Short Trip

We spent last weekend up the coast in Pismo Beach.

The weather was very nice and we were able to enjoy some beach time.  We also spent one day with a group of friends doing some wine tasting in nearby Paso Robles.

It happened to be the same weekend as their annual Wine Festival.  The wineries were especially hospitable to all guests and we had a really nice time.

Nighttime visitor

The other night we were awakened by some noises outside our bedroom window.

When we looked outside and turned on the light we saw  a skunk finishing up his dinner.  The menu that night consisted (we think) of a mouse.  Whatever it was, it was a noisy little critter right until the end.

We closed the window and watched the skunk finish eating.  Fortunately, he didn't mind (or notice) that he had an audience.

New Couch

 Last week we finally got our new couch.  It took exactly 2 months from the day we ordered it to have it delivered to the house.

I guess there were some production delays at the factory and they ran out of the fabric that we had selected.

Not a big deal.  It's here now and should keep us quite comfortable for a long, long time.

Dodger Game

Saturday night Aimee got to go to a really good baseball game at Dodger Stadium.

Not only were the top two teams in the National League playing (with the Nationals' Stephen Strasburg pitching and Bryce Harper making his big-league debut) but it was also bobblehead night.

If that wasn't enough, the game featured a bottom of the ninth comeback and then a walkoff home run in the tenth inning by the league's leading home run hitter.

Bruce Show

Thursday night I went to the L.A. Sports Arena for a Bruce Springsteen concert.

Somebody had called me with one extra ticket that I could use by myself if I wanted.  So I did.

You'll see around 2:30 of this video that while I didn't know the people I was standing next to
Bruce sure seemed to.

I'm glad I moved from my seat in the rafters to a seat closer to the stage.  Even though I was behind the band, it was a good spot to see the show.

Car Trouble

Here is how our day started.

Just after 6:30 Aimee was on her way to work - except that her car didn't start.

We thought about jumpstarting it with my car but I thought it might be more than
just the battery since there seemed to be plenty of juice and the problem came on
quite suddenly.

We called AAA for a tow to the shop and maybe some bad news about the starter
or the alternator.

Fortunately it was just a very low battery that needed to be replaced.  The AAA
technician was able to drop in a new battery right there in our garage and now Aimee
is back at full strength.

Except that she was considerably late for work today.  I suggested she show them
this video if anybody thinks she just overslept this morning.

Softball Tourney

On Sunday Aimee participated in an all-day softball tournament.  This event is held every year to raise funds for SIDS research.

Aimee's team was sponsored by Disney and they did pretty well.  They ended up playing five games over the course of the day, coming up short in the championship game.

That made for a long day for Aimee.  She left the house at 7:30 a.m. and didn't make it home until 7:30 p.m.  Fortunately she had a fun time and met some new people.  Good thing she wasn't too worn out because she had another game the next night.

Tomato Time

Here's Aimee putting the final touches on this year's tomato crop.

We went to a nearby nursery recently that had dozens of different tomato varieties available.  We whittled down our list to six favorites and went with one of each.

So far they are doing very well.  After a couple of weeks and lots of morning sun the plants are more than a foot tall and starting to flower.

We also planted a couple of herbs and they are also going strong.

Mowing the Lawn

Aimee thought it was important to put up a video of our new lawn mower in action.

Well, she wasn't home when the lawn was being cut so I set up the camera myself while cutting the grass. This is a manual mower we picked up off of Craigslist this week. It should do the job for the size backyard that we have.

There was one very disinterested observer of the process. Rosebud could barely stay awake while the grass was cut.

Painting the Bathroom

Aimee has been busy painting the master bathroom.

First she took all the doors and drawers off of the cabinet and painted those a different color. Then she got some knobs for them so they'd be easier to open.

Finally, she painted the baseboards to match the cabinet and painted the walls and ceiling a brighter color as well.

Moving In

We've been spending the last couple of weeks getting our stuff set up in the new house. Fortunately the place was in very good shape when we moved in. All it needed was a little cleaning up and a couple of rooms needed to be painted before anything else happened.

