Oregon Living 2017 – Blog #32 – More Family Visitors!

Sunday, July 30th, 2017….. This morning I got a text from my sister.  They (her and step son Tim) left early this morning and are on their way up here.  Her POD has been picked up and is in transit to Eugene where it will stay until her escrow closes.  No word yet from her realtor on the close date.  The seller has tenants and even though he has given them notice, they still have renter’s rights so we’ll see what happens. Here’s the latest pic from the house…

Sundays are relaxing days for us and I wanted to go out to the rig and watch my races and Lydia wanted to vegg out but first I vacuumed the house. We have a central vacuum system here and it makes it really easy to move from area to area so it didn’t take long.  Lydia showered and ate breakfast and then we vegged.  About 5:00pm I got a text that they crossed the state line and were in Oregon.  About 8:30pm they pulled in.  With her dog Quincy, they made several stops along the way but still managed the trip from OC to here in just less than 16 hours.  They unpacked the car and we got them settled in their rooms and we spent a few hours with wine and conversation before we all turned in.           

Monday, July 31st, 2017…..  Tim’s flight leaves from Eugene tonight at 6:00pm. So we decided to take a tour and show him the area.  We headed first to Albany for breakfast at Elmer’s. 

We drove around that area and went to Habitat For Humanity.  Tim works for the one in Torrance so we had to stop to check out all of the treasures.  There’s another one in Lebanon but it’s closed on Mondays.  Maybe next time…  We headed back to Lebanon.  Of course we had to go by Penny’s new home and yes, the renters are still there with no sign of moving! We continued on to Sweet Home, and detoured just a few hundred yards off of Hwy 20, to see Weddle Covered Bridge. 

We drove on to Foster Lake and then turned around and headed back and made a short stop at Walmart before heading home to rest for a while.  Lydia fixed a chicken parmesan casseroly thingy, which was good (except that she didn’t cook it long enough so the potatoes were a little hard). We had to eat quickly in order to leave to make it to the Eugene airport (about 30 miles) in time for Tim to get to security check and get to boarding. We dropped him off and waited until he texted he was good to go and then we drove back home and kicked back for the rest of the night. Although it was a short visit, it was nice to be able to spend time with him. 

Oregon Living 2017 – Blog #31 – More work Around the House

Please note that I’ve changed the title since it’s no longer a trip!

Friday, July 28th, 2017…..  We got up at 0 dark hundred!  We needed to be on the road to Portland at 5:00am for Randy’s flight home. The drive only took about an hour and a half and we didn’t see too much traffic, even in the city at rush hour!  We got him there in plenty of time for check-in. He texted us later that he made it to San Francisco and was waiting for the layover to fly to SNA. We made a few stops (Harbor Freight, Kmart, and 2 Walmarts) on the way home. Once home, I got to work assembling more storage cabinets for the master and for my office while Lydia did some laundry. Then we both took a break and napped for a few hours to catch up.  I went back to opening boxes and Lydia got the last of the kitchen boxes done as well as those from the old family room.  The two cabinets in the garage are filling up quickly and my office is coming together as well! Lydia made the bed for Penny when she gets here late Sunday (or early Mon.).  We decided on chicken burritos for dinner tonight so we got that out and defrosted. I usually work a bit, rest a bit, work a bit, rest a bit, but today it was rest a bunch! We probably won’t sleep tonight!           

Saturday, July 29th, 2017…..  Today we hit it again.  I decided we needed some more storage shelving units in the garage.  We had already put in two large cabinets for overflow from the house

but we needed some more shelving.  We have a raised area that has the crawlspace for the house and I could use that area for more storage. We then decided we could buy the same cabinet that I used in the office.  They were even on sale! We bought two more 5 shelf cabinets and I set out to put them together.  After the one in the office, I got them together pretty quickly. I put them in place and screwed them together.  They will work well.

I messed around with the workshop space a bit today.  I don’t even have the boxes unloaded and won’t do that until I figure out a layout.  I do want to have Directv out in the shop so I have to figure out where that line will come in. I have until Thursday when the guy comes to do the house lines. I also have a plumbing issue.  Walt set up a ½ bath in the workshop, complete with hot water for cleanup and a line running outside with a mixing valve for hot water for washing the car. Problem is the city zoning rules don’t allow that room to be set up with hot running water - that is considered now a “living space”. So, he was forced to remove the water heater.  That leaves me with a water spigot outside that has nothing running through it!  I’m trying to trace back to where I can at least get cold water there but I have more work to do.

We stopped for lunch (Lydia ate but I kept working) so I wanted an early dinner.  She fixed hamburgers but wasn’t hungry so I ate and we went out to the motorhome to catch up on our shared tv shows before she called it a night. I stayed out there and watched some of my shows before going to bed.       

