Not long after I turned 25, I graduated from the university and went to work for an architectural firm in Albany, OR. Within two years an economic recession hit the country and I was soon on the street looking for another employer. In the next eighteen months I worked for four different firms. Two offices hired me for the duration of a specific project only; another firm I abandoned after six months because the driving distance was too great; and the final firm I said my goodbye so as to begin work at Hewlett-Packard. I took the position with Hewlett-Packard (HP) thinking, when the recession ended, I would go back to the nomadic profession of architecture. But, the golden handcuffs of HP held me tight for the next 24 years.
While working for HP I sprouted another interest: flipping houses. What started as a hobby eventually became and overwhelming housing development and I finally had to step away. While my colleagues at HP were making money in the stock market, I was making money in the housing market. I used to say to them, “I don’t play the stock market, I play the HP Credit Union.” Meaning it was so easy to get housing loans from the credit union at the time I didn’t need to invest in the market. How times have changed.
When I left HP I went back into real estate and began to design and build our own projects. Our timing was off target and just as the first project completed the next economic downturn, the housing bubble, collided head on with us. Inside of a few years I was back to a nine to five job working for the federal government.
Last year, after severing employment ties with the government, I began working with the City of Adair Village to gain approval for a new housing development on our property in Oregon. And, as always, Lisa and I have been searching for the next opportunity. We found it. We have decided to purchase a home in Anacortes, bring it up to date, and then rent it to Ian and Kaylene when they move to Anacortes later this year. When the kids move out, we will rent the home or sell it if the market is good.
The current owners of the home are members of our church. When we learned they were moving to Arizona we approached them about buying their home. We worked out a deal and we are set to close on the purchase May 15.
Another opportunity has come our way. And this is an opportunity for both Ian and me, our next career so to speak (my final career). We have chosen to go into business together as On-site Sewage System Design professionals. As stinky as this occupation sounds it really is a great opportunity, more so for Ian because he has more years of work ahead of him than I.
Most homes on the islands are connected to on-site septic systems (other than those homes located in a couple of cities and hooked up to municipal sewage systems), and those home septic systems are designed by sewage system designers. We are told that over 50% of the current designers will be retiring in a few years and this will leave an unfilled void. I hope to be licensed within a year, Ian in two years. Designers today are making $150,00 to $300,000 per year.
Ian and I took our first design class on Wednesday through the Washington On-site Sewage Association (WOSSA). It’s not rocket science, but we have a good deal to learn before we’ll feel qualified to take the state exam. The business name we have chosen is, “Timian Environmental.”
If things go well, Lisa will be retiring in a couple of years. Yahoo!
She came into my life on my 50th birthday in 2003, a gift from Chelsi and Demri. She was meant as a joke, but little did everyone know she would become a part of our lives for many years to come. She was called Cupid or Cherub, and then Baby Head. Baby Head was secretly passed along every Christmas to a different unsuspecting family member. Her gift box camouflaged so the recipient was unaware she was hiding inside, that is until the package was unwrapped and there she was. Surprise!
One year someone drew on her face before passing her on. The next year more elaborate details where added. In time it became a contest to see if the new beneficiary could outdo the last in artistic talent. In 2014 Ian’s wife Kaylene became that year’s honorary heir.
On Christmas day 2015, Chelsi’s husband Eric was gifted Baby Head. She had been enhanced many times over the years, but this was the first time Baby Head had a body. She now looked like something you might find in an creepy curiosity shop and Eric wanted nothing to do with her.
Sasha and her husband James soon found Baby Head on their doorstep, a New Years gift from Eric.
A little over a month ago, Christmas 2016, I opened a gift box from Sasha and James. It was Baby Head, but she looked quite different, yes quite different from previous years. She was painted black and white and dressed in funerary clothing. The box cradling her was her coffin. The kids decided it was time to end the 13 year long tradition. It was time for Baby Head to go, to be placed to rest.
It is with much sadness and grief I announce Baby Head was in fact laid to rest on Saturday, February 4, 2017. Fitting, I suppose, as the weather was cold and the skies gray as Mother Nature wept in a soft shower. She was placed in her grave in the green space behind our backyard, leaves covering her location so the coyotes wouldn’t find or disturb her eternal sleep. Though we are in much despair, are hearts are in good spirits for having known Baby Head for so long, and for the joy and laughter she brought to many family members.
There are certain common behaviors we as a society learn to accept and expect as we go about activities in our daily lives. Some of which are politeness, courtesy, patience, respecting others, and acting in a disciplined manner. When the light turns green you expect people to accelerate and move their cars forward. When red, you assume people will stop. It is simply good civic behavior. When humans don’t comply with these behaviors, when they don’t conduct themselves with good manners, we find it unacceptable and maybe even a little annoying. Such was the case the other night with Lisa and me at the Safeway checkout counter.
Lisa was in front as we moved into the checkout lane. Lisa was getting out our Safeway card while I began placing groceries on the conveyor belt. No sooner had I done so when the lady behind me began to place her groceries on the conveyor belt. As the belt rolled forward, soon her grocery items became mixed with ours. I was still placing our items on the belt when the cashier asked me, “Do you want your soda double bagged?” I said, “The soda is not ours.” “The cheese is not ours either, nor the hotdogs.” Confused, she looked at me and I gave a head nod in the direction of the lady behind me. Understanding, she stopped the conveyor belt. I completed placing our groceries on the belt and calmly took the items that were not ours and positioned them behind and then placed a plastic checkout lane divider on the belt to separate our groceries from hers.
It was at this time that I took a moment to scrutinize the person behind me. “You are annoying,” I thought. “You have broken the law of the checkout lane. Do you not understand grocery store etiquette?” “You’re probably the kind of person who brings more than 20 items through the express lane, you likely don’t return your shopping cart to the designated spot, and you surly spit out your chewing gum in the store parking lot.” “Ya, I know who you are. You use store sample trays of cheese, crackers, and weenies as a substitute for dinner.” My suspicions were confirmed when she just looked at me with an air of indifference. Her mouth didn’t move but her eyes said it all, “$crew you!”
