Oregon Living 2021 – Blog #53 – Finally Getting the Mobile Done & Taking a Relaxing RV Trip

 

Again, my apologies for the long blog this time. It seems that my days are a little busier now and it is harder to get to my laptop than it used to be! Good times though and I’m super happy!

Tuesday, August 17^th., 2021…… Today we’re working with the new contractor!  We actually have two. Turns out the couple who are buying Cathye’s house in Crawfordsville the guys in the building trade (I think he works for a mobile home manufacturer). Anyway, he gave us a couple of names and one guy, Randy, has been to the house and we gave him a punch list of things to be done. He will do some and he knows a guy who will take on the rest. Don, who works for the mobile home maker, left his job, and moved down to Calif. But he’s up here now visiting a sick relative and can use the money. So, between the two of them we are going to get things done. Today Cathye went over to the house, and I went to the carpet house here in town. I took pics of what is in stock today plus the many remnants that would work in her two rooms (funny – the old contractor could have done this too!).  Later, Cathye came back, and she bought the carpet and pad she wanted and arranged for delivery on Friday. We checked on their install timeframe and they were too far out but referred us to a guy who does overflow work for them. I called and left a message, but we later found out that Don could do the carpet too!  Sweet!      

Wednesday, August 18^th., 2021……  Today we needed to get the motorhome ready for our mini trip. I had booked us a couple of nights in a rv park in Junction City, about 40 miles for us, so we could take the motorhome out for a little shakedown cruise. It would also be Cathye’s (and Jama’s) first time in it!  Cathye headed off to her volunteer job at the food bank, and then spent the afternoon with her friend, Robin. Today was one year since Jim passed and they went to a few places she and Jim frequented. They also went to the gravesite (he’s not there but some of his ashes were placed there).  I know she needed her time and also how tough that one year day can be.  I loaded up chairs and such and got my clothes and meds ready to take out.  When she got back, she did the same with her clothes and meds and we were set. We went over and met with Don and got a lot of his questions answered and she gave him her list.    

Thursday, August 19^th., 2021…...  Today was camping day!  We had a check-in time of 1:00pm and it was only a short drive, so we weren’t in any hurry. Cathye went out to run some errands and I pulled the coach out of the garage and got final items loaded. When she returned, I showed her my procedure for hooking up the car and she picked it up quickly and we were ready to go!  The drive was nice, and everything went well. I did break the plastic pull handle on the outside by the door so I will need to look into replacing that later. The only other thing that concerns me is the (Aladdin) system camera and logistics system. This is a dash-mounted unit with a separate toggle switch, and I use it all the time for speed, engine performance, plus the rear view and side cameras. 

Everything works as it should, but the problem is that I can’t seem to be able to shut off the system when we’re parked. It wants to stay on, or in standby, which I think is causing my issues with the started batteries draining. I will need to troubleshoot that later in the day.  Anyway, we got in and unhooked and parked with no issues (other than the Aladdin). It was nice to be out, and we took some time to relax and enjoy the day! 

Later, we walked and fed the dogs and then took off north to Monroe to a place I was wanting to go for a while now. It is called Long Timber Brewing and it was built since Lydia and I moved up here. The place was amazing, with massive timbers spanning the huge dining area and bar. The food was pretty good too. We will be going back again.  We got back to the coach and made another run with the girls and then settled in to watch tv until calling it a night.    

Friday, August 20^th., 2021……  We knew we had to make a return run back to the trailer for the carpet/pad delivery, so we headed off to Prairie Schooner for chicken fried steaks for breakfast and then loaded up the dogs and drove back up to meet the delivery. Don was also coming and met up with us later in the morning to go over the plan. He will be doing the electrical work too and we wanted to make sure we knew what he would be doing. He will also be painting the bathroom vanity that we thought we either needed to scrub from all of Taz’s sloppy texturing job in the bathroom or replace. All of that took a few hours but we got everything worked out and went back to spend time back relaxing at the rig. Later, Penny and Butch came over to visit and we went out to Chinese in town, then came back and had a few drinks and sat out around the campfire and had a nice visit.     

