Shopping

Today was another hot one. We were glad to get in our (air-conditioned) truck and head to Battle Creek, stopping first at Horrocks.

"HORROCKS" in topiary outside their garden center

I even enjoyed spending some time in the walk-in cooler room! We stopped at Lowe's and picked up a cabinet catch to replace one that succumbed to metal fatigue and at Walmart for a yoga mat and some weights. (You can tell I'm really gearing up to get exercising...). I'll be glad to have the mat tomorrow morning for the yoga session. It will be so much more confortable on my back than the towel I've been using.
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Halloween (in July)

Today was the final holiday in July--Halloween--complete with kids trick or treating and a costume dance at the pavilion. We wore our Halloween orange tee-shirts and danced one slow dance. I got in a conga line briefly, too, but mostly we talked and watched the dancing.

Tonight, after researching and talking about an Alaska cruise next July, we finally booked a cruise and put down a $250 deposit on the July 8 sailing of the Norwegian Pearl from Seattle. Now we still have to figure out shore excursions, but the NCL site does not list any for 2012 yet, so we'll look over the 2011 choices.

Chris and Annie are definitely joining us on the cruise. Ed and Julie have already been on an Alaska cruise, and Blake and Terri will probably be in Singapore. We're hoping that Rebecca and Cathy and Jeff and Tiffinie will be able to come. Of course, Jeff never knows where he'll be very far in advance, since he's in the Air Force, so he won't know whether the cruise would be an option for him until much closer to the date.
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Fireworks

Today we celebrated July 4 in July--odd concept, but it fits with the "Holidays in July" theme. There was a parade of decorated golf carts, with people wearing red, white, and blue and tossing candy to the onlookers. This evening there was a party on the beach and fireworks, a really nice display.

Mother Nature put on a fireworks display last night. We had major thunderstorms passing through the area and got quite a bit of rain besides the lightening and thunder. I talked to Carol today, and she said that Tyler has now had 32 straight days of temps over 100 and no rain.

We drove in to Union City to pick up a few things, including candy to hand out to the kids who will come trick or treating tomorrow (Halloween in July, of course....). The Discount Grocery and Veggie Barn had some really nice beefsteak tomatoes. I'm a sucker for a good tomato, so we picked up a bunch. We'll do some more extensive grocery shopping in Battle Creek.

We stopped in at the Thrift Store for the last time (it's only open Thurs.-Sat., and we leave here next Thursday). They had a half-price clothing sale, and I got four tops for a buck. One is a purple tee-shirt from the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. I got it because I like the turtles on the front, with the idea of making some cutouts and using it for a beach shirt.
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Turkey Day

Today was "Thanksgiving" at the resort. Of course that means turkey dinner. The resort supplied the turkeys--choice of deep fried or smoked--and the rest of the bountiful spread was potluck. We were asked to bring "a dish to pass"--which I guess might be a Midwesternism for "a dish to share."

As usual, there was a great variety of food, tempting us to try to take a taste of everything. The deep fried turkey didn't appeal to us much, but the smoked turkey was pretty good. One dish I haven't seen for a while was a delicious corn pudding. We enjoyed the food and the company.

We have been trying to make plans for an Alaska cruise next July, for which some of our kids might join us. We've never been on a cruise, so we are pretty much "at sea." We have settled on a Norwegian Pearl seven day cruise departing Seattle July 8, but we have no idea how to go about choosing a cabin type or location or finding out what the true cost will be or choosing shore excursions. Ideas are welcome.
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Holidays in July

The resort we are staying at is celebrating holidays in July this week. Today was the Christmas celebration. We dug out our Christmas decorations and found a couple of ribbons and such to wear and joined the Christmas carolers this evening. We hopped aboard a wagon to ride around the campground. Fortunately, there were words for the songs, and even more fortunately, there were recorded songs for us to sing along with.

