#81 - Clear water! Pool! Fire! - Aug 22, 2012

Work was better again.  I spent almost all day working on old and longer-term projects.  Weird how office work has to happen to help physical work happen in the fab.  Something as mundane as fixing a time card issue can help a worker’s productivity.  And documenting a worker’s performance can help with all sorts of things for the future. 

The day ended a little early, and as the day was perfect, I got in the pool as soon as I got home.  The kids joined me, and Katrina had ordered pizza delivered.  The salt had fixed the water softener, and the water was quite noticeably tastier.  And the dishes came out of the dishwasher completely clean.  Dad had been busy again.  He got the pressure washer working, moved the old gross fridge out of the garage and put our freezer where it belongs.  He and Katrina had worked out the final layout of the pantry we’re going to frame in the garage. 

After dinner, I lit the fire up, and consumed a large pile of cardboard and one huge box of packing paper.  Dad came out with me, and we talked about politics and history for a couple hours.  I have another session or 2 out there at the fire pit, and then that mess will be cleaned up.

I’m starting to put things on my list to do inside the house during the winter.  Not having to think about the outside in the winter will be great: do my pruning, and then nothing until Spring.  So I can do things like adding a receptacle and light switch to Aria’s extra room, cleaning and painting the interior of the garage, maybe taking care of the deck.  I can go through the boxes of junk in the basement, sort and toss things.  It will be so very nice.  

#80 - Ahh! Progress! - Aug 21, 2012

I was able to finally go through 300 emails today and get my inbox back to something reasonable.  Then I started to tackle things that had been waiting for me for a few weeks.  Taking things off my plate always feels nice.  I also was able to take care of a bunch of stuff from my personal to-do list while at work.  I finally got through to the school district office and made an appointment to register the kids for school, changed the address for some insurance, and put together the information package we need to get NY licenses.   Still missing one critical piece of information, but almost all of it is gathered and ready to go.  One of the things I was able to get to today was this outdoor cigarette butt disposal taken care of.  There was a hole in the bottom, so water drained out.  It was repaired a while ago by adding a metal bucket.  The bucket's bottom has rusted out, and the cigarette butts catch fire from time to time and smoke like crazy.  I was able to clear this up by throwing this old one away and starting the ball rolling for a different cigarette butt disposal unit to be mounted to the building.  These are the odd things that sit for months because nobody has time.  Today I had time.

Dad made more progress on the garage – the grill is done, it’s cleaner, and I picked up a hose and some salt for the water softener.

Tim was supposed to come out today and spend a few days with us, but he needed to stay in the city and try to close on an apartment.  But we had the neighbor girl over as well as the missionaries.  We put 10 people around our dining table, and it wasn’t even a special occasion.  It just happened that we had 4 guests.  But we sat comfortably, ate comfortably, and life was pleasant.  This is the kind of thing I had always wanted us to be able to do, but we just couldn’t.  For some reason, we just couldn’t.  It was easy tonight for some reason. 

And then, once again, it was time for bed.

#79 - The avalanche starts to clear - Aug 20, 2012

Last week for work I walked into a very busy work situation, with several machines that had been broken for a while.  In that case, both us and the customer put extra focus on them, and that takes time.  So last week I was able to keep afloat (barely).  A few machines came up over the weekend, and today we were down to 1 really important machine. 

With my boss, comanager, and the tech support manager out on vacation, it was my responsibility to move it forward.  So I put a lot of personal focus on it, and by the end of the day we felt like we had a much better handle on the problem.  When I left, we had some actions to take, and we were waiting for some data from the customer.

It was a long day – about 12 hours at the office, and another hour at home to finish a report and send it out.  But tomorrow is going to be much better.

When I got home, I found that dad had been busy.  The cardboard was out of the garage, and he had found and put together the pressure washer.  He had made good progress on the grill as well.  We ate dinner soon after I got home.  Katrina had made baked chicken and roasted potatoes.  Totally tasty.  We ate, and then I went to bed.  I needed to recover some sleep.

Random pic: Katrina liked this naughty knotty tree near Lake Minnewaska.

#78 - A farewell to mom - Aug 18, 2012

Church was normal today – nothing particularly noteworthy about it.  We had driven separately, so I was able to rifle through the choir file cabinet and see what options we have for Christmas music.  I’m rather excited about the idea.  Directing the Christmas Choir is going to be loads of fun.

We relaxed a bit in the afternoon, and I spent a little time cleaning my bedroom.  It still needs work.  My goal was to complete it today, but that just wasn’t in reach.  Then it was time to go.  Tim planned to cook dinner for mom, and she and Aki needed to catch the 4:47 train from Beacon.  So dad and I and the ladies headed out about 4:10 and got them to the station.  Then dad and I went on walkabout.

We drove up Rt 9D, then 9, and stopped at the Locust Grove.  It’s Samuel B Morse’s old house.  The guy who invented the telegraph and Morse code.  Him.  The family eventually turned it over to the city to take care of, and it is a park of sorts now.  Beautiful.   We took a short walk around the grounds, and then we were out of time.

Dad on the Walkway Over the Hudson, looking North.

We were out of time because we decided to make the Walkway Over the Hudson a priority.  So we headed up there, a short drive, and then about 45 minutes of walking on the bridge.  It was a perfect evening – mid 70s, really no breeze, a sky dusted with clouds. 

Then it was off to West Point.  It took much longer to get there than anticipated, but we showed our drivers licenses and drove in.  We followed the signs to Trophy Point, passing the Army football stadium and soccer fields.  We saw maybe 6 parking lots, all of them spitting out cars instead of taking them in.  No spaces anywhere.  We drove past Trophy Point and into the fortress part of the campus, took a side road into the residential area, and turned around.  No luck finding parking.  Then dad saw a pair of soldiers, and asked me to pull over.  They kindly directed us to a hidden parking lot just down the road that was closer to the concert venue. 

Trophy Point at West Point.
It appears dad likes to look to his left,
and thus I like to place him left of center
in the frame.  See other pic, too.

There was a spot halfway down the hill, we parked and walked to the outdoor ampitheatre.  The space was filled with people, most of them in camp chairs or on blankets, grouped into families and friends around coolers.  Paper plates, chicken, sandwiches, drinks.  A relaxed party.  We were pleasantly surprised to find a set of aluminum bleachers set down near the stage and we headed down to sit there.  The band tonight was the Jazz Knights, and the program was an hour of Beatles songs.  The band was pretty good, and the vocalists were good, too.  The sun set off to the left of the stage, painting the clouds pink and orange, 

reflecting on the Hudson, in full view as it flowed toward us from the North. 

I’m not a big Beatles fan.  And I’m not a jazz fan in general.  But several of the pieces were really well done, and the final number hit me.  The lead vocalist came on, thanked us for coming, and introduced a final “sing-along” song.  And the US Military Academy launched into a heartfelt rendition of “Let it be”.   The juxtaposition, sitting here on a beautiful evening, surrounded by military grandeur on the peaceful Hudson, and a military band playing a song about finding peace was genuinely heartwarming.  Every soldier prays for the day that they won’t have to go and fight.  But someone has to do it until no one threatens each other. 

