Closing ... oops .. not closing

Ok .. Today was supposed to be our closing day.

One of the things that has irked me all along this process is the 'prying out' information out of the mortgage company. Well, we were scheduled for closing today. Yesterday, My RE agent finally got hold of the new guy taking care of the mortgage (old guy is on vacation.)

One of the things the appraisal turned up was a leaking drain pipe in the basement. We knew about it. The home inspection revealed it. It was on the sheet of things to be fixed by the seller. It was agreed on. I told the mortgage guy this and, by his instruction, faxed him a copy of the agreement to fix it. Yesterday, my RE agent was told that we needed a statement where the pipe was fixed. WHAT ???? That information was never disclosed to us. The underwriters cannot proceed until that is done.

That is being fixed this weekend. Our closing should be done by next Friday. That is the weekend before the week that students return to school in Clark County. It will make taking off to move and settle in that much harder.

Oh well. Life goes on.

Cheating .. but it is funny

Three things to think about

1. Cows
2. The Constitution
3. The Ten Commandments

Cows

Is it just me, or does anyone else find it amazing that our government can track a cow born in Canada almost three years ago, right to the stall where she sleeps in the state of Washington? And, they tracked her calves to their stalls. But they are unable to locate 11 million illegal aliens wandering around our country. Maybe we should give them all a cow.

The Constitution

They keep talking about drafting a Constitution for Iraq. Why don't we just give them ours? It was written by a lot of really smart guys, it's worked for over 200 years and we're not using it anymore.

The Ten Commandments

The real reason that we can't have the Ten Commandments in a courthouse...You cannot post "Thou Shalt Not Steal," "Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery" and "Thou Shall Not Lie" in a building full of lawyers, judges and politicians -- it creates a hostile work environment.

Goodbye to a dear friend

Animals were put on this earth for the service of man.
Each serves differently depending of species
Some get very close to our hearts

Malcolm was one of those.
He was boxer, weighing in around 85 pounds.
He was stout and all muscle.
He was a beautiful animal and a great friend.
He rarely barked, but when he did, you knew he meant business.
He loved to play.
He loved to run.
He loved wrestling with me, Tammy, or the kids.
Tammy and Kyle fed him.
Tammy cleaned up after him.
But, he was my dog.
He walked in and immediately attached himself to me.
He would walk by my side and listen attentively.
Oh, he was stubborn and stupid at times.
He was loved as much as I have ever seen a dog loved.
He like most people immediately.
Some he took a while deciding that he liked.
He was generally a great judge of character.
He loved riding.

Malcolm died today.
He died in our arms.
We tried mouth to mouth, to no avail.
He got hot on a trip back from South Carolina.
He panted.
He calmed down and laid down.
His breathing got labored.
We stopped and tried to save him.

We brought him home and buried him.
I miss him terribly.

We are away on a mini vacation .. y'all have a fun 

The Appraisal

cool beans.

The house appraised for 43% more than we are paying. If we were looking at the house as an investment, it is a great one. We are looking, however, at the house as a great place to live and finish raising kids. It is in a smaller town (pop. Just over 5600.) We are leaving a town with a population of 268,080 per 2005 census. Tammy swears they are all on Nicholasville Rd around the time she takes Chris home. Nicholasville Rd. is a road through town that has 6 lanes. Mt Sterling has a 4 lane by-pass and the rest of the streets are 2 lanes. We have made a dozen trips to the town and have only encountered traffic tie-ups at the interstate exit where they are doing construction. We will not know how to drive without a traffic jam.

Besides the traffic, there are many other features that make it so desirable. You will see and hear those as time goes on.

We will be leaving for South Carolina in the morning, so we will be incommunicado for a couple days. I hope everyone has a great weekend.

Working on .....

You cannot know true love until you have felt the pain of its sharp bitter bite. It is in the healing that you find the purest nectar.

We will see where it goes .....

Vacationing resumes

The second two week vacation ensued on Saturday actually. Although there is no sleeping late (the taking Chris to work thing), there is opportunity to slip back into bed for sleep, cuddling, other bed activities, or just to be in the bed in the middle of the day.

Saturday morning, we head out to Columbia, South Carolina. That is the halfway point to pick up Kyle from Florida. It will be good to have the little chatterbox back home.

