Yummy

HMMM

 

I woke up this morning and noticed an ambrosial scent wafting through the bedroom.  Dan had already been up several hours and had made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.  As I ate a couple I emitted little moans of pleasure.  What could be better than this!  This is a greater feat than it is at home because,  first, we have no mixer and, second, the oven has no numbers to tell how hot it is But my wonderful husband has figured it out.  I don't think I have baked anything here because it is too much for me.

 

I started thinking about all of Dan's good points.  He can spell and edits most of what I write. This is not always an advantage from my point of view because he always beats me at Scrabble.  My spelling tends to get a bit creative.  (Mrs. T needed to ask how to spell Scrabble.  dt) Of course Dan gets the better letters at Scrabble and that is not fair!  Also Dan tends to remember things.  This is very convenient because that way I go where I am supposed to when I am supposed to.  Another good thing about Dan is he is very good at finding his way around.  I have a tendency to be a little vague sometimes.  Usually I know in a general way where places are and without Dan I wander around until I bump into them. 

 

There is a major difference between the way Dan and I walk.  I have notice that there are two different types of walkers, there are the Walkers with a capital W and there are the amblers.  Dan is definitely a Walker.  When he walks he means to get someplace and he heads out, no detours allowed.  When I walk I am interested in everything I pass and I need to stop constantly.  I am needless to say, an ambler.  Any time you pair a Walker and an ambler on an excursion you are asking for trouble.

 

This is especially apparent when we walk on the beach.  There is so much to look at on the beach.  There are shells, I need to look at.  A coconut husk I should examine.  Some times I see living creatures such as small fish that got stranded and I need to stop and throw them back in the water.  If I am in a trash collecting mood I stop to pick up some pieces to deposit in the next trashcan I see.  I want to look at the sand castles that the children have made.  It can take me half an hour to walk a block.  This drives my husband crazy.  Of course when he walks determinedly passed all these fascinating things it drives me crazy.  I have two uncles like this, one is a Walker and the other is a rambler. (You know who you are).  I think if you told a Walker to stop and smell the roses he would try to comply.  He would go to one rose bush sniff every bloom on it and then rapidly move on to the next and repeat the process.  Although we have a major incompatibility we muddle through.

 

There is one other good thing about Dan.  He loves me.  And I love him.

 

Rebecca and Dan

http://casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com/

 

 

 

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MISCELLANY

About Spanish and Other Matters

 

We are in the middle of the Festival of Our Lady of Peace, the patron of Bucerias.  As we have mentioned in previous years, this is quite an event, one of the central events of the year.  Those of you that have attended 4^th of July festivities in a small town like Beverly or Plain City have an inkling of this combination of street fair/vendors, performances, parades, and nightly 'peregrinaciones' to church.  Fireworks – especially the 'flaming' tower - mark the beginning and ending of this week-long event.  Oh, and let's not forget the blessing of the fishing boats.

 

It has been somewhat cooler than usual.  Daytime temperatures have yet to exceed 30c (86f) and have stayed generally about 25c (77f).  We have not even needed our fans.  We certainly are not complaining; nighttime has had almost perfect sleeping weather.  Mrs. T has commentary about that below.  Our many friends from Winnipeg and other places in the Canadian provinces are happy to be far from the -45c (-49f) temperatures; yes, that is below zero without the wind-chill.

 

We have settled into our normal grocery shopping, food prep, etc. that is everyday living.  And we continue to refine our condo with new art and kitchen implements.  Probably about time for another batch of cookies.

 

Mrs. T is getting involved in local activities as well as doing her weekly scuba diving.  Here is her take on some of the week's highlights.

 

I am taking a Spanish class at the Bucerias Bilingual Community Center.  "Use me gusta (I like) in three sentences," our teacher, Bobby said.

 

"Me gusta limonada," I replied, "Me gusta chocolate."

 

"Bueno, una mas," Bobby said.

 

My mind went blank, all Spanish nouns deserted me; suddenly an inspiration occurred.  "Me gusta mi esposo" (my husband) I said.

 

"No! No!" Bobby said "You would never say me gusta for your husband.  Me gusta is only for things you like all the time!  You know some days you like your husband and some days you don't".  (This is true but I wondered how Bobby knew!)  "For people you say quiero," he continued.

 

I went back to the condo.  I saw the little iguana who suns himself on the wall beside our condo.  "Hello, how are you today?" I asked him.  The iguana turned his head and looked at me.  "The iguana looked at me when I spoke to him, I think he likes me," I told my husband happily.