Saturday, August 21^st., 2021…… We had a super time out in the coach, but it was time to head back home. We prepped to leave and then we hooked up the Honda and drove back home. Once we got home and the car unhooked, I backed the motorhome into the garage, and we unloaded the rig and rested for a few minutes. Then we headed back to the mobile. Don had all of the carpet in and had started working on the countertops. He had some nice laminate material that Cathye loved and would be customizing everything so it would be seamless. We were both thrilled by his craftsmanship and speed!    

Sunday, August 22^nd., 2021…… Sunday morning so after we walked the dogs and ate breakfast and cleaned up the house a bit, she headed off to church. I watched some little league world series games and rested up a bit. Don was working only part of the day today. but he got almost ¾ of the countertops in!  He also painted the bathroom vanity and reinstalled that. It looks better than anything we could have bought!  

Later in the day, we headed over to The Pointe. Cathye had all of the estate team meet for dinner. She thanked them all and gave them all thank you cards (w/cash/gift cards) because they worked so hard. This was an extremely large endeavor and took over 10 months to pull off so she was grateful! 

l-r:  Mark, Corey, Sean, Cathye, Gerald, Sally, Penny

l-r:  Sean, Cathye, Penny, Sally, Robin, Gerald (the young lady was a server there and is Robin's relation) 

Monday, August 23^rd., 2021……  Today was moving day. But first I had to go to my acupuncture. No worries. Cathye would go to the house and meet the crew. She drove my truck with the flatbed trailer hooked up and positioned it out in front of the house. I took her truck. By the time I got there, they had the truck loaded with the smaller items and the girls and Corey and I managed to muscle the juke box into Robin’s van. We loaded the couches and tv and dressers and cabinets on the trailer and we headed over. We came up with a plan for the juke box and I backed the van up to the porch and we used my ramps and some boards to roll the heavy piece most of the way into place in the trailer. The rest went easily. 

The only things left are those that we had already brought to my garage, and they can go over there anytime. It was a busy morning, but we got it all done with some great teamwork!    

Oregon Living 2021 – Blog #52 – Getting Better & Going to a Wedding

Wednesday, August 11^th., 2021……  Still trying to stay in and recover. Today is much better than yesterday. Cathye’s tlc is working!  She headed off to the house this morning with my sister. As mentioned, Corey is there and will be taking a load of cardboard to the dump. And Greg is there loading up all of the metal around the place for scrap. Penny and Cathye are sorting through the rest to determine if it goes to another charity or if it’s just junk for the dump. There is really nothing left of value in the outbuildings, so we no longer need to lock those up. Next step is when we go there and stage everything for the final load to come here. There is a light at the end of that tunnel!  

Thursday, August 12^th., 2021……  I’m feeling much better! My only symptom now is a dry cough. Next up is getting the junk out of my lungs.  But for now, not too bad.  We were out early with the girls and talked with our neighbors to the west, Rich and Linda. They are celebrating their 50^th anniversary this year and their party is next Saturday. They have been out working on the yard for a few days now. Even though the weather is HOT, they are out there pulling weeds and cleaning up. Linda has been trying to get Kirk to do the mulch job before the party but he doesn’t have time to do the weeding, so they have taken that to task!  Meanwhile, our weeds are now popping up from our mulch beds. That will go on the list for Kirk and his guys next week. I need to mow and string trim around the house though.  I’m just waiting for the weather to cooperate – and to feel a little better!  I felt good enough to make a run out to the house to help organize the loads for pickup. We managed to get stacks set up with items to donate. We will need to move them out because they will be here tomorrow for pickup.  We left there and headed down to Eugene for another round of tattoo removal for Cathye.  Then we had an appointment with a new contractor, Randy, for work on the trailer. This is a nightmare. Her current contractor has been missing in action for over 4 weeks with absolutely no communication. So, she is firing him and going with another contractor for the finishing touches. We made a punch list (23 items) and went over them with him. This is looking good, given his contacts he might be able to get things done!