The house buying progresses along. I signed a dozen or so papers on Monday. I think I even signed a paper stating that I was allowed to sign all the papers. The packing continues. We are looking for more boxes. There is an entire blog in moving about the collecting of stuff. Stuff is the fabric of our lives. We collect stuff to remind us of every significant event in our lives. Some of the stuff will only be seen a few more times in our lives. However, we must keep it as it is our tie with our past. We only move into bigger houses when our past (stuff) begins to crowd us. We move, to find a bigger place to keep all of our stuff.

Stuff.

You know you have some. You know, sometime today, you will get some stuff that you will save. You will shove it into your purse or pocket. It may be at the end of the day, or days later, you will pull it out and give it the once over. You will relive the moment the stuff became important. Then, you will, either, find a place to store it for future trips down memory lane, or discard it as it has fulfilled it usefulness.

Stuff.

It is out there, in drawers, in closets, in garages, in storage boxes, in basements, in special stuff compartments of purses, in the folding money part of your wallet, in file cabinets, and all the other various places we put our stuff.

Stuff.

We come into marriages with our stuff in tow. We drag it all over the city and country. We horde it and guard it. It is our stuff.

Players On Ice

I was reading one of the online sports mags. They were going on about Ben Roethlisberger and his recent motorcycle accident. If you haven't been watching, Mr. Roethlisberger had an accident on his motor cycle that nearly took his life. There was internal bleeding and head trauma. He admits that he was seconds away from dying and gives great credit to the EMTs at the scene. I am glad Ben is okay now. He is the starting QB for the 2005/2006 Super Bowl Champion Pittsburgh Steelers.

It is a great story of recovery and courage. There are extenuating events that have come up since the accident. Firstly, BR wasn't wearing a helmet (which he claims was unusual for him.)

Secondly, there are certain factions that are calling for clauses in contracts of major sports stars to prohibit them from engaging in life endangering activities. Now, football is a life threatening activity to begin with, but to think that athletes should be prohibited from riding motorcycles is ludicrous. Who decides what is dangerous? If I am paying an athlete $10 million per year, shaving is a dangerous activity.

I say we cryogenically freeze all athletes and only unthaw them for games. This will seriously limit their abilities to hurt themselves and/or embarrass the team. Teams could have a slew of players 'on ice.' They could thaw out only the players they need. The rest could be stored in a cryo chamber in the locker room. It is the perfect idea.

We could even expand its application to lawyers. It would work for Doctors. Why stop there? Go on to teachers, bus drivers, garbage men, anyone and everyone is eligible. Hmmmmm... even bloggers ? nahhhhhhhh !!

A beginning ...

She hates that shy nervous laugh even as she hears it coming out of her throat. He is dark and mysterious. It turns her on to be around him. His voice is like pure black magic claiming her soul. Yet, she can’t find the voice to tell him these simple truths. She finds herself wanting to be witty around him and fearing that she just sounds like a silly schoolgirl.

The chance that he can see the barely contained desire in her eyes forces her to avert her gaze. She is afraid he knows and afraid he will never know, all at the same time. She aches to be alone with him and still has reservations of what that might bring. She dreams he is trying to seduce her with his words and worries that he is just making polite conversation.

Minutes ago, she held her circle captive with her banter. They hung on every word, until he walked near. She felt his aura invade her space like a conquering host. In his presence, she became a shrinking violet. Her body fought against her speech. Her lips begged not to be betrayed. Her bosom heaved, her eyes danced, her fingers ached to touch, and her tongue pled to taste his.

Where will we go from here ?

I am THE dog ! 

You know you love me 

Yes, i am a goofy dog 

did you call me ? 

Malcolm taking a break 

Inspection return

The owners returned the inspection report and agreed to fix all the items on the list. YEAH !

There were some changes. They agreed to provide the insulation if we put it in. That is doable. Oh, Chris, we have a job for you. They agreed to replace 2 of the 5 windows and repair the remaining 3. We can live with that. The stone post will be repaired or removed. The plumber will be there soon to fix the plumbing problems. They agreed to extend the vent pipe. They agreed to pay for termite treatment as well. It is looking good.

I will have more to report when there is more to report.

Oh yeah, this is funny:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bayat/sets/152374/

Have a great day !

Inspections

Today was the day of the home inspection and the termite inspection. The termite inspection revealed some shelter tubes, which were indicative of some past termite activity. The inspector called for termite treatment. The seller has to pay for that.

