Bill's 1st post (aka do not miss this or the mattress inspector will call on you)

Months. Many long months. Since we made the decision to take our Adventure, we have spent long grueling months, 24/7, preparing to make the move. I concentrated on each step needed in succession (ie: remodeling the house) to arrive at the ultimate goal of crossing the border. The "one step at a time" approach. Linda concentrated on the ultimate goal of crossing the border; getting nothing but (literally) "green lights" at the border crossing. The "come on/lets go" approach. There is no right or wrong; I am simply giving background.

So, as I was doggedly completing project after project to complete the house for sale, Linda was incessantly organizing for our border crossing. My god this woman I love worked hard! Organizing things to go. Packing everything into boxes. numbering each box. Listing the contents of each box in order to pass through customs. Redoing 30 some boxes because they were'nt properly inventoried the first time, so we feared (she was up til midnight doing that one day, all out of the ultimate fear of being turned away at the border). Segregating those boxes we would need and take down to our new casa on the first trip from those that would be stored at the border for subsequent trips. Thirty years of culled possessions from the house sale, carefully packed, wraped, boxed and numbered. Such long hard work! But absulutetely necessary to be allowed to cross the border: one mistake, one mislabled or forgotten item and it would be "NO CROSSING FOR YOU!"

The ultimate goal for Linda in this process of preparing to get us across the border were the.... LISTS. If the inventory lists for each box weren't perfect she became convinced we would not be allowed to cross the border. No green lights for us. Nada. The lists soon became the most important aspect of our move. More important than whether we had transportation to get there (never mind whether the cats or I (in that order) were accompanying her).

When we were packing the truck and trailer we had to double..triple check the LISTS. At one point I was sure I would be not allowed to continue with her and the cats as I had removed her shoes from a plastic bag (ie: inventoried on the LISTS!) to pack them separately so as to fit in the truck. This was a poignant moment: She stood her ground that we would not be allowed to cross the border if they were removed from the bag, while I stood equally firm stating they would not GET to the border unless packed separately. I saved my own life by promising to repack them in the bag before we crossed the border. She didn't see my crossed toes.

As I said: this is all background...months and long months of background (and long summary as well, I know!). But, you already know why it has been necessary to give such a long background narrative........

We left Tuscon, less than an hour from the border at Nogales, at late morning. You just imagine her increasing anxiety about whether her LISTS were complete and accurate enough to allow us to cross the border the closer we got. We decided to stop for a quick bite to eat before crossing. Due to the anxiety of the moment, Linda elected to have a salad to go. Just as she opened it, an emergent call from our daughter (eg: "What should I do about....?") By the time the call ended, I advised Lida the border was only 10 mins away. Oh my god! I have eat! I dont have time! But this salad cant be taken across the border; its contraband!!...gobble/snarf/swallow without chewing/choking now/quickly hiding the remaing salad in the plastic bag and under the seat as the crossing looms near. "I feel like throwing up I am so nervous!" she said. "Do you have the passports, visas, cat papers and the LISTS handy?' I quietly inquire. Without regard to the other documents, her reply was: "THE LISTS! #!@%$ where are the LISTS?!?"

Just then, there it was. Th border crossing. To the left was the red/green semaphore. I slowed WAYYY down (were we moving so slowly as to attract attention?). What's wrong? I wonder as the light is niether red nor green..is it broken? Oh, oh! the guard!! The guard is sitting on a fokd out chair in the shade to our left..we are now within 40 feet! I am expecting the ubiquitous hand held out in the "HALT!" position....everything is now in slow motion yet transpiring in nano-seconds...a glance at Linda (still searching frantically for the LISTS) tells me we may need medical attention for her soon.....Where is the HALT signal I wonder, as I simultaneously notice the guard's attention is not on us; she seems preoccupied with something down to her left..a strange insect activity on the ground perhaps?, I fleetingly wonder, as just then she languidly raised her right forearm (while keeping her elbows on her knees) and with a very limp wrist motion, without even looking up at us, gave one and one-half waves of her hand for us to proceed into Mexico.

It took a few hundred yards for time/space reality to return to consciousness, at which time I started to howl with laughter at the irony of our (read Linda's) long (so very long and anxious) work on the LISTS, believed to be so very necessary for our entry across the border, received with only an unconcerned wave of the hand. Normally, my laughter would have been my execution warrant, but Linda was so enormously RELIEVED to have crossed the boreder in any event, my life has been spared.

The Adams Have left the Building

OMG..we are homeless..until we get to Alamos.

Those Darn Cats and Windows

Hola! Here is the morning photo. Still alot of snow up top, but we have had a few pretty days again. The rhodies and azaleas are coming out and the Hmong farmers down in the valley have fields of yellow in bloom.