Read what you want into that – I will say that I think the US gets into too many fights, but that’s not the soldier’s faults and they shouldn’t be blamed for it.

#77 - More Garage Sale Adventures - Aug 18, 2012

Dad and I ate breakfast that Aria made, and then went out to the garage sale.  It was a wonderland.  Real mink coats, a Cessna propeller, a nice table saw, electric train set, antique furniture, loads of interesting things.  Dad picked up a book and a manual computer (like a slide rule, but built for pilots), and I found a splitting maul, c-clamps, snow shovels, a fog machine, and of course we paid for the snow blower. 

I could have spent a lot more money there, but I held back.  Katrina and I have recently switched financial roles in the family, and I feel much more responsible now.  I have an obligation to not blow the budget, so I’m careful to not buy too much.  The woman running the garage sale was named Kathi.  She does garage sales full time as a job.  So I think I need to put her on my favorites list on my phone.

We got home at 10.  Dad went inside to sit on the porch and read.  I was going to head in through the porch door and noticed something sparkly hovering in the air.  This spiderweb was unlike anything I’d seen before.  It was 3D instead of 2D and it caught the light beautifully.  I called dad over to see it.  It was wondrous.  He was on the inside of the door and I was on the outside.  I got it on camera, but it was much prettier in person.  

At 11:30 I went with mom to pick Aki up from the train station.  That went off without a hitch, and we brought Aki home.  She said hi to dad, and then went out to play Uno with the kids by the pool.  I spent the afternoon working on the TV/DVD/Wii setup.  I had the units hooked up, but the cabling was ugly, so I rerouted everything and made it work.  It looks much better now, and almost everything works.  I discovered late in the process that I had missed the cables that hook the cable box up to the TV.  So I have to do that still. 

Aria made curry for dinner tonight.  It was okay – a little thin for my taste, and she did not read the label on the apple juice can, which made me chuckle inside.  I didn’t mention it to anyone until now.  If you mix 1 12oz can of frozen apple juice concentrate with nearly 1 gallon of water, it’s not very flavorful.  The other kids would have said something if they had noticed, and all the adults were quiet about it.

#76 - Friday Garage Sale - Aug 17, 2012

Got to work this morning to find that instead of the “how in the world are we going to put people on every task that needs done?” situation, we had a “what in the world are we going to find for all of these people to do all day?” situation.  Happy happy news.  Still have a few machines that need extra focus, but both of them look like they’re on their way to being fixed.  It takes a while from the time you fix a machine until you can verify that it is fixed.  It’s usually several days.

And then one of our team made a mistake and cost us a part that was hard to find.  We’ll see if we can get it here quickly or not.

Mom had spent most of the day with the kids working on projects, and that was cool.  And we found out that Aki and Tim are coming over tomorrow for the weekend, and that will be really nice.  Katrina and mom went out garage saling (we have always used this as a verb in my house) and came back with a few things, but the big find was a snowblower.  Katrina had called from the garage sale to ask if she should buy it.  I told her yes when she told me the original price and the sale price and what shape it was in.

Aria and mom made pizza for dinner.  It was excellent.  Aria has cooked the entire week so far, and she finishes on Sunday.  It’s part of her personal progress project for church, and it has been pretty great.  She has learned a lot, I haven’t had to make dinner, and she’s spent a lot of time with my mom.





    

Random pic: Hmm.  Slow work.  Must be a government job.

#75 – A Day that Was as it Should Be - Aug 16, 2012

Morning came too quickly. I stumbled out of bed, got dressed, and could not find my badge for work. It was not in the only 2 places I ever leave it. So I decided to eat my breakfast and read the news while I let my brain think about it.


Sure enough, once I was full, my badge and some other paperwork I needed were in the next place I looked. I took off for the fab. The work day was as busy as expected. A couple machines had been down for a few days, and the customer needed them badly. In addition, we had an executive review of a project I am part of, and that took an unexpected hour to prepare for. I left at 4:30, knowing I had another hour or 2 of work to do in the evening for updates.

At home, I was able to relax for a good long time. We met our neighbors today, the new ones who moved in a week ago. She is retired, he works at a nuclear power plant. And they have grand kids! One of them is a Star Wars and Lego-obsessed boy Christian’s age. Another is a very excitable 7 year old girl. Libby and Christian now have excellent friends. It turns out that the neighbors have a pool table and play room. We have a pool and Lego room. The kids go back and forth through the forest. The girl stayed to have dinner with us, and the neighbor woman came over to chat. It was really nice – the kind of openness and friendliness we never saw in our neighborhood in Oregon. There was always a distance (at least with me); I don’t feel any of that here.

Aria made cheeseburger casserole, and we just hung out after that. The entire family had been in the pool area. Katrina pulled weeds, and dad and the kids got rid of the piles of leaves and sand I swept up yesterday. The pool looks really nice now. Not perfect (not as nice as it will look next year) but it’s actually pretty to look at now.

Just before bed, I sent out a report for work, and found out that one of the critical machines was back to production, and I was able to be a lot less worried about work after that.

This is a picture publicly available on the interwebs of the building where I spend half of my mornings.  I won't say anything else about it because that's not cool.  I got it here.

#74 - The Pilgrimage Home - Aug 15, 2012

I could really get used to sleeping without an alarm clock. I’m getting better at sleeping past 6, and even with the sun up. Breakfast on the deck was simple – Chinese leftovers for me from lunch yesterday, Cheerios for Katrina. Then we packed, cleaned up the place, I blogged for a while, and we left at 11. We decided to come home via Rt 44/55. It’s a nearly straight shot from our house out to Kerhonkson on this road.


It winds through the Minnewaska state preserve, Gardiner, Highland, and some other small towns before it hits the Mid-Hudson Bridge. We used the E-Z Pass for the first time. It worked. Super handy to not need change any more for toll roads.

We stopped at a few places on the way – the little consignment store I stopped at in July on my bike ride, a roadside fruit stand, a view point. It took us about 2 hours, but we got home to find the house was empty.

I ordered some things we needed – new AV cables for the Wii and PS2 because we don’t have a way to get a composite video signal to our new TV, a landline phone because we still can’t find the power supply for our fancy phone, and a set of TV timers for the kids. No more mom and dad monitoring TV time – the kids will own it. The unit has a power plug, and the kids will get coins each day. The coins are each worth 15 minutes of screen time.

Then I went to work – I got into my swimming shorts, grabbed a snorkel mask and the brush, and I swept the pool from end to end. My goal was to get all of the sand and gravel out of the pool, and to eliminate all of the dark spots on the bottom. The dark spots were mostly leaves that had sunk, and I expected to be able to get those with a net. The rocks would have to be swept. So I grabbed the brush and did skin-diving. Down, 3-4 brush strokes, up for air, back down. Back and forth across the pool, pushing all the heavy little pieces to the shallow end.

