Friday, April 30, 2010
Off on a road trip!
We are about to head off on a road trip to the Oregon Coast, to celebrate our third anniversary last Wednesday. It will be another trip in the Prius and over roads that don't include any high mountain passes so I expect our mileage will be pretty good. The best we have had so far was about 53 miles per gallon on the trip last October from Spokane, WA to Chelan, WA. I don't know if I'll be posting while on the road or not. We will take my new netbook laptop (that I am using now) and will be able to log on but I don't have photo editing software on this machine so will be limited in what I can do with photos until we get back home. My camera takes large files and I always reduce them in size as well as usually tweak each image a little before uploading them to my Flickr site. I use Flickr to host the photos that I put on the blog. I'll see how the photos look unedited and may try one or two, just to see how it does.
The three cats will be at home and cared for by one of Pat's daughters. We are not brave enough to risk taking even one of them on a car trip.
Okay, I've got lots to get finished today so will end this & get it posted.
The three cats will be at home and cared for by one of Pat's daughters. We are not brave enough to risk taking even one of them on a car trip.
Okay, I've got lots to get finished today so will end this & get it posted.
Labels: Computers, Our cats, Trips to see things, Wedding
Friday, September 12, 2008
Some of this year's yard flowers
Pat was called in to work today at her on-call receptionist job at the school district, so I said I would water the plants in the back yard. When I finished I thought it would be good to take some photos, so I got my camera, tripod and a reflector and got to work (play?) out there. I took close to 50 photos and have selected these five to prepare to post here. My process is to work a bit on them in Photoshop Elements version 6, then re size them to about 800x600 pixels before uploading those smaller ones to my site on Flickr. When they are there, I can write a post and add some HTML code that brings the photos into the blog. I read on others blogs about having some problems with photos posting correctly on Blogger but I've never had any problems with this method. Anyway, here they are:
I think this first one is a mum. It isn't one of the gigantic ones you sometimes see but I do like these. These are planted on our patio outside the sunroom in a giant pot. We like to eat lunch at the Garden Cafe at Skagit Gardens, where the Skagit Valley Mum Society has their gardens, which are beautiful and includes many of those very large ones.
Yes, I know this is a zucchini squash and probably not technically a flower, but isn't a flower really up to one's definition? I like the flowers these have and this view also includes one of the fruits (are they fruit?) We were wondering if we would ever have any squash from any of the three plants Pat set out. The little hill they are on is made up mostly of cedar bark that was put on as a ground cover over the years. She started feeding them with Miracle Grow and watering them regularly and there are now nearly half a dozen of a decent size. So, I have included it here, flower or not.
I don't know what this one is, although Pat does. It is also on the patio in another of those giant pots. I think it is getting close to the end of it's blooming season. I had to pull off quite a few of the dead petals or whatever they are before I took these photos. But it is bright and colorful and pretty large.
Last year Pat was asked by the manager of our park if she would plant four hanging baskets with fuchsias and other flowers to hang on the gazebo in the common area behind our house. This is the gazebo where our wedding ceremony was held April 28, 2007 and those hanging baskets in the photos were these that Pat planted. In the fall they were brought to our house and just left outside along the south side of the house. This spring she thought they were done for so replanted four others and just left the others there. We later noticed they were flowering so she moved them to a table on the patio and started taking care of them. As you can see from this and the next photo, they have done very well for flowers that we had not expected to grow.
Here are some of the other fuchsias that are of a different color (variety?) These have really surprised us. I wonder what they will do next year?
I have fun taking photos of flowers even though I have a black thumb when it comes to growing them. I also don't know what many of them are. I had to send Pat a text message on her cell phone to ask what the fuchsias were called as I couldn't remember. These photos were just taken with my 18 - 200mm zoom lens which will focus pretty close. I used a reflector on most to add fill light but think flash fill was used on one of the fuchsia shots. I also used a tripod and set the camera on aperture priority so that I could stay with f/11 for better depth of field. My macro lens is being used by Pat's daughter but maybe I'll retry these with it later. Our great "Indian Summer" weather seems likely to continue for a few more weeks, so the flowers should also be good for awhile longer. Of course the lawn also grows and has to be mowed, but we can't have everything perfect, can we?
I think this first one is a mum. It isn't one of the gigantic ones you sometimes see but I do like these. These are planted on our patio outside the sunroom in a giant pot. We like to eat lunch at the Garden Cafe at Skagit Gardens, where the Skagit Valley Mum Society has their gardens, which are beautiful and includes many of those very large ones.
Yes, I know this is a zucchini squash and probably not technically a flower, but isn't a flower really up to one's definition? I like the flowers these have and this view also includes one of the fruits (are they fruit?) We were wondering if we would ever have any squash from any of the three plants Pat set out. The little hill they are on is made up mostly of cedar bark that was put on as a ground cover over the years. She started feeding them with Miracle Grow and watering them regularly and there are now nearly half a dozen of a decent size. So, I have included it here, flower or not.
I don't know what this one is, although Pat does. It is also on the patio in another of those giant pots. I think it is getting close to the end of it's blooming season. I had to pull off quite a few of the dead petals or whatever they are before I took these photos. But it is bright and colorful and pretty large.
Last year Pat was asked by the manager of our park if she would plant four hanging baskets with fuchsias and other flowers to hang on the gazebo in the common area behind our house. This is the gazebo where our wedding ceremony was held April 28, 2007 and those hanging baskets in the photos were these that Pat planted. In the fall they were brought to our house and just left outside along the south side of the house. This spring she thought they were done for so replanted four others and just left the others there. We later noticed they were flowering so she moved them to a table on the patio and started taking care of them. As you can see from this and the next photo, they have done very well for flowers that we had not expected to grow.
Here are some of the other fuchsias that are of a different color (variety?) These have really surprised us. I wonder what they will do next year?
I have fun taking photos of flowers even though I have a black thumb when it comes to growing them. I also don't know what many of them are. I had to send Pat a text message on her cell phone to ask what the fuchsias were called as I couldn't remember. These photos were just taken with my 18 - 200mm zoom lens which will focus pretty close. I used a reflector on most to add fill light but think flash fill was used on one of the fuchsia shots. I also used a tripod and set the camera on aperture priority so that I could stay with f/11 for better depth of field. My macro lens is being used by Pat's daughter but maybe I'll retry these with it later. Our great "Indian Summer" weather seems likely to continue for a few more weeks, so the flowers should also be good for awhile longer. Of course the lawn also grows and has to be mowed, but we can't have everything perfect, can we?
Labels: Flowers, House, Photos, Weather, Wedding
Sunday, February 03, 2008
Peewee and the Sunroom
Our cat Peewee loves to lie right on top of the heat registers of the forced air heating system in our house. She also likes to be close to Pat so when we are in the computer room she would latch onto the one register that is in that room. We recently got a new table for Pats side of the room that her printer sits on and it covers Peewees register. Plus, there is a shelf down low on that table to both give support and give us a place to store printing paper, etc. The vertical support for the table cuts across the middle of the heat vent and the shelf has only 4 1/2 inches of space below it, so poor Peewee has been trying to figure out how to get onto HER register. This shows her latest and, so far, most successful attempt:
I think I had gotten her attention just before I took this photo as she raised her head to look out, so you can see her pink nose near the right side of the photo just below the shelf. Silly kitty.
The Contractor came back Thursday afternoon and also worked all day on Friday. Earlier in the week it was clear but cold and now after he has shown up the rains started again. Pretty hard rain. On Thursday they (he brought his 17 year old son along to help) got some of the aluminum supports for the sunroom fastened onto the knee wall. In the morning on Friday they got the part of the house roof overhang cut away that needed to be cut into in order to add the little roof across the back of the house that the sunroom will attach to.