 

"He would look at you no matter what you said," Dan replied "Next time say I am going to shoot you and fry your a$$ for dinner, and he will still look at you!"  (Probably would taste like chicken.  dt)

 

Bobby was right, sometimes I like him (i.e., Mr. T – she likes the iguana all the time.) and sometimes I don't.

 

I am happy because I traded a painting I made with the pie man for 2 pies (one pecan and one apple).  He says he wants at least one more painting for his house.  Also the owner of Los Helechos, a nice Mexican restaurant, has told me he will trade me dinner for two for a painting if I have one he likes.  (I am trying to get her busy on this.  dt)

 

We bought a beautiful Huichol (local Indian tribe) beaded work. (Posted previously in the pictures.  dt)  It is about 3 ½ feet in diameter and is a portrayal of the sun and the moon, which represents marriage, the union of male and female, or the eclipse depending on who you ask.  (It contains a lot of other symbolism, much associated the indigenous culture.  dt)  The salesman at the store where we bought it said it took about 4 months to complete, and I can easily believe that.  He assured me that the work was made of the finest Czech glass beads.  Talk about authentic!  The Huichols are interesting because they still maintain their traditional life style in some villages in the mountains where some tribe members do not speak Spanish.  This is one of the tribes which use peyote on their vision quests.

 

Our neighbor, Diane, who is a great bargainer helped me buy a Mexican blanket that has a peacock woven into it.  This was necessary because the nights here have been unseasonably chilly and when Dan steals all the blankets I am reduced to hoping for a hot flash!  The peacock blanket matches our blinds so it worked out well.  I am not sure Dan is too enthused about the peacock blanket, but king-sized blankets are hard to find.

 

Diving this week was fantastic.  There were three snorkelers but I was the only diver.  Before we dived we cruised around to look for whales.  We found three, a mother, a baby, and one other.  When there is a baby they always travel in threes.  After we followed them a little while the baby started jumping.  I think he must have just learned to jump.  He jumped with a half turn, he jumped completely out of the water and then he jumped halfway out.  This seemed to be his repertoire which he then repeated several times.  Then he must have been tired because he swam normally for a little while before he started again.  His mother swam patiently beside him.  It seemed to me he was having a wonderful time.  (I am not sure Mrs. T knows whether this was a 'he' or 'she' baby.  dt)

 

Alex, the divemaster said he thought the baby was about 2 months old.  When whales are first born they do not know how to swim and the mothers swim under them pushing the baby to the surface to breathe and then taking them down a little way.  You could tell that our baby was way beyond that.  Alex said that where these whales were swimming was not too deep.  If young whales go too deep they cannot get back up and drown.  So you can tell how old they are by where they are swimming.  They are carefully guided to progressively deeper water as they get older.  All the time the whales are in Mexico they do not eat but live off stored fat, except the babies who nurse.

 

After seeing the whales we went diving.  Since I was the only diver it was like Alex was giving me a personally guided tour.  Also when there are fewer divers usually the more I see because the other divers don't scare things away.  That certainly was true this week.  We saw two gigantic sea turtles.  We saw several different kinds of eels.  We saw several octopi.  The best part was when we swam by the top of a seawall and looked down and saw every fish in the Pacific Ocean swimming right below us.  Alex said it was the best dive he had had all year and I felt the same way.

 

That evening we went to the fiesta.  The Fiesta celebrates the saint day for Our Lady of Peace who is the patrona for the local church.  The fiesta lasts for eight days, and has rides, fireworks, music, dancing, and fair food (especially chocolate-filled crepes, mmm!!!). 

 

We were trying to decide which street the first peregrination would go down.  (There are both civic parades and religious peregrinations.  dt)  Dan suggested I ask some older ladies who were sitting near the church.  I sat down and was talking to them.  Dan took a picture of us.  Immediately one of the older ladies said "Oh you are taking my picture."  She threw off her shawl and tugged down her blouse to show more cleavage.

 

"Don't do that with my husband, he's dangerous," I said. 

 

"In my life I could use a little danger!" she replied to general hilarity.  (Is this what they mean by cultural immersion?)

 

 

Soon we will post some new pictures to the usual spot.  http://www.flickr.com/photos/9151458@N07/sets/72157603660415941/

 

Time to watch some of the NFL playoffs.

