Good News

We got an e-mail from the Realtor a little while ago, that they had been given the “clear to close.”

I guess we shouldn’t have gone to then country buffet for lunch and then came home and had a 2 hour nap.

We made another run to the storage shed via the beer store and Al is waiting for Tommy (aka Fred Sanford) to come load up some more freebies.

My kitty sitter Debbie came by earlier and I loaded her up with more cleaning supplies and stuff from the refrigerator and cabinets.  We are really going to have to push it now, but at least we have some motivation.

We have to make another trip to Good Will and the library to drop off some books, but that can wait until tomorrow.

Al called the guy that’s buying the mower.  He still says he wants it and will come Thursday after closing.  As far as we know right now, the closing is 2pm on Thursday.  Our main thing right now is the washer and dryer.  I have an idea for that, now that I think of it.

The buyers wanted to come do a walk through at 9 tomorrow morning, but I put them off until 11 am.  We don’t want them interrupting our coffee time, do we?   We’ve been jumping through hoops for them and I guess that’s my way to rebel.

Wish us luck….we still won’t believe it until the fat lady sings!

Getting Close

We spent Memorial Day working around the house and yard.

The bedroom set went Sunday and the recliners went yesterday.  We have no place to sit inside the house and it’s really sounding empty.

The big things we have left are the washer and dryer,  the big zero turn mower, the desk and the little push mower. 

Al has a guy that swears he will take the mower once we close.  I hope he’s a man of his word because if he’s not, we will have a big problem.  He was supposed to send us a deposit last week, but he “forgot” and now it’s too late.  That makes me a bit nervous.  I hope he doesn’t plan to come here at the last minute and re-negotiate the price,  thinking he has us over the barrel.   The mower and the washer/dryer are my main concerns right now and we were offered $200 on the washer/dryer yesterday.  I was hoping for more, but I may just have to let it go for that amount.

We’ve about decided to keep our utility trailer.  We can store it inside the storage building and it will be useful when we need to move our stuff from the storage building here, down to one in Florida.  We know Florida will be our home base and it’ll be nice to have a place to put unseasonal items when we’re not using them.  We just need to find a place in Florida that is not so expensive.  We’ve done some pricing and they are much more expensive then here in Georgia.  We don’t want to pay $100 a month when we’re paying $5o here.  We get depressed when we see how much stuff we have in the storage building, but we have to keep reminding ourselves how much stuff we don’t  have anymore and realize we did the best we could.  Some of the stuff in the shed are things that will be going with us, like kayaks and scuba gear.  Some of it are winter items..clothes and blankets, heaters and such.  Some are things that didn’t sell, like one set of china (we sold 2 sets).  Some are things we just haven’t made up our minds on, like tools.  We’d rather keep a few of these items and since we have a storage building anyway, it’s no problem….except the buildings getting pretty full!

The house is slowly but surely getting emptied out.  Like I said before, it’s the small stuff.  I’m making piles for our friend Debbie and Al’s mooch friend Tommy.  Tommy will take most everything…trash included   He’s a pretty good guy to have around and he’s very happy to take our trash!  Like they say, my trash is someone's treasure.

We enjoyed a very cool evening last night with temps falling down to 66 degrees. Boy is that nice sleeping with the breeze blowing in the windows.  I’ll bet we won’t be getting much more of that once we head south.  Merikay…you are right, we should head north, but Al has to be back in Tampa in a few weeks, so unfortunately that’s the direction we’ll be heading.   It’s going to be another scorcher here today with temps in the mid 90’s.  We’re trying to get started early and avoid some of the heat, but we just have a hard time getting started until we’ve had a few cups of coffee.

We expect (hope) to get a final closing date confirmed today.  I sure hope there are no problems or delays.  Wish us luck!

The following picture is the “prize” we’re going to be heading towards very soon!

