Am I Wrong to Feel Slighted?

 I think I am. But it still bothers me.

I belong to a group on FB about Congenital Degenerative Myelopathy.

And all these people post about having to euthanize their animals. And yes, I cry at each and every one I read but I still cant leave the group. 

But then I see how lovely their vets treated them afterwards - flowers, foot prints, candles, etc.

Our old vet in Livermore send a footprint ..... and we got a card from the crematorium where the ashes were buried.

So yes, we got a card from the vet.

And we got a card from the pet insurance company.

But that is all. 

And it makes me feel sad that Bella wasnt better memorialized. 

Last Camping Trip of 2021

 It was a lovely trip. Even with all the (minor) issues we ran into! So relaxing!

Drove to Paso Robles RV Living in California - Wine Country RV Resort (sunrvresorts.com) on Wednesday - and yes, our brand new Passport America worked on 2 of the 3 nights stay - saved much more than what our 2 year subscription cost us!

It is not Cava Robles | Sun RV Resorts but it is also definitely NOT 49er Village RV Resort | Sun RV Resorts nor is it Paso Robles RV Ranch - 7 Photos, 7 Reviews - Paso Robles, CA - (roverpass.com).....our pull through site was up near the wall that is also close to highway 46 so there was the sound of cars and trucks but in the night it became background noise....the site was small, we became VERY FRIENDLY with out next door neighbors! LOL. But the swimming pool and hot tub was nice, and very close to us was the adult only hot tub. The store was nice too, even though we did not buy anything there (the hours were kind of inconvenient). And on Friday nights they have free wine tasting from local wineries. The 2 that we tasted were very good! They also had a food truck there that night.

So our first stop after hooking (partially) up was Walmart! Our black sewer dump hose brock! So we had to go buy a new one! But I found my Halloween popcorn balls while we were there so I was especially happy.

We have also had a recent issue with the big window over the couch not staying closed. It came open again on our bumpy way (gotta love California roads!) down there and somehow the string for the blinds broke - or frayed - or was cut....

Thursday IT WAS COLD when we got up! Down into the 40's! And of course, I thought I packed sweatpants but they were apparently at home nice and clean....Took our time with breakfast and showers. And then we went to Award Winning Paso Robles Wines | Eberle Winery. We had been there once before. This time the weather was perfect for sitting out on their deck! And the view over their vineyards was lovely. We really enjoyed all the wines we tasted - and found out that the owner offers discounts to military and law enforcement - as he says "anyone who has to duck bullets" - which we thought was awesome. So, surprise to me, husband decides we need to join their wine club (after complaining we never drink all the wine we already buy!) so we joined a twice a year shipment club...

Back to the campground, and hit the pool. Then got dressed and drove to Cambria for dinner. Once again Ball & Skein & More (cambriayarn.com) was not open - and there was a group of about 5 or 6 women outside the store that made me think of the old Mervyn's ad....open open open! So we visited an antique store, bought 2 slices of pie at Lim's, and had a margarita at Hours & location – Las Cambritas while we watched some Halloween bake off show - never got to see who won!

Last time we were here we ate at www.seachestrestaurant.com, so this time we ate at Home (thesowsear.com). These 2 are our favorite restaurants in Cambria. As always, the food and service were wonderful - but this time the ambience sucked. Very near to us was a table with 3 couples. And one of the women was VERY LOUD.....and the talked incessantly....even taking a phone call while eating at the table! You can tell that all the customers in the restaurant, not just us, were very irritated by her (the people at the table next to us chose not to have dessert because they just wanted out of there). The host was young, and I am sure since this was mid week and in the off season, he didnt want to take a chance of ticking anyone off....so no one said anything to them....AND THEY WOULD NOT LEAVE. They were there before us....they were there after us. It ruined the experience for us.

Friday we again took our time with breakfast. Went into Paso Robles and went to several stores: my favorites Spare Time Book Store and Reminisce Antiques in Paso Robles (reminiscepasorobles.blogspot.com). Got some Christmas shopping done! And also visited a Goodwill store and another thrift store - got myself some socks and some items for the garden.

Here are photos of things I did NOT buy!:

Oh I wanted this pumpkin basket so badly! And the price wasnt bad either (neither were the prices on 2 picnic baskets I walked away from...) but I talked myself out of it....darn it!

And, except for the books, the wine, and Christmas presents here is what I did buy:

Isnt this sweet? I restricted myself to ONE even though there were quite a few, different sizes. different materials, that were darling!

