Cleaning Out Dad's Place Part 3 and 4

Work at my dad's was put on hold after Michelle's last visit in October. We needed a break. After finding out that Michelle wasn't going to be able to return until next May at the earliest, I made a plan to try to get the rest of the stuff down the mountain. On December 5, Heather volunteered to go with me to be my assistant. We donned masks to protect us from the dust and nicotine smell. She was a trooper helping me put things in boxes and load the truck. Once again, I thought I could get everything in one load, but the truck filled up fast. When I realized I wasn't going to get it all in one trip (we were working on the back room that was filled to the brim with stuff), we called it a day and headed down the mountain. We had a yummy dinner at the farmhouse before heading to Grandpa's new place to unload. Kelly and Jenna helped unload.

On 12-19, I made a trip up myself. Heather had had enough, and it felt like my burden to bear, so I went alone. I was pretty confident I could finish up. I had told Dad that I wanted to get him moved before Christmas and before the rain and snow started. I stopped along the way to take pictures since it had snowed recently. It is really pretty in the mountains, and I can see why people like Idyllwild. I finished the back room and collected everything from the living room, kitchen and other rooms that I could. I left my dad to pack the bathrooms and whatever else he wanted to take explaining to him that he needed to make this a final trip. With another loaded truck packed to the brim, I headed down the mountain. There was a storm coming in so I hit some clouds on the way, but otherwise made it down just fine. Kelly, Heather and Jenna helped unload again.

My dad followed me a few days later with his car packed also. He informed me he left his television and cable box along with a few other things for his "next trip." I don't understand what he's thinking. He has a buyer, and they want to make a deal. The weather is going to be bad the next several weeks which makes travel unsafe. I guess it's a hard transition, and he isn't ready to say good-bye yet? I don't know. He doesn't communicate all his thoughts even when I ask questions and give him my thoughts on what I see that needs to be done. He's been alone and independent for a very long time, and I guess he isn't used to communicating. I guess he'll make another trip up when the weather clears.

Cleaning Out Dad's Place, Part 2

We scheduled this weekend to meet Michelle, Shane and Gavin at my dad's Idyllwild place to continue clean out. After Michelle and I initially visited in July, worked and realized the task was going to take a lot longer than anticipated, we scheduled time with the husbands and some man muscle. We rented hotel rooms for an overnight stay so we didn't have to drive back home in between packing days. The kids thought this was cool, and it was nice to have a shower and place to stay closer to the action. We concentrated on the outdoor areas as well as moving the furniture pieces that required the guys. We filled the back of a UHall truck and took another load or two to the local dump and donation centers. After two full days of work, there is still a lot to do, but we were pleased with the outdoor areas being cleaned up. I worked on the porch which seemed insurmountable. I concentrated on one area at a time until I could see the end. It was really easy to want to feel frustrated at how much was left after all our hard work, but we had to focus on what we DID accomplish.  We have scheduled another packing day in October, and we'll need another rental truck. There's that much stuff.  After we unloaded the truck, we couldn't believe how much space it took up. If we can't get Dad to part with more stuff, his new place is going to look like a warehouse of boxes with isles in the middle. Yikes.

Cleaning Out Dad's Place Part 1

Another fun adventure I had while Kelly and the girls were at camp was with my sister, cleaning out my Dad's mobile home in Idyllwild. It was pretty good timing that she could come while the family was gone because this was not a project we could undertake while worrying about getting home and taking care of kids and schedules.

This was our first trip to Dad's in many years, and we were, quite frankly, shocked. We did not expect to walk into a situation that looked like an episode of Hoarders, Buried Alive. We discovered that Dad is a packrat/hoarder.  We spent day one cleaning the spare bedroom out so we could have an empty room to move things to that were going to Dad's new place.

I may have recorded this already, but in December of 2014, Dad was at my place and had left for a doctor appointment in Anaheim Hills. He frequently visits the Kaiser facility there, so I thought nothing of it. When he returned, I learned that he had spent the past three or four hours trying to find the location. He went to the location he normally goes to, but the appointment was at a new building, and that was the one he couldn't find. He eventually had to divulge that he cannot see well enough to read street signs or find address numbers while driving. The macular degeneration he has had taken the center or pinpoint vision from his eyes, and the condition will get worse as he gets older. The incident started a discussion about the possibility of him moving closer to me before he needs help. He agreed and we started mobile home hunting in February. After a few trips to mobile home parks near my house (most of which were either too expensive or had only large homes available), we moved a little north and found him a place in Westminster, just about 7 minutes from our place.

Escrow closed in May on Dad's new property, and we thought he had been packing. Michelle and I assured Dad we would help with the move also, but we truly expected that he would do more than he did. I'm sure he was overwhelmed. We sure were. After the first day, we had the guest room cleared and several bags of donations ready. We drove some to the donation center, but it was clear that we were going to need a truck to make any headway.

The next day we rented a flatbed in Banning and drove it up to the park. We used it to truck donations to the donation center, and to dump a few loads of trash at the local waste distribution facility. We were able to clear the kitchen counters and the living room (see before and after pics above), and we hope that Dad will be encouraged enough to continue packing as well as keeping the areas we cleaned up clean.  Time will tell.  Michelle talked to Shane, and they will make plans to come back in a month or two so that both our families can go back and continue packing and moving Dad.

After three days of work, we took the following morning off and went to breakfast and then to the mall to do some shopping.  We were going to spend the morning working at Dad's, but we were exhausted, and since there was no hope of finishing, we took a break. Michelle left in the afternoon to get started with her long drive.  I was so grateful to have the time this weekend and my sister to help with this project. We'll be back at it in October.

Camp Kolob 2015

July 10-18...Kelly and the girls spent the week at Camp Kolob in Southern Utah. This was Girls Camp, Scout Camp, High Adventure and Youth Conference all wrapped up into one week. Our Stake Presidency was inspired to have our youth "do hard things," and this was one of the inspirations. 

On undeveloped property, the youth built a camp from scratch. They traveled by bus on Friday evening and arrived at camp Saturday morning. They built tables to eat at, a kitchen, showers, bathroom/outhouses, an amphitheater, life guard tower, archery and shooting range, an obstacle course and anything else that they needed. After camp was built, the boys and girls separated to their camps. The group came together on Sunday for services and spent the week hiking, backpacking, repelling, canoeing and all other things scout and girls camp related. 

Jenna and Heather participated in the Polar Bear plunge, sunrise hikes and repelling.  During Heather's practice repel, she tipped over and slammed into the side of the rock cliff injuring her tailbone and splitting her elbow open. She still went on her 5th/6th year hike with the 100ft repel and had a blast. The girls each made a new friend that had moved into the stake over the summer which was a nice bonus this year. 

Thursday-Friday was Youth Conference where the fun continued. There was a color run, obstacle course that teams participated in, paint gun fights (Jenna didn't participate due to wanting to look good for the dance that night, and Heather was prohibited due to injury), a luau with a real pig roast and island dancing, speakers, silly leader skits, and a dance. There is so much the girls and Kelly would probably write about the trip, and if I can, I'll get them to tell me what they would write in a blog post about the experience. For now, it's documented. There's talk about going back to this camp because the youth loved it so much. No phones, iPods, gaming systems or for that matter, flushing toilets. But they loved it.  And of course on the way home they stopped at their favorite spot for huge shakes, fries and chicken strips!