Our new Rose

Meet our new girl, Rose, a 10 week old standard poodle. Yes, she gets along with the cats just fine, and seems to be a smart girl. We got her on the 29th and are working on her going up and down stairs, she's never seen them before!!! Going up isn't a problem, its the going down that gets her!!
We've been without a dog for so long, it was finally time and we've always had Standard Poodle. She reminds us alot of our first big boy, Sir, both in temperment and looks. Plus she give really good cuddles. She should go about 70 pounds when full grown and has already started going with Pam to the grooming shop everyday. She'll end up with fancy trims, color, bows, nails, etc... all that foo foo stuff!!!

Pam's new workplace

As some of you know, Pam accepted the head groomer position at a new high tech pet resort and spa, that is so high tech, and so out of this world, she's in groomer's heaven!! We'll be staying in AL for a while to be close to Mom and family. Off the road for a while for Rick to have some much needed medical attention with one set of doctors and not having to fly up to the Seattle area to go to the Cardiologist. Pam really feels right at home again since she was raised in this area and Rick is dealing with it!!

here's some shots of the new place!

Clean Grooming Area

My own washers/dryers

Below : bathing/drying area

More of the bathing/drying area including walkup tubs and walk in showers.

Lobby and reception area

Below, cat boarding and play area

Dog daycare area, including flatscreen TV (below)


Another view of the doggie daycare area. Outside play yards surround the building

Boarding Villas include cable TV, soft music, and larger rooms along with viewing on internet cameras!

TV inside the villas and to the left, the internet camera

Inside furnishing of the villas.

Food prep area for the dog boarding. Bigger, more furnished than most home kitchens

Another view of the rest of the kitchen. They have 2 dishwashers along with 2 set washer/dryer.

Inside a clubhouse suite.
the Cabana runs include outdoor access

Below, looking through a Cabana to the outside access

Christmas in Dixie

Spend Christmas Eve at Mom's enjoying great food, good company, and of course, PRESENTS!!!

The Hamby's = Cheryl, Rick, and Pam with Mom and Benji

The Kromis Family - Philip, Seth, Cheryl, and of course Mom

Brother Rick's family - James, Becky, Rick and of course Mom

Rick and Pam with Mom and Benji

and the best surprise of all

A WHITE CHRISTMAS!!!!

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

Had a great time with the family all together for Christmas for the first time since 2001. It's really good to be home!

Guess we're in Alabama for a while

Pam accepted a job as head groomer at a new high tech pet resort here in Madison and is really excited!!! It's the shop she's always dreamed about, high tech everything, real bathtubs for bathing and even large shower areas for the big dogs, along with hydralic tables, you name it, this shop has it and she's in groomer's heaven. The resort is all high tech and will open this week, with open house near Christmas and Grand Opening in January. Right now she's the only groomer (so far) until the clientele grows, then will be head groomer. The resort has doggie day care, boarding with 3 levels of opulence (highest one includes cable tv for the dog and online cameras for the owners, and gorgeous kitty condos for the cat room. All is very high tech and no expense has been spared. She loves it!!!

This also allows her to stay closer to Mom and family. Mom turns 85 in January and is starting to have the old age problems. She has congestive heart failure and it is starting to give her problems, so it's good to stay close if we're needed and she feels right at home again.

The cold is a bummer, but oh well, Christmas time is supposed to be cold!!!! More news later as things happen!

We're in N Alabama with family

I've had several people tell me I needed to update the blog and website, so quess I'll do that today!! We're currently in Madison, AL outside of Huntsville with Pam's family for the holidays. We've had some GREAT weather up till 3 days ago, and winter has arrived, although not nearly as bad as the great NorthWest!!!! Lots of rain and cold, but no snow thankfully!

We left Maine a couple of days after we had planned to, Rick was in the hospital with a mini-stroke. He had no control of his left side when he woke me up, I called 911 and followed him to the hospital. By time the ambulance arrived at the hospital (about 15 miles away) the symptoms had resolved themselves, but they still treated it as active. He had a CatScan, which showed no bleeds thankfully, then was admitted 10 hours later as he was still having some tingling in his fingertips. We decided this was the smart plan, otherwise something may of happened where we didn't have a place to stay and no friends around. Many tests, specialists, MRI's, and labs later (2 days) they let him leave as no more symptons had reappeared and only the tingling in the fingertips remained.