I thought this sign was sweet even though the grammar stinks!

Then on to our favorite restaurant in Paso, www.cowgirlcafe.net and had lunch. Do you see this cookie? These are cowgirl sized cookies! I bought one, and hubby bought one, to snack on on our trip home on Saturday. THEY ARE HUGE! I think they were 2/$3 or 2/$5....it took me days to eat mine (snickerdoodle; hubby had an oatmeal raisin and never even offered me a bite...)

After lunch headed over to what was a gamble, and ended up that we loved it, https://www.tincitydistillery.com/. We thought we were not going to get there in time. First of all, it is difficult to find some of the places that are tucked into the back, or inside of other places.....and there was a large truck unloading in the middle of the street. Told hubby to go around again, and we would park in one of the nearby parking lots - he refused to do that - we will get towed! - and when we came by again we could not squeeze by because now next to the big truck was a Global delivery truck totally blocking what little space there was left....

But the truck driver - delivering cans of hard cider to TIN CITY CIDER CO. - and he told us to pull into their parking lot - that there was a parking place just for us there! And there was! So this place is on our list to check out the next time we are down there.

So we made to it the tasting. And it was wonderful! First of all, they make a canned lemonade/vodka that is SO GOOD that I had to buy one of their last 4 packs.....I am not a gin person but it was pretty good. We were there primarily to try their brandies and we came home with a bottle of their hibiscus brandy AND a bottle of their apricot amaretto! Then husband tried their bourbon (I am not a hard liquor drinker) and I took a taste - oh my that was smooth! Got home and was looking at their site and I saw that a lot of their stock was sold out so I splurged on a bottle of the bourbon (and paid the shipping) to give to hubby for Christmas!

Back to the campground - it was hot today - and we turned the AC on in the trailer - and hit the pool again. Came back, changed clothes and went to the wine tasting. Tried wine from Sculpterra Winery and Sculpture Garden – The Top Paso Robles Winery and Museum - their viognier was very good. And then the other winery had good wine too (I have forgotten the name of that one!) and we found out about some wineries in San Miguel we will be checking out too....

And then to the main reason for our trip to Paso Robles. The members only BBQ at Castoro Cellars | Homepage - our first time going to the BBQ. The first year we joined we heard about the BBQ too late to go - and then of course there was the year-that-wasnt.....We had a nice time. It was a lovely evening to be outside and the music was good - the food was good - and the wine was very good!

See, I can and do drink red wine! This is Pasofusion and I love it!

I never remember the names of all the big bottles (and this guy told me he had to look up the name before serving it!) but this is called a Methusala -  full of Pasofusion!

I told you it was a beautiful evening! We left about 8 PM (after not winning any of the 4 raffles) and there still was no reason to put a sweater or jacket on!

Saturday dawned chilly again! But we got up and went back to Cowgirl Cafe for breakfast. Which was good. And then time to pack it up and leave.....and found that we had to handle for the valve to pull to drain the black tank! What makes it funny was that just that week I was reading something on a forum for our trailer about checking the screws because the poster had lost his.....so hubby was able to get it open to drain (and he tightened the screws on the grey water valve handles before we left.....).

Home again, home again, jiggety jig....to a dog on a hunger strike....not sure if it was because we were gone AGAIN so soon after the last time....whether it was the loss of his big sister.....or he is just on a food strike. When we went to the store I got a couple of cans of wet food and mixed a little into the dry food and he has been eating very well since we got home. He is such a brat! And enjoying his walks too!

September 13, 2021

 We said goodbye to our Bella today.

It was time.

But it hurts so badly.

Grand Design Rally Part II

 Saturday we took a trip to Amador City. The smallest (land mass) city in CA! It was darling - and did some great Christmas shopping there. They have an AWESOME small museum - all about women in the Old West - the typical wives and ranchers, teachers, but also prostitutes! Very interesting. They were just closing so we rushed through it - I definitely want to go back and go through it again

And I found out something new - the brothels (at least in this city) used TOKENS!

Then we went to a winery - I picked it only because I thought the name was ironic - Drytown Cellars in Drytown CA: "Drytown is the oldest community in Amador County, and the first in which gold was discovered. It took its name from Dry Creek, which runs dry during the summer. However, it was certainly not "dry", as stories tell of there being up to 26 saloons...". 

