Today's weather was about the same as yesterday's, cold, grey, breezy. Only today there was rain added. Guess whose old moccasin has a hole in the sole! Nevertheless, we had a pleasant day.
After a leisurely breakfast and a bit of clean up...i.e., cleaning up the old blogger... we drove into McMinnville, a city of 32,000. Our mission was Christmas shopping. When my mom fell and lacerated her elbow a few weeks ago, she was wearing a white cardigan sweater. It was one of her favorite garments. Unfortunately, the laceration resulted in a lot of blood staining of the sweater. The dry cleaner tried 4 times to remove the stain, but was unsuccessful.
My brilliant wife suggested that a new sweater would be the perfect gift for Mom to find under the tree this year. So, we went to Mac, as the locals refer to their pretty town, to look for a white, cardigan sweater. I did not know that no one, apparently, wears such a sweater any longer. At least, no one sells them. Perhaps, all the stores were sold out, due to the heavy demand for white, cardigan sweaters. On the other hand, I suspect the fact is that demand is so low that none of the merchants stock this particular item.
Jill reminded me that Mom has had this sweater for likely two decades. Still, I was amazed. Being the avid student of lady's fashions that I am, I thought that a white cardigan sweater would be a staple of every woman's wardrobe. What do I know? Well, I guess you figured that out already.
We returned to Sadie, where the dogs were glad to see us. Jill heated up some clam chowder and we had a little lunch. After we spent a fair amount of time looking online for a white, cardigan sweater, we gave up.
I was feeling in a holiday mood, so I went into the kitchen and "invented" some egg nog. It has been years since I have made it from scratch, so I had to experiment with the ingredients. The final product passed the Jill test, and I thought it was passable as well: even with cinnamon on top instead of nutmeg, of which we had none.
The evening promises another Christmas movie and some relaxation. Then tomorrow, we will head for home fairly early, since our Church Life Group is coming for a potluck dinner.
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Monday, December 10, 2012
Dayton and Lafayette
Today was forecast to be "partly sunny" and "48 degrees." It made it to 48 degrees, and it didn't rain, but partly sunny? No so much. We didn't let that trouble us, though.
The old blogger slept in, while Mrs. old blogger got up at 5:30 with Lulu, who wanted to go outside. Both of them came back to bed and slept awhile longer. But they eventually got up and left me snoozing until after 9:00! I haven't done that in a very long time.
After a little breakfast, we took the dogs out for a walk around the park. They were grateful and enjoyed the walk. Lulu needs a lot more work on "heeling" and not barking at the neighborhood dogs. The park is nicely laid out with concrete pads that are mainly pull-throughs and some are bordering on level. The sparse landscaping is well maintained; the park personnel are friendly, although we checked in yesterday after the office was closed, so we didn't meet the office personnel.
Jill did call the office this afternoon to get a voucher for the wi-fi network. Matt in the office cheerfully gave her the code, so we logged in...for free today! Yesterday, we had to pay, since we didn't have the code. We are using our new Pepwave wi-fi repeater. We log the repeater onto the park network, and then we log onto the repeater which provides our own network in Sadie. This gives us another layer of protection against hackers, and it means we only have to change the network settings on one device. Works like a champ!
Jill and I decided to explore the area surrounding us. We drove into Dayton with the idea in mind of lunching at one of the local eateries. The one we had in mind is closed on Monday. The others didn't seem appealing, so we drove to Lafayette. There we found the American Cafe. It is a typical local diner with typical diner food. We shared a patty melt with onion rings and cream of broccoli soup. Jill was heard to remark, "The best patty melt we ever had was at Red Robin." Draw your own conclusions. The onion rings were quite good, as was the soup, although I would have added some cayenne, had I been the soup chef.
After lunch, we visited the Schoolhouse Antiques Mall. As you might have guessed, it is an old school house that has been re-purposed as an antique store. There are three floors of antiques and collectibles. It was interesting and well-organized, but I have never seen so many things in one building. It made my head spin, after awhile.
I spent most of my time trying to figure out how the rooms were originally used in the school building. It is rather uniquely laid out. Each floor has a central room that is square, but the walls are set at 45 degrees to the exterior walls of the building. Around the central room are four square rooms with more usual orientation. They are joined to the central room by trapezoidal rooms, which are rather small, as if they were once private offices or store rooms or, perhaps, large closets. Suffice to say, the architecture was interesting, and the antiques were, too.