In an hour, I was done. I had a pile of gravel and sand on the side of the pool, a few small piles of leaves and detritus, and the pool looked much cleaner, despite all the gunk I had kicked up while sweeping. As I finished, I heard the kids come home. Dad and I talked for a while with the kids on the screen porch, Aria cooked dinner of Al Fredo and beans, and I sat down to blog while the younger kids sat down with papa to watch an episode of Merlin.

Nana took Aria to her off-site mutual activity, and when Katrina came to get my keys, we realized that I would have to drive her and Christian to the church for scouts and her meeting. So we left Libby and Jake in dad’s care and left. We got home, and I went right to bed. Katrina joined me eventually, but I didn’t notice. I never do.

I know that tomorrow is going to be challenging at work, and I’m going to need a full day’s energy. And I’m still tired because of that rain storm last night. But I’ll get better.

#73 - Katrina Hikes! - Aug 14, 2012

We slept until we woke up, ate our cereal for breakfast, and sat down to watch “Australia”. We love that movie. It’s heartbreaking, partially true, lavish, and stunningly well-done in its production values. I love Hugh Jackman.


Then we went out to Lake Minnewaska. It’s a short drive to a beautiful place. We parked and walked around the lake, nearly alone. The paths are wide, leftovers from the days of carriages, just gentle switchbacks and calm turns. The lake is gorgeous, and has a very low Ph (4.5), but it’s safe to swim in. We did the 2 mile hike in about 2 hours. It’s the longest hike we’ve ever done together, and I had to get used to doing it her way. She likes to take it slowly and take a lot of pictures. It was a really nice hike, she felt tired and great afterward, and we both had a really nice time.

Some pics:

Start of our hike.  The lake is behind her.

Looking SE from the SE side of the Lake, over the Hudson Valley.

Katrina called this duck.  She loves ducks.  I don't get it.

The lake is surrounded by these white cliffs.   Great views around
the lake, and several nice places to stop and enjoy them.
This is from the picnic area on the East side of the lake.

We stopped by Awosting Falls on the way back. The geology here is still stunning – the mix of ancient mountains, worn down by millions of years of erosion, and the glacier-scraped landscape that leaves bedrock bare and boulders creeping out of the grass.

Upper Awosting falls.

Katrina hiked to the top of the falls!

I'd never seen such a flat natural rock formation before.

This is at an overlook on the way back to the chalet.
I had the best view ever!

Dinner was a stop at the BBQ shack. We got a platter of BBQ chicken, corn bread, potato salad, coleslaw, and baked beans. $12. We ate it leisurely, with nothing else to do. It’s hard for me to relax, to do and accomplish nothing more than breathing. It’s a skill I need to improve on, so I gave in to it. We watched another movie, “Stranger Than Fiction”. This is Will Farrell’s “Truman Show”. Great movie. Well written, acted, interesting premise, and he and Maggie Gyllenhall are an unlikely and cute couple; they seemed to belong together.



We slept poorly, on account of a very long and very loud rainstorm beating on the 4 skylights and the attic-less roof.  But it was a wonderful day - long, relaxing, picturesque.  Tomorrow we head home. 

#72 - And We're Off! - Aug 13, 2012

We were up this morning. I got something done for work, and then the family was awake. I did some more laundry, organized the garage (mostly breaking down empty boxes and filling other boxes with packing paper), and built a shelf in the garage. Dad and I moved a piece of furniture from Libby’s room to the basement, and Katrina and I moved a pile of food from a place that was in the way in the kitchen to out of the way. Bit by bit the house keeps coming together.


Then Katrina and I packed up, and we took off for the Catskills about noon. We stopped in New Paltz for lunch at Neko. Veggie tempura for us both, and then we were out of time.

Neko Sushi in New Paltz

We had planned to stop at the grocery store to get food, but assuming there was a grocery store somewhere nearby, but took off. The road never seemed to stop. It was a really pretty drive, but it never seemed to end. Trees, farms, and small towns, none seeming that different from its neighbor except New Paltz.

As we got further and further from civilization, we chatted about a mass murderer living at the house, and how easy it would be for him to bury people on the property. “Of course,” I said, “that would mean that nobody would notice that people who stay at this particular place are never heard from again.”

“Nobody tells anybody where they’re going. Do mom and dad know where we’re going?”

She was right. Goodness, but she was right. At the end of a gravel road, past a fence with crazed barking rottweilers (4 of them behind iron bars), we found an older yellow Miata convertible with the top down. License plate: PARTYZON. The driver of this vehicle would be somebody I could dig. We walked up the steps, and we saw a chalk board with “Welcome Thomas” written on it. Mike and his assistant greeted us and gave us a 20 minute tour. The place was relatively spartan. The fridge was empty and sparkling clean. The kitchen had 4 each of plates, bowls, wine glasses and beer glasses. A few spices (salt and pepper, garlic bits) and that was it. A dining table with 4 chairs, a couch with TV and DVD player, wood stove, 2 small dressers in the loft with the bed and bathroom. Very simple.

And filled with light – windows almost the entire length of the front door wall, a large sliding glass door, 4 huge skylights, and some more windows scattered around the place. Ceiling fans, open windows, and complete privacy.

No lights are turned on.  And this is almost the entire place.

The owner left, we relaxed for a bit, then headed out for dinner at Friends and Family II. We weren’t in the budget realm for their nicer meals, and it really wasn’t a good fit for us. The food was okay, but it was clear the restaurant was meant for people who want to pay much more for their meals than we wanted to. So Katrina had a cheeseburger and I had a grilled chicken sandwich. Meh. I wouldn’t go back there unless I wanted to spend more. And I’d save room for dessert, because they looked great.

We stopped at a “super market” on the way back. We were able to find some Ben and Jerry’s, milk, and honey-nut Cheerios. It was barely a market, and certainly super was an undeserved superlative.

We made it back home with no problem. It was pretty much dark. The cicadas had turned the volume up to 10, and we left the windows open. And then there was nothing to do. No games to play, no kids to take care of, no unpacking, no chores, nothing. We tried to sleep. And after we figured out that the sounds downstairs were the fridge turning on and off and not an intruder, we both slept.

#71 - Jakers and Aria hit milestones - Aug 12, 2012

Sunday. We got up to French Toast that Aria had made for everyone. It was perfect, and she made just enough for everyone and had a few pieces as leftovers. We left the house a little early for church, all 8 of us crammed into the van. We were supposed to sing “Families Can Be Together Forever” today, but we still didn’t have an accompanist. I had called one piano player last night, and texted another, but received no positive responses so far. So when I saw a member of the bishopric and mentioned our problem, he found someone that I didn’t know and asked her to play for us.


