I'm not counting down to Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Christmas or the opening of Trolls. In less than 2 weeks we will begin our trip to pick up our motor home in Mesa Arizona.
Thinks are piling up in preparation. We purchased a rooftop cargo box in which our golf clubs and vacuum cleaner will fit.
Unfortunately, we won't know how much we can fit until we can actually start loading up the car. Right now we are contemplating leaving as early as the 12th or 13th. You'll know when we do!
It's been a long time since I've posted and since then a lot has happened. First, in March the passing of my Dad. Fortunately, I was able to be there to say my good-byes. Second, Steve and I did some real estate juggling. We sold a duplex, purchased in 2007, in Coeur d'Alene and bought a 1.2 acre lot adjacent to StoneRidge. One of four lots as part of Blanchard Creek Acres where we plan to eventually build and live.
Blazing a trail on the lot
We decided to have a cocktail on the new lot to celebrate.
Third, we purchased a 1999 Newmar Dutch Star 38' motorhome and for the first time EVER will be taking a 4 month trip away from home. We plan to leave StoneRidge on November 15th for Mesa, AZ where we will pick up the coach.
Fourth, we will be adding a new job to our resumes. We will be working in Santa Fe, New Mexico for See's Candy from Thanksgiving to Christmas with our friends Patty & Jim Mosier. See's has a program where they hire retired RV'rs to manage their holiday stores. Patty & Jim have been doing it for quite a while now and we hope to be managing our own store next year. That is assuming we like it... time will tell.
As many of you have heard, the Pacfic Northwest was hit with a record setting windstorm on November 17, 2015. The following slideshow will let you see how we fared here at StoneRidge.
It's been ages since I've posted anything on my blog and it's a shame that it had to take something like this to compel me to do so again. For some reason today I just had to write about my Mom.
My Mom & Dad in the early 50's.
I had never seen this photograph until it was posted
on my cousin's Facebook page after my Mother's death.
I always thought that I was so independent growing up. I moved away from home when I was 19, but moved back home a couple of times. But when my son was born in 1990 my mother once again became a critical cog in my daily routine. She was my mother, but more importantly she was my son's babysitter.
I saw her every Monday - Friday and sometimes on weekends. Then when I met Steve and moved down to San Pedro, in 2000, I thought "How great not to be under my parent's scrutiny every day!" Funny, I guess I still wanted to be "independent". Selfishly, I hadn't considered the impact on my parent's lives. Not that it would have made any difference in my moving. Then we made a bigger move up to Idaho. I no longer had the ability to just jump in the car to visit my parents & siblings. But life goes on. Our new busy lives make days fly by as thoughts of "I need to give Mom a call" buzz in and out of my head. Looking back now after 10 years, maybe I should have called more often, or made an effort to drive down to visit, when I had the opportunity. Again the thoughts of calling Mom were there but never acted upon.
This is the last picture taken of my Mom, 5 days before she passed.
Pictured here with my sister Karen who she was visiting in Las Vegas.
My worst nightmare became reality on July 2nd when I got the call from my niece that Mom had a massive heart attack and was on life support. The next day I few to Las Vegas to be with my Dad, brothers and sisters to say good bye to the person who made the biggest impact on my life.
She's been gone 12 days now and most days are okay, then out of the blue it hits. To see me crying for no apparent reason would be quite common lately except I hide out when it overcomes me. Right now I have to be sure that my tears don't short out my keyboard as I type this and hope that Steve doesn't notice. He would just try would console me and there isn't anything anyone can do to help. It just needs to be done, and in a few minutes I'll be okay again.
Even though I hadn't spoken with her for a couple of weeks, I know that my Mom knew that I loved her. And it makes me feel glad knowing she "went out" doing what she loved best. She had a great week with Karen and her grand & great grand kids. They went shopping, got a hair cut & pedicure. She won on the slots and on her last waking day on this earth she went to the movies and had a hot dog and ice cream.
And when she takes a break from playing that big slot machine in the sky, she'll hear me as I tell her that I love her and miss her every day.
The Stoneridge Ladies, all 16 of us, traveled down to Lewiston this past weekend to participate in the 2010 Northern Region Golf Association Tournament South. It's a 2-day event, which we willingly turn into 3. Stoneridge Pal and team captain Debbie organized the group, making sure everyone had a ride and a room.
