May 18 - 27, 2025 - Mother's Day - Celebrations - Graduation Trip - Waymo Ride - Home

My Blog Reflection

What I regret most in my life are failures of kindness.

George Saunders

Tuesday, May 20, 2025

Daughter, Alexa, brought down for Kelly some Mother's Day gifts from her and her sisters. One was a peach dessert from Japan that was something like Jell-O. Very tasty. Another was a tablet with "Queen of Everything" on it, and another was a "Queen of Everything" mug. Alexa also stopped and bought a hanging basket of flowers, which is beautiful.  

In the evening, as a "Thank You" for looking after the house last winter while we were in Florida, we took John and Carlene to "Celebrations Restaurant" in Cape Girardeau. The meal was wonderful, as was the company. We are headed to California on Thursday for a graduation and family party and Friday they are headed to Minnesota for their annual family fishing trip. Us old folks don't sit around all the time.   

Thursday, May 22, 2025

We flew to California for grandson, Kellen's, high school graduation. We had a non-stop flight to the San Francisco Airport taking off at 5:00 a.m. This meant we had to leave Perryville at 2:00 p.m. to pick up daughter, Alexa, and get to the airport for check in. The flight was fine. We got an Uber to daughter, Annie's, house in Mountain View, California. We spent the night there. 

Friday, May 23, 2025

We rented a house in Mantika so the entire family could spend time together before and after the graduation and the party that followed. The house was huge with a very nice pool. The grandkids loved it. I got in for a short time but it was too cold for me. It also had a hot tub, which I would have enjoyed but the heater was broken.

Saturday, May 24, 2025

The graduation ceremony was at 8:30 a.m. in Tracey, California. I thought that was an odd time but it made sense. The ceremony is held outside and Tracey is in the desert so it gets hot in a hurry. Here is a picture of the crowd waiting to get in at 7:45 a.m. The line was over a block long when we got there.

Here is a picture of the attendees standing and cheering as the graduates filed in.

Before the ceremony began the seniors got to play with the band for one last time. Here is a picture of Kellen. He stands out with his mop of red hair. This day he played the trombone.

Here is Kellen with a big smile on his face after getting his diploma.

 A picture with his aunts, Alexa and Annie.

A picture with Adam and Annie.

A picture with grandpa and grandma.

A picture with mom, Erin.

And a picture with little brother, Freedom.

After the graduation we headed back to the house. Kellen said after the ceremony he was going to get his hair cut off. Here he is with a "post graduation" haircut. What a difference. $90.00 for this haircut! I would have shaved it for $5.00. He sure looks different. He hasn't had short hair since middle school.

Erin put together fabulous decorations and food for the party. In the morning we all helped get it ready. She is very creative.

Early afternoon Kellen opened his presents. He is crazy about Praying Mantis so he got a stuffed one. (He quickly informed us it is a Mantis but not a "Praying" Mantis.) LOL

He got several other nice gifts and a large wad of cash from the immediate family. In this next picture, that's what he is looking at. 

He is going to go to a coding school starting in August. It is eight hours per day, five days per week, for ten months. I hope he likes it. Sitting next to him is his best friend, Kenny. Kenny is going into the electrician apprentice program.

After the gift giving, Kellen and Kenny left to attend a party. We didn't see them the rest of the day. 

Sunday, May 25, 2025

The party started about 1:00 p.m. Erin ordered pans of chicken fingers and pans of fries from "Canes Chicken" to go with the huge veggie and fruit plates the ladies made. I neglected to take pictures of the food. Throughout the day the food was eaten with not a whole lot left over.  

Here is a picture of Sabrina, Kellen's girlfriend, talking to Wren about how cold the water is before she decided to get in.

Kellen's friends were all nice kids and enjoyed the pool and food and drinks provided. Most stayed until almost midnight, several slept over sleeping on the couches and chairs.

Monday, May 26, 2025

We cleaned up the house and loaded all the stuff into the cars. Kellen, Erin and Free headed to Tracey. Annie, Alexa, and Kelly headed to Mountain View in Annie's car. Adam, the girls, and I headed to Mountain View in Adam's car. Once at the house we unloaded everything and hung out for the rest of the day. 

Waymo driverless cars are now available for Google employees in Mountain View and Adam wanted us to experience riding in one. So after a great Taco lunch Adam made he ordered a car. You can watch on your phone where it is. It arrived in about ten minutes. 