2017 Trip – Blog #30 – Getting Work Done and Time with the Family

Last blog with this title. It’s no longer a trip so I’m changing it on the next post to Oregon Living 2017 – Blog #31                                             

  

Wednesday, July 26th, 2017…..  Randy also spent time on the phone last night trying to figure out how to get home.  He brought one of his mountain bikes up in my truck and wanted to leave it here but decided that he would take it back home.  Plus he has his tool bag, with about 50 lbs of tools including knives and saw blades. He decided to rent a car and that way he could take the bike and tools plus stop at a riding area on the way back.  Turns out that it’s very difficult to rent a car for a one way.  If you did get a car, the one way rates were really too high.  Maryanne suggested he look at a small U-Haul truck or van.  Forget that – too expensive.  Amtrak is an option but it’s a 27 hour ride.  So now he’s looking at flights again, from both Eugene and Portland. We have plenty of luggage so he can check his tools as baggage. He would leave the bike. Still in work. Stay tuned.

Meanwhile, we worked on a few things around the house today. Setting up cabinets, moving the printer, a couple more things loaded in the closet, filling the cabinets in the garage, etc, etc. Later, Randy made his decision.  He will fly back via Portland so he booked his return trip.  We take him to the airport early Friday morning.  He decided to take a trip to Falls City to mountain bike.  He left right after we did. We spent the morning in Corvallis at the farmers market.  Aimee’s hula group was performing and we wanted to see her perform.

We bought some veggies and stopped and had pupusas for breakfast.  Yummy! Once we returned, we unpacked some more.  I always take the broke down boxes out to stack in the workshop.  I now have a super large pile out there!  Maybe when we’re done, I’ll sell them on Craig’s List or LetGo!  Randy called later to say he would be staying in a motel tonight so he could spend more time riding and exploring tomorrow. So Lydia fixed us stuffed salmon and we called it a night.

Thursday, July 27th, 2017…..  This morning I spent time with my check book (yuck!) and then more time online and on the phone with Boeing, changing my address and inquiring about new medical we need to sign up for, now that we have a residence.  Lydia went across the street to visit with the neighbor’s wife and ask her about medical facilities and doctors in the area. Rick is a doctor but we didn’t know what kind or where he practiced.  Judie recommended a couple of people and places so when we get our packet we’ll see what matches up. I got out the Stihl trimmer and went out to the creek in the back of the property to knock down grass that our lawn guy didn’t get with his mower. Randy called to say he was on his way back but he was going to stop to eat and don’t wait for him.  We decided to go to Sweet Home to a Mexican restaurant we were told was pretty good. It’s called Margarita Village and it was really good!  I ate too much hot spicy salsa which I paid for later but we will go back again! We returned home and after about an hour Randy got back.  He found some great bike trails and met some guys to ride with. Later he got his luggage together for tomorrow and we watched tv before calling it a night.

2017 Trip – Blog #29 – License and Registration Please!

Monday, July 24th, 2017…..  Monday was chore day.  We had some cleaning up to do around the house.  Plus we needed to head off to the DMV to get our driver’s licenses. Randy hung around as we took off.  The DMV here is small and easy to get in and out of.  Trouble is you still have to complete all of their paperwork for licenses and registrations.  We had most of it done ahead of arriving so we got in pretty quickly.  We had to take the written test which we both passed so that was done.  Pictures and payments and that was over. Next up was starting the registration for the Honda.  Turns out I forgot to bring the title.  So we will go back tomorrow and get that done.  But we were done for today.  Meanwhile, Randy decided to run in to Albany to pick up some electrical parts for the rv circuit we are putting on the workshop.  The wiring that I found that will work for us will support 30 amp, not 50, but that will work for us. We still needed to go to Camping World for the outside box but we wanted to time it so we could eat at the pizza place in Coburg while we were down there. So we started working on setting up the tvs in the bedroom and setting up all of the stereo and surround equipment in the living room.  We got half way with that and then headed to Coburg.  Camping World doesn’t stock that part anymore but the guy said his boss just bought his box at Jerry’s Hardware so we went to eat dinner 

and then to Jerry’s and found it (about ½ of what Camping World would have sold it for). We drove back to Penny's house but stopped along the way at the Santiam River next to Gill's Landing RV Park.  Here's a shot of the river: 

We drove by Penny’s house and saw that the folks hadn’t started moving out yet. L

We stopped at Walmart and got a lamp and some more trash cans and then went home.  Randy spent time on the phone with Maryanne and I went in to the rig to watch tv. Randy went back to work on the entertainment center and got everything connected. The stereo, dvd, and surround sound is now up and running! It’s good to have kids who are handy!         

Tuesday, July 25th, 2017…..  More work to do today.  We had already bought all of the stuff and got to work setting up the rv 30 amp hookup.  The circuit that I found was one that Walt probably used for a welder but I could use for the rv.  We drilled out the hole for the outside and mounted the box. Randy got the wires through and wired it up and we were almost done!  

He was working on caulking the box so Lydia and I took off to get the registration done on the Honda.  We got the ordinary ‘tree plates’.

Oregon no longer allows disabled license plates - they only have placards and we had the necessary paperwork to get one issued (expires in 2025) so that was done as well.  The truck will be next but I think we’ll wait until next month so they are not due at the same time.  Same for the Acadia and the motorhome.   At least the tags are good for two years instead of every year like in California!

When we got back I unloaded a few more boxes and Randy took a look at the hot water heater, air conditioner unit and the central vacuum system.  All looked good but we did dump the vacuum container and wash out and clean the bag. Tomorrow he will look at the ac compressor and we’ll probably hose that out too. Lydia fixed spaghetti for dinner and afterwards we relaxed and watched tv for a while. 

