Sheri’s new work schedule gives us a lot of time, and we intend to take advantage of it! When she was working Mon-Fri normal work routine, we seldom had any time for fun leisure activities, and literally could not travel at all without her taking vacation time. Her schedule now is quite unorthodox, but she loves working it, and we both really enjoy the amount of time she has off. Now she works 6 – 21 hour graveyard shifts in a row, then has 8 days off every 2 weeks! That means she only commutes 5 times for 2 weeks, rather than 10, which helps with the cost of commuting, and her shift differential covers the fact that she only works 36 hours per week (her six days in a row are the last 3 days of one week, and the first 3 of the next.) And she is only taking 2 weeks of vacation, yet we have 22 days for this trip!

We’re really excited about it. And since she has so much time off, we can go for short trips quite often now. We can’t really afford to just jump on a plane and take off very often, and since my immune system is often suppressed, and my eating habits somewhat unconventional and often hard to accommodate in restaurants, we decided to buy a motor home. With the cost of fuel today, if we drive very far it’s just as expensive as staying in a motel, but at least we can control our environment this way, and we really like the RV. We certainly couldn’t afford a late model one, but we found a terrific buy on a 20 year old 33′ class A that in its day was the top of the line, and by selling off some other stuff we were able to acquire it without having to take on a payment, which was very important to us! We call it the Mother Ship, because we will be towing our little yellow Jeep behind it, and it reminds me of the Apollo space program. Here are a couple of photos. I will be posting some of the inside, too, over time.

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It has a couple of issues, but it is worth dealing with them, because it has very low miles, it is in excellent condition, and EVERYTHING WORKS!!! Plus, we got it for about 1/2 what it should have been, because the seller needed cash! It is a 1988 Allegro basement model (you can see all the doors on the outside, and many of them go all the way through the coach). It has a gas barbecue that slides out of the basement right under the end of the awning, which I thought was a really neat feature! There are 2 captain’s chairs for the driver and co-pilot, then a 7′ jackknife sofa that folds out into a full size bed, behind the driver’s seat, and a small table that folds out of the wall behind the passenger seat, which will make a perfect computer desk. Then there’s a dinette that also folds down into a bed, across from the kitchen with a 4 burner stove and oven, and a large refrigerator that runs on either 120 v. (there is a ganerator in case we aren’t in a park with hookups) or propane, a full bath with a smallish bathtub, and a walk-around queen size bed in back. It has 2 tv’s (we don’t even have a tv in our bedroom at home), a cd player, dvd player, and even a central vacuum. Although the decor is somewhat dated, the upholstery is in pretty good shape for its age, and it is really quite luxurious

Next: Our trip plan

I’m also posting a picture of one of our fuchsia baskets…my favorite!

I went in yesterday for an outpatient procedure to remove a hemorrhoid. I guess I should consider myself lucky, since the last time I went in for an outpatient procedure I was in the hospital for 31 days, and yesterday I was home by noon. This was the last repair needing to be made before I can have my ileostomy reversed, an event that I have been looking forward to with great urgency! On the one hand, I do not like having the bag to empty several times a day; on the other, my rectal fissures would not have healed without it, and the pain from them may well have killed me! So I’ll grin and bear it for another 6 weeks before my digestive system gets put back together! Then, on with my life after 8 month detour!

Here is the front porch. This was the concrete mix we had to buy to meet the minimum order size.

And here are a couple more paintings.

And last but not least, this one I just finished today.

I’m having a lot of fun painting these landscapes, but I am running out uf space for them! More soon!

Infortunately, the only way I’ve determined to be able to stop them is to set it up so I have to moderate all the comments that get posted. I promise, if you should decide to post a comment (and I really wish you would!), I will allow it, unedited, regardless of what you say in it, as long as you aren’t trying to sell something. The server automatically sends me an email as soon as a comment is posted, so it will happen quickly, too.

If you know some other way to beat back these parasites. please let me know!

We only needed 3 yards, but the minimum delivery was 4, so we added one out the front door (which we seldom use) as well. Seth and his co-workers did an incredible job of putting down the concrete and finishing it.  We pulled the forms off yesterday, and I got a bunch of plants to put in containers to  put on the perimeter next to the driveway. Unfortunately, the driveway is right next to the big patio, so we have to make sure we protect the edge from  people driving by who are not used  to having the porch there. Fortunately, we have a spectacular view of the pasture and Mt. Hood in the distance.

We are pretty excited! We have not had anywhere to sit outside except in the grass, and nowhere to put our outdoor table and chairs, etc. You may remember that we used to have a lot of porch space, and it has been a hard transition for us to not have living space outdoors.

I’ve been doing quite a bit of painting again lately. Most of it is pretty mediocre stuff, but I’ve got a couple I’m not too embarrassed by. Here’s the latest. Again, the photo really doesn’t show the painting off very well, but it gives you the basic idea of what it looks like.

And here’s another recent one. Don’t pay any attention to the antler tips on the bottom; I ran out of easel space, so it was on top of my bronze elk.

They certainly aren’t commercial grade paintings, but I’m having a lot of fun doing them. I really need to get some framed so I can hang them up. They are crowding us out! Sheri and her sister bought a mat cutter a couple of years ago, and I’m going to start doing some matting and framing as soon as I can convince them they can trust me with it!

More later. I’m going to go plant some flowers.