Welcome Riley, Totality, and a "We’re Baaaaaack BBQ" Invite

Ending our journey and returning home has been both easier and harder than anticipated. There has been plenty to do around the house and yard to keep us busy and it was easy to fall into familiar routines of housework, laundry, home maintenance, etc. Other things are proving more difficult. We’re having trouble sleeping in our bed at home. I haven’t even begun to pull out the clothes and household items we packed away before leaving. Who needs all this stuff, anyway? Rog commented that it seemed weird that the RV felt more like home than the house we’ve lived in for 34 years. How can one year make such a difference?!  Guess it shows we are more adaptable than we thought and we old dogs can learn new tricks! Now the trick will be unlearning some of them! Lol.

Randi and Ryan successfully closed on their new house, but won’t take possession until August 25^th. They are beginning to pack up and are excited and still a little apprehensive about the move. It’s a huge milestone. Randi often says “adulting” is hard, just wait until they start making those monthly mortgage payments. Lol.

Randi & Ryan's new home - August 25th move in day!

On the upside, we are beyond thrilled to introduce Riley Logan Edington. He is a total joy and already has both Mom and Dad wrapped around his (not so little) paw. The girls have a new puppy-brother and we are back to standing outside at 3am trying to persuade a playful puppy to pleeeese “go potty” so Mommy can go back to bed and “baby” proofing the house and yard.

So happy to be bringing Riley home! 💖

Riley Logan Edington.

We brought Riley home on Sunday, 8/6 and he is already growing like a weed. We weighed him at 8 weeks (19 lbs) and again at 9 weeks (24.5 lbs). He gained 5.2 pounds in ONE WEEK. If my math is correct, he gained 27% of his body weight – that would be like me gaining 37 pounds in a week! How is that possible?! I could eat ALL the ice cream and still not do that. Lol. We’re having way too much fun, it looks like a pet toy store exploded in our house, and after only a week Riley has starting sleeping through the night (sometimes anyway!). Lol.

How cute is that face!

He loves his pool!

He is such a cutie (ok, we may be a bit biased. Naaaah.) and we are working on his socialization. He starts Puppy Kindergarten in September and in the meantime he goes for walks (or is that rides?) on Soos Creek Trail in his stroller.

Riley ridin' in style. Lol. 

On Friday, 8/18, Riley joined us for his first RV trip. We scored a spot at the Beckenridge Vineyard in Dallas, OR for their Eclipse Weekend event. The Beckenridge Vineyard is a lovely property and they have been fantastic hosts. We signed up for the meals/entertainment package which included several delicious catered meals, music, dancing and an Astronomy lecture. The owners, Becky and Ken, love dogs and Riley got lots of pets and attention. His favorite playmate was a visiting Golden Retriever puppy just two days older than him, but not even half as big. 😊  I wish I had video of Riley learning to use his weight, WWF style, for the take down. Lol.

Riley in the RV. He's a little short to see out the windows, but that won't last long. :)  

Beckenridge Vineyard  in Dallas, OR - our destination for the Solar Eclipse.

Settled in for the weekend.

Riley chillin' with his personal fan. Spoiled?? No way! Lol.

As for the eclipse….OMG, it was truly awe inspiring. It was such an incredibly unique experience and I am so glad we made the trip. Rog did some internet research and all the sources agreed that seeing the total eclipse of the sun was worthwhile. Now there’s an understatement. I had no idea how extraordinary it would be. Since we left the decision to come to the last minute I had no special filter for my camera (sold out everywhere I looked), so I got creative and just taped one of the lenses from a pair of “eclipse glasses” over my camera lens. Worked fine and cost $1.99. Lol. The pictures aren’t super sharp, but since most of them were taken free hand I’ve no room to complain. I set up my super zoom camera on a tripod, but only got three shots of the totality with it – the rest I used my trusty compact with its taped on filter. Lol.  

 

Set up and ready for the show.

Rog watching as the eclipse begins.

A collage of the phases of the eclipse.
(I was doing this free hand so the zoom varied quite a bit.)

It wasn’t just looking up either, it was looking around. As the sun was obscured the temperature dropped noticeably, the birds headed for the trees to roost, and there was deep twilight instead of high sun. Just before and after totality there are several cool phenomena to watch for including wavy shadows. As the shadow passed and the sun came back out the neighbor’s rooster went all out heralding the “morning.”  I wonder if he was thinking, “Hey, didn’t I do this already??”

Totality. 10:16:57 AM

Just past totality.

We had perfect weather, clear blue skies and a beautiful landscape. Totality lasted 1 min 57 sec and it seemed to go by in an eye blink. But it was remarkable!! You don’t need any special filters or glasses during totality and it was so cool to look at the corona of the sun with your naked eye and see the red prominences through the binoculars. If you ever get a chance to see a total eclipse of the sun – do it! (Next one in the US is in 7 years starting in Texas, see you there?! Lol.)

Totality. So cool!!

Just a second after totality. Love this shot! :) 

So now for the important part of this post… BBQ!!!  We’ll be hosting a “We’re Baaaaaack BBQ” at our house on Saturday, September 9^th starting at 2pm and you all are invited!  If you have my phone number or email give me a holler and let me know by Tuesday, 9/5, if you can make it. If you don’t already have my contact info, please give me a shout out in the comments and we’ll get in touch. If you’ve followed along for even a part of our journey we’d love to get together and say, “Hey” in person.  

Our next RV trip is tentatively planned for late September and we’ll be back in moochdock heaven visiting family in California. Not sure what other adventures may come our way, but you may continue to hear from us if (when!) we decide to hit the road again. 😊