Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Back Home

Bill and Ornell arrived at Mission West in the afternoon and after setting up and taking a short rest, they came over with Jay and Stella to see our new rig. They liked it and the park we were in. After a couple glasses of wine and some good conversation we went to dinner. We had to say goodbye in the parking lot of the restaurant afterwards because we were heading out the next morning and wouldn't see them again.

We hooked up and drove to Victoria to spend the night at the Lazy Longhorn again. We unhooked and went into town for fuel and to eat. No reason to break my "no cooking" streak on the last day! The next morning was cool but sunny and we drove home without incident.

We didn't know exactly what we were going to do about parking the trailer because we had not heard from Marcia who owns the storage lot. She finally called and said she is switching the person in back of us so we will have 40 feet and the new person will have 30 instead of the current 35/35 split. However, it couldn't be done until Friday.

We were able to put it away in the 35 feet with some hanging out. We are as close to Bill behind us as we can get so we're a bit into his space. He's OK with that. I wouldn't want to leave it like that because of the exposure to rain and sun so we'll be glad when Ted can push it back the additional 5 feet for protection. I did notice one of the tail lights was not working and it had been, so he'll have to look into that. We went over some awful potholes and railroad tracks so it could be a loose bulb or burned out bulb.

I'm always amazed at how we can mess up 2300 sq. ft. in the house with the contents from an RV of about 300 sq. ft. But it happens every time. Even though we leave most of our things in the RV, we still have to bring laundry, clean clothes we need at home, perishable groceries, refrigerator/freezer contents and toiletries/medicine back.

This morning I worked on the mail (which I think WAS NOT held again) but I can't prove it wasn't delivered earlier in the day ahead of the regular mail which we received later. I have bills to pay, checks to deposit, etc. We also received two more tax items so I put those into my Tax Cut software. So far we're still ahead and I try to be as close to the bone as I can when I pay our estimated taxes so I'm feeling good.

The deck guy came and is returning Thursday to repair, clean and stain our deck. Ted was against having it stained because of the need to keep doing it but even though it is pressure treated wood, the sun is causing the boards to crack and if we don't protect it we'll be replacing the deck not just staining it. It's been a 7 year battle but I finally won.

Jennifer the decorator is coming today to discuss reupholstering the Lazy Boy loveseat double recliner, a new valance for the family room and new carpet for our bedroom. Next up will probably be having the trim painted on the house. It's always something with a house but it's an investment and needs to be maintained. I've always looked at it like this - my Procter & Gamble stock is self-insurance against the first of us to need long term care and the house proceeds are the self-insurance for the second one. If we're lucky enough never to need that care, the kids will benefit in the end. Of course, a long term care insurance policy would do the same thing but you can't live in an insurance policy and instead of receiving a stock dividend check you would be paying a premium.

The Green Up guy just arrived to fertilize the grass and I'm not dressed so I better head to the shower. The weather is still crazy and we're watching to see what we'll be driving into next week. I wrote to all my relatives on Facebook (192 of them -- really) to get rid of the white stuff before we arrive. I'm sure they would love to.

1 comment:

Carol said...

192!!! REALLY!!! Wow, you sure have a large family! You guys be careful on your trip to Michigan (isn't it Michigan?) - the last weather I heard they still have snow in that part of the country. I don't know if you like the snow or not, but you might be able to see some.

What day do you leave? We leave here next Wednesday - a couple of days up in Lake Park Georgia and will be at Unicoi State Park next Friday. Stay in touch!