2017 Trip – Blog #28 – Lydia Runs Amok and the Son Comes Up!

Saturday, July 22nd, 2017….. Today I got up rather early. The sun comes up at 5:45am plus I still have that habit (after 43 years of work and 5 years of retirement) of waking up early! Anyway, I got rolling. I showered and then I started on the drawer pulls in the bathroom and replaced all 11 of them. They look nice. I can’t mow until the dew gets off the lawn. I have all my tv programs still on the dvr in the rv so in the house and went out there and had a little breakfast and watched tv.  Then work on more boxes for a while, rest a bit and watch tv, then work a bit, rest a bit, etc. etc. It’s a tough life! I did watch the time trials on the Tour. Looks like Chris Froome has the yellow jersey sewed up. Tomorrow they do the last leg down the Champs-Élysées in Paris.  After that was over, it was close to 10:45am. I went out with the string trimmer and went around the sprinkler heads in the front and back yards.  Ready now for the mower! I needed Lydia for some extra help.  The internet cable is still lying across the yard from the street to the house.  It gets buried sometime down the road but for now I needed her to lift it up as I passed.  That all went well until I gave her a turn on the tractor. 

Now I had to lift the cable! She was like the energizer bunny on that mower – she just kept going and going! I think I made 2-3 passes – she made the rest and only got off when we were done!  No worries – it will grow again. I finished up with the string trimmer and wacked some more weeds and we were done!  Yaaay!  We took a break for lunch and rested for a while before working on more boxes.  I went back online for a bit to do some more updating of our address for magazines, campground memberships, etc. Most I could do online but some I have to call during the week.  We’ll get them all done eventually.

About 6:00pm Randy called and said he was around the corner!  He arrived a few minutes later and we unloaded the truck and rested a bit.  Mom showed him the house and grounds and then I showed him my workshop and tractor!  Lydia fixed pulled pork sliders and tator tots and we relaxed and watched a bit of tv then called it a night.

Sunday, July 23rd, 2017…..  Lydia had a rough night with acid reflux so she slept in this morning.  Randy and I took off and headed to town for breakfast and then went on to Albany and the Home Depot to pick up some storage cabinets for the garage.  On the way back I detoured by my sister’s future home to show him and then we returned home and assembled the cabinets.  With two of us it went pretty fast. Afterward, we took a break and watched the last day of the Tour de France.  Since it was Sunday, we didn’t plan anything else for the day.  Lydia showed Randy where the garage freezer was dripping.  He didn’t like the way it was cycling on and off. We unplugged it for a while and will check it later. Might have a bad compressor and if so we will scrap it and buy a new one. Stay tuned…  Later, Lydia fixed steak burritos for dinner (yummy!) and afterward we took a drive up to Sweet Home to show Randy Foster Lake and the area up there.  We returned and he took a look at our thermostat (the light stays on) and fixed it for us.  I watched Nascar, Lydia watched her programs and Randy watched tv and caught up on his texts/emails. 

2017 Trip – Blog #27 – PODS Away plus the New Mower

Thursday, July 20th, 2017…..  This morning I got a call from the PODS driver at 6:45am! The guy (Steve) has three pods to pick from us and he has to make two trips so he’s starting early.  I jumped in the shower and was ready when he arrived at 7:30am. No problems and he was on his way quickly.  He made the second run about 10:00am and now we have that process completed. I was skeptical about PODS but they were great.  The only issue I had was getting placed on hold waiting to place an order.  I made it known that they need more folks manning the phones to take care of people quicker.  But all in all, it was an easy process and although not cheap, it was not as pricey as I was led to believe. I would recommend them to others.

The rest of the day was ours.  We continue to put things away, set things up, and just organize what we want and where.  I assembled the closet shelving system and got that put in.  It’s more of a cabinet with open shelves and a few drawers, which works for my stuff.  Lydia likes it so we may put another one up on her side!  I also assembled my storage cabinet for my office. A tv will go on top. We still need to decide what tvs go where.  My sister still has one of ours that will be coming up with our Acadia.  We will figure it out. Lydia is still working on kitchen organization.  She’s not happy with the layout so we will have a remodel coming up in the future.  No worries for now though. She’s also decided to divide her time between the kitchen and the craft room.  Today she’s sorted through her stuff.  She has two closets that will hold a lot of her treasures plus she has a window overlooking the front of the house which is nicer than my room.  I’m just glad she’s happy. Happy wife – happy life! 

Friday, July 21st, 2017….. Today was delivery day for the lawnmower! Also the sprinkler guy is coming back.  But first up I headed out to Starbucks for coffee and tea.  I also stopped by the local gas station where I can purchase non-ethanol gas for the mower.  That done, we started in on our respective rooms.  Lydia continued on her craft room and I worked on the master closet.  We had dozens of boxes to unpack and put away. I did find some things to toss but I found it’s easier to do it when you put it away rather than when you are loading the boxes – at least for me anyway.  The driver called as he was en route and close. He showed up and unloaded it and left. The sprinkler guy called too – he was close as well. I immediately filled up the mower, started it, and made a few passes on the west lawn.  It’s fun!  

