Saturday, March 26, 2011

road trip to Riverside and RAIN

Well its March and were still waiting
for spring to show up.Rain and cold temps have been the norm here at Park Sierra and, ITS GETTING OLD!
In order to get to a warmer climate,we headed to Riverside to see the Grand kids.Actually,to celebrate "the March Birthdays" as two of our Grandsons and our sister in law Martha have birthdays in march.We just make it a big party around St. Patricks day.
All our kids and grand kids except our youngest daughter Katie were there along with my brothers and our sister in law Martha.




Our son Dan rented one of those big "jump houses" for the kids and they played on that thing till dark. It was the ultimate "baby sitter"so the adults could relax.About 3pm the grand kids devised a devious plan to get "ole"Grandpa in that "jump house."The plan was to have my Granddaughter Alyx lure me out there with my ultimate "kryptonite"....COOKIES! Well,the plan failed as they all miscalculated the weight advantage of "the Grandpa!"and,I got the cookie too!



Jeni is resting after wrapping all the birthday presents before we left for Riverside.She is tired but happy.I think she is happy that I just left to go work volunteer and she gets to relax by herself for awhile.She doesn't get a lot of quiet time lately with running 3 committees, doing "movie night"on Sundays along with running "Bunco"on Friday night not to mention working in the park office.I think she likes it though. She has made a lot of friends here.
She is an asset to this park and everybody loves her.She is the smiling face of Park Sierra.



Ok,back to Riverside.Here are the two "birthday boys"
Aiden turned 8 and Nevin turned 4.
That's Nevin riding his new "spider man"bike with big brother Aiden's help.They are two"peas in a pod!"



My brother's Gary and Larry{pictured with his dog Bambi} and I are sports fans "to the max".no matter what season it is,we have some kind of contest going on to pick the winners.Right now we all joined the Fox sports college basketball bracket challenge. You pick all the bracket winners and the national champ. you go on the fox sports website to enter your picks so we went on to enter and a great big "Hooters" ad pops up as the sponsor of the event,well the ladies were not too thrilled with this.My brothers,my son Dan,and I being the "geniuses"we are,assured them this was not the bar
Hooters but was "Hooters Motors"!
They sell cars......yea,that's it...used cars
Well we had them until one of us tried to
explain to the girls that we were required to
go down to "Hooters" motors ,yea that's right
in Riverside.The girls reply...I DON'T THINK SO!!!



After a great time,it was time to head back. We were having such fun we didn't leave Riverside til 3pm.
Of course with our luck ,a storm was moving in. We" high tailed"it and were doing good til we headed over the "Tehachipies"on hwy 58. Snow and wind made driving an "adventure".We pulled in to Loves to get gas...that was also an "adventure". Once we got down to the valley it turned to rain...hard rain! I was so "bug eyed" from driving in the snow,and it was getting dark that I turned the wheel over to Jeni.I don't see well at night so she does all the night driving. She was a trooper as she fought hard rain and wind on hwy 99 all the way home.Being the "backseat"driver that I am,I kept my big mouth shut and let Jeni do her thing.
Thanks Jen!


Home safe and sound but still raining...COM ON! Wheres Spring!
It has rained all week so us work volunteers have moved indoors to rehab our park"stage coach". The woodpeckers,the sun,the rain,and wind has taken its toll on our park logo. We took the coach off the chassis and replaced wood, worked on the wheels,refurbished the inside,and repainted it.It will be ready for our annual"Stage Coach Days" festival in April.Its 4 days of fun,food,games,prizes,and entertainment.
The "stage Coach" cover that we have been rebuilding is about to get started{weather permitting} but probably won't be ready in time for the Festival.





Coach with primer








Coach with brown paint.





The weather has taken a toll on the park with lots of "downed" trees minor flooding{nothing serious},and high water in "Coarsegold" creek which runs through the park.There is a little bridge under that water in the picture that takes us over to the back of the park where we store our landscape rubbish,wood , and landscape materials.Can't get there now!
We finally had a nice sunny day yesterday and everybody was out walking their dogs,gardening,washing their rigs,and just enjoying the sun.But today we woke up to rain again.....COM ON!......WHERE THE #%*_=@ IS SPRING!
enough RAIN!