After the 4th and My Kindle

It is so hard to believe the 4th has come and gone. I received my Kindle a few days ago and I quickly became accustomed to it. Not at all difficult to do. I am loving it. An Apple fan asked me why I did not choose an iPad and to be honest I had not considered it so I went on an investigative tour to find out why I did not choose an iPad. 
I am still happy with my choice of a Kindle. We are blessed with two computers and to me the iPad more closely resembles a computer as opposed to a book. The number one reason I would not have considered an iPad even if it had occurred to me is price. $499 plus as opposed to $189. Another reason is hidden costs with the iPad. It is my understanding that the $499 is just the starting price and then there are fees for this and fees for that. Book selection would have been another factor. It is very frustrating to have a book in mind and find that it is not available in ebook format. Yes, I am aware that all of Amazon.coms books would also be available to iPad users if you pay a $14.99 Internet fee. (one of those hidden fees)
And then there is battery life. As little as 10 hours with an iPad and up to two weeks with a Kindle. After reading all about both I am still at peace with my selection of a Kindle.


We enjoyed a calm and quiet 4th. Went for our walk and usually it is unusual to see anyone but there were lots of people out and about due to the holiday. The golf course was busy. There are most likely lots of lost balls out there waiting to be found today.
The RV park residents gathered in the pavilion for a potluck meal and lots of visiting. When you gather a bunch of Rvers and full timers together it is bound to make interesting conversation.

 Butch and I had a Netflix waiting for us so after the meal we came home to watch our movie. The movie was Precious. It was a good one all round. Definitely not a feel good movie but very thought provoking and sad.

Mexican Bean Salad

Yesterday after getting our walk in we rested a good share of the day. Along toward evening we meandered over to the Pavilion where some of the other residents of the RV park were gathered. There were some of those little eclairs and cream puffs you can buy in most stores these days just sitting there calling my name. I have to pass them by in the store because I would eat the whole box if they were in my freezer. But there they were and free for the taking. I ate far too many of them and they were good!

My blood sugar otherwise known as BS showed my transgression this morning. Then later we enjoyed Hillman's fireworks from our kitchen table. It was a beautiful sight, framed so perfectly by the window and one we have not enjoyed that closely for many years. After the fireworks we watched a few minutes of a Ma and Pa Kettle movie before drifting off to sleep. “I'll get that later, Ma” has been one of Butch's mantras for many years.

Also yesterday I made a new recipe and I kept slipping back to the fridge for another bowl of it. I love the stuff! The only change I made to the recipe is the salt. I only used a fraction of the amount called for. It is a keeper.

Mexican Bean Salad

Prep Time: 15 Minutes Ready In: 1 Hour 15 Minutes

Servings: 8

"The dressing is absolutely sensational in this bean salad - so many taste sensations. It

begins with oil and vinegar, but then it gets fancy. Let 's see, there 's lemon and lime

juice, garlic, cilantro, sugar, cumin, hot sauce and chili powder to taste."

INGREDIENTS:

1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and

drained

1 (15 ounce) can kidney beans, drained

1 (15 ounce) can cannellini beans,

drained and rinsed

1 green bell pepper, chopped

1 red bell pepper, chopped

1 (10 ounce) package frozen corn kernels

1 red onion, chopped

1/2 cup olive oil

1/2 cup red wine vinegar

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

1 tablespoon lemon juice

2 tablespoons white sugar

1 tablespoon salt

1 clove crushed garlic

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1/2 tablespoon ground cumin

1/2 tablespoon ground black pepper

1 dash hot pepper sauce

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a large bowl, combine beans, bell peppers, frozen corn, and red onion.

2. In a small bowl, whisk together olive oil, red wine vinegar, lime juice, lemon juice,

sugar, salt, garlic, cilantro, cumin, and black pepper. Season to taste with hot sauce

and chili powder.

3. Pour olive oil dressing over vegetables; mix well. Chill thoroughly, and serve cold.

Sack Race

They are all lined up for the sack race.

