We got up and showered (in cold cool water) and decided to check out the wood house.  We went thru some books that the lady left behind.  Interesting story about the house.  We are beginning to pick up little bits and pieces of the story from items around the house and from things locals are telling us. 

Apparently the lady that owned the house before us (Kathy) died after having a car accident. In the house. And her dog too!  In a hammock in the house no less…..  I wasn’t sure if it was the hammock we asked them to leave there or not, but I took it down just in case.   It seemed….I dunno…Creepy! 

It still looks exactly like this in 2011

Anyhow we were told that she moved down here in the late 80s and lived all thru the 90s.  She was a ‘trust fund baby’ so she didn’t have to work.  From what we can gather she watched movies (VCR) and read quite a few books.  The books and movies are still in the house along with other 80s era items.  Her dishes are still dirty in the sink and the calendar is stuck on september 2001 when she died. 

It’s like the place has been lost in time.   You can just imagine her hanging out, listening to Jimmy Buffet and driving her Jeep to the Calypso resturant with her dog.  The dog in the picture we saw looks like a yellow lab or retriever.  The locals still remember her even though she died 10 years ago.  Not all of their memories are fond however and in fact it sounds like she had a drinking problem and anger issues.  I suppose when you don’t have to work and have money your other issues can get magnified. 

Looking toward the house from the acreage down below

I can’t help but think about that vivid dream I had.   I have this strange feeling that Jack (Cassie’s dad) is helping us from the otherside.  We did ask him to and it is definitely something he would do.   He loved making deals and he liked to help people.  I have a feeling that he met her and once he found out she was from Puerto Rico he saw an opportunity.  The house feels just ‘recently’ vacated in a spiritual sense.   I think he could have made a deal.  She didn’t need the house anymore and she was ‘stuck’ between worlds.  Jack would have offered to help her progress on the other side and ensured that his daughter could take the place. 

And if that’s not what is going on, I think we have a good plot for a story (movie / book ).  Puerto Rico is definitely enchanted.   Sometimes it feels like we are in wonderland.   We were driving down the road and saw a guy raking leaves in a Santa suit.  No, seriously… A Santa suit in the middle of the tropical fricken jungle.

You can’t make this up

We’ve seen some strange stuff and decided we have to take pictures for you to believe it. Otherwise, you would never in your wildest imagination begin to understand the weird, movie-like setting of this island. It’s a cross between Lost, Alice in Wonderland, and Oz all rolled into one, except I don’t THINK we’re dreaming this.

With the book at Banana Dang in Rincon

One of the books we found in Kathy’s things was the book Jonathon Livingston Seagull. It’s the perfect book…and we read it in one sitting at the beach today.

Leah (aka Lucy), Shana the Nun and Me the Bunny

Before we left the house I noticed that my black and white bunny outfit looked an awful lot like Schnoodle, so she even got into the festivities:

Schnoodle Rabbit and Cassie Rabbit

Shana changed out of her nun costume into a hoodlum get-up. She says, “I left the habit for the hood”.

Lorena, Shana and Me after Shana’s costume change

Our friends Lorena and Adriana came out with us after the dancing and we had drinks at Coyote’s Grill just a block over from the dance studio.

A bunch of misfits: Britton, Adriana, Cassie, Lorena, Shana, Leah at Coyotes

While we were over at Coyotes we started to see people coming in in black tie attire. At first we thought they had had a costume party too, but no, they were coming from the Greeley Chorale. It was quite the mixture of people. Our group dared me to walk through all the tuxes in my bunny outfit, and I did to their cheers. It was pretty funny.

We took the Corvette out so it was a fun night all in all.

Britton drove the Corvette with an afro

On a side note, I loved my fake eyelashes but I could never wear them daily, what a pain!

Check out these long lashes!

But is it? I still have really vivid dreams with my dad in them and strange occurances happening although not as often as early on. Maybe they are just my mind trying to cope with this loss, or maybe there is something else out there? Maybe there is more to life than just life? I mean, what is the point of inhabiting a body for this short amount of time (in the long scheme of things) for it only to die permanently? If we ask ‘what is death?’, then we would have to ask, ‘what is life?’

