August 5, 2001
Still sitting here in Nicolaus, CA, at the TT park (or "preserve" as the Thousand Trails people prefer) getting mom all settled in her new home in Orangevale. Actually, we stay here for two weeks, and then have to be out of the TT system for a week before spending another two weeks at one of their parks. Our last "out" week was spent in the parking lot (they call it an RV park, but there's not a blade of grass to be seen - just blacktop) at Cal Expo. They have the greatest shower arrangements of any park we've been in, but that's about all we can say for the place. The showers are all private rooms with a toilet, sink and shower, and we've never had any hint of running out of hot water. Of course, when the temperature is in the triple digits, we don't really use a lot of very hot water.
Not that music is a big part of our life, but on the left is our 10-year-old granddaughter Holly from St. Louis giving an impromptu concert for some very appreciative neighbors of mom's (mom is hidden by Holly). Holly's mom, Kerry was kind enough to sing "Summertime" with her, and it was a joy for all of us. Both quite accomplished. On the right is one of the last pieces of furniture we have to sell from mom's old home. Anybody interested? We'd be making a real deal, since we hope escrow closes this week.
And the clock is the last to go. We're hoping it doesn't sell, and that son Rick and his wife Lynn will "store" it for us. But since Lynn had her home completely furnished when she and Rick married and moved into his already well furnished home less than a year ago, they really aren't hurting for things to use up space.
Then again, maybe music is a big part of our lives. On the left behind the American Legion member is Barb, friend and fellow resident with mom, Geny, and hiding behind the palm frond is mom in the blue. At the piano is the guy standing on the left (right picture). He was the "cruise director" for the SS "FountainWood" (name of the facility they all live in), and was taking the residents on a cruise of the world, telling of the sights they were seeing in the various ports of the world, and then playing a piece from that country on the piano. Entertainment like this is a weekly affair (or more often, we're not really up on the schedule) and the residents really seem to enjoy it.
Then we took a few days off to catch up on stuff around our own home, and one morning decided to play tourist. On the left is the line we had to stand in to be able to take the tour of the Jelly Belly factory in Fairfield, CA; on the right you can see some of the reasons I was willing to queue up.
They would not allow us to take pictures of the actual production process (which was a lot of fun for us to see), but nothing kept us from buying "belly flops" by the bag (the imperfect ones). The picture of President Reagan is, of course, made from Jelly Belly's (he was an avid Jelly Belly fan as you know), and there were a couple of "bugs" all painted up standing guard at the main entrance to the factory and its visitor center. We were fascinated by the Christmas tree taffy process. The candy maker first makes this long green taffy roll into the shape of a tree, complete with the colors needed for ornaments. The roll is about a foot in diameter and probably about 3 feet long. Then he wraps the roll (with the help of an assistant) in three layers of white taffy that appear to be about two inches thick each. By this time the roll weighs over 100 pounds. The next step of the process was the most interesting to us. This roll at this point is still about 3 feet long, but by now is about a foot and a half thick, begins the process of being shrunk by running through a series of rollers. At the end, it's the diameter of the candy you see in stores, but it's stretched out a loooooong way. And in each little piece that's cut off the roll (only about 1 inch in diameter by now) is a perfect little tree with ornaments surrounded by white taffy. An amazing process to see.
Monday (tomorrow) we'll visit with mom's accountant, then run more errands getting the details of her life's change all taken care of. Hopefully escrow on the home will close during the week, and by the end of the month things should have settled down and we'll be back on the road again, heading north. Weather hasn't too been unbearable these last few days, but it's starting to climb today--right now, it's 95 outside and 81 inside. Supposed to continue to get hotter tomorrow and stay for a while. Whoopie.