Still In Pio Pico...still bad internet service!

We've had a very busy week since my last blog!  We've had three lunches and seven dinners out, and a great time with friends. 

Ted had lunch with his long time friend David Prime then we had dinner and bunco with our friends Jim and Della Crownover.  Ted was the big bunco winner!  We got a new awning installed on one of our slides and went to an 11 year olds baseball game and dinner with our friends and the grandparents, Jeri and Stach Gutowski.  We had dinner with one of my former co-workers and his wife, Bill and Jany Staley.  We had a girl's night out morning Charger game/party at Marcella's home with our spouses and dinner with a friend of Ted's from long ago, Fran and her husband Paul.  We've had dinner and cards with Jim and Della.  Ted had a hearing aid check up and dinner with one of Ted's former bosses and his wife, Dick and Tracy McGraw.  And yesterday we had a hearing aid class and lunch with Rusty Coole, a high school classmate of Ted's and dinner with friends Meg and Kathy.  (Meg is Ted's former sister-in-law)!  Whew...

And of course we still haven't stopped eating and there is more to come starting tonight with Mallorie's volleyball game and dinner with her grandparents, Jeri and Stach!

We are having a great time.  We leave here on November 3rd for Cherry Valley.

Really enjoying friends..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Eating out again!!!!

I tried to post this blog yesterday but couldn't get connected to the internet!  I have a nice picture but was not able to post it!  Maybe later.  Anyway, here is the day old post!

Yesterday morning we took off to drop off the old satellite dish at Fed-Ex, went to South Coast RV so they could order the new axle for the RV and then went to Escondido to meet Ted's high school classmate Rusty Coole.  Rusty is a retired kindergarten teacher.  We enjoyed a good lunch and shared our most recent adventures!

We had a couple of hours back at the RV with Max before heading to Filippe's Pizza downtown to meet Fran and Paul Young for dinner.  Ted and Fran had lived in the same apartment building back in the 70's!  They have not seen each other since that time!  They live in Missouri now and were visiting friends in San Diego.  Paul and I heard some good stories and we both shared our lives bringing us up to date!  They both taught school in many foreign countries for 18 years.  Pakistan was one of the places they lived and enjoyed.   It sounds like they have been enjoying themselves and it was fun meeting them!  We are planning to see them again before they leave town!

Meeting new people..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Yesterday Ted and I met our friend Peggy Price at the movie theater in Rancho San Diego.   When we were walking through the parking lot, GNO friend Adma drove by going to the YWCA with her Granddaughter, Delilah!  She is beautiful!  Anyway, we saw Ides of March and gave it three thumbs down!  Just as it was getting suspensful, it ended!  George is still handsome!

After the movie it was next door to Hooley's Irish Pub for dinner.  Had a good meal and caught up on what's going on in Peg's life!

I think today we are going to set up our "patio area"...rug and chairs with some awning decorations!  Will get some laundry done and unless we change out minds...hang out!

Taking it easy..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Made it to Pio Pico!

On Thursday we drove down the mountain without incident and are back at Pio Pico! 

Yesterday Ted had his first check up for his hearing aids.  It is really amazing what they can tell from them.  The doctor hooked them up to her computer and runs reports.  She was pleasantly surprised that he averaged 14 hours a day of use, apparently not everyone uses them that much at first.  She could tell how many times he changed the program or the volume, was in noisy area (the casino), listened to music, tv and quiet.  Then she made some adjustments to the program.  Ted's hearing aids are behind the ear and the tube that goes down in the right ear was sticking out a little so she got a different tube and fixed that problem and she put on smaller caps on the part down in the ears so they wouldn't bother him and that seems to be working as well.  He is really pleased with them (and so am I)!

