Wendy & Gary's New Chapter

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  • April 2nd, 2026

    Spring in New Mexico – a time of wind, allergies and lots of dust. While New Mexico is an amazing place to live, like anywhere, it does have its drawbacks. Spring here is always, always, always windy. And this year is especially bad because spring came early, it’s super dry and the wind is creating haboobs of sorts. Just not fun.

    We’ve been in the house about 2 months now. Yesterday I finally finished the base of the post in the living area. The post went from being naked –

    Naked Post

    To being well-dressed and finally fitting into the room.

    So, one task down and about a zillion to go. Fortunately, I retired for Itron yesterday after 14 years there and almost 40 years in the industry (and working world). It’s an odd feeling knowing that you don’t have to go to work anymore – but you HAVE to watch your wallet because you’re on a fixed income. It’s a major adjust in your life, but one if done right can be really fulfilling. As I just started this new path, I’m going to give myself the mental space and physical space to adjust. I’m going to focus in staying in good physical shape so the I can be competent physically and able to move, walk and carry things around. I want to be able to pick up my granddaughter, kick the ball with my grandson and throw the ball for my dog(s). My goal in retirement is to stay active, be able to do the chores around the property. And most importantly is to learn to become more present – stop 73 years of thinking about the future and focus on being present for my loved ones and friends.

    Tomorrow is Wendy’s birthday and I haven’t done anything for her because I’ve been so distracted with taxes and retirement. For her birthday, I’m going to focus on her and really try hard to create a wonderful day for her that she remembers. Wen wants to go hit some golf balls, so we’ll definitely do that in the morning. Maybe if the golf course is nice, we’ll join up. Then lunch with the in-laws and I think dinner will be something simple that I can make and share with her on the back patio – assuming the wind isn’t blowing like crazy. If not, maybe we’ll do a Harry Potter marathon. And of course, a glass of nice still or sparkling wine, her choice.

    For Easter we’ll go riding with my brother-in-law and take out the Can-Am’s and enjoy some nature. We haven’t had our UTV out yet, so this should be a fun time. I may have to spend some time on Saturday doing a bit of maintenance but nothing big.

    Lastly, I’ve been slowly building the BBQ cart that goes on the back patio. Right now, it’s framed out and I’m starting to clad it with tongue and groove siding. Not sure I’ll get much done this weekend BUT now I have time. Of course, I need to get our taxes filed – which is another situation since we owe this year because we built the house with retirement monies. That make all the monies we put into the house income (which seems wrong because we used it to build a home) but greedy politicians want every cent, so I’ll end up paying NM a bunch of money. ANYWAY, I’ll put in some picts of the BBQ cart once it’s done. Hoping it looks awesome.

    Well, time for dinner and gotta run. Later.

  • March 27th, 2026

    This will be my last post on this blog as it’s been abused by some trolls. I plan on taking it down next month and going private.

    It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything on our NM experiences. Just to update, we moved into the house on January 20th of this year. Since then, we’ve been moving in and furnishing the house trying to make it feel lived in. There’s so much going on that it’s hard to stay focused. Taxes are coming due, I’m retiring next week and we’re trying to sort out how to live in retirement.

    From a health perspective, I finally found a primary care physician who’s good and competent. He’s given me some information to ask my other doctors, and some changes in my medications, so I’ll see how things shake out. More on that after this goes private.

    I’ve decided to get back into journaling. Something satisfying about writing down your thoughts on paper with a pen. And it helps me practice handwriting, which is getting worse as I get older. I’m working on hand strengthening as I’ve done nothing for a year while living in the RV. I’m going to take all the blogs from this last year and put them into my journal. With retirement looming, I think I’ll have time.

    There’s still so much to do here. Painting, finish work and I need to build out the outdoor BBQ area starting with the BBQ cart. I’ve been working on it part-time, so I have the frame built, but now I’m into the cladding and tongue and groove finishing. I’m still not sure how I’m going to finish the top and doors. Originally, I was going to use a Quartz top, but that’s so expensive. I’m considering using copper sheeting for the top and door inserts which should match the inside and post covers. We’ll see where this lands. Money will determine the end result.

    I’ve been upgrading the Can-Am a bit. Beefier end-links, better sway bar bushings and adding some NASCAR nets to the windows to keep hands and arms inside in case of a roll-over. I want to get some better tires for the Can-Am, so that will take some time.