 

Dan and Rebecca

 

http://casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com/

 

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ARRIVAL

BUSY WEEK

 

Well, our first week has passed rather well.  As in the last few years, R's sister Rita came about the same time during her holiday break and was able to spend a week with us for a little r & r.  We think she had a good time and returned recharged.

 

The condo was in excellent shape when we arrived.  And once we restocked the fridge and pantry, we were basically relocated for our winter relocation.  Mrs. T provides a brief of our arrival:

 

 

Buenos Dias from sunny Mexico.  Getting here was a bit of a trip.  For the first time we went through Mexico City.  We got off at gate 19 and were directed to go to gate 10 where there was an information station with people who would tell us where to go (so to speak).  After a rather long wait for someone in immigration to take two seconds to stamp your passport (about the same in the US), we headed to gate 10.  From 19 to 10 would not be very far we thought.  Well we walked and we walked. "It sure is a long way between gates," Dan remarked.

 

"I just hope when we finally get there they don't send us back," I replied.  Sometimes it is a bad idea to put such thoughts into words.  When we arrived back at gate 17 Dan asked, "Do you think we need to check in again?"

 

"I don't think so since you did at gate 10," I responded.

 

After a few minutes watching other people check in, Dan decided to disregard my advice (fortunately!).  "We have one seat for you but you have to wait five or ten minutes until we get the other," he was told.  

 

We waited and waited.  "The flight is overbooked but we have asked for volunteers.  You may not get to sit together," the attendant reported. 

 

We waited some more.  People were starting to board.  "We have another seat but one of you will have to sit in first class, perhaps the lady," the attendant said.  Not wishing to offend, of course I agreed.  The flight to Puerto Vallarta was short and uneventful.  (I could hear Mrs. T having an animated discussion about scuba diving with her first class neighbor; I had a nice chat with my seat mate who does interior design for private jets. – dt)

 

After retrieving our luggage, we found all the ATMs at the airport were broken.  We had a bit of a delay obtaining a taxis, but at last a little tired, a little disheveled, and a little grumpy we arrived at our lovely condo in Bucerias.

 

I would have been willing to take a nap, but Dan pointed out I had slept almost ten hours on the various planes (Do you think I might have overdone it with the anxiety medication for the trip?) so we unpacked and got the things we left in storage out and arranged. (Our condo has lockable storage. – dt)  I did bring 48 pounds of stuff for the condo – you are allowed 50 so I don't know what Dan was grousing about – but it was mostly books and did not take long to arrange.  Dan got the computer up and running and all was well.

 

The next day my sister Rita joined us for a week.  We took Rita up to Sayulita, a little town up the coast.  It has lovely little art galleries and also a lot of surf shops.  Because of the geography Sayulita has a constant series of medium sized waves and a lot of people come there to surf.  As Rita and I were watching the surfers we both admitted that it was something we had always longed to try.

 

Dan has stated that when I am with Rita I act differently, perhaps less inhibited.  The next day Rita and I were hanging out at the beach near our condo.  We were watching a group of little boys boogey boarding.  Well surfing might be a bit beyond us, but boogey boarding surely was possible.  After all if these little boys could do it how hard could it be?  The next day Rita and I went shopping at the new Mega store.  Although we had invited Dan to go with us he had declined, and there was a large pile of boogie boards, on sale, special price.  It obviously was meant to be.  I chose a purple one with white fish, Rita bought a pink one with a big yellow sun.  We could not wait to try.

 

When we returned home lugging our purchases Dan seemed to be a little skeptical.  In fact he refused to accompany us to the beach!  You may not quite believe this but WE DID IT!  Not every time, but with advice from a helpful man from Canada, we were able to ride the waves (or perhaps I should say wavelets as they were pretty small) about one time out of four.  We were thrilled.  With a little, make that a lot of, practice who knows what is possible.

 

The next day we decided to go to Puerto Vallarta to visit the galleries.  We saw some great sand sculptures on the beach.  The traffic was terrific.  As there are few traffic lights you usually say a short prayer, wait for a break in the traffic and dart across.  Did I mention that the streets were made of very uneven cobblestones?

 

Well Dan and Rita made it across nicely but I caught my sandal on a cobblestone and fell flat on my face.  Traffic screeched to a halt.  Approximately one third of the population (300,000 last count) of PV gathered to stare. Do you know how to say embarrassing in Spanish? I shook myself and slowly started to rise.  A little man rushed out and said, "Take your time, lady, get up slow."

