Several Updates

Yesterday was noteworthy of several event updates.

We received our tickets for the Phoenix Open Golf Tournament for the final round on Sunday, February 4. Of course, that is also Super Bowl Sunday but that will be recorded for viewing when we get home. Thanks to Patty and Mark and Austin - and Troy for the tickets. We look forward to watching the tournament, but especially getting to see Austin and Troy at the tournament. It will be a fantastic Sunday.

We received the final documents necessary to start our 2017 taxes. The W-2's from Wyoming and the property manager's statement on the house rental for 2017 were all we needed. I will probably begin work on the taxes early next week.

Today, Josie will get ablation surgery on her back. This is a new procedure for treating back pain and one that has been very successful in similar cases to Josie's. The shots she had been getting were not providing the results she needed, so her doctor recommended this treatment. It will not take very long and we hope for positive results. She has the day off today and will also be off for half of tomorrow to help with my surgery.

My eye surgery will be at 10 AM tomorrow. I will also go through some preparation in the morning tomorrow and have the first (right) eye done at that time. The second operation on the left eye is scheduled for February 15.

We had another showing of our house on Saturday but our agent hasn't been able to get any feedback yet from the visiting agent. It has been on the market for three weeks now and we are almost to the point where we may need to make a change in the asking price. We have to do something to stimulate more activity.

The lunar eclipse this morning was somewhat disappointing - mainly because we don't have the proper video equipment to be able to get the best photos This is the best shot that I could get this morning shortly after 6 AM:

This eclipse was noteworthy because it was also a super moon and blue moon which is an event that occurs only once every 150 years. We'll probably miss the next one.

That about sums it up for now...

Super Bowl Hype

It's the time of the year when just about everything sports related is about the Super Bowl. Both teams - The Patriots and Eagles  - have arrived in Minneapolis for the big game on Sunday. For the life of me, I cannot see this big game being played in a climate like Minnesota. So much of the Super Bowl week and related activities occur outside. When we had the Super Bowl here in Phoenix a few years ago, the biggest part of the celebration was held in areas outside, and mostly downtown. I guess the sponsors and participants have it all figured out to maximize the exposure and revenue. I also cannot imagine paying around $5,000 (or higher) for a ticket to one game. The Super Bowl is a whole different animal in the sports world.

If all goes well, we may be attending the Phoenix Open Golf Tournament on Super Bowl Sunday. If we get the tickets that are a possibility from Troy and Austin, we will be there - most likely on Sunday for the final round. We will tape the game anyway, so we will not miss anything. No matter what happens, it promises to be an exciting weekend.

I am also getting close - Thursday - to my eye surgery on the first eye. With all that is happening this weekend, I hope the surgery goes well and I have better eyesight - in one eye, at least - to better enjoy all that is happening...

Fun Sports Day

There were two events on TV yesterday that were really fun to watch. Especially the Pro Bowl game from Orlando FL played in a downpour for much of the game. The AFC pulled out the win in the last couple minutes, 24-23, but it was lots of fun to watch. The Cardinals and Seahawks were well represented and they played well except for one interception that Russell Wilson threw. It's hard for these players to play with such strict rules on coverage, blocking and tackling. The entire event is mostly a reward for the best players and their families who treat it more as a vacation at Disneyworld than a game.

The second event was the pro golf tournament (Farmers Insurance) in San Diego. It ended in a three way tie and the playoff went four holes until it got too dark with no winner decided. The final playoff holes will be this morning when a winner will be decided. Fun TV.

It's back to work today for Josie who will probably work a shorter day today as a result of her few hours working on Saturday. It is getting closer to Valentine's Day when it really gets busy at the shop.

In our conversation yesterday with Patty, there may be a chance that we can get tickets for the pro golf tournament in Scottsdale this next weekend. Austin may be coming out to visit his friend, Troy Fumagalli, who is in the Phoenix area for the pre-football draft (Combine) preparation. He may get free access to some tickets that we hope to share. We also look forward to seeing them at the tournament. It looks like an interesting and fun week ahead...

Good Start to Weekend

It is just about perfect outside for an Arizona winter day. It was in the mid 70's yesterday with lots of sunshine. More of the same - and even warmer - is in store for the next several days.

