Wow !
Where to start.
It's been several months full of barrages and mirages since our last update as most of you know....Shari's
father passed away suddenly just weeks after we updated last.
After all the hustle and bustle of the untimely funeral, Shari, her mom and her brothers took a 7 day - "Bereavement
Cruise" on the Spur of the Moment to the Caribbean on Royal Caribbean's "Rhapsody of the Seas" and had a blast together (no
spouses / no kids) in Key West, Grand Cayman and Cozumel in spite of the hurricane that blew through there almost a year ago.
There was the usual going back and forth from Dallas to San Antonio in between it all.
Not long after returning from the cruise Garrett came down with a mean case of Chicken Pox and somewhere in there....lost
in the blur....We had the new flooring installed in our home that we've been looking forward to for quite sometime.
Everywhere there wasn't carpet....Living room, Kitchen, Dining and Bath. Good-Bye nasty Vinyl and good riddance!
Shari and Garrett just got back from a month in Coeur d'Alene (Shari is the Executor of the will) where
she spent full-time hours sorting through 800+ boxes of family items in two large storage units that are more than 20 years
old and have been moved to three different states. Each box had to be sorted and a permanent disposition decided for
each item therein. If that wasn't task enough....Coeur d'Alene, like the rest of the country was unseasonably hot....AND
humid (Where did THIS come from ?!?!) ...AND every vehicle on the premisis had an inoperable air conditioner for one reason
or another. The homes up there don't have air conditioning either by and large because it's usually not needed.
This would be the year it was.
TX air conditioning has never looked so good !!!
This was almost the single, most exhausting thing Shari has ever done....save it was the huge estate
sale for her folks three years ago.
All will be pleased to know that all that remains in the end is a 10x10 unit worth of Gramma's ladybug
collection and personal belongings. It only took her 67 years to get it boiled down. What are we saying??? It
didn't take her....it took Shari.
It took a full staff.....a full-time sitter, full-time heavy lifter / hauler and three best friends
who traveled hundreds and thousands of miles in shifts to lend their help and moral support for a mere penance (Kudos
Planet, Barbara and Ray!!!)
Did we mention that Shari's mom went into the hospital for a surprise surgery and a week-long stay just days after Shari
arrived????
Surprises are now becoming routine in this family and THAT is a scary thought.
Linda has suffered for some time with "Ulcers" on her leg that don't heal and her Dr's decided to take out a plate and
screws that have been in there for 20+ years since her body seemed to be rejecting them and they were also preventing her
from healing. There was a scare for the frightening bone-disease osteomyletis which could have cost her her leg so it
was kind of a must-do thing. Timing was impeccable - NOT !!!
Walter came up around July 4th for a week to supervise and help his wife come back to earth. It
was hard but we did it.
Friends Bryce and Norma drove down five hours from Canada to spend the holiday at the traditional
Coeur d'Alene parade and fireworks downtown and that was fun.
We also got to have several adventures as a family....we took a spur of the moment trip into British
Columbia because we headed north and decided to just keep driving as well as something that Shari is adding to her "Top-ten
list of things I've ever done": A 17-mile bicycle trip in the Montana wilderness down a former railroad route with 11
tunnels (One almost two miles long) and 7 high-tressles or something like that. Before everyone thinks "Fitness
Goddess / Family" or anything like that we can tell you that the whole trail is a 1.9% grade....all downhill. It's almost
flat but just enough of a hill to where you don't have to work hard if you don't wanna. Absolutely incredible.
This is a MUST-DO if you're ever in that part of the world. Go to www.skilookout.com and enter the "Route of the Hiawatha" part of the site for info. Unbelievable.
Sooooo....returning to the Idaho story.....Before he went home Walter fell in love with another older
4x4 truck (1985 Chevy 1 ton for $2,900) while he was there and joked that he was going to buy it....which he did....about
the same time Shari realized that she had far too many boxes that needed to go back to Texas and shipping was going to be
OUTRAGEOUS.
Brainstorm.
What wound up happening is that Shari and Walter flew their VERY, VERY, VERY, VERY VERY good and brave
neighbor Barbara Copeland up to drive their new truck - WITHOUT A/C - and a 5x8 uhaul trailer, 1800 miles (3 days minimmum)
back to TX. Most of it was medical equipment and such that came to brother Spencer's clinic and then about 10 boxes
of slides and family keepsakes bought for safekeeping on top of some items of personal meaning.
