Spring 2025

 Just got back from our three day trip from Borrego to Spokane. Our new home here still feels new, probably because we are only here for 6 months. It’s been quite a whirlwind from the summer of 23 till now. Selling our dream home, moving to Spokane, losing my sister, losing Riley, selling our 184 home in Borrego and buying our 254 home there. It’s been fun, it’s been stressful, definitely some tears shed but not for one second do I not feel blessed. 

We had a good winter, we have made so many good friends in Borrego, we are just busy enough to not be bored, playing golf 3 times a week, dinners and many afternoon get togethers keeps us active. I think we have the 254 house just about the way we like, some painting to be done, maybe some landscaping, that will be it. Looking forward to a less hectic summer here in Spokane and back in Borrego.

We got back just in time to see Grace play a softball part, the family is good, both Jake and Trav work for US Foods. Trav works inside the production plant and Jake is in training to be an outside sales rep here in Spokane. Not sure that is in his best interest as he struggles to stay sober, he has so much free, unsupervised time which just leads to poor decision making. I hope things work out. Grace is great, she’s now 10 and will turn 11 this summer. I was delighted to have her ask me if our Friday night a “date night” is still on. Nana and I get Grace on Friday nights, allowing Jake an Em some quality time together. We play games, make her favorite meals, take a hot tub or two and watch movies. It’s everything we moved over here for, I’m glad we get another summer of her company.

Now back in Spokane we are settled in. I’ve planted many new perennials this spring. In general, the yard is pretty easy to maintain and I enjoy tweaking the variety of plants. Many of the plants won’t contribute to the backyard landscape until next spring.

There are a couple of big changes, Jacob is staying here with us. He’s. Working out his issues and it’s just best he does that here. Chris and I don’t mind, that’s what parents are for, right? No golf for me as my hands and left arm continue to give me problems. I just got back from the doctors office this morning. I’m lined up to have carpal tunnel surgery on my left wrist and also have surgery on my ulnar nerve at the elbow. After that we’ll shift over to the right hand for CPT surgery and trigger finger release. I’ll be a mess for probably 6 or 7 weeks but I hope this eliminates my issues and allows me to gain my strength back in my left hand.

Grace has kept us busy following all her activities. We have one more softball game on Wednesday, we watched a spring choir and orchestra concerts at school. Nana and I get her every Friday night to give Em a brake and to give us very valuable one on one time with Grace, such a delight. Tomorrow is her 11th birthday, we’ve been invited to the birthday dinner, we are taking her to get her nails done Friday, she has a sleepover with her buddies Saturday night. Well let her choose but we’ll also take her out Friday for dinner. It’s either Red Robbin or Varcotto’s (Mexican). 

 Our winter in Borrego

Our normal relaxed Borrego winter was filled with change. We got here as planned on the day before Halloween. Halloween here in the Roadrunner club is special. It’s all about the kids who come by the truckloads to parade around our streets. We got the new golf cart down here in one piece and Chris really likes it. We play golf about 3 times a week, I hit the spa 3 or 4 times a week and our weather has been exceptional.

We have lived in our place about 9 years and it’s quite comfy, our yard and our setting is very nice. We began to explore looking for another golf course location with more room, updated baths, etc. We didn’t look very hard, we were shown a couple of places but nothing really caught our eye. Prices here have really increased but when the realtor told us what our home would probably sell for, it opened our eyes to some real opportunities.

 We knew a couple that purchased a home and completely remodeled it just a couple of years ago. Unfortunately, health issues were going to force them to sell, they needed better medical services and they wanted to be close to their kids. Having this insider information, we were able to view the home. They did such a nice job remodeling, sparing no expense. New furnishings, window covers, flooring, paint both inside and out. They gutted the kitchen and master bath and put in beautiful new appliances, countertops, cabinets. It was a very unique opportunity and we made the decision to make an offer. Our neighbors were the contact people for the owners and through them we managed to put together a sales and purchase agreement that was accepted! 