Could it be that our consciousness, our strong belief in this physical body reality, limits us from experiencing the unconscious crazy limitless universe -that we actually experience every night in our dreams when we sleep?

This morning I heard my dad talking with me, really faintly as I was in a dozy state of in-between sleep and waking. I asked him to talk more clearly, and he did, but I ended up deep in a dream. Is there something to that? Could it be that access to that “side” is limited to when we are in a subconscious state? Are we cut off from that side of things because we are so tied to believing in this conscious life of the tangible and concrete?

Isn’t it true that everything we know to be real and tangible is but a fleeting moment? A type of energy? Everything we are and see started as a form energy. Most of it from the sun. Our bodies are made of water, and oxygen and the sun. We eat the plants that absorb the sun, and the animals that eat the plants. We are part of that cycle. And if energy never dies only transfers, then what happens when a body does? How do we even begin to understand what this all is?

Could it be that we are just spirits in the material world trying to figure this stuff out?

Father Brian from my mom’s church officiated. Also in picture are my brother, mom and Justin’s girlfriend

Quite a few people came out

Britton is my rock and did great on the technical aspects of the day

I thought this was such a great flower bouquet for Dad

We sang Amazing Grace and the Honor Guard presented Mom with a flag

Afterward we went out to dinner

It was a tough day, but we got through it. I think we did a great job of honoring Dad. Thanks again to everyone who has helped us through this.

Or

If you are lucky like me, when you just click it Windows Media Player will stream and play it.  It is too large for youtube otherwise we would have posted it there.

Rassling the kids

Family Photo

For those who cannot make it we will be hosting a video presentation that Cassie and I put together here on lifetransplanet.  It will be posted at 2pm.  This is the same video we will be watching together at UNC.

Jack at a Young Age

1/23/1948 – 8/14/2010
Age: 62

Residence: Greeley

I was born in Meeker, Colorado on January 23, 1948 to Herbert Lester Davis and Iris Florane Lovelace. My family and I lived in a log cabin on my grand-dad’s homestead for a little over three years. In my third year, my brother Edwin L. Davis was born and we moved to Portland, Oregon because Dad had been called up for the Korean Conflict.

We lived in Portland, Oregon for six years until we moved back to Colorado when I was about nine years old. I graduated from Meeker High School in 1966. Later that year, I joined the Army Security Agency as an analyst. I left the Army in 1969 and worked in farming and construction until the early 1970’s when I moved to Greeley, Colorado.

In Greeley I started and ran a successful lawn care company called Davis Lawn Care for over 20 years. In 1976 I met the love of my life, Charlotte G. LeBlanc. I finally persuaded her to marry me on July 4, 1978. All of the really great things in my life have come from Char including my two children. Cassandra Iris (Cassie) was born on July 18, 1980 and Justin Tyler on September 8, 1985. Our family moved to Nunn, Colorado in 1991 where we renovated and lived in the old school house there until 2007.

I finally graduated from the University of Northern Colorado in 1995. In 1998 I graduated from the University of Wyoming: College of Law; the same year Cassie graduated from Highland High School and Char received her Master’s Degree from UNC.

Much to my enormous happiness, Cassie married Britton L. Kauffman on August 6, 2005.

I practiced law in Weld County and was a member of the Weld County Bar Association until I became too ill to continue my practice in 2008. One of my greatest honors in life was to be a member of that Bar Association and to practice law in Colorado. In 2004 I was presented with the A. Andrew Borg Award for my volunteer Pro Bono services in support of Weld County Legal Services.

I was preceded in death by my mother, father and brother. I am survived by my wife, children, half brother, Bill Davis, niece, Madison Davis, mother-in-law, Grace LeBlanc and many friends.

I also leave an open chair in my monthly poker game with some of my best friends and the best card players in Greeley.

-JFD

John F. (Jack) Davis passed away on Saturday morning, August 14, 2010 in Greeley after a long battle with cancer under care by Hospice. Memorial Services will be held on Saturday, August 21^st at UNC’s University Center Columbine Suites at 2pm. Condolences may be sent to: http://www.stoddardsunset.com. Memorial donations may be made to Hospice and Palliative Care of Northern Colorado, Inc.

Update***Today, August 18, the  Greeley Tribune published his obituary***