Author Archives: disneydad55

About disneydad55

American and California Native born to emigrant Canadian parents. Married for 32 years to my Best Friend!!!, and have a Beautiful Daughter. I enjoy traveling and have only ten states and six provinces to go before I have visited all of the United States and Canada.

Barry’s Thoughts and Quirks

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A year and a half ago we moved to Trilogy, not wanting to be in an “Active Adult 55+” or “HOA” again! Well let me tell you, I love living in Trilogy (Active Adult 55+ and HOA) with all it’s amenities. Yesterday after I finished my two 1/2 mile speed walks and a circuit on the weight machines (between the two walks) I got a Diet Coke from the Vista Cafe to enjoy while I waited for Sandi to finish her swim. This is the life, if you’re still young and working, this is what your working towards!!!

My View!

After 45 years of working for someone else, I now work for me!!!

Our “Last Thoughts” from our 2019 Spring Road Trip

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IMG_0966Our “Last Thoughts” and things we forgot to tell you about our 2019 Spring Road Trip has been posted on “Rollin’ Down the Hallway”.  This post has a LOT of pictures with a lot of color.

As we finish settling in back at home, we are excited about our next trips.  The summer will see us traveling near home in North California; then this fall we will be visiting sixteen states four that are on the other side of the Mississippi or as Clark Griswold said “ the mighty Miss, the old miss, the old man…..Deep River”.  We have done some of this route before, but wait we will be visiting some new sites along the way!!!

Road Trips and Puppies

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Franklyn 13 months Harriet 8 weeks

Our two puppies Franklyn (19 months) and Harriet (9 months) have only a few states under their collar so far, but they are still puppies.  This is Harriet’s first road trip and she already has three states!   How many states have you seen???

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Daphney and Scoutie truly loved each other.

Two of our puppies (Daphney and Scoutie) in puppy heaven have been to 38 states and 2 Canadian provinces.  Sandi and I can’t imagine going on a road trip without our puppies, yes it is challenging at times……but we always make it work.  

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Franklyn and Harriet today following the narrow path that Daphney loved to take  that runs next to the main path.

Today we took the puppies to the beach Frankyln’s second time here (first time last fall), and this is the first time for Harriet.  Harriet is something of a home body, her favorite place is under the covers on our bed at home or in the motor home.  At home when she goes for a walk with Franklyn and I, she is carried at least 1/2 of our nearly two mile walk….she is not keen on walks.  Today as we got to the path that leads to the beach from our campground something changed in Harriet and she took off running with Franklyn.  We really believe that our puppies can sense the paths that our old puppies have gone, and believe me Scoutie and Daphney went down this path at least twice a day everyday we were here over the years (120 plus times).  Harriet and Franklyn play with many of Scoutie and Daphney’s toys and sleep in their huge puppy bed, so she knows their scents.

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Harriet REALLY loved the beach and truly became a new woman!!!  We never knew Harriet could run as fast as Franklyn, but she can….even faster!!!

 

 

Please follow us and our puppies on our current and future road trips by clicking the “Rollin’ Down the Hallway” link above.

 

Here are some great memory pictures of Daphney and Scoutie on their road trips.

HOVER EACH PICTURE BELOW FOR A CAPTION

 

Rocky Mountain National Park
Heritage Farm by President Johnson’s Ranch
Dapheny loved looking in tunnels, Scoutie just went along for the ride….Yosemite
Somewhere in Nebraska
Somewhere in Kansas
North Rim of the Grand Canyon, looking down a hole on a bridge.
Gettysburg PA

 

 

2019 Spring Road Trip

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Today I posted my first post of our 2019 Spring Road Trip. This trip will be taking us to Lake of the Woods, Crater Lake, Bend Oregon and to Pacific Ocean at the mouth of the Columbia River.

Please join us on this trip, and view blogs from our past trips at “Rollin’ Down the Hallway” from the menu at the top of this page.

