It's becoming Reality now...

Well... it has become official..no backing out now. My house is pretty much empty. Even my beautiful tree is gone from the dining room :(   My 15 year old ficas tree filled the entire corner... from floor to ceiling .. and now the room looks empty. All we have left in here  is the bare bones stuff... our chairs, the tv, the bed and a few items to deliver to the kids. The shop is empty except for a the tools we are keeping and even the patio is empty..no more hot tub, no BBQ, no patio furniture...just empty...empty... everywhere you look.
The funny thing about an empty house is how it sounds. We echo when we talk. Its crazy after being here for 15 years. We only have a few days left here..and will be out completely by next weekend. After that it is time for some well deserved R & R.. ( yes, rest and relaxation and maybe a little rich and rare too ). And then...in May it is "North To Alaska".
Things are moving along as planned.

Coat Hooks....

I had no idea that one could find enough wall space in a 23 foot 5th wheel to put up 15 coat hooks.. and actually put them in places that they can be used efficiently as well. In our houses we all have closet space where we can hang all the extra coats, hats and numerous other items such as umbrellas or BBQ tools. Well, in our little trailer we have a small cloths closet that I am still questioning whether it will hold all our cloths..let along any thing extra. So.. I spent most of the day yesterday figuring out where to put things. It was a challenge but I think I made the most use out of my limited space. Very proud of myself.
Everything is going miniature.. smaller tv, mini rv washing machine, flolding foot stools since we won't have our recliners, even a small little coffee table made my our Grandson Joe. So, things are coming together quite well. About all that is left in the house now, is furniture that will go to storage and the girls and a couple of cupboards in the kitchen of the things I have saved to go into the trailer. Hopefully, when it comes down to the finale move day, that it will all fit.
It is hard to believe that in a week this little house of ours will be empty. With luck, we will get almost all of it moved next weekend, and that will give us a few days to make sure everything is finished up. Our finale possession of this house will be the weekend of the March 1st or 2nd. Mixed feelings obviously about the end.. sad but very exciting too. And being able to spend the next 3 months out at Freshwater Bay will be such a wonderful change. It will give us time to adjust to 5th wheel life, to figure out what we still may need..or what we find we don't need before we head north. We should be pretty proficient by the time we get on the road.
I don't know how all this will turn out, I don't know if we have made the right decision to do this, I don't know what this next year will bring.. but none of us do. No one has any idea what is in store for them tomorrow, next week, or even later today. Life has no guarantees, no pre-designed map of the future. Everyday that we wake up is a new adventure and if we don't take a chance on the things that we dream about, life will become very stale and boring. We intend to give this next year all we have.. to jump in with both feet.. and live every moment to its fullest. We may come home saying...NEVER AGAIN.. or.... we may come home just long enough to make enough money to GO AGAIN.... ( somewhere different next time tho... maybe south ).
Have a great day and I will be checking back in soon.

Saturday...Dump Day !!

Saturday, dump day... a crazy day with 4 full pickup loads delivered to the dump. This in my mind... is slightly disturbing. How can one family, of only two people...have 4 truck loads of "crap". .. and ...wait...this is 4 truck loads of dump runs...for just one day. Think of all the stuff already crammed into the dumpster for weekly pickup...think of the 3 solid days of garage sale that went on, completed with 2 days of "Give Away " days.. where we just let people take whatever they wanted...and then...top that all off with all the stuff we have given, pawned off and begged our own kids to take. Wow... now that sort of tells the whole story. I have discovered.. it is not healthy for anyone to live in the same house for 15 years... really not a good idea. If one moves...at least every 3 to 5 years...the total amount of "crap" is much much less....just sayin'!!!!!!!

February 15th..Happy late Valentines Day.

Mid February.. the time is creeping up.. ( no, not creeping...bursting forth is more like it ).
With everything left to do...and only 13 days MAX.. in the house...I took yesterday off. If you have been reading my face book or if you get the Peninsula Daily News...  you already know that my Grandson Kyle and my Daughter Kristy are in a huge campaign to save their family dog ..Max. So...yesterday I went with them all to Seattle to the Seattle Veterinary Specialists Clinic in Redmond. There we met with a wonderful Nero-surgeon, Dr. Saunders. It was a very long, but very informative day. Max is going to have surgery next week, to relieve pressure in his brain. .....
This is a copy of a post my daughter made on the face book page..."save my dog Max".....