While I was checking out my work, the sprinkler guy showed up.  Prior to closing, Stutzman Irrigation was called out by Walt to fix a leak.  Since we still have a leak, we called them back out.  We showed him the leak but it was only the valve that they replaced. When you turn on that recently replaced valve, water would bubble out of the ground across the walkway! Turns out Walt had installed another valve way back when and that zone was never used and ran to an open pipe.  Well, we didn’t know that when you opened that valve it would leak! Problem solved. But when he was here last time he also evaluated the whole system and gave Walt a bid which he never authorized them to fix – no more spending for Walt!  We asked him to reevaluate and give us that bid.  We authorized some of the work to be done today – several of the sprinkler risers will be replaced today and then he will come back after the plants are in to work on the drip system. That way all of the new stuff can be covered too. As the day grew longer, we had to clean up and leave to head to Albany.  Our realtor’s office was having an appreciation picnic for their clients and we got an invite.  We stopped at Lowe’s and returned some drawer pulls and then went over to the park and spent a few hours eating and drinking and meeting some nice people.  We also got to meet Aimee’s husband and plan to have them over soon. Afterward, we stopped at Home Depot and got some other drawer pulls that we spotted and liked better and headed home.  Earlier, I had texted Randy.  He is on his way up with our truck.  His plan was to drive halfway  (Sacramento area) today and come in tomorrow.  Instead, he decided to drive to Medford and will spend some time with old friends there.  He is bringing up one of his mountain bikes to leave here so he will ride with them tomorrow and come up late tomorrow night or Sunday sometime. We rested and I worked on the blog and watched the Tour.  Two more days to Paris!  

2017 Trip – Blog #26 – Costco & Yard Work!

Tuesday, July 18th, 2017…..  Lydia still is having trouble catching up on sleep.  I think the Vegas trip and getting little sleep on the redeye home is still affecting her a bit.  I’m watching her closely and making sure she stays off her feet and rests today.  Meanwhile, I went back to work on the pod#3.  It only took me about an hour to completely empty it.  I called and they will be picking up all three on Thursday. After resting for a bit, we (ok Lydia) decided we needed to go to Albany’s Costco.  We have all of the refrigerators and freezers up and running now so she wants to stock up.  We also stopped at Home Depot on the way to finish up our search for microwaves.  Lowe’s is now our choice.  We filled up the back of the Honda with groceries and took a few minutes to get hot dogs and drinks before leaving Costco. We then headed to Lowe’s and bought the microwave.  It fit in the back seat.  Boy, I am missing my truck! Anyway, we got that all home and unloaded and the microwave up and running and then went back out to the rig where we had last week’s America’s Got Talent taped and watched that before we called it a night.   

   

Wednesday, July 19th, 2017…..  Good nights sleep for both of us.  Lydia is back to normal (?). Today work starts on the yard.  I had met with my neighbor who put me in contact with the guy (Allen) who mows their ‘field’ grass.  He had given me a price ($200.) to do two cuttings (so we won’t have a ton of large clippings in the field).  He has a large mower but it still took hours to finish. Meanwhile Kirk, the gardener, started today on the flower beds.  He will clear the weeds, remove the old mulch and the dead plants, replant new flowers and shrubs, and put in new mulch. He’s starting his business so he can only work on Wednesdays at this time so this will take a while. The sprinkler work that Walt had done still has a leak – the guys will be here Friday.  They will also give me a bid to go through all of the irrigation system, including the drip lines that have been seriously neglected.  The work went smoothly and both jobs progressed well.  Allen did his cuts and Kirk cut weeds and cleaned flower beds.  We won’t need Allen back for a month or so.  Kirk will return next week.  But it looks better already! I got out my trimmer and cut around the motorhome.

Here you can see before and after:

After half of day of yard work for me, we took off and went back to Home Depot for rock salt for the water softener and to Costco for an entertainment center for my office plus a storage shelf system for the master bedroom closet.  We returned and deposited the boxed in their respective rooms. Still have to put those together. Another task to do! Later, we decided to leave Kirk and head off to Coburg for dinner.  We had a scratch off for Coburg Pizza we need to use.  We ordered our pizza and yay, we got a free dessert pizza.  We ordered apple cinnamon, my favorite.  We ate the pizza and brought the dessert home for later. We watched the Tour and then called it a night.         

2017 Trip – Blog #25 – A Rest Day & Then Back At It!

Sunday, July 16th, 2017…..  I woke up early from a nice restful sleep in our new bed! We showered, ate, and then got started on our day. Most of the rest in pod #2 is garage stuff plus smaller items for the house. That stuff was what I worked on this morning. That pod is now empty!  We also moved some furniture items around in our bedroom so that’s done now as well.  I reassembled my office desk and got that set up.  Then it was back to the last pod.  Pod #3 has more garage stuff than anything.  I moved a few items out and then took the rest of the day off.  Tour de France, Nascar, Indy Car and Formula 1 races were on my list to catch up on so the work can wait until tomorrow. Hey, I’m retired – if I can’t get it done today, there’s always tomorrow!