    It seems like everything is happening just as I’m retiring and losing an income stream. I’m concerned about the cost of getting health care and keeping myself sane. I’m very concerned about being lonely as I have no friends down here and am not working toward making new ones. Hard at my age. We’re part of a church, but those are acquaintances not friends. With everything that needs to be done here, it’ll be hard to take time to participate in other activities that would generate new friends. I’m hoping I’ll figure it out.

    The other thing that weighs on me constantly is that my life journey is coming to a close. I’m not sure I’ll ever be ready for that to happen, but it will and I need to accept that it will occur. I have to get out of my head about this and be more present for my wife and family. I think I’m going to try and be in Seattle 3 times a year to be with my grandkids and family as much as I can. I miss them, I miss my parents and brother. There are days when I have to stay busy to keep from wallowing. It’s more apparent with me retiring as that’s a big life change that’s a waypost on my life journey. I need to travel and visit friends and enjoy the time I have left on this beautiful planet. I have to find a way to quell the lonely ache in my chest and my anxiety. I think getting out of the house more will help.

    The house came out amazing. It’s beautiful and better than I expected. We had our open house a couple of weeks ago, my mother-in-law put it on, and it was great. Now I need to spend some coin and get the hardscape done, add a carport to the workshop and some landscaping. Of course, we need to fence pasture to allow the goats to run and eat weeds!! Wendy wants a pool, so we’re getting an estimate. If we hadn’t run over the budget by 200k, we’d have gotten this all done. Now it’s time to scrape and find a way to make the final stuff happen without debt. We’ll see how things go.

    I’d love to do some consulting work, but I don’t believe that will happen and I’m not sure I want it to happen. I feel like my last 7 years at Itron was wasted and I’m positive my career stopped because of the lawsuit. The last two years has been a complete waste of my skills doing marketing. I was put into a dead-end job to finish my time at Itron and retire. So, I was paid to sit on my ass. What a waste for both Itron and me. And at my age, ageism is a real obstacle, so consulting is the only option left if I want to do meaningful work. It all comes to and end on 4/2, so lamenting isn’t going to help make things better. I need some time to sort out my head and find a course. My old boss was right – don’t retire until you know what you want to do with your life after work.

    Well, this is the last post. I’ll leave it up for a while, but I intend to take down the blog next month. It’s been therapeutic and useful.

    Take care and enjoy every moment of your life because you can’t get them back.

  • January 19th, 2026

    Our finished kitchen.

    It was a year ago today that we left our home in Washington and drove to Los Lunas, New Mexico to restart our lives and take care of Wendy’s dad after his stroke. Tomorrow, on my 73rd birthday, we take possession of our home and get our certificate of occupancy from Valencia County. It’s been 1 year of living in our 5th wheel. Lots of ups and downs for me personally, and Wendy has had her share of challenges.

    We changed a lot now that were here. Our rural life does not contribute to walking to Starbucks, riding our bikes or better eating. While some of that is because we’re living in a 5th wheel and it’s difficult to cook with very limited space, much of it is just the mental attitude and lack of quality shopping and food options.

    We’re extremely excited to get into our house. We have a new bed being delivered tomorrow. Unfortunately, we had our Amish furniture delivered on Saturday. They got the correct bed delivered but didn’t deliver the right credenza. The store is trying to figure out where our credenza is located and get it delivered to us. In the meantime, we have someone else’s credenza sitting in our living room. I’m sure they will figure it out and let me know.

    From a health care perspective, New Mexico is abysmal. There is a significant lack of doctors here and it’s been a year and I still don’t have a primary care doctor. I do have a cardiologist and an endocrinologist, which are the most important doctors for me, but I’m still trying to get into a primary care doctor. Wendy is having the same issues. She has an endocrinologist and a lead into a primary care doctor in October. Completely ridiculous.

    Personally, I’m ready to stop working and focus on a different life pattern. I need to clear out my shop before I can do too much, which relies on moving into the house. I officially retire March 24th, and it can’t come soon enough. I’m a tad worried about the money, but I think we’ll be fine if Wendy can get her finances in order. We’re relying on her income and my social security plus pension. We’ll be able to cover taxes and the 5th wheel payment. I think we’ll probably give up the EV and the end of the lease, but we’ll see. I have invested in two EV chargers, one in the house and one on the shop – so I feel like we should keep the EV. Once we’re out of the 5th wheel, I’ll have to do the math and see if it makes sense to keep it. Frankly, we won’t get a lot of money for it – probably a third of what we paid which is a joke. I’d like to not carry an RV payment, but I’ll have to see how it plays out once we get the house paid for.

