Kay was totally “booked” with social activities this morning. She participated in a Naomi Circle meeting at Christ of the Hills United Methodist Church for most of the morning, and then joined the neighborhood ladies for lunch and catching up on the latest news.

I drove west of Hot Springs Village to investigate possible off-grid camping sites on the shoreline of Lake Ouachita, driving through Mountain Pine, AR, boyhood home of “Bobby Bones”, America’s most popular CW deejay. Using the search function in Campendium, I drove to Cedar Fourche Campground, a US Army Corps of Engineers facility.  I was looking for both dispersed and primitive camping sites. According to boondockerswelcome.com, Dispersed Camping is camping in an RV, a tent, or without any form of shelter, for free, outside of an established campground, on public land (owned by some level of government), without hookups, or access to other amenities. Primitive camping is usually via tent or natural shelter, including “under the stars” that is absent water, electricity, or other man made amenities (sometimes a picnic table and/or fire pit is nearby). While driving around Cedar Fourche, I noted a few birds, wildflowers, and a butterflies and stopped to make photos of a camouflaged Great Blue Heron, blooming Guara wildflower, and a Fiery Skipper.

Note: I highly recommend Campendium for you campers out there. Campendium.com is an app I heard about watching a Getaway Couple VLOG episode on You Tube. Here’s what an article in a recent Smithsonian Magazine said, “Campendium provides listings of free overnight RV parking and tent camping sites from Maine to the Mojave Desert. While these aren’t on private lands, some—such as trailside in Moab, Utah, or along the sands at the Mouth of the Rio Grande River in Texas—feel equally as exclusive.”

In a June 3, 2020, article, Condé Nast Traveler said,  “Campendium is a useful tool for sorting campgrounds throughout the country by location, price, variety of hookups, and even cell reception (the latter is for members only), with loads of reviews from other users.”

Wednesday evening, we enjoyed happy hour with other Paddle Wheelers in the parking lot of the Coronado Fitness Center.

Happy birthday to our daughter, Karyn (actually, Kay’s daughter, my bonus daughter).

I procrastinated signing up for Monday golf, and with great weather, the courses are heavily scheduled. Thus, tee times are difficult, if not impossible, to obtain a few hours before one wants to play. So, no golf today. I had also procrastinated about repairing both the powder room and guest bathrooms as the flush valve on both were in disrepair. Half-hearted adjustments lasted only a few hours or days? Wishing nothing scheduled, I undertook that project. After cutting off the water and disconnecting the fill valve on the guest bathroom commode, I unbolted the tank and removed the flush valve. (I would have done this sooner, but bought the wrong size flush valves from Lowe’s.) the new flush valve was installed, the tank bolted onto the bowl, water connected to fill valve and then turned on. It flushed so nicely! However, there was a slight leak, and after tightening the tank bolts several times, all was well. The same fix was performed on the powder room commode. As is most often the case, this project took much less time than expected. I should have done it sooner.

Dan Olson and I traveled to Middle Fork Barrens Natural Area to photograph the season’s last butterflies and wildflowers. We were surprised to enjoy a bit of luck as there were more butterflies than expected. Also, there were a few remaining wildflowers in bloom (I need to work on wildflower photography).

Dan Olson and I drove to McClellan Beaver Dam Trail early mid-morning on Saturday to make photographs of any incoming migrant birds. Not long after getting equipment set up and beginning the walk, several people show up from the Animal Welfare League to walk dogs. A lot of noise and movement does not make for good birding, so we left there and drove to Cooper Preserve on the east side of Hot Springs Village. There, we found several neat plants and blooms along the trail, but lighting was so poor that I failed to get many good photographs. As the sun rose higher, we moved into the open area and noted several butterflies nectaring on what few blooms were present.

As an early birthday present, Kay and I offered to keep Ridge and Aker overnight to give Mom Karyn a break. Kay met them in Benton, and brought them to our house. They are so at home here—warms the cockles of our hearts. Ridge grabbed the iPad and began playing games while Aker and I played with unicorns and horses. It’s not to bad getting on the floor to play with her, but getting up is a real chore! Sunday morning, Kay met Karyn again at Benton to return the kids as Ridge had an early soccer game. We enjoyed a quiet afternoon (really quiet after having the two grandkids) and played bridge with the Morrises Sunday evening.

