We've been living in Astoria, OR since December in a small 1
BR apartment waiting for own new house to be built in Ocean Park, WA. It's been
an adjustment living in what amounts to a small bachelor's type apartment in
the noisy part of downtown Astoria. Jenny and I both work the grave yard shift
so we have to try to sleep during the day which can be difficult even when it's
quiet.
It's made even more difficult since when live next door to
the School Districts Bus Barn where we hear the constant sound of, "BEEP,
BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP!" the buses make when they back in to park.
The really good news about living in Astoria is that's where
we both work so we don't have the 30 to 45 minute one way commute to drive.
Astoria has a better downtown, better restaurants and better
social opportunities than the Washington peninsula. It's only a 4 block walk
for us to be in the heart of downtown. A
week ago Jenny and I went to a Blood, Sweat and Tears concert at the Liberty
Theater here in Astoria which was cool. BTW what an awesome lead singer they
have now and he's just as good a harmonica player. They are definitely worth
the price of admission if they come to your area. What a beautiful old theater
the Liberty is, it's an excellent venue to see an intimate concert.
We live within 2 blocks of the Columbia River and really
have enjoyed taking walks along it since the weather has finally turned nice
here. The winter weather here was God awful so we have really enjoyed the
recent sunny days and are thankful for every one. Even if it's cloudy out here
and doesn't rain, it's considered a nice day here trust me.
We just finished getting the remainder our belongings out of
the old house this weekend so the contractor can begin tearing it down.
Hopefully sometime this week we'll get the final blueprints for the new house
so we can then apply for the necessary permits to begin building. We've been
told it could be as short as 3 weeks (if you call that short) or as long as 6
weeks to get the permits from the county.
I have to keep remind myself to be patient and that I live
in small town America again. The pace of getting good and services here is way
slower than say San Diego or Sacramento. There are days when I really wish we
still lived in California for a whole host of reasons but life here has been
getting better.
We plan on building a 1200 sq ft 2 BR house with a 2 car
garage. Since it's just Jenny and me we really didn't need a 3rd BR so the
plan is to put a Murphy bed in the 2nd BR so we can make it a multi-purpose
hobby, den, exercise room.
We have a very nice quiet piece of property to build the
house on. We're very excited that we helped design the floor plan and will
eventually help the general contractor build the house.
The hope is that we'll get the house completed by July if
all goes well.
I finally returned to work after missing almost a month. The
broken tailbone incident has been literally the biggest "pain in the
ass" injury I've ever had. I can laugh about it now but Man it made my
life hell for a while.
Not much else to report. We hope to go to Wyoming in June if
we can to get my 30th Class reunion (Yikes, I'm getting old!!) and see my
family and friends there but we may not make it out if the house requires us to
stay to get it completed.
We miss all our family and friends in California, Wyoming
and Florida. We hope all is well in your world. Please stay in touch. Life has
been good and Jenny and I feel so blessed and grateful.
Jenny & Jeff
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