This shows the first of the aluminum supports in place and the header for the little roof, with the older part cut away.
But then they decided to go get some 2X4s and plastic sheeting to build a tent over the whole thing. I wish they had done this sooner since some of the wood decking of the floor has gotten wet, even though it was covered in plastic. This photo shows a pretty good view of the 2X4s and tent and how far they got on the aluminum studs and rafters. This photo was taken on Saturday in the sunshine, while they are not here working of course, but it does show how far they did get on Friday. This view is from the back of our yard looking toward the house. Two of the awning windows are in place between wall studs. The bright blue on them is just a covering to protect the white vinyl while the construction is going on. They also have the vinyl corner pieces in place on the knee wall. It will be sided in the same vinyl siding as is on the rest of the house.
I took this photo with my back up against the house and looking out through the sunroom toward the back yard. You can see the windows in place and in fact can pretty well see how their glass is tinted. It is easiest to notice in the right side window if you compare the green fonds of the Pampas Grass plant as seen through the glass to that part of the plant to the left of the window. All of the vertical glazing will be tinted like this. I think this spring we will add a fence around at least the back yard, so there will be a cedar fence about six feet tall that will run across the yard at about the end of the crushed rock path that heads toward the common area yard beyond the edge of our lot. There will be a gate in the fence there so we can come & go into the common area yard.
This view also shows a bit of our community. The gazebo where our wedding ceremony occurred is just to the right of the area shown in this photo and the clubhouse is just beyond that gazebo. We are a gated community of 120 mobile or manufactured homes but all are mounted on foundations so they sit on the ground like a stick built house rather than up in the air three feet or so like mobile homes are often sited. The landscaping in the park is nice and all places have to be well maintained. I'm not used to living in a place where we have to ask permission to do something like building this sunroom, but this is one of those places. There are advantages and disadvantages to that kind of restrictions. But for us now, we are just glad that The Contractor has been showing up pretty regularly and that this project should (maybe) be finished before too long. He should be back on Tuesday and work all next week on our project. It is probably good that we didn't go to Arizona this weekend!
I think I had gotten her attention just before I took this photo as she raised her head to look out, so you can see her pink nose near the right side of the photo just below the shelf. Silly kitty.
The Contractor came back Thursday afternoon and also worked all day on Friday. Earlier in the week it was clear but cold and now after he has shown up the rains started again. Pretty hard rain. On Thursday they (he brought his 17 year old son along to help) got some of the aluminum supports for the sunroom fastened onto the knee wall. In the morning on Friday they got the part of the house roof overhang cut away that needed to be cut into in order to add the little roof across the back of the house that the sunroom will attach to.
This shows the first of the aluminum supports in place and the header for the little roof, with the older part cut away.
But then they decided to go get some 2X4s and plastic sheeting to build a tent over the whole thing. I wish they had done this sooner since some of the wood decking of the floor has gotten wet, even though it was covered in plastic. This photo shows a pretty good view of the 2X4s and tent and how far they got on the aluminum studs and rafters. This photo was taken on Saturday in the sunshine, while they are not here working of course, but it does show how far they did get on Friday. This view is from the back of our yard looking toward the house. Two of the awning windows are in place between wall studs. The bright blue on them is just a covering to protect the white vinyl while the construction is going on. They also have the vinyl corner pieces in place on the knee wall. It will be sided in the same vinyl siding as is on the rest of the house.
I took this photo with my back up against the house and looking out through the sunroom toward the back yard. You can see the windows in place and in fact can pretty well see how their glass is tinted. It is easiest to notice in the right side window if you compare the green fonds of the Pampas Grass plant as seen through the glass to that part of the plant to the left of the window. All of the vertical glazing will be tinted like this. I think this spring we will add a fence around at least the back yard, so there will be a cedar fence about six feet tall that will run across the yard at about the end of the crushed rock path that heads toward the common area yard beyond the edge of our lot. There will be a gate in the fence there so we can come & go into the common area yard.
This view also shows a bit of our community. The gazebo where our wedding ceremony occurred is just to the right of the area shown in this photo and the clubhouse is just beyond that gazebo. We are a gated community of 120 mobile or manufactured homes but all are mounted on foundations so they sit on the ground like a stick built house rather than up in the air three feet or so like mobile homes are often sited. The landscaping in the park is nice and all places have to be well maintained. I'm not used to living in a place where we have to ask permission to do something like building this sunroom, but this is one of those places. There are advantages and disadvantages to that kind of restrictions. But for us now, we are just glad that The Contractor has been showing up pretty regularly and that this project should (maybe) be finished before too long. He should be back on Tuesday and work all next week on our project. It is probably good that we didn't go to Arizona this weekend!
Labels: Our cats, Photos, Sunroom, Weather, Wedding
Friday, June 08, 2007
Cat house news plus honeymoon photos
Huggy has been here now for a bit over three days. All three cats are still healthy and they have actually been known to spend a little time in the same room. But there is also still hissing & growling, too. It is looking like it will work out but may take a little longer than we had hoped for.
Pat & I didn't try to go anywhere after the wedding on Sat. April 28th but on the morning of the 29th we drove her diesel powered VW New Beetle across Stevens Pass in the Cascade Mountains on US 2 to the Bavarian themed town of Leavenworth. On the way I had to make a stop at The Alps. That is the chocolate and gift store 6 miles or so west of Leavenworth. We of course made some purchases. Pat collects toads among other things and they had a good collection of toad things.
Here Pat is looking over part of their toad items.
Leavenworth was originally a railroad town but when the RR closed down their northern route over the Cascades it looked like the town might die. Someone who lived there had recently visited the Bavarian area of Germany and noticed how similar the landscape was. They suggested that the town re-invent itself as a Bavarian village and go after the tourist market. They have been pretty successful.
This photo shows a few rooftops but also some of the foothills that surround the town. This was a photo taken in the morning when the clouds were still hanging around in the air from the 4th floor of our hotel.
This view looks upriver over a home, up the Wenatchee River. There were power line wires running across the house that I felt kind of spoiled the clean look of the area so I took them out in Photoshop.
Here are some of the buildings in the town. We ate dinner our first night there at Gustav's. It had good German food at reasonable prices but we felt it really was more of a lunch type menu than dinner.
Just a few miles east of Leavenworth on US 2 is the town of Cashmere. One of it's most famous products is a fruit candy called Applets & Cotlets. We visited the factory and it's sales area. Here is Pat at the cash register while the sales lady rings up our $60 plus order. We like the stuff and bought quite a bit. We are still eating the peanut brittle. Of course Pat has me on a limited quantity of that type of stuff which is good as I am still loosing weight. Sloooowly.
Here is another street scene in Leavenworth. This is not the US highway but is the main street through the village. Vehicle traffic is not much of a problem here. Our hotel was only about three blocks from the downtown area so we just walked over.
This is the Enzian Inn where we stayed, in a twilight photo. The area on the 4th floor with the big windows on the right of the photo is the dining area where we ate our free buffet breakfast each morning. The balcony in front of the dining room is also where I took some photos of the landscape as well of the alphorn player:
This fellow plays this horn from the railing along the edge of that 4th floor balcony at various times of the day. He also came inside the dining area to play it a bit.
This shows a part of the inside lobby. The upper lobby is where Pat is standing, the stairs at the right side go down to the main floor. The big chandelier is in the near foreground and above the lobby. Behind the chandelier, on the ground floor, you can just see the grand piano which is played for an hour and a half every evening by various musicians.
