2008/05/31 – Saturday – Fun?

Cheryl and Eric went out shopping for Eric new Toy – a PS3. Eric had most of the money saved up for the thing, but we paid the remaining.

I had to do some wiring things up to get the new game system into our mess of wire.

Eric played with it until it was time to go to dinner.

Mom D came over and we went to Friday’s for Dinner.

We cam back and played some more on the system.

2008/05/30 – Friday – Show Time

Cheryl asked about going to a movie so I said why not.

Amanda went with Chris to a square dance near San Diego and was back late tonight.

We went and watched the Indiana Jones movie. I had about three different locations that did not work correctly. Area 51 entry, Refrigerator Ride (still cool), and the Motorcycle Slide, all the other stuff was the normal Indiana Jones you normally would expect.

2008/05/29 – Thursday – Catching Up

Well, thank goodness that the dentist office didn’t charge us the $100 for the canceled appointment. Amanda still was not feeling good because of her cold.

Still doing laundry from the RV – should be finished by tomorrow.

We watched Lost tonight trying to understand what its all about but still mysteries.

2008/05/28 – Wednesday – Getting There

Cheryl stayed home because she was not feeling good. The cold that I got, well three of us have it now.

I took Eric to the dentist. He was inquisitive about the numb feeling.

Cheryl and I worked on the laundry; we still have a lot to do…

I finally got caught up on the photo a day entries.

Cheryl has been trying to deal with problems with her laptop, after doing some diagnostics, what to seem to resolve the issue was doing a check disk on the harddrive.

2008/05/27 – Tuesday – Cleaning – Hurry

We got the RV cleaned. The kids did good even though Amanda is not feeling to good – She got the cold that I have. We did take everything out and now we are starting to wash everything. I even got a few things cleaned better then in the past.

Now we just have to deal with a BIG pile of stuff waiting for the laundry.

2008/05/26 – Monday – Day 4 – HDR – Going home

Slept in a little today. Once I got the dogs out and taking care of business, it was time to start putting things away.

We stopped by main camp to say out goodbyes. We were given a box of avocados. We were also told it was raining at the pass.

Once we are on our way, the going was good. We stopped at Flying J’s to get propane, dump the tanks, and get gas. Cheryl and Amanda went over to In-&-Out to getting lunch.

Of course the usual slowdown on the 15 through Victorville, and we did not stop at the truck wash, but we made it home in no time. O and we did not encounter any rain – So dam I have to wash the RV now.

We unloaded the needed stuff and I was told that the kids will do the unloading tomorrow – I sure hope so…..

2008/05/25 – Sunday – Day 3 – HDR

It was game day at HDR. I decided not to participate in the games. Before we knew it, it was time to start setting up for the kids’ games. Every thing was setup in time.

I was asked to help a run to be a tail gunner for it – so of course I did.

The trail that he led was the same as the Blue Moon run, but he explained a lot more things to the new people. When he approached the big hill climb, he decided that he did not want to take his pickup truck up it, so I offered to go to the top and guided them all up. They all did fine. Once on top, it was time to head back to camp.

Back at camp, it was dinnertime.

After finishing dinner, I got two bottles of wine, and chair and headed over to where the raffle will be held.

I went and got tickets, sat down and got ready for the evening.

Eric got Third place in Can and Stick, Amanda got Third place in the Egg Carry.

Well, I got second place in the Nail Pounding – hurry, I never thought I could pound nails that good.

For the raffle, Amanda won a remote controlled Humvee in the kids’ raffle and she also won stuff in the adults raffle, I won nothing…

2008/05/24 – Saturday – Day 2 – HDR

Got up and made sure the Jeep was at the starting location before 8:00 so people would know which way to be heading for the Blue Moon run.

I went back to the RV to get lunch items that Cheryl made for Amanda and I.

We did our normal drivers meeting at about 15 till. I had about 3 people that had done this trail before and about ¾ of the group had not been at HDR before.

We left about 5 minutes after 9:00.

When we got to the first major hill, I let Amanda drive the Jeep to the other end of the plateau, while I walk down to the point where I spot people though the tough spot. I only had one person that was very nervous when he could not first make the obstacle.

I had Amanda drive the Jeep again on another plateau area while I made sure everybody was ok coming up the hill.

I was able to follow the GPS on the new section that I found on Friday. We had lunch at 11:30

Everybody was doing so good on the next set of hill climbs, I added another section that I tried last year and everybody did good.

We finished the run at 1:00 and I said my usual good byes to everybody.

Once everybody had left, I went exploring and found another trail across the road of the main road. Come to find out I think the road is more a quad trail, I did hit one rock good, and Amanda did let out a little noise when I hit it and stopped.

