News from Tualatin – Mother’s Day Edition
Hello again! Although we’re not in Tualatin right now (we’re in Colorado Springs, and so are Morgan, Aaron, and Ben, visiting all the relatives in Colorado Springs and showing off the Benjamin!) we are now officially Tualatin residents! We bought a condo in Tualatin, and it “closed” today, so now we’re officially the proud owners of a second home! We hope to go there in a couple of weeks to fix it up (it’s in pretty good shape, but needs nail holes patched, some paint, and this and that fixed.) The condo is a lot like our apartment from last year – second floor unit, two bedrooms, no a/c. The setting is nicer, and it has an indoor, secure garage and a secure indoor entry. It’s right across the street from a nice new parkway / trail that leads to “downtown” (?) Tualatin only about five blocks away. It has a really nice large balcony overlooking the pool (!) and parkway. We hope to spend maybe three or four months a year there to begin, eventually increasing our time there and finally moving there altogether eventually.
Tualatin is a suburban town south of (but contiguous to) Portland, on the Tualatin River, a minor river (for the northwest) that feeds the Willamette. It was a ferry location and logging town in the olden days, but now is a bedroom community for folks who work in Portland. There isn’t a lot of “old” Tualatin left … it’s mostly suburban homes, shopping centers and parks, but very nice, and close enough to the Kunzes’ (20 to 30 min.) that we can go there easily (or vice-versa), yet far enough away (20 to 30 min.) that we won’t be too much of a pain. I hope.
After we came back to Colorado last fall, the Tualatin River flooded, but we asked around, and the flood didn’t come any where near the condo buildings. I looked for high-water marks, and didn’t see any, which either means they were telling the truth or it was totally submerged. With the parking garage below, and we’re on the second occupied floor, we’re actually two levels above the street entrance, so we should be able to hear the panicked splashing well before the water reaches us, I think. We’re hoping for the best, but life in arid Colorado hasn’t really prepared us for this sort of consideration.
By the way, I’m doing fine. I had my six-week post op checkup and got a clean bill of health. Not only was it clean, but it said I was doing okay, too. I guess I can go back to lifting heavy weights and riding roller coasters like I used to do so much. I’ve really missed that.
Ben is a great houseguest; we went to the zoo this morning, and had all the McCullough family branches here to meet him this evening. Tomorrow, all the Bricker-side folks are coming for brunch for the same purpose. Ben is a peach, and smiles and giggles for everyone!
Well, more later when we actually move into our Tualatin abode. We’ll let you know the address, telephone, and e-mail of the new place when we transfer to there. In the meantime, we remain at the old homestead in Colorado Springs.
Love to everybody –
Mike & Karen
