Second Quarter 2019 review

For all the craziness that we had going in the first three months of the year, this quarter was off the charts crazy.  Spring had arrived and everything was blooming beautiful.
 
We had to keep the house neat for showings and leave every time. We got smart and just parked away where we could watch the house. We started doing that when we had a no show. Plus we knew how long they spent looking and we could go back home sooner than later. It was amazing how quickly people were in and out. Not our style, hahaha. After one showing we walked in the house and gagged on the strong smell of perfume. We had to turn on all the ceiling fans and open all the windows! Made our eyes burn.

We accepted an offer on Tuesday that first week of April, but by Friday, WE terminated the offer. In the interest of keeping this down to the short version and not epic novel, suffice it to say, the buyers agent was crazy.

Then following Thursday, 4/11 we had three showings. The first two's agents said expect offers, so our agent conveyed that to the agent of the last showing which was at 7 p.m.  It was the latest showing we had to date, yet these people stayed a LONG time talking out in the front yard before leaving. 

I think it was about 9 p.m. we received a full price offer with no weird contingencies. Other than the appraisal and usual inspection, they signed off on everything. We had nothing we needed to do. There was the usual tension of waiting and trusting, but overall it went very smoothly and the closing date was May 10th.

April was crazy with getting things done that needed doing before leaving. Important stuff like last massage and haircut for me. When I say last haircut, which was on April 25th, I mean last.  I haven't had one since. We were packing up everything now that we had a solid contract, and though knowing anything could happen, we just kept trusting and doing...and stressing underneath. We had days where we just chilled and relaxed because there wasn't much more to do but wait.

My last haircut!!!

The third weekend of April, Michelle and Seth came to see us. We just didn't have the time to get to Oregon to see them. It was a fun visit.  The Tuesday after they left Larry sold our car, we didn't want to take it and ruin it on the dirt roads. He listed it on Craigslist and by that evening, SOLD and gone. Just like when he sold the trailer, crazy.

The week before closing week I was cooking lots of food and freezing it to take down to NM. I knew we were going to be so busy that cooking wasn't going to happen and eating crap wasn't an option for us since we changed our eating habits the year before. AND no eating out...haha, our new home was twenty miles from the only restaurant in Datil. 
We were packing everything now that wasn't a necessity. 

NOW. Those last few days were crazy. It was Tuesday, the day before we signed the closing papers and three days before closing and leaving, that we decided that it was time to trade in our truck. It had served us well since we left Chester but we knew being where we were going to be living, now was going to be easier than later. 

So. We had researched online all evening Tuesday looking for a Subaru Outback. We didn't have the time to find a truck, too many choices and we knew and trusted Subaru's after having one when we lived in Chester, Ca. 

Wednesday the 8th we headed to Boise Subaru, looked at a few Outbacks and knew which one we wanted pretty quickly, we of course test drove it. Sadly car buying is never quick, yet this wasn't awful. 

We drove our new Outback over to the Title office and made our signing appointment 
at 3 p.m. It was a day of signing papers! First for the car and then selling the house! 
We were too pooped to appreciate the new car! We drove it back home and packed some more after eating dinner. We hadn't eaten since our early breakfast.

Thursday the 9th we were up at 6:30. We were at the DMV by 8 to get the car registered. It didn't take long, Larry put the plates on in the parking lot and we were off to pick up the U-Haul. We worked hard and fast to get that truck loaded. Larry got cramps on his shin from going up and down that ramp. We were mostly done with loading by 3 p.m.

Larry and I went to our favorite coffee house, Flying M, for our celebratory Breve's. Andrea and Connor stopped by on their way home in the evening and our agent had stopped by also.

I should say that our agent and our buyer's agent made the entire transaction go so smoothly. The buyer's agent knew what kind of product we had, that we were straightforward, and he was experienced and not crazy like that first offer's agent! 

The house deal was closed and recorded on the 9th, a day early! We were so sore! We went to bed lathered up in pain creams and downed Ibuprofen. We did get some sleep and up before 6 a.m. Loaded up the last bits and off we went!

I really got to enjoy the new car on the long trip. We had Sirius radio for a month, so I had tunes, the cruise control was a dream and my phone was easy to use hands free. We stayed the night in Wellington, UT.

An overlook in Utah about 7 a.m., rest area

Saturday we hit the road at 5:30. Moab was barely awake when we went through and we noticed they had new traffic lights since we were through in March.

