Update from Vermont!

Yes, Lauralew is still alive, but relocated.

A bit over two weeks ago, Taciturn and I locked up our Black Hills home for the last time and hit the road with our two felines. We drove a day behind a horrendous snow storm (no dearth of those this winter), which caused only a couple hours’ worth of road angst in and around Erie PA. We moved into our interim Vermont home, a 160 year old furnished red farmhouse, on Sunday February 28th. Our gracious landlord came over to check on us not long after. She gave us a quick update on the quirks of the house and the property and the customs of garbage disposal, recycling, etc--which we absolutely needed to know as they are quite different than in western South Dakota.

This is a nice home for the time being. Definitely would not want it forever--we are here in Vermont’s mud season so it is a wild ride down the dirt (mud soup) road into town, for example. It is a bit far out of the closest town. Even if all else was perfect, one of the quirks of the property that the landlord mentioned would totally preclude this house from consideration for a permanent home. But it is a good base for househunting.

We had one offer on the Black Hills home, which has been on the market for almost six weeks. We turned it down as it was so awful it was almost insulting--it made many assumptions about us and our motivations, let me just put it that way. Eventually it’ll sell.

VTCrone has been just wonderful to us since we arrived. She and her husband received five large packages for us that I had shipped ahead, brought us some yummy lasagna which made four meals, and took us to a wonderful restaurant just four miles from our rental. Also, they allowed me to tag along to church with them this past Sunday at an Episcopal congregation that meets in an old schoolhouse in the town of Jerusalem, VT--thus the name Jerusalem Gathering. The bishop of Vermont, Thomas Ely, visited that particular Sunday; he said to me afterward, “What’s your story? You obviously know your way around Episcopal liturgy.” We talked for a while. He was very nice. Everyone I met was pleasant and cordial. It’ll be fun to go on a normal Sunday.

Househunting has started in earnest. We have driven all over the west central area of Vermont looking at villages and neighborhoods. Right now the pickings are slim for homes that we would consider in our target areas. For example, we fell in love with the town of Richmond, VT last summer. Taciturn’s ideal home would be an older home right in town. One that fits that description in our price range has railroad tracks just past the back yard and a packaged meat distribution center one block away in the front. Not for us. Elsewhere we have found two houses that would do, but we are not sure yet we want to live in the village where they are located. We do not have to make a decision now, thankfully.

As for Lent--what’s that? Hard to maintain a discipline when I don’t feel yet like I live anywhere. I brought some books to read but at present when I’m not actively working at a task, I just pace around the house.

As we get into a rhythm of life here in this transition phase, I’ll try to be better about updates. One can only househunt so many hours in a day without tearing out one’s hair.

Off to run errands!

See Lauralew on the Move

What you would have seen if you watched me on Reality TV the last few weeks:

See Lauralew clean and clean and clean. See Lauralew sort and toss, toss and sort. See Lauralew take the three excess computers and other elderly electronics to Best Buy for recycling. See the "For Sale" sign go up in front of Lauralew's house. See her REALLY clean.

See Lauralew double over with abdominal pain every day for weeks. See Lauralew have a CT, blood tests and an ultrasound. See Lauralew jump for joy when nothing horrible was found. See Lauralew take pain pills so she can continue to clean and clean during the move since there is no time for further testing before the move.

See Lauralew ship many packages via UPS to VTCrone, to keep until Lauralew gets to VT. See the movers come and take Lauralew's furniture away. See Lauralew's friend CFE clean and clean the empty cabinets and mop the floor. See Lauralew and Taciturn pack their cars with belongings and cats until nothing more will fit. See them all drive east for a trip that is door to door 1861 miles.

Now see Lauralew and T relax in a motel room with the cats a bit over a third of the way to their new life. And hear Lauralew and T haggle with would be buyers over a "you can't be serious" offer.

Once I am in VT and have a few days to rest, I'll get back to blogging.

Busy Few Days

The last few days have been really busy so I'm glad the NaBloPoMo is finished. I could have gotten posts up, but they would have been rushed.

Besides awaiting the coming of the Christ child in Advent, I'm awaiting my move. A few days ago a Vermonter with the handle VTCrone commented on a post from two weeks ago. She offered her email to me for questions. I took her post down due to her personal email in it but we've carried on a lively correspondence since then. She's given me lots of information but more importantly, she has given me a bit of friendship when that's the only thing in it for her.

She gave me the name of her realtor, which is something huge we needed. I emailed that person a little while ago to introduce myself and tell her some of the houses we are interested in that we've seen online. I look forward to hearing from her.

This speaking with an actual potential neighbor has kicked my butt a bit. I've been in our walk in closet tossing big time. I also threw out a bunch of stuff out of the pantry that was pushed to the back and died. I have to take one of the shelves down and scrub it; a can of plums is leaking, slowly :/. I had no clue until I was on the stepladder and noticed a stain on the shelf.

Meanwhile, I mentioned a couple of weeks ago or so that my next door neighbor is attempting to sell his house. On Wednesday, I got a massage from my other next door neighbor, and casually mentioned we were putting our house on the market in ~ February. She blanched. She and her husband plan to move their family this summer to California, where he works in the movie business, and want to put their house on the market in April. The picture is right there in my mind--all of the three houses at the end of our cul-de-sac with For Sale signs in the yards.

Taciturn is in a panic. For whatever reason, he is convinced we will have to give our house away, and now he is doubly so. But two people who recently sold houses told me that actually it may help us; someone may drive up to see one house, see one of the others that is pleasing at first glance, and look at that one also. My physical therapist said last summer four houses on his block sold, including his own. Especially since we hear that ours is a desirable subdivision and that houses for sale are few and far between, that is quite encouraging.

Today was the most brutal PT session I've experienced. He is trying to get my legs stronger and I did lots of weights, squats, leg lifts, etc. He promised me that I'll be sore tomorrow. That's ok. My tomorrow will be spent in an Advent Quiet Day, and then my pals PB and DB and I are driving to Hill City, SD to the Prairie Berry Winery for the Fezziwig Festival. PB goes each year and says it is great fun! Looking forward to it.