A Week in the Life of a Former RVer

I hesitate to hear myself say, “...as a former RVer” because in my heart I still consider myself an RVer. 12-13 years of thinking seriously about it and living it will do that to you 🙂.  Even if you don’t have an RV.  It’s fun to look at pictures and try to figure out where we were when...

Henry’s Lake in Idaho - 2 hours west of Yellowstone

The fact is though, we left the road 16 months ago.  Hard to believe!  So much has happened.  But then, we are living in a time where the speed of life has quickened.  We were warned this would happen as we got older.

I don’t mean the speed with which we rush through life, it just seems that time is flying by.

Pam and I are well and content with our post-RV lives.  Our days are full and we get to be around good neighbors and our daughter and son-in-law and get to hone our grandma and grandpa skills.  Its one of life’s greatest joys.

So this is what our weeks kind of look like.  Each is a little different but in these Corona Virus days we have a tempo and steadiness centered around our home.  We do a lot of projects.  I enjoy mowing our front yard and large back yard twice a week.  Its good exercise and I like being out in the sun.  I have a science project going in the front yard called rooting out the weeds and getting more grass to grow.  Its coming along.

We’ve planted lots of flowers.  I mean lots. Besides two flower beds in the front, we have a couple of small ones at each corner of our front yard.

We also were given some flowers we from friends that survived the transplant and we made another flower bed along the side of the house.

The deck has hanging baskets and flower pots of petunias, marigolds, and geraniums. We have some more flowers along the fence from Tennessee that may or may not make it.  Finally, we two other flower beds with day lillies and roses.

Then there is Pam’s garden.

There are probably twenty different plants in the ground.  We have harvested plenty of onions and radishes and the broccoli is looking pretty good as is the squash.  Peppers, egg plant, tomatoes, potatoes, corn, jalapeños, and sweet peas fill out the rest of our patch.  It will be fun to see how much makes it to harvest.

We spent a lot of time weeding, hoeing and watering the garden, but we enjoy it.

Then I have a few projects in the woodshed that keep popping up.  My latest is a little cabinet the boys wanted to be turned into an outdoor oven for them.

We see the boys every other day at least and that is why we are here -- for them.  Its about the best reason we can think of to leave the road and we are not sorry we are now doing this.  As much as we liked full-timing, this is a great post-RVing gig!

We keep track of doctors appointments and are fine.  It was about four years ago that I almost lost my left eye with a retina detachment but it has healed well and I have 20/25 vision in that eye and 20/20 in my right (with my glasses.)

We take the vehicles in for maintenance, get materials for projects, check out new home renovation projects that Kelly and Jon are working on.  It’s great fun to seen them turn a place around that needs updating and make it look really nice for re-sale.

Last week went to church a couple times (one for Bible studying the fellowship hall and the other time for Sunday service). Our small church went to two services and we had about 25 people at the service we attended.  Nothing like it used to be, but it was great to see people in person again.

I read that long time RVing friends John and Carol have bought a house in Indiana and are looking forward to their next chapter after 10 years on the road.  They’ll continue tours with Fantasy RV Tours and keeping their RV.  I’m excited for them and know they will enjoy their spacious house!

We continue we some upgrades on our place and are having a gas fireplace and logs put in.  Pam has been doing some stitching/sewing craft ornaments for Christmas and I have been working my way through Chesapeake by James Michener, one of my favorite authors.  Now that we live in the area, it makes reading it more meaningful.

Pam usually goes on a daily walk at one of our nice parks in the area if she gets there early enough and its not too crowded.  We have ventured out for lunch and dinner a few times to support some local restuarants and enjoy that.

We took a trip to Tennessee a week ago and saw Pam’s sister Joan.  She was diagnosed with ALS a couple of months ago.  She’s now in a wheel chair but is doing pretty well and the disease noticeably is taking its toll.

While there we learned Joan and Mike had their 50th wedding anniversary so we had a little celebration in their back yard with their daughter and family, and Joan/Pam’s sister and husband who life in the Knoxville area.




