Saturday, December 30th,
2017…... I did my wait thing this morning to see if my
dog walking services were needed but Penny texted that she’s still doing ok
(yaay!) so I wasn’t needed. I spread out
the day between watching college bowl games on tv and moving all of the
Christmas stuff from the porch to the shop.
I sure am glad I have put up all of the rack shelving out there in the
shop. I took a picture before pulling it
all down so I can get it back the same.
Even with all of the shelving space I am looking at adding even more.
It’s just nice to have all of the room to do that.
Sunday, December 31st,
2017…... LAST DAY OF 2017! I always said that we kick back on the
weekends. But today we did some more
cleanup around the house and shop. Lydia
worked on cleaning and dusting things we couldn’t get to with all the Christmas
stuff out. I went out early to the shop
and got all of the boxes and crates stored back up on the racks. So that’s
done. The rest of the day we just rested and watched tv. No plans tonight – I don’t imagine we’ll even
make it to midnight.
So now it’s
time to reflect about 2017 a bit. I
won’t go into the world’s issues here – just our year in general. We ended 2016 with a plan – to make a life
changing move. After living all of our
life in So Cal it was time for a change. Yes, we were ready. We evaluated our current lifestyle. Yes, we had a good life in Calif. with a
bunch of great friends and a busy (at least to us) social life. But after much
thought, we made the decision to make the move to a different location and a
new stage in our lives. Oregon was our choice after our many years traveling
all over the US in our rv. We didn’t
want frozen tundra nor more snow than we can deal with nor did we want to live
in barren desert. We like green, not
brown. We did want seasons. We also didn’t want a tract home, next door to
neighbors but we didn’t want to be isolated from civilization either. With all
that in mind we decided that the Willamette Valley in central Oregon fit our
needs. A bit of rain, maybe some snow (not yet!), but definitely seasons and
most importantly – not in California. We were tired of many things in Cali –
traffic, crime, smog, crowded stores, long lines, rude people, and, sorry, not
meant to be prejudicial but so many folks we have no cultural ties with. We found
folks up here to be a breath of fresh air.
Everyone we have met has been friendly and welcoming (contrary to
beliefs about Californians moving here!). Yes, we have rednecks and crime and some
homeless, and even some traffic if you’re in a larger city during rush hour.
But the skies are clean and the air is crisp and we love life up here! We made the right choice. We’ve seen the weather at it’s worst and
we’re ok with it so far. The rain is
nice (even though it holds me back from being outside when I want to). No snow yet but we’ve experienced black ice
(although not a lot). Everything is what we’ve expected and we’re thrilled with
it all. The hardest part of being here
is that we’re not close to the friends we’ve made in Calif. Plus family can’t
just run up and visit when they want (900 miles one way from Long Beach to
Lebanon & 3,163 miles one way from Ft Myers FL to Lebanon). But, hey, we
have an rv and can travel too! So, back to our year. Now that we’re in and
operational, we are working on fixing up and improving on what we have and what
we want. We bought my riding mower, a utility trailer, some new tools and tables
and cabinets for the shop and some new furniture and carpet runners for the
house. We’ve gotten our landscaping jump started with new plants and mulch and
new sprinklers and our fruit trees and shrubs in good shape. Our rv garage
project is in progress. And most
important, we are both healthy. So, all in all, we are moving right along with
our new life in Oregon! We love it! Happy
times!
To all of our
friends - we’d like to wish all of you a safe and prosperous 2018! Please
think about coming up to visit us. We
have plenty of room for you, be it in the house or out on the property in your
rv. You’re all welcome and we look
forward to your visit! Happy New Year!
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