Been Awhile….a Busy While – Barry’s Thoughts and Quirks

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We’ve just watched “the first look” 5/4/19

This has been the busiest winter and spring since I retired from         Alameda County.

Some good some not so good, some fun and some not so fun, and some was just amazing!!!

 

 

Sorry this post is long, but I need to make up for some lost time……Check out the pictures if your in a hurry.

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Callie and Paul 10/12/85

I lost one of two my Mother-In-Laws, Callie, on January 4th as God took her home and away from her suffering from Parkinson’s disease.  God Blessed me with two great Mother-In-Laws which I see as the happy side of divorce.  Though her Family is extremely sad, I know Callie is happy to be with my Father-In-Law Paul who passed away in the Fall of 2004.

IMG_0257IMG_0259A week later life was heading back to normal again as my Sister-In-Law Nicki and I celebrating our birthdays together with our Family, it was a fun day!  Our birthdays are a day apart (11th and 12th).  My Family let me bake the dessert for our Birthdays…..It was my first cake with flowers down the side and first six layer cake.

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1/6/19

We received a wonderful call one January Saturday afternoon that our Daughter Elise was engaged, and they were heading our way to celebrate!!!   We heard that a few friends were coming to our house for a her Mama’s Spaghetti Celebration Dinner……good thing her Mama and I can work quickly together!!!    

My other Mother-In-Law, Betty, decided she wanted to see the Vacaville Kiaser Hospital some more and decided to visit the ER for a day, and be admitted overnight for observation.  She is a trooper and I think she just looked it as an adventure; and she couldn’t say more nice things about how Kiaser’s staff treated her.

Sandi’s pain management doctor has been working on getting a spinal stimulator approved by her workers comp and to hopefully relieve some of her back and leg pain.  After months of waiting, it was finally it was approved!  The funny thing is that worker comp approved a surgical trail (battery and computer on the outside of the body) which went very well, but not the actual implant.  We were told that only 30% of the actual implants get approved and it would take about two months to have it approved even though the trail went so well.  Fortunately it was approved in just a few weeks so we headed home from a short trip to have the implant installed just a day later!!!  Now months later and a lot of software adjustments there is some pain relief.

We visited the Vacaville Kaiser (for all three of us), Sandi’s pain management doctor and dentist (for two of us) so many times in the last four months…..I’ve lost track!!!

My other Sister-In-Law Janice, our Niece Leanne and her boyfriend Dan surprised us with a visit from NJ/PA for a long weekend!!!   It was a fun visit!!!   I was able to go in to tour mode taking Leanne and Dan to the City for the day!!!  Not to brag, but my “City” tours are great!!!  It was a great visit….finished off with Leanne and Dan making us a wonderful dinner!!!

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Dress Fitting Mother Daughter Fun

February, March and April were full of wedding planning, dress fittings, and more wedding planning.  It was a lot of work, but it was fun!!!   The best part was seeing that our Daughter was finally and extremely happy, and that Brad (our soon to be Son-In-Law) is truly amazing!!!  Our Sister-In-Law Nicki has told Elise and her Cousin Brittany “You want a guy that will walk through glass to get to you”……Brad has more than walked through glass for Elise.

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This Easter was a little different than most as we had another visit from Janice, this time with our Brother-In-Law John.  They were able to come during her spring break at school where she works as an instructional aide.  We were able to squeeze in two day trips during their visit.  One of the day trips was to Tahoe between the spring snow storms and the other to Bodega Bay and Fort Ross.

Besides the two day trips, we had fun just hanging together and showing Janice and John our new community.

Before we knew it May 4th was upon us and what a busy week that was to be!!!  It seemed like everyday that week had an event, and every event was miles away from home.  Though it was a busy time, I wouldn’t trade it for anything. 

