Happy New Year from the rainy Northwest! Same intro as last year -- same weather! Maybe wetter! Actually, it IS wetter. Last year's newsletter was the latest ever. This year -- it's the earliest! The sharp-eyed amongst you might notice a subtle change from previous newsletters - small but not insignificant. Our message this year comes to you from ---- just Hansville. No more Snohomish. You see, ....... we sold our farm.
Click here for some nostalgic views from the past
Yes, yes, people have been asking us for years when we were going to sell the farm. The answer, was, in all honesty, "some day." That decision was thrust upon us in the spring, when the kids of one of our neighbors approached us about possibly selling. He's a Boeing Field Rep - a job I had for many years. After quite a bit of back and forth, financially and emotionally, the deal was done on July 13. Our lives went into hold as we spent 4 months cleaning out 3 decades of pack ratting (the good stuff) and junk (the real junk) and selling, dumping, or moving all our stuff. Every day for months we'd drive the Chevy truck (which finally earned its keep --- just in time) to the farm at the crack of dawn, clean up, fix up, load up, and return late to unload in Hansville, only to repeat the routine the next morning, again and again. Our Hansville house and garage filled to overflowing as we consolidated two households. We figure it will take a year to shake it all down to just one household again. Meanwhile, the heavy burden of weekly trips back and forth, trying to keep up two places, has been lifted from my shoulders. Just one lawn to mow now!
Some of our best friends, ........ well, .....we had to leave them behind........ but not their memories
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Prince |
Pablo
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Tama |
Barney |
Flicka |
MopTop |
Pablo and Tama
Our three Akitas
And our Akitas, Yonban and Nanaban, and our first lamb, Sweetie Pie, Bottle Baby, and more yet, ... but, we did what we could, and we did bring their stones and markers with us..... we wish we could have brought them, as well............... They do live on, in our memories.
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The ewes - waiting for their supper |
Dot - leading her lambs out to the front pasture |
Nbr 5 Ewe and her 4 lambs - 2 of her own, and 2 grafted. Oh, what a job, being a Mom!
A bittersweet time for us, to say the least, with so much sweat, tears, and emotions, trees, work, ... and our animals, wrapped up in the place. But, on Monday, August 7th, we turned out of the familiar drive for the last time, and headed West. A page turned, and more than 28 years of our lives passed into history. Charley Horse Ranch - memories so cherished and so sweet -- Adieu!
Dot had a big milestone birthday in the middle of all the hubbub, which passed,
necessarily, but unfortunately, in much too quiet a manner. We're going to
have a better, if belated celebration, one of these days soon - that's for sure!
On April 1st (April Fools Day, hmmm), we both started on Social Security. Hmmmm, isn't that for 'old' folks................
My Museum airplane activities are (still) consuming an enormous amount of time. We scrapped out a second 727 (Orca Bay) that I mentioned a bit last year, and are using the parts to restore our 727 Prototype airplane. The left wing of this airplane was removed and installed over the entry to a local hotel. That was quite a project for me in the middle of everything else going on!
Meanwhile, the "Connie" project burned manhours like no tomorrow as I
shuttled back and forth between Seattle and Toronto from January to March.
After dismantling the airplane in the middle of the Canadian winter ( thank you,
crazy Museum lawyers!!!) , we moved it off Toronto airport property and placed
it in storage nearby. In June, Canadian Customs denied us an Export
Permit, and in September, the Movable Properties Culture Board in Ottawa, denied
our appeal, deeming our export of this American designed and built Lockheed Super Constellation, an
airplane that had sat derelict for 41 years, to be "stealing Canadian
culture.!" Oh, Canada! We are currently in a 90 day window to see
whether a Canadian institution can come up with cash near our appraisal ($1-2
million). If not, we are free to move it to Seattle. Meanwhile, we have
sued the Canadian government over this, as a means of keeping Canadian lawyers
well funded for wintertime Caribbean vacations.
The entire story, with dismantling pictures, can be seen here.
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| The BBC came and made a documentary about the British Airways Concorde at the Museum - an airplane I was instrumental in obtaining for the collection. I got to be the on-camera spokesman, getting filmed in the Left Seat of G-BOAG (Alpha Golf.) Man! What an airplane!!! |
In May, retired Lockheed test pilot Ray Goudey came to Everett
to visit our recently acquired Lockheed Jetstar Prototype airplane.
Ray had made the first flight of this airplane in 1957, and also
the last in 1982. I have an extensive section on the
Jetstar and Ray's visit. You can read about it starting here.
Ham radio activities also kept my spare time busy, (what spare time?) always
working on antennas and radios. I belong to a number of 'nets' - groups of
hams that talk regularly, sometimes every day. One in particular, 'The
Calabash Group', has members in New York, Ottawa, Florida, Texas,
Minnesota, Arizona, California, Hawaii and Alaska. Net control is Tom,
WB0YNX, in Sioux City, Iowa. We "meet" several times a week about 2300Z
hours on 14.250 Mhz. After several years of talking, in September, Tom
jumped in his truck and drove to Hansville! After 4 days of face-to-face,
he went on to visit a bunch of other hams in Washington and Oregon. Ham
radio is certainly a unique fraternity. I have developed close friendships
with several hams -- in Alaska, Oregon and California, as well as two hams, who are farmers, one in
Japan, and one on Tortula in the British Virgin Islands, as well as an architect in
Ascunsion, Paraguay. As with Tom, you never know, sometimes we even get to meet face-to-face!
James R. Gannett, 1923-2006
Clayton Scott, 1905-2006
Dot's dancing friend Connie Jones died in
August from a series of strokes. Three of her dancing partners have now
passed away in the past two years. You can see Connie here, on the
top right -- Show a Leg!
My Aunt Marion died in Los Angeles on Sept 29, 2005. She was 88 and one of the sweetest people to have ever walked this planet. I apologize for leaving out the news of her passing in last year's Newsletter. Here she is in January 2005 - still looking great! One (very) classy lady.
On a happier note, Dot's cousins, Sisters Mary and Anne, are very much alive, and celebrated their 95th birthday(s) - (they're twins) - in P.E.I. We visited with them in 2003.
New address
Some of you have continued sending cards etc to our Snohomish address, despite our yearly advice to switch to Hansville. We admire your persistence, but, well,...... now's the time. This is no longer an option. Snohomish doesn't work any more!
We're at:
6368 Twin Spits Road
Hansville, WA 98340
We wish, to our family and friends, a Happy and Joyous New Year, and leave you with this wonderful view of Mt. Rainier, taken during a picnic hike, from Sunrise Point, September 26, 2006. Bad floods in the past two weeks have destroyed all access to this location.
Peace..........
Bob and Dot