Afterward we went to the clubhouse to play Christmas bingo. The bingo game was just for fun. The biggest prize was a pack of three toy race cars. We got close to bingo a couple of times, but never won. No matter--we had lots of laughs.
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Antenna

We finally decided to order an external antenna for our broadband modem, in the hopes that it would improve our reception, especially in areas where the signal is weak. We ordered an Omni RV antenna from the 3gStore.com, along with mounting hardware and an adapter for our modem. It arrived today, and we installed it on our ladder. Now we'll have to see how well it works for us.

I went to a class on decorating tee-shirts by making cut-outs today. Fortunately, the lady leading it has lots of donated tee-shirts for us to practice on. I had fun making a diamond-back shirt, but later discovered that the little knots tied in the middle of the back are not so comfortable to lean back on!

The weather has definitely moderated, though it's stil quite warm. We're enjoying being outside for our walks. Our swan has returned to Mirror Lake after an absence of a few days.
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Hot Water!

After our laments in this blog about troubles with our water heater, our friend Tom Clapham, a fellow Excel owner, sent us some suggestions. We took his sage advice and cleaned the contacts on the control board. We were delighted to find that this seems to have completely solved our problems. Yay! Thanks, Tom.

The exercise class I've been attending uses a yoga video on Mondays. I do my best to follow along, but it's clear that some of my muscles are pretty wimpy! The instructor does say that it's fine to modify according to your abilities (or disabilities?)
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Red Sea Pedestrians

We went to Kalamazoo this afternoon for our last concert in the park. For some reason they're not having one next week, and then we'll be heading down the road. The Red Sea Pedestrians of Kalamazoo gave us a great send-off.

The band's self description starts out like this:

The Red Sea Pedestrians are a one-of-a-kind, full-blown, instrument-swapping fusion between tradition and the here- and-now. We're talkin' high-energy world-beat grooves, hypnotic laments from the earth, songs of celebration and wonder: a warped and beautiful blend of Klezmer, Greek, Gypsy, Celtic, Jazz and American Roots, all filtered through the band's original vision.

The first thing we noticed when we arrived was that the crowd was much larger than it has been. That could be partly because it wasn't as blistering hot today, but the audience reaction convinced us that they definitely have a following.

The music was very high energy. Some of the numbers got lots of people, adults and kids, up dancing. At the end the crowd applauded vigorously, hoping for an encore.

After the concert, we headed over to the People's Coop for our last shopping foray there. Ken took a photo of their cleverly designed bike rack.

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Water Heater Redux

We went to the office today to get some recommendations on RV repair. Before we called anyone, we decided to take another look to see if we could figure anything out. Ken and I both researched Atwood water heaters on the Internet and had gotten some ideas. We finally decided that our problem is probably a loose connection in the thermostat. When we touched the thermostat wiring, the gas burner immediately came on. For now we're going to see if we can learn more about the wiring and see if we can repair it ourselves. Meanwhile, we have to go out and jiggle the wire to get the burner started, but then it heats the whole tank, so we do have hot water.

We spent some more time scoping out our trip to the Smokies. One of the sites we visited called out the Biltmore Estate near Asheville, NC. We're thinking of visiting there before going to the Smokies. From the website, it's a full day's visit, so we'll need to spend two nights in the area. So far we haven't found a place to stay nearby.

I talked to Aunt Iris today. She and Beth worked the Kingfish tournament this week. That's an annual event that Iris has been involved in for years. Jack started out working in the radio room. Fishing starts very early every day, and Iris and Beth had to be there an hour in advance (5:30 a.m. some days) and stay until all boats were accounted for in the evening. Makes me tired just writing about it!

Iris had talked with my cousin, Brenda, who fell down steps and broke her back and pelvis. She's in a rehab center now, but says she's still in pain. Iris fell down a flight of steps a couple of years ago and says her injury is still sore at times.

