This is where you get truth and nothing but truth, without the holiday sugar coating
So last Christmas letter I was in Arizona working for Mesa Airlines. That lasted two days short of four months. I got paid to live in Arizona in the winter, got a free hotel room, a cool leather jacket, half my meals, made some friends, had a good time, flew some jets......so what's the problem you ask? The problem was it was J-O-B. Turns out it's not all fun and games and they actually expected me to be there when they wanted me to be there and a schedule was super hard to find, and when found, was always subject to change. This dude could not abide. So I bailed out a high point, and walked away with no regrets.
So back to being a playboy, screwing around, flying gliders, traveling, taking care of the apartments, and once in a great while doing an inspection if it is a perfect house with no crawlspace.
CITRUS
The big news of the year was my first grandchild was born November 15! Her name is Lilah, nickname Lemon. Pretty damned cute! Yeah the "h" ish silenth. When Lemon's mother was barely showing, she read in a book that the baby was the size of a Lemon. And it stuck. Naturally I got her a "Baby Up In This Bitch" window sticker ("h" not silent in BITCH), and my son in law Rafi, says, oh, thanks for something to put in the trash. Wow Rafi, really? While you're in the trash, see if you find your sense of humor there with it. Damn, being a new dad is stressful as isn't it? He doesn't even have anyone gnawing his nipples.
TAKE ME HOME COUNTRY ROADS
Julie and I have been making an effort to visit out of the way places that aren't your typical tourist areas. Detroit, Toledo and Cleveland on a rust belt tour. West Virginia on a coal tour. Southern West Virginia was truly life changing and probably why I am not feeling super snarky right now. These poor people absolutely broke my heart. Multi-generational poverty, under-education, isolation, lack of infrastructure (or even cell service), rampant black lung, horrible widespread drug problems, decimated towns. I saw a closed Wal-Mart. We went to a town, a county seat, where there was nowhere to get a cup of coffee or a piece of fresh produce. The drug stores, churches, dollar stores, are doing great. Everyone and everything else is in bad shape. Detroit is decimated, but the people have hope and a glimmer in their eye and things are improving. Not so West Virginia. They literally have nothing.
SAWZALL BLADE (no, Londo, this is not about you)
A month and a half ago I began the long delayed remodel of my house. No more 1979 architectural nightmares going on (or asbestos either). I have completely gutted all the walls out of the common living space, so the view and light now gets all the way back to the living room. The big problem is that the family room, kitchen, dining room, nook, computer desk, entry, hall and living area make up a HUGE area for the new kitchen and great rooms on either side. Too big really. Maybe 1000 square feet? Clean sheet design is going to include a monstrous 4 x 12 kitchen island to pull it all together and hopefully it will all scale well. The false ceiling I took out had about three feet of insulation in it. I was up in there shoveling insulation for hours and hours and still took an insulation shower when it all came down.
The master bedroom/bathroom is next to get gutted.
Since my house is TRASHED, Julie has let me stay at her condo in Mill Creek. The problem with taking a sawzall to everything is that it takes money and time and effort and patience to put it back together. I can't just treat it like a job and leave because I'm bored. Or dirty. But I can stay indefinitely at Julie's as long as I do the dishes.....
