Dear Family and Friends,
Well tonight Nikki is winging her way to Albuquerque and Steve has a real challenge on his shoulders for the next five days. Kallie just turned 1 and Nikki just turned 6. Steve is excellent with the kids and knows his way around caring for them. Still this will be a real challenge for all. I drove over with Nikki to the airport this afternoon for moral support and she called later to say she had been able to both check in and get some food as she arrives there late tonight. I'm not much into partings and it was very sad to observe as she and girls said their goodbyes. Oh that she did not have to work but at this point her job is the most secure of all three of us. She is going to meetings which include the secretary of the department of energy in Washington and other high officials. Her department has been charged with trying to make sure that stimulas money is not wasted or improperly used. They have 30 million to keep 50 billion in the right hands, do the math, there is no way they can keep up with all the dollars and they know it but they must try.
This morning I inspected 5 little houses located on adjacent lots in Brentwood. The owner of all five has them fixed up so nicely with good yards, excellent fences and fresh paint. Now all I have to do is locate perfect comps for each. I have my work laid out for me tomorrow.
Our weather continues to be just wonderful and I keep thinking about the next utility bill, it should be much much lower. One can hope.
Today is our anniversary and from time to time I've thought about different aspects of our years together. I continue to live in a world that seems like someone turned out the lights as I muddle through in the darkness of living alone. I would not wish this on my worst enemy and I could never have imagined what it would be like to live this way. Oh I can pretend its great to be free and make my own decisions or I don't have to worry about Nan's spending on QVC but somehow having her with me would be worth it all.
This week I will concentrate of being a resource to Steve, to back him up when he needs help with the girls and try to get some work done too. I pray for more orders. At this point I have two left to see, one in Antioch from my good friend Barbara and one up in Cameron Park. I have several to complete and I need to keep working on getting approved with management companies. I now have several approvals but no orders from any of them. I just have to keep placing the whole situation in the good Lord's hands and then trust that He will make it all work out according to His riches.
I wish for each of you a good strong week filled with meaning, growth and love.
Tim
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Love those kids, Barbie improves
Dear Ones,
Just back from Sacramento where I spend time with Barb and Gerry. She is improving so much each day and the followup MRI confirmed that all the tumor had been removed. Barb was moved from ICU to a regular ward room today, enjoyed company and was her old self again.
Gerry and I went to dinner at Leatherbys, a local place with home made ice cream and sandwiches. We had Garden Burgers and they were great.
Ken and I started the day with a 6:30 walk and then I went to the Relay for Life event that was held in Brentwood. This 24 hour event has people walking in relay fashion for the entire 24 hour time period around the high school track. Many local businesses had booths set up and raffles were held for many appealing items. Nikki is waiting by the phone to see if she has won anything. Keanna is sporting a unicorn on her face that was face painted on and each of the girls came away with a little bear from Kohls booth. We also wandered by the farmers market and fresh strawberries from Watsonville caught our eye. They are so good, best of the season. I was amazed to discover Kallie loved the berries and ate about three of them while we walked around. Nikki was spending even more time with the girls since she flys out Sunday afternoon to New Mexico for a week of meetings and training sponsored by her branch of government, the department of energy. She will return on Friday afternoon and dreads the whole trip. This is not a trip she can miss though as her department is entrusted with more and more oversight of the massive stimulus spending.
When I came home after walking about in the fresh air and bright sunshine I took a brief nap before driving to Sacramento. One does want to stay awake while hurdling down the freeway in a tiny car.
Tomorrow I have the high privilege of appraising 5 little houses in Brentwood. They are all located in a single block and are for the same client. Frankly I'm glad to have the work.
I sincerely hope your weekend is going well and that you've had some good family time. I have an interesting item to report. When I looked closely at my PG&E bill this time I noticed that the gas used had dropped from $34 to about $26 and I think that is totally a response to the dryer working so much better now. Nice to have things working right.
