A Rainbow Day

Being Irish, I believe there is a "pot of gold" at the end of every Rainbow. Unfortunately, This rainbow in the picture starts and ends in the lake!...No gold, no new RV for me. Oh well.
Spring weather at Folsom lake is 5 minutes of rain,5 minutes of sunshine and 5 minutes of thunder,lightning, and rainbows.
I was setting outside, in my favorite "Coleman" camp chair enjoying a "cold one"when this beautiful rainbow appeared. On the other side of that dirt levee is the lake and this rainbow was arced perfectly over the
lake. What a sight! Nature at its finest.
With the spring weather, I have been getting in some nice fishing time. Its hard work but somebody has to do it!
Jeni has been running the pay station in the morning so I can battle the "lunkers". The fishing has been slow but it will pick up pretty quick.
We heard from our "camphost "friends Stan and Diane,and Tim and Shirley. They will be up by us this summer in Oregon so we are planning a "get together"for some catching up and cards(NOOOO,not hand and foot!) It will be great to see everyone again. We all "camphosted together last winter at Agua Caliente County Park in the desert southwest. We all bonded like family. Jeni and I miss them.
Here at Folsom Lake we have had Tues. night cards with our "camphost friends Ken and Barb,and Jerry and Debra. We have been playing "Shang-hi rummy". We stop after an hour or so for food. What a feed! Jeni and I never eat dinner on "card night" as Deb and Barb always bring all kinds of home baked gourmet delights! I can see the calories just jump on my plump "pillsbury dough boy" body as I dine on these delights! Hey, I'm retired. I'm entitled.
Jeni and my youngest daughter,Katie took a road trip to Arizona last week for 3 days.They were going to stay at my brother Larry's place.I emailed my brother and told him Thelma and Louise was headed his way.(you know, the movie)He wasn't sure how to take that message.I'm sure he was mulling over his fate when they arrived! They did have a nice visit and when the girls got back they said they sure enjoyed visiting with Lar. Thanks Larry, your a good brother. I owe ya one!
Baseball season for me is a thrill.I love baseball.I also love football but not with a passion like baseball. I have been catching some of the spring training games on TV and the season is only 5 days away.Poor Jeni, she will be doing a lot of reading this season as I follow my SF Giants. But she will never try to change that channel. Shes too good to me. Shes a Baseball widow but never complains.
Well we have 18 days left here before we trek down to Park Sierra. We have a lot to do before we can pull out. So we better get started as time flies when your having fun! until next time, follow those rainbows.

the camping turkeys.

It is spring at last. And I for one am glad to see it here.
My grandson DJ and I love to go down to the lake and walk the dry lake bottom. We have found some interesting things. Swimming goggles, swim fins, bathing suits, anchors, fishing lures, you name it and we have found it.
This picture of DJ I took about 6:30 pm the other evening. Notice he is still in a t shirt. The weather has been in the high 70s all week and because of the time change, the sun doesn't go down until 7;30 or 8pm. This gives us more time to explore.
The lake is still kinda low for this time
of year. Only 51% full. Where DJ is standing, the water usually is covering this area well above his head.
Saturday, I even went fishing with my son in laws dad Roger. We took his boat out and although we didn't catch anything, it was great to just get out on the water.
Well, let me get to the gist of my title of this blog. "The Camping Turkeys." I was doing my morning rounds,this is where I check to see who came in the night before. I usually register them or get their reservation paperwork to them in the morning. I noticed that site#36 had not come in yesterday so I cruised by the site to see if they were in yet. To my surprise, there was a tent and supplies on the picnic table and......TURKEYS! I went back to the Kiosk and told Jeni that the Turkeys have checked into #36! She looked at the reservation tag and said "no, site #36 is the Hoffmans not the turkeys". I looked at her and said,"no site36 is the Turkeys," and I showed her the picture I took of the turkeys. We both got a good laugh out of that.
Speaking of Jeni, we had "date night" last Saturday night. I took her to a little theatre in "old Folsom called
Sutter Street Theatre. I can't remember the name of the play but it was about relationships between men and weman. Two couples were the whole cast, We really enjoyed it. I'm not a big theatre buff, but I really enjoyed this one. After the play we dined at....what else, Denny's. Its always open!
I took a picture of the campgrounds to show how green it is getting here,and the trees that are starting to bloom.It is really looking like spring. The little bunnies are scurrying around. The turkeys are doing their strutting and the squirrel's are darting here and there. I love this time of year.
We only have about a month left here but it is going to be a busy month. Last weekend the campground was full, and next week will be the same. Jeni and I have to work Easter and that is one of their busiest days of the year, but we will be up to it.
Like every place we have "camphosted" through the years, we have bonded with our fellow camphosts, and we are going to miss them when we leave. Our Tuesday night card games, building a deck with Ken and Bill, installing gates with Mark,Clint and Cherl, at peninsula campground. This is what makes it all worth it.
The kids are all doing great and we have spent quality time with DJ and Alyx while we have been here.With the nice weather,we are hoping to have a big barbecue at the park here for the family before we leave.
AH, spring is in the air. And I for one am a "happy camper" Baseball is starting,, the fish are biting, and I have a spring in my step. Well maybe not a spring but as my Grandson says "like a hurd of turtles!"Yea, that's how I move.

