Welcome Home!

We are starting to get settled into our new home. Lots of things to tell!

First, the wildlife out here. The kids are having a blast with all the sightings. There have been several frogs & toads in the yard, as well as one mouse. We had a fawn eating in our front yard one evening, & then the following morning, I saw 5 deer just a stone’s throw from the side door. There have been insects galore, and Caleb has taken to catching grasshoppers by their hind legs. Amazingly, though, there has been a distinct lack of insects IN the house. There are lots of crickets in the basement, but they all stay down there. Except for the flies that came in on moving day, we’ve not had many bugs at all on the main level. The 5 cats were gone when we arrived. The food that had been left out for them ran out & they moved on. However, a few days after we got here, one came back. She’s as skinny as a rail, but we’ve been feeding her. She is extremely shy & likes to climb up into the car engine to get away from us. So, we’ve taken to doing a “cat check” before starting up the car every time. That’ll get old, so I hope she stops doing that!

The house. It’s great. We are discovering things that need addressing, but overall, we are happy with it. One of the issues is that the refrigerator does not fit in the refrigerator hole. Which means that our fridge is now sitting against another wall and taking up a lot of walking space. We need to decide whether to buy a new fridge or to move some cabinets around. We are also hoping to add a kitchen island, so that plays into the decision. We are actually contemplating gutting the kitchen. We’d get rid of the dishwasher, change things around to be more to our liking, be able to add the island without having to match to the existing cabinetry, fit in our fridge & also redo the floors & walls while we are at it, since they both are less than attractive. But, all that costs money & there are other projects to do as well. So, for now, the fridge is sitting out of its hole & in the fridge hole, there are stacks of boxes.

Speaking of boxes, one of the problems with packing over a 6-month period is that I packed things as we were done with them, not always together from the same room. So, a box may contain toys, pots & pans, a bathroom scale, bedroom drapes & a coffee maker. It makes unpacking interesting, as there is no real room to stick that box in. Therefore, all the boxes went into the basement to be unpacked & the items taken to their respective rooms. Lets just say I’m getting my exercise. But, it is working. You can ALMOST walk around in the basement now.

We did get 2 rooms painted before the stuff got here…Caleb’s & Meagan’s. Caleb got “Teepee Brown” in his room, which goes well with his animal prints. Meagan got “Garden Spot Green” which, when her pink décor is added, does really look very “gardeny”.

Work. Don started work (training actually) for his new job at the prison. It’s not glamorous, but it’ll pay the bills & allow him to avoid a long commute. He’ll also have pretty reasonable hours, meaning that he’ll have plenty of daylight hours for farm work too. But, all that will start after the 5 weeks of training in Lincoln. For now, it’s long days & a long commute. Hopefully, Abby will stay put until he’s done with training since he’d have to catch a ride home from Lincoln (he takes a carpool van) and then get me to Omaha! He is also trying to get his name out there as a country lawyer. He did get his first client. A small job involving a financial dispute, but exposure nonetheless. Ideally, he will eventually just do farm work & legal jobs as they come up. Someday. I think that gets us pretty much caught up. Regular blogging should commence from here on out.