Life is too short

Sometimes life seems too short to be able to accomplish all the things that drive your passions.  Our daughter has such a large yard and she has such dreams of things she wants to accomplish.  It can be mind boggling.  She has planted so much and has reworked parts of the yard, but because Mother Nature provides moisture to all green things, including weeds and invasive plants, it is a battle of sorts.  The ivy has overtaken a portion of the back yard and the borage flourishes and spreads so well, not to mention all of the berries and unknown "green" things.  I am afraid to pull anything as I am not familiar with the local "weeds".  Some are quite pretty. She has a great deal to do and little time.  In looking at the property we are buying (should close in less than two weeks now), my life will be too short I am afraid to have the gardens I would like.  We can't help it----I guess we were born to garden and I can blame my dad for that.  Both of our kids like to have lots of things growing.  Our plan was to downsize and we have done that for a part; at least the house is smaller, but not the yard.  For the most part it is in really great shape and doesn't have too much upkeep. 

Again, we took a walk through the Mission Creek Nature Park, the one here adjacent to Erica's property and found these "fungi".

 The middle one above was about 15" across and I hope the clip below gives a better idea of the size.  I can't begin to describe the size of the trees as they are immense. Last Friday, Jeffery took us to another nature park where we came upon two trees that had blown over next to the trail and I will post pictures of the root balls soon too.

"Life is too short to stuff a mushroom". --Shirley Conran 

A walk in the woods

Well, it is actually a park, but it is so very wooded that coming from sagebrush and greasewood, it certainly feels like the woods.  This park, Mission Creek Park, which nearly joins our daughter's home has so many trees, ferns, berries and flowers. Nearly every day we have walked the winding paths with our dogs.  They love it! For the most part it is shaded and today a group of children, accompanied by two adults passed by the house and trekked through the park, returning an hour or so later. The group consisted of about 20 children perhaps about 8 or 9 years old and a smaller group of 8 that were younger...each hanging on to a rope and all were carrying water bottles.  I am reminded that as we are waiting to get into a home, August is almost upon us and school will soon begin.  But for the present, the children are riding their bikes, and walking their dogs, and the adults are running  or a taking a lazy stroll.  Soon school will be starting and fall will be close behind.

As for the house situation, everything is progressing very well.  The appraisal came in higher than we expected (that's good for us) and our realtor is requesting a duct cleaning be done, by the sellers which has been agreed upon. So barring anything else, we hope to close earlier than planned.

I walked the dogs around the block a couple of nights ago.  This little buck was quietly watching us stroll by and they are so accustomed to people that they ignore everyone.  The does are dropping their babies and we have seen quite a few of those fawns, even some twins. We have had hardly any rain and the temperature has been cool at nights and in the 70's and a few low 80's during the day.  We have enjoyed the lush "green" everywhere and the critters like the deer here.

"An army of lions commanded by deer will never be an army of lions." - Napoleon Bonaparte

Park pictures

 Normally I do not post pictures of people, but the trees and the foilage in this Mission Creek Park which is adjacent to our daughter's home are so spectacular that I had to add them here.  We walk here nearly every day as do a great many people who stroll past her home where we are staying.  (more below about the move below).  So, just to give you a small idea of the size of things here are a few.

 Erica and our too critters...Spencer got a haircut and bath yesterday and Roger tomorrow.

 Now this below is the other side of her yard. I was standing against a short fence in her yard and this is the view of her neighbor's yard.  Her neighbor is a Buddhist Temple and when I first visited her several years ago this was a vacant, grassy area.  They have done such a beautiful job with their property and are very good neighbors.

The house search is progressing way faster than we anticipated.  The market here is hot as it is in many places.  The inspection was done last Sunday, two days after we went under contract and the few safety issues we requested by the sellers were approved immediately.  We are waiting for the appraisal and may have it in a few days, maybe a week.  Our furniture and personal contents are still in Cheyenne awaiting a truck to come to Washington as far as we know.  Our phones, which were in limbo for a week or so (we wanted to keep our same numbers, but miscommunication between Union and Verizon were stumbling blocks) but we now have full service with our WY numbers.

We are grateful for our daughter's and son-in-law's hospitality and the inconvenience for any interruptions in their routine.  Stay tuned for more in a few days.

First house pictures

These are a few pictures of the house which is under contract and awaiting inspection results:

 Storage shed in back yard..(Yes Becky, it is a large yard, but not grass...just low growth)

 Small one butt kitchen, but granite and new appliances

 This is a wood burning fireplace and we may install an insert, although Jeffery is thinking we should split an order of wood.  They do burn wood in the winter.  We will see.

 Built-in- dining room china cabinet

 Tons of storage on all walls in garage

This is a tree house of sorts for when Leo has to go when he is naughty

 Pretty plantings although this is not a great photo (not a photographer)

 Another view of the kitchen and lastly front door, which is a double door with stained glass windows also on either side of the door.  (did not get a picture) The inspection was done yesterday and took 2 1/2 hours. Having done inspections before, this was the most thorough one we have ever experienced and we were impressed.  Only a few minor issues and the home does have a brand new roof.  No structural issues however so we will see what happens now.

Olympia adventures so far

This may be a short blog as I am still in a fog.  Our phones are still being "ported" so we are unable to receive calls yet.  I can however, receive texts and I can call out.  Hopefully in a few more hours, that will happen.  Arriving safely on Sunday the 7th, our lives have been busy EVERY SINGLE waking moment.  I hope that whoever sees this blog will spread the word as time does not allow me to contact everyone.  We are so grateful for our daughter and son-in-law.  Besides allowing us to camp here with the dogs, they have helped us with so many issues involving this move.  We began the house hunt on the 9th, viewing homes our daughter's realtor selected and actually placed an offer on one, which we had to counter the following day.  Realize that this is all done electronically and that takes time.  It was accepted..order for inspection was submitted that day for the 14th, and confirmed by electronic signing today. (we have spent hours on the computer getting required documents) which we submitted to and met with mortgage broker yesterday.  (had to stop here and confirm more info for phones).  Closing date is set for Aug 12 or

sooner.  Never has anything happened so fast.  They don't mess around here.  We still don't know where anything is, but our GPS, Myrtle has been a lifesaver.  This morning, Erica and I did find a little time to take the dogs for a walk so we took these pictures.  The gardens here are gorgeous and look at these purple hydrangeas! Roger is investigating and Erica insisted that I be in a picture so here we are all!

Next week, we have a vet visit and a have to obtain a binder for our home insurance. The appraisal will be done as soon as the inspection is completed tomorrow. I am pretty sure that our belongings are still in Cheyenne, so ....?  I will try to take some pictures of the house tomorrow during the inspection so stay tuned!

 

First Day

This is the first day on our next chapter. I will not have a picture today but the past month has gone so fast that I struggle to know where I am or what day it is.  We had dinner last night with neighbors after we closed on our house and did business with the bank and moving company.  I didn’t have a chance to say Goodbye to some of my dear friends. That makes me upset with the situation although I am not able to do anything about that.  This morning started out with a near accident as a vehicle hit another at an intersection where we were stopped and came flying between our two vehicles. It just missed the front of my car.  We picked up the dogs from the kennel, said our farewells to those wonderful people and arrived in Rawlins at noon. I lunched with past coworkers, some I hadn’t seen in years, visited with the Mr.’s old coworker and camping couple, and we are meeting more friends tonight and tomorrow.  The realization that we may never see these friends again, most of whom we have known for over 40 years and became family, is now becoming apparent.

On the plus side, our daughter has done a lot of groundwork for us in contacting her realtor, got information about medical, dental, veterinary services and has graciously allowed us to move in with her and our son-in-law, until we can purchase a home.  For this we are very grateful.  We are blessed to have them.

Tomorrow’s our nation’s birthday. We need to cherish our freedom.