Landscaping Begins - March 2010

Happy to be Home!

Sat. 3-6-10 - It was like spring here in Sequim when we returned from Hawaii on Feb. 22nd, which put us in the mood to start our landscaping projects. So we took a few pictures outside. The 2 above are "before" pictures.

The picture above was taken on 3-6, and the one below today, 3-13. Our landscaper Debra planted the trees around the propane tank and put in the gravel path that goes from the front sidewalk down to the basement door. She's not finished yet, but it already looks good. Certainly makes walking up and down the hill much easier (and cleaner)! No more tracking mud into the house.

In the picture below you can see we brought the gravel all the way up to the road, where I am standing. We did that so Ted could get his Power-Wagon down to the basement to haul the heavy things (books, collectibles, etc.) up to the garage for packing and mailing when he sells them on e-bay.

Kaua'i - Hawaii 2010

Sunday 1-31-10 - We checked into the Marriott on Kaua'i around 4:00 p.m. April took the picture below from our 12th floor rooms. Beautiful view of our beach. Toured the entire island over the next week, before our unforgettable helicopter tour on Saturday!

Saturday, 2-6-10 - The picture below is of the Na'Pali Coast. No roads. Only way to see it is via helicopter or boat. "Jurassic Park" mountains and jungle. This is where we were when the engine blew up on our helicopter! It was a pretty intense few minutes before our wonderful helicopter pilot Doug landed us safely, on the ONLY piece of level ground anywhere around.

You can see how small the patch of grass is where Doug set the helicopter down. What a thrill ride! We were met by some hippies who heard the engine fail and came to see if everyone was okay. Doug radioed in for help and one of the hippies, "AJ", led us down the beach to their camp about a half mile away.

"Uncle T", the leader of the camp, brought out chairs for all of us so we could wait for the rescue helicopter to arrive, then entertained us with stories about his 11 years of living there in the camp. He was a great host, and we all had the best time! Of course there is a lot more to this story, but not enough room or space on the blog to tell it all. You'll just have to call me. :)

Sharon (me), Ted, April & Kenny

It took over a week for them to replace the engine on the downed helicopter, so they flew in and out of the Emergency Landing Pad that is right next to the hippie camp many times with parts, mechanics, etc. etc. April had given the helicopter company $20.00 and asked them to make sure Uncle T and his group got some ice cream, peanut butter and a few other requested items. The picture below is Uncle T's girlfriend retrieving some of the groceries that were delivered. There were several bags of groceries that were flown in to them during that week - way more than $20.00 worth. Meeting them and the time spent with them was one of the best parts of the entire trip!

Hawaii - February 2010

Saturday, February 6, 2010 - Below is a picture of our hosts, Uncle T, his lady friend, and AJ (and me beside Uncle T). Uncle T offered us wine, wanted to fix us lunch, insisted we have some of their homemade bread with cheese. They were wonderful hosts during our 3 hour wait for the rescue helicopter to arrive.

The rescue helicopter picked us up at the hippie camp, and we continued on with our island tour. We landed safely about 40 minutes later. It was the most exciting (and a little scary) trip....one we could never have imagined! We got way more than our money's worth!

Friday, 2-5-10 - We met up with Tasha and Tory (Ted's niece and her fiance) when we toured the "Grand Canyon" of Kaua'i. They got engaged on this trip.

Friday, 2-12-10 - The four of us, Kenny, April, Me and Ted, went out for our big Zip Line Adventure. Our helmets named us Romeo, Shorty, Honey & Wiggles. All of us really had a blast! It was so much fun!

On the way back to our condo from the zip line adventure we stopped at a little restaurant for dinner. The hostess had a collection of sunglasses, so we all grabbed a pair and had our picture taken. You don't think we look like tourists or anything do you? :)

Christmas-New Years 2010

Friday, March 12, 2010

Time got away from me. Didn't realize it was

November when I last updated the blog. I'll bring things

up to date over the next couple of days.

January 1, 2010 - Ted and I spent the evening at home and toasted the New Year in with a glass of sparkling cider in above picture. We had Christmas eve dinner with Ted's family in Tacoma.

Dec. 25, 2009 - We stayed over at Karn's (Ted's sister) home, got up early and drove over to Cort and Liz's house for Christmas morning with the family. We spent most of the day there then returned to Karn's and spent the evening visiting. Returned to Sequim the following day.

I love the picture of Karn and Signe below.

Happy Holidays 11-28-09

Here we are beside our new Christmas Tree.

Friday, 11-27-09 - We invited Diane and Jerry over for coffee and dessert. Then we popped up some popcorn and watched a movie on our new big screen TV. It was a fun evening. The four of us went out for a really nice Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday.

Here's a picture of the new TV.

"Bee Movie" was on this morning when I took the picture.

It is so wonderful getting settled into our new home.

Note to Luther: A couple of weeks ago I discovered you had sent us "Comments". (I didn't realize people could do that; no one had before.) It was really nice of you, and I wanted to say thank you. Hope to see you and Shirley this Christmas.
Sharon

Major Repairs Complete 11-11-09

Wednesday, 11-4-09 - Above you can see the piece of plywood that had to be dried out. The fans ran all night. Below they patched in the sheetrock and re-textured the entire area. It took 3 full days to complete the job. The painters came in on Monday and repainted all of the ceilings (livingroom, entryway, kitchen and hallway) and did touchups throughout the house.

Tuesday, 11-10-09 - We moved the furniture back in and enjoyed a quiet evening in front of the fireplace. They did a beautiful job of repairing everything. You can't see the patch and would never know there was a problem. The electricians returned to replace all of the canned lights on Wednesday.

Thursday, 11-12-09 - I drove to Kent today to take care of rental details on my house there. Ted took care of business at home, including watching his new custom desk and cabinets being installed. The picture really doesn't do it justice. It looks so good and matches his bookcases/entertainment center perfectly. (See earlier blog to see photos of the bookcase.) If you enlarge this picture you can see the Sequim city lights through the windows.

We bought all new bedding and pillows and made up the wall bed in the guest bedroom. I still have to have a shower curtain custom made for the guest bathroom, but if you're in the neighborhood, give us a call! :)

Move Into New House 10-23-09

Friday, 10-23-09 - Moving out of our rental house. It took 2 days, Fri. & Sat. to get everything moved. Huge job!! The first week was just unpacking boxes and reading the books on how to work all the new appliances. (I already knew how to work the tub. :-)

On Monday 11-2 the tile man noticed a leak in the living room ceiling around the middle canned light (enlarge the picture and you can see the drops in picture below) and the couch was very wet. Then I noticed the slight bulge in the ceiling to the right of the light. We got our contractor out of bed and he went up into the attic and found the leak from the in-floor heating tubes that run through the ceiling. One of the staples punctured one hole in the tube and a sheetrock guy put a screw into the tube in a second location. The whole crew was here most of the day today (Tue. 11-3) patching the holes and adjusting the heating system. Tomorrow the sheet rock people will remove a big section of the ceiling to help the plywood dry faster then begin the repair work.

Tuesday, 11-3-09 - On a brighter note, the Hunter Douglas Top Down/Bottom Up shades were installed on my bathroom windows this afternoon. They really look great!

Also had mini blinds put up in the multi-purpose room (guest bedroom, art studio, exercise room, craft and scrap booking area). We just bought the bedding for the queen size wall bed and still need to buy pillows, but we're almost ready for company.