After an early morning walk on Friday, we continued packing for a couple of hours before taking an extended break for a family visit.  Ron arrived first, followed a couple hours later by Jenny, Brian, and Harper.  She had grown since the last time we saw her in July, and of course, gets prettier each day that passes.  We all hung out on the patio for the afternoon, and then Jenny, Brian, Harper, and I drove to the Quarry Park campground below Norfork Dam.  The little kids’ playground did not offer much of a challenge for the ever-climbing 2-year old Harper, but the big kids’ playground was just about right.  She is strong, well coordinated, and ever active!  Back at the house Kay and Ron completed dinner—shrimp creole on rice, salad, and broccoli for most of us, and shrimp creole on pasta and broccoli for Jenny.  Jenny and Brian put Harper to bed, but couldn’t stay awake themselves; the others of us went to bed early with Kay and me sleeping in the motorhome.

Kay and I slept in the motorhome last night, and awoke early to greet family members as they arose.  First was Ron, then Harper, then Jenny followed by Brian.  Harper is a very active 2-year old, and loves to run and climb; she’ll get away from who’s watching her in a heart beat!  We played and walked a good portion of the morning.  Ron didn’t sleep well as his dog kept pacing about the bedroom, so he packed up, taking a lot of our frozen food and a few of our winter clothes with him (we’ll wear them when we return to Arkansas from the Rio Grande Valle during the holidays).  Jenny did not feel well when she woke up, and felt worse as the morning wore on.  Finally, having enough of nausea, etc. she asked to cut their visit short and return home; of course, we understood, and felt sorry for her as we could tell she was very uncomfortable.  Consequently, we were all alone again just after lunch.  Kay packed a few items, and we moved some things from the upper garage and storage building to the small lower garage.  With unscheduled time on our hands, we searched and dug and dug, looking for the St. Joseph statue buried when we put the house on the market in April.  Finally, after digging about 10 holes we retrieved it, washed it off, and will carry it to the new house.  God is good, all the time, and all the time, God is good.  Otherwise, we just chilled.

Tuesday marked Kay’s birthday; she sure is growing older gracefully, and gets more beautiful every day!  After our early morning walk, I washed and vacuumed the Honda while Kay prepared breakfast.  With a moving date of October 10 and 3 sets of guests visiting before the move, we began packing clothes and personal things in earnest, finding that we work better together than working separately.  We took a timeout to go into Mountain Home for a Happy Birthday lunch at the Thai restaurant, resuming packing upon returning home.  And, oh by the way, we’re seeing a few butterflies, though nowhere the numbers or species we observed last year.

We continued packing Wednesday and Thursday (we are now about 75% complete), and to make it a bit easier, began loading our “Winter Texan” clothes in the motorhome.  We drove into “town” Thursday to get flu shots, but Walgreens was out of the high dose serum.  After lunch at Chen’s, Kay dropped me off at Big Creek to hit balls while she ran errands and grocery shopped for our weekend guests.  After returning home, I took a nap while Kay continued packing—we sure have a lot of clothes and stuff; thank goodness we’re leaving the furniture and household goods!

Kay remained in central Arkansas on Monday to attend an office visit (OB/GYN) with expectant parents Karyn and Matt—please keep Baby Acker and her parents, Karyn and Matt, in your prayers.  Kay arrived home just after dark, ready for some rest and relaxation.  After an early morning walk, I took advantage of the incredibly great weather to inflate the motorhome tires to the proper pressure, extend the slides, and wash the behemoth, followed by washing and vacuuming the Expedition.  Finishing at 11 AM, I was pooped after several hours of hard labor.

After church, we drove to Maumelle, changed clothes, and then drove to meet Ridge and his other grandparents at Soccer Field #13 in North Little Rock for 3 year old soccer practice.  It was a hoot.  They had kept him since Friday, so the switch was made, and he went back to his house with us after practice.  He was so elated to be at home with his things that I gave him a hug and kiss and drove to Norfork, readying for a busy week.