The Home Inspector told us we were stealing the house. He figured the value at nearly twice what we will be paying for the house. There were 11 items that he wrote up, some insignificant and some requiring work. He did tell us that if we didn't buy the house, he would be interested. He said the things there were wrong were things that could be easily fixed, for the most part. There were some nails that needed to be nailed back down on the roof. There was a problem with the hot water in the tub. There was some old knob and tube wiring under the house that needed to be replaced by an electrician (wonder if I know any of those.) Ron (home Inspector) said the nothing was inconsistent with a 60 yr old house that had been well maintained. He recommended buying the house, as its value will only go up, and it will "last longer than we will."

We are meeting with our RE Agent tonight to figure out the particulars of the 'where we go from here'.

The adventure continues ...

Living in one single tear

By the time it gently pushes itself down a cheek,
How many other hopes or fears have joined it,
To dwell on the cusp of a chin,
Before falling into oblivion;

So often, it is much more than the moment
There has been the welling
Until one single event produces the wound
And yesterday’s rain pours forth;

Hope produces a share
Hurt joins it there
Joys cannot resist its addition
Even love has its storm

There is a flow inside all of us
Fed from the heart
Gently coursing through all we do
Our lives resting in the serene lapping
Of the waves pressing our shores

Somewhere, off in the nether
A storm, almost unnoticed, rains down
A backwoods stream fills its banks
Rushing with a new urgency
To the mainstream

It may take minutes
It might take days
It could linger in the pool
Just waiting for its release
A word, a look, a rush
A tearing, a pouring, sweet release
Making room
A healing, a restoration, a patching
And the well begins to fill anew

A drop falls into oblivion
Giving its place to the next

Ron Simpson, Jr.
July 9, 2006

Crack

Dang, I will be so glad to move.

We are having work done on the upstairs here. Yesterday, the guy that came to look at a problem with a door, knocked on our door, and presented Tammy with a bottle that he found in the drive way, well, to the side of the driveway in the grass. It was a prescription bottle for Hydrocodone (lortab). The contents were not what was on the label . In the bottom were three of four small rocks of Crack Cocaine. On top of those were two small (about as round as a quarter) plastic bags filled with a white powder, resembling cocaine.

I called the local police and reported this find. They sent an officer to the house to gather the stuff. He checked it out and agreed with us that it was most likely cocaine. The bottle was for a prescription that was filled on 6/27/06. So, it was fairly new. There was a name and address on the label that was still on the bottle. He said he would go to the address and ask if they were missing a prescription.

When I called the police, the guy working upstairs got in his truck and left. He wasn't the owner of the drugs, but he didn't want to be around cops and drugs, he said. He suggested that they would probably arrest me. I laughed. Why would I call them to report drugs on my property if I were a dealer or user? The officer did sit in his car for a bit after we gave him the drugs and our info. I am sure he was checking out the address and name on the label. I am also sure he checked me out as well. I have no record whatsoever. I have never been arrested. I have never been detained. I have never spent so much as a minute in any jail, unless I was working on it.

I am sure there are drug problems where we are moving. However, the road we live on is a major thoroughfare. It connects two main streets in our town. There is a constant stream of traffic, both vehicular and pedestrian, day and night. All of my neighbors are upstanding citizens. Both neighbors immediately to my sides are business owners. The neighbors across the street are business owners. Now, if you venture very far, you will come to some weekly rental properties. These do attract some bad elements. So, there are some problem neighbors a bit away, but it doesn't come here. Usually. The address on the bottle was 3 blocks from here.

I talked to the RE agent yesterday. I let her know that the home inspection and termite inspection are scheduled. I spoke to the Mortgage Broker, we are working on speeding up the process to give us an earlier closing date, to give us more time for the move and set up, before school starts back for me. He says things are going well, but would see if he can't speed things up a bit.

Moving day is coming ! Yeah !

Dang Illegal Aliens

We were watching the channel of eternal repeats of upcoming events, when they previewed yet again, an episode about the search for Atlantis. Ah, Atlantis, the mythical land that was perportedly swallowed by the sea.

The whole story started in 355BC with Plato, the Greek philosopher. Plato planned, but never got around to, writing a trilogy discussing the nature of man, the creation of the world, the story of Atlantis, and other subjects. He completed only the first of the trilogy.

