Filling the Tank

Filling the tank takes on a whole new meaning when your car of choice is a 38 Ft Class A Motorhome. LOL  The motorhome is averaging 10 mpg on the open highway and 9 mpg in the hills and passes. This is much better than our 15 pass pulling the 31 foot trailer.

We have completed our first road trip - not the trip we had dreamed - but a good trial run to see what we love and what we need to tweak. Michael has been spending a lot of time fixing things and tweaking things at the Motorhome....I'll need to get over there and get some photos.

"Over there?"  My brother and his wife have graciously allowed us to park the lovable beast  at their place. We discovered the driveway here, where we are house-sitting, is inclined just enough to make for very alarming noises and scratches when pulling out of the driveway. We opted not to put it back in place here.

We are enjoying living in a stick and brick house. The best thing about it is the 2 minute drive to the college campus where the girls and BELLA live. We will be a bit sad to leave such an ideal location, but can't find any spots this side of town - so we'll head up I5 to a park in a couple of weeks.

We've been busy with probate/estate stuff, Michael's therapy and doctors,  fixing the motorhome, SCHOOL, supporting Mom during her cancer treatment, and enjoying family.  It takes a lot of energy to process the loss of a loved one - we continue to process.

Our plan is to remain here as long as Michael needs to be here to complete the season of  therapy.  We'll be making a trip to Denver (Mom G's Graveside service) and Texas (Jamin's graduation from A &M) in May. We plan to be here for June and probably until mid-July to welcome a new grandson. The boys will fly to AK for an epic hiking trip in early June. We hope to hit the ALCAN Hwy in July and spend the end of July and August in Alaska. We'll enjoy JaRissa, scope out future locations to live, and introduce the young ones to the great state of ALASKA. We may travel in the NE in the fall and then head back to the NW for the Holidays...and then? Moving to Alaska in winter seems a bit threatening so we may travel a bit more. . .or not?  As with all our plans, we fully expect them to change!

I've dipped my toe back into the blogging world and will be back dating a few posts when I am inspired.

Recent Recap

Februarys are ALWAYS one of the busiest months of our year. I breathe a sigh of relief when 1 March hits. As I start to blog, I realize it is easier to share glimpses and move on.

12 Feb  - took care of last minute details for the memorial service; continued looking for titles and such.

13 Feb - Mom G's memorial service - great to see family and friends

14 Feb - Michael, Reb and I ran into town to work on a few things and enjoyed dinner out together. This is our 33rd anniversary.

15 Feb - Reb left, we kept looking for titles, boys had Japanese

Snuggled in at Beale Fam Camp

16 Feb - 18 Feb  - We traveled down to Beale Air Force Base. Michael spent a day and a half hounding the owner of the moving company which had our things. I spent a day calling creditors, insurers and such for Mom G's estate.

We were incredibly blessed by Brittney loaning us Stefan's car. I was sad he was deployed, but we were incredibly blessed to use his car.

Michael spent Saturday trying to fix the horn on the motor home and I spent it visiting with friends.

19 Feb we left the flooded areas and drove back to our little spot in the redwoods.

View from my windshield

20 Feb  - we pruned trees - in the rain - but it had to be done. Michael wanted to get this done before the trees budded.

All the rain had the river quite high.....it certainly changes with the seasons

21  - 22 Feb -  We moved into town and parked with our windshield to the ocean....We didn't have a toad along and so we needed to be in town so we could walk to appointments.

Best Ever #ViewFromMyWindshield

We visited with a lawyer, a realtor, the county court recorders, county title and deeds office, a banker and I can't remember what else.  The boys had another Japanese lesson - thank God for web X and tutors.

Michael's hoodie is caught in the slide

23 Feb - We had a couple of errands before we hit the highway for OR. Dad G had planted a Bing Cherry tree years ago and was disappointed it never produced. Michael talked with a neighbor who own orchards and discovered there needed to be another cherry tree to cross-pollinate.  We "zipped" in and out of a couple of nurseries, not an easy task with a 38 Ft vehicle, and finally found the right tree. We expected a potted tree, but Alex and Michael had to dig this one up.

We stopped in the park and planted the cherry tree. We also took lots of exterior and interior photos for the realtor/probate stuff.

Would you believe it was BRIGHT and SUNNY this day. It made it hard to leave the area - but leave we did.  We got back to Eugene late on the 23rd.

