Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.

Good morning.
As promised, some more on out trip to the U P.
We arrived Saturday afternoon after a 6+ hour drive. Tom and Dean had arrived just a bit earlier. We set up our site and Joined them to catch up on things since we haven't camped with them for a couple of years. They prepared a nice dinner of sausages, hot dogs, corn on the cob, potato salad and pasta salad, and all were good. Sunday morning, we hopped in our Kia for an hours drive north to Munising to catch a boat tour of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. We couldn't have picked a worst day for this as Saturday was sunny and warm, and Sunday was cloudy, windy, rainy, and cold. But we had non-refundable tickets and the boat tours go rain or shine. At least the rain stopped part way through the 2 3/4 hour tour so I did get a bunch of  pics. Here's a few.....

To give you an idea of the size of these cliffs, look closely at this last pic and you'll see some Kayaks braving the cold. It only reached 58 air temp with a 53 water temp. And did I mention the wind? Fortunately, the boat had indoor seating on the lower level where pretty much everyone was, besides outside seating on top, where a few brave souls sat.
After the tour, we ate at a local eatery and made it back to the campground.
Monday was a relaxing day. The sun came out, but the cold wind remained, so not a good outdoor day. Dean fixed us a delicious breakfast. Then Craig and I went into town to find an alternate route back home as there was construction on the way in. We found a nice easy alternative for Tuesday morning. Then we stopped at the local Kewadin Casino. Not much luck there and we left to do some window shopping. Back at the campground, we loaded up the car as we were in a pull-through site so we would be ready for an early morning departure.
We cooked chicken on the grill for dinner and Tom and Dean supplied some more corn, potato salad and pasta salad and cake for desert.
Tuesday morning, we broke camp, said our goodbyes to Tom and Dean and made the 6+ hour trip back to Lansing.
It was another good trip.   :-)

we're back again!

Good morning.
We've just returned from our latest trip. The previous 2 posts were scheduled so no one would know we were gone.   :-)
You know how Craig won't let me post before we go. He's positive bad people are out there lurking and reading 16 million blogs just waiting  for an opportunity to strike!
Sooo, I find it easier to just humor him and post when we return.
Anyway, this trip took us way up into the upper peninsula of Michigan to a campground just outside Manistique called Indian Lake State Park.

Here's us going over the mighty Mackinaw Bridge.

Sunset on Indian Lake.

That's me!

And our campsite across the road from those beautiful views.
We camped with our friends from Wisconsin, Tom and Dean.
The drive up and back and the stay was uneventful mechanical wise, so it was a good trip!
I'll post more details later this week when I have more time, but today is our only day off and we have lot's to do, and the work week is looking terribly busy.

another trip?

Good morning.
Looks like someone is ready for another trip!

Look closely and you'll see the Kia behind the mo-ho.

It's a snug fit, but it works! All hooked up and ready to pull out!

more garden pics

Good morning.
It's been a very busy week.
Not much else to say, so here's some more garden pics....

Hope your having a good weekend!

Las Vegas update

Good morning.
It looks to be a real busy week at work, at least it's starting out that way.
 We've finally heard from our Las Vegas Realtor.
The reason it's been taking so long, is the appraisal came back way over what we offered. Like about $30,000.00 more. That took our realtor and the listing agent quite by surprise. Sooo, they had to put together a 'dispute of value' with real comparable properties and a breakdown of why our price should be accepted. Then it could take the bank another month or so to respond to that.

Here's a teaser pic of the house......

Despite no grass, they have numerous plantings that give the yards a nice look.
And since homes have been selling in our price range, I'm optimistically hopeful the bank will accept it.
So, we wait some more. Thank goodness we're not in a hurry.  :-)

it's peeling

Good morning.
Goodness! I can't believe it's Tuesday already!
Where does the weekend go?   :-)
Anyway, we came home Saturday after work and relaxed on the deck.
Sunday, we walked and I burned up a huge pile of branches while Craig did his usual bookwork.
I think I've finally got all the winter damage trimmed up.
Monday, another walk, and shopping and I painted the front patio.

 The reason I paint it is when they ran water to the house, they cut out a section of the slab. The water comes in under the kitchen sink, under that side window. And there were also spots of concrete that had surface degeneration, so I patched over it and then painted it so it looks more uniform.
Also Monday, I cleaned up the inside of the mo-ho, so it will be ready for our next trip. It feels odd not talking very many trips this year, as we were planning on going out to Vegas to work on our house.
Which we still don't have yet.  Day 113 now, but who's counting.  :-)
And if you ever think of getting a London Plane Tree for your yard, consider this.....

 Craig had this planted about 20 some years ago. He picked it because it has a nice broad crown for shade and he loves the cool mottled pattern on the trunk.

But, he obviously didn't realize, for the mottled look to happen, the tree needs to shed it's bark. As the tree grows, the branches expand and the bark splits and peels and falls to the ground. The above pic is just 4 days since we mowed. And this will go on for several weeks.
Now time to enjoy our last day off.

hosta Friday

Good morning.
It's been a steady week in the Salon so far.
A few gaps here and there. I was able to get an oil change and  we did manage to get the mo-ho yesterday. Hope that's it for repairs this year.
And of course, more garden pics.....

hostas around planters framing the gate.

