Kay left early for church Easter morning, and I remained home with Jenny, Brian, and Harper.  Kay made it home in time for us both to say goodbye.  We sure enjoyed having the younger grandkids, and of course their families, visit over Easter.   After all the kids left, I sprayed the season’s first application of Roundup, as the weeds have gone crazy.  And then, we did a deep cleaning of the house, particularly since it is for sale and showings are possible at any time.  I drove into Mountain Home to the driving range at Big Creek Golf and Country Club, hit golf balls—really good for a change—and for first time felt like the lessons were paying off and that I could become a serious golfer.

After coffee and breakfast Monday morning, Kay got a call that a realtor was on the way with clients to view the house.  We hurriedly put up a few things, and were preparing to leave about the same time they showed up.  We exchanged greetings, and left for a few minutes to allow them privacy as they toured the house—the cleaning yesterday was fortuitous!  After returning home, we drove into Mountain Home and I hit golf balls again at Big Creek, and had another great practice, with mostly good hits.  So far, so good.  We have been in contact with a builder, Brandon Tedder of Rennaissance Homes, Inc. for a couple of weeks, and really like him.  A few days ago, we asked him to look at the build ability on a lot in Hot Springs Village, potentially our new place of residence when we sell the house.  He emailed tonight indicating that he was going to the Village tomorrow (Tuesday), would walk the lot, and provide feedback.  We are anxiously awaiting hearing back from heim.

Kay and I went into Mountain Home again on Tuesday, where she dropped me off to hit golf balls, while she went to Lowe’s to buy annuals—marigolds and periwinkles.  I had a good, though not great practice, but am still satisfied with progress that is being made.  Upon our return home, I “broke up” the beds while Kay planted the annuals.  We received an email from Brandon providing particulars of his waking the lot.  Since it is a lake lot, one of our questions concerns pool elevation versus building elevation, and potential for flooding.  He provided a tentative answer, but promised to have his surveyor check particulars tomorrow.  Again, we anxiously await hearing from him.  

On Wednesday, I drove into Mountain Home again to hit golf balls, and had another good, but not great practice.  We received another email from Brandon, verifying the information he provided yesterday.  With positive information at hand, we made an offer on #38 Panorama, Hot Springs Village.  Now, its wait and see if it is accepted.

Heavy rain was predicted for Thursday, and while Kay was in Mountain Home for some medical tests, I worked around the house, resetting wireless printers, updating computers, etc., then worked outside.  I planted Creeping Jenny between the large flat rocks we had placed last year as stepping stones in the back, and Lariope along the gravel path to the back faucet.  And then, I cut weeds, by hand, that had begun to grow in the septic field (the weeds were too fought for a WeedEater),—the improved golf swing came in hand swinging the weed cutter.  When Kay returned, the back of the car was full of more annuals and cypress mulch.  The hummingbirds and butterflies should really appreciate her.  I loosened the beds while she planted the annuals, and then we both spread mulch, trying to beat the rain which never came.  I saw a first of season (FOS) Baltimore Oriole at one of the hummingbird feeders, but could never get a photograph.  I played its call extensively on the iPad without results.  We wrapped up a busy day playing cards with the Todds, and enjoyed the visit.  Kay checked her email and saw that the owner had accepted our offer on #38 Panorama—another step forward towards our relocating to Hot Springs Village.

Kay had more medical testing scheduled for Friday; I dropped her off at Baxter Regional Medical Center, and continued to Big Creek where I had the best practice yet—hitting over 80% good shots.  Kay texted that she was finished with testing, I picked her up, and we stopped at Chen’s Chinese buffet for a late lunch; it was the best this year for Chen’s.  We followed lunch with an almost daily trip to Walmart for groceries; do we really eat that much?  Back at home, we napped and enjoyed the peace and quiet of Dunnhill, seeing our FOS Rose Tuesday was spent spiffing up the place Grosbeak.  It must have been a young male based on coloring and the fact that it didn’t venture too far out of the trees.  Back on the patio, the hummingbirds were going crazy, and are emptying feeders with some frequency.  Is this a good life or what!

Our routine was more of the same on Saturday.  I advised Kay that since I basically quit fishing near our house, there’s LOTS of available time to be bored, particularly with a bad dose of laziness.

On Thursday, April 17, we drove from Five Lakes Outing Club near Hughes, Arkansas, (guests of Ed and Linda Richmond) to near Maumelle for an appointment with Rennaissance Homes, Inc. to interview owner Brandon Tedder about new home construction in Hot Springs Village.  It was a great visit and we provided input on our “requirements” for a new house.  Rennaissance Homes, Inc. is seemingly a great company with good floor plans and ideas.  It is both a Green certified and Energy Star certified builder.