I talked with Julie. She's at her parents' house in Florida now. She's been on a grand adventure--a one month road trip with the three kids, visiting friends and family. Ed will fly down Tuesday to join her, and they'll visit some then drive back to Texas together.
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Rain!

Well, today it rained and actually cooled down a bit. Not much, but a bit.

The hot water heater has decided to truly mystify us. The gas burner comes on only when water is being run--either hot or cold. It goes off as soon as the water is turned off. We've decided we may need to call in a professional. Ugh.

The weekend has brought more campers out. On our walk tonight, we actually saw a golf cart jam. We also saw the adult swan and cygnet, but with a second adult this time, so probably a mated pair and offspring. The fact that they're down to one cygnet testifies to the vicissitudes of life for young swans.
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Bike Rack Woes

Ken noticed this morning that the bike rack looked odd. Two of the cradles that hold the bike tires were missing. We think they must have vibrated off during our trip to Grand Rapids. Always in the past, when we moved Venture, the bikes were in the rack. They're securely fastened down, so they hold the bike rack parts in place. It turns out that the missing parts are called "wheel hoops." We found some on the Internet at Hitch Source and ordered them. Expensive lesson.

On our walk this morning, we saw what we first took to be a large cat, but the ears were too long. A closer look made us think more of a skinny dog. Although we were only maybe 25 feet away, the animal didn't look alarmed. In fact, it moved somewhat in our direction. We decided that it was probably an oddly behaving fox and moved along. The images online of red fox matched what we saw. Must have been a hungry critter and probably pretty used to people.

(image from http://www.wildlifeonline.me.uk/red_fox.html)

I went to the Discount Grocery today after calling and finding that today was the day that they were getting in fresh produce. The best things I found were corn on the cob, beefsteak tomatoes, green beans, and blueberries, all grown by local Amish farmers who use no chemicals. There's nothing like fresh local fruits and vegetables.

For dinner I made beer can chicken, using some Miller Amish chicken I found at Horrocks. It turned out moist and flavorful. I'm always happy to find chicken that's not mass produced by Pilgrim's Pride and their ilk.

Following the instructions from Ekornes, the manufacturer of our new chairs, we used the cleaner wipes and protection wipes included with the chairs. We’ve never had leather furniture before, and we want to keep the leather in good condition. We’ve put cleaning and conditioning the chairs on our quarterly maintenance calendar.

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Chairs

Today we went to Design Quest in Grand Rapids to pick up our new Stressless swivel recliners. First we stopped in Battle Creek at the Goodwill to donate our old recliners, which they were happy to get. We were happy to have some younger, stronger people to remove them from the rig.

The reason we towed Venture all the way to Grand Rapids is that we wanted the store employees to be responsible for moving the chairs into the rig. That turned out to be a bit tricky, since our doorway is much narrower than a standard home door, but they managed, without damaging either the chairs or the rig.

One of the incentives to buy at the time we did was that "personal tables" were included free. They're designed especially for laptop computers or reading. We wanted them to use with our laptops, but even with our small laptops there isn't really room for a mouse. We'll have to see how they work out. We've been trying to find a good way to handle computing in an RV. Most floorplans don't have very good arrangements for a desk.

Chairs with "personal tables" deployed

The day was again extremely hot. When we stopped at a rest area and got out of the truck, it was like stepping into an oven. Fortunately we had plenty to drink, since the rest area had large signs up warning people not to drink the water, which had tested positive for coliform bacteria. Yuk.
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Heat Wave!

About the only thing that distinguished today was that it was so hot that our a/c was unable to keep up, especially since everyone else was also desperately trying to stay cool. Our voltage meter showed the needle on the border with the lower red zone, and sometimes dipping into it. At least the a/c did keep the humidity down inside.

