Back At It (or, Free at last…almost)

Why yes, it’s been a while since my last post here.  There was a reason (several, actually) and several more for why I’m suddenly back at the keyboard.  Let’s catch up. 

My new favorite view from the not-yet completed new home

Back in…good grief, January?  Yeah, nearly eleven months ago I was writing about a potential government shutdown, complaining about the college football playoffs, and how the new tax break wasn’t worth the paper it was written on.  And then…nothing.  It’s not like much has changed, topic-wise, eh?  But that’s not why I stopped writing.  Well, not entirely.

Truth was, I knew that writing well takes time and that commodity was becoming scarcer than a qualified Chief of Staff candidate.  We had several irons in the fire that were carryovers from 2017 and we were determined to see them to fruition.  We were trying to sell our ice cream business, AND build a new home, AND sell our old house AND finally retire.  AND try to do all of this while still running the ice cream parlor.  We tried to do this in 2017 and made zero progress.  So starting up with a new builder AND a new campaign to sell the store, we made a pact in 2018 to devote ALL of our time (spare and otherwise) to make it all happen.

And we’re more than halfway there.

We DID sell, finally, in September.  Could not have found a better couple to take over.  We trained them for a couple of weeks, then stepped aside.  Truthfully, I think they were glad to get us out of the way.  I’ll have more to say about the sale in a future post (hassles before we found this couple and the unexpected “pang of regret” once sold).

We DID build a new home.  And then took it apart in order to move it.  See, it’s a modular home, built in Auburn, WA by Timberland Homes.  We spent a few months working with them to customize a smaller design of theirs (the Harborside) and added an attached garage where the covered porch was.  They just moved it onto our 2 acre parcel in Warren, OR where the completion process will take another 5-6 weeks.  We’re also adding a 12.4kw solar system, and the whole she-bang will be ready for move-in by the end of January.  The very next post will be about the move, and I’ll comment further about the process (some good, some bad, and several NSFW words about the bank and its financing practices).

We haven’t listed the house for sale, yet, but we DID do a lot of work getting it ready for sale.  We worried about this because usually Seaside has wet fall weather and we can never get out to do what we need to do when it’s nice because (a) we’re still working or (b) it’s raining like crazy.  Once we finished training the new folks, we experienced the BEST WEATHER EVER for October and most of November, so we got it all accomplished except for a few minor indoor projects.  This should go pretty smoothly and quickly once we list.  Of course, we’ve said that about every aspect on the business sale and the house construction and we’re 0-for, so we’re realistic.  But optimistic.  Eventually I’ll write about the house if nothing else but to advertising it for sale.  Besides being realistic and optimistic, I am opportunistic.

And with that, let me explain the last reason I stopped writing.  Subject matter.

While there was no shortage of material to be outraged about thanks to the current administration, it became mind-numbing and actually inhibited my ability to write.  I tried on more than one occasion to come up with a post about the latest “lowering the bar” or “outrage de jour” but I kept sounding like some grumpy old geezer.  While I AM a grumpy old geezer in real life, I try to keep a more-even keel here in the blog.  I didn’t like ANYTHING I wrote about, so I stopped trying to steal bits of precious time to come up with some witty-yet-relevant-spot-on commentary.  Frankly, those who thought like me had plenty of other bon-mots to enjoy elsewhere on the Interwebs, and those who didn’t share my concern for the worst Presidential Administration since James Buchanan were not going to suddenly vote blue (or give a rat’s ass), so…no loss for the last 11 months. 

For the foreseeable future, I’ve got plenty to write about without getting into the morass of that more-ass.  I may make the occasional foray back into political theater, but I plan to take a different approach.  For example, I have an upcoming post about the current stock market slide (don’t look now, but it’s right where it was about a year ago.  Actually, it’s a bit lower, and the trend ain’t lookin’ so good).  I really don’t plan to make it political in nature, but one might perceive it as such.  For the record, my wife and I got out of the market about the same time I stopped blogging.  Sadly, it was a few weeks later, and we wish we had done it a bit sooner.  So it goes.

For now, writing serves many purposes.  I can post personal news to the masses and save 50 cents postage that would otherwise get used up in letters.  It’s cathartic for me in a way (plus, I need the practice, as I’ve got two books planned once I am completely retired…soon).  And it keeps me active and away from playing solitaire (I still can’t play online poker, dammit).  Oh, I’ll write about that, too.

Welcome back.