New job title and RV repairs

I'm an outdoor kinda guy. I've worked outdoors most of my life. Office type work is usually not for me, but our hours have been changed, and now we are working 8 hr. shifts 2 days a week. now Jeni and I are working 4 hr. shifts in the Kiosk(pay booth). That's me at the helm all by myself selling tickets,passes,and campsites. Jeni trained me on the computer and the procedures to make sure all the paperwork, and money balance. I have had to call her up to the Kiosk several times but I think I'm starting to get the hang of it. I'm doing my part but, Id rather be outdoors.
We have had some repairs on the RV that has needed to be fixed for awhile and these repairs are not in my "scope of work." I met a guy Jeff Cornett of Blue mountain RV repair. He gave us a great price on the repairs so we had him do it.
Both slideout toppers were ripped and retained rain water. We replaced both of them. Now they are nice and tight and not "flapping" in the breeze. We also had the ice maker in the fridge fixed(water leak). Lastly our awning wouldn't roll up. I have to get on the ladder and roll it up by hand.
Jeff found a broken spring so he installed a new one. I took a picture of the suspect spring. It is a one piece unit but ours broke in half.
I would recommend Jeff as he is very professional, and his prices are very reasonable.
If your ever in the Sacramento area and need repairs, check him out.
bluemountainrvrpr@sbcglobal.net

Our days here are numbered as we are here for seven more weeks. It will go fast so we are starting to get things ready for the move south. We went to our storage place and thinned out our stuff. We got everything into plastic totes for easy traveling when we head to our home base at Park Sierra to move in. We can't wait!
We will get settled in til mid May then were off to Oregon for the summer. We will be camphosting at Cape Blanco State Park in June. Then, were off to the Columbia river where it meets the Deshutes river to camphost at Deshutes state recreation area in July and August. We hope to spend Sept. and Oct. traveling up to Washington.

My brothers and I are sports nuts.Baseball,football,basketball,and hockey dominate our conversations.If we have somthing on our minds or news to pass along,sports always breaks the ice.A call or text to one of my brothers or my son usually starts with some sort of sports refrence about their favorite team and is really code for "how are you doing."A specific refrence to how their team is doing is code for "how is the family doing". A specific question about players on my son's favorite team is code for "how are the grandsons doing.Anyway,you see the pattern.The men in our family,well we are not a very emotional bunch.But we are a close knit bunch.We keep in touch the"Doran way",talking sports.

the awards!