We got back to camp about 2:00. I stayed around the main camp for a little while. Once I made it back to the RV, I went ahead and took a nap.

Knock on the door woke me up and it was good friend. So we talked for a while.

Getting the dinner tickets from the registration package, I headed on over to main camp to got dinner – also drove the Jeep over to get it ready for the night run.

I did try the Nail Pounding game. I was in first place with 13 nails in the board in 30 seconds. But about 30 minutes, a buddy of mine got 14 in, then another friend tied with me later.

The Best Equip game was fun to watch. It had ended about 10:00

About 15 minutes after the game was done it was time to head on out for the “Jesse Southern Lights” run.

I had about 20 vehicles. I was able to find the start of the trail easily with the GPS help. We had very minor slow downs and all was at the top by 11:00. I pointed out several areas to several different groups.

The down hill section was a little slow going, but everybody did fine.

Once to the main road, I let everybody go on by, so I know that everybody got off the trail. I got back to the RV by 10 minutes after midnight.

Another fun day at HDR.

2008/05/23 – Friday – Day 1 – HDR

Once I got up and ready, Dan, Jeff and I went for a pre-run of part of the Devil’s Loop and then scouted out a section for the Blue Moon run.

After a few wrong turns and loops, I got a good new section for the Blue Moon run.

Back at camp by noon, we had lunch.

I got the Jeep safety and then head on over to registration to get the registration package and t-shirts.

Around 8 I got in line and headed on out on the night run. The run did parts of the Devil’s loop backwards and it was a little difficult for the more stock guys. But everybody did have fun every with a few wrong turns.

Cheryl and Eric got into camp about 8:30.

Buy the time I got back, Cheryl had headed for bed early.

Amanda wanted to talk to somebody back at main camp, so I also went. I started to talk and finally found Amanda again; we finally got back to the RV around 1 in the morning.

2008/05/22 – Thursday – To HDR

I did go into work for half the day.

Once home, I worked on getting ready to head out to High Dessert Roundup (HDR). It took me a little longer then expected, but Amanda and I finally left some time about 1:30.

The traffic was bad. Anywhere there was rain, we were going very slowly.

Finally we made it into camp about 6:30.

I did set up the wind generator, the satellite, and of course the flag.

My phone does not get good reception here so I guess I will not talk to much on it this weekend.

I did set out around the fire until we ran out of wood and with the cold wind blowing non of us (D.D & J.J) wanted to stay out long.

Now I am tying to get the RV warm and catch up on some of the posts.

2008/05/21 – Wednesday – The Play Tonight

We got to the play a little late tonight. Uncle Marshall save some seats for us. The play tonight is called Singing In The Rain. They even did the scene with water coming down so he was actually singing in the rain; it was neat to see that. We all had a good time,

2008/05/20 – Tuesday – Problems

Cheryl and Eric worked on the garden. Cheryl bought stuff, so they planted several things – Corn, Strawberries, Watermelon, Squash, Cucumber, Rhubarb, Eggplant, Tomatoes, and Jalapeños.

I started to work on backing up more photos. I got another DVD copied. The second one was taking way to much time. I had discovered the computer had froze, so I had to reset it. I did the air-in-the-can thing so that would help in cooling the computer down. But when the computer came back up, I did not of a network connection and the DVD burner would not read anything.

Tomorrow I am going to try to fix it…

2008/05/19 – Monday – Late

I got home really late from work.

I made a phone call to a close friend that lost his job. He sound good and not terribly depressed.

I worked on backing up more of the photos.

2008/05/18 – Sunday – Work

I went to work – I had to go to the NPF conference. I did learn a few things

Cheryl and the kids went to the croakers dance. I met them at Hofs Hut for dinner. I also was able to meet some good friends

I did start work on backing up all of our photos.

2008/05/17 – Saturday – Friends – Water

We left early. We stopped a few places to get things.

We arrived at our friends place about two hours late. On the way in on the dirt road, we came around the corner what surprised us was three black mustangs.

Turquoise went swimming in the pond but we had to coach him to go get a ball. Finally he got tired and would not go chase anything.

I worked on her internet connection – I really did not find anything wrong.

I did take a trip on the quad and took some pictures. One of the neighbors did check on me to make sure I was not a hooligan.

Eric, Amanda, and the dogs all went swimming in the pond. Amanda never did go all the way under the water.

We finally left about 10:30. We finally got home sometime after midnight.

A long day, but we had fun.

Through out the day we ran Rosie about three times to give a good example on how good it does. We will see if they get one.

2008/05/16 – Friday – Visitation

I finally left work about 6:30 and then quickly ate dinner and headed out.

We went to a Square Dance visitation to Icabob Square Dance Club. We did get a banner for the few people that we had sign in as Croakers. We did leave after the break and went for some ice cream.

