Moving forward

Dear Family and Friends,
This has been a pretty typical day with no extreme highs or lows. Starr, Lady and I walked this morning. We had only been walking a few minutes when I noticed that there was a stream of blood coming from Stars's eye. I was filled with panic at first as I love that little doggie so much and to think of her in danger, well it was overwhelming. She sleeps snuggled right against my back every night, she welcomes me home, she begs for treats every time I move, she listens to my tears and my laughs. So as we walked I kept stopping to examine her face and the blood stopped and by the time we got home there was no evidence of the bleeding at all. My theory is, she lunged at a big dog as we passed through the park and perhaps the lease was across her face and caused a little bubble she has at the corner of her eye to burst. She seems fine and finished the walk of 2 and 1/2 miles just fine. both dogs were very glad to rest when we got home. I headed to the shower, then breakfast, then the desk in the office to prepare for the day, to enjoy emails, seems Carol Peden was much into sleeping last night. She was writing things to me at 1 am her time and then again this morning at 6 am. Does she think she is a teenager again? Night time is for sleeping and resting girl! I was glad to hear from her and she always has such sage advice filled with her heart of love. They are thrilled to have the new couple there and once they get them trained it holds promise that we might get to see them more out here too. Mexican domino's anyone?
At 11 I left for Benicia and noticed the tank was nearly empty in the bug. I had over 500 miles on the tank when I left and by the time I finally located diesel in Benicia it was 552 miles. Problem was the cafe where I had a sandwich for lunch had kept my card so I had to drive back downtown, park, run in and retrieve my card. I think I know the problem. I was ready to leave when the waiter brought the tag and I not think I stiffed him, no tip at all. I don't remember thinking about the right tip, I just signed and left. No wonder he was a little cranky and kept my card. Next time I'm in Benicia I'll fix the problem with him. Of course when I drove out the gas station I had the gas filler already open so the gas cap fell on the street and lucky for me I heard it, retrieved it and replaced it. Some sort of rushed minutes there. Well the fuel was just $4.21 a gallon so my little bug took $54 to fill. Can you believe it? A year ago $25 filled it. Whoa, we've got problems here, I can only imagine what it must be like to fill a semi right now.
The home is Benicia was outstanding. Handcrafted and designed by the owners it was full of gleaming wood beams, imported tile, interesting design. The lady owns a lamp and shade shop in Berkeley and everything they sell they make by hand. The home was full of examples of her work, stunningly beautiful items throughout and Sylvia, she is a big time birder, travels all over the world to see birds! The home was built on a hillside, had redwood decks, a swim spa and a regular spa, either of them used much any more. The garage was full of high quality wood working tools. What a property to see. While I was there an order came in to my blue tooth, nice to get work. Then conditions started to be phoned in. Conditions are free things you have to do to explain what you did in the first place in an appraisal. They can be anything from fixing a typo to supplying several new comparables with photos. Condition work is done for free and is considered part of the appraisal assignment. No one likes to do this part of the job but its not something you can skip out on. Lenders have memories and if you are nasty to them over conditions they won't bother you with a new appraisal order, why would they when they have so many choices.
After completing the work in Benicia I headed home and things moved well until Antioch where traffic seems to always bunch up. Then to Longs for meds and then home to work on those conditions.
I had such a good lunch. Rye bread from a bakery in Berkeley, swiss cheese, decent tasting tomatoes, lettuce and spinach. It was so huge that one could hardly get the mouth around it, tiny in over all amount thought and just right. That along with some floral ice tea was perfect. This evening I fixed the whole bunch of asparagus, I now realize way to much, the rest of the brown rice, half a glass of V8 juice, a bit of cottage cheese. Yummy stuff and I'm full.
Talk about free labor. Some day this week I have to drive to Hanford to find two new comps and then drive home. That's about 5 hours of driving for free, yuk. Serves me right for taking an appraisal assignment that far from home. Of course the fact that they let it sit on a desk for 3 months before submitting it is a bit of an issue too, they let the appraisal get dated in the process.
I'm feeling pretty good these days. Most of my thoughts of Nan are positive and uplifting, grateful really that I got to be with her all those years. She was an amazing woman with a very strong will. God used her a lot to touch lives in her quiet way.
Tonight as the sun sets it sets over a good day, not an exciting day but a solid good day. I've started working on getting statements out to remind our dear clients that we need MONEY. When Loree gets back then we'll get them sent out and hope, pray for a good response.
Do you know how dreary my life would be without you? I'm so thankful for the varied and interesting world of friends and family I'm blessed with.
Sending love to all,

Tim