And we are OFF!!

I do not think so Mom. It does not look safe. I will stand here and watch.

Walked into Hillman MI

When the bridge is finished in Hillman it will be a beauty.

Pineapple Casserole

We have had one potluck here at Thunder Bay Resort and Rebecca Crawford brought this recipe. It was delicious!! I happened to run across it in a newsletter I receive regularly and thought AHA! I am glad to have this because I forgot to ask Rebecca for it before they left. Thanks Rebecca, wherever you might be. We miss you!

Pineapple Casserole

 

2 (20 oz) cans pineapple chunks in own juice (drain, reserve 6 T juice)

6 T flour

1 c sugar

2 c grated cheddar cheese

1 sleeve Ritz crackers, crushed

1/2 c butter, melted

 

Oven 350F.  In mixing bowl, stir together pineapple, 6 T juice, flour,

sugar and cheese, and pour into 7x11" baking pan.  In separate bowl, mix

crackers and butter.  Sprinkle over top of pineapple mixture.  Bake 30

minutes.  Enjoy!

 

Be sure and let everyone know that this is pineapple, not a potato

casserole. 

Cooling our Buns

We are cooling our buns here in northern Michigan this morning with lows at 42 last night. We were warned it could get downright chilly up here and darned if they weren't right. And here it is the first of July. Thank goodness these cool days are interspersed with near perfect ones of mid-seventies, low humidity and sunshine.
The "boys" are on their weekly golf outing this morning and we "girls" will be beading in a few minutes.
I see the guys are just teeing off on #4.
We have a mystery. Last night after returning home from couples golf we found a paddle on our patio chairs. We have no idea where it came from. We do not have a canoe but now we have a paddle. Perhaps someone is telling us something?
Jack is about to start his rafting trips on the river so perhaps it is he who left it as an invitation?  I am sure it will all come to light soon.
Looks like the Rio Grande Valley folks were lucky with Alex. He wasn't such a naughty boy, just slightly mischievous.
Gotta run now but must get back to blogging in an hour or so.
later...

Can you imagine??

Most likely will have to click on this to read the caption underneath. This photo was in the Old Time Photo of the Day section of the Des Moines Register. Can you imagine college students of today even considering this? Of course regulations would prevent it anyway but even the thought would mortify most of them.

Some Days

    

     It is chilly here this morning.(57) I am waiting for it to warm up a bit before I take off on my daily walk. I have been walking a two mile route that I really enjoy. I go north on Country Club Drive till I get to the end then I turn left on West River Ridge Rd and walk toward town. This section is very rural and yesterday I surprised a deer. There is a short walk through the woods (saw a woodchuck or groundhog) where I connect up with a residential street. I make a U using about six blocks of Hillman then I climb a grassy hill, cross a downed fence and wend my way onto the golf course, past number 6 tee box and back to a street I do not recall the name of that leads back to the RV park . It is a two mile walk and takes me about 40 minutes. Yesterday I did not encounter one human.
     Butch is busy working on the bird blind. They are painting it today and he is really racking up the hours what with yesterday and today. He seems to be content with his work whatever it may be although he did grumble when he had to mow greens in the rain. It was a low grumble compared to some I have heard however.

     I am busy on the computer keeping up with sometimes as many as 6 blogs. Most prominent these days are this one of course and then www.thunderbayresort.blogspot.com   but then I have also had occasion to post on www.magnolianews.blogspot.com and www.smrvolunteers.blogspot.com as well as the new one www.musiconthe45th.blogspot.com  I keep saying I am not going to add any more but then the next group comes along and the first thing I know a new one has popped up. I am much better at pushing the responsibility for new input to others as quickly as possible. In some cases that means they will die. What will be will be.
     I placed an order for a new mouse for Butch. His fell apart. It was all clicked out. Moving those cards around takes a whole lot of clicks. Well the company I ordered from required the shipping address and billing address be the same unless you call your credit card company and add a new verified address. I did that. Todays email brought the message that the order has been cancelled because of conflicting addresses so I called the credit card company to verify that the new address was indeed on there. It was. So that company lost an order and I placed my order somewhere else. I would love to tell the company that paranoia doesn't pay well but I do not want to correspond with them again so now they will never know why they lose business.
     Heard from friends Kay and Pecan Bill and they plan to come visit us sometime soon. We will have to sit around the campfire and drink margaritas. It will be fun!
   And after thinking of Magnolia Park friends I must mention that the news this morning informed us that our favorite South Texas area is going to get smacked with hurricane Alex. We are keeping an eye on Alex. We hope he isn't too naughty.

