EndOfHisRope: Diary & Log

Every year since about 1998, Gregg's mom and OJ attempt to gather up all the family for a day in the snow in Leavenworth. 

My favorite freeway -- playground for a few hours.  Which was a good thing for me.  For several years I had wanting to walk along this waterfront freeway to enjoy it good views of the city, Elliott Bay and the Olympic Mountiains.  It was cloundy the mid-June Saturday, so the mountains weren't out. 

It was another crazy week at work.  I worked too many hours:  many of them frustrating and fruitless; some very early morning; one full 8-hour day on a conference call and WebEx.  My weekend got off to a decent start with a nice Friday night dinner of pizza slices followed by a couple of cocktails with friends.  Saturday was full of appointments, volunteer committee meetings and errands.  Luckily the final appointment was fun evening with a bunch of friends as we celebrated Craig's 40th birthday at his home in the Madison Valley of Seattle.  

Plus some thoughts of me when I was about this old, in 1955

After more than 3 years of anticipation, Jack coordinated the construction (and did 98% of the work) of a new shed in my back yard.

Considering the damage all around Puget Sound we made out easy.  No damage or power outage here, but Gregg's mom house had some excitement.

This is the 3rd year in a row Gregg and I have gone to the IAGSCD convention in Anaheim .  This group from Seattle was just part of nearly 1000 people who were there.  While there we visited Disneyland too.

Staying around western Washington while on vacation

Back in September 2006 I decided to let my hair grow out.  I went to work after Labor Day and annouced "I am growing a Mullett".  After 6 years of a crew cut, the long wavey hair is a nice change, but the curly stuff at the base of neck is a bit much.

  Not much of a story here, but hey.  You must be killing time if you are reading someone else's diary.

A lot of news:  A trip to Palm Springs for Gregg and me... Gregg goes back again to sign a teaching contract... I give notice at work... we go bowling...  we start packing to move south... remodeling the kitchen begins.

Jack started kitchen and dining room demolition and remodel on Wednesday, March 28th.  He promises to have it completed before he leaves on a train trip vacation Monday, April 9th.  With just a few hours to go, it looks like he'll make it.

It wasn't sad, but there was a little twinge of something being let go as we had our last gathering at Fort Worden State Park.  Most everyone agrees that the first gathering here was in 1989.  A lot of memories have been made and recalled here, but the time has come to move on and start antother tradition.

A week of work and a weekend of fun.  Some of the fun was on Saturday at Spring Thaw XIII.

Karl and Jack were at Spring Thaw as well.

On Sunday Jack & Karl finished installling the kitchen cabinets.

With just about 9 weeks until I leave Seattle I'm running out of time to do all those little things I want to get done before I go.  I wanted to visit the graves of my grandparents, but I didn't want to attend a funeral for a friend.

Here is Gregg at Golden Gardens Park feeding the birds.  We do this several times a month.  This park is just a few minutes drive from our house.  I'm sure we'll be doing this a few more time before we move to Palm Springs.

It was my intention to get a diary entry every week, but we all know the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.  Here are the highlights of what happened this past month:

• A Mother's Day spent with 2 aunts, 1 uncle and 2 cousins in Stanwood.
•  Final mad rush to get the house ready for market -- but taking time out to see an steam engine train.
• A trip to Denver for a square dance convention
• Putting the house on the market and getting an offer

This is the final entry for this diary page.  The month of June was hectic with the final preparations for moving.  The final weekend in Seattle, July 6-9, was all about cleaning out the house.  Before all that we did have some good times with friends as Gregg had his farewell party at school and I had two retirement parties from my workplace.