Within the last blog posting I asked you to look at the pictures and find an item in one picture that was out of place.  No one found the item we wanted you to find, or at least no one mentioned that they found it.  Look at this picture of the painted eucalyptus trees and you will see someone put a pair of eye classes on the tree trunk.  Lisa and I didn’t notice the glasses until we were home reviewing our vacation pictures. 

Since Lisa and I returned from our vacation in Hawaii, I’ve been busy working in Ian & Kaylene’s backyard constructing a retaining wall (with Ian’s help). 

My racquetball buddy Don, brought over his backhoe and excavated the location where the wall was to be placed. 

Once the excavation was complete, I placed a gravel base for the concrete blocks.

 Then the fun began, moving and placing 240, sixty-six pound blocks.  That would be 15,840 total pounds.  That activity fell mostly to Ian.

After the blocks were in place, Ian graded the upper and lower portions of the yard.  The next item on the schedule is to seed the yard with grass and then build a shop in the back yard (10X14 in size).

The amount of possessions Lisa and I have accumulated over our lifetime can appear, well, overwhelming.  Especially since we are considering downsizing.  Yes, you read that right... downsizing.  Downsize is a verb, meaning to make smaller in amount, volume, or extent.  Synonyms for the word downsize include deplete, dwindle, reduce, and lessen.  All these words describing “downsize” are emotionally difficult for us simply because our household goods, our possessions, our stuff, represent our life history and the thought of letting any of it go is emotionally hard.

“Why do we have to let any of it go,” you ask?  Here’s the scoop: We are thinking of selling our home and buying another home in Anacortes, a smaller home.  Lisa and I have discussed this many times in the past, but we have never wanted to give up our beautiful home on the water.  The time has finally come, having made the difficult mental transition, we are now ready to act upon our decision to downsize.
As many of you know Lisa has great taste and none of our household goods can be considered junk.  Nevertheless, there is a lot of stuff in our 3,200 square foot home.  Getting rid of longtime possessions we’ve grown attached to isn’t going to be easy.  Every time we’ve moved in the last thirteen years we have let go of possessions, but not as much as will be required for this relocation.  This will be brutal.  But the reality is, at some point, it is no longer practical to hold on to things we don’t need simply because we’re trying to hold on to a cherished memory.  This is how we have to think of this downsizing. 

As Lisa and I have discussed what to keep and what must go, we realize we are going to have to make some really difficult choices.  We feel guilty about getting rid of some things because of the price we paid for them, or because someone special gave it to us, or because it has great sentimental value (i.e., you gave that on our second anniversary, I can’t let it go).

When the family lived in Puerto Rico many years ago I was astounded and humbled by the weight of the country’s poverty.  The very fact we have soft beds, a roof over our heads, food to eat, clean clothes to wear, and water to drink puts us leaps and bounds ahead of most of the world in terms of abundance.  Recognizing what we have, and the items we need versus what we simply “want” can be a life-changer.  I may think I need another coat, a black long-sleeved tee, or a pair of running shoes that match my sweatshirt, but really?  Most of us truly have enough.

To get through this downsizing activity Lisa and I keep reminding ourselves that people and stuff are not the same, and that we need to let go of anything that is not currently useful, despite who gave it to us, and despite how much it cost.   We are not our stuff and we are more than our possessions.  Our memories are within us, not within our things.

This will likely all happen next year.  We’ll put our home on the market in January/February and then see what happens.  If you’ve had your eye on one of our a furniture pieces, or any of our other household possessions, be the first to let us know.  

I made an appointment with my knee replacement surgeon for a nine month check-up for the purpose of knowing if my recovery was on track.  I told Doctor Hanesworth I was still having some stiffness, especially when I try to get up and move after sitting.  I also mentioned that at the end of the day, on days where I would get in 15,000 to 20,000 steps, my knee would bother me quite a bit.  His reply was, “The reason you had a knee replacement was to make sure you could continue to remain active.  Although, you may find your knee is a 10,000 step per day knee , not a 20,000 step knee.”  I have since reduced my daily steps and my knee is doing much better. 

To close out this blog posting I’m including a picture of a deer that was next to our home a few days ago.  He is a good size buck, big enough he should be sporting a good pair of antlers like the other big boys in the neighborhood (three points or better).  But, as you can see, he only has spike antlers.  Those are the biggest spike antlers I have ever seen on a black-tailed deer.