I'm asking myself by Greg

I keep asking myself why I came out of retirement these mornings of getting up and getting ready to go in. When I finally see a paycheck it will come back to me I’m sure. I was thinking this morning that this is giving me the opportunity to live through the “there’s only x days to go until retirement” syndrome I missed because of leaving so unexpectedly last May.

The work itself is just fine. Too much to do as always and the learning curve of the new equipment etc. slows me down. I also took two days off last week. Bereavement leave to take care of necessary chores. We had the forced air furnace and hot water heater replaced after the furnace completely quit working Thursday night. I had to drive to Portland to get the replacement furnace unit.

Filled up the Jetta and got 53 mpg of combined highway city driving. Amazing.

We move on. I feel like we all took a deep breath and have held it in ever since Jim was diagnosed as terminal. My sister was incredible. Jimmy could not have gotten better care. The finality of it is setting in now. Thank you to all who prayed and sent their thoughts our way.

Our new home for six months is at the Premier RV Resort on Hwy 22 in West Salem. We opted to spend a few extra dollars on the monthly payment to get what they call a “super” lot. We actually have a small patch of grass and a separate parking spot for the car. The spot is long enough to park the motorhome, the trailer, and the motorcycle so we have the trailer to use as an out-building. Very handy. We have talked about continuing to tow it, albeit without the motorcycle, and driving the car like we did coming back from Mesa. I figure that the overall effect on gas is to lower the mileage on the motorhome to about 8 mpg from 12. Still not too bad for a motorhome and the cost of equipping the car to tow is about $3000. That buys a lot of diesel even at $5 a gallon.

Working this extra six months will replenish our savings which were severely depleted by buying and fixing the car up. Plus finish off all the interior redecorating to really make this old beast shine.

Well, off to work with the rest of you slobs. Heh. Not Bob Gourley, who I know checks in here occasionally. Although he seems to be as busy as anybody with all his shenanigans.

Greg