A Day Off

I took yesterday off.
Some of you already know that...you faithful followers you! It was a rather rainy day...another one... and it seemed to me a good day for reading a bit. Bringing up reading...I ordered a Kindle. Kindle Wireless Reading Device (6" Display, Global Wireless, Latest Generation). I have been wanting one for quite some time but they were in the $400 range and this frugal woman could not bring herself to spend that kind of money. Now the price has dropped considerably as they are less than half what they used to be. My Kindle is on the way to me as we speak and I am excited about it. They also have Kindle for PC. It is a free download and if you do not mind sitting at your computer for hours on end to read a book there would be no reason to purchase a Kindle but I want the mobility of it. Free Kindle Books and How to Find Them (revised 11/09) I downloaded Kindle for PC on our computers sometime back and have a few books on it. One of the things I like is that Butch and I can read the same book at the same time.  We can have any books we purchase on both computers. This syncing feature is very handy. I can now also have 1500 books in the RV at one time I am sure I will be telling you more about it when I have it in my hot little hand. I didn't intend to go there when I started writing this morning but that often happens.

I also finished my first bracelet yesterday. I have to have Linda teach me about putting a clasp on it for the final touches. I am anxious to start on the next one. They are much fun to do. They are lightweight and drape well on your wrist.

I have many color combos swimming in my head for the next few I plan to do. I am also keeping my hand in on Swedish weaving. Beading makes for a nice switch-off hobby and takes up virtually no room in the MoHo. I think I have some women in my family who will be very happy I took to this hobby. wink, wink.

Today I thought about leading you to Howard's journal and taking another day off. After all we are in the same place and doing many of the same things and he writes about it so very well. But things evolved as they should and in a pleasant way  so now you can go read RV-Dreams Journal and enjoy it as much as I did.

Do you really think so?

Come on now...REALLY? I was cleaning out and organizing my picture folder and I ran across this from last winter. I saved it but did not have time to do anything with it. This ad was on my home page and it caught my eye. The fact that these fellows were just dying to meet this Barbara or even a woman like me blew my mind. I do not think they were thinking this through. What do you think?

How funny to have really had the chance to ask them. I got a hoot out of this and thought you might too. Be careful what you wish for!!

Busier and busier

It always seems to happen wherever we are. I think I could be on a desert island and still be busy!

Yesterday we workamping women (6) met at the grill for a treat and conversation. We decided to do this as the men of the workampers have their own little golf outing on Thursday morning. We had a great time with lively conversation and became better acquainted with each other as a result.

Afterwards Linda of the workampers offered a lesson in beading. Now do not mistake this for the usual beading this is definitely a big step above the ordinary. It is beautiful and I found out very fun to do. A bit of a physical and mental challenge to begin with but we all need to stretch ourselves regularly so it was a welcome change.

Jan Foster has finished one bracelet and these are the colors she has chosen for her next one. Love those southwest colors!

This is my first project. It measures at 2 1/4 inches at this point. Fun Fun

Yesterday afternoon we were working on another building making the lights yellow. We asked one of the housekeeping ladies if it made any difference. She oohed and ahed about what a fantastic difference it made. When we finished we went around to the golf course side which we felt was always hit the hardest by bugs and spiders and it was amazing. It looked as good as when we had cleaned it two weeks ago. It is well worth the effort.