The plan tonight was to go to Monteith Park for the John Michael Montgomery concert. We also had been invited to Ixtapa’s for dinner. Misty’s daughter, Kennedy, is getting married this weekend and she has a ton of family here and they were going to dinner. We chose dinner because the weather was way too hot to go to the concert. We had a nice meal. I am meeting more and more folks and found out this weekend that Misty and her Mom Lona, are actually related to Cathye (via previous marriages). It’s hard to keep up so I just meet the new people and smile!    

Friday, August 13^th., 2021…...  Temps in the high 90s today! We also went to Home Depot in Albany to check out dishwashers. They had the make (Bosch) and model that we wanted but didn’t have the right color. They thought there might be one in the Salem store so I volunteered to go up and check it out. Ashley was bringing Sophie over to see Cathye and visit for a while so she stayed home to wait for them.  Turns out Home Depot did have the dishwasher so I picked that up and brought it back to the house. We’ll drop it off at the trailer tomorrow morning.   

Saturday, August 14^th., 2021……  We were up and early this morning. We went to breakfast with Penny and she came over to the trailer and we dropped off the dishwasher and then came back here to mow.  The girls got the field taken care of easily but I struggled with the lawn. It was really thick and since I had left the sprinklers on last night (my bad!), it was really too wet to mow. I got the blades clogged up several times and just quit for the day.  Plus, we had received a call from Misty that they could use two of Cathye’s popup awnings for the reception at the church filed. So, we went over and got both of them together and dropped them off and set them up for them. We headed back home and showered and rested for a short period of time before we had to go. The wedding was scheduled for 3:00pm and we made it there early. The service was outside with no protection so they kept it short and sweet! 

We moved our chairs under the tents and then went through the food line. We stayed for the cake cutting (inside) then left along with most of the older guests so the younger folks could get on with the party in the heat!     

Sunday, August 15^th., 2021…...  Busy day today. Cathye went to church and when she got back, Penny came over here and they went through the Lydia’s remaining clothes. I want to take some down to her friends when we go to SoCal next month. Some they kept and the others will go to a section of The Sweet Home Food Bank where they distribute clothes like food – to whoever needs it. I feel good about that!  Later in the day, we went to dinner at Pizza Schmizza and came home and rested.     

Monday, August 16^th., 2021…… Today is another busy day!  After walking the dogs, we had breakfast and then I moved the rv out of the garage and got it ready to wash. It was hot today so we wanted to get it done before it got even hotter! 

The dogs watched!

Then I fired up the zero turn and we finished the lawn. I had a few more mishaps with wet grass and made some serious gouges in the lawn plus got the mower stuck in the front ditch! I had to throw myself on the sword and have Cathye pull me out with her truck. Sorry, no pics!

Oregon Living 2021 – Blog #51 – Working Through Some Issues & Getting Ready for the Big Move

 

Thursday, August 5^th., 2021……  I had to stay around the house today. Cathye went off to meet the radio guys, who were coming early to beat the heat. I needed to be here because I am having my house cleaned. This is a new crew and I need to be here. Cathye said they were working away over there, starting upstairs in the back building and going forward to the house.  I worked here, putting things away and picking up dog toys and bones. The ladies got here at 11:30am and started in. This first time is a deep clean, so they were at it for over 4 hours. I stayed with them and we went over a few things, then I went out to the garage to work. I needed to check the wiring on my truck and/or trailer because one light doesn’t work. I ended up replacing the whole connector so I think I’m good now. The ladies did a bang-up job and left just before Cathye got back from her day at the Crawfordsville house. I think I will use them once a month to start and we’ll see if that’s enough.    

Friday, August 6^th., 2021……  Today was the start of my first symptoms of a cold coming on. First time in over 4 years and the first one here in Oregon!  When this comes up, I get a sore throat, then a runny nose, then chest congestion and finally then start to cough up and then I get better. I am in the sore throat part. I was very quiet – which Cathye has never seen! – so she got worried. I said I wasn’t feeling well so she decided to make me stay home. I was good with that at the time. I knew I needed to take it easy. No fever, no chills, no other signs of anything else, but I knew I needed rest. That also helps with my back, I want it better too and rest will help that.   

