In Hot Water and Loving It

I have always loved a good steamy hot bath. The hotter the better. It always helped shorting colds and relieving the symptom of the flu. At least I think it does. But that maybe my excuse to take one. Now we have hot tubs/spas, so now I can have a hot steamy bath (minus the soap) with other naked people.

Ginny and I use to go to the Grand Central Hot Tub Company in San Jose when we started going together. It was great. A little private room with a sauna, hot tub and place to lie down to cool off. $20 an hour if I remember right, and worth every penny of it.

All the nudist resorts we have been to have had them. The center of social life it seems. We have three here at Laguna Del Sol (LDS for short with nothing to do with the Mormon religion). Two at the main pool and one in the Big House near the indoor pool. They are all in ground with railings to help a person get in or out. One of the ones near the main pool is called a conversation spa. Lots of people can be in it at one time and the tempeture is a little lower, so you can stay longer.

When we first started coming to the ranch, we were in the hot tub for hours (only had one then) talking to all the new people we would meet from all over the world.  It was new and exciting. Old hat now.

When we moved to Madera back in ’85 (Pre ranch). We had a pool and later added our own portable hot tub. It seated 8 and had a volcano jet in the middle to massage your feet. Never seen another like it. Loved it.  When we move permanently to the ranch, we received special permission to bring it with us. We had to have a fenced-in yard and keep the cover locked when not in use to protect the kiddies. Ours was the first private hot tub at the ranch. Only a few people have them now. None as grand as ours was.

We used it every night for about 4 or 5 years. Then it set unused for another couple of years because the top and heater gave out. We finally give it to the head grounds keeper, because he could get it our without having to teardown the fence. His friend came with a BIG forklift and lifted it out over the top of the fence. I think it is still being used..

Over the years, we go to the hot tubs less and less. ‘Been there done that’. Not as important as it once was. But, they are there if we want to use one.

When we do go, which is mainly on the off days when few outsiders are here and we have it mostly to ourselves, Ginny and I still enjoy it and bask in our memories. Sometimes when ‘newbies’ are in the tub with us, it is nice to hear them express how excited they are to have found the ranch. It’s new and exciting to them. Just like we once were years ago. In hot water and loving it.

Until next time, may your God keep you safe.........

Trying Again

Back in ’62 while I was still in high school, my ex-brother in law took me to a meeting that was going to change my life. It was for ‘Ovation’, a line of skin care and cosmetic stuff. That started my fascination with Multi Level Marketing. MLM for short. Gary took me to lots of meetings. I love the excitement of the presentations. The fire of the audience.  The BIG Dream.......Money to Burn!!! Too bad I had to talk to someone to make it happen. There was always that catch.

Just a few years earlier, Amway got underway and was the talk of the town (Salt Lake City, Utah). People were raving about the potential. Everyone was in it. I’ve been in it 6 or 7 times over the years. Even had Ginny selling it door to door in San Jose Never got anywhere with recruiting members (or steady customers for that matter). Loved the products. Two things that I found out, everyone has tried to sell it and no one is still in it. At least the people I know.

MLM has a great concept. You get some people to signup and they get some people to signup and they get some people to signup. Everyone buys something and everyone makes a ton of money. Right!!!??? Not for me………….. I always forget something; I couldn’t sell water to a man dying of thirst in the desert.. Some people can sell ice to Eskimos. That’s not me.

The ranch had an art and crafts show just before Christmas and the Helping Hands had a booth with baked goods to raise money for the fund. They were doing just so-so until one of the members decided to help… within the hour they were out of stuff to sell. That lady could sell!!! Don’t slow down near her when she is on a roll… you will go home with a grocery bag full of stuff you had no intention of buying…I understand that she once sold someone a moldy sandwich by convincing them it was like penicillin.

Some people are like that. Every MLMers dream. Just need one. Unfortunately, I never had one.

