"Picture This" Orienteering Geocache - Part 2

This is mostly for those who participated in Part 1. I did not blog about part 1, so don't look for it.

Dale's son Dave and his wife Lisa visited this week and one of the things we all did together was to try a new geocache near us. It was a combination geocache, orienteering and photo identification multi-part cache. The GPS coordinates to the first cache were given. Dianna, Dale, Donna, Daryl, Dave and Lisa all joined in.

We began by driving to another parking area just a half mile or so up the river. We parked the car and used the coordinates given for the first hide and set out across hill and valley. Finding the first cache was pretty easy. In the container we found a topo map and another small section of that map with a location on it. Matching the small section to the whole map showed us where the next cache was located. We needed to use the topo map to locate it since there were no coordinates given. Fortunately my GPS has the capability of entering a bearing and distance from a known point, and we used our best guess at those items by looking at the topo map. A protractor sure would have been handy.

Also at the first location was a number that we needed to locate the final cache. Each of the first five caches had a number and a code that when put together correctly would give the GPS coordinates of the sixth and final cache.

The trek to the second cache was not too bad. Some of us tried to stay on a main trail for most of the way, but Daryl headed cross country and got there first. The third cache was quite a distance away and required a healthy climb. Lisa found it first. After comparing the small section of map to the main map we discovered that the next one was quite a long way away. In fact, it was closer to our trailer than where the car was parked. By then we were all getting tired and Donna needed to head back to check on her turkey which was in the oven. On the way back to the car we found another cache, not part of the multi-part one we were doing, right near the trail we were on, so we all logged that one too.

Today Dianna and I finished the cache. We walked from our trailer to the first cache. It was just over half a mile and a fairly easy hike. After working out the location of next cache we hiked over hill and valley again to locate it. It was about seven tenths of a mile away but was not too strenuous. There we obtained the map for the fifth cache and worked out its location. Again the hike was not terribly strenuous but it was up and down. As we neared the area of the cache we came upon a group of wild horses. They wouldn't let us get too close but they didn't bolt and run away either.

We searched for nearly half an hour for this cache. We had a photo that marked the location and we finally located the right rock outcropping, but we searched and searched for a long time without success. Finally I went around the rock and noticed a small opening. I would not have stuck my hand in there during the summer when creepy, crawly things are out, but I did and it was there. This time there was no map; just the final numbers we needed to complete the GPS coordinates of the final cache which I entered in my GPS.

This time the route took us down a very narrow canyon that required climbing over and sliding down rocks. It was a really neat place. I just would not have wanted to be there during a rain storm. After we were through the canyon we again had to climb to the top of another hill where the GPS said the final cache should be located. It was on a hill with a great view of the Salt River flowing below. After some more searching we finally located it, again in a very small crevice and completely covered with rocks. We entered our name in the log and set off for the home.

Once again we found our way blocked by a steep cliff and had to carefully work our way down to the river. We followed it back to the trailer. The total distance covered today was 2.85 miles.

We look forward to geocaching with family and friends again. I hope everyone had fun on the first half. I know you would have enjoyed this part too.

The end of an era

It is finished.

We continued packing and preparing to move the things family members wanted, and we held a very large garage sale on a Saturday and Sunday. We had pretty good luck getting rid of many of the items but were still left with quite a bit of furniture and some other things. Dale's van was immensely valuable as we used it to take two large loads to Goodwill. We also used his van to move furniture to Julie's house. Marie and Adam borrowed his dad's pickup and came for their things.

We continued to advertise furniture on Craig's list and has some success over time. We had to keep dropping prices until things were practically being given away. In fact, we finally advertised a couple things as "free", just to get someone to come take them away. Even the beautiful side by side refrigerator/freezer that lists for almost $1,900 did not sell until we lowered the price to just $250, and we finally ended up donating the dining room set to friends in the church. We donated much of Mother's art materials to a church school and another art school. We also took a van load and two car loads of items to the church where they covered 6 large tables. We just asked people to make a donation to the church in Mother and Dad's name if they could.