She was happy to do it. “Straight through?” she asked. “Yes.” “No problem, then.” And that was it. I procured a couple stools for the younger kids, and then we were set. When it came time to sing, we walked up there and arranged ourselves. Jake immediately started making faces at the congregation. Dad was cracking up, mom was frowning at him and shaking her head. The family in the row behind us was laughing. And then it was time to sing, and he turned it on. He (all of the kids, actually) were awesome. Jake tried when he was forgetting the words, and then he got them and let it out. Everybody was on pitch, stayed in time. It was excellent. I was shocked to hear Christian let it out. He has an amazing, pure voice. I think he feels comfortable in a group setting, although he doesn’t want to solo yet.

It went off without a hitch. We split out for classes. Christian was supposed to give a talk, but he had forgotten his notes at home and so he bailed. My piano playing is getting a little better. Practice certainly helps. I’ve been working through a few songs with left hand accompaniments that are more complicated than I’ll be ready for, so I have simplified it a bit to make it work for me and still provide the bass that a song needs to feel harmonically complete. And the sisters in primary are very forgiving. Nobody shoots me any evil looks, they just let me work on it and try to get better.

Aria was set apart as the Beehive president today as well. It was super cool to be there with her. The next years really will be the last transition for her before she owns her own development. She is a wonderful person. I hope we’ve got enough in us to help her develop to her full potential.

After church, Aria had BYC. Then we went home, had lunch, and relaxed a bit. We went through some boxes in the bedroom to get it in better shape, and we swam and relaxed. I got through a few loads of laundry, burned the rest of the packing materials in the driveway, and took down the shelter blocking the turnaround.

Whew. A good day.  And, to be clear: mom got in the pool, too.  She's just camera-shy.

Jakers is becoming very used to being dunked.  He loves it.

Uno has been the card game of choice so far.  I think games of Uno played
is approaching infinity.

#70 - In the pool with papa - Aug 11, 2012

This Saturday morning was a lazy, relaxed morning. We all got up between 9 and 10. The ladies (including Libby this time) left around noon to do some shopping at craft stores and things. While they were gone, I got some laundry done, went through some boxes, and dad and I hung the TV on the wall. He and the boys also got in the pool – it had cleared up nicely.  This shot is taken through the living room window.

When the women got home, they had brought some garage sale finds – bookshelves in particular. I brought them inside, and we loaded one of them in the dining room with miscellaneous kitchen items that we don’t really have a home for yet. The other went in the area with the laundry machines. We filled it with kitchen items that belong in the pantry, which is not built yet, of course. But that meant that we now had a dining table that was clear, and the main floor hallway was also clear. The house is looking less cluttered, and each minor step now feels major because it takes some area from the “need to do something to clear this up” list into the “done” list.

I’m accumulating more boxes to sort in the basement as we go through things, and that was expected. I’m glad I had it cleared up once. It makes this next phase much easier.

Saturday evening dad and the kids watched some Merlin, and mom read on the screen porch. I made sure everyone had church clothes ready to go and did some laundry.

#69 - A day with grandparents - Aug 10, 2012

I went into work a little early-ish today so I could come home a little earlier. I took care of a bunch of stuff that had been sitting in my to-do list and came home.


I had to figure out what was for dinner because the ladies (Aria, mom, and Katrina) were headed out to do the grocery shopping. I put some baked potatoes in the microwave, and that’s what they ate while I got some sweet potatoes fried and flounder fillets in the oven for the rest of us. They ladies left, and we ate.

Dad had made good progress on the pool – he had found the valve to allow water to flow through the chlorinator which I had not noticed, so we were starting to get chlorine back into the system. He had figured out the backwash system, and Christian and Libby and he had scrubbed the sides of algae.

Mom and dad had spent the day hanging out with the kids outside, around the pool, in the Lego room.

Evening was easy. I burned a bunch of packing materials that had gotten wet in an effort to clear up the driveway so it would be a circular driveway again. Christian and Jakers helped me bring some wood from the wood pile over to the fire pit, and once it had burned down, dad and the 3 kids and I sat around the fire and roasted marshmallows.

The ladies came home, we put away the groceries, and we were all in bed by 9. Nice day. Nice to have the kids’ grandparents around.

#68 - Mom and dad arrive! - Aug 9, 2012

This morning I got something odd done. We had a windstorm about a week back, and I noticed a tree had fallen in the forest. Nobody heard it. Ha ha. Ha ha. I had thought it was in the neighbor’s side, but later inspection revealed the trunk was on our side of the fence. I would have to take it down. I also needed to spend a little time on the pool, and check out Katrina’s van. She calls it Big Blue. I call it Smurfette.


Did a quick backwash of the pool filter, added some shock, and started up the filter running again. It appears to have more pressure out of the jets than it has for a while, so maybe the clogged pipe is getting better. I don’t know.

The tree presented an interesting problem. I went up to it to see how close to fallen it actually was. I thought it was a healthy tree that had snapped. Instead it was a rotten tree that had snapped. The upper portion of the tree had lodged in another tree, and the bottom portion was sitting on the 8’ stub of the trunk. I decided to give my ratchet straps a try. Might not have been the smartest thing ever, but it wasn’t the dumbest.

I untangled 3 of them and hooked them all together around the trunk I wanted to come down. I wrapped them around the trunk of the nearest tree as a base, and then tightened them. One by one, increasing tension on all 3 ratchets. When it seemed I wouldn’t be able to get more pressure out of them, the trunk started to move. And once it started, it moved quickly, and there was a 40’ section of trunk that was 30’ in the air and I suddenly realized that I was not completely out of reach.

I ran like a crazy man in a movie (or Laura Ingalls when she was mad in Little House), tripped on a branch, and fell. By that time the tree had fallen and stopped moving. I was fine, and I had accomplished my goal. I had felled a tree, my first since I was 11 years old and did it for a Boy Scout achievement. I don’t remember which one.

Then I check on Katrina’s van. Coolant level is fine, oil level is fine and the color is good. The temp gauge does not have any numbers on it, so I couldn’t give it an objective judgment. Then I started the engine and looked around to see what I could see. The engine sounded normal and looked normal from the top. I looked under the car for leaks and things, and found the smoking gun bag. Katrina had said that the car started smelling bad while they were parked at a grocery store. What had happened was that a shopping bag had melted to the exhaust manifold. It was still stuck there.

Smurfette is fine – she has a little smoking problem, but she’ll be fine.

My morning complete, I took a shower and left for the office. It was a good workday – finished some things, started some others, and found that my comanager has a problem to deal with. I don’t envy him, but it must be done. We interviewed a really good candidate for an open job we have, and we both knew that he was a winner. Usually we go outside and conference about these decisions, but we know each and our cues well enough now that we know when we’re both happy with someone.

So we told him right there that he had the job, and he left a very happy guy. So were we. Now we only have 1 spot to interview for. And I also found out that someone else we had given an offer to accepted, so he is officially in the door now. It’s about time we start to finish this hiring process. It’s been a long haul, and we’ve got to get the new people in the door so we can get them trained and relieve some of the pressure on our more experienced engineers.