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Painting cans that will be wrapped in lace

The wedding was an outside wedding, designed by our daughter who is used to putting on large events for her Ministries for the last ten years.  Brad and Elise wanted to keep the focus on God, Friends and Family so kept the wedding simple and only 200 guests.  I know Elise wanted to invite another 200…..but the number had to be kept low as she held herself to a strict budget.   I kept telling all that were helping us setup the venue the morning of the wedding…..”she isn’t a bridezilla, these pictures and sample tables are just an example”….and believe me she wasn’t even close to a bridezilla.

 

Brad’s first look……
Mr. & Mrs. de Lamare
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Steve       Jenny       Brad         Elise        Sandi       Barry     5/3/19

As May winds up we have been enjoying some rest and planning our next adventures.  In just a week we will be heading back to Central Oregon and the Washington Oregon Coast at the mouth of the Columbia River. 

I hope you follow us at “Rollin’ Down the Hallway”!!! 

 

BionicSandiUS – A New Blog

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Tonight my wifey launched a new site which you will find on our main menu above: “BionicSandiUS”.  This new site focuses on the technology used in her next step dealing with nineteen years of pain; and her experience before and after becoming a new Bionic Woman.  I invite you to visit her site and share it with your Family and Friends.

Barry’s Thoughts and Quirks – My Favorite Views

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img_0214These are my three favorite views!!!   Now you might just think, of course they are because they are of your Wife and Best Friend….., but there is more.  Notice in this picture (my first view of the day) the Bible and Laptop…..this is how Sandi begins everyday.  She is devoted to learning more each day about the Word and Praying for her Nation, Church, Family, Friends, and people she just meets in her day.  Not some days, everyday from about 5am to 8am she can be found in her prayer chair in our bedroom’s bay window.

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I see this view from the indoor track above the pool at our main club house while I’m speed walking.  Even in the pool while swimming her laps she is praying for others and memorizing new Bible Verses between her laps.  She swims nearly a mile six days a week.

 

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If she ever has made a fabric art for you, know that each piece is prayed over nearly ever stitch……and there are thousand of stitches in her artwork.  If you never visited her page go up to the menu and hit “Cottonandsilk-Nature Creating Art” and see some of her art and her process.

Barry’s Thoughts and Quirks – A Long Journey with God

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One year ago today, God blessed us with our new home.  It was a long journey, but God kept us on track.  It all started when, in the winter of 2017, when Sandi and I joined three other families at our Church, Brentwood Bible Fellowship to work through the David Ramsey Financial Peace Bible Study that was led by our Associate Pastor Corwin Wong. Shortly after completing that study, I was invited to join a small Men’s Bible Study lead by our Pastor Andy Cochran.  Each week when we met for our Men’s Bible Study we completed a ten question survey regarding our previous week.  It was question number six “Have you been a good steward of God’s resources?” and question number ten “Where have you been struggling with God?” that eventually convicted me.  My answer to number six was “Yes” and finally four months into the Bible Study I admitted to myself that I was struggling not with my (our) weekly finances, but my (our) future finances.  Meanwhile, in May of 2017 our daughter Elise heard from God that it was time for her to move on from serving as a Junior High Youth Pastor at Bethel, a Mega Church in San Jose; and moving her Ministry to be a Generational Pastor at Re: Church in the small town of Rio Vista.

Sandi and I started visiting Elise more and more as the summer of 2017 went on, and we came to love Rio Vista as we love “Small Town America”.  One day I was helping Elise with a project and needed some supplies from the local Ace Hardware.  On my way to Ace I saw a “Home For Sale” sign that sparked my interest in “how much?”.  In looking it up on Zillow I found out that it was two-thirds the cost of homes in Brentwood.  Over the next several days God spoke to me over and over again about moving to full retirement and get out of the financial debt we were living in (questions six and ten from above).  Sandi and I have had a policy for the last thirty-three years of marriage; if God comes to us three times, we have to share it with each other.  So now I had to share what God was telling me.  This news meant a lot as we had made a lot of friends at BBF and had made some wonderful friends in a town we loved, that would now be twenty-five miles and a bridge toll away.  

