Update

After our motorhome was burglarized on September 7, Dave and I have been busy cleaning it up and trying to assess all the items that were stolen.  We have replaced most of the things and we have a nice long list of current prices and receipts to submit to our insurance agency, Pemco.  I believe it will all be handled by our homeowner's insurance policy as there appears to be no physical damage to the motorhome, except for one inside cabinet door being torn off its hinges, which Dave was able to fix.

The biggest items stolen were all the electronic items, including TVs, DVRs, DVD player, etc.  In some cases, the cables were cut, so Dave has been making new cables to replace them.  It is all very time-consuming.  All the bedding and several of our towels were stolen, along with smaller items such as a lamp, binoculars, printer, wifi and cell phone boosters, flashlights, kitchen knives, etc. 

When all is put back together, we plan on taking the motorhome out for at least a one-night trip in order to make sure that we haven't overlooked any missing items or any other damages. 

I want to thank all my blog readers who commented about the break-in.  It's legally considered a burglary if there's more than $500 worth of stuff stolen.  Our grand total is closer to $5000 than $500.  Anyway, thank you so much, dear blog readers--your comments, support, and sympathy were much appreciated during this difficult time.

The good news is that there appears to be no structural damage to the motorhome, inside or outside.  Dave and I are both alive and well.  Our house was not broken into, neither was our shop.  It's all just stuff.  Sure we want to replace it and get our motorhome restored to its former condition, but we could live without all of it if necessary.  We've beefed up our security for the motorhome and our house and shop.  The deputy sheriff assured us that we had done everything right to protect ourselves and that this was a random act, but one that is becoming prevalent in this society where there are so many people hooked on drugs and doing evil acts. 

Hopefully next time I blog it will be about a more cheerful topic!  :-)

Oh No, a Break-In

We did not have a good day on Friday.  Our motorhome was broken into as it sat parked in its usual spot in our backyard behind a locked gate. 

Around 6:30 pm on Friday, I noticed the the curtains were blowing out both of the front windows.  That's strange, I thought, we never leave our windows open without the screens being in place.  It didn't occur to me that something was wrong, I just thought maybe Dave had been working out there and had inadvertently left the windows open.  I saw some linens and stuff outside of the driver side window and I thought, wow, stuff blew out the window. 

After I unlocked the motorhome--yes it was still locked, like we left it--I saw that the inside was a mess.  My first thought was that an animal had gotten inside.  Well, it turned out it was animals all right, the two-legged version of animals.  Finally I noticed that the front flat screen TV was missing.  Ah ha, now I reluctantly admitted to myself that I was looking at an RV that had been burglarized.  It's funny how my mind did not want to go there.  I didn't even notice at first glance that ALL the electronics were missing.

Empty front cabinets

Empty bedroom TV cabinet--I couldn't bring myself to take a picture of all the mess strewn through the RV

By the way, Dave was not home at this time.  He was refereeing a football game in a town about 1/2  hour away.  So I did what I knew had to be done and called 9-1-1.  After several attempts to reach them, they finally answered and told me an officer would contact me.  A deputy sheriff came by the house around 8 pm and I felt better once he arrived.  He did his report and reassured me that we had done everything we could to prevent this.  No other crimes had been reported in our neighborhood. 

After the deputy left, I called both of my sons and sat down to wait for Dave to get my frantic messages about what had happened.  Dave saw the messages at the end of the football game and came right home.  As soon as he got home, I breathed a sigh of relief and let him handle the rest of the details like canceling our RV Direct TV service and calling the insurance company the next morning.  Dave is my rock and he didn't let me down. 

On Saturday we made an effort to clean up some of the mess and begin the assessment of what was missing.  This step was hard to do, but it turned out to be therapeutic for us to start to take control of the situation. 

All the electronics are gone, even the printer and wifi and cell phone boosters.  All the bedding and towels are gone--they probably used those for padding the electronics and hiding them. 

The inside damage was mostly a mess, not structural damage.  We discovered several odd things--the thieves ate some tapioca pudding while they were there, drank four sodas, and took our gum stash, chewed some gum, and smeared some on the driver's seat.  They took our cheap plastic toothbrush holder--actually unscrewed it from the wall.  Is that where people hide their valuables--behind the toothbrush holder??   Strange.  They relieved themselves in our toilet and left us that smelly present, but didn't do any other damage. 

