Phil has left Burmuda

Sunday, June 27
Weather: raining (Thurderstorm warning) and 83F, 76%humidity, Dew Point 75.
Worse of thunderstorm going south of Grand River, OH

Phil called me from Burmuda about 1pm (2pm his time) They were getting ready to leave about an hour after his call. He got down there ok, is doing ok, and has the starboard berth with a lee cloth, so is happy that he got the same berth as last year. Captain Dave and his son will share the aft cabin and the rest is divided between the remaining 2 crew members. The watch scheduled is 2 hours on and 6 hours off, the crew is experienced, so this will be more cushy then other transports that he has done. That's good. I hope he can get a chance to relax and destress a little.

Because they are returning from the Newport to Burmuda race, there is a web sight (Burmudarace.com) that we can use to track where they are. You can track them to by clicking on their boat name Attitude. If this link doesn't work click on Burmudarace.com and click on Race Tracking - the link is in red on the left of the web page. Then click on "Track yachts returning from Burmuda" and then select Attitude as the boat. It's great because it tells how fast they are traveling and the coordinates of where they are and there is a link to see it on Google Maps. We used this last year and I really liked being able to tell this information! Phil is expecting that they will get to Cape Cod by Thursday and home on Friday for July 4th weekend if everything goes well.. The weather is the best they've had in a number of years, so that's good too. I have that Monday off, so we'll see if we can cruise to Ashtabula or not. If we can, will be the only long weekend before we leave.

Katie and I went to the Chardon Home for the last time. Lee Booth and Jack Pavlesich said that I should go back and get the 501 Singer sewing machine (Lee & Jack are trying to get me in trouble, inside joke) air tank and the few items in the workshop that I wanted to keep. We then went to Kay's house and put the wooden chairs in the loft area and the rest in the horse stall. I also took some of the food stored there and have it in the horizontal dock box. Katie and I went to Walmart to pick up the 2 crates I needed (thanks for reminding me Katie) and we got lunch there also. While we were inside Walmart - there was a heavy rain storm - could really hear it on the roof. Lucky for us, it was sunny when we had to go outside again.

George and Pat are back from their cruise - too bad they weren't able to eat at Molly and OJ's as there was a family wedding, so it was closed. We had a nice time chatting with them after their return.

With the rain that came, GRYC has emptied out - only the live-aboards and Lee and Betty Booth remain and they are staying the night tonight as it's closer for where she works in the summer. I'll be going to get my shower soon and then start cooking supper. We got some black rice (Forbidden Rice from China) that Katie's interested in having, boneless chicken thighs and some corn on the cob we got from a roadside stand. I also got 2 med zucchini squash and some new baby red skin potatoes that we can grill/cook for supper tomorrow.

On Changes 2 weeks 2 days

Saturday, June 26 - current temp 74F
Weather today was hot and humid -

Katie, Phil and I have been living on Changes for over 2 weeks now. Overall it's working ok. Last Friday and Saturday, we had our moving sale. It went pretty good, and I'm thankful that my sister-in-law, Kathleen was there. She was very soothing for me - helping me to emotionally let go of some of the belongings. Phil had NO problem letting go :) I guess we're at different stages in our lives that way. The last week has been spent with me going to work - for the Mentor Alt home Central team this time (actually I'm going to be split between alt home East and Central) and Phil working with the person who use to clean my house - in cleaning out the rest of the belongings and cleaning the house. It's been quite a week with it's up and down moments. I guess that's to be expected. The Up moments were dinner at Capps, signing the papers at the clubhouse on Thursday, and me working. The down moments was realizing again and again at the most inopportune times - in the middle of the night - while driving in the car - that once again, I forgot to save something that I wanted and it's gone forever. Some tears were in order on my part on and off. It's one thing to choose to let something go - and something else when something is gone because it didn't get put in the van or the trailer to be put in storage. Sigh! I guess it's just a part of letting go. Phil and I have both been stressed - me by wanting to save what I can - and Phil by just wanting to get rid of everything else and to be done with it. I guess it's a guy/girl thing. I hope that I'll be able to look on this period with some humor looking back. I just remember that it's a process, this too shall pass and we'll get on the other side. We are both looking forward to it being July!!! when this stage will be over.

