20/20 & You CAN have too much "stuff"

This week has flown by and the weather has been very summery with some days in the mid-90s. Most of our activity this week seems to have been lumped into the first few days of the week with numerous trips to the various charitable organizations "thrilled" to receive our offerings. When we started this trip (on Gail's birthday in June) we set up a storage unit to just set aside and put out of the way, boxes and items that would just be in the way as we moved forward. It was not long before we recognized that another storage unit would be needed -- and so with reluctance we did that.

We are not sure how it happened exactly, but as some of you may have experienced -- we uncovered a ton of things that we had accumulated over the years many of it duplicates . . .

Our immediate goal was to eliminate the second storage unit by assimilating things into the new house and by donations -- in just two days we accomplished that goal -- and we feel so much better for doing that.

During this week we celebrated an anniversary and we began our 20th year of marriage quietly working towards our goals. These last few weeks have put plenty of stress on our plate but we figure that is merely "the cost of living". We are reserving a more suitable celebration for this event at a later time -- thank you to all who sent "best wishes"  . . .

Thank goodness for some "regular" type diversions such as football. We both enjoy escaping everyday things by watching even pre-season football. Since we record the games and then watch them at our leisure we avoid listening to any news that may divulge the scores -- so far we have been pretty lucky with that.

This last week we were glad to watch the exhibition game between the rivals in the Bay Area -- the 49ers and the Raiders. Being 49er fans we were also glad to see the outcome -- but saddened to see the display by some of the fans with beatings and shootings -- any other reason NOT to attend sporting events, opting to watch from our living rooms . . .

Another game that we watched that was excellent was last night's Green Bay win over the Colts (in the last few seconds). The Colts were winning with less than a minute to go when a member of their team (#49, Vaughn) committed two personal fouls which ultimately led to a GB win. I like both teams, but when someone acts like Vaughn did you have to say that "justice" was done . . . can you imagine the discussion that will ensue with the Colt coaches . . .

I actually finally got back into family history a bit this week with several exchanges of emails relating to mostly distant and related-by-marriage links. But I found the involvement stimulating and look forward to the time that I can be close to full-time again. Meanwhile, Gail immersed herself in class-prep work. She is again teaching classes starting next week so that has kept her busy.

Taking a a break from class-prep she found the time and energy to do something else that she enjoys doing -- baking. Our back yard has one very productive apple tree -- we are not sure of the variety, maybe Gravenstein -- but they are good and plenty. She made three Apple Crisps, two for the relatives and one reserved for us and a large batch of applesauce. We also delivered two bags of apples along with the crisps.

 

We found that we could even "bob" for apples if we wanted to . . .


Cousin Connection

I communicated with several cousins this week and even one cousin via telephone whom I had not heard from in over ten years. I hope to have more on that story in the coming weeks. I know that I have a lot of "follow-up" work to do with respect to input from others and I am getting up steam to do just that.


Thank You!

To all of you who sent sympathy wishes regarding Auggie . . .

So ends our week, it is Slider Saturday Night -- see you all in a few.

August

Almost exactly 12 years ago yesterday, we selected Auggie from the Healdsburg Shelter and brought him home.

Yesterday we took Auggie for a ride to one of his favorite places -- Memorial Beach Veterinary to say good bye. He started this year, 2011, seemingly in good health and seemingly younger than his age. But strangely an auto immune disease took it's toll. The disease manifested itself as a foot infection that we helped him fight and he even wore "shoes" for a while. His feet just this week got better, but the disease apparently spread to other locations in his body. Yesterday, Friday, he had lost almost all energy to eat, walk or relate to his surroundings.

Surprisingly when I asked Auggie if he'd like to go for a ride his ears jumped up and he struggled to walk to the car. We aided him to climb in and for one of the first times ever he actually sat or laid down in the car. He recognized the place as we neared Memorial Beach and as always was excited to be there.

We named him for the month that we got him -- August -- Auggie for short.He was born 18 May 1999 and we never knew the circumstances surrounding his being in the shelter -- but we were so lucky to find him -- and we think he was lucky too.

Of all the dogs that I have had -- and I have had a lot -- Auggie ranks right at the top. This was really Gail's first dog and they formed a close bond right from the start. Our feelings are quite raw at the moment and we realize that over time they will subside -- but we will miss Auggie and his companionship very much.




Auggie -- Come Good Home . . .

I have had a few contacts this week relative to genealogy and family history, but I will save those remarks for next week.

See you in a few . . .

King Us -- Your Move . . . (un)Boxing Day

Some people move more than others. Across the checkerboard there are eight squares and down the checkerboard there are eight squares -- We feel we have made it to the "king-me" row and it is now your move . . .