Of course that meant we had to sell our place. We decided to for go the realtor and put a for sale by owner sign out front and in the back along with a sales flyer we created.  It took about 4 or 5 weeks with plenty of showings but we did it. Managed to get close to asking price, we should close on our 184 house this week!

We are very happy with the new place, we love the house and all the upgrades, we even like the backyard and the orientation of home on the golf course with the mountains as a backdrop. I’ve got the shed almost done and Chris has the master walk-in closet to paint. For the difference we paid to buy 254 vs what we sold 184 for, we thrilled with the value.

 Leaving for Borrego!

Summer is over and we are days away from heading south once again to Borrego. It’s been a busy summer highlighted by our trip to England, Scotland and Ireland. I was very nervous about the travel but it really wasn’t that bad, a little taxing getting over there compounded by some miscommunication from Go-Ahead but all in all the travel was fine. We had a wonderful trip, saw some beautiful country. We started in London, made our way to Edinburgh, Scotland then two stops in Ireland. While the group was exploring the Edinburgh castle, I took advantage of my proximity to St Andrew’s and spent a once in a lifetime day on the old course and in the world famous pubs surrounding the golf course. 

I could fill 20 pages with pictures from the trip but I’ll stop here.

Back from the trip we finished our summer enjoying a very warm temperatures. Grace was back at it playing softball and her team was quite good. I had promised Chris a new golf cart once we got back to Borrego but we ran into a good deal locally and decided to buy one here. We’re going to trailer it down to Borrego, probably the 4th time I’ve towed something down there. 

Murphy enjoyed the new backyard, perfect hangout for a lazy lab. He did have to patrol the back to make sure there weren’t squirrels or bunnies on the property. Most of the time he was as the photo shows, taking it easy 

Chris did a lot of work inside the house, patching holes and painting. I did some trimming outside. I’ve got a couple more ideas for next summer.

Travis changed jobs and so did Jacob, they both went to work for US Foods, Trav works in their warehouse and Jacob is in training for an outside sales position. Both seem happy with the change.

That’s about it for now, I’m sure I forgot to include something so I won’t close this post for a bit. Looking forward to getting back to Borrego!

 July 7th

Hello from Spokane! Chris and I are settled into our new home, our new neighborhood and our new city. In a large way, it doesn’t feel like home yet. My guess is when we return from Borrego next spring, I’ll be more comfortable calling Spokane home. We’ve been busy, I’ve been working in the yard and getting the garage organized to my liking. Chris has been doing the same inside the house. It’ll never feel like our Hoodsport home but it doesn’t have to. The home is comfortable, I’m very happy to have turned the upstairs into Christal’s “girl cave”. Chris has been sewing and enjoying the mornings and early afternoons upstairs. It gets warm up there, especially in the summer. It was quite a job to disassemble her ikea sewing tables in the garage then put ‘em back together upstairs but we got it done.

The yard is easy to mow, the beds have very little weeds, it’s nice to have a nice looking yard. I’ve spent a lot of time in the back, getting things the way I want. Cut down some tree’s and replaced the spots with a Japanese lace maple and a contorted filbert, a little touch of our Hoodsport home. 

My neighbor across the street has been kind enough to include me in his golfing group. They all went to school together in Coulee and made their way over here. It’s not the same as Lake Cushman or Borrego golf but it’s nice to get out. I try to get out at least once a week. The courses here are longer, I’ve struggled a bit but of late I’m starting to play better.

