton balls around I reloaded our stuff in the basement.  Darien and the boys had come back to borrow a broom so we got to visit for a while.

Then I went up and cleaned out the smoker cart and loaded it in the ranger.  I am hoping to be able to block up the big gap under the top.

Shop Smith

 I rolled out the old Shop Smith I have had it since around 1978.  Used it to rip some strips of 1/2" boards.  Then I glued them in the gaps.

See the big gap under the glue line.

All closed up

There is still a little gap above the draw in the front, maybe some weather stripping.  Loaded it and the Grill up in the Ranger and took them back up to the deck.

All set to go with a new regulator

I set the grill up on the cart and gave it a try.  It looks like a lot of the holes in the burners are plugged.
and sections of the burner are not lighting.

The new set up

My Dad left me so many wonderful tools and every time I use them it reminds me of him.  I knew the perfect tool for cleaning the burner was down in the toolbox.  It is a set of Tip Cleaners.  They are like miniature round files and of course it worked perfectly.  While I was doing that Darien came up and asked if I could help him pull down a tree that got hung up as he cut it.  We hooked up the tractor winch and made short work of pulling the tree down and dragging it out of the woods.

Almost 2pm and boy were we hungry.  Bonnie had been cleaning the house while I was outside.  I fired up the Weber Grill and we gave it a good test grilling some sausage and toasting the rolls.  It worked great.

We relaxed the rest of the day, watched the NASCAR qualifying and my plans to load the coach with clothes and food today went out the door.  Its nice and cool tonight we even closed the windows as it in the 50s already.  The big Jam in the Valley is over on the other side of the Hill and we have heard them testing the fireworks off and on all day.  Hank Williams Jr. is the main act tonight.  We will stay home tonight and take it easy.

We have enjoyed our Nations Birthday even though we did not leave our property.

Saturday

Another nice cool morning.  We took our time having breakfast and coffee and checking our email.  Bonnie got ready and left to go shopping with the girls.  I got my clothes together for the trip and took them and some of the food out to the rig.  My new Passport America card had come in the mail and so I scanned it into Evernote.

Lots of 1/2 pricing campsites available through Passport America.  The new registration for the CRV came also.  So I scraped off the old one and stuck on the new one.

I was done outside and came in to watch some tennis, soccer, and Dirty Jobs.  Bonnie was home sooner than I thought she would be with some surprises.  I had mentioned wanting hamburgers and she brought some home to grill.  So I fired up the Weber Grill again and grilled some chicken breast that we will take camping and heat up for a meal.  Then I threw the hamburgers on the grill.  The Weber is performing better than it ever did before.  Bonnie made some coleslaw and boy it was good.

After supper we loaded more food and Bonnie's clothes into the rig.  Then back in to watch some more TV and maybe the race.  The NASCAR race was rained out for tonight, maybe tomorrow.

Well thats about it for me for today.

Sunday

Sunday

Well we were up and ready for church on time.  We picked up the girls and headed to Elma.  Today was Church under the Tent.  We have a big white tent set up next to the church and it was the perfect temperature to be outside.  The sermon was great.  It was about how the Declaration of Independence was a Covenant with God and how we as a Nation are breaking that Covenant.  Very interesting.  You can even Google it and there is a lot of information about it.

We watched a bit of the NASCAR race once we got home but around 1:30 we took more food down to the rig and fired up the big yellow CAT engine, hooked up the CRV and headed almost straight north to Golden Hill State Park for 3 nights.  Lots of people have left now that the 3 day week end is over and we have a sight the overlooks Lake Ontario.  I thought that we would have decent cellular coverage here but the maps lie and I can not get a reliable signal.  Looks like my next purchase before we head to Maine will be a Wilson Sleek Cellular Booster.

It is very nice here Lake Ontario spreads out before us and there is a very brisk breeze so it is quite comfortable.  

The lighthouse is off to our right only about 100 yards so we will visit it sometime during our stay.

I believe there is a small museum in the Fog Horn building.  So I am going to sit out here and read the latest edition of my Escapees Magazine.  I may not get this posted tonight but I will give it a try.

Nice Sunset

Well I did get my text messages to kind of work and I made two calls by not touching the phone and using the speaker-phone while setting outside the coach.  I also met a couple nice folks and we chatted for quite a while.  Got to introduce them to both Escapees and RVillage.com.  Bonnie came out after her nap and we watched the sun set.  The breeze has died down and some rain is expected over night.

