"Working Like Dogs" + Yet ANOTHER Garage Sale!!

Roger here....  We took these pictures at our VERY LAST garage sale

 that took place a couple of weekends ago, but have been too busy to write about it until now.  Today was the day that I planned to work in the yard at our new little house, bringing in outdoor hoses, planters, chairs, etc. before leaving Indiana until next May, but on a day that was supposed to be partly cloudy and dry, it is raining.  I was able to wash the motor home, including the roof, in the rain, but I refuse to do the other yard work until the rain stops.  (I was interrupted in the middle of this.  It is now 5:30 p.m. and it is STILL raining.)  So it is a good time to get the blog up to date.

To use Dianne's oft used expression, we have been working like dogs to get ready for our departure.  There was still a lot of "stuff" to get rid of (ours and our daughter's) in addition to some of our valuable antiques.  Soooo.....  Reluctantly, we had another garage sale.  This time, we timed it to coincide with Pendleton's Fall Heritage Fair, which always draws hundreds of out-of-town people.  It was a good decision.  About two-thirds of the "stuff" was sold after the two-day sale.  All of the remaining items were loaded in the car and taken to Goodwill.  Our new garage is now clear!  

We have also completely emptied the house and garage of the house that we are selling.  Dianne listed the last antiques on Craig's list and one very valuable 1830 nine foot tall-case clock on Ebay.  The clock was purchased  by a clock expert from Cincinnati, who assures us that he knows how to get the wooden works to once again keep time.  All of the other items are also gone.  The house and garage are totally empty.  What a relief!  We can now live the rest of our lives only being concerned about the few items we have in the little house that we will visit for a couple months each year and the motor home.   We also decided to keep our red 

Adirondack chairs so that we can enjoy the views of the soy bean field and woods across the street.

  The second floor of the little house is totally devoted to the storage of the items that we could not part with (photos, etc.), and the items that our daughters and granddaughter wanted us to keep for them. 

 Speaking of our grandaughter, Kaia called us today.  She just got her first report card from her new school in Fort Myers ---  nine A's and 3 B's.  Not bad!  We are so proud of her and can't wait to see her and her mother in our travels.  

We had the motor home serviced at Mt. Comfort RV yesterday - a VERY good place for service.  We have come to depend on their advice and trust the service that they have done for us.  Good people!  While we waited, we wandered through the store.  Dianne found an extension to add to our batwing so that we could, hopefully, get all of the local channels.  (There is a tree in front of our satellite's south view that needs to be addressed when we return in May.)  We have only been getting one of the three major networks.  I installed it, and it actually works!  Now we can keep up on the new network shows.  Too bad we did not get it earlier, since we are leaving on Sunday.  

I will end with what I think is a funny story.  (Dianne may not.)  We both have a laundry list of tasks to accomplish before we leave for the Gypsy Journal Eastern Rally in Celina, Ohio on Sunday.  One of the items was to address the locking of our new front and garage doors.  Since we did not have a key for the garage door, nor the ability to shut the storm door in the front without it blowing open, both needed to be repaired.  We made a quick trip to the local hardware store and purchased a new handle/lock (with new keys) for the garage door, and a new handle mechanism for the storm door in the front.  Dianne and I agreed that we could each install one of the items.  Dianne took the storm door, so I started on the garage door.

We have a photo of the new garage walk-in door lock  installation.  It works REALLY well.  After I finished, I went into the house to see how Dianne was doing.  

Let's just say that despite the smile on Dianne's face (with the drill), that things were not going well.  Evidently, the installation require the drilling of a couple of new holes in the metal storm door.  As you can see,  Dianne drilled at least five.    

 Fortunately, they are all now covered by the new installation, which, I must admit, was much more involved than mine.  Oh well!  Everything now works.  It's all good!

Our next entry will probably be from the Gypsy Journal Eastern Rally in Celina, Ohio.  We have been looking forward to this for far too many months.  It should be both fun and educational as we learn some of the new skills of our adopted lifestyle.  WE CAN'T WAIT TO GET THERE.

Dianne here:  Boy, do we need a break, and we REALLY need to soak up this rally and remember why we've been doing all this work this summer, and what we're working towards.  We have both reverted to our former stressed-out selves, and can't wait to get all this behind us and hit the road once again!!    

Indiana State Fair, House News, and Yet Another Garage Sale!

Roger here....  

It has been another busy week.  Since we have been back in Indiana, we seem to be working harder than ever, at least physically harder.   I am really looking forward to January when we will be spending a couple of months at Bentsen Palm Village in Mission, Texas.  Staying in one place for two months will be a different experience for us as full-timing rookies.  Should be fun.