Last Saturday we had the pleasure of attending our first ever graduation.  After a couple of long years, son Adam finished course work and was awarded a Master of Science degree in Computer Science.

That’s about it and some of the things we are involved with in our new life as the weeks go by.  We love hearing from you and a day doesn’t go by that we don’t think about our RV friends and the RV life.

Thanks for joining us on the Roadrunner Chronicles!

Mostly Staying Home and Greetings to All - Apr 2020

Hi Everyone!
Just wanted to check in and I hope everyone is well.  We’re in our homes and determined to do our part and to aid anyone we can while we as a nation/globe fight off the virus.  Recently the governor invoked the “Stay At Home” rule which most are abiding by as far as I can tell.

Although we did have some curious visitors recently.

Our yard backs up to an inlet that rises with the tide of the Chesapeake Bay and these guys showed up to check things out.

Yesterday we went for provisions (I love that term vs. groceries and household items)at the local Sam’s Club during the senior hours.  

We continue to work on projects around the house and have been calling, GoTo Meetinging, Zooming, using FaceTime, and said hi to neighbors from a distance.

Much like you all I suppose.  Quite a few folks were wearing masks and everyone was maintaining their distance.  I was surprised to see sections of the store blocked off in a 'One Way' direction.

I also noticed after the Pharmacy area the traffic was routed through the back area where they had a big supply of toilet paper and paper towels.  I looked around and I’d say 90% of the carts in the store had one or two bundles of toilet paper.  I thought, “this is nuts!”

I it made me immediately wonder how many rolls we have at home.  My gut reaction is that people who were not concerned about TP supplies just went along with the emotion of the moment?  I decided I wasn’t going to get caught up in this buying spree.

One of the workers we passed insisted I may want a bundle (9 rolls) but I declined to her complete surprise.  Like everything, we all react to the same situation in many ways so I have to respect what people decide to do.  I really have no idea what they are dealing with so why question it?

However, I did go home and estimated we need about a roll a week between the two bathrooms and I checked -- we have plenty for quite a while.  Maybe for a few months.

The other observation we made was how the workers outside were wiping down the carts before they went inside.  Nice job!

This whole situation makes me think about World War II and have everyone pitched in and “did their part.”  I hear people clapping for medical workers as they go into and out of the hospitals at shift change and how sewers (Kelly) are home trying to create masks for doctors and nurses who may be running low.

My part at the moment ~ I can pray for family and friends and situations.  I know some of my readers will get that and some won’t but that’s OK.

After getting our groceries and such we could scanned them with the Sam’s Club app but by the time I figured it out we were close to the register and we checked out pretty quickly.

Our main work at the moment is yard work and putting in this year’s versos of Pam’s Garden.  For 2020 we are almost doubling it.

This is how it looked before I rented a sod cutter again from Home Depot along with the trailer and got the sod cut.  I cleaned up the machine and took it back, then spent the next couple of days getting up enough courage to pick it all up piece by piece, load it into my cart, then load it into the pickup and carry it over to Kelly and Jon’s house.

They have an area beyond their back fence, before the water that they are sodding in.  Last year’s batch of grass is doing well and so this year’s is going to be added to it.

I’m also deep raking the yard and putting down grass seed after getting rid of green ground cover (aka healthy weeds) so I’m getting my exercise.

We’re also figuring out some covering for the deck and building some flower boxes to hang.

The idea worked OK but the supports were 2 x 2’s that failed.  It got windy after a couple hours after this photo and the tension snapped one.  I may have to go with 4” x 4’s, but we will see.

That’s about it for now.  Hope you all are finding new things to do and are keeping your spirits up.  And seriously, if there is something that I can pray for you about, I would be glad to do so.  Either message me on FB or email or call or whatever.

Thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles!

Book Sales and Brook's debut on TV at the Legos Display

The book is doing well.  Thank you so much for the great response!  It has been fun!

Over the course of deciding to give it a go and actually seeing it to completion, my main thought was, “Writing this book is a hobby -- let's not get too complicated.  Let’s see if we can actually get across the finish line.”

