9 December 2018

Greetings from Shamrock Texas!  Wait, what are we doing there?  We are enroute to GG's funeral and memorial services in SoCal.  But first...we need to bore you will all those mundane things we accomplished this past week. To be honest, there really isn't that much to report, but I will try to stretch things out anyway!

I spent three mornings this past week installing paneling in the two downstairs rooms for the ceiling at the rent house, finishing the trim and doing touch up painting. I told the tenant I was finished, but there is still work to be done - at a later time (much later). Fortunately other than storage, those rooms aren't used for anything else.

Sandy was busy coordinating with cancer centers in Tulsa and SoCal so she can continue with her treatments while we are on the road. A big Thanks to Cynthia and Miranda for their assistance; it appears she will be able to at least get a treatment in SoCal.

As we were preparing for our driving trip west, Miranda offered to drive out with us (and fly back home). We kept a close eye on the storm named Diego which was forecasted to bring multiple inches of rain and some ice from New Mexico to Arkansas over the weekend. Not what we wanted to have happen since that is our driving route.  We had originally planned to leave home Saturday morning and drive to Broken Arrow where we would stay with Miranda's family. The original plan was then to leave on Monday AM to continue the drive. We had scheduled rental home inspections on Friday morning and did not want to cancel those so we could leave that morning.  The last time they were scheduled they were canceled due to weather. But according to the weather report, if we left on Friday, we would miss the storm.

I like to take goodies to most of the tenants, so on Thursday I made multiple loaves of cranberry nut bread.  Actually I five times the recipe and had just enough for everyone.  And it made the kitchen smell good!

It never ceases to amaze me, but only reinforces the need to perform these walk throughs, the things tenants don't bother to tell you about. And even though they know we are coming, they don't have a list of things to report.  For example: Me: Any problems, leaks, etc. Tenant:  No.  Me: Ah, what happened to the bathroom door knob. Tenant: oh it was sticking so we removed it. Me: wouldn't it be nice to have a replacement?  Tenant: Yes.

We didn't find anything major, just several minor repairs to be made. We have been blessed with good tenants 95% of the time.  It is the 5% that makes the rest look so good.  One tenant needs to live in the country so he has ample room for his collection; he has one RV, three pickups, one SUV, one motorcycle and two small trailers parked in the driveway. Then there is the garage stuffed with 'stuff''. This is also the guy whose truck advertises that he is 'handyman'. Yet, his back door did not latch so they just stuck a rock against it to hold it closed.  The striker plate was missing a screw so it was not aligned properly. Took me less than five minutes to resolve this issue!

I was home by 130 PM. Sandy had packed the suitcase and I was able to get things loaded into the van and we were on our way by 3 PM. We did a dinner stop at Deborah's and then continued on our way to Miranda's and were there before 9 PM. And we beat the weather.  Oh, the weather never materialized! Parts around Mountain Home had some snow, but at our house, according to the neighbor, we just had a few flakes.  All that worry for nothing. But leaving early gave us all day Saturday to spend with Miranda's family.

Today was the Primary Program in their ward, so we were uplifted again by the sweet children's testimonies in song and speaking. Their meetings start at 1200; we left after Sacrament so we could start our trip west, hence why we are in Shamrock.  We wanted to break up the drive so it would not be too much for Sandy.  She has again, done amazingly well.

Sandy started the week off slowly, but continued to gain energy and strength as the week progressed. And she is still going strong. Wednesday about 9 PM she mentioned that her ostomy bag was leaking and that it needed replacing. Now there are a couple of times it is not good to disturb me: at meal time and bed time. But I humbled myself and replaced the bag.  But the humbling wasn't over.  Within 30 minutes it was leaking again.  So I got to replace it again, only this time you can be sure I was more  alert and attentive to my efforts.  That bag stayed on until Sunday morning when I replaced it again so she would have a fresh bag for the trip.

It is fun to have Miranda with us for the drive out; I appreciate her sharing the driving.  It was a family sacrifice for her.  First, she left Dan with the four children.  He will be taking the two youngest to Kera's on Monday and friends will help care for the two school aged boys during the week.  And then on Tuesday, Deborah will drive to Kera's and leave her two youngest and drive to the LR airport with Andy. Friends will assist Ian with the other four school aged children. It is a great blessing to have loving family and friends to help out when needed.

And I found a new home for the three roosters; we have a church family that has a variety of animals and will add them to their 'farm'.

We hope Savannah has a successful birthing this week!