Doesn't Pat look a bit like a kid in a candy store in this photo? We were in a few candy stores but I don't think this was one of them, but there are a lot of places that give you many opportunities to buy things. It is kind of a shoppers paradise and even has two Christmas stores that offer Christmas decorations all year.
We spent two nights in Leavenworth and then decided that since we are retired we didn't really have to be back home on any specific day. The North Cascades Highway had opened the week before (it is closed all winter as they don't even try to remove the 50+ feet of snow that builds up there) so we thought we would go north to Winthrop, another of my favorite towns, with a Western theme. Winthrop is on the eastern side of the North Cascade Hwy (Wash. SR 20) and we thought we could spend that night there. On our way we stopped in Manson, near Chelan, for lunch with our friends R & D C who helped so much on various things with our wedding, including many of the photos.
Well, we got to Winthrop and found there were no rooms available! It seems that a chain group of stores had taken them all for employees to hold a retreat or something like that. We did a little shopping but only about half of the stores were open. This town pretty much closes down in the winter while it's residents go south where it is warmer, then they reopen shortly after the pass roadway opens. It did get opened a couple of weeks earlier than they thought it would so some of them were probably caught a bit by surprise and were not back to town yet.
Here is the Winthrop Emporium, one of the places that was open. We did have dinner at 3-Fingered Jack's before hitting the road to cross the pass. I wish we had thought to give Pat one of the cameras to take some photos of the road at Washington Pass, but we didn't so I have none to show here. But the snow along the sides of the road was piled up about 12 feet over the top of the car! The road was bare and dry so the driving was easy but there sure was a lot of snow. We had no trouble and light traffic, so stopped for nachos when back to our town before going home.
The Beetle went about 500 miles, used 3/4 tank of diesel fuel and averaged 42 miles per gallon. This isn't bad for a car with an automatic transmission. Our little Honeymoon trip was short but sweet. We will take some longer trips with the motorhome before long as my house is almost ready to list for sale.
Pat & I didn't try to go anywhere after the wedding on Sat. April 28th but on the morning of the 29th we drove her diesel powered VW New Beetle across Stevens Pass in the Cascade Mountains on US 2 to the Bavarian themed town of Leavenworth. On the way I had to make a stop at The Alps. That is the chocolate and gift store 6 miles or so west of Leavenworth. We of course made some purchases. Pat collects toads among other things and they had a good collection of toad things.
Here Pat is looking over part of their toad items.
Leavenworth was originally a railroad town but when the RR closed down their northern route over the Cascades it looked like the town might die. Someone who lived there had recently visited the Bavarian area of Germany and noticed how similar the landscape was. They suggested that the town re-invent itself as a Bavarian village and go after the tourist market. They have been pretty successful.
This photo shows a few rooftops but also some of the foothills that surround the town. This was a photo taken in the morning when the clouds were still hanging around in the air from the 4th floor of our hotel.
This view looks upriver over a home, up the Wenatchee River. There were power line wires running across the house that I felt kind of spoiled the clean look of the area so I took them out in Photoshop.
Here are some of the buildings in the town. We ate dinner our first night there at Gustav's. It had good German food at reasonable prices but we felt it really was more of a lunch type menu than dinner.
Just a few miles east of Leavenworth on US 2 is the town of Cashmere. One of it's most famous products is a fruit candy called Applets & Cotlets. We visited the factory and it's sales area. Here is Pat at the cash register while the sales lady rings up our $60 plus order. We like the stuff and bought quite a bit. We are still eating the peanut brittle. Of course Pat has me on a limited quantity of that type of stuff which is good as I am still loosing weight. Sloooowly.
Here is another street scene in Leavenworth. This is not the US highway but is the main street through the village. Vehicle traffic is not much of a problem here. Our hotel was only about three blocks from the downtown area so we just walked over.
This is the Enzian Inn where we stayed, in a twilight photo. The area on the 4th floor with the big windows on the right of the photo is the dining area where we ate our free buffet breakfast each morning. The balcony in front of the dining room is also where I took some photos of the landscape as well of the alphorn player:
This fellow plays this horn from the railing along the edge of that 4th floor balcony at various times of the day. He also came inside the dining area to play it a bit.
This shows a part of the inside lobby. The upper lobby is where Pat is standing, the stairs at the right side go down to the main floor. The big chandelier is in the near foreground and above the lobby. Behind the chandelier, on the ground floor, you can just see the grand piano which is played for an hour and a half every evening by various musicians.
Doesn't Pat look a bit like a kid in a candy store in this photo? We were in a few candy stores but I don't think this was one of them, but there are a lot of places that give you many opportunities to buy things. It is kind of a shoppers paradise and even has two Christmas stores that offer Christmas decorations all year.
We spent two nights in Leavenworth and then decided that since we are retired we didn't really have to be back home on any specific day. The North Cascades Highway had opened the week before (it is closed all winter as they don't even try to remove the 50+ feet of snow that builds up there) so we thought we would go north to Winthrop, another of my favorite towns, with a Western theme. Winthrop is on the eastern side of the North Cascade Hwy (Wash. SR 20) and we thought we could spend that night there. On our way we stopped in Manson, near Chelan, for lunch with our friends R & D C who helped so much on various things with our wedding, including many of the photos.
Well, we got to Winthrop and found there were no rooms available! It seems that a chain group of stores had taken them all for employees to hold a retreat or something like that. We did a little shopping but only about half of the stores were open. This town pretty much closes down in the winter while it's residents go south where it is warmer, then they reopen shortly after the pass roadway opens. It did get opened a couple of weeks earlier than they thought it would so some of them were probably caught a bit by surprise and were not back to town yet.
Here is the Winthrop Emporium, one of the places that was open. We did have dinner at 3-Fingered Jack's before hitting the road to cross the pass. I wish we had thought to give Pat one of the cameras to take some photos of the road at Washington Pass, but we didn't so I have none to show here. But the snow along the sides of the road was piled up about 12 feet over the top of the car! The road was bare and dry so the driving was easy but there sure was a lot of snow. We had no trouble and light traffic, so stopped for nachos when back to our town before going home.
The Beetle went about 500 miles, used 3/4 tank of diesel fuel and averaged 42 miles per gallon. This isn't bad for a car with an automatic transmission. Our little Honeymoon trip was short but sweet. We will take some longer trips with the motorhome before long as my house is almost ready to list for sale.
Labels: Pat and I, Photos, Trips to see things, Wedding
Sunday, June 03, 2007
The last of the wedding photos
Here are a few more photos from Pat and my wedding. I am a bit slow at getting these posted because I've been working pretty hard on getting the house cleared out, but I do have a few more that will probably finish the set.
This first one is of my two sons, B on the left and M on the right. The photo was taken by M's wife, J, as were most of the photos I have posted. Some were by my long time friend R or his wife D and some by my next door neighbor in the park, D.
This is one by my friend, R, and shows part of the mirror room in the clubhouse, where our guests were able to be seated to eat and visit. He even managed to catch me in the background opening a window for some ventilation.
The outside patio was a popular seating area for some due to the fantastic weather we lucked out and had. This shows one of my grand daughters, K, at a table at the left and my nephew J with his daughter B near the right side of the frame. A long time friend of mine, DS, is seated behind my grand daughter. DS & I started kindergarten together in Spokane, WA in the fall of 1948.
Another view inside the clubhouse, here looking past the kitchen area toward the library. At center left is another of my nephews, another J. My brother and I are in the middle of the photo and at the right is my neighbor, B, whose husband D was the third person taking some of our photos.
We have to sign the paperwork that will be filed to make it all legal. Here is our Priest, Vicki, with Pat signing her part of them.
