Saturday, December 24, 2011

Where did last year go?

Wow, I just looked at this blog and realized I haven’t written anything since that bad experience at the hotel. A Year ago! The good news is I don't get paid by the word. The bad news is I don't get paid at all... Well much has happened since then.

Because of my son, Johnny, going to Kaohsiung American School with different winter holidays and the price of airline tickets skyrocketing, we stayed in Taiwan for the holidays. Christmas was in Taiwan as usual and for a change we celebrated Chinese New Year there also.

I took another bike ride up Ali Shan (Ali Mountain), this time making it to the top. I started the first day with Gary Sampson, an American living in Kaohsiung. He was training for a race so I slowly took him way out of town before I needed a nap and he was then able to race back home. My second and third days were all uphill and I learned that I never wanted to see another mountain again. I took half a day looking for an alternate way home knowing that there were a couple uphill stretches on the way “down” but ended up having to ride to the bottom of the hill where my wife picked me up.

In May we started packing to come back to Arizona “for good” and started exploring ways to best ship everything. Our conclusion was that there was no best way. Too many company moves or military moves kept us move-yourself type people out of the market. As I really only had three pieces of furniture I wanted to keep, we left it all there. Then there was the dilemma of personal stuff. What did we really need? How would we ship it? The post office turned out to be the cheapest as far as shippers, but as we had upgraded our flight to business class we got a greater luggage allowance. We ended up taking five extra bags, and with shifting contents and repacking we ended up only paying for three. Hsien-Ling is a hard bargainer. There is still some stuff I want to bring back but that will have to wait until a vacation.

Back in Bullhead I started back to work, catching up on all the things I had put off over 15 years since I was only here a short time each time. So many things at the house needed to be fixed and we are working through them. New curtains, blinds and valances along with a built-in entertainment center/curio cabinet. New refrigerator, new shower (twice, don’t ask). New canopy cover for the patio. New (used) truck. New gate at the airport which meant fix the backhoe water truck, steel wheel roller and tack-oil sprayer as well as rejuvenate the grader, rubber-tire roller and compressor. The airplane was just finishing up its annual and needed new baffles, it had to be something. No problems with the boat though, we don’t have one… At the storage yard both golf carts and the Ranger needed to be worked on. Slowly I thought I was getting caught up but am now buying out my partner at the airport. Now all the headaches, and debt service, are mine. How special.

Christmas is here and we have a tree and lights on the house. I know, I have had lights on the house for 15 years, but they never worked, we were never here, and they only faced my brother’s house next door. His house wasn’t there when I put them up.

But life is good, with friends and family around, we have work (paying work would be nice) and we have our health, such as it is: getting old is not for wusses. This year we had three friends pass away, one from old age catching up to him, and two at the Reno Air Race. We will miss them terribly. I have another friend in the hospital with bladder cancer and we are hoping for his recovery.

The new year will bring many new adventures and challenges, making life the wonderful event that it is.