Today we again saw our local rodent control.  It is a huge snake and over 4 feet long.

The good thing is that it is not poisonous.

The mockingbirds are not amused and have been dive bombing over and over again.

​After all the planning and getting together the items that we knew we needed to buy for the cruise, we had a new problem.

I had a molar break.  Yea, now I needed dental work done.

Luckily a dentist in Clovis had an opening the next day for an appointment.  After driving 82 miles one way to the office, they prepared the tooth for a temporary crown.

After 5 days everything should have been fine but instead I started an infection.  We made a quick trip to the Logan clinic to be checked. Yep! I had an infection. The prescription was called into the closest pharmacy which is 28 miles away in Tucumcari.  There and back used more fuel than the cost of the prescription.

We are both adventurous and have decided to take a different path on a cruise to Alaska.  Shawna and I have never been on a cruise.  Of course, we don't do "normal” so our first cruise will be 14 days and travel far beyond most Alaska cruises.  I don’t think it surprises anyone that we do things differently than most people.

"Research, plan, then do it" could be our motto or maybe it is "Have a plan, alternate plan, backup plan, emergency plan, backup emergency plan, ....".  For the cruise we researched the ports to visit, types of excursions available, cruise companies, and ships.  I think we watched over 100 YouTube videos and read just as many reviews. We waited till the price had dropped to more than 65% off to book the cruise we had selected.

We are very excited about the trip and look forward to taking in all that we can of Alaska and the wildlife there.  I expect to take several thousands of pictures and at least 100 videos.  I have a stack of SD cards to store them all.

Once we are on the cruise it will be difficult to reach us when not in port.  We will do our best to keep in touch.  Our cruise leaves on the 4th and returns on the 18th.

More details later....

Details coming very soon. Ten days and counting down.

We have been working on a lot of projects around the park.  There have been a lot of little jobs but they add up.  Today I will use a lift to replace some street lights in the park and work on some of the security cameras.

On a lighter note, a feral cat has been keeping her 3 kittens in the back of a storage space between the garage and shop.  It has been fun watching each morning and close to sunset when she would bring them out to play and train them to hunt.

We had a storm.  It has been over 2 weeks since we have seen anything like rain.
​
Just before the storm arrived we got down near the front of the park to see if I could get a few pictures of the lightning.  There was almost continuous lightning but almost all of it was above the clouds.

A helicopter tour in Hawaii for our 25th anniversary
​ and a cruise ship to Alaska for our 40th.

On our walk down to the lake we noticed a few animals.

First I thought I saw a Bobcat.  Wrong.  Just regular feral cat.

​  Wrong.  Just regular feral cat.

Then we looked and there was a big doe. She was no concerned at all.  The state park is a wildlife sanctuary and I think all the animals know it.

And a beautiful sunset.

A quick update on what we have been doing.

Last Tuesday we drove over to Albuquerque and picked up Betty.   She had returned from her trip to England, Scotland, and Ireland.

Here are a list of projects we have finished.
Clear out the boat storage.  It was really packed.
Fix some water sprinklers around the house.
Do some minor electrical work.
Put up new 5 mph speed limit signs and No fireworks signs.
Move the water spigot for the 5th wheel.
Move the existing sewer drain and add a second sewer drain by the 5th wheel.  This involved a 20 foot ditch.  The ground here is hard.  Really hard.

I know this is not everything because there was so much going on I have forgotten some projects. Busy. Busy.

We have had some very windy days.  Several days we had 40 mph gusts.  It is normal to have 20 mph wind almost continuously.

We had a threat of rain today.  We could see that the rain was falling.  The problem is that almost all of it was evaporating before it hit the ground.

We even made the local newscast.  Rain is a big deal here.

Of course we did not get anything but drops on a few windows to show for it.