Having said that -- my goals are changing a little bit and you can help!
Its never too late to post a 5 star review on Amazon about the Wonder of RV Living! 😳
If you are inclined to do so, that would be great!!

Meanwhile, we are climbing up the ranks on the Amazon Bestseller List:

I didn’t really know what to look at but this is a quick snapshot.  I am pretty sure we were at 432,000 in Books, so we are climbing up the list!
Also - if you are considering writing a book, I highly recommend it.  It has been fun!  It took a long time but I find the whole process intriguing.

It reminds me of an earlier hobby I had -- making custom to fit golf clubs.

Back in the 1990’s I caught the bug and started putting them together and was shipping sets of clubs to England, Hawaii, California, Tennessee, New Mexico, Texas and Colorado.  It was a learning process too, and I loved the mystery of it all.  I learned about suppliers and marketing and a whole host of other things.

This book-writing reminds me of that in many ways.  Apparently one has to have a marketing plan with a Book Launch to propel sales at the start.  Maybe we’ll do that for Vol 2 "Full-timing-Our First 7 Months on the Road.’  I’m looking for a Spring release on that one.  Stay tuned.
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Now on to other fun stuff.  The boys have had a couple of up and down weeks.  Mostly up but with the winter season, there have been some colds and worse.  First the fun stuff.

The weather here in the Norfolk/Virginia Beach area has been pretty mild.  It has had some 70+ degree days and now there is snow in the forecast.  Early last week the boys and Kelly, Pam and I went to the Botanical Gardens in Norfolk to see the Legos displays.

 The boys came well-prepared with their scooters to zip around the walkways.  After a few hundred yards, we came upon the 12 displays that were impressive.  Each display depicted gardening or animals and birds that one would find at he gardens.

 I really liked the fact that it also had information on how many Legos it took for the display and how many hours it took to build it.

 The boys accommodated the photographer from time to time.

 Near the end we saw the hummingbird and then went to another display.

While there, a videographer from a local TV station asked if they could film Brooks.  Just like that, he was added to the list of kids at the gardens who got to say a few words.

Brooks had a few words to start off the clip. There is a brief look at Pam and Kelly and Harry and Brooks walking.  Have to be quick to see it.

The last couple of weeks have flown by!  Hope you and yours are well and if you haven’t taken a look you can check out the book on Amazon here.

Thanks for joining us on this edition of the Roadrunner Chronicles!

Roadrunner Reflections - Getting the Roadrunner Sold - Part 3 of 3

It was about a year ago that we were in final preparations to sell the Roadrunner.  We had numerous texts and emails with Mike and had things lined up to make the sale when he arrived in Jacksonville.
We were busy getting things ready for him.

We had spent December in the Keys and then traveled north to MacDill AFB/Tampa to finish final cleanup and enjoy a few more days of the RV life.  We attended the large Tampa RV show and had a good time in the area.

We saw some friends in the area and we worked on the coach.  The last couple of days I decided to replace the gasket on the toilet because the toilet bowl was not holding water.  That is a good indicator the gasket is failing.

It always is little hard to do because we have to cut the wires, disconnect the water, remove the toilet, turn it upside down then put the gasket in reverse sequence, turn it back over, reconnect the wires and hook everything back up.  Its a 20 minute job if everything goes well.  Ha!

It did not.

The water in the toilet was leaking out.  I got the gasket upside down.  Next, we disconnected everything, turned it over again, put the gasket in, tightened everything down and POP!
The ceramic toilet broke!  Yikes!

It was Friday and we were leaving Sunday for Jacksonville.  Now the pressure was really on!  We ended up replacing our ceramic electric toilet with a foot pedal model that worked great.  We didn’t know if it was going to work but it performed magnificently and we wished we’d have swapped it out
many years ago!

On to Jacksonville.  We spent a couple of days at the Jacksonville Navy RV campground and then parked the Roadrunner at Mayport Naval Station at Pelican Roost Campground.  Its one of the military’s best RV campgrounds (in my opinion.)

