12/05/2019 - The First Year Update
I just keep putting one foot in front of the other with good days and bad days — just keep moving forward trying to stay positive. It has truly tested my faith believing that you are in a better place where we will all be together once again. I must confess that often I sense your spirit and guidance — particularly while I worked on completing some of the projects we had to put ‘on hold’. These tasks were my greatest therapy of all!
Yes, I finally finished building the porch. I used your tools, materials, and techniques you taught me as your self-proclaimed title of ‘Wood Butcher’ — and I believe I lived up to it too! Often I had to pull from the Dan Gooding playbook of shortcuts and fix-it’s ... and for whatever I didn’t remember I consulted with YouTube! But for that awkward area that you tried to resolve — I got your message from beyond (because I know in my soul that this idea did not originate with me). I built a sliding gate! I think you would be happy with the tesults.. and the dogs are loving the enclosed section.
The next project was to set-up a backup generator. Turns out that we’ve been experiencing a lot of scheduled power outages here in California due to the high winds (fire prevention). So I remember what you taught me about the generators (setup and maintenance) and was able to position one of them in a good spot and get it working to help me through. In case you didn’t hear me every time I fired it up ... THANK YOU DAN!!!
Other than dozens of misc small projects and maintenance around the property the final big project we had put on holdwas ...
Organizing the two cargo trailers. This took a bigger effort than anticipated mainly because of the weather factors of high winds, cold weather and recently... snow. In order to do this job right I had to completely empty both units and then reload in an organized fashion. I reorganized one of them as a workshop and dedicated the other to storage. I just completed all this the day before the snow arrived and now I am recuperating!
And even better news ... I was able to locate many possible sources of old photos and videos. As I get time over the winter months I can begin sorting through these and add more posts to your site — because I have so many recollections of pics that I am hoping to find.
Finally ... creating, maintaining and visiting this site has also been my therapy. It seems that most of your family and friends preferred to contact me directly either by phone, text, or email - and continue to check in with me from time to time. I thank them as well as those who have contributed directly here on your memorial ... you all have helped me through this tough time.
Dan —
Thank you for giving me such a wonderful life to remember!
Thank you for giving me the knowledge to be self-sufficient!
Thank you for giving me Anchor & Bernie who give me great companionship and comfort every day!
You are always with me.
Love, Nancy