Crape Myrtles Trees

It was nice to be back in the pacific northwest for a few weeks and great to see the kids, visit with friends, catch up with my old (previous, not age) co-workers and make new acquaintances with the staff in the STD clinic. It was certainly an educational experience working there; I learned more that I ever thought I'd know about the HIV high risk population in Snohomish county! I'll be back again in August and September - so to anyone I missed this last visit (and everyone I didn't) name the place and location - happy hour here I come!

I returned "home" to Charleston and the heat and humidity. Mel and I immediately got to work in the yard tearing up sod where we plan to lay pavers in the back yard, and moving it to the front yard. 110 degree heat index? No worries, Mel has discovered "sweet tea". Although the heat can be stifling to "normal" humans, Crape Myrtle trees thrive in this weather. The streets and yards in Charleston are an incredible display of white, purple, pink, red and every shade in between. It's worth a visit just to see them, really!

Will someone turn down the heat?

The weather is heating up. In fact the last few days it's broken records and even the locals are complaining! Mel and I decided to join the pool around the corner and incorporate an evening swim into our exercise routine. The unheated pool was a "refreshing" 86 degrees. Still, it's cooler than 100 . . .and wet!

Speaking of wet, we'll be heading back to Everett for a visit. I arrive June 21st and return July 8th. I'll be working at SHD part time during my visit. Mel arrives June 25th and leaves July 4th. We hope to have an opportunity to get together with family and friends while we're home. Give us a call or shoot us an email.

Politics and What Time?

The primaries were held last Tuesday; all I can say is THANK GOD! In SC it's a battle of the conservative vs. the extremely conservative. I had to make sure there was actually a democratic party here. I may have to leave town (hey Mel, let's plan a vacation) during the regular election or stop listening to the radio and TV altogether.

There are some REALLY great things about SC. However, they do have a different sense of timeliness here. If you're punctual, or a planner (like me), it could drive you nuts! For instance. . . we arranged to grind down a couple stumps in our back yard. Matt (the stump guy) emailed he'd be here June 10th. I called him the morning of the 10th to confirm his arrival time. He replied apologetically, "Oh I thought Friday was the 10th, I'm so sorry, I'll work around your schedule. What time would you like me to be there on Friday?" I arranged for him to come between 10 - 10:30 am. When I called him at 11:00 to see where he was, he replied, "Oh is it 10:30 already?" Well, it's now 3:00 and he's apparently "on his way". The way one of my neighbors put it, "If someone tells you he'll be there Tuesday at 9:00 am, make sure you ask him which Tuesday."

Kids and weather

It was nice to have the family all together for a few days last week. Along with visiting and seeing the sights, we took advantage of having the kids around to plant a palm tree and tear apart the deck. Thanks for your help Eric, Cassie and Evan!

June 1st is officially the start of hurricane season. According to researchers, the 2010 Atlantic hurricane season will be very active this year; fingers crossed we'll avoid any major storms. I can report that when it rains here, it POURS! It's only June 3rd, and we've had 3.91 inches of rain this month with more thunderstorms predicted for today and tomorrow. The temperature is expected to hit 88 with 97 percent humidity today. We have two guest rooms ready if anyone wants to come for a visit; the humidity is great for your skin!

Busy!

The Boeing job is going well. To date they are ahead of schedule and under budget. The first two trusses have been set. To understand the scope of the building - the trusses are the length of 2 football fields and the building is 1/5 of a mile long (1000 ft).

We have been working on the house and yard and I'm happy to report that it's looking more and more like home - I hope to post pictures soon. We took time from working in the yard Saturday and attended a work function (low country boil) at a company house (not Boeing) on the Isle of Palms beach; what a great location!

Last week, my friend from Australia, Mickie, and husband Gordy were in town checking out the area before they move to Charleston. It was good to see her and catch up. I'm looking forward to exploring another "foreign country" with her again.

Eric arrives tomorrow and Cassie and Evan follow later in the week. It will be good to see them and show them our new place, our favorite bar and the Charleston area.