24 Feb we caught up on laundry, unloaded the motorhome and moved it to Will and Sherri's.

25 Feb we met with Rebecca and her friend to share what we'd discovered about the estate and to plan a way forward.  We continue to close out eras and ring in new seasons. We enjoyed visits from BreZaak, Bella and Arielle.

26 Feb - Current we are back house-sitting; hitting our books with a vengeance, sorting through things we may not want in the motorhome, visiting doctors, taking mom and dad to doctors,  and Michael is working incessantly on repairs and tweaks at the motorhome. And Gemma is getting lots of Bella time in - for which I am grateful.

Bella @ 11 months

One of the best things - Ok  - The BEST thing about house-sitting is being a short 2 minute drive from the college campus where BreZaak, CoRielle, and BELLA live.  We have totally LOVED the impromptu visits from one and all....and getting Bella Time is PRICELESS.  Here are a "few" photos of  Bella in her tenth month.

Gemma may be a poor influence on the darling Bella....

Trying to pick her nose

Making faces at Gemma 

She loves Auntie and Uncle time 

Aunt Stacia and Bella

Uncle Nolan and Bella

Uncle Alex, Bella and Aunt Arielle

 My favorite of the month 

Such a wise little one

Two bottom teeth - top ones will be in any day

 

We usually wear her out! 

Bella is developing a fun personality.

She growls, she laughs, she giggles.

She puts her hand on her chest and says, "Huh?"

She is most often smiley and friendly.

She's a HUGE tease.

She's an OBVIOUS extrovert. At restaurants, she will turn completely around in the high chair to talk with the baby next to her. ::snort::

This little one is amazing to us. I was supposed to watch her on Tuesday for Bre to get a haircut. Um....about that....Bre and I talked so long she missed her haircut....but Bre agreed to let us watch Bella for a couple of hours anyway so she could work on her school work (Masters degree).

Oh - the joy! 

Maybe???? 

 In a remarkable show of good timing - she took her first steps when Daddy and Mommy were both there and Gemma was handy with the camera. She'll be walking soon. Yuuki is intrigued by Bella - from a distance. 

Love that little tongue

Neurology Appointment

On the one hand, it feels like much has happened in six months.

On the other hand, it seems it can't possibly have been six months since Michael's last neurology appointment.

We decided, rather than spending a few days in Portland,  Michael and I would just drive up and back in one day. This allowed the kids to continue their new momentum in school.

It allowed us to have a whole day together.

 I downloaded an ap - Happy Cow - which tells what vegetarian, vegan and restaurants with vegan options are nearby. The "vegan options" are our best bet....and we found one with yummy options for both of us....Sharky's Woodfired Mexican Grill.  I have got to learn how to cook with tofu, that was some seriously good fajita burrito. 😊Yummy options is the key here. I can find something to eat ALMOST ANYWHERE but I get tired of eating iceberg salads when we eat out.

Via Facebook 

Neurology appointments are not fun days for us.  Sitting in a clinic devoted to those with Parkinson's slaps us in the face with "facts" we prefer to "know, but ignore" at this point.  It's hard to see what's ahead (according to the medical statistics). Nothing TERRIBLE happened at the appointment - it's just not our best day of the month. 😏

We were happy, and sad, to hear Michael's doc is accepting a spot in a private practice in WA.  We won't see him again, but he assures us the next doc will be great.

The upshot of today's appointment is, as Dr. Clark says, "You have Parkinson's."  They feel a need to tell us this at each appointment - maybe they are used to patients choosing denial. 😁

We'll continue with therapy - which is our way of aggressively prolonging the good years.

Michael has been having some odd muscle cramps and movement/stiffness. Dr. Clark says it's dystonia, a symptom of Parkinson's. We had three treatment options: new drug, do nothing until it's more bothersome, increase one of the meds he currently takes. Michael  opted for door number 3. He's been throwing up and sleepy since doubling the med.....but it was a hard one to begin too, so we expect things will even out in a week or two.

 Increasing this drug may also give better relief from the internal tremors - which bother Michael more than anything else.

Dr. Clark said it seems Michael's PD is progressing, but STRESS can accelerate not only the disease but the manifestations of symptoms. Sometimes the symptoms disappear when the stress disappears. This would be both emotional and MEDICAL STRESS. He's had both in the past couple of months. Michael is dealing with an odd rash/joint pain/exhaustion and Dr. Clark hopes if they get that figured out, and treated, some of the PD symptoms will go away.