As people usually do after a break-in, we feel violated, uneasy, a bit scared, worried that it might happen again, and generally like we are being watched.  Plus we have to deal with getting all the electronics and bedding replaced. 

No, this is not going to keep us from RVing.  After all, this happened at home, not on the road.  However, our respite and happy place, our motorhome, is not quite the happy place that it once was.  The house was not broken into and our big shop out back was not broken into, so things could have been much worse. 

Thanks for listening.  It's been somewhat therapeutic for me to write and talk about the details of this unfortunate incident. 

A Day Trip to Mount Saint Helens and Some Special Visitors

First, thank you to all who expressed concern over my recent illness.  Although I still get tired very easily, I think I am almost well. 

After all those days of being house-bound, Dave surprised me on Sunday by suggesting that we take a drive to Cougar, Washington, which is near the southern base of Mount Saint Helen's.  We took along a picnic lunch and headed out around 10 am.  We took the back way to Cougar which goes through Battle Ground and the tiny town of Amboy.  This route passes several lakes that came about because of dams and power plants--Merwin Lake, Yale Lake, and Swift Reservoir.  Cougar is also a very small town, but it's where mountain hikers can register.  Cougar has a couple of campgrounds, both of which looked busy on this holiday weekend.

We continued on to Ape Cave, another busy place.  We didn't tour the cave, but we walked up to the entrance of the cave and took pictures.  Parking at Ape Cave is $5, or free for those of us with a National Parks Senior Pass.

We then backtracked to Trail of Two Forests, a handicap-accessbile interpretive walk along a lava flow.  This lava looked to be about 20,000 years old.  The lava was covered with moss, however, you could still see the holes where massive trees had been uprooted.

Our next and final destination for the day was Lava Canyon.  The parking lot there, however, was full, so we left.  Not too far from there we found a parking spot where we sat and enjoyed the lunch we brought along.  Our view was...Mount Saint Helen's!

We came home through Woodland, WA and after stopping at a car wash to wash away all the road dust, we got home around 3:30.  Even though I needed to take a nap when we got home, we had a fun and satisfying outing!

This afternoon we were happy to receive a visit from fellow bloggers and RVers, Russ and Donna Krecklow.  Donna writes a popular blog called Travels in 'Therapy'.  They live in Eugene, Oregon, and travel in their Lazy Daze motorhome.  The Krecklows are on their way to Glacier National Park, but tonight their motorhome is parked in our side driveway, and they and their dog, Poppy, are spending the first night of their trip on this side of the Columbia River.  Thank you, Russ and Donna, for taking the time to come and visit us.  We always enjoy talking with you, and thanks again for treating us to dinner at McMenamins on the Columbia River!

Donna and Russ

Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired

Dave and I have been home from Astoria for over a week. The first few days I worked on piecing a new quilt top from fabric and charm squares that I bought at JoAnn Fabrics in Astoria.  I finished the quilt top, put the quilt sandwich together with batting and backing fabric, and basted it with safety pins.  Now it sits waiting for me to start quilting it.

I intended to start the quilting on Tuesday, but Monday night I developed a fever, a slight sore throat, and fatigue.  I went to bed early and was surprised when I woke up still sick.  On Monday I had gone to the doctor to have two procedures done--a pap test and a diabetic eye screening.  I began to wonder if I had picked up some germs or bacteria when I was there.

I called the doctor's office and they said to come in for a strep test, which turned out to be negative.  When I got home, I went right back to bed.

Thursday and Friday I felt slightly less tired, but I still had a fever of 101. 

Saturday I woke up without a fever, but my ears were both plugged up but not painful.  That's still the situation today, but at least I got a got night's sleep last night, so I think I'm on the mend.  I'm ready to get on with things! The upside of this illness is that I haven't been hungry and have lost 12 pounds since Monday!

