For those of you out there who kind of keep in touch through this website, this page will let you know what has been
going on in our lives....
July, 2007....
Our house is in Arroyo Grande, in a small development named "Spanish Oaks". It was not finished when we made the
down payment, so we had some major upgrades added (like another bedroom(!), cinder block wall, additional bathroom,
tile floors, granite countertops, Spanish tile stair risers, extra cabinets, and some other neat things).
Meanwhile, we sold the Ranch on the Mesa to a very nice couple with 4 children. Since we sold the ranch before the
Spanish Oaks house was finished, we moved out and stored stuff at a local storage place (and a POD), and lived for a
while at Avila Hot Springs Resort in a small cabin/trailer. The new house was ready to occupy in February, 2007, so we
"unstored" everything and moved in. Since then we have been adding garage cabinets, and landscaping the back yard.
We have added a storage shed, and some nice plantings in the back. We love our new home, it is within walking
distance of our church, theater, the Village, Starbucks, and other nice eating places. The weather is a little cooler here
than at the ranch, but no big deal.
Having the house and yard pretty well complete, we decided that we needed a pet, soooo... in June we went to our local
Pet Shelter (Woods Humane Society in SLO) and adopted Feliz, a fine 3 year old mix with Italian Greyhound and Border
Collie in there somewhere. When asked her breed, we say she is an "All AmericanTerrier" mix. She is very smart and
affectionate, very playful, but easily trained. We have taken her to obedience training, and she learns very fast. She
has us walking on a leash with absolutely no trouble at all!
September, 2008
We found out in March this year that the family that bought the Ranch had defaulted on their loans, and the property
had been foreclosed upon. Very sad, because now it sits vacant and is getting rundown.
In November last year we purchased a 24 ft used Motorhome, and took it on a few short trips around the state. We
found that it was an inconvenient design for traveling, in that we had make and unmake the bed daily in order to get
around in the coach. So we gave the RV to our daughter Carol, and purchased a new Winnebago View Motorhome (25
ft). Carol required an extensive surgical procedure in Portland, OR, so we took our first long trip in the View to support
her while she recuperated over the Holidays. We also visited Barney while we were in Oregon. We since have taken
another trip up through Nevada, Oregon, Idaho, Washington into Canada and back in April. Visited Barney on that trip
also. Feliz travels with us.
We also put in a Solar Electric system at our home, which was installed while we were away in April. It is doing great
(except for the foggy mornings all summer). With the help of Todd Shipley, Don installed a Waterfall in our side yard,
which adds a nice ambience to our small patio. We are really enjoying our home in town, but enjoy seeing the rest of
the world, too.