There has been at least two real pluses moving here, one was expected, one was a surprise. We have spent quite a bit of time centered around Grace. We just finished a softball season, watched her perform in a school concert, right before graduating from the 4th grade. We also had fun at her birthday party at a trampoline center. We have also had extra time to spend with Travis and Anne. Travis just changed jobs which he’s very excited about. He has been very helpful, willing to move some heavy things around here. It’s been fun to reconnect. I’m starting to do that with Jacob also. We have worked on a couple projects at his house, he is really making an effort to pay more attention to his home, surroundings and family. Even he would admit, he’s a work in progress. I’m glad we are close buy to help whenever they need us to. We’ve been watching Grace on Friday evenings so Jake and Em can have some one-on-one time with each other. The other plus is just how convenient everything is from this house. Lowe’s, Freddie’s, Ace Hardware, Safeway, Starbucks, doctor offices, restaurants and of course our kids. Didn’t know I would enjoy that as much as I do. We’re use to 45 min to Olympia or 1 1/2 hrs to Palm Springs, it’s been nice.

Chris and I are getting ready for our big trip overseas. England, Ireland and Scotland. I’m sure Chris doesn’t know or care but we will be in Ireland during the Open Championship! I don’t have have any golf planned, too much hassle to try and pull that off with a tour group. I’m just hoping the travel back and forth won’t cause me too much discomfort. I’m sure it’ll be fun once we are on the ground.

Murphy has adjust well over here, we have a nice little lake here with about a 1 3/4 hiking trail around it. Em, Grace an Jake were coming over to do the walk and they were taking Murphy. It’s gotten warm, they haven’t been over for the walk so it’s me and Murph doing our best to get around the lake. There is a little waterfall that has a small pond attached that Murphy loves to plop into. 

 Well, that’s about it for now. I’ll try another posting from Borrego where I’ll talk about our trip.

April 2024

 Hello once again,

Entering our last week in Borrego. Chris and I are excited to start our new adventure at our new home in Spokane. We have had a good winter, weather was good, not great. We got quite a bit accomplished, we opened up the sunroom side of the yard so that Chris can drive her golf cart out the front. That will really come in handy when we come back this fall, the green belt and golf course will be closed and having access out the front will be a blessing.

We also decided to get our place painted, it’s been 8 years since we purchased and had the home painted. Changed the color, I really like it.

Had a mild fender bender down here. Young man, no insurance, no license, rear ended me at the traffic light in Mecca. He paid cash for our repairs and our rental. Seems like everything is fine with the truck.

We met Jacob, Em and Grace for three nights at Disneyland. We had a blast. We went to Disneyland (Anaheim) first then Universal Studios (Hollywood) the next day. Pretty proud of myself for doing all the rides, didn’t get too tired but I was glad when each day was finished. 

 We spent our last night in Palm Springs with Ben and Matt. Their place made for a perfect layover. 

Our golf season is also winding down. I ran the Coyotes again, we had consistently large groups of 30+ guys each week. It’s a great group and I have developed some very good friendships there. 

We have a new neighbor here in the roadrunner, Merle and Donna bought a place here about 10 houses down from us. They’ve already done a lot to their place. I think their plan for the fall is to leave the coach at home, drive the truck down so that Merle can bring some tools from home. Donna seems very excited, Merle is starting to warm up to the idea.

I think that’s enough of an update, I’ll submit another post in late July or early August about our first summer in Spokane and our trip to Ireland!

Winter 2023

 Hello from Borrego!

So many things to share. Because of many factors, Chris and I decided to pursue homes in Spokane just for our family. I won’t get into too much detail but the housing market is not good, high interest rates are stopping sellers from listing their homes and homes that are available that are nice are being snapped up by people like us who are ready to buy. We did not want to wait until the spring to try and find a home which will end up being a bidding war. Carol’s house wasn’t getting any interest, we just decided that we can’t wait. 

We told Carole of our plan and of course she was disappointed. I hope this doesn’t ruin their friendship but  it’s not good which is very hard on Chris. There was one home in particular in a small community in Blanchard, Id that Chris really liked. We weren’t able to make an offer before it was sold. While on the golf course, I got a call from the Blanchard realtor that the deal fell through on the home Chris liked. We decided to take action. We identified a couple of other homes in Blanchard as well as two or three homes in Spokane and decided to fly up to Spokane, have an early Christmas with Jake, Em and Grace and spend one morning in Blanchard and one morning in Spokane looking at 5 or 6 places. Our flight into Spokane included a stop in Salt Lake. While having lunch in Salt Lake, I saw a new listing in the Spokane Valley area. We looked it over pretty good (almost too good as we damn near missed our connecting flight), we called Jim and asked him if we could see this new listing first thing in the morning.