Drytown Cellars is lovely. Tasting are $5 - and you can get food - lovely charcuterie tray for one....and the bottle prices are SO REASONABLE! And we enjoyed several of their wines. And the people there are so nice and friendly

The best were the dogs. Many were old and just liked to sleep....but one was a true rock hound! We were so slow and it took awhile before we realized what he wanted to do when he kept coming to us and dropping rocks at our feet....yup. pick the rock up, throw it, and he would find that exact rock, bring it back, and drop it again and again and again....he was the youngest dog there!

It rained! From about 0200 - 0630 - nice and steady, not hard - but a sound we havent heard in awhile!

And Sunday got sunny but it was cooler ....mid 70's not mid 80's.....a perfect day to go drink more wine. At a winery that Drytown Cellars recommended because of its location - and what a beautiful location it was !

Iron Hub Winery and Vineyards (ironhubwines.com) - the winery is lovely - the people are so friendly - tastings are $10/person and you dont pay if you buy a bottle of wine. They too have food but we ate lunch before we went. We also did not know there was going to be music there - a gentleman who played guitar and sang - much better than the group at the campground the night before (the music was fine but the singer....well...). But we could just have sat there all day looking at the view:

We left Monday morning - surprisingly AHEAD OF SCHEDULE! So we went home a different way. Stopped at Bass and hubby found a vest to replace the one that has "disappeared" (AKA he left it somewhere and has no idea where). And then we stopped here to eat lunch:

Growing up I would HATE when we stopped there - because of course dad wanted all of us to order the soup because it was the quickest meal - but YUCK pea soup???? And as an adult I have grown to love it! But this was the first time in a long time and what was disappointing was they dont serve an assortment of bread and rolls now, just one type.

And that was our trip!

5th Annual Northern California Grand Design Rally AKA Our First Rally

 Back in July, while camping at Home - Jackson Rancheria Casino Resort (jacksoncasino.com) we met several people while at the pool. One, who also has a Grand Design, told us about the Rally. Who knew! Never heard of such a thing! He told us it was probably booked but go ahead and sign up on the waitlist.

So we did. And just a couple of weeks later we heard we made it into the rally - and confirmed our reservation and paid our money.

So on Thursday September 16 we hitched up and traveled to Plymouth Ca to the 49er Village RV Resort | Sun RV Resorts. What a shock that was. See that part of the name - Sun RV Resorts? Well, the other Sun RV Resort we stayed at was Cava Robles | Sun RV Resorts. These two resorts could not be more different.

The one in Plymouth - well, I am surprised that Sun puts their name on it. What. A. Dump. So we did find that it was a campground built back in the 1960's (maybe) and was family run. And Sun bought it oh 3 - 5 years ago. And they have lots of plans for it. Apparently they have done a lot of work already - there are 3 very big banks of solar lighting they have installed, and I guess a lot of work on the sewers and all.

I have to admit the pool area was beautiful - 2 big pools and a largish hot tub - lots of chairs etc.

We were in site 193. Looks good on the map doesnt it? FAR_SiteMap_2018_Rebrand_Web (netdna-ssl.com). HA HA HA. It is stuck right next to the dumpsters - on a sharp corner - and there is not one part of the site that is level. And we could not get our travel level at all. Did our best...And there was an eroded part of the roadway at the front of our site that was a little mini pond the whole time we were there. 

Could not back up into it, so we went to drive around the campground and come in a different direction. Well, these sites were built for 1960 - 1970 size trailers. Not trailers from the 2000. Not only were they narrow and packed together(think of a can of sardines - over filled in the can) but they are so short that it was very difficult for anyone to park their tow vehicles at the site. So you could not easily get around the campground because of trailers trying their darnedest to get into their sites, and  you had to maneuver around vehicles parked partway into the very narrow street. So we finally made it all the way around when hubby said f*** it - looked at the fact that the campsite behind us was empty and he pulled around and drove through that campsite into ours just as though it was a pull through!

And flies! Oh my - the only other time we have ever dealt with so many flies was when we would walk past or through cow pastures! Everyone was complaining about them - we thought it was because we were next to the dumpster! Wrong - they were EVERYWHERE! Finally went to the store and bought fly strips, which did their job but didnt really help....

The best part of the rally? The seminars - able to get our recall fixed there at the site rather than waiting 8 weeks for an appt, hitching up, driving an hour, 5 minutes of work, driving home an hour, parking and unhitching - getting our tanks flushed and cleaned out - having the guys from Happy Daze stop by the trailer and answer questions....The swag bag was nice. We did not win any prizes - not even the 50/50 prize or the grand prize (the return of your registration).