Sending love to all,
Tim
Just back from Sacramento where I spend time with Barb and Gerry. She is improving so much each day and the followup MRI confirmed that all the tumor had been removed. Barb was moved from ICU to a regular ward room today, enjoyed company and was her old self again.
Gerry and I went to dinner at Leatherbys, a local place with home made ice cream and sandwiches. We had Garden Burgers and they were great.
Ken and I started the day with a 6:30 walk and then I went to the Relay for Life event that was held in Brentwood. This 24 hour event has people walking in relay fashion for the entire 24 hour time period around the high school track. Many local businesses had booths set up and raffles were held for many appealing items. Nikki is waiting by the phone to see if she has won anything. Keanna is sporting a unicorn on her face that was face painted on and each of the girls came away with a little bear from Kohls booth. We also wandered by the farmers market and fresh strawberries from Watsonville caught our eye. They are so good, best of the season. I was amazed to discover Kallie loved the berries and ate about three of them while we walked around. Nikki was spending even more time with the girls since she flys out Sunday afternoon to New Mexico for a week of meetings and training sponsored by her branch of government, the department of energy. She will return on Friday afternoon and dreads the whole trip. This is not a trip she can miss though as her department is entrusted with more and more oversight of the massive stimulus spending.
When I came home after walking about in the fresh air and bright sunshine I took a brief nap before driving to Sacramento. One does want to stay awake while hurdling down the freeway in a tiny car.
Tomorrow I have the high privilege of appraising 5 little houses in Brentwood. They are all located in a single block and are for the same client. Frankly I'm glad to have the work.
I sincerely hope your weekend is going well and that you've had some good family time. I have an interesting item to report. When I looked closely at my PG&E bill this time I noticed that the gas used had dropped from $34 to about $26 and I think that is totally a response to the dryer working so much better now. Nice to have things working right.
Sending love to all,
Tim
Friday, June 12, 2009
A conflicted day
Greetings fellow lifers,
Interesting day with large doses of the human condition. This morning I just rolled out and went straight to work, I'm dealing with the proposed construction of a manufactured home in San Lorenzo on the back half of a lot that has been in the family for 100 years. Needless to say there are not many sales of manufactured homes in San Lorenzo or even with 15 miles. I knew this one would be touch when I took it and now I'm in the middle of writing it. Word came in this morning as to the details for Don's funeral. Don was a person I never met who ordered reverse appraisals once in a while. He was always pleasant on the phone and in his emails. I liked him. His brother has provided me with more work over the past 2 years than any other source. Tom and Don were just one year apart and not only brothers, they were great friends. The service was held in the lamest funeral home I have ever seen. Located between a house cleaning service and a auto body shop on an industrial row this little funeral home seems totally out of place. It has no parking other than what you can find on the street and a chapel so small that most of us spent our time in the hallway peeking in the door. The service was nicely conducted and tom spoke for his brother with honest and caring words.
While I was driving to Modesto Jason called and in the conversation he reminded me that this Sunday would have been our 38Th anniversary. Well the combination of the flood of memories and then the funeral experience really sent me reeling. Mind you these are not bad or dangerous emotions but they are strong just the same, powerful mind videos of happy times, other anniversaries. Nan always planned them careful and we were either at Reno, Vegas, Tahoe, somewhere special to enjoy our day. I painfully remember the anniversary just after her surgery on June 4 when she was not even awake yet as she clung to life in the ICU at Brigham and Womens in Boston. I remember the pain of that day, the first without Nan making it a big important deal and she slept right through the day. I thought my heart would break as it filled with fear and foreboding.
So as I drove to and then from the service today my heart was not light or carefree. To ease the passing of time I reached out to Art, my sister Sibyl and I tried others but didn't make contact. Pam was not answering her phone since she is just one day out of a pretty nasty surgery herself and Sylvia is in Russia on a tour.
