Raining Cats and Dogs

 7-3-2021 - Saturday

Well, it's raining.  And raining.  And raining.  I can see why they don't invest in a rain gauge, who has time to empty it that often???

We have two small(?) problems with our vehicles.  The batteries on the RV are dead.  We think it's because of the little cooler we have running out there all the time.  And, obviously, the solar panels are not providing any fuel!  Joe is charging them right now, to see if they will come back up.  Otherwise, we will buying 2 new batteries.  The second problem is that the floor on the passenger side of the Jeep keeps getting wet.  Since it never rains in Arizona, we had not seen the problem before we left home.  The first time we found it, we thought the door hadn't got shut good when we went through the car wash.  But it has happened twice since, including today, so it is definitely from the rain.  We have to track down that problem when it quits raining.

And then there's the hurricane out in the Atlantic, although it did get downgraded back to a tropical storm today, so I'm not going to worry about that anymore.

I got a picture of the new truck when it was just drizzling.  I haven't gotten to ride in it yet, but reports say its wonderful.  

We've gone shopping a few times today, usually get caught in the rain without umbrellas.  We even have rain jackets in the back of the Jeep, but haven't been smart enough to get them out.  John parked in the far west lot at Walmart, and so we got to wade through the parking lot and walk through torrential rain to get back to the truck.  That might be a slight exaggeration, but you get the idea.  I tried to take a picture of the rain, but it just looks like a gloomy day.  But sometimes it rained really hard--I saw Arizona had a possibility of torrential rains today, but I think we got them here.

So during our inside time, Andrew gave John a lesson in MineKraft, but obviously John is just a beginner.  Andrew likes to stand right in front of the TV screen, and would give John instructions, but John kept telling him all he could see was Andrew's backside.  

So John gave up, and we all had some relaxation time. (briefly)

John took us to lunch at Culver's, Bridgette had taken her mom and Catalina to Costco.  After we got back from our drenching, Joe and I took a nap.  When we got up, Bridgette's mom and dad were here, and dinner was underway.

Bridgette and her dad put together a feast--hamburgers, hotdogs (John did the grilling, so he helped).  Lots of fruits, mac and cheese, beans, salad, etc.  Bridgette told me I better take a picture because it might be the only dinner she fixes us.

After dinner, the rain settled down to a drizzle, then finally stopped. And the thunder and lightning finally quit too.    The kids got to play outside, on scooters, and bikes.

Catalina chose running through the puddles, with Dory.

Then, they went SNAKE HUNTING!  Catalina was the driving force behind this adventure.  She checked out the yard, then John took them to a little pond down the street.  Fortunately, they didn't find any snakes.  

After the kids' baths, we played RummiKup and Tug of War before sending the kids off to bed.  It's great to just get to spend family time with all of them.  The weather could be better, but if it isn't rainy, then it's hot and humid.  Florida in the summer is just that!

The RV battery problem got resolved.  The batteries just got depleted because of the little cooler, and no solar.  They recharged and we are back in business, didn't have to buy new batteries.  We think John tracked down the source of the water in the Jeep, there's a spongy thing under the hood that seems to be absorbing water when it rains, then somehow it drains into my floorboard.  Tomorrow they are going to try to figure out a way to stop that, and John said we could get the shop vac out to dry up the standing water.  Hopefully, that will be the end of that, because I'm pretty sure we will get rained on again here.

Tomorrow is supposed to be a dry day, the only day for the next week that it isn't forecast to rain.  However, depending on Elsa, that's likely to change.  I will continue to monitor that situation.  

Happy Fourth of July!!!

Truck Shopping

 7-1-2021 and 7-2-2021 - Thursday and Friday

We have stayed pretty close to the house the last two days.  Joe and John made another trip to Lowe's, but finally finished the electricity box in the garage.  Bridgette said next year she is going to rent an Air B&B in Marathon (on the Keys) again, and not go to Indian River, because it was so much more relaxing.  She thought maybe for a month, and she could do a blog, and John could read about what she and the kids were doing since he wouldn't be able to take a month off work.  His statement of the day:  "Fishing, and reading about fishing, are not the same thing.  But sometimes the results are the same."  

We've got to watch the kids play.  Catalina spends a lot of time playing with her horses.  She was ponying one around the living room here, and Andrew got the gun and started shooting them. 

Then the dogs added to the chaos.

Joe and I went to Lowe's.  The Jeep was hot, and Theo wasn't very happy.  It gets pretty hot in there sitting in the sun when the windows are up, and since it rains every day, the windows have to stay up.