This morning Phil left on US Airways to fly to Burmuda to help Captain Dave Block, his son Michael David, and 2 other gentlemen, transport a Benateau 42'sailboat to Cape Cod. Hopefully, everything will go smoothly and they'll leave tomorrow morning and make landfall in 4-5 days. Then they'll drive home. I'm hoping that I'll hear something from Louisa, Cpt. Dave's girlfriend at some point in the trip. If I do, I'll post the results.

Another slight down, was that the Buyers didn't sign the papers on Thursday as they had originally planned to do. One of the Mother-in-Laws fell and broke her leg so the plan is for them to sign on Monday. Hope it doesn't postpone the closing. They also would like to start moving their belongings in on Monday before title transfer. On the way back from the airport - I stopped off at the Chardon home, to sign the paper and drop it off at the Realtor's office. They will assume responsibility if anything happens to the house. I also took a look through the house and am glad that I did, as the wooden chairs that Phil had wanted to save were in the basement. I put them in the van. Another down is I found that the shower and window curtains and the curtain rods in the bathroom were taken down and are gone permanently. Very upsetting as they were to have been with the house. The rest of the valences are still there. Why they didn't leave those, I'll never know. We had a few text message back and forth between me and the cleaner with me being told that the helpers didn't see the curtains in the first place. They're gone and the buyers will have to put something in immediately. Too bad.

Once I returned to the boat, I decided to take advantage of our friends George and Pat Schlauch being gone making what they call their sailing "Dinner Tour" to empty the horizontal dock box on their dock site and try to organize it. I took everything out - put in the shelf that Phil made - and after buying a couple crates, put it back in again a little more organized. I could still use a couple crates and may get them tomorrow at Walmart. I also worked on getting the belongings I had stored in the back of the van (knew that this would be handy) and put on the deck in preparation of getting items in Chardon, off the deck. Almost done, understanding that's a relative term. After relaxing a little, Katie and I had lunch/supper at Sammy's in Grand River.

After we came back, I took a nap since we woke at about 315am today. Then Katie and I went to see the new Karate Kid movie at the new and renovated Great Lakes Mall movie theater. Actually it was pretty good - filmed in China so had some beautiful scenery. We couldn't pass up an opportunity, so we went to Great Lakes Mall buying 2 swimsuits and capris for me and getting a couple tops and a pair of capris for Katie. Hey - I saved money! Saved $159 on the items I purchased. Of course whenever I tell Phil I've saved money, he says but I spent money.

I met some guests that are docking here for the weekend - Pat and Charlie Browning on a Beneteau 34' - Sailaway. They were kind enough to show me down below. I'm jealous as Pat has an aft head and a slightly bigger galley. She has a great whole cloth quilt in her V-berth - I love the quilting on it - so may change my mind about what I quilt on my new V-berth quilt. It's vertical rows of stitching and then the outline of different sea shells spaced evenly.

My posting wouldn't be complete without some pictures so below is Katie in her favorite non-school activity - reading!!
Tomorrow I need to take the wood chairs in my van to Kay's house and some other items so that I can get our outdoor living space decluttered before my understanding fellow yacht club members are tired of being understanding and think they'll be living with hill billies the entire summer.

Our dock mates, Lee and Betty Booth are down for the weekend and have their new toy fox terrier puppy "Boo" with them. He's so cute and is now starting to get acclimated. It was funny how we was biting my jean pant leg and pulling - and you couldn't hardly feel it. He definately friskier and I understand he has a mind of his own. When he wants something, he is very focused on getting it. but here he looks cute.

Boo last weekend in his favorite place - the cubby for the winch handles.

Me holding Boo at last Friday's Potluck.