   

Monday, July 17th, 2017…..  We had another good night’s sleep. Or rather I did. Lydia is having trouble catching up on her sleep.  I started in on pod #3. Meanwhile, Lydia worked on unpacking her kitchen stuff and figuring where everything should go.  I’m sure she will rearrange it before she is through. I got about ¾ of the pod emptied.  Some boxes go to the workshop, some to the garage.  I am removing all of the tape so we can see in and figure out where it goes.  This is what I have so far for the workshop.

After a day of toting boxes, we called it an evening.  We made up a list of things we needed to pick up (or at least check prices.  We drove back to Eugene and went to their Lowes.  We are looking for new toilet seats, cabinets for the garage, shelves for the closet, new drawer pulls for the master bath, etc. etc. We are also looking for a microwave.  We left our over the range model in Ca. and Walt took his countertop model, so we have been using the motorhome’s microwave. We found some that we liked but will shop around before getting one.  We stopped at Arby’s because neither of us had lunch.  This would be linner. We also stopped at Mattress Firm to return the second mattress cover that our guy had misordered.  We were able to exchange it for a queen size for the guest bed so that was easy. While we were there we decided to go to our now favorite movie theater to see Despicable Me3. It was pretty good. Once back home I started in on a few more boxes since it was still light out.  Our neighbors, Paul and Corey were out walking their goldendoodle puppy, Ollie, and stopped by to introduce themselves.  Rich, from next door saw us and came over.  They welcomed us to the block and gave us a little history of Oak Creek Estates.  It sounds like a pretty nice block of neighbors.  Hope we fit in!  After that it got dark and I closed up everything and went to bed.   

2017 Trip – Blog #24 – Pods and Pods and Internet!

 2nd post today!  read the earlier one first! 

Friday, July 14th, 2017…..  Today the guest bedroom set is being delivered.  Meanwhile, I set out to put away items from pod #1.  They are manageable items.  Just many trips with boxes and items for either the house or garage.  The guys showed up while I was working and set up the bed and the furniture in the guest room.

Lydia thought they might help with the master bedroom furniture so I asked them and they agreed.  They use those mover’s shoulder straps for their deliveries and they worked well on the big ass heavy oak items in our bedroom! They sweated but they got it all done for us.  We checked our cash on hand and pooled it and gave them $42. It sure didn’t seem like enough for us but they were very appreciative. Hey, it’s extra lunch money! Now the room is ready for the new platform and bed!

Today was also internet installation day.  Comcast/Xfinity was our choice.  They have packages with phone, tv, internet, and security. Don’t need tv (we use Direct for the house and need it for the rv), don’t want a landline, and will think about security for next step.  It’s very safe out here but you never know…  The guy found the feed and ran a temporary line to the house which will get buried in 2-3 weeks. He went through the subfloor and came out in my office for the router.  That room is not centrally located in the house and they said signal strength is over 100 feet but might be iffy through walls and around corners to the opposite end of the house.  He set me up with access and passwords and I was good to go. I opted for a faster speed and was very pleased. I tested the signals and found everything works in the house.  The office is close to the back corner of the yard looking out to the driveway.  The signal even comes through well in the motorhome. So rv guests coming to visit will be happy.

I got going and kept going (w/breaks) until I got pod #1 all done. It was another long day but we now have 40% of everything in. We didn’t get anything out for dinner so we took off and ate at Shari’s (like a Denny’s) and went home and unpacked a bit before calling it a night.

    

Saturday, July 15th, 2017….. Up to now we have been spending more time in the rig but with furniture and the big tv in the house, Lydia has been there more than the rv.  I still take breaks in the motorhome to watch my races and the tour. But we still sleep out there.  Until today!  The new mattress and platform were delivered today!  That install was pretty easy and we got the bed set up.  The split xl twin beds got their sheets and we tested the system.  Lydia loves the way the feet and the head can go up or down so she can elevate whatever and whenever she wants!

That done, it was back to unloading pod #2. There is house stuff plus garage stuff in that one.  I find that the hardest part in moving in is finding places for everything. Since we have a two car attached garage on the house, the big unattached garage, going forward, will now be called the workshop.  It’s 20’ x 50’.  The front 30’ is actual garage/storage space, and the back 20’ is a workshop but as a whole, going forward, I’m calling it the workshop. Anyway, I have to plan out where things will go out there but for right now they are just getting moved in period.

Lydia fixed a chicken and rice casserole.  It was delicious but stayed in the oven just a little too long. This stove is a newer Dacor and is definitely a learning curve!  First off, it’s gas top burners. We have always had electric stoves in our last two homes (since 1976) so this is the first time she’s cooked using gas tops in a while (except for the rv). But this stove does have an electric oven.  She found it does cook faster so she needs to reduce the cooking times a bit.  Just takes getting used to.  I took my dinner out to the rv to watch the Tour and she settled in her recliner and watched her programs.  I came in later to find that she turned in and was sound asleep in her new bed.  

