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.