This process called living life grows harder as difficult events stack up. Every time I hear of a long time marriage breaking up, about someone else with health issues, about cancer, about loss it just seems harder and harder to slap a smile on your face and pretend things are OK. Things are not OK, we live in a mess. Now some of you may not know it yet because things have not gone bad but we live in a mess. I have come to accept that God is even more troubled about the mess than we are since He sees it completely.
I've just lived through a week with almost no business calls. With interest rates climbing again and a growing concern about future inflation the loan business has almost shut down completely. Every loan agent I know has many loans in the pipeline that are not being completed since the rates began to climb up. The spending in Washington is having the total opposite effect of what was promised. Government cannot spend us out of the crisis but so far they have not caught on. I think the people have as they are spending less, being much more careful with what money have and even saving more. But the federal government is doing just the opposite. One wonders what they could be thinking. This is disaster in the making for not only our generation but for the little kidos, why should they have to pay for our messes.
This afternoon I had soup and salad at Olive Garden in Modesto, a place that I figure Nan and I ate at at least 50 times over the years. When I left I decided to pick up a couple things at WalMart. For those of you who know me at all you know I despise WalMart, not that I think it should not be there I just don't like being in a place where 98 of the items they sell just arrived from China. I'd rather pay more and have less and have it made in America by my neighbors! Warning, the next couple sentences are not going to be very PC. I have the feeling that I've just traveled to a very poor third world country when I'm in WalMart, much of the stuff is junk, gaudy and trashy and as far as lower prices, there is a reason in many cases. Now I know many of the same items sold there can be found elsewhere for more money and for that reason I found myself parking and walking into WalMart. Now this was not a super WalMart, in fact I stopped someone and ask if they were closing the store as so many racks were empty and the place looked like a wreck. No was the answer, they are just redoing the store. Well I found the little bulb for my desk lamp, some laundry soap, first I've had to buy since company was here and then I went to the garden section. I ended up with a hanging flower arrangement and a couple other pots of plants but even they looked pathetic. They can't afford water for the plants in WalMart? So I took my little basket of winners to the car and headed home. the poor flowers seemed to be saying, feed me, water me please. I feel like I've been a part of a plant rescue operation.
When I got home my desire to go back to work was a quart low. But then I had an infusion of life and fun. Kallie, Keanna and their mother burst through the door. Kallie started charging about on her newly acquired sea legs staggering from time to time but doing pretty well, Keanna set to work helping her mother sort through some shipping and we all had fun for awhile. Then they had to go home to feed Kallie and I was alone once again.
I summoned up my gardening skills such as they are, mowed the front lawn which is actually a grouping of weeks and crab grass and began to trim the beautiful bush that had grown nearly over the front window. Not wanting my house to look like the home of the Adams Family I cut and trimmed until the bush was groomed (can we say attacked) and Lois stopped by and helped me bag it up.
While I was on the back deck I discovered that one tomato had turned red enough to pick. It became the center of my dinner, tomato and peanut butter on thin slices of my most recent loaf of bread. Totally yummy! Tomatoes do taste better when they grow in your own back yard.
Sort of to round out the uplifting nature of the day I put on a video that came from Netflicks called Into Thin Air. For those of you who know the story you know that uplifting it is not. Its the tragic story of two teams of mountain climbers on Everest where things went wrong, judgements were made poorly and 5 people ended up dying including the leaders of both the expeditions, Scott Fisher and Rob Hall. So on that encouraging note I'm ending my day.
Tomorrow I plan to go with the kids to visit the walk for life cancer walk in Brentwood and then drive upto visit Barbie in Sacramento in the afternoon. Gerry says her recovery seems on track but I want to put in my personal appearance having spent dozens of days in hospital rooms I know the excitement of seeing new faces and feeling the love that walks in with those you love.