Apparently this rally had the largest number of first time Rally attendees ever....

The Camp Crawl was fun - even tho we are not huge drinkers. And with our swag bag we did get 1 ticket for a free meal at the caterer on site - and we used it the night of the Camp Crawl (they need to chose a different caterer - the trip tip was over cooked and dry, the chicken a little undercooked, the ranch beans were the most disgusting beans I have ever tasted, the potato salad was little chunks of potatoes and mayonaise and that was all, nothing else. The coleslaw was good - no comment on the rolls, because we didnt get any.....) so the only food we tried were the ELK TACOS and they were TO DIE FOR! Most of the drinks were tasty - there were a few we dumped...

This was awesome! It was a creamsicle! A perfect dessert!!

This is a perfect drink for mid winter.....it will definitely warm you up!

I actually had 2 of these....the "bartender" mixes the lemonade with club soda....

This was just a neat display

For whatever reason, things posted twice and now it will not let me trash the duplicates....Sorry about that!

Saturday we took a trip to Amador City. The smallest (land mass) city in CA! It was darling - and did some great Christmas shopping there. They have an AWESOME small museum - all about women in the Old West - the typical wives and ranchers, teachers, but also prostitutes! Very interesting. They were just closing so we rushed through it - I definitely want to go back and go through it again

Spoiler Alert - Questionable Language Ahead

 So, taking hubby to his "job" and running an errand first, had to go the way I do not prefer.

And sure enough - ass**** were out. I was at the merge part of the two lanes prior to entering freeway, and this car that was 3/4 of a block behind me decided to floor it to pass me.......which he barely did.

There were cars behind me, so coming to a stop was not an option.

Well the driver of the red SUV decided to have a very mature response - to my very mature response to his/her behavior. Yes I laid on the horn - and yes I flipped him/her off.

So he/she decided to slam on his brakes - on the freeway entrance - not once - but twice......remember there was a line of cars behind me.

So he/she finally took off and took the next exit off which I was taking also......and pretty soon due to traffic and traffic lights - guess what? He was only 2 cars ahead of me!

He got to his left hand turn into JACK IN THE BOX just as I got to my right hand turn to get to the street I needed to be on to drop off library books, and then drop of my husband.

I guess he was hangry.

Dont tell husband - but in the midst of all this I realized I had left my phone at home!

Sad Not Sad

 Well, we cancelled our camping trip for next week.

I would like to think husband FINALLY listened to me saying that camping with a pinched nerve is not a good thing......BUT.....although that was 1 of the 3 reasons he mentioned, I think it was more talking to tourists from Sonora and them telling him how very bad the smoke is up there.

I must say I was also worried about the fires, and the potential for more. After seeing how quickly the Caldor Fire raged out of control, it worried me. Now hubby has me wondering about the trip in September to Plymouth....

But I will miss out on the ,yes I am drooling as I write this, cookies and pies at Cover's Apple Ranch - Home (coversappleranch.com) but you know, safety first.

We are also waiting to hear from the vet whether or not Bella needs 2 more weeks of antibiotics. I am betting the answer will be yes. That means 2 more weeks of torture, and we just could not ask the dog sitter to do that for us....

And we heard today that husband's 50 + 1 Class Reunion was cancelled. I am of two minds about this. It was a 3 day event - Friday is a golf tournament, Sat was an outdoor picnic and games, and Sun was an outdoor catered picnic. Although he graduated from  a really large class (well, really large compared to my high schools!!) - I think the last one we went to the indoor dinner had maybe 100 or less people total, and the outdoor picnic maybe 50. And if we havent learned how to social distance, wear masks, and wash hands by now....shame on us! I think the outdoor venues were perfect for this!

So they are going to have an unofficial, bring your own picnic, on one of the days. So maybe the caterer cancelled? Who knows. I get it - we all should be very worried about the Delta variant - and what other variants are evolving.

But that same weekend is the Festa Italia downtown....how many of the members of this HS class will be there? And that will be much much larger number of people....

We have been planning what should have been the 50th Class reunion for the HS I went to for 3 years. Should have been because the Bishop closed the HS at the end of our junior year......so 3 of us decided to plan an outdoor get together at a class mates house. With a catered menu - but we would serve it ourselves with a couple of us as dedicated servers. So far we have had 2 enthusiastic yes responses - and 1 who has said no because of the Delta Variant....another who is returning home (Spain) this year after being in the states since December.  So we will see what comes of this.