Campland

I know that the whole point of living in an RV is to travel, but it is so nice to be fixed in one location for a while! Don't get me wrong, I love to travel, but packing and unpacking every three, four days or so does get a little old. And having laundry close by and shore power, water, and a dump included in our site is a blessing that I really didn't appreciate until we spent those three weeks in Yosemite (more on that later). At any rate, our space here at Campland is pretty sweet. Our rear end-the bedroom windows-is facing a wide canal that is really part of the bay and I love it! Being able to leave the curtains open most of the time is wonderful and (my favorite part!!) I get to watch all the waterbirds that frequent the canal at different times of the day!! I feel like I am living in the middle of one of the bird refuges up in northern California. There aren't the sheer numbers, but the variety is astounding. I think I see a new species every three days or so. Just yesterday I saw my first ruddy ducks. Very cool, but they were in winter plumage. Not nearly as colorful as their breeding plumage. Some of my favorites are the little blue-winged teals and cinnamon teals, the Northern pintails, the American wigeons (they squeak instead of quack!) and these little brant geese.

And those are just some of my favorites! You can check out all the others I've seen here at Campland on my list to the left. I think I've just about worn Joe out with birds though. He used to at least pretend excitement when I would squeal from the bed in the morning that "There's a new species!! New species!! Where's the book?!!" But I think I've overused that particular phrase because now he doesn't even put down his coffee and come running, just asks me what it was I saw. I have to admit though, he's catching on to the whole bird identification thing pretty quickly (hahaha, success!!). Of course, my totally sweet computer field guide with its completely awesome quizzes and fantastic pictures helps a lot - thank you, Mom, Dad, and Vanessa!

On to other happenings... Joe challenged and passed two of the three sailing certification exams today! Now we can rent a sailboat from MWR off the bases here and float around the bay! We are both pretty excited, but I will definitely need to take some dramamine before we head out. Maybe it was just because we'd had a HUGE breakfast, but just the docks moving with the water were making me feel a little funny! He's got to go do a hands on exam within the next two weeks to officially be able to rent a boat, but for a Navy man who's lived on a sailboat for the past 15 years or so that shouldn't be a problem. Very exciting!!

Well, I think I am going to find my way back to bed and flip through some of those sailing magazines that came in yesterday... :)

Hello Again!!

I am so sorry it has been so long since I have posted! There has been so much stuff going on that I just haven't had the time! As you may or may not know, Joe and I have been traveling around California for the past three and a half months in our 27ft '87 Southwind motorhome. It has been great! I've always heard how incredibly diverse this state is but never really believed it until these last three months. We were expecting to be back in Key West, FL by now, but it looks like we aren't even going to make it out of California! We finally made it to San Diego about two weeks ago to spend the weekend with Joe's brother and we are still in San Diego and pretty excited about staying here! We found a nice rv park (Campland on the Bay) right on the water which is great and have been checking the area out for jobs and schools. It looks pretty promising! The hardest part is getting our resumes up to date. :)

Other big news...I cut my hair! I didn't realize how long it was getting until the lady cut off about six inches of it and I couldn't reach behind and grab it anymore. It is so much lighter now and easier to care for. I really like it!

Well, I have so much more to tell you about our travels, but I'm afraid that will have to wait as Jenny is bound and determined that she needs to go for a walk NOW. Oh well, I guess she deserves an evening of playing ball as she's been alone for a lot here lately since Joe and I have been exploring San Diego. Will post more soon, I promise!

Photos

I have wedding photos online now at http://s367.photobucket.com/albums/oo116/vtuepker/

Finally!! Just a warning, there are a LOT of photos. Lindsay did a great job! Enjoy!

Summertime Blues

Yep, that's right. I've definitely got the summertime blues. I am HOT, TIRED, and work is NOT my main focus right now. I would much rather be spending my time out at the lake or here planning my WEDDING instead of sweating at Turtle Bay. I have come to realize over the summer that scrubbing bird poop off of everything-including myself-is not as fun as I had thought it might be.... What has inspired this rant you ask? I just pulled a couple of extra days for one of my friendly coworkers and just had my schedule changed so that I am covering some more days for her. I just keep telling myself "Man, that check with those full days of overtime is sure gonna be nice!"

Anyway, now that that is outta my system, everything else is going super well. As far as the wedding...As you probably now, I got the invites sent out! And we've already started to get responses back, hooray!! We chose the flowers (a lovely wildflower-ish coral-ish, blue-ish, white-ish assortment with roses, delphinium, daisies, and all kinds of other beautiful flowers), the cake (white with fudge filling and buttercream frosting in a theme matching the invitations) and my dress is done with its alterations and cleaning! Oh and I also found some lovely shoes (you know me, I'm all about the shoes!) As far as the food...Dubes Deli is leading the pack of places we've tried for catering. Their barbecued pork ribs, teriyaki chicken, and grilled tri-tip are absolutely fantastic. We have one more place to try-The Sausage Factory-but unless their food is simply AMAZING and their attitudes drastically improve, I think Dubes may be the place we get our food from!