It’s the Small Stuff

My brother Steve brought Mom for one last visit.  Mom has always loved our place and hates that we’re selling it.  They only could spend one night, but we had a really nice visit. We sat outside by the motorhome Saturday evening.  It felt like we were at a campground and that felt very, very nice. We put two fans on us to keep us cool and keep the gnats away.  Steve and Al drank too many beers and I drank too much wine.  We had a very nice visit and didn’t go in until after 11 pm. 

Our Saturday garage sale was almost a bust, but we did manage to sell our hydraulic lift table so we felt good about that.  We ended up with only $46 in sales.  The holiday week-end must have been the problem. 

The lady came to pick up the bedroom set yesterday, so that’s one more larger item gone. 

We’ve been working on all the small stuff and that’s getting discouraging.  It seems like it never ends.  We’re hoping the closing will still be on Thursday, but we’re waiting for the “okay to close”, from the underwriter.  I sure hope it doesn’t drag out past Thursday.

We still haven’t decided exactly where we want to go after we leave here.  We’ve about decided against the beach which is southwest of us.  We will play it by ear and see how we feel when the time comes.  We are the type of people that like to just go where the road takes us, and not make a lot of plans.  I guess we’ll see. 

It’s been extremely hot and humid during the day which makes it very difficult to work outside.  The evenings are still cool enough to keep the windows open and the a/c off at night.  That will probably change once we head south.

Happy Memorial Day and thanks to all of our service members  and their family (past and present) for your service!

Possible Changes

We got the foundation work done and inspected Thursday, which was a day ahead of schedule.

Our Realtor said they are now trying to change the closing date to May 31st instead of June 2nd.  Yikes!

We could just request we keep the same date, but we’re afraid to do anything to cause any delays, so we’ll be ready when they are.

We’re trying to kick it into gear and get it all done.  The buyer for the golf cart paid us with the understanding, he will pick it up next week.  He also took a trailer full of junk that Al had given him.  He’s one of these guys that won’t turn down anything free, so Al loaded him up with lots of treasures.  We think he’s a bit of a hoarder.   He got some good stuff, but nothing that we could really sell for much money.  It was a good deal for both of us.  Al filled up his trailer and is wanting him to come back today for more!

A lady came to look at the recliners and she gave me a deposit and will pick them up Monday after she comes back from her camping trip!  Yeah, rub salt in the wounds!

The only big things we haven’t sold are the washer/dryer, desk,  and small lawn mower.  We’re hoping to get them sold this week-end. 

update….

Well, we had our Friday garage sale and made $72.  We got rid of some shelving units and that were taking up space and a few more tools.  We felt good about it, but didn’t sell the little mower, desk or washer and dryer.

The “okay to close” paperwork didn’t get back from the underwriters yesterday, so it doesn’t look like our closing date will be moved up to the 31st.  That’s okay, we were going to make it work if necessary, but now we we’ll have a bit more time.  Right now, we still have to wait for that okay to close, but the tentative closing is scheduled for June 2nd.  I hope the holiday on Monday doesn’t cause any delay. 

Our last garage sale should be today.  We don’t have much left, but if we could just get rid of the washer and dryer, we’d be happy.

Bluebirds Fledged

We have a Bluebird nest box located about 10 feet in front of our front window of the motor home.

We were hoping since we’re living in the motorhome now, we would have a chance to watch the babies fledge.  We’ve been keeping a close eye on them.

Since we’ve been living here in Georgia, we’ve had the chance to really learn a lot about the various birds.  We’ve learned that the different types have such different personalities and habits.

They don’t just drop all the eggs at once.  It’s normally one egg per day.  Mama doesn’t start sitting on them until they have all been laid.   They seem to hatch on different days as well.

We aren’t sure, but we think they started fledging last week.  On Tuesday, there was unusual activity around the nest box, so we decided to keep a close eye out to see if we could witness an actual fledge.

We have the sunscreen on the front window, so I only had a small area with a clear view out the drivers front window.  I stood patiently zoomed and focused on the nest box opening.

While I was waiting, I saw Daddy Bluebird feeding the baby and I’m sure offering some encouragement to take the big step!

