YCGL - May 1 - 18, Running hard to fall behind

 I decided that I would stop at April and start again in May because I'm so far behind and it didn't make sense to make the last one longer.  So here goes.

Selling the motorhome:  I talked about happy and sad in the last blog.  This was one of them.  I took the motorhome out on several outings in the fall of 2021 after Sally died.  Then in the spring of 2022, I took two long trips to Las Vegas and Phoenix  and to Minnesota, pulling the car behind on all of them.  And two things struck me, one, It was too big for one person, and two, while it was comfortable to be in it, it really felt lonesome without Sally in it.  And maybe also, after nine years of ownership, I was ready for a change.  So I bought the RAM truck and the Outdoors RV 21RBS (made in La Grange, OR!) last July.  I didn't want to do a trade-in at that time, primarily because there were a few repairs to be made.  However, I couldn't find anyone in Laramie to do the repairs, so it sat next to the driveway, literally in the shadow of the trailer.  It wasn't getting any newer, the tires were beginning to age-out, and I still had to pay for insurance and tags.  So, May 1st, I drove her to Bish's RV in Cheyenne and put her on consignment.  It was bittersweet to say the least.  

The Pa-Ma was a bit of a joke.  The motorhome was first sold by Paw-Paw's RV in Gulfport, MS.  When I bought it in Houston, it still had the original stickers on the back.  As I was pulling the sticker letters off, I saw the "A-PA" was left, so I put a P in front and flipped a W over to make the M.  I always liked that kind of down-home feel.  

It's listed in Bish's Cheyenne inventory, but it doesn't list any of the special things that I felt added a lot of value.  I'll see what happens.  I'll run by tomorrow when I'm headed down to Fort Collins.  

This coming weekend is going to be special.  Jere's son Robert and his wife Liz are expecting twins.  We are having a family shower this Saturday and both Erik and Liz are flying in for the weekend.  Then on Monday, we are going to Estes Park and scatter some of Sally's and Sandy's ashes near Wilb's.  Then the kids adults are flying back home that evening.  They scheduled flights to arrive and depart at similar times so they can travel together.  It is really heartwarming to see them get along so well.  Although, in reality, they always did.  They were far enough apart that there wasn't any competition and they kind of looked after each other.  But it still is nice to see that as adults as well.  

Breaditation - May 5-6 - A couple of weeks ago, there was an announcement in the church bulletin about a bread making class by two Lutheran ministers, one who I had gotten to know when I briefly served on Synod Council before Sally was diagnosed.  After the good Italian bread I made in February and March, I signed up for the zoom class.  There were two breads, fougasse bread and a gluten free communion bread.  The fougasse was made with a poolish, which is a starter made with a little yeast in 3/4 cups of flour and water to a smooth paste.  Its made 12 or so hours before making the actual bread.  The actual bread was made the poolish, flour, salt, yeast and water to a consistency of a pizza dough.  Its then pulled out into an oval and then cut with a knife or razor blade into a tree pattern.  Then lightly baste olive oil to hold a seasoning like "Everything but the bagel", Italian Seasoning, coriander, cardamom or something tangy.  Bake in a 485° for 12-15 minutes until "golden brown".  Only, mine never turned a golden brown, so I baked it longer and it got to be hard and tough.

Everything but the Bagel on the left, Italian Seasoning on the right

The other bread was a gluten free bread made with oatmeal, chia seeds, honey, molasses and gluten free baking mix.  The chia seeds are ground and forms the binder for the rest of the ingredients.  It ended up making six rounds, which I took to church the next morning.  When I showed them to Nate, he pulled the wafers off the tray and he used it for the communion that morning.  That felt really neat.   

Of course, being bread"itation", there were readings about making bread as a spiritual process (sometimes frustration can be spiritual, I guess) and a lot of joking and kidding around by two old retired friends who enjoy bread making.  It was a lot of fun, I learned a lot about different flours and preparations, ingredients, ect.  I'll certainly do their next class.

Aggregate Workshop - May 8-10 - This was the third class this spring.  It was nice that only 14 people were in the zoom class, and I actually got to talk to several of them, especially during the tutorial session (review session) Tuesday night.  I've been having a little trouble in that the longer teaching sections are 1-1/2 and 2-1/4 hours long, with the first being done almost as fast as I can talk.  Since I live alone and generally don't talk much, my vocal cords are having trouble meeting the challenge.  I try to drink as much water as I can and that helps.  Getting old's a bit-h, I get it.  On the other hand, everyone passed so I felt successful with that.  Win!