In the midst of all the work, we did take a break last Thursday evening to attend the Indiana State Fair with our friends, Jay and Nancy.

  The State Fair was always a big deal for those of us who grew up in Central Indiana.  My dad used to show cattle when he was a kid, and slept in the stall with the livestock.  His dad (Grandpa) showed apples from his orchard every year.  The walls of the apple barn next to Grandpa's house used to be covered with all the ribbons that he won over the years. 

 I personally, growing up as a townie, was not into 4-H, showing livestock, or growing produce (except for one year in 4-H with an insect collection - blue ribbon at the county fair),  However, I loved the State Fair, My memories of the fair from my youth included the midway rides, great food that sometimes made you 

sick, looking at all the animals, watching the high school bands perform, and wandering around with my family and friends.  Actually, when Dianne and I were dating, we spent a day wandering around the State Fair.  

It was a nostalgic day.  Many things were the same.   Some were different.  The world's largest hog was still on display, as was the display of grotesquely-large pumpkins

 (see photo).  The rows and rows of apples that I remembered from my grandfather's day had shrunk to a couple of tables.  The walking and walking and walking

 to see everything was still a challenge.  We did not ride the plentiful tractor-pulled carts

 that have operated for at least 50 years, because the exercise was good for us :).  The greasy and yummy food was everywhere.  We did pretty well, health-wise, eating a ribeye sandwich and a loaded baked potato for dinner.  However, I must admit that we did sample some very good and very greasy onion rings, and the mandatory cinnamon-sugar-coated elephant ear.  We passed on this year's specialty, deep-fried, chocolate-coated bacon -- just too weird.   In passing, Jay said that a lot of the food was deep-fried.  I challenged him to find something that was not.  He did - lemonade shake-ups and pineapple whip  :).

The highlight for me was walking through the horse barn and petting those magnificent animals.  The gigantic draft horses were amazing.  There must have been some sort of horse show in the coliseum, because we passed several silver-ladened teams of horses pulling a variety of carts.  

Lots of fun.  Lots of memories.

Back to our hectic lives:  Our house has sold, barring any unforeseen circumstances.   The closing will be in late October when we are in Kansas, so we will have to use technology to sign the papers.  This is wonderful news for the two of us - something that will truly enable us to enjoy our new lifestyle as full-time RVers.  Yippeeeeeeeeeeee!   We have been working toward this for three years.  Things are finally moving in the right direction.

Just to keep things interesting, our daughter and granddaughter have moved to Ft. Myers, FL.  We may have already posted this.  Dianne and I own (no mortgage) the small house in Pendleton that they have lived in for the past several years. 

 In addition to selling the antique furniture from the house that we just sold, we are now getting rid of the "stuff" that Amanda and Kaia did not take with them to Florida, and in the process giving the house a GOOD spring cleaning (in August).

We had a yard sale last Saturday that included items from both houses.  We did get rid of a lot of the bigger (size-wise) items - one of the goals.

  BUT, on a day that only had a 10% chance of rain, it rained off and on all day.  (Note from Dianne:  I hurried up to get ready for a garage sale this day because the forecast all week was for BEAUTIFUL weather, sunny and high 70s.   We were outside by 5:45 a.m. hauling things out to display in the yard.  You guessed it -- as we were putting the last items out around 8:00 a.m., it started to drizzle.  It turned out to be a really lousy day, and the WORST garage sale I've ever had!!   We spent all day trudging things in and out, tracking mud on the floor, drying things off only to have the drizzle begin again.  It was miserable!!!!!)

 A few things, none valuable, were ruined as we hauled things into the house, then out of the house, then into the house, ad nauseam.   I must reveal that there was some snipping between Dianne and me throughout the day (an understatement -- D.), and the garage is still packed with items that we must dispose of.   We are planning to do it all over again with better advertising and a nicer day hopefully (weather-wise) on the weekend after Labor Day. 

 This will coincide with the annual Heritage Fair in Pendleton, so there will be a lot of out-of-town traffic, which usually helps.

In the midst of all this, our older daughter, Robyn, who is currently performing on an NCL cruise ship in Hawaii through Second City (Chicago), called.  We have not seen her FOREVER.  We are storing her car in our garage until she finishes her current stint.  Anyway, she is pretty sure that she wants to try things out in Los Angeles.  She has been very successful acting and doing improv comedy in Chicago, so this seems like a logical step.  It is a good thing that we can easily bring our home across the country to visit both our daughters (Florida and California).  

Finally,  Dianne and I have made a pretty major decision:   We have decided to keep the small cottage-style house that our daughter and granddaughter lived in.  Our original plan was to buy a parking spot with a Florida/Arizona room in a warm area that we would leave in the hot months.  Now we plan to arrive in Indiana in August so that I can continue to do HR consulting for my former school corporation, stay through the early fall (beautiful in Indiana), then travel for the other ten months.  Financially, this makes sense for us, since we already own the small house, and know that right now we could not recoup our original investment.  