We left the next day and took our time (sort of) heading down through New England, Virginia, etc, managing to put some new states on the map and seeing some really beautiful countryside on the way. No problems with Rick and at all, but we were relieved to arrive in Huntsville and be close to family and major hospitals. (Mom and Benji)

We arrive at the Marshall Space Flight Center Museum campground on the 25th of Oct , made arrangements to stay there a month while we found other (cheaper options) even did some tree chopping (with permission) trying to get our new rooftop satellite some signal!

Had a great dinner with my family, all except one nephew sho is away at school at Auburn. We all ate 2 pounds of lobster meat and other great goodies and had a good time with most of us together again.(my brother Rick and brother-in-law Philip)

We found a mobile home park with 1/2 acre lots and good rent rate and moved there, it's about the same distance to Mom's house and much quieter than over by the Space Museum. We've met a few of the neighbors, one walks alot and come by frequently to visit with Rick. All in all, not a bad place. We've put out the bird feeders and are seeing beautiful Cardinals, both sexes, Blue Jays, and of course lots of House Finches and some unknown type of sparrows. The chimes are hanging, the front apron is up, so we are set in for the couple of months we'll be here.

Rick has set up his wood shop in Mom's basement, where my dad had his wood shop, so we go over frequently for me to visit and help Mom as I can, and Rick gets in his relaxing woodworking. He has taken up some carving again too and will be taking some classes in it at the Sr Center in Huntsville.

I've finished another quilt top and it is currently at the longarm quilters and now I'm slowly working on a lapquilt for myself, then one for Rick and Mom of Alaska Memories! I've also started beading again, haven't done much in the last year or so, just finished a 3D hummingbird necklace.

Thanksgiving day arrived and for the first time in. many many years, my family would be together. (The last time was after my Dad died in 2001 and Rick and I flew home for the first Christmas without Dad.) But it wasn't to be, my brother was sick!!! So his wife got him and herself a plate, then went home (which is next to mom's house) and at with him. We missed them both, but had a great time with the remaining family. My nephew came home from Auburn for the holiday, but the other nephew went down to Birmingham with his girlfriend. Maybe Christmas Eve ALL of us can get together!!!

Winter has arrived in Alabama now, so not so much sitting outside in the sunshine. We'll be here through January at least, Rick flies up to Seattle on January 17th for his Cardiologist appt and will be there a week, then we'll decide whether we leave for FL or continue to stay. Mom has congestive heart failure and both my brother/sister still work so I can help out as necessary with Dr appts, etc. So we'll see. Will post our plans as we decide them!!!

We love the Saco Maine area!

We moved in, started work, had some rig problems, and lots of rain, but still love the area. The Saco/Old Orchard Beach KOA that we are working at is fun, the owners are really neat, and there are couples from Kentucky, Oregon, California, and Maine working here along with some of the locals. We've already had a lobster dinner, 2 lobsters with sides for $21.99, can't beat that with a stick!!!!

Our converter decided to take a hit and took out the convection oven and the air cleaner with it, so that could of been worse. Thankfully our RV coverage will cover the repairs/replacements for us!! That should all be completed by mid-July, in the meantime we are without a microwave/oven, other than the gas oven that came with the rig. Oh well! Such is life!!!

We've done some driving around, we are within 30 miles of 6-8 lighthouses!! We are all of 4 miles from Old Orchard Beach, very similar to Santa Cruz, boardwalk and all. We're 30 minutes from Portland, and actually have really good shopping, Sam's, groceries, etc all within 10 miles or less.

This is all around a better fit than the job in MA, we're much more comfortable here and not afraid to be ourselves, west coast attitudes and all!!!
More later.......