September went by in a blur, mostly because of Covid-19 disrupting so many daily routines, including social activities so necessary in retirement.

Little was planned for October 1. Kay had a social outing with The Book Club friends living in Hot Springs Village (practicing social distancing, of course) while I played golf.

Friday was a BIG day for us! Up early, we drove the 200 miles to Memphis to meet newest granddaughter, Sutton. Just over a month old, she sleeps a lot, and hardly cries. Her big sister, Harper, mothers her as only a mature 8-year old can do. And, speaking of Harper, she is attending school virtually, with a live teacher and students; all of her school is being conducted virturally.  She uses a school-provided computer, and seems to be progressing well. Little brother Linc is into everything, climbing upon and over the furniture and anything else on which he can get a hand or food hold. Mom Jenny is doing great. We’re so proud of the woman she’s become! While there, she and I hung a porch swing that belonged to my mom and dad. Jenny spent many hours at their house on the swing, pushing it back and forth with her foot agains the cut rock wall—great memories.

On the way home, we stopped briefly at Costco for gasoline and to have my hearing aids cleaned and serviced. We returned home, tired from being on the road all day, and enjoyed a quiet evening watching British television.

It’s entirely possible that I’ve undertaken too many projects; a few are completed, some are underway, and a few have not yet begun:

• install Extend-a-Stay tee to RV propane tank
• Commode repair for house
• Dishwasher repair for house
• Designing and building briefcase solar system 
• Replace resin in RV water softener
• Add gutter spout to RV
• Make shock cords for RV awning and sunshade
• Clean and reorganize RV storage
• Collect and organize tent camping equipment

While we were visiting Norfork via motorhome last weekend before last, I installed a Camco Extend-a-Stay 4-port brass tee as an addition to the RV propane tank. This will allow us to both use an auxiliary propane tank and semi-permanently connect the gas grill to the tank. Using auxiliary tank will save enough money in a couple of months to pay for the system as delivered propane is up to $4 per gallon versus taking the auxiliary tank to be filled for just over $2 per gallon, and we use about 5 gallons per week when it’s cold. (One gallon of propane weighs 4.2 pounds. A “full” 20 pound cylinder should have 4.7 gallons or propane in it.)  Thus, that project is finished.

On Tuesday, while Kay played golf, I began another long-awaited project: printing, matting, and framing photos. And, after the first photo was printed, one of the ink cartridges required filling. Ink had been preordered to refill the cartridges as new OEM cartridges are very expensive. The fill job was almost error free, though I did spill a little ink on the scale, but it wiped off (mostly).

While the print was drying, I measured and cut mat board; this was not error free as I made more than a few mistakes. Nevertheless, the mistakes were learning tools, and the double matted photograph looked good, especially after being framed.

Wednesday morning Kay played golf with the Lady Duffers and shot a decent score. She continues to improve each week, and that is quite an accomplishment considered she has only been playing five years. I had a follow-up video visit with the doctor, and except for cholesterol being too high, all was well. Kay and I played pickleball with the Paddle Wheelers Wednesday evening, and she played an outstanding game. Again, she did not “do” sports growing up, and this is all new to her. After the pickleball matches, we met with the other Paddle Wheelers for an appropriate socially-distanced happy hour.

Still quarantined from church via doctor’s orders, Sundays are much like other days. I have been neglect in watching services online, and need to catch up! God still exhibited His wonders as sunshine and warm temperatures brought a few creatures out to pose for photographs.

Kay asked that a photo be made of her blooming hibiscus, and I accommodated her Monday morning. The shrubs are now four or five years old, and we have kept them alive despite dry weather, winter, and now the deer. They are kept in the crawl space under the house during the winter, and somehow manage to survive and green out again each spring.

I played golf Monday afternoon, and scored pretty well for a duffer. Kay attended a pickleball lesson Monday evening.

Tuesday morning, the motorhome was readied for the trip back to home at Hot Springs Village. There was surprisingly little traffic, making the trip a pleasant drive through the Arkansas countryside. After arriving at the storage facility, the motorhome was unpacked, and we made our way home, to continue our abnormal normal life.