    We have a lot of projects for the house still. We need to put in a pool, landscape and fence the property better. We also need to revitalize our pasture for Wendy’s cousin’s goats. We are planning on putting in front steps and a ramp along with a retaining wall to keep the building pad from eroding. It’s going to take more $$, but we’ll figure it out.

    Well, tomorrow is a busy day. Blood work, dogs to groomers, I have a late presentation (which I’m not happy about) at 6pm. More furniture delivery and hopefully our certificate of occupancy. I going to practice my Spanish so one day I’ll be able to hold a conversation with my subcontractors. I need to stop being worried about trying to speak and just dive in – but it’s hard at my age to let go of inhibitions. I’ll keep practicing every night and try to build my vocabulary. That’s a huge issue now, remembering all the vocabulary and how things are pronounced. I go blank. Drives me crazy.

    Alright, enough for tonight. More at the end of the week once things settle down. Hoping for snow this weekend. Would be awesome.

    Take care.

  • December 31st, 2025

    Sunrise.

    Wow, it’s almost been a year since we moved from Seattle and it’s the last day of 2025. We’re getting close to being able to move into our new house. The next two weeks are the big push. Our tile guy will finish this week and he’s amazing. His work is beyond words – he’s an artist. I’ll post some picture of his finished work.

    We’re most of the tile and flooring is finished. This week is finishing up the bathrooms and grouting the tile floors and bathrooms. Then we have our awesome plumbers finish out the fixtures and hook the house up to the well. We have really good water but I’m installing some filters for particulates and sulfites. I also had them install an R/O filter under the sink for drinking water and ice cubes. There’s a few more things that need to be done for plumbing – but generally most of its finished.

    We still have to hang inside doors and have out trim carpenter do the finish work on the kitchen island and cabinets. Our electrician has a bit more work on outlets, fans and our 220-volt appliances, which are installed next week. Painters are here this week doing doors and will finish out all the painting next week. Carpet will be installed after the painting. Our HVAC guy is waiting on a replacement condenser; we had one condenser go bad on us that heats the bedrooms. Hoping the replacement will be today or Friday. Crazy how the house still is warm with only two head units.

    We’re closing in on the end with all the madness of finishing up the house. We both getting excited about finally moving in. There’re a million things to get done once we get a certificate of occupancy. We still need drapes to block out light, some accessories for the house like toilet brushes. And then there is the outside landscaping which needs to be done to reduce the mud and dust. I’m working on a retaining wall to keep the pad from eroding and the goats out of the house and yard.

    Still need to schedule delivery of our furniture from the Amish place and the bed from Ashley. I’m thinking that will happen sometime in the couple of weeks. I’m pushing some of this out to next year to help with the tax situation – which will be ugly this year with the move and all the income needed to build the house.

    Kitchen Island in progress.

    So, more after the first of the year. Lots to do this morning before it gets crazy! Happy New Year and my God bless and watch over you!

    Take care!!

  • December 18th, 2025

    Wow! It’s been almost a year since we started this adventure and now, we’re approaching Christmas and 2026. The house is making a lot of progress as we’re close to getting our occupancy permit.

    Some power is now on.

    We are at the stage where the inside is getting finished. We have some tile down, but ran short, so that’s on order. HVAC is now working, so now we have heat and cooling. Just need the wood floors installed and the rest of the tile and bathroom done. Our plumbers are coming this week to start setting the toilets and sinks after the counter tops go in today and tomorrow. Friday is the appliance pre-install walk-thru but can’t install anything until the floors in done. Unfortunately, our tile crew has the flu, so they are down for the week. Our GC got it also, so things are slowed down for now. We are still working on getting a carpet installer, which we need before we can get furniture delivered.

    We’re thinking we get occupancy around the 2nd week of January. Probably won’t have everything done, but at least we can start moving into the house and out of the trailer. Lots of little stuff to do yet. We still have to pick out handles for the cabinets, get organizers for the cabinets and stuff for the house. We’ll have baseboards installed after we get our occupancy permit. And our mirrors for the master and 3/4 bath are on backorder because of parts – so those will have to wait. Like I said, lot of little things to do yet.

