Saturday, October 26, 2013

It's Getting Serious Around Here....

I know, I know. I slacked off on blogging. But I was busy getting ready. Ready for what? Well, everything, of course.

So here's the news:

  • Jenny put in her retirement date. It will be official on February 28th. If I have my way, we'll head out on March 1st. Anybody want to help me plan a party? We'll need to use your house since ours is now tiny.
  • The big house is up for sale. Chase Bank has confused the hell out of us by telling us the house has been foreclosed on (it hasn't); sold at Sheriff's Auction (nope, wrong there too); and then telling us to do a short sale. Okay. We can do that.
  • Bob the Realtor (I'm sure he has a real name, but I don't know what it is) is having an open house on Sunday. If you want to buy a 2400 sq. ft. house on a half acre with a creek, lots of trees, wildlife (even when I'm not here), and beavers, come check it out.
  • Of course, because of some minor accidents backing the RV into the driveway (where a lot of those trees seem to live), the RV has to go into the shop for a couple weeks so we had to move back into the house that we may or may not own, may or may not sell, and therefore we may or may not find ourselves homeless. If that happens, we'll call you.
  • Why you ask? Well, the trailer was supposed to go to the shop two weeks ago. Actually three weeks ago. But three weeks ago there was a lot of rain and we couldn't get it out because the place we have to turn it around to head in the right direction was a muddy swamp. The same one we got stuck in back in June. Then two weeks ago, after the first round of the rainy season, we discovered that, although the dealership TOLD us the problem with the slide was fixed, it actually wasn't. One slide is stuck in the out position. We've been waiting two weeks for the dealer to come and get the slide in. (We tried. My job is to push the button. Jenny's is to lift the slide and push. Didn't work. Nor did it work when our friend, Mark, came to help. And Mark can fix almost anything.) They were supposed to come today but didn't although they had a good excuse. They have promised to be here tomorrow. After that, it will take two weeks or so to get the repairs and upgrades we want done, and then we will move back in. Since by then the rainy season should be in full swing, we plan to be completely out of the house and living in an RV park. No more trees in the driveway or swamps for us.
  • I'm not having surgery on my ankle. Although the doctor hasn't given me the final word yet, I've made up my mind. Yes, it still hurts some, but it's getting better. PT says the tendons are curling and I think that's cute so I'm just going to leave it that way. I'll probably end up in a brace, because I feel a bit unstable, but that's fine. And I'm DRIVING again!
  • I need to take some photos. The house is pretty much all packed up, the RV is loaded (mostly), we've been living in it since August and love it, and the only camera I have is my cell phone. Does the big crack on the face of my phone matter?
  • The dog loves to be wherever we are, the cats love the RV although it has never actually moved with them in it, and the vet says we should just put them in their carriers and put the carriers in the RV. That way we don't have to listen to them howl. Works for me.
  • Winter has attacked my body with all its evil. I have fibro in case you forgot and that makes me a human barometer. From October to June, I hurt like hell. Then I have about two weeks of comfort, then it starts over again. Part of the reason we're going RVing. I need to be gone from here during the rainy season (and this is Portland...it's all rainy season).
  • Oh, and I had the flu. For two weeks. I'm still coughing. You should have bought stock in Robitussin a couple weeks ago.
  • Meg (aka Circus Kid) is home from circus school in Italy and decided to stay in PDX to work and do some advanced circus training. Yes, Portland is a hotbed of circus arts. Who woulda thunk it? She's teaching at Night Flight and, I think, Circus Project, and performing almost every weekend. She's also helping us get ready to go.
  • What else? We spent the month of August in Bend, and it was HEAVEN. We're really going to like this ongoing camping business.
  • The trailer has a name. Now Jenny doesn't agree but she's come up with nothing better and I write the blog, so the fifth wheel is officially Calamity Jane. (No offense to our friends named Jane).  CJ has had more than her fair share of tree incidents, odd events, and all, so it fits. Plus she's a bitch to backup. To be honest, though, I've only backed her up about two inches and driven forward about four feet. I intend to keep it that way.
  • My second book should be out by Christmas. At least that's the plan, and I've told my fans so I guess I have to get it done. If you haven't read the first one (it's a series) it's called Blind Leading the Blind and it's a mystery. Click on the link to the right (when I figure it out) to buy your very own copy, or go to Powells and have them print you a copy while you wait. You can also go to Amazon or Barnes and Noble if you prefer an e-book. It's funny and sexy, well-written, and gets good reviews. How can you go wrong with a couple of neurotic lesbians, one a blind psychologist and one a defrocked detective, who end up raising a 15-year-old girl. Now, if you've raised daughters, you know that right there is a set-up.
  • This is my busiest indexing season but Jenny has convinced me to retire as well. Since I start getting social security in January, I'm all for it. Between her SS and pension, and my SS, we should be just fine. The nice thing about this is that I can say no to indexing jobs that are creepy, weird, or stupid. I love it. And if the clients beg, I raise my rate. If they bite, I MIGHT take the job. Otherwise, I just chill.

So, hopefully, on March 1st we'll be heading for California. We'll spend a few weeks in Palm Springs so I can get warm and drink gin and tonics with my cousin, after a leisurely drive, then we'll either take Rte 66 to Chicago or go across the South, ultimately ending up in North Carolina to see family and then New York State to see friends. I'm ready. We'll head back through Yellowstone where our middle daughter and her family will join us. We should be home in time for the two weeks of September summer.  Can't wait.

2 comments:

  1. Jenny has reminded me yet again that her cousin lives in West Virginia. I get those two mixed up. And there's one REALLY bad sentence up there. See if you can find it.

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    Replies
    1. I'm guessing this is the really bad, run-on sentence.

      We'll spend a few weeks in Palm Springs so I can get warm and drink gin and tonics with my cousin, after a leisurely drive, then we'll either take Rte 66 to Chicago or go across the South, ultimately ending up in North Carolina to see family and then New York State to see friends.

      Delete