Sunday, March 24, 2013

Packing, packing, packing

Oh my, no place for us to have our "Zooms"!!!  So says Nacho!  We found out on Thursday that painters can start on the house on Monday.  Great that we can get them started so quickly, but bad because we weren't really prepared for that.   We are having the whole house painted inside!  Every room is in disarray. Our wonderful friend and house cleaner, Rebecca, was kind enough to wash all the doors and woodwork so one less prep for the painters (brings cost down).  Every room is in various stages of packing and furniture moved to the center of the room.

Hopefully, this means that by the middle of April the house will be on the market.  Know anyone moving to Cedar Falls area that would be interested in a house?  Please send them our way!!!

Dave talked to the builder that is drawing up our house plans and he indicated that he probably won't be able to start until August, but maybe we could get the foundation started in July.   We aren't 100% sure that he will have the lowest bid, so we will go out for bids from other builders, but if I was a betting person, I think it will be Jeff.  We really like him and the suggestions that he is offering in the design as he draws it up and the changes he is recommending makes him a winner in my opinion. 

Hmmm, that means if he can't start right away, the Airstream is going WEST!!!!  New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming, here we come!!! 

Dave gave notice last week that his retirement date is the end of October, so with all his saved vacation, he will be done working the same time as I will, 27 May!!!  Wow, its finally happening!!!

Yes, we will have a house, but travel, and a lot of it, is in our future!!!  The time that we have been planning for years, is finally upon us.  We have been so blessed and we are very thankful.  Now we are getting super excited also!!!

So many places to explore!!  But planning a house is going to have to be a priority for this year. 
This will be a very different year for the Jones!   We are looking forward to moving closer to our children, getting involved in a new church, making new friends, and learning about a new community.  We will have plenty of direction and help as we learn the area though, since we have family there.   Exciting times ahead!!!

Well, better get busy, I need to pack up the hutch in the dining room, finish up the entertainment center, do laundry and help Dave with the final packing in the storage room. 

Again, WOW, so much to do!!!  I'm almost overwhelmed but excited also. 

More updates soon!


Friday, March 1, 2013

News of Winter 2013

Hello Everyone,
My postings have been few and far between when we aren't on the road, just working, working, working.   Still busy, planning and packing.  
Yesterday I did make it official, my retirement date/last day of work for John Deere is 23 May 2013!!  John Deere has been a great company to work for and I am appreciative of the 13 1/2 years I have had with the company.  But,  I am looking forward to new adventures....traveling in the Vintage, building a home closer to our children, learning agility with my pups, sewing and learning to quilt, and workkamping and traveling in 2014. 
Dave hasn't decided on a retirement date yet, for him it all depends on when the current house sells.  When June arrives and we haven't sold it, we are hitting the road for a long trip.  Then he will return to work until it sells. If it sells quickly, we'll break ground on the new house in rural Boone County Iowa and just make weekend trips.  We are totally playing it as it goes. 
We are both getting rather excited as our actual retirement grows closer and closer.  We have been planning this for quite a long time.  Boredom and restlessness is not in our future!!!!  Dave hopes to see more of Trout Camp this coming year than last.  :)
Daughter and I spent an enjoyable weekend with friends Theresa, Lydia, Ellie and Isaac of Dunham Lake Australian Terriers at the Cyclone Dog show in Des Moines.  Here's a few pictures:

 
Mary with Sparrow, I'm sure she was considering just heading for home with him!  He is such a sweetie!!
 
Lydia, though I'm not sure which dog, it's either Reba or Jake. 
 
 
Mary, still cuddling!

 
Ellie and again, I'm not sure which dog.  Sorry Theresa!!!




Lydia again, she, along with Ellie are really pros!
 
Mary and I enjoyed the show and spending time with friends.  It was nice to have a girls weekend!
Well, that's about it for this time, but hopefully I'll be back soon with news developing around the Jones household. Kisses from KT and Nacho!
 


