We're finally done moving!!!!!!! YAAAAAAAAAY!!!
Our last boxes are unpacked, although we still have some more organization to do, and we're done to ONE HOUSE.
This is very exciting. We have been moving/packing/unpacking since mid-July.
The animals are all in the new house now and the cat and the dog LOVE it. Right now, they're lying on the living room rug chewing on each others' heads, but they usually spend all day cuddled with each other sleeping in the sun (it's a hard life).
Email us if you'd like our new address.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Shenandoah valley
Some pictures of the Shenandoah River Valley and the Blue Ridge Mountains.
A butterfly from our backyard.
I guess this is why they're called the Blue Ridge Mountains (this is from Skyline Drive).
More views from Skyline Drive...
The river, up close.
The Shenandoah river from Skyline Drive.
It's beautiful. Come visit.
A butterfly from our backyard.
I guess this is why they're called the Blue Ridge Mountains (this is from Skyline Drive).
More views from Skyline Drive...
The river, up close.
The Shenandoah river from Skyline Drive.
It's beautiful. Come visit.
Quotables
"Puppy, stop eating dirt."
(Shasta has started eating the dirt out of the potted plants. We do feed this dog, I swear.)
(Shasta has started eating the dirt out of the potted plants. We do feed this dog, I swear.)
Thursday, September 23, 2010
New house!
Besides the bugs, it really is a neat house. It's small (but doesn't feel small), and doesn't have a lot of storage, so we're still in the process of weeding out the stuff we don't need. But here are some pictures!
Living room.... (now with furniture, but no pics yet)
The lake in our backyard. It's actually quite small. But it's nice having a lake in the backyard!! I've seen a bald eagle, and a sharp-shinned hawk, and herons, and kingfishers. There are also snakes, turtles, and fish, and frogs and deer and all sorts of other critters... including bears!
Our deck! It's GORGEOUS. I only wish the stinkbugs weren't so bad so we could enjoy it more...
Our backyard :-) It's a steep-ish hill to the lake, which is good, since we won't flood.
There's the house! The screened in porch is to the left. The hill in the distance behind the house is the Center where Jim works, and apparently you can occasionally see some of the African mammals that being bred at the facility.
So come visit (I've been assured that the bugs will be gone in a couple of weeks...)!
Living room.... (now with furniture, but no pics yet)
The lake in our backyard. It's actually quite small. But it's nice having a lake in the backyard!! I've seen a bald eagle, and a sharp-shinned hawk, and herons, and kingfishers. There are also snakes, turtles, and fish, and frogs and deer and all sorts of other critters... including bears!
Our deck! It's GORGEOUS. I only wish the stinkbugs weren't so bad so we could enjoy it more...
Our backyard :-) It's a steep-ish hill to the lake, which is good, since we won't flood.
There's the house! The screened in porch is to the left. The hill in the distance behind the house is the Center where Jim works, and apparently you can occasionally see some of the African mammals that being bred at the facility.
So come visit (I've been assured that the bugs will be gone in a couple of weeks...)!
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Invaders!
Our new house is great, but has a couple thousand teensy-tiny problems...namely Brown Marmorated Stink Bugs (Halyomorpha halys). Basically think brown, mobile stink factories that swarm your house. But the pictures really say it a ll...
Our porch, under one of three mats that we laid down to trap the bugs before they got into the house...
The vacuum cleaner after I was done sucking them all up...it literally will never be the same again.
Our porch, under one of three mats that we laid down to trap the bugs before they got into the house...
The vacuum cleaner after I was done sucking them all up...it literally will never be the same again.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Housing updates...
So we decided against the cute adorable wonderful little bungalow in a nice neighborhood downtown. In case you were wondering, it was the one that was "decorated by a demented clown". When we saw it in person, we could see that the floors weren't actually painted black, they were just darkly stained, and the fireplace wasn't pink and orange and green, it was just covered by a screen, and the bathroom was actually quite nice, and not out of a shop of horrors. It was really, really cute.