Not staying at Oakham, MA for the summer

Things didn't work out at Pine Lakes Family Campground, so we will be moving on as of Sunday, May 23. We'll head over to the Catskills Adventure Park if a workamping position somewhere else doens't come available, will traipse around New England for a while before heading south for the winter. Will try to keep things posted here as they develop.

Finally, we get to see Vallecito Resort, Friends, and CO!

We left the Grand Canyon and snow around 9 a.m. and headed Four Corners, then on to Durango, Bayfield, and Vallecito Lake in Colorado.

We were really bummed, the Four Corners Memorial (where New Mexico, Arizona, Coloradao and Utah meet) was closed due to construction. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Corners_Monument
Since GPS's became so readily used, the people who matter found out that Four Corners is actually in a different spot, 1,807 feet (551 m) east of where it is now located, so we are assuming that the construction is moving the placard, but don't know for sure, just really bummed.
The picture below is one of the many uprisings throughout the Navajo nation and the memorial drive.
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About 5 pm that afternoon, we finally arrive at Vallecito Resort!!! YEAH!! but wait!! MORE SNOW, only ALOT deeper!!! Doug kindly bulldozed us out a spot, next to their rig, so we'd not have to park on snow!!!

Doug coming out of the office/store that he's remodeling. They had to come in early as the dance hall sidewall decided to explode outwards from the roof, snow didnt shed off and boom there it went. More pics of that later.

The picture below is the first of 14 carvings throughout the Vallecito Valley. The missionary Ridge Fire of 2002 destroyed 28 or 58 homes in this valley and 1 tree feller was killed.

These carvings were done from pictures taken from during the fighting of the fire and subsequent fire storm that sweep through this area. The carver, the late David McGinnis, did this project as a tribute to the firefighters and help restore tourism to the Vallecito Lake area. Each carving is 18 foot tall and weighs up to 2,600 pounds. Each carving has a name and number assigned and this one is called "Fireman with a Shovel". We'll post more of the carvings as we get to take the pictures, so look for more shortly!

Sedona, and the Grand Canyon

While we were in the Camp Verde area, we decided to do some sightseeing to Sedona. What can I say, but WOW!! More pictures are posted on my facebook page


http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2040747&id=1149215174&l=77fcd7fb6f

The beauty of the Sedona, no picture does it justice.

A Century plant putting up a bloom stem. In Jerry's cousin's front yard in Payson, AZ

Laura, Jerry, Pam and Rick, near Sedona Canyon.


Then we headed to Vallecito, but decided to spend a night in Grand Canyon instead of Tuba City, AZ. What a afternoon and night we had!!

Here's a few pictures, but I uploaded a bunch to my facebook page. Here's the link:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2040801&id=1149215174&l=cca5670c04

The two of us at one of the turnoff. We had another tourist take this picture, but he didn't warn us that he was taking it and we were not ready!! No we were not mad, upset, or whatever, at least not the way we look!!

Oh the Granduer of this canyon!! We actually had a snow storm come through as we were there, dumped about 2 inches on the area!!!

Yep, it's COLD!!! Back at our rig, after dinner, it had already started to freeze!!

Next morning, cleaning the 2" of snow off the slides so we could pull them in!!

More of our travels on the way to Vallecito Resort, near Bayfield, CO coming in the next blog!!

On the road again!

We finally got everything done that was to be done on the truck and left the windy, dry, dusty, earthquake rocking Yuma area on Tuesday!!! Stopped in Casa Grande, AZ for the night and went to dinner with our son Donald (lives in Tucson). Then started the drive north on Wednesday, climbing in altitude till we got to Camp Verde (near Sedona, AZ) where we'll be for 5 days. Man can we ever tell we were at sea level and now aren't!!!

Truck pulled like a champ, other than we really ate up the diesel. Not only were we climbing, but both days we were facing 15 mph winds, mostly heading right into them, so needless the say the mileage sucked!!! Or should I say, the diesel was sucked, right up that is!!! Hopefully next Monday as we head to Durango, CO the winds will not be helping suck up the fuel so bad, the climb should do enough of a job on it!!! Come on truck engine, break in!!!!

