Not Much New To Report

I really admire people who blog every day. I just don’t think my life is that interesting to report what I’m doing that often! But, to satisfy some of you who have asked, here’s an update.

We’re in Rapid City mainly for our annual medical checkups. We accomplished that task on June 1, exactly one year to the day from our last checkups. I’m scheduled for a mammogram on June 8, again exactly one year to the day from my last one. (The insurance company gets fussy if you do things less than 365 days later.) In the meantime, the doctor ordered a few other tests for me to try to figure out the cause of some recent chest pain. Nothing to worry about, just precautionary. He and his staff were diligent in getting the tests scheduled in the intervening week, so it looks like we’ll still be able to hit the road again soon after my mammogram.

In the meantime, I lost a small filling on the back side of one of my front teeth. We found a local dental office by driving by it on our way to Wal-Mart. We stopped in, caught them at a good time, and within 45 minutes I walked out with the tooth fixed! It cost about $100 more than it would have in Mexico, but then we’re not anywhere near Mexico and won’t be for the next 5 months or so. And I won’t be worrying about breaking the rest of the tooth while it was weak. I wish every fix in life was that easy!

We enjoyed getting together for dinner with friends while we’ve been here. One group was composed of some Hart Ranch workers we’ve known for a few years. The other group was a few Escapees Boomers in the area. Both were fun gatherings. Another couple we met last summer rolled in a few days ago. We recognized their distinctive Blue Bird bus conversion as they passed by on the next road in the park, so we rode our bicycles over to say Hi. They decided to become full-time RVers last year, without ever being in an RV before. We were one of the resources they contacted to ask lots of questions in preparation for buying, equipping and beginning to live in an RV. Now, almost a year later, they are loving their new lifestyle. It’s great when things work out for new adoptees in the RV world!

My hands are rarely idle. While watching TV or riding as the co-pilot in the car or motorhome, I usually knit or do other handcrafts. I recently finished my 5th ‘lapghan’ (lap-sized afghans) for Soldiers' Angels. It feels good to be able to contribute to make injured solders more comfortable while they’re recovering from war wounds. Then I took some time away from those projects to make Don a lapghan.

I was lucky to find colors that closely match the decor of the motorhome (see the window valance in background). He uses it for afternoon naps, and it adorns the foot of the bed at other times.

I’m also in the process of finishing some placemats that have been in the works for a long time, and were put on a back burner. The two on the left are knitted from ivory and dark green cotton yarn, and the two on the right are made using Swedish Weaving, with variegated acrylic yarn woven into monks cloth. I previously made similar placemats, so now we’ll have 4 of each type. I just need to put the finishing touches on them, and they’ll be ready for dinner.

We’ve been wanting to go kayaking, but the weather has been changeable, with rain, wind and even some hail in town. The amount of rain over the past month or two is evident by all of the creeks running high; some of these creeks are normally dry, and this is the first year they’ve had any water in the past 10 years! Spring Creek runs next to Hart Ranch. We considered kayaking it, but there are too many fallen trees, making navigation unpredictable.

I hope this brief update is of interest. I’ll write again when I have something more to say!