Saturday, August 7^th., 2021…...  I’m not sure of the sequence of things at the house but I know that things got done over there!  The radio guys already came over and made their first pickup. I’m told they need to make at least two trips. The engine guys came over and got their items that we set aside in our major sorting project last week. Teen Challenge came by and got really picky. They only took certain things. Our mistake and we will not use them again. Her neighbor will be looking through the rest of the stuff for scrap and what’s left will go to the dump. Meanwhile, the mobile home project is stalled. Actually, it’s stopped completely! Her contractor has been awol and despite several attempts to reach him, he has not responded. We drove to Home Depot and had the carpet team look for his order. They said measurements had been taken but no order had been placed so it was cancelled. He tells us he is waiting for it to come in. Lies!  So, now we know he has skipped out. It has come down to ultimatums. He is out and Cathye has written him a letter asking for a response and all items that he has “warehoused’ delivered to the property by close of business on Friday. We have text messages from him saying he has the fridge, washer/dryer, the carpet pad, and part of the countertops. He owes her a dishwasher, a microwave, the carpet, and the rest of the countertop. We will take whatever he delivers (which I’m guessing will be nothing) and start again with another contractor. Cathye has already found a guy who can spare a crewmember to come over and complete the job. The problem will be in recovering any fees. He will likely argue that she still owes him but we will settle with filing with the contractor’s board and go after his bond. We’re resolved to just move on at this point and she wants the job done!          

Sunday, August 8^th., 2021……  Another day at the house. I am still in the runny nose symptom, and have to stay home but Cathye went over to get more things done.  I’m feeling much better but she’s insisting I stay home. So, I’m under ‘house arrest’ for a while. I caught up on my races and other taped tv programs. I did go out and take some pics of my new toy. Turns out it’s a 1976 Cushman Truckster. I know it’s rough, but it runs great and will work for my needs.

When she got back, she went off and ran some errands and got a few groceries. We watched tv until bedtime.   

Monday, August 9^th., 2021…… I cancelled my acupuncture appointment today.  Runny nose is gone and just starting to cough a little. I believe that today is the appraisal from the buyer’s lender. Cathye doesn’t need to be there so she took off to run some errands. She took Jamie to breakfast and hit Kohls and Costco on the way home.  I am feeling much better but - on the boss’s order – I am still not doing much here at the house. My poor grass is begging to be mowed but I’m behaving. But her plan is working and I’m much better. I stayed in the house and watched tv and worked on a few power naps in between. I also need to call and make reservations for rv camping for next week. We want to take the rv out for a test run and we found some time next week. There is a nice campground in Junction City, which is about 45 minutes from here and that will work for a two-day outing.        

Tuesday, August 10^th., 2021……  I actually got to go out of the house today!  

My mistake - today is the appraisal so we are going out to make sure all of the buildings are unlocked and everything is looking good. She has transferred all of her potted plants from outside either to here or to her trailer but she still wants to water the lawn and some of the flowerbed plants and bushes that are left. The weather is hot!  It is in the mid-90s all week, with highs getting up to 104º coming later in the week. I drove us there and we got the water going and I got my first look since everyone has been here. Wow!  Not much left to do.  Her neighbor will be coming over tomorrow to pick through the scrap. Corey will be there too to make a run to the dump with cardboard.  We still need to get ahold of my sister’s picker though. She found this guy named Bryce, who is a shady character at best, but she says he will pretty much take anything he can make a buck on. Problem is she can’t reach him and he is probably homeless so we can’t get an address. But, after Greg and Corey get most of the junk out, we can always make another dump run with whatever is left. That leaves just her furniture and wardrobe and misc. boxes, the utility trailer, and the Shasta trailer. All of that can wait until close of escrow. I don’t expect my carport (for the Shasta) to be installed before then but we can wait. We also don’t think the new contractor will be able to complete her mobile before escrow but no worries – I have prepped space here for those things. I can move everything in one load with my new flatbed trailer.   

