01-31MAY20 - Sultan, WA

Saturday AM, 02MAY, having had enough of not seeing the kids/grandkids because of staying home to stay safe as directed by the Governor, Corrie decided to take a “care package” to them in east Bremerton.  So while observing social distancing guidelines she takes the ferry to deliver homemade pie & other goodies – apparently grandkids consumed Dan’s jerky & it was gone by lunch?

Saturday, 09MAY, time to turn on the house A/C.  Dan spends all morning try to get the 67yr old Ferguson tractor going so he can bush-whack the back two acres.  Tractor sits for over six months in barn every year & fires up every time when spring arrives – this time not?  First Dan makes sure entire fuel supply is ok; then removes air filter to try starting w/full air flow; finally removes spark plugs – all four fouled & gapped completely wrong – problem solvedJ!

Sunday (mom’s day) sunny with wind.  Rebecca, Raymond & grandkids show up for mom’s day.  Great to see them but social distancing not very enhancing to the gatheringL  But still great to see them, even without hugs & kisses.

Other than our friends Rich & Jan Formisano stopping by for a nice visit on the 26th; the rest of May was spent staying home & doing choirs, like:

>>>hooking up the old Ferguson tractor to our wood chipper to get rid of some debris piles that we have accumulated on the property over last ten years.  These pile consist of small trees & brush we have cleared, as well as windblown debris from storms.

>>>battling the yearly infestation of seeds/spores from the cottonwood treesL  Cottonwoods are a tree that grows like a weed & is impossible to kill (if you cut the trunk down to the ground it will immediately regrow from the stump unless poisoned with highly toxic herbicide injected into the stump).  For those of you who have never dealt w/cottonwoods the seeds are airborne on cottony structures that allow them to be blown long distances in the air.  Once on the ground they will keep “floating” around until they cling to something.  Often times they form large clumps when on the ground.  You soon learn to keep garage doors, workshop & shed doors closed for the several weeks that the cottony seeds are in the air & will float into every nook & cranny inside a building if a door or window is open.  Biggest headache is when they are sucked up by engine cooling fans & clog the radiator!  Then after all the seeds have fallen, the catkins the seeds were on fall to the ground & lay there forever unless you rake then or mow over them.  We have looked at cutting the trees down, but they would fall on the neighbor’s property; & the cost to clean-up & remove debris was too highL

>>>Dan started to build an outdoor potting workbench for Corrie.  For some reason not finished & now on June’s to-do list?

>>>The old adage says April showers bring May flowers.  Well because of extra time staying home we have repurposed the saying to – Corrie’s extra April garden hours, have brought extra May flowers!

Although early May started as possible third driest on record; ended being one of wettest May’s on record for Seattle.  After almost three great summers, we are back to the typical Pacific NW weather.

01-30APR20 - Sultan, WA (still under COVID-19 lockdown🔒)

The entire month of April was under Governor Inslee's COVID-19 “lockdown order”, or as Washington calls it – Stay Home, Stay Safe!  Being retired on a fixed income, while living in a rural area w/few neighbors, it is very easy for us to keep our social distance.  But it still isn’t pleasant, especially w/Washington enjoying phenomenal weather during the first half of April (on track for the second driest April on record!).


Although over the last few years our RV BLOG almost never has anything to say about us RV’ing, we usually can discuss other events like visiting grandkids & kids in east Bremerton, day trips to Seattle, dining and/or social activities in Monroe & Snohomish, visiting friends & family in local area, etc.  No longerL


Not even Easter in Bremerton w/kids & grandkids to decorate eggs w/grandkids & then watch the easter egg hunt.  Just the two of us; & an excellent dinner prepared by Corrie.  Now all we have to tell you about projects or mundane chores around the house/property.


One unique project for Corrie was making facemasks for both kids & their family, as well as us.

For those of you who have visited our place, you know Corrie has always spent a lot of time on her flower beds & the vegetable/fruit garden.  Now instead of a few hours a day spent gardening, she can spend almost all day on it.  Already we have fresh lettuce being picked & eaten.  So far looks like bumper crops ahead for the rabbits to enjoy, & as always beautiful flower beds!

Dan’s main project was to clear out the shop area behind our parked RV.  Turns out all the “stuff” we used to store in the basement of our old RV won’t even begin to fit in new RV, & needs a proper place to be stored our shop/RV garage building.  Not to mention our fourteen foot diameter above ground pool that we dumped on the shop floor for the winter.  Building two 2ft by 12ft shelves should help?

Another project on his to do list for the last eight years was insulate & drywall one small corner of the attached garage (the last section to be done).  So Dan used all the scrap insulation pieces from other projects, to insulate the area & cover it with pegboard finishing 90% of the job – enough to get all the drywall tools, paint tools, cement tools, tile tools, etc, of the floor & on to the pegboard.

Obeying the Governor's Stay Home, Stay Safe, order Dan decided to show his artistic side by taking up painting. Like Van Gogh who was known for his series of paintings dealing only with sunflowers, or Monet & his water lilies series; Dan experimented with a series dealing only with spilt paint?

Oh Yeah – normal spring weather returned & last half of April was wet!  Not even close to any record for driest April.

As before, we are still doing very well; & hope you & yours are doing as well, or better, in these trying timesJ!