2017 Trip – Blog #23 – More Vegas!

Sorry this is late.  I'm doing two posts today to get caught up

Wednesday, July 12th, 2017…..  Randy and Maryanne will drive back home later this evening.  Jeff & Krista fly out Friday.  Pat leaves back to Indiana Thursday. We all 4 fly out today.  We checked out of the rooms and took Penny to the airport.  Rick and Janie were staying until Thursday but they decided to go home a day early since it was so hot plus they had their dogs boarded. Lydia, Frances and I had some time.  Lydia texted both of the kids but they didn’t answer (turns out they were all at the pool). So we took a drive out to Hoover Dam.  Nice desert drive.  Glad we have good ac in the car.  Later, we drove to Cracker Barrel and had dinner.  We had some time before Frances’ flight so we went across the parking lot to the Bass Pro Shop and walked around. I took Frances to her airline and after we left we discovered she left her phone on the charger.  We drove back and missed the loop and drove back again.  By this time I just dropped off Lydia to find Frances and I drove to the car rental lot and got the shuttle back and we checked in and went through security and waited.  Our flight was delayed in San Francisco and our connection to Eugene would be tight.  We did make it but the brisk walk all the way across the terminal to our new gate was fun! We got back to Eugene at 12:30am and after waiting for our bag got back home about 1:40am.  We drove past our three pods that were dropped off while we were gone (Yaay!) and parked and went straight to bed.  Long day!   

Thursday, July 13th, 2017….. This morning Lydia slept in and I got up, showered, and started in on the pods.  Only lost one item to breakage (that we can see).  It will take several days to systematically unload each one.  Boxes are marked but there are several hundred to remove! I left for a few minutes to go to Xfinity/Comcast to get my internet ordered and set up for install. Later in the morning the washer and dryer were delivered.

The guys set up everything but they don’t hook up the gas lines.  Lydia had purchased water lines and a dryer kit w/gas lines so I pulled out the dryer and found that it was good to go but found that they didn’t provide the water line used for the steam feature on the dryer.  We will go back to Lowe’s for that later. But back to the pod for now. I managed to get all of the smaller, lighter items out of pod # 1.  With the backs off all of the lazy boy living room pieces, I could move all of those items in by myself. Lydia helped me with the coach and loveseat bottoms so we were able to get that room set up. Still needs a rug but we’ll go shopping later next week. The rest of the pod had all of the HEAVY bedroom furniture. I’m going to need serious help with that!

After resting a bit, we drove to Lowe’s to pick up the water line and returned and I got that done. That's enough for today, I have jet lag, didn't sleep long enough last night plus I'm pooped from today!   

2017 Trip – Blog #22 – Prepping the House and Heading to Vegas!

Sunday, July 9th, 2017…..  The weather here has been really nice.  The mornings start out kind of chilly, even though some days are overcast while some start out sunny.  The clouds break anywhere from 10:00am to noon and then it warms up.  Mornings get down to 52° and days get up to 85°.  I decided to start on prep on the wainscoting and crown moulding in the dining room. There is so much oak in this house and too much in the dining room for our tastes so I need to sand it down to prep for paint. But first we went to breakfast.  I wanted to try the little place we had spotted in downtown area before called Doc’s Place, but it was closed.  Another place to try was Korner Kitchen, which is just outside of the downtown area.  I liked it although the gravy was just ok. After breakfast we stopped at Walmart and found masks to wear when I do the sanding.  We also checked for inflatable beds.  We found the queen size one we were looking for but they also had a twin on sale so we bought that as well.  We can keep one for my room plus another for the craft room.  That way we can sleep just about as many folks as needed. We had a meeting at 1:00pm with a newer landscaper Aimee gave us so we had time to run into Albany to check out queen beds at Costco.  I stopped at the member desk and changed our address and then found the beds.  I had seen them before but Lydia wanted to look.  That done we headed back to Rife’s (a chain store up here very similar to Ashley’s) and bought the bed set.  We got a queen bed frame with headboard and footboard, dresser w/mirror, and one nightstand, all in white.  They had the same model mattress (Serta) as Costco and it was on sale cheaper there so we bundled and bought it all.  Plus it’s only one delivery!

That done, we scooted back home in time to meet with Kirk.  We all walked the property and told him what we need.  We decided to have someone come in and weed and plant/replant and re-mulch the flower beds.  There’s so much and Walt really neglected it over the last two years after losing his wife. Now it’s too overwhelming for us so it’s the right move for us to get it put back into shape.  Then we can maintain it from there.  We should get his bid while we are in Vegas.

Once that was done, we decided it was too hot to work on the room. We went back to the rig and watched races.  We hung around not thinking about dinner until it was too late to get something out.  We had heard about Ixtapa, supposedly the best of the Mexican food in Lebanon so we tried it out.  Town is only 5 minutes away. It was really good and we will be back!  I did go back and mask off some more of the woodwork.  The room has light yellow paint, and has oak glass doors and oak moulding around the doors and windows plus oak crown moulding. It’s really nice work and gorgeous and we will leave that alone (at least for now) but the oak wainscoting was more than we wanted in that room! The plan is to paint the wainscoting white and the walls gray.  The ceiling is white and is in good shape so that will stay. I only worked for a short time and got everything taped and then stopped there.

Next up was to gather up all of the things we need to pack for the Vegas trip. We got most of that done and then relaxed for the night.   