Well we did and 

Chis loved the place, it was well taken care of, fit all our needs, and was close to the kids. We made an offer that morning and it was accepted. 

We close on Feb 6th. Not sure yet but if the weather is good enough, Chris will fly back up and I’ll arrange for the movers to meet her at our new place and move our things from storage into the new house.

We had a blast the rest of the trip. With no more houses to look at we got more time to spend with the kids. We spent Monday night watching Seahawk football with Travis & Anne. The remainder of the time we spent with Jacob, Em & of course, Grace. There is no more joy in this world than watching a child get excited for Christmas. It was a nice early Christmas present to ourselves. Chris developed a head cold and wasn’t feeling great. Jim, our realtor called and told us that his wife had Covid. Chris did a test and sure enough, she tested positive too. That forced us to cancel our Christmas with Ben and Matt. We had to reschedule for the MLK 3 day holiday weekend in January. Looking forward to that.

Here in Borrego, both of us have been playing golf, taking in the spa and pool and riding our e-bikes. Decembers weather has been pleasant. Should just get nicer and nicer as we roll into 2024. Not sure if our stay will be cut short. As it worked out, Carole got an offer on her home and despite us going our own way, she accepted a contingent offer. If she closes before we plan to go back, we’ll need to cut our stay in Borrego short to get Christal’s car and my boat out of her motor home garage. More to come.

September 2023

 Hello,

 It’s been an absolute crazy summer. So many subjects to cover, I didn’t want to wait until later in the year.

From the highs of selling our place 

to the lows of sudden loss. We lost Riley this summer, he was having such a difficult time just getting himself up. His hips that have bothered him since he was a pup, finally got to a point that his hips didn’t allow him to function. I miss him still to this day, such a wonderful happy dog and a loyal companion. Of course it’s not just me that misses him, Murphy lost his best friend. No thought of another dog, way to much chaos in our life to have to deal with a puppy. Goodbye Riley! 

Jacob also lost Tucker, a great dog and the absolute best retriever and catcher of a ball I have ever witnessed.

On a more serious note, I just lost my sister, Annie. She died of lung cancer, it came on quickly and she died peacefully on September 12. Although we didn’t see too much of each other, we had a bond between us that started along time ago when I helped watch after her two sons, Brian and Shad. both Brian and Shad were there at the hospital on her last day. I wish I had a picture to share, shame on me. She loved animals, always made a special effort to find abandoned pets a new home. She loved to paint and was quite good. Her favorite place on earth was the beach. I hope the boys chose to spread her ashes at the beach, goodbye sis!

I’ve got to admit, I’m feeling a little empty as Annie was my last sibling. An uneasiness creeps over me that mom, dad, JoLynn, Greg and now Annie are all gone. I’m so grateful for my family and look forward to spending more time with Jake, Em and Grace & Travis in Spokane during the spring and summer and Ben & Matt down in Palm Springs in the fall and winter.

On a completely and more uplifting note, things have worked out well here at Carole’s. It’s very nice of her we to offer her home to us. I like to think we have helped each other. I am looking forward to returning to our place in Borrego.

 The results of my shoulder replacement surgery could not have gotten any better. I’m now just over 3 months post op and at my last post op appointment, my surgeon called me a “rock star” because I have regained such good mobility, so quickly. I’m even starting to play some golf, I’m not as strong as I will be and I’m plenty rusty but it’s fun to get back out. I hope by the next post we’ll have sold Carole’s home and have our sights on a new home in Spokane.