I finally saw a little head peeking out.  The picture didn’t turn out great unfortunately.

 

He was getting ready, so I stood there as still as I could, determined to catch his first flight.  After a few minutes, he finally got brave enough and this is what I photographed.

Don’t see him, do you?  Well actually he is a little to the right.  I snapped the shutter as quickly as I could, but he was quicker.  Once he finally made up his mind, he went fast.  I guess there is no slow “first steps”  for birds.  You either gotta go or not!

Al found him sitting up on an electrical wire right about the motor home.  Notice that he doesn’t have a tail yet?  We’ve noticed the babies fledge with very minimal tail feathers. 

If you look carefully, you can see a little bit of blue on him, and you can see the start of his tail feathers.

Yesterday the final two babies fledged.  There were 5 eggs originally, so we assume all hatched.  We see the family hanging around pretty close to the nest box.  They will stay together and soon we’ll see 7 Bluebirds sitting on the power lines all in a row. 

They left the nest box a mess.  They normally do a pretty good job of keeping it clean, but I think with the 5 babies there was no room for mama or dad to get in to do any cleaning.  Al is going to get some rubber gloves and a gas mask and remove all the old nesting material.  They’ll be starting another nest very soon.   I guess we won’t be here to see it though.

Today, the foundation guys are finishing up.  We’ve had to  keep Sweet Pea up here with us to keep her from “helping.”  Al and I are getting more and more attached to that big red dog and I think there will be some tears when we leave…not because of the house, but because of that darn red dog.

Closing Date Scheduled

We’ve been busy so I’ve neglected posting to my blog.

Last week-end we had a Saturday garage sale and managed to sell a few of the remaining larger items.  We ended up $730 richer, and some very big bulky items gone!

We are having some work done on the foundation today.  Once that is inspected and passes we are hoping there are no more delays.  They’ve scheduled a closing date for Thursday, June 2nd.

We’re requesting that the sellers allow us 48 hours after closing to vacate the rv site and garage.  This will give us a bit of extra time in case we have any issues selling the mowers or washer and dryer. 

We have a buyer for the big zero turn mower, the golf cart and the bedroom set.  We’re pretty comfortable these buyers will come through, but until we close, we’re not parting with them.

The only other things are the big desk and washer and dryer.

We’re still trying to clean out the house, garage and sheds.  It’s amazing how much little stuff that is too good to toss and takes up too much space to bring.  We’ve found a few people that want all our junk, so that’s what we’re doing.

Carol is right….this job is not for sissies!

Insurance Question

I called Gilbert Rv Insurance (our agent) today to get a quote on some fulltimers coverage.

They wrote our policy when we first bought this motor home.  It’s insured with American Security and is a “replacement cost”  policy.  In the event of a total loss, we would get that stated amount for our rv, rather than the standard ACV (actual cash value).  That figure is probably twice as much as the value of the coach right now (ACV).

When I called Gilbert for a quote, she came back with quotes from Progressive and Nationwide.  As a previous claim adjuster, I’ve seen how other insurance companies work and I definitely do not want to use Progressive.  Anyway, the quotes were for ACV (actual cash value) NOT the purchase price coverage like we currently have.  When I questioned it, she said  they no longer write for American Security Insurance and that the other companies would not write a purchase price policy. 

I called American Security to ask them for a quote for fulltimers coverage and they were surprised that Gilbert no longer wrote for them.  They said they do not write the policies there and use agents, and that Gilbert was the only agent that could write their rv policies.  What a crazy system!  I sure wish USAA wrote rv policies.

Anyway the guy at American Security said he would check out why  Gilbert said they would no longer write with their company, and get back to me.

So my question to you fulltimers out there is: who do you insure your rv with?  I’m not looking for the cheapest policy, but a good  “A” rated company with excellent claims handling.  Any suggestions?

 

Nothing new on the house sale, except the Realtor wanted our meter numbers so the buyers could get the electricity switched over to their names.  I guess that is a good sign! 

