The Wall Day IV & V

The masons are finally done!!! Next comes the primer and paint followed by the exterior light and iron gate. A BIG improvement and much more resistant to car bumpers :)

Just Another Brick in the Wall

The new wall is coming along nicely. Only 3 more rows to go ! Barb is anxiously awaiting the custom wrought iron gate :) With luck, the wall will be finished in a few more days.

Barb and I leave CDA Sunday, she's headed to Mobile Alabama to start the next series of 2 week ADOS trainings. I'm headed south to Twin Falls to see my parents and sister. Dad recently underwent a second colon cancer surgery and will be starting a mild chemo treatment soon. My sister will be heading back to Alaska so it's my shift now to care for the parents. I'm sneaking a 3 day weekend in and flying to Mobile to meet Barb and spend a few days at Gulf Shores on the beach, then back to Twin Falls. I'll "hopefully" be back in CDA along with Barb on the 20th of June.

The WALL Day #2 & #3

The block has arrived :) The footings are formed. Tomorrow we'll see the block rising!!

Time for the New Wall Day #1

Monday was off to a great start demolishing the old wooden, vinyl clad, fence. Barb took a picture of me showing my best side ...haha

The crew is busy grinding out tree roots and stumps and digging the footing for the block wall. We're hoping it will be done by weeks end :) Weather is a lovely 75 degrees!!!

City by the Lake day 5

Finally settled into the summer condo. So nice to be back with Barbara :) Weather is perfect...80's in the day, 50's at night. Only adjustment I've had to make was sunrise at 4:30am. Forgot about being so far north. We're up around 5:30 each morning anyway, so I guess I'll adjust.

Also doing our 5 mile walk "most" every morning. It's 8 blocks to the lake, a quick loop on the floating boardwalk and 8 blocks home "uphill". Our goal is to both lose 40lbs this summer....let's see who's the "biggest loser" hahaha.

Also removing our old rotted wood fence from around the back patio. We'll be replacing it with a 6 foot solid block wall (our southwest influence is coming out)....that and the main reason we're replacing it is because the neighboring apartment complex tennants love backing into our fence so it's been repaired a dozen times.....let's see how well they do with 6 feet of solid concrete! Should have it installed within 10 days, then it's time to paint it :(

Fast Forward to NOW

Guess I better get busy and update the blog!!!

Wow...it's been almost a year since the last post....

OK...summer 08 was spent in Coeur d'Alene. In late July Kevin got a call from Tucson offering him a position at Mountain View High School to lead the Smaller Learning Community project under a federal grant. Since the main house in Tucson had not sold and the market was in the beginning of the "big tailspin", he decided to return to Tucson and go back to work. Since the real estate market was now a "buyer's" market, we bought a 2 bedroom condo in downtown CDA so Barb would have a place to live while she remained in CDA caring for her parents. Kevin left late August in the bus, stopping in Twin Falls ID to do a quick remodel of his parent's bathroom. He arrived in Tucson early September and began working.

Kevin's Christmas break was spent in CDA where they had a record 7 feet of snowfall! Wile it was fun to have a true winter wonderland holiday, Kevin got real tired of snow blowing all that darn snow! At this time, sadly, we also lost Barb's dad, Ray Tomlinson at the age of 98. And 2 days later, her mom Kay, fell and broke her hip. Needless to say, the holidays weren't a time to celebrate :( Kevin returned to Tucson in early January to go back to work and Barb remained in CDA helping her mom recover from hip surgery. The snow kept coming and the winter seemed to never end.....

Spring came and both Kevin & Barbara began preparing the 2 houses for summer while living 1500 miles apart. NOT fun....

In mid May Kevin learned that his job was another victim of the recession and all the state budget cuts to education so he's now amongst the ranks of the unemployed. Retirement is looking better all the time and he won't miss returning to Tucson in the 100+ temps to go back to work in late July. Now he'll be spending the entire summer in CDA with Barb and helping her with the many new consulting contracts she's landed. Next stop is Gulf Shores Alabama in early June...stay tuned......

I'll try to keep this blog updated weekly...really I will...hahahaha

4th of July and Friends

Had a great day in CDA on the fourth. Went to the parade with new friends Kevin & Melissa. Barb met them last winter while here in CDA visiting the folks. They rented the house across the street. Fantastic couple (dinks)...our favorite!!! They have 2 very well mannered dogs. We offered to trade our kids for their dogs, but no go...haha

The parade was good sized and lots of military and servicemen and women, so the patriotism was high!! Later in the day we hopped on one of the lake cruise boats and motored out to the middle of the lake to watch the fireworks.