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"Life is not a Race, find Joy in the Journey"

Lawn Work and more.

Monday

Its to be a hot humid day so we were both up and ready to get busy.  UPS had come early this morning and dropped off two items for me.

New Propane Detector

Peppermint Oil to ward off the Mice

The new Propane detector was an exact fit for the old one and only took a couple minutes to install and test.

Easy with the right tools

They are good for 5 years and the old one was just a bit out of date.

Been on borrowed time since January 2010, wow

Bonnie went by the coach headed to East Aurora to shop at TOPS.  I turned the fan on and left the door open to air out the coach.

I opened up the old detector just to see whats in there.

Not too much

 I found the detector on the board and looked on line but I think it needs programmed.

The part with the 3K3 sticker is the detector

I headed to the lawn tractor and got busy.  I cut the front yard, part of the hill, along the driveway and out by the highway.  It was almost 1pm by then and over 90 out in the sun.  Of course the humidity was way up there.  Enough for today.  I headed in and had some of the left over pizza and wings.  Bonnie pulled in just as I finished eating.  Lots of groceries.  I saw some good things in the bags for the camping trip.

We watched a little TV and then headed over to Alden to drop off a meal for a young couple from church that just had their second child.  The baby boy slept the whole time we were there, I am not a baby person but he sure was cute.  From there we headed to Attica to the hardware.  I picked up a some brass fittings to convert our Weber Grill to use here at the house.  Not sure I got all that I need.  Then we stopped at Merle's Vegetable Stand, dropped off some plastic bags and visited with them for a while.  Then we headed home, I got home with 3 minutes left on a CradlePoint eBay auction.  I threw in one last bid and Won!  I will use it to set up in the coach and hopefully extend campground WiFi range.

We grilled some Sahlen Hot Dogs on the old grill when we got home and opened up the windows to try to cool the house down as the temperature starts to drop.  I then signed on to a webinar for RVillage.  I am signing up to be an Ambassador for them.  Rvillage.com is a social media site for RVers.  When you checkin to a campground you see other RVillage members and their interests.  If they are similar to yours its a good way to meet them.

Still pretty hot out after 10 hope I can sleep as we have an early morning.  Good news just got word that our friends will be joining us for a couple days up at Golden Hill SP.  We are looking forward to that.

Tuesday

July 1st, we were up at 6am and before long we were headed into the City Mission.  We picked up Elizabeth at church where she left her car.  We will drop her off there tonight for a meeting.

We stopped at Tim Horton's for a drink and saw Marie, she was on staff at Weight Watchers when we went there.  Busy day for me.  It was the end of the month and I did all of the stats and printed out the reports.  That kept me busy pretty much all day.  We dropped off Elizabeth and then Picked up Alexus and dropped her off at home.

Trash day so we took out the trash as soon as we got home.  It was hot all day but a breeze came along and it is cooling off nicely this evening.  After I took out the trash I got the Weber Grill out of the coach and converted it with the fittings we had picked up yesterday.  It was pretty easy and I hope to check it out tomorrow.

Now to relax a little and watch some programs.

Wednesday

It was overcast all morning so I decided to head out and cut some grass.  As soon as I got out side the sun came out and boy did it feel hot and humid.  I went out and grabbed the mail and then jumped on the mower.  I cut the back grass out in back of the house and that was enough for me.  I headed in to the house and the sun went behind the clouds again.  To hot to be outside so we are vegging out in the house under the fan.

Bonnie wants me to grill chicken breast tonight so I will bring the converted Weber Q up on the deck and give it a test.  Well that plan got canceled.  I moved the Bradley Smoker off of my roll around cabinet and the wasps swarmed around me.  I got out of there and only got bit two or three times.

Did not take long to turn red

They are coming out of this

Now to figure out how to find the nest and get rid of the wasps, nasty little bugs.  They to figure out how to seal this so they don't get back in.  Just hoping its not a huge nest.

So I did the chicken on the big grill and now its time to eat.  Boy was it good.

Wasp update.  Waited till dusk, pulled out the drawer and there hanging was about a 3 inch nest, sprayed it and will let it set until morning.  Time to post this.

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"Life is not a Race, find Joy in the Journey"