 

Dan and Rita rushed back.  "Are you all right?  Why did you do that!" Dan shouted.  Shakily I got to my feet.  My pants were torn and both knees were scraped and one was bleeding.  My left had hurt quite a bit but it was pretty clear I would survive.  The little man directed us to a nearby pharmacy.  "If you tell them I sent you they will give you a discount," he promised.

 

The first pharmacy could not help but after I limped to a second one I found help.  The pharmacist and her assistant sat me down and washed my knees with peroxide, clucking sympathetically at my moans, slathered on some triple antibiotic and made up two bandages of gauze and tape which they gently applied.  Dan was looking at me disgustedly as if thinking "I can't take you anywhere."  We did some more browsing and shopping.  Then we stopped for supper at Senor Frog's.  As we walked back toward the bus stop someone touched my arm.

 

"I hope you feel better, lady," said the man who had directed me to the pharmacy.  (Mrs. T will have more to say in our next installment, I am sure.)

 

A few new pictures:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/9151458@N07/sets/72157603660415941/

 

We see there is a heat wave in Columbus; your daytime highs match our night time lows.  It seems a bit cooler here than usual.

 

 

Happy Birthday to all of you – particularly MOM – with January birthdays.  Your cards are in the mail.

 

GO BUCKS!!!

 

 

Dan and Rebecca

 

http://casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com/

 

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December Madness

MOVE TO THE NEW HOUSE 

We have moved twice in the last couple of weeks; once to the new house and now to the condo for our winter sojourn.  It has been hectic as Mrs. T relates below.  Before that story, we would like to give a few thanks to some of you who sent us news with your holiday greetings.

Thanks to SSD with pictures of the girls – they are certainly growing up nicely.

To JB & PB – you have certainly collected frequent flyer miles this year.

And to W-Jl and LL – thanks for the letter from J; we hope she keeps writing.  We really liked the pictures.

 

Rebecca gives an overview of the move:

Well it is happened.  We are finally in our new house.  But it was not easy!!  Less than a week before Christmas we finally got moving.  The house was mostly done.  The cistern was still unconnected to the downspouts but we did have water.  The first time the moving truck went down and we unpacked all the boxes (About 160) but who is counting.  Dan sent me ahead of the truck down the logging road in my fourteen year old Ford Taurus.  I jounced along and the moving truck jounced after me.  The truck driver was not pleased.  Dan drove down the driveway in his Kia.  Exactly what the reason I was the one who went down the logging road was I don't exactly remember – something like – "You have more experience, Dear." 

After unloading the truck the driver was disinclined to go back up the logging road so it was decided that I would drive up the driveway in front of the truck to show him how to do it.  When I say it was decided, I hope no one has the mistaken impression that I had much input.  Well I drove slowly along our pathetic excuse for a driveway weaving around the more prominent pot holes until I got to the steep hill at the end.  There I floored it and flew up the hill spraying gravel, sticks and heaven knows what until I soared over the top of the hill and rolled to a stop.  The moving truck rambled behind me lurching from side to side trying to avoid the potholes I ducked until it got to the bottom of the hill.  There the driver shifted into fourth gear and the truck started crawling up the hill.  The truck was about a third of the way up the hill when it could go no further.  (No Guts, No Glory!) 

The truck reversed and rolled slowly back to the bottom of the hill.  This time the driver revved his engine and surged forward and he made it up the first half of the hill before gravity won again.  The driver tried once more, and this time I actually thought he was going to make it.  Alas, when it was two thirds of the way up the hill the truck hit a slippery spot and began to slide inexorably back down.

The driver got out of the truck and started slowly climbing the hill towards me giving me a very dirty look.  We got the log skidder to pull the truck out andhe drove away without speaking to us.  What to do?  Was the moving company going to fink out on us?  How would we get our furniture to the house? 

After some discussion it was decided that the truck would move our furniture a couple of days later as long as the log skidder was there to pull them out.   I would drive ahead to make sure they knew the way. And to show the moving guys where to put the furniture.  My input in this decision was the same amount as usual. 

 

We went down the logging road with no more problems than usual.  The moving guys unloaded and arranged the furniture quickly and efficiently.  The truck driver decided to go back up the logging road to get out.  And of course he got stuck.  I drove up the driveway to find the log skidder.  I found a logging truck but he refused to help.  At least he did not mean to help.  What he did was walk back down the logging road and ask the moving truck driver what the heck he thought he was doing.  The moving truck driver was so embarrassed that he backed down the logging road and drove right up the driveway on the first try. (!) 