And here is my turn to sign them. Boy, I sure need more hair!
We left the morning after the wedding to spend a few days east of the Cascade Mountains in the little Bavarian themed town of Leavenworth. I have some photos from there but haven't had the time yet to work on them. I at least reduce the size of the images before uploading them to Flickr where my photos for here are hosted. I'll get them done soon, I promise.
In the meantime, progress is being made on getting my old house cleared out. I have the den piled on one side with things to move to our new house and on the other side to move into storage. The really big pile is in the rest of the house that was going to be in a yard sale, but we had coffee last Thursday with a former neighbor who used a local auction service when he moved. I called them on Friday and have an appointment to deliver my "stuff" Tuesday. I have a rental truck reserved and my son M is coming up to help. We should be able to get it all transfered there in that one day. They will sell it in the next auction, keep 35% and I get the rest. Anything left over they will dispose of. That sure sounds a lot better than going through the problems associated with holding a yard sale! By Wednesday the house should be empty and ready to start the final cleaning. It may be listed for sale by the weekend. Then maybe we can finally take out the new RV on it's maiden voyage!
This first one is of my two sons, B on the left and M on the right. The photo was taken by M's wife, J, as were most of the photos I have posted. Some were by my long time friend R or his wife D and some by my next door neighbor in the park, D.
This is one by my friend, R, and shows part of the mirror room in the clubhouse, where our guests were able to be seated to eat and visit. He even managed to catch me in the background opening a window for some ventilation.
The outside patio was a popular seating area for some due to the fantastic weather we lucked out and had. This shows one of my grand daughters, K, at a table at the left and my nephew J with his daughter B near the right side of the frame. A long time friend of mine, DS, is seated behind my grand daughter. DS & I started kindergarten together in Spokane, WA in the fall of 1948.
Another view inside the clubhouse, here looking past the kitchen area toward the library. At center left is another of my nephews, another J. My brother and I are in the middle of the photo and at the right is my neighbor, B, whose husband D was the third person taking some of our photos.
We have to sign the paperwork that will be filed to make it all legal. Here is our Priest, Vicki, with Pat signing her part of them.
And here is my turn to sign them. Boy, I sure need more hair!
We left the morning after the wedding to spend a few days east of the Cascade Mountains in the little Bavarian themed town of Leavenworth. I have some photos from there but haven't had the time yet to work on them. I at least reduce the size of the images before uploading them to Flickr where my photos for here are hosted. I'll get them done soon, I promise.
In the meantime, progress is being made on getting my old house cleared out. I have the den piled on one side with things to move to our new house and on the other side to move into storage. The really big pile is in the rest of the house that was going to be in a yard sale, but we had coffee last Thursday with a former neighbor who used a local auction service when he moved. I called them on Friday and have an appointment to deliver my "stuff" Tuesday. I have a rental truck reserved and my son M is coming up to help. We should be able to get it all transfered there in that one day. They will sell it in the next auction, keep 35% and I get the rest. Anything left over they will dispose of. That sure sounds a lot better than going through the problems associated with holding a yard sale! By Wednesday the house should be empty and ready to start the final cleaning. It may be listed for sale by the weekend. Then maybe we can finally take out the new RV on it's maiden voyage!
Labels: Family, Friends, Grandkids, Pat and I, Photos, Wedding
Saturday, May 26, 2007
The wedding reception & The Cake
I am making pretty good progress on sorting & packing up my house. I am writing this from the new location for my PC in Pat's computer room where it was moved to yesterday. I just took a little time this evening to reduce & edit a few more photos to post so will do those now. I didn't get things ready to hold a yard sale this weekend but that might be for the better as it is a holiday weekend in the USA (Memorial Day) and many people will be away from home. I really think I can have it ready for next weekend. Uh-huh. I hope.
These photos will start out with the reception line as our guests entered the clubhouse where our reception was held.
There were a lot of friends and family who came, some coming quite a distance to be here with us. These are long time friends of Pat's who have now been introduced to me.
This photo combines new friends and old friends. I am shaking hands with my next door neighbor in the park, D, who I've known about three years since he and his wife, B, moved to the same park where I live. He also took some of the photos we are enjoying from our wedding day. There is also a couple that I've known since 1969, along with their youngest grand daughter who is the same age as my youngest who was one of our flower girls. D & J are the God Parents to my youngest son, M.
I am about to shake hands with the Red Hatter who is now the Queen of the Little Mountain Red Hatters while Pat is greeting S with her husband B behind her. They are members of our church, St. Paul's Episcopal here in Mt. Vernon. Pat's grandson, B, who was our ring bearer, is between S & B in the background.
Here is our Priest, Vicki, who not only performed our service but met with us many times before the service to help in so many ways. Thank you, Vicki!
Pat is an Elvis Presley fan. She has always been a fan of Elvis' and has quite a few things in her collection. When her younger daughter heard that we were getting married and going to have a wedding, she said she wanted to take care of ordering the cake. About all we knew about it was that it would be Elvis themed and included raspberry filling.
Here is that cake! It was wonderful.
Pat and I are posed behind the cake in one of the traditional photos that you just have to have in your collection.
I am including this photo just because I like it. I think we were kind of trying to decide where to cut into the cake and how we would go about it.
Okay, we probably broke tradition by cutting the top layer. I guess it is supposed to be taken home and frozen to be eaten on the first anniversary. The cake was very good but we are both trying to watch what calories we eat and unfortunately cake, even very good cake, isn't on that list. So I guess it is okay that the top layer was eaten on the wedding day.
We had agreed ahead of time that we would not smear cake over each other's face and we held to that promise. Here I am feeding Pat her piece of our wedding cake.
And here is Pat feeding me my piece of the cake.
There will be a few more photos from the wedding in the next few days but right now I have to get back to putting things away. I have made an awful mess in the middle of Pat's computer room with boxes of my "stuff." I told her tonight that I thought I only had another 18 to 20 car loads of my stuff to bring over. She said she might move out of her own house. Good thing I was just pulling her leg. A little.
These photos will start out with the reception line as our guests entered the clubhouse where our reception was held.
There were a lot of friends and family who came, some coming quite a distance to be here with us. These are long time friends of Pat's who have now been introduced to me.
This photo combines new friends and old friends. I am shaking hands with my next door neighbor in the park, D, who I've known about three years since he and his wife, B, moved to the same park where I live. He also took some of the photos we are enjoying from our wedding day. There is also a couple that I've known since 1969, along with their youngest grand daughter who is the same age as my youngest who was one of our flower girls. D & J are the God Parents to my youngest son, M.
I am about to shake hands with the Red Hatter who is now the Queen of the Little Mountain Red Hatters while Pat is greeting S with her husband B behind her. They are members of our church, St. Paul's Episcopal here in Mt. Vernon. Pat's grandson, B, who was our ring bearer, is between S & B in the background.
Here is our Priest, Vicki, who not only performed our service but met with us many times before the service to help in so many ways. Thank you, Vicki!
Pat is an Elvis Presley fan. She has always been a fan of Elvis' and has quite a few things in her collection. When her younger daughter heard that we were getting married and going to have a wedding, she said she wanted to take care of ordering the cake. About all we knew about it was that it would be Elvis themed and included raspberry filling.
Here is that cake! It was wonderful.
Pat and I are posed behind the cake in one of the traditional photos that you just have to have in your collection.
I am including this photo just because I like it. I think we were kind of trying to decide where to cut into the cake and how we would go about it.
Okay, we probably broke tradition by cutting the top layer. I guess it is supposed to be taken home and frozen to be eaten on the first anniversary. The cake was very good but we are both trying to watch what calories we eat and unfortunately cake, even very good cake, isn't on that list. So I guess it is okay that the top layer was eaten on the wedding day.