Last year my Stoneridge Bunch was 4 to a room, this year we all decided we needed more space so decided to just double up.
I joined Stoneridge Pals Patty, Terry & Carol for the 3 hour drive down. Patty drove, I navigated and Terry & Carol made sure both of us did our jobs properly. It was a quick trip made eventful with a stop at A&W for happy hour. Who can pass up 1/2 price root beer floats?
Within our group we had two Mother-Daughter Teams with us. Diane and Rachea with Linda and her 80 year old Mom Lucy.
After we checked in we needed to make a stop at a local grocery store for appetizers needed for the get together with the rest of our team after volunteering Betty & Sherry's room to be party central.
By 6pm drinks have been poured and plates are piled with a variety of tasty treats. Having only a dresser and desk in the room along with 2 queen beds and being the ingenious gals we are the ironing board was set up to hold the platters. We all learned one very important fact... Howard Johnson's has very sturdy beds.
Wait! Where's Betty?
Following our little party, the few gals that arrived early to play a practice round gave the rest of us an update on the course. It seemed there was one central theme to everyone's advice: "Stay on the fairways!". The roughs were thick and very hard to get out of. There isn't a flat lie ANYWHERE! The greens all slope and are incredibly hard to read. After this update some of the gals were ready to pack up and head home, but were all good and didn't party to hard. Some left to grab a bite to eat, and we were all in our own rooms and settling in by 9pm.
Monday was our first tournament day at Lewiston Golf Club. Tee time was 8:30am and luckily the weather couldn't have been better. It's been so rainy here at Stoneridge lately it was such a pleasure to be in the sun. All but 2 of us played in threesomes or foursomes with ladies from the 7 other clubs. The game is individual best ball with a team best ball to create comradeship within each foursome.
Mother/Daughter Team Lucy & Linda
Our Captain, Debbie collecting the score cards
After my 3rd hole I understood what the gals were trying to explain to us the night before. Unfortunately my attempt to "Stay in the fairways" didn't hold up. As I hacked my way through the rough, out of bunkers, from under trees and attempting to navigate my ball into the cup I came to the realization that I would probably NOT be helping my team out in the scoring. To my surprise, it seems that the field was sharing my fate.After golf we all headed to town for an early dinner at Anthony's where we celebrated our best finish ever.
These were the winners from our group after the round in Lewiston:
Individual Winners
Rachea - Tied 2nd Place Net, 2nd Flight (75) $20.25
Kathy - 2nd Place Net, 3rd Flight (78) $23.00
Stoneridge Gal - Tied 2nd Place Gross, 4th Flight (107) $17.50
Patty - Tied 2nd Place Net, 4th Flight (79) $20.25
Carol - 2nd Place Net, 5th Flight (80) $23.00
Terry - Tied 4th Place Net, 5th Flight (84) $6.00
Team Best Ball - $15.00 Each
Kathy, Rachea, Stoneridge Gal
After the 1st day...Stoneridge's Overall
Team Standing - 4th Place!
Clarkston Country Club was the site for our 2nd day of the tournament. We died and went to heaven! It was flat. Now don't get me wrong, the course's slope/rating was higher than Lewiston. It is flat, but it was longer, tree lined and had water. Overall, the entire field improved.
Even though we wore our red, we weren't able to move up in the overall standings. We did have winners!
Saturday, April 10th was the date of the 1st tournament of the season here at StoneRidge. StoneRidge Guy and I decided to play. Our partners were friends and neighbors Dennis & Carol. After a week of crazy weather, we had everything rain, hail and snow, Saturday was supposed to be the turning point. The temperature was supposed to be in the lower 50's, much improved from the 40's, and the wind and rain was supposed to have moved on.
We arrived at the course at around 9:30am with the sun shining a blue sky and the best part... no wind! That didn't last long. By quarter to 10 the wind started up again and brought with it C*O*L*D!!!
There were 24 teams for the men and a whopping 2 teams for the ladies. I think the weather scared everyone off because the field was definitely less that last year. After a 30 minute frost delay the teams set off to their respective holes to begin.
Yes, it was cold. Yes, it was windy. But playing with the 3 ladies in my foursome made it all bearable and we all had a great time.
Enjoy the following short slide show. (don't forget to pause the "MyTunes" on the sidebar).
