Kitchen Renovation

The kitchen was tore up today. I really didn't like the high counter tops; they were a good five inches higher than average. So, all that came out today, along with the tall, small island counter. Then I told Marty that I really wanted a new stove. The oven especially looked so old!!! So, I bought a one piece stove at Sears Monday. Marty (my sister's son-in-law) will re-do the cabinets to make it fit; make cabinets to fill the space where the double oven was. He will also build an island type counter for my microwave, etc. I know it will be very nice when it's done.
The vanity in the master bath was removed today also. It was raised to 37 inches; a good 5 inches above normal. Good grief. I will be glad to have average size counters.

A cat door was installed yesterday for Maggie. It didn't take long for her to make use of it. She is settling in now and seems much happier than at first.
I have met several of my neighbors. This was a good move for me.
I do miss picking fresh peaches from the back yard, but I hope to find some fast growing Ultra Dwarf fruit trees this winter.

Bingo Nights

Thursday is Bingo night here at Rancho Grande MH Park. I went last night for the first time. There were 17 of us, which is the average number of people who come to play. Pictured is Lillian, who collects the money, checks the Bingo winners and pays out the money. Her friend, Hop is the caller. They both do a good job of running the Bingo games.
I haven't played Bingo for years and years. It looked like everyone played with 6 Bingo cards, so I thought I would too. My problem was if I was trying to listen to the conversations around me, I would forget the number that was called. hmmm, I wonder if I will get used to that and be able to talk and check my cards at the same time. I missed out a couple of times; didn't notice I had all four corners one time and also missed a diagonal win. You have to hollar Bingo before the next number is called. Oh well, nobody gets rich or goes broke there. It's only a quarter a card to play. I won a few times and only lost one quarter when the night was over.
Guess I'll be a regular, same as my sister. At least now I have a DVR from Dish Network, so when Survivor starts up again on Thursday nights, I can record it and watch it later.

Before the Move

A few days before moving day, Joe chopped down the grapefruit tree. It was a huge job, it took 3 pickup loads to haul it all off. Sunday morning I planted some Irises there. They will get all day sun, it should be a good spot for them.
There are some really OLD rose bushes here. I want to replace them, but will wait until December so I can buy bare-root roses. I might have one taken out now if I can find a nice Butterfly bush to take its place.
Also before moving day, I went to Sears and bought a new refrigerator and washer and dryer. Here is a picture of the installers with the fridge. The 33 inch side-by-side just barely fit in that space. My old fridge was too wide by two inches!! My old dryer was gas, so had to buy a new set.
Little by little I'll have some changes made around here. Starting with the kitchen, I hope. The former owners had the kitchen counter rasied up a good 5 inches. I'm shorter than average and it's just too high for me. Same thing in my bathroom. The vanity is 37 inches high, they are usually 31 or 32, something like that. Good grief!!!
I have some big projects in mind.

Moving Day

Moving Day finally arrived on July 12. It began early, the big truck arrived before 7:30. Mandy got up extra early and took the electronic things and Maggie in a cat cage over to the new place and was back in Merced just as the movers got there. Mandy packed up the last minute things; she rushed around and kept ahead of the movers. The truck was so big, my furniture and the million boxes only took up about 1/3 of the space. The 3 men were fast workers and we took off for Atwater before noon. (It was about 10:30, if I remember right.)
The truck arrived at Rancho Grande and here it had to be unloaded from the side door. Found out later that the neighbors were all watching from their windows.
I'm sure they wondered how I was going to fit everything inside the mobile home. A couple of days before the truck brought the big stuff, there were carloads going inside and one day it was 2 pickup loads and 3 carloads. Must have looked like a parade.
I laid awake at night, worrying about where all those boxes were going to go, so I told the movers that the boxes with 'Books' written on them, they could put those on the porch. Well, they put ALL the boxes on the porch. You can see how many there were in my "wall of boxes!" And most of them are still there!!
I have 6 large boxes of player piano rolls; about that many boxes with sheet music, not to mention pictures and special newspaper articles, obituaries, etc. etc.
I'll have to do something with it all before Sandy and Dol come for a visit.
Poor Maggie was so upset, she was locked in the bathroom with food and water. She cried and cried, I thought she was going to get hoarse. As soon as the movers left, I let her out. She spent nearly all her time on her cat tree. She looked so sad. I know she missed her old home with the cat doors and the big back yard with trees to climb.

Still More Packing

Mandy and John came down over the long 4th of July weekend. They worked their buns off. It was not a holiday.
They finished packing me up and John even mowed the grass as you can see in the above photo. He even looks like he's enjoying it. Really?
It wears me out.
Here is Mandy, packing up stuff from the shelves in the utility room. John finished packing the kitchen. Mandy cleaned out the hall closet. They both sorted the boxes and stacked them in the garage. They both did a LOT of work. This was Mandy's third weekend down. I don't know what I would have done without them.
My sisters came on two different days to pack my stuff. I'm sure I have too much.
I finally got the key to the mobile. It sure didn't look as nice after they moved out. I had my cleaning lady come out today and she will be there again tomorrow. That sure made a big difference.
My neighbor lady peddles her bike over to the pool every afternoon from one to two. She invited me to join them. I will before too long. I know I will enjoy living there with people around my age. I can't imagine Maggie the cat liking it as well as here, she has so many places to hide in the backyard, but I guess she will get used to it. I hope she'll be able to stay out of the cat traps that people put out on occasion.