We had a relaxing day and went out to dinner to satisfy the urge for a good burger and some fries. We went to a normally consistent "good burger" place - the Red Robin. This time we went to the location in Happy Valley which is a bit closer to us than the usual one we visit in Surprise. It isn't the same, and we were disappointed. The burgers were not as good and Josie's fresh fruit cup wasn't fresh at all. I guess these chain restaurants, even though they have the same menus, must rely on the local chefs and management to be consistent. Cross this one off our list.

There were some terrific college basketball games on TV yesterday - including Arizona vs Utah - that went down to the final second. It was a good win for Arizona. Today, we get the Pro-Bowl which is almost always a ho-hum offensive game that is more a vacation for the players than a real game. There will be many (I believe around 6 or 7) Seahawks that made the team, including Russell Wilson their quarterback. If for no other reason to watch, I will watch to see them play in a fun (for them) game for a change...

Weekend Arrives and Summer Weather

I guess the biggest story for this weekend is the coming warm-up into record territory early in the week. We will be in the low 80's early in the week and the records are in the 82-83 degrees range. It's crazy as we turn on the heater on some mornings. As I said before, it could be a lot worse of we lived in the east somewhere.

Josie has to work for a couple hours today as the manager has to do a wedding. She is the one that can be counted on to fill in where needed as she can do everything in the shop - basically, the only person that can.

I received our W-2's from Spring Training last year. It is a good thing we aren't taking Josie away from the shop this year to work the games as the W-2's showed that she works for more money by staying put at the shop. The hours at the games are so much less than she works at the shop that the total money we make working together barely equals her pay alone by just staying at the shop. Oh, well. Someday we will not be working anywhere and we can retire. We are kind of looking forward to that time...

Closing in on Tax Time

I can always tell when it is close to the time for us to prepare our taxes. The mail contains more and more of the year end summary stuff necessary to complete the taxes. Usually, by around the first week in February I have all the documents I need to begin the effort. I'm sure that this will be the last year for handling a lot of the deductions as the new tax law kicks-in in 2018. From what I understand about the changes, none of them will affect the 2017 tax year and the 2018 taxes are far enough away that I don't have to worry about them. The new changes seem to affect everybody's weekly paychecks but that is about all right now.I have our tax software all ready to go, so that will be done , hopefully, on time this year.

Not much else happened yesterday while Josie had her typical workday and I spent much of the day trying to make some headway on my stitching project...

Project Miscalculation

I have been working diligently on a new cross stitch project for this year. The new project, as with the last several, is another native American subject that is going to be a very nice piece when completed. The problem now is that I will again be rushed to complete the project as I miscalculated the time required to complete the effort. This year, the subject has 108,000 stitches. Last year, I only had about half that amount and still had to rush to finish it in time for our trip to Jackson. The difference is in the background. Last year I used black fabric and didn't have to stitch any of the background. This year, I have to stitch all of the background along with the subject matter. It is going to be a close call as I am not even half done yet and I started the piece in September. Maybe I will be burning some midnight oil on this one.

I will probably have more time to work on this project as we don't plan to work the Spring Training games this year. We made the decision to pass this year as it was tough on Josie getting the month away from the shop. She actually makes more money at the shop anyway with the only difference being that both of us would be working the games. It doesn't amount to that much money but it was a different kind of work. I hope we don't miss the action as the two teams at the Surprise Stadium were really two of our favorites - the Royals and the Rangers - but we didn't especially care for the people we worked with last year. We also want to make sure that our activities with the house and other plans don't interfere with the games. Throw in my eye surgery, and who knows what effect that might have on all of this...

Another Showing

There was another showing yesterday of our house with some new comments. The people liked the house, but thought that a house in that price range should have granite countertops (not in vogue anymore) and that the price was too high - that's why you make offers, isn't it? We are sure that we will eventually - and not far off - get an offer that is acceptable and we can move forward with our planning. We'll be patient.

We received a letter summarizing changes at the Grand Teton Association for 2018. Most of the changes were ones we were anticipating, and some were a surprise. There is a budget crunch this year and the bonuses have been removed along with changes in the inventory process. We aren't sure, at this point, if the changes will be good or not. We have pretty much concluded that this will probably be our last year going there anyway. There are other options for some good summer locations that we have been looking at for some time. We just love the Jackson area and, actually, all of Wyoming.