I hope your week has been meaningful and I want to encourage you yet once again to carefully consider how much time you are spending to share your feelings and words with those you love, think about what you would say at their funeral service and then say it now instead of then. Am I blunt? I mean to be. In our case due to Nan's gradually weakening condition we had lots of time to share everything we felt but without the pressure of the an upcoming deadline it is very tempting to just think the other person already knows how you feel so why bother to express it. Nan and I never went to sleep angry, some nights were so awful between us that we didn't go to sleep for awhile until we talked it through. Because of both our experiences with our parents we knew better than to let stuff go without fixing it. Its too easy to just begin to let it go and things get worse and worse and that becomes the new relationship, a sad one with less love in it.
A word on being alone. I guess there are some people that love it and others who lie and say they love it but I've been alone now for 18 months and together with Nan for 37 years. There is no comparison. Life is dreary being alone, oh yes it is livable and even enjoyable once in awhile but mostly it is just alone. Once again you could become alone in any one of several ways that are not up to you so while you are not alone make the best of it, just a thought!
So I bid you a warm goodnight and I do appreciate every one of you.
love
tim
Interesting day with large doses of the human condition. This morning I just rolled out and went straight to work, I'm dealing with the proposed construction of a manufactured home in San Lorenzo on the back half of a lot that has been in the family for 100 years. Needless to say there are not many sales of manufactured homes in San Lorenzo or even with 15 miles. I knew this one would be touch when I took it and now I'm in the middle of writing it. Word came in this morning as to the details for Don's funeral. Don was a person I never met who ordered reverse appraisals once in a while. He was always pleasant on the phone and in his emails. I liked him. His brother has provided me with more work over the past 2 years than any other source. Tom and Don were just one year apart and not only brothers, they were great friends. The service was held in the lamest funeral home I have ever seen. Located between a house cleaning service and a auto body shop on an industrial row this little funeral home seems totally out of place. It has no parking other than what you can find on the street and a chapel so small that most of us spent our time in the hallway peeking in the door. The service was nicely conducted and tom spoke for his brother with honest and caring words.
While I was driving to Modesto Jason called and in the conversation he reminded me that this Sunday would have been our 38Th anniversary. Well the combination of the flood of memories and then the funeral experience really sent me reeling. Mind you these are not bad or dangerous emotions but they are strong just the same, powerful mind videos of happy times, other anniversaries. Nan always planned them careful and we were either at Reno, Vegas, Tahoe, somewhere special to enjoy our day. I painfully remember the anniversary just after her surgery on June 4 when she was not even awake yet as she clung to life in the ICU at Brigham and Womens in Boston. I remember the pain of that day, the first without Nan making it a big important deal and she slept right through the day. I thought my heart would break as it filled with fear and foreboding.
So as I drove to and then from the service today my heart was not light or carefree. To ease the passing of time I reached out to Art, my sister Sibyl and I tried others but didn't make contact. Pam was not answering her phone since she is just one day out of a pretty nasty surgery herself and Sylvia is in Russia on a tour.
This process called living life grows harder as difficult events stack up. Every time I hear of a long time marriage breaking up, about someone else with health issues, about cancer, about loss it just seems harder and harder to slap a smile on your face and pretend things are OK. Things are not OK, we live in a mess. Now some of you may not know it yet because things have not gone bad but we live in a mess. I have come to accept that God is even more troubled about the mess than we are since He sees it completely.
I've just lived through a week with almost no business calls. With interest rates climbing again and a growing concern about future inflation the loan business has almost shut down completely. Every loan agent I know has many loans in the pipeline that are not being completed since the rates began to climb up. The spending in Washington is having the total opposite effect of what was promised. Government cannot spend us out of the crisis but so far they have not caught on. I think the people have as they are spending less, being much more careful with what money have and even saving more. But the federal government is doing just the opposite. One wonders what they could be thinking. This is disaster in the making for not only our generation but for the little kidos, why should they have to pay for our messes.