Last Saturday, when I was still feeling fine, Dave had a rare day off from football, so we went for a walk at our local Fort Vancouver National Historic Site.  Like many people, we don't always take advantage of the sights that are in are backyard.  We had visited the Fort when we first moved here, and I had been there a time or two with our boys, but we were long overdue for another visit.  Now that Dave as the National Park Senior Pass, we are looking for more places to visit at no charge.

Fort Vancouver was built in 1824 by the  British Hudson's Bay Company as a western fur-trading outpost.  In 1842, the Hudson's Bay Company moved their western headquarters to what is now know as Fort Victoria in British Columbia.  

In 1849, Fort Vancouver was taken  over by the United States Army and they constructed a barracks nearby. 

A fire destroyed the fort itself in 1866, but the Army facility has continued in operation in various forms down to the present.

Fort Vancouver was separated from the Army's barracks and in 1966 was designated as a National Historic Site.  The original fort buildings have been replicated in their original positions at the fort.

The Fort's Officer's Row is worth seeing, too.  Several famous generals served at Fort Vancouver, including Ulysses S. Grant, and more recently, General George C. Marshall. 

Astoria, Oregon--August, 2012

Dave and I are visiting Astoria, Oregon for a few days.  For the first three days, our friends, Tom and Cindi, were here in their motorhome.  We saw many of the Astoria sights with them, enjoyed a few meals with them, and thoroughly enjoyed visiting with them.

Flavel House

Lace Cap Hydrangea

The Pacific Ocean as seen from the South Jetty viewing tower.

Fishing boats on the Columbia River

Fort Clatsop, where Lewis and Clark spent the rainy winter of 1805-06.

Dugout canoe

Astoria Column

View of the Columbia River from Astoria Column

From the column, the view of the Astoria-Megler Bridge which crosses over to Washington

Lewis and Clark Golf and RV Park, site A10

The 9-hole golf course

Astoria is one of those small cities that has offers much to do and see.  We'll be back again next year! 

Concerts in the Park

In the summer, Dave and I like to attend outdoor concerts. Our favorite summer orchestra is the Portland Festival Symphony. This summer marks the 32nd year that this orchestra has presented concerts in Portland's public parks.  This season's opening concert, which we attended on Saturday evening, was held at Cathedral Park in the St. John's area of Portland.  Did I mention that these concerts are presented free of charge? 

The orchestra opened with the always popular, Stars and Stripes Forever, conducted by Sean, an entertaining layman from the Oregonian newspaper, a concert sponsor.

Guest conductor, Michael Allen Harrison, conducted Dave's favorite piece of music, Victory at Sea by Richard Rodgers.

The rest of the program was conducted by Portland Festival Symphony founder and music director, Lajos Balogh.

We heard Rossini's La Gazza Ladra Overture, Beethoven's Symphony #3 (Eroica)--movements 2 and 3, Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture (minus the cannons!), America the Beautiful with the audience invited to sing along, and Haydn's Toy Symphony with children participating--a Portland Festival Orchestra tradition.

The weather was beautiful and the park's natural grassy amphitheater is a good place to gather to listen to a concert.

A small part of the crowd on Saturday night.

St. John's Bridge runs over the park, but the traffic didn't interfere with the musical performance.

Portland Festival Symphony will present five more free outdoor concerts this summer.  The programs vary at each concert, but all include fine classical music. 

Home!

We are always relieved when we arrive home from a trip and discover that the house is in the same shape as we left it.   That was the case yesterday when we arrived back home in Vancouver, Washington, after our 3 1/2 week trip to the Black Hills of South Dakota.

When we see the Columbia Gorge, we know that we are getting close to home.

And when we see the east side of Mount Hood, we are even closer to home.

The views of the mighty Columbia River are great along I-84, but hard to capture in a picture.

Ah, evergreen trees are one of my favorite sights in the Pacific Northwest.

We got home to cloudy skies and temperatures in the mid-70s.  The temps today were in the low 80s, with humidity arriving in the late afternoon.  Right now, I'm hearing a lot of thunder and seeing lightning, which is somewhat unusual for this part of the country.  Now it just started raining.

We got back in the swing of things at home with Dave playing golf with one of his usual foursomes, and I having lunch with my friend, Sandy.