Oregon Living 2021 – Blog #50 – The BIG Sale!

 

Thursday, July 29^th., 2021……  Cathye was a little nervous this morning. She didn’t sleep well last night. This is all in anticipation of the estate sale that starts today. They have had this in the works for many months and this is the last of that push and hopefully will clean out all or most of everything there. She prepped some food last night for the workers and we loaded that up in her truck and, after a walk with the doggies, she was out of here by a little after 6:00am.  Penny and I are working there this weekend so she came by with breakfast and we headed out a little after 7:00am.  Sean’s trademark start time is always 7:45am so the team was all in place in the house and outbuildings and ready for the crowds. They had Corey parking the cars in the neighbor’s field across the street since they found this worked for the very first sale months ago.

The crowds were patiently waiting for the gate to open

and we quickly saw this would be a busy day. I took the large radio room and Penny worked there with me and then became a ‘runner’ and helped folks take their stuff up to the front desk to stack up with their names on it. Cathye had a guy who was into radios who was the main helper out there but he wouldn’t be there until Saturday. Our jobs were to just keep an eye on things and help where needed.  Let’s just say it was a busy day!  The ads stated that there would be a 20% markdown on Thursday (but not on the high-end radios or the coins) and 50% on Friday and 75% on Saturday – on whatever was left.  The yard sale folks (across the country I’m guessing) know to come early to look through the cream of the crop and the 20% off hit them just right. There was a TON of stuff that went quickly on day one. The sale went on until 5:00 but Penny and I only worked until about 2:00pm because it slowed down considerably, plus we had to get back so I could let Rylee out.  Later, after Cathye got home and we rested for a bit, we headed off to Albany. We stopped at Burgerville and grabbed a couple burgers and drove over to Monteith Park and set our chairs up. On Thursdays in the summer, they do concerts in the park. Tonight, was Herman’s Hermits with Peter Noone. It was warm but we were under the trees so it wasn’t too bad. The group played for 90 minutes and they were pretty good.

 

We’ll skip Smashmouth next week but go back again in two weeks for John Michael Montgomery. We got home tired. We showered and went to bed early. Tomorrow will be another busy day.       

Friday, July 30^th., 2021……  Today was 50% off day. Sean always prices high so a lot of folks just can’t buy on the first day. They told us that they would be back today and they were!  We had a nice crowd and a lot more stuff left the shelves and shop floors. We left around 2:00pm again to get home to the dogs. Cathye made it home about 5:30 after her long day. She was beat so I went out and got us dinner while she kicked back and relaxed. Another early night. Tomorrow will wrap everything up and will hopefully be busy and will help get more stuff moved out.

Saturday, July 31^st., 2021…...  Last day of the sale. Each day, Cathye takes off around 6:00am and sis comes by here about 7:00am with breakfast. We eat, and then head over for the 7:45am gate opening. When we got there and got parked, we saw that there were a bunch of folks lined up outside the fence and when the gate opened, they headed to the buildings they hoped still had what they wanted yesterday. Today it was 75% off marked prices. Folks made piles of items and the workers helped them stack them up at the register. Their name was on their pile so they could just keep on shoppin’!  Things were moving at a rapid rate most of the morning.  We left again around 2:00pm and we saw when we left that every building was picked over pretty heavily, but at 3:00pm they offered bagged/boxed prices. We heard they were grabbing items and that really made a dent in the stock.  Cathye got home and said she was not hungry and just wanted to crash. I ate leftovers and we watched tv. Later, Sean called and gave her the numbers. Amazing!  Tomorrow, we will go back and get the food from the fridge and water the flowers and Penny wanted to check to see if a certain pair of speakers had sold.

Sunday, August 1^st., 2021…… After sleeping in for an extra hour, we got up and showered and walked the dogs. Penny came by and we headed over to Kevin’s for breakfast before stopping back at the house and getting the dogs and then driving out to Crawfordsville. We found that the speakers were still there so Penny texted the guy. He came by and bought them. It was a $50. sale so it was worth it to wait for him to show up. Next up is to have the radio club come out with their truck and take all of the unsold audio items. There are radios, amps, testers, speakers, microphones, headsets, etc., etc. that they will need to get. This is what was left just in the large room...