Sunday, February 10, 2013

February 2013

Hi Everyone!
We haven't checked in for a while.  As we posted last, we have made the decision to retire this year.  My last day is currently scheduled for May 31, 2013.   I am so excited!  :)
We have made the decision to relocate closer to our children, so on 4 January, we purchased a two acre lot in Boone county.   This puts us approximately 10 minutes from our son and daughter-in-law and about 50 minutes from our daughter.  It will be so nice being closer to them, at least while we are  in the area.  With all the traveling and workkamping we are considering, they won't be able to say that we are pests.  :)
But before we can get started on our travel adventures we will be building a new home!  WOW!!!! Not what I thought we would be doing, but I (Candy) am starting to get excited.  Dave has spent the last two months researching "being your own general contractor" and is enjoying the research.  I think he is on "R" revision of the house he is designing, but we feel it's finally getting closer to being exactly what we want.
We have been slowly getting rid of "stuff" by either pitching it or taking to Goodwill. Also, we sold a few things on Craig's list and will probably list additional items.  We have filled one storage unit and rented another to start emptying the house and getting it ready for some beautification in preparation for listing it. They say it's all about staging.
When we feel we have it ready, we will be listing it ourselves by creating a FSBO web page.  Dave's plan is to work until the house is sold, then we will start building and live in our Vintage Airstream during the build.   He has been very busy when he isn't at work, working on the house design, contacting builders and sub-contractors.  So far, we have interviewed 4 builders, 2 kitchen designers, and 4 sub-contractors with more in the works.  Hopefully in another month we will have a better idea of the builder we would like to use with Dave acting as GC.  His management and organizational skills will come in handy.  :)
Our back-up plan is to go on a month long trip if the house isn't sold; since it's Dave year to choose our travel destinations, I am sure Wyoming will be a possibility.  We will be sticking around the Midwest for RV adventures this year as we are hoping a house build will take priority, but all depends on selling our current house.  We are hoping to get more canoeing and fishing in this year, so weekends to Trout Camp will be in the planning, I'm sure!  :)
So no travel pictures or adventures with KT and Nacho on the road but I can promise, Lord willing, we will be out and about once the snow and cold is gone, at least on some weekends.  I sure am missing the Vintage!  The open road is calling me; so many places to go and sights to see!!
Blessings to you all and hope to see you in 2013!
Candy