Painting of the outside of the house is almost complete. The trim and railings are yet to be done. Rain will be here this morning so outside painting will go on hold and hopefully some of the indoor issues will get completed.


Two things are holding us up........cats and windows....let's talk about the cats first.

They have to have papers in order to cross the border...papers that certify they have received all their shots and are in good health. I did not think this would be that difficult, but a call to the vet clinic lets me know that the cats cannot have their papers until Tuesday or Thursday....so there you have it....our children and our pets do control our lives.

Below is a photo of Ashes, taken back in December when things were normal. Now she hides in the culvert down at the street while the workers are here and comes out only after they leave.


and this is Cookies. He looks a little sad...they know something big is going on, but there is really not much we can do for them...Ian came home last night and that seems to be cheering them up..Windows....we are waiting for the large hardware store we purchased our windows from to come and reinstall one set. I won't name the company, but they are dragging their feet. We may go ahead and leave it all in the hands of our wonderful realtor. He will be putting our house on the market in a few weeks.


Our last Pacific Northwest post will be this week....we will show you alot of photos of the house in its most completed state!

I also want to give you a short list of all the terrific companies (most of them from right here in the Snoqualmie Valley) who have helped us in remodeling our home.

So we will try and wait patiently for the cats papers and then, we're outta here..

Two Minutes to Blog

I really have an open window of about 2 minutes...we have been sooo busy and today is maxed out and it's only 8:57am. A beautiful sunrise this morning!! Lots of pink clouds in the sky and probably some rain will come in.

We have had a few very nice days and Craig has been painting the outside of the house. The Russian guys are putting in the beechwood floor and the cabinets are pretty much done in the kitchen. Bathrooms are tiled, laundry room floor is tiled.
There is still alot to do, but we are well over the halfway mark now and are planning to leave Carnation next Monday. Ian comes home from Colorado Friday. We will pick him up at the airport and see him over the weekend. Then we will drive to Colorado and visit with KD for a few days and then, head south to Tucson and the storage unit.

I am working on the household list. I am still nervous about not getting the menaje de casa. On one of my posts a lady who is moving to San Carlos commented that she was very interested in that aspect of the trip. Guess What!!! So am I...... Please contact me again, I would love to discuss it more with you! Please leave a way for me to contact you.
If anyone has any further information about crossing without the menaje, please leave me a comment.
I have all of our boxes and loose items accounted for. Now I must get them written in both English and Spanish. We have already decided to take what we can (though we will be leaving quite a bit in the Tucson unit) and if we get the red light when we cross at Nogales we will just deal with it then. If we have to pay a duty then we will.
Over the next few days I promise to find time to leave you some photos of the house, but for now, I am off and running!!

What's Goin' On

Here is this morning's snow. It is our third snow in three days. Very, very pretty stuff, but doesn't Mexico sound better?

A week ago Saturday, we had a 75 degree day, unusual Pacific Northwest weather!

It was gorgeous and when I was out in the truck, I saw sooooo many people buying annuals and trees and roses. That was a booming plant sale day. And now, after all this snow, the nurseries will have a second round of it when all those folks have to come back and replace their frozen flowers. I ALWAYS wait until Mothers' Day to buy and plant my baskets and other containers. I learned my lesson years ago when I lost all my flowers in late April during a freeze...

The photo below shows a glimpse of the pond through the snowy trees and bushes.

The tire swing, lonely and still, in the woods....(KD, don't look at this photo).....it's just a tire swing ...Snowy branches below.....

So, here is the update:

Bill is still tiling and getting bathrooms ready for the countertops. I think he has a new profession because his tiling is awesome. I will be showing you photos as we get closer to having that done.

I am still running errands in the truck.....gasoline is up to $3.69 locally....so I am trying to make as few trips as possible and that takes very careful planning and organization. The door place messed up our hardwood door order, they neglected to measure width wise and not all of our doors happen to be 30" wide, so we are dealing with that issue and I don't want to talk about it further. I will really get cranky.

So on to the good stuff!

Spanish is coming along great!! We are studying past tenses already, even though I don't really have the all of the present tenses down yet...., but I feel confident that we will be able to communicate in Alamos. Next week, after class, we will take Violeta to our favorite Mexican restaurant, La Puerca in Kirkland.

Even though a lot has been going on, it still seems incredibly slow to me, and somedays I think we are moving in slow motion. I am just so ready to go.

And so much rain has set more than a few projects behind schedule. Craig has not been able to stain the house. The gutter guys can't put in the drain system, and so on and so on....

