HOUSE IS ‘SOLD’ May 30, 2012

Yesterday we received the ‘email’ from our realtor we had been waiting for.  No call since where we are in Palo Dura Canyon (in Texas) and no phone service.

Let me backtrack a little.  We had an offer on the house actually before it listed on April 20th.  During the Estate Sale we had in mid April, a young couple with a toddler came to see what we had to sell.  Well, they are the ones who ended up buying the house.  As of yesterday, May 30, we no longer own the house in California! 

We are happy!!

On the road again, May 20, 2012

Yesterday was our last day of our stay in Sacramento.  The day included one last visit to our “For Sale” stick and brick.  We trimmed the wisteria, and made sure the sprinkling system was working for several areas in the back yard.

The olives were blooming, looks like a good bloom year.

And the cherries were ripening.  Here is Bob and our grandson, Zach, getting their last fill.

In the photo below, Bob and Zach are checking out the marks on the brick wall in our kitchen.  There are many marks with names of each child and grandchild as to their height and date.  Measuring was always a really big deal!!  Zach was excited to see he is taller now than his 6’ Uncle Rich was at his age.  He has hopes he will grow!

One last look as we drove away for the last time as being owners.

Our first fuel fill up in the Central Valley of CA surprised us when diesel was cheaper than unleaded.

This afternoon after arriving at the RV park in Mojave, CA we made our first pinhole camera to watch the solar eclipse. 

It worked fantastic.  The faint crescent on the left was from pinhole, the larger crescent was from a pencil lead size hole.

A lone tree in the Tehachapi’s.

Tomorrow, a long drive to Flagstaff, then some sight seeing!

Friends and a job finished, May 14, 2012

This morning I met a couple of ole friends for a walk in the park.  Loved seeing some wild turkeys just walking around.  It was wonderful getting caught up on Chris and Linda’s lives during the last six years.

Remember back in December our Norcold Control Board would stop working and would blow the 5 amp fuse if the outside temps got below 28-29 degrees.  Well we then ordered a new Dinosaur Control Board.  Since then thought, we have managed to be in temperatures above the drop dead 28-29 degrees, so the frig has worked perfectly.  Today, however, was the day, to replace the control board with our new one.

Above Bob (check out his pony tail, he is so proud) is checking out the new control board and verifying where to attach all the wires.  I am so pleased to announce, that after the new board was installed, it works great!  We were so relieved.  The Norcold works perfect!!  Truly amazing!

Update, May 13, 2012

Well, the house has been listed for almost a month now and we do know one of these days we will be getting the much awaited for call from our realtor.

We are also still in Sacramento taking the opportunity to spend some time with our kids and grandkids.

Mother’s Day weekend for our family for over 25 years meant a work weekend at the  Zephyr Point Presbyterian Conference Grounds at Lake Tahoe with our church group, called The Companionship.  Since we were here, first time in six years, we joined our good friends.

The Conference Grounds provide our group free usage of one of the smaller lodges in exchange for one days work.

Our grandson Zach joined us also and had a blast playing Mexican Train, he even won against some of the best players we know!!

The group at breakfast on Saturday.

I always help plant flowers, this year was no exception.  The daffodils were already there, so we (Linda, Nancy and myself) planted red and white petunias in the gaps.

Zach  and Bob helped with some step demolition.

Also, he helped with the garbage truck trash pickup.  Yes, that is him hanging on the back of the truck.  He loved to operate the trash smasher too.

Here Zach is taking a dip in the 50 degree waters of Lake Tahoe.  His Mom, many years ago, used to do the same thing.

Happy Mother’s Day to me…all the grandkids in one photo, Lindsey, Justin, Zach and Abby.

We are one day closer, April 29, 2012

It has been a month since I last posted…we have been so busy each day and at least two weekends checking off the jobs we had to do that time has just flown.
Both bathrooms needed to have the floors tiled and one needed a new shower.







We had contracted with an outside company, James Estate Services, to do the estate sale, below they are working on our garage.

During the sale the garage was lined with two more rows of tables full of guy goodies.  Each room of the house was lined with tables too.  This is the morning after the three day sale. 

