Catching Up With the Blog

After reading Dennis & Carol's blog this morning where he mentioned following ours, I decided it was time to get it updated again as I’ve been ignoring it for the last couple of weeks.  We’re still at the Elks lodge in Spokane, WA.  Our daughter and her family lives in Nine Mile Falls and Ken’s brother is in Spokane, and when we had a house in Idaho it was about 60 miles east of here.  So, we find ourselves keeping very busy while here visiting with family, friends, and doctor visits.  Ken had an appointment at Costco on Friday, July 6th to have his hearing tested (huh?).  Due to the results of the exam, he was referred to Spokane ENT before getting fitted for hearing aids.

Our grandson Dominique’s school was hosting a basketball tournament on Saturday 7/7 which we attended.  His school team won the tournament!

Between games, we had lunch at the Zip’s drive-in across from the school.  Kayley (Demetrius’ girlfriend) and the other cheerleaders were holding a car wash, so we took advantage of that and had the truck cleaned up.

In our many drives out to our grandsons’ high school, we pass by the Spokane House (an old trading post) which is not usually open.  As we headed home, we saw that the gate was open and took a quick tour of their museum.

This is a replica of how Spokane House was laid out in the past.

Beaver fur was traded here.

We returned to Laura’s on Sunday for a barbecue dinner.

The week of July 9th was a week of doctor and RV repair visits.  Ken had an eye exam Monday morning and that afternoon went to Spokane ENT for an appointment there after which they scheduled him for a CT scan later in the week.

The part to repair our HWH leveling system in the RV finally arrived at RV’s Northwest and we drove there on Tuesday the 10th to get that back in working order.  We thought they were sending just a circuit board to fix the problem, but they sent the entire control box.  Back at the Elks, we are now able to dump the air and lower the jacks again to get level while parked.

Ken’s CT scan was on 7/12, and after running some errands, we went back to pick up a copy of the results.

Laura’s birthday was on the 15th, and we let her have the day with Bob and the boys since we had left her a gift the previous weekend.  That afternoon, we went to the home of Chuck and Phyllis along with Gene and Kathy (RV hosts here) to discuss a trip that Chuck and Phyllis are planning to TX.  Of course we all had good recommendations of places for them to see during their travels.

Tuesday was my birthday and we spent the day going to Spokane ENT for Ken to discuss the CT scan with his doctor.  He was cleared to go back to Costco to order his hearing aids.  We drove to Coeur d’Alene to order a part to reverse the door on our residential refrigerator, then back to Costco to set up an appointment for Ken to order the hearing aids.  We went to the sunset dinner at Anthony’s at Spokane Falls and it was very good!

Ken had a fitting for his hearing aids on the 18th, they were ordered, and he goes back next week to pick them up.

On the 19th, we headed to Prichard, ID to the home of our longtime hunting partners, Jim and Mary Lou.  We had a long visit with them and went to the Prichard Tavern for lunch.  Mary Lou along with her late husband Walt owned the Prichard Tavern for many years.  After lunch, Ken got everything he had stored in their shop along with our old snowmobile trailer.  We brought everything back to the Elks lodge with plans to sell the trailer.  I put an ad on Craigslist for the trailer Friday morning and Ken got a call about it on Friday evening.  That caller showed up on Saturday and bought it.

After the new owners of the trailer left, we joined Gene and Kathy and Ron and Sandy for a free lunch at R&R RV in the Spokane Valley.  After the pulled pork sandwiches, we all checked out some of the new 5th wheels and motorhomes on the lot.

Ron said this shower was just right!

Saturday evening, the six of us went up to the Elks for the dinner.

Sandy had to cool off with a bag of ice on her head.

Sunday was another hot day in Spokane.  After watching the NASCAR race, we drove to the Spokane Valley Mall to get in a little walk out of the heat.  And after this long catch up post, I’ll try to be a little better and post more often.

Vanilla Thunder Wins Their Bracket!!!!

July 1st was the final day for HoopFest and Dominique’s team was scheduled to play their first game at 9:30am.  We arrived a few minutes late, but that didn’t deter their team from winning that game.  All of the games are played on the same court, so we left our lawn chairs set up and shared them with the family of another team while we weren’t there.  Our lunch yesterday was pre-packaged and we decided to search out something better on Sunday.  We didn’t have far to walk when we found O’Doherty’s Irish Pub and Grill.  We were quickly seated and ordered reubens.  It was a fantastic meal and we would definitely go back if we’re in the downtown Spokane area again.

