Swans 'n Smorz

It was a little windy yesterday but still a very nice day.  We can tell the temperature is going down a few degrees and it seems as if the days are getting a little shorter, too.  The longest day of the summer is already over...

I ran again and it felt pretty good.  I remember why I used to run a lot.  I enjoy it and feel better.  As long as I take it slow and stretch a lot, I should be in good shape.

Then, we each ran a few errands during the late morning.  I did some things online and then went to check to see if my car wax/polishing kit arrived.  Sure enough, it is here so I will have my work cut out for me for the next few days.

It was such a nice afternoon, I spent time out back by the lake.  I am reading James Michener's The Journey:  A Quest for Canadian Gold.   It is a historical novel of the Canadian wilderness around the end of the 19th century.  How about you?  What are you reading?

While reading I saw a couple of swans nearby.  They were really close since the lady a few campsites away was feeding them bread.  It was windy and I saw something I hadn't seen before, the swan was bowing out his wings to catch the wind.

Pretty interesting and beautiful.

While I was enjoying that, Pam was fixing another spectacular meal.  She worked on a recipe for quinoa, and also cooked some squash and baked some fish with bell peppers and spices.

The fish and squash were good and altho the quinoa was very tasty it wasn't one of our favorites.

After dinner, I went outside again and started another campfire.  When I got it going pretty good, Pam arrived with the smorz.  Not sure when the last time was that we had smorz.

We got our extendable prongs and loaded up the marshmallows, held it over the blazing fire and in no time they were ready to pull off in between the chocolate and graham crackers.

Umh...it was delightful!

The wind continued for a time and we finished up with the campfire and went inside.  Pam talked with sister-in-law Sue who called to ask about how she was doing.  They were also concerned about the tornado that touched down and caused a lot of damage and destruction outside of Detroit at a campground.  It was pretty awful but no where near us.

That was about it for us on a Roadrunner Monday...

Thanks for viewing today and thanks also for signing up to Follow us.  We love it when that happens.  And thanks for your comments.  We like that too!

Hope you are having a good week ~

When the Tornado Siren Goes Off

First, welcome to new Followers:

B.W. and Carol

Dawn and Denise

Merikay

Thanks so much for joining us on the Roadrunner Chronicles!

We didn't realize that Michigan gets tornados.  While we were in Tennessee over Memorial Day Weekend our campground neighbors called to tell us there had been high winds and the electricity had gone out for about 14 hours.  That same storm was in fact a tornado that touched down in a town not far from here.

In the last couple of weeks, we heard the siren go off in the campground and didn't really know what to do.   One neighbor who is a seasonal resident here, said not to worry, just button down everything and put up the awnings.

Another neighbor said when things get really windy (up to 50 mph and beyond), they go to the laundry room/ bathroom which is one of the few cinderblock buildings in the campground.

Wednesday night it looked dark and foreboding and the weatherman was calling for bad weather.  We kept the TV on the local weather channel and watched the radar as the storm moved along south of us by about 10 miles.  I looked at about 10:00 PM and our neighbors had vacated their RV again.  I double checked what county we were in and then watched the news and felt comfortable? staying put.

But it made us talk and consider what we should be doing in situations like this.  We need a plan.

Yesterday, I came across the best plan I have seen on a fellow RVers blog.  Odel and Laurie give  excellent, step by step instructions in the Semi-True Tales of Our Life on the Road.

We have taken many of their suggestions including getting an NOAA Weather Radio.   I did some research on the internet and decided on an Eton FR360.  I wanted one that had a hand crank, could also work on batteries and one that could also be solar charged.

This little guy has a lot of other features including:  USB cell phone charger, flashlight, flashing beacon, alarm clock aux input and input headphone jack.

It took a bit of doing, but we found it at Bass Pro Shops.  There is one about 30 minutes from here and we decided to see if they had one in stock.  Sure enough they did and $49.95 later, it was ours.  Now, in addition to this and following Odel and Laurie's guidelines, we have greater confidence that we can get the word and be safer in times of bad weather.

Yesterday was also pancake day at our house.

We usually have that on Saturdays.  Later, after dinner last night, we enjoyed a campfire outside.  A lot was going on to see because it was a beautiful evening.
The campfire

the neighbors and their grandkids

and just an overall wonderful evening.
I thought I snapped a picture of the folks in the boat fishing but I guess I didn't.  Then there were the folks walking along the shore from the swimming area that came by our campsite.  We had more than the usual going on.

Later we saw some of the College World Series and that was it for us on a nice Saturday.  Thanks for viewing the Roadrunner Chronicles.