    Next spring we’ll start with the landscaping. I’m hoping to put in a retaining wall around the house and level off the pad so we can do some xeriscaping around the house and get in some native plants. We have to add some steps up to the house and gravel around the house, so the rain doesn’t splash mud on the white stucco. It’ll be another year before we get everything settled out. And we need to have the outdoor cooking area done so we can BBQ.

    So much else has changed since we first got here. Wendy left her job at Vitality Works and is now working for PNM our electric utility for NM. It’s great because I can help her with all her work. I’m retiring for good on March 27th this year. A bit scary as I’ve spent a lot of my retirement monies building this house, but I think it’ll work out fine with Social Security and my pension. I’ll need to be more frugal, which will be a challenge but character building. I think I’m going to work on a consulting business to bring in a little extra income and do volunteer work at the Albuquerque Biopark and Aquarium to use my scuba skills. I’ll also play golf and do some shooting along with woodworking and riding our Can-Am in the desert. I love riding our side-by-side as it’s sooooo much fun and really is a good workout.

    In the spring, I’m going to work with Wendy’s cousins to revitalize our pastureland. We have about an acre and a half of land we can use for pasture. We’re going to let Wendy’s cousin’s goats graze the land along with the cow. And we have overwintering Sandhill Cranes that are spectacular to watch.

    I’m hoping that once the pasture is revitalized, the Cranes will spend some time at our place. They keep the dogs busy watching them as they are a noisy bunch of birds. Sandhill Cranes are the largest crane in North America.

    This year the holiday season is going to be pretty low key. We’re staying here in New Mexico and doing some local events. We saw the Nutcracker this year – very different from the versions in NYC and Seattle. We’ll do Christmas dinner at one of the local resorts and then stroll thru Old Town Albuquerque and enjoy the lights. It’s been warm here, in the 60’s during the day and 30’s at night – unusual for NM this time of year.

    We’ll there’s a lot more to talk about, but I have to get some chores done before 7:00am this morning. Need to go turn off the lights in the house and get the garbage out to the curb. I have to leave the gate open today for all the subcontractors coming as it’s going to be busy here today and tomorrow. And I need to finish a drainage trench today with the tractor and spread the rest of the gravel. Have to get the tractor back to my father-in-law on Sunday/Monday.

    Take care everyone and have a wonderful pre-holiday weekend. Wishing everyone a wonderful Xmas and New Year.

    -Gary

  • October 18th, 2025

    Wow, it’s been a while since I posted anything. We’ve been really busy with house activities since the last post. We’re at that stage where everything is inside except for the stucco color coat and some doors and window stuff. So, let me bring y’all up to speed.

    Since the last post, it’s been crazy. I’ll start the the fun stuff. We’ve had drywall and taping done, and the painters have painted the entire inside of the house the first coat. We have interior doors stained and finished along with the frames. They look amazing. We made an interesting choice for the hallway ceiling on a suggestion from our contractor. She thought a tongue and groove ceiling would be a statement – so we put in a tongue and groove ceiling, stained to match the woodwork. It looks incredible and is a design statement. We finally got the front door windows which allowed us to get the front door installed. The stucco guys have patched in the front door, garage door and base coated the kiva fireplace. We’re ready for the color coat. We also picked up the outdoor sconces from Southwest Lighting. They will be amazing.

    We had picked out all the tile and flooring, but when we went to order the supplier was out of stock on most of the tile and the flooring had been discontinued. The supplier wasn’t in control of his stock and had no idea of what was available or not available. We changed to a supplier suggested by our contractor, and we’re really happy. Choices are slightly different, but much better, I think. We’re ordering flooring and tile on Monday next week with the goal to start in a couple of weeks.

    We got cabinets delivered on Thursday, and our builder installed everything he could. The manufacturer shorted us two big cabinets which are critical path as they need to be installed before we can do flooring. Our supplier is working on getting them prioritized. Other than that issue, the cabinets are amazing and really beautiful. They will be a statement. The cool thing is that they come with a 100-year warranty. Each cabinet has a serial number, so if anything goes wrong, we call the company, give them the serial number and they replace whatever we need. Crazy good warranty.

    We’ve picked out and ordered all out lighting. Now we’re getting all the switches, outlets and plates which are a bunch! We have power to the house now, so all we need is the switches and outlets along with the lightening. Once we done with that and the flooring, then the appliances get installed. The last thing will be the plumbing, which can’t wait for. I really want to get out washer and dryer put in place so we can at least do laundry over at the house and not my brother-in-laws house. Just easier and simpler. Once all that is done, the painters will return and put on one more coat of paint after the HVAC mini splits are installed and we’re ready to go.