After coffee and breakfast Monday morning, April 21, Kay got a call that a realtor was on the way with clients to view the Norfork house.  We hurriedly put up a few things, and were preparing to leave about the same time they showed up.  We exchanged greetings, and left for a few minutes to allow them privacy as they toured the house—the cleaning yesterday was fortuitous!  A few days ago, we asked Brandon Tedder of Renaissance Home, Inc. to look at the build ability of a house on the Lake Estrella lot in Hot Springs Village, potentially our new place of residence when we sell the house.  He emailed tonight indicating that he was going to the Village tomorrow (Tuesday), would walk the lot, and provide feedback.  We are anxiously awaiting hearing back from him.

We received an email from Brandon on Tuesday, April 22, providing particulars of his walking the lot.  Since it is a lake lot, one of our questions concerned pool elevation versus building elevation, and potential for flooding.  He provided a tentative answer, but promised to have his surveyor check particulars tomorrow.  Again, we anxiously await hearing from him.

On Wednesday, April 23, we received another email from Brandon, verifying the information he provided yesterday.  With positive information at hand, we made an offer on #38 Panorama, Hot Springs Village.  Now, it’s wait and see if it is accepted.

Thursday, April 24, Kay checked her email and saw that the owner had accepted our offer on #38 Panorama—another step forward towards relocating to Hot Springs Village.

This has been a busy week for us, and included visits with friends, and from two of our three kids and two of our three grandkids.  The week began as most of ours do with church and Sunday school on Sunday, followed by lunch at Chen’s.  On Monday, I drove into town for an X-ray on a thyroid gland.  Wayne rode in with me and we enjoyed a joy ride, driving through several Norfork Lake campgrounds on a wide-sweeping tour of the area while Kay got a pedicure.  The spring-like weather began changing in the late afternoon as yet another cold front swept in, bringing snow flurries to parts of the area.  Nothing else notable happened.

Tuesday, we traveled to Five Lakes Outing Club near Hughes, Arkansas, at the invitation of Ed and Linda Richmond.  This almost annual trip includes the Richmonds, Simanks, Dave Tefeteller and his wife, JoAnn, and us.  While John and Dave were friends previously, and John, Ed, and I were friends previously, the others of us met as a result of our annual trip to Quetico Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada, to chase smallmouth bass.  It was good getting to renew old acquaintances.  The cold front that moved in Monday brought frigid temperatures and breezy conditions Wednesday morning.  Despite these weather conditions, we fished Brushy Lake for bluegill and bass; the bluegill were not cooperative even on the full moon cycle, but a few bass took a fly I was throwing, and a lizard rigged Texas style, fished by Dave and John.  The new cook at Five Lakes Outing Club prepared both an awesome breakfast and another awesome dinner.  And, the laughter and storytelling among friends was priceless!

We departed Five Lakes Outing Club Thursday morning, traveling to North Little Rock for a brief stop at Sam’s Club to stock up on groceries, dry goods, etc. to “tide us over” for the next few weeks.  From there we drove to near Maumelle to for an appointment with Rennaissance Homes, Inc. to interview owner Brandon Tedder about new home construction in Hot Springs Village.  It was a great visit and we provided input on our “requirements” for a new house.  Rennaissance Homes, Inc. is seemingly a great company with good floor plans and ideas.  It is both a Green certified and Energy Star certified builder.  And then, we drove to Conway for my third golf lesson; I’m learning a lot, but not making much progress.  And then, finally, we drove home awaiting a visit from Harper, Jennie, and Brian who arrived about 10 PM.

Friday, Jenny and Brian slept in, and we enjoyed the adventuresome Harper; she knows no fear and ran all over the property, even at just over 20 months.  Ridge and Karyn arrived late morning, and it was fun watching Harper and Ridge get to know each other.  An Easter egg dying station was set up on the patio for the grandkids—yeah, right!  Karyn and Jenny spent a good portion of the early afternoon cooking and dying eggs; of course, the little ones lost interest after only a few minutes.  Late afternoon was spent conducting several egg hunts, but the most popular was the glow-in-the-dark eggs Karyn made; the kids loved hunting for them.  And then, they opened them up to find glow-in-the-dark tubes that could connect to make circles for bracelets, anklets, necklaces, and crowns; we laughed until tears came when Ridge started doing a Pacific Island dance swirling the glowing loops around his wrists in the darkening evening—what a hoot!  We ended the day with a great family dinner and making s’mores over a campfire in the back “yard”.