I left at 3 and caught the train down from Beacon. Then the bus from Harlem to LaGuardia. In the mean time, I found out that mom and dad’s flight was severaly delayed by weather in Atlanta, so they would depart Atlanta until an hour after they were supposed to arrive in NY. So I spent a long evening in the airport, blogging and playing games on my MP3 player and computer. And FB on my phone. Yikes. My life has a lot of gadgets.

I was waiting for them at concourse D. And then mom called. They had come out and were in baggage claim. I had never seen them walk by. And then I realized that I was at terminal B, concourse D, and I should have been at terminal D. I hopped on a bus and found them. Then we had trouble with the city bus because my Metro card ran out of cash, so we had to find a change machine. We finally got on the bus, and that put us solidly on the road. The bus ride was easy, we got off in Harlem at 11pm.  We walked into the station, hopped on the elevator, and got seats on the platform.  A relaxing 20 minute wait later, we popped into our train and sat for an hour, got to Beacon at 12:30, and drive home.  It ended up as a 10 hour odyssey to pick them up, but should have been much simpler.  It worked out.  They got settled in Christian's room, and we all went to sleep, after Aria popped out of her room and gave them hugs.

It was a good night.  And finally over.

#67 - The apocolypse approaches. Tom saw a baseball game and enjoyed it. - Aug 8, 2012

Today was planned as a no-house work day for me. I slept until I woke up, got some things moving around the house (the pool circulating, the fabric of the old box waterbed stuffed into the garbage can, that kind of thing) and headed in to work. The big monthly meeting with the customer went very well, as expected. Anticlimactic, really. We’ve been patting ourselves on the back for a week as the data took shape and we knew what we had. So when the customer did it, it felt nice but it was predictable.


I spent the afternoon at work summarizing the meeting for our team and clearing up some miscellaneous things that have been clogging my inbox.

The evening was unique in my experience at a company I have worked at. The office cleared out around 5, I stopped by a store to get some shock for the pool, and then we all met at the baseball stadium. The company had purchased tickets for us all to go to a Hudson Valley Renegades game. It’s the local minor league team. They play in a stadium near the Hudson River, about 30 minutes drive from the house.

The company had also hired somebody to grill burgers and dogs for us, with chips, beer, soda, water, condiments, coleslaw, and macaroni salad. It was a good time. Not many people showed up (25 maybe out of the 70 who work in our area), but it was still nice. We stood and chatted in the parking lot, eating and floating around until 7:30. The game had started at 7:05. We wandered over, found that the company had bought the cheapest seats in the place, and that there weren’t actually seats in the general admission area for us anyway. So we found a bench near the top of the bleachers that was unoccupied and sat there. It worked out fine., It was a nice, peaceful night. Beautiful – 80 degrees, a little breeze. Our seats were along the 3rd base line. We had a great view of the field, and to the left, past the home run wall, there is a forest of mature hardwoods. Gorgeous. Straight across the field, you can see cars cruising East on I-84.

The game went faster than I expected, and was actually fun to watch. So now I get why people like baseball. The game also felt like a not-wuite-so-rowdy version of a high school football game in Canby. It was a few thousand people gathered in one place, and some guys happened to be down on a field playing baseball. The game was a sideshow.

It helped, of course, that the home team won (an epic win over the Vermont Lake Monsters, 2-0). The game finished up at 9:30 or so, and I headed home.

Katrina had completed 90% of the kitchen re-org while I was gone, and it looks nice. Usable and practical and not too crowded. It helps that we’ve been cooking for 6 people for a while now, and know what we use and how often. I did a tick check on Christian (I do it almost nightly for him, at his request. He had a tick on his arm a few weeks ago, and so he’s quite diligent).

Katrina had had a scare with the van today, smelling like burning plastic. It was dark by the time I got home, but it was on my must-do list for the morning.

#66 - Preparing for guests day 2 - Aug 7, 2012

Today’s plan was to go to work, and then organize the kitchen. Mission decidedly not accomplished. We were able to agree on a set of criteria: take everything out and arrange like things together. Then decide on the things we MUST have and find a place for them. Then see what space we have left, and evaluate what to do with it.


We accomplished step 1, discussed step 2, and then we sat down to watch TV. We needed to decompress. I finished a presentation for work for our monthly meeting, sitting on the couch next to Katrina. I was beaten. I needed to sleep. So I did, and Katrina got the kids to bed.

Will we be ready for guests on Thursday? They’ll have a place to sleep, some nice places to sit and hang out, a comfortable craft room, and kids to be with. It’ll be good. The house will not be nearly perfect, and in the end, a little less organized than I was hoping. But still respectable for being just over a week since our movers left.

And – wonderful day! – Katrina went through the entire garage boxes, and found Legos!!!!! The kids are ecstatic. The Lego room has so far been a huge hit. I love being able to head down there, build a little something and chat with the kids. It’s the best. Don’t have to round them up or chase them down, just have a seat on the carpet and chat.

#65 - Preparing for guests day 1 - Aug 6, 2012

The plan for today was to go to work, come home, and clear all the boxes out of Christian’s room.


Mission accomplished. We found his fishtank and put it on his night stand, took several boxes that were not his out of his room, and otherwise made great progress. It took us about an hour.

The pool is greener than it has been. I have to figure out some things because I think I know a problem in the system, but I’m not sure, and I don’t know how to deal with it, either. Hopefully I can give the system enough attention to make it swimmable by Thursday.

I also started to wrap my head around the final logistical non-unpacking parts of our move: the new driver’s licenses, vehicle registrations, kids school registrations, changing addresses for insurance, and various and sundry other things. Our lives take considerably more logistical support than they did when we moved to Oregon.

The pile of mail I picked up at the UPS store brought this home to me. Then I stopped by Home Depot and got Christian a closet rod, and then I headed home.

Random pic of the day: we have accumulated a nice selection of things the movers broke.  One of the highlights is the wing of my Super Cub.  The box is marked "FRAGILE - Airplanes".  When I opened the top of the box, the wing popped out.  So if you cram somethign delicate into a box, and then mark it as fragile, does that make your packing job better or worse? 

The wing is supposed to be straight, of course.  This wing is my Ducks wing, green on top, yellow on bottom with Duck Wing decals.  It will need to be replaced.

#64 - Complete Normalcy - Aug 5, 2012

Today was normal. Just normal. We got up, went to church, came home, Katrina took a nap, I puttered around the house. We had dinner, played a game of Ticket to Ride (Libby’s first ever), and went to sleep.


Really a very normal Sunday, the way they should be.