Hostas behind the house including my blue giant, called Blue Angel.
Two more days of work before another weekend, which is looking to be real nice, I hope.  :-)
Now off to work.

It's day lily time

Good morning.
Here's a few of my 40+ day lilies blooming now....

The gardens are at their peak right now. And we've had so much rain, everything is nice and lush.
And speaking of rain, yesterday was a wash-out as scattered rain made it too wet to do anything outside. And thanks to this polar cold wave, yesterday reached only 65. We should be in the 80's this time of year.  :-(
And I did get news on the mo-ho. Something about a bad manifold gasket. Sooo, $300 bucks later and it'll be road worthy again.
And no, still no news on the house in Vegas.
Still all and all a nice weekend.
Now it's back to work.

and off again

Good morning.
It was a very busy week in the Salon, and I'm enjoying the weekend.  :-)
It was a beautiful day Saturday, and we came home from work, fixed a couple of drinks, and sat on the deck.
More rain came through Saturday night, but cleared by morning. After cleaning the Salon, I worked in the yard trimming bushes and weeding.
And here's a few yard pics....

miniature hostas in bloom.

red Bee balm.

along a border bed.

And I can't remember what these are but they're very cool looking.

Today, I take the mo-ho in for a knocking noise in the engine. It only makes the noise when it's in gear, and Craig thinks it's the same noise we had 3 years ago when we had warped manifold covers.
I have no clue what it could be, but I'm hoping it's a minor issue. We'll see.  :-\
Now time to go.

and....back to work.

Good morning.
Well, we got another inch of rain yesterday, so it was a mostly inside day. We did get some running around done and I made a big batch of kale chips.We've had over 4 inches of rain in 2 weeks.  :-\
I didn't get the rest of the mo-ho waxed due to me, I think, straining a muscle near my shoulder.
So I've been taking it easy trying to let it heal.
Here's a couple of pics I took with my phone on our walk on Saturday.

We walked through downtown East Lansing that borders Michigan State University.
The building is called the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum. Designed by the Pritzer prize winning architect Zaha Hadid. Unfortunately, they have so many trees around it, it's had in the pics to see the extreme angle of the rippled metal and glass. But it's a very unusual looking building.
Anyway, it was a nice long weekend that always seems to go to fast, and now it's back to work.

a producive long weekend......so far

Good morning.
It's a very wet morning as we had storms a-l-l night long. Got just over 1 3/4 inches of rain. It's been a very wet summer so far after a wet spring.
But here's a few things blooming in the yard right now.....

Well, we didn't get the pile of brush burned on Sunday. The fire dept. wouldn't give us a permit due to winds forecast to be over 12 mph.  :-(
And today and tomorrow looks to be more of the same, so maybe next weekend.
Craig did get the rock garden cleaned up.

It's currently filled with hens and chicks. A fleshy ground cover type of plant. In the spring, it's filled with a bulb plant called grape hyacinths. Once the leaves all die back, you have to pull them all out, which Craig did. The area in front is bare due to the excessive rain we've had. They don't like wet soil at all, and will quickly rot, which is what happened here. I think I'll just add more rocks to the front.
I waxed a good chunk of the mo-ho.

The front, back, one whole side, and the caps. The caps are what I call the curved metal that joins the rubber roof to the fiberglass sides.
I also polished the wheels. It's looking pretty good for a 12 year old motor home.  :-)
And, we still have today and tomorrow off.
Five days off with no place to go feels kind of like retirement. I think I'm going to like that.  :-)
and now, time to get going.

lovin the long weekend

Good morning.
I've just come in from washing the mo-ho.

 Nice and clean and ready to wax.
It was a very busy although very short work week.
Craig and I went in yesterday for one customer each so we were there only about an hour. Then we went for a walk and got some groceries.
Brought them home, then went to Reno's for lunch as a weekend treat.
I spent the afternoon, trimming up bushes and trees so Craig can burn them up tomorrow.
 I also trimmed back the evergreens near the corner of the house.

I needed to open this area up a bit more as this is where we drive the car around the house when we put the car on the car caddy for RV trips.

Here's the big pile of brush ready to burn.

And just around the corner of the house, another view of the back yard.

With the weather looking good again today, I hope to get a good start on waxing the mo-ho.

So time to get Craig up and get going.

short work week.

Good morning.
A few more pics of the yard......

Thunderbolt hosta.

The new grass path winding to the back of the arbor.

Blooming Pickerel Rush.

It was a nice weekend, but I didn't seem to get a whole lot done.
I trimmed out the last of the winter storm damage, and I now have another big pile to burn.
I also spot weeded the lawn. Like to keep it mostly grass.  :-)
I've got a very busy, but short week in the Salon due to the up coming 4th of July. Both Craig and I are actually working a couple of hours on the 4th, to get people in this week. That's okay, as we have no plans for the long weekend.
We were hoping to be in Vegas getting the new house together, since the 45 - 60 days the realtor told us the short sale would take would have been early June. By the time I decided it was going to be a no go, I couldn't find any available campgrounds. So we'll be home the long weekend. Maybe I'll get a good start on waxing the mo-ho.
So anyway, time to get to work.