DARRELL RETIRES!!

WELL, THE DAY FINALLY ARRIVED, THE DAY DARRELL COULD RETIRE,  FRIDAY, OCTOBER, 28,  2011. WE'VE DREAMED ABOUT THIS FOR YEARS, HERE IT IS IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE....RETIREMENT!!!  I'M GLAD WE LIVED LONG ENOUGH TO SEE THIS DAY AND ARE IN GOOD ENOUGH HEALTH TO ENJOY IT!  WE FEEL VERY FORTUNATE, AND COUNT OUR BLESSINGS EVERYDAY!  THE COMPANY HAD A SMALL PARTY AND CAKE, COWORKERS GAVE CARDS, WELL WISHES,  LIKE, "YOU LUCKY DOG!",  HANDSHAKES AND  HUGS, AND A FEW TEARS (NOT DARRELL'S).  DARRELL DIDN'T SAY, BUT I THINK IT WAS A LITTLE SAD FOR HIM AFTER WORKING THERE FOR 17 YEARS, HE WILL MISS THE FOLKS HE WORKED WITH. CLINT, NIKKI AND I PICKED HIM UP AT 3:45, HE LEFT A LITTLE EARLY, AND WE ALL WENT UP TO ALPINE INN FOR DINNER.

WE ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO OUR RETIREMENT, I REMEMBER DARRELL'S CLASS SONG, MOON RIVER, ONE LINE WENT, TWO DRIFTERS OFF TO SEE THE WORLD, THERE'S SUCH A LOT OF WORLD TO SEE! AND WE HOPE  MAYBE , GOD WILLING,  AND THE CREEK DON'T RISE,WE GET TO SEE ALOT OF IT!!

CLOSING ON THE HOUSE & MOVING INTO GUSTOW

On Friday, September 16, 2011, we moved out of the house and into Gustow. Darrell pulled the RV down to Happy Holiday Campground, across from Reptile Gardens, where we will be until the end of October. Bandit is still with us, so we made a special place for him. Everyone here is so friendly and nice, we got to visit with several Workampers, who were willing to share their stories.

After all the downsizing I've done, I realized in a hurry, I still have kept too much "stuff", so I  will spend the next six weeks, organizing and continue downsizing. Even though we bought a new fifth wheel, we have had several minor problems, and we are really glad we have this time to get all the "bugs" worked out before we go on the road. We were both exhausted after the stressful move, and were glad we had finally "arrived".

We love our spot here, it is very quiet with plenty of room to walk the dogs and a small park where we can play with the dogs. The laundromat is close and clean. We discovered pretty quickly what a comfortable, convenient fifth wheel we had bought. We love our King size bed!

The day before we moved out of the house, we went into Kahler Prudential and signed all the necessary paperwork for the house.

We still feel very  fortunate,with  the real estate market the way that it is that we were able to get our house sold in 37 days! 

We definitely felt like we got this accomplished through the Team Effort of Kahler Prudential, Jeremy and ourselves.

On Friday afternoon, Darrell drove into Kahler Prudential Realty and picked up our proceeds for the sale of our house, we wanted to hold the check in our hands, if only for a short time.

  FINALLY.....the fruits of all our labor!!!  All the planning, all the work, it had all paid off, right here in this check, this was our opportunity to go out and live the life we want to live, however crazy that might be to some people. I read something somewhere along the way that really hit home with me. It said something like, how lucky we were to have found  a way of  life we love,  now we have to find  the courage to live it. And that is exactly what I plan on doing!

THE VERY LAST RUMMAGE SALE

We advertised this as our "Everything Must Go" Sale, we had it Saturday and Sunday Sept. 10 & 11, our last weekend in the house, our 16th rummage sale in 2 1/2 years.

Clint and Nikki came down and helped us get set up again. I don't know what we would have done without their help, they came every Friday for the last three rummage sales.

Floyd and Lily brought a trailer load of stuff over. They put the trailer way out front, which added alot of interest.

It was pretty slow, but we all managed to sell some items.

Buck and Thelma came by in the afternoon to add moral support. Hoping Sunday will be better.

LABOR DAY WEEKEND SALE

 With the house being sold, in only 37 days, and  possession set for " On or Before September 16" we had our  15th  rummage sale on Labor Day Weekend. We advertised it as our "Pre-Moving Sale".

We filled up all the tables again, and with Clint and Nikki's help we moved furniture from the house to the attached garage. So, we had two garages full!   Is it ever going to end????

We were very busy, and sold alot  of the furniture and quite a bit of the rummage  in the lower garage. We even filled up the yard again!

Even though we hadn't advertised to be open Sunday, we decided if we could get a few more items sold, it would make it easier when we moved. We did OK Sunday, and we were glad we had made that decision.

One more to go!