Along the way, I finished my first pass at the basement unpacking. We have many many boxes filled with misc items. We need to go through them and sort them. But I have opened every single box, identified the ones filled with decorations, and stacked them neatly under the kids’ floor. The camping gear is laid out on a shelf, the chemistry and biology supplies are in drawers, the book boxes are stacked in one location. I have enough space to do the final assembly of the home gym, and the center of the floor is clear of boxes. Much better than a few days ago. Katrina and I also made some progress on our room. It’s just a few hours from done.

Katrina delivered a lesson in Relief Society today, and she was quite relieved to be done with it. At the same time, I think she feels much more confident in doing that on a regular basis. I had my first day as the Primary Pianist. I’m a little less confident. I practiced, but I still was terrible. I’ll get better, but it’s going to take a ton of work. The children’s program is at the end of September. So I have to prepare 9 songs for performance as an accompanist in 8 weeks. I have only performed 3 songs total before, and I had 3 months for each song. And in no case did I do what I thought was an adequate job.

The Lego room is working out really well. The kids head down there by default. They spend nearly all their free time down there. I still have not found the boxes of Legos, but there were enough scattered in other places that they’ve got enough to play with.

We made a plan to finish preparing for my parents’ arrival on Thursday. The basement is done until then. I’m going to help Christian with his room (which is the guest room) on Monday night, Katrina and I will figure out the kitchen on Tuesday night. Hopefully on Wednesday we’ll have Christian’s closets redone and some blinds added. I have a work function on Wednesday night, but before I leave for work on Thursday, my bedroom also needs to be complete, the recliner assembled, and the electronics hooked up to the TV. The garage will wait, and so will the other kids’ rooms.

#63 - Some work and some play on a Saturday - Aug 4, 2012

Today was full.  Just full.  I was up late unpacking, and then worked on some things for the office until 1am.  I woke up at 8am with no alarm, ready to get after it.

I had a million things on my plate - I had some more work unpacking in the basement, the garage was stuffed to the gills with packing materials we needed to get rid of, our bedroom and the kitchen are not close to unpacked, the laundry is piling up.  And there were odds and ends as well.  So I puttered around, doing what needed doing.  I lit our second fire to clear out some cardboard the kids had used as lean-to material and to destroy some cardboard pieces used to pack our pictures.  The fire pit is next to where the trampoline used to be.  It was old, so we asked the sellers to remove it.  As I wandered around, looking for things that were appropriate to burn, I noticed these holes in the ground.  And I noticed that the ground was pretty springy.  I think these are rabbit warrens, and that they have an extensive tunnel system.  Cool.  But I didn't see any rabbits.

I put some chemical in the pool, worked in the basement, put up one of our portable shade tents outside the garage and stacked the packing materials under it. 

We're both making a lot of progress, but I had to clear out some of the garage to make the garage even walkable.  Now at least I can walk to everything I need.

After I was done with the fire, I got a shower in, and we all took off for the ward picnic.  It was at Camp Liahona.  I can't get enough of that place.  It was a perfect day - 90 degrees, a little humid, but we're all getting used to it.  It wasn't cloudy, but the sun didn't feel as strong as I expected.  We were all outside for almost 5 hours straight, and nobody got burned. 

Ward functions here are really relaxed.  We showed up an hour and a half after it started, the first burgers and hot dogs were still cooking, the serving table was not set, we had no plates, silverware, or napkins, and half the people were swimming in the lake anyway.  We made do - people came to the grill with just a bun, squirted their condiments on it, and ate.  No worries.  The bishop went out and bought the plastic ware we needed.  I was a go-fer, Katrina was chatting with a friend who came, and the kids were off playing.  Eventually one of the grillers took a break, and I took over to finish cooking. 

There was zero formality to it, aside from a prayer on the food.  Just a relaxed free-for-all.  The kids played - Aria and Christian even took a canoe into the lake.  Jake got in the water and played.  Katrina and I just sat with different people and chatted.  About 5, it was time to roll out.  Not because anybody rang a bell, but because it had been a long hot afternoon, and we had things to do at home.  So I wandered up the hill with Jake, found that Libby had been talking with a sister for a while.  The sister had braided her hair, and Libby was very comfortable with her.  She's comfortable with everyone.  Most people had wandered off, so it was time to put away the chairs and tables, so Christian and I helped with that. 

We had looked for Aria, and while we cleaned up, she appeared.  After people went back down the hill for their things (Aria for her camera, Libby for her clothes), we drove away.  We got home, and we were all tired.  The kids went to the Lego room, and I got a little unpacking done.  We had leftovers for dinner, I put some laundry in, and it was time to sleep.

I didn't get any pictures of the picnic, but we had to stop to get gas on the way out and I got this picture.  I've heard this is illegal, but it's cute anyway.

#62 - Cruising through unpacking - Aug 3, 2012

Today I hit my snooze.  Hit it again.  And then turned off the alarm clock.  Thankfully, Katrina had let me pass out early, and I woke up at 5, ready to get moving.  Work went smoothly, and then I came home to meet with a member of my team.  Some women from church were here to help unpack, and the team delivering our dining room table was here as well.

We got lunch and notified the kids that we'd talk out by the pool, and they could join us if they wished.  So they all changed and came out to swim.  We had a nice chat that lasted a couple hours.  Some good and helpful things came of it. 

I had received a call while he was here, and a machine needed some atttention.  I ignored it while he was here, and when he left, I hooked up the router that the women had found and set our TV up for WiFi.  And I found Sleepless in Seattle.  Katrina and I sat and watched it, and the kids came around from time to time.  It's really a creepy movie, with this woman hiring a private investigator to get information on someone she has never met.  They never have even a conversation, but at the end of the movie they leave the Empire State Building late at night, holding hands.  Happily ever after?  Looks like something doomed to failure.  And it's interesting to note that between FaceBook and Google, you can find that much information on almost anyone almost instantly.  

This is how it looked when I started.

At the end of the movie, I picked up my cell. I had received 3 calls on it about this machine that needed attention, and I spent the next hour or so arranging things.  Then we got the kids to bed, and I went to work in the basement.  I worked down there until 1230.  At that point, I had cleared enough space to move the weight machine to where it belonged, and put up one of the shelves.  I called it quits then, happy with my progress but wanting to do more.

I checked in on the fab, and found that I had a few more things I could do to help it along.  I got those moving, and then I went to sleep. 

The house looks completely different than it did on Wednesday evening.  The living room is set up, the craft room is cleaned up and everything put away.  It's not all in its correct place, but it's all out of boxes and put somewhere.  It's usable.  Katrina has been putting in long days, and we've kicked some serious box butt.

My basement area is much better as well.  Not quite usable yet, but there is a path forward.

#54 - Our last day of transience - July 26, 2012

I missed daily entries for about 2 weeks. Entry #44 to #55 is out of order, but they will all be posted on the same day. So if you are confused, check the date and that’s probably why.


Thursday. The last day of our transience. I went to the bank today and got the bank checks we needed to close with. Katrina worked on cleaning and painting the basement floor today. 2 coats of primer, followed by 2 coats of paint, and then epoxy. Today the primer was done.