On Monday, January the 31st, the moving van with items going to Texas and Tennessee left, and Tuesday the moving van going to Rochester departed. The only thing left was a trundle bed which we loaded into the van along with boxes of other things for cousins Carrie and Nancy. We also took with us many boxes of family heirlooms that still need to be scanned. They now fill the upper bunk in the truck.

We spent the night at our home in Bakersfield, then convoyed to Turlock on Wednesday with Dale to deliver the bed and some of the boxes to Carrie. Dale and I visited Mike, then Carrie fixed us all a nice dinner while Dale and I built a fire in the fireplace. The next morning we said goodbye to Dale as he left for the coast to do some sightseeing and to deliver the remaining items to cousin Nancy in Arroyo Grande. Before we separated we spent most of the morning touring the airplane museum at what used to be Castle Air Force Base.

I don't know what we would have done without Dale's help and his van. He made so many trips with his van full of things. He and I also confirmed the fact that we really don't want to do furniture moving for a living. We did plenty to prove that. It was also great just having him with us. It gave us a chance to become real brothers again. I can't explain it, but in some ways it seemed like we had never been apart for all those years. I'm sure glad he is back in my life again. Thanks, man.

On Saturday the 5th we went to the house one last time to clean it for the new owners. Although we thought we had already emptied it, we still took another car full to church and filled all our trash barrels as well as the neighbors. About 5 PM we left our keys on the kitchen counter and locked all the doors. I pushed the button on the garage door opener and then jumped over the electric eye as it closed.

We had dinner that evening with Julie and Michele, then drove home to Bakersfield. It was tough saying goodbye to them too. Everyone has done so much under very difficult circumstances. We are going to miss them.

The house closed on Tuesday the 8th.

We are now in Bakersfield, catching our breath and getting ready to resume our "normal" life. We have neglected some maintenance on the truck and trailer, and have been taking our time getting ready to move again. Dianna has had a bad cold but is finally on the mend. We plan to leave here on Tuesday and make our way to Arizona to be there when Dave and Lisa visit. We don't know how long we will stay or exactly where we will go from there, but we want to be in Texas for Deidra's graduation as well as Dayna's MBA. We also have some things we would like to do to the trailer. It is nine years old now and it's time for some upgrading and remodeling.

One era ends. Another continues.

Working through all the details

I know it has been a long time since we last posted, so we need to catch everyone up to date. As planned, we continued to inventory the entire contents of the house and clean out things that could not be sold or given away. We photographed every item in the house and cataloged it in a spreadsheet. When we finally finished there were over 1100 items on the list. The photographs and the spreadsheet were distributed to all heirs for their initial selection. Everyone had the opportunity to mark any item as "I want it", or "I'll take it if no one else wants it". After tabulating all the requests we found that there were a relatively small number of items that more than one person wanted.

All three children gathered at the house again in mid December to make the final decisions. We went through each room and made the final choices. The process worked so easily and there were absolutely no issues. This has to have been the easiest, most amicable division of an estate in history. Dianna, Julie and Greg are special people who obviously were raised by some very special people as well.

The decision was made back in November to put the house on the market. There were several showings but it quickly became apparent that the market had fallen even further than any of the realtors we interviewed had thought. We lowered the price in late December and that stimulated the interest considerably. During the entire inventory process we kept the house looking as good as possible so it could be shown in its best light. That was difficult but we felt it was necessary.

After the mid December meeting to make the division decisions, we decided it was time to move forward with packing and distributing everything, even though the house had not sold. We needed to leave for Texas so we could spend Christmas with our family, but Tina stayed on to begin the packing process. Michele stayed with her and they accomplished a tremendous amount in a weeks time before returning home to NY.

We returned to California after the first of the year and have continued what Tina and Michele began. We are advertising and selling unwanted furniture on Craig's List, and we have found charitable organizations who are worthy recipients of other things. We have also given much to friends and relatives who are grateful to have things to remember the Wideners by, and who can really use some of the items. We still have a tremendous number of things that we will try to sell at garage/estate sales in the next few weeks. This is now imperative because we have accepted an offer on the house and it will go to its new owner on February 15.

Having a deadline is a good thing because we now know what we have to do and when it has to be done. We no longer have to keep the house looking good for prospective buyers, and it is now full of boxes and empty walls. All the family members have been here when they can to help with the sorting and packing, and my brother Dale has come to help us as well. He was here all of last week and plans to be here at least next week as well. This weekend he is making a quick trip to see Death Valley and plans to go to Universal Studio on Monday with Don's family.

That's about it from here. We are still staying the mostly empty house until we sell the bed we are sleeping on out from under ourselves. We don't have many pots and pans or any food in the cupboard, but we are making do. At some point we may have to make other arrangements, but we think we can hang in for a while. It will soon start to feel like camping out. We will schedule the movers sometime in the next couple weeks, and that will really make the big difference as we will have no place to sit after that. We still need to return about once a week to our rig which is still parked in Bakersfield. Other than that, it is just more packing and moving, but the end is in sight.

Our plans for the next couple months

As most readers of our blog already know, 19 days after Dianna's Dad passed away, her mother joined him. She fell and injured her back while getting ready for bed. Nothing was broken but she was in severe pain from a nasty bruise. The pain prevented her from breathing deeply or from coughing productively. Apparently this allowed an infection to slowly develop in her lungs and full blown pneumonia followed. She was just too frail to fight it off and passed away on October 24th. She was buried beside Dad on the 29th.

Of course, all the family gathered once again. It was much more difficult emotionally this time, but also a lot easier from a practical standpoint. We already knew who to contact and what to expect. Her service was almost a carbon copy of Dad's, and most of the same people attended. It was held in the church she attended for 83 years.

The biggest impact this time is that now we have a house to empty out and sell. Dianna and I had planned to stay in the area until Mother was settled in an assisted living center, so our focus just changed to going through the house, inventorying everything so we can decide who wants what, and moving forward with plans to distribute or sell everything. We spend 5 days a week in the house but return to our home, which is parked in Bakersfield, a couple days a week. The house went on the market today.

Obviously it is a tough time on everyone but time has a way of taking the edge off. We are focused on what we have to get done, but keep finding things that remind us of how much we will miss Dianna's parents. It gets easier as we go along, but easier is relative.

We plan to stay here until the middle of December when we will go to Texas to be with Dayna's family for Christmas. We have decided to buy Widener's car and we will drive it so we can license it there. We do not plan to take the trailer since we will only be there a short time, celebrating Christmas and keeping annual Dr. visits. The car is a 1999 Lexus GS300. It only has 52,000 miles on it, and Dianna and I have probably put the last 5,000 on it during the past few summers.

Greg's family will be here in early December and we hope to finalize what goes where by then. When we return after Christmas we will stay here until all the contents are distributed. Then we will move on to who knows where, and hopefully our life will again return to something approaching normal.

We both appreciate all the emails, phone calls, cards, flowers, food and prayers that have come our way from family and friends. They have helped us cope and provided much needed support.

Life Goes On

The service for Dad was done in two parts last Wednesday. First the family attended a private burial ceremony, and then we had 95 guests at a Celebration of Life at the church. Dianna, Julie, Greg and I each shared some words about Dad, and a few people in attendance also shared some memories of him. We played a slide show of his life as guests came in. He was certainly well loved and lived a full and successful life. He will be greatly missed.

Many family members attended the services and were there in support of Mom. All of Dayna's family attended from Texas, as did Darin and Diane from Tennessee. Greg's family was all there and of course, Julie, Marie and Adam. Carrie, Mike and Randi came down from Denair and nephew Terry flew in from Seattle. My brother Don and his wife Betty also attended. There were many other relatives and also friends from church, Carl's work from which he retired over 30 years ago, and many others whose lives he touched.

The family began leaving on Thursday, and by Friday only Greg's family was still here. We had a birthday dinner for Julie on Saturday evening at a restaurant in El Segundo, and said goodbye to Greg's family. They were headed home to Rochester and Boston on the red eye.

