Social Security and the Southwind

I may not get much more than enough to pay my Medicare part B but I am now on the Social Security rolls. Ain’t it grand. I didn’t have enough earnings to get more than the minimum and I have to pay about 60% of that back because of the Windfall Elimination Provision for Civil Service retirees but I ain’t complaining. 40% of a little is still better than 100% of nothing. I think my math is correct there?

So with that windfall we decided to get a new motorhome. We had looked in Portland in the spring and had thought about it then. But at that time financing was difficult if not impossible and it didn’t work out. Now it has. So we have a new 2008 Fleetwood Southwind 35A. It’s one of the two we considered earlier. There was a Winnebago 35A and the Fleetwood. The 35A kind of refers to the floor plan with some minor differences. In the case of the 35A the major feature is the galley or kitchen and lots of counter space. As Kat says, “there are lots of really neat motorhomes with all kinds of bells, whistles, whiz bangs, and wine racks, but no room to make biscuits.” I may have embellished on that a bit but the point is that it is not the case with this model. I (the cook) have a kitchen now and we have lots of other doodads and neat things.

Now all we have to do is get it loaded. I know we have more storage space but when you are continuous travelers like us there’s lots of stuff that has to find a home. There may be more storage but its different and there is the rub. It’s been a week now and we’re still getting things organized. Thank goodness we have the Oyster Shanty. That’s the little house we’re parked next to where we stored a bunch of stuff during the exchange of coaches. But were about done I think. We’ll know in a few days. We pull out on the 14th.

Slight change of plans for our start direction. We’re going to do a little shake down of the new MH and head back through Oregon before we get too far away from the dealer. Then we’ll head on south and east slowly making it back to the RGV for winter. So we’ll get a chance to see all the kids again. And Toni is coming up this way for a reunion so we’ll see her here and in California on our way south. The only thing certain is that we won’t be anywhere that’s cold. Not if I can help it.

So now you’re probably saying to yourself or maybe to me. He didn’t update the blog with new pictures. All in good time, all in good time. Remember I’m a working man right now and need a little time to get things a bit more photogenic. OK, I went to the Olinger website and got pictures that are our MH. Just kind of sterile with none of our personal touch or surroundings. Later.

Oh! And that Social Security. I got my first check before Kat got hers and its killing her. Remember her birthday song and all that. She applied at least two months before I did. I told her I just have better SS people and am more eligible than she. But I wouldn’t ‘rub it in’ or anything. Well! Maybe just a little!

The Scouts

I’ve met some nice folks here at Scenic Beach. Among them are some of the Boy Scout leaders who kayak in here to spend a night about every week. Kayaking is big here on Hood Canal and around the Sound. Or it seems so to me. The Scouts come in from Camp Parsons across the canal. I see Harrison, the High Activity Director frequently. Harrison is a fairly recent graduate of Washington State University. I was relating my experiences as a scout to him a couple of weeks ago and mentioned that I had started as a Cub Scout way back in 1949 or thereabouts. He just looked at me for a few seconds and said……………………….. Wow!
It may have been 1950. But the effect was fun and its nice to see scouting alive and well in some places. Just last week we had a Troop from Oregon City and I met Don. The pictures show the Oregon City Troop leaving after spending the night tenting in the park. They are taken from the bulkhead overlooking the beach and Hood Canal, viewed generally west with the Olympic Mountains and Hurricane Ridge in the background.

Spike

That would be a proper name, not a verb. It’s our name for the young buck deer who has been foraging at our bird feeders. That and eating apples and corn. Kat bought some bird food that has some corn in it and the birds we have here don’t like corn, so I’ve been throwing it in the bushes. The first time he showed up he was eating that corn from the flat feeder and really enjoying it. Spike is really a ‘two point’, I think that is the terminology (?), if not, one of our woodsman friends can correct me. He’s been hanging around for two or three days now and I think we have created a monster. Now he’s hard to chase away. Of course you have to question our motives when at the same time I’m talking about chasing him away, Kat is buying him pears. She said, “well they were cheaper than apples!” He’s been here so much that Jade doesn’t even seem to think its much of a matter.

Some blankety-blank stole the sprinklers

Because of the exceptionally hot weather we’ve been having I have done lots of dragging of hoses and lots of watering. Especially the rhododendrons. I don’t know if Scenic Beach is technically part of the Olympic Rainforest but if not, then its certainly in the shadow. Probably eight or nine months of the year it is very drippy and wet. The other three or four months its just damp. Anyway the hot, dry weather is hard on the rhododendrons and they really get droopy. So I water. Last week I was watering a few areas and every hour or so moving things around. I came back to one area and three sprinklers were missing. The water had been turned off but it was still puddled around the end of the hose so it hadn’t been long. I went to look for the culprit and asked a few people if they had seen anyone messing with the water. No luck! It really set me off. I could just imagine some little pipsqueak liberal, tree hugging, officious, blankety-blank environmentalist deciding that we were using too much water and either stealing the sprinklers of throwing them in the bushes. I was pissed! Kat came by right about then in the guppy (a little golf cart) and I was admonished for my rather loud and profane language. Well damn! I was thinking I’d like to get my hands on the little sucker, but then with my luck the little #%@*%# would be 6’4”, weigh 300 lbs, and have horns and pimples. I told Shawn about it and she started laughing when I said liberal because that’s exactly what she thought. Did I mention that Shawn is a conservative. We have some good discussions. But the sprinklers are still gone.

I meet lots of neat people. I talk to Russ and Sylvia, a retired couple, who come often and sit by the play area and enjoy a little conversation. We have lots of Scouts that stay in the park as a stopover or destination on their kayak trips. There’s Madison a senior or Eagle scout and last week I met Girl scouts Stephanie, Heather, Jennifer, Sophie and Becca who kayaked in for the night. Most times the scouts will take on a project to help them earn their merit badges or kind of pay for their keep. I usually take them some firewood and they try to feed me. But as you can imagine they’re a good bunch. The camp host Mike is another conservative and he and Shawn and I have some good discussions. And I have fun at the gate meeting and directing folks.

All in all, not a bad way to spend the summer. I’m not crazy about working but if you have to do it this is a pretty good place to be. And like I said before, its not the work, it’s the commitment and being tied down. But with my last paycheck from the State of Washington I have earned enough to complete what I needed for Social Security. Our first stop with the pay stub was at the Social Security office. I think I’m set. I have a telephonic appointment on the 18th and I believe that I am done. Except, like I told Shawn, a deal is a deal, we’re here through Labor Day.

Why is it that there are firms advertising on TV that they can save people who owe back taxes huge percentages of what they owe to the IRS? I don’t get it! I thought the government was a little short. Too many damned attorneys! “I’m just saying.”