Monday, July 10th, 2017….. We got up early and stopped at Aimee’s office and dropped off her gift. We also stopped at the campground and picked up mail there.  We parked in the short term lot ($10. w/handicap tap/plate) and checked in.  Flights were ok and we got into Vegas at 5:10pm, picked up the rental car (they upgraded me to a full size so we began ahead!) and headed to the Monte Carlo.  Lydia’s sister, Frances, had gotten us rooms with her Mlife gaming points. Rick and Janie came in (via their rv) and we all went down to Johnny Rockets for a quick meal.  We then went over to Treasure Island to meet up with Jeff, Krista, and her mother, Pat.  We went up to their room and visited for a while before going home to end the day.    

Tuesday, July 11th, 2017….. Frances’ points got us three breakfasts in the buffet and Rick and Janie joined us.  I then left for the airport to pick up my sister and then we all visited and relaxed for a while.  Rick and Janie met us later in the chapel.  We had champagne and waited for everyone to show up.  Randy and Maryanne and Jeff’s buds Wes and Eric met us there as well.  The wedding went extremely well.  

Krista is a lovely bride!  They are both so happy.  After pictures and more champagne we went down to the casino bar for more drinks and partying!  

After a while everyone got hungry so we hit the TI Buffet and had dinner.  They wanted 18% gratuity for one table of 13 so we split up!  Hah hah! Later, we said our goodbyes to everyone and we all (Frances, Penny, and us) went back to our rooms and we ended the day tired and full but happy. 

2017 Trip – Blog #21 – Haircuts, Hula, a First Meal and First Lawn Work!

Friday, July 7th, 2017…..  Although we had a chance to sleep in today, I woke up

at 6:00am and couldn’t go back to sleep. I went in and took a shower in the house (nice!) and came back out and Lydia was still sleeping.  She eventually woke up and took her shower.  We ate breakfast and watched a few minutes of the Tour de France and talked about our plans for the day.  We both wanted to get haircuts and then she had a nail appointment @ 1:00.  Earlier I got a text and then a call from my sister saying that her offer had been accepted!  She’s still in a situation of being both excited and nervous.  It’s a lifestyle change. We were ready for it but everyone is different.  Plus she’s by herself which makes it harder. But at least she’ll be close by so that helps.

Later, we went to Walmart and got our hair cut and then went shopping and picked up a few cleaning supplies. We then went back home and after we unloaded the car I started up the string trimmer and knocked down some of the weeds closest to the motorhome. 

Lydia started on the kitchen. I finished 90% of my work and then rested a bit and Lydia came out to rest and to check on me.  We watched more of the race then set out to clean the refrigerator and scrub the kitchen floor.  Both were ok but we needed to get them cleaned just to feel better.  That done, we came back to the rig. Lydia took off a bit later to get her nails done and I watched the rest of today’s Tour. I did go out and finish up the cutting.  My across the street neighbor, Rick, saw me working and drove his lawn mower over and asked me if I wanted to use it.  Nice offer but I declined telling him I was just playing around a bit and that my tractor was coming next week. He also told me they have their field mowed ($100) by a guy 2-3 of times a season.  He uses his riding mower to do his own lawn which is about the same size as ours.  I’m calling his guy to get more info and maybe a bid.  Rick also volunteered to help me with weed control after the season. Meanwhile, Aimee’s landscaper friend we had called, called back and we set a time on Sunday for him to take a look at my flowerbeds and give us an estimate.  It’s certainly worth the money. We have so much work at the start just to get them presentable again. If he weeds, removes dead plants, and re-mulches we can take it from there with maintenance. Later in the afternoon we decided to fix dinner. We had bought stuff for tacos which was the first meal fixed in the house.  We don’t have any furniture yet so we took it back to the motorhome to sit and eat.  Then back in to wash dishes and then back to the rig for the rest of the night.  We find it extremely quiet here – almost too quiet to sleep.  But I’m sure we’ll learn to get used to that in no time at all!  J

  

Saturday, July 8th, 2017…..  Last week Aimee made the mistake of telling us she was performing (hula dancing) with her group at the Corvallis Farmer’s Market today.  So we decided to go surprise her.  We rolled up to the downtown market street and parked and walked around and checked out everything.  It was a small area but there were a lot of booths.  And boy, what a selection of vegetables! Huge tomatoes, huge sweet onions, super colorful rhubarb, etc. etc. 

We leave on Monday so we didn’t buy too much, just a couple of tomatoes. We found the hula ladies.  

Problem was we didn’t spot Aimee!  Turns out she had a rough night sleeping last night and begged out for today. Oh well, maybe next time.  We drove back through town and stopped at Sherwin Williams paint store to get some color swatches.  Jeff has an account with them so we can get his discount when we buy the paint.  That done we drove up to Albany and stopped at Loafer’s, a place Aimee told us she and her hubby like to go for dinner.  We picked up a $100. gift card which we will attach to a big dark chocolate candy bar (her favorite), along with a thank you card, to give to her later. We ran the Honda through a car wash and then later stopped at Lowe’s and picked up paint supplies.  We stopped at Fred Meyer to get a couple of thank you cards (the other for Mary, our agent in Eugene). We also hit a few furniture/mattress stores on the way back home.  Once back, we unloaded the car and each of us made our own lunches and then we rested and watched the Tour de France. I spent some time laying out floor protection for the dining room, which is the first room I will tackle once we get back from Vegas.