But things are really up in the air. I don't know if I have a job past October 14th (despite being a 6 credit class, it meets for only 1/2 the semester). Jim's job is technically a 1 year contract, even though it's almost certain that they'll renew for at least a few years. We can't decide whether we want to live in town (and be walking distance from everything! with apparently friendly neighbors! but near barking dogs and cars and with a smaller yard) or out of town in the mountains (big yard! privacy! near hiking! no neighbors! no neighbors, or worse, weeeeeird neighbors, and bears! and bears... lots of bears...) And maybe we'll win the lottery and can afford a house in one of the other towns closer to Fairfax (unlikely, unless it's the MegaMillions - those towns are really steep, and snobby).
So in a nutshell, our plans are:
Friday-Saturday/Sunday- State College to finish cleaning and pack up my office
Sunday/Monday- Back to the apartment, and a day off? maybe? please?
Tuesday-Friday- work, continue in apartment
Saturday/Sunday- move (again) into rental in mountains, near the Appalachian Trail, on a small, manmake lake.
The rental will be nice! I hope. It's a two bedroom house, with a screened in porch, and an AMAZING deck with views of the center where Jim works (including apparently occasional glances of African mammals, such as ibex and wild horses and wild asses). We'll still have the cat-free guest room/office, and it has a big yard and privacy and a decent kitchen and a little propane fireplace. It's not very big (900 sq feet), but the outdoor space should help with that a lot. We can have a garden there too. It also has a laundry room that is only accessible from outside the house, which means it has the same issue as the apartment with the kitty litter (the most foul substance on the planet). I think we might put the kitty litter in the screened in porch and let the fresh air do away with its odors. We'll figure it out, I guess.
Disadvantages of the rental include the driveway, which is very steep and pointed directly at the house beneath it (so if you lost control of your car, you'd plow into the bedrooms). This gives me nightmares. We might build a wall. Also, it's hard to meet people when you work more than an hour away, and you live all alone in the forest. And it's really quite a small house, which means we may have to keep using a storage unit for some things (although a smaller, cheaper one).
Jobs are going well. Jim's happy with his class and mine is keeping me busy too.
Other than that, not too much new.... We'll post pics when we have them!
But things are really up in the air. I don't know if I have a job past October 14th (despite being a 6 credit class, it meets for only 1/2 the semester). Jim's job is technically a 1 year contract, even though it's almost certain that they'll renew for at least a few years. We can't decide whether we want to live in town (and be walking distance from everything! with apparently friendly neighbors! but near barking dogs and cars and with a smaller yard) or out of town in the mountains (big yard! privacy! near hiking! no neighbors! no neighbors, or worse, weeeeeird neighbors, and bears! and bears... lots of bears...) And maybe we'll win the lottery and can afford a house in one of the other towns closer to Fairfax (unlikely, unless it's the MegaMillions - those towns are really steep, and snobby).
So in a nutshell, our plans are:
Friday-Saturday/Sunday- State College to finish cleaning and pack up my office
Sunday/Monday- Back to the apartment, and a day off? maybe? please?
Tuesday-Friday- work, continue in apartment
Saturday/Sunday- move (again) into rental in mountains, near the Appalachian Trail, on a small, manmake lake.
The rental will be nice! I hope. It's a two bedroom house, with a screened in porch, and an AMAZING deck with views of the center where Jim works (including apparently occasional glances of African mammals, such as ibex and wild horses and wild asses). We'll still have the cat-free guest room/office, and it has a big yard and privacy and a decent kitchen and a little propane fireplace. It's not very big (900 sq feet), but the outdoor space should help with that a lot. We can have a garden there too. It also has a laundry room that is only accessible from outside the house, which means it has the same issue as the apartment with the kitty litter (the most foul substance on the planet). I think we might put the kitty litter in the screened in porch and let the fresh air do away with its odors. We'll figure it out, I guess.
Disadvantages of the rental include the driveway, which is very steep and pointed directly at the house beneath it (so if you lost control of your car, you'd plow into the bedrooms). This gives me nightmares. We might build a wall. Also, it's hard to meet people when you work more than an hour away, and you live all alone in the forest. And it's really quite a small house, which means we may have to keep using a storage unit for some things (although a smaller, cheaper one).
Jobs are going well. Jim's happy with his class and mine is keeping me busy too.
Other than that, not too much new.... We'll post pics when we have them!
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