While there, we rented a small U-Haul Trailer, packed up almost everything remaining in the

Roadrunner, and then drove to Virginia Beach where we put all our stuff in temporary storage at our daughter and son-in-law’s place.

We returned in time to meet Mike at the airport hotel in Jacksonville.  Then we drove over to the campsite, did a walk-around and we answered all his questions.

He and I went for a short test drive and then got the paperwork together to finish the deal.

The bill-of-sale had to be signed and witnessed and he handed over a check. Then we packed up and left the camp ground with the Roadrunner and our CRV in tow.

Pam and I agreed to help Mike deliver the coach to an RV storage facility and thought it would be good to have him drive the Roadrunner while we were onboard.  We also answered more questions as he thought of them.

All three of us were going to Cordele, GA to the KOA where we had overnight reservations.

Mike got some time behind the wheel as we went up I-75 so it was a useful few hours.  We arrived at the KOA and then I showed Mike how we set up and get plugged into the electric and water and sewer.

We went out to eat together and then dropped Mike back off at the Roadrunner while Pam and I got a motel room in town.

The next morning, we drove back over to the campground, hooked up the CRV and then we drove to the Atlanta airport where Mike rented a car.  We later joined up at the National Indoor Storage facility in Lawrenceville, GA about 20 miles away.

Then we unhooked the CRV for the last time, shook hands and departed while Mike checked the Roadrunner into the storage facility for the next three months.

He was working as a civilian in Germany and would be back in May to pick up Roadrunner with his wife Joan.  They were then going to drive it to Alaska which was his next duty station.

Later we heard from them on their way to Alaska and they said the coach was driving ‘flawlessly’.  They did need to get some fuel filters changed out (which we discussed as a possibility after sitting in the storage facility for three months), but all in all it all went well.

It truly was a win-win.  We were thrilled to be getting the price we wanted and they were happy to get the Roadrunner.  Hopefully it will have another 10 years of happy camping left in it.

So, those are some of the high points in the story, “How We Sold the Roadrunner.”  It unbelievably happened almost a year ago.  It doesn’t seem possible.  I captured some of the sale here.

The last 12 months have flown by.

We remember our days on the road as Wonderful Times!  It was a magical time and we love reminiscing about it. Hopefully there will be more in store for us, but it will be different.  And that is OK.

Do we miss it?  Do we have regrets?

Sometimes I think about it and miss our time on the road but quickly remember it was perfect timing for us.  It was the right time to move on.  We are so glad to be here in Norfolk/Virginia Beach and have a wonderful “Post RV life.” We are very blessed to have our kids (son and daughter-in-law in DC, and our daughter and son-in-law and two grandsons 12 minutes away) near us.

Our house, neighborhood, church and new friends are a real blessing and we are so thankful!

Thanks for joining us on the Roadrunner Chronicles!

Checking Out the Tidewater RV Show

I’ve been looking forward to the Tidewater RV Show for some time.  A few months ago a friend said he envied the lifestyle we used to have in the Roadrunner and said he wanted to go with me next time it came to town.

It didn’t work out for him and me, and the Brooks and Harrison were coming over for a few minutes to check out Pam’s garden.  I thought about having them join me but Harry was getting over a cold, so I knew his stamina would not be able to withstand the rigors of traipsing around the RV show.  The option with grandma and her garden was better so they did that while I ventured down to the Virginia Beach Convention Center on my own.

It was a short but memorable time!  Amazing what can happen in a couple of hours.  Would you believe I bought an RV.....?

Naw -- didn’t think so.  I know better than that.  Actually I wasn’t really tempted, but one of the of the things I wanted to do was to see what was new and maybe find something that might fit our needs down the road.  I think we are currently looking at a trailer to pull behind our F-150.

They had some overflow RVs parked outside near where I was parked so I wander over there first.  I like the feature of this trailer that had a small door on each side of the bed.  I am an early riser, so I like the idea of getting up and closing off the bedroom so I don’t wake Pam.

I took a quick look at a couple of other ones but was anxious to see what was going on inside.

