Love's Labour's Found

On Thursday, August 29^th, Joel Sitte ("City") arrived at our door unannounced.  It was a surprise visit, but not unexpected, as we knew why he was here while Jean was at work.  He may have been surprised that he'd chosen my day off to visit.  We heartily gave him our permission to propose to Jean and had a good discussion until he had to get back to work.  (I am told I monopolized the conversation!)

This month, on the 12th, Jean called down the stairs to where I was contemplating the remodel of my basement office.  "Come upstairs and meet my fiancé!"

The actual eternal question was posed near the playground that's between Memorial Stadium and the Seattle Center Monorail terminal, with the Space Needle in the background.  Joel's proposal had been on hold until Jean's new amazing, custom designed platinum ring was secured.  (And Jean already had one ready for Joel in return!)

The venue and pastor have been secured.  Wedding plans for a Sunday, February 16^th celebration are well underway.

Cynthia's Birthday is Our
Early October Celebration

Every time the family grows, with a wedding, or a birth, we gain another party!

For the past many years, Susan's house in Redmond has been party central, but we have hopes of earning that distinction soon.

This year will see the last "Sleight" Christmas party in Renton.  It will be in Bellevue in 2020.

Fun with Charis

Early in the month, Charis was helping me pick tomatoes off of Nancy's plants on the deck.  Alas, the early chill decimated my own late tomato crop I'd been dutifully watering all summer long. 

She continues to learn sign language, but now at 22 months, we expect her language skills to blossom. 

These pictures show Charis helping Nancy make soup.  She wants to engage with whatever is going on.

One morning, Thomas needed to go to the dentist and both Nancy and Jean were under the weather.  So I took the morning off and spent it with Charis.  She was asleep when I arrived, but was still dressed in her pink parka from a morning ride in the stroller.  When she woke up and spotted me, she had a pleasant reaction instead of a cry.  And while she, at first, denied that she needed a new diaper, before we went upstairs for a snack, she toddled into the changing room.  She presented me with a perfectly poopy diaper.  Upstairs, we split two bananas until Thomas arrived home. 

Ever-Green Tree Care Culls Our Forest

During the summer, our neighbor on our southwest side complained strongly about the long limbs from our Cedrus deodara trees ("True Cedars") on our west side.  After Nancy's effective negotiating, they agreed to pay for tree removal while we paid for additional thinning.

On Monday the 28th, a crew of four from Ever-Green Tree Care, with whom Nancy had contracted, made major changes to our yard.  The weekend before, Nancy and I had prepared the area around those trees.

The photos show the aftermath.  The largest tree was taken down, as was a large west-leaning Alder.  Our easement fence is further along after Nathanael spent two days redigging post holes.  Huge piles of mulch were left for us since the company truck was full.  Piles of both Cedar and Alder logs and huge Cedar rounds are all along our west fence line.

We have enough firewood for a few winters.  And I am happy that after 26 years, I've finally learned how to use the living room free-standing wood stove without smoking out the house!

Retirement Looms

This month I signed up for Medicare, Part A only.  And, for once, I began a serious consideration of the retirement question.  I took one of my Fridays and tracked down all of my investments and savings.  I was somewhat surprised (and pleased) to find a total exceeding my expectations.  Add to this Nancy's resources, and I can finally agree with her that I could have retired six years ago. 

I have begun to weigh the many pros and cons for retirement.  My original expectation was to retire in July 2024.  But now, each December becomes a new window to make a stay-or-go decision.  December because that's when I must decide if I will continue teaching through the following school year.  I have so much to do to prepare the business school for my inevitable departure.

Bits and Pieces

With over 100 ties in my collection, I really didn't need one more.  But this is my new Seahawks neckwear in a shade close to their "Action Green" Thursday Night Football uniforms. Once again, I love eBay.

My weight on Halloween was, alas 185.0, down from 186.2 on the first of the month.  But tomorrow is another month.  I only managed to get to October 10th in my "no candy" personal October challenge.

With $3+ million homes sold this year on both our west and east sides, I should not have been surprised that our King County property tax assessment went up $820,000, from $1,563,000 to $2,383,000.  Nancy wants me to contest the steep rise, but in reality, our double size lot is by far the largest and nicest in our upscale neighborhood.

Again this month, I did some day trading in the stock market.  Between October 10th and 15th I made $2,600 buying and selling four stocks. 
Then after a seven point one-day drop in IBM, I bought more stocks on the 18th.  I sold most of it them on the 25th, bringing in another $1,500.  Most of my investments are currently sitting out in cash since the market is at its high.  But it's kind of amazing that I can generate over $4,000 in a month with about 30 minutes research and online trading.  I am an anxious trader, content with very small price changes.  But still, a one point rise is a $1,000 profit when 1000 shares are sold.  It's even easier now that Charles Schwab has eliminated their fees. 

On the 30th, I sold SWPPX, a Charles Schwab mutual fund that tracks the S&P 500.  I had bought $20,000 worth 56 days earlier.  My profit was $791, or about 4%.  But that's about a 25% return on an annualized basis.  

We made more progress on our NW corner fence.  Nathanael came and dug out the old fence posts, and we were able to put in 16' of fencing salvaged from our east side fence.  This project has dragged on, but we hope to complete it in November.

Happy Halloween!  Charis brought her parents and Oregon grandparents down from Redmond to show us her Halloween costume, and then to Trick or Treat at Bellevue Square.  Annie taught as Seattle Christian as Disney's "Fox and Hound."

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