I stood looking in despair at about 115 boxes and thirty plastic tubs.  (About forty-five boxes and twenty tubs went directly to the storage shed.)  In all fairness I must state that Dan instructed me specifically not to overdo it trying to unpack, He had to stay in Columbus until after a friend came the next day to get some of our old appliances. 

"Just take it easy," Dan said, "We can unpack after we get back from the condo." 

Well that idea certainly had little appeal to me!  So I paid as much attention to him as I often do (none whatsoever). 

For sixteen hours straight I manically unpacked boxes.  The kitchen was almost completely done, the bath mostly done.  After five hours of exhausted sleep I got up and started again.  I had a good start on my office.   When I decided I could not face another box I drove down to Wal-Mart and bought an artificial Christmas tree that already had lights and returned to try to put it together.  I was sitting on the floor struggling with it when Dan drove up. 

"I told you not to do too much," Dan said. 

GRRRR!! 

Dan immediately began reorganizing the kitchen where I had just unpacked it.  The disgusting thing is he improved it quite a bit.  Of course when you are unpacking it is hard to develop an overall plan.  And not all of the items of one sort were in the same box.  It seems as if we will have more storage space in the new house than we had in our old kitchen. 

A few new pictures:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9151458@N07/sets/72157603583867086/

(Most of our best art work will not be delivered to the new house until we return in April.  Even though they have crated it and padded it, the movers are reluctant to take it over the road in its current condition. - dt) 

The next day we bought some new waste baskets and a paper towel holder and Christmas was upon us.  On December 27 we flew to our condo in sunny Mexico where we can rest up.  As Tiny Tim said on Christmas day so long ago, "God bless us, every one!"

 

And Happy New Year to all.  May 2008 bring you good fortune.

 

Dan and Rebecca

http://casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com/index.html

 

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MOVING MONDAY

FINAL (?) DELAYS

 

We are schedule to move Monday.  And we need to move this next week because we will be on the plane to the condo on 27 December.  We expect everything will go fairly well, but we will be unpacking in the spring.  We could have been in a couple of weeks ago except for a couple of unnecessary delays and unfortunate weather.  Mrs. T explains:

 

I remember talking to Mama about building a house on the land after we retired.  "Someday," she said with a smile.  This has been more my dream than Dan's.  He is a city person, he is a people person.  I think Dan has no need to be where there are only trees and flowers and rocks.  But he has kindly come along.  I am like a horse who when it sees the barn wants to gallop.  After all these years it is finally going to happen.

 

We had ordered new appliances when they were on sale in September.  The salesman assured us that the store would be happy to keep our appliances until we needed them in November.  And we would be able to take advantage of a rebate as well.  This seemed like a good deal - until we called for them and the appliances could not be located.  A couple of days and several irate phone calls later the appliances had been located and delivery was scheduled on one of the nicest dry days in November.  No delivery.  We never heard why and so we reschedule for a couple of days later.

 

The delivery guy called to say he was delivering our appliances that day.  "Let me tell you how to get there," I said.

 

"I know, I have GPS," said the delivery person and hung up.

 

About an hour and a half later the delivery guy called and said "I can't find your house."  Dan gave him directions.  About ten minutes later the delivery guy called to say he was stuck and to ask me what to do.  I called the neighbor who does lumber to get his big tractor thing to pull him out.  The neighbor agreed that the delivery truck could use a different road through his property to get to our house.  The delivery guy refused because he was afraid he would get stuck again.

 

The delivery office called and we rescheduled delivery for Monday.  It rained hard on Sunday and I called and cancelled the Monday delivery so that the truck would not get stuck.  On Thursday a delivery guy called to say he was bringing our appliances.  "Let me tell you how to get there," I said.

 

"I know, I have GPS," Said the delivery person and hung up.