I got to sit in the front seat with "no driver". It is weird. All the Waymo cars right now are Jaguars. When you call a car you tell it where you want to go. There is a large screen in the middle of the dash. This is what it looks like when you get in.

As soon as you start the screen changes. It shows all intersections, cars, pedestrians, stop lights, as well as your arrival time. 

It keeps you advised of your arrival time.

Here is a video of the car driving itself. It was a trip.

Our plane didn't take off until 11:00 p.m. so Adam made a nice pasta dish and salad for supper. Around 8:00 p.m. Adam called an Uber for us. 

We arrived at the airport an hour and a half early. United Airlines is strange at this airport. You check in through security at Terminal 3 then you have to walk all the way to Terminal 2. They are connected but it is a long walk. 

Hardly anyone besides us was crazy enough to catch the "red eye" to St. Louis. The plane wasn't even a quarter filled. Once up in the air I moved to three empty seats so I could spread out and maybe get some sleep. In the three and a half hour flight I maybe slept a half hour. I just couldn't get comfortable, even spreading out over three seats. It wasn't just the seat, the compression socks were squeezing my legs.

We picked up our luggage and Aaron picked us up. He drove to Alexa's apartment were we dropped her off and Kelly and I headed to Perryville. At least is was light out now for the trip home. We got home at 7:20 a.m. and hit the bed immediately to try and catch up on some sleep. I slept until noon, Kelly slept until 2:00 p.m. We will probably go to bed early this evening to catch up more on our sleep.

 

Tuesday, May 27, 2025 

It looks like rain is coming so I cut the grass while I had a chance.

May 3 - 16, 2025 Another Squirrel Caught - Church Project - Brake Work on Homer - Step Maintenance - Club Campout

My Blog Reflection

We take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude.

CYNTHIA OZICK

Saturday May 3, 2025

Yesterday morning there was another squirrel in the trap trying to go into the house. The exterminator got him while doing some other work on the house to close up possible points of entry.

I unloaded everything from the wash tub in the garage that a squirrel jumped into last week. No dead squirrel. There was a leaf blower tube stuck in the tub and I assume he climbed out through it when I wasn't looking. I didn't have to deal with him. Kelly thought he might be the one caught in the trap yesterday.

One of the seams on our sunshade started to unravel. I climbed a ladder and put Superglue and E6000 on it and clamped it. I hope to sew it the best I can so we can get another year out of this shade.

Sunday May 4, 2025

No rain on Sunday and actually a little sunshine so I sewed the sunshade with nylon fishing line. It came out pretty well. With a little luck it may last more than one more season.

I ran Homer's generator for an hour with a heater going. With the heater on the voltage was 113, without the heater it was 120. It should ramp up to 120 with the load but didn't. I don't know why. In the evening we dropped Homer off at the shop for an oil change and to check out the front brake calipers. He should then be ready to be loaded for our campout next week.

Thursday May 8, 2025

Today I helped John lay an underground electric line for the light on the "Hill of Peace Church" sign. The light had been solar for several years but John said the batteries did not hold well and he was tired of fooling with it. 

On the way down to the church we stopped by the repair shop to see what was going on with Homer since I hadn't heard back. The service manager said that Homer now needed a caliper on the driver's side. Their theory was that the driver side caliper was not operating properly thus causing the passenger side to heat up. They didn't want to do the work without my approval because it was rather costly. I approved it and they said the work would be done Friday. They aren't open on Saturday so we need to get Homer back so we can load him up for the campout next week.

When we got to the church we found the ground around the trench quite muddy from all the rain over the last two weeks. In fact the clods of dirt dug out of the trench had pretty well "melted" into the grass. This made the trenching job more difficult but we got it done before the rain hit (again). 

Friday May 9, 2025

The repair shop closed at 5:00 p.m. Kelly dropped me off at 4:00 p.m. and I waited for Homer's brakes to be fixed. The mechanic wasn't finished until 6:00 p.m. I was thankful that he stayed that late on a Friday night.

While I was waiting and watching the mechanic I noticed that he did not re-install the hubcaps correctly. I will fix that when I get home. I jumped in Homer and stopped and picked up some burgers for supper. When I arrived at the house Kelly came out and immediately noticed that the passenger side front tire was going flat fast. Great! Did the mechanic run over something on the test drive?

