BigDaddyCool

I'm back in the saddle again...

In the past couple of months I can imagine that all of you who read this blog were wondering “when is he coming back?” and “is he ever coming back?”

Well I finally have an answer for you…I’M BACK…and it’s not a moment too soon my friends. It has been an intolerable period of time for me to not only be not able to communicate with you and share my thoughts with you, but for the past couple of months I have not been able to check my e-mail, peruse Twitter, download updates for rFactor, and do any general web surfing because I have had no internet access of my own. Until today that is. Thanks to Frontier Communications, Wifey, Pop-in-Law and myself are now surfing the web on our new DSL connection.

Now I know that some of you are thinking that we should have gotten Broadband or satellite but the problem there was that Satellite Internet was too expensive for us right now, and you need a cable company for Broadband – and since we are 3,000’ up in the mountains near Whitmore where cable doesn’t reach, DSL was our best option. So I am back blogging again – reunited with all of you and it feels soooooo goooooood!!!! So to that end, let me update you on what’s been happening for the past couple of months.

The last days of packing the house in Boise were hectic and exhausting. We were putting things in boxes and labeling them as fast as we could, and we still had to stay up all night the night before the truck arrived do pack some last minute stuff. As it was we only slept for maybe an hour before the truck arrived for the last time on our Cal-King sized Tempurpedic bed which we had to sell because it would not fit into our new room. We also had to sell our Refrigerator because we found out that it was too big for Pop-in-Law’s double-wide trailer, and we were able to sell off most of the furniture that we knew we were not going to be able to take with us or fit into the storage space we were going to have to rent.

Moving day was…a blur really. I was hopped up on adrenaline and caffeine, and Wifey had to sit for most of the day while our domicile was being loaded into a truck. You see, Wifey had sprained her right leg and ankle while packing and was really hurting at this point. She didn’t really get healed to the point where she could put her shoes back on until a couple of weeks ago – we had been trying to organize our new living space while trying to organize care for my ailing Pop-in-Law while trying to find where the stores were in Redding and Palo Ciedro while trying to get new car insurance and new registration and new drivers licenses – but you get the idea. We had been just going non-stop since we got here and it took a while for Wifey to heal.

But back to our story…it took only a few hours for the truck to get loaded but we still had some cleaning to do before we locked the doors for the final time. We had to get the house as clean as we could because our Realtor was sure that we were going to get a lot of people in to look at it – particularly since we were dropping the price $20,000.00 – and we could do that because Wells Fargo made us an offer to settle our second mortgage for 50% of what we owed them!!! So the chance that we could sell the house and get some money out of it was welcome news to us, and our realtor made prediction. He predicted that by the time we landed in Whitmore that we would have an offer on the table. We didn’t dare to even dream about that possibility, instead we just focused on the task at hand.

While we were doing our final clean-up that final night we actually had someone come by and look at the house while we were there!!! They were a middle-aged married couple with two teenagers who were looking for a house in our area. They took a good look around and were there for about 15 minutes. At one point the husband pointed towards the family room and remarked “hey, there’s the room for the pool table” to which I said “or the flat-screen plasma.” What can I say? I was trying to show them the possibilities so that we could make a sale. I even pointed out that there was a concrete slab outside the Family Room where we had our spa. They were a nice family, they saw what they came to see, thanked us and wished us a good evening.

When we finally got done and got everything packed into the car that we needed (Rainbow, Luggage tied on the roof, Cats in their carriers in the back seat) we took one last look around. Wifey shed a few tears at the final departure of our dream house – but I didn’t. Not at the departure of this house. Not like I did when we left California six years before. Then we were leaving the house I grew up in and it hit me hard. This time I knew that we were going to serve a higher purpose for ourselves and for a member of our family that needed our help, so that’s what made this blow easier to take for me.