Back from Denver - June 14

June 14, 2010

Katie return to Dayton and I return to Cleveland Airport. We had a good trip - was able to see Rachel Saturday and Sunday. but it did rain a lot and was cold. Good thing that we checked out the internet weather, because Katie and I were prepared. The weekend started with a Tornado warning on Friday at Denver Int'l Airport after I landed and just before Katie was suppose to land. This is a picture of the storm coming in. There was cloud rotation, but it never developed into a funnel cloud. But we got lucky in that her plane circled around the storm and after it passed she was able to land by 530pm. One woman on the plane back to Ohio said that they were diverted to Colorado Springs and she didn't make it to Denver until 1am. Here is a picture of Rachel and Katie at the airport.We had supper at Mimi's Cafe and enjoyed great food. Too much to eat there, so we took the extras home as Katie and I had a kitchenette in the hotel that included a refrigerator.

JR, Katie, myself and Rachel after we had eaten.

We spent Saturday at the Denver Downtown Aquarium. It was a good aquarium, but it also was cold - 49F and rainy. They say that Denver gets about 16inches of rain - well I think we got half of that this weekend - only kidding about the amount -but it did rain enough that there was standing water in the driveway at Rachel's apartment. It never did warm up. Funny how last time I was in Denver - they had a record high - and this time I don't think it was a record low - but sure was opposite from what they usually have.
Sunday, It was girls day and we went on Banjo Billy's Bus Tour of Denver. It was very interesting; Rachel and Katie enjoyed it and we learned some Denver history. Denverites love their public art, so 1% of the new building budgets have to be appropriated to public art. The Big Blue Bear is one of them. Blue Bear is 40 ft tall and on the opposite side of the building, there are 2 people which are 60ft tall. Unfortunately, we never saw them.

Banjo Billy's Bus, which is a renovated school bus. It's kind of hippy looking inside.

Notice the drink holder on the wall of the bus? I think it's a great idea to copy-only on a large scale- in the head to make a small waste basket that I'll line with plastic garbage bags only Phil will make a bar of wood to hold to the wall instead of screws and washers.
As you can see, Rachel and Katie got very comfortable seats on the bus. Afterward we rented a movie at Redbox, ate leftovers from our many dinners out over the weekend and relaxed in our hotel room.

Time for me to take a shower - very important to good sleeping especially when you're outside - get sticky. Also makes it easier getting ready in the morning. Will post more later about the move.

House Sold - Moved onto Changes

Hi everyone,

I tried to write a post while I was in the Denver Airport, but didn't work, so now that Katie and I are at the hotel, will try again.

So the house is officially sold. The appraisal went through w/o any requests!!! This is Lynn Bender putting up the Sold sign while Phil got the moving truck in position to start moving the big furniture out of the house.

This is Lynn's "official" photo

Phil hired 2 teenage boys, Brett and RJ, to help with the move. They did a great job and worked really hard. Thanks to Phil and them, we have all of the heavy furniture either moved to the storage unit or on the first floor for our moving sale tentatively scheduled Friday morning, June 18. I started out taking pictures at the beginning, but there was too much to do and we got tired out, so there are not any after pictures. I did take pictures (below) of the Fairport Harbor Warehouse storage area when we visited the other day. These two items above were the heaviest and the most difficult to move, though with all the stairs, none of it was easy. It turned out that this 24 foot moving van was full by the time we were done. We had pizza and wings for lunch on the back patio and the boys did not disappoint me with their appetites which is great because we didn't want leftovers! We were able to put the items in the storage unit efficiently, which I hope will leave enough room for the woodworking equipment and the rest of the smaller stuff.

The door above leads into a bathroom which is where we were able to put a lot of the tubs with room for more.

So after the move, Phil and I had supper at Joey's Italian Grill in Chardon as neither of us wanted to cook. Then Phil and I went to GRYC to move onto the boat. I had gotten 2 new duffle bags and was glad to see that the largest one fits on the shelf where I hoped it would. I put some of our belonging in my "closet" and on the boat and then we just relaxed enjoying nature. Unfortunately i had to make a trip back to the Chardon house to pick up my itinerary for my trip, and while I was there, I also was able to get some items for Phil. He wasn't lonely though, as George and Pat Schlaugh kept him company after they came back from a very nice sail.