We came back to Sadie and I lay down for a while, since my back has been complaining all day. Then we took the dogs out for another circumnavigation of the park. Now we are settling in for the evening. I believe the festivities will include a Christmas movie!
Tune in again tomorrow.
The old blogger slept in, while Mrs. old blogger got up at 5:30 with Lulu, who wanted to go outside. Both of them came back to bed and slept awhile longer. But they eventually got up and left me snoozing until after 9:00! I haven't done that in a very long time.
After a little breakfast, we took the dogs out for a walk around the park. They were grateful and enjoyed the walk. Lulu needs a lot more work on "heeling" and not barking at the neighborhood dogs. The park is nicely laid out with concrete pads that are mainly pull-throughs and some are bordering on level. The sparse landscaping is well maintained; the park personnel are friendly, although we checked in yesterday after the office was closed, so we didn't meet the office personnel.
Jill did call the office this afternoon to get a voucher for the wi-fi network. Matt in the office cheerfully gave her the code, so we logged in...for free today! Yesterday, we had to pay, since we didn't have the code. We are using our new Pepwave wi-fi repeater. We log the repeater onto the park network, and then we log onto the repeater which provides our own network in Sadie. This gives us another layer of protection against hackers, and it means we only have to change the network settings on one device. Works like a champ!
Jill and I decided to explore the area surrounding us. We drove into Dayton with the idea in mind of lunching at one of the local eateries. The one we had in mind is closed on Monday. The others didn't seem appealing, so we drove to Lafayette. There we found the American Cafe. It is a typical local diner with typical diner food. We shared a patty melt with onion rings and cream of broccoli soup. Jill was heard to remark, "The best patty melt we ever had was at Red Robin." Draw your own conclusions. The onion rings were quite good, as was the soup, although I would have added some cayenne, had I been the soup chef.
After lunch, we visited the Schoolhouse Antiques Mall. As you might have guessed, it is an old school house that has been re-purposed as an antique store. There are three floors of antiques and collectibles. It was interesting and well-organized, but I have never seen so many things in one building. It made my head spin, after awhile.
I spent most of my time trying to figure out how the rooms were originally used in the school building. It is rather uniquely laid out. Each floor has a central room that is square, but the walls are set at 45 degrees to the exterior walls of the building. Around the central room are four square rooms with more usual orientation. They are joined to the central room by trapezoidal rooms, which are rather small, as if they were once private offices or store rooms or, perhaps, large closets. Suffice to say, the architecture was interesting, and the antiques were, too.
We came back to Sadie and I lay down for a while, since my back has been complaining all day. Then we took the dogs out for another circumnavigation of the park. Now we are settling in for the evening. I believe the festivities will include a Christmas movie!
Tune in again tomorrow.
Sunday, December 9, 2012
Are we nuts?
It's wild. It's crazy. Camping in December. But the weather forecast is, well, not awful. And we are so happy to have Sadie running like a top again. So, here we are at the Willamette Wine Country RV Park. It is a Premier RV Park. Let me quote a few lines from the park rules:
Tomorrow, we will do a little exploring. The RV park is located on the outskirts of Dayton, OR. So, we will start by exploring that bustling burg. There are some others nearby, too. We have three days to explore the area, and we will report back to you, dear reader. Stay tuned.
Recreational vehicles must be well maintained and clean. Only Recreational Vehicles 15 years and newer are permitted.Of course, our dear Sadie is 24 years old. Now don't think that I am cheating or pulling the wool over anyone's eyes. I told them she is a 1988 model, and they approved our stay anyway.
Special consideration by Owner/Agent may be given to Recreational Vehicles which are in exceptionally good condition.So, I guess Sadie is in exceptionally good condition. Never mind that they didn't see Sadie before we made our reservation. Nor was there anyone here when we arrived to inspect our dear old girl. I am thinking that the 15 year rule is a safety valve for the park to turn away the truly awful coaches that really are not that common. Or, perhaps, business is slow, and rules were made to be broken.
Tomorrow, we will do a little exploring. The RV park is located on the outskirts of Dayton, OR. So, we will start by exploring that bustling burg. There are some others nearby, too. We have three days to explore the area, and we will report back to you, dear reader. Stay tuned.
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