Critters in the Hood

I'm not sure if this little guy (geico/gecko) is a bug eater or insurance salesman but when I open the door he tries to run in the house. . . it makes me wonder. . .does he have a hot deal on life insurance to sell me?

I turned into our street this afternoon and braked for a turtle crossing the road. After carefully swerving around him, I raced home to get my camera, but by the time I returned, he was already happily swimming in the pond and out of camera range.

On the not-so-cute side: Mel and I had our first alligator sighting in the lake next to our walking path last week. He was a good nine foot gator cruising along about 20 feet offshore. One of the ladies I walk with told me her husband was canoeing and took 14 pictures of 14 different alligators in that lake one day. Hmmmm, I'm not too sure I'd be canoeing in THAT lake - in fact it makes me wonder if I want to canoe in ANY lake in SC. No snakes sightings yet, but I understand that every poisonous snake resides here. Hopefully they're more afraid of me than I am of them, but I doubt it!

Jobsite

Mel thought I should include a picture of the jobsite because, as they say in the Boeing commercial, "That's why we're here"!

Hilton Head Island

We took a few days off and headed to Hilton Head Island. No, it is not owned by Conrad Hilton, but named after Captain William Hilton, who discovered it in 1663 and named it "Hiltons Head" after himself. What a beautiful spot! It's a popular family vacation destination, and there's lots to do with 40+ Championship-level golf courses, 50-miles of biking and leisure trails, 300 tennis courts, kayaking, jetskiing, charter fishing, parasailing, dolphin-watching, dinner cruises, historical tours, arts & entertainment, marines & harbors, beach activities – the list goes on and on… I guess we'll have to go back, because all we did was relax by the pool, eat, drink and walk some of the 12 miles of white sandy beaches. Luckily it's only a few hour drive away!

Are we having fun yet?

Mel is working hard, digging big holes and "busier than a one armed paper hanger". In other words, he's having the time of his life! As for me, I'd better get a job - this is too much work! We cut down more dead and ugly shrubs including an overgrown pampas grass that bordered the golf course. In addition to cutting our neighbors cable line entwined in the roots, we found 47 golf balls caught inside that sticky bush. We'll save them for any golfers that come to visit. Mel dug up another hidden palm tree and rolled it to a better location. I've included a picture of garbage day after a weekend of pruning. Luckily, in SC garbage service is part of paying property taxes. Yard waste is put into brown lawn bags and any limbs placed beside the curb. They are picked up at no charge. To my friends at SHD, I ask, What do you think SW sanitarians? Would that cut down the garbage complaints?
Next weekend we're taking a break from yard work. We're off to Hilton Head for our anniversary.

P, P & P

We've been pruning, planting and painting. In the midst of overgrown landscaping, we discovered a beautiful 10' palm tree wanting a home of its own. We spent the better part of Saturday moving that tree to a new location. The neighbors probably thought we were nuts; by the end of the day we knew we were! It looks great though - only twenty more plants to move! Guess what we'll be doing next weekend? Anyone want to come for a visit? I spent Monday and Tuesday painting the formal dining room and office; two rooms down, twenty to go (well, almost)! Although the nine foot ceilings in this house look great, they aren't so appealing when you have to paint them. The weather has been 70 - 90 degrees since we arrived - NICE!

Yard Work

Along with getting the inside of the house organized, we've been discovering a little about SC yard maintenance. We've traded slugs and crane flies for fireants; this yard is full of them! It was also full of leaves - after raking 40 bags of leaves from the yard, we headed to the local Lowes store for advice about fireants. After a long discussion about the seven levels to the queen and the proper way to spread pesticide (everywhere!), we headed out, armed with Over'N Out! (a pesticide for fireants) Take THAT fire ants! If you're interested, here's an excerpt from fireant.net website:

The red fire ant was accidentally introduced into the United States in 1929, when a cargo ship that had used soil as ballast arrived in Mobile, Alabama from South America. (Thanks a lot!) But South Americans don't have nearly the problem that the United States does. They only have 20% as many fireants as we do, probably because North America lacks the natural enemies of the pesky critters.