After eating our burgers I took the hubcap off thinking I would need to pull the wheel off in the morning to get the tire fixed. It is always a challenge to get a flat fixed on a Saturday in Perryville. Only two places are open and they are always booked up. If I can't get it fixed I will put on the spare. It has never been on the ground but is ten years old.

After supper it crossed my mind that maybe the mechanic knocked the valve stem extension loose on that wheel when he was re-installing the hubcap. I went out and sure enough it was quite loose. I tightened it up and filled the tire with air. I will check it in the morning.

Saturday May 10, 2025

I went out early to check on the tire. It had lost ten pounds of air overnight. Better, but not good. I was convinced that valve stem extender was leaking even though I tightened it with pliers. I had a new replacement so I installed it and pumped the tire back up. It held air all day.

Here is a picture of the wheel after I installed the hubcap retainer correctly. The retainer is the stainless steel ring attached to the lug nuts. The mechanic had it turned around with the lip facing out. Installed this way you can install the hubcap but it will not tighten down and then rattles. In the bottom of the picture you can see the new valve stem extender. It has a nut head so you can really put it on tightly.

While I had the air hose out I checked the four back tires and they were all good.

While loading Homer for our campout I noticed that the wire ties that hold the carpet onto the lower step had broken. I installed all new wire ties. Plastic just doesn't last that long. Originally the step covers came with springs to hold them in place. They didn't last long either.

While on this project I noticed that the steps were not fully extending. Here is a picture of the steps from the side. You can see that the vertical brackets are not perpendicular to the steps. They should be perpendicular when the steps are fully extended.

I got online and found that this was an easy fix. This issue is caused by all of the pivot points on the steps not being lubricated enough so that they move freely. It is important to lubricate everything with an oil that will stay on the parts throughout the season, no WD40 here. Below is a picture after I lubricated everything and ran the steps in and out several times. You can see that the brackets are now almost totally perpendicular. When Homer is just sitting I put a brace under each side of the step to take some of the strain off when we go in and out multiple times a day.

Clothes and most food were then loaded and the fresh water tank filled. After the chili is cooked and the scones baked tomorrow the rest of the food will be loaded for a Monday morning departure.

Monday, May 12, 2025

Monday morning I drove Homer while Kelly followed in her car to Giant City State Park in Makanda, Illinois, for the Carri-Yals RV Club four day campout. The weather was nice driving over but rain was predicted. Upon arriving at our campsite it rained off and on for several hours. Since some people traveled three to four hours to this campground the only activity of the day was a potluck supper at 5:00 p.m. 

I had bought twine to re-string a day/night shade in Jim's RV. Jim and I took the shade down and got to work on it. We soon found that the string was not broken yet the shade would not work properly. We reinstalled it but couldn't get it to draw up properly. We decided to re-string it with the new twine. Once we did that it worked perfectly. 

For the potluck Kelly and I provided the ham and others brought side dishes and desserts. Due to the threat of rain we held the potluck at the campground pavilion, a short distance from our campsites. After supper we all visited and relaxed for the rest of the evening.

Tuesday, May 13, 2025 

Something always breaks on RV trips. This time the kitchen sprayer started squirting water from a crack at the bottom.

This aggravated me because I just replaced this sprayer nozzle a couple of months ago because it was leaking. I thought it was leaking because it wasn't winterized properly. I'm beginning to think this part from the local outlet is just junk. I taped it with Duck Tape to keep it from squirting water at you when the faucet was turned on.

It kept the water from squirting but still leaked badly. It needs to be replaced with a better one.

At 10:00 a.m. the women had a Bunco tournament. At 2:00 p.m. the guys had a Giant Jenga Tournament. $2.00 to enter. Mike won!

For supper we once again hiked to the pavilion for "Mike's Homemade Chili" and Kelly's salad. Several desserts were brought out by the other ladies. Everyone enjoyed the meal.

It was Bev's mom's 100th birthday so she called her and we all sang "Happy Birthday" to her. This is a picture of her mom, Bernice. She lives on her own, is sharp as a tack, and looks amazing.

At 7:00 p.m. we had planned to have a "Show n Tell" presentation of pictures that the attendees sent to us. The idea was to present pictures of places folks had traveled to and have them tell the group why they picked those pictures to share. Due to the threat of bad weather, we postponed it until Wednesday night.