Plato told stories with dialoge. If he wanted his reader to know something, he made it a point of conversation, debates, and/or arguments between characters in his stories. He often used real people in his stories, but the words they spoke were his.

In his book, Timaeus, a character tells the account of Atlantis that had been in his family for generations. According to Kritias, it was a powerful empire on an island in the Atlantic Ocean. The nation there had been established by Posideon. Posideon, supposedly, fathered five sets of twins on the island. Posideon divided the land in to ten sections, each to be ruled by one of his heirs.

The capital city of Atlantis was a marvel of architecture and engineering., composed of a series of concentric walls and canals. It had a hill in the center, upon which was a temple to Posideon.

About 9000 years before the time of Plato, the people became corrupt and greedy to the amount that the gods decided to destroy them. A violent earthquake shook the land, giant waves rolled over the shores, and the island sank into the sea, never to be seen again.

The ideas about the fact or fiction of Atlantis has been ballied back and forth for centuries. According to some believers, the gods were primative mens way of expressing their concept of aliens from outer space. They embrace the idea that aliens helped the ancient Egyptians build the pyramids. Aliens helped ancient men build Atlantis. When we find this city, we will have the proof that we have been visited by space aleins many times.

The kicker is: Even if/when we find the lost city, it will open more questions than it could ever answer. It wont prove anything and whatever is found will be used as fuel for each side to prove or disprove whatever theory to which they attach them.

This is where I say, "I said all that to say this."

I can almost (tongue in cheek) believe that aliens helped with the building of pyramids and Atlantis. Look around Lexington and the surrounding communities. There isnt anything being built that doesn't involve aleins working non stop. I can see it now, in my mind (scary place,) the space men, needing some pyramidding done, stopped by the Mars Labor Ready and picked up some alien day labor. They cruised up in their pick-up space ship and several aliens jumped in for a day trip to Earth. A quick trip to Earth, some nice work in the blazing desert sun, and they returned in the evening with enough space credits for a belly full of Martian hooch. Some of them might have slipped away and set up residence on Earth.

But that is another story ....

still vacationing ... sorta

I am still vacationing, along with trying to get the home and termite inspection scheduled for the house we have under contract.

I started writing this a day or so ago.

The active or the passive life.

Several years ago, I looked over my life and discovered, at that point, that I was a floater, as I call it. I was floating through life. I got up each morning. I went to work. I paid my bills. I contributed to the economy. I talked to my friends. I went out occasionally. I went to bed. The whole process repeated itself again.

I wasn't under happy. I was content for the most part. Until, I inventoried. It was then I decided to make changes in my life. Some were small, while others were broad sweeping changes. One of those changes was getting married to Tammy, whom I had been dating for 18 months.

I became an active participant in my life.

Recently, I have seen the subtle nuances of 'settling down' creeping back in. Routine is trying to claw it's way back to dominance. Now, understand this, there is nothing wrong with getting up every day and going to work. There is nothing wrong with paying your bills. There is nothing wrong with having a group of friends and socializing with said friends. However, it is far too easy to become a passive participant in life.

There are times, and there must be, when you have to cut across the current. There are times you have to strike out against the status quo and shake up the normal. The people who do that are the ones you read about in the paper. I am not talking about the ones committing outrageous acts of violence or mayhem. Social disobedience for the sake of profit or attention is not actively participating in life. More often then not, those people are being drawn by the current they have created in their life . If we follow the progression of events that lead to such acts, we will most likely find a pattern escalating and leading to whatever event captured our attention.

I also think that social change most often comes from one individual rallying others to a common cause that may have began as a cause of one, and grew. Perhaps it was just too far to make it to the back of the bus that day for Rosa Parks, or perhaps she made a conscious choice to effect a revolutionary change. Either way, her active choice lead to sweeping changes in a nation.

There have been others throughout history that have, for the sake of one or the sake of the whole, effected change, by being an active participant. While I am not comparing myself to these individuals, I feel that everyone of us needs to be an active participant in our lives. Everest was not scaled because someone was following everyone. Continents and countries were not found and founded because someone was following the crowd.

Everyone should be an active participator. There are times that the flow of the current is taking you where you want to go. Others times, it is imperative to cut your rudder across the current and set your oars to water.

To be continued ....