8/22/10 Hello from sunny Sacramento. We are set up on the property of RV friends Ron & Carol Leonard in anticipation of starting work on our Woodland rental tomorrow. Our new tenant expects to move in Sept. 1 and we have some painting and fix-up to do before that happens. I suppose, since Elaine's hand is still heavily bandaged, most of the work will be done by ME! Luckily, my hand and foot have healed nicely, and I am probably able to do most of the needed chores. If not, we will merely hire somebody!
Speaking of Elaine's hand, she got her stitches out on Friday, which is what freed us up to leave Park Sierra and drive here. I took a picture of her hand after they took the cast and bandage off and before they removed the stitches, and here it is:

It looks pretty ugly but actually it is healing rapidly. You can see that this was a pretty extensive surgery and why it might take a while for Elaine to get back to 100%.
Last Sunday we had a delightful afternoon with our neighbors, Carol and Alan Rodely up in the mountains having an excursion on a former logging train. It is called the Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad or "The Logger" for short. It is located about 10 miles north of Oakhurst on the way to Yosemite and is a beautiful ride right through the forest. There is a gift shop, bookstore, snack bar, museum, and gold panning area to occupy you while you wait for the train ride. One of the couples from Park Sierra, Rick and Laurie Phillips, work there, and also Al Brunsell, who runs the gold panning. Laurie works in the bookstore and Rick gives the spiel on the train. Here is a picture of Rick in his train gear:

There is a nice shady area near the bookstore where people can picnic and here are the friends enjoying the coolness:

This is the old steam engine pulling the front cars along the 4 mile route

After the ride, we had everyone over for dinner on our patio:

When Carol heard that we were leaving Friday, she arranged a Happy Hour and dinner under our neighborhood tree for Thursday. Our neighbors, Rich & Mary had returned from Idaho, and one of our new members who has become a good friend, Bev Mauck, also joined us.

There is another couple who just became members of Park Sierra yesterday, Glenda & Elleen, who have been joining us for social stuff every now and then and they came Thursday as well. They have been doing lots of bike riding in preparation for an upcoming trip to the Est Coast when they will be riding the Appalachian Trail. Here is their picture:

We were delighted when they called us yesterday to say that they had just become the newest members of our park!
Yesterday Elaine and I stayed at the Elks Club in Fremont so we could see her son, Darran and his fiancee, Marielle, who flew up from San Diego. We also spent some time with Elaine's daughter Tarra, her husband Alonzo, and their three girls, Ari, Alia, and Analy.
Here are "The Moms" with Tarra and Darran:

Here are the two happy young couples:

And of course, we need to put in a picture of the cute granddaughters:

Once we leave Woodland, we will be heading for the Oregon coast, looking for other RV friends, coolness, and crabbing. So if you are going to be in that area, contact us!!

8/12/10 Just a quick update to let you know that Elaine is doing just fine and surely must be healing rapidly. Of course, we can't know yet because her hand is in a cast and covered by a big bandage. Here is a picture of her taken tonight, right after she got out of the shower.

She has even been able to help with some things, such as drying the dishes. She is very independent and tries to do everything for herself, which certainly works for the nurse!
We have also been having some nice meals and happy hours with our good neighbors, CArol & Alan Rodely. Last night their daughter and her 2 children joined us too, but I didn't get a picture. This picture was taken a few nights ago when Carol & Alan were here:

About two weeks ago, Lee & Pat Pond were here cleaning up their lot because they are moving and they gave us some nice chairs, a table and an umbrella. Also a wooden swing, which was in fairly bad shape. So we took it apart, cleaned the boards and painted it and now we have a bright yellow bench to swing on in our yard:

8/10/10 I am sitting in the waiting room at Kaiser, waiting for Elaine to come out of surgery for her left hand. She has something called Dupuytens Contracture which causes the tendons in her palm to knot up and pull her fingers into a claw shape. Her surgeon is the hand specialist here who did my carpal tunnel surgery 11 days ago. I am healing well and was able to drive the car today in order to get her here, and eventually home again. Her recovery will take longer than mine, and I will make sure she is well taken care of. She was certainly a good nurse for me, although I didn't need too much help after the first few days.
So our time has been spent doing chores around the RV, socializing with our Park Sierra neighbors, and trying to catch up on some trip planning. Not much excitement to report in this blog. Since we have never been at Park Sierra during the summer before (it is always too HOT), we were unaware of all the new wildlife that emerges at this time. There are hundreds of new little quail running around in the early morning and evenings and lots of bunnies with their little white cottontails. They blend in so well in the mottled brown leaves that they are hard to see if they don't move or show off their tails. On one of our walks we saw a mother deer with her adolescent. There are tons of pesky woodpeckers which try to shove acorns in every available place, and who even peck on our RV!! There have only been a couple of days in the hundreds, so it hasn't even been too hot.
Once Elaine is released by her doctor, we will have to deal with a vacant rental in Woodland, CA. Then we will head for the Oregon coast looking for some coolness and hopefully, some crab.