Wednesday, May 14, 2025

In the morning we all drove to Makanda, Illinois, to checked out the artsy community that has developed there in what is left of this small Illinois town. Here is a video that Don took of everyone sitting outside after visiting the various shops. Everyone enjoyed the visit and a few of us bought some items.

While walking around Makanda a fellow told us there is a sculpture garden up the stairs and behind the buildings. We went up for a look. There is a bridge over the creek and sculptures are placed all around that blend in with the natural setting. Here is one.

The bridge over the creek.

Walking back to the entrance I spotted this guy laying nearby. At first I thought he was fake but he moved. He was a Copperhead about thirty inches long. Fortunately he was just relaxing and watching us walk by.

Leaving Makanda we drove to Carbondale, Illinois, for lunch at "Rip's Pizza". The food was great. A very different kind of pizza. This long picnic table worked out great for sitting our group.

Back at the campground at 2:00 p.m. the men held a "Washers" tournament. It was $2.00 to play. The women played "Farkle". The team of Jon and Dennis won the washers tournament and the $12.00 prize money.

Us oldtimers always complain about the kids being on their phones all the time. Well, we better not talk. Here are a couple of pictures of the guys sitting around.

At 5:00 p.m. we had a "Pie Iron Supper". Some in the group had never had a sandwich cooked in a pie iron before. For those unfamiliar with it, here is what a pie iron looks like.

You make a sandwich, with whatever you want on it, put it in a pie iron, and you place it in the fire to toast it. You turn it over a couple of times to make sure it isn't burning. Everyone enjoyed this "make your own meal". We then enjoyed a campfire until it was dark enough for the "Show n Tell" and "Blast from the Past" digital shows using our projector and screen. 

We viewed the "Blast from the Past" pictures first. These were pictures I had taken of various Carri-Yals Club campouts over the ten years we have been in the club. It was followed by "Show n Tell". This consisted of those who submitted pictures describing why they chose these pictures to share. It was all quite fun but combining the two shows into one due to the weather made it too long. 

Thursday, May 15, 2025

For breakfast we provided my homemade Biscotti and Kelly's homemade scones. Everyone brought their own coffee or tea. After breakfast we had a short business meeting during which the next two campouts in July and August were outlined. Both should be great fun.

At 10:00 a.m. we all headed back to the pavilion for several games of "Nickels". We broke into two groups to make the games more manageable. With the wind we had to hold our cards down or they would not blow away, along with our nickels.

After lunch we once again met at the pavilion for several games of "Bingo". I was the caller. It was a $1.00 per card and the winner took all. The final game was a coverall and it was $2.00 per card. After these "monetary" games were over the group wanted to play a couple of more games for fun before breaking up.

Back at the campsite the wind picked up and the canopy I borrowed in case of rain raised up more than I liked. The weather was predicted to get quite windy and stormy so I decided to take the canopy down. It then rained but after a little delay we could sit outside once again and visit.

At 5:00 p.m. we all met at the Giant City State Park Lodge for a family-style "Fried Chicken Dinner" consisting of: fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, dumplings, green beans, corn, cole slaw, and biscuits. The food was fabulous. Only one or two of the group had left enough room for dessert.

During dinner there was a light rain. We headed back to the campground thinking we would all have to sit in our rigs the rest of the evening. Luckily the rain quit and we all sat out and visited until dark. We then said our goodbyes because people depart at different times in the morning. 

Despite a little rain and threat of bad weather at times during the week, it was an enjoyable campout with great friends. Looking forward to the next one.

Friday, May 16, 2025

We only had a one and a half hour drive home so we were in the driveway by 9:30 a.m. It took us about a half hour to unload Homer. Bad weather was predicted with high winds, large hail, etc., so we took Homer to the storage facility to get him out of the weather.

To the campground and back home Kelly followed Homer in her car. She told me that the new LED tail light bulb I installed before we left wasn't as bright as the other bulbs and one bulb on the other side was half flickering. (LED bulbs are bad for that - going out slowly.) I got online and purchased four new LED bulbs from Amazon so they would all be the same and work properly. I also purchased a new sprayer nozzle which I hope is better quality than the last two I purchased.

In the early afternoon daughter, Alexa, and her friend, Aaron, came down from St. Louis to visit. We ordered Chinese for supper. While picking up our food the tornado sirens went off. We hustled home where it poured rain with pea-sized hail and a lot of wind. It could have been a lot worse. St. Louis had five people killed and many structures damaged or destroyed. The weather has been crazy since we got back from Florida.