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.

Summer 2023

    Hello again, summer is here in the Pacific NW. A lot to discuss on this posting! I’ll begin with an updated medical, I am 5 weeks post op with my new shoulder. I can’t imagine the procedure going any better than it has, Chris has been wonderful, with my arm in a sling 24/7, she has had to shoulder (sorry for the pun) much of the responsibilities around the house and yard.. Don’t exactly know what’s ahead of me with regards to PT and continuing to strengthen my right arm, hopefully, I’ll get to abandon the sling! 

   It has been a very busy spring. As I mentioned in the last posting, we have put the house up for sale, we listed the house with Matt’s aunt, Roberta, she has been fantastic. Roberta and Kim staged the house for us and took some amazing photo’s for our listing page. I’ll include a picture of the for sale sign in the yard! Of course the real estate market is not good, interest rate are over 6% which affects the amount of buyers. To our advantage, it also affects the number of listings available because people don’t want to sell their place only to deal with high interests rates on a new home. We had 1000’s of people review the listing on line but only a couple of iffy possible buyers until we got a call from Roberta regarding a couple from Seattle. We knew right away there was some genuine interest, they drove over here from Seattle during the busy 4th of July weekend holiday just for a drive by. We went down to Carole’s as they ended up spending 4 or 5 hrs carefully looking at the property which concluded with Merle escorting them inside the house. They came back 5 days later with Roberta for another lengthy visit and then right after the 4th of July, we received an offer and we have accepted!

Now comes the hard work of saying goodbye to this beautiful home with all the wonderful memories here. So many memories of friends over for drinks and dinners. so many family visits, many of them on long holiday weekends. We know we will never replace this house, but we’ll create new memories in Spokane. Chris and Carole leave for Spokane tomorrow. It’ll be Christal’s 3rd trip over and Carole’s first. Jim will show them 7 homes over two 1/2 days, I’m hopeful they’ll see something they both like. Meanwhile back home, more packing and cleaning. It’s a good time to consolidate, we’ve donated a lot to Habitat for Humanity and made several dump runs. Movers come Aug 17, closing date is Aug 25. We’ve made a lot of progress, I think we’ll be ready!

Family is doing good. Ben and Matt are busy making improvements to their new Palm Springs home. Ben is getting ready to run a marathon in San Francisco this coming weekend the day before his birthday! There could be a major change at work for Ben, that will have to wait for the next blog. Travis is hanging in there, working at Amazon and hoping to find a small place of his own. Jake, Em & Grace are great, they are excited for us to move over although Grace is not happy about me selling the tractor. On her summer break now, Grace will be going into the 4th grade this fall. On a very sad note they had to put Tucker down. That’s always so hard, this is Jakes first dog he owned. Tucker was a great dog, best catcher of a ball I have ever seen. He lived a long and happy life but he’ll be missed!

Well that’s enough for now. It’s going to be an early trip down to Borrego. Right now, the plan is for Riley, Murphy and I to head down on Sept 9, right after my last post op visit. Chris will stay here in Hoodsport with Carole until they leave either at the end of October or first of November. I’ll keep in touch.