Al is on his way back from Tampa, so I need to get busy, so he won’t think I’ve been goofing off while he’s been gone…(which I have).  I managed to finish my book  The Help.  It was set in the early 60’s in Mississippi and was a story about black maids working for wealthy white women.  It showed how poorly those women were treated, and how things were starting to change back then.  It was an interesting book and I enjoyed it. 

No Friday garage sale today, but we’ll have another one tomorrow.  We’re starting to have more junk than good stuff, but we do have a few large shelving units and tv stands for sale.  Al still has some more rusted out cans of paint that he will put in the “free” pile.  It’s amazing what people will take for free.  I have so many half empty spices, lotions, creams, and all that kind of stuff you have in your kitchen and bathroom cabinets.  It’s perfectly good stuff, but I just don’t have the room for all of it.  I think I’ll put some in the free pile…I bet someone will take it!

I don’t  know how many of you read  Merikay's  blog, but she is down in the dumps and could use some cheering up if you get a minute.

The Cat is Away

and the mouse is playing :)

Al is back in Tampa and I had a real difficult time getting motivated yesterday.  No one to make me feel guilty, I guess.

My friend Carol just got a new Kindle and has been reading like crazy.  She recommended the book, “The Help.”  I ordered it from the library for my Sony eReader, but it was on hold, so I splurged and paid $9.99 from Amazon.    We normally don’t pay for books, since we can download ebooks from the library.  I put the Kindle app on his iPad, so he can read ebooks on his iPad.    I was wondering if we wasted our money on his eReader that be bought a few months ago…before we even thought about getting the iPad.  However, yesterday I sat outside with the eReader in the bright sunshine and I had no glare  and a nice bright, clear screen.  The iPad has such a glare in the sunlight it would not have worked, so I think we’ll still use our eReaders.

I took  Squeaky outside in her cage for some sunshine.  The Vet said sunshine/vitamin D was good for her liver and jaundice problems.  That was my excuse to sit and read for a while and not feel too guilty :)    Our 96 degree temps are history,  and yesterday was actually a little cool because of the lower temps and strong breeze.  I think we’ll be back up to 80 today and then I’m sure it will start to get hot again….darn it.

I got an update from the Realtor on the pending sale of the property.  We’ve never had much land before, so we didn’t realize the requirements were different than if you just own a house on a small lot.  

FHA requires a ratio of 60/40  of house to land value.  In other words the house and any out buildings need to be at least 60% of the total value of the property to qualify for FHA financing.  They think we are close enough that  will go through once we get some foundation work done.  That’s not good enough for me though.

I was concerned the appraiser didn’t do a thorough job and did not consider all of the building we have on the property.  I requested a copy of his appraisal.  I suspected they would not release it (work product), and I was right.  They did give us a breakdown and it appears he undervalued (by a lot) the outbuildings.  We are trying to get that corrected now.    I would rather not be “close” as far as the land to property ratio, so we’re trying to get that looked at again.  The Realtor thinks it’s looking good though anyway because apparently the buyers have strong credit. 

We’re just going with the flow and as bad as we would like to have this over with, truthfully, I don’t see how we could have ever made it happen by the original closing date of May 6th. 

We are starting to think about our options as to where we will go when/if the house closes.  We may go over to Savannah, Georgia.  We’ve seen some good reviews for Skidaway Island State Park.  

Another potential candidate is  Ho Hum Rv Park in Carrabelle, Florida.  It’s right on the Gulf coast and only about 95 miles from here.  They have waterfront campsites, which would be a very nice change.  Hey, maybe we could go there first, then head to Skidaway?  After all, we will be “on the road.”

One thing for sure though…. I’m not making reservations!

Update

Things have been extremely busy around here and I’ve neglected posting my blog.  Thanks Carol and Margie for checking on us.  It’s nice to know someone is thinking of us.

We hadn’t heard any news by the end of the week last week, so we knew nothing would happen over the week-end.   Al made plans to head back to Tampa to do some pest control accounts.  He left today knowing our May 20th closing date would be extended once again.

