Moving again......

Dear Friends and Family,

If nothing else, you can almost always count on something happening to or with us. Lol. Our news this week is we are on the fast track to move - unexpectedly, of course. We rented this place with a six month lease; however, we received a letter in the mail last week from the Lee County Court house informing us this house has been foreclosed on and will be sold in a public auction to the highest bidder on August 3rd; we have to vacate the premises. We are currently looking for something to lease beginning August 1st. We're not stressing over it. We'll just move and be done with it. I'll keep you posted.

Nothing else happened through the week. Jimi was able to get the boat completely ready for the river trip, so now we just wait for the water to rise. Currently it's just under 4 feet and we need 4 1/2, but would prefer 5. He continues to go through the mass amount of things we removed from the boat. I just work and find myself getting a bit of cabin fever. It's temporary and I'll get through it.

Sunday we ventured over to Englewood to look at the dry dock area, and while there we met with a wedding officiant and spent a few hours on the beach. Again it was amazing. The dolphins were never ending. We watch them swim by and some into the swimming area consistently. Even the pelicans hung out with ease.The shells are plentiful and I gathered another bag full.

I'm sorry, but I do not have any pictures for you this week.

Love everybody,

Lorie & Jimi

309 Square Feet and endless yard space

Dear Friends and Family,

We've had a full non-stop week.

I already told you about seeing Heidi Newfield in concert on July 4th. Wednesday, we were given tickets (by our friend Joan) to the Broadway Musical "Annie". We weren't expecting much, but it turned out to be an exceptional performance. A nice evening out and well worth it.

Thursday morning was the big day to close on our sail boat. We left home at 7am and arrived back home around 8pm. It was a long day. We met with the broker to close the sale and picked up the sails from the repair shop. The sails have been sitting at the repair shop for five years. The previous owner had them repaired and paid for them, but never picked them up. We then went to the boat to assess what we had. It was so full of junk and disorganized, we could hardly move around inside and certainly couldn't figure out what was what. We spent hours moving things around, peeking inside all the cubby and storage holes, etc. Right around suppertime, we decided to call it a day and head home. We loaded as much as we could fit in the bed of the truck.

We went back to the marina (3 hours away) on Saturday with the plan to completely unload the boat. We took the pickup and the trailer. It went well; however, it was a long hard hard day. We barely got everything to fit, but we did it and now our house is amazingly full of more stuff, stuff, and stuff. In fact we hauled more stuff out of that boat than we brought to Florida - absolutely amazing. Now we'll have to go through it to see what's what. We've agreed to ship some things to the previous owner, who lives in Oregon. Some things are no longer any good and will be thrown out, and some things will go back on the boat after it's moved and cleaned up.

Now, let me describe the vessel to you a little.

It is 39 feet long. It has a center cockpit with two companionways (doors going inside). One going into the aft berth (back bedroom) and the other going in the the saloon and galley (dining room and kitchen). We have a full forward berth (front bedroom) with a six drawer dresser, a nice large wet locker, a little sink, and it's own head (toilet). The galley has a cute little sink, and gimbal stove, a cooler, and lots of storage. The saloon looks like it would seat about six comfortably and also folds down to make a full size berth. Through the hallway is a navigation station, a closet and a workbench. A huge engine room and work area is located under the cockpit. The aft berth has a nice large closet, a six drawer dresser, a little sink, and a head with a shower. Throughout the boat there is storage in every little nook and cranny. The boat has a lot more room than we were ever imagined. I've attached some pictures, but please keep in mind the boat is messy.

Our next step is to now wait for the water to rise. Some places in the lake are only 3 1/2 feet deep, and we have a 4 1/2 foot draft. As soon as we are able, we'll motor it to Port Charlotte. More details on this later. For now we wait, but while we're waiting we have plenty of "stuff" to do. Lol

Love everybody,

Lorie & Jimi

Celebrate Freedom!!

Dear Friends and Family,

Jimi and I are in awe that we haven't even been here a month yet and we are settled in place to live and have found a boat. The seller accepted our purchase offer - UNBELIEVABLE! We signed the paperwork and wired the deposit the beginning of last week, and then wired the balance by the end of last week. Now we wait for the closing, which is scheduled for this coming week. I'll be sure to send pictures on the next update.

We spent Sunday at the beach on Sanibel Island, currently our favorite place. We bought the whole beach setup: a big beach umbrella, two beach chairs, brought our cooler and big beach bag. It was great and we fit right in now. I felt the water was much colder, but Jimi thinks I'm crazy - Haha.

We watched a few movies throughout the week and managed to find a few programs on TV to get in to, considering we only get five channels on the antenna.