Phil's plan is to attach the bookcases he made for the boat and probably get as much sailing in as he can while I'm visiting Rachel. Next week we'll be working on moving the smaller stuff out of the house and cleaning. We plan to be completely out of the house by June 24.

Packing and Moving

Phil and I are in the process of weeding through belongings to determine what is trash that get tossed, what we don't want that's good enough for the garage sale next week, and packing the rest for moving into storage. We've been putting the trash in the trailer as we work and Phil made a trip to the dump to empty it filled to the brim. Phil is much faster than me at packing as I find myself taking a trip down memory lane. We are so fortunate to have 2-3 storage areas so that we'll be able to keep enough to set up home once we're done traveling. I saw the storage unit yesterday in the Fairport Harbor warehouse close to the boat that we're planning to use for the furniture and any items that we want ready access to. Yesterday's job was to put up the shelf above the big tool boxes. I took pictures, of course.

We've been working hard during the day and resting in the evening. Phil's idea of resting is reading a book. My idea of resting and relaxing is working on a new quilt for the V-berth. I'm making it from one piece of fabric for the top and another for the bottom. I'm in the process of marking the quilting lines which are in various all over patterns. Then will sandwich the layers and tie them together initially so that we can use it sooner. After the tying, I'll quilt it when we're down at the boat. This will go under the nice one that I have already made as we are expecting to need it for the trip down before we get far enough south for it to be warm.

I have taken off this week and next week to help with the move, get my school work completed and for visiting Rachel. Katie and I are leaving from our respective home towns Friday and we'll meet up to have a girls weekend in Rachel's new home town. We'll be back Monday late afternoon. Then on June 16th I'll drive to Dayton to bring Katie home for the first half of the summer and live on the boat with us. We are bringing her bike so that she'll be able to get to Lake Tran bus stop and get around.

My sister, Robin and her husband Paul, are in town. We were able to see them yesterday and show them Changes. They liked Changes, but realize it's not for them to live in such a small space. Today we'll take a break in the middle of the day to show them the house (Robin lived here as a teenager and Paul has never seen it) and have lunch in one of the good restaurants that Chardon now has. Too bad they are leaving on moving day!! (only kidding)

Thursday is the day that we are renting a van to move the big items - Phil has hired a couple of teenage boys to help - I think that we'll be starting at 8am. So we have two more days of packing to get ready. It's amazing how much stuff we have!! Keep in mind that we spent 3 months clearing out the house to get it ready to sell last year. So far we have the attic, excuse me 3rd floor, packed - a lot of the garage - but now have the attic of the garage and the workshop to do and my 2nd floor storage room, which isn't really THAT bad (I hope). Next week we'll be packing up the kitchen and the smaller stuff that is left behind. The last room to be packed and moved will be Phil's workshop so that it will be available for small jobs. He's making good progress on the bookshelves for Changes and has made the brackets that he'll use to screw down the patio umbrella so the wind doesn't knock it over. In the process of putting on the coats of varnish.

Sunday my sister-in-law Ginny came and helped us pack up the dining room. So that room is now done. We thank her very much and it was nice visiting as we packed.

A benefit from the packing is that I have started to reconnect with the women and children that belonged to the playgroup we had when we lived in Erie. That playgroup was my lifeline when the kids were small. As I went through the photos, I had a trip down memory lane and when I found one of my old friends number, I called, and it still when to her house even though they moved to a different house! Through her and Facebook, I've started to reconnect. I hope that I'll be able to get in contact with even more of the group as not everyone has a FB page. It's amazing how the kids now are young adults in college and so grown up! Well it's been 11 years - and the oldest were pre-teens when we left Erie, PA so I shouldn't be surprised now should I?

Phil is awake now so time for breakfast and to get to work.

Getting Ready to Move

Phil and I have been pretty busy the last week. We had the inspection last Saturday - went well and then found out NO conditions from the buyer - Had the Bank Appraisal last Sunday - the appraiser expected us to be able to meet the asking price. Now we're waiting to hear by the end of this coming week, if the bank expects any repairs to be done. I also finished up my last week on the Mentor Alt Home East team. Really enjoyed working with that team, but will be working somewhere else when I'm done with vacation. Will find out where just before I return.

