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This has been a crazy year. Several family members and a friend passed away, and memorials to attend away from home. Protest marches, threatening wildfires, camping adventures cancelled, and other unfortunate events. We are hoping the year 2026 will have less distractions so we can enjoy retirement to its fullest.

We went camping at the Desert View Campground at the Grand Canyon. Small campground for smaller camper trailers, perfect for our 17 ft. Casita. Wonderful experience. Away from the crowds at the eastern end of the Canyon. We will surely go back there in the future for a 7 day stay as this time was only a few days.

It has been a very snowy winter here in Southwest Colorado. We have spent a great deal of time shoveling snow. I believe our area is up to 6 ft. Not as much as many other places in the country, however to us it is the most we have seen since 2001.

I have photos to show the next time I post. Happy New Year, albeit a bit late. Mary

This year is full of promise as the covid-19 pandemic is waning. My husband and I are enjoying our 17 ft. Casita Camper. I plan to blog more this year with our adventures, past and present. Stay tuned.

Here it is a year later and I am finally posting. We had a good 2021 despite covid-19 putting a damper on activities. Having a camper trailer at this time has been a great investment. We camped at many places this past year. Being semi-retired has been a real joy. Next year will be full retirement and I will see if I can keep myself busy.

Hopefully that will mean posting more to my blog. I write a lot of emails so it would be good to post here and then send a link to my friends. Just one click and they can see my photos and activities. Until then, stay well everyone! Mary

It is amazing to me how time seemingly flies by. It is a good thing I keep a paper calendar with all my activities for the year. Last year, 2020, was certainly one for the books. Good things happened along with the bad. For us, covid-19 did not affect our daily lives too much like it has for millions of others. We feel extremely lucky to live in a rural area and not a big city at this time.

September 17^th, Floor installation begins

E-mails with progress:

Sept 18^th e-mail to friend

Only day two of installation but what is down looks good.  They are supposed be done laying the wood by Friday.  Next Monday through Wed will be sanding.  The next two days, or so,  my husband and I will put down the varnish.  Those nights we are staying at friends because the smell will be really bad. (addendum, they talked us into them doing the varnishing)

September 18^th e-mail to nephew

We had our 28th anniversary last Saturday Sept 15 but spent it working. Figures.  I doubt we have celebrated our anniversary on the actual date in YEARS.

September 22 to Anna

Install complete.  Next week sanding and finishing.  Friday and Saturday (maybe even Sunday) we will be staying overnight somewhere else due to the smell of the varnish.  We need to use oil base stuff and the “flash off” smell is not good for us.  Besides, I hate that smell.  It must be done so I have planned places to stay overnight.  It will be like a mini-vacation!

Then when we get back, it will be the painstaking of moving everything back to where it belongs.  Being EXTRA careful not to mark up our new flooring.

Then, Kerry can get back onto making the door jambs for the solar room door installation.  Yay.

Today we are taking the Datsun to FINALLY get fixed from the deer damage from July the 4th.  Talk about a long time in coming!!!!  Hard to find parts for a 1982 Datsun, but the body shop and us managed to find a new left front fender.

Sept 26 email

Friday morning the guys will come to buff and then varnish the floor.  We booked a cabin nearby with a gift certificate I got at a silent auction.

Sat. morning they will come back to lightly sand the first coat, and then put down the second coat.  That night our friends are having a “music night” and we will be staying at their house.  Actually they have cabins they rent out on Air Bnb and are giving us one of those.  Sweet.

Sunday I have no idea if the floors will be fit enough for us to stay at home.  I am lobbying to stay away an extra day.  Mostly due to the smell but also to let the floors really dry well.  If Kerry agrees, we will go over to JR’s to visit and spend Sunday night in their camper.

Our plans continue to change with the conditions.  I am very glad Kerry is flexible when it comes to this kind of thing.  One more night away won’t hurt us.

That said, on Monday I have a new late-start class beginning.  So, will need to take my computer and find wi-fi somewhere.  McDonald’s is always a good option if I cannot find a library with wi-fi that does not need a password (our library has a password, even though it is free).