Good thing we have plenty of travel time to get to MA

ANOTHER delay !! First the salesman doesn't give the okay for the installer to order the parts to install our TransferFlo tank into the new truck, but then a "computer Glitch" at TransferFlo delays us even MORE!!! Everything else is done on the truck so that tank is all we're waiting for now. SOOO now it's late Monday or Tuesday before we can get out of here ARGHHHHH!!!!!! At least Pam has plenty of time to get the rig ready to go without killing herself!!!

The season is ALMOST over!!

Tuesday, March 30 is our last day of work here at Pilot Knob. I am really beginning to hate the desert!! A good bit of rain this winter so everything is blooming, along with the allergies. We'll both be sooo glad to get out of this dry and sandy. Several sand storms this winter, so needless to say the rig needs a real good dusting out, will do that once we are out of here. We'll go from here to Casa Grande, stay a night or two, then on north to Camp Verde, a couple of days there to get used to altitude again, then on up to Vallecito RV Park near Durango, Co to visit with Kay and Doug Knight for a week or so. Once we get moving from Durange, we'll meet up with Jerry and Laura Milano to continue on our way up to MA for the summer, stopping at Canton OH (football hall of Fame) and Niagra Falls. Rick will finally get to add some new states to the map as we go!!!

BTW, the 2001 Chevy Silerado we had has gone bye bye. After being told by several mechanics that it would be better to get another truck, and them not get money from us!!! (that alone is amazing) we bought a 2010 Ford (goodbye Chevy) F350 Truck.

Back to samo, samo!!!!

After Rick's exciting visit to Yuma Regional, all is well, he was in the hospital for 2 nights, nothing was found that was any different after another angiogram, so no idea why the cardiac emzynes were rising. Oh well....

So, as of April 1, we'll be on our way to Massachusetts to work for the summer of 2010. Will post more on that later.

another trip to the cath lab :(

What a way to start the new year!!! On Thursday morning (1-7), Rick woke me up by breathing funny, like he was having a bad dream and running, snoring along the way. Couldn't get him to stop snoring, turned back over with my pillow over my head, and all of a sudden, WHOA, I couldn't wake him up!!! My nightmare of nightmares!!! I jumped up and checked his sugar, WAY LOW, tried again to wake him, ran to the fridge to get the emergency shot, mixed it and gave it to him, he didn't even flinch, and his muscles were seizing up. Can you say Diabetic Coma!???

Gave the emergency shot and waited about 10 mintues, still no response, so dialed good ole 911 and got the ambulance rolling. By the time they FINALLY arrived, 20 minutes and another phone call has passed. I had called a neighbor to have them go to the gate and let the ambulance in, his wife came over to see if she could help, and Rick was starting to respond to me now. Very very scary!!! He still couldn't talk, but could listen and respond slightly to my talking to him, telling him everything was fine, etc. EMT finally got in to him, got him sitting up and wham, major nausea hit him, side effect of the emergency shot. Another 2o minutes later and they had him walk out to the gurney, and put him in the ambulance, and he didn't dare protest, I'd of killed him. Those of you that keep up with this blog know that last year after having an ambulance respond, he refused to go to the Casa Grande hospital and Medicare in their infinite wisdom deemed the ambulance "medically unnecessary" since he wasn't transported, so he knew he was going this time.

Arrive at Yuma Regional, where the ER doctor and staff quickly got Rick stabilized and ran lots of blood test, one being for heart attack emzynes. Lo and Behold, it came back elevated, so they decided to admit him for observation and keep an eye on those levels.

This morning Rick was ready to leave with or without doctors blessing when they finally came in and told him what was going on, the emzynes kept rising, not a good thing. They did arranaged for him to have another visit to the cath lab (#15) and thankfully nothing showed up that would be causing the emzymes to rise. No stent was inserted, and all looked just fine, so it is one of those medical mysteries why the emzyne keeps rising. Oh Well, so if everything goes as planned tonight and he behaves himself, he should be able to come home tomorrow, a few blood cells lighter (testing every couple of hours) and continue on with life.

Just another great adventure in the life of the Rick and Pam Show!!!!!