One of the rooms that had to be painted right away was the laundry room. It was an unfortunate shade of yellow throughout and that needed to be addressed before the new machines could be installed.

We had to get new machines because our old ones were side-by-side and this new room dictated that a stacked unit be used. So we sold our old machines to the buyers of our old house and got new machines put in here as soon as the paint was dry.

Super Bath

Here's Rosebud celebrating Super Bowl Sunday with her traditional pre-game bath. Since it was almost 80 in the sun we thought an outdoor bath was the way to go. Too bad for her the water coming out of the hose was a bit chillier than she likes it to be.

Fortunately she could spend some time lounging in the sun after to soak up the warm rays. Aimee and I both enjoyed a pre-game nap and then a big bowl of home-made guacamole while watching the game.

Fruit Trees

One thing we will miss about our rental house is the abundance of free, fresh fruit.

In the backyard is this grapefruit tree which is just now coming into the prime of its season. The fruit are all big and juicy and taste very good. There is also a tree in the back that is a hybrid orange and lemon. It actually grows two different kinds of fruit and they're both good.

In the front yard there is an orange tree overflowing with oranges as big as softballs that are as juicy and tasty as any oranges I've had. Fortunately the new house also has a mature orange tree in the backyard and the one I grabbed off it a couple of weeks ago was fantastic.

New Griddle

Santa brought us a new griddle for Christmas.
We've been able to ring in the New Year with pancake breakfasts on Sunday mornings. Although, last weekend Aimee was a bit under the weather. The doctor ordered her to stay home from work for a few days due to a sinus infection. Now, thanks to antibiotics and lots of rest she is doing much better.

Nap Time

It was another four-day weekend for Aimee. After a couple of hours of softball and then frisbee with Rosebud at the park it was time to come home and get in one last nap for 2011.

At 79 degrees, it didn't take long for Aimee to ditch the blanket and come in looking for a cold drink.

Rosebud, however, manages to get her nap in no matter what. Not even the falling leaves raining down on her will get in the way of some well-deserved rest.

Christmas at the Beach

We had several days off for Christmas vacation and got lucky with beautiful weather. On Christmas we spent the afternoon at the beach.

The beach we went to is a few minutes past Zuma beach. It is a state park where you can take your dog onto the beach. There were several other dog owners there who had the same idea.

One thing we know Rosebud is not crazy about is swimming. You can see some pictures here of her trying to avoid the chilly water.

Merry (early) Christmas

Library Trip

On the day after Thanksgiving we paid a visit to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Musuem.

It is a very impressive place that just recently underwent a major re-model. It's located in Simi Valley, about a half hour drive from where we live. This was our first time there but as you can see from the pictures, we had some very special out-of-town guests who treated us to the visit.

One of the highlights is a walk through Air Force One. This is the plane that flew several presidents, up to and including George W. Bush. There is also a full-scale replica of the Oval Office just as it appeared during Reagan's time in office.

Here is a jelly bean mosaic of the former president that has caught Aimee's attention. We didn't have time for her to count them all.

At the end of the tour, not far from the spot where Reagan is buried, is a replica of the White House Rose Garden and a large chunk of the Berlin Wall.

The weather was very nice and, even though it was one of the busiest days of the year for visitors, we had a great visit.

Moving Day

Today was a good day. We officially closed escrow on the purchase of our new house and now have the home-buying process behind us.

We spent most of the day loading and unloading a U-Haul 14' truck moving our stuff from one house to another. Unfortunately the house we're moving into is not the house that we bought.

We are moving into a rental house nearby while we wait for the sellers to complete the purchase of their new house and move out of our new house. That was supposed to happen already but a last-second snag came up involving the title on the house they were purchasing and now there is a delay.

Hard to say how long the delay will be. It could be 3 weeks or it could be 3 months. We'll know soon. They are scrambling to get their move done as soon as possible because they have a 1-yr. old and another one on the way.

Lucky for us that we were able to find a rental that would give us a month-to-month lease. Hopefully we won't be there for long and then finally we'll be able to settle into our new house.