Dominique’s second game on Sunday was played at 1:00pm and once again, Vanilla Thunder ruled the court!  That left us with a 2.25 hour wait for the final game.

I think this photo will show how the final game turned out:

Congratulations to Dominique and his teammates on Vanilla Thunder!

After a long day watching the games on Sunday, it was back to our normal week of taking care of the usual.  Monday meant a visit to the doctor in Spokane to have a backup plans for our prescriptions when we’re on the road for several months at a time.

We did our volunteering at the Elks lodge on Tuesday evening for their weekly Taco Tuesday.  Wednesday was the celebration of our country’s independence and we chose to stay close to home rather than being out on the roads for the day.  After it got dark, we sat on the deck of the Elks lodge to watch fireworks throughout the Spokane area.  It was quite a view!

The first Thursday of the month is the Spokane Elks RV club monthly barbecue and meeting.  During the week, I had noticed that visiting RVer’s had been grooming and/or letting their dogs and cats sit on the picnic tables in the gazebo.  So, this morning Ken and I brought out the cleaning supplies and washed down all of the tables and benches to make for a more pleasant eating experience at the barbecue.  In between things, I tried to help a friend in Salem get through some computer items she needed help with.  The RVer’s barbecue had a good turnout which really surprised us being the week of the 4th.  There was lots of good food to share, and after the meeting we’re back in the RV relaxing for the evening.

So…until my next update….

Hoop Fest Spokane

I’ve been trying to walk as many days as possible while we’re sitting here in Spokane.  My normal walk so far has been a little over a mile and a half, but I went with Sandy and Kathy (the Elks RV hosts) the other day and that walk was just over 3 miles.  It’s a little difficult to see them, but there are several turtles along the shoreline and a few in the water near the waterfall in Mirabeau Park which is close to the Elks lodge.

We drove into Spokane to watch our grandson Dominique at the Hoop Fest which is a annual event.  This year there are an estimated 30,000 players making up 7500 teams.  Dominique’s team is called Vanilla Thunder and they won their first game earlier in the day and also won the game we watched them play against the Angry Bananas this afternoon.  I’m not sure where they come up with the team names.  Demetrius who graduated earlier this month was also supposed to be on a team.  However, they signed up as a team of under 6 foot tall players.  When Demetrius entered his height as 6 foot 4 inches on his applications, the red flags were raised and he was eliminated from the competition.

Dominique is in the light colored shorts shooting for the hoop in this photo.

And here’s another shot of him with the ball.

His next game is scheduled for 9:30am on Sunday morning and weather permitting, we’ll probably be headed into town to watch again.

Another Week in Spokane, WA

It’s been a busy week for us.  The Elks lodge is closed on Sundays and Mondays, so we spent those two days with the help of Chris another lodge member getting their new video surveillance system.  Ken and I spent most of the day Saturday running cables from one end of the building to the other.  Chris was a big help to Ken on Sunday in placing the cameras in strategic spots in and outside the lodge.

I volunteered and helped out with the serving line on Taco Tuesday.  We drove the RV to RV’s Northwest at Barker Road Friday morning for our appointment to have the HWH system looked at to determine what would be needed to fix it.  The HWH factory didn’t do too well at returning the technician’s phone calls, so it was around 4pm before we left there with the bad news that we needed a new master control board which would cost us just under $600 plus shipping.  It won’t be sent out until Monday if they have it in stock.  If they don’t have it in stock, they will have to build a new one which will take 3-5 days.  We returned to the Elks and we’ve decided that we’ll be staying here until after the 4th of July holiday now.

Other than all of the above, it’s been the usual routine for us during the week.

Demetrius’ Graduation Party

Saturday, June 9th was the graduation party for Demetrius at our daughter’s home in Nine Mile Falls.  Ken and I went out there a little early so that we could help Laura with some of the preparation work.  Our granddaughter Bailie found these glasses to wear.

And here is Demetrius, the graduate.

Demetrius is standing between Mary Ann and Ron, Ken’s brother and wife.

Bonnie baked a special cake for the party.

Here is Tim with he and Devri’s new addition to their family, a little girl named Quinn.

This is Tim and Devri’s oldest child Cooper.

Dominique is Laura’s youngest son (our other grandson in the Spokane area).

Butch and Bailie were here for the weekend from Cheyenne.  Bailie will be graduating in a couple of years.

Bob’s mother and Devri.

Having a new baby meant a lot of passing her around so we could all have a turn.  Kayley (Demetrius’ girlfriend) and Demetrius holding Quinn.

