The spring, summer and now fall with Covid 19

 Greetings from Hoodsport,

With out a doubt the biggest story and impact on us is dealing with a new virus transported into the US from China. I’m not going to get into too much detail but this virus has forced everyone to stay close to home, wear masks and sanitize everything. It also forced all the trips we had scheduled to be cancelled. Chris and I had a trip planned to Scotland, she had another trip planned this fall to Greece with Carole and it appears that her planned trip to Australia next spring will also be cancelled.

Murphy and Riley are now buddies. Murphy like most puppies has provided quite a challenge, chewing up our bushes and tearing into the yard. Overall he is a good dog and a welcomed member of our family.

One of the highlights of the summer was adding an outdoor kitchen.

We have already had a lot of fun cooking outdoors both Matt and Jacob have taken turns with the BBQ & Komodo. Speaking of Jake, we had Jake, Em and Grace over for the 4th of July and had a blast (literally)!

Not being able to travel has forced us (me) to focus on the yard and I’m pleased with how things look. We still have two large projects left, hopefully, the house will get painted next week and then in a few weeks after that, our roof will get some attention.

Ben and Matt came over a couple of times and while it’s a little different this year to have guests, we had a good time and as always treated to the best food. Ben was commissioned to create a painting by a sister of one of his good friends, she is moving into a new house and this painting will certainly be a focal point. I have a picture of the painting but can’t pull it up.

I played plenty of golf, my game could be better. It was a slow start to good weather here in Hoodsport but he summer was dry and warm.

Well its time to begin planning for Borrego. Before leaving Borrego in the spring, we began to start remodeling the kitchen in our little place. My friend Jeff Johnson volunteered to take charge, unfortunately when the Covid struck, Jeff had to pull back from the project due to his pre-existing condition that made him vulnerable to Covid. Thank god for Merle, he jumped in and we got half of the kitchen finished. Jeff has called me a couple of times this summer and he’s ready to start again this fall. It may all culminate with a new floor as well since the new cabinets don’t cover all of the existing flooring and Murphy managed to eat a couple of sections of the exposed floor. 

                                                           

I’ll post another update sometime from Borrego.

Winter 2019

Hi again, typing this from my new I-Pad Pro. It is December 28th, yesterday was birthday #65. I’m officially an old geezer. A lot of changes since my last post. I’m now retired. Management wanted me to manage the parks in addition to the golf course as a “recreation manager”. It would have meant a full-time position giving up my winters down in Borrego and it just wasn’t that important for me.
   We lost Cooper this past summer, it was hard to have him put down, many things were still working but he had stability issues and his quality of life just quickly deteriorated.

Of course we will miss him, Riley naturally was depressed and doing nothing without his buddy. Chris accidentally ran across a cute picture on a Facebook website and after following up, we purchased our next family member, Murphy.

 Chris had a particularly tough summer, she did an amazing job caring for her mom. We were hopeful that we could bring her to Hoodsport to live with us and although we tried, it became clear that she was more comfortable in Vancouver where her friends and medical care was.  We lost grandma this fall. We did get the opportunity to have most of our family up for a weekend with Luella, she enjoyed the chance to visit with everyone. I’m glad that happened. 

Grace started school this year, amazing! 

Travis left Wisconsin and now lives in Spokane, he’s enjoying being closer to family and see’s Jacob from time to time.  

Ben and Matt had great years and love living downtown Seattle. Ben had a very interesting work year from filming two commercials (New York & Los Angeles) to opening up new Reserves in New York & Chicago. We just spent Christmas with them and Matt’s family in Palm Springs.

Almost forgot, I won the club Championship at Lake Cushman, something I never thought would happen. What’s special about that is the championship is gross, no handicap involved. Pretty Cool.

I think that is it, Obviously got more pictures to download, maybe I’ll try to do this more than once a year.

Spring 2019

Hi from Borrego, we are entering our last few weeks down here, in fact Chris will be back this Saturday. A cooler/wetter winter down here, still miles better than home. It’s nice now with temps in the mid 80’s. Played a lot of golf, worked one day to get my golf free at The Springs. Played several times at the resort and was a fill-in Marshall at Rams Hill.

I ran the men’s club (coyotes) this season, it’s a great group and we had a great season.

Riley & Carter are both still with us, they have issues but they enjoy it down here.

One of the tough sacrifices we make coming down is not getting to see Grace. She’s amazing, so smart and just a joy.

 This is a picture from a park on my visit to Spokane on my way down to Borrego.

I did retire from Lake Cushman. Officially on the payroll through the end of the year but was done at the end of September. It’ll be interesting when I get back to Hoodsport to see if I miss work.

 Ben & Matt came down twice, we spent Christmas together at the ole DeAnza house.

Memorial Day

It’s been a while since I’ve Posted anything. Still working at the golf course and it seems the new GM & I are getting along. Weather has been great and Chris is doing a nice job with the flower pots & weeding. I’m beat from the holiday work but I’m excited about driving over to Spokane with Chris to celebrate Gracie’s 4th birthday.

I’m annoyed that I can’t access my photos to the blog page. One of the reasons I haven’t been blogging.

We had a great 5 months in Borrego. We didn’t do to much to the place, we built a privacy fence that turned out great. Played a lot of golf and enjoyed the weather.