This afternoon I had soup and salad at Olive Garden in Modesto, a place that I figure Nan and I ate at at least 50 times over the years. When I left I decided to pick up a couple things at WalMart. For those of you who know me at all you know I despise WalMart, not that I think it should not be there I just don't like being in a place where 98 of the items they sell just arrived from China. I'd rather pay more and have less and have it made in America by my neighbors! Warning, the next couple sentences are not going to be very PC. I have the feeling that I've just traveled to a very poor third world country when I'm in WalMart, much of the stuff is junk, gaudy and trashy and as far as lower prices, there is a reason in many cases. Now I know many of the same items sold there can be found elsewhere for more money and for that reason I found myself parking and walking into WalMart. Now this was not a super WalMart, in fact I stopped someone and ask if they were closing the store as so many racks were empty and the place looked like a wreck. No was the answer, they are just redoing the store. Well I found the little bulb for my desk lamp, some laundry soap, first I've had to buy since company was here and then I went to the garden section. I ended up with a hanging flower arrangement and a couple other pots of plants but even they looked pathetic. They can't afford water for the plants in WalMart? So I took my little basket of winners to the car and headed home. the poor flowers seemed to be saying, feed me, water me please. I feel like I've been a part of a plant rescue operation.
When I got home my desire to go back to work was a quart low. But then I had an infusion of life and fun. Kallie, Keanna and their mother burst through the door. Kallie started charging about on her newly acquired sea legs staggering from time to time but doing pretty well, Keanna set to work helping her mother sort through some shipping and we all had fun for awhile. Then they had to go home to feed Kallie and I was alone once again.
I summoned up my gardening skills such as they are, mowed the front lawn which is actually a grouping of weeks and crab grass and began to trim the beautiful bush that had grown nearly over the front window. Not wanting my house to look like the home of the Adams Family I cut and trimmed until the bush was groomed (can we say attacked) and Lois stopped by and helped me bag it up.
While I was on the back deck I discovered that one tomato had turned red enough to pick. It became the center of my dinner, tomato and peanut butter on thin slices of my most recent loaf of bread. Totally yummy! Tomatoes do taste better when they grow in your own back yard.
Sort of to round out the uplifting nature of the day I put on a video that came from Netflicks called Into Thin Air. For those of you who know the story you know that uplifting it is not. Its the tragic story of two teams of mountain climbers on Everest where things went wrong, judgements were made poorly and 5 people ended up dying including the leaders of both the expeditions, Scott Fisher and Rob Hall. So on that encouraging note I'm ending my day.
Tomorrow I plan to go with the kids to visit the walk for life cancer walk in Brentwood and then drive upto visit Barbie in Sacramento in the afternoon. Gerry says her recovery seems on track but I want to put in my personal appearance having spent dozens of days in hospital rooms I know the excitement of seeing new faces and feeling the love that walks in with those you love.
I hope your week has been meaningful and I want to encourage you yet once again to carefully consider how much time you are spending to share your feelings and words with those you love, think about what you would say at their funeral service and then say it now instead of then. Am I blunt? I mean to be. In our case due to Nan's gradually weakening condition we had lots of time to share everything we felt but without the pressure of the an upcoming deadline it is very tempting to just think the other person already knows how you feel so why bother to express it. Nan and I never went to sleep angry, some nights were so awful between us that we didn't go to sleep for awhile until we talked it through. Because of both our experiences with our parents we knew better than to let stuff go without fixing it. Its too easy to just begin to let it go and things get worse and worse and that becomes the new relationship, a sad one with less love in it.
A word on being alone. I guess there are some people that love it and others who lie and say they love it but I've been alone now for 18 months and together with Nan for 37 years. There is no comparison. Life is dreary being alone, oh yes it is livable and even enjoyable once in awhile but mostly it is just alone. Once again you could become alone in any one of several ways that are not up to you so while you are not alone make the best of it, just a thought!
So I bid you a warm goodnight and I do appreciate every one of you.
love
tim
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Finally getting some traction
Good evening to all,
This has been a day with a lot of low key rest and then finally production. Ken and I walked as usual this morning in the cool air. Then I came back, added water to some very dry coach batteries in the motorhome, rehung the curtain I had washed and then drove it back to storage where Lois was kind enough to come rescue me. Then it was back home to work, only problem I just wanted to sleep and I did, it seemed like hours in my chair. I finally woke and made a salad for lunch and came back determined to get some work done.