After his appointment, we met our friends Jeri and Stach for breakfast at Mission Valley Cafe (yummy) and then we went to watch Survivor (from Wednesday night) at their house.  When we got to Pio Pico I had both air conditioners going and turned on the microwave and popped the circuit also frying the satellite receiver unfortunately.  We called Dish and they overnighted a new one which we got yesterday and Ted hooked up.   My shows that I had dvr'd were all lost, but we have tv again!

We had good news from our insurance company, we were approved to replace the middle axle on the RV so will get a new one ordered and get that taken care of in the next couple of weeks!  We are very happy about that.

Ted being able to hear..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Departing Julian and back to Jamul today!

Yesterday I enjoyed Ted's birthday!  We met some friends at Viejas for (a so-so) dinner.  Ted and I went a little early for some gambling.  We played long enough that we each got the buffet for free!  I actually ended up with about $60 more than I went with and I gave Ted some money for his birthday to gamble with!  Ted didn't do as well but I hope he enjoyed!

Here in Julian we've seen wild turkeys, a coyote and several deer; including three that were hanging out on the side of the road last night when we drove back up the mountain!  It's really been nice up here and we've had great cell/internet service!   Hopefully we'll have better service than we had last time at Pio Pico!  We sure haven't figured out the best place to park to try to get good service!

Winning (but not like Charlie Sheen)..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Happy Birthday to TED!

Happy Birthday to my sweet husband!  He is legally an old fart!  LOL!

We are still enjoying Julian.  Had a visit from friends Steve and Kathe Dunn yesterday.  They picked us up and we went to Wynola to have lunch at the Wynola Pizza Co.   After a delicious lunch we stopped at the Banner grade overlook!  It was a beautiful day! 

We were headed back to the RV and were trying to decide if we wanted to go see the historic Stonewall Mine, south of Lake Cuyamaca.  We decided to take a look at the mine.  Gold was discovered there in 1870 but the mine really didn't get going until 1886.  $2,000,000 in gold was produced between 1886 and 1892!  The mine was abandoned in 1893.  The main shaft was 630' deep.  There isn't much left of the mine just a few odds and ends.

When we got to the mine there was one other car and the man got back to his car just before we were ready to leave.  He had been hiking since 10:00 a.m., it was now 3:00 p.m.   It was a good thing we had not left yet because the man locked his keys in his trunk, along with his cell phone because he had no signal.  He would have had another pretty good hike to get to a telephone.  He used our phone to call AAA!  Our good deed for the day!

A beautiful afternoon visiting with friends and seeing the area..."Ain't Life Grand!"

GO CHARGERS!

What an exciting Charger game...they almost blew it again!  Whew that was close!

During the game we had a surprise visit from our friends Jeri and Stach.  They were originally planning to visit us but when Jeri fractured her foot, they put a boot on it and she was supposed to stay off of it!  She was surprisingly able to get up the steps okay (and said her foot feels fine today).  They also brought a yummy apple pie to share!  We had dessert first yesterday!

Enjoying a surprise visit..."Ain't Life Grand!

Enjoying some down time!

We've really been relaxing here in Julian.  Yesterday was absolutely beautiful!  It's now in the high 70's in the day and high 40's in the early morning.  It was crystal clear yesterday.  Max and I had a couple of nice long walks!

Our Julian campground, KQ Ranch, is a part of Colorado River Adventures, a membership campground.  When we joined they told us as they add campgrounds we would have access to them. What they don't tell you (of course if we had read the fine print) is that we would have to pay additional membership fees.  After the original investment we pay annual dues but then we can stay two weeks at a time for free.  So we went and talked to them about a couple of new campgrounds.  We were interested in the Pismo Beach Campground but it is a small park and they are putting 35 park models on it so no RV's.  So we said no thank you, saved a bunch of money and came back to the RV!

Last night they had a barbeque.  We had the steak, baked potatoes and corn with German Chocolate cake again for dessert (saving me some calories)!  The steaks were delicious!  We sat with a nice couple that live in Vista originally from Missouri.  We left when the Karaoke started, Ted's new hearing aids were not prepared for that!  They are working great but he's still getting used to them!