Here's a magical little story that capped off the stress! I was leading, Larry with the U Haul following. Being mindful of how long it would take him to stop if he had to, I kept some distance. Almost out of Utah there's a forested bit. I came around a bend and up ahead I saw a deer. I tapped my brakes to warn Larry, but then I saw an entire herd of deer starting to cross the two lane highway! My brain knew I had a better chance of missing them and knew I needed to get the hell out of the way of the U-Haul, so I laid on the horn and my brakes and headed to the right shoulder/ditch and prayed I wouldn't hit any of the deer.  Larry braked the best he could and luckily there was no on coming traffic, but he was able to slow enough that he didn't hit any of the deer either. Whew!  Telling it took longer than the happening. 

We continued on our way and immediately on the radio played IMAGINE by John Lennon, one of my most favorite songs, followed by Valerie by Steve Winwood. During those songs I had a hawk fly towards me and he looked in at me as I went by. The a crow flew with me for a bit. Then a small bird flew at the car and from behind, Larry said it was like it gave a kiss and then flew away!  I felt like my guides and the Universe we telling me it was all going to be okay! They had our backs...not to worry, no more problems getting "home"! When we stopped for breakfast in Cortez, CO, we even got extra sandwiches, which we didn't order!!! We needed them too, gobbled them up. Thanks Angels!!! We arrived at the new house just after 5 p.m. and though the road off the highway was muddy and concerned us that the entire way would be a challenge, it was dry all the way in!!!

Thank goodness we had the truck extra days!!! We didn't have to empty and return the next day, we had a week. We needed most of that with rain showers etc.

The rest of the month was moving stuff around, painting, cleaning carpets, looking for stuff, moving stuff, looking for stuff.....hahaha, it was a mess! I won't walk you through all the minutia. There was a new cabinet that was broken in the box, we had an issue with the sewer line under the house...miracle fix it man Larry remedied that in the nick of time! It was just every day, painting for Larry and unpacking for Val. But it was all coming together. Because of Gracie, I had to take the time for little walks, so I got to appreciate the flowers and the cactus and the beauty that surrounded our home. We made a couple of necessary trips to Socorro and Albuquerque for supplies.





 










 










 

Fun unpacking all my treasures

May 20

May 23, west end of house

 

 


 

















By the first days of June it was mostly done! Larry finished the painting on the 9th. All the big stuff was done and it was beautiful! Oh, and FYI my photo folder for June has 984 pictures in it!!! Hahaha. So much was blooming! Cactus flowers, wild flowers, hummingbirds had moved in and wildlife was on the move....LOTS of photos. I'm sharing probably less than 1% here. I figure if you keep following the blog and I keep writing it this year, you'll see a lot of the 2020 versions!

 

June we just fine tuned things. Hung pictures. Moved stuff around a bit. Started taking walks and enjoying our new home's location. On the 11th the phone company trenched in our phone line so we would have landline and wifi!!! It was hooked up the following day. Finally we had internet again! 










 








Also, it wasn't until June 15 that Larry finally had the time to put the ham antennas on the Subaru and radios installed. That's a LONG time for one of our newly acquired vehicles to go without modification!  He had already mounted an antenna on the house and got a radio hooked up above the freezer in the utility room.
 

pronghorn antelope on our trailcam, this is the driveway heading to the house

 





The days were warming up into the low 80's and we had a couple of days of torrential thunderstorms!  Every day was taking care of stuff inside and out that needed doing. I tore up all the drip irrigation the previous owners had strung out all over the place. I'm not interested in planting stuff that wont' grow here easily and requires a lot of water. Water that attracts nature for drinks, nature that we may not want this close to the house.

 
Larry joined the community volunteer fire department, they were in dire need of help. He can't operate in fire fighter capacity, but he can train, lead and operate communications. I, even with my limited knowledge picked up from being the wife and learning by osmosis and conversations over the decades with Larry, knew they were extremely lacking when Larry took me into the station. It was NOT what I was accustomed to seeing!





 

cicadas join together to be LOUDER

 

We had our first company the last week of June!  My sister Lori and brother in law Dave! We had a lot of fun visiting, eating and exploring. They HIKED, we walked every day. Hahaha. The cicadas gave us plenty of background music!





 

Lori at the trailcam!

 





 

Bull Elk

pincushion cactus

The day Lori and Dave left we had the well pulled. The water pressure and air had been a concern of ours. We were relieved to discover the well and pumps were good, but whoever had done the installation hadn't put pipe dope at each pipe fitting and air was entering the system. So, each was lubed up and back down the hole they went! 
All was well!!!  Hahaha. 

lichens on rock

This concludes the epic, short version of this quarter. I'm sure there's stuff I've forgotten or left out, but it's okay...you get the idea. Oh, during all this we were adjusting to the 7,200 foot elevation. We would be really tired by the end of our day and in bed early. I would have to stop and rest going up the hills on our walks. There. Now I'm done.....

prickly pear cactus

pincushion cactus