Next I went inside paid my $9.00 ($1 off for a military discount) and set out looking around.  I’ve done this more times than I can count and wandered up and down a few aisles looking at things.  Nothing in particular sparked any excitement.

I see more and more tiny RVs that are very small which have a basic double bed and that is about it.  I don’t quite get it.  Looks to me like an expensive hard shell / tent type of a deal.  But I guess they must be selling or they would not be making them.  There are all kinds of ways to do the RV thing.

RV shows are also great places to see the unusual and find some interesting items.  I signed up for a chance to win $100 and $500 at a few places knowing I can ‘Unsubscribe’ pretty quickly.  I passed a tent arrangement on the back bed of a Ford  F-150 and had a nice chat with the sales person there.  Plus I picked up a nice roll-up throw blanket I can put in my truck.

After about an hour or so I made my way along the back wall and talked with some more vendors.  One handed me some personal products and talked about reducing chemicals on the planet. Reminded me of Norwex products.  Our daughter Kelly and good friend Hillary sells those products.

The booth belonged to Dana McKee with whom I talked for a few minutes.  Turns out she is

advocating for safer laws in DC to get safer personal care products on the market.  Her website is 

beautycounter.com/danamckee.  

As we talked, I found out she is also a John Maxwell certified speaker. 

Interesting.

Another thing I found out was that she plays a key role in the RV show and is the contact person for vendors to get space at the show.  The more we talked, I decided I very well may have a table at next year’s show to promote one or two volumes of my upcoming book

I was telling Dana how much we like Dodd RV and have been to their stores many times over the years.  I think last year when we were talking of downsizing while we were in Williamsburg, we found their store in Yorktown and visited there looking at Class C’s.

I said we are fans of Dodd’s RV (who sponsored the RV show for the 39th consecutive year) and Dana suggested I talk with with Susie Dodd, who is the manager of the entire show.  I met her and learned more.

After that, I found some items for the boys and headed home.  I scored pretty well with the boys who tried on some sunglasses I picked up.

They fit perfectly!

It was fun to go to the RV show and I met some interesting people and got some good ideas for our next RV.  It was time well spent!

Thanks for joining u on the Roadrunner Chronicles!  In the next edition, we’ll finished up with Part 3 on how we sold the Roadrunner...

Happy New Year to You!

Happy New Year!  

Before the year comes to a close, I want to send out some greetings.  I love this time of the year and look forward to getting some things done during the holiday lull before we get back into the regular swing of things.

I hope you had a really good holiday and are revitalized for the new year.  Someone posted that thought that the Roaring 20’s are upon us!

One thing I like about the holiday season is that I always manage to find some time for reflection and planning for the new year.  I love that.

By all measures this has been a momentous year.  We thought it would be big and it has turned out to be more epic than we imagined.
At the beginning of the year, we were into our “one last hurrah” with the Roadrunner in Key West. It was there we found out the possibility of selling the Roadrunner was actually turning into a strong possibility.  In a few short weeks we managed to systematically give the Roadrunner a deep cleaning while traveling through the Keys and up to the Tampa area.  It was wonderful seeing friends in Naples, Bonita Springs, Fort Myers, Tampa and St Pete.
After that, we traveled over to the Jacksonville area where we agreed to meet the buyer.  We left the Roadrunner there and  rented a small U-Haul and drove it to Kelly and Jon’s place in Virginia Beach.

It was a little strange as we got the price we wanted and then delivered the Roadrunner to a climate controlled storage facility outside of Atlanta.  After that, we drove to Virginia in only our Honda and on to new life.  We were able to stay with Jon and Kelly as we did some house hunting.

It took us a few weeks, but in March, we found a place 12 minutes from the grandkids. We signed a contract and had three weeks until closing, so we took a road trip in our F-150 out to Tucson.  Along the way we saw friends and family in Maynardville TN, Oklahoma City, Albuquerque, Fort Worth TX and Denver NC.

When we got back to Virginia Beach the first week of April, we started on major renovations to the house.  After three months of renovations (new bathrooms, kitchen, roof, windows, inside doors) and complete interior paint job, we moved into our new home in Norfolk the last part of June.

