Wednesday, March 16, 2011

3/16/11 Two more weeks have gone by since my last post, but we have been VERY busy. Working on the rental house everyday keeps us busy from early morning until 5 or 6PM. Then we drive back to the RV, fix dinner, and try to catch up on other things such as e-mails or paperwork. Our sympathies go out to you people who still work every day!!! This is reminding us how great it usually is to be retired.
One big social event we have had during our time here was that my daughter Laura, my granddaughter Michaela, and Laura's new guy, Dennis, all drove down one Saturday for a visit. We fixed a nice dinner to have at the RV so we could sit and chat with them and get to know Dennis. He seems to be a great guy and Laura clearly is very enamored with him. We hope that they find much happiness together. It was also wonderful to have time to talk to Michaela and find out what is going on in her life. She is 15 and we feel like we barely know her because her Father would never let her have visits with us. He felt like we would corrupt her, I guess. So one of the big benefits of Laura's divorce is starting to have a better relationship with her. Here is a picture of me with the three of them:

The second social event was 2 nights ago when we drove over to Cal Expo RV park to see Laurie & Odel who are staying there a while so Odel can have a knee replacement at a local hospital. The renovations they had done in their RV look wonderful, and so do they! We had a drink and snacks and chatted a while, then walked over to Applebee's, which is not very far away. They like to eat there when they are on Weight Watchers because Applebee's puts the point counts in the menu for some of their dishes. The food was good and we enjoyed being with them, as always! Couldn't take a picture because my camera is still being repaired by Olympus.
Now that we have spent two weeks working very hard on the rental house, it is ready for new tenants. Last Friday night we put it on Craig's list, and on Saturday three sets of people had come to see it and we had 2 applications. Sunday 2 more couples came to see it. One of the applicants seem perfect and their information checks out so we agreed to rent to them. Tomorrow at 5:30PM they are meeting us at the house and we are collecting the deposit and giving them the keys. They wanted our house because it is large (4 bedrooms and very spacious) and near Zamora School, which some say is the best school in Woodland. They have 3 kids and one on the way and the oldest one is 6. So we hope they decide to stay in our house until ALL of the kids get through school!!!!
Friday we will be driving down to Fremont to stay at the Elks Club. The Santa Clara rental house is badly in need of some cutting back of trees and shrubs in the backyard so we will be doing that this weekend. Santa Clara has a "clean up campaign" every Spring which allows us to put any amount of anything out on the street and they haul it to the dump for free. And this is our weekend to do that. We will also be seeing Elaine's daughter, Tarra, and her family, who live in our Fremont house.
Some people are wondering when we will be returning to Park Sierra. Monday we will be driving back to our lot there, if all goes well in the Bay Area. We are looking forward to some much needed rest and socializing with friends!! Also, Stagecoach Days will be mid-April, and that is always a very fun event there.

1 comment:

Nancy said...

Mary, we are so happy to see you and Elaine having the opportunity to be with your grandaughter and daughter. And they are soaking up all the love you've saved up on those missed times of sharing. Dennis has a good start, too. So I guess it turns out good that you were "grounded" for a little while in California, right?
And, on top of that it sounds like the hard work on the houses is paying off for you. You guys are living right!
Miss ya.
Nancy and Jerry