 

About an hour and a half later the delivery guy called and said "I can't find your house."  Dan gave him directions.  This time Dan gave him directions to the second road.   A truck for the plumber had already gone down it and I knew it was OK.  At this point I called the builder who was at the house telling him a delivery truck was on its way and could he look out for it.  About ten minutes later the delivery guy called to say he would not go down that road because he would get stuck.  I told him he would not get stuck that another truck had already used the road.  Then the delivery guy told me there was not room for his truck to turn around.  (Of course it was impossible to see from the top because of a bend in the road.)  I assured him that there was room for him to turn.  Finally the delivery guy told me he would get his truck muddy.  "Yes," I said, "you probably will; are you telling me you refuse to deliver our appliances because your might get your truck muddy!"  While I was having this conversation Dan was yelling at me "You tell him he had better bring our stuff and I don't care if he does get stuck!!  Let me talk to him!!"  I refused to relinquish the phone to my angry husband.  The delivery guy changed his story and said no he would not deliver the appliances because he might get stuck. The delivery guy hung up.  At this time unknown to me the builder drove up in his truck.  He tried to convince the delivery guy that he would not get stuck.  Then the builder asked the delivery guy to give the appliances to him so the builder could take them down to our house in his truck and install them.  He would sign for them.  (The builder was the person who was scheduled to sign for them anyway.)  The delivery guy refused to give the builder the appliances even though he offered to sign for them because the builder's truck had no way to secure the appliances.

 

After a very frank and earnest phone call to the delivery supervisor we agreed that the appliances would be delivered the next day and that the driver would release them to the builder to take down the road.  The next day a delivery guy called to say he was bringing our appliances.  "Let me tell you how to get there," I said.

 

"I know, I have GPS," Said the delivery person and hung up.

 

About an hour and a half later the delivery guy called and said "I can't find your house."  Dan gave him directions.

 

Meanwhile I was packing dementedly to be ready when the house was.  "Take it easy," Dan said.  Well of course the house was not ready on time.  Don't you hate it when they are right!  More delays.  "You are going to make yourself sick," 

Dan said and dragged me away to various functions which only made me more frantic.  A few days later a migraine did slow me up for two days.  I resumed packing at a slightly slower rate. 

 

Dan had begun to evince some interest but it mostly expressed itself in the form of giving me advice.  He began to pack and sort in an orderly kind of way.  After a few days Dan developed chest pain. It was not, he stated firmly, his heart.  The pain got progressively worse and I got progressively more frantic.  After a day and a half he agreed to see a doctor but by then it was the weekend so I took him to the emergency room.  It was not, they said a heart attack.  By then Dan was feeling better and wanted to go home but the doctor and I bullied him into staying.  Dan was flirting with the Dr.s and nurses and I was freaking out.  (My father died of heart related problems so this was especially scary to me.)  My dear children came and comforted me and I began to feel better.  After several tests they admitted it was not his heart and sent him home.  Two days later he took stress test again with no appreciable results.  The results of all this is Dan should take a baby aspirin once a day. He waltzed around saying proudly "I told you it was not my heart!"  How I will ever get him to the doctor after this I do not know, the man has no sense.

 

I was rung out but began to pack again.  Dan began also but was milking it, stopping after half an hour saying listlessly he was tired.  I did not force the issue, still being very concerned.  I suppose it was at about this point that the movers (who had been picked for their experience with fragile items) broke one of our glass pieces.  It was an accident caused by one of our wobbly steps which I had warned them about.  The moving guy was most distraught when he called me on the phone, Dan recovered amazingly and was cussing vigorously and I was trying to calm everyone down, in the middle as usual.  Fortunately this was a flameworked piece so it might be fixable but I have so far been unable to get a hold of the artist to see if he will try.

 

We thought we had the move scheduled when it turns out that the carpet guys neglected to tell anyone that one of our carpet choices had been backordered with no real guarantee as to when it might come.  We went down and picked out a different color which would be delivered two days later.  They promised!  After some discussion we decided to go ahead with the move and not put anything in the room that was affected. (my office). 

 

Unfortunately, the guy who was going to fix the road, which was expected to be done by now had not gotten around to it. I had no trouble driving down to our new house but when we tried to leave I got stuck in the mud.  Sigh!!  We decided to put off the move once again because getting the moving truck stuck in the mud would probably be a bad idea.  The road guy has promised the road will be ready by Monday.  Yeah Right!!  At this point Dan is seriously packing and I am mostly just sitting around.  I have given up.  I just don't care.

 

Dan and Rebecca

 

http://casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com/

 

There are some new pictures at:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/9151458@N07/

 

We may be offline or online intermittently while we move until our IT guru gets our telecommunications up and running.  The next time you hear from us very likely will be from our sunny condo.