I waded into a relocation appraisal for a local property and about 4:20 emailed that one to the Cartus company. Then I started on the next one that had to be done today. After a couple hours I took a break and had another salad at McDonalds with Lois where we talked to Ray. he had a big day cleaning filters for pools and was tired and finally back to their home in San Jose. After the dinner I came home and have just now completed the second appraisal.
Art and Connie are traveling with their new to them 5th wheel on a trip to see Matt graduate from fireperson school up in Oregon somewhere. They had stopped in Weed for the night and he called my brother Jerry and they talked trucks for a few. Now Art has told me he is going to bed, tired from a day of driving and amazingly he found a RV place for $27.50 for the night. Thats amazing! Tomorrow they will drive on up to where Matt is and be ready for a Saturday graduation service. Then I think they plan to bring their two grandchildren back with them for a few days to visit. Sounds totally fun.
Gerry said that Barbie is continuing to make progress although she is still in ICU at this point. They had her sitting up several times today and she is eating, all signs of progress. For some reason they took another MRI which had to be painful for her. One wonders why the second MRI but of course no one is telling them anything. Why don't medical people communicate. We patients are not idiots, we need to know what is going on, include us in your thinking, it is our bodies after all. But I digress.
This evening I am totally worn out from basically doing nothing but sitting and typing. Oh well the dogs were delighted that I could be home for the day. they love it and sit close by watching and snoozing in delight.
I've included a couple photos from Jason and Jo that were taken at the Oakland Zoo as they met Scott Miller and his family there for the day. Looked like they had a great time.
Well good night to all,
love
tim
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Finished
Dear Friends and Family,
Just back from one more attempt at the grief group which meets on Wednesday night and as a result I'm not going back. As usual the group of people who were there were very honest in sharing your feelings and emotions but I just sort of have a feeling that I don't really belong there so I'll just let my group of friends and family be my wonderful grief and getting on with life support group.
This evening Gerry Lammerding and I made contact and he reports Barbie is progressing well and is feeling better and better. She remains in ICU for yet another day and Gerry could only see her briefly along with Jenny and her friend and a sister. We are all thankful for her really good progress and if all continues to progress then she's be able to go home next Sunday.
Its been sort of a dull day spent fixing things, doing value checks and general appraisal work. I'm loving the cool weather which continues to bless us. I just keep thinking the central air conditioning is not having to work and money is saved.
Well I think thats about it for the evening. Nothing too earth shaking happening here.
I did hear some bad news today. A person, Don, who orders appraisals and talked to me just last week died of a heart attack this morning. He was having a hard time breathing and by the time he got to the hospital his heart was failing. I was so saddened to hear the news and think about his family tonight.
Oh that we would live our lives each day with care for each other!
love
tim
Just back from one more attempt at the grief group which meets on Wednesday night and as a result I'm not going back. As usual the group of people who were there were very honest in sharing your feelings and emotions but I just sort of have a feeling that I don't really belong there so I'll just let my group of friends and family be my wonderful grief and getting on with life support group.
This evening Gerry Lammerding and I made contact and he reports Barbie is progressing well and is feeling better and better. She remains in ICU for yet another day and Gerry could only see her briefly along with Jenny and her friend and a sister. We are all thankful for her really good progress and if all continues to progress then she's be able to go home next Sunday.
Its been sort of a dull day spent fixing things, doing value checks and general appraisal work. I'm loving the cool weather which continues to bless us. I just keep thinking the central air conditioning is not having to work and money is saved.
Well I think thats about it for the evening. Nothing too earth shaking happening here.