Some thoughts now on the nature of freedom and contracts, with some possible dalliance into the nature of God’s commandments and their restrictive and freeing nature. It’s not written well, I’m a little rambly today, so my apologies in advance.

The week before I left Oregon, around February 1, I packed up as much of my bedroom as I could. I stuffed 3 suitcases full of clothing, and have lived out of a suitcase or 1 dresser drawer ever since. I have lived in 3 hotel rooms, a room at a friend’s house, and a rented house. Katrina and the kids have been about the same. Transition every month or so, packing up all of our worldly possessions and moving somewhere new.

We have not had a mortgage for most of that time. And we have also not known where we would be sleeping a month away, either. It has been surreal. I personally have never been this transient. Even as a missionary, I moved once every 4 months. As a young, single guy without a job that required a commute, and where moving was expected to take a little time, and you were given the time you needed to do it.

We ended up in our longest-stay hotel for 3 months, but every day we were in there, we expected to be out within 30 days from that day.

Despite the freedom from a housing contract or utility bills, we did not feel free. We felt trapped. Would the company extend our hotel situation? If they didn’t, where would we stay? Would the hotel have space for us? Would we be able to find a house that would rent to us? Would the rental house have enough beds? We did not want to go to a 6-month lease, because we expected to buy a house in 3-8 weeks. Knowing what we know now, we would certainly have moved right into a 3-bedroom house and lived there with our weird sleeping situation until we closed on a house, and saved a couple different moves. That would have been odd, but we would have had a measure of permanence.

So I no longer feel tied to a mortgage. I feel freed by a mortgage. I know where I will sleep. I know where I will eat. I know where my kids will play, and where my wife’s friends will come to. Yes, we are in debt for this home. And we are obligated to pay the mortgage.

But we also have an obligation to find a place for us to sleep and eat. The mortgage is not an obligation. The obligation we have is to provide food and shelter for our children. Paying the mortgage satisfies that obligation. And that is the freeing part.

As an aside, I do believe the well-thought rules are much the same. Moving your physical framework from geography to geography is difficult. Moving your moral framework from philosophy to philosophy is also difficult. Whether it is a specific religion a person adheres to or a humanistic/moralistic set of guidelines, these rules by which we govern our lives give us freedom by limiting our choices. And we are not free because we can’t do certain things. We are free because we choose to not do certain things.

#53 -FHE on the front porch - July 25, 2012

I missed daily entries for about 2 weeks. Entry #44 to #55 is out of order, but they will all be posted on the same day. So if you are confused, check the date and that’s probably why.


Wednesday. Closing is becoming real. Katrina and the kids cleaned more today. That’s really been the focus since we got in here. Clean everything, so that when things arrive, we can put them away. Katrina called some cleaners, and they came earlier in the week, and the basement looks better. The windows are cleaned, and the kitchen is mostly wiped down.

I’ve been cooking with my camping mess kits. I really did not expect to make pancakes for 6 with my little camping whisk or use my 2-qt pot to cook oatmeal for my breakfast. But it works fine, and that’s what I do.

I swam again today. Still not enough progress on the pool. But I was told by someone at work that he has a similar pool – in ground, with a DE filter, and what he does for chemical is pours a few gallons of bleach into the water at the beginning of the season, and that’s it. So I need to buy some bleach. Good old chlorine bleach.

And tonight we had our first FHE here.  Aria provided the lesson, she and Liberty had made brownies during the day.  We sat on the screen porch and had a very nice time.  It had been soooo long since we had done that.

I went to the bank today and completed withdrawing from the Sylvan Lake Rd property. We walked away from that deal months ago, and our attorney never sent us back the check. He said that he requested it, but he never called to say it arrived, and did not mail it to us. So last week I went to the bank to find out how to report the check lost or stolen to get the money back in my account. Turns out that once the check has sat for 90 days it can be cancelled relatively easily. But it took a while to identify the transaction (the details aren’t important, just know that the teller at the bank was really helpful) and then we were only a week from 90 days. So today when I went back, she finished the job, and I walked out of that building completely disengaged from that attorney and Bank of America.

It’s all bits and pieces. Steps to finishing this transition that is soon going to be final. The transition will take a year. Once the house is in our name, the other steps are downhill. We’ll be over the hump, our things will arrive, we will unpack, and then we’ll settle into a groove.

#52 - Swimming - July 24, 2012

I missed daily entries for about 2 weeks. Entry #44 to #55 is out of order, but they will all be posted on the same day. So if you are confused, check the date and that’s probably why.


Tuesday. I think this is the first day I swam. I’ve been spending a lot of time working on the pool. I took the filter apart to understand it better, read about the filtration process for a DE filter, and I’ve been backwashing and adding chemicals to it. The pool was still too dirty for Katrina to let the kids in it, but it worked for me. It felt great.

It is still weird to be living in my house/not my house out of a suitcase. But things are finally coming together, and that makes all the difference , really. What I’m always looking for is a path to improvement. And this situation is certainly improving daily.

#51 - Watching the sun set through the trees - July 23

I missed daily entries for about 2 weeks. Entry #44 to #55 is out of order, but they will all be posted on the same day. So if you are confused, check the date and that’s probably why.


Monday. The countdown to closing is really and truly on.

We spent more time unpacking today. That’s a bit of a misnomer. It was more like we’re decompressing. After all this time cooped up together in a small space, we’re getting used to having some personal space. The energy that the kids have had cooped up for so long can be dissipated. They really don’t want to leave to go anywhere, they just want to relax and play. It’s freedom for them to go outside and run and play. They are plenty happy now. Once their stuff arrives, things will be better.

I made something for dinner, I don’t recall what. It was good. I ate on the screen porch, watching the sun set through the trees across the meadow. From Spring to Fall here, we have to really look to see our neighbors. The winter will be a different story, but the leafy seasons give us nearly complete privacy. Nobody cares at all if the kids are screaming outside or running around. I don’t have to think about them being in the cul-de-sac and being hit by a car. Because they don’t go that far away.

I love this place.

#50 - Sunday! We're baaaack! - July 22, 2012

I missed daily entries for about 2 weeks. Entry #44 to #55 is out of order, but they will all be posted on the same day. So if you are confused, check the date and that’s probably why.


Sunday. I had gotten a call from the bishopric earlier in the week. They were ready to give Aria and me callings. We needed to leave early. So I got everybody up early, and we found we were not ready. Aria had her dress, but Libby’s dress was gone. So she wore pants. And the boys wore something, as boys can do.

Katrina had forgotten that we had to leave early, but I had all the kids ready. This was our first Sunday back after being away for a few weeks, and Katrina had something to do for Relief Society as well. When it came time to leave, I mentioned that we needed to go. She said, “At 8:30, right?” No, Aria and I had to be there early. So I packed up all the kids in the van and we left. Katrina would drive Gortja in later.