We went out to Beef O'Brady's for dinner, then went to a couple auto lots -- Bridgette is in the market for a new truck.  The salesman at the car lot couldn't find the keys to the truck.  And it was on the back row of the lot (no golf cart).  And it was raining, of course.  We thought she had found the right one, and came home to think about it overnight, since it was raining.  But when they went back this morning to look it over in daylight and no rain, John saw there was rust spots on it, and had found out it had come from New Jersey.  So they backed away from that one.

Today, after breakfast, Andrew had to go to the dentist again, to get a cap on his tooth.  That didn't seem to bother him too much. Joe and I went to Camping World and Lazy Daze to get some things for our RV, the rest of them went truck shopping when they got back from the dentist.  We caught up with them after lunch in Tampa but eventually we had enough so we went back to their house.  About an hour later, they called for us to bring them checks and John's computer, they had found one and were making a deal.  So off we went again.  We got the kids and took them to get some dinner on the way home, and then let them play outside until dark.  They were ready to get rid of some energy.  

They rode bikes and scooters, and Andrew played some basketball.

They had some scooter races.

Finally, we went in, got baths, and played Rack-O until the parents brought the new truck home.  By now it was 9:30, so it was really too dark to check it out.  We will look it over better tomorrow.

Everyone is tired.  Time to go to bed.  We are now officially on hurricane watch.

Horse Riding and Dentist

 6-30-2021 - Wednesday

First, meet the critters:  

Sophia - 3-4 months (she's Catalina's)

Dory - 1 1/2

Izzy - 15 (she's the only one left of the original 4 dogs they had in Texas)

Chewbacca - 4 (Joe's trying to teach her "4 on the floor."  She likes to put her front feet on you on the couch.)

Butterscotch - around 5 (She mostly stays out of the way.)

Today Andrew had a dentist appointment at 8:30 to have a molar removed to make room for his permanent molar.  Not a fun way to start the day, but he wasn't nearly as worried about it as I would have been, so I tried not to influence him.  We were in charge of feeding Catalina and getting her to her horse riding lesson.  We breakfasted at McDonald's, with her trying to hurry us up all morning.  We got to the stables an hour early, and this isn't a great environment to wait in.  This stables is not an elite riding park -- it actually could do with a bit of sprucing up.  But they have horses, that's all that counts.

They had a field trip going out on trail rides this morning.  There were 16 in the first group, and 16 in the second group.  The second group was getting ready to go out just as we finished our session.

Eric gives Catalina, and John, a hard time about Catalina's helmet.  So I checked out some of the ones the other kids were wearing.  I think she is right in fashion.

Catalina

  This might be Scooby Do

We had a long wait, and Kelsey, the trainer, was late for the first time.  Bridgette and Andrew got there right at 10, when her lesson was supposed to start.   Andrew is chilling out with Grandpa.

Nurse Bridgette keeps replacing the gauze, but Andrew is having a hard time keeping his tongue out of the empty space.  And it is still seeping blood.

Finally, Catalina is ready to ride.  The trail riders took Jacob, the horse she rode last week, so they had to find her a different one.  She ended up on Moosey.

She looks awfully little on that big horse!  They made a few laps around the arena, then practiced circling the barrels.

The trail riders got back, so Kelsey put her on Jacob. (Beautiful horse)

But the reins were too short, and Catalina couldn't sit up straight, so Kelsey put her back on Moosey.

Andrew hung in there.  He said he didn't have any pain, but as soon as Catalina was done in the arena, Joe and I took Andrew home while Bridgette waited for the finish.  I got my turn holding our wounded warrior.  

It was hot and humid, and we got a pretty good rain storm in the afternoon.  Andrew got to veg out in front of the TV, a rare event.  Bridgette, Catalina and I went shopping for a little while, then John fixed dinner and we had an evening at home.  We watched the Tampa Bay Lightning Bolts for a while, but couldn't stay up late enough to see them win.  They are 2-0 over the Montreal Canadians in the Stanley Cup Finals.  Meanwhile, back in Arizona, the Phoenix Suns just won the Western Conference and will now advance to the NBA finals.  

On the weather front, John saw on the hurricane watch there there is a tropical storm forming in the Atlantic that could possibly hit Florida early next week (John says now Wednesday).  I don't think it was strong enough yesterday for a name, but this morning it strengthened into a tropical storm and became Elsa, the fifth named storm of the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season.  Something else to worry about!

Tomorrow the kids are going in to work with Bridgette, so we just have to take care of John, who is going to work at home.  Joe is still working on installing the electric line for the campers. We are expecting rain again this afternoon.  It's currently 88 (noon on Thursday at this posting), feels like 97 (humidity 66%).  Wish we could send some of this rain to Arizona!

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