Now for the inside finishings.

My cabinet creators, Joe Millie and Bob.

natural maple wood

working hard 

Albert Lee took care of me.  All of my appliances.

Thanks, Meegs...they were great.

yay, now I can cook on a real stove and

not the bbq we have been using.

A wonderful refrigerator that is IN the house.

And, just the best !   Say good-bye Belfair laundramat.

We had baskets of dirty laundry

Not any more .... Lily is happy too.

Out my kitchen window....oh, someone put an apple on the ledge.

Apples are from our very own trees.

Look at my kitchen now ... oh how I love thee.

 

history continued ...

 

Let's see, I last off sitting in my trailer and looking at the surrounding blackberries, scotch broom and

some kind of yellow noxious weed growing high.   Everything has grown to shoulder height.  My good neighbor, Jarvis, let me borrow his riding lawn mower and for the next two days I mowed like crazy.   It was great fun ! 

What a difference it made, the property is just beautiful.

 

My realtor says his clients are working hard to sell their house to purchase mine.  I am hoping they hurry because I am using my savings and it seems to be dwindling.  Making the ends meet are now quite challenging as is fitting in ... where I left off 27 years ago.

 

The first year back to the northwest was very trying, even though I knew it would be.

The first summer was in the middle 90's for a week and we couldn't find any relief.  My son and daughter-in-law and grandson's were coming for a visit and I was feeling pretty down because I had nothing to offer.  No house, no bed, no extra money,   just my trailer.  Fortunately, the family beach place in Belfair was available for them to stay. 

 

Then fall arrived and the torrential rains began to fall.  One day it rained so hard that the nice awning attached to the trailer collapsed from the weight of the rain. It was at this point I collapsed on my bed wailing ... "what am I doing" ..... we had to rip off the awning and put up lovely black tarps, so now I couldn't even see out the tiny trailer windows.

Argh .....

 

to be continued ...

 

 

 

Maybe another week ?

I can't believe I forgot to mention....along with the trailer, heading down the road, on board was a hornet's nest and our grey cat, Junior.  We didn't notice he was gone until later in the day.  Once located, I had to drive up to Silverdale (45 minutes away) and retrieve our cat. Boy, was he happy to see me.

So all that is left on the trailer sight is the satellite dish

and the refrigerator and our

 new living area... the kitchen to the right, living area in the middle, 

and our water source, 

a restroom facility is the tough one..our neighbor has generously

opened his downstairs bathroom for us to shower and use ..or the grocery store or the

Home Depots, or the Target store or the stations....

thank you all of you for clean sanitary restrooms,

and my bedroom on the porch, with Junior our adventurous cat.

Once again, Dru and Kevin are here to paint the inside of my house 

Navajo White is the color and I hope it turns out beautiful,  

it's hard to tell...until it is dry and all of the masking is down.

yay, the gutters have arrived ...

and this is a good thing, because the rains have arrived, too.

The walls look great and so does my sofa that has been in storage here and there for years. 

Oh ! the inside walls do look beautiful !

Now I can sleep indoors and just live outdoors.

 

history continued ...

 

We are getting there. 

My son and I are now living on the Vaughn property and sizing up the situation.

Tall grass and blackberry bushes and scotch broom everywhere.  I am a little overwhelmed but one day at a time and we will be fine.  

My realtor started the paperwork with the couple who were interested in buying my house.  They lived down the hill from the house and I thought that was a good thing because they already knew what mountain living was like.  They would put their house on the market and get things rolling.  Again, thinking this was a good thing because I am now running low on money and need to sell this house.  All of my equity is in this house and I will need every penny to build my new home. 

In June of 2010, the realtor and the couple and I agreed to a two-year contract to insure they could sell their house..She said they just loved my house and nothing would stop them from purchasing it.

 They would pay me rent until then to keep me going.  She also told me they were confident they would buy me out by the end of the year.  Cool.  I am thinking this trailer life will be short lived, so I kept most of my possessions in storage and in the garage.   Just living with the basics and concentrating on cleaning up the property and reuniting with family and friends.   Also meeting with the first builder several times to finalize a house plan.

 

to be continued ...

 

 

 

Final days ...

 

 

 

 

my kitchen flowerbox ...

Jacob and Ernie laying my Bamboo flooring.

It is lovely ! 

 

Pictures on Craigslist sold my 35 ' Sunbeam trailer.

He called Saturday mornish and said he had someone

who could move the trailer tomorrow, Sunday ! 

 My house isn't finished yet...Okay. 

I was surprised to have a few sentimental feelings about this trailer.

She did house me through 4 and one half years.  some difficult and troubled years.

No heat, no ac, no refrigerator, an oven that did work if you lit it every 5 minutes.

Really.  I did work it out so I could bake cookies... 

my long time friend, Crystal, always  there

when I need help moving...xo

Crystal and Jeremy, a good team.

moving the outside refrigerator to the middle of

the yard, of course.

three big guys and Jeremy prepping the trailer

for departure.

bye bye

so exciting getting around this wooded corner

ah, they made it. yay.

idos

farewell.  thank you .. but good ridden

 

history continued ...

 

I am already behind in my blogging ..things are

moving very fast.

 

I last left off arriving in Washington lock stock and almost barrel ...we

still had one more truck load of goods to bring from Colorado to Washington.

My son would fly back one more time, pick up his friend Jenn, and they would pack the

rest of our things in the garage and drive back the long way..through Yellowstone ...

they had a good trip. Just before they left Colorado, Louis, my realtor, introduced them

to a couple who were interested in buying my house.   Great.  Start the paperwork. 

 

 In the meantime,  I started to organize the 35 ' Sunbeam trailer ,

we had bought from a friend, for our temporary lodging.  We now had stuff everywhere.

My dad's things were stored in the northern part of Washington and the Mustang in another storage unit

and most of my belongings in a heated storage about a half hour away.

Finally, everything we owned was here in Vaughn or close by.

and a new way of life had begun.

 

to be continued ...

 

 

 

 

The building of my house is almost complete !

me, doing the numbers again and again...

what will work and what won't work.

outside priming

my painters, Dru and Kevin .. two great hardworking guys !

all primed !

now for the outside painting...Bear Creek Grey 

last side 

with white trim

all painted ! 

sweet !

 

history continued ...

 

Now that 'building my house' is almost complete, I need to pick up the pace on my history to bring you up to speed to today's date....but not quite yet.

 

The second U-Haul truck load is now being loaded by my son and his friend, Kirk.

This load consisted entirely of my son's car stuff and tools and nine model-A engines.

The truck was almost packed full, when we had to stop and run my son to

emergency care to stitch up the knife cut across his hand...7 stitches.   The two did not

miss a beat ...  stitches band aid and the way they go across several states to Washington.

 

The school year was coming to an end and a retirement party was given for me days before we headed out for good.   The party left me with the feeling that I was not only respected but I was loved.

I had warm fuzzy feelings and ready to pack up that 3rd truck.  I would follow this truck in my Subaru, with my son driving the U-haul, and I would bring the kitties.

 

I had fired my first real estate agent and was now working with Louis.  He would pick up the ball and start open houses and putting up signage for the sale of this beautiful mountain home.

 

My hiking buddies and my school buddies took me out to dinner the last night in Colorado at the Outback, I had fillet mignon and thanked them with a full and happy heart.

 

I will end this section with driving away in my Subaru with a few tears towards the love I had for my beautiful mountain home. 

 

   The multi-state drive should have been a fun and exciting adventure.  It was not.

 I will end now, by just saying, the best part of the trip was that we arrived

safely.

 

to be continued ...