But even before then, Pam and I put in a 12’ x 25 garden that has been a real joy.  The boys helped with the spring and fall planting. It was fun watching them run to Grandma’s Garden every time they came to visit.  They wanted to see how the peas or corn or pumpkins were doing.

In August we took a road trip in the truck to Canada, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee. While in Canada we were given a couple of bird feeders that were tucked away in a cabin.  We brought them back to life and have enjoyed watching cardinals, blue jays, finches, and hummingbirds off the back deck. The simple pleasures of life.

We love our house.  Our small house. It is perfect for us.  And we have some great neighbors. We also found a great church which we absolutely love. We’ve become fast friends with many folks and it has been a source of inspiration, a place to volunteer and has a very strong sense of community.

All of that was made even more evident when Pam went in for a routine mammogram the middle of October.  Two weeks later we learned she had stage one breast cancer. Thankfully it was caught early and slow-growing. The church surrounded us with help and support which was touching.  After surgery and 10 rounds of radiation, Pam was declared cancer free.  Hallelujah! Praise be to God!

We had a terrific time over Christmas watching Brooks (almost 5) and Harry (almost 3) enjoy the big day.  It was great.  Their sense of wonder is precious.

In the new year we hope to continue on getting more healthy and exercise more.  We are off to a good start with some effort in that direction that last few days.  Pam has plans on a little bigger garden with a different assortment of produce that is a little different than last year’s bounty.

We also intend to play a little more golf, dive into some tent camping, and will no doubt be taking some trips during the New Year.

“That’s a wrap!” as they say ` hope you all are healthy, happy and looking forward to 2020!

P.S.
In the coming week(s) I should have a book coming out....watch for the details.

Thanks for joining us on the Roadrunner Chronicles!

A Hike in the Park

In September when friends Gabe and Bruce were here in October, we visited with them at their campground at First Landing State Park in Virginia Beach.  It was at that time we decided to buy a yearly pass.  In addition to camping, there are also some great hiking trails.

Yesterday, Jon went to work and Pam and I went over to see Kelly and the boys and to go with them on a hike at the park.

The weather has been really great the last few days and it was a perfect day for a walk in the woods.  The trails are easy, well maintained and marked well.  We picked the yellow trail and the boys had fun spotting the 6” x 2” markers on trees along the trail.

The area has its own special beauty with cypress trees and Spanish moss all around.

Pam and I want to do more of this and we are off to a great start with the holiday season and new year beginning.  We hiked (walked) for about half a mile before it was time to take a rest, eat some snacks and take a couple of pictures.

Harry decided early on it was better to grab a ride so he alternated between Kelly

and Grandpa.

The boys are at such a fun age.  Their sense of wonder and excitement is pure joy.  We are loving it.

 We did a leisurely out-and-back along the yellow trail which was a great little excursion for all of us.

 We made it back over to Kelly’s in time for their lunch, then Pam and I went to run some errands.  We stopped for our own lunch at Chick-Fil-A and shared our standard 4 count chicken fingers meal with waffle fries and a drink (half sweet tea, 1/2 regular tea).  It was fun to see Sarah and her kids along with visiting brother and girlfriend.  

After some after-Christmas shopping we headed home where I resumed mowing the back yard and bagging the leaves.  Just before dark, I tried out my 14” chain saw that did a good job on the regular sized firewood we got a few weeks ago.  Our small fireplace works better with smaller chunks of wood.

Then was another amazing dinner from Pam’s kitchen (shrimp) and we had a nice evening watching a good bowl game.  I also did a little reading.

=

I love this time of year to reflect, slow down and take a deep breath.  With a few more holiday days left, I hope you all enjoy some time off and have a great New Year’s celebration.

Wishing you all the best as this year comes to a close ~

Randy and Pam

Thanks for visiting on the Roadrunner Chronicles!

Quick Update on Pam

We got some great news a few minutes ago I wanted to pass along.  Pam completed radiation on Friday and we just got a call from the doctor’s office that she doesn’t need to do chemo!

So that means we are done!

