July 30th thru Aug 23rd
Life can be extremely difficult when dealing with the loss of a parent and for me it was made even harder losing the last of my parents. As a family it came time to deal with dad's house and stuff, preparing for the house to be sold. To say that it was difficult would be an understatement. Out of 5 siblings only 3 participated in working through the process. Even though Gaylene was supposed to help with executatating of the Estate, she only showed up to get the stuff she wanted, which was an exceptionally large amount: sometimes known as greed.
July 30th: These are tough days for all of us. Alan and Laurie are each spread out across the country and have no one close to talk with and help with the downer of dad being gone, so an attempt is being made to chat via phone as much as possible. Larry and myself plus Patty and Cindy are continuing to go through stuff in the house and attempting to keep our sanity intact. We do hope that as time goes on it will be easier to cope. The folks from Hospice came by and picked up the items from dad’s care that they can take back. We sat out this evening outside of the garage, visiting and taking a break from the house.
July 31st: My ankle flared up with what I am supposing is gout, hurting pretty bad and making it so that I asked Cindy to get out the crutches so that I can get around. With our being so busy I have not been eating or hydrating properly, which I am fairly sure contributed to the flair up. Larry and Patty ran into the mortuary this afternoon and picked up dad’s ashes and brought them back to the house. Deanna made sliders for supper today, very tasty, plus extremely nice that she got some real food into all of us. We spent some of the day looking at the “stuff” that is in the house and Larry making suggestions on what items Larry thought different siblings would want for their memories of dad. Larry and Patty finally agreed to head home and take a break from the house this evening. They will need to come back over on Friday to meet with the realtor.
Aug 1st: Cindy talked on the phone with a variety of friends, family and people associated with the American Legion. The chats with the American Legion and the VA were for setting up things for interring mom and dad up in Fort Laramie. We have come up with September 28th as the date to carry out the interment. We have called family so that everyone can begin doing their own planning for coming up for the “festivities”. I let Larry know that we need to get serious about the house, and to accomplish that we called all the rest of the kids and got them to tell us what furniture they or their kids might be interested in so that starting next week we can list any of the unclaimed furniture to get it sold and out of the house. Cindy and I called “The Hitching Post” and they will be more than for us to come back the first of September and finish out our gig. It will be good to put our heads down and get dad’s estate done so that it is not hanging over heads and so we can all move forward with our lives. My foot is still being an extreme issue for me, keeping me planted in a chair all day. Cindy wrapped up packing her bag to go over and visit with Alicia tomorrow, I think she is planning on staying over there into the first part of next week. We will drive her over there tomorrow, and pickup the death certificates on our way that everyone needs in these situations in order to take care of the estate and for those that will be flying out for the 18th of the month get together.
Aug 2nd: My foot precluded me from driving for Cindy, so we had her take the Ridgeline to Alicia’s house. Alicia had a challenge with the pregnancy and had to go into the ER. Cindy got back with me and let me know that Alicia was back home and holding her own. Had a run in with Gaylene and based on her attitude I am writing her off as far as someone I want to see. It’s not worth the stress to have her in the mix when I am in the area. Life is too short to put that kind of a problem in my life. Larry got the death certs picked up and brought back to the house. It turns out that there are no stipulations in the trust as to how the estate gets split as mom and dad never put it into words. Leaves this in a wide open Gaylene or Larry can do whatever the fuck they want. I will help Larry get the house to the point of being able to be sold and then Cindy and I are out of here and shooting to be back in Panguitch by September 1st.
Aug 3rd: With Cindy over at Alicia’s place today and Larry working on projects at home, I spent the day watching the Olympics and movies due to my foot and ankle. The sitting has led to my head hurting, so hopefully things are better tomorrow so that I can move about and do something, anything. I need to drain the tanks on the trailer so hoping my foot will allow that tomorrow as well as getting a shower. Every time I think of dad’s last days it sure grabs at my heart. I hope that we truly did things right so that his passing was comfortable for him. It hurts being here but I will hopefully be stronger by the time we finish the house and head out of here.
Aug 4th: Cindy at Alicia’s I was working on getting the gout flair to back off and staying off my foot as much as possible.
Aug 5th: Cindy at Alicia’s I was working on getting the gout flair to back off and staying off my foot as much as possible.