Thursday, December 27, 2012

December 2012 - Summary of year

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!!  Today is December 27th!  Just a few more days and we will be starting a New Year, I am hoping for all my dear friends and family to have a new year filled with joy, blessings, sharing, and laughter. 
I know our niece and her husband will have a wonderful year as they are expecting our first great nephew; yes they know it is a boy!  We are all so excited and happy for them.  It's been 14 years since we have had a baby in the family. 
I thought I would do a recap of 2012; it's been a busy year.  Both our son, daughter-in-law and daughter are doing well.  Everyone is healthy, the most important thing; their lives are going forward in a positive manner with good jobs, homes, friends and a love for THE LORD.
Dave and I have made the decision to retire in 2013.  Dave's actual date is still undecided, but I am aiming for May 31, 2013.   We close on a lot outside Ames, IA, much closer to our children, just a few minutes from Dan and about 50 minutes from Mary, in January.  We haven't been near Dan in 12 years, so the potential to see him and Steph more than a few times a year is going to be wonderful.  Also, being closer to Mary will make more frequent visits so much easier. Of course, that means we will be further away from our families in the Quad-Cities by another hour, but being retired means we will have a much easier time traveling down to visit.  And with the Airstream, we can stay for as long as we want as we will have our home with us.  :)
We waited through last winter and into spring and finally on July 3 we got our refurbished Airstream!  Then we spent the rest of the summer and fall, every single weekend until the 1st of November traveling and camping.  Wow, were we busy!!! But it was so much fun.  My brother and his wife purchased a RV, a small travel trailer this spring, so we enjoyed their company on a couple weekends.  Hoping for quite a few more in 2013!!  It was a good time!  Wish we could convince other family members to join us in the RV life style. 
We had the wonderful opportunity to travel to Vermont with our dog's breeder and dear Friend, Pamela.  Pamela and I attended doggie day camp with our dogs; six between the two of us.  It was very enjoyable, though poor Pamela was going through some health issues and was quite miserable but she didn't admit to it and carried on.  After parting ways, Dave and I continued on through New York and into Ontario and back through Michigan and then home.  I would definitely like to spend more time in New York state,  it was beautiful.   Then this fall, our next big trip was to the Ozark Mountains in Arkansas and attended a Workkamper education rally.  We learned so much at this rally and with their webinars, hope to continue to learn more this next year, so we can have a better chance of finding some workkamping jobs to support our RV life style while we are on the road in the future.  We are hoping to do volunteer work with the National parks, State parks and the Fish and Wildlife associations across the US.
We had enjoyable weekend trips also, so had great use out of the Airstream even though we had a late start.  Found some little kinks in it, but Ryan got it into the his shop in November and got everything repaired.  I highly recommend RV Revive for any of your repairs!!!  Wonderful family to work with and they do an outstanding job.  If you reviewed our pictures of the Airstream that we posted this summer, you know how nice a job he does.
This week, during our shutdown from work, we are sorting old boxes and storage containers and taking items to Goodwill, pitching in the garbage or packing for long-term storage until after we get the house built, hopefully sometime next year.  
Today, I found pictures from when I worked for Colonel Groves at the Rock Island Arsenal, the program from my high school graduation, and other memories that we haven't seen in years!!! Some things made us smile, some made us sad and miss family that has passed on, and some things made us laugh and other things confirmed that we have a wonderful family.  We are so very proud of our wonderful and beautiful children.  We have been blessed.
So even though I have no posting of travel and probably won't until this coming spring, I'll try to add a few more posts to track our activities this winter in preparation of selling this house and planning for our relocation after we retire in 2013.  Guarantee we will definitely still be RVing in 2013, maybe not long trips, but exploring for short jaunts around the mid-west. 
Hope this post finds everyone, wherever you may be, warm or cold, enjoying the final days of 2012.  May God bless you and keep you!

Candy

Friday, November 30, 2012

30 November 2012 - Staying Home

Nacho and KT are laying on the couch being little couch potatoes!!  We've been home a month with no trips and I'm missing the Airstream.  We had such great trips this year, even though we started late.

No trips planned, we are busy getting ready for Christmas.  At work, I'm in charge of the fund raisers for our department's participation in the Festival of Trees and coordinating the purchasing for the three children we have adopted.  Next week will be busy with baking for the Bake Sale on Thursday.   We had one two weeks ago and had a fantastic turnout.  A good portion of the department is away at EXPO, so I hope we have plenty of baked goods donated to sell.  The way its looking, I'm going to be doing a lot of baking the next few days.

Plans are going forward to purchase the lot we have found west of Ames, just over the county line into Boone County.   Hope to close in January.   That will put us really close to our children; an hour and half closer.  Maybe we'll get to see them more frequently than every couple months. 

Now the hard part, going room to room sorting, packing and taking to storage.  Then getting the house in shape to put on the market in the spring.   I think our holiday shutdown is going to be spent packing boxes, taking items to Goodwill or putting items in the garbage or recycle.  

Planning these chores is making the act of selling the house more of a reality.   Lots of work ahead of us!!!!  Lord willing, this time next year we will be living near Boone, IA. 

2013 should be a totally new experience for us.   Retirement is coming, hopefully, and the light is at the end of the tunnel.

 Unless Obama takes control of IRAs and 401Ks, then we'll being working forever!!!!!!!   I hope Republicans and Democrats together take a stand and vote no on his proposal.  I fear things won't go the way I hope though......because people just don't have their eyes open to what is really going on in Washington.  False promises, illusions and government in control of everything is the new order.   Lies are rampant.   It's getting scarier all the time.    I really fear for our children's generation because they aren't going to have the future possibilities that we did when we were their age.   Opportunities for them are so much less than they were 30 years ago.  Things have not gotten better. 