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Nearing Completion

The End is in Sight

 

I almost believe it's really going to happen!!  After some ten years of delays of one sort and another, our house is nearing completion.  It's not perfect but it's very, very good.  Our house will not be heated by wood, but we do have a wood fireplace with a blower.  In fact the heat with gas from a well on the property, saving us a lot in utility bills we hope.

 

To get to our house you go down a long winding gravel road through a woods.  And then you see it.  There is a small clearing with a cream colored ranch style house.  Not large, but plenty of room for the two of us, surrounded by trees, with a rock wall behind it.  There will be a waterfall over the rock wall, but that is a project for next year.

 

There is a lot of blue in our house.  I like blue, and Dan acquiesced.  I brought up the possibility of purple but evidently that was pushing it.  The guys have done a super job on our house.  We love the round swirly pattern the plaster guys made under the ceiling fan in the master bedroom.  (I think the one plaster guy likes our house so much he is hoping to move in!)  It is harder for me to imagine what things will look like, I think because Dan has a better spatial sense – all of that chess playing, I suppose.  I was especially pleased with the way some of the bathroom lights looked that he wanted.

 

Our builder made the cabinets.  They are made of oak but stained a light walnut.  Quite lovely I think. We have wood laminate on a lot of our floor, but I wanted carpet in our bedrooms.   We got a little storage shed to store the excess left over from us moving to a smaller house.  (We hope it is large enough.)

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9151458@N07/sets/72157603208076042/

 

I have been transplanting flowers here and there that I want to take from our old house.  Dan and I have been packing boxes, talking to movers, getting a new address at the post office.  By the end of the month we hope to be moving or moved.

 

I have spent the last few days wrapping bubble wrap around 97, 384 picture frames with the stickiest tape in the world.  This tape sticks to my fingers, the table, the scissors and itself (making globs that are impossible to straighten out) in fact anything but the bubble wrap.  I asked my husband if he wanted to do some and he said, "You are doing such a marvelous job, I would not want to interfere."  You might think that one of us is a big dummy (and it is not my husband).  But I told him I was afraid to wrap our glass collection because my fingers were so shaky I was afraid I would drop something.  (Alas, this is very true!)  Let's see him do that marvelous job!

 

Next I think the kitchen will be boxed.  But I am going to try to leave out the things I need to make bread for Thanksgiving.  We are excited!

 

 

Rebecca and Dan

 

http://www.casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com/

 

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Walls are up

TWO-THIRDS

 

The house is about two-thirds completed, at least according to how much of the construction loan the bank has paid out to the contractor.  And that seems like a fairly good eyeball estimate to us.  Most of the work now is in the interior, a bit less dramatic than seeing the frame go up.  According to our builder/contractor, things are still on schedule for a Thanksgiving finish date. 

 

We think we have the flooring under control.  And we have picked out ceiling fans, sink fixtures, kitchen countertop material, and made the Maytag man very happy with our appliance selections.   As you can see in the photos, the walls and ceilings are nearing completion.  We had a bit of discussion about what wall material to use in the patio given the hot tub's humidity, but we think that has been resolved.  (The patio is heated and cooled like the rest of the house so we can use it year round.)   The drywall guys will do the ceiling plaster and then the contractor/builder's crew will do the painting.  The fireplace has arrived and that will also be going in shortly.

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9151458@N07/sets/72157602691793580/

 

On the exterior most of the work left involves the infrastructure parts.  The photos show some of the work on the leach bed; the cistern should be installed soon as well on the opposite side of the house.  The gas line and the electric lines still need to be laid to the house.  We have gutters and garage doors now.  Unfortunately Mrs. T still has a bit of a wait for her topsoil.

 

The main hindrance right now is the weather, but probably not in a way you imagine.  If it rains too much – like the deluge we had on Tuesday – the construction people generally postpone work because they know they will probably be stuck in the mud and will need a tow to get out as has happened a couple of times.

 

We draw your attention to the photo of tree roots.  As has been related, the property was strip mined for coal.  That does not mean every ounce of coal was removed, only the portion that was economical to extract at the time.  We find outcroppings here and there and probably could even heat the house with coal we could find on our land.  There theoretically could even be a rich seam underground somewhere.  It is interesting how this tree managed to grow around a deposit.

 

Some of you have paid a visit and we invite all of you to come if you like.  Just let us know so we can schedule a trip; you might get lost trying to find it on your own.

 

Hope all is well.  Keep in touch.

 

Dan and Rebecca

 

http://casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com/

 

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