this and that

Yep, its winter alright.   The thermometer never moved from 13 degrees today, it snowed lightly all afternoon, the roads were greasy and slick.    Only those of you from the east know what I mean by "greasy" roads in winter.....Not fun.     The driveway is covered in a thick coating of ice and then covered with a layer of fluffy snow.   Not fun.   I had to drag out a bag of kitty litter Saturday when niece Lisa and her husband Chris came by to pick up the big picnic table and take it home.   Kitty litter to sprinkle on the deck and stairs so no one slipped and broke something important.   Sigh.

We're hoping the new owners will allow us to keep Beluga in her barn until we leave in March.  I'd hate to start our trip by calling in a wrecker to pull us out of the driveway snowdrifts!

One good thing though....the latest terrific blizzard, the bombogenesis, roaring up the east coast is missing us by a hair.   A hair is good enough for me.    We're cold and slick, but not buried.   Thank goodness for small favors I say.

We've made good strides this weekend and have managed to be very social (for us) in the process.

a new vacuum for Dave....
is this Christmas?

Mr. David's # 1 guy installing our bathroom shades

good job on an odd little window

Mr. David's A-1 Shutter, Blind and Window Treatment Firm got all the cellular shades in and operating with a minimum of fuss and mess.   The closet poles and shelves are in place.

Friday night we went to Cindy P and Walter's house for happy hour and a delicious dinner of lentil/black bean chili (yes, Metamorphosis Lisa, its your recipe) and Trader Joe's addictive European cookies.  

 As I mentioned, Saturday niece Lisa and husband Chris came to the lake with pizza and blueberry cobbler in hand (not to mention a bottle of champagne and cookies!)   They were our first cottage dinner guests, even though we ate at a card table and sat on lawn chairs.

We did, however, toast with real glasses.   Dave thought they were too fancy to use with paper plates and paper towel napkins so he "adjusted" his slightly.    Oh Dave....

As punishment we made him scrub the floor.   

Sunday afternoon the Bells stopped by to bring us a load of boxes and to discuss the upcoming move.  They've put us in touch with their mover, Angel,  and are helping to coordinate things.   We had a lovely visit in our tiny but sunlit living room/dining room.

Today, after Dave's dentist appointment, we met friends Don and Carol at our favorite Greek restaurant then back to their lovely home for dessert.   They are preparing to leave on a four month motorhome vacation out west.   We can hardly wait to read about their upcoming adventures in Mexico.    They're traveling down the Baja peninsula, a trip we've often talked about doing. 

Before turning for home we stopped at the facility we've located to store my little car for the next year.    Its going to be snug and happy in very good company there.   Another thing to check off the list.

Tomorrow is another day closer to moving out, moving in and moving west.   Yes!

Lewis's day

Its been a frenetic day here.  People coming, people going.   Poor Lewis is just exhausted keeping track of dangerous strangers popping up in unexpected places.   Furnace man walking in the door with smelly things in his hands, later reappearing in the doorway to the cellar (no one ever shows up in that doorway.....) a huge man with a hood and beard carrying lots of funny looking sticks and wheels suddenly looming up outside the kitchen windows, then magically in the back yard, then in the driveway....there is never anyone looking in the kitchen windows, who is in the backyard, there is never anyone in the backyard!   (the surveyor).    Two men walking around the dining room, opening drawers, going up stairs....where's Dave, am I safe, where can I go.....(estate sale guys).

exhausted.....

Its been a hectic day.   Dave and I shared a delightfully quiet happy hour at the cottage.   The first of many to come.   Carpet in, appliances in, c of o issued.   Ahhhhh.

Out

I'd say this is a boring couple alert blog post (BCA), except boring connotates doing nothing and I'm sure you know that isn't true.    More accurately, its a post about doing a lot of mostly boring things.

Out.....lots of things going out around here lately.    We've been taking trailer loads of really good "stuff" over to the cottage.   Stuff we can't possibly live without.    Today we took all the shelving from our garage, set it up in the lower level at the lake and then proceeded to re-fill it with all our good stuff.

Out - out went our beautiful piano.    We gave it to a family whose daughter is an avid musician and were sooooo excited to receive it.    I can still see our curly headed little guy playing Mozart and Kuhlau and Beethoven with such fierce concentration, feet not reaching the ground.  Ah....that was then and this is now.    It is nice to think of someone else making beautiful music on it.

One thing though.....they loaded it into the back of a rental truck and drove confidently out the driveway this evening, without tethering it inside.    I hope it makes it to its new home.    I'll think about that tomorrow.....

Out.....well, somethings need to be pumped out for a fresh start, right?

still here

We're still here, I promise....    We're both just bogged down with the mundane (and sometimes frustrating) tasks necessary to empty one house and fill another much smaller one.   Appliances ordered, window coverings ordered, closet organization sort of organized.   Packing started.   We spent 4 hours at Lowes yesterday, don't ask.

We're trying to coordinate outside and/or garage jobs with the weather people.   No fun to be outside or in the cold cold garage when the thermometer reads below zero.  Filling boxes in that atmosphere takes on a whole new level of difficulty.

The cottage is almost ready for us.  All we're really waiting for is the carpet installation and a good clean up.  The appliances will come next week so we're on the home stretch for completion.   Our schedule is tight.   We close on the farm the end of February and then pack up Beluga to drive away the end of March!   I think I can, I think I can, I think I can

Here are a couple pictures from last week.

three muskrats were busy keeping this hole free from ice all afternoon
Its the only one on the lake at this point!

bathroom vanity

our little kitchen

Since these pictures were taken the counter tops and sinks have been installed.  