I did hear some bad news today. A person, Don, who orders appraisals and talked to me just last week died of a heart attack this morning. He was having a hard time breathing and by the time he got to the hospital his heart was failing. I was so saddened to hear the news and think about his family tonight.
Oh that we would live our lives each day with care for each other!
love
tim
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
A long day for Barbara
Dear Family and Friends,
Many of you know Barb and Gerry Lammerding. We have traveled extensively with them and worked with Barbara years ago in Sac Central SDA Church when I was just starting as a youth pastor. This morning Barb and Gerry arrived at the Kaiser Hospital in Central Sacramento for her surgery. They arrived early, about 6 am and then waited as they were processed. I arrived at 8 to sit with Gerry in the surgery waiting room and her surgery was supposed to begin at 8. We later learned it did not get started until 10. We waited all day, until 4:30 without one word from the operating room. I've been in probably 30 different waiting rooms over the last 12 years and always was kept informed by someone from the actual operating room how things were going but not today. After the promised 5 and 1/2 hours had passed we began to grow more anxious and a bit angry. We were given a little device that will flash but not told what the flashing meant. At about 4:30 it flashed but there was no one to tell us what that meant. Eventually we found out that means the surgery was over and she was being moved to recovery. At about 5 we were finally allowed to see Barbie for a few minutes. She was talking but was very connected to various monitors and IVs. She was squeezing her hands and moving her arms as they told her to do and trying to cough to clear her lungs. A surgeon spoke to us and said that everything had been a success but everything also took longer than expected. He said the tumor was larger than anticipated and was very stuck to her spinal column but they managed to remove it safely. They do not think it is cancer but that will be a for sure in two weeks based on lab results. So the outcome appears to be very good but Barbie has a pretty serious recovery to work with now and physical therapy for the next month. Gerry is doing fine and regaled the entire waiting room with his stories and thoughts. The volunteer who manned the desk for most of the day was outstanding and kind. This hospital needs to give serious thought to communicating in a professional manner. The whole waiting room was filled with very anxious loved ones with no communication taking place at all. Its the one sour note to a otherwise positive day.
I had a bit of traffic coming home and discovered my tank was nearing empty with over 500 miles driven. Where to find diesel? I chanced it on Florin Road and found the best price I've seen all day, $2.59.
Now I'm home and feel worn out. I was delighted to discover as I read my emails that several management companies sent emails indicating their willingness to add me to their approved list. Loree has been hard at work chasing these companies and results are starting to come in.
Thank you Lord for guiding the gifted medical team today.
Love to all and please pray for our friend Clare Johnson who has his own medical challenges right now. He is the wonderful tenor in the Adoration Singers.
love
tim
Many of you know Barb and Gerry Lammerding. We have traveled extensively with them and worked with Barbara years ago in Sac Central SDA Church when I was just starting as a youth pastor. This morning Barb and Gerry arrived at the Kaiser Hospital in Central Sacramento for her surgery. They arrived early, about 6 am and then waited as they were processed. I arrived at 8 to sit with Gerry in the surgery waiting room and her surgery was supposed to begin at 8. We later learned it did not get started until 10. We waited all day, until 4:30 without one word from the operating room. I've been in probably 30 different waiting rooms over the last 12 years and always was kept informed by someone from the actual operating room how things were going but not today. After the promised 5 and 1/2 hours had passed we began to grow more anxious and a bit angry. We were given a little device that will flash but not told what the flashing meant. At about 4:30 it flashed but there was no one to tell us what that meant. Eventually we found out that means the surgery was over and she was being moved to recovery. At about 5 we were finally allowed to see Barbie for a few minutes. She was talking but was very connected to various monitors and IVs. She was squeezing her hands and moving her arms as they told her to do and trying to cough to clear her lungs. A surgeon spoke to us and said that everything had been a success but everything also took longer than expected. He said the tumor was larger than anticipated and was very stuck to her spinal column but they managed to remove it safely. They do not think it is cancer but that will be a for sure in two weeks based on lab results. So the outcome appears to be very good but Barbie has a pretty serious recovery to work with now and physical therapy for the next month. Gerry is doing fine and regaled the entire waiting room with his stories and thoughts. The volunteer who manned the desk for most of the day was outstanding and kind. This hospital needs to give serious thought to communicating in a professional manner. The whole waiting room was filled with very anxious loved ones with no communication taking place at all. Its the one sour note to a otherwise positive day.