A lot of our future planning also rests with events at Josie's flower shop. She is talking about a change to ?. The work is getting to be a physical drain on her now with her back problems and her hands getting bad again to the point of perhaps requiring another carpal tunnel operation which we want to avoid. We'll just plug along and work things out as time goes by...

Meeting the Surgeon

My second eye appointment leading up to my scheduled surgery on February 1 was yesterday. I met briefly with the surgeon who will perform the cataract removal. He was definitely a surgeon - he had the longest and skinniest fingers of anybody I have ever met. No wonder he is an eye specialist. The office called me after I returned home to see if I might want to switch my surgery from February 1 to Monday, January 29. That was a no-go since that would have meant changing locations from the Sun City location to the Phoenix location. I'll stick with the original schedule.

I was a bit upset when I was charged another co-pay yesterday after paying one at my appointment last week. With 9 total appointments scheduled, I asked the girl at the counter if I was going to be charged a co-pay for each visit. The answer was yes, except for the actual surgery and the surgery follow-up appointments. Those occasions call for  their own, different, single co-pay which is pretty hefty. It's getting really tough to schedule any kind of major health services these days.

Josie and I are about over our bouts with either the flu or colds - or both. I still have a little bit of congestion and Josie still has an occasional coughing spell. The worst is over, and we can get on with our normal schedules...

Super Bowl Set

The two games yesterday were basically terrific. The Eagles blew out the Minnesota Vikings, 38-7, in what was a surprise outcome. Not that the Eagles won, but that the score was so lopsided. The first game, between the Patriots and Jaguars was a typical New England victory in a big game. Being down by 10 points in the fourth quarter is nothing new for Tom Brady and the New England football machine. They somehow find an extra gear or some hidden energy to pull out games that most teams would lose. I suspect that the same thing will happen in the Super Bowl. As much as I love the Eagles and want them to win, the New England football machine has too much talent and experience to lose. I hope I am wrong.

Yesterday afternoon was another chance to experiment with our Instant Pot. I made some navy bean soup that turned out excellent!:

I am a firm believer in this cooking device. I'm sure we will be using it for a lot more easy and quick meals. In 30 minutes, we had a very delicious meal that used to take hours, especially if you soaked the beans overnight which we did not have to do with this recipe. It's a winner!

We start another week today which will be cooler than what we have been used to. We don't expect to hit the 70's until mid-week and then, only for a couple days before heading back to the 60's. Enjoy it though, as many areas in the country are still below freezing...

Meltdown

It was very cool outside yesterday AM (40, with a high for the day around 60)) and we were starting to get some light rain which stuck around all day. We used the day to continue our recovery from whatever we had - flu and/or colds - and watched some of the movies we had previously taped from TV. We didn't set one foot outside all day.

Today will be slightly different as the rain appears to have stopped, the temperature - although near freezing this AM - will rise to around 62. We plan to go to Sam's Club for supplies and watch the great football matchups later today.

Have a good day everybody...

Arizona Winter

The weekend arrived just in time to greet the Arizona winter. It has been averaging about 8-10 degrees above normal for the longest time and today we get a chance to "enjoy" some weather that is about 8-10 degrees below normal. There is also a chance of rain today which is always needed here. The other good news is that it gives the mountain areas a chance to accumulate some snow for the skiers who have been thriving on mostly man-made snow. The beauty is also that the coolest part of the Arizona winter is still much better than 90% of the other locations in the US.

The weather will give us an opportunity to stay inside and recover from our recent ills. Josie is almost over her bout with what we believe was the flu, and I am struggling now with what appears to be just a cold. I don't have the physical weakness or serious congestion that Josie had - yet, at least. I hope my bout is a short one.

The property manager efforts continue to disappoint as they are still doing work that should have been done two weeks ago. The water was just turned on to the house which is mind boggling. The poor landscaping has been struggling for some time and it is made worse by this delay in getting water to the house. It also means that, with no water, the house has not been thoroughly cleaned inside. We are going to replace one dead bush in the front of the house which is a shame as it was a beautiful bush when we turned over the house to the tenants. Oh, well, maybe it will end soon. It is just another example of the ever increasing incompetence that we are seeing everywhere.