    Of course, we have a garage door and opener to install, but that will wait until we have the junction box populated. Interesting design flaws in our house. The architect put a Canale (water drain) right over where the meter and disconnects are located, so when it rains, water is all over the box. A short would take out the transformer – so we had to put in gutters to collect the water and drain it out away from the transformer. It takes away from the house design, but we’ll make the gutters match the stucco and they will blend into the wall. We also need to start working on the outdoor cabinets and cooking area so we can get those finished for the housewarming BBQ before it gets too cold. I need to have the workshop cleaned out so I have some room.

    We’re getting close and I think we’ll have a certificate of occupancy sometime in the first few weeks of December. As I’m paying for finishing this with 401k monies, my taxes next year are going to be painful. And with a 30% tax deduction, 50k becomes 70k which depletes things pretty quickly. I think we’ll finish this so there’s no mortgage and we’ll take out a small HELOC to finish the pool and landscaping which will give us a tax deduction. All-in-all it’s not been a terrible experience, but it is organized chaos and I’m glad that we’re on site to manage the questions, progress and other things that come up daily.

    One thing about our property is the mud. When it rains here, the soil is very slow to absorb the water so when the contractors come, it turns everything into a muddy mess. I’ve spread about 2″ of base coat dirt over the parking and driveway, which helps, but it’s still soft underneath and there’s huge tire tracks and some standing water. Once we’re done, I’m going to have someone come in a fix the soft mud areas and create a good driveway and parking areas. I’ve talked to my contractor and asked her to focus the spend on the items and work that we need to get a certificate of occupancy as soon as possible. Then we can spread the non-essential work into next year to reduce our tax burden and ease the spending. We still have some residual costs for furniture, bedding, blinds and household essentials. It’ll be a bit before we completely settled in, but it’s exciting now.

    Jaret, our youngest, is done with fire season. We’re looking forward to him coming back here for a few months to help out with the move getting us settled into the house. He’s missing his dog, so that reunion will be worth filming. I think he’ll probably stay in the trailer when he’s here, but he’ll be welcome in the house. His help will be welcome in getting this stuff out of the workshop.

    End of October, I’m heading to Seattle for a long weekend with my kids and grandkids. Looking forward to going out on Halloween with my grandkids and spending time with my kids too. I want to talk to Lucas about my diabetes and let him know that he’s not along in the family and grandpa has diabetes too. And I’ll help him understand the difference between my diabetes and his version.

    Well, time to sign off for a while. Need to feed the dogs, get dinner ready and get in a walk. Take care everyone and I’ll post again after I get back from Seattle.

  • September 26th, 2025

    Clearly, I’m not one of those bloggers who can write about something every day, it’s just too much work for me…. I’m trying to blog about our journey in New Mexico about every 10 days or so and I’m terrible at that also. Anyway, let’s dive into what’s going on here in NM.

    The house is coming along nicely as you can see from the above photo. This is the “brown coat” of stucco, which is the base coat for the house. Once this cures after about 10 days, then the color coat is applied. Inside the house, there is a lot of activity. The walls are taped and textured now. Our painter has started with the primer and painting of the house. He’s also staining the rest of the beams, internal and exterior. We had a delivery of tongue and groove ceiling for the patio yesterday, so that needs to be stained along with the doors and baseboard. We ordered the baseboards and discovered that because they do door framing differently now by using bullnose, so all the baseboard has to have a rounded baseboard piece to meet up with the door frame. These small pieces are $4.00 each and we need 40 of them!!!

    We had the septic installed this week, so one more step closer to being able to take a shower! Cabinets will go in the week of October 13th and then flooring right after. We have ordered all the tile and Quartz for the countertops, so waiting on cabinets to get installed. All the electrical is ready, I just need PNM to make the connections to the house and install the meter at some point. Our plumbing will be one of the last things to happen. We’re still sorting out the landscaping concepts, but I think we have a pretty good idea of how we want things to finish out. I have a LOT OF DIRT left over from the septic, so I’m going to move it next week and start working on the landscaping and drainage. Our appliances are in storage with our supplier until we get cabinets and electrical installed.