I had a bit of traffic coming home and discovered my tank was nearing empty with over 500 miles driven. Where to find diesel? I chanced it on Florin Road and found the best price I've seen all day, $2.59.
Now I'm home and feel worn out. I was delighted to discover as I read my emails that several management companies sent emails indicating their willingness to add me to their approved list. Loree has been hard at work chasing these companies and results are starting to come in.
Thank you Lord for guiding the gifted medical team today.
Love to all and please pray for our friend Clare Johnson who has his own medical challenges right now. He is the wonderful tenor in the Adoration Singers.
love
tim
Monday, June 8, 2009
Back to work, boring!
Dear Family and Friends,
This has been a quiet day. I've written an appraisal, worked up another one only to be told when I was done that the value was too low and they could not use it. Ray was starting his new chain saw so I took a break and helped him get it all set up and running, what a sweet machine and cuts wood like butter. I also did a bunch of value checks and then research for the property in Hercules I inspected at 4:45. Then I shot a photo for another report and stopped in at UNO's for salad and a personal pizza. Now I'm home and winding it down for the day. I did loads of laundry today and I'm still like a little kid in awe when the dryer has everything dry in just one cycle. So nice. Nan would have been thrilled right after she stated, I told you so.
I'm running very low on future work, in fact I have one to see tomorrow and then I'm out of orders. I keep hearing some are coming in but I've not seen them yet. Oh well.
In a few minutes I'm going to bed and then getting up as early as I can to get up to see Barbie and sit with Gerry. Tomorrow she has surgery to remove a tumor which is lodged on her spine between her shoulder blades. They are anticipating a 5 hour surgery and I don't want Gerry to sit there a lone, I've done that one in Boston and it was pretty awful. I know Barbara would appreciate prayers in her behalf tonight.
So my life is pretty much on course. I'm thankful for much and fearful at times of the unknown. I am lonely some of the time but so far I've not done anything about it. I am really looking forward to Dana, Ronnie, Jonathan and Anthony visiting soon and then Marilyn too. It will be really nice to have family visit for a bit.
For now I wish you all a good night,
love
tim
This has been a quiet day. I've written an appraisal, worked up another one only to be told when I was done that the value was too low and they could not use it. Ray was starting his new chain saw so I took a break and helped him get it all set up and running, what a sweet machine and cuts wood like butter. I also did a bunch of value checks and then research for the property in Hercules I inspected at 4:45. Then I shot a photo for another report and stopped in at UNO's for salad and a personal pizza. Now I'm home and winding it down for the day. I did loads of laundry today and I'm still like a little kid in awe when the dryer has everything dry in just one cycle. So nice. Nan would have been thrilled right after she stated, I told you so.
I'm running very low on future work, in fact I have one to see tomorrow and then I'm out of orders. I keep hearing some are coming in but I've not seen them yet. Oh well.
In a few minutes I'm going to bed and then getting up as early as I can to get up to see Barbie and sit with Gerry. Tomorrow she has surgery to remove a tumor which is lodged on her spine between her shoulder blades. They are anticipating a 5 hour surgery and I don't want Gerry to sit there a lone, I've done that one in Boston and it was pretty awful. I know Barbara would appreciate prayers in her behalf tonight.
So my life is pretty much on course. I'm thankful for much and fearful at times of the unknown. I am lonely some of the time but so far I've not done anything about it. I am really looking forward to Dana, Ronnie, Jonathan and Anthony visiting soon and then Marilyn too. It will be really nice to have family visit for a bit.
For now I wish you all a good night,
love
tim
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