Property taxes are low on a small Indiana house.  

We would have a place to land when we can no longer "walk".  And besides, we love Pendleton, IN.  It is a beautiful hidden secret that the people of suburban Indianapolis will soon discover next to interstate 69. 

  (Dianne here:  What Roger forgot to mention is that his parents used to own this little house as a rental.  When we were newlyweds in 1972 we lived here for almost a year, rent-free.   Then Roger's brother lived here when he first graduated from Purdue until his marriage.   This little house has a lot of family history!   Roger's uncle purchased the house from Roger's parents, and lived here until just before his death.  We purchased it from his estate for our daughter and granddaughter to live in as long as they needed a home.   As we were painting the upstairs trim yesterday, I remarked to Roger that if someone had told me when I was 23 years old and painting this room that I'd be re-painting it when I was 58 years old, I wouldn't have believed them!   I guess we've come full-circle....)

The house, which looks great (quaint) on the outside, 

needs a little (not a lot) of work on the inside.  We will probably return for a couple weeks in May to put up some bead-board walls in the main room and put new flooring in the bathroom and laundry room.  It already has a new foundation and substructure flooring (due to an unfortunate termite experience about 3 years ago).  The main room and kitchen have nice-looking laminate flooring that Dianne installed a couple of years ago, after the termite fiasco.  We will put our bedroom furniture, a wicker couch, a Lazy Boy recliner on the first floor, and use the second floor for storage.  The views are of a forested vacant lot and a large soy-bean/corn field with a forest in the background.  Falls Park on the falls of Fall Creek, one of the best small-town parks (including hiking trails) in the midwest, is only two blocks away.   (Dianne again:  It is also right down the street from the Every-Saturday-In-Summer farmer's market, walking distance to the local library and the center of town, and just down the street from the community swimming pool.   Location, location, location.   We will call it our "glorified storage unit.")

Last week we had a 50-amp outlet installed so that we can run both air conditioners in the motor home.  (We intend to sleep in the motor home when we stay here.)  We may cut down a small tree and have a pad, that allows our dish to face the southern sky,  installed so that we can resume our satellite coverage during the few weeks we are here.   

 (In this neighborhood, there is not a problem, expense or hassle with covenants or homeowners' associations.   We already pay someone to keep it mowed, so it seems to be the perfect solution for us to be able to travel as much as we want and still live mostly on Roger's pension.  -- D)

My life as a school administrator was always challenging, rewarding, stressful, and busy.  Right now my life seems to be the same (without the income).  The good news is that we are very close to having the challenges, the rewards, and the busyness, and leaving the stress behind.  As I said before, I can't wait until January.  By the way, the dogs don't seem to be nearly as busy as Dianne and me!

Domestic Bliss (Boredom)

Hi all, Dianne here.  Well, we've continued mowing, watering, pulling weeds, and generally keeping our house in Pendleton ready for the realtor.  Not too much interesting to write about, so we didn't.

Our "grandpuppy," Cinnamon, came to keep us company while we worked in the yard.  She loves to run and play with our two dogs.  Surprisingly, her short little legs do pretty well against our made-for-speed whippets, and it's fun to watch them chase each other around the yard.   

Roger here...  When we are working at the house and leave the yard to run errands,  Jasper and Cinnamon lurk around by the driveway gate until we return.  Jasper 

is usually on full alert while Cinnamon lays down and chills out with her nose under the gate. 

 Chaplin, who is always in a fog, does not seem to realize when we leave and is usually sprawled out in the sun somewhere in the yard, looking as if he died several days ago.  

Thanks to a suggestion from one of you, I purchased a CD set of "Birding by Ear" and am trying to learn how to identify birds by their song.  The photo of Roger shows his expression while enduring our boring drive back and forth to Pendleton from Summit Lake as he listens to my birding CDs.  (He was mugging for the camera.)  (Roger here...  the bird tape is mind-numbing!  We eventually reached a compromise  - bird tapes on the outgoing trip, music on the incoming trip.)

   He might complain, but he's learning some songs, too.   We've decided Summit Lake is just too far to drive back and forth, so we're going to stay at a private campground which is much closer when we're in the area next time.

Anyone who knows cats knows how eccentric they can be.  Our cat, Charlie, is no exception.  His eccentricities include wanting our sliding doors inside the motor home open at all times.  If you shut one to use the facilities, he shows his displeasure by pounding on the door until you open it for him to enter.  Of course, if you do that, as soon as you close the door again he immediately wants back out. 