    I still have a few bills to pay. We’re still without a front door because of Pella. Never, never, never use Pella windows. While the reserve windows are good, the rest of their product line is crap. And they don’t make their own doors, so the doors don’t match the windows! For the money you pay, they don’t provide the quality of product. Our GC is hoping to get the windows for the front door next week, and we still need the one broken window in the master replaced. Pella shipped the wrong size initially. One point about fiberglass windows and stucco. When the stucco crew puts on the chicken wire base, they often beat up the corners of the windows. With the exterior being fiberglass, it exposes the fibers as in the picture below.

    Window Corner damage

    After the color coat is on, Pella is going to come out and clean up all the windows, install the screens and ensure all the windows are working properly. I have some acrylic paint pens the match the exterior color, which I’m going to use to cover up the white under coating. That should make my happy. She’s seriously annoyed and notices all the small details – which I’m thankful for. I think she’s going on the social media war path with Pella and all the issues we’ve had with them. Again, avoid using them if at all possible. There are so many other good providers that will give you a better product.

    Other things going on in our journey. I believe I mentioned last time that Wendy has a new job at PNM as a sourcing manager, which is karma. Now she’s asking me all sorts of questions about electric utility things, and SHE’S INTERESTED!! We attended the NM wine festival last month. Kinda lame and clearly not the same caliber as what they do in Washington, but the quality of the wine and the grapes isn’t to our tastes either. NM wines don’t have the same character and body as Washington and California wines. They tend to be very fruit forward (i.e. sweeter) than what we’re used to. There are a couple of wineries that we’re going to try out that are near us, but it’s not like Walla Walla, Washington wine country.

    The New Mexico ballon festival is starting next week for 10 days. It’s an amazing event with hundreds of balloons and people attending and beautiful balloons every day they can fly. With the mornings and evenings being much cooler, they have been flying balloons in the “ABQ box”. The “box” is a unique wind pattern that is a square wind flow at different altitudes. High altitude (1k ft or higher) takes you south, then around 400 ft, the wind drifts your north again, so you end up landing back where you started.

    Hot Air Balloon

    This balloon was drifting near our property yesterday. We see a lot of them this way during this time of year. Last year we had a couple land on our property. We were not here then, but my brother-in-law wasn’t happy about it. He needs to lighten up. We’d have served the coffee and champagne!!

    Our monsoon season officially comes to and end this weekend, so rain and storms will become less frequent. It’s been a pretty light monsoon season, so water and plants are going to have a rough time. I was hoping for more consistent rain so I could get the dirt areas planted with grass, but that isn’t going to happen. We’ll landscape and gravel the areas that are muddy and build out a driveway in November, so the cars do get the sticky mud all over them that stains. I’m going to do a bunch of dirt work next week with my father-in-laws tractor to level out the bumps and move the excess dirt from the septic. With the cooler days, it’s a lot easier to yardwork done.

    Well, for now I think that’s about everything. I need to get ready for the day and open the gate for the contractors. It’s cloudy today so it’ll be cooler – thinking I’ll take out the Can-Am this morning and explore the desert more. Maybe ride out the mountains.

    Take care everyone and have a great day. Enjoy each moment because it’s the only time you’ll experience that moment.

    More later.

  • September 16th, 2025

    Man, it’s been a while since I posted. Lot’s going on with the house. Interesting part of the build, there’s work occurring inside the house that’s not visible, i.e. drywall, taping and spackling and doing some cleanup work. The Pella guys were here yesterday. They did a good job of fixing the windows and they look much better. They fixed one of the broken ones except the bedroom window – which they will come back and fix once it comes in.

    Last week, they did trench for the electrical and water. Here’s a picture:

    Utility trenches waiting on inspections.

    The trenches need to be inspected, so we’re waiting on that before we cover the trenches. Hoping that happens this week.

    Today is the start of the outside stucco, they will be brown coating which is the base coat of the stucco. Once set and cured, then they do the color coat after everything is done inside. We should be done with the inside work and plaster next week. Then we can start with the electrical and painting. We’re meeting with the tile guys again Saturday to confirm all the materials and rooms. It’s starting to come together and it’s feeling like a house. We’re pretty excited to get in the house and out of the trailer.

    We’ve been going to church lately. I felt like something was missing as I get older, and Wendy likes going to church, so I thought it might be a good time to try church again. I’m thinking that it’ll help us build roots in the community – which it’s doing. And thinking it will help me build friends than relationships that are durable and lasting. I’m volunteering to be an election official just to get me out of the trailer.