Over the years, I have tried different products and schemes, nothing worked out. I did not have the time or the money to really put the effort into it. I’ve tried countless supplements, fire extinguishers, water softeners, travel clubs, advertising plans, you name it I probably have tired it at one time or another.

That was before I retired. Now I have the time, not the money, but I have a computer. The great modern day equalizer (put your six shooter away). I have a site that sells; I just need to get people there. No one has to have a garage full of household product, closet full of supplements, travel half way around the world or be prepared to put-out a 100 fires. They just need to know a few people and have $10.

Off I go again………………..

Until next time, may your God keep you safe.........

Buy My Book!!

“Buy my book!!” that was the first sentence out of my wife’s mouth after her second brain surgery.

On June 19, 2008 my wife had an operation for a subdural hematoma. It scared the hell out of me. She had been complaining of a headache while fixing dinner the night before and it had gotten so bad we had put her to bed. Later that night, I found her in the bathroom unconscious and babbling something I could not understand. After trying to revive her, I panicked and went to the neighbor for helps. Luckily Ron and Margie knew what to do.  Margie called 911and management.  Ron got the security gate open for the ambulance to get to our unit.

It was about 11pm. By 3am the following  morning Ginny was in the operating room being operated on to relieve the pressure and find the cause of the bleed. That was after two ambulance rides to two different Kaiser hospitals. The first for evaluation (South Sac) and the second (Morse Ave) for the operation.

Thank god for Kaiser. They were wonderful and little if any time was lost. She is alive today because of their fast actions.

What does that have to do with the book? After the first operating, Ginny was admitted to the hospital for recovery and observation. All went well at first. The first few days she was recovering well. But over the next week, she started to back slide. Ten days after the first operation she had to be operated on again for a bleed inside the brain. It was worse than the first.

The next morning, Ginny woke up to some strange lady trying to give her a sponge bath around her private parts. She would have non of that and told the lady so. She did not know where she was, but she thought she was in prison. The guards all wore white coats to make her think she was in a hospital. She just didn’t know why she was there and what she had done. The only people that seemed nice to her were the janitors.

After several hours the guards came in again and were discussing her right in front of her when I be-bopped in to see how she was doing....... Finally a familar face.

I sat down next to the bed to talk to her. She was awake and following me with her eyes. Great signs compared to the last week. When all she had done during the last few days was lay in her bed with her mouth agape and not responsive to anything.

All of a sudden out of her mouth came “Buy My Book!!!” I had a grin on my face bigger than Mount Olympus. “Ginny is back”. God did that feel fantastic.

She didn’t say much after that because she did not want the guards to notice her. After they turned their backs to her, she leaned over and said “Don’t YOU Leave Me!!!”. She did not want to be left in prison alone. Boy!! Was I smiling.

She could put a sentence together and recognized me. Her brain was working again. A few days before she could not talk. I could see her trying but the words would not come. The pressure had been over the speech section of her brain.

Over the next few days, she healed well and understood what had happened to her. Strong Lady that she is.

She is back to normal (For Her) and doing well. There were some other medical issues that had to be addressed, but so what, I have my Ginny back.

I retired to keep and eye on her. Surpirising how things can change your plans unexpectedly. As they say, ‘we make our plans and the gods laugh’. Boy!! is that the truth.

What does this have to do with living as a nudist?, you ask. If we had not been living where we do, Ginny would be dead. It was our neighbors that came to the rescue. That is one of the main reason we live here. We know and care about our neighbors and they return the feelings. Are you that lucky?

Until next time, may your God keep you safe.........

In the Country Again

My daughter who lives in Oregon has been active on Facebook, so I’ve been roaming around in Facebook in my spare time. Found a site for Laguna Del Sol in Facebook, but the is not much there yet. It could grow if you would join. Kind of a blank slate waiting for someone to write on it.

Ginny just told me the bull in the pasture behind us was bellowing for the gals last night. I sleep thru it. The fun of being in the country. No gunshots, drive bys, dope dealers or hookers in our neighborhood. Just goats, lamas, horses and some cows. Oh!! Almost forgot the roosters that are the terrorists of the morning bliss. It nice being in the back of the ranch--- out in the country.

