The Ouseys in Victoria Page

Hey. looky, Lyn Blogged, checkit out, see link on right. Good Girl.

We are unpacked, more or less. Still looking for some things around the house. Hey hon have you seen this? or that? I don't know maybe it is here! or there! So it goes. The Motorhome is back at Fort Victoria storage. At least until our next trip.

We have seen Noni and her new Beau John. We both quite like him, he is quite personable and so is his son Jacob. We enjoyed an evening with them and Chelsea too. Chelsea gets along with Jacob quite nicely.

David and family are doing well too. Megan is straight A's, and is happy with the increased visitation with David and Family. Linda has gotten more cooperative for some reason. Ben is doing very well in school too. We haven't seen them yet but will soon.

Haven't seen Lyn yet either, she has been studying and wrote an exam today, (see her blog), but Adam came out of the gloom to talk to us when we were over Sunday. We were pleased, and congratulated him on his fantastic hockey performance.

I got on the golf course with John, Basil, and Bob today. It was a nice morning and nice to be on the course again. Now if I can only remember how to golf. Way too many putts.

Driving range, gotta go to a driving range.

Ciao

We are home again. We left last Friday on a wet windy note and headed North. After two nights of overnighting at Walmart, we made it to the American RV resort at Talent, near Medford. It was a Passport America Site and so only cost $13.00 with full hook ups and cable. It was Sunday night so we were able to catch "West Wing". Monday morning we had an appointment with Robert Motors, for some Motorhome checkups as well as Lube and Oil change. Once that was done we pressed on to a Walmart at Chehalis. The next day Tuesday we were well within making the Tsawwassen Ferry, so headed for the border. The Truck crossing proved to be the quickest crossing ever. Only one car at ahead at the wicket, and he moved on within seconds. 3 Quick questions and we were on our way. Which proved very lucky as we made the 3 o'clock ferry as the last large vehicle to board. We were home by 5:30 pm.

About 6:30 pm we have a knock on our door and its, Rachel and Chelsea with a tray of Tim Hortons Coffee and Tea for Grandma. They apparently missed us and just had to come over to say Welcome Back, don't go away again. Sweet kids. They stayed for an hour visiting and off they went to study.

Since then it has been unpack, unpack, unpack. A motorhome is like the largest suitcase ever. First we unpack the Motorhome and then our own stuff in the garage. Our tenants were excellent and left the place spotless.

Another few days and things will be "normal", well as normal as it can be around here.

I talked to me Mom, and read Catherines Email and Blog. Seems the trip went well with them, except for a mix up in Chicago. See her blog on the right. Mom was glad to see Jack's house and the kids, but feels she probably isn't up to making that trip again. She is looking forward to the trip to Victoria, she says that one is easy compared to going South. We are looking forward to seeing Catherin, Mom, Jack, and the boys in late July.


Ta Ta, time for a nap.

We have just about completed our week here. We have had a really good stay. I just sent an email to Golden village Palms to that effect, with the only complaint of really lousey WiFi service. "The Wireless Web" is what they call themselves, and without a doubt the worst service we've had, and we have had some bad ones. I don't know how any company can charge what they do and provide a service that is slower than dial up.

Anyhow, we have had nice sunny weather since the weekend, have spent some time in the pools and spa. Some nice walks and cycling around the park. It is quite large is is 1.2 miles around the perimeter. Lots of nice people. In fact Carolyn ran into our old neighbours from Kanaca Place, Joe and Jackie Fawcett. They bumped into each other at the Outlet Mall, and it turns out they are in Mountain Valley RV park in Hemet. So we have visited them and they us and for our last night here the six of us are going out for dinner at the Steer and Stein.


Monday, Sue was to meet with one of her online soroitity sisters in Ranchito Mirage, near Cathedral City for lunch. Carolyn, being a sorority sister, went with her, in fact Rob and I drove them them there and then we checked out the local mall. Well we ate mexican, did Ben and Jerry's, and wandered about until it was time to pick them up. The girls ate at Babes BBQ Grill. Looked like a very nice place. See picture of them with a large brass Babe.

We drove back 78 miles over the mountains, route 74. Very scenic and much snow up in them that hills. We were near 5000 feet and there was a foot of snow in places.


I chatted with Jack, and the visit of Catherine and Mom is going well. I also had a very nice email from Margot. She is having a hard time dealing with her loss, and it will take time, but she is getting there. She is looking forward to her trip to Winnipeg in May.