We got out early this morning to walk before things heated up too much. Tonight we waited until after sunset before venturing out.
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Another Quiet Day

This morning headed over to put our laundry in the washers and then went for our walk. We ended the walk at the clubhouse, where I attended a yoga class. The 10:00 a.m. exercise group does something different every day. I have done very little yoga, but the video instructor urges participants to modify as necessary. I did a lot of modifying. I thought that yoga would be relatively relaxed, but by the end of the class I was dripping with sweat.

After my shower I headed back to the laundry room, where Ken was just folding the first two loads of clothes. Our third load had just gone into the dryer. We finished the laundry relatively quickly. While the last load was drying, we read. I picked up an old National Geographic Magazine and read an article about zoonosis. Rather scary.

We got a call this morning saying that our chairs have arrived at the store in Grand Rapids. We'll pick them up Wednesday afternoon. We've decided to take Venture along, to avoid any problems with getting the chairs into the rig. On the way we'll stop at Goodwill in Battle Creek and drop off our old chairs, since no one has responded to our ad.
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Schlitz Creek Bluegrass Band

First, happy 40th birthday to Blake! You gotta love someone who gets to make a "diplomatic excursion to the World Eskimo/Indian Olympics," held in Fairbanks, Alaska, July 20-23. Have fun!

Our outing today was much tamer. We went to Kalamazoo for the Sunday concert in the park, featuring Schlitz Creek, a Michigan bluegrass band (was that a bit of an oxymoron? read on!). In addition to more traditional bluegrass, they play pieces from the Monkees and the Beatles, all while having great fun and showing off some excellent fiddle and banjo licks.

As usual we stopped by the People's Coop on the way home. We've been there the last two Sundays, but this is the first time we've been offered a 5% Sunday senior discount. Maybe they didn't notice we were seniors before? Our next stop was Horrocks Farm Market in Battle Creek. Someone had suggested it as a place to find pretty much everything. It is quite an eclectic store, with a large garden department, extensive local produce, a great cheese selection (if you can stand the cold walk-in cooler), and more. We actually found some Nando's Peri-Peri sauce. We've been looking for Sundried Tomato and Peri Peri sauce, but maybe we can work with this (if it's not too hot).
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Volleyball

Today was the first day of the great volleyball tournament. We went over to watch for a while, but soon decided it was too hot, even in the shade of the canopies. It was definitely way too hot to be playing volleyball! The group playing water volleyball in the indoor pool seemed much more sensible.

We've been seeing some baby rabbits around the park model in the next site. They're cute, but rather elusive. Ken did manage to catch a shot of one.

We also saw a adult swan with a half-grown gosling in the big lake. The two were side by side, munching on something in the water.
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More Campers

It's Friday, so more activity as more campers arrive for the weekend. There's a volleyball tournament here this weekend that's attracting extra people. We met a couple at the conversation pool who turned out to live in Allendale, near Ken's sister. He works in Muskegon, and she works in Holland, so Allendale makes a nice middle point. They told us about their first fifth wheel, which burned to the ground the night before they were due to arrive to spend a holiday weekend in it. The fire was blamed on the refrigerator. That was many years ago, and at that time there were no emergency escape windows in RV bedrooms. They would have been trapped. Not a happy thought.

We finished our cleaning work on the rig today. I sprayed protectant on all the decals, something that we found suggested when we Googled "RV decals peeling." Wish we'd known earlier that the decals are so susceptible to UV damage.

On our walk this evening, we spotted a golf cart that really got Ken's attention--you can see why!

Here's the view from the back of our site, a really peaceful setting:

Mirror Lake lives up to its name.

Our magestic swan.
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Quiet Day

We worked on using Gel-Gloss on our front and rear end caps. It works really well to remove oxydation and restore shine, but it definitely requires plenty of elbow grease too. Also, it's a bit of a trick reaching the upper areas of the front end cap, which is way higher than our six-foot ladder will reach. I lowered the tailgate and backed the truck up close so we could stand the ladder in the truck bed.

Ken also removed some of the ragged decals. He wants to remove all of the front decals, which are peeling off. We've seen a few all white rigs, but not many. They sure do look very plain...