Ginny and I always seem to end up in the country. We met in San Jose back when it was starting to grow (1975). We had both just separated from our first spouses and were going to Parents Without Partners. After our divorces were final and respectable time had elapsed, we got married. (9/10/77)   That was 32 years ago. Most our friends said it wouldn’t last 6 months. Showed them, huh!!

I was selling real estate at the time with limited results. One day, I got a wild hair up my you know what and decided to go ‘Trucking’. A few weeks later we were back in Carmel, Indiana at Mayflower Trucking School. For almost 20 years, I was a trucker. First four and a half, Ginny was my co driver. We were a team. It took me almost another 15 years to figure out that I must be better at something else. During that time, we could live in the country, because if I wasn’t home anyway, it didn’t matter where home was.

Ginny needed to move to Texas. She found us a nice 6 acres parcel out side of Dallas that was our ‘home’ for about 5 years.

We spent some time at Blue Bonnet and Ponderosa Nudist Resorts while we were in Texas. We had stopped at Naked City a couple of times when in the Chicago area. I don’t know if that is still open.

When we moved back to California, we ended up in Madera just outside of Fresno. On an acre with a pool, 1500 sqft house and not knowing our neighbors. In the country again.

Then in March of’'88 we found Rawhide Ranch and fell in love with it. A nice clean family resort. From that moment on we were here almost every weekend and vacation. We moved in full time in January of ’91.

So let the bull bellow all he wants, it's music to my sleeping ears.

Until next time, may your God keep you safe.........

Back In '95

Back in ’95… as the old timers would say (darn that’s me) we had record setting rains. The whole county had record setting rains, in fact several counties.

Being it has been raining off and on the last few days, I keep thinking of ‘rain stories’

Back to ’95…Our neighbor M telling me that we were rained in and could not get out awakened me about 4:30am. That was ridicules, she must have been dreaming. I had to get up soon anyway, so I got up and after doing my usual morning stuff. I put my clothes on and left for work. I did not get far. The only way out of  the ranch was impassable with my Saturn. You have to understand that at the time we had our mailboxes that stood about 4 feet tall, just inside the arches that announced “Rawhide Ranch”. Our mailboxes were under water. No way around that…I went back home and called work and said I could not get out and would let them know when I could.  (I call it the ‘ranch’ because when we first started coming here in 1988 the resort was called ‘Rawhide Ranch’)

It was still dark, so I walked around and discovered that we had water most of the way up to the restaurant which is on high ground over looking the lake. Or in this case the lake was gone or enlarged which every way you want to look at it. The storage area for the travel trailer used by the weekenders was under water. Some units were floating. It takes a lot of water to fill that big of area.

Several hours later after the sun had come up. I returned home and switched on the TV. The news reporters were keeping everyone up to date with the changing conditions. The whole area was under water. Heavy snow followed by warm rains had made for flooding by the rivers that run through our area. Levees had been built along all the rivers years ago. A 100 years prior, the flooding was common almost every year. The Levy behind the ranch had given way and trapped the floodwater in our lands.

Back to the TV reports………Just after I got a hot cup of coffee, sat down and put my feet up, they showed a flyover by the news helicopter. Darn!! We were an island. The water got to within about 150 feet of our unit. Luckily we were on higher ground.

Later in the day, the National Guard came and wanted to remove any old folks or people with health conditions that may put them in jeopardy. We loaded up a bunch and off they went in the high-wheeled trucks. Refugees of the storm. {one of our members thought it was great, he got feed 3 or 4 times Every time he was moved to a new location, the Red Cross fed him: He kept being moved because the water kept rising….. and off they went again to a new shelter and a new meal)

After the National Guard left, we held a meeting for the remaining residents in the main clubhouse. It over looks the volleyball courts and the lake. The water had covered the volleyball courts. They are a good 15-20 feet above the normal level of the lake. We were discussing what we would do if the water continued to rise. About that time, the levy on the other side of the river broke. We watched the water as it quickly receded. One of the maintance men walked to the middle of the volley courts and helped a stranded fish back to the water. We all cheered our hero……….