24852452_10210794239000186_6447090383977504305_nWithin a few weeks, we had our Brentwood home listed with our friend and realtor, Missey James (note in 2005, we were the first and second sale of her career).  Missey kept us on course through the bumpy real estate ride of having more than thirty people coming through our house over an eight week period.  Our home finally sold in October, to only fall apart in November as the buyer couldn’t get financing to stick.  Due to losing the sale of our home, we lost a house in Rio Vista that we had put an offer on.  It was nothing fancy, but met our needs.  We refused to look again until we had a firm offer on our Brentwood house.  In Early December, we had a firm offer, in excitement, that night went searched for houses on Zillow.  24899976_10210794239520199_659546685246274118_nA house was listed that very day and was going to have an open house on the weekend.  It was inside an HOA and an Active Adult 55+ community which we had resisted.  We decided that we needed to go and see it and a few others that were also having open houses.  Long story short, we called Missey before leaving Rio Vista to tell he we had found the perfect home; more than we ever could have had expected.  Within a few days our offer was accepted and Christmas was upon us.  Moving at Christmas is nothing new for us as we moved from Santa Clara Valley to Oakley on December 9, 1989, and to Brentwood from Oakley on December 23, 2005.  

We have lived in our new home in Trilogy, Rio Vista one year this weekend.  Trilogy does have HOA fees, but a lot less than our HOA fees at Apple Hill Estates, Brentwood and a lot more amenities.  There are many days that we don’t even leave Trilogy as we use the athletic facilities six or the seven days a week.  We swim in our indoor Junior Olympic pool, I speed walk on the indoor track above the pool and do the weight circuit in our gym.  Most days I enjoy the Club House Lobby after I finish my 1mile walk and 25-30 minute weight training circuit.  Sandi swims nearly a mile daily and has broken the 1 mile mark on several occasions. 

The Main Club House (there are currently two with two more opening within the next twelve to eighteen months) has a Cafe’, Computer Lab, meeting rooms, Billiards Hall, and  an exercise room with a floating floor besides the weight room, track and swimming pool.

 

So long story short, simply listen to God and he will Bless you.

Barry’s Thoughts and Quirks – Passing on Memories

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56667632749__2740030D-3FA3-480A-8916-2FC3AC775E5DOn Christmas Day our Grand Nephew Charlie celebrated his first birthday; he was actually a miracle baby born on Christmas Day 2017.  Seventy years ago in my Grandparents basement in Ottawa, Ontario Canada my Dad made my brother Rich a wooden push along bunny, and now I was honored to be chosen to restore it for Charlie who was named after our Dad.  Restoring it meant of course upholding our Dad’s work as it is being past on to another generation.  Our Dad made me a hobby horse when I was a year old, which I will pass on one day; he also made his Grand Kids a horse corral for toy show horses, a dog house for a stuffed Pluto, beds for American Girl Dolls, Toy Box and more.  I hope the next generations pass on these crafted memories.

Have you made sure your Family Memories are being passed on?

Fine Chocolates – Barry’s Thoughts and Quirks

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IMG_0219Originally in Eastern Canada, now nationally you can walk in to a Laura Secord store and walk out with a white and black box of fine Canadian Fine Chocolates. In Western Canada it was (now nationally) it’s my Dad’s favorite Purdy’s Chocolates with their purple boxes.  In the US there are several fine chocolate companies like Fanny Mae and Godiva, but in the west and stretching across the country it’s See’s with their white and black boxes.  This week I visited a See’s for a small bag of chocolates to keep us happy while we were waiting for support at the Apple Store.  I didn’t mind the wait or the $21 a pound price as I got my free sample, great chocolate and memories of times past at See’s with my Mom.

The funniest part of my journey was next door to See’s is a Lululemon store, which I had to go in to check out what I needed next!!!   I sent Sandi a couple of pictures of some nice outer tops that she might like and asked what See’s candy pieces she wanted…..here is her response!

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