How Long til Spring?

While we have really enjoyed all of the snow here in Spokane, we are ready for spring. Should be only 30 to 60 days away (the weather part, not the season). I have gotten very proficient with the snow shovel and my neat little snow plow. I can honestly say that driving the little snow plow is a lot of fun. The only time it was not fun was when a county snow plow came down the road out front and buried the approach to our driveway with 2 feet of heavy ice and our little tractor could not get through it. We were in effect blocked in or in my wife's case she was blocked out as she was at our daughters helping her recuperate from surgery on her broken wrist. I was eventually able to break through and clear it all (only took 4 hours). I have been spending quite a bit of time in my shop (The Man Cave) working on the little trailer, the garden tractors and doing some woodworking. I keep the shop at about 42 degrees so the vehicles don't have to be winterized. I am acclimatizing rather well, most of the time I am not even wearing a jacket although I look pretty bundled up in the pictures. (as with all of the pictures, click on them for a larger view)

Now That's Snow!

I guess we are officially indoctrinated into the population of people that call the Pacific Northwest home. It has been snowing off and on (more on than off) for a week now and is not supposed to let up for a couple of days. It really came down hard this afternoon. I did get to break in my 2 snow shovels on the driveways and sidewalk.

While I was in my shop (better known as the "man cave" by my wife) airing up the tires on the atv trailer so I could take the trash can out to the street I heard a commotion outside. I opened the big door to the shop to find my neighbor on his tractor plowing my entire driveway and the approach to the shop. What a wonderful surprise. We have been blessed with some really terrific neighbors.

The snow is truly beautiful and we have 5 acres of the pretty white stuff to look at and play in. (It is a blast to scoot around in the snow on the ATC we have!)

(Click on any of the pictures to see a larger view)

Our First Snowfall (a dusting actually)

When we checked the weather report before going to bed last night, they said our area was in a severe snow storm watch so we were not sure what we would wake up to. All we got was a light dusting but it sure made for a pretty setting. I am not too worried about the coming snow as we have installed snow tires on our vehicles and we even picked up a small garden tractor with a snow plow on the front. I am actually looking forward to using the plow. (obviously this southern California transplant has never had to work in weather like this before) We are getting acclimatized rather nicely as the cold weather is not bothering us at all. Having a "Heated" shop to work in doesn't hurt either. LOL Most of the snow in the pictures melted by days end but there is still some in the shady areas of the property. We are looking forward to a White Christmas, probably a white Thanksgiving too.

Almost Done!

The shop is almost complete. I don't know who is more excited. my wife or me. I know I am driving her crazy when I hang around in the house. She will be able to send me out to the shop when I become a pest (as if I won't already be there). The concrete goes in this week and then the front and doors go on then I can start setting up my wood shop and welding area. The motorhome, the '54 Bel Air, the little Scamp trailer and the newest addition the Chevy 4X4 truck will also be calling the shop home. I will then be able to park the good old Jeep in the garage. When my son-in laws tractor gets here we will be able to put it in the shop as well. The house is starting to feel like home and Grace is setting up her sewing/craft room (a 30'X12' room). She is very happy!

We're Here!

Wow, what a drive that was. We had one kitty try to escape all the way here and another one slept the entire time. Talk about different personalities. Glad that is behind us! People told us to use tranquelizers but like I told them, I didn't think I could drive after taking a tranquelizer (LOL). We have been here almost 4 weeks now and are slowly getting our lives back in order. We still have a lot of boxes that need to be gone through and put away and now that we have had the daylight basement finished off we can get to them. We contracted with a local company to build us a "Pole Barn" (Shop) and that got started yesterday. I am so EXCITED! I know we came up here to retire or at least that is what I was told but judging by the list of things we want to do to the property, we will both need to go back to work to finance the improvements. As you can see in the picture, there is not a lot on the property but cut down weeds. (They were almost 3 feet tall by the time we got here so I had to get the weed eater out and call a guy with a tractor to mow the property.) I will have another tractor operator come out in a couple of weeks to rototill the front and back yard areas so we can put in some grass and plants. More to follow.....

Almost time to hit the Road

Wow! Only 11 days before we leave for our new home in Washington. We are so excited we can barely contain ourselves. We have been very busy packing up all of our personal belongings and wrapping up our jobs. The moving company will be packing all of our "Breakables" and meeting us there and we will be taking some things that they won't move. Grace will be driving the car and I will be driving the Jeep (with all 4 cats) towing the "Scamp". We will be pretty loaded down, hopefully we won't look like the "Beverly Hillbillies" LOL

Our New Home

We now have a place to go after our home closes escrow. Here is a picture of us in front of the fireplace and another picture of my lady on the deck at the rear of the house.(Do we look happy?) Our new home is located near Spokane and is on almost 5 acres. The home is brand new and there is no landscaping so we will have plenty to do. We have plenty of ideas, now we will see if there is enough money to be able to create what we have in our minds. We will be making the move in the middle of July. Imagine driving from Southern California to Spokane Washington in a 20 foot motor home with 4 cats that do not like to travel. I can hardly wait..... We are very excited to be able to make this move. We have always talked about where we would like to retire to when the time came and this place seems to meet all of the criteria. We are near water and forest (Oh yeah there are over 20 golf courses in the area as well) and we were able to get 5 acres of good workable land. We will get the opportunity to see if we can make it as "mini farmers". There are some things I will miss about Southern Cal but there are a lot of things I will be glad to leave behind. We look forward to finding a new church home there as well as making a whole lot of new friends.