Just look at our congress that just caused a shutdown in the government...

Changing Market

We get an early start this morning as Josie has a 7 AM doctor appointment in Sun City. She has another appointment scheduled with her nerve doctor to do more tests - this time on the nerves in her legs. This is all part of figuring out her pain issues with her back and hip. That makes for a long day for her but it is Friday and she will have two days off beginning at 5 PM today.

It appears that the market is changing from when we purchased our home in 2015. None of the homes in the Rovey Farm Estates Community lasted more than a few days on the market back then but now they are all taking longer to sell. That's OK as long as we get a buyer in a realistic time frame. We will be ready to get another tenant if it doesn't sell before too long. The one thing we want to avoid is having the house vacant during the summer months.

We were informed that in the first nine days of the listing, we had two showings of the property. The first one resulted in a ho-hum opinion and the second one liked the home but isn't sure yet if they want to purchase a home in Glendale. They are from out of state. Anyone wanting to be close to the stadium, Westgate, the Malls, the Casino and first class shopping and restaurants will jump at the chance to own this home. In the meantime, the value continues to rise.

I have gotten the cold portion of Josie's flu and will deal with nasal congestion over the next several days. It hasn't been bad - yet - and I can sleep and perform normal duties with very little inconvenience. I hope it continues to be just a nuisance and nothing more...

The Road to Eye Surgery

My appointment yesterday at the Barnet-Dulaney-Perkins Eye Center was at 9 AM. It was the first of 9 scheduled appointments that will ultimately result in the return of clear vision - I hope. I had no idea that the appointment would last almost two hours as they gathered information and took a necessary scan of each of my eyes prior to performing the surgery to remove my cataracts. The actual surgery will be in two appointments - the worse of the two eyes goes first on Feb 1, and the second will be done on Feb 15. There are appointments for prep and follow up that will end with my final appointment scheduled for March 15.

My understanding is that I may still need to wear glasses as the "standard" surgery will only produce a fix for either near or far sightedness, but not both. I could opt for the advanced surgery which would correct my eyesight to the point where I would not need glasses, but that advanced surgery is way beyond my budget as the insurance does not cover that method. At this point, I feel that it is better that my eyesight be improved for distance and continue to use glasses. The important aspect of the surgery is that the cataracts will be removed and clear vision returned.

That's the latest from this corner of the world...

Time for Patience

Let's start with a nice sunrise photo that Josie took yesterday on the way to work:

I decided that patience is probably the best approach right now to what is (or isn't) happening with the whole house situation. I want to be able to go forward with our plans, but that is  not likely without a resolution on the house. The property manager really needs to be given some time and I just need to give him some. I'm sure that everything will work out and we will be going to Jackson again this summer, as planned.

Today begins a marathon schedule of appointments with the eye doctor. I have Cataract surgery scheduled in February and this morning is the first appointment to begin that process. I believe that today they will take some measurements and do a scan and give me some instructions for the next appointment which will be on January 22. That is the pre-op appointment for the first eye surgery scheduled for February 1. The second eye will be done on February 15. There are other appointments scheduled in between for post-op care and follow-up after each eye surgery. There are a total of 9 appointments scheduled. I'm not looking forward to the process, but I am looking forward to the results...

Approaching Critical Time

We are getting very concerned over the lack of attention to our requests and the lack of effort to male things right at the home site. I have sent two requests to the agent (Property Manager) requesting updates and explanations and have not received any response. I did receive a partial explanation - not acceptable by the way - by his assistant over the efforts to complete the interior fixes that we discovered were overlooked. I have also requested an update on activity at the house with no response. So far, the professionalism and effort is lacking. I am getting closer to the realization that a mistake was made allowing the property manager to handle the sale. There are two strikes against him to start with: his office is located on the east side of the Valley and his primary business is rentals and not sales. I only offered the listing to him as a result of his professional handling of our home throughout the rental period.

I will perform some research today to try to get closer to a solution. That will involve checking sales in the area and checking realtor performances in the area. In our minds, there should have been some significant activity by now. The market is hot and the home is in an area where the comparable choices are few.

Josie's first day back to work from her illness was just OK. She did come home a little early but felt much better yesterday. We hope the worse is behind her and think that she is on the road to complete recovery in a day or so...

