Happy Halloween

Hi there everyone,

We have completed our annual trip to the spook fest at the Far Horizons 49 Trailer village resort in Plymouth. We had a great time once again this year. Despite fuel prices being almost a dollar more than they were last year, there was an exceptional turn out. Though the campsites have always been sold out every year that we have been to this event, this year, I think they had a larger turn out of kids. There were a number of folks out Friday night checking out everyones sites. There was also a greater turn out than normal at the Sunday morning Boo Berry Pancakes feast. I'm thinking lots of folks went for the Bargain Breakfast considering the economy and all.

We met some great folks once again this year. There was a very nice older couple that just kind of stopped through for the night on Friday night and decided to stay the entire weekend when they saw all of the festivities going on.

While we were camping we had visits from Scott and Cheryl as well as their son Chad and a friend. We also had a visit from Kevin and his Daughter Daniel and her friend Hannah!

We upped our candy ration from last year. We went from 5 bags to 7, and it still was not enough. There were a lot of kids out 'Trick or Treating' again this year, more than in years past we think. There were a lot of creative sites, but one that was missing was the Family with three girls doing surgery with a lot of screaming going on!

All in all, everyone had a great time. Thanks to the folks at Far Horizons, for a wonderful event.

Happy camping! - Eric -

Ah, my honey had a birthday

Well, on Thursday of this last week, the love of my life turned 47. Though, I'm 46, she isn't too much of a cradle robber, I will be turning 47 in February, but enough about me. Carol had a wonderful birthday celebration over the last couple of days. First thing that morning, she and I went to my office to get our annual flu shot. Then, I took her to Sierra house, a local establishment so that she could have her favorite Breakfast, linguisa and eggs. :-) She then went down to the Beauty Emporium to get a cut and a color. For dinner, we went to Her sister Sandy's for a delicious Lasagna dinner. (Thanks so much sis, the food was great!). We then topped the night off with a birthday cake made by your truly! Please join me in wishing my honey a very happy birthday!

Happy Camping! - Eric -

Life beyond the Cattle guard is calling

We've lived up here in the sierra foothills as a family for 10 years. Katie, our daughter is on the verge of turning 19 and more than likely before her 19th birthday, she is preparing to set out on her own, with her trusty Russell at her side. She has decided she wants to take a new job in El Dorado Hills. There is a position for her as a Optimetrical Assistant at a practice there.

We are so very proud of her. She has grown up so much as a young lady in the last couple of years. Though kids and their parents always have their 'Go arounds', and we are no different, she really wants to be independent. She is concerned about things like is there going to be enough income to pay for all the out go. I think she puts more thought in to this today than I did when I was starting out on my own, moving from Southern California to the Bay area.

Sure, Carol and I worry about if they are ready, if they will have enough money and all of those sorts of things, but at some point, you have to just go do it. This new job really will be a good thing for Katie as it will allow her to have more worldly experiences than she can have in our little secluded part of Amador County. Don't get me wrong. For the most part, Amador County was a good place for Katie to be raise. They have good schools, safe neighborhoods and reasonable cost of living. But it doesn't have much in the way of moderate to high paying jobs available. Also, not many employers in Amador County offer benifits. These are all things that moving to the Sacramento Area will be more plentiful for her and Russ as they move on to their next part of their life. As for all of us when we first moved out, it will be scarey and challenging, but it will be a good thing for them. As we all know, their learning of 'Life' has just begun!

We will be sad to see them go, but we are so very proud of them. Stay posted! Happy Camping! - Eric -

Two reunions and a budding idea

Well, this summer, Carol and I, while in our RV attended two reunions so to speak. One, was of old Kingsmen family that my sister Karen and I, to a lesser degree, were involved in for years. Then there was Carols family re-union. At both events, the topics of computers came up in one, way, shape or form and in all the cases, a recurring theme came up. That I should help people with their computers. Well, I kind of already do that, but it became obvious to me that there are a lot of RV'ers out there in this world who need a resource to turn to in order to help them to better understand their computers.

There are a number of approaches I could take in this regard. I could start doing seminars at some of the local RV parks, but what topics should I cover; how in depth should I go? So many questions so few answers. What I need to do is sort out my thoughts. So, I decided by starting to write a book for my audience.

One of the things I do a lot of at my job is documentation. I don't do a bad job at it. I'm not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but I do a fair job. And, all in all, I don't mind doing it. It allows me to put my thoughts to paper, for posterity so to speak.

