Bits & Pieces...

I've been looking for a place to land in the PNW and finding that they are just as expensive up there as down here. Maybe a travel trailer on a piece of ground will fit my limited budget. Til I find a place, I have been invited to camp out at MySean's. He has a five bedroom house, with only one of the kids still home.

Granddaughter Miss B, caught her first salmon out of Astoria this last weekend. 

One more family wedding this summer! I get to ride up with my BIL & SIL to that one, in Powell Butte. It should be great fun, as most all the family will be there. 

"Sam's" barn

Amy, MySean's wife, has been texting me that "Sam" has been asking about me, and wanted to know when I will be up there again. Sean calls me and says he has had a little talk with Amy about pushing this, and then said, "Mom! I never saw you even talking to "Sam" at the wedding!"  "Well that's because, I only said about two words to him."  LOL, at least my SILs have backed off for the moment...

The house/estate is keeping me busy:
Government: Dad had a death benefit coming from CalPERS. They have been very slow to respond to the repeated requests by the estate's attorney. Finally they called to tell me, they had decided to pay out to my brother and I as next of kin. They went on to say that unless each of us have a specific IRA to roll it into, we will each be charged a 20% TAX on our share. Neither of us have that specific IRA, so we are looking at estate attorney time, and a 40% TAX on $350. The state government needs fix'n.

The power to Dad's shop has gone out. I trouble shooted it as much as I could, but no luck, have an electrician coming next week to figure it out. 
Getting more things sorted, donated to the local Hope Chest. Have setup the online auction house to sell all the furniture, paintings, collections, china, wheel chair, walker, tools, compressor, etc.  I'm only taking the things that I moved up here with, the small hall tree and rolling tool chest that Dad gave me before he passed away.  My timeline is in a state of flux, if I sell all that stuff before I get moved, I will be camping out on the floor.  Oh well, I have good camping gear so it's not really a problem, just another part of the journey.

Catching up...

Wednesday already!  

Let's see,  Sunday morning at oh dark thirty cousin Jess and I went up to the range so he could participate in an Outlaw Handgun Shootout that my local shoot'n club was putting on. It was rather warm, but we had fun and Jess did well, considering the last ones he shot in were in Texas.  I just watched because I wanted to see what it was all about.  It was also a good opportunity to pick Jess's brain, meet other members of the Assn. and learn some new skills. 
Jess's last stage of the shootout:

Came home and worked all afternoon in the yard. Was pretty tuckered out, but that evening I got an invite to my SIL's new swim spa. Dang but that thing is sweet.  Swam against strong current, but didn't last very long before retreating to the corner with the message jets and a big glass of wine.  There isn't much that thing doesn't have... all kinds of lights, fountains, jets, etc.  

Going back out tonight to fix their DVD player, dinner, a swim, and to get all my orders as I'm going to be the spa girl while they are on vacation!  And suddenly I have friends, that want to help me take care of the spa... hmmm

We have had a few days were the weather was nice enough that I could spend most of the day working on getting this yard in shape to put the house on the market. Still hauling brush and mother's dang yard chachkies to the landfill.  

More time with the attorney, and paper work, and banks, and all the rest.  My brother is questioning every move I make as executor. I don't understand why he is taking that path, but I'm pretty sure Dad would not be happy about the attitude.  Can only do my best to settle the estate per Dad's wishes, get the house sold, and move on. 

Ok, break time is over, back to brush whacking, and the weed eater, and showing a friend how to make hollyhock dolls.  When my granddaughters were little little I showed them how to make them. They would spend hours playing with their hollyhock dollies.