Ridge was up early Saturday morning, ready to play outside with grandpa DD.  It was a bit to cold and he opened the Race Car Easter basket grandma KK had set out the night before.  We raced cards until Harper awoke an hour or so later.  She opened the princess Easter basket from grandma KK, and by then it had begun to warm outside.  

We adjourned to the patio to play and let Ridge and Harper eat breakfast on the run.  And then, we had to go inside because of intense, acrid smoke from nearby burning leaves permeating the air around us.  We coughed and all our clothes smelled of smoke, and we closed all the doors to minimize its infiltration into the house.  

About mid-morning, Kay, Karyn, and Jenny escaped the smoke and took the kids into town for Easter Egg hunts, while Brian and I escaped by taking the bicycles to a couple of local roads, doing an 8-mile ride followed by an 11-mile ride.  The second ride between Jordan and AR Highway 5 just about did me in with almost 500 feet of elevation change.  I walked the bike up long, steep hills a couple of times on this ride!  Karyn and Ridge left mid-afternoon, Jenny and Brian walked, attempting to get Harper to sleep, and Kay and I just sort of hung out.  We spent a quiet evening, having a mixtures of leftovers and new food for dinner, and Jenny and Brian made s’mores again.

Having a house for sale while still living in it means that one doesn’t really have a normal life.  We always do a good job of keeping the house clean and things picked up, but everything is now really put away, and while we’re still trying to have some semblance of normality, it just doesn’t exist—more stress!  With all the activity Monday and Tuesday, Wednesday was a bit more sedate.  John and Ed invited me to fish with them, and we met at Rim Shoals about mid-morning.  It was 34.6° when we awoke, and it need to warm up several degrees before fishing.  The White River was high, and the fish were slow to take a fly.  John and Ed each caught 2 fish, and I ran the motor.   While I was gone, Kay spotted our first of year Ruby Throated Hummingbird!

John and Ed dropped me off at lunch, and as I needed some exercise and quiet time, and I went for a 15-mile bicycle ride in the late afternoon, seeing lots of butterflies, but didn’t have a camera.  As for the ride, the hills here in northern Arkansas are a challenge and the roads rough.  My TREK road bike is built for smooth surfaces, and I felt every piece of gravel on the chip and seal.  Here are the stats:

Ride Time: 1:32:48

Stopped Time: 11:22

Distance: 15.00 miles

Average: 9.70 mph

Fastest Speed: 26.45 mph

Ascent: 486 feet

Descent: 590 feet

Calories: 1004

Things in Baxter County move slowly, very slowly.  As of Thursday, the listing had not been posted on MLS.  Kay is working as hard as she can to facilitate getting that done, and she’s known in her real estate office for having all the “i’s” dotted and “t’s” crossed, but it is Baxter County!  More hurry up and wait.  I have the type of personality such that I want it done and want it done now.  Kay is my balancing act, and provides the levity our relationship needs!  Wayne and I took a great drive to southern Missouri to look at fishing spots at Bryant Creek and North Fork of the White River.    They were both high, with significant discharge, but look like some “new to me” places to fish.  Wayne has fished there before and had moderate success.  While visiting one of the campgrounds, we saw a friend of his and visited briefly with him; he was suiting up to fish with caddis flies.  Now that the Norfork has lost its appeal, and perhaps when the water goes down…  Kay and I enjoyed a nice evening sitting on the patio watching the birds, and saw a Questionmark Butterfly light in one of the cedar trees nearby.  Things are looking up!

Friday morning we had breakfast on the patio, and saw an American Lady butterfly land nearby.  It stayed put long enough for a decent photo, both closed (photo) and open showing its orange and black.  This great start to the day provided impetus for a bicycle ride and chasing butterflies—highs in the low 80s and slight breeze.  I rode along the White River, and saw five species of Swalllowtails:  Zebra Swallowtail (photo), Giant Swallowtail, Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, Black Swallowtail (photo), and Pipevine Swallowtail (photo); several Monarchs (photo); and bunches of male and female Falcated Orangetips (photo). 

The Eastern Tiger Swallowtail has eluded photographing for several days now!  Also observed were a number of birds, including a Bald Eagle.  Here are ride stats:

Ride Time: 1:58:17

Stopped Time: 1:00:47

Distance: 18.73 miles

Average: 9.50 mph

Fastest Speed: 29.89 mph

Ascent: 790 feet

Descent: 827 feet

Calories: 1178

Friday evening, we had a delightful visit with John and Sandy, and played bridge for a couple of hours—what fun!  Maybe we can do it again sometime.