A Happy Birthday

It's always nice to have another birthday celebration - especially as the years mount. It was rather quiet but very enjoyable. I watched some football on TV and prepared our first dinner in the new Instant Pot that we received on Friday. Actually, we had another Instant Pot that we returned to Amazon because it was too big and heavy for us. The new one is a terrific replacement. I made some chicken soup while Josie continued her recovery from her bout with the flu:

She felt much better yesterday and will attempt a return to work today. I hope I don't get what she had as it was a very tough few days for her.

The football games were great yesterday. Both games went down to the final minutes before  a winner was determined and the second game, between the Saints and Vikings ended on the final play of the game on a miracle touchdown by the Vikings. The Divisional Championship games are next weekend and they promise to be great matchups.

We are hoping for some action on the house this week as we continue to be nervous over the apparent lack of effort on the part of our property manager. I know we are too close to the process, but we really had hoped for better responsiveness from the company. Nothing fixes a problem faster or better than positive action...

Steady Improvement

It was a day of steady progress for Josie and her flu recovery. She was much better yesterday than the previous two days and, at this rate, we expect her to be ready to get back to work tomorrow. She felt well enough yesterday for us to go out for a couple hours.

We took a drive to our house in Glendale to pick up the new key. We also wanted to check out the changes (fixes) that the property manager made prior to listing the home. There was no problem picking up the key, but we were very disappointed in the results of the repairs.

There were several items that were not touched at all, and a few that were not fully completed and we had concern that there was no running water in the home which indicates that our already shabby landscaping is not getting watered. So far, we are very disappointed in the effort being made by our property manager. I sent an email to them on Friday asking about activity on the house to date and I haven't gotten a response from them yet. I hope I'm wrong, but I had expressed concern to Josie a while ago about our putting the sale in the hands of our property manager. Their main business is rentals and not sales. I feel that we might take a back seat in their efforts to sell our property over their main business thrust of finding and controlling rental properties. We will not wait very long to make decisions on changing direction if necessary.

The football games yesterday were very good. I was happy to see the Eagles win and go on to the Conference Championship next week. The result of the Titans/Patriots game (won by the Patriots)was not surprising. The Patriots are a football machine and I don't see any team beating them this year. The best part of that game was in the first quarter when Austin's former roommate, Corey Davis, caught a touchdown pass to give the Titans in an early lead. Unfortunately, the lead did not last. There are two more games today with the Conference Championships being played next weekend. Then, we will know who will be in the Super Bowl...

Some Improvement

We had another day yesterday like Thursday trying to rid Josie of her flu. There seemed to have been some improvement as she stayed home from work a second day and continued the prescribed remedy of rest, fluids and standard medications. It is difficult to tell whether she has the flu or just a bad cold. The opinions on TV indicate that the flu would not be as severe for someone who had the flu vaccine as the symptoms are similar. The vaccine would provide some effectiveness, even if it didn't prevent the flu entirely. The reason I believe it is flu is the ineffectiveness of the standard medications. They should at least provide some temporary relief and in this case Josie has had very little, or slow, relief. Whatever it is, we just hope that it goes away sooner than later.

It looks like we will continue with the treatment for the rest of the weekend and not plan any activities. We will probably go to the house today to pick up one of the new keys. We have a temporary key that was given to us until new ones were produced. We have not had a chance to pick up the new one since Josie came down with her "whatever-it-is" illness. We will also get an update on the activity at our house - if any. The real estate agents can tell what activity has occurred by checking their lock-box activity online. We do know that the listing is widespread on the internet and on Realtor.com. It only takes one party to make the deal, so bring them on...

Flu Hits Home

Josie and I both got our flu shots this year as usual. This year, the strain of flu is more serious than in other years and the effectiveness of the vaccine is reported to be only around 10%. We believe that report as Josie was hit hard yesterday with what we believe to be the flu. She could hardly breathe, was seriously congested and had all the symptoms of the flu. So far, I have been fortunate and have not contracted it this year. Certainly, the low 10% effectiveness could have hit us. She stayed home yesterday and will do the same today. None of the standard medications - Thera Flu, NyQuil, DayQuil, Airborne - have had any affect. I guess we will just have to ride it out and hope that it goes away soon. She is getting plenty of rest and doing everything that is recommended.