So there you have it, all I have to show.

First day home

In yesterday's post I forgot to mention how nice it was to come home to a nice warm house.    Frederick's of Geneseo Home Care Service's  president, the wonderful Fred, had come in and turned the heat up (and emptied the mousetraps) in anticipation of our return.       AND, he makes a pretty mean Tapioca pudding to boot!    What did we do to deserve this?    Thanks Fred!

Piles of laundry on the washer, full suitcases on the guest bed awaiting attention,  all had to wait.   We had lots to do today.   Dave was on the phone for hours nailing down details for the sale - surveys, abstracts, septic system cleaning, home inspection reports, furnace cleaning, appliance hunting, etc.       I won't go into the entire list, but believe it was a very busy day.

It wasn't as cold as yesterday, thats a very good thing.   Temperatures were only in the teens instead of single digits.   I'm trying to stay present, to enjoy the moment...

Look at the beautiful gifts Jack Frost left on my living room windows today!

  

Home, brrrrrrr

We had a decent dinner, spent a pleasant night and were on the road for the last leg of our journey by 8:30 this morning.     It was cold, really cold.   Hair in your nostrils sticking together, dogs falling down when they try to p, frozen windshield washers, creaking tires sort of cold.  Oh, and the wind was blowing from the north 30-40 mph as Dave hung on to the cold steering wheel.   Not nice.

The sky was clear and blue until we got further into Pennsylvania.   The radar showed us that there was lake effect snow ahead.      Looking through the windshield, we could see it waiting for us.

At lunch time we stopped, let the dogs out, and ate our turkey sandwiches at a nice quiet picnic spot behind a McDonalds in Williamsport, PA.   Luckily we were all in the jeep, finished with our necessities when it caught us......

our lunch view

The rest of the drive through the mountains was relatively uneventful.   My driver handled the jeep masterfully and we arrived home around 4, with a fresh, hot pizza in hand.    

Tomorrow is a new day, lots to get started doing so it will be an early night for all of us.
 

Brrrrrrr

We made a good decision to hang back in Fernandina Beach and miss the squalls, winds and tornadoes tracking along I-95.     Our drive Monday confirmed that decision.   The skies were blue, the highways were empty and we sailed along to our next stop in Mooresville, NC.    This morning we drove most of the day on dry roads, cold weather, but no rain or wind or snow.

As we approached the last night's stop on our way home we encountered snow.   Evidently we had just missed a major snow event, operative word, "just".......The roads were  black and dry.   It was clear that there had been plowable snow earlier in the day, and the newscasts were full of stories of closed schools and accidents.      It was finished by the time we drove through Fancy Gap and Staunton.    As western New Yorker's, this wasn't a biggy, but I guess it was a major problem here.

We're in for the night in the land of Nanook of the North and Dave's shoes are soaked through.   He didn't plan on snow.....Oh Dave.   He's not happy, but a little g&t and a nice dinner will settle him.  We're only about 6 hours from home.

what we see from our motel window

Such good dogs, such good travelers.    They are quiet in the jeep, happy to get out, stretch their legs and p, happy to be back on the road again, happy to see what each new hotel/motel room looks like, happy to see what their new sleeping arrangements will be.  How lucky are we to have them with us.

pay no attention to that blue ball on the other bed....
where will WE sleep?

weather change

So...yesterday I said we'd taken our first and last Gulf beach walk of 2015.    Good thing I was specific, because instead of driving north for hours on a crowded interstate, we took another walk along the beach.

here comes the weather....
but its nice and warm right now

This time it was a beach on the Atlantic Ocean, not the Gulf of Mexico.    Our plans to leave Fernandina Beach this morning changed abruptly when we turned the tv on and saw the slowly approaching squall line.  It was embedded with tornadoes and we are under a "watch"  here until 6 p.m. tonight.    That, and the fact that I-95 was directly in its path and would probably be jammed with everyone heading back north after their holidays,  made our decision very easy.     Stay here in our nice Residence Inn suite with a lovely greenway right next door,  guava pastries and plenty of good restaurants, wide beach in easy walking distance (dog friendly at that!) and Downton Abbey season opener on tv?    Yep, we made the right decision.  

Tomorrow we'll head north....

I gotta gets me one of these Marriott beds mom...

Last

Yesterday we strolled along the Gulf for what was the first and last time in 2015.   Next year will find us in the west.    

look Pam, he's rock scrambling!

We chose the beach adjacent to the South Jetty in Venice.    It looks rocky, but just past the rocks the beach opens up for a nice sandy stretch.   It was a lovely day, I'll miss the beach and the clear green/blue waters here.    Don't feel too bad for me though, neither of us can wait to get back on the road again!

This morning we packed up the jeep and left Venice.     We'll take 4 days to get home, our first stop being Fernandina Beach for dinner at LeClos and breakfast pastries (guava, Paul!) at the Pecan Roll.   It sort of takes the sting out of heading back to the cold and gloom that is western New York in winter.

First Day of 2015 - Dave Style

Dave spends this first day of the new year exercising his pink side and his blue side.....(no nasty remarks please)

helping make the Polish orange/oatmeal cookies

AND....watching the Rose Bowl
GO DUCKS!!!!!!!!