I guess we must have had a late lunch (didn’t notice the time) and neither of us felt hungry so we skipped dinner and snacked later and settled in to watch tv.     

2017 Trip – Blog #20 – Escrow Papers and Then Move In Day!

Wednesday, July 5th, 2017…..  Today we go sign escrow papers and get the wire transfer done. I woke up early – again another anxious day! – and did my walk while the girls got ready.  We drove up to Lebanon and went to Apple Tree for breakfast and then went to our 10:00am meeting/signing at the escrow office. That only took a few minutes.  Aimee met us there and told Penny no response yet on her offer.  We had an 11:30am appointment at our bank in Corvallis to get the wire transfer done.  We were early and had to wait for him to come in but we still got in and out in a few minutes.  We had the rest of the afternoon free until we had to take Penny to the airport.  We stopped at a few furniture sales stores just to look around.  One was mostly imported stuff but we did stop at one place where everything was made right there in the factory from Oregon sourced wood.  Very nice but very pricey! We continued on home and threw chicken pies in the convection oven for an easy meal before we headed off to the airport.  She is stressed out about the offer but excited about it too.  Fingers crossed. We came back home and rested for the evening and caught up on the Tour de France. Aimee called us later in the evening to let us know escrow funded and we could get our keys tomorrow at the house!  Yaaay!   Later, I took sis to the airport and on the way Aimee called with the seller’s counteroffer.  Still a bit off on the deal so I dropped her off with a bunch of numbers swimming around in her head.  She will do her financial planning, crunch the numbers and come up with an answer she’s comfortable with.  Again, we’ll see.  I stopped at Costco on the way home to check on their beds.  We still need to buy one for the guest room, along with furniture for that room.  Just checking at this time.  I got home and Lydia was ready for ice cream so we headed to Coburg and got some waffle cones and celebrated a bit!     

Thursday, July 6th, 2017…..  Even though we wanted to get there asap, we slept in a bit and then got the rig prepped for travel.  We left around 9:00am and decided to not tow since it was only a short drive.  At about 9:40 we turned down our new street and into our new driveway and parked at our new home! 

Aimee put the keys in her lock box and yesterday gave us the code. I got the key to the workshop and figured out where to park the rig so I could plug in.  We found out that Walt will be coming back with a rented trailer to haul his jeep away so I parked to give him room to get it out. Problem was I wanted to park right where the jeep was parked.  So I just pushed it out enough so that Walt could get to it easily and I could slide in next to the workshop. The workshop does not currently have 30 or 50 amp service so we are limited to usage on the 20 amp service. Our plan is to use the rig to sleep in and to watch tv in and we’ll shower and cook in the house. I need to call in an electrician to get that wiring updated and it’s on our list. We leave on 7/10 to fly to Vegas for Jeff’s wedding.  Our three pods get here on 7/11 but we are not required to be here so we gave instructions on where to place each of them in the driveway. We get back late on 7/12 so we’ll be able to start unloading on 7/13. Aimee came by to pick up her lockbox that had the keys in it so we spent some time with her before she had to leave.  First time she’s seen our coach so now she wants a motorhome!  We spent the rest of the day moving clean/dirty clothes, towels, toiletries, food, and paperwork into the house. Then we started looking at where we wanted to start our work.  I need to familiarize myself with the systems both in the house and in the garage and workshop.  We have a crawlspace under the house as well as attic access.  Walt left a small ladder (and I’ll use it tomorrow for the attic) but I did take a peek under the house.  Everything looks ok from the entrance but I’ll leave exploration for another day. I had checked out the irrigation system the other day on the walk thru so I now need to look at each of the timer boxes (one in the garage and one in the workshop) so I know which zones work where and that was pretty straight forward.  The drip system probably has a mile of lines so that will take a while! As you can see from the picture Walt did not mow before he sold the mower! 

 

Later in the afternoon, Walt's finance's grandson came by with a trailer to pick up the jeep.It took us an hour or more to winch it up and get it tied down for the trip back to Redmond. Hope he makes it!

The grass area and fields are really high. My mower doesn’t get delivered until 7/17. I couldn’t stand the weeds around the motorhome so when we went for lunch we kept going to Coast Farm/Ranch Supply and I bought a Stihl gas powered string trimmer and gas cans and earmuffs, etc. They pre-ran it for me and showed me a little about it.  Tomorrow I will chop down some of the weeds around the workshop so at least we will have a path to the rv!  I did manage to get a Directv box hooked up in the house.  We did some calculating about rooms we needed tvs in and decided we needed at least one more – maybe two! I have a small 15” I use when in the motorhome to hook up to local cable so we can get local info wherever we are. That tv is moveable so I used that one just to test.  We will be calling Direct soon but we want all of our tvs here so we can get them all done at the same time. Side note – we have yet to see a Directv truck here.  We’re told that they contract through Centurylink for this area.   Centurylink is one of the internet providers here and we’re told they use dsl which is not very fast.  We want Directv but we want Comcast internet if possible.  Tomorrow I will make some calls to see what I can do.

As I said, we went into town and ate and it was kinda late so we considered that our linner. Even though the house is air conditioned and was really nice we went out to the motorhome to watch the larger tvs (and our taped programs), before going to bed.  Busy day (but super fun!)