Fire and Ice

Actually it was Ice first and then Fire at the Campground. We got Snow! I am told this happens every few years, but the same person who told me that says it is the most he has seen and he has been here since 1992. We had maybe an inch on our car and it was starting to get slushy on the street when it stopped snowing. We are at about 1100 feet in altitude so snow is not common. It was fun and reminded us of Colorado.

About 5 days later we decided that the ground had been sufficiently wet (over 4 inches of precipitation in February so far in 2009) so we lit the slash pile on fire. Actually it was so wet we could not get it started with plenty of lighter fluid, a plumbing torch, paper, dry wood, etc. so we had to come back the next day and try it again.


Valarie is feeding the hummers and other birds here. The other birds fight over the seed and I have seen as many as a dozen on our largest bird feeder. The hummers are like fighter pilots. They come wizzing by your head and they fight too.

For some reason this blog adds the images in the opposite order that I attempted to specify, but you get the idea.

Rain, Rain won't go away and that is a good thing!

It is raining here which is great. The clouds get soaked with humidity and than dump on us. We have gotten .5 and .65 inches for the last two days and it is nice to sit out on our porch and watch it fall while listing to some frogs we found out live near us.

If you can't tell we are a little bored, but there is plenty to do. Leaves and more leaves to rake, signs to paint, wood to chop trees to prune AND we might have the internet up here in another couple of weeks. When that happens we will do a better job of keeping up our blog.

Right now we have to go about 4 miles to the this little public library to get the internet and make our cell phones work. We have moved to the country and are enjoying it. Send us email at greggwahl@gmail.com if you like. We check it every few days.

We are here and set up... 28hour drive later

We made it. But not without some trepidation. We ran into every kind of weather including below zero temperatures (Colorado and Wyoming), Ice Storms and snow covered passes (Utah), and heavy rain and Fog (California). Let's not forget the construction traffic jam in Las vegas, Nevada, and the pending 4 hour highway closure on I-15 at Primm, NV. WE beat that closure by about half an hour.

Here are some pictures of our new house. It is a little bit cramped, but we really don;t need anymore space than this. We spend most of our time outside anyway and there is a long list of things to do to keep the park up to speed.

our son Grant was here to visit for Christmas. He slept on the couch. We realize that we need some other sleeping spaces if more people came, so we have a goal to work on an extra bedroom in the back of the Office building.

We are adjusting to a slower pace and being farther away from everything. There is something to say for less stress in one's life and just taking things day by day. I think Valarie will agree that we have made a good choice and we are excited about this new adventure in our life. Today we are at my Sister Wendi's house with her husband Dave and three kids Joey, Micheala and Alexa. Christmas was fun and different with them this year. It reminded us of when our kids were little.

We got to talk with Jeff, our other son, who is in the Dominican Republic with the Peace Corp. and that was great. He is doing well and has plans fto celebrate Christmas and New Years with other Peace Corp volunteers. He sounds like he is doing well and we are grateful for that.

We will post some more Lakeridge pictures soon.

Weather in Colorado is not helping

The weather in Colorado is not cooperating. See the picture below of me shovelling out a trailer that we were using to take furniture to Grant's house and other furniture to Corbett's Auction house. I think we got over 8 inches of snow the previous night.

We are suppose to get snow this weekend too, so we may have to go the southern route through Alberqurque or the Northerm Route through Wyoming rather than the shortest route through the colorado mountains and Las Vegas.

Jeff Wahl - Peace Corps Dominican Republic: Preoccupado

Jeff Wahl - Peace Corps Dominican Republic: Preoccupado

Preparing for the move to Lakeridge

We are headed to the Lakeridge Camping and Boating Resort right after Christmas , unless we can get our house sold sooner (anyone want to buy a big house for cheap?). We are packing each day, holding garage sales, taking things to the Goodwill store, tossing junk we have accumulated and generally freaking out about this huge lifestyle change we are going to be making.

The water is low this time of year (picture taken October 2007) as you can see from the picture. In the spring, during wet years, it comes all the way up to the speed bump you see in the picture of the lake. That speed bump is about a 150 yard walk from the entrance to Lakeridge. Let it rain! The only thing between the lake and us is the local American Legion building which holds pancake breakfasts and parks cars on Summer weekends to raise funds.


This is the office building with an ice machine. Ice cream is for sale inside.















I will post more pictures next time. Wish us Luck!