    Wendy has started her new job at PNM. I think she’s enjoying it as she doesn’t have to deal with people and she’s an individual contributor. Funny thing is that she understands the conversations and all the technical terms they use. She must have been listening to me at some point. Too funny. She does ask me about terms and lingo occasionally – which is good because I want to help her be successful.

    Well, I need to get going today as there’s lots going on at the house and I do have some Itron work to do…. I’m going to do a walk thru of the house with all the wall board up and a drone shot of the brown coat to post later.

    Take care everyone.

  • August 27th, 2025

    Monsoon season sunset

    It’s been a bit since I last posted. Couple of weeks or so. Thought I’d post up progress on the house and what’s been going on with us as we adjust to living in New Mexico.

    First, the house. Things are progressing quickly. We’re still hoping to make a Thanksgiving move-in date. It’s going to be close. Drywall is getting hung this week. All the interior framed walls have been insulated. Interior doors are here; frames are in and stained. Drywall should be done this week, then the team comes in and does plaster and texture. Here’s a picture of the current state of the dining room/drybar area. The brown stuff is sound insulation installed in the framed areas.

    Drybar area

    We’re getting the power trench dug this week and the buried pipes marked. We have cabinets on order, appliances are in storage with the vendor and I’ll be putting down some $$ for the lighting package. Our GC is dealing with the flooring and carpet. Pella will be here second week in September to fix all the windows and install the front door. The house is wrapped and ready for stucco – so that’s in flight.

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    We’re waiting on the Septic company to get back to us and schedule septic install. Then we’ll get water installed and painting started.

    Things are starting to come together and it’s exciting. Thank goodness because I’m NOT A TRAILER PERSON. Living in the 5th wheel has been an experience, but I’m ready for my house and living like real people. Wendy is super excited. We bought Amish bedroom furniture and an Amish entertainment center. We still have to buy a bed and a living room television so there’s more monies. We did settle on Ethan Allan living room sofa and chairs for the kitchen island eating area. We have a fabricator for the kitchen counters and the quartz picked out. Once we get most of the interior stuff done, then we’ll level out the building pad and start work on the retaining wall to keep the pad stable and define a “yard area”. We’ll probably do a cinder block wall and stucco.

    On a personal level, Wendy secured a new job with PNM the power company that I used to work for. It’s significantly better than where she’s currently working and close to home. She’s excited and I think she’ll like it a lot more with a lot less stress and drama. We’ve started going to a local church that’s small and has a lot of locals. Since my brother-in-law is recovering from his lung and heart issues, we haven’t gone out to breakfast, so we decided to invest time in our spiritual needs and become more rooted in the community. It’s very helpful for my mental health and our marriage.

    We’re slowly finding doctors and dentists. I now have a good endocrinologist and cardiologist locally. I haven’t spent enough time finding a primary care doctor, but I’ll get that done this week, hopefully. My endocrinologist in Seattle put me on Ozempic, so I’ve lost a lot of weight (175 -> 157) and my blood pressure is way down. My diabetes is better and improving, but I need to start exercising on a regular basis and so resistance training. The Ozempic has reduced my lean muscle mass some, so I look a bit like a skeleton. Wendy isn’t happy with how much weight I’ve lost. With resistance training, it’ll restore the lost muscle mass. Still haven’t reviewed my echocardiogram with my cardiologist, but I read the results which seem positive. I’ve been taking MitoQ to help reduce and repair some of the hardening of the arteries. It seems to help but I won’t know until I talk to the cardiologist.

    Once we’re in the house, I’m going to get involved in some shooting sports, specifically sporting clays. I think it’ll help me get more rooted in the community. The sporting clay shooters meet on Wednesday for breakfast before they go to the range. Sounds like fun and a chance to make some new acquaintances.

    I’m planning on going to full retirement right after the first of the year. I think it’s time, and I will have the shop empty, so I can start building out my office and doing wood working. And there will be a lot of landscaping to complete. I can ride on Wendy’s medical and vision insurance and supplement with Medicare and a gap insurance plan. There will be plenty to do around the property, and I do need to get the pasture fenced.

    Harp, our Wheaten Terrier has been having issues with arthritis. We took him to the vet and they gave him a shot of Librela Blue which really helped him. It’s good for about 3 – 4 weeks before he needs another one. He’s at 3.5 weeks from his first shot, so I can tell he needs another one. I’ll take him in this Friday. He’s getting up there now. He’s 11 going on 12, so we have a little more time with him and we intend to spoil him until we can’t. His passing will be really hard on Wendy and I. He’s such a wonderful dog. We are parenting Juni, which is Jaret’s labradoodle, but she’ll leave when Jaret comes to NM this October to pick up his stuff. He’s moving to Utah and becoming a resident. That’s a whole different story, but a good one….finally!!!!

