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!