Old Friends, Weddings and Enjoying Seattle

Everett, WA

Sept 26

We just returned from a beautiful wedding. Our friends Carl and Carolyn Beddingfield's daughter Tracy got married today. She was a beautiful bride; matter of fact, she is a beautiful woman. We were with Carl and Carolyn in Saudi and have remained friends all these years. It was fun to see other old friends at the wedding at well...Joyce and Rudy; Sarah and Keith and many more. We had a nice, albeit short, visit with Carolyn and Carl, as you can imagine they were pretty busy. It was nice to see them again...it has been a few years since we saw either one of them.

THEN, on Thursday night we had dinner with another set of old friends, Paula and Lew Hustead. What a great visit we had with them. They are friends from Saudi days as well. We haven't seen them in years...10 at least. I want to know why they haven't aged! They look wonderful and just as great as they always have been. We got caught up on each other's family as well. Jenn and Sherrie joined us for dinner as well. As Jenn said, they were some of our favorite people in Saudi. What a neat time for us.

Jo, Lew, Paula, Al, Jenn

We still have a busy schedule in Seattle. Tomorrow we are going to breakfast with Jenn and Sherrie; then tomorrow evening we are having dinner with Ric, Janet and Ashley. Late birthday dinner for Janet and Ashley and early birthday dinner for Ric...who will be 50 this year!!! How does this happen????? Monday are a full day of doctor visits again. We did some of that last Thursday as well...arg. Tuesday I am having lunch with old friend Ginnie and Wed is Nancy day and lunch as well. I should burst by then!!!! It is so fun seeing all of these people tho...and some I can't see due to schedule conflicts I have at least gotten to talk to on the phone.

I was just sitting here thinking that we have been living this lifestyle for 10 years now. And how things have changed! I remember having to lug my laptop to the RV park office to dial up to the internet. Then RV parks started putting phone lines at selected sites and we would always try to get on of those sites so I could hook up the internet. Then wifi started, but at first you had to be fairly close to the hot spot; now most parks have wifi available and if they don't I have my aircard and can connect just about everywhere. I can only imagine what it will be like in 10 years from now!!! And we are still driving the same rig....99 F350 and Alpenlite 5th wheel. They have really served us well, we have had our share of problems, but that is all part of the lifestyle. Matter-of-fact, said truck is at the Ford dealer now being fixed and we are driving a rental car. We looked at the new F350's and if we win the lottery we will buy one, but otherwise I will have to beg, borrow and steal enough money to buy one! They are absolutely beautiful and we would love to have one, but man, it's a lot of money!! OUCH! So our 99 F350 will just have to run a few more years! Unless anyone out there wants to give me a few thousand dollars; about 50 thousand of them please!

The weather here has been incredible! Sunny and clear and warm during the day and nice and cool at night. Love Seattle when the weather is like this and I have thoughts of moving back to this beautiful place; then my brain kicks in and I remember the many, many days of rain and gray. UGH!

Dogs are missing the freedom they had in Odessa....they now have to be on a leash at all times and be walked everywhere. At least I am getting some excercise! However, we found a place to play "ball" so I have managed to let them off the leash and play for a while every day. This park we are staying in is nice, however, I like the park next door better...more room. We are kinda squished in here.

So for now, we are wroamin and will be wrolling towards Portland on next Thursday.

IT'S DEUTSCHESFEST TIME

Odessa
Sept 18


It's time for the annual Deutschesfest in Odessa. This little town of 1,000 will grow this weekend to over 20,000 as people from far and wide will come to participate/celebrate "Fest". This little town continues to amaze me each and every year as residents come together to make fest a success. Today our town is a busy place. For weeks preparations have been under way. Businesses have spruced up their shops; residences have cleaned and shined their places; the little booths have been set up; German music is playing on the loud speakers around town (I have so many German songs stuck in my head that they are fighting for play time!!) and a festive spirit can be felt all over town. We have participated every year by having a garage sale...and this year is no exception...a big garage sale starts on Friday and runs until Sunday or until we are sold out. Vickie and I have been busy this last couple of weeks getting ready.



Granddaughter Cammie came up over Labor Day and helped me sort/price garage sale stuff. Then last weekend I went to Jerry's and sorted "stuff" again as he had stored some stuff for us. Now I hope all the "Stuff" will go away! It is amazing how much stuff we can collect in our lives. SHEEESH!