It’s 27 days to closing on our house of 10 years.  Thinking we had an appointment for 10 AM to look at a few houses with our realtor, we took our time getting out of the efficiency apartment Saturday morning.  We headed out the door at 8:35 AM to have a leisurely breakfast when Kay received a call that we were late for an 8:30 AM appointment.  We took a different route, missing breakfast, and met the realtor for the first house viewing.  The houses we looked at today covered a large spectrum from big, outdated, small, shabby, overpriced, etc.  We found a couple we could easily live in, but neither really stood out.  We also met with a builder, but he doesn’t seem to be a good fit for us as he builds smaller spec houses.  Finally, I told Kay that I was on overload and had reached a point of saturation—time to quit for now.  Consequently, we could be homeless and living in our motorhome full time  come October 17!

With upset tummies, we skipped breakfast and drove a roundabout route to Magellan Golf Course to hit a few balls and work on our short games. Kay finished her small bucket of balls, and was working on her short game when I spotted her on the phone near the clubhouse Giving a thumbs up.  I thought it was in reference to a call to the “potential” builder of a “possible” new house in Hot Springs Village.  Seeing and hearing her, I asked what was going on, and she said we were all clear for an October 17 closing date; no appraisal and no inspection—that makes today S-28 (selling date minus 28 days).  While the inspection part didn’t bother us, we were both concerned about the appraisal given the history of low appraisals in the area.  Once again this miracle can only be explained by God’s intervention; God has intervened in every facet of this move, including the timing of each step. Both Kay and I are blown away by this, and to say that our faith has been strengthened exponentially would be an understatement. Now, we can relax a couple of days before getting serious about packing, moving, and finding a permanent place to live; it appears that we’ll be living in the motorhome for a minimum of 6 months–fulltimers, so to speak.  I played golf–not too well–while Kay hung out with girlfriends.  That’s how our day went, how about yours?

I drove straight to the Village (Hot Springs Village) on Sunday, arriving at the storage facility shortly after lunch, and unpacking the Expedition; it really held a lot of stuff.  Kay arrived, after a couple of stops in central Arkansas, just as I finished unpacking and was pulling the door down—her timing was impeccable.  After leaving the storage facility, we moved into our rental efficiency apartment for the upcoming week.  Jim and Ginny Passe invited us for cocktails and soup, and especially to view their new luxury motor coach.  It was spectacular, with all the bells and whistles one could want, including a bath and a half, a dishwasher, and many other luxury options.  After the viewing, we enjoyed a bowl of Ginny’s fabulous tortilla soup, followed by a boat ride around Lake Balboa.  We had a busy day!

Even though the Village is a bit isolated, it is not nearly so much as is where we live in Norfork.  Consequently, we take advantage of the shopping and dining while in the Village.  Over the course of the next few days—Monday through Thursday—we practiced golf, played golf, read, and visited with friends, taking as much a break from our hectic lives as our situation would allow.  My golf game started out decently, and progressively got worse over the course of the week; Kay has labeled golf “the devil’s game”.  Speaking of the “devil”, Pam’s gonna kill me for the last photo; it’s Kay’s fault, she took the picture.

We continued packing on Friday, with a goal of completing the hobby room/shop, and succeeded in getting everything packable into boxes, and labeled, including whether for climate controlled or non-climate controlled storage.  As you might imagine, our lives have been taken over by the “move”.  Of course, all the packing is being done on faith, as “it ain’t over until the fat lady sings”.  We also took a break from packing to put the cover on the pontoon, perhaps for the last time—weather and schedule will dictate. 

On Saturday we began packing power tools (table saw, drill press, band saw, router and router table) one-person pontoon boats, paddles, hiking staffs, PFDs, extra bicycle, gun cases, and kayaks into and onto the Expedition, for the trip to storage facilities in Hot Springs Village, while guns and other ammunition, a few personal things, golf clubs, and our clothes and toiletries were packed in the Honda CR V for storage in Matt’s gun safe in central Arkansas and for our week in the Village, respectively.  Dave and CJ Reece from the Memphis area dropped by, accompanied by their neighbors, to say hello.  They are here for a few days’ fly fishing and relaxing.  Dave and I worked together in New Orleans in the late 1970s, and again in Memphis in the late 1990s before I moved to Little Rock in 1999.  It was good to visit with them, if only briefly.

