Monday, February 24, 2014

It's summer, well, almost!

We're still having grand weather and a few waves.  Two storms are supposedly headed our way by the week's end but right now, it's summer!
My friend, Joel, is carrying the red board.

Tide is going out and you can see the reef.

Self portrait (reflected in shiny black SUV parked next to me--my truck's doors are open)

Another shot of the exposed reef.  More sand this year than I've seen in a long time due to the lack of storms.

Saturday, February 15, 2014

Happiness - Pharrell Williams


Thought we could use a little "Happiness"...

How can this not make you smile?? Or even start dancing?


Monday, February 10, 2014

Shoveling, shoveling again, and then again

You think you have snow in Ohio?  Well, Oregon has you beat.  It got a whole winter's precipitation in two days!  And of course, this was the weekend scheduled for THE BIG MOVE.

Now some people (who will remain unnamed) wanted to perform THE BIG MOVE without hiring movers.  Fortunately, the pushy sister (whose identity will also not be divulged) prevailed and hired movers behind everyone's back.  And boy, were we all grateful for Eden, Victor, and Efrain, from Prestige Allied Movers.  There were actually three parties moving into Touchmark last weekend and our guys made it their goal to be the first to arrive.  According to Barb, they hustled.

But to go back to the beginning, first the driveway had to be shoveled.  It started snowing on Thursday and by Friday AM, we had 17 inches which increased to about 24 inches by mid-day Saturday.  Yep, that's accurate; Bill measured the depth on the deck.  Bill was the first one out shoveling and probably did the bulk of the work.  He was joined by Jamie--in case you have not heard, shoveling is the latest in triathlon training techniques.  And then, Barb spelled Bill for a bit and Deb took over while Jamie warmed up her fingers.  We only had two shovels and Barb had the only warm gloves.  So we took turns both with the shovels and the gloves.
Thursday evening (I think)
Saturday AM

Well, Bill and Deb were out shoveling when he spotted the Allied moving truck.  Thankfully, they asked us not to finish shoveling the driveway as they needed the snow for traction.  (We did not argue.)  Bill and Deb left at that point to head over to Touchmark.  Deb went out to breakfast with Mom and Dad while Bill finished assembling Dad's new wall unit.  Barb and Jamie stayed to supervise the movers.

I have no photos of the move but by 10:30AM the guys were on the road and by 1PM or so all the boxes, furniture, quilts, and more quilts had arrived.

Thursday--after the new furniture (couch, chair, lamp, and table) arrived



Driving home from Touchmark on Thursday (I think)--thank goodness for Bill's Pathfinder!

Beautiful but slick
Second day of shoveling.  No down jacket needed; this is WORK.

Hot flashes welcome!
We got Mom & Dad's place in order late Friday and headed home; the roads were a mess.  People were having trouble getting up/down Reed Market Road so we detoured over to Colorado Avenue.

Saturday, we shoveled out (2nd time) and hit TM by lunch time.  We had worked up an appetite, so Dad took us to lunch.

Note all the CLEAN plates.

We had cheese burgers (neatly cut in half), a grilled cheese sandwich with lots of pickles (carefully cut into quarters), and Dad had soup.


We had not planned to stay long as it was snowing heavily but while we ate, mercifully, the blizzard abated.  The view from this small dining room overlooks a traffic circle on Reed Market Road and we saw three teams of dog sleds driving down from Winter Fest on the mountain.  Too bad the dogs were in their kennels and the sleds of top of cars.  It would have been amazing to have seen the actual teams dash by!

Sunday AM.  Look closely and you'll see Bill at the end of the driveway shoveling.

Sunday AM dawned clear, sunny, and warm.  The snow plow had come through during the night (Beep, Beep, Beep) and cleared King David Avenue but now the entrance to the driveway was blocked.  So for the third day, Bill headed out for an upper body workout.  Deb joined him after he was well over halfway done.  Unlike the powder of the two previous days, this snow was HEAVY.  Thank goodness, we got out and at least two of us are back in sunny Southern California where there is NO SNOW!


Sunday, February 2, 2014

Shopping New Home Tracts in Las Vegas

Thought the decorators among you might be interested in a new home tract that I visited on Friday.  It's in Henderson (right outside Las Vegas).

Exterior elevation is a departure from what you normally see in Las Vegas.

Everything new is old redone--my friend, Sandi, had a stairway similar to this in her house built in the early 1980's; she called the area below the stairs "the pit."  It originally was a planter in her house.

Looking from the living room toward the kitchen (all one big room really)

Master bedroom and, of course because this is Las Vegas, lots of glitter.

Master bath--more bling

Another shot of the great room


Picture inside the model--reminded me of one of Mom's quilts
This house is the Plan 2820.

Looking down the street