No, the Ranger is not taking me into custody. No that is our volunteer coordinator Ranger Pam Wilson. and she is congratulating Jeni and I on our fine work for the state park where we camphost.
Saturday morning the Parks district had a Volunteer appreciation day for all of the volunteers in the district. They gave us a bag of items and a continental breakfast with some yummy pastries.
There were about twenty some odd volunteers present including 4 camphost couples including Jeni and I.
It was great just to be recognized for all the hard work the volunteers do for the park system. It was sure nice to be noticed.
They gave a special award away for the volunteer of the year. It went to Ken Carter and his wife Barbara.They are camphosting with us at Folsom lake.
Ken and Barb have been working winters at Folsom lake for 6 years and when Jeni and I first started camphosting,Ken and Barb were our mentors.They instilled the camphost work ethic that started us on our way to a new and great lifestyle. Thank you Ken&Barb, your the best!
I snapped a picture of all us camphosts,Ranger Pam Wilson ,and head Ranger Barry Smith. Ranger Smith was the volunteer coordinator back in 2005 our first year camphosting.He was a great guy.Jeni and I knew back then that Ranger Smith was destined to go to the top and he sure did.
This has been a great group to work with and it is amazing how we all get along so well, but we do.
The weather has turned rainy again so it is time to hunker down again. Tomorrow I have an RV guy coming by to get some repairs done on the
rig. The repairs have been mounting and most are beyond my"scope of work".I had another spring go out on the awning so I have to hand roll it up to close it,both slideout covers are totaled,and the pesky water leak in the icemaker in the fridge,that I have attempted to fix 3 or 4 times, is still leaking. So we will "bite the bullet"and get the the repairs done.
I was talking with one of our campers the other day,they are also fulltime RVers.I asked if it was hard traveling and not seeing alot of their kids and grand kids. They replied that they do not get along well with them so they seldom visit them. I asked why and they gave various reasons,didn't get along with their kid's spouses,grand kids too spoiled,and they didn't like the places where they lived. This made me think what great kids Jeni and I raised. We have imposed on them,had them conform to our traveling schedules and entertain us when we are in town, forward our mail,and no help with the Grand kids because we are always on the road. No matter what time of year we roll in, they are always glad to see us. Yes we are on the road alot but we always keep in touch and they know they can always count on us as we do them. Yes we have great kids and because we are not always there 24/7 for them,they know when the going gets tough for them,we will always be there for them.,Our kids Jackie,Dan,and Kate.We love you all.

Busy days

I started this post a few days ago but, the computer gremlins froze up our computer. I thought I had fried it! I decided to have"el jefe"(the boss) look at it. To my amazement, she got it up and running like a champ. Thanks Jen.
We did a little remodel work in our RV bathroom. The wallpaper band on the wall started peeling off, so we removed it and installed a 9" band of textured brass. It's not metal it is actually a thermo plastic. We got it at Home Depot. We also took out the old facet and put in a new brass model to go with the new brass band.
It came out looking very professional. we are looking at pulling out the carpet in the living room of the RV and installing some kind of tile. The carpet is too far gone to try to save.
Me and my "camphost" buddy Ken were at it again this week installing a new redwood deck at one of the ranger residence's at another park in the district. We spent a couple of days on it and the head maintenance guy Bill also helped us.
With the beautiful weather and the onset of spring in a couple of weeks, the rangers boosted our schedule from 4 hrs a day to 8 hrs. Jeni and I are working 4 hr shifts each. Working in the kiosk is not my favorite thing to do but I'm kinda getting the hang of it.There is a lot more activity in the park so we have to be on our toes more. Yesterday 3 groups of scouts came in right at 5pm and I got a little behind . I had to call in the Calvary(Jeni). She bailed me out in no time. I'm still a little slow and not sure of myself in the kiosk yet, but I'm gettin there.
My grandson DJ loves coming out to the park.He calls me up and Say's" Grandpa,you got the gator today."The gator is the piece of equipment I drive when I'm on duty.Sometimes when he is here I am not on duty so I don't have the gator so he settles for a ride in our golf cart, but his first choice is the gator. I sure enjoy that lil guy as he has became Grandpa's" sidekick".
Our RV is starting to show its age now. It is going on 8 years old and the little maintenance items are starting to mount.a leak in the Ice maker line, a damaged "fantastic" fan cover, a ripped slide out cover, a broken spring in our awning, stained carpet. The list is endless. I finally faced the fact that I need a professional for a lot of my list . I contacted a local guy who comes highly recommended I will let you know how we do with him.
We went to our storage place last week to try to downsize our stuff before we
move it all down to our new place at Park Sierra the last of April. Our storage shed
at the park is 10'x12' so that will be plenty of room.... until Jeni finds out she has extra room
then let the shopping begin! 9 of the 12 totes we have full is filled with various holiday decorations.Which takes up over half of our storage room......whats wrong with this picture?

Pouring concrete and a birthday.

