……..and we will be on our way.  So exciting! 

Steve returned home Sunday from a family reunion in Kansas while I sat this one out and stayed home.  It was a big one and Steve said that there were cousins that he had not seen in many, many years.  He was so shocked at how much some of them had aged that he had nightmares that night.  On the other hand everyone fussed over Steve not aging hardly at all.  (It’s all that healthy vegan eating).

We have been having rain every day and hail quite often too.  Molly just goes nuts when we have thunderstorms and wants to run around outside and bark at the sky.  Yesterday I let her stay outside for the whole storm and naturally she became soaking wet.  Otherwise she is whining and crying uncontrollable if I make her stay inside.

Our future tenants found a condo to rent in the Breckenridge area until they can move in here so won’t be using our RV after all. It’s just as well because I like having it in our driveway to slowly pack up as I come across things that need to go in.  More than once they have mentioned that when they sell their house in California that they would like to buy ours.  I told them there are three reasons that (for now) keep me from wanting to sell:  1) Loving the town of Manitou 2) My daughter wants to inherit this house, and 3) Our wisteria:

We planted this Wisteria right after our return from RVing in Europe in 2011 and it has taken off.  These are rarely seen in Colorado but ours is happy.  Supposedly they take many years to bloom if ever but ours already had one bloom this year.  Steve put up a double row of wire all along the front porch so that it will eventually reach both ends.  Our future tenants said they would keep one room for us and we could stay in the house anytime.  Now if they are serious……….?

The tenants we had 2009-2011 let everything die including a Clematis so we had to start all over again.  I should have taken a picture of the whole plant as it has probably 60 blooms on it now.

Everything is looking so good this year that it will be hard to leave.  But THIS time I am quite sure our new tenants will keep the yard up.  In fact Linda diagnosed one of the bushes’ problem and knew the names of a lot of  the plants.

Poor Steve takes one step forward and two steps back with all that keeps happening.  One tree died over the winter so he had to cut it down.  His method is to start at the top and whittle away until there is nothing left.  I accidentally snapped this picture just as a log was falling.

Booked our cruise to New Zealand as it was filling up fast. There were only 3 interior cabins left.  We had two cruises in mind that ended in New Zealand; rather than being round trip from Australia as most are.  One sold out completely and the prices were even creeping up on the one we booked.  This one is more expensive than the one that was sold out but has a better itinerary and is two days longer. 

Still have to reserve a camper van for  Australia and New Zealand.  That is the hardest part because of all the variables in pricing and what is or is not included.  They all have their contracts on line which are lengthy but I sure do recommend reading every single word.