Christmas 2015

12-11-15.

We celebrated Clay’s birthday today. 

12-19-15.

We had dinner at the Sea Grill today. It is a fancy dining establishment and we go there only for special occasions. Doris took me there after we met. This was my Christmas present for Doris. I hate to buy presents.

After the dinner we drove to the Carson Mansion and enjoyed the Christmas lights.

We also drove past Mary Beth’s house and checked out the decorations on her building. 

Then we visited the Eureka Inn and walked around the entrance hall and the bars. They have some wonderful light displays.

12-25-15.

We had breakfast at Clay and Catherine’s house. Thomas’s half sister and her children were there too. It was time to open the presents.

Doris had bought a panda shirt at the San Diego Zoo. Kinley enjoyed it.

  

In the evening we had dinner at Doris’s house. We had worked for two days to prepare it. Doris backed three pies and one fancy cheese cake. We cooked the turkey yesterday and I cut the meat and we put it in a glass dish and heated it up today. There was also a ham. Besides mashed potatoes there were mashed sweet potatoes, vegetables and stuffing.

Claudia had her father in law, her mother, and mother in law and friend over for dinner. After dinner she came with her family to us for dessert.

The Golden Rule is back

12-6-15

The Golden Rule is back home. She went down to San Diego, to the Veterans for Peace Convention. Along the way supporters gave the crew shelter and food.

We attended today a fund raiser in Manila. Helen presented a slide show of the cruise. She was on board the Golden Rule to San Diego and back. The other crew members did only part of it.

The lasagna dinner with salad was enjoyed by all.

After dinner a band played dance music.

Christmas at the Carson Mansion 2015

12-5-15

Christmas is around the corner. The neighbors have already decorated their front yard.

We went today to the Ingomar Club, at the Carson Mansion, for the Eureka Historical Society Christmas Luncheon.

Eureka business men bought the mansion from the Carson family and formed the Ingomar Men’s Club.

It was strictly a club for men until a few years ago. Now women comprise thirty per cent of the membership.

The building was standing empty for many years and needed a lot of work to bring it back to its original shape.

I used to come to Eureka twice a year and would admire the outside of the mansion. There are no regular tours, only when there is a function in the building.

We had a terrific lunch. I had the salmon dinner and Doris the steak dinner.

While we were eating Chuck was entertaining us. He is known around town. On Monday’s we see him at the Friendship Circle dance. He plays the saxophone in the band. He also plays the piano at the senior center sometimes at lunch time.

The large dining room and the bar are additions to the building.

After lunch Ron and his wife conducted a tour. I decided to do it again.

There are some beautiful stained glass windows.

Most of the rooms are furnished to fit the clubs needs. The former ball room is now a pool room.

The servant rooms have been changed, except one.

One room is the Carson history room. Items from the family are on display.

The view from the tower is spectacular. On a sunny day it would have been better. Right now we have typical Eureka weather. It rains a lot.

Mr. Carson could see from this spot his lumber mill, the trains coming in, and the Carson Block, his giant commercial building in town.

The family dining room has some beautiful wood work.

Doris and I had come separately because in the morning she went to an affair with the University Women’s Organization.

We met at home again, changed clothing and drove to the Fairgrounds for a Craft Show. Doris buys some of her Christmas presents there.

From there we went Down Town for “Arts Alive” which is held the first Saturday of the month. We met Claudia and her friend there, later I saw my grandchildren and their friends. It was raining lightly, but that did not stop the activities.

The art studios and some stores were open late. At 8:00 PM we had enough and went home.

WIN Thanksgiving 2015

11-25-15

We left Oceanside at 10:00 AM and Arrived at Peg Leg Smith Monument, in Borrego Springs, at 12:00 Noon.

We had a difficult time finding a good parking spot. We are late for the Thanksgiving Outing. Most WINs are here already. There will be more than eighty rigs. I thought because of some WINs traveling the East Coast there would be less people here.

The club has grown in the last two years.

We attended the 4:00 PM Circle Meeting and then went to the Laundromat at the Palm Canyon RV Resort. We had three loads and spent two hours watching laundry turn in circles. I did some computer work.
 

11-26-15.

At the 9:00 AM Hugs and Mugs meeting we got the rundown of the Thanksgiving meal. Members of the group had to heat up turkey meat, mashed potatoes, dressing and gravy.

There were also signup sheets for side dishes and desserts.