Someone drove past and asked "Do you work all the time?" We did spend some time today sitting in our chairs outside, looking at Mirror Lake and reading.
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More Cleaning

Having finished cleaning the roof and awning, we moved on to the rest of the rig today, using some RV Wash and Wax and some elbow grease. We made some good progress but still have to clean the windows, do some touch up work, and wax the front end cap, so there's plenty of work for tomorrow. Fortunately it wasn't as hot today, so a more pleasant day to work.

After our chores we took our afternoon walk and then headed to the hot tub.

Looking out at the Mirror Lake tonight, it's easy to see where it got its name. The trees and blue sky and fluffy white clouds are faithfully echoed in the water, a lovely sight. We spotted a great blue heron earlier today, standing in the middle of the lawn, quite far from the lake, which puzzled us.
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Cleanup

I went over to the exercise class this morning. The video this time was eight minute segments of resistance training. Eight minutes doesn't sound like much, but if you're using muscles you haven't used in years, it can sure seem a lot longer.

We waited until it cooled off a bit this evening to wash the roof and clean the awning. It's been a long time since we cleaned the awning. We checked the blog and found an entry in June 2008. We think the awning is supposed to be cleaned a bit more often, even though we don't use it very often. It still has some spots and debris, so we're going to make another pass at it tomorrow.

Tonight we watched the movie Matchstick Men with Nicolas Cage. It's billed as a crime comedy, but really ended up seeming more somber to me. I love Nicholas Cage, and Alison Lohman's performance is spot on. Good movie. We made popcorn and sat back to enjoy the film.
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Weather!

Well, today really ran the gamut of weather. We started with strong thunderstorms and heavy rain. Those died down, but then we saw that in addition to strong thunderstorm warnings, Union City was under a tornado warning. The National Weather Service recommended evacuating mobile homes and going to shelter. Venture is definitely mobile, so we headed for the clubhouse bathrooms (by advice of the management, the best place to be in a storm).

After the all clear was called, we played some pool. Suffice it to say that Ken won one of the four games, and the rest ended in technical wins . . . .

We got to see some spectacular lightning, and the electricity went out. A tree had fallen across a power line. Later we noticed that one awning appeared to be torn back over the roof of the RV. The awning frame was still in place, well tied down. Someone had left, thinking it was secure. We saw other branches down, too, but no real major damage. By this evening the electricity was back on. Since we have an inverter and our refrigerator automatically switches to propane, we hardly noticed that the electric was out...

Later this afternoon, the sun came out, and the rest of the day was clear and pleasant (except for the humidity).

We went to town today to do our laundry, since the park laundry room had no electricity. While we were in town I checked out the IGA--not much, so we'll continue to shop in Battle Creek.
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Concert in the Park

Our last concert in the park at Kalamazoo's Bronson Park was August 10, 2008, almost three years ago. We were familiar with the venue, but the performers were completely different this time. Last time we heard a Dixieland Jazz Band. This time the musicians were a group called Fonn Mor. The music was great, and a special pleasure was watching the very talented Irish dancers who performed with the band.

The announcer congratulated the people of Kalamazoo for coming out in all kinds of weather. Today it was 90 degrees. We were saved from the heat only by the shade of the trees at 5:00 p.m. and a little breeze now and then. Bronson Park is a real jewel, especially the landscaping provided by the master gardeners of Kalamazoo, and the bronze sculptures. Unfortunately it has no restrooms, so I missed part of the concert while I hunted for a nearby public restroom. (There aren't any--someone at a nearby church took pity on me and let me in to use their restroom. Later I asked the rep of the Arts Council and was directed to the nearby Radisson.)