We had agreed ahead of time that we would not smear cake over each other's face and we held to that promise. Here I am feeding Pat her piece of our wedding cake.
And here is Pat feeding me my piece of the cake.
There will be a few more photos from the wedding in the next few days but right now I have to get back to putting things away. I have made an awful mess in the middle of Pat's computer room with boxes of my "stuff." I told her tonight that I thought I only had another 18 to 20 car loads of my stuff to bring over. She said she might move out of her own house. Good thing I was just pulling her leg. A little.
Labels: Friends, Grandkids, Pat and I, Photos, Wedding
Friday, May 18, 2007
The Wedding practice
We held our practice fairly early the morning of the wedding day as some of those involved came in from out of town and didn't get here very early Friday night. The day dawned clear, sunny and beautiful, although it was a little cool that early in the morning (9am.)
This first photo shows the guys walking from the clubhouse toward the gazebo where the service would be held. Our park is a senior manufactured home park and it is beautifully maintained. They are from front to rear, my sons M and B, my brother L, Pat's grandson B and me. The part of the clubhouse behind us is the indoor swimming pool which most of the kids would probably rather have been in than out here doing this practice.
Here is our Priest, V, getting the ladies and Pat's escort lined up, talking about spacing, etc. They came from Pat's house and walked up this pathway to the opposite side of the gazebo from where we guys came from. We had my two grand daughters, ages 6 and 10, as flower girls and they did a great job.
Pat was escorted by her older grandson, M.
We all made it to the gazebo and are receiving directions from V as to who stands where, who moves when and to where, etc.
Getting more directions.
It was all finished and Pat & I were walking away toward the clubhouse for the reception. Wait, this was just the practice but it sounded good to maybe just go ahead and sign all the papers and consider it a done deal. Except that we had a lot of guests coming in just a few hours to participate with us.
I'll finish a third post with wedding photos in a few days, that will cover the reception and the amazing cake that Pat's daughter, P, ordered for us. I've never seen anything quite like it. Now I must get back to sorting and packing things. I have to get this house finished.....
This first photo shows the guys walking from the clubhouse toward the gazebo where the service would be held. Our park is a senior manufactured home park and it is beautifully maintained. They are from front to rear, my sons M and B, my brother L, Pat's grandson B and me. The part of the clubhouse behind us is the indoor swimming pool which most of the kids would probably rather have been in than out here doing this practice.
Here is our Priest, V, getting the ladies and Pat's escort lined up, talking about spacing, etc. They came from Pat's house and walked up this pathway to the opposite side of the gazebo from where we guys came from. We had my two grand daughters, ages 6 and 10, as flower girls and they did a great job.
Pat was escorted by her older grandson, M.
We all made it to the gazebo and are receiving directions from V as to who stands where, who moves when and to where, etc.
Getting more directions.
It was all finished and Pat & I were walking away toward the clubhouse for the reception. Wait, this was just the practice but it sounded good to maybe just go ahead and sign all the papers and consider it a done deal. Except that we had a lot of guests coming in just a few hours to participate with us.
I'll finish a third post with wedding photos in a few days, that will cover the reception and the amazing cake that Pat's daughter, P, ordered for us. I've never seen anything quite like it. Now I must get back to sorting and packing things. I have to get this house finished.....
Labels: Family, Grandkids, Photos, Wedding
Friday, May 11, 2007
More from the wedding
Here are some more photos from our actual wedding ceremony. I have had to work on all of these in Photoshop Elements as they were dark from the camera due to us being under the roof of the gazebo on a sunny day, so it has taken a bit longer than I had planned to get more posted. I have decided to break it down into about three sections and will start with this set which is the middle one, the ceremony itself. Later I'll post some photos from before the service, of the practice and things leading up to this point, then some from the reception after that.
This first photo was taken by our friend, R, who was running the sound system. We decided we didn't want to use traditional music so the bride and her escort, along with the two flower girls, entered to the song, "Truly, Madly, Deeply" by the Australian group, Secret Garden. This photo was shortly after the whole party had arrived "on the scene" in the gazebo. The guests were on the lawn behind the priest and facing us. That was our Priest's suggestion as she said they came to see us, not her, so she wanted to have us facing them. It makes sense when you think about it.
This is a similar scene taken about the same time from the position of the guests by my DIL, J. J was able to move around so she took a lot more photos than R did who was pretty much stuck in place by the sound system behind us. There were the two of us, my brother L and Pat's grand daughter N as Best Man and Maid of Honor, Pat's grand son M who escorted her in and presented her to be married, her grand son B who carried the rings, my two grand daughters K and K who were flower girls and my two sons B & M along with Pat's two daughters C & P as attendants. I think this photo shows at least a glimpse of most of them.
I am skipping over part of the service where there were two bible readings, one by my son M, the other by Pat's daughter C, followed by the song "Love Me Tender" by Elvis. Did I say that Pat is an Elvis fan? Wait until you see the wedding cake in one of the later photos!
I am placing the wedding ring on Pat's ring finger in this photo. We have since taken them back to the jeweler's to have the two soldered together as they wanted to turn independently of each other as they were. They are designed to fit together and look good that way.
Pat is putting my ring on me. She had a hard time getting it over my last knuckle so I ended up pushing it into it's final position and I think that is the reason for her big smile. I was threatened to not tickle her & make her laugh and I didn't do it this time. Honest!
Ah, we are nearly finished. This is the final blessing by the Priest before she presents Mr & Mrs Dick Phillips to the guests.
And we are leaving the gazebo to head into the clubhouse to great our guests at the reception. The music we left to was "I'm So Excited" by The Pointer Sisters, followed by "From This Moment On" by Shania Twain. You can see our two flower girls starting to follow us. They still had flower petals left and had so much fun dropping them as we came in that they did it again as we left!
As you can see from the photos the weather couldn't have been better. The day before was overcast with showers and we were really thinking it was going to happen inside but the day dawned clear and stayed that way. There were tables and chairs set up inside in the Mirror Room and outside on one of the patios so guests had their choice of where they wanted to sit. As to the service itself, I think it went very well.
I have cropped these photos to a 4 X 3 format as I just bought a digital photo frame to display them in and that is it's format. I figured I would have more control over how they look by doing the cropping myself rather than just letting it cut them. I've had too many heads partially cut off that way!
Now I've got to get back to work on my house. I've still got to sort & pack more things in order to get it listed for sale. I want to go out and use our new motorhome and Pat says she doesn't want to do that until I have finished with the house. I think she knows I am a procrastinator. More later.
This first photo was taken by our friend, R, who was running the sound system. We decided we didn't want to use traditional music so the bride and her escort, along with the two flower girls, entered to the song, "Truly, Madly, Deeply" by the Australian group, Secret Garden. This photo was shortly after the whole party had arrived "on the scene" in the gazebo. The guests were on the lawn behind the priest and facing us. That was our Priest's suggestion as she said they came to see us, not her, so she wanted to have us facing them. It makes sense when you think about it.
This is a similar scene taken about the same time from the position of the guests by my DIL, J. J was able to move around so she took a lot more photos than R did who was pretty much stuck in place by the sound system behind us. There were the two of us, my brother L and Pat's grand daughter N as Best Man and Maid of Honor, Pat's grand son M who escorted her in and presented her to be married, her grand son B who carried the rings, my two grand daughters K and K who were flower girls and my two sons B & M along with Pat's two daughters C & P as attendants. I think this photo shows at least a glimpse of most of them.