Just got home from Max's appointment in Seattle. Turns out he does not have wobbler's disease. he has a build up of spinal fluid in his brain that is pressing against his cerebellum and brain stem due to a bone growth at the base of his neck. possibly grown over time or maybe just a malformation of his skull. it is causing the spinal fluid to not drain properly. So he will be on meds for a few days to... decrease the fluid and then they will go in next week and remove the bone growth to drain the remaining fluid. If the growth is large enough then they will have to place a titanium mesh implant over the area that is removed. Dr. Sanders seemed optimistic that the surgery will get max back to himself once again. Long day, but in a week Max will be on his way to feeling better. :) all in all a successful trip

 

And an update on what is do happen in the next couple of weeks...

 

MRI view of Max's brain. See that Big White bulb that the bottom arrow is pointing to? That is the fluid that should not be there.....

 

So next step is surgery. I will get off work on Tues pick Max up and head straight over to Seattle to drop him off with Dr. Sanders. Then turn around and come straight home to return to work on Wed morning. They will do the Surgery on Wed and Keep him until Monday. Only bad part is that Kyle and I have to leave for Idaho on Thursday morning for his Jazz festival with the school and I agreed to... chaperon long ago. But I know that Max will be in the best and most capable hands. Dr. Sanders actually teared up a little when we told him our story and showed him the newspaper clippings. The whole staff there is amazing. We will come home from Idaho on Sunday and then Monday morning I will drive back to Seattle to pick him up. I then have the whole week off work to stay home and take care of him. Please keep our Max in your prayers over the days of his surgery, not being with him is going to be the most difficult thing, but it is more important to get him the care he needs as soon as possible, and having me home to care for him after is more important than my ability to sit in the lobby as hard as it will be for me to not be there The apt today cost $2500.00 and without all of you we wouldn’t have been able to get even this far to find out his true diagnoses, and who knows how long he would have had if we had just hoped for the best thinking it was wobbler's. We love you all so much for what you have done for Max. thank you from the bottom of my heart. it means literally the world for us and a life for Max.

 

So... as you can see.. yesterday we were all slightly side-tracked... !! It will be a very good thing for everyone, when the surgery is over and done with, and Max is back in the house, all better and back to his old self. It has been an amazing couple of months...and truly brought the faith back to us all in those around us... so much support from so many people.

 

However, ....... Now I have to get busy with the chores on hand. Tomorrow it is dump runs.... moving big items out of the yard and shop and more into storage. The time is running short. Hope everyone has a great weekend, and I will check back in on Monday with news of how things went. Have a good one...and remember....stay happy and healthy.

Time to get back on track....

Only 15 more days until we move into the 5th wheel. It seems like only yesterday we decided on this "grand" adventure. All of a sudden.. it is time. These past months have flown by, in such a rush,  and here it is...the big move. The past two months has been spent sorting, packing, deciding what I really can't live without, deciding what will fit in the 5th wheel.. and carefully packing away things that I won't see again for at least a year. Definetly not an over night project. I know that both myself and Don are going to be completely worn out in 2 weeks, but ...we will survive it.
Over the past weekend we had a big blow out garage sale and the people came by the dozens. We got rid of so many things that had collected over the years. I am sure that when we go to bed at night, everything in the cupboards and drawers multiply... because I really don't remember ever buying all the crap that we had collected. However, it is nice to see that other people can use the stuff we can't .
Now this weekend it is off to the dump with a few runs of the odds and ends that didn't sell, and have no where to go. After that... it is move the Hot Tub... move the smoker, the BBQ, the boat..and about a dozen other bigger items. Then, another load of boxes to storage.
But ... after all that is done, next week will seem like a vacation. Last minute items to storage, deliver stuff to the kids, finish loading up the 5th wheel. On March 1st....we will be out of our house ... our house that we have lived in for 15 years. It is bitter sweet. Happy, Sad, Excited, Scared, Apprehensive, Relieved... a whole lot of emotions all tied up in one. But basically Excited for this next phase of our lives.
Our next step is to move the 5th wheel out to a friends property at Freshwater Bay. Nice an quiet, private, close to the beach and only 15 min. from town. Sounds like a good transition spot to me. Only trouble is..NO internet !!! Oh well, guess that is why I have an IPhone..right :)
Three months there...and then the road leads north. I plan on doing a weekly blog of our travels and pictures along the way. It will be fun to share our travels with all our friends and family so I hope you will travel along with us.
It is going to be ..."OUR GREAT ADVENTURE".