    Well, that’s about everything for now. There’s always little stuff going on, but generally life is trending in the right direction and we’re fortunate that everyone and everything is healthy for now.

    Have a good week and labor day. We all work too hard, and need to work on being present for our loved ones. I’m so fortunate to have a wonder wife, daughter and sons. I miss them. I’m hoping I can make a trip up to Seattle and spend some time with my family and reconnect with our grandkids.

    Take care –

  • August 12th, 2025

    Sunset tonight

    It’s been almost a month since I last posted. Time flies when your old and having fun…

    So many things have happened since my last post. Let’s start with the house. Not much has been going on from the outside but a lot has happened on the inside. All the electrical is wired, inspections passed and now for the insulation and drywall. We’ve charted a path with Pella about the windows. We’ll see how the results are once all the pieces are in place. We have updated door hardware coming and have ordered all the interior doors. The Pella sliders are amazing and will look incredible. I’m kind of pissed at us for deviating from the recommended windows, but we’ll learn. The painters are working on staining the beams and the insulation guys start tomorrow with insulating all the interior walls. The foam guy came today and foamed in all the cracks with closed cell foam to stop air loss. We’re still trying to get the front door sorted out with Pella. The local Pella team sez the current front door won’t work as delivered. The corporate team sez it’ll work fine. I’m letting my contractor and architect work out the problem with Pella. They’ve been less than helpful. The local people are awesome, the corporate people are terrible. I wouldn’t recommend Pella unless you don’t have a window choice. Nice windows, terrible customer service and support.

    We’ve paid for the new bed and entertainment center, all built by the Amish who work with Simply Amish. Beautiful stuff and will last forever. We’ve picked out a sofa and dining chairs for the kitchen bar. We still need to buy a mattress, but that will wait for a couple of months until we get closer to occupancy. Lots of little stuff to worry about. We finally have a connection plan for power, and that’s getting spun up. Giant pain in the ass working with PNM, which is going to be Wendy’s new employer and my old employer. We have to put up a private pole, run the lateral up the pole and wire it over to the power pole (that I also own and has the transformer I bought) so they can hook it up. PITA!! Hopefully next week that will start. We still have the septic to install, but that should be pretty quick and easy.

    As the house is sitting on a 3′ building pad, there is a bit of an uphill climb to get to the front door. I think we’re going to build a 3 1/2′ retaining wall around the property with cement blocks and then stucco it. I’ll install steps at the appropriate location for access to the original ground level. That’s a ways out.

    Personally, I’m so ready to get out of this trailer and into the house. The main A/C unit fan went out, so we’re running the two alternate units. The units are able to cool down the RV to 90 degrees when it’s 110 degrees outside, so not a great temp gradient but at least it’s not terrible. The mobile RV repair people are going to replace the entire A/C unit as fan motors are not available since they come from China and are tariffed at 80%. And we all know that we pay for that, not China – so thank you President Trump. The man has no idea about the real world and is a complete moron about how things work in reality. Sorry, one of my sore subjects. Stupid people.

    Okay, it’s August so I’m a little more than half way through the year. That means retirement is closer. I’m going to retire 1/20 as that will make me 73 years old and I want to have my own time now. I’m planning on learning some Spanish, playing golf and focusing on playing guitar. I think I’ll finish my drone pilot license and do some pickup work. I’m going to make an appointment with a lawyer here to get our living will and family trust set up in accordance with NM law. I think I’m going to title the land and house to the trust, and probably all the vehicles.

    We thought we were going to lose our baby Harp on Sunday. He was lethargic and not eating or drinking. Having been down that path with 3 other dogs, we were going down the rathole of losing Harp too soon. Turns out, Harp was having an arthritis flair up and he was in pain. The Vet prescribed a shot, did a blood test and x-rays on Harp. He’s healthy, passed the ultrasound with flying colors. The meds are starting to take effect and he’s showing improvement. I thank the Lord that Harp is still here and will be for a while. I’m grateful.

    Well it’s time for bed. I’ll post more after the wall board is up and the house is ready for stucco. 3 more months!!

    Take care everyone.