I am skipping over part of the service where there were two bible readings, one by my son M, the other by Pat's daughter C, followed by the song "Love Me Tender" by Elvis. Did I say that Pat is an Elvis fan? Wait until you see the wedding cake in one of the later photos!
I am placing the wedding ring on Pat's ring finger in this photo. We have since taken them back to the jeweler's to have the two soldered together as they wanted to turn independently of each other as they were. They are designed to fit together and look good that way.
Pat is putting my ring on me. She had a hard time getting it over my last knuckle so I ended up pushing it into it's final position and I think that is the reason for her big smile. I was threatened to not tickle her & make her laugh and I didn't do it this time. Honest!
Ah, we are nearly finished. This is the final blessing by the Priest before she presents Mr & Mrs Dick Phillips to the guests.
And we are leaving the gazebo to head into the clubhouse to great our guests at the reception. The music we left to was "I'm So Excited" by The Pointer Sisters, followed by "From This Moment On" by Shania Twain. You can see our two flower girls starting to follow us. They still had flower petals left and had so much fun dropping them as we came in that they did it again as we left!
As you can see from the photos the weather couldn't have been better. The day before was overcast with showers and we were really thinking it was going to happen inside but the day dawned clear and stayed that way. There were tables and chairs set up inside in the Mirror Room and outside on one of the patios so guests had their choice of where they wanted to sit. As to the service itself, I think it went very well.
I have cropped these photos to a 4 X 3 format as I just bought a digital photo frame to display them in and that is it's format. I figured I would have more control over how they look by doing the cropping myself rather than just letting it cut them. I've had too many heads partially cut off that way!
Now I've got to get back to work on my house. I've still got to sort & pack more things in order to get it listed for sale. I want to go out and use our new motorhome and Pat says she doesn't want to do that until I have finished with the house. I think she knows I am a procrastinator. More later.
Labels: Family, Friends, Grandkids, Pat and I, Photos, Wedding
Thursday, May 03, 2007
The Wedding did happen
Saturday, April 28th dawned bright and clear. We had sunshine and warm temperatures which was a real change from the weather the day before, with rain most of the day. We held a practice at 9am, then the actual ceremony happened almost on time at 1pm. We have been pretty busy since then and were away from home a few days, so I don't have many photos ready yet to post but here is a first one:
Thank you all for your well wishes and helping us pray for good weather. It worked fine as the weather was perfect all day. More later, but now I have a house to get cleaned out!
Thank you all for your well wishes and helping us pray for good weather. It worked fine as the weather was perfect all day. More later, but now I have a house to get cleaned out!
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Closer and closer
We enjoyed our trip to Federal Way for K's birthday party last Saturday. We went down early and met friends in Fife for lunch before the party, and then to the party. I thought I knew where the place was but couldn't find it where I thought it should have been. So I cheated and went into a gas station and asked. I thought it was on Pacific Highway South but it actually was on S 320th. So we were a bit later than planned but still made it.
On our way home we stopped at a big outlet mall in Marysville to look for a dress shirt for Pat's grandson to wear in the wedding. It is real hard to find anything in a dress shirt in the color we want in children's sizes, so we took a chance and bought the smallest adult one we could find. He is 13 so it might fit. We hope. When we left there the traffic was terrible, just trying to get to the freeway. An hour & a half later we stopped for dinner at a Chinese place at Smokey Point (4 miles away) in Arlington. From there on home was no problem. You ought to see rush hour on weekdays! It is nice to be retired.
I have gone over my house with both sons & M's wife looking at what things they want. I have been making pretty good progress on getting stuff to store packed and they are both taking some of what they want away now. I need to keep the house with beds, etc until after the wedding as family from out of town will be using them. We will go away for a short trip, just Pat and I, after the wedding but when we are back will then really get into cleaning out the place. I am allowed to hold a yard sale here in our park when you are moving so we will do that, then get everything cleaned up and list the house for sale. Some houses here have sold in just a few days and I kind of hope mine will go fast like that. You never know.
Nine days to go.
On our way home we stopped at a big outlet mall in Marysville to look for a dress shirt for Pat's grandson to wear in the wedding. It is real hard to find anything in a dress shirt in the color we want in children's sizes, so we took a chance and bought the smallest adult one we could find. He is 13 so it might fit. We hope. When we left there the traffic was terrible, just trying to get to the freeway. An hour & a half later we stopped for dinner at a Chinese place at Smokey Point (4 miles away) in Arlington. From there on home was no problem. You ought to see rush hour on weekdays! It is nice to be retired.
I have gone over my house with both sons & M's wife looking at what things they want. I have been making pretty good progress on getting stuff to store packed and they are both taking some of what they want away now. I need to keep the house with beds, etc until after the wedding as family from out of town will be using them. We will go away for a short trip, just Pat and I, after the wedding but when we are back will then really get into cleaning out the place. I am allowed to hold a yard sale here in our park when you are moving so we will do that, then get everything cleaned up and list the house for sale. Some houses here have sold in just a few days and I kind of hope mine will go fast like that. You never know.
Nine days to go.
Labels: Family, Grandkids, Wedding
Friday, April 13, 2007
BUSY, Busy, busy.....
I can't believe how many things there are for me to do and yet I am taking a few minutes to make a quick post to my blog. I just ordered some photos from Costco after uploading them from my archives. These will be to include in the wedding book that Pat's daughter, C, is making up for us. I know they won't all be included (31 of them) but it will give C some choices.
Tomorrow Pat & I go to Auburn for my grand daughter K's 10th birthday party. It should be fun and of course there will be the fun for me of introducing Pat to many relatives and friends who will also be there. We will try to meet a few people ahead of the 2pm party for lunch and maybe some after the party for dinner or mochas.
We met with our Priest again yesterday here in our park where we could walk through the service we are planning. We said the words to each other that we will officially say two weeks from tomorrow and they sound good. It looks like it will all work out fine, even if we have to go indoors because of bad weather. Now I just have to try to not make Pat laugh during the ceremony. It is easy to tickle her hand while I am holding it. But I think that might be a mistake to do at that time. I've been warned.
Tomorrow Pat & I go to Auburn for my grand daughter K's 10th birthday party. It should be fun and of course there will be the fun for me of introducing Pat to many relatives and friends who will also be there. We will try to meet a few people ahead of the 2pm party for lunch and maybe some after the party for dinner or mochas.
We met with our Priest again yesterday here in our park where we could walk through the service we are planning. We said the words to each other that we will officially say two weeks from tomorrow and they sound good. It looks like it will all work out fine, even if we have to go indoors because of bad weather. Now I just have to try to not make Pat laugh during the ceremony. It is easy to tickle her hand while I am holding it. But I think that might be a mistake to do at that time. I've been warned.
Labels: Grandkids, Pat and I, Wedding
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Time keeps marching on
It doesn't seem like a lot has happened, at least to write about here, but I know there has been a lot going on. As of Sunday afternoon it looks like our weather has finally (maybe) taken a turn for spring like conditions. Yesterday was beautiful with high temps up into the mid 60s(F.) I finally got my lawn mowed again and it sure needed it.
We are also getting things moved into the new RV. It is going slower than I expected but we are not just moving everything that came out of the Sea Breeze over. There is not quite as much inside storage with the new one and that is probably good as I have a tendency to try to take too much along. All right, I am kind of a pack rat. I bought some more clear plastic storage boxes yesterday and am starting to fill them with things we will store in the rear outside accessed compartment. The main bed has been made and most dishes and cookware is in place. We have been finding that there are some things missing, like the directions for the TV, the radio antennae for the home theater unit and the rack to use in the microwave/convection oven to cook in convection mode. They have been ordered by the RV dealer & should be here before long. I hope we can go on our maiden trip with it fairly soon, probably just someplace fairly close for a night or two to see if there are other things that we really need to take along.
Pat is at her volunteer job at the hospital right now. Tuesdays from 07:00 to noon she works the volunteer desk in the Day Surgery area. We will probably eat lunch there at the cafeteria when she finishes today, then we plan to visit the county courthouse to pick up our marriage license. They are good for 60 days and cost $60, which must be paid in cash. They take checks for auto licenses but not for marriage licenses. I wonder why not?
We are also getting things moved into the new RV. It is going slower than I expected but we are not just moving everything that came out of the Sea Breeze over. There is not quite as much inside storage with the new one and that is probably good as I have a tendency to try to take too much along. All right, I am kind of a pack rat. I bought some more clear plastic storage boxes yesterday and am starting to fill them with things we will store in the rear outside accessed compartment. The main bed has been made and most dishes and cookware is in place. We have been finding that there are some things missing, like the directions for the TV, the radio antennae for the home theater unit and the rack to use in the microwave/convection oven to cook in convection mode. They have been ordered by the RV dealer & should be here before long. I hope we can go on our maiden trip with it fairly soon, probably just someplace fairly close for a night or two to see if there are other things that we really need to take along.
Pat is at her volunteer job at the hospital right now. Tuesdays from 07:00 to noon she works the volunteer desk in the Day Surgery area. We will probably eat lunch there at the cafeteria when she finishes today, then we plan to visit the county courthouse to pick up our marriage license. They are good for 60 days and cost $60, which must be paid in cash. They take checks for auto licenses but not for marriage licenses. I wonder why not?
Labels: Pat and I, RVing, Weather, Wedding
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
My Sea Breeze RV has gone to the dealer's lot
After four days of hard work to unload it, Pat & I took my Sea Breeze motor home to Valley RV this afternoon. It is being traded in on the new Trail-Lite 31 SL motor home, along with my Mazda Miata. I don't expect to actually pickup the new rig until next week as there are still a couple of details to work out. It has happened pretty fast from first seeing it on the Internet on the Valley RV web site a week ago Sunday night to now with the Sea Breeze gone. And you wouldn't believe how my living room looks. I didn't realize how much stuff we had in that RV!
One thing that hasn't yet been done is to inter Annie's ashes in the new burying ground at our church. I wanted to wait until the space was finished which didn't happen until late Nov or Dec, then I really didn't want to do it in the winter. We were all set for this Sunday, March 18th, until B's Navy ship got scheduled for emergency yard work in San Diego for four weeks or so. We moved the date to April 1st but I wasn't very happy about using that date. It turns out that the ship couldn't get a yard date that soon so he is back and I just found out today that we can still go for this Sunday. We will do that at 12:30 local time.
We are moving closer to the wedding date of April 28th. We have asked folks to please let us know if they are coming so we have an idea how many to plan for and we seem to get a couple of contacts or so a day. Our simple little see the judge and get married original plan has turned into something a lot larger. But it will be fun and we are looking forward to sharing it with many friends and family. Now if we can only get the sun to shine that day!
One thing that hasn't yet been done is to inter Annie's ashes in the new burying ground at our church. I wanted to wait until the space was finished which didn't happen until late Nov or Dec, then I really didn't want to do it in the winter. We were all set for this Sunday, March 18th, until B's Navy ship got scheduled for emergency yard work in San Diego for four weeks or so. We moved the date to April 1st but I wasn't very happy about using that date. It turns out that the ship couldn't get a yard date that soon so he is back and I just found out today that we can still go for this Sunday. We will do that at 12:30 local time.
We are moving closer to the wedding date of April 28th. We have asked folks to please let us know if they are coming so we have an idea how many to plan for and we seem to get a couple of contacts or so a day. Our simple little see the judge and get married original plan has turned into something a lot larger. But it will be fun and we are looking forward to sharing it with many friends and family. Now if we can only get the sun to shine that day!
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Progress
Pat & I have gotten most of our wedding invitations mailed and are starting to get RSVPs back on who will be coming. Our original plan was to just go get married. Then it started to grow. Now it looks like this is going to be a pretty large affair. We are hoping for good weather on April 28th so we can use the gazebo outside but if it rains (we DO live in the northwest!) we will move into the clubhouse.
Huggy has been to Pat's house once and it went pretty well. We need to do it more often and try to get the three cats (Huggy, Molly and Peewee) to the point that we can let them get together. That will be the real test. When we tried it I first tried walking Huggy in on her leash and both she and Peewee had a hissy fit when they met. So she went into her pet taxi & was carried into a bedroom to be let out. Pat's two seemed very interested in the door to the room from the outside while Huggy stayed close to it on the inside, so I kind of think they knew they were all there close.
We have been meeting a lot of each other's friends. Today D & J came up from Vashon Island to visit and meet Pat. Last weekend we went to Auburn to pickup my grand daughter, K, and bring her up to spend a few days with us during her mid-winter break from 4th grade. While in Auburn we visited Pat's friends, L & MM who I got to meet. Next Monday my brother, L, will be over from Spokane for a short visit.
I am slowly getting things out of my house. Today J took some of Annie's favorite clothes, things I had wanted her to have as I wanted them to be with someone we know. Annie was a pretty small person and so is J so most of her clothes will fit. Many of the others have already gone to Goodwill. I've been working in the hobby room this past week. It seems to go slowly but I can see some progress. Lots more to go, though.
Huggy has been to Pat's house once and it went pretty well. We need to do it more often and try to get the three cats (Huggy, Molly and Peewee) to the point that we can let them get together. That will be the real test. When we tried it I first tried walking Huggy in on her leash and both she and Peewee had a hissy fit when they met. So she went into her pet taxi & was carried into a bedroom to be let out. Pat's two seemed very interested in the door to the room from the outside while Huggy stayed close to it on the inside, so I kind of think they knew they were all there close.
We have been meeting a lot of each other's friends. Today D & J came up from Vashon Island to visit and meet Pat. Last weekend we went to Auburn to pickup my grand daughter, K, and bring her up to spend a few days with us during her mid-winter break from 4th grade. While in Auburn we visited Pat's friends, L & MM who I got to meet. Next Monday my brother, L, will be over from Spokane for a short visit.
I am slowly getting things out of my house. Today J took some of Annie's favorite clothes, things I had wanted her to have as I wanted them to be with someone we know. Annie was a pretty small person and so is J so most of her clothes will fit. Many of the others have already gone to Goodwill. I've been working in the hobby room this past week. It seems to go slowly but I can see some progress. Lots more to go, though.
Labels: Annie, Huggy, Pat and I, Wedding
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
I've updated my profile
I just updated the About Me section of my profile. I don't mention RVing in that part of it and part of that is because I don't know how much RVing I will be doing in the future. It is still mentioned in the upper part of the blog and I do hope we will continue to at least do some traveling that way.
But right now I have other things to occupy my time, like getting my house cleared out and ready to sell. We have decided to live in Pat's house after we marry so will sell mine. Combining two households, especially when one of them is owned by a guy who is kind of a packrat that doesn't throw things away, is going to be a challenge. The two houses are only about two blocks apart so it isn't a big move distance wise.
When we do get to the RV I think we will sell the one I have now, which is Dick & Annie's RV, and buy a smaller one that Pat & I will pick out. It will be Pat & Dick's RV. There will be some changes in vehicles that I own, too. Pat has a VW new Beetle that is diesel powered. We will keep that. If we are going to continue RVing we will want to keep the Saturn as it is all setup to be a towed car and does that very well. The Miata may be traded for something like a 1966 Ford Mustang and the Honda moped will just be sold.
