January, 2020

Hi there!

Free time activities

Christmas came and went. Come to think of it, so did New years. We spent it quietly with Janice's mother as none of the kids or friends love us enough to come visit. (Roll eyes here) So, we had time to have our staircase re-carpeted and replaced an electric cook top with a gas one. The house had never been plumbed for a gas appliance so it was quite an undertaking to run a line invisibly through the kitchen cabinets, a concrete foundation and dig a trench underground to the existing gas pipe. Nothing that would ever cause a moments hesitation with my bride, mind you.

Next, I was tasked to organize a concrete pour for a patio in the back of the house. Previously, we had a mix of dirt, wood and plastic Trex deck and walkway and it was time to upgrade and consolidate. We have plans for the area, of course, and we will talk about them when they are done.

Finally, the sexiest and cheapest (ha!) improvement was replacing our septic tank. Since they usually last about 30 years, I should only need to replace it once more before  I am pushing up daisies.

The Book

Well now... we are finally published authors! Yes sir indeed, who knows, a movie next? You might not want to rush off to order your copy on Amazon as they are currently out of stock, because it had a total press run of...eh... two.

You know that we rent our home out for short term vacation rentals while we are away. Well, several years ago we had guests who commented or asked about a specific piece of art we had collected that had caught their eye. So, I took some pictures and printed them, adding a little caption to explain the back story on its acquisition. The whole quick and dirty effort was put in a cheesy 3 ring binder and left laying around for folks to look at if they were interested. 

This year we got back to find the binder hinge broken from use and many, many comments written in our guest book about how much they enjoyed it. OK then, time to up our game, we decided. Janice re photographed everything with my high faluten super duper I Phone 11 + Pro (with the 3 cameras) and I set out to polish up the little stories behind each piece. Then, off to the publisher the 30 pages went for a glossy hardcover finished coffee table book. 

As far as I can tell the only down side is that there was no retainer or advance fee on our book, nor will there be any royalties or residuals. It is not an easy life we lead.

We maybe suckers for eclectic art, but not having $120,000 in my sock drawer, we will have to pass on this one...

It's that time again

Time to make like Michael Jackson and "Just beat it!" Having spent a month at daughter Cassie's place before returning home, our time here got cut short this year. We did manage to catch up with friends but with 5 weeks less it felt a little rushed. Still, it was a great season for us. We got stuff done, goofed off more than usual and moved plans forward in important ways. We even had our granddaughter Maddie do a drive by for a few nights with her fellow on her way back to school in Los Angeles. We also got major boring business stuff behind us, like having our wills and trusts updated for at least another decade. It was worse than going to the dentist. Only we did that too, as well as a boatload of doctor appointments. You would think that we are becoming old people or something.

So now we make one last round of visits with friends, then get outa town before the bills catch up with us. We will get to trade dysfunctional American politics for French ones.

Our sky

By the way, if you are not in California and can take pictures of clouds or rain, be sure to send us some. We would hate to forget what they look like :)