Mom D and Mom M both said Happy Birthday to me.

2008/05/15 – Thursday – No GUI

I worked on the version of Fedora, but during the install it stated the computer did not have enough memory, so it was going to be in text mode. Well, text mode is not what I wanted, I want the GUI interface. I know – I know a true Linux guy would love to code in text versions, but I want to be lazy and really would like to have a GUI interface.

It now 11:28 and the house is still hot at 87.

2008/05/14 – Wednesday – Linux

We did an unsatisfactory report from Eric’s school about one of his classes – currently he has a D and a note stating missing or incomplete work. So we need to creak down on him some more.

I am trying another Linux system, but it took all night to download the 3 gigs iso file. I currently am trying to burn the iso to DVD.

2008/05/13 – Tuesday – Found Coupon

I worked on the pile of bills and junk mail that has been on my desk for a little while. Well I finally found the TV Converter Box Coupon Program – So now I need to go shopping for the other two boxes I need.

O did do two loads of laundry – but still need to finish the third load tomorrow.

2008/05/12 – Monday – SCAD Meeting

I did check to see if the rotor tiller is broken – yep, it would not rotate the blades. I need to take it apart to see if I can fix it.

Once Cheryl got home, and Mom D stop by, we headed off for the SCAD meeting. But the first stop was a BK for dinner.

At the meeting we did our normal things. At our next meeting I will be President because the current President has to resign so that they can be the President of the California State Association.

2008/05/11 – Sunday – Mothers Day

We got up late and finally got ready and we headed on over to a Birthday/Mothers day Brunch.

Once home, I went ahead and worked on Cheryl’s garden – the rotor tiller started. I completed the back section. I started to work on the section along the garage and the rotor blades stopped rotating – so I was finished. I will see if it was just to hot and will try again tomorrow to finish that section.

I did call Mom M for Mothers day…

I worked on laundry all night – still have about 3 more loads and that will not get touched until Tuesday.

I finally finished reading all my blogs that I read – so I am all caught up from last week reading.

2008/05/10 – Saturday – Quarterly Square Dance Meeting

Before heading for the California State Square Dance Meeting, we stopped by Starbucks to get some drinks, and then dropped Eric off with Mom D.

We made it to the meeting location with an empty tank (Cheryl was correct – we made it without any problems)

Lunch we at a group meeting – Youth Meeting to talk about things coming up over the next couple of years.

After the meeting, I stopped and got gas – 18.109 gallons at 3.899

Once home we relaxed and Cheryl relaxed and tried to recover from her breathing – Meds are doing some help but it’s a slow process.

I went a finally got a box – the box – the digital converter box – so now the TV is just a monitor, no longer a tuner. WOW – we see TV without all the snow that we have been us to for a very long time.

O – yesterday I got crewed out from my grandpa about not calling more often, so I need to put it into my calendar to reminded me to call him at least once a month…

I had to call our friend to get our pipes cleaned out tonight, at least it doesn’t cost me an arm and leg, it usually coast me all the cash that I have on hand so tonight it cost me $61. He pulled out a good clump of roots – so I should be good for another 6 months (maybe).

2008/05/09 – Friday – New Stuff

When I got home, I noticed that I had a package from Delorme.

I opened the package and my new software – Street Atlas USA 2009 and a new GPS – Earthmate GPS LT-40

Well, of course I installed the software and attached the GPS, but I have additional software called GpsGate that will allow the GPS be shared with multiple software and it would not recognize the GPS. I had to do some research and found out I could download a piece of software from Delorme and finally that allowed the GPS to be shared via the GpsGate software.

While I was doing the above research I went and got the van from the dealer. The van got it necessary service done. But I wanted the alarm to honk the horn like it us to when you armed the system, but that didn’t get fixed (even though it was stated it was fixed).

Cheryl and Amanda went shopping after she got home.

2008/05/08 – Thursday – Not a Normal Work Day

Today was AARP Day of Service. Wow we all worked hard. The group that I was in was at the Orange County Food Bank.

By the time we got back to the office we were all tired, so almost everybody just headed for their cars and head on home.

Cheryl did go to the doctor today to get checked out about her breathing. She is not taking some meds…

I took the van for the necessary maintenance, but it took almost an hour (4 minutes shy) before I got a ride form the curtsy van to take me home.

I did take a nap and did some more reading…

2008/05/07 – Wednesday – Dawgs Meeting Night

Once Cheryl got home, Amanda and I took the van and headed to the Dawgs Meeting.

Once at home, I did get all of the weekend blogs posted.

Now I will see how much I get to read my reader backlog…

2008/05/06 – Tuesday – DD Meeting Night

Today at work I had a class – Work Life Balance – I am taking away with that a good set of things to do for work and non-work.