One of Pat's daughters has bought my Nikon D70s camera so it will be staying in the family. I think she will enjoy and get a lot of use out of it. It really is a good camera. Tomorrow night we are going to another performance of Danny Vernon as Elvis. I will take my new Nikon D200 to try out there.
The times they are a'changin.
But right now I have other things to occupy my time, like getting my house cleared out and ready to sell. We have decided to live in Pat's house after we marry so will sell mine. Combining two households, especially when one of them is owned by a guy who is kind of a packrat that doesn't throw things away, is going to be a challenge. The two houses are only about two blocks apart so it isn't a big move distance wise.
When we do get to the RV I think we will sell the one I have now, which is Dick & Annie's RV, and buy a smaller one that Pat & I will pick out. It will be Pat & Dick's RV. There will be some changes in vehicles that I own, too. Pat has a VW new Beetle that is diesel powered. We will keep that. If we are going to continue RVing we will want to keep the Saturn as it is all setup to be a towed car and does that very well. The Miata may be traded for something like a 1966 Ford Mustang and the Honda moped will just be sold.
One of Pat's daughters has bought my Nikon D70s camera so it will be staying in the family. I think she will enjoy and get a lot of use out of it. It really is a good camera. Tomorrow night we are going to another performance of Danny Vernon as Elvis. I will take my new Nikon D200 to try out there.
The times they are a'changin.
Labels: Pat and I, Photo gear, RVing, Wedding
Monday, February 12, 2007
Well, I changed to Beta Blogger
Becky at the Absent Minded Housewife blog said she has changed to the beta version and it seems to be working pretty well, so I decided to at least try it. If I don't like it I can always move over to WordPress. Of course I had to join ANOTHER thing, Google something or other, in order to continue using this system.
I did go and buy a new suit. Then I needed a new shirt and tie and they tried pretty hard there (The Men's Wearhouse) to sell those to me but luckily I had Pat along and she said their prices for those accessories were too high. They advertise pretty low prices for suits but don't seem to have any of those low price ones in the common sizes. And they charge extra for all of the tailoring and there is always some since the pants legs will have to be set to your length. Anyway, I have it and we found a shirt & tie to go pretty will with her dress, so are set for the wedding. On clothes.
It appears that getting married is a pretty complicated activity. It seems that there are a lot of things I never thought of that have to be done. It is a good thing that women seem to like to do those things and are good at remembering them so we men can sort of relax and let it happen.
One of the commenters on my last post mentioned that her hubby who was in the Navy never talked about going boating. I should make sure you all know those were my words, not my son's. I guess they don't call his boat a boat because it is a ship and they don't go boating, they go under way. Just saying they are going boating in the boat seems easier to me. It is probably a good thing that I am not in the Navy.
Only two days to Valentine's Day. Last year on that day I found a wonderful poem that brought a lot of comfort to me and since then I have been able to share it with other friends who have lost loved ones. Thank you Emily for posting it that day on Susan's blog so that I was able to read it. This year I have Patti and it will be a much better lover's holiday for both of us.
I did go and buy a new suit. Then I needed a new shirt and tie and they tried pretty hard there (The Men's Wearhouse) to sell those to me but luckily I had Pat along and she said their prices for those accessories were too high. They advertise pretty low prices for suits but don't seem to have any of those low price ones in the common sizes. And they charge extra for all of the tailoring and there is always some since the pants legs will have to be set to your length. Anyway, I have it and we found a shirt & tie to go pretty will with her dress, so are set for the wedding. On clothes.
It appears that getting married is a pretty complicated activity. It seems that there are a lot of things I never thought of that have to be done. It is a good thing that women seem to like to do those things and are good at remembering them so we men can sort of relax and let it happen.
One of the commenters on my last post mentioned that her hubby who was in the Navy never talked about going boating. I should make sure you all know those were my words, not my son's. I guess they don't call his boat a boat because it is a ship and they don't go boating, they go under way. Just saying they are going boating in the boat seems easier to me. It is probably a good thing that I am not in the Navy.
Only two days to Valentine's Day. Last year on that day I found a wonderful poem that brought a lot of comfort to me and since then I have been able to share it with other friends who have lost loved ones. Thank you Emily for posting it that day on Susan's blog so that I was able to read it. This year I have Patti and it will be a much better lover's holiday for both of us.
Labels: Boating, Pat and I, Valentine's Day, Wedding
Sunday, February 04, 2007
I guess I have a camera for sale
It looks like neither my son nor my brother will be buying my Nikon D70s digital SLR camera with it's 18 - 70mm zoom lens. If anyone out here is interested, let me know. I will sell it at a good price and it includes some of the accessories that I can't use with the D200 as well as a few third party books that are specific about the D70.
I don't know where the time goes. It has been six days since my last post but it feels like only a couple of days have gone by. We are making progress with wedding plans. Selecting a date was a bit of a challenge with four kids and some grandkids schedules to consider, plus our own wants and wishes. We didn't want to have it in the fall or winter as both of our original weddings were. My son who is in the Navy will be off on a boating trip from early May until well into the fall, so that rules out the summer and leaves the time from now until early May, and they will be out twice for a week or ten days between now and then. My other son works every other weekend and it is pretty hard to get time off since they have already picked their vacation times for the year. One of Pat's daughters and her family are building a new house and have their own business to run, so they are quite busy. The other works nights but does have Saturday and Sunday off so she at least isn't a challenge to schedule around. Her grand daughter is a serious volleyball player so there are tournaments to keep in mind. And there is the Junior Prom. On the day we selected. But it is at night and we will hold ours in the early afternoon. Anyway, we selected Saturday, April 28th. That is the date of the once a year plant sale at my church so that facility can't be used. But, we were able to reserve the club house where we live and if the weather cooperates we will use the outdoor gazebo.
We have been working on invitations. Pat bought a dress yesterday and I may go buy a new suit today. I think we have the attendants lined up. And it is still almost three months off.
I am beginning to see why it is popular to just elope!
I don't know where the time goes. It has been six days since my last post but it feels like only a couple of days have gone by. We are making progress with wedding plans. Selecting a date was a bit of a challenge with four kids and some grandkids schedules to consider, plus our own wants and wishes. We didn't want to have it in the fall or winter as both of our original weddings were. My son who is in the Navy will be off on a boating trip from early May until well into the fall, so that rules out the summer and leaves the time from now until early May, and they will be out twice for a week or ten days between now and then. My other son works every other weekend and it is pretty hard to get time off since they have already picked their vacation times for the year. One of Pat's daughters and her family are building a new house and have their own business to run, so they are quite busy. The other works nights but does have Saturday and Sunday off so she at least isn't a challenge to schedule around. Her grand daughter is a serious volleyball player so there are tournaments to keep in mind. And there is the Junior Prom. On the day we selected. But it is at night and we will hold ours in the early afternoon. Anyway, we selected Saturday, April 28th. That is the date of the once a year plant sale at my church so that facility can't be used. But, we were able to reserve the club house where we live and if the weather cooperates we will use the outdoor gazebo.
We have been working on invitations. Pat bought a dress yesterday and I may go buy a new suit today. I think we have the attendants lined up. And it is still almost three months off.
I am beginning to see why it is popular to just elope!
Labels: Pat and I, Photo gear, Wedding
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
She said, "Yes!!!!!"
I asked and she said, "Yes." Here is her new ring. We have not set a date yet but that will come in the future. Our lives have sure changed and so much for the better!
By the way, the new camera did come yesterday and I am still reading the owner's manual.
Labels: Pat and I, Photos, Wedding