I am a little nervous about the week before the wedding though. Somehow I got conned into going to the dentist for a cleaning (gosh, what was I thinking letting people talk me into that??!!) and they found out I needed a crown to finish off my root canal (getting the crown hasn't been so bad yet, of course I've only got a temporary right now and have to go back in three weeks for the permanent), I have two cavities that need attention (naturally they are on opposite sides of my mouth), and I HAVE to have my wisdom teeth removed on October 1st. That is only 10 days before the wedding!! How did I ever let them talk me into this (insurance-we've finally got it!)? Is 10 days enough time to recover from this? They said that because my wisdom teeth haven't broken through my gums yet and since they aren't rooted in my jaw bone yet it should be easy and relatively painfree. I still opted for a heavy dose of vallium though (is one pill really enough??). Wish me luck!

Anyway, have a good Labor Day weekend y'all!

Better Together

Guess what, guess what!!! I'm ENGAGED to be MARRIED!!!! I am SO EXCITED!!!! :D Joe asked me to marry him on July 3 after we were walking back to the house from the river! I, of course, said yes!! AHH!! I am so happy and excited!! And then he asked me again two days later and got down on his knees AND gave me a beautiful diamond ring.
And you know what, I haven't hurt it or my finger yet. :) So when is the big day?? October 11, of this year. Less than two months away!! Oh my gosh, I've got so much stuff to do! Planning a wedding definitely takes more work than what they show in the movies...But you know what, we've got the spot, the invites, and my dress, so it is all good.
I am so happy because I am so much better when we're together. Love ya, Joe.

Turtle Bay

Wow! Exciting news!! Vanessa is now working at Turtle Bay with me as a Wings of Summer Attendant! She has been working for two weeks now and as far as I can tell really likes the job.In fact, she and another coworker already hold the team record for selling the most feedsticks in a day. Congratulations!

Other news regarding Turtle Bay:
Mom and Dad now have an annual membership! So next time everyone visits we all get in for free! They really enjoyed visiting T.B. while Joe was out here.Mom doesn't look too sure about her little parakeet!
This cockatiel, Duchess (but we can't tell, maybe its a duke) really liked Dad.
And the cockatiel affectionately refered to as The Vulture because of her bare head, hit it off with Joe pretty quickly.
The Eastern Rosella's are one of our favorite birds in the aviary. They are so cute!
The butterflies are really beautiful in the Butterfly House right now too. This Julia is supposedly found in Florida, even down in the Keys, but I don't remember seeing it!
And of course the Giant Swallowtails always impress people because of their size. They always make me think of Michelle and breaking dishes though...:)
The Zebra Longwing is another of our prettiest butterflies.I had to include this picture of the star of the animal show Walk on the Wild Side, Stilts, TB's burrowing owl. He's a pretty cool little bird!And of course I had to include a picture of me. :)

Update

Whew! I can't believe it has been nearly two months since I last posted! Crazy! My only excuse is that I have been very busy over the past six or seven weeks, but I will let you be the judge!

First of all, I've got a new job! Hooray! No more Buz's Crab Shack! No more smelling like greasy fish and having to worry about when the mean ol' boss is in! No more being trapped indoors over the summer or working crazy shifts! Yep, I'm really loving my new job as a Wings of Summer Attendant at Turtle Bay. I get to spend all day outdoors interacting with the public, the nearly 400 parakeets, cockatiels, and rosella parrots in the Aviary, and the hundreds of butterflies from around North America in the Butterfly House. Sometimes I do get hot and tired, but oh is it worth it! I am so much happier at Turtle Bay and less depressed. I think it has to do with the amount of sunshine I get and the great people I am working with. It should be a really good summer!

Joe came to visit for two weeks in late April/early May! We ALL had such a great time and can't wait to see him again. Those were definitely some of the fastest two weeks I have ever spent. Even though I started at Turtle Bay five days after he got here, we still did a ton of stuff. We hiked on the BLM, which were starting to dry out but are still lovely, finally made it up to Whiskeytown for a hike around Guardian Rock and some kayaking, climbed to the Crags at Castle Crags (where we saw not only a pileated woodpecker!!! but a BEAR!!!!!) and did some crazy stuff like tour a couple of million dollar homes. I can't believe you've only been gone a week and a half, it seems like so much longer! We can't wait for you to come back out! And about that guy....

Let me see, what else.... Three nights ago we went to an award ceremony because Vanessa recieved second place in non-fiction at a writing contest! Hooray Vanessa, Congratulations!! Glad to see that we have another writer in the family. Now if only I could bring my writing up to par...

Two nights ago we went to the Redding Rodeo!! There's nothing quite like listening to good country music and watching guys trying to get themselves killed by riding broncs and bulls. Gives the women in the family a thrill every time! Seriously though, Mom, Vanessa and I love rodeo and had as much fun this year as we did last year. The Budweiser Clydesdales were back (they are so amazing and well trained) which this year I found slightly amusing since the "Cowboys' beer of choice" is apparantly Coors, according to the ads....You still can't beat the clydesdales though!

And last night Vanessa and I went to Whiskeytown to go swimming. The water was super cold, so we didn't actually get in, although last Tuesday we did go swimming. You've gotta love Whiskeytown when it starts getting into the triple digits and I predict that we'll be spending a lot of time there and at Lassan since I bought a pass this year. Now if only our car were big enough to haul both kayaks and our bikes and still get up the mountains....:)

Whew! I'm so glad that tomorrow is my Friday! I'm looking forward to a little quiet, or at least more time to spend out and about! And in case I don't get on to post again for a while, have a good week y'all!