"Working Like Dogs" + Yet ANOTHER Garage Sale!!

Roger here....  We took these pictures at our VERY LAST garage sale

 that took place a couple of weekends ago, but have been too busy to write about it until now.  Today was the day that I planned to work in the yard at our new little house, bringing in outdoor hoses, planters, chairs, etc. before leaving Indiana until next May, but on a day that was supposed to be partly cloudy and dry, it is raining.  I was able to wash the motor home, including the roof, in the rain, but I refuse to do the other yard work until the rain stops.  (I was interrupted in the middle of this.  It is now 5:30 p.m. and it is STILL raining.)  So it is a good time to get the blog up to date.

To use Dianne's oft used expression, we have been working like dogs to get ready for our departure.  There was still a lot of "stuff" to get rid of (ours and our daughter's) in addition to some of our valuable antiques.  Soooo.....  Reluctantly, we had another garage sale.  This time, we timed it to coincide with Pendleton's Fall Heritage Fair, which always draws hundreds of out-of-town people.  It was a good decision.  About two-thirds of the "stuff" was sold after the two-day sale.  All of the remaining items were loaded in the car and taken to Goodwill.  Our new garage is now clear!  

We have also completely emptied the house and garage of the house that we are selling.  Dianne listed the last antiques on Craig's list and one very valuable 1830 nine foot tall-case clock on Ebay.  The clock was purchased  by a clock expert from Cincinnati, who assures us that he knows how to get the wooden works to once again keep time.  All of the other items are also gone.  The house and garage are totally empty.  What a relief!  We can now live the rest of our lives only being concerned about the few items we have in the little house that we will visit for a couple months each year and the motor home.   We also decided to keep our red 

Adirondack chairs so that we can enjoy the views of the soy bean field and woods across the street.

  The second floor of the little house is totally devoted to the storage of the items that we could not part with (photos, etc.), and the items that our daughters and granddaughter wanted us to keep for them. 

 Speaking of our grandaughter, Kaia called us today.  She just got her first report card from her new school in Fort Myers ---  nine A's and 3 B's.  Not bad!  We are so proud of her and can't wait to see her and her mother in our travels.  

We had the motor home serviced at Mt. Comfort RV yesterday - a VERY good place for service.  We have come to depend on their advice and trust the service that they have done for us.  Good people!  While we waited, we wandered through the store.  Dianne found an extension to add to our batwing so that we could, hopefully, get all of the local channels.  (There is a tree in front of our satellite's south view that needs to be addressed when we return in May.)  We have only been getting one of the three major networks.  I installed it, and it actually works!  Now we can keep up on the new network shows.  Too bad we did not get it earlier, since we are leaving on Sunday.  

I will end with what I think is a funny story.  (Dianne may not.)  We both have a laundry list of tasks to accomplish before we leave for the Gypsy Journal Eastern Rally in Celina, Ohio on Sunday.  One of the items was to address the locking of our new front and garage doors.  Since we did not have a key for the garage door, nor the ability to shut the storm door in the front without it blowing open, both needed to be repaired.  We made a quick trip to the local hardware store and purchased a new handle/lock (with new keys) for the garage door, and a new handle mechanism for the storm door in the front.  Dianne and I agreed that we could each install one of the items.  Dianne took the storm door, so I started on the garage door.

We have a photo of the new garage walk-in door lock  installation.  It works REALLY well.  After I finished, I went into the house to see how Dianne was doing.  

Let's just say that despite the smile on Dianne's face (with the drill), that things were not going well.  Evidently, the installation require the drilling of a couple of new holes in the metal storm door.  As you can see,  Dianne drilled at least five.    

 Fortunately, they are all now covered by the new installation, which, I must admit, was much more involved than mine.  Oh well!  Everything now works.  It's all good!

Our next entry will probably be from the Gypsy Journal Eastern Rally in Celina, Ohio.  We have been looking forward to this for far too many months.  It should be both fun and educational as we learn some of the new skills of our adopted lifestyle.  WE CAN'T WAIT TO GET THERE.

Dianne here:  Boy, do we need a break, and we REALLY need to soak up this rally and remember why we've been doing all this work this summer, and what we're working towards.  We have both reverted to our former stressed-out selves, and can't wait to get all this behind us and hit the road once again!!    

Labor Day Fun With Friends

oger here...  It has been a while since our last entry.  We continue to be saturated with all the details of changing houses, and moving toward a closing on our house.  The frenzy of activity has prevented us from spending much time doing anything else, but we are getting close to where we want to be.  

Dianne here -- I'm VERY excited to report that as of today, we are officially "furniture-free"!   After three years of working and planning, the last furniture items left our Main Street house yesterday, leaving it TOTALLY empty!  I just an hour ago finished the final "exit cleaning," mopping my way out the back door, which we promptly locked, hoping never to enter again.  I'm so glad that I never again have to clean and maintain a three-story Victorian house!!   All garage sales are over, house is empty and clean, and we are ready to start the rest of our lives.   More on that in the next blog.

We did get away on Labor Day weekend with a few of our RVing friends; Chuck and Cindy (plus Sophie

 - the world's strongest dog), & Pat and Audrey.  We spent three nights at the Hidden Paradise Resort on Flat Rock Creek near St. Paul, Indiana.  

A private campground of this type was unique for Dianne and me.  Instead of backing into a designated site, we were assigned to a hook-up pedestal that served all three of our rigs. 

 The pedestals were located in a huge, football-like, grassy field.  We could park the rigs in any configuration, so we opted to "circle the wagons" to allow for easy communication and access to the continuing supply of 

food that we always consume too much of. 

 (Sorry former English teachers.  I know that the last sentence ended in a preposition.)

It was the first college football weekend of the year. 

 IU had already beaten Eastern KY on Thursday, so we were able to concentrate on the Purdue game on Saturday.  We agreed to put both the IU and Purdue flags on the flagpole 

- an effort in good sportsmanship.  We watched the game on the outside TV screen while consuming appropriate refreshments.  Purdue handled Toledo very well.  Maybe a better season?

We intended to pump up our inflatable kayaks for a trip on the Flat Rock River, but the water level was too low.  We would have spent most of our time dragging the kayaks in shallow water over the rocks.  It didn't sound like much fun, so we skipped it, opting to play games and watch movies instead.  It did rain much of the time, giving us an opportunity to watch Lucy and Desi in the LONG, LONG TRAILER.  We all had forgotten how funny that movie was.

We did also have a unique experience while sitting by the campfire.  (Dianne, the pyro-queen provided the 

kindling.)  Any way, it was pretty late, around 11:00 p.m. when a rig pulled up next to our circled rig.  A campground staffer asked us if they could plug into our hookups.  After we agreed, Chuck jokingly told the new couple that they had to provided beverages for breakfast in the morning.  Soon after, the couple came over to the campfire with Budweisers for the guys and white wine for the ladies.  As it turns out, it was a German couple in a rented RV traveling the U.S. to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary.  How cool.  They did not know about the need to have reservations on Labor Day weekend and were desperate to find a place to park for the night.  It was great fun talking to them for a few minutes.  What nice people.

Well that's all for now.  The next post will be about our final efforts in moving into a smaller house, selling our remaining furniture and "stuff",  and getting ready to hit the road again - something we have missed these past few months.

R