Mitchell Reunion

So Bob and Rose, How was the Mitchell reunion? Tell us who all was there. Did you take any pictures? Thought of you on Sat afternoon cuz it was sunny down here but very hot in the sun....

Bring on the New England Winters...yeah right

Well we made it to Connecticut...had a pretty good drive...the kids sleep most of it so that was nice...got a little rough about the time we crossed the NY/CT border, the rain started picking up and that along with the fact that it was a dark night and my car having very crappy headlights made it pretty hard to see...so it took a little longer then I thought it would but we finally arrived at about 2:30 am...we signed the lease for our new house on Friday...the house is huge, but I'm pretty sure the last renters we're kind of slobs so it needs a little bit of cleaning...checked into work on Saturday...started my computer networking school today, looks like it's going to be a pretty tough school, with lots of homework and studying...fun fun....had to buy a washer and dryer the other day cause the navy housing here doesn't provide them like our last one did...so yeah I'm officially broke from buying them, and buying a new vacuum... looks like I'm gonna have to hold off on the new bed and ATV...lol...oh well...guess thats all for now talk to you all later...

...oh by the way the new address is:
193 Buckeye Rd
Groton, CT 06340

Montana is getting closer and closer. I am trying to stay focused on the goal and not let the present circumstances get in the way. "Without faith, it is impossible..."

I want to go out there with a minimum of $10,000.00 cash on hand, not including my credit card ($3500.00) which I can use if I have to. At present, the card carries a balance of $145.00, which I will pay off next week. We also have a moving fund right now of over $2200.00. This means that if we move in nine months as planned, we have to put away at least $867.00 per month. Between Cindy and I, there is no reason why we can't make it work, especially if:

1. She keeps her job, and,

2. I find enough Saturday work to pad the account.

Since I can't guarantee anything and have to work with the cards dealt to me, I am prepared to accept that God may throw me a curve, that I may stay in Jax instead. However, I am living in faith, believing that each day is bringing me one day closer to my goal and I believe that it is going to happen. You can help me by doing one thing: praying that I will continue in that.

Ahh, yess! I can feel it now, before you get this. Montana, here we come.

I love you all!

Hi all,
Just sitting here enjoying a relatively quiet day. Did not have to go to work today, my hours have been cut back to 32 a week. Amanda and Nate left last night to head to Groton, Connecticut, where he will be stationed for 3 years. At least they are not as far away as Hawaii. Will miss them much, though. Roger and Rose both had to work, and I spent my time today getting ready for the reunion tomorrow. This is the first time that I didn't have to do everything at night to get ready. Sort of nice, now if the weather holds, .... Oh well, we have a couple of tents that Dale Bunnell lets us use for the reunion, and I backed my chicken pits into the woodshed, so even if it rains, we should be fine. Will be a great time, I'm sure - it always is. Always good to see family, some of them I don't see any other time of the year. As I go on in life, I am more and more realizing how special our family is. We have some characters, but that is what spices it all up.
Some time in the near future, we will get you all directions to where our family reunion will be this year. Plan to go over there and drive into it so that I can get real good directions, then will post them to you. Hope you all plan to come to it, looking forward to seeing you all.
Better go for now, need to run to town for some last minute things for tomorrow.
We love you all.
Bob & Rose

"All's Well That Ends Well"

You might remember the photos of the room addition I posted some time ago for which I did a lot of the design work. Here are a couple shots of the finished product. Sorry about the shadow. If you click on the thumbnail, the picture will blow up and give you better detail. Is that a pink door, or what? Her choice, and I didn't argue.

Didn't have any trouble with the county inspectors, job is completely done, she's happy and loves the room, paid in full. Guess you can't get any better than that.

P.S. No, we didn't build the room off level. Must have been the fault of my camera. You know the saying--"A good carpenter always blames his tools."

P.P.S. Phyl, I took the picture of Shadow standing at the edge of the hole and set it as background on my monitor. It looks great.