For now, we've still got some moving to do but the big stuff is taken care of. We'll be out of our old house for good this weekend.

Sold

We are no longer homeowners.

Yesterday the sale of our house closed and now we are officially renters at our house.

Fortunately, we have bought a new house and we are scheduled to close that sale in a couple of weeks. We should be all moved in by the weekend before Thanksgiving. We are lucky that we found a house we really like in the price range and area that we wanted. We also got lucky in that the house was not yet on the market and we were the first to see it.

It was just great timing that our agent got the listing for the house right when he did and knew that we would definitely be interested, which we were. Nobody else got to see the house and now we will move directly from here to there in a few weeks.

R.I.P. Harley

The Chair

One of the things about moving is finding some stuff to get rid of.

Here is a chair that has been around for quite a long time. I don't know how long exactly, but at least 40 years as far as I can remember. It's been with me for at least 15 years.

When we got Rosebud she was about a year old and still prone to chewing on things she shouldn't. The arm of this chair is her handiwork from that time. Other than that and some minor touchups needed, the chair was still quite useful.

Rosebud was the one who got the most use of it. It seemed to be her favorite spot for napping.
That's why it was a tough decision to make when we decided to part ways with the chair.

We're a little bit lighter in the furniture department and Rosebud is minus one favorite sleep spot. That's the way it goes. I imagine she'll find a way to adjust.

Housing update

Here is a picture of the built-in microwave in the kitchen of the house that we will not be buying.

We intended to buy the house. Until this morning we were about two weeks into escrow to buy the house. But that was before the inspection process turned up some issues with the house that needed to be dealt with.

The property sits on a hillside and there is a retaining wall at the lower end of the property that is holding back quite a bit of earth from sliding into the neighbor's pool below. The wall is doing a very good job of that and has been doing it for at least five years. It may very well continue to do a good job for another 10 or 20 years. There's no way to know for sure.

We do know that the wall was built without permits and not to code. And we know that the geologist we hired to look at it recommended it be torn down and rebuilt correctly. And since we know this (and the sellers now know this) we felt it was fair for some adjustment to be made to the purchase price of the house.

We consulted with several contractors about the scope of the job and the liability issues if the wall were to fail. It was made clear to everyone that this would be a very expensive fix.

In the end the sellers were not willing to reach an agreement with us that we could live with and so we have now cancelled the contract. We are disappointed not only because we thought the house was otherwise fantastic but now we will be in between houses for a short while because we sold our house on Wilbur.

That's the good news. We had a lot of interested buyers the first few days it was on the market and we were able to make a deal with a nice couple for a bit over the asking price.

So, we will probably be in a rental for a month or two or three while we look for our next home.

Minnesota Wedding

Last month we went to Minnesota for Aimee's brother's wedding. We hadn't been there to see Lars in five years so it was our first chance to meet his bride Molly.

We went there several days early and got to spend the week at their house near Minneapolis and we had a blast. The weather was perfect and we had a great time hanging out with the two of them in the days before their wedding.

We went out to eat a few times, took in a Twins-Red Sox game at the new outdoor ballpark downtown, played some miniature golf and took their pontoon boat out on the lake for a little cruise and some fishing.

Nils and Richard and Sook showed up a couple of days later and the whole family had a great time hanging out at the house (there was plenty of room for everybody) bar-b-queing and relaxing.

The wedding was on the second Saturday of the month and took place at a beautiful resort in northern Minnesota on the shore of Lake Superior. The day was beautiful and the ceremony was perfect. You can click here to see some pictures of the big day.

We can't wait to make it back to Minnesota for our next visit.

House Update

This is a picture of our front door.

That is a lockbox on our front door. You may recognize these lockboxes that are used by real estate agents. Why is there a lockbox on our front door?

Aimee and I have put our house up for sale. After 10 years here it is time for a change. We have begun looking for a new house in the area.

Last Sunday we had an open house and there was quite a bit of interest. It looks like we are very close to making a deal to sell our house. Then it will be up to us to find our new home where we can live happily ever after.