It’s Thursday, So I Thought I Would Do A Throwback

This was my very first post.

A lot has changed since then

but we are still retired

and enjoying it!

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December 4, 2014

And So It Began

I was born with out hip sockets they were there but just cartilage. So I have had pain in one form or another because of this. I was told I would probably have early arthritis and would need hip replacement someday. I also had become overweight so that didn’t help with the pain.  I changed my diet and lost 30 pounds. I was not in pain all the time. So with this new pain-free life, I didn’t want to spend it working. So I decided to retire and begin a new adventurous retirement life. My husband was in total agreement as he had changed his diet too and was feeling better too. So what to do?

First step was to buy an RV. When you retire that is what you do right? It took us about 4 months to find the one that called out to be our RV. His name is BOB which stands for Bug Out Buggy. I wanted to call him Hank because he is a beast of an RV. He is 28 ft long and has a big engine. But BOB just fit better and has stuck.

We spent the next 6 months getting BOB road worthy. He needed some engine work. He had been sitting in a barn for sometime before we bought him. We had to replace his pip sensor. Change his oil and other routine maintenance. We also ended up doing some remodeling to the coach. We totally remodeled the bedroom and bathroom. replaced the plumbing system and removed the refrigerator, and the heating furnace.

We took it for some test runs before we went south for the winter,an overnight trip to the in-laws, a week-long trip around the panhandle of Nebraska and an overnight stay at a nearby lake.

Our trip to Arizona was supposed to be a stay for the winter, but it turned out only lasting a month as the weather turned unusually cold even down south. This when we discovered that we needed to put in a ventless blue flame heater. 🙂

So we returned to Nebraska with a better idea of what to do for our next RV adventure. We are planning to go south again but this time we are going to southeastern Oklahoma.

I will probably post some of my Facebook status of our Arizona RV adventure at a later date.

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One of the changes since then is we have a grandson now and want to spend lots of time with him.

He was born on my 48 th birthday, so I want to build a great bond with him before we head out on another extended journey in BoB.

We want and need to do more work on BoB’s coach

BOB’s living/dining area.

BOB’s kitchen.

BOB’s bedroom before remodel.

and of course you need moneys for that.

So on that front we have been staying close to home to save money.

We have been doing our garden, a few photos from last year’s.

THE FIRST TO BLOOM WAS THIS WHITE WITH PINK TRIM.

The green peppers to be used fresh.

THE PURPLE

Some of the tomatoes. We have frozen a gallon bag so far.

THE PEACH

Butter Bush Squash

The ones in the carrot patch.

Johnny Jump – Up’s son.

I took this just after I watered.

and fishing to cut down on the grocery bill. Some of last year’s catches.

Finally got a big one this season. Good thing November has been unseasonably warm.

SEVEN BEAUTIFUL CATFISH !!

I have been crocheting trying to sell my items and some paperback books on Ebay.

David will be ramping up his urban gold mining this spring and  summer also.

The trip to Oklahoma is still on hold for now.

I Think It Is Full Now

 

I mentioned in a previous blog that we took a road trip to visit my father-in-law for his 89th birthday.

We were not driving BOB, he needs some maintainance done so he just drives to the ponds and back to the driveway.

We borrowed our son’s Ford Ranger for this trip.

I was crocheting on the blue hat with a floppy brim, when David says” OOPS!” I look up to see this.

The photo was actually taken on the way home.

I knew it was coming up this time so had time to get my ancient cell phone out to take a photo.

These guys were trying to salvage what they could.

 

Tornado Drill!

 

Yesterday we had some storms rolling through and David was keeping a close eye on them, checking the radar often. The first one was a bit south of us. It developed a small hook shape on the end on the radar. David says that is a classic shape for forming tornadoes in a storm. The weather service did issue a tornado warning  for that one. If the ridge to the south-east of us had not been in the way we could have seen some of the twisters that formed. Several Facebook friends were able to get photos of them as they were driving along the highways. This area was a lot of wide open spaces so no damages were reported.

It is now late afternoon David is keeping his eye on the next storm. It popped up just to the west of us this time. David said this one looks like it could be headed to go right over the top of us. The weather service said it could have 60 mph wind gusts, drenching rains, and ping-pong ball sized hail. David says start gathering things and put them in BOB I think we will head about 6 miles south to wait this one out.

So I grab all the crochet projects I have done, and the 3 that I was working on, my jewelry boxes and the kindle. I then grab Sully’s litter box and food. I also have gone and gotten Milly from the shed and put her in BOB. David has taken Sully out to BOB and started BOB. I pack up the laptop and tell Nick to come on it is starting to hail.

We are all loaded up and head south on the county road, Nick following behind in the Ranger pick up. We drive down to the intersection to get on the highway. We drive south until we find a nice wide shoulder we can pull BOB over on. Nick pulls over too and then gets in BOB with us.

The cats are handling this adventure well. Sully is out for a bit then he decides that the semi trucks going by are too scary, so he hides  under the blankets on the bed. Milly comes out of the litter box once we stop. She lays under the table and does her cutesy roll around thing. So we sit and watch the storm and wait for it to pass. Thirty minutes go by and things look clear for us to return to the house.

We thought we would see wet roads and some damage as we traveled back to the house.

THERE WAS NOTHING!

We unpacked everything and brought the cats back in.

David got the laptop back up and running.

He checked the radar again.

He said that the storm shrank up and just slid between our house and town.

Town being about 6 miles north of the house.

So, I guess it was a practice tornado drill adventure.

BOB did great in his first drill for which he is named.

BUG OUT BUGGY !

BOB and Ranger back in the driveway after the tornado drill.

I Knew It Was Coming, But Did Not Realize How Soon.

 

The Post That Started It All

https://arlenedavidsully.wordpress.com/2014/12/04/and-so-it-began/