Well, we will trust in the Lord and whatever situation HE allows, we will handle it with His wisdom and guidance and peace.

I wish for all a very joyous and blessed Christmas season.  Our family has much to be thankful for and we praise and thank Him for the blessings.

We'll check in again soon.

Peace to you,
Candy

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Heading Home

Nacho and KT are too busy chewing on bully sticks to do any dictating so I'll report. :)

We finished our seminars on Thursday night so Friday and Saturday were free days.  It was so nice to be staying in one place and not having anywhere to go.  We dinked around all morning doing little chores and having a leisurely breakfast.  Dave worked on getting some flies prepared on his lines so he could go out fishing. 

So he left and I did some updating on our Workkamper resume, read some RV forums and looked at lots for sale.  In other words worked a little and played a litte.  Nacho, KT and I took about 3 long walks around the campground and just enjoyed the beautiful fall weather; it was in the low 60's, so really not bad at all.  The colors are still showing so it was a beautiful fall walk.

Here are a few pictures from the campground:




Below are pictures from our little hike along a stream that flows into the Little Red River which is just below our campsite:



Above is our Airstream as seen from the path below.  KT says "is there any fish down there?"



Saturday, after another lazy morning, we loaded up and drove to Mountain View to check out the "Folk music" and "beans and cornbread cook-off".  Which ended up us just driving through, it was crazy packed with people for a town of a population of about 2100, I'm sure there must have been twice that in tourists and visitors.  We drove about 6 miles out of down to JoJo's Catfish Wharf for a great southern meal: sweet tea, hush puppies, green tomato relish, beans, fried catfish fillets and homemade fries.  It was great, they have chocolate peanut butter pie for dessert, but we were too full to try it.


We then drove up to Mountain Home to check it out and view the beautiful scenery along the way.  Wow, talk about windy roads!!!!  Colors were beautiful.  Here is a vew from the restaurant:


We also stopped and checked out another COE near Norfolk Dam.  It was really nice!!!  We would enjoy visiting there next time.  Then it was back to the Airstream.  Driving those windy roads, at about 35 miles per hour after dark was a nerve wacking experience. 

Now we are on the road, driving home, tonight, Sunday we are stopped at a private campground in Columbia, MO.  So on the road again, up Rt. 63 towards Cedar Falls.  What a great week we have had!!!

Hugs,
Candy



Friday, October 26, 2012

Rendevous Report

Good Morning everyone, Candy reporting.

We have just completed and become certified trained Workkamper Dreamers.  Meaning when we retire in 2013 we can submit our applications at thousands of jobs across the USA and have the support of Workkamper News which will confirm to potential employers that we are dedicated, committed, hardworking, sociable and enthusiastic Workkampers.  Hopefully, getting hired at our Dream locations as volunteers.  Oregon fish hatcheries, here we come!  :)

JFK campground is so nice!!!!!!  It has spacious sites, particularly in loop D, which is where we are located.  The other loops are nice, but our loop is the nicest.  We would definitely stay here again if we travel through the area.  Today, Friday is now a free day, but it has dropped from high 70's to low 50's.  Dave is going to do some fly fishing as the area is renown for trout.

It sure was nice sleeping in until 7:30 after getting up at 6 am the last three days.   Now we can have a more leisurely 3 days before we go back to our jobs.   :(     We will start driving back on Sunday.
We may drive up tomorrow to the "Beans and cornbread" festival at Mountain Home.  They have day long music, bazaars, cook-offs and quilt and craft displays.

We have met so many wonderful couples who are "Dreaming" also.  We hope to see them again on the road.
Now it is confirmed we aren't the only crazy people. :)

I'll get some of the promised campground pictures and get them posted.  For now, signing off to enjoy a cup of coffee and a book!

Candy