So, I have started. Currently I'm working on the introduction and I clearly have a long way to go, but since money is tight and the economy is in the dumper right now, we can't afford to RV every weekend as we would like to, so this will give me something to occupy my time with, in a constructive fashion.

Stay tuned and Happy camping! - Eric -

The daily grind

Hi there all,

Well, things aren't as bad as the title might imply, but the summer fun is over and we are returning to the 'Daily Grind', so to speak. As you can see by reading previous entries into the blog, our summer has been a very busy one with our trip to the Pacific Northwest as well as the family reunion. We are now almost finding our selves looking for something to do, or a better way to say it is, we are forcing our selves to slow down our pace a little bit, 'cause the summer was so hecktic, but enjoyable, for a large portion of it.

We are all doing fine. That includes the two legged and four legged members of our family. Roxy continues to surprise Carol and Myself that she is still with us. We really didn't think she would make it to the trip through the northwest not to mention survive it, but she is a tough girl and she continues to be active with the other dogs and ever vigillant about the goings on around the house.

Carol has completed her mid-term for her studies in the field of Medical transcription. She only missed 1 question out of 100, so we are all very proud of her. She is about 4 months into the schooling and half way through the studies. She will have an un-paid internship after she completes her studies to help her finish her abiltiy to 'Get up to speed' as a Medical Transcribing Professional, but we know she will do great.

I am making headway on my Telesphere 6.0 implementation. With every new version that I get from the folks in Montana, we get a little closer to a product that will work for our needs. At the same time, I'm working on a replacement to a program that I wrote some time ago, that the company uses to manage the DSL customers. The new version will be more tightly integrated with the Telesphere Software. We have heard some rumblings from Vendors that compete with Telesphere that they are on the way out of the Telephone Billing software business, but they continue to answer the phones and respond to our problems, so at least at this point, they are still in business. We hope so, 'cause we really don't have any other option any way.

Well, that is about it for now. Take care all and stay tuned. In a couple weeks we will head to Plymouth for our annual pilgrimage to the Halloween Festivities at their RV park there.

Happy Camping! - Eric -

The Waite family reunion Part 2

The 2008 Waite family reunion was a rousing success this year. The weather on Saturday turned out to be glorious. It was a little cloudy in the morning which helped to keep the temperature reasonable so no one got overheated during the events.

The first event of the day was the egg and spoon race. Sandy Ealy won this event over all other competitors.

The next event was the Water balloon toss. Eric and Todd Waite teamed up to be able to heave their balloon the farthest with out busting it.

Kim Medford and Brandee McCann won in their efforts to beat all others in the three legged sack race.

Sandy Ealy headed up the team of 'Lead Bottoms' to win in the 'Tug of war'.

Eric and Bill Waite won in the Horse shoe Tournament.

There was wonderful food for dinner on Saturday night and as always, Kevin McCann served as Family DJ.

Many voiced an interest in attending a reunion again next year at the same place. The folks at the KOA were very helpful during the weekend and made all of our efforts that much easier.

The fun has begun!!!

Hi there everyone,

Greatings from the 2008 Waite family reunion. Well, the majority of the family arrived Friday and everyone is having a rip roaring time already. We had a great gathering at the Fire last night with lots of great conversation. We are happy that so many have been able to attend. We're hoping for a few late arrivales today to help round out the celebration.

The morning today will start with various games culminating the the Tribal goblets being awarded to the winners of the horse shoe tournament. There will also be an informal Potato Salad competition 'cause so many members brought Potato salad as a side dish. There is a also a special celebration that will be at the end of the evening as well, but you'll have to stay tuned and check in later to find out what it was! :-)

Have a great day and Happy camping!

The Waite family reunion Part 1

Hi there everyone,

Well a few of us intrepid campers have started to establish the site for the Waite Family reunion. The early arrivals were Calvin and Joyce on Wednesday, Mike and Theresa Nigro and Theresas mom Shirley on Thursday night and the rest of the clan will start to arrive early Friday morning. We have a full schedule planned for this weekend with the games and stuff taking place on Saturday morning, weather permitting. There is a ampetheater that we can hold some events in if the weather gets too wet, but we'll have to wait and see what happens. The attached video shows the campground before the campers arrive.

Happy camping! - Eric-