Last Monday we went to Spokane to take our sister in law, Gloria out to lunch and a movie. I don't think she has been to the movies in a long time. We say Julia and Julie and it was very good. Al had a hard time following it; but that was because he was up and down going to the bathroom!!!! I swear he has a bladder the size of a pea!

Sept 22
Well, "fest" is over...I would say the crowds were much smaller this year, but we had a good time. The garage sale went well, and what didn't sell was taken to a local charity and donated. It is done! Weather over the weekend was weird. Friday was hot...HOT! Saturday was windy, cold, hot, windy, cold, hot, oh, did I mention windy? Never fails at Fest time and garage sale time. We anchored things down and went on with the sale.

We signed the papers on the house today, so it is officially sold. Whew, big relief for us. We are now down to two houses in Tucson and the 5th wheel...I feel good! Light at the end of the tunnel and it isn't attached to a train anymore!

We will be wrolling out of here tomorrow, heading towards Seattle for our first stop of our trip to Tucson. I got the truck washed today, trailer cleaned and packed, laundry done, assorted miscellaneous items retrieved from the house that I want to go to Tucson identified so when our niece and her husband bring the rest of our "stuff" that we couldn't part with to Tucson it will all be together. I'm pooped. Busy day, but felt very productive.

So we are
Wroamin' Wraspir's once again -- all pets included I hope.

What is it with Our kids and fire?

Odessa

We arrived back in Odessa last Wednesday after being in beautiful Noxon, MT for over 2 weeks. Yes, I came back here kicking and screaming the entire way -- I have work to do here and know it has to be done, but don't want to do it. After all, it's WORK!!

Last Sunday proved to be a very interesting, stressful, worrisome, scary day for us. About noon I signed on to the computer to check the status of the Station Fire in LA. The last I had checked it was headed towards the town of Acton, CA, which is not far from where our daughter Billie and son-in-law Dan live. So, on the computer on Sunday and holy crap...the fire is heading directly at them. I called Billie and yes, the fire is on the ridge above them and yes, they are staying and not evacuating. After a few choice words to them, I really start to worry. Given, Dan is a fireman, but this fire is huge. There is an engine from Orange County at their house, along with other assistance; but, can they ward off this monster that is heading their way? I talked to Billie a few times during the day getting progress reports of where the fire is. That evening I was away from my phone for a few minutes, and when I checked, Billie had called. The fire had gone around and over them. Burned to close to their house for comfort, but they saved their house and out buildings. Unfortunately, some of their neighbors weren't as fortunate and lost everything. God definitely had a hand in saving them...and thank you to all of you who said prayers for them.




Fire on the ridge

Fire at the house

After the fire

Then, on Tuesday, our granddaughter Sarah called to tell us she had a minor fire in her apartment!! WHAT is going on with fire and my family????? Apparently the unit next to her was being worked on and where they were welding caught fire and burned through her upstairs bedroom and bathroom wall. Not a lot of damage, luckily no smoke damage so they could stay in the apartment; but scary none the less. ENOUGH!!!

I just thank God that none of them were hurt --- now stop with the fire thing.

It was windy here yesterday and the wind was rearranging all the dirt around. Oh goodie, no sense in dusting yesterday! We are parked at our house for the next three weeks. I will be sorting, tossing and going through all of our stuff that remains in the storage trailer and getting ready for a HUGE garage sale during Deutschfest (Sept. 18-20) and hope to get rid of everything. No, make that, I WILL GET RID OF EVERYTHING, either by garage sale or to the Senior Center Thrift Store!!! Todd and Vicki have been living in our house since December last year, and Vicki has the law office here in Odessa and Todd is working on a ranch. Their two children, Alyssa (6) and Austin (4) are so darn cute and so much fun. We enjoy having them around and they pop in and out of our trailer frequently. So much energy....wow, I wish I had an eighth of it. So, if you are in area during Deutschfest, stop by and take a load home with you!!!!

Speaking of work, I am helping Vicki out in her law office for a few days. Helping may be to strong of a word....since I haven't worked in over 10 years. But I am here to answer the phone and do some filing for her and little things that really take no brain power!!!! I have forgotten more than I ever knew about working!!!