We are having a wonderfully drippy soggy end to the week. The rain started lsst night, and it has been pretty persistent all day. Fortunately, the leaves on the trees are still fairly green and securely fastened so we can still look forward to some fall color. Actually, we are supposed to be back to sunshine by the middle of next week.

Colleen is taking care of last minute details before she leaves for New Zealand and Australia next Wednesday. She and several friends are attending a wedding in New Zealand and then she will travel to Canberra to see Bassim. He is taking her on to Sydney to meet his family. She will be gone for three weeks. Wish it were me!!

We have accumulated a few nice bottles of wine over the past year (it is difficult to accumulate when one continues to consume) so Ken spent some time streamlining the storage and tracking. Our basement stays at a consistent 62-64 degrees so he has hung long slim shoe bags from a crossbar, and each pocket is good to hold one or two bottles of wine. Then we set up an Excell spreadsheet to list what we have. Actually this all sounds rather elaborate for a mere three or four cases of wine, but at least we know what is down there.

We have not watched any of the debates, but my sense is that Bush could be in trouble what with Iraq and job losses here at home. And from what I am seeing and hearing, I think he is being out-maneuvered by Kerry and Edwards in the debates. Actually, I am uneasy with both candidates, but I guess those are my only choices.

We attended the Tacoma RV show yesterday and I am confident the sales staff outnumbered the buyers. I did an informal survey while driving back from California this week by counting Bounders, Winnebagos and "other" class A's. For every Bounder there was a Winnebago (4 each over the course of about 150 miles) and for every one of those there were 5 "other". Since we are Winnebago owners, we decided we wanted to see why the popularity of the Bounder. Two dealers at the show were Bounder dealers - but neither had one to show!! Go figure.


We have our confirmation for the month of January at Cocopah Resort in Arizona. It is an RV park surrounded by golf links - or golf links surrounded by RV parking spaces. Should be fun! Gary, do I need additional comprehensive insurance against flying golf balls?

Have a good week end and keep in touch. Ciao