In preparation for moving us onto the boat this week, I found a new umbrella for our deck dock space. It's a $50 special from Marcs, but so far think it works well. We were there this morning, as we slept on the boat Friday, and a gust of wind knocked it over, so Phil is going to make wood U-shaped blocks to screw over the legs of the umbrella to keep it upright. A lot cheaper than the umbrella base we saw in a add and being made of wood, it shouldn't rub away the paint so doesn't rust as fast (we hope). In the above picture, you can see Pat Schlauch in the background as she and her husband George us for afternoon appetizers and our favorite wines (and whiskey for some - George). It's nice to have friends come to visit.I have the next 2 weeks off from work to help get us moved out by June 24. We hope to be completely moved out by the June 20 and then have the last 4 days to get it cleaned for the new buyers. The work shop will be the last to be emptied, so that it's available for the odd projects that need to be done.

Phil with my assistance, emptied out the knee walls or the 3rd floor. It's amazing how much we had stored there. I'm doing my best to get rid of anything not necessary or sentimental. I took pictures, but unless I get comments that you want to see them, will spare you having to look. (You're welcome) One job was moving the old letters and all the photos. Me being me - I had to look at some and decided to sorted out the duplicates photos and send the ones that I think my ex-husband might be interested in having and mail to him. Also spent some time (not a lot) reading some old letters. Found some of my calendars that I have kept through the years One is from 1979 when I first started working at Bailey Meter and I have when I had the interview and the job offer. Another from 1986 when I came back from New Orleans, so it sure has been a trip down memory lane. I've enjoyed seeing the pictures of when the kids were small and found one of me also that Phil scanned. Story: Got to love those glasses - my first ones for lazy eye. I'm 7 in this photo at our house in Mentor Headlands with my birthday kitten. I didn't have the kitten long, as she died. My mom said that she was climbing a fence and fell and got crushed. I was sad and didn't have a new kitten to replace this one. Don't remember what I named her.

But now that all the photos and other items are packed in tubs, we have them carried them to the living room in ready to be taken out to storage. I have learned that it's better to put them in sealed tubs so keep out the mice. Can you believe that some mice chewed some negatives???

Talking about storage, we have been fortunate to learn that a fellow GRYC member has storage space in Fairport Harbor, which is not far from GRYC, and Phil signed a lease to rent a 14'x18' room. It's not heated, but is in a building within a building so no mice. I haven't had the pleasure to see it yet, but am sure I will on Tuesday. Tuesday is the day that we rent a moving truck and transport the big pieces of furniture. We are planning to hire a couple teenage boys to do the heavy lifting. In preparation, Phil has been busy building a wooden platform structure that the couch, chairs, and recliner will go under so that we can put other items on top to make maximum use of the verticle space. Phil is also in the process of making cherry book shelves (2) to go in Changes to hold our books - he's made them big enough so that my school textbooks will fit in them.He is varnishing them with the same varnish used inside the boat - he's told me what kind - but I don't remember. Happens especially if I don't write it down. We're fortunate that we have almost 2 quarts of this varnish, as it's not made anymore.

Some of you know that we've been trying to work out what to do about having a permanent address once we sell the house. My sister-in-law, Virginia, has agreed to let us use her address and also to forward the mail to us. So we're VERY grateful for her doing this. She's going to be coming to our house tomorrow (Sunday, which is really today as I post this message) to help us pack. We'll start in the dining room and empty out the big pieces of furniture that we'll be moving.

I had a hard time sleeping last night as about 1130pm rain started coming in the hatch. Being a girl - woke up Phil for him to close the hatch. If you've never been in a V-berth on a warm evening and no air circulation - be happy. Eventually I fell asleep, but then didn't wake until 830am. Now I'm having a hard time sleeping as I took at nap 430p (I was tired!) So tonight we're sleeping at home - which is just as good as there is a lot of rain and a tornado watch until 9am and I'm having a hard time going to sleep. Just waiting for the Benadryl to kick in.

May be a while before I post again as going to visit Rachel next weekend.