Archives for August 2012

Slept as late as we could, though rain woke us up a few times during the night. Got some work done on the computer before we had to drive to an appointment at Costco in Dedham (an hour’s drive), in our continuing efforts to solve Hubby’s hearing aid problem. Made one short stop at a Chinese tailor to drop off a suit is too big for Hubby since he lost weight, but the woman there said they could alter it, so we’ll have another suit to take with us for future events. Fabulous, beats the heck out of hanging in the van never to be used again! One more side trip for ice cream at a little parlor in the mess they call downtown Dedham before we headed to Costco. We arrived about an hour early, but apparently all of the previous customers had done the same, so our provider, Rick, was able to take us right away. What a difference! Though we had a few problems to resolve at first (they neglected to tell me they only take American Express or checks, and I didn’t bring my checkbook!), and that we had to be members just for the hearing aid test (a contradiction to what I had been told on the phone), we eventually got everything sorted out, and Hubby had a fantastic set of tests, much more thorough than anything he’d ever had before. Furthermore, the kind of hearing aid he wanted was less than half the price of what that silly woman quoted us at Miracle Ear. Plus we have the advantage of being able to get it adjusted at any Costco, giving us the flexibility of a national chain that we wanted. The best part was that not only did Rick have samples of the kind we wanted, he put some in Hubby’s ears and took us around the store to show us how they worked! Fabulous! Needless to say, we ordered a pair, and we’ve already set an appointment up for next Friday to pick them up and get them programmed. That will give him a few days to get used to them before we fly to Tampa. He was crushed when he had to take them out, but he learned a valuable lesson, like how much I have to raise my voice in order to talk to him, and how frustrated I get when he interrupts a conversation I’m having with someone else, because he’s oblivious that we’re talking. Anyway, despite the long drive, it was well worth it! It looks like we’ll FINALLY be able to solve a long-standing problem, and we couldn’t be happier. Headed back to a Walmart pharmacy where we had dropped off a prescription earlier, a quick stop at Staples for some office supplies I needed, then finally arriving back at the ranch just after dark, where the pups were happy as clams to see us. Fed everyone, including ourselves, before heading to bed. Another busy day in the books!

Got up early with the alarm, finished packing, ran by the dump, and were on the road before 8:30. Made a quick stop for breakfast and fuel, then ran straight down to Angela’s place in Cranston. This is the same place we stayed last year, so it will make it easy for everyone. Angela met us at the barn as we were filling up with water (the only drawback to this place, no water at the outbuilding where we park), got the horses settled in (Angela was nice enough to agree to let Apollo run with the mares, last year he got into some weeds in the gelding pasture and acquired a cough that lasted for months), though we’ll need to keep an eye on them, as the pasture is full of clover. Apparently unlike the rest of the country that’s suffering from drought, Rhode Island has had so much rain that the horses can barely keep up with the speed at which the grass and clover are growing! They’ll enjoy it, though, it just might be hard to get them back on hay later! Got everything settled in easily enough, experience makes it a piece of cake! Hubby even got the satellite dish out, and we crashed in front of the TV for the evening, a much needed few hours of rest!

Had an excellent night’s sleep, with perfect temps in the 50’s and very dark quiet for a nice change. Did some laundry this morning, nothing like the smell of clothes fresh from the line, especially when the line is in the middle of a forest! Glad we didn’t come here for the peach and quiet, though, as there is some kind of rock-crushing facility very nearby, and they were quite busy making loud noises, so much so we could hardly hear our generator over it! Eventually got around to saddling up the horses and heading out on the trail. This is a pretty small area, with only a few short horse trails, but we weren’t really up for anything long and tiring today, we have too much recovery to do from the hectic pace of the last few weeks! Followed the yellow trail markers, which eventually crossed the main road and worked us up a steep hill to a vista that was very pretty. A lot of the trail was quite rocky, though one section was sandy and the rest just dirt. Definitely needed boots on today! Got back around 4:00, got everyone settled in, took down the laundry, had dinner and a nice relaxing evening. Glad we skipped lunch, though, we both gained a few pounds that we have to lose, and missing a meal always helps!

Packed up and were out by 8:30, a quick stop at the Canandaigua Water Treatment Plant to dump, then McDonalds to pick up a bagel breakfast, then onwards toward Lake Luzerne in the Adirondacks in eastern New York State. We avoided the thruway because it would have cost us $60 to go 166 miles, and we weren’t in THAT much of a hurry, so we took a more scenic route. Stopped once more at the Walmart in Amsterdam for supplies before heading out to the campground, arriving aroun 4:30. Didn’t take long to check in, and reached our campsite shortly thereafter. The campground is mostly wooded, though at the end of the cul-de-sac there is a dirt road that goes around to an open field where there are a few covered stalls and a LOT of paddocks. If we had wanted a satellite signal and to be closer to the water spigot, we should have picked site 18 or 19, but we opted for 22, which is a large area on the edge of the woods. Since that took us about as far away from the paddocks as possible, and because there was no shade there, we opted to highline the horses in the forest, which was very convenient. Our only neighbors are a couple with an antique, round-edged trailer next door, and a couple of horse trailers around the back near the paddocks. We filled the tanks and I started a load of laundry so that I could get at least one load hung before dark. Enjoyed a quiet night, as there are tight restrictions on generator use, so we had ours off by 8:00, watching a great old movie “The Man Who Knew Too Much” off the batteries until early bedtime.

Got up at a reasonable hour, had some breakfast, then finished up packing up. Then it was time to bring the RV slides in, and the bedroom came in fine, as usual, but the living room refused to go. No motor engagement, no whirring, no nothing, dead. We tested the power sources all around, including the switch, and after an hour, came to the conclusion it had to be the motor. Fortunately, our hosts knew of a motor shop, someone that specialized in electric motors, and Sharon ran me over there in her truck with the motor in hand. After a 20 minute drive, we arrived at the shop, where a genius of a guy managed to find a loose wire inside, tightened it, said one of the brushes was a bit worn but otherwise it worked fine, and got it working again! Yeah! We were afraid we were going to have to find a replacement, and how knows how complicated that might have become! A quick ride back, Hubby reinstalled the motor, it worked like a dream, and off we went, doling out praise to our rescuers and hosts before heading down the road to our next stop, another farm in Brookfield, NY called Thistledale, and run by Beth Harrison. Though we were running late, Beth was running later, so we arrived around 3:30, she arrived around 4:00. It didn’t take us long to get settled in, way back by her barn with a paddock right next door for the horses, electric provided and water run from a source clear on the other side of the barn, but a hose already in place, thank goodness. A quick setup, a quick shower, a quick change of clothes, a quick feeding of all the animals, and off we went to meet my old childhood friend Mary and her husband Garry at an Italian restaurant at Eastview Mall, about 30 minutes away. Great to see them again, had a lovely dinner, a lovely evening, wish we could have spent more time with them, but we have just too much stuff to do, things are so hectic!! We said our good-byes just as the sun was setting and a gorgeous full moon was rising, truly a spectacular sight! A short drive “home,” and we were settled down for the night.