Shadow's the Supervisor

Another Milestone

Tomorrow is my last chemo! woohoo!

And tomorrow the digging starts for our new house. woohoo!

Add me

Hey this is Nate and Amanda...just wanted to be added on to this if at all possible...my email is swicked18@yahoo.com....thanks

The older I get, the more I realize how little time I have left. Whenever someone I know passes on, the stronger that realization becomes. "What is man...? He appears for a little while, like the morning fog and then vanishes in an instant under the bright morning sun." All right, that's not exactly how it goes, but the essence is identical.

Any road, now is not the time to draw back, hunker down, and put our dreams and visions away because our time grows shorter every day. Au contraire, we need to push ahead, perhaps accelerate the pace, certainly keep the goal in mind. Who knows? With enough time and by the grace of God, we may actually achieve what we set out to do.

I think of Phyllis and the house she is building or Bob's business. Dreams! At one time these were dreams, but by maintaining faith and working toward them one day at a time, the dreams are beginning to come alive. My best to both of you.

In some way or another, all of us have these dreams that we want to see. Mine is to live in the mountains, to build a log cabin the old-fashioned way, using modern conveniences, of course, like a chain saw or a concrete mixer. I'm not totally insane. I have a large map of Montana taped to the wall above my computer, with a smaller poster beside it which reads

Montana


or Bust!

Will I make it? Will I ever get there? The answer, of course, has to be a resounding, unequivocal, "Yes, absolutely!" It has to be or I never will. If I don't build that dream, make it happen, in the time I have left, who will?

God willing, I'll see it through.

Birthdays

Beth, Rose said welcome to the Red Hat Society. I am so out of touch that I had to ask her what that was - she said a society for old people. Somehow or other, I find it difficult to think of you as old, so I don't. Anyhoo, Happy Birthday. I had a wonderful one. All of the kids, kids-in-law, grandkids, Lee's, Aunt Millie & Milt, Caleb, Amanda & Jubal, Chris came here. We had chicken, taters, salads, etc. Wonderful Time. Couldn't get a better present than to have my family around me. I am getting to the point where that is one of the highlights of my life. I love you all, only regret that I don't see you all more than I do.
Talk to you all later, Love, Bob

Nearly Ready

Got our building permits! Still waiting to hear from the bank but that should happen this week (I think). Wade is supposed to meet the excavator, the framer, and the foundation guy sometime this week at the property to go over everything so they can start digging and get the foundation ordered. After two and a half years of delays, it hardly seems possible that we're actually going to do this!

I didn't wake up this morning until 0845 and didn't get out of bed until 0920. Since then I have been to Starbucks for a cuppa and paid my rent bill. I am worn out from the exertion already.

I can remember when I thought it was outrageous to charge $400/mo. for rent for a nice, two story house in Wellsboro. Today, I paid $445 for a trailer lot, water, sewer, and garbage pickup. Yesterday, I received a notice that the fee will be going up by $24 in October. Ah, yes, times have changed and a move out of here is looking better and better.

Since I'm extremely busy right now and can't possibly think about it tomorrow due to impossible time constraints, let me say, "Happy Birthday!", to Bob and Beth. Hey, little Sis, how does it feel to be 40? From my experience, not too much different than it feels to be 50.

Have a great day!

Ahhh...Holiday!!!

Iam writing this from my desk at the office. I am the only one here. Everyone else has gone for the holiday. The phones have been rolled over to the answering service and as soon as I get this written, I am on Fourth of July time.

We received notice the other day that our paid holidays have been reduced from five to two--Thanksgiving and Christmas. Unfortunately, this means that I had to work today in order to be paid. What a rip! But, hey, who's complaining? I still have a job, although sometimes I think unemployment with a few cash jobs on the side would be nice for a while.

Anyhoo, the last man I had to see today just left, so now I can get out of here. Good place to say, "Hasta la vista, baby"!

Hello everybody Got my boy home and his wife and my two wonderful little grandaughters so excited Love you all Rose