Yes, thats me. Doing concrete work again. The campground needed a curb around the"dump station",so one of the other camphosts,Ken and myself tackled the job.
The wives have been taking care of the kiosk,so us men have to find things to do around the park just to keep out from under foot of the wives!
The weather has been a little better as the rain has subsided a bit and the temps have warmed up a bit. The head maintenance guy for the park, Bill Todd, rounded up all the materials we needed for the job. In about 5 hours we setup,poured and finished the curb. the park has some other little projects they need done and Mr. Todd is going to let Ken and I handle some of them. Ken, the other camphost, has already built a cover over the "camp registration" pedestal and built dividers in the firewood shed. He is a retired carpenter by trade,and a darn good one.Ken and I camphosted here back in the summer of 2005,2006,and 2007 briefly as Jeni and I would come in to work the summer season and Ken and his lovely wife Barb,would head out to Washington after working the winter season here.We all have become fast friends.
Jeni really enjoys working in the Kiosk,selling passes, giving out information about the park, and enjoying the stories the customers come up with to avoid paying the entrance fee! Californians are a"cheap" bunch.
She is the face of customer service for the park.She has that winning smile and can do attitude that they all love.
This last weekend, with the nice weather,and warmer temps,the park was very busy. Jeni handled the kiosk by herself with no help from..... yours truly, and she did a great job. Believe me, when I'm in there helping her,I'm a "bull in a china shop".She just nicely hustles me out of the kiosk,telling me to go"outside and play with my friends".Like a "good boy",I do what I am told.
I snapped a picture of me and the boys after we had finished the curb.Left to right is Bil Todd,Ken Carter, and myself. What a "motley crew!"
Jeni and I have been having our grandson,DJ over to spend the night about once a week as he loves it out here. We give him rides on the" park Gator", and golf cart (when I don't have the Gator).He also loves to take his little fishing pole down to the water and fish. He also likes to walk the lake bottom where its dry.Climbing around on the big granite boulders.
Tuesday was our granddaughter Alyx's birthday. We all met at the local bowling alley,for some bowling and fun. Alyx and her mom and dad love to bowl.Jeni and I haven't bowled(except wii bowling) sine we left Az. back in 1989. It was an ugly sight to see as we slipped and stumbled. we pulled muscles, wrenched our backs,and threw more "gutter balls",
than DJ. The pic is of one of his "gutter balls". But I think he had a better score than we did!
Alyx and her friend Jessica were bowling"incognito" to avoid the embarrassment her grandparents bowling was causing them.
After bowling,we all headed to the "Mongollian Barbecue" for dinner. It was kinda" Chinese buffet" style, but it was good.
Jeni and I were talking the other day about the best thing we love about "camphosting". Aside from the beautiful places we have been and the wildlife we see,we think it is the wonderful people we have met.The park rangers,and park Ade's at the different parks we have volunteered at.Every one of them have treated us well and we have enjoyed them all. The people we have camphosted with that we have bonded with and forged friendships with.
A lot of them we still keep in touch with. I think that camaraderie, and friendship keeps us young at heart and active. We can't wait for our next volunteering job in Oregon this summer.
Thanks to all of you, Jeni and I are better people because of you.

RAIN !

It has been raining for 3 days and the forecast calls for more rain the next 3 days! I've never missed the southwest as much as i do right now.
To get out, we headed to a new casino for lunch. Red Hawk Casino, nestled in the foothills just off Hwy 50 east of Shingle Springs. We opted for the "buffet" lunch which was a deal at $9.95. We were seated by one of the big windows that gives you a view of the surrounding area. Unfortunately the low clouds and rain diminished the view to about 500 feet. The food was very good by buffet standards. We usually eat at the cafe as you only get one plate.I always help my self to that dreaded 2nd plate at the buffet and pay later.
The park has been slow. Only 2 campers in the last couple of weeks. Three days on and six days off is not working for us, but we will tough it out til April 21st. After that, we plan to head to Park Sierra to move our stuff into our storage shed and participate in "Stagecoach Days" April-22 to April-25. We will probably stay 2 or 3 weeks , to get a feel for our new place, then head to Oregon for our summer jobs.
I like taking walks in the morning.usually 1 or 2 miles. I check the campgrounds,day use area, and the bike trail as I walk. It is a beautiful area to walk, no traffic, not crowded, and when the weather's good, It's Assume.
Last Saturday we watched our Grandson DJ while my daughter and her husband went out. The next day Jeni and my daughter went to the movies and left me to babysit DJ. What were they thinking! Me babysit!!! I got football to watch, and it's raining outside. Hey the little guy was a trooper. We bowled,played with "monster trucks",and drove the golf cart down to the day use area to check things out as DJ says. I didn't babysit him, he babysat me!
I think I will go to bed early tonight and dream of sunny warm places and swimming pools.Hopefully the sun returns here soon.