Dog Days of Summer already at White Pines~

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Evidently it's going to be a hot, muggy summer here at the Pines. Humidity and high temps are so unappealing, aren't they? Last night we had a campfire, but all sat way back so the heat wouldn't affect us. Crazy, huh? The boys, Phil and Jim, sing each night, "put another log on the fire," and for the past two nights Phil has played his accordion. He has two tunes, both potential polkas with the oomph-pah-pas, learned down pat. He loaned me his squeeze-box, like a mini-accordion, (that they found in Mexico years ago) to get a feel for the squeezing, chords and buttons. The dogs kind of covered their ears today in the RV as I practiced. Addie was under the dinette, but Jake sat right before me, seemingly very interested in the orchestrations of the wheezing bellows. If we ever do meet Phil and Rose at Quartzite, Arizona, in the winter, we'll have to go to Mexico to find a street vendor selling these things.

Jim is on the park's old (John Deere) 'Gator most days picking up trash and cleaning campsites. Yesterday I permitted several sites, and got to them on the 'Gator, blasting over hill and dale, off-road...yahoo! (It's scary, but fun!) We're going down to the ford one of these nights around 9pm, using the 'Gator, to drive through the water in search of the big-boy bullfrog that comes out that time of night. Jim's seen him several times, and said he isn't shy. Last night, Jim, the corgi-kids and I took a 10pm stroll under the almost full moon which looked so pretty through the pines. The fireflies were out in record number and lit up the 50 to 60 foot white pines like they were Christmas trees. Such a delightful sight. We didn't need a flashlight because the moon lit our way. Today, Tuesday, we had a downpour & thunder. Addie hid in the rv's bathroom. The outside temp has dropped down to 69 degrees. There's only a handful of campers in the park. The lodge's restaurant is always busy though, and locals come up for BB-Q or a good supper out in the woodsy setting to get away from fast food joints in town.
Jim used his day off to fix things in the motorhome, like the noisy water pump, now insulated with foam along the water lines. I made brownies in the convection oven....a first try in baking. Next try will be a meat dish of some sort. It's a little confusing, more so than a regular oven, which we don't have. We have the 3 much needed storage drawers below the range instead, so I need to conquer the microwave/convection combo!

We'll be working at the park entrance gate all weekend. Office phone number is 815-946-3717.
Come visit anytime, or give us a call !
You would really like it here.