We had a good garage sale Friday, making $230 and getting rid of lots of stuff.  Saturday we were pretty much rained out.  We ended up getting some traffic in between rain showers and made $100. 

My Mom and brother came for a short visit Saturday.   They were only able to stay overnight, but it was good to see them.  They brought Steve’s dog, Red.  He’s an Akita.  If you saw the movie, Hachi, that’s the same type of dog.  (a real good movie but such a tearjerker)   Red fell head over heals  in love with Sweet Pea!  It was the funniest thing.    Red is getting old and had been hit by a car when he was young.  My brother found him laying on the side of the road with a broken leg. He was in a cast for quite a while and the leg healed, but he has always had trouble with it.  Despite the pain, Red followed Sweet Pea everywhere and it wore him out!  His  leg  and hip were giving him trouble and,  and he couldn’t make it up the stairs.  Sweet Pea was on the porch and Red was at the bottom of the steps wanting to get to her.  He struggled to try to make it up the steps.   It was pitiful, but cute.  Mom, Steve and Red slept in the house and ended up letting Sweet Pea come in and spend the night in the house with them.  She was at the back porch and Red wouldn’t settle down with her outside.  Red gave up his dog bed for Sweet Pea,  and he laid on the floor and licked her face.  Yep, that boy was in love!  Mom was here only one night but she managed to spoil my dog!

As far as the house, I just received an email from the Realtor and it appears everything is good, other than some foundation work we thought we would have to have done.  They are now talking about the end of the month for closing.  The delay is probably a good thing.  It will give us more time to get rid of more stuff and not have to kill ourselves.

Well, I’ve struggled with this piece of news, and even considered not putting it in the blog.   I wasn’t sure I could get through it.

We lost our little kitty Socks today.  She was around 20 years old. She was born in a hole in the ground as a feral cat.  We rescued her, her siblings and mother, when she was just a few weeks old.   I found homes for the other kittens and I even found her a home, but the lady brought her back after 2 days…she was such a mean little thing!  That wildness took a long time to disappear but she eventually learned to trust and love us.  She was the “Alpha” cat and the other cats feared her.    She never weighed much over 4 pounds, but was the ruler of our household.  She’d smack the other cars when they walked by, just for good measure.  They got so (and still did until the end) they would try and avoid getting too close to her.    She was so tiny that she always looked like a kitten.   We are sad, but she had a good long life and the end was relatively easy for all concerned. 

We’re Back in Business

We finally got the golf cart fixed yesterday.  We had been without it for over a week and we really missed it.  Last week we found a guy that worked on golf carts at a golf cart dealer in town.  He also worked on them on the side.  We talked him into coming to the house.  He ran a few tests and found the micro switch to be bad.  He replaced it in about 2 minutes and we were back in business!  He  only charged $30!  I was shocked that it was so cheap, so we gave him an extra $10…probably should have given him more. 

It’s so  nice having it back.  We use all the time and is invaluable in our moving and selling process!

We also got our truck repaired yesterday.  It had been squealing off and on.  Al had been told it was a tensioner pulley, or the air conditioner.  We found a mechanic in town and he checked the pulley’s and adjusted the belts.  It appears the squeal is gone!   He was reasonably priced and appeared to be honest.  Two for two!

I’m ordering the Microsoft Streets and Trips software today.  I was not lucky enough to win one from the many people that got free copies :)   I saw one on ebay that had some kind of gps thing with it.  Is that something I would need/use?  We already have a gps.  I heard a few days ago Amazon had them on sale, but when I went there, the price had gone up. 

We didn’t hear anything back from the appraiser yesterday.  We’re hoping we’ll hear today. Thanks everyone that helped me to understand the I appraisers process.

Our temperature got up to 98 degrees yesterday!  Needless to say it was miserable.  We really need to start working earlier in the day, but we just can’t see to get motivated until we’ve had a few hours of coffee/blog time!

Appraisal

We finally got the call yesterday that the appraiser was coming out.  He was an older gentleman and his wife came with him.  She kept reminding him to look at certain things.  I had to remind him twice to take a measurement of the front porch.  He was a little absent minded :)  I didn’t know what to expect, but assumed he would look carefully at the house to make sure it wasn’t falling down or in need of major repairs.  He took a few photos and that was about it.  I walked around with him though to make sure he was aware of all the “amenities.”  The issue right now is that it won’t appraise for the amount we have the contract for.  If it doesn’t we’ll have to go to plan “b”….and I don’t know what it is yet.

We felt good that one more step has been completed, however we won’t know anything concrete for several days.  We are starting to think a little more of our future, but of course aren’t making any firm plans just yet.  We still have a LOT to do.

We’ve hesitated on selling our Honda Crv until we were sure the house would sell, but now we’re thinking that it would be nice to be rid of it before we leave.  We had initially thought about using it for our toad, but have decided to keep the Nissan truck, because we need the room to haul kayaks.  I love my little Honda and am going to hate to sell it, but I hate worse having to follow behind Al and the motorhome from one destination to the other.

We’re expecting another hot and humid day today.  It was stifling yesterday afternoon.  We need to get started earlier in the morning, but I just hate giving up my blog reading, coffee drinking time!

Countdown

Sunday is supposed to be a day of rest, but unfortunately it wasn’t the case around here.

We find it easier to get and stay motivated when things are progressing with the sale.  Since we are feeling a little more optimistic now, we’re making progress again.  We work better under pressure :)

We spent some more time on time on the closets.  I had already taken out tons of clothes and donated them.  I was surprised that there were still so many things left. 

Through this downsizing process, I am realizing how much money we wasted over the years.  We had clothes we didn’t even remember we had.  We had countless projects that we bought things for, but never  completed.   What a waste. 

We took a load to the storage shed and another truck load to the dump.  We have another load to take to Good Will today.   

The past several years I have been reading blogs about people starting their full timing lifestyle.  I found it interesting and informative.  One thing that pretty much everyone said was to not get a storage shed.  They said you would pay rent for a year or two then end up tossing all the stuff anyway.  I was determined not to have a storage shed, but Al  disagreed.    Well,  now that the time is coming, I have relented and we’re going to have a storage shed.  I admire the people that get the job done without having one, but I don’t know how they do it.  You guys have my utmost admiration!

I managed to finish mowing the pasture yesterday and hopefully it was for the last time!

Al worked on one of his storage sheds and pretty much got it all cleaned up. 

Today we need to “pretty up” the house, in hopes that the appraiser will be coming in the next few days. My brain tells me he won’t really be looking at how pretty things look, but I still feel the need to have it look it’s best.  Unfortunately, all the packing and sorting has made a mess of things.

If we close on the 20th, we have 10 more days!

Garage Sales Ending?

We survived another garage sale week-end.  With any luck, next week-end will be the end of them.

We found out that apparently the buyers loan is out of underwriting and they have ordered an appraisal.  We just have to wait for his call to schedule it.   We’re hoping he won’t find anything major that needs to be done and that the property will appraise high enough.

We are still very hesitant on selling necessary items, like the mower, golf cart, bed and a few other pieces of necessary furniture.  We know the deal could fall through at any time. 

We had a fairly successful sale this week-end, selling $455 worth of stuff,  counting the tool box we sold earlier in the week.  Boy am I going to miss that extra money when we’re done! 

We got rid of a lot of little stuff.  Al made a table of items that were 5 for $1.00.  It’s amazing all the little things he had accumulated, screws, nuts, bolts, and the like.  We marked things way down and even put out a pile of “free” stuff. The name of the game is volume!  Some of this stuff could easily be taken to the dump, but this way someone else hauls it away and we get a buck or two.

We’ve been working on getting the pasture mowed (for the last time…maybe).  It’s too big of a job to do all at once so we just do a little at a time.  It’s almost finished and I should be able to get it done today.

Our weather has been wonderful.  It’s been getting into the 50’s at night and upper 70’s in the day with lots of sunshine.  I wish it would stay this way, but unfortunately  our heat comes back today.  We’re expecting temps up to 96 this upcoming week! 

Our nest of Carolina Wrens (Nancy) have hatched out in the garage.  They are right in the the midst of all the garage sale goings on, but it doesn’t seem to bother Nancy at all.  Al put up a tarp to give her some privacy, and she seems to be doing well.  Carolina Wrens always make their nests in good places out of the weather. 

Our Bluebirds have also hatched in the nest box by the motorhome.  We have a good view of Mom and Dad keeping the babies fed.  This box has a door you can open,  so I’ll get some pictures of the babies soon!

Here is a picture of some newly hatched Bluebird from 2 years ago.  Notice their nekked little bodies!

Aren’t they cute?

Progress ?

We did another Craig’s List post yesterday, and managed to sell Al’s big tool box right away.  The guy that bought it was a machinist and was very glad to get it.  He even sent us a thank you email after he got home.  Do you think we may have sold it too cheap?   At least it’s gone!

Update on Squeaky

I finally broke down and took Squeaky back to the vet for a checkup.   We needed to run some blood work to see what/if any progress has been made.

She’s been on antibiotics over a month (this round) and I was hoping we could  take her off some of the meds.  The antibiotics are making her sick to her stomach and I really hate to keep forcing them into her.  She’s getting extremely tired of having pills shoved into her 7 times a day and is starting to fight me.  It breaks my heart to have to do this to her because she’s at the point where she hates to see me coming!  She used to love me so much and now she avoids me.  Heartbreaking!

She has Cholangiohepatitis.  It’s basically a bacterial infection in the gallbladder, pancreas, liver,  and bile duct area.  It’s extremely hard to cure and can be fatal.  Evidently it’s quite common in cats, but this is the first I’ve heard of it. 

The vet drew some blood and ran a whole series of tests.  The good news is that a lot of things have improved.  The bad news is that it’s not enough, and she still needs to continue the meds.  At least we know there is some improvement.  The vet wants me to continue what we’re doing and check her again in 3-4 weeks.   She was encouraged though and so I felt better.  I know I have to keep the meds up and even though they make her feel bad, they are helping her….so I have to do it!

Update on house sale

The Realtor sent an email yesterday stating the mortgage broker  “got the approval for the property and will order the appraisal tomorrow.”  I guess that means things are finally progressing.  I just hope the appraisal will be okay and not find anything we need to do.

 

We have started mowing the pasture….the last time?  It’s about 4-5 acres and is a very big project.  We normally only mow it monthly during the summer and we were hoping to not have to mow it before we moved.  I was trying to ignore it, but Al guilted me into mowing it.  I started yesterday afternoon and mowed until I couldn’t mow anymore, then he mowed a while longer.  A few days like that and it will be done….for the last time!

Friends

We have been busy putzing around the house but have not really gotten anything accomplished.

The delays/lack of action on the sale of the house have made it hard to stay motivated.

We have had lots of friends come to visit though and here are a few pictures of our regulars.

Miss Bella

She is a pain in the butt, and is always in the way, but she’s cute and we like her!  She is so energetic and runs and jumps around all over the place.  When she and Sweet Pea come for the garage sale, they both get locked up in their cages!  The other day, I was mowing and I noticed that I was being followed.  I had to ride the mower back up to the house  so that All could cage her until I could finish.  The last thing I need is to mow down a dog!

Bella and Sweet Pea really like to visit us and come quite often.  We’ll miss those two….and NO, they are not coming with us!

Al put a bird feeder right outside our bedroom window and we get a LOT of action there, including Bluebirds.

Yesterday I saw what I first thought was a Purple Finch feeding a Tufted Titmouse.  I quickly got my camera and soon found that it was not a Titmouse, but a juvenile  Purple finch.

We have someone that wants to buy the golf cart and is willing to wait until we have closed.  However, the golf cart quit running the other day.

We rely on the golf cart around here as a work vehicle and we’re really missing it.