It is a nice feeling knowing your work is successful and appreciated.

Last night we watched the movie "Amelia" it was a good movie but we were always aware as we watched it that the ending was a sad one. Good movie though.

This morning Butch is on the driving range...it is a sickness, I tell ya! A sickness.

Keeping up with Elise

There have been new ones added...

Make your own free picture slideshow

Woo Hoo!

Friends Mike and Sharon Bryce will be coming to work with us at Thunder Bay Resort. We met Mike and Sharon at Snow Mountain Ranch the first year we were there and became friends. That is one of the things about this lifestyle-you pick up new friends from all over the country. Mike and Sharon are from Granbury TX and we stopped to see them on our way to the Rio Grande Valley the past two seasons as well. It will be fun to have them here and we can go exploring together.

Link to RV-Dreams Journal

I placed a link to fellow workampers RV-Dreams Journal under the Links heading. Butch is featured on todays entry but it is usually interesting even if Butch isn't featured.(smile) The RV-Dream Journal link will change daily.

Now if I get really lazy you will have something interesting to take your mind off it. I am busy now getting another blog going- Yes, another blog! for the Music on the 45th Parallel. For the uninitiated we are virtually sitting on the 45th parallel. The 45th happens to be exactly half way between the equator and the north pole. That little unique thing is something to hang your hat on.
But back to the new blog. It will be for people in the area to check in and find out where their favorite performers are playing. In addition we will feature musicians, telling about them and their music. I am already on the lookout for someone to grab hold of this one and take off with it when we move on to warmer climes.
Lisa Linder has taken off with the Snow Mountain Ranch blog and I thank her for that. It is disappointing when they sit idle.
So now that I have increased your reading list for you today I will get on to another blog posting. Woo-hoo!

From Fellow Workampers

http://rv-dreams.typepad.com/rvdreams_journal/2010/06/paddling-the-au-sable-river-mio-mi.html
Fathers Day at Thunder Bay Resort and beyond. Thanks to Howard I can link and make for an interesting read. Doesn't that float down the river sound like fun?

Are you Lonesome Tonight?

Thanks Lloyd...very appropriate for all of us ripe to rotten seniors.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=SfPgSzcu9RY

Early morning walk

Butch is on his green mowing job so I was able to get an early start on my day. Love it! I have finished my walk and have one load of laundry done. I swear the world is divided with early morning people married to late risers. It messes them both up depending on who has dominance at the time. Contrary to some peoples belief that is not a one sided thing at our house. Most of the time I just go about my business as if he were once again in the working world. But it does seem to keep me from doing things that make noise- like laundry and vacuuming.

But I digress...

The white bark of the birch trees make a nice contrasting accent.

The ferns and the evergreen.

This is an example of the traffic flow on the street where I walk. Hillman water tower is barely visible on the left side of picture. Make it larger by clicking on it for a better look.

Butch mowing

Mowing the green on number three.

This shot may end up in my favorites of 2010. 

Elise at 4 weeks

That personality is really starting to shine!!

These warmed a Great Grams heart!!!

Raccoon River Valley Trail

I was browsing for Michigan trails and clicked on Iowa. Became a bit nostalgic and decided to share this link with you. http://www.traillink.com/viewtrail.aspx?AcctID=6015658 It is a wonderful trail and one of the reasons we are looking at Jefferson Iowa as a place to settle in a bit...as much as we settle in anywhere.

I have been on my walk already today. I didn't take my camera and I regret that nearly every time. I always seem to run across something that catches my eye. Today it was the ferns that grow abundantly here. They make a natural wreath surrounding the base of many evergreens and when the light hits them just right it is extremely beautiful as the lighter green of the delicate ferns contrasts with the darker color of the evergreens. A missed opportunity because even though you think you can capture that shot later it is never exactly the same. Each moment in time is as unique as our fingerprints.

Not taken this morning but beautiful all the same.