These guys are aggressive! They initially spread throughout Alabama and Florida, but it didn't take them long to invade twelve of our southeastern states and Puerto Rico. In recent years, the fireant has spread as far west as California and as far north as Kansas and Maryland. Although fireants keep marching farther and farther, northerners don't have to loose sleep over it because researches predict that they will not be able to survive in areas where soil temperatures drop to near freezing for more than 2 to 3 weeks.

With the cold weather in the Pacific Northwest, you shouldn't have to worry!

Fire ants safely under control, we'll be working on pruning and moving palm trees this weekend- hopefully we won't kill them in the process. I'll keep you posted.

The House

You’ve seen the picture of the house. It's stately, in a great neighborhood with numerous walking trails and a good commute to work. Although the house is big (our master bed/bath area is 24 x 34!) it has a very livable layout.(I may change my mind about that after I clean it a few times though.) When I first walked into the house, it was as if I had taken a step back in time . . . about 25 years! To say the house is in need of an update would be an understatement! If I wondered what I was going to do with my spare time or concerned I would be bored, I needn’t have worried. I will be painting, staining and redecorating for months. I’ve drawn up plans for a kitchen remodel to include new appliances, lighting, cabinet refinishing and adding an island. We’ve starting replacing light fixtures on the LFAW (light fixture a week) plan. Mel had put on some weight staying at the Homewood Suites for 6 months and asked me to help him loose a few pounds. I accepted the role of personal trainer. He didn’t realize part of my plan would be to keep him so busy he wouldn’t have time to eat! After my initial reaction of “OMG, how many ugly gold light fixtures can one house have?” I recognize the potential of this house and am excited to get started on it. I’ll post before/after pictures as they’re completed. Gotta run to the paint store; it’s 75 out now, expected to reach mid 80’s by the weekend. Life is good!

We're here!

We've arrived safely in SC and finally have internet service. The drive went well; after a night in La Center, we headed to Twin Falls, ID for the second night. The following day the drive was warm with beautiful snow capped mountains all around us in Idaho and Utah. The next morning we woke to 24 degrees and snow in Cheyenne, WY. After scrapping our windshields, we "high tailed it outta there", hoping to avoid the predicted snow storm headed our way. The driving was nail biting at times, but by afternoon the roads improved and we made it to Kansas City, MO without incident. Unfortunately, the bad weather followed us that night, as we woke to snow again the next morning. Luckily, the roads were warmer and driving wasn't bad. The temperature was 32 degrees when we left Kansas City and 72 degrees upon our arrival in Nashville, TN! We took advantage of the free drinks at the hotel that night and celebrated arriving safely. The next day was a short driving day (only 7 hours) through the Blue Ridge Mountains (they call those mountains?) and on to Columbia, SC. We arrived in Charleston the next morning in time to sign papers on the house with an hour to spare! More on the house to come; ya'all come back now, hear?

Away we go!

We're packed up and (almost) ready to go! Yesterday we started the day at 6am, moving Cassie out of her apartment in Seattle. Thanks to my brother Paul and Glen (aka Denzel Washington, a nice homeless man Mel hired to help him load the cargo trailer) we accomplished that move in record time. After arriving back in Everett, we unloaded the trailer, ate a fabulous breakfast, (Thanks so much Reggie!), then played a game of tetris, fitting various sized boxes and furniture in the trailer with the help of Tom, Cole, Damien, John, Linda, Evan and Cassie. It was amazing what we got in there! Thanks again everyone for your help yesterday. We leave Tuesday and arrive in Charleston in time to sign papers on our new house March 22nd. We will miss our family and friends, but hope you will all use this this as an opportunity to visit us in SC.

We have a plan!

Just in case you haven't heard, we bought a house in Goose Creek, SC, (in North Charleston, see map below) and will move the middle of March! The house is WAY bigger than we need, but the price and location were great. For all you golfers out there, it sits on the 10th green. The inside is in need of an update so that will keep us out of trouble for awhile. Mel is looking forward to moving out of the hotel he's been in since August and having another focus besides work. We're both looking forward to exploring the area, although neither of us is too wild about experiencing the SC summer! It will be an adventure; I'll keep you updated on our discoveries of southern living. Time for me to get back to packing!