Aug 6th: Cindy at Alicia’s I was working on getting the gout flair to back off and staying off my foot as much as possible.
Aug 7th: Ben got here right at 8am this morning and without Larry to distract we were able to get the loose tiles up from the floor and by the end of the day get them reset. Cindy got back from her visit to Alicia’s place. We continued work on drywall and I was able to pressure wash the front of the house and the front porch. We were able to enjoy a steak and shrimp dinner which Ben was good enough to grill for all of us.
Aug 8th: With Ben here we were able to get the big shed loaded up for Larry to take it over to his house. Larry’s friend Scott came along and helped us with the task. It was hot enough today that the loading of the shed had all of us whipped before noon. Ben was able to get a bit more done on the drywall work plus he was able to grout the tile this evening that we reset yesterday.
Aug 9th: No journal entry today.
Aug 10th: Ben was up early this morning, and got the blocking put in above the hallway plus got that screwed up to that blocking and the taping started on that, as well as the texture coat. Ben continued work on other drywall items throughout the house. Joe and Teagan got here around 8 o’clock this morning, and they jumped in and began helping Ben with the different drywall items throughout the house. Ben took off just after lunchtime headed home, with enough room that he took the porch swing as well as the TV that was in the bedroom with him. So at least those are all out of the way for us to continue work on the house. Joe and Teagan helped Larry to finish up the work on the bedroom door for dad‘s bedroom. And after Larry headed home and we had a bit of time to catch our breath Cindy and I came home to bed and Teagan and Joe continued working on some of the caulking within the house.
Aug 11th: Joe wrapped up all of his drywall repair work. He had Teagan work on caulking within the bedroom bathroom area. While they were working on that, I took care of the patchwork on the stucco on the outside of the house. As well as finishing washing the outside. Joe and Teagan helped Larry to put in the blocking on the back porch. After lunch, Joe and Teagan got headed home and Larry worked on some paperwork prior to he and Patty heading home.
Aug 12th: We were hoping for a down day to relax but I got message from Tony that he needed to get the video made to make Lippert happy. So, I got to spend my morning testing the ac and getting amp readings, db readings etc. I will still need to compile my findings plus figure out how to share the video we got with him so he can create a review to get Lippert off his ass. We went over to Linda’s this afternoon and visited with her plus dropped off the cover for the vent that she said she could use. Upon getting home I measured the bench for Joe and got that to him via text for getting a trailer to take the tools and such up to the Verde on this coming Sunday.
Aug 13th: Continued work on the house doing some painting on the exterior. Larry caulked in the added blocking that we put on the porch. We sanded the drywall patching inside the house, plus vacuumed up the dust. Also went through some more of the stuff in the office to get it emptied out a little bit more.
Aug 14th: No journal entry today.
Aug 15th: Larry picked up Laurie from the airport this morning. I managed to get a coat of paint on the back porch where we added in the blocking When Laurie arrived we all chatted as well as going through stuff that Laurie might want for memories. We all headed to bed and called it a day by about 9 PM.
Aug 16th: We took off from the trailer at around 8 AM this morning. Headed over to Alicia and Brandon‘s place. On our way over we had the Bear repellent that we had in the truck go off, causing extreme pain to our eyes and our throats. We got ourselves, stopped and pulled over and out of the truck and then had to clean up everything that was in the backseat that got covered in Bear repellent. We arrived at Alicia and Brandon’s, and got the tour of what the new house looks like. Throughout the morning I helped Brandon with different items that he needed to fix at the house. We then left Brandon and Alicia‘s place at around 1:15 PM to head up and pick up Bowen from school and take him up to his dad‘s place in Chino Valley.
Linda and Diane arrived at Aaron and Haley‘s place earlier in the day. Elizabeth and Bryan came over later on as well as Jacob and Tara. Aaron and Haley treated all of us to pizza for The evening. We all got a chance to visit with one another as well as have a small campfire that we sat around. Everyone seemed to enjoy a little bit of adult beverages before calling it a night at around 1:30 PM. Cindy and I ended up sleeping down in the apartment that Aaron had in the garage. Alicia‘s dog Lily managed to get sprayed by a skunk and so she had to have a bath, prior to being able to stay in the apartment with Cindy and I.
:Aug 17th: Today was Bryce's memorial service, which took place at 4 PM. Prior to going down to the memorial service we hung out here at the house and had a homemade breakfast. Aaron and Haley did all of the cooking and we all enjoyed a good breakfast as well as chatting with one another. Spending the night down in the apartment in the garage turned out to be a rather warm adventure, with neither Cindy nor I sleeping very well. The memorial service for Bryce was, very nice but extremely difficult to get through. Afterword we all met back at Aaron's place and had some wings that Aaron made, and then went out and sat around a fire and visited till bedtime.
Aug 18th: Cindy and I got on the road by about 8 AM and headed back down to dad's place, as today everyone is coming down to get the stuff that they want as well as to have a barbecue. We arrived at around 11 AM to a houseful of people as well as all of the neighbors showing up for the barbecue. Ben was gracious enough to do all of the barbecuing, and I do believe everybody got the chance to visit as well as eat some pretty good food. Afterwards, we started loading up all of the different items that people were taking home with them. Joe brought down an enclosed trailer which we loaded the bench and table saw into as well as, the items out of the shop that he and Ben were taking home for themselves. Gaylene being the greedy woman that she is took a full four horse slant trailer full of stuff home. All I can say is, I am glad it's done and that if I don't want to have anything to do with Gaylene in the future, I don't have to. Currently I find myself highly disappointed in what a greedy woman and self-centered woman she is not to mention how bad Brent is in the same way.
Aug 19th: With everyone having taken their stuff home that they wanted from Dad's house, we gathered up everything else and stacked it in the garage, and put all of the leftover furniture in the living room. Tomorrow, we will set it all out for the donation company that is coming by Wednesday to pick it all up.
Aug 20th: With having most of everything done, today was a quiet day, which Larry showed up for a few hours and we loaded his stuff into his pick up so that he could take it home and get it arranged into his living quarters.
:Aug 21st: Ben got down to the place around 1 p.m. today. Earlier in the day, the company that had been called to pick up everything showed up and only was willing to take that which was in boxes or bags. They would not take any furniture. So, after Ben showed up he and I loaded into all of the furniture into his pick up as well as dad's pick up and we took it over to Goodwill and donated it there. After we got all the furniture delivered, we went through the house and took all of the switch and outlet plates off, all of the light fixtures came down, as well as ceiling, fans, mirror, etc.. That way, Larry can go through and mask the house and paint it at his leisure. He will however, have to put all of that back up on his own.
Aug 22nd: Ben managed to twist his back somehow when we took down the shade cover at the side of trailer, so Cindy ran him into “The Joint” to get realigned. Turns out that he had popped out a rib which the Doc was able to put back into place. While they were at the Chiropractor, Larry and I loaded up Dad’s old bed into Ben’s truck so that he could take it up to Joe and Mel’s house. Larry left about the same time that Ben did, so Cindy and I went back over to the trailer to rest a bit.
>Around 5 PM it's starting to cloud up, so I went out and loaded all the chairs and items that we did not want to get wet into the back of the pick up. It came on to a really hard rain which ended up blowing the roofing material off of the back porch, blew the roof off of Al's shed next door, plus wiped out the fence between Dad's place and Al's. After the rain quit, I jumped up on the roof and tore the roofing material off and threw it onto the ground, hoping that that would stop any further wind from tearing the roof up further. During the rain, water was pouring in through the kitchen window, which I am sure was caused by the roofing material of the porch having been torn off. Somehow we miraculously were able to get through the microburst without the trailer being hit by any debris. In the morning when we pack up, we will need to double verify that we got all the trash picked up that blew into Dad’s yard.
Aug 23rd: Cindy and I got up this morning and we rolled up the trailer and got it ready to pull out. We were able to be on the road by about 8:30 AM this morning and we arrived at Aaron's place at about 12:30 PM. We got the trailer set up here at Aaron's, and we are spending part of the day just catching our breath after the rather busy routine that we have been in since we got down to Dad's place. Tomorrow we will hopefully get the contents emptied out of the connex so that we are ready to move all of the stuff over to the Verde, including the connex on Tuesday. Aaron and Hailey made ribs for supper so we enjoyed having that for dinner today. We hope to get some rest tonight and be fresh and ready to move and sort stuff in the morning.
For more details about our adventures click on the links at the top of the page.