The Big House, where the indoor pool and spa are located, had about 3 feet of water on the main floor. Some of the Bed and Breakfast rooms were flood as well. I was told all the furniture had to be discarded. Quite a mess. When the water receded, the sliding glass doors around the pool were forced out do to the pressure of so much water leaving quicker that when coming in. The walls had to be repaired and doors remounted.

It didn’t take long for the water level to lower in our area. The emergency was over for us. It took several days before everything was back to normal. I got to work and clean up was done at the ranch.

The point is, that during the emergency, everyone helped one another, just like ‘normal people.’ We did what needed to be done to protect each other and those units that non-resident members have here for weekends and/or vacations. We are an extended family and try to look out for our own. That is the main reason Ginny and I have live here so long.

Until next time, may your God keep you safe.........

‘Tis the Season for Giving.

In 1998 our neighbors R and M stated a Christmas fund for underprivileged children in our area. With the support of the members here at the resort, they raised over $400 that first years. With the help of a local church, they were able to help some needy families. The kind that have plywood for windows and candles for lights. I mean really needy families. Not the on welfare needy families that have their hands in your pockets. I spent the last 10 years of my working life with them, administering Section 8.

This year they have raised over $4000 thanks to the generosity of our membership. Over the years they have raised over $26,000. Some years more than others.

I mention this because it has been raining and it remained me of an instance several years ago in one of the first rains of the season. M received a call from a local school that had helped locate the church that assisted in distributing the Christmas gifts and food each year. Their school bus driver had three students that had had to walk about a mile in the rain without any jackets or coats, because the family could not afford them. The school wanted to know if M and R could do something to help.

Because they had the Christmas fund to draw from, R was able to go to Costco and get five coats for the family. Three for the kids and two for the parents. Made for a happy warm family. Christmas came a bit early that year for that family.   Christmas has a different meaning when a child is excited about getting oranges, let alone toys. The family are  migrant workers and there is not much work available in the winter months for them.

Ginny is on the committee called ‘Helping Hands’. It is to assist members that find themselves in need for reasons out of their control. We had to use it when Ginny had her bout with cancer in 2001-2002. Sometimes people need just a slight ‘helping hand’ to get over a hump in their life. The fund is there for those occasions. Not a large amount of money each time, but greatly appreciated.

Several times a year, different function and drives are held to replenish the fund by the membership. Members helping members. Just like any community. We try to help our own.

I’m not sure what the current count of permanent residents, but it is around 130. The total club membership is about 2000. During the summer there are lots of additional people here on premises from other clubs and people who are just curious about nudism. Can be up to 5000 on major weekends, I am told. Most weekends during the season, there is somewhere around 1000 to 2000. I don’t work in the office, so I am really just taking my best guess.

Ginny and I mostly keep to ourselves. That is one of the advantages of being in the back area, we can be as involved or not, as we pleased....   Not like the first few years we live here, we were in everything and knew everyone.... Experiences that are ‘New and Exciting’ to newbies, is old hat after you have been here for 20 years….. ‘Been There, Done That, Have the T-Shirt’ kind of attitude sets in….still living in Paradise thro……….

Until next time, may your God keep you safe.........

Chistmas Season at the Resort

For Christmas this year several of our neighbors and us have done a larger display of lights and animated blow up figures in the lawn area out side our units. We tried to make it a little more interesting this year. Last year there wasn’t much done. In the future we plan on doing more planning earlier in the year and have a more corrordinated display;.

The annual hay ride to view the lights and decorations of the residences was scheduled for last Saturday night, but it rained. Not much fun in the rain, so it was canceled. All the would be hay riders went to the party that would have been at the end of the ride anyway.