After the sale ended, our estate sale folks offered the opportunity of a buy-out of the rest of the stuff in the house.  Two young guys came in with an acceptable offer, so they took almost 99% of the remaining unsold items.  So then we sorted the remaining 1% into two areas, trash or donate.
Sacramento County provided free of charge a once a year trash pickup of 8 cu yards.  Our trash pile was 24 cu yards so we were charged $50 extra dollars, what a deal.  The photo below shows only about 1/3 of our original pile.

The county annual pickup includes TV’s too, and we had one small one for pickup.  So this huge truck come with a crane on top and loaded our TV.  Good to see our tax dollars at work!

As I am writing this we are now two weeks after the sale, the house is empty, house cleaned and carpets cleaned.  All jobs except three are done and those will be done by mid week.  The jobs remaining are to replace the oven timer (had to order one in), paint the roof vent, and make sure the repaired sink leak is fixed.
Best of all the house is listed. 

Below are some grandkid photos.
Zach participating in a track meet.








Abby after a Softball two day tournament, their team came in 3rd.

Lindsey’s 14th birthday, with Abby who decorated her birthday king sized cookie.

Justin, Abby and Lindsey, all giving grandma their best smiles!!

This is a photo of us with of our son, Rich.  He is 6’, so he was bending his knees quite a bit so we will all fit in this photo.

These flowers are from our stick and brick house.

Passed Pest Inspection, March 28, 2012

Good things happened today.   The repairs for the dry rot were acceptable to the pest inspector…so we passed!  Now the bathrooms can be completed.  The floor tile work will begin tomorrow in the hall bathroom and the shower stall in the other bathroom will be hot mopped, then the tile work can begin in that shower stall and the floor in a day or so. 

Today we also had the Relo Cube delivered from ABF Trucking.

This unit was then off loaded and placed in our driveway.

Then the packing of the unit begins.  Each box is numbered and I have an inventory of its contents.  This unit will be driven by ABF Trucking to Mission TX (for our coach house) and remain in storage until be get there in mid August.

Bob was also busy today placing a smoke detector in each bedroom and in the kitchen.  When we lived there we only had one in the family room and in the hall near the bedrooms. 

We keep a couple of thought in mind as we keep marking off jobs on our list,  1)  We don’t have to task again!!   and  2)  We are one day closer to being done!!!

It has been awhile, March 4, 2012

It has been almost a month since I last posted and quite a lot has happened. We traveled from Bullhead City AZ to Sacramento CA area. The drive went well even with seven lanes of traffic Bob had to navigate in the last few miles, he was glad it wasn’t too busy for being around 4 pm.

Our first week here we had fun. Bob did his best to roast a fellow co-worker at her retirement party.

Does the five second rule work? Well our granddaughter Abby could tell you, here is her science project.

Was fun watching our grandson Zach swing on a vine near his school. Even grandpa tried it and the vine held strong!

All the grandkids we out of school (Presidents’ Day) so we all ventured to Coloma CA (Gold Discovery site) for a grandma and grandpa field trip day.

Inside a bark house.

But the most fun was climbing on rocks!

Zach celebrated his 13th birthday, he is now a teenager. He even help make and decorate his huge chocolate chip cookie.

We were able to see our granddaughter Lindsey playing fast pitch softball.

Also her sister Abby batting.

Last Saturday morning we ventured out to the local farmers market we used to go to all the time. Found some real bargains, even some small Brussels sprouts which Bob loves.

This past week we have been sorting and sorting at our stick and brick house. It has gone pretty well, but we are bushed when mid afternoon comes. This room full of boxes from his Mom’s house in Ohio will be facing us tomorrow morning. Last week we sorted five rooms plus did a little outside clean up.

The photo below shows a sorted room with items to sell.

Below is Bob with our son Rich and grandson Zach. Notice the rock in the back of Rich’s truck, it is a special rock he salvaged from our back yard before we sell it. He carried that rock for miles on top of his backpack to bring to his mamma.

In this special moment in time…have faith