I met with the bishopric member, and accepted my 3 callings. And Aria got hers as well. He told us we’d be sustained today. Then the phone rang, and Katrina told me that her key to Gortja was in the back of the van. So I’d have to go and pick her up. Aria and I were not mentioned in the meeting. It turns out the news had not gotten to the bishop in time, so we’ll be sustained next week. After the Sacrament, I went and picked Katrina up.

We stayed for choir practice afterward, and then went home to put some of our patio furniture together and relax.

#49 - Assembling bedroom sets, stocking the pantry - July 21, 2012

I missed daily entries for about 2 weeks. Entry #44 to #55 is out of order, but they will all be posted on the same day. So if you are confused, check the date and that’s probably why.


Saturday. Katrina cleaned Christian’s carpet while I got to work on the pool, and took Aria’s stuff into her room. I also checked out a garage sale at our next door neighbor’s place. I bought a ping pong table for $10. Christian helped me wheel it into the garage. I also got some dishes, so we don’t have to use paper plates any more. I hate paper plates. We got out later in the morning, in split cars. Aria and I hit the storage unit first, where I told the guy we were done, he checked the unit, and closed out our paperwork. Then we went to our PO box. Then to Sam’s Club, where we sat down and had pizza for lunch.

I don’t think I have ever purchased and taken so much bulk into my car in one day. Ever. We completely filled a basket with non-perishables. Cans of olives, peaches, snack bags of chips, fruit snacks, an extendable duster set, a microwave (the kitchen lacks a microwave), and on and on. Katrina gave me permission to buy the TV I wanted. It’s a huge thin LCD, with HD and passive (which means like the theater) 3D. It was too big to take home, and I didn’t see any boxes on the floor. The cart was completely packed.

So we went out to Gortja, packed her up, and went back into the store for perishables. Once again, the cart was full. We have a roast, hamburger, milk, eggs, cheese, ketchup. Food! And I bought everything we need to make tuna noodle casserole for dinner.

I don't know why Blogger does this - it's probably something
to do with using an Apple phone, a MS browser,
and a Google blog app.  Argh.  But here are the girls,
moving furniture.

The evening was spent assembling Aria’s bedroom set – the bed frame, mounting the mirror on the dresser, positioning everything. She was ecstatic. She was the first person to have her bedroom arranged, and she wasted no time getting settled. As I was working on it, I jokingly told her to get the mattress from the garage and bring it up.  She took it as a challenge (I love that kid!), recruited Libby, and in a few minutes, a box spring rolled into the hallway. 

Katrina had also gone to Namco and purchased our patio furniture. The fan was packed with patio chairs and a 4-person table, and a couple umbrellas.

#48 - Woke up at home this morning! - July 20, 2012

I missed daily entries for about 2 weeks. Entry #44 to #55 is out of order, but they will all be posted on the same day. So if you are confused, check the date and that’s probably why.


Friday. I woke up at home today for the first time in nearly 6 months. A zombie, I headed into work to finish this week, and look forward to a better weekend.

The morning soon proved to be eventful. I got a call from my attorney in the morning. The title was clear, and we were ready for closing. But the attorneys were not available until next Friday. By the end of the day, we had a date, time and location for closing that was no longer hopeful. The house was working out, the financing was all ready to go. No more hurdles to cross, no more wondering if the sellers might want to rent it to us, since we've woked out a rental deal.

Now we could focus a little on getting settled.

The kids have enjoyed this large empty house to its fullest – they run, they jump, they play. They scream. It’s a very loud place. And we were surprised to find that when the kids run in their hallway downstairs we can feel the house shake upstairs. The inside of the house is going to have to be quiet if anyone is to get peace. Katrina and the kids had cleaned out the fridge while I was at work, as well as some of the kitchen cabinets. Now I could buy food.

I unloaded the rest of the van, and we searched for the kids’ toothbrushes. This is a common occurrence, I don’t know why it’s so difficult for us. But it is.

I made a run to the storage unit during work today, and Katrina and I went out to clear it out tonight. It was only Aria’s box spring, dresser, and a few little odds and ends that needed to be cleared out. We also picked up a Rug Doctor to clean Christian’s carpet.

Nice to have that done. I feel more permanent now that we don’t have a storage unit.

#47 - Out of the hotel. One small step for a man. - July 19, 2012

I missed daily entries for about 2 weeks. Entry #44 to #55 is out of order, but they will all be posted on the same day. So if you are confused, check the date and that’s probably why.


Thursday. Got to work, checked my email. I had gotten an email from the seller later Wednesday night saying she was okay with a rental agreement, and asked me to call her in the morning.

So I did. She thought there might be a standard rental agreement online, and said she’d look for it. By noon, she wrote that she didn’t find anything, and that if I could make a couple changes to the draft I had sent earlier, she’d be fine with it. I went to the house and changed the locks. They had left us 2 keys to the house. One key worked in 1 deadbolt, the other worked in the handle of a different door. If we locked all the doors and walked out, we’d be locked out of the house. Conversely, we had heard that the family’s son was very bitter about the sale, and we figured he had keys to let himself in. So we could lock ourselves out, but couldn’t lock the sellers out.

Katrina had checked out of the hotel. I sent the seller the modified rental agreement at 2pm and continued on my work day. At 4pm, she sent me an email saying she was fine with it, and saying “I assume you want to move in on Friday.” I was home at 5pm with dinner. I don’t recall what it was. But we were home.

Katrina was worried until about 6, when I mentioned that we had the agreement in place, and we were officially allowed to be there.

We unloaded the basics from the van – the air beds for the boys, some clothing. I had brought Aria’s bed home from the storage unit, and we bought a bedroom set from the sellers. Libby and Aria would share, Katrina and I would sleep on the seller’s old bed until our bed arrived and we could throw it out. Everybody has a bed, and everybody has a blanket.

And we’re sleeping in our home. Or the seller’s home that will soon be ours. Whatever.  We have completed moving around.  It's about stinkin' time.

#46 - No closing. - July 18, 2012

I missed daily entries for about 2 weeks. Entry #44 to #55 is out of order, but they will all be posted on the same day. So if you are confused, check the date and that’s probably why.


Wednesday. I got up this morning, took a shower, and snuck out of the hotel room. I stopped by the front desk and extended our reservation through Sunday morning and then went off to work. I emailed the seller an outline of a daily rental agreement, and hoped she would get to it soon. She doesn’t check that email very frequently.

The terms and conditions were very simple, basically it outlined a daily rate, stipulated that the rental would have no effect on the sale of the home, and a couple other things. Its main purpose was really just to provide an agreement for us to go sleep in the place.

Nothing from the seller’s attorney again. I heard from my attorney, and she said there was no reason we couldn’t close on Friday. But she had not heard a committed date from the seller’s attorney. So nothing.

But before we went to sleep, Katrina became convinced that the best thing for us was to leave the hotel on Thursday morning and sleep at the house tomorrow night.