Brandon is the newest addition to Laura and Bob’s house.

Laura holding baby Quinn.

Ken on the right and his brother Ron on the left.

In addition to the cake Bonnie brought, Demetrius had requested another special dessert.  Dominique, Butch and Demetrius are digging into this special concoction of ice cream sandwiches topped with cool whip, then drizzled with carmel and chocolate sauces.  If that’s not enough, those items are repeated and then sprinkled with a generous portion of chopped pecans.

Devri with Bonnie holding Quinn.

Demetrius is looking on as his dad Bob is holding Quinn.

There were numerous other photos of baby Quinn being held by pretty much everyone at the party, but we’ll stop here.  The food and party was fantastic and went by very quickly.

Before flying back to Denver on Sunday, Butch dropped by to join us for breakfast and to say his goodbyes.

I don’t have any photos for the remainder of this week, but we’ve been kept busy with doctor appointments, picking up supplies for a project Ken is doing for the Elks lodge and also helping out in the Elks kitchen for taco night.  That’s all until my next update!

6/8/2012–Lakeside High School Graduation

Lakeside High School’s 2012 graduation was held at the Spokane Opera House on Friday 6/8/12 at 8:00pm.

We’re proud that our grandson Demetrius received his diploma at this event.

Afterwards, he was the photo opportunity of the evening.  Here is is with his girlfriend Kayley.

And here he is with his proud mother Laura (our daughter).

My next blog update will be of his graduation party at their home on Saturday.

Vancouver to Spokane and What We’ve Been Doing While in Spokane

After leaving the Vancouver Elks, we drove a short distance to the Fred Meyer to take on diesel using our discount card.  We headed south on I-5 to the next exit and then started our trip heading east on Hwy 12.  It was Saturday on Memorial Day weekend and we soon found out that there was a bicycle ride also heading east that added to the congestion on the narrow and winding highway.

We drove along the north side of the Columbia River enjoying the scenery.

We passed many spots with numerous boats fishing either in the river or in the small lakes on the north side of the road.

We drove through several tunnels.

This bridge crosses the river as a connection between Washington and Oregon.

Usually on a nice day you can see several wind surfers out in the river in this area, but we only saw a couple as we passed by.

We took a short break at the former site of Celilo Falls which is now under water due to the many dams built along the Columbia in the 1950’s.

There is also a lot of train traffic along this route.

When we got to Hwy 82, we turned north toward the Tri Cities area.  In Pasco, we stopped at a popular market with truck and RV parking for a lunch break.  We have been stopping at this location several times over the years and have seen it grow from a small roadside produce market to it’s present large building complete with restaurant.  Back on the road we continued driving north and at I-90, we drove east to Spokane.  This photo shows us approaching downtown Spokane.

We continued to the Spokane Valley and are now parked at the Spokane Elks lodge which is Ken’s home lodge and our summer base when not traveling.  Last year there weren’t any marmots to be seen as I recall…something had driven them off.  This year is a different story and there are large amounts of them and we really need to watch where we walk as their homes in the rocks apparently don’t have indoor plumbing.

On Memorial Day we spent the afternoon at our daughter’s home visiting and having barbecued chicken for dinner.  We spent a portion of the day last Tuesday checking our the different RV repair facilities so that we could make arrangements for the repair of our HWH jack and airbag suspension system.  We decided to make the appointment with RV’s Northwest at Barker Rd and I-90, but they can’t get us in until June 22nd.

Demetrius is the grandson who will be graduating on June 8th at the Opera House in Spokane and he’s having a busy week.  He was a part of the cast of a play called “The Vain and the Heartless” at his school Monday night.  He is a natural at acting and we were very impressed.

Felts Field is somewhat close to the Elks lodge and we had several flyovers in the last week by bi-planes.

Ken has been trying to find out the problem with our household refrigerator since the icemaker quit making ice.  It was lodged quite tightly into the woodwork and the wood probably expanded since it’s installation as we moved from AZ to the more humid northwest.  He finally got the refrigerator pulled out enough to see behind it and find that the problem was a hose came out of it’s fitting most likely due to a problem with the water pressure.  He reinstalled the hose making sure it was tighter, turned the water on to the icemaker again.  We’re still waiting and it looks like we may have to call for a service technician to take a look at it.  To be continued.

We are getting a cold spell here in Spokane.  The temperatures have been into the low 40’s overnight and it’s only supposed to be in the 50’s for the next few days.  We’re patiently waiting for some warmer weather.