After the concert we went to the People's Coop to shop again and stopped at Walmart in Battle Creek on the way home.
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Weekend

Most of the time, we tell ourselves that weekends are just like any other day, now that we're retired. But RV parks definitely experience an influx of new people over the weekend, and often more activities. This morning we walked around the park checking out everyone's offerings in the park-wide garage sale. We actually found something we had recently said we needed to buy: a set of three emergency triangles. We hope we won't ever have to use them, but it's good to know we have them just in case.

We picked up a few other things too, off course, like a DVD of Matchstick Men. (Nicolas Cage's starring role grabbed our attention.) I got a nice mesh shopping bag, too.

This evening we went over to the clubhouse for the DJ dance. Not that we danced much, but it was still enjoyable to watch some really good dancers and chat with new friends.
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Awarded!

We drove in to Union City today to pick up our mail and do a little shopping. Despite its name, Union City isn't a city--it's a village. That makes it very easy to find you way around in. We dropped by the post office first and picked up our General Delivery mail.

Our next stop was the Methodist Church Thrift Shop. Ken knew it had moved from the location indicated on the little map of the town that the park handed out, but not where the new location was. We asked the lady at the post office and she directed us around the corner to where it was easy to see the rack of clothing on the sidewalk outside the shop. A thorough search led to only one find, a 25 cent granny fork. It's not an actual Foley Fork, which is what I've been searching for, but a close approximation. Yay!

Next we went to the Discount Grocery, an interesting mix of fresh produce from a nearby farm and various dented/outdated/leftover grocery items. We got some fresh green beans and beefsteak tomatoes and zucchinis and a yellow squash. We also found some organic corn chips that looked pretty good.

When we got home and opened our mail, we discovered that each of us had received the President's Volunteer Service award from Escapees CARE where we volunteered last October. What a surprise. We added our new lapel pins to our hats.

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Roof Repair and Tacos

We decided to start on cleaning Venture today. After we rinsed and brushed the sides, I went up on the roof to rinse that off too. The first thing Ken noticed looking up was that we had a series of small tears along the edge of the roof on the street side. There were more along the curb side too. Fortunately, we had a small rubber roof repair kit. We followed the instructions and first cleaned the surrounding rubber with alcohol prep pads. We cut the repair patch in half lengthwise so we would have enough to cover the tears.

Now we have two strips of repair patch, one about 16" long on the street side and one about 8" long on the curb side. We're hoping they will hold at least until we can have a more professional repair made. Tomorrow we'll continue with the cleaning and waxing process.

This evening we drove to Union City and joined the gang at Ma's Bucket (a bar and grill place) for Taco Taco Thursday. The group goes every week for the $1 tacos, which were surprisingly good for Michigan. We met several people and plan to go back next week. We had our big salads beforehand, so two tacos each was plenty.
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Relax

Today we didn't do much of anything. We walked, soaked briefly in the hot tub, and did our laundry. While we were out on our morning walk, we met two people who were also walking. They invited us to come to an hour of exercise in the clubhouse from 10:00-11:00 a.m., followed by an hour of walking. I'd like to check that out tomorrow. They also mentioned that a group went every Thursday night for $1 tacos in Union City, so we're planning to join them tomorrow also. It might be a good way to meet some people.

We noticed that we're not too far from Elkhart, so we spent some time looking at RV manufacturers' websites. Then we spent some more time looking at Excel floorplans. The 30RSO Limited has disappeared from the list of floorplans. The model that Tom and Donna got, the 33GKE, is probably the most appealing to us right now. Of course we'd like to see one. We go back and forth over when would be a good time to buy. We could stay in Venture for the foreseeable future, but we're really attracted to several features of the Limited models (larger tanks, fiberglass roof, full extension drawers, etc.).
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Moving Day--With a Stop to Shop

Today we pulled out of Blue Lake County Park and headed to Grand Rapids to visit the Design Quest Furniture Store. That's the one Romaine had recommended because they handle Stressless chairs. We've been considering replacing our recliners for some time. The ones that came with Venture are heavy and bulky, so they don't fit well in our confined space. Besides, one has a problem with the mechanism, and they're hard to keep clean.