Today is the Charger game....GO CHARGERS!

Relaxing in Julian..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Enjoying Julian!

Wednesday night was VERY windy!  How windy was it?  When I let Max out to do his business before going to bed, I stood on the inside (it was so cold) and tried to hold the door while Max went out on his leash.  The next thing I knew, the wind whipped me around, the door flew open and I was on the ground outside!  Ted came running out to get me but I was fine.  I think the wind let me down gently after picking me up and throwing me out!  I also thought our bedroom was in a perfect spot away from the wind, yet when I got in bed it was a bumpy ride for awhile!  Thursday morning it was 37 degrees and still pretty windy and rainy when I walked Max.

Our friends Jim and Della Crownover came up around lunch time yesterday and we went into Julian.  It was still a bit cold and cloudy but wasn't raining!  We had lunch at the Julian Grille.  The restaurant is set in a cozy cottage festooned with lacy draperies, flickering candles, and a warm hearth, the Grille is the nicest eatery in town.  We all had a delicious lunch and decided to walk about town!  We did a little shopping and then picked up an apple pie at Moms!

We came back to our RV and played a serious game of Pokeno!  I was the big winner by winning $1.50 of Ted's pennies!  Jim and Della won about 50 cents from Ted, leaving Ted 50 cents!  We then had apple pie and ice cream for dinner!

This morning it was 35 degrees when I walked Max but the sun was shinning and there was no wind!  It was a beautiful day.  We finished setting up our camp site and took off to Golden Acorn for a couple of hours.  Today Ted was the lucky one.  He came out $6.00 ahead and I lost $35.00.   It was fun even though I lost because I would play on a machine for quite awhile and would get to play some bonuses!

Tonight we had homemade lasagne in the club house here at the campground.  They served a salad and garlic toast with the lasagne with german chocolate cake for dessert!  I'm not crazy about coconut so I passed on dessert but really enjoyed my dinner.

I took a couple of pictures when we got back to the RV.  The sunset was much prettier in person!

When we were at Pio Pico I took some pictures but could not get them to download! Pics taken at campground, ballpark and at vollyball!

A beautiful cool day in Julian..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Made it to Julian...

...in spite of the wind and rain!  We drove up into the clouds and fog with lots of wind and rain!  We are tucked in tight and are cozy and warm while we bounce around from the wind!   When the wind stops and rain slows down, we will set up our satellite dish and sewer...probably Friday!  Max is not going to like going out for our walk (and neither will I)!

The good news is...we have internet service once again!  I have already ordered some new day/night shades for our bedroom, sunreader sunglasses for Ted and I, ordered a mail delivery for when we get back down to Pio Pico, did some banking and now typing the blog!

Shopping and blogging on the internet..."Ain't Life Grand!" 

Headed for Julian!

Tomorrow we will leave Pio Pico and go up to Julian for a week.  We will finally have cell service (I think) and therefore, internet service.  Where we are camped here has not been good at all.  Sometimes we connect but try to send an email or post a blog and lose the connection...frustration!

We've continued having a good time and getting doctors and RV things done.   We borrowed a steam cleaner and got our rug cleaned, got a new vent.  The appraiser was out for the axle but can't get the claims adjuster to call back so that we can proceed on the new axle just yet.  Started the refi on our house.  Got my face and Ted's head frozen for pre-cancer cells.  Still working on Ted's sore eye, he's got steroids and eye drops for them. 

Ted got his new hearing aids today, I think he hears a lot better and they are supposed to get better as his ears adjust to them.  You've heard of smart phones, he's got smart hearing aids!  They work really well with his phone and he's setting up the tv for them right now!

Been to a few dinners, lunches, vollyball and baseball games and tonight is girls night out!  So that just about brings you up to date! 

New hearing aids for Ted..."Ain't Life Grand!"