Family Reunion

Lynn started the planning for this July get away back in November and we found a Air B n B in WV that would be a reasonable trip for the majority.  Brian being the exception.  But he agreed to visit with us in TN and travel to the reunion with us making it reasonable for him as well.  As the date approached scheduling conflicts arose for some of the participants.  We agreed to forge forward with a reduced attendance.  It may even have been good since the weather turned unusually hot and the house was experiencing a significant water shortage issue.  Those in attendance were more experienced desert campers and backpackers and functioned more favorably with water restrictions.

We enjoyed a day at Snowshoe Ski resort including riding the chair lift, hiking around the lake, swimming in Jackson Lake, the climbing wall and Bungy/trampoline jumping for the younger set.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We enjoyed a rainy hike to Red Spruce Knob and an amazing hike through Beartown State Park. Then the final adventure of the trip was our ride on the Cass Scenic Railroad.All seemed impressed with both the scheduled events and the scenery of the Mountain State.

 

Homeward travel went smoothly for all and now it is back to the everyday life until we meet again

Staining continues

With help from Brian we continue the cleaning and staining of the cabin.  It is going well and all the basic areas have been cleaned and pre-coated with sealer.  Staining is weather dependent and weather has not been cooperating.  Prior to out WV family reunion, we get the 3rd side completed.  Just the back side to complete then the dreaded(high) dormer sides.  They will be a challenge.  Looks Great so far.

Are you kidding me?

We received notice that our mortgage has been sold.  Not unexpected but, the first payment will go the new company.  Annoying.  I expect we will get another round of new homeowner offers/threats when the new mortgage is officially filed.  Apparently our warranty is about to expire, we need more insurance, our windows are bad, we need furniture and our water needs treatment. Hope no one sends us anything important mixed in with all the junk.

Adventures with Willa

One of the highlight adventures was the “Lost Sea Adventure”.  The sea is 140 feet underground and is up to 75 feet deep.  The adventure includes touring the cave to and from the sea and a boat ride on the sea.  Great fun and little to no anxiety was evident even when the tour did the prerequisite lights out example of DARK.

A hike around the National Forest Indian Boundary Lake included sightings of Trolls, Ogres and deer with some gymnastic challenges. Aunt Carol joined us.

Nana and Willa did many crafts and projects during her visit.

There was a spirited Bocce game.

Willa helped Granpa with leaf cleanup and driveway pothole repair around the property. She ran the shovel, rake and blower.

Willa attended her first car race at the Smokey Mountain Raceway, a short dirt track.  She chose a particular car to root for in the feature race and had it not suffered and early flat tire it might have won the event.  Even with the repair and associated start at the back of the pack a 3rd place finish was managed.  Nice recovery.

She watched with interest as the well pump was pulled and replaced with a well drilling rig.  After that she reminded me of touring the excavator during plumbing work in Kingston.  Lots of life experiences.

Near the end of her stay a large tree lost it’s footing and toppled over the driveway and leaned on another large tree.  It was professionally removed after her visit was over.

Well repairs

The well continues to be a problem with the pump running every few minutes without any water usage in the house.  Seems like a check-valve problem to me.  I turned it and the water heater off during out travel.  When we returned from our NY/PA trip I restarted them and purged air from the system. Kyle from Shane’s Pump Service took one look and confirmed my diagnosis.  He pulled the pump and found there was improper wiring and no secondary check in well.  Seemed prudent to replace the pump and wiring to minimize future problems.  They were done before lunch.  Looks like the pump check leaking was adding a couple of dollars a day to our electric bill.

Road Trippin

Early Monday we hit the road, Kent with the UHaul and Lynn and Willa in the Colorado. Lynn managed the multiple restroom stops of our littlest traveler until well after we stopped for lunch.  Then it was my turn.  So Willa joined me in the UHaul and we continued south.  We arrived at the house with several more stops than planned.  Wila identified a broken tree along the driveway as our alligator tree.  We even got a few items off the truck that night and settled in for a good nights sleep. Tuesday a light rain hampered unloading a bit but we were done before noon and off to return the UHaul.

NY/PA trip

Timing is working out to have Willa’s spring break trip include the new house.  And we can get some furniture out of storage in PA.  Looks like 2 trips with U-Haul trailers or one trip with a U-Haul truck.  So we get an offer from LouAnn and Molly to entertain Willa while we load. The weather has other plans an 2-3 inches of rain are falling on loading day.  Everyone graciously concedes a repeat for tomorrow when the weather is better.  Loading goes well and the larger truck is full to nearly overflowing.  Yes, you can store items stacked higher than you can transport them. Glad we did not try the 2 trailer option.

A New Discovery

Wait there is a campsite in the woods. Do we have squatters?  Brian and I check it out and find a lot of junk; a tarp over ropes in the trees, a tent, bedding, hammock, cots, tools, coolers, trash everywhere.

Whew it is/was theirs. She claims she thought it was all cleaned up, and she hadn’t been to it since she hurt her knee. ??????

House Closing Drama

Pre closing Inspection Day- Saturday

OH NO. She is a long way from out, Some or our furniture was mistakenly moved to storage and more was packaged to go so we called the realtor who failed to make the appointment and updated her.  She talked with the other realtor and we found items returned that day instead of next week as proclaimed.

Felix the cat

She has a cat who has only lived at this address and she wants us to adopt it.  It is neither an indoor or outdoor cat as it goes out when it wants but is not sufficiently independent to make it outdoors.  We must decline.

Preclosing Inspection Day 2- Sunday

Still lots to move but she has some help.

Closing day March 11

She signed her papers at 9am with the plan to return for her money at 3pm.  We check the house again at 11 and she still has a lot to move.  She apparently doesn’t understand but our realtor explains it very succinctly to her.  We agree to close at 3 but escrow a portion of her proceeds for a complete out by noon the next day.

Closing day +1

Pictures come of a clean house just before the noon deadline and a clean shed shortly after our reminder.  But when we arrive around 1pm there is still much to remove from the porch and the house and shed.  Seems you can stage a picture to demonstrate your position.

We help her move the rest of the stuff from the shed and house and change the locks.

Closing day +2

We arrive to find piles of stuff abandoned on the lawn and driveway.  Must all be junk at this point.  We spend the day cleaning the house and trying to get the internet working prior to our delayed move in tomorrow.

Day 3

Now let’s see if I can get the motorhome up the driveway.  Slow and bumpy and steep.  Whew made it and only scrapped the jacks at one point at the top where it levels out too quickly for the long wheelbase.  We can do this!  It settled in near the shed and the extension cord reaches the porch. Now to move stuff into the house.

When I contacted the internet provider he confirmed the power supply for his microwave equipment was missing and he would bring one by the house on the way to the office tomorrow morning since he is a neighbor.  He stayed and helped with the setup of our router in the Verizon dead zone by hotspoting my phone with his AT&T phone to permit initial setup.  Guess we need to change to AT&T.

Loan application II

Oh, rats!  We hit a snag with our initial lender.  The offer just isn’t what we want.  Our realtor points us at a local lender she has often worked with.  On the first walk through it appears she can better meet our expectations.  So, we start the process all over.  The burden for this is all on Kent.  He is meticulously downloading documents and uploading to the new lender’s system.  It is an all-day task but looks like we can live with the proposed loan.  We head off into appraisals and underwriting…. just a lot of waiting on our part.