Bout time heh?

Well, hello everyone. Here it is October and I am finally finding an evening or two to write a few lines about our summer and early fall experiences here in Bow. What follows below is a snippet of text and photos, that we hope you will enjoy “twofold.” 1. If you were kind enough to come out and visit us, you will see yourself in “action.” And, 2. If you couldn’t make it out, you will see what we were up to most of the time.

It was a crazy few months for sure. Believe it or not, from about July 1 through, September 5^th, we had nearly 50 days of overnight family and friends!!! It was unbelievable! There were times when I dropped a folks off at the airport for their departure flight, and later that same day I picked up people coming in!! Deb was washing sheets and putting them on the bed just in the nick of time…lol.

Oh yeah, as of July 30 I was officially retired! WOW! Hard to believe but I’ll pass on all the details. Suffice to say I love it although with all our visitors it did not really sink in….but it is starting to now for sure. Ok, scroll down and enjoy. As you know, the way this blog works, as you go down, it will go back in time.

All work and no play is not the way to live. Deb and I have done a bit of recreation too. We play badminton in the driveway…no idea why but we both love doing that. We also climbed Sauk Mt. – a nice 4 mile round trip hike that rewarded us with fantastic fall colors and picture perfect mountain scenery….. We also took another 4 mile hike up part of Mt. Larrabee which is located about a 5 minute drive from our house. Great hike, great views and a place where people hang glide. The day we were there we got some pics of folks taking the plunge….tempting heh? And, for what it is worth, we had a fair amount of snow up high this past weekend so who knows what our next hike may be like?

And, Happy Halloween! Gotta love the country life here. Pumpkin stands along almost every road. I got ours for a whopping $1.00 per pumpkin with proceeds going to the Bow booster club!

So, all in all, think we been busy? Have a look and see what you think. We think its been a blast!

Fall Yard Projects

Been a great fall season. We decided to try to knock out some major projects before winter sets in, and are working on them as we speak. First, we decided to try to use up the last of our left-over AAC block, by using it as a “framework” for our raised-bed garden walls. To date we have the wall glued together and then plan to clad it with left-over rock from our masonry heater.

And, we just finished cladding our retaining wall next to our garage. Recall, I built the retaining wall with AAC block and it has been waiting for us to put on the finishing touches. For amateurs we thought we did a fine job. First time for everything heh…. We just recalled how our heater was built and tried to mimic what we remembered.

Retirement Party in Portland – October 8.

Deb and a number of friends planned a retirement party for me in Portland. It was fantastic. I loved seeing some of the people I worked with – some old and some more recent. My friend Dick came out from Colorado. For those of you who do not know, Dick hired me thirty years ago…so it was a real treat to have him here..thinking that thirty years ago I just met him - he was with me on my first day of work and here on the last!!! Amazing heh? I guess it's time to start doing all the things I wished I could do while I was working....and more!

Party in Florida! September 19 – September 27th

To change things up a bit, we headed down to Florida for nephew Jon’s 40^th birthday bash. A great time was had by one and all. Even went to Disneyland and Epcot…. I love going on rides! A super surprise occurred at the party. Our cousin Tom showed up - Tom lives in BRAZIL! No one knew he was coming except his sister Marcia. It was great to see him! In fact it was fantastic.

The party was a load of fun. But just as fun is to play with Jon’s dog Abby in the pool. I could do it all day. Deb too. Abby is a great dog/buddy. I know she misses us! Hard to believe my nephew is 40….Geez, we won’t go there on what that makes me…lol.

Labor Day Weekend with Lisa and Dick

Can’t say enough about this visit. For once Lisa and Dick came up and we did not work on the house! We had a riot. For those of you who do not know, this post will be the first (but not really cause it happened earlier….) where you will see photos of the boat we bought in the spring.! We love it. It is a C-Dory. We kept it a secret since early spring, and as people came out we surprised them with it and did not tell anyone else until they came out etc…. Bottom line is we love it. It has really cemented our dream of buying property, building our own home, living in the NW/Puget Sound Area and enjoying the Puget Sound via boat/kayak.

Lisa and Dick loved the boat. We took them “out to lunch” to one of our newfound places in the San Juan Islands. We also have learned how to catch crab, so when in season we plan to lots of crabbing…eating it too! We also did a hike in the North Cascades and spent time relaxing at the house. Wine, food, music and conversation rounded out the long weekend. Ah!