Doris prepared a jellow salad with carrots and crushed pineapple. I made a broccoli salad.

At 1:30 PM we started the dinner. The salads and desserts looked delicious.

The servers were generous with the meat.

There were about 80 WINs and about six guests having a good time in the desert.

We had to wait patiently for the food.

It was worth the wait. The turkey meat was moist and tasty. There were many delicious side dishes. Everybody had a good time.

We were lucky with the weather. It was warm when we got up this morning. Then the wind picked up and we were worried that we had to eat inside. But the sun came out while we were eating and the wind died down.

After the meal it got cool again.

11-27-15.

Doris and I were at the trail head for the Palm Canyon Hike at 8:15 AM. It had rained almost all night and there were still black clouds in the sky.

At the beginning of the hike one does not know the beauty which awaits the traveler after one and a halve mile walking.

When we came near the oasis we saw small palm trees.

When we came even closer we saw different vegetation.

This palm tree stump was wedged between the rocks during the 2003 flood. The water took out about 100 palm trees and located them like match sticks all over the canyon.

We are getting near the oasis.

We had our lunch there and stayed for a while under the palms and then headed back. Since we were the first people on the trail we had hoped we would see Big Horn Sheep. We did not, all we saw was droppings of the animals.

Borrego Springs is in the distance. We had a good view since we walked back on the higher trail. We did not get wet, but it rained a little bit.

At 1:30 PM we had leftover turkey and ham with all the trimmings. It was another very good meal.

Later, Doris and I went to the thrift store. I bought a pair of shorts to replace the one I had ruined with bleach.

The sun did not shine much today. Last night we used a lot of electricity and the house batteries were run down. I had to run the generator for two hours today to charge them again.

The batteries do not keep the charge. I have to replace them.

11-28-15.

We hardly could use the water pump. The batteries have only a charge of 9.8 volts. They are too weak to start the generator.

Yesterday I had called Ron Carlson and the three of us were to meet today for breakfast at 9:00 AM in town.  Doris and I decided to leave one day early for home. I wanted to have some of the turkey soup five of the WINs made, but we have a blockage in the down pipe of the toilet and no electricity, it is better we spend tonight in a RV Park.

Tomorrow would also be worse driving through Los Angeles.

I checked the batteries once more, had Dan double check, and then started packing. We met Ron in the parking lot near the restaurant. Ron presented Doris with a scanner for scanning her slides and pictures.

I hope she finds time to do this. I did all of mine a few years ago. It is a lot of work scanning 2,500 slides and many negatives.

We had a wonderful breakfast with good conversation. After breakfast we went up the Montezuma Grade. The motorhome performed well. The new car is a lot heavier and I was worried.

We encountered some heavy traffic near Pasadena, and heavy traffic before going up the Grapevine. It was two miles per hour for 45 minutes.

We went to a RV Park in Bakersfield. The office was closed and the sign said to take site A 20. We did that.

11-29-15.

Since we had hook ups we had no electrical problems. The toilet problem seems to have gone away too. When we get home I have to work on that. I also have to buy four new house batteries. Five years ago I paid $ 156.00 for each battery. I will not get them for that price this time.

We left Bakersfield at 9:15 AM and arrived at the Elks Lodge in Petaluma at 4:45 PM.

The traffic was better than I had anticipated.
 

11-30-15.

When we left Petaluma it started to rain. We had a light rain most of the morning.

Normally when I visited Eureka I had sunshine until I came to Myers Flat. Then it changed. The closer I came to Humboldt Bay the darker the sky got.

This time it was in reverse. When we came near Eureka the sun was shining.

When we came to the house and I tried to unhook the car the hood of the car would not open with the remote.

I had an empty car battery. I remember flipping the switch for the two fuses which have to be disconnected. Later I did some experimenting and probably turned the power on again.

On this car the battery discharges when towing.

Doris gave me a jump with her car. I drove my car in the garage and used a battery charger to fill the battery again.

Now I have to look for new batteries for the motorhome, fix the porch light, and buy a new paint roller extension so I can lift the solar panels again.

Some of the roads we were traveling on were so bad that the porch light has to be knocked on for the light to come on. The paint roller extension was hanging on the wall of the outside storage department and could not take the shaking.

The angle plates I had installed to keep the dashboard in place broke. I am surprised the whole motorhome does not fall apart. Both, Interstate 5 and highway 99 had some rough spots.