In the photo below you can see the old retaining wall and how it is falling apart. The ground behind it leads up to the earth house hillside.

So, Don and his crew came out and removed the old wall and during the night a torrential rainstorm washed much of the hillside away. I worried that if it did not stop raining part of the deck would go with it.
The rain got worse after this photo and much more of the dirt washed down.Eventually the rain stopped and days later the guys were able to clean up all the debris and put in the new retaining wall which we are very happy with. I especially like the new steps which lead up to the new flagstone pathway that goes along the earth house hillside.

Back to what's going on inside the house.

I am the 'not so happy about it' owner of a door staining department in the living room. I did not like painting the walls and I don't like staining doors either. But I am working hard at it, and I think it will be done soon. I am staining doors that actually fit in the spaces they are supposed to fit into. I won't go into what we will do with the doors that don't fit in their spaces and I want to end this session on a HAPPY NOTE!!!!!!.


We can't even walk in the living room, it is full of doors, but they will be a nice addition to our house.

I told Bill that we will not have doors in Alamos, just those hippie doorway beads.

Our little casita in Mexico has just gone through a Mexican type of probate, so now we are put on the list of house closing dates. Are we at the top of the list or the bottom of the list? We don't know........

Evidently things are a little behind schedule down there as well. So, there is nothing to do beyond keeping up the remodeling project here and hope the rain and snow go away. Oh and keep watching cable tv while we have it!! What in the heck happened to ICE ROAD TRUCKERS, my best show. I thought it was coming back on with a new season, and if you have been keeping up with this you know that is part of the reason we even have cable...

Oh, well.....
I just took the photos below within a 3 minute period. The Cascades are beautiful this afternoon!

We have been so lucky to keep seeing many wonderful people we know. Whether it is at the grocery store, the post office, at Steve's birthday party, Starbucks, Lowes, the library, the gas station or just two trucks passing in opposite directions on Tolt Hill, honk and wave!...we see so many people every day and it's giving us the chance to keep saying goodbye to all of you!

Roger That and 10-4 Good Buddy

A bright beautiful sunrise this Saturday morning. This is gorgeous and 30 seconds later, I took the photo below. Last night the sun turned parts of the valley gold............still lots of new snow on the peaks.I have a new job........truck driver lady.
Yes, a week ago I learned to drive the truck.

It took a few spins down the hill and back, with Bill in the passenger seat, passenger driving, but I am good with it......as long as I focus on my immediate area. If I glance at the passenger seat I realize how wide el trucko is and I get a little clammy. I have to go very slowly down the driveway so I don't take out any more lights, and parking? Forget it, I definately take up two spaces, but other wise, it is all good.

So, I plan to recap for you my entire week as the driver of the truck, doer of all road required jobs so Bill and anyone else working here can just stay here and get the job done....

On Monday:

I went to the nursery in Snohomish for the Thundercloud plum trees

I went to Lowes 3 times

I went to the door store in Seattle

I went to the gravel pick up place 3 times

total mileage: 438

On Tuesday:

I went to the gravel pick up place 3 times

I went to Lowes 3 times

I went back to the nursery

I fit in a trip to Starbucks

I went to the pharmacy

total mileage: 260

On Wednesday:

I went to the dirt pick up place 4 times

I went to Lowes 3 times

I went to Fred Meyer

I went to a different nursery

total mileage:190

On Thursday:

I went to the bark pick up place 4 times

I went Lowes 1 time

I went to the market

I went to buy Carlos (new Carlos) lunch

total mileage: 135

On Friday:

I went to BMC to pick up lumber

I went to Lowes 2 times

I went to the bark pick up place 3 times

I went to the door store in Seattle

total mileage: 224

There is no such thing as getting in the truck and going to all these places and then going back home. There is also no such thing as one stop shopping.... Everything that Bill needs is spread out all over town.

Don't even think about calculating the gas costs for me. I am ignoring that part of the driving.

However, if you add up the mileage it comes to 1,247. From our home, it is 1,220 miles to Tucson, Arizona, where we plan to get our storage unit. From there it is another 500 miles south to Alamos. I could practically be laying on the beach somewhere in Mexico by now......

A few things are left in our living room.....and in the photo below, you can see the balcony above the living room where Craig will do some touch up when he gets back from spring break at the beach (where I am NOT)
These are the new thundercloud plum trees, and the flagstone pathway that Carlos made. The earth house is to the right. These trees, from nurserytrees.com are gorgeous and I highly recommend the drive to Snohomish to get a few for your yard.....

Outside the truck is waiting for me, wondering why I haven't started her up yet. Be there in a few, spanish class this morning...

Roger that and 10-4 good buddy.