We continue to deal with "the house". Jimi woke up at 1am one morning last week to the sounds of gushing water. A pipe/hose burst under the kitchen sink resulting in an inch of water covering the living room and kitchen floors. He turned the water off, put jack stands under the couches, removed anything else from the floor and scooped up the standing water with a dust pan. He spent about an hour and a half cleaning up the mess. I do not understand how, but I slept through the entire thing. Lol.

We had a special treat last Tuesday when our friend and co-worker, Paul Fisher, stopped by to visit us while in the area. We went out to dinner at a great little place on that canal called The Joint. It was really neat to see someone from home. :-)

Jimi and I had a pretty special 4th! We joined thousands of Cape Coral residents for a Heidi Newfield concert, compliments of the city of Cape Coral; we got front row spots. I was great. Heidi opened singing Johnny Cash's 'Ring of Fire' and ended by singing our 'love' song' Johnny and June'. After the concert we watched the fireworks and then drove home with the windows down, radio blasting and singing at the top of our lungs. It was a great evening.

We are excited for the week to come - so stay tuned.

A VERY CELEBRATORY INDEPENDENCE DAY TO ALL!!

Love everyone,

Lorie & Jimi

A nice looking family

Dear Friends and Family,

Another incredible week in Cape Coral, Florida. We are so blessed and happy about it.

Jimi spent the week researching and studying more sail boats. He looked at a 39' Allied Mistress on Monday. The price was a little higher than what we were wanting to pay, so after going through it, he mentally set it aside. On Thursday he looked at another 39' Allied Mistress with a much lower price tag. He decided it was worth an offer, so he made an appointment for me to look at it on Friday and we submitted an offer. However, the offer is 54% the asking price; we should hear something this week. If it goes through, we're anticipating a years worth of work to get it ready. I won't go on about it right now, we'll just wait to see what happens.

We were lazy on Saturday and simply hung around the house.

Sunday was full and gratifying. We spent a couple of hours on Fort Myers beach and swimming the Gulf then, we drove South through the everglades. We stopped on the side of the road so I could hold (burp) a five foot alligator.

Yes, Vicki they are still there and we confirmed our visit in November. We stopped on the side of the road to see another wild alligator and take some pictures, however, we barely got the to side of the creek before we were attacked by hundreds of mosquitoes. It was seriously like something out of a sci-fi movie. We hauled butt back to the car waving our arms and slapping our legs, backs, and heads like crazy people. We weren't even safe getting into the car, as half of the mosquitoes got in with us. The only thing we could do was drive and drive fast with all the windows down. A few were laying low, but we eventually got rid of all of them. It sounds bad and it was. but on the other hand it was extremely comical.

Sunday evening we went over to our ex-host and now friend, Joan's house for dinner. We had a blast. She fed us appetizers, salad and lasagna. We talked and laughed for hours. The best part is she is insisting she help with our wedding. She has chairs, tables, beach umbrellas, coolers, warm food containers, a smoker, and more that we can borrow for the wedding/reception on the beach. This will be a HUGE help to us and we couldn't ask for anything more. This is truly a blessing.

We will of course keep you posted on what happens with the sail boat. Keep your toes and fingers crossed.

Love everybody,

Lorie & Jimi

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY

Dear friends and family,

Jimi went to our new house early Monday morning to wait for the town to come by to turn on the water. While he waited he unloaded the truck and trailer. When the water was turned on, several leaks were found; one of them being really bad. Jimi had the city leave the water on and he turned off the main.He called the landlord, who scheduled a plumber for Tuesday morning at 8am. In the meantime, I got off work and brought the car over to unload it and begin unpacking the house. Our first night in the house was not too bad other than not having any water or a paranoid cat meowing all night.

The plumber never showed up the next morning, so Jimi took it upon himself to begin working on the leak and fixed it. The landlord knocked some dinero off our next months rent. Yay. By Wednesday evening, we had water.

We went several days trying to beat the heat, and when we did finally decided to turn the air on, it didn't work. We called the landlord again and someone came out to fix it. Now we are cooling off. Other minor problems are many of the electrical outlets don't work and the floor in the second bedroom is ruined from water damage. However, I think we can get by without those.

We are all unpacked and settled quite comfortable. Too comfortable, Jimi says.

Saturday we went out in search of yard sales. We found two amazing white couches for free sitting on the side of the road. The back cushions were missing but we went to the Restore and bought a bunch of large throw pillows for $1 a piece. Then we stopped by the Goodwill and found an awesome microwave for $10. By the end of the day, after rearranging our furniture, we were quite proud of our resourcefulness'.