She is still waiting to hear back from their board since the tentative plan is to rent a truck and a storage unit, which requires board approval. This would be prior to an auction that would bring the funds back into the club. We are just hoping they can move on this asap because escrow will close toward the end of the month! For us, the next steps are to sort through the non-radio stuff and determine 1) what will be kept (not much!), 2) what will be donated (probably Teen Challenge here in Lebanon), 3) what can be scrapped (she has a couple of folks who will take just about anything), and finally, 4) what needs to go to the dump. This should be only a minor challenge because we did so well with the sale. I’m looking forward to this project!  After getting some bills paid, Cathye took off to go over to her place to drop off a few more items in her storage shed. She also wants to check in with her neighbors. Her place, and the other two that the contractor is working on in that park, are not yet completed. He has not responded to any of their requests for updates so the daughter of one of those folks has sent the guy a letter asking for a response within a certain time period. If he won’t respond, she will file a complaint with the Oregon Contractor’s Board. The other two mobiles are occupied and they are dealing with the mess. They have paid the guy in full already. Cathye’s place needs carpeting, countertops, appliances and more so she cannot move in at all yet. At least she hasn’t paid the guy more than he’s done so far. Worst case scenario is that the place won’t be ready.  Once she gets closer to close of escrow on Crawfordsville, we can get everything out of that house and I will be able to store it all here until her place is done but we are hoping that this is resolved soon so we can avoid that double move.   

Monday, August 2^nd., 2021……  We were back at her place early this morning. We have to sort through the remaining items as mentioned before. I decided to start upstairs in the large building. We got everything boxed up and brought downstairs, leaving only the radio related items. I counted 100 radios up there! We had several helpers today and we got everything but two of the outbuildings sorted out and separated.  

Tuesday, August 3^rd., 2021…… Another round at the house. Today it was the guy who bought her porch swing. They were already there when we arrived and had it almost dismantled. I brought my flatbed to bring back the new toy Cathye bought for me. 

Marvin, one of her neighbors, drove up in this Cushman truckster and I commented, "That's what I need for the yard!", so she found out he was selling it and bought it on the spot!  It's really old and really rough but it runs great and has a working hydraulic dump bed, which is a big plus.  The guy who bought the Ford tractor arrived a little later with a monster flatbed to pick it up. I helped with that and we got it started and he took a couple of implements that he also bought, out with the tractor and loaded those before loading the tractor and heading out.

Then I went over and helped the guy load the swing. Not a good idea. My back has not fully recovered and that didn’t help!  But if I take it easy, I find that keeping the muscles warmed up with activity actually helps. Just got to be careful and know my limits!  We got overheated because the weather has been in the high 90s this past week, with no relief in the next week or so. We quit early and will do those last two buildings tomorrow.

Wednesday, August 4^th., 2021…… The plan today is to work on the final two outbuildings. Cathye went off to do her volunteer work at the Sweet Home Food Bank.  Sis came by today and we went out to breakfast before heading over there. I had keys and we got started. It didn’t take too long to get those rooms sorted out. Radio guys come tomorrow for the first load. They will need to make a couple of trips because they don’t want to stack the radios too high. Teen Challenge comes on Saturday. We are told they are pretty good about taking everything. But we sorted out the sellable stuff and made a scrap pile for her neighbor who is a junker.  If he only takes the metal, we will do a run to the dump. Then all that’s left will be shelving units and I will get what I want and two or three will go to her friend and the rest will go to the buyers. Then we will need to move out her stuff and get the Shasta over here and we’re done!  We left there with flower pots for the trailer and a few shelving units for my garage. We unloaded at the trailer and then my place. Penny went home to rest and I showered. Cathye stayed at her trailer and watered everything and visited with her neighbors. Once she got home, we had leftover lasagna and relaxed and watched the Olympics before calling it a night.