Mom held up very well throughout the week, but when we returned home from the restaurant Saturday night she had a bad fall while getting ready for bed, injuring her back. There are no broken bones but she is in a lot of pain. Our plans for the next few months are to serve as her primary care givers for several days a week, with a couple nights off each week so we can go home to our trailer in Bakersfield when another relative spells us. She does have a paid caregiver six days a week, but that is only during the day time, and she needs someone here 24 hours a day. We had not expected to be needed as nurses quite so soon, but that's what happened. Hopefully she will feel better in a couple weeks.

The tentative long term plan is for Mother to sell the house and move into an assisted living center. The scheduling and timing of those things is still somewhat up in the air, but we are moving forward with preparations. One of the things we are doing is inventorying the contents of her house in preparation for determining what she will take with her, what will go to which family member, what will be sold, and what will be disposed of in some other way. The inventory and cataloging is a huge undertaking but it must be done. I have completed only the entry way and the formal living room and have almost 150 items photographed and identified so far. Those are the two easiest rooms. This is going to take a while.

Life goes on.

Carl C. Widener Jr. Oct. 25, 1916 - October 5, 2010

Services will be held at 3:00 PM, Wednesday, October 13, at the San Fernando First Church of Christ, 606 Chatsworth Dr., San Fernando, CA.

Goodbye. We miss you.

A Sad Development and a Major Change of Plans

We have been slowly moving south toward Tennessee since leaving Cuba. We arrived in the little town of Heiskell, TN about 20 miles north of Knoxville, TN on Saturday, and made plans to do some genealogy research in the area.

A week or so ago Dianna learned that her Dad had come down with a cold and was feeling puny. That's not surprising for a man who will be 94 this month. His condition worsened suddenly during the night Friday and he was taken to the hospital by ambulance. He said he did not have the strength to get out of his chair to go to bed or to go to the bathroom. They checked him out and sent him home, saying that he just had a cold. However, his condition did not improve. In fact it continued to deteriorate.

Saturday he did get out of bed for a few minutes in the morning, but that was it. He would not eat, drink or take his medications. Julie and Betty were not able to handle his needs so Greg flew out from Rochester on Sunday to help. Carl's condition continued to go downhill Sunday and we decided Dianna should also go to California.

We made a reservation for today (Monday) for her to fly out of Nashville, the nearest large airport. After doing some shopping and packing her bags, we drove to the 100 miles to Cleveland so we could see Darin and Diane, along with Christine, Nathan and our new great grandson Skylar. Of course, he is precious, and photos will follow.

We slept in the truck in Darin's driveway, although neither of us got more than an hour of so of sleep, and Dianna continued to receive phone calls from her brother and sister during the night. The sense that the end might be near was on everyone's mind, and Carl has told everyone that he had lived long enough, was ready, and did not want to go to the hospital again. Around 7 PM last night he roused enough to agree to go to the hospital again if it would make him feel better. Greg followed the ambulance and stayed with him until shortly after midnight CA time, spending some time talking to their Dr. about hospice. About 12:30 the Dr. called Julie to tell her that he has severe pneumonia in one lung, and it was progressing in the other. He told her that while it is possible he will survive this, it is not likely. He said he will likely hang on for only a few more days at most.

This morning we drove from Darin's to the airport in Nashville, a distance of about 190 miles, and Dianna flew out for CA. She is still in the air as I write this. I drove another 200 miles back to where we left our trailer near Knoxville. Tomorrow I will start for California with our rig. We expect to be needed there for a few months while we deal with all the issues that will surely require attention. Greg and Julie both work full time, and we are in the best situation to be able to do what needs to be done.

Arrangements are being made for hospice to assist with Carl's care during his final days, and it is expected that he will be brought home tonight or tomorrow. He only rouses occasionally and does not seem to be aware of what is happening. Hopefully he will recognize Dianna one last time when she arrives. I know that would mean a lot to her, but she also knows it is not likely.

Communications may be sparse for the next few days. Dianna does have her computer with her so I'm sure she will read emails when she has a chance. I will try to make the 2,200 mile drive in 4 or 5 days, so you won't hear much from me.

I know the family appreciates everyone's thoughts and prayers.