Picnic

We went to Rasar State Park near Concrete WA. It is a fairly new park on the Skagit River with a few trails, all of which I think we walked. We also walked around the campground which is very nice, all paved and could accomodate 40+' rigs with lots of room to back in. We are enjoying this campground which is quiet and for the most part wood smoke free. Here are some pictures from Rasar of the river. We are in the foothills of the north Cascade Mountains.

We were surprised by the white sand everywhere.

Raptor Fun

The weather has been cool here in Birch Bay, so we have not gotten to do much. We did visit Sardis, where our daughter Sarah volunteers. We always enjoy seeing her and the birds. This center rescues raptors that need help. After getting them well, they release those that can survive on their own. The others get to live out their life here, which in captivity is much longer than in the wild. Most are glove trained for educational shows.

This is Tundra, a peregrine falcon, enjoying some time out while they remodeled his cage.



Rosie is a very old great horned owl that was having a terrible molt.




Don't remember this ones name, but it a snowy owl with one good eye.



This is our daughter and her friend Chille, a baby barn owl. Chille came to them as a fuzzy chick with a damaged wing. They knew that she could not be released, so they have spoiled her since her arrival. She has personality plus and is very curious. This was her first time on the glove and she did very well! She will be the star of the show!




And of course I have to add the picture of her and that new baby girl due Oct. 19! She was giving a tour to a group of mostly uninterested kids from a Boys and Girls Club summer camp.

The next day Sarah called to tell us she could see tall ships from her office window in Bellingham WA. Tall ships are worth a trip to see.

It finally has been sunny and warm for these excursions. We have been riding our bikes to Birch Bay State Park everyday now to get our "water fix" and exercise!

Lots of Good News

This week has been a whirlwind so far. Ralph's CT scan was clear of any cancer - everything was the same as last October. He now has an appointment to have his port removed. His cardiologist says he is doing great and will see him again in a year. Now we are working on getting orders for INR and blood tests while on the road.

Monday was the final inspection on the boat and it sold! Tuesday we worked on cleaning out our stuff and finding everything that goes with it. We have the money, the new owners have the title and we have the boat! Tomorrow we will load everything and have it ready to go. On Friday we have to tow it down to a storage marina in the Seattle area as the new owners do not have a truck.

We are so excited about everything and really looking forward to leaving this area!!! It has been a very wet May and June - it has set "wet" records! Just hope maybe we will have a summer sometime soon! Guess we are paying for the warm dry winter we had!

A Day at the Beach

The beach and water called us on a warm sunny summer day here. So we packed a picnic and headed to Deception Pass State Park on Whidbey Island, about 25 miles from where we are staying. Cookie enjoyed the new smells and lots of walking! Finished the day with a soft ice cream cone in Anacortes. Enjoy the pictures of our great day!A boat has come under the bridge and headed to the San Juan Islands.


The bridge that we have gone under many times in our boats.


One of the many beaches, a combination of sand and stones.


Cranberry Lake, a fresh water lake right next to the salt water beach.

Admiralty Inlet with the Olympic Mountains in the background - a perfect picnic lunch scene!

Moved

We are now at the Mount Vernon Elks RV Park. It is a nice little park with huge sites. Lots of parking for visitors so come on over! The owner at the other park decided to get "greedy" so we went looking and found this wonderful place and much cheaper.

Ralph had labs and doctors last Monday. His platelets did not drop any lower from chemo - 72 and normal is 150. Doctor assured us they would not find anything abnormal on his CT scan so to quit worrying - these doctors are cautious about what they say so that sounded real good! He goes back on the 17th for labs, doctor, port flush and then they will schedule his CT scan for early June. He is slowly recovering - sleeping less and his hands and feet have less numbness each day.

For those following our refer saga we do believe it is finally fixed after a year. The new doors seem to be sealing now and it is maintaining correct temps, working on gas and even making ice cubes! The remainder of our repairs/replacements will be done at the factory when we go back in Sept.

We are now on our second Samsung home theater system that seems to be working correctly. Now our living room Samsung television is either being repaired or replaced. Cookie loves laying on the bed with us so she loves the new program - with no living room television we go to bed real early! Everyone tells us Samsung is a good product - guess we got the bad batch!

All the rain we did not have last winter has arrived for April and May so far! Sure hope it gets dry and warm again real soon!

Done - At Last

Ralph finished his last chemo treatment today!!!!!! His platlets were low, but since it was his last they went ahead - Yea!! He has to go in next Monday for lab work to make sure his platlets do not drop critically low. His CT scan will be the first part of June!

Rainy day today so he is sleeping. My first week of jury duty resulted in nothing and now have to call in this weekend and hope I am passed for next week.

Now he will begin to recover and should feel better every day!

More Spring, Travel & Ralph Update

Wow, time has just flown by for us! I was reminded that our blog needed an update (thank you Karen). We have had a beautiful spring, but the showers have now arrived! Yesterday was beautiful so decided to take in the tulip fields along with hundreds of our closest friends - tourists! Here are a couple of pictures.


This whole month will be very crowded here and getting in and out of our RV park will be a challenge. It has changed alot since we were last here in 2001. It is very commercial and they charge for everything now, but people were lined up and willing to pay. Not us - we went where it was free (very few places) and stopped to look at one field where you were allowed to pull over. Those fields are still beautiful with the mountains in the background!

Yes, we will be on the move. We are both ready to "get on the road again". We have decided to use our membership campgrounds in the area that we have paid the dues for rather than continue to pay rent and electric here. Part of our motivation was a healthy rent increase here - we do not mind the owners making a reasonable living but with this increase it appears that they want us to pay for their kids college education and the house they bought in Arizona. So we will move on out and save some money for our trip east. Travel schedule has been updated and once we have confirmed reservations we will post our schedule for going east.

Ralph has 2 treatments left - next one on Monday. The side effects are more intense each time, but manageable with only 2 to go. These will all disappear over time once chemo stops. His oncologist is very pleased with his lab reports and overall health. Once finished with chemo, he will have his port removed - office procedure - and then in 3 months he will have his CT scans and another colonoscopy. Those should all be just fine. He will need to get labs done about every 3 months and sent back here. He also will have a box to use to phone his pacemaker info back every 3 months. It is amazing what they can do now!

We need to do some serious cleaning out and a couple of little projects before we move. Since the basement area is the big one, we are waiting on a few days of no rain and a bit warmer!