Nothing much was done yesterday outside of making sure Josie was comfortable. More of the same treatment appears to be on the agenda today as we will try to speed the recovery...

More Paperwork

We'll start the day with a photo that Josie took of yesterday's sunset:

It turned out to be a wet day as we received over .5" of the wet stuff. It sure beats snow, though.

We are still completing and signing paperwork for the home sale and the end of the lease. Yesterday we signed the release of the remaining deposit monies to the tenants. There were monies taken out for minor fixes and for landscaping problems. It appears that the tenant did not water some of the bushes between landscaper visits and they are near dead, The biggest problem was the disappearance of the new tree that we planted prior to renting the property. The tenant was charged $500 for having that tree removed without consent.

We also completed what we believe to be the final documents for the sale. We now enter the toughest part of this entire event - the waiting. Of course, we don't know when/if we will get the call that an offer is in. We still believe that it will not be a long cycle as it is a nice home in a nice neighborhood and priced right for the area. With improving weather, we hope to see some activity.

Josie has been battling some kind of sinus congestion that doesn't seem to be the flu, but we don't know. We both got our flu shots, but the effectiveness of those shots is not good. She went to work yesterday, but it seems like she is not able to go today. We hope for a quick recovery from whatever she has...

On the Market

We finally got everything done and the home is now listed as of yesterday afternoon. We hope that it is a short sale cycle and that all goes smoothly the rest of the way. All of our future plans depend upon a successful sale and one that happens in a relatively short time. We have no desire to carry the house for months which would impact our summer plans.

The process has changed a lot since I was in real estate in the early 2000's. There are more forms and documents involved now, if that's possible. We had to sign several market condition documents and provide more detail on the property itself. It would be tough being a real estate agent today with all the legal "crap" that must be satisfied. I thought it was bad enough when I was an agent. A lot has changed on the financial side also. The entire mortgage process has changed as a result of the housing "dive" in the years between 2008 - 2010. There is a lot to be said about staying in your home, once you get one. That is a good reason for not wanting to buy another one just to sell again in a couple of years.

It will be an anxious time now until we see some activity on our house. We will be rushing to answer the phone every time it rings until we get an offer...

It's Show Time

First, there is this shot of another, beautiful Arizona sunrise:

Josie leaves for work at the right time during this time of the year.

There were lots of things happening yesterday. Almost all of these events took place in the late afternoon and evening which created a situation that I can't believe - I missed the National Championship game on TV and I didn't even think to tape the game. It was a terrific game, won by Alabama in OT and I so much wanted to watch the game. I could have scheduled the taping a week ago but didn't. I guess there was a reason I missed it, but I don't know why.

The main event was getting all of the paperwork completed for the house listing. The documents were emailed to us late in the day and we had to review everything and (Doc-u) sign all of them and get them back to the Realtor (our property manager). The house will be listed today as soon as the photos are assembled and the final listing document is prepared. There are a couple things we need to do today to be ready for the sale process - Get a Letter of Experience from our Insurance Company, and complete the SPDS (Seller Property Disclosure Statement). These documents will be required to give to buyers after they submit offers. It is now show-time.

We also connected with a top realtor in the New River area who sent some listings to us of properties to review. The option of buying a lot is a very viable one and we are anxious to check out that option. We would place our RV on the space until/when/if we would build a house on the property. Even if we don't build, the land investment makes sense over wasting more money on an RV space at the RV Park with no return.

I also want to mention that last night we received an unexpected and wonderful video call from our grandson, Justin, who has just completed his training at Fort Travis AFB in California and will come visit us during the Valentine's Day week. He will be coming to AZ to visit his girlfriend who attends ASU and we will get together during that visit.

It was certainly a busy and productive afternoon and evening yesterday...

RV Awakening

There are some things that need to be fixed on our ten year old RV and we wanted to do a check on the market to see if we should pursue them. We took a drive to the largest RV dealer in the Phoenix area - La Mesa RV - at their location in west Phoenix. We spent several hours looking at other fifth wheels and getting pricing for a trade-in on ours along with checking out other RV options. It was a rude awakening when we discovered that our RV - $103K value ten years ago when we purchased it - is now only worth between 20-25K on a trade. It doesn't matter what kind of shape it is in, as a ten year old rig is not wanted by any dealership and must be sold at auction. Actually, the quality of ours is still better than most of what we saw yesterday for lots more money. The bottom line to the whole experience is that we decided our fifth wheel is worth a lot more to us than any other person or dealership.