"Come Good Home" was an expression I heard my father use whenever we were parting. I am sure it was an expression from his Norwegian background. It is appropriate for us after our latest move.

Last week I showed some pictures of the front of our new house -- this week I will show some backyard glimpses. Our backyard can be called somewhat traditional while there are some examples of extreme "backyards" -- this one in Dubai, I believe:

I would have to say -- "Don't chase the wide and long shots . . ."

Our backyard does not have that level of "wow" but it does have what we think we can enjoy for some time -- and it is on level ground, without Oak trees:

We have actually used the pool now three times -- and that only after a full day of schlepping boxes and other move related events. The three times all came in the winding down of the sunny period as well, so getting out of the water was chilling . . . but really refreshing.

We did serve pizza at our first get-together (purchased from a local pizzeria) , however it will be a while before we come up-to-speed on using the pizza oven, but we are researching that and hope for a trial run sometime in the near future -- I wonder if we can make sliders in that thing . . .

The pool house is going to be handy -- eventually -- for now it is housing a lot of storage items. Speaking of which, we have boxed approximately 300 or so boxes which now require dealing-with . . .

This shows some of the boxes we are now dealing with as they are located in a staging area. And we continue to make trips to the local charitable organizations along with offering things to friends and relatives. One way or the other we will reduce this to a more manageable amount. Actually as we "rid" ourselves of some of the stuff we feel "liberated" a bit.

As I look back over my experience in moving in my lifetime I have moved at least 22 times over the years. Gail has moved about five times. My brother holds the record in our family -- over three times what I have moved -- incredible.

We do enjoy this move -- so far -- we hope in the coming weeks to settle-in and get back to a new routine.  Who's next? It's your move . . . if you are going to move this year there is approximately 140 days to go.

That was our week, we hope you have had a good week as well! See you in a few -- it is again "Slider Saturday Night".

Genealogy, "Oh yes" we are still fleshing out stories for future family historians, but I plan to get back to my regimen soon.

Minus 97 & The Healdsburg Two-Step

My apologies to the many cousins who have written to me this week -- I will hopefully be back in "touch" soon.
And my apologies to those who were "stung" this week . . . this week's blog is more about "local happenings" than about genealogy and the family tree. This is my first post from our new location:

This was probably the most involved week that I have ever had. For those of you who did not know -- and that includes everyone -- Gail & I have downsized. We have done this all without telling anyone -- except the realtors, banks, telephone company, gas/water, electric, satellite television, Waste Management, Press Democrat, Postal Office, Redwood Movers,  Goodwill, Salvation Army, Sonoma County dump, consignment shops, Bishop's Ranch and several other organizations that were in the "need to know".

The  main physical  move happened on Wednesday of this week. The movers arrived  shortly before 9 am and by 3 pm all the "large and heavy stuff" was in it's new location -- what remains is the hundreds of boxes and smaller items to sort and put away.  The new house is just 1.5 miles from the old  house -- I swear there is a climate change -- so we have probably put on a few hundred miles of carting the smaller items over.

 

The top shows the movers at our old house (514) and the bottom shows the new downsized house (417, a difference of 97 . . .) and one pic of Gail and Auggie resting at one point . . .

Speaking of Auggie, poor guy, while all this commotion has been going on he has been in and out of the hospital a few times and now sports new shoes to aid in keeping his feet infection free. He started with bandages then moved to some of Gail's old socks and now bright red slippers. The vet is telling us that he has a rare condition and is now on some heavy duty drugs to help him through the day. All in all he is getting used to the new house and seems to like it -- he especially likes the treats.

 

Stung --

So what happens to those who go off to France and to those who go off to the Northwest -- well when they got back we zapped 'em with our move. They had no idea while they were site-seeing at the Lourvre or in downtown Portland that Gail & I were schlepping boxes and shuttling them between locations setting up the stings -- and both stings were successful -- eyes popping and all that sort of thing -- we loved it. We have one more to do and that should happen in a few hours . . .

 

As time goes on we'll share more about the new house and all but in the meantime here are some of the looks of the yard:

So that pretty much  tells it all in terms of how we "spent our summer vacation". While there is not much genealogy this week -- there is the stuff that "adds some color" to the tree and will give future generations some insight to all of us. 

As my brother says and demonstrates -- it was better than a "poke in the eye" . . .

Now as usual we would be having  "Slider Saturday Night" that is if we could locate the pans and meat and buns and a few other items. So it will have to be Slider Sunday Night this week.

Have a good week -- see you all in a few . . .

P.S. -- The Healdsburg Two Step refers to just two steps from garage level to living level versus the 20 steps from garage to living level at the previous house . . .