Sunday we went to the Sanibel Island beach to scope out a wedding spot and enjoy some fun in the sun. We swam in the Gulf, soaked up the sun, collected sea shells and watched the wildlife. We witnessed long beaked fish digging for grub in the sand, fish jumping out of the water fighting the current to avoid being swept to shore, two large pelicans just floating in the sea as they had nothing better to do, and a pod of dolphins passing by in the same location we had been swimming just moments earlier. We watched them from the beach in awe. We picked up a beautiful orange and black shell, then realizing a sea creature was still inside staring at us. We returned him to the bottom of the ocean.

Despite our rocky start with the house, we are doing well and ecstatic with everything. Molly is doing super. Jimi has found a couple of prospective sail boats that he'll go take a look at this week.

I dropped my ring off at the jewelers last Friday and am making wedding plans/arrangements. We'll have a beach wedding and reception on November 5th. Afterwards we'll watch the sun set with cocktails in hand. We know it may be a lot to expect you to come out, but I will send invitations anyhow. Whether you came for the weekend or stay longer to vacation and sight sea, it would be so much fun and mean the world to us.

Here are some pictures of our house: Our living area, with the free couches and $10 in couch pillows, our homemade bedroom furniture, and our offices.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY

Love everybody,
Lorie & Jimi

No longer homeless

Dear Friends and Family,

We accomplished so much this week and are way ahead of where we thought we would be now. We immediately began looking for places to rent, or Jimi did anyhow, while I worked. We set up an appointment on Wednesday to look at a three bedroom, two bath house and ended up signing a 6 month lease on the spot. The place is quite run down, but the price is incredible and we know it's temporary. We spent the weekend cleaning and doing repairs. We were suppose to be able to move in on Saturday, but the town turned the water off because their 'water leak indicator' showed that something was turned on. We'll have them come back out on Monday, and hopefully all will be well and we can move in.

The previous tenants left some old junky furniture, but Jimi and I have gone through it and basically with some paint and creativity will be able to utilize all of it.We bought a small cute kitchen table and some old kitchen chairs. We'll paint and recover the kitchen chairs to our liking. Our bed will be made from an old entertainment center for the frame, covered by a piece of plywood, and our futon. We'll then make bed tables with boxes and plywood cut to fit the shape. We need to get some fabric coverings for the bed tables and a couple of used bed lamps. We found a free patio table on the side of the road, and our bed n breakfast host gave us some patio chairs. All we are missing right now are a couple of comfy chairs for the living room and a dresser. I saw some free dressers on Craig's List, so we'll check in to those. And until we can get some chairs for the living room, we'll use our Coleman camping chairs. We're thinking we'll go ahead and buy a cheap/used washer and dryer set to avoid the laundry mat.

Jimi took me out and about each evening after I got off work. It's different here, but I like it. I love the weather. It's hot, but right now it agrees with me. Currently the priority has been to get settled in the house, but Jimi has also been searching for boats. He's found a few good prospects and is hoping to be able to get out on his motorcycle next week to see them first hand.

Friday night Jimi took me to Sanibel Island. While sitting on the beach he presented me with a diamond ring buried in shells and asked me if I would marry him. I was shocked and speechless.I said yes of course, and I am thrilled; we are both thrilled. If we can get some family and friends out here, we'll do a ceremony on the beach with leis, a BBQ, and beverages in shorts and flip flops; Brad, get your Hawaiian shirts back out - Lol.We are thinking November, as the weather should be in the high 70s. If it doesn't look like we'll have guests, we'll have a private ceremony on August 30th. More info to come.....

That's all for now.

Love Everybody,

Lorie & Jimi

We made it...

Dear Friends and Family,

I wanted to give you a quick update to let you know we arrived at our temporary destination in Florida.

The trip went amazingly well and we had no problems what so ever despite what Jimi refers to as our 'ghetto-train'. We left Stamford about 9:30am on Saturday. We drove through Kansas (hitting major cities of Topeka and Kansas City), Missouri (hitting Kansas City and St. Louis), and Illinois. We drove 700 miles and after 14 hours stopped about 11:30pm at a camp ground in Johnston City, IL.

Sunday we traveled through Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee (Nashville) and all the way through Georgia. We again traveled 700 miles getting a hotel just 12 miles from the Florida border.

Monday, the final stretch, we were able to take our time and relax a bit. We didn't get started until 9:30am arriving in Cape Coral about 4pm for a total of 360 miles.

Our host and host house is very nice. There is an empty lot next to us, so we can park our vehicles. Mollycat stays tucked away in our bedroom. Joan, our host, has a 120lb lab who is the most lovable and playful dog ever. The house is complete with a tiki bar and she allows us to feel right at home.

Jimi has been busy contacting people for places to rent, while I'm back to work. He took me to Fort Myers beach for a bit on Monday evening and Tuesday evening we took a nice drive out and about and over to Pine Island. It's great!

More to come....


Love everybody,

Lorie & Jimi