Wednesday was a special day for Kay as she celebrated her ??th birthday.  It was a relatively quiet day as Covid-19 has upended any sense of a normal celebration. The pandemic has heightened our awareness of debilitating viruses; consequently, we made sure to get flu and pneumonia injections. Kay received both injections, while I got only the pneumonia shot having received the flu shot last week. To formally celebrate Kay’s birthday, we dined at Diamanté Country Club, only the third time we’ve eaten out since mid-March.

We were back to our routine on Thursday, as Kay had lunch with the “Old Girls”, a group of women with whom she taught many years ago, and I played golf, though not so well!

The season for hummingbirds in our area is quickly drawing to a close. The adult males and females have left, leaving only juvenile males to make their journey south. We’ve been blessed to have a half dozen hanging around the feeders, each guarding and defending his small territory. With a couple of branches off dead trees as props, they provided the perfect opportunity to make photographs. Meanwhile, Kay played golf with her Friday group, comprised this day of 7 foursomes. 

Despite feeling uneasy about it, Kay and I traveled to Maumelle to watch Ridge play soccer. Interestingly, a large signed at the entrance to the field warned of Covid-19, and strongly urged people over 65 to not attend. We met Karyn and Aker, and while masked, did our best to socially distance. Ridge’s team was a bit undersized and outmanned, but he played well.

After breakfast, we drove to Mountain Home for a rare shopping trip (at least for me) as there were some items I needed/wanted from Home Depot and Harbor Freight. After a quick trip into these stores, we drove through Mountain Home for a look at any changes that have occurred since we left the area 5 years ago; there weren’t many, except for several bank closures. The we left in 2014, there were 26 banks in Mountain Home; at least 5 of those have closed. Loretta brought pizza and salad for an early dinner, and our visit continued. We sure do miss our connection with them, and I particularly miss having coffee with Wayne every mornin and fly fishing many, many days—such a dear friend! Those were the days…

We awoke to 47° this cool Sunday morning—wonderful! It was a great morning to stay in bed and catch up on news and social media. As Kay says, we “lolly gagged” most of the morning away. 

We had a simple brunch of eggs, country fried potatoes, bacon, and toast. Wayne Bodenhamer visited and we continued to “catch up” on all the happenings in and around Norfork, and talked a little about solar energy. Loretta soon joined and it was almost like ol’ times.

Excusing ourselves shortly before 3 PM, we vacated the 30 amp site for a 50 amp site with water. Since we were only connected to electricity, packing up and moving proved to be fairly easy. After settling in, Richard “Dick” and Carolyn Todd visited. The Todds were very close friends during our 10 years living in the area, and we did much together. We had not seen them since leaving. Again, it was great getting current on mutual friends and happenings. We are so blessed to have had such close friends and neighbors. 

Five years ago we were in Hot Springs Village looking for a new place to live, having received and accepted an offer on our house in Norfork, Arkansas. The Norfork house was my/our dream house in the woods, Dunnhill.  I spent almost two years designing it before deploying to Iraq in 2003.  And then, upon return, a fabulous builder constructed it over a 10-month period.  We moved in on May 13, 2004, on a rainy day.  With almost 5,000 square feet under roof, ceilings as high as 19 1/2 feet, and located in the woods, we loved living in it. But, life happens… Please allow me to get a bit melancoly as I look at the following photos.

So, today, September 19, we returned to Norfork for only the second time since leaving. The RV site awaiting us a US Army Corps of Engineers Quarry Park campground was soon filled with the motorhome and toad. With only 30 amps of electricity available, the front air conditioner was turned on despite the cool weather. One of my dearest friends and former neighbor, Wayne Bodenhamer, was notified and he immediately drove the few miles to visit. We had last seen him and Loretta in December 2018 in Mission, Texas, where we both wintered. Though we talk on the phone often, it was so good to see him. We talked solar energy and configurations, and he did testing on various solar components I recently purchased. With his advice and counsel, I plan to build a 200-watt solar suitcase system. Before he departed, Kay loaded him down with chicken tetrazzini, and several desserts.

With smoldering campfires all around us, the motorhome was kept closed. We ate leftover chicken tetrazzini and a green salad for dinner, and streamed British TV show before turning in for the evening.