Rosie worked fin as far as I can, I cleaned it and put it down to clean some more – I will be doing that for the next couple of weeks – so that means two cleanings a day.

Amanda and I went to the Dirt Devils monthly meeting. Amanda did win a raffle prize – Jeep Clock.

On the way home, my boss wanted to talk, so I told him to call and we talked about things.

I am working on trying to post to the family blog, but I am having problems trying to upload the pictures.

2008/05/05 – Monday – Rosie III

We got Rosie on Friday, but we had not time to work on it, so I opened it up today. Wow what a difference from the old Rosie – We got the Roomba 580

I got a phone call and a comment on my previous post from SVradioguy about not getting him into Stagecoach – we will invite him next time to be part of the group that dances.

I only had to get on the kids about getting the RV cleaned. They did start on the RV before I got home – so hurray, the promos did work. THE RV HAS BEEN CLEANED OUT – HURRAY!

Tonight I also worked on getting photos uploaded into Smugmug. Thursday I will work on posting for the family adventure and putting photos onto that.

2008/05/04 – Sunday – Better / Drive Home

Well the dog woke me up this morning wanting out. So take the dogs out and when I got back in I took a shower.

People started showing up at the RV about 9:00.

Amanda really wants us to stay until after 5:00 so she can watch Trace Adkins at 4:15. So after some negotiations and promises, I agreed.

Getting closer to our time to go on and perform, we were asked to meet behind the stage, so we all gathered and waited for our time.

We danced one tip and then dragged people from the audience to dance. It seemed everybody had fun.

After wards, I worked on get the RV ready. I was asked by several people that were passing by about the wind generator. I finally got the van loaded. Cheryl wants to get something to eat and meet some friends.

We ate and did some walking around but my feet were getting really tired. So back to the RV to get ready to leave, I got the satellite put away, and everything else outside put away. By the time I was about to get the RV turned around Amanda was back at the RV – happy to hear Trace Adkins!

We did stop at Flying J’s to dump and get fuel. We used a lot of gas running the generator this weekend. It caused my gas mileage to be 4.81 for that tank.

On the drive home we had lots of wind on our way out of the Palm Springs area. I did have to make s slight detour to meet a friend, but that was minor – the route was on a plausible route that I have taken before for getting home.

At home I fueled up and got 6.23 mpg, so that was not bad.

Now I just hope the promise that was made will be honored on Monday.

2008/05/03 – Saturday – Hot – Fun – Stagecoach

When I got up, of course I have to take the dogs out for the morning duties.

I walked all the way across the compound and back before I finally found where I was to pick up the package for our group.

After several phone calls to different group members, we made agreed upon time a place to handout all the stuff.

Off we go to the agreed upon place – Starbucks. Once we arrived I found out that I had retrieved the wrong package from the RV, so I returned back to the RV. Now that I have the correct package, I gave the caller his stuff so he could get in and look things over. I returned to Starbucks to hand out all the wristbands and parking stuff.

We had some time to kill, so walked the ground and relaxed. Found were D&M D was located and chatted with them for little while.

About 1½ hour before start time for the Croakers demonstration we all gathered at the RV to change clothes.

We got to the stage about 45 minutes before our time. We did get a group shot.

It was hot and tiring, but we made through it. We had two squares at the start and we did only one square for the remainder.

After our dancing, we found out we should have done a teach for half of the time – so I guess we will do that on Sunday

We changed back at the RV and slow started to get dinner ready – Taco Bar Style.

The group split up on smaller groups. I went and found D&M D and sat with them when the Judds was on stage.

I returned to the RV, then I found another one of our group and she guided me to were our chairs was and I enjoyed the next two artiest.

I got back to the RV near midnight and headed the kids to bed.

2008/05/02 – Friday – Travel – Frustration

I thought I might be able to get off work early but no so luck.

Cheryl got home late also. Once we got loaded, first stop was the bank, then dinner to go at BK.

The pick all the correct freeways – I was able to travel about 70 mph most of the way, which I am glad I did.

Once I got to the Stagecoach area it was impossible to find the location to pull into were we were going to be.

After trying to find a location to camp – I said screw it and park it and make it camp.

Come to find out I somehow clipped the back of the RV and broke a light off doing one of my many u-turns.

Well we are here and I will most likely not get a lot of sleep – so time to got bed and get at least 4 hours of sleep.

2008/05/01 – Thursday – Getting ready

Once Cheryl got home, her and Amanda went shopping for stuff for this weekend.

Mom D came by and gave the package for this weekend to me.

Once Cheryl got home we packed all the groceries away, so tomorrow is the rest of the stuff and then head on out.