It’s Monday, and 46 days until the tentatively scheduled sale of the house, and possible sale of furniture and household goods, and pontoon boat.  We remain on pins and needles, wondering if some glitch will happen between now and then.  After walking about 3 miles in the early morning, we cut some short cedar stumps to transport to Texas for bowl making by Paul Graham and Jim Miles.  Following that, we put surveyor’s tape on the property corners, and washed the canoe, readying it for transport for winter storage before the move to Hot Springs Village.  Mail and package delivery today brought a settlement for a “Heart Attack” insurance policy Kay insisted taking out on me when we first married; obviously she knew something I didn’t because, at the time, I poopooed the idea!  It will come in handy when time comes for furnishing the new house.  We spent part of the afternoon going developing a strategic plan for moving, i.e. a checklist of items to be done and dates for completion, knowing that most will occur during the last week prior to the actual sale of the house.  A call in the late afternoon from the prospective buyer informed us that they did want the furniture and household goods for the asking price, and were prepared to write a check on the spot.  Kay advised them to wait until closing to write the check.  Their decision to buy the furniture and household goods tremendously helps us with scheduling the move, reserving moving trucks, and making arrangements for helpers on each end to load and unload, respectively, the remaining personal items being moved.  I woke up shortly before midnight, and worked on preparing some paperwork for the move (bill of sale for the pontoon and instructions for operating the boat lift).  And, we’re still seeing a few butterflies—and, we’re never too busy to take photos of them!

It’s 45 days until the tentative date for sale of the house.  After a skimpy night’s sleep, we awoke Tuesday to another great cool morning, and after reading email and newspapers, did our 3-mile neighborhood walk.  Breakfast was at the Norfork Cafe, and was as good as it has ever been, and clean too; about a year or so ago it had become a bit dirty, and the food was really greasy.  After returning home, I began working on changing out the potable water pump in the motorhome while Kay called the various utilities and companies servicing the house to ascertain the logistics of terminating/changing accounts when the house sells.  None make it easy, and DirecTV is absolutely the worse, requiring us to send in all the equipment, and having the buyer establish a new account requiring a service person to come install equipment.

After walking in the warm, humid morning air Wednesday, we ate breakfast and drove to Quarry Marina, loaded with boat cleaning supplies.  We dusted the Bimini top and cover, vacuumed the carpet, removed spots on the carpet, and then cleaned the always present spider droppings from the upholstery and sides of the pontoon.  Kay is leading the charge on packing, and seems to have boundless energy—I don’t how she does it.  She worked on the downstairs today, and made significant progress.  We showed the boat to the buyer late this afternoon, and it, too, will be sold as part of the package.  In addition, the buyer asked if we would consider moving the closing date up a week as they had a long-standing commitment for October 23, and we readily agreed.  For us, that means advancing everything a week, and the most challenging part of that is arranging for a rental U+Haul truck and helpers to load the truck on this end, and helpers to unload the truck at the storage facility in Hot Springs Village.  Consequently, we are now shifting the selling day to October 16, so this becomes S-36.

We awoke early, 3 AM Thursday, not being able to sleep because of all the impending packing awaiting us, among other moving chores.  Kay began packing again, and out of guilt, I assisted!  We worked on the storage room on the lower floor, and then the shop area, and finally the out-of-season closet.  Despite getting rid of a lot of things, we still have much to pack.  Thank goodness we’re not moving furniture and household goods!  We are using the lower garage as the mobilization area for completed boxes, with a plan to park the moving truck nearby, quickly load the boxes, drive to the Village, and unload either into regular storage or HVAC storage.

We received an offer on our house on August 28, and accepted it on August 29, settling for significantly less than we priced it.  But, there’s a fair possibility that the buyers will also purchase the household furnishings and pontoon boat for fair prices, making the deal much more palatable. 