That was a good experience for us because we were able to eliminate that option. Buying a new RV is not very cost effective for us. We love our fifth wheel and find it a very comfortable, and cost effective - place to live. For now at least, we will continue with our current rig and make the most important fixes that we need to make. A lot or piece of property on which to place the rig is now a viable option.

Our house in Glendale is scheduled to be listed today, although we have not had a conversation with our property manager since we met with him last Thursday. We expect to see rapid movement today toward making the home available to the marketplace. I hope to have good news to report tomorrow...

Shopping Day and Playoffs

Our morning was pretty much taken up by a shopping trip. We had some ideas on things that we wanted to get with our Christmas cash. Our first stop was at Macy's where we ended up getting a nice new purse and wallet for Josie. I wanted to check out the prices for the Instant Pots as we returned the large model to Amazon and are shopping for a smaller model. Macy's doesn't carry that brand although they have several other pressure cooker options.

Our next stop was at Sam's Club where we had to pick up some of our usual items that get replenished occasionally - cereal, shampoo, coffee, etc. That was an easy stop. After a couple other short stops for other items, we were home in time to watch the NFL Wildcard games on TV. The Titans won their game against the Chiefs, and Corey Davis made several catches for good gains. He was wide open on a sure touchdown pass that the Titans' quarterback couldn't connect. Corey could have walked into the end zone if the pass was accurate. It was nice to see him move on to another game in the playoffs. The second game was a ho-hummer won by Atlanta over the LA Rams. The playoffs will really begin to get interesting in a couple weeks when the Conference championships will be played.

There is another day of Wildcard games today. I really don't care much about the outcomes of these games as my teams (except for the Eagles) are already eliminated. We'll wait to see what teams survive and hope that we get a good Super Bowl matchup this year...

Prep Day

First of all, I wanted to show this neat shot that Josie took of the sunrise yesterday morning on the way to work:

Sunrise and sunset are usually great times for photos in Arizona.

There wasn't any notification from our property managers yesterday about any activity. We do know that the minor fixes were to be started and the new keys placed in the lock box. We were disappointed that we didn't get any paperwork to sign as there are several items that we need to complete. One is the tenants deposit reconciliation and another is the listing data. This is a busy time for the property manager as the first part of each month is a race to complete bank deposits, reconcile rents received and issue draws to owners. We expect to close these loops on Monday.

We are getting very anxious to get this home sale behind us so that we can move on. Decisions will be made as we go along through the process. I can say with some certainty that we have eliminated any possibility of renting any property. There just aren't any real good options there that we have seen and the money would be better spent either owning some property or saving the money in a bank. With no house payment or expenses, we should save a bunch. Of course, we would still have the RV space expenses but they are small in comparison.

We are definitely moving closer to solutions...

Moving Forward

We met with the property manager team at the house yesterday at noon. Following a complete walk through, we discussed the next steps. The first step was to agree on what fixes should be made before placing the home on the market. There are only a couple of minor fixes to be made which would not hold up going forward with the listing. Agreement was made on a listing price - $309,900 - and we expect to have all the paperwork done by Monday and the house made available for viewing.

We also agreed on an amount to be withheld from the tenants deposits to cover final cleaning and some landscaping issues that they should have tended to as part of their lease agreement. The house looks terrific and we are hopeful for a quick sale.

The timing for the house activity is close to what we anticipated. If it continues to move at the current pace, we will have to make our plans for the immediate future, sooner than later. Actually, there is no rush to leave this park, so we will just wait and see what happens with the closing. It appears that we will do another summer in Jackson, so plans need to be made to either replace the truck or get shipping information to have our RV moved to the space in Jackson. We have some homework to do on that situation...

Inspection Done

The house inspection occurred on schedule yesterday at 1 PM. We were not present - at the request of our property manager - and the inspection report should be ready today. Josie and I went to the house after she got off work last night to check on things. We were happy to see that the tenants took excellent care of the property. The landscaping is another issue. There are several "dead" bushes in the front landscaping that we feel are a direct result of poor landscaping practices by the landscaper that the was used during the rental period. We are scheduled to meet with the property manager today at noon, at the house, to review the inspection and determine what needs to be fixed prior to listing and showing the home.