So we got in the car, started up the engine, took one last look, held hands and started on our way – to Ontario, Oregon. That was going to be our first stop on this journey as we were both exhausted, it was dark and we had a 12 hour drive ahead of us. Besides, both of us were still working on only one hour’s worth of sleep and I knew it was going to be bad enough trying to get to the pet friendly hotel we found in Ontario – where we finally collapsed. We brought the cats into the hotel room with us and two of them immediately hid in a space at the foot of the bed. The hid so well in fact that for 20 minutes that night we were in a panic because we thought that one of them had managed to get out. It wasn’t until I saw a pink nose under a corner of the bed that I breathed a sigh of relief and Wifey cried tears of joy that we didn’t lose her after all.

So after sleeping the sleep of the exhausted; making sure that the cats had used the litter box and packing everything up again; we set out for the first leg of our trip – to Lakeview, Oregon. I had been checking The Weather Channel to see how bad the storm that was heading our way was going to bee on our route. As we packed the car it began to rain and I thought that it was good that we were getting an early enough start so that we could go slowly through the snow that was predicted to hit our route. As it turned out we didn’t see any snow at all. In fact, we didn’t see much rain until we got closer to Whitmore. In fact, the whole trip was pretty uneventful except for us trying to soothe our 30lb. Maine Coon half the time we were on the road. The only thing we actually dreaded was crossing the California border.

Our vet in Idaho had explained to us that we needed Health Certificates in order to get our cats into California. He said that if we didn’t have them there was a chance our cats would be taken from us and put into quarantine. Considering that he just diagnosed our 17-year-old matriarch with early Kidney Disease that was not a chance we were willing to take. So he was able to get us the Certificates for the trip and we had them ready when we got to the border checkpoint. The only thing that the border patrol guard was interested in was if we had any fruits or vegetables with us. We had a couple of apples with us and after taking a look at them said “Welcome to California” and let us go through. So after all of the stress we went though getting the Certificates and getting our cats their shots – it turned out we were worried for nothing.

So it was onto Whitmore and as we hit the final leg of the trip going from Round Mountain into Oak Run we finally hit some weather in the form of dense fog and rain. I was going uphill at 20mph in a 55mph zone and it didn’t really clear until we hit our first turnoff on our directions. As it turned out we had gotten pretty close to our destination until we took one last right when we should have taken one last left and ended up at the local country store and gas station. We knew that we were turned around and called Auntie-in-Law to figure out where we were and what we had to do. Once we turned ourselves around we finally arrived at “The Ranch” which I prefer to call “The Shire”. I call it that because if I ever hit the lottery I want to build a house on this site. And not just any house – I want to build “Bag End” – Bilbo’s and Frodo’s house from “The Lord of the Rings”. It would have a lot of storage space and it would be energy efficient since much of it would be underground.

Anyway, we arrived at our new home to find two things. One, we found a white security gate in the hallway so that our cats and Pop-in-Law’s cats could be separated. Two, a message from our Realtor – we had an offer on the house!!!!! It was for lees that we had it listed, but it was still enough so that we could pay off our mortgages and still have enough left over to live on for a while.

So finally, our long economic nightmare was over. The next day the truck arrived, we got most of our stuff in storage, and we brought the necessities up the mountain to “The Shire”. We then started settling into life up here in NoCal – which has been about as nice as it was back in Boise. In fact I have been struck by many of the similarities between Boise and Whitmore/Redding/Palo Ciedro – one of which is the weather up here. That old chestnut saying that “if you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes and it will change” is literally true up here. Today alone I have seen clear skies, wind, rain, sleet, hail, fog and have heard thunder all within the span of three hours. The weather here can change on a dime, so much so that we had a snowstorm here – on Easter Sunday!!!!!

Thankfully now Wifey and I have our computers up so that we can communicate with the outside world again. It has taken us a couple of months to get things to this point so now we can really start re-organizing things around here. We still have four boxes of kitchen items that we have to go through, but we will get there. Most of the unpacking took place during the Winter Olympics, which Wifey is thankful is over because she does not have to put up with my watching Curling at 2:30 in the morning! (What can I say, I was fascinated.) We have settled into a life of taking Pop-in-Law into Palo Ciedro twice a week for his physical therapy and going into town a couple of times a week for other errands. It’s a different life now in that we have to drive 45 minutes down a winding mountain road to get to the main highway. This means that we are filling our gas tank at least once or twice a week, and with gas at $2.99 9/10 a gallon right now that is no mean feat.