The young buyers for the house really like how it has been decorated and landscaped, and in this regard have offered to purchase the furniture and household goods; since our decor is all about fly fishing and trout, and we’d have to store it for several months, we readily agreed.  Now, we have to reach agreement on price.  Kay and I separately estimated the value, added and subtracted items, and then averaged the value.  When it comes right down to it, one’s material possessions aren’t worth much, and certainly not what was paid for them!  Much of our furniture is new, having been lived on for only 5 months, and several of the Persian rugs are irreplaceable.  Oh well, this would give us an opportunity to start over—in our mid-60s!  We spent a good portion of Sunday after church and Labor Day doing an item by item inventory to insure no misunderstanding on which items we would take; we have several pieces of art that are signed and numbered, and others done by friends and family, some of whom are deceased, and others who are no longer able to paint.  And then there are a few sentimental items that would make us look heartless to leave.  The young couple came by on Saturday evening (September 6) to go over the inventory.  They expected only a paragraph, and were quite surprised at it being 10 pages long.  They asked if we would sell only certain items and Kay quickly responded “No” as it’s almost as easy for us to move all of it as it is to move some of it.  We reviewed every item, taking almost 2 hours.  This is their 4th visit to the house, with 3 of the visits lasting about 2 hours each!  The buyers also want to purchase the 2006 Aloha 25-foot pontoon, docked at Quarry Marina.  We have provided a very fair price, and scheduled a test run for Wednesday evening (September 10).

We ordered boxes and packing materials online from U+Haul, mainly to pack hanging clothes, books, and tools; U+Haul is bit more expensive than some other sources, but the quality is supposed to be superior; since our belongings will be in storage for 6 months, we thought the difference was worth it, and U+Haul  offered free two-day shipping.  We have been hesitant to begin packing because of the possibility of the sale disintegrating (this happened to me in 1999, after the moving van pulled out).  But, all indications are that the buyers realize the superior quality, superior materials, and the many extras in the house and property, and that they are getting a heck of a deal to boot.  So, we’ll begin packing—power tools and other items we rarely use, fly fishing and tying materials, one-person float tubes and pontoons, etc.—and transport these items for storage in Hot Springs Village when we go in mid-September.  We’ve rented climate controlled storage space and non-climate controlled space.

Over the course of the last few months, we have looked at several houses, both existing and new, and discovered that there is no difference in price per square foot; consequently, we will likely ‘build new”.  In this regard, we have been impressed by a young builder, Brandon Tedder of Renaissance Homes in North Little Rock, and viewed the progress of one of his projects in the Village—excellent quality, attention to detail, and energy efficient.  The plan we really liked was too expensive given all the extras we wanted, so using a smaller version of the plan, we backed off on square footage, added a sunroom, and other extras, and now have a design we really like.  The builder has been very patient, and we have come to basic agreement, and except for dotting the “i’s” and crossing the “t’s”, we’re about ready to execute a construction contract.  And, we have completed the paperwork—another Labor Day weekend chore—for a construction/permanent loan.

Thank goodness for the motorhome.  It will provide us a place to live for the days between the sale of the house and when we leave for Texas, for the time while in Texas, and for the time when we return to Arkansas if the house is not finished—about 6 months minimum.  Mechanically, I have to install a new potable water pump, inflate the tires to the proper pressure, and reinstall the windshield wipers (they were removed to keep from oxidizing in the sun this summer.)  We haven’t begun packing clothes and foodstuff, but that will occur towards the end of September.  Just before our clothes and personal belongings are moved, we’ll drive the motorhome to Quarry Park and stay there until our business and doctors’ appointments are completed, then spend a week in central Arkansas visiting grandkids and kids, and then drive to Texas.

On to more important things.  This first week of September has brought a Baltimore Oriole to our place, sipping nectar from the hummingbird feeders.  This is the first time we’ve seen a Baltimore Oriole anytime except for late April.  Also, there have been far fewer butterflies than we’ve had in the past.  What’s up?