That is about the best Christmas present we could have!  Thanks be to God!  He is sovereign and we give Him thanks!  And thank you all for your prayers and concern.

I have trouble remembering what happened when so I jotted down a summary of the last 8 weeks: 

October 

• 18  - Mammogram
• 23 - Ultra Sound
• 28 - Biopsy

November

• 1 - Met with Biopsy Doctor and Nurse Navigator discuss results and plan
• 6 - Met with breast surgeon (Dr Reed) - identified as Stage 1
• 7 - Genetic Testing to determine if close relatives at risk (they are not)
• 13 - Breast Cancer Support Group Meeting (discuss surgery and aftercare
• 14 - MRI
• 18 - Surgery (lumpectomy)
• 25 - Follow-up with Dr. Reed
• 29 - Radiation appointment with Dr. Williams

December

• 4 - Met with Dr. Reed to insert internal radiation device (catheter into her breast) 
• 5 - Met with Dr. Williams/ MRI
• 9 to 13 (Mon-Fri) - 8:30 am and 2:30 pm; radiation treatments 2 x a day
• 13 - Remove catheter after last treatment
• 19 - Follow-up with Dr. Reed/remove stitches from where the catheter was.

BTW - the catheter was quite an interesting device.  Friday after we were done, we talked with the nurse (Janette) who was in on every radiation treatment.  She answered all of Pam’s questions each day and showed us what the device looked like that had been in Pam’s right breast for the last 10 days.

Janette said the one she showed us was a little bigger than what was inside Pam, but not much bigger.

As I said -- this whole encounter has been very smooth and Pam has had very little side effects.  It just all went exceptionally well.  

It gives me an extra sense of gratefulness.  I know our experience is far different than those who have life-threatening (or worse) situations.  Thank you once again for your prayers.

Thanks for checking in today on the Roadrunner Chronicles!

It That Time of the Year!

Seems as if the time has flown by and here we are almost in the middle of December.  Hope you and yours are warm and enjoying life.

Thanksgiving seemed like a blur.  It came and went very quickly.  We celebrated with Kelly and Jon and the boys. Jon cooked 3 turkeys (not all for the same meal) and they turned out great.

Jon’s parents were able to drive up from Georgia the day after Thanksgiving so we had another turkey then.

The next week we had appointments and did some decorating.

Friday night we got into the spirit and drove downtown Norfolk to the Roper Performing Arts Center.  We were treated with a great concert entitled “Across the Ages - A Celtic Christmas”.  It featured two Scottish performers and a local group of singers called “The King’s Choir”.

Shona Donaldson and Paul Anderson

 Donna Thomas leading the King’s Choir

We’ve also been able to tackle a couple of projects we’ve been meaning to get to.  The first one was in my office.  It only has dual prong electrical outlets so Pam and I installed a GFCI outlet and put a three prong in another outlet in the office.  It was not a big deal except I had never done it.

This is right up Pam’s alley, so she showed me how do it and life is better and I have lamps and printers and such much better organized.

The other one was a storm door in front of the house. We wanted to do it earlier, but ran into some complications after the renovations were done on the house.  Apparently the opening for our front door measured out to where it is not the standard 36" x 80”.  That means a custom door is necessary which is almost double the price of a regular door.  Hmmm.  That didn’t sound too good.

We already knew we were going to get the door from Home Depot so we talked with them about installation.  We figured that if something doesn’t work out, they would make it right.  Another plus was that it would be done by professionals and not by a guy who knows enough just to be dangerous...🙂.

The Home Depot guy said the door opening may be different because it was “wrapped’ with aluminum siding.  I removed the wrap and we had it  re-measured.  Sure enough, a standard sized door fit fine.

Today was the install day and we are happy with it.

Finished product.

The kids and grandkids are on the beach headed south for some beach time.

The boys having fun in a pile of leaves at home.

The boys enjoying warmer weather in Florida for a few days.

I’m very happy to report Pam’s internal radiation treatments are going well and she should be done by the end of the week!

Thanks for joining us on the Roadrunner Chronicles!