The interior of the house looks like brand new. There were no problems that we could see and the house, from top to bottom, was super clean. Hopefully, we will agree on a next step today. Our goal is to have the home on the market no later than Monday of next week. We hope to talk about price today and to have all of the details worked out before next week. It appears that we may be able to get the home on the market quickly.

That's the big news from yesterday, and we hope to keep the momentum going today...

First Domino Falls

The first domino fell yesterday in our effort to sell the house. The tenants returned the keys and today, at 1 PM, there will be the inspection by our property manager. The locks will also be changed today and the new keys placed in a lockbox. We will have access to the house later today and the next step, assuming that the inspection goes well, will be to list the home.

The research that I did yesterday revealed only a half dozen homes for sale in the subdivision, and all but a couple are two story homes. I also saw requests by prospective renters wanting to rent in the area. That will help our sales effort as there are many investors that look in that area. Again, our fingers are crossed for a smooth and rapid close to this entire process.

The other plan for today is to return our Christmas boxes to the storage unit. We just wish there was a way to eliminate that expense. Until there is a place to empty the storage unit, we will be forced to live with that situation.

I received notice from Blue Mountain Ecards that there were 21 of the targeted recipients of our Christmas greeting that were not opened. That is nearly 50% of the cards we sent to email recipients that either have not checked their emails or changed their email address since last year. Of course, that also means that, in some cases, I have no way to contact these folks to get a valid email address. I receive these notices when 10 days have passed and the card has not been opened. Some of these notices were for family members which surprises us. The challenge now is to get a valid list before the next time we send e-greetings.

I'll finish this entry with thanks that we are not living in the east. So far, the winter has been extremely harsh for almost the entire east coast, including the northern states in the Midwest. The word today is that it is going to get worse for much of that part of the country...

Christmas Packed

It was kind of sad taking down Christmas and packing it away again for another year. It is normal, I guess , to have such joy in setting up for Christmas and to feel sorry about packing it away again. We loaded all the boxes into the car and I will take them back to our storage unit - probably today or tomorrow.

We also watched the Rose Parade and the big football games on TV and Josie also did some laundry to complete the day. It was pretty much a quiet day for the New Year to begin.

The sale of our home will be set into motion today as the tenants return the keys to our property manager. They will have new locks put on and begin the inspections leading up to the actual listing of the home. Our fingers are crossed that there will be no major fixes required before listing the home. It should only take a few days to get the home on the market and to get things going. This is the beginning of what we hope will be a rapid and successful sale...

Happy 2018

HAPPY NEW YEAR !!

It wasn't until later in the afternoon when we arrived home from Tombstone. The return trip was through Sierra Vista and Huachuca City which was a different route from our trip to Tombstone from home. By the time we got settled and got ready to bring in the new year, we were tired and didn't stay up to watch the new year come in like we usually do. We did wake up a few minutes after midnight, but 2018 had already arrived.

We have lots of things we would like to accomplish in 2018 - beginning with selling our home. That move will lead to other changes in our lives depending on how the house sale goes. There are also goals established for our weight, as usual, and that seems to be a never ending battle.

We also plan to make some changes with our RV as it is time to decide whether to invest in fixes to the current rig, or make arrangements for a change. We also would like to spend at least one more summer in Jackson, so the target is to make that happen. The RV situation will also impact our mode of transportation to Jackson - hauling our fifth wheel which involves another truck purchase (or perhaps a shipping arrangement) or getting a motor home and towing one of our cars. That leads to another argument over what to do with our current RV. We don't like the thought of a motor home as problems that occur with that mean that you are without your home while repairs are made. Several friends of ours that have motor homes have experienced extended periods of living out of hotels while repairs are made to their rigs. Sometimes, those periods end up being weeks as parts may not be available to repair your motor home.

The major decision for us will be how to replace our house - another home, a lot on which to place the fifth wheel, or do nothing and get an annual space here at Pioneer RV. It will all become clear, hopefully, when the dust settles from our home sale.

We hope all our friends and family have a happy, prosperous and healthy 2018...