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!

Getting Settled In

We've been in our new (renovated house) for a couple of weeks now and things are moving along well.  I'm including a few pictures of the mostly finished house.

Our daughter Kelly asked a few days ago if it felt like home?  -- Not yet but we are getting there.  Here is a look at what we've had done:

The house.  We painted the whole house and renovated the kitchen and both bathrooms. We opened up the kitchen by taking out a half-wall between the kitchen/dining room and cut a pass-through window above the stove between the kitchen living room. The master bath had a door from the hallway and the bedroom. We took out the hallway entrance. We also had a new roof put on, new gutters, new windows and have done some gardening. We still have the baseboards and trim and baseboards to finish inside.

After becoming fans of downsizing, we relearned the skill of upsizing and got new furniture for every room.  I was amazed at how quickly we filled up the garage which is from the tools and stuff we carried in the motorhome.  😳

We love projects and have a long list so we are enjoying it.  Pam's garden is still going strong despite a fungus that took out the squash.  The

pictures:
Kitchen

 New flooring, countertops, cabinets and appliances, lighting

 Dining Room

New lighting, pantry cabinets

Den/Family Room

Living Room

Hall

New lighting, moved cold air return vent from above closet to the door (second door on right). Removed hall access to master bath.

 Office/Bedroom

New lighting

Hall Bathroom

Completely renovated, new floor, tub, vanity, lighting, shelves, tile, 

Boys bedroom (for sleepovers with Grandma and Papa)

Master Bedroom

Master bath

Completely redone. closed off the hall door, moved the pocket door from the bedroom, tile floor and shower, new vanity and plumbing.

Laundry room

Removed cabinets, moved washer, dryer, added mop sink, added shelf, bench seat at lower right

Deck

We didn't do anything to the deck, just got a table and some chairs.  Adam and Melissa gave us their umbrella which gives us some good shade.

Garden

Yard

That's a brief look at our new abode and some of what we've been doing in the last month.  Hope you all are having a great summer.

Thanks for joining us on the Roadrunner Chronicles!

An Afternoon at the 2016 Corrales Garden Tour

Posted from Bakersfield CA.

Last Sunday, Reid, Amy, Pam and I attended the Corrales Garden Tour.  Cousin Linda lives in the village was again on this year's Garden Tour Committee.  She was at one of the six home on display.   We got our tickets near the Produce Market in town and then followed our map to visit each of homes.

Corrales Valley is next to the Rio Grande and has a good water supply for farming and gardening in the area.

The color of the flowers and Mexican Tile caught my eye at the first house.

 But the noteworthy aspect of the garden was the two very large fish ponds that are kept stocked with sizable ones.

 Many times the gardens are not dependant on lots of water, but rather those that need very little.

 I am about as good at naming plants as I am birds so I'm not much help identifying these fragrant yellow bushes.

These are like most gardens and take a lot of TLC and work.  But they were gorgeous.

 Many of the homes had artists who were set up and painting scenes from a shaded vantage point.

 This might have been my favorite home where the homeowner, in blue, gave us a guided tour.

Her mom, in the red top, has been visiting for weeks and did a lot of the work getting the gardens on the property in shape for all the visitors.

This was a typical check in point at a home on the tour.  It is set on the mountainside near Rio Rancho.

 Inside, we found these three authors who also are RVers and were selling their latest books.  I know it would be helpful it I had taken a card and gotten their names and website correct.

Maybe they will see this and add a comment.  Stranger things have happened.

Some of the homes had lots of garden area, others had a few plants along a wall or near the house.  All were beautifully done and many with grass which surprised me.  I figured most would be yards requiring minimum irrigation.

 Some had beautiful porches of this variety.  I like the separated beams with the mesh fabric over top.

 Then the highlight of the tour -- we got to see cousin Linda!  She is very active on the committee and was filling in as a parking director.

 She took time out to chat with us and catch up on grandkids and such.  Priorities.

 This is the last home of the tour and looks across the mesa and Rio Grande and downtown Albuquerque and the Sandias in the distance.

 Each home had a volunteer or two from the Sandoval County Master Gardener group and they answered all our questions.  But here at this back porch view, we mostly enjoyed the breathtaking view.

It was a fun way to spend the afternoon and we topped it off with some dinner at the world famous El Pinto Restaurant.

 It was a great way to wind up our stay in the Albuquerque area!

Thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles!