Well, the hurrier I go, the behinder I get.
October Plans
By total serendipity, the occupancy of the Los
Gatos townhouse wasn’t happening in October, our original plan—yah think! In fact, the plastic from the hazmat guys was
still hanging in the space. Stephanie
and I had to do a reset on her plan to move to the bay area after her
retirement in September.
We might have lived in the one room San Francisco
studio as our home. After all, that is
what I was doing. However, Stephanie has
a dog, Robbie, and we were not confident of Robbie in a high rise due to the
relatively long cycle to get him out doors when necessary. Robbie, a West Highlands Terrier aka Westie,
is 12.5 years old so that is an important consideration.
Another pending item is delivery of the 1800’s
era rocking chair to Mary’s sister, Reenie.
Mary’s final papers bequeathed it to Reenie. It was old, rickety and in pretty bad
shape. There is a guy in San Jose who
rebuilds old furniture and I had the chair redone in 2010 as I recall. My
expectation is that I would do a road trip to Minnesota and deliver the
chair. Well, the road trip never
happened. Because I am bringing things
to the condo in St Paul, I figured that would be the road trip to deliver the
rocking chair.
Finally, we’ve decided to leave one car in
Minnesota at the condo in the indoor garage.
I suggested the Humette (Honda Element with custom plates HUMETTE) be
the car. Its 10 years old, four wheel
drive, it’s a Honda and it makes no sense to leave Stephanie’s new car or my
convertible in Minnesota.
But, given neither place was done, we postponed
those plans. Ah, the best laid plans of
mice and men…
Travels
My brother Dan returned from Manila to comply
with visa issues and headed to Phoenix to work on the disposition of his
remaining stuff. He would be there for a
few weeks.
Totally unrelated, Mary’s son Daniel and his
spouse Kamie were visiting Mary’s oldest offspring, Tim, and daughter,
Charlize. Tim and Charli live in
Scottsdale.
My son lives in Denver and I’ve come to a regular
rhythm of visiting his family about every 2 to 3 months. So October was a good time to see them.
My trip, therefore, became a drive to Arizona,
again delivering estate items to Tim, followed by a flight from Phoenix to
Denver, followed by a drive from Phoenix to home. The great part is that Denver to Phoenix is
an airline battleground. The round trip
prices are amazingly cheap in October.
In Phoenix, I had a great time with Daniel, Kamie
and Charli as Tim was tied up during the day.
We went ice skating—well, Charli went ice skating while the adults
watched. We had a nice lunch and in all had a great time.
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| Charli in the middle with two friends. |
We also arranged a lunch where Tim could join us
along with my brother, Dan. It was fun
to have everyone together.
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| Mary's Oldest son, Tim. |
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| My brother Dan and yours' truly. |
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| Girl of mystery, Charlize. |
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| Mary's youngest, Daniel, and his bride, Kamie. |
In addition to Tim, Daniel, et al, I spent time
with my brother, Dan, and getting his remaining stuff repacked and then getting
him on his way back to Manila. He seems
to be enjoying life in the Philippines and certainly excited about this big
adventure.
It was great to see Chris, Casey, Danny and Sarah
again. We had spent the 10 days in
Hawaii in July and this was our first get together since then. It was a great time and the kids are
certainly more comfortable with me. I’m
loving it!
Upon my return to Arizona, I headed south to
visit Terry and Barnes. Along the way I went looking for an old Arizona ghost
town named Sasco. Well, after
fjording a stream in Humette, I did stumble across the ruins. It was both spooky and fun. The town existed because of a metal smelting
operation a short distance away. That too was abandoned in the early 1900s.
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| Sasco, Arizona |
As I drove around the property, I found two guys doing target practice. I had heard the gunshots when I got to the area. I was a bit nervous but when I found them, they were just two regular guys plinking at empty cans and rocks set up against a hill so their shots would not head off into space.
On the other side of the hill, I stopped to take
some pictures of the abandoned smelting operation. When I got out of the car, I heard a bizzzing
sound go by. It took a second to decide
if it was some kind of a bug or rattlesnake but then I heard the gunshot. A few seconds later and a second bizz went
by. I decided my target practice guys
had taken out their rifles and were shooting at something near the top of the
hill and I was inadvertently in the downrange part of their exercise. Exiting quickly, I got out of there! (And I
haven’t given a moment’s thought to the idea that someone out in the desert was
warning me off!)
A little later I was standing on the tailgate of
Humette to take a telephoto picture of an abandoned hotel a few hundred feet
away. A local sheriff pulled up, wished
me a nice day, and asked if I needed anything—water, munchies, gasoline,
whatever. I declined, telling him I was
fully equipped. He asked how long I
expected to stay in the desert and I told him I planned in being in Tucson by
5PM or so. That seemed to make him happy
and he left. I thought it was really
nice that he checked and made sure I had supplies out in the middle of nowhere.
The visit with Terry and Barnes was absolutely
wonderful and their hospitality is superb! They didn't tell me until I walked in the door it was Barnes birthday so we had a wonderful celebration dinner. We became friends back in the
late 90s when Terry was doing interior decorating and she and Mary hit it off
nicely. It’s always good to see them and
learn what is new in their lives. Grandchildren
seem to be the most frequent topic.
From Terry and Barnes, I headed to Tombstone
Arizona. I was on a “ghost town” kick,
obviously. Well, Tombstone is no longer
a ghost town, perhaps it never was. But, it is one heckofa tourist trap. Tombstone has dozens and dozens of cowboys in
costume, Wells Fargo wagons, gunfights (staged), old buildings with ghosts and
stories to tell. It is a marvelous place to visit and clearly a prosperous
ghost town.
I then pointed the car towards northwest Arizona
to visit another ghost town named Oatman. Again, a very prosperous ghost town, although not as much as Tombstone, with a Harley-Davidson museum, wild
donkeys in the streets and a daily gunfight held in the middle of the main (and
only) street. All in all, I had a good
time in a not easy to reach ghost town.
It is located high in a mountain range and some distance from the
closest freeway (I-40).
When I returned to the bay area, I was pleased to
find work had begun on the Los Gatos Townhouse!
Los Gatos Townhouse
The story is best told in pictures. Here are October pictures to show progress.
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| This is the picture from the listing realtor as I bought the townhouse. |
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| This is the demolition of the identical area shown in the prior picture. The wall to the right in this picture is going to move about six feet further to the right. |
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| This wide angle view shows the enlarged kitchen space after the wall was moved and is definitely tells the story of how much needs to be done! |
St Paul Condo
Again, pictures are worth a thousand words. Here are some snaps of the St Paul place with
the countertops installed. Progress
continues!
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| Looking from the kitchen to the living room. The hardwood floor is installed in the background. In the foreground, the appliances are not yet installed. |
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| Kitchen at the St Paul Condo before the backsplash installation. |
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| Bath |
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| Its really hard to show the color of the granite used in the kitchen and bath. Its called Bordeaux Copper and it has rich red tones to it. |
Grandkids!
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| Granddaughter Sarah showing her tree climbing skills. |
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| Don't you just love the balance a cat has! |
Seems like October is soccer month. We traveled to Colorado Springs for my
grandson Danny’s soccer match. In
Arizona, I spent one evening watching Charli (and coach Dad) as they ran
through the paces. It was good to see
the kids out on the field and active without having their heads bashed in (aka
football).
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| That's Danny throwing the ball inbounds during the soccer match. |
Oops!
My last notable item for October was that darned
red light I didn’t notice soon enough. Or the car stopped at it. By the time I stopped, I managed to do some
minor damage to the car. Take a look at
the pictures…would you believe $6,800 to fix it?!?!?
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| Ouch! |
A Final note
And yes, there are a number of Daniels in my
life. My brother, my grandson, Mary’s
youngest son, Casey’s late father, and Stephanie’s nephew
October closes with my flight to Minnesota to
meet with Computer Joe who did the internet and coax wiring for the St Paul
Condo. Stephanie and I did some shopping
for furniture as well and bought initial pieces: dining room table, chairs,
sofa, bed frame, nightstand--that kind of thing that neither one of us
had.
Ciao!
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