Annual Week at Lake Chelan

It's our annual week at Lake Chelan. Hard to believe how time flies. Kent and I have been coming here every summer since we met 15 years ago. As usual it's a week of sleeping, reading, swimming, relaxing and eating. I always manage to get in some great runs too!












We are here until Friday so more posts to follow which will include an update on the new house.

Have a good one!

Jim


Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

10th Anniversary

Today is the 10th Anniversary of my taking my current job in King County! It's been a great 10 years!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

It's Official - We have a new house!

After months of looking and much frustration we have a new house! It's located in the Lauelhurst neighborhood of Seattle. It's walking distance to the UW, U- Village, across the street from the Urban Horticulture Center and four blocks from from the Burke - Gilman Trail. We are very excited! Here are a few pictures of the new place.
















The house was built in 1939. It's got four bedrooms, 2.75 baths and is 3030 square feet. It has a two car garage and a much smaller yard than our current yard. Some updating is needed but that's part of the fun! I'm thinking it's time for a holiday party this year!

If all goes well we will be moving in early Sept.

Later - Jim





Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

House Hunt Continues

Well we are now up to making offers on a total of four houses only to be outbid. Here are the first two houses as a reminder.


House number one was what we called the Alki house. Located 7 houses down from Alki beach in West Seattle.


House number two was the Ravenna house located near the University of Washington.

Here are pictures of the latest two houses.


House number three was Alki II. It was a great place located two blocks in two different directions to Alki Beach.


House number four was located in the Genesee neighborhood of West Seattle.

The search continues.....

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Kitty Wells

How the hell is it that I know almost all Kitty's best hits? She was 92 for God sakes!
RIP Kitty!

Jim


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Virginia and other updates

I'm on my way back from Williamsburg Virginia where my colleague Charlotte McGuire from Ohio and I put on a 3:45 minute workshop on Reclaiming Futures. We had a good crowd and the presentation went well. Glad to be heading home. I have been so busy and feel far behind both at work and at home. Tomorrow I have to drive down to Vancouver for an all day meeting and then Thursday present at a statewide conference in Seattle. If I can get through this week my summer can begin!

We are still in the market for a house. It's been frustrating and exciting at the same time. We have made two offers and were outbid both times. We see everything out on the market and get notices right away when something new comes out and there is just not a lot available. We know we want to be in West Seattle, Green Lake, Montlake or Ravenna. There are a couple of other neighborhoods such as Magnolia or Queen Anne but the top two are West Seattle and Ravenna. We limit the stock quite a bit by our own criteria of a two car garage. Both the houses we placed offers on actually had three car garages. Although we would love to purchase a turnkey ready home, we've decided to consider doing a complete remodel on a house if the right one came on the market. The problem is I have no idea how much money it takes to completely remodel a house and add a garage if we need to. We have used a designer, Julie Evans from JM Designs on two projects in our current house so we have contacted her to have her join us at a house that would need a remodel so she can give us an idea of costs. Lots to consider.

Kent and I enjoyed our time in Virginia. On Saturday we actually went out to the Outer Banks of North Carolina and took a dip in the Atlantic ocean. Here is a map of our route. It was about an 180 mile drive to a part of the country that I've previously not visited.













We visited the site where the Wright brothers flew the first plane.












Cape Hatteras lighthouse.



We visited several national parks including the site where the final battle of the Revolutionary war took place. We visited the original settlement in Jamestown and of course Old Town Williamsburg and the College of William and Mary.



























We had a great time and look forward to going back for another visit.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone