Winnie' Dad's Graveside

Winnie’s dad died last week in Texas, where he was living in a nursing home.  He was flown up to Seattle as he will be buried here next to her mother.  We picked up Winnie’s brother Joseph at the airport Friday since both she and Andy were working, then we all had dinner together.

     The graveside service was today at 1 p.m.  We are scheduled begin our trip to California today but we were able to postpone leaving until after the service, since we are only going to Roseburg, Oregon tonight.  

There were just our family there, but a couple that knew him years, ago, even in Taiwan, drove up from Olympia.  Winnie played her violin. Andy spoke.

Friends from Olympia with Winnie's brother

Winnie wrote a beautiful thing on FB about him:

“My father, Eddie Chen passed away this afternoon. I am grateful for the time I spent with him most recently in December. He was so sweet and calm spirited at the time. He smiled a lot and we interacted as much as he could. He suffered from dementia, but it didn't stop him from consistently being a joyful, generous and courteous gentleman to everyone around him. 
He loved his family and was a faithful servant of God. He was a great father and I am thankful for him. I will miss him very much. He is now at peace and finally with my mother who died almost 19 years ago.
Graveside service will be in Renton, WA at Mt. Olivet Cemetery.“

Here he is in 2011 at Clayton's birthday with Ron, too.

Our Car Was Hit --- at the Dealer!

     We took our car in to Toyota for the regular oil change and checking over for our April 2 California trip next Monday.  The Toyota shop called that it was ready.  

     We went in and what was our surprise to find out:  “Oh, your car was just hit [while it was in the lot].”  WHAT??????   It had been driven from the shop area to the garage storage area when someone backed into it in the parking lot.  The man had apologized and the Toyota company took pictures of both cars and his driver’s license and insurance card (Geico).  They gave us his phone number.

      On the way home, Joan called him and asked how his insurance company would fix the car.  He said to us then, that it was the fault of the Toyota company driver, not him.  We stopped talking with him then and called our insurance company, USAA, who took over and made the contacts.  Geico was super nice and called to hear what happened, etc, and then admitted for several days as they contacted often that their insured was not even responding to their calls (even for days!)  

    Toyota sent the photos to us and we sent them to Geico.  It was clear that the other car had backed into the side of our car since his back bumper was damaged.  Fortunately, the car was not so damaged that we could not drive it – otherwise all our California trip plans would have been in jeopardy. 

        We were able to leave and kept in touch with USAA and Geico.  After about five days, Geico didn’t confirm whether they had been able to contact their client or not, but they said they would cover the repair 100% plus a rental car.  We just had to wait until we would get back from CA in May.

   Follow-up in May:  Yes, when we got back, it was fixed completely by ServiceKing in Bellevue, a Geico partner.

Cost of this little side and fender bender? Over $2300!

They did a GREAT job, like new again.

Spring Flowering Trees

We had the plan to go to the UW quad area, and see the cherry blossoms; we saw the gorgeous views on TV and I thought we'd have a chance this year.  But then, we didn’t, but then the trees right in our condo complex were so beautiful, especially when the petals had landed on the ground by the trees.

From our balcony

We did drive around Renton also, since Boeing has beautiful landscaping even along the parking lot.

Note the mural on Boeing's doors

Disneyland Tickets Purchased, but…!

 We went to Ft Lewis today to meet Joan’s nephew and wife (Geoff and Amy) for lunch and to buy the special Military Salute Disney tickets for Faith, Clayton and us for when Andy takes his band to Disneyland in May...to join them when they're there...then, just as we returned tonight on the very day we bought them, we found out that Faith has a concert here that weekend which she can't miss.  They had not checked the calendar (and the special military Disney tickets are non-refundable).  Oh no!

The Evergreen Philharmonic Orchestra was founded in 1991 by district orchestra teacher Doug Longman. It is a full symphonic orchestra comprised of 80 honor students who are selected yearly by audition from Issaquah High, Liberty, and Skyline high schools. 

Season Finale Concert (2018)   Date: May 26, 2018
     Our Season Finale concert is always a bitter-sweet affair. We celebrate the accomplishments of the orchestra as well as some of its individual members. It is also time for us to say a reluctant good-bye to our seniors, many of whom will pursue music studies at colleges and universities around the nation.

Aunt Velva’s Dresser

This box with Ron’s Great-Aunt Ruth's dresser was shipped from Rochester MN and arrived in Issaquah March 2nd.  You can see that it is taller than the garage!  Where would we put it until we could get it over to our little condo?

         Initially we had asked Andy if he would be willing to keep it for us until we would have a bigger place, especially since he had said when he saw it as a high school student, “I love that dresser!” At first he said, Yes, it could take the  place of one of his “cheesy” dressers; then he saw a picture and saw how small it was, and he was more unsure.  We thought more about it and decided we would like to able to see it each day to remember Aunt Velva, so we would try to put it in our small condo.  Then, the question was, How would we get it there?

     The shipper had said it was 250 pounds and you can see that it would even not fit into the garage to be stored out of the weather.  But Ron was a miracle-worker!  He was able to tip it on its side and slide it into the garage, to keep it until we could figure out how to get it across town to our condo.

Opening the box and seeing the wheels on the bottom

     Here’s the story of it, by Ron:

   

     “Aunt Velva had inherited it when Aunt Ruth died.  When I discussed the dresser with Velva, I was especially honored that Velva thought I should receive it. Aunt Ruth was the youngest of my Grandpa's siblings.  She was in the first graduating class of the Alpha, Iowa High School. (Velva was in the last graduating class). She then went to a two-year business school in Waterloo, Iowa and upon graduating she accepted a job with the John Deer Company.
     After graduating High School in 1929, Velva went to the same business school and apparently at one time or other stayed with her aunt.
     When I stayed with my grandparents my senior year of high school, I took my grandparents to Waterloo to attend the first funeral I ever attended.  It was for Aunt Ruth's husband. I did not recognize many people there but I'm sure I must have seen the Dungey’s before at family gatherings (we didn't call them “reunions” then).
     You may have noticed that my initials are RED.  Aunt Ruth was born on July, 25 1897 and given the name of Ruth Evaline Dungey. The middle name was her mother's middle name, Sarah Evaline Weaver and she was called Eva.  My birthday is also July 25 and we have the same initials.  So, Velva put my name on it, to receive it when she passed.”

     So how did we get it over to our condo?  Of course, we wanted to wait until Clayton would help, but he wouldn’t be home from college until May and it was taking up a lot of space in the garage!  We had thought of renting a truck since it was so big; we surely did not think it would fit into Andy’s van.  A friend, Christine, heard about our dilemma, and immediately said she would help and said she had a van.  It actually was the same as Andy’s (a Toyota Sienna) so Andy said we may as well use his van, if it would go in.  We could take it out of the box but it would be best to stay packed.   We decided on March 19^th to try to move it.

     And it fit!  Christine brought her son Derrick to help and it went well.  

Pulling it out of the garage

It FITS!  Inside the Sienna.

We're at the condo, unpacking it.

Derrick and Christine helping Ron

Start up the stairs

In the hall

In the bedroom

Finalized!!

Beautiful flight to California

Weather cleared for this day and we had an absolutely gorgeous flight down the coast, seeing all the mountains.

Mt Rainier,   So seldom do we get this view

Then we saw Mt Adams.  And the entire coastal range as we went through OR and CA.

Stuck on the Ferry Dock

 A place you do not want to be stuck!

     Here is our car on the live cam of the ferry dock, it’s to the right of the red car.

________________________________________________________________________________

When the ferry came, we tried to start the car, and it wouldn’t start and then suddenly had all kinds of warning lights.  Joan had to look in the owners’ manual to figure out what the “little pictures” meant:  they all said, “take to the dealer immediately.”  Meanwhile, people behind us figured out the problem so they just came around us to get on the ferry, and then the ferry left without us!

A man came by and said the ferry people could give us a jump, so they did and the car started. 

     Meanwhile, Joan called the dealer (Michaels’ Toyota in Bellevue where we have leased the car).  The lady said,  “Do not drive the car.  Either call Toyota road assistance or AAA if you have it.”  She said, “Do not drive it on the ferry, it may get stuck on the ferry."  Ron said he was going to drive onto the ferry (since the car was started.)  She said, “Well, I am just recommending that you do not drive the car any distance at all.”  She said, “We are closing soon, but tow it to here, drop it off and then come back tomorrow for a loaner car.”

     The ferry people let us idle the car on the dock and also when we got on the ferry for the crossing. They did say that they could even jump it on the ferry if necessary.   When we got to other side, we parked right in the parking lot and called AAA. 

    We texted Clayton and Andy to see if we could use Clayton’s car to get home, once we were at the dealer since Ron had a doctor’s appointment, then we’d bring Clayton's car back after we got the loaner car, too.  

We crossed fine; the car was fine to drive to the dock's parking lot. It wasn’t 20 minutes before an AAA pickup truck came. He said the tow truck was on the way but he was there first to access the situation to see if we really needed a tow.  He saw that the battery had a bad cell, and said that would trigger the warning lights.  He checked a few more things and said it would be okay to drive the car as long as we didn’t turn it off.  So he canceled the tow truck and we drove it to Michael's Toyota. 

     Clayton came and got us at Michaels, we took him home, chatted a little, then drove his car to our condo.

June 13, the next day

      We went to Michaels early to get the loaner car, then drove Clayton’s car back to the Home Depot in Issaquah where he was working.  We went to the doctor’s office then and got a call that the car was done:  it just needed a new battery.  Easy.  Fast.    

      Easy, that is, since we were able to get it off the ferry dock and not get stuck on the ferry – Joan could just see it, going back and forth across the water on the ferry – all by itself!!!?  And getting a tow truck to come to the other side of the water to tow it around?  Or get a tow truck to back up to it on the ferry itself?…wow! 
     And there was no charge either, since it is a leased car.