New Digs

September 17, 2023

Howdy folks,

Well, we finally did it and we moved in next door into a full-sized house!  There is still scaffolding surrounding it and guys here every day working on it, but the inside is done.  Efrain and Ruben, who are working on the house, very graciously got all of the inside stuff done for us first, so that we could finally move in to the place.  We still waited a week and, then, after some hesitation about moving all of the cats over with some construction(light construction) going on, we moved the bed, the couch and the TV and that was all she wrote!  Erin had already moved all of her pantry over here and had most of the kitchen moved, so we just up and did the rest.  We still have clothes and dressers and tons of boxes of random stuff back in the casita, but nothing that isn't sitting right where it has been sitting, only about 50-100' further away.  The animals are really taking to it and seem to be very happy.  The cats are now being let out at dawn, pretty much, and then go in and out all day long, before being rounded up again at night.  That's been the system, thus far, and they seem to be basing themselves in the big, fenced-in backyard, as opposed to out in the driveway when we were still in the casita.  We have a veritable woods right outside of our door now and right away the older kittens go shooting out the door and then scampering up one of the big juniper trees.  The dogs are just as happy and we no longer need to check and see what is going on outside of the casita and out in the driveway before letting them out.  Just like the cats, they have use of this huge yard and are now spending a lot more time outside than before.   Even by late morning they can barely keep their eyes open and are usually sleeping on the couch.  The house has tons of windows and they were built in such a way as to really be able to see the sun(or the moon) tracking across the sky from east to west.  The east-facing wall is two storeys tall(with just the kitchen and living room at the foot of it on the ground) and the morning sun really catches the windows way up at the top of the wall, before working its way down through the rest of them.  There is one small skylight in the roof that keeps track of the celestial orbs before you can then see them again on the back, southern-facing wall, again two storeys tall and very open.  This part of the house really lights up(and heats up) once you get into the afternoon and stays nice and toasty all day long.  Finally, at the end of the day, you can see the sun setting over the mesa through the bedroom windows.  It really is a treat to be in such a place.  It really makes you feel a lot more connected with the outside world.

The work on the house should be done in another two weeks or so.  The mesh has been put on the house with stucco then being applied to the walls, over top of the mesh.  This is probably done on about 70-80% of the house now and will be followed by one final application of color to everything.  Right now, everything has gone from the pale tan color of old adobe to solid gray.  The final coat will bring us full circle, back to adobe again.  It's funny, I'm now taking a different route to work in the morning.  Typically, I start at 8am and walk up the hill to the boss's house to begin my day.  In the past, I'd duck out the door of the casita, make a 90 degree turn to the right to get out past the house, and then turn again to the right to go up the hill another few hundred yards to the depot.  Now, I walk out our new front door and go to the right of the casita, along an actual path with a footbridge, before popping out above the barns where all the equipment is parked.  It's a small difference, but an enjoyable one as it breaks up the daily monotony of life on the ranch.  Erin, too, is noticing little differences about how we're parking and carrying stuff from the cars and how she's going to the garden.  The garden's kind of been lost in all of this a little as we've been focusing on moving and also getting ready for company.  Erin's Dad, Ken, and partner, Astrid, are coming out to see us for a couple of weeks for what will be their second visit since we've gotten here.  Their last trip was in June 2022 and I honestly can't believe that fifteen months can fly by that quickly.  I'm sure that their visit will come and go just as quickly, as it gets lost in the endless turning of the seasons and the passing of time.  And so, too, with the cats.  This week saw two more being born early to a yearling mother and then passing just as quickly a few days later.  And one of our old mill cats from our feed mill in PA looks to be very close to passing.  Over and over again, the turning of the wheel.

Now, some shots of the house for everyone to check out, complete with film-covered windows and construction still going on.  The first three shots are from outside the east-facing wall, looking from the pergola, back at the pergola and then the wall up close.  Next, the back of the house, south-facing.  Then, two shots looking at the bedroom from the kitchen and then in the bedroom itself.  Next, three shots from the back of the house, showing underneath the stairs, the back wall and the Florida room that's there for plants.  Then, same part of the house, but upstairs.  Next, the loft part of the house in four shots: looking in and up; up close through the windows; back towards the kitchen and living room; the kitchen and living room.  Then, the wonderful kitchen that Erin now gets to cook in!  And, finally, last, but not least, we couldn't resist another shot of Monkey, the little wonderkitten!

Take care.