All of the bicycles had dirty, greasy chains, and Saturday was “Clean Bicycle Chains Day”.  The job got done, but not without grease and grime all over me, though I’ve learned to wear disposable gloves for chores like this.  We put the rack on the Honda, loaded the bikes, and went for a leisurely ride.  The 10-15 miles per hour wind proved formidable, but some butterflies were still flying, and I finally photographed the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, and got a decent photo of a Pipevine Swallowtail.

It was a successful day indeed!  Here are ride stats:

Ride Time: 1:03:33

Stopped Time: 37:44

Distance: 8.10 miles

Average: 7.65 mph

Fastest Speed: 16.15 mph

Ascent: 104 feet

Descent: 0 feet

Calories: 494

We continued spring cleaning Monday morning, and Kay went into her real estate office (Gilbert Real Estate) shortly after lunch to formalize the listing to sell our house, the beloved Dunnhill.  She texted that realtors from her office would do a preview of the house tomorrow!  Panic!  I feverishly tidied up the house, stowing cameras, binoculars, computers, etc., and loaded the Expedition with oversized clothes and the Explorer with “spring cleaning” remnants t She returned after Crossroads Band practice with a FOR SALE sign.  Guess that makes it official!

First thing Tuesday morning, I erected the FOR SALE sign, and upon returning to the house, Kay and I buried a Saint Joseph statue in front of the house, and said the Saint Joseph’s prayer.  Kay began making fruit cups and cookies for the previewers.  We were supposed to be 9th on the list of houses to be previewed, and since they were leaving from MountainHome at 8 AM, we thought it would be about 11 AM before they reached Dunnhill.  WRONG!  They began arriving just after 9:30 AM.  I left while they were there, but they didn’t stay long.  By noon, it had already been a full day, and I still had a haircut to go!  We visited with Sandy, John, and Ed for a short while Tuesday evening as we had not seen them in almost 6 months.

Kay resumed singing in the Crossroads Band at church on Sunday morning.  After a 4-month absence, we had forgotten how good the band really is.  Rodney preached a great sermon, “Counter Intuitive” which struck a chord with us.  It reminded me of the Gallup Leadership Institute which teaches the premise of encouraging people’s strengths rather than concentrating on their weaknesses.  After Sunday school, we returned to Chen’s Chinese buffet, and Kay returned home while I hit golf balls.  There were more good shots than bad ones.  Back at home, we loaded the bicycles, drove to the White River, and rode almost 11 miles along the river.  There are still snowbanks along this river road.  We saw lots of birds, and a Pipevine or Spicebush Swallowtail Butterfly; but despite chasing it for more than 5-minutes, we could never get a photo.  We also saw what looked like a Tropical Leafwing Butterfly, but our area is far out of their range.  It was more likely an Eastern Comma or Questionmark.  If only I could have gotten a photo!

We resumed spring cleaning on Monday, moving things from the upper and lower garages to the storage building and relocating hoses to back outside near the faucets.  Kay cleaned the motorhome and raked leaves, and I continued straightening the shop mess.  Trying to complete homework before the next golf lesson, I hit golf balls, and amazingly hit pretty well.  Kay drove into town in the evening for Crossroads Band practice.

Tuesday Wayne and I had coffee this morning, after which he drove us to Quarry Park to check out RV sites—Wayne is such a good friend.  We saw Mr. Wiff fishing, and briefly visited with him.  Mr. Wiff and his wife are 84-year old RVers (soon to be 85) who “camp” at Quarry Park a month each spring and each fall, respectively.  They just acquired a new-to-them Winnebago Adventurer after driving their 2006 Winnebago Adventurer some 150,000 miles—that’s optimism—including over 10 trips to Alaska where they monitor a launching ramp in the Kenai Peninsula.  He still looks great and gets around well despite his age and diabetes.  On the way home, I saw a Tiger Swallowtail along River Ridge Road.  After returning home, we enjoyed the birds and butterflies, spotting another Eastern Comma or Questionmark and a very small butterfly or moth that was black with a large red spot and white fringe on each top wing.  I could not find it in any of the butterfly identification books or on the internet.  We drove to Maumelle to babysit Ridge for a couple of days, and he was glad to see us when we arrived.  I hit golf balls (poorly) at Country Club of Arkansas, and returned to the house where we had a quiet evening.

Wednesday, took Ridge to daycare, went to Apple store and bought a new iPad Air; now, Kay and I each have an iPad.  Her computer has become painfully slow, and even reading emails and doing internet searches is major chore.  We had lunch at Whole Hog Cafe, a great barbecue restaurant.  The pulled pork salad was fabulous!  Back at Maumelle, we downloaded apps to the new iPad, and transferred data between the old and new.  After Kay’s picking Ridge up from daycare, I drove to Conway for a 2nd golf lesson, and feel that improvement is gradually being made.