Barbara in turn flew her BRAVE, BRAVE, BRAVE husband up (After spending the week trying to bring Shari
out of orbit) to see Montana for his birthday....AND help her drive the rest of the way home....through the heatwave....without
A/C.
Now folks, THAT IS LOVE !!!!!
We didn't make them pay the $650 in gas it took to get it there (We all split that) and hey, did you
know that the Econo-Lodge in Wyoming is over $100 a night ?!?! That's like for towels that feel like Sandpaper !!! WHAT
is this world coming to?!!!
So what of all the stuff that was sorted you ask???? Well....it got thrown away or taken to a local
auction company for sale. The library of rare religious book belonging to Shari's father are currently being sold on
ebay under user name "jacksloane" if you're interested ! There was some really neat stuff there. We decided
to ebay it instead of donating it to BYU ... it just made better business sense.
Soooooo......
That was the Idaho story to say nothing of what's been going on the in other parts of our lives.....(Oh yes...there's
more!!!)
K. So. On top of all that.....Walter's mom had surgery and is struggling with some fairly serious health issues....but
the prognosis is good and Granny Guess is a ROCK so we're just going to cheer her on for now....We're trying to close on another
investment property....we have a tenant in one of our duplexes moving and a job change for Walter.
Only ALL the "Top 5 stressors" on the list to deal with the same month! Yeah, we're sane !!!!!!!!
YES !
You read
right !!!
Walter is home !!!!!
We coordinated having the 5th wheel moved from San Antonio to Dallas the day Shari and
Garrett arrived home from Idaho (If you know anyone that wants a great used 5th wheel RV cheap let us know ~ fast !!!)
Walter starts a new job with a Banking Company in Dallas Monday as a Project Manager with better pay than he had in San
Antonio and the company wants to make him a permanent employee at that salary within six months....INCLUDING benefits
!!!!
YIPEEEEE !!!!
We are SOOOOOO blessed!
It feels like we just got married all over again and was very strange trying to move him back in when we all got home!
Shari finally succumbed and hired someone to clean the home and the RV because she just couldn't deal with it.
Walter
and Shari are running away to a resort hotel week after next courtesy of some very good friends to get reaquainted with each
other and with an item called a pillow.
Who wants to watch Garrett ????!!!!!
That's about all.....
EXCEPT we are selling an old farm truck, a gorgeous, registered Longhorn Cow, an RV AND needing to find takers
for about $1600 worth of Southwest Airlines funds that have to be used within the next year. Use it or loose it.
(We're not going ANYWHERE anytime soon ---- except Minnesota for Labor Day Weekend....IF Pam will ever call Shari back (Hint,
hint!!!)
If anyone knows anyone flying Southwest let us know and we can book their tickets for them....It won't cost them any
more...they can pay us instead of Southwest and we give really good service!
Shari is online almost all day every day and
is really good at findin' them cheap fares!
Let us know y'all !!!!
Hmmmmmmm.....anything else????
Oh yeah, Garrett got to be "Captain For The Day" on a dinner cruise boat on Lake Pend
O'Reille....he had his picture taken, received a certificate and made a speech much to the delight of the crowd. You can see
his mug on
We also lucked into some neighbors giving away one of those really expensive, redwood fort things so we moved it and
contributed some fundage and wound up with a right, respectable "Tree House" complete with Sand Box and Fire Pole. Now
if it wasn't 107 degrees here he might could make some use of it.
We will be celebrating his 4 year birthday in September probably at a local flight museum....obviously the theme
will be "Jets".
Something else funny that happened was that Garrett's palomino pony surprised us a few months back by dropping a hidden
testicle (!!!) Yes, we watched this pony hide it at will and the funny thing is that we aren't the only folk who missed
it! It's been missed by vets, a sale barn, a broker, a farrier etc. etc. and we're not dumb....we all
know what a stud pony looks like! Can you say "Late bloomer"?!?! Needless to say....we traded that pony to our Bishop
from church for his eight year old (?) who traded us back the cutest little black and white shetland named Rudy who follows
Garrett around like a puppy. We don't have any pictures yet but we'll post them when we do. We FINALLY have a
perfect pony match at the Guess house!
We had to put our big dane Sampson down somewhere in all this and are in the process of adopting a darling, new fawn
boy named Andy aka "Androol". He's a good doggie.
So....cut to today and Shari can barely get her brain started or make it off the couch..... Neighbor-of-the-year Barbara
said that Shari is on "Tilt" .... hence this very long, overdue update has been complied so she only has to tell the story
ONCE.
It's late.
It's bedtime.
Nite y'all !!!!