Since arriving we have had to replace the Washing Machine that we brought with us because the drum apparently cracked. The first time we washed a load in the machine we got water on the floor that we identified was coming from inside the machine. Unfortunately we had the machine out on the back deck where it was exposed to hot and cold temperatures that we figured cracked the drum. So we went looking for a new washer and dryer set and we found a guy who repairs, refurbishes and restores appliances in Redding and then re-sells them for far less than retail. We were able to get a washer and dryer for ourselves that work just like new for $250.00. Currently we have this same miracle worker on the lookout for a dishwasher for us since the 30-year-old Whirlpool dishwasher currently in the kitchen also has a cracked drum.

We also had to replace the bed that we were sleeping on since it was damaging our backs and was so cramped that we were literally elbowing each other in the face if one of us rolled over. We were trying to make due in a Double bed which was very old and caused us a lot of pain. As it turned out it was the bed that Wifey’s Grandmother spent her last days in!!! So it was off to the bed store to see what we could find. We found an excellent Temurpedic knockoff, Queen size for around $650.00. To say that we are a lot happier with this bed would be an understatement – our backs are certainly happier – and we are waking up with fewer headaches as a result.

In the coming days and weeks I will be writing again on a variety of topics that has the potential to effect how some of us search for a job, or if there will be any jobs to search for. I’ll go into more details about my in-Laws here, like how my Uncle-in-Law just got laid off from his job as an Electrical Engineering consultant, but how he can soon not only apply for unemployment, but also Social Security – and therefore, Medicare. I’ll tell you about our efforts to get my Pop-in-Law to curb his spending. His problem is he spends all day in front of the TV watching old movies on TCM and he gets bored – so he buys stuff out of catalogs and has run up a lot of credit card debt. I’ll go into more detail about our efforts to declare bankruptcy, and about what are some of the pitfalls you need to avoid if you are considering the same thing. I’ll go into my Cousin-in-Law’s new job – inputting data for the U.S. Census, and my efforts to take a second bite at that apple and re-applying for a job with them.

I’ll go into more detail about our efforts to clean up the property as best we can. There is a lot of stuff here that just needs to be disposed of because it has been ruined by weather or neglect. We may have to fight Auntie-in-Law and Pop-in-Law on some of it because they are saving some of it for what will happen after…whatever is supposed to happen in 2012. I can see them saving some furniture and some weapons for whatever global calamity is supposed to befall the planet, but saving knives, sci-fi paperbacks and porn as things to trade or barter with may be going a little overboard. Yeah I can see people wanting something to read, but why trade a knife for food with someone who can then use that knife against you? And if the ice caps melt, most of California is destroyed by earthquake and Atlantis rises out of the sea, who is going to have access to electricity so that they can watch porn on a VCR?!?!?

These and other topics will be dealt with in the coming weeks, but my next post is one I have been formulating in my mind for several weeks. I for one am glad that the Health Care Reform bill passed and has been signed into law. At least with this reform enacted, Wifey stands a better chance of being able to see a doctor and getting treatment for what ails her without having to worry about how to pay for it. True there is no public option – yet, but I am hopeful that we will be able to get her insurance sometime in the near future. But the thing that scares me right now is the reaction coming from the Right, and all of the venom and threats that are coming from them – and how far I am afraid they will go and what the backlash might be.

So my next post will deal with why I do not trust or respect the Tea Party Movement right now, and how they have managed to scare the crap out of me so much, that I have made an effort to locate every single one of Pop-in-Law’s guns…just in case. For those of you out there who happen to count yourselves as part of the Tea Party Movement this is one post that you must read as it will come from someone who is neither a Conservative nor a Progressive. You need to know how your actions have colored how I see you, how I think of you and your friends, and why I am considering taking shooting lessons over Wifey’s objections.

Until next time…