Another update, it’s now July 8th, another long but prosperous holiday week is finished. That means only one more holiday (Labor Day) until I head back to Borrego. Will I go down as golf course manager or newly retired guy?

The boys & I are relaxing out back. It’s warm but not too hot. The big surprise this summer is how well the mariners are playing. As of this post they are 23 games over 500, pretty amazing!


We had Marvin paint our exterior doors and the shakes this summer, had the doors painted white after the clear transparent finish has lifted and peeled in the direct sunlight.

Time to catch up on the family...Grace turned 4, we went over for her birthday party and really enjoyed ourselves. Ben & Matt bought a new condo right down in pioneer square, across the parking lot from the “Clink”. We just had Grandma Stanley here for a week. Chris has several “girl trips” planned with Carole this fall including another trip to Italy, she’ll be busy.
The dogs are getting older, Carter just turned 12 but are in good spirits. I’m not sure if they like it here in Hoodsport better than Borrego?

Labor Day Weekend

   Ben and Matt are in Palm Springs with friends this weekend. They don't let any moss grow under their feet! Tomorrow morning is our fantasy draft, I don't know how many years we've been doing this, maybe 5 or 6 years. Travis is the commissioner, I think he enjoys organizing it. It's an all family affair, 10 of us, Jake, Em, her dad Chris, Travis, Dillon, Jeff G., the Bonds & me.

                                                                    

   Greetings from the patio. I'm here with Riley & Carter. Beautiful evening, working the last of my holiday weekends at the golf course. Before I know it, we'll be packing up for Borrego. Lots to do before then. I've got budgets, cart path & parking lot paving projects to complete plus a variety of fall projects. Looks like I'm going back for a 6th year.


   Our dogwood is in full bloom this fall. Didn't bloom much in the spring. It must like hot weather because it's been a very nice summer and we still scheduled to get temps in the 90's next week!
 
    Even though I didn't get to Jake & Em's much I miss them being so far away. They really seem to be liking it in E. WA and Jake seems to be in his element as a sales rep. I am heading to Spokane in a couple of weeks to see Gracie and of course, the new digs. Looking forward to some time off, haven't taken any time since coming back to work.

    Chris & Carole are in Italy, they've been there several times. Probably revisiting their favorite places. Think they are taking a cooking class.

    Only five weeks to go before we leave, right in the middle of our paving project. Things seems to be going real good. Budgets pretty much done, inventory complete and we got the greens artifice. Just got to get through the clubhouse opening and most of the heavy lifting is done.

Always like to include photos but I can't get them to load.

Summer Time in Hoodsport

Start to another summer, very wet spring has given way to some really nice warm summer days. Some big changes are coming. Jake got promoted to a large sales territory in Eastern Washington. Just this week he & Em bought a home in the Liberty Lake area of Spokane.

We also celebrated Gracie's 3rd birthday on June 3rd at the children's museum in Everett. A very fun day with family & friends.

Chris & I have been busy at our work and in our spare time working out in the yard. Never enough time!

Some sad news, Chris found out that her mom has cancer, its early in the discovery process, we don't know much at this time. We all should have a good idea about her condition later this summer.

We are excited for Jake & Em but it is hard to imagine Grace so far away. I think our summers will now include a week in Spokane. The home the kids bought has a full apartment downstairs, perfect for a visit.

Ben & Matt are great and doing very well. They've come over a couple of times around Mother's Day & Father's Day. They cooked wonderful meals, we had Carole over both times, Merle & Donna joined us in June. Ben, once again amazes us managing to do so well at Starbucks & paint as well. I'm attaching a beautiful painting he did as a project for Howard. Several employees painted pictures to be given as gifts to the board of directors @ Starbucks. Ben had the privilege to do a painting for former New York senator and NBA Knick great, Bill Bradley. Unbelievable!!! They also processed their white wine also called Fate, it is very good, enjoyed by all!

Time to go home

Our first extended time down here in Borrego is quickly coming to an end. I'm down to my last week, maybe the same for Chris & Carole. An unusual season down here with record amounts of rainfall and now record heat. All in all, it's been a pleasant stay, we enjoy our place, it's low maintenance but we are both ready to go home. We didn't do much to the place, had Rosie convert our path to the golf course to cement. We bought a new golf cart and a tough shed to store it in. Now we can lock things up when we leave.

It will be nice to get home and see the family, Ben & Matt came down for 3 days after Christmas, we had fun with them and Matt's folks in Palm Springs. We did a lot of Facetiming with Jake, Em & of course Grace, can't wait to see them again. Looks like we'll get a chance to see Travis in May. Dillon is graduating and we are going back to help them celebrate.


Still managing the golf course, I've worked on a good plan to have this extended time off, saving them money and giving me more time down here. Played plenty of golf including shooting a 73 at Rams Hill, a personal best for me. I don't plan on playing as much back home, concentrating on work and the yard but we'll see.

Carter & Riley enjoyed their time here, I was concerned how they would react to losing their back yard at home but between visits to the dog park and walks down to the green belt, they seemed happy with that. I have noticed Riley hasn't been limping around. Perhaps the warmer weather helps.

I'll have to add some photos when I get back home, can't access some of the ones I'd like to include.