Tim and Rosie, our Excel friends from the Rio Grande Valley, gave the Stressless chairs a really glowing recommendation. So did Romaine. They're definitely pricey, but might be a good long term investment, since we would take them with us when we leave Venture. Today we planned basically to check out the different models and colors, but we had no real intention to buy.

While we were there we became aware that we would be within reasonable travel distance of the store for a month, allowing time for the chairs to be delivered to the store. Also, the Sunrise model we were most interested in was offered at $300 off (regular price $1,995)and with a free PC/personal table accessory (regular price $525). These are factory promotions ending July 5. Ekornes, the maker of Stressless, controls the retail price, so no one can sell them at a discount apart from the factory promotions.

You can probably see where this is going. We decided to order two Sunrise medium Stressless chairs in chocolate Paloma leather with teak stained bases. We'll return to Grand Rapids in two weeks to pick them up.
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Independence Day

The park is beginning to empty out, although many sites are still occupied and have “7/5” on their site tags, so we’ll have lots of company tomorrow when we pull out. The only problem that might pose is having a wait at the dump station.

Ready for our morning walk

We went over to the cottage for a final visit this afternoon. Pat and Jeanne and Jim and Pam and Mike and several kids were there. I got some more photos of Pat and Mike and Shellie. Mike is definitely a bit of a loner and mostly hung around outside smoking.

Pam and Shellie went to a big flea market this morning and found some treasures. Shellie found some really old Fisher Price little people. She collects them and sells them on Ebay. They found some interesting old books to make into wallets and purses, including an early Dick and Jane reader.

Pat and Jeanne and some of the kids went out on the pontoon boat. They had some trouble with the motor yesterday, and Pat hoped he’d gotten it running right. When they came back in, they reported that it had cut out again, right in the middle of running well, acting as if it was flooded maybe. They used the trolling motor to get back to shore. Gordon will call someone to look at it tomorrow.

Pat and family were going to the concert and fireworks in Muskegon tonight. One of the girls had to go to work. Our truck was in the back of the driveway, so Ken had to move it twice to let people out. He’s getting pretty good at backing out of that drive—just as we leave town.

Tonight we watched A Capital Fourth, a great celebration in DC with fabulous stars. Steve Martin and his bluegrass band, the Steep Canyon Rangers, played some great music. Steve is a virtuoso banjo player, another side to a versatile performer. The fireworks display was really over the top--over the top of the Washington Monument, that is. It was the most lavish display we've ever seen.

Later, we walked out by the lake and watched some local fireworks, which we think might have been launched by one of the camps across the lake. They might not have been up to the standard set in D.C., but they were colorful and noisy and we enjoyed them.
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Family Celebration

This afternoon was the family gathering for the local Marks family. Romaine drove in from Allendale, about an hour away. Everyone else lives close by. Pam and Jim came, bringing lots of grilled chicken and potatoes to roast and baked beans and a strawberry-cherry fruit concoction. Pam put the chicken (which was already cooked) on the grill and reheated it, brushing it with barbecue sauce. Their daughters Megan and Kerah came along. Jacob had to work.

Pam putting the finishing touches on the barbecued chicken

Shellie made a Mexican layered dip with chips. She had red, white, and blue bunting strung around the outside of the cottage, making a festive mood. We brought bread and rolls and veggies and fruit.

When we got there, Pat’s girlfriend Jeanne was there with her son Grayson and Pat’s daughter Chelsea. Brittany and Phlea came along later (it was hard to keep track because of the girls’ work schedules). Pat was in a golf tournament and arrived much later, after everyone had eaten, except Jeanne who waited for him. Mike didn’t make it to the party.

The girls spent most of their time sunbathing out on the dock. Grayson joined the neighbors, who had a speed boat and a tube, for a ride on the lake.