Today and tomorrow we will be getting stuff done that has been put off since the guys arrived to do the floors.  Some of it is buying materials to finish the solar room.  Finding the right wood around here is a real challenge!!!  Anything custom takes time and effort, besides costing more.  Oh well, the joys of country living!  ha ha

Sept 29 email to Anna

Big Delay on floors.  The workers came yesterday to varnish and said the wrong stuff came in.  It might be in on Monday or maybe not until Tuesday.  This totally screws up our plans!!!!  Now we have to re-group on when we will be staying somewhere else overnight.  We have places to stay but the change is such a delay.

Next week it is also supposed to get cold and rainy.  Not good for oil-based varnish drying.  We will make the best of it, of course, however when the job is done and before Kerry pays him, I think Kerry will have a little talk with the owner.

10-4-18 email to Anna

We went home yesterday, Oct 3rd and there were several Major problems with part of the flooring.  Ripples in the sanding of the wood right in the middle of the room!  Not in the Utility room, it is perfect.  “Sigh”.  The guys are back today to fix the mistakes and that means we will be staying over at our friend’s house again tonight and tomorrow night.  Never a dull moment at my house.  I cannot make plans until they are completely done!!!!

I am at the library now on my computer. Poor Kerry has to stay at the house while they work.   Wow, big thunderstorm today!  We got 1/3 of an inch of rain in a very short period of time.  Weird weather for October.  Phoenix got over 2 inches of rain.  Scottsdale college closed school for a day on the 2nd.

I saw your message about my living room. The picture is where our dining room table goes.  You should see the great room and spare bedroom.  Stuffed with furniture and other items.  It  has been very draining not knowing from day-to-day where we are sleeping.  So far, two days out, one night home and then repeat.  There is also WAY more dust than I anticipated.  Most of the sanders have dust collectors but one DOES NOT.  Cleaning is going to be a nightmare!!!!!

10-4-18 email to Anna

The worst part is not knowing from day to day what we are doing.  This delay is causing other delays (ie. the solar room door install).  Kerry still has to make the door jambs and it is now cold and rainy!  Not good for varnish drying or for him to work on his door project.  He has to be at the house every minute monitoring the workers and not doing anything else.

To be fair to the installers, they installed the wood correctly.  It is the finishing that has been a problem.  Too many details to go into right now.

As for the great room, with the wood stove, we will have carpeting so it is not being done.  The kitchen table and other stuff is in their now.  Hope that helps explain.

BTW,  We have told J.R. and family we would be over twice now.  And then had to say plans had changed.  Now today we will go back over to  B&V’s house again.  Victoria is on vacation in  Italy until Saturday but her husband Bob is around.  We know, yet another Bob.  We must know about 8 of them!!!!

10-4-18, later in Day:
Caption:  You are not gonna believe this!

I came home from the library today and Kerry said “we had an incident”.   Apparently after the flooring guys left, their work trailer caught on fire!!!!!!

Kerry was still here, Thank God.  Other days we have left right away but I was gone so we didn’t leave immediately (won’t tomorrow either).

Kerry surmised that the combination of saw dust in a bag that had some uncured varnish in it is what caught on fire.  Too many Details  but Kerry got the fire out before the fire department came (volunteer dept took 15 minutes to arrive).

Sooooo tonight we go back to B&V’s house overnight.  Kerry will come back tomorrow another finish coat plus maybe some unforeseen other small issues.

I know, it would be good to call you but I am just trying to get by until this ordeal is over.  Then we can have a conversation.

Good news.  No one was hurt!  The trailer was saved!  We have good friends that will put up with us.  LIFE IS GOOD, or at least what you make of it.

10-5 e-mail to Anna

Still dealing with flooring issues but looks like by tomorrow we can stay in our own house again (I hope).  It is supposed to get really cold on Sunday, high of 47 here.  Brrr

October 17, email to Anna

LONG STORY with our seemingly never-ending floor installation. The guy is here today to finish the install of the bull-nose that goes around the great room. (more sanding today) It will then need to be stained and varnished.  We decided NOT to be crazy people and rush the job, so we will still have varnish smell on Saturday of this week. Therefore, must postpone wine group.

Sigh, in addition the weather is not being good to us.  Cold, rain/snow, wind.  Yes, I am whining.

After a long, hot, and smoky summer.  Fall has arrived.  The colors are not as fabulous as usual but still nice.

My sister Anna and her wonderful boyfriend, Daniel came to visit us in Colorado. YahOOOO!