I mention this because we do normal things like other people in the textile world. We dress when it is cold and stay out of the rain when it is raining. Just like ‘normal people’.

There is always something going on the weekends for the members that do not live here at the resort. During the week it is rather quiet., Especially during the off season. Just the way we like it.

Ginny and I have never been able to decide if we like it here better in the summer or winter. Summer has lot of stuff going on with the full membership coming and going. Winter it is rather quiet and we spend more time with our friends and neighbors. Just like other people.

If you get hot while playing cards, you can take your top off or anything else you feel like. That is if you had anything on to begin with. Not like we are nude that much during the cold season. We get cold like everyone else. As they say, ‘ We are nudists, not stupid’.

In the cold months, we are at the indoor hot tub and swimming pool more than anywhere else. There you have to be naked to get in the water.

Ginny and I do not go to the bar very often, but if we did clothing is optional. The dances are very interesting. A little bit of everything. Naked to sweats, Suits to PJs. Halloween is especially looked forward too. Our New Year eve celebration is a big deal, also, and is sold out during a meeting held early in December. The number of attendees has to be limited for fire regulations.

The restaurant is only open on weekends during the off season. It is clothing optional. Just the staff has to stay clothed because of health code regulations. Food is good and reasonably priced considering we are a resort. A full bar for those who want an adult beaverage during or with their meal. The wine menu is limited, but does have a reasonable selection. Ginny and I am more of the “two buck chuck type”, so that really doesn’t matter to us.

Years ago, when we first moved here, the old restaurant was managed by members of the club. It had more of a neighborhood pub feel then because it was opened year round. Everyone would meet there after work to chat; have coffee or a beer; watch ‘Wheel of Fortune’; have a cheap greasy meal; and go home smiling. Things change and we adapt. Life goes on.

Until next time, may your god keep you safe.........

Everyone Has To Start Somewhere

My first blog as the Happy Nudist. It is a raining day in sunny northern California. Ginny, Marty and I are cozy in our small by comfortable 50 year old mobile home. What a person won’t do to live nude.

We moved here almost 20 years ago with the intent to change the mobile home sometime in the future. Well the future is here and we still have the same, but improved unit. We love it and it is HOME to us. It has seen a lot of changes in us over the years and it has too. We are not sure we would change it if we could.

Our computer room now takes about a third of the unit and give us both a place to work. Ginny my wife has her half and I have mine. Marty our cat makes sure we keep busy. He has his own blog, "Animal Funnies For You". Ginny helps him out with it. His paws don’t fit the keys. (Maybe someday, someone will come up with a keyboard for cats. Until then Ginny will have to do the typing.) Now we are officially retired, we have time to spend on our computers.

Ginny was on Soc.Sec. disability for few years before she could officially retire. She had a bad bout with cancer and was unable to go back to work. She wrote a book about it “Stems of Life, Picked from the Garden of Survival”. It hasn’t made it to a best seller, but it did win some awards. I was surprise she could do it and proud she did. Special Lady that she is.

I retired from the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency last year. I was there for about 10 years. Ginny had a couple of brain bleeds and I wanted to keep an eye on her. It wasn’t the best timing, but sometimes life changes and you have to change plans. Luckily, we live in paradise, so it's not bad at all.

Over the years we have started to keep more to ourselves and spend most of our time with a few close friends and working on our own stuff. Not there isn’t always a lot going on, we just have done most of it before and it loses the allure it once had. What with three swimming pools, three hot tubs/spas; a bar and restaurant on premises; three tennis courts, two volley ball courts; a large lake and a river behind us; a weight room/gym; a stage for professional and amateur events; farm animals out side our back door; wonderful neighbor that care and are there when we need them…. WHY??….would we need to go anyplace else?? It's Eden to me………

The plan is to keep a steady supply of reflections and hopefully not boring Blogs. Maybe even meet some new friends……

Until next time, may your god keep you safe.........