7-30-2018

7-28-2018

            It’s grandpa’s 100th birthday this week.  All the “D” girls made plans for a catered event next Sunday afternoon.  That’s a hard schedule for us that live on the west side to keep.  We have to work the next day.  So, we will have a low key gathering next Saturday.  We came over last night, and Matt drove up real early this morning.  He has to go back home Friday, so we got the 5 generations together today for a picture.  I don’t know why I’m so sentimental these days.  

            So, we drove up to the lake today with Matt following.  I am trying to remember back when I was Matt’s age, how different my risk assessment was then, the kinds of choices I would have made.  These days I have the truck and camper sorted and road worthy a month in advance.  We stopped for lunch on Newport, and I noticed that Matt’s front tires were bald and the metal ribbing was showing.  It’s a 700-mile drive...  So, I gave him a wad of cash and said it would be a good idea to stop at the Les Schwab outside of Priest River and buy a couple cheap tire on his was back home.  Really, we should have stopped on the way in, but it was late, and the kids would have had a colossal meltdown if they had to wait another hour or so. I suppose in my youth I made the same kind of choices.  The wisdom of age prevents me from admitting to them in writing.

7-29-2018

            Mom and dad came up today.  Yvonne followed in her little pickup and will sleep on the table in their camper tonight.  I’m not clear on when she’s going back home, her plans are to stay a day or two.  Dad was having a hard time loading the camper on Friday.  The front jacks are really unstable.  They we pulling away and the screws were coming out.  Not good at all.  Dad had put a ratchet strap on the front two in an attempt to keep them attached to the camper.  I got up early Saturday and loaded the camper.  It’s really unstable.  I think I would just leave the camper on the truck and let it rot there.  Dad doesn’t like that idea, but I don’t know that he has any choice.  Mom desperately want to go camping.  In his old age, dad doesn’t want to work that hard.  Ive told the both of them they should get a little class B camper van or small RV.  It would be so much better for them.  

            Anyways, Yvonne brought a bunch of (small hard plastic one person boats that I can’t spell the word for) The lake is a bit choppy during the day from all the boat traffic, but its still very nice.  Shelly and family will arrive Wednesday.  

7-30-2018

            Up early today. Josiah and Teagan are in a pup tent.  It’s nice, I got up a little early, made some coffee, I’m doing some writing.  I didn’t have to wake the boys up, make the table up.  

8-3-2018

            I really got into the camping mindset. Forgot to keep up with the journal.  We went up to  Muskeegan Campground/lake and picked huckleberries on Thursday.  The lake is beautiful as always.  This year there were hundreds, if not thousands of tadpoles in the lake.  All swirling around in a school.  The berries were green and late.  Very late actually.  We did get enough to make crisp and pancakes in the morning.  We reserved the campsite through Saturday so we could take our time breaking down camp.  We need to get into town Friday to get ready for Grandpa Josiah’s 100th birthday.  

8-4-2018

            Grandpa’s 100th birthday celebration is officially tomorrow, the Pettit girls organized a big thing up in Clayton.  Catered, super organized, 2pm on a Sunday.  I have to work Monday so we went over today with cake and ice cream.  Got some good pictures.  

8-5-2018

            Drove home.  I should look into replacing the air conditioner with an R134 unit.  The one on the truck is R12 which is impossible to work with.  We don’t use the truck more than a couple times in the summer, and the wing windows do a reasonable job of cooling at speed, but traffic is slow in spots, and it gets pretty miserable. Got 10.5 MPG on the drive from Spokane to Ellensburg.  Must have had a tailwind.  Put a quart of oil in up at the lake.  The engine is tired.  Should be good for a long time, but we should start saving for a replacement.  Maybe a little class B.  They are small for our family, maybe a newer truck with some life left in it.

Addendum: I reconnected the hot water heater before the trip. Topped off the gas, put a bunch of vinegar in the tank and cycled the heat 3 times. The tank seems intact and not full of corrosion or debris.  The heater takes about 45 minutes to heat from cold. Compared to more modern models it’s not very fast. It was really great having hot water on demand. It didn’t use much gas to stay heated either.  Completely worth the effort. 

            Also, I got a cheap poly welder on Amazon.  It’s a glorified soldering iron.  I used it to repair the hole in the black tank.  The hole was a lot bigger than I suspected.  It was a crack 2 by 3 inches and pushed into the tank half an inch in one place.  The poly welder did a great job.  I left the centering frame out.  Maybe next time I have the camper off I will relocate it.