 His other eccentricity occurs EVERY TIME I make the bed, no matter where he is or what he's doing, he feels he just has to help by jumping up and laying down exactly in the spot I'm trying to make.  

 He also wrestles with our dog, Jasper.   Jasper takes it upon himself to scold Charlie every time Charlie tries to sharpen his non-existent front claws on the sofa.  They actually interact much more than Jasper does with Chaplin, our other whippet.

Our daughter, Amanda, and granddaughter, Kaia, came to enjoy dinner and a camp fire again while we were at Summit Lake.  Kaia has decided our new lifestyle isn't so bad, especially since she has all the comforts of home including the 

Jonas Brothers on TV and the Disney internet site,

 no matter where we are.   We can still make brownies together, and they turn out just as good as they did in my expensive Thermador dual-fuel range in the house.

Roger here...  Many of our friends and relatives don't realize this, but Dianne is an O.W.G. - Opportunistic Wood Gatherer.  She inherited this affliction from her grandmother, Clara, who was one of the thriftiest persons I have ever known.  She actually cut the ends off toothpaste tubes to squeeze out the last little bit before tossing the tubes in the trash.   (Dianne here:  funny he should mention this; I just now did the same thing to MY toothpaste tube! -- "Waste Not, Want Not.")   By the way, so no one misinterprets my little bit of fun, Dianne's grandmother, who lived to be 105, was one of the best persons I have ever known.  I miss her very much.

Anyway, back to Dianne's O.W.G disorder.  When we stay through the weekend in a state park, Dianne patiently waits for the weekend campsites to clear early Sunday evening.  She then lurks among the empty campsites gathering wood (often partially burned) from the fire rings and dragging it back to our site where the pyro-queen assembles her own unique 

conflagration.  During Amanda and Kaia's last visit, Kaia (in her constant search for snack food) asked where Meemaw was.  When I said that she was stealing firewood, she responded, "Oh, again!  Can I have a coke?"

We are now at Prophetstown State Park near West Lafayette, IN - in my opinion, the best Indiana State Park Campground - outstanding facilities, including full hookups, with beautiful, spacious, very private sites.  More on Prophetstown the next time.

House Furnishings For Sale Listing

Forgive the self-promotion -- Here is a link to a web photo listing of the furniture, lamps, wall decor, lawn furniture, lawn ornaments, including some antiques that we have for sale at our sticks and bricks house in Pendleton, Indiana, along with prices and availability dates.  

http://s2.photobucket.com/albums/y14/DianneN/Furniture%20For%20Sale/

This is primarily for our local readers who know us and follow along.  We are trying to get the word out to as many people as possible about the furnishings that we have for sale, so feel free to cut and paste and forward the link to anybody you know who might be interested!

Items are for pick up only.   (We do not have a truck or any means to deliver the furniture.)   Our e-mail address is rogerdianne26@yahoo.com if you want to contact us about any of the items.

The left side of the web page has "tags" that you can click on if you are only interested in lawn furniture or lawn ornaments and don't want to wade through all the indoor furnishings.  

Now if somebody would only buy the house......

I will add a permanent link to the furniture photos along the left side of our blog for future reference.  

Thanks for checking it out!!

Garden Tour - Free for you!

Hi all -- Dianne here.   The Pendleton Garden Walk on Saturday was a big success.  Weather was good, and the final tally was 112 people walked through our yard!   

The timing of it was perfect, because as I type this on Sunday, our realtor is having another open house, so even more folks can see it and maybe even want it for their own!!

On Friday evening, Roger and I met the other garden tour participants, and we drove around and visited all eight gardens that were scheduled to be on the tour.   It was a good variety and interesting to see what others have done.

The 112 people who came through our yard had to pay $5 each, but we will give you a free tour, using photos Roger took after all the weed pulling, mowing, leaf blowing, weed eating, dead-heading, and watering, but before the actual tour began!   I will upload the photos and let Roger take it from here.

Roger here...  There is really not too much to add other than we seemed to have picked the hottest and most humid week of the summer to do all this work, but it was definitely worth it.  The yard has never looked better and it was gratifying to hear all the positive comments from our visitors and from the tour organizers.  

We are done pulling weeds for a couple weeks and moving tomorrow from Summit Lake State Park to Brown County State Park, just outside of Nashville, IN.  

We have camped at Brown County on many occasions over the years.  It has always been one of our favorite parks.  Lots of hills, hiking and interesting things to do in the quaint little town of Nashville.  Since we will be a little farther from our house in Pendleton, the temptation to drive over to work in the yard will be a little less.  Our daughter will be watering the plants on the days that it does not rain, and we will be making a few trips back to mow the yard and check on things.  It will be nice to have a few days of rest.