Now, we are getting ready to go home. We are stopping at Roberts motors in Medford Oregon to get some motorhome work done. Mostly Lube and Oil and a thorough check out. We should be back on the island 22 March. Don't know if I'll have much of a chance to email or blog, but if I do then you will all see it.

Ta Ta for now.

Well we departed Ehrenberg and headed for Golden Village Palms in Hemet, on Friday. Not a bad day when we left, it was quite windy and got windier as we progressed. By the time we got to Hemet, we had heavy rain, wind and cold weather. It got down to 38 F( 4 C) last night. Today, thunderstorms were forecast, but we didn't hear any but did get hail, didn't get any higher than 47 and we wondering what the "hail" we were doing here. The good thing is that we were not travelling home in this weather. Sure hope it is better next week when we are. The forecast for the next few days is for a warming trend, just might get up to near 70 by Wednesday. Supposed to be sunny, starting late tomorrow. Other than that we are snuggled in. We had mostly head winds. Ken and Helen were headed for Yuma, and they would have had strong cross winds. Here is hoping all went well with them. Gusts to 50 mph can really rock these rigs.

We went out to the Steer & Stein for dinner last night and had a nice T-bone steak. Today included a WalMart run and we went to a movie tonight. Failure launch, starring Matthew McConaughey and Sarah Jessica Parker. Excellent, we all enjoyed it thoroughly.

Hope that Mom and Catherine's trip to Tishomingo went well. Maybe I'll get an email from Jack with that info.

Ta Ta all.

Carolyn and I drove about 50 miles to Parker Dam. You can see part of the dam and Carolyn taking a picture of me taking a picture of her and the dam. It is a small dam (it doesn't hold a candle to Grand Coulee, or Hoover Dams) but it does generate 120,000 KWatts of power with 4 generators. The PARKER DAM site does it more justice than I can.

We stopped at Buckskin Mountain State Park. It is a lovely park which we just may have to visit again and stay for the 2 week limit. Actually there are many RV parks in the area right up to Lake Havasu which we will have to return to. The area is quite beautiful, with the Colorado River snaking through quite lovely mountainous terrain. Yes a must for a return visit. We drove back down the California side back to Parker counting numerous Resorts on that side as well. We lunch in Parker and returned home by mid afternoon.

My back has returned to normal so Ken and I will hit the golf course tomorrow, at least the driving range and knock a few out of the range ho ho, I wish!

Socially, Helen and Ken had us over Sunday for a lovely Beef Stoganoff, Yummy, yummy. And a John and Dawn had an afternoon outdoor cocktail party, which was well attended, by not only many Canadians, but some American neighbours as well. Surprising how many Canadians are down here, well maybe not so surprising.

In a couple of days we break camp here and head with Sue and Rob for Hemet for a week thence head home. We separate company with Ken and Helen and we will miss them in the short term, but we will see them again in the long term, maybe on the Island this summer, hint, hint. The Golden Village Palms is a luxury resort with 3 pools and 3 hot tubs. Unfortunately the weather looks like it is going downhill for that week. Hopefully it won't and in any event the hot tubs are just that, hot.

Nitey Nite all.

We have had some cloudy weather a few days ago. It has made for some very nice sunsets. Of course California is west of us and its the pollution that adds to the brilliancy of the colours.

We got a little rain with it, overnight so we didn't really see it, but Phoenix didn't get any so they are approaching 140 days without rain and this is supposed to be their rainy season. If they don't get some soon the record will soar through their usually dry summer. From a tourist point of view it has been great.

We had Ken and Helen over a BBQ Steak for his birthday on Wednesday. With Helen's respiratory problems we kept it low-key. The steaks were good if I do say so myself, but Helen's apple pie was the greatest. Hard to put candles in it though.

I put my back out, Wednesday, by the simple act of reaching for my camera while seated in front of my computer. I heard and felt a snap, probably a disk, or something, and that was it for most of the day. Taking it easy (like that's anything different than what we mostly do) the back has improved to almost normal. Just may get back on that Golf Course one more time before we leave on the 10th.

Carolyn had a bad night last night. It happens to us both occasionally, thinking of and missing Dennis. Catherine's well written blogs help. She is grieving and shares that grief in a way that is thought provoking and therapeutic. She makes a good point that everyone grieves in their own way and in their own time. We all miss him.

Take care all, and remember we need more family blogs out there. Any emails would be ok too.