Mid-October weekend

When I do not blog it means one of two things; either I have had a writers block because of little or nothing going on or I am too busy to get to it. This time it is the busy one.
We put things together yesterday and headed to Cutty's Campground in Grimes IA. The rehearsal dinner, wedding and reception are all in Des Moines and Grimes is close. Cutty's is at the I-35/ I-80 intersection and a membership park unless you are a Passport America member and we are. So our Passport America fee is half price making a night's stay here $13.50. Very reasonable. We will be here until Monday morning when we will be moseying down to Peculiar MO.
So yesterday a few of my high school classmates gathered at the Drake Diner for lunch and a surprise birthday party for classmate Jayne. My lifelong friend Mickey knew I was in the area and  invited me. So glad she did! I had a really good time seeing everyone again and meeting some new people as well. I spent the remainder of the afternoon at Mickey's and she brought me back to the campground.

Happy Birthday Jayne! Yes, she is the same age as I am. Get over it- I have to. 

A candid shot of the bride- Erin Brooker

Butch and I had time to rest a bit before heading to the rehearsal dinner at the Bravo! Italian restaurant in the Jordon Creek Mall area. Very fine Italian meal.

While at lunch yesterday I heard of a bead store in Valley Junction of West Des Moines called Fish Lips. Will be checking it out today.

Later today...

Made it to the bead store (Fish Lips) and purchased some hematite beads for a very good price! They did not carry seed beads or Delicas but she told me about another bead store down the street so we went down to check it out and they do sell seed beads and Delicas. Name of store is Artistic Beads and it is in historic Valley Junction as well Bought a token tube of beads and will go back. She told me there was a BIG BEAD SHOW today at the fairgrounds if I were interested. Well yes, I am very interested but my day is way too full now! Maybe next year?...

Bought a House

It is so funny how things happen...and at the right time...and in the right way. I had spotted this little house in Jefferson Iowa on Cedar street. It had easy access to the back yard with plenty of room for our motorhome. The house had been empty for 9 years as the lady who lived there spent many years in the nursing home and then passed on leaving the house to her sister who lives in Ottumwa Iowa. It has been on the market for 2 years at $25,000. We made an offer on it last spring and was turned down without consideration. I must admit our offer was less than half their asking price. We did not feel it was anywhere near what they were asking. So we walked away...although I did tell the Realtor that our offer still stood if they were willing to change their mind.
So we returned from Michigan and were going about our usual business when the Realtor called and told us that she had just received a call from the lady and wanted to drop her asking price to $15,000. She did not want to go through the winter with the house again. They have left all the utilities operational throughout the nine years the house has been empty.
The funny part of this deal is that we were here when she called and it all worked out for us to buy and have time to winterize it before heading south. So today we spent the day draining pipes and the water heater, making sure all the utilities were shut off and putting antifreeze in all the drains etc. We are familiar with winterizing.
So now we can head south and tackle the things we want to do with this property next spring.

402 N Cedar 

Backyard- The neighbor will have to do something different with her clothesline.

Living room -Before

Kitchen

Some things change fast

Yesterday Butch worked on some chores for Leo and Keri, we bought a house and then we went to Ames to ride on some bike trails with Laura and Jason. We rode in a nice little park on the edge of Ames. An isolated thunderstorm came up but a shelter was close so we didn't get too wet.
They have an interesting reed sculpture in the park. The reeds used for the sculpture were gathered from the Ledges Park in Boone Iowa. We had planned to go to Madrid Iowa to see the new long bridge but the rain looked as though it was coming down hard in that area so we went back to Jason and Laura's for lasagna and a movie. "Cadillac Records". I would highly recommend it. Very good movie!

Yes, we bought a house. We have had our eye on a wee bit of property in Jefferson Iowa for quite some time now. Some of you have heard the old lady story and how she was way out of line on her asking price. Well she has come to her senses and does not want to own the property through another winter. So she dropped her price waaaay down to where we thought it should be.  So we said 'Yes' to the lowered price. Bottom line is we will have a spot for friends with RV's to stop for awhile and then later on even those without RV's after we get the house fixed up. One of the first things we will do is put in a place to hook up for our RV and it is just as easy to put in two as one. That will be done first off next spring. 

Then the house...so if you are into demolition we will be most happy to hear from you! 

We will even provide the wrecking bar!

We will be glad to hear from you anyway of course,and a love of demolition would just be a bonus.

We will be 2 or 3 blocks from my favorite bike trail, 2 miles from a river and within 10 miles of 3 inexpensive 9-hole golf courses.

We are excited about the new adventure to come even though we will have to wait till spring to get started. So the first question on your mind is do we plan to get off the road. The answer is no. We have full time RVed for 8 years now and we are choosing a different way to go about it is all. This new place at 402 N Cedar St. in Jefferson Iowa will be our summer home.  I doubt if we workamp again but I have learned over my lifetime to never say never because who knows what life will present that you cannot say no to. We have been watching HGTV  and DIY network for months now so our heads are swimming with ideas. 

We may be a bit delayed in getting south as we now have to winterize a house and a few other details. I am thinking we can wrap these things up quickly. Butch is a bit more pessimistic. Time will tell!

Pictures will come soon...like tomorrow maybe.

Ordinary stuff

When I let too much time go by I forget where I left off and what might have happened in the last day or two. I do remember yesterday. We had to get an early start to drive to Atlantic IA for an eye doctor appointment for Butch. That was the primary purpose although there were many other things we wanted to do as well.
I stopped off at the Colonial Manor in Anita Ia to see my step father Bob Turnbull. He is doing as well as a person can for being in the shape he is in. His birthday was yesterday. He is 88. He wanted to argue with me about that so other than a bit of a problem with math (born in 1922) he still has a bit of spunk.
Butch's appointment with his eye doctor went well however we learned that Butch's cataracts need removed so that is now on the agenda for when we get to Texas. We made it through the entire season last year without one doctor visit in Texas. That won't be happening this year. Butch is anxious to get this done. He has had trouble following the flight of his golf ball and of course we know how critical that is!
I had an appointment for a haircut. Butch cut my hair all summer and I actually liked the way he cut it. He does a good job. But every now and then I need a store-bought haircut because there are a few places that need an expert touch-like around my ears. So I am sporting a new "Do" although it looks much like the other only shorter. I do not like to fuss with it much so we go with what it wants to do and call it good.
We stopped for a visit with friends Bill and Bev Gunderson and Sherri and Randy Clark. We didn't make it home before dark.
With only a week in Iowa before heading south it is hard to get done all that we would like. As it looks now we plan to spend next summer here so we should be able to connect with all our friends old and new with Iowa connections at that time.
Thanks for looking in on us...