Finally, Dr. Clark said there is no reason we can't move to Alaska. The VA should have the support clinics Michael needs. If not, he can see a civilian doc. If there are no motion disorder clinics in Anchorage, he can be flown to Seattle or Portland every six months.

Rolling Birthdays

When one goes a month without blogging; one hardly knows how to "catch up."  I thought I'd group things into subjects; grief, probate woes, friends, birthdays, repairs, Bella - but even that is unwieldy. I thought of going day by day - but in hindsight some of those days could easily be forgotten. ::snort::  Let's begin with birthdays and see where we go from there! 

We had planned to have a big birthday bash at the house, on the 11th, for all the February birthday celebrants who live in the area - Nolan (8th), Mom T (10th), Alex (11th), Will (my brother 14th). I'd thought to give honorable mention to the anniversaries - BreZaak's and ours -  as well.  Mom G's homegoing changed those plans unexpectedly and completely.

It turns out we were in Crescent City on Nolan's birthday to look for legal papers; an overnight trip. We were back on the road again on the Alex's birthday as we traveled down a few days early to make sure details were in place for Mom G's Memorial Service.

This year the boys had rolling birthdays - deployments and cross-country moves have made rolling birthdays a common thing for the Gherkins.

We spent Nolan's 18th birthday searching for papers! He was the hero of the day and actually was the one to find the will and trust.  Stacia made him a homemade card. We picked up an ice cream cake on our way through Grants Pass.

We were back in Eugene on the 10th and managed to enjoy a Birthday visit with Mom T.

We drove down to Crescent City on Alex's 15th birthday (the 11th) to take care of details and prepare for Mom G's service (13th). Once again, Michael stopped at a Dairy Queen and picked up an ice cream cake.

Alex chose a Chinese Buffet in Crescent City for his birthday dinner. When we walked in the waiter asked, "Where is your mom?" Um....this was repeated in many places we went as people expressed their love of Mom G, their condolences on her passing and had words of affirmation for us as to the months we were in Crescent City with her. Seems Mom had told quite a few people stories about us. ::snort::

Lots of smiles and tears mixed that week

So - they had a cake. We eventually gave Alex a Trac Phone and Nolan a computer game (which our OS won't run).

March 7th we surprised the boys with the plates, napkins, balloons we'd had forgotten to take in the motor home.  Stacia and I made Peanut Butter Crack Brownies, garnished them with candles and surprised the boys.

Aren't these great - and they lasted a LONG time

I have since found their birthday cards - so one last piece of the birthday celebration to come. LOL

The End of An Era

It IS the end of an era! We no longer own a Gherkin Mobile.

We have had a 15 passenger van since 1994 - that's 23 years! Our first van was a 1991 gray Dodge Ram. It lasted until it's trips down the ALCAN. It probably had more life in it, but we saw the end...and so we put it out of our it's misery.

Our next van was the Big Red Beast. In 2005, we purchased a 2005 red Ford e350.  Within two years we purchased The Caboose - our 31 foot trailer. We made lots of great family memories with the combination.

As our expected retirement lifestyle has changed we knew we would need to sell Big Red. It simply doesn't make a good toad.  We need a manual car the motorhome can easily tow.

We sold the Van to Pastor John - it will live anew as a church  van. A bus ministry is planned and Big Red will be the prime mover of that program. It makes us smile to think of  Big Red blessing this church, which has blessed our daughter....and blessing youth and those needing rides for years to come. About those years - we were a bit worried Big Red may quit working as soon as we sold it - though both our mechanics said it was in good shape.  You just hate that chance with a CHURCH and friends...so we're praying for the life of the van.

They've had the van since we began our travels on the 11th....but needed to bring it back so the boys could put the seats in it one last time. LOL

It was an odd moment when Big Red drove away. 

We had all those kids represented by the stick figures in 2005.....and now we're down to three Gherkins at home. The times are changing.

Yep, the end of an era. We were blessed to be able to use John and Nadine's pickup for a couple of days. Sunday was crowded...we realize now this would not make a good toad for us.

3 big size Gherkins in the back seat of a little pick up -
wasn't bad except getting IN and out!

 We went from having four cars, a trailer and a motorhome on our insurance, to having Mom G's car and the motorhome on our insurance. Not a bad month.