After dinner, the watermelon supplied by Romaine was cut and passed around. Pam brought out her dreamsickle dessert, made with vanilla ice cream and orange sherbet, which everyone loved.

Ken and Gordon and Shellie showed their Kindles to Romaine, who was very attracted by how easy it was to read the larger font sizes available. We sat out on the lawn and watched the boats and people on the lake. A couple of sailboats, lots of pontoon boats and speed boats, and some personal watercraft and kayaks crisscrossed the lake. We watched the Purple Martins coming and going from their high rise apartments Gordon put out to attract them.

Gordon, Romaine, and Ken

Inside, it was fun to sit at the dining table and watch the hummingbirds at the feeder outside the window. They had to battle with the bees to get the nectar. We sat around the table and shared stories and memories.

Jim, Shellie, Pat, Pam, and Jeanne

Grayson

Jeanne

Brittany

Chelsea

Kerah

Megan

Gordon and Jim


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Out to Lunch

After breakfast and our walk, we drove over to the cottage and picked up Gordon and Shellie to go out to lunch in a nearby town, Whitehall. We ate at the Harbor View Grille, on the deck overlooking White Lake. We had a great view of the lake and of the town of Montague on the opposite shore, with its historic church steeple towering above the skyline.

Ken and I shared a fish and chips basket. Ken had a cup of clam chowder too. Gordon had a fish basket, and Shellie had the special barbecued pork sandwich, which came with some huge onion rings. Everyone enjoyed the food. It was a bit breezy at times but generally pleasant weather. We had heard thunder in the distance once when we were out on our walk, but that was the only sign of storms today.

After lunch we went back to the cottage. When we got there, Pat and his girlfriend, Jeannie, and two of his teenage daughters and one of hers were working on the kayaks and getting ready to go out on the boats. Ken and Gordon went to sit out on the porch and look at the lake. Shellie and Jeannie and I were talking in the dining room, when Jeannie got a text message from Pat saying the boat motor had quit working. He and the girls decided to just drift in to shore, but Shellie had a neighbor lined up to go rescue them if the need arose.

Gordon found a peaceful spot to sit and read his Kindle

I took my laptop out to the end of the dock and was able to get a slow connection so I could get some banking done. Sitting in the sun it wasn’t easy to see the screen, so I did only the minimum before heading back to the house.

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More Exploration

We woke up today to more thunderstorms. When they let up a bit, we set out on our walk. I wore my raincoat, and we both carried umbrellas, which we used on and off.

Later we decided to drive around a bit and check out other possible campgrounds. Out on our walk, we had seen a couple of signs pointing towards campgrounds. We found Oak Knoll Family Campground pretty easily. It has spaces that would fit our rig and is reasonably attractive, but we probably won’t ever go there. All the electric is 30 amp and looks old. The prices are higher than the county campground, and it’s not near the lake. The kicker is that there is no Verizon signal and no view of the southern sky.

We drove on looking for another couple of parks, but turned around, deciding that if they were farther than we had driven, we weren’t interested. Then we dropped by to visit with Gordon and Shellie. We dropped off the watermelon that Romaine had sent with us. Then we just sat around chatting, talking mainly about family.

Shellie talked about her “daycare kids,” and her ongoing friendships with them and their parents. She came back to Muskegon from Houston, where she is living now, to attend the graduation of one young man for whom doctors had not held out much hope of a bright future. His mother told Shellie she deserved at least part of the credit for the young man’s success.

Tales were told of other children who had been part of the extended “family.” Gordon mentioned that the neighbor children had called him “Grandpa Ho Ho” and Jan “Grandma Janny.”

We invited Gordon and Shellie to go out to eat. Gordon suggested the Harbor Grille in Whitehall for lunch tomorrow. We’ll pick them up, since they don’t have a car at the cottage.

Our walks have taken us up and down the local roads. We’ve noticed lots of ferns and plenty of greenery—evidence of the relatively wet climate. Michigan has lakes everywhere.

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