Work, work, work

Boy I do hate stick houses. We are here temporarily while we get some things done. I am going through boxes down in the basement. These are things we threw (literally) into storage here and now as we have time and are here visiting family I need to go through as I can.

Jocelyn has been going through her stuff. The kids probably have as much stuff here as we do and I am hoping they can sift through it periodically and throw out what they no longer want. That has helped me because she and I can work together down there and visit, etc.

Terry reworked part of the deck the other day. Five years ago he slapped some boards up to keep the dogs on the deck so they would have a place to go outside here since the yard isn't fenced. Then he made an exit ramp off the deck on the one end and we bought some nice fence sections so they have a large grassy yard to go to. Yesterday was their first full day with it and I never got them inside. They wanted out for the entire day. I think they like it because the grassy part enables them to see across the yard and even into the yards of neighbors in the other subdivision. Our house is higher than those, so they get a good view. They are content just to watch what is happening in the neighborhood.

Yesterday Terry worked all day getting the Sport Trac set up to tow. He got the base plate on the front (with my help on some of the bolts in hard to reach places) and then wired the lights so they use the existing taillight lenses. I went out once, fired up the diesel Phaeton and tried the lights. Of course, they didn't work, so Terry decided he needed to go back to the drawing board. Upon closer inspection, he convinced himself they would work better if they had light bulbs in them, so that was fixed in short order. Hah.

Tomorrow Phaeton Place goes in early for its first service. They will do the generator and the transmission service. . . I think that is all that is needed at this point. Too early for an oil change, but they will check everything out and make sure nothing looks amiss. While in northern Indiana, we use Coach Care in Goshen (actually between Goshen and Elkhart). They have always given us superb service and they are really nice people to work with.

Today I hope to do a little straightening up in Phaeton Place and get it ready to move. We are leaving Thursday morning to go back to central Indiana. Son Brandon is flying in for a high school classmate's wedding, so we are going down so we can see him. Today we are also going over to niece Michelle and Rod's house. They have two little girls. Their youngest is two and was born with heart (surgery was done at just a few days old) and kidney problems. Kira, thanks to modern miracles of technology, now has no restrictions with regard to her heart at all and the one "below average" kidney continues to amaze everyone with gaining strength. You can read her story here: Kira Grace
Yesterday Michelle's sister, niece Staci, brought her two-year old Brianna by to visit. It was good to see the girls and visit. Staci and Jocelyn are just 6 weeks apart in age and they hadn't seen each other for several years.

This evening, then, sister-in-law Nancy and husband Tom are coming over. We haven't seen them in ages. Nancy was mom to Michelle and Staci after my sister died when the girls were very young. She holds a very special place in our hearts.

It's good to have good managers. Yesterday while Terry was working on the Sport Trac, our manager came by and said one of the tenants called with a minor problem. He stopped at the house here to pick up some parts and tools and was off for the duplex two doors down. Why they didn't call us, I don't know, but George likes being the "go to" guy and he had the toilet flush value problem fixed quickly and everyone was happy. We have such good tenants. They are wonderful people and we take care of problems very quickly. We want them to think of their place as their home and they do take pride in them and it shows.

Tuesday and Thursday I get my dental work done and at this point. . . I am looking forward to it. I have been having problems since October and tried to get something done in February, but just couldn't get in. Hopefully by the end of the week, I should be on the road to recovery, albeit probably sore. But the worst should be behind me hopefully.

Till next time. . .

Dale