No excuse, but...

It's been a busy year. I can't believe it's almost fall.

We spent the first six months getting ready for mom's estate auction. We lost dad in January of 2008, and mom had attempted to keep the 1.5 acre place with the home that dad built in 1958-60 up like dad would have. She was finally overwhelmed and decided to auction their large collections of everything antique, and the house, and buy a smaller place.

Bad times to have an estate auction, or sell real estate, but mom's 81 and she didn't want to wait around to get better prices.

The stuff sold, albeit at bargain basement prices, but the house hasn't yet. We have high hopes though, as it's still a showplace, and the appraiser said he had never seen a 50 year old house in such nice condition. Which isn't surprising, since mom has put around 60K into upgrades since dad died.

Mom has already bought a nice "patio home" in town. It's big enough for her to have the nice things she wanted to keep, and all maintenance is taken care of, so she can entertain her doll club without worrying about the yard.

I'll try to post some pictures of the auction and house later.