We had noticed a loss of power when going up hills, but it seems to stay charged okay, and runs fine on level ground. 

Al thought it might be the solenoid, so he replaced it.  We hoped it would run….but it didn’t.

The 6 batteries all check out okay and the wires are all good and tightly connected.

Any golf cart experts out there with any suggestions?  I found a website and there is a guy there that is offering suggestions, but we’re open for more :)

We had a cool front pass through last night and we’re only expecting temps in the mid 70’s.  What a nice change.  I hope we can get motivated and get something done!

Finally….Justice for 9-11-01

It was wonderful news to hear last night that Osama bin Laden had been eliminated. 

We should all remember the sacrifices that our military (and their families) have made in their effort against terrorism.  Good JOB!

 

Yesterday we decided to just hang around the house.

Al had been after me to make a new batch of bath soap.  Our supply from the last batch is fast dwindling, and it takes 3 to 6 weeks to cure.   We have gotten so spoiled having this nice soap and really hate to use store bought soap any more.

I made two batches.  The first one I used Olive Oil and Coconut oil and added some vanilla bean fragrance and some poppy seeds.  

On the second batch, I used olive oil, coconut oil and lard.  I added some ground oatmeal (for exfoliation) to this batch.  We’ll see how it turns out.  I like the coconut oil because it makes it lather up really well.   If any of you have any inclination to make soap, I encourage you to go for it.  It’s really easy.  You just mix the lye and water and let it cool.  Then you  warm the oils together.  You stir the lye mixture into the oil mixture, stir it a while, and shortly you have soap!  I pour the liquid into a cardboard box to cure and you have soap! There is a little more to it than that, but that’s the basics of soap making.  Easy and fun, and you have some wonderful homemade soap.  For people with allergies or skin sensitivities, you can make a real pure soap with no fragrances.  The soap is so gentle and mild, that you can even wash your hair with it.

After the soap making, I decided to start mowing the lawn. With our lawn, it’s pretty much a never ending project :)  We’re still hoping the appraiser will get here this week (yeah right), and want the place spiffy! 

Al’s big project was to put down some Round Up, which was no easy task considering his number one helper, Bella, was over to visit.  She’s the little Jack Russell terrier that belongs to a neighbor.  She  really likes to visit us and is always to happy to see us.  She’s such a little cutie and we’re both getting attached to her.  I need to take some pictures of her, but every time I try, she’s moving too fast to snap a picture!  I think she thinks we’re more fun than her owners because we’re outside “playing” more!  He had to lock her up in “her” cage so that he could apply the Round Up. 

After that project, Al decided to mow around the pond.  It’s a terrible job and he hates it. It’s hard to mow up down the banks with the mower and the weed-eater isn’t any better.  It’s a big job and he was worn out last night. He said “that’s the last time I’m going to do that.”   I hope so! 

A Free Day

It’s a beautiful morning with bright sunny skies and cool temps.  We have no garage sale today and nothing pressing that we have to do.  Ah, life is good!  I”m reading blogs and searching for new (used) motor homes.  Al is searching for motor homes and reading about his football draft.  Yes, it’s a good morning!

We had a good garage sale on Friday, and made $172  but Saturday was a bust and we only made $85 with very few customers.    I’ve been making note of all our sales on the blog and and one of these days I’m going to go back and add it all up. 

We’re continuing to have dog issues during each sale.  Sweet Pea and Bella (the Jack Russell) have been coming to help with each sale.  Of course, they are not much help.  They have to greet everyone and then Bella runs around the cars when they are trying to leave.  We worry about their safety, so we’ve been coaxing them into pet carriers and locking them up for the duration of the sale.  Of course we then have to explain why we have 2 dogs locked up!

We have nothing pressing to do today, so we’re trying to decide what to do.  I had thoughts of cleaning the motor home and making a new batch of soap.  Al has thoughts of a run to Camping World.  We need to replace the black and grey sewer valves, and we need to get the parts.  We’ve heard too many horror stories about them going bad with a full black tank.

I guess we’ll see what the day brings.