It was designed to be a bit screwy.
Maximum privacy and energy efficiency within a very limited budget, it was all I had hoped for.
The outside was understated on purpose, but the inside was comfortable and warm.
Now we go to clear and to make peace.
Indeed we are in a different part of our lives now.

A break

I am taking a break for a few days.

Today I join some friends for a weekend of camping. I am leaving Miriam with Daughter 1.

Next week all of the daughters will meet at our house in Idaho, along with Miriam, to clear out, to clean out, to remember, and maybe even shed a tear.

Since my daughters were teens this house and the acre it sits on has been our home. Even when we were away to Texas it was still our home.

But right now I can't think too deep. I just need a break and a time to think.

See you in a week or so.

Thanks Steve

I have owned Apple products for a long time.

My first notebook computer was an old 520 Power Book. It wasn't even in color. Since that time I've had desktop Macs, and notebook Macs, a few iPods, and an iPhone. I like them all.

But today is the day we all knew would come eventually. The guy behind it all, the cofounder of the company and the guru of gurus, pulled the plug on his work at Apple. It reminds us that good health is a blessing that has no monetary equivalent. Jobs was a man of incredible wealth, and could afford any treatment he wished for, yet we are reminded that even those who can are still mortals, like the rest of us.

Of course, I never met the man, but I have lived a better life for his pursuit of perfection. His search was to make high tech so easy that we regular folk could make it work for us.

He succeeded. Thanks Steve.

I intend to build an art studio and a wood shop in that space. The structure is solid, it does not leak, and it will work out well, after a LOT of work!

Wilnert part 1

I don’t know how many Wilnerts there are in Norway, but this is the only one I ever knew.

He owned this place, where my daughter and her family (which includes us) live now. The state took the place for payment for nursing home care for both Wilnert and his wife. It came up for sale then.

Daughter asked me to look at it. I had my friend David with me. The gable was straight, the eves did not sag, both signs of a solid skeleton of a house. Inside was beyond disaster. Wilnert’s false teeth were on the kitchen table. Junk was stacked everywhere. The toilet had not been cleaned in decades.

The basement was dark and not deep and the floor was dirt. The inspector for the loan company rejected the foundation. So the house was jacked up a tad, a deeper basement was dug, a concrete floor poured, and finally foundation walls.

Meanwhile the house was held up with a lot of small posts. It looked like it was held by toothpicks. But in time it was all in place and the house had a solid foundation. The upstairs had walls removed, and doors moved. Finally I came in with wide wood trim (sort of Craftsman style) and ceramic tile. We set the kitchen cabinets and put the tops on.

That was 10 years ago, give or take a bit. The house was built with a large space that was designated as the place for us to live. Miriam had just been diagnosed with AD, and we had no idea how fast or how soon we would need different living arrangements.

In time the space became a storage room/craft/sewing room. The house is on a couple acres of ground and there are several out buildings, but nothing you would store much in, unless everything was carefully encapsulated.

So, today I began clearing out one of the buildings. It has wood leaning against the walls. Some short pieces and some 12 and 14 feet long.

More on the subject next time.

welcome visit

I received an email this week from an old friend.
This is a friend I have never met (I have lots of friends in that category), but one I greatly admire.
She had an AD family member and I met her there.
She is returning to blog, and I welcome her.
Look on my updated list of blogs I follow and she is the first.
She is worth reading.
Welcome back Ann.

Clint Eastwood sang to the trees in this area once.
At least the movie was set in this area.
It was the last of the big budget musicals, and one of the few times Eastwood sang in or near public!

camping

Today the David that owns the bus we live in called.

He was not too far away, on his way back to Idaho from visiting friends. He would be to our place in about two hours.

I made sure the place was cleaned (vacuumed the carpet mostly -- using the built in Vacuum that came with the bus). He and hi wife Lynda (Y Linda we call her to keep her separated from al the other Linda's in our life). THey stayed a bit, fixed and ate their lunch and went on.

David had a mild heart attack a few years ago and he is on a very struct diet. There is no way I could easily do what he needs to do to keep up with the diet.

We are going camping this weekend, David and some other friends. I am leaving Miriam with Daughter 1. I'll go on to Idaho after the camp trip, Miriam and all the daughters will arrive the following week. They all grew up in this house and they want a few days together, so they can put some closure to that part of their life.

It is a mean trick to leave Miriam here, and she could camp with me OK, but I want some others there with her when we are in Idaho. I have no idea how she will react to all that is going on. Since she can't remember facts, she doesn't do much better with emotions.

Lloyd and David and Ray will be there this weekend. I will so enjoy their company and friendship.

It will be good.