Success!

I have the keys to my new place. It's not perfect, but it's good enough for the transition. Only had to take a six month lease. It's got a fireplace and a lovely back yard. Two porches. Hardwood floors. Nice safe neighborhood. A block away from a huge park. Not too far from the parents. And it's cheap. Almost $300 a month less than I'm paying here.

Now if I could only just magically transport my stuff there without having to do all this packing and moving. Going to be a busy for a few more days but I'll be checking in as I can.

Daily photo blogging


A contented cat in Vermont.

Daily Photo Blogging


1Watt catches a Luna Moth.

Daily photo blogging



A flower grows in ChiDy's garden.

Daily Photo Blogging


John Cole's new mascot.

Big Day

The big move is coming together but I'm far from done. Still, good progress. Today I cut my hair, made a bunch of appointments to see apartments, got my car jiffy lubed and successfully bought and activated a cell phone of my very own. So I already have a phone number with a local area code.

Tomorrow I'm going out there to try to find a new home in another lovely downtown. Wish me luck.

Daily Photo Blogging


A new kitten for Firefox.

Daily Photo Blogging



Marcellina finds a shrine in the Austrian woods.

This old car


Thanks to Catfish for sending me to this site. I once owned this exact 60 Dodge Dart. I loved that car.

Bought it as a relic in the late 80s and spent a lot of time and money restoring it. Sadly, my ex made me sign it over to him, along with anything else of value I owned, before he would sign the divorce papers. I didn't care. It's only stuff. I just wanted to get out. He managed to trash it in just a few weeks, as was his usual MO with vehicles. I think he did just to spite me.

Anyway, the photo comes from this place where this guy has a whole lot of old cars that old fogeys like me will remember.

Daily Photo Blogging



Hecate's black iris. Stunning flower. I don't think I've ever seen a black one.

Daily Photo Blogging


Stub, 1Watt Hermit's other pup. Check out 1Watt's other photos at the link. He has a lot of gorgeous flower and landscape shots.

Daily Photo Blogging


Thumper, one of 1Watt Hermit's pups. I'm guessing he's named that because he thumps his tail when he's happy.

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Hecate's good grey cat. Rest in peace, Miss Thing.

Almost homeless

I have to be out of this place in ten days and I still don't have a new place to live. Needless to say, it's making me a bit nervous, so I got lost in google street view maps yesterday, touring my new town. The time spent should pay off when I'm searching for housing. I was able to eliminate some neighborhoods in the real estate listings I already have. It's a fun tool.

Sadly, it's not available for some of the small towns I lived in. I really wanted to see my old house in Norfolk. But I did find a view of another one of my old apartments in lovely downtown Northampton. I had the second and third floor of 74 Hancock St. They fixed it up a lot since I lived there. But it was still a gorgeous old place. I found it while I was driving around town, specifically wishing for a place to live with a porch and a tower within walking distance to work. It was like I willed it into being.

The little old lady who lived there didn't advertise it. There was just a little sign in the window. And my time there wasn't all that happy. I had a horrible roommate. But it was a great apartment. I'm hoping I can pull off the same trick off again in my new town. This time I won't have a roommate to spoil it.

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Moonbotica's cat, Heidi.

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Moonbotica's cat, George.

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At Whiskey Ina's garden.

Cold Spring

I can't believe how cold it is here. I've had the windows shut for two days and it's only 68 degrees inside. By now I should be thinking of turning on the AC instead of the heat. But the good news is the flora doesn't seem to mind.

We've moved into summer flowers. There are fields of daisies and the roses are blooming. So there's that.

Daily Photo Blogging


Jeffraham's cat, Curly.

Daily Photo Blogging


NTodd's cat, Pearl in the jungle.

VIRUS ALERT!!!

Yahoo mail servers appear to be infected with some kind of weird virus. It's sending out emails titled, "(Whoever) sent you a message from a friend" and asks you to click a link. I've already received two from different people. If you get one from me, delete it. I'm not sending out links and I haven't managed to answer any emails in weeks, much less send new ones.

Also, if you do the social networks, a reminder that Facebook and My Space is also being hit with a similar bug.

Daily photo blogging


Kianga, Tlazolteotl's African Grey parrot.

Daily Photo Blog


A sweet furry cat from Plush Life, who has lots of cat pix every day.

Daily Photo Blogging


A wild cat from watertiger.

Hallejuah

For reasons too complicated to explain, it was a really over-complicated process but my car passed inspection today with flying colors. Not a moment too soon. The registration expires in two days. I'll have to drive down to the DMV and renew in person tomorrow, but it will be worth the couple of hours of hassle to get that problem off my mind. Think I'll sleep a little better tonight with at least that much solved.

Daily photo blogging


"E"'s cat Sam. Rest in peace. They just lost him a couple of weeks ago.

This and that

I filled my car up with gas yesterday. The last time I filled it was 12-3-08. Guess I don't have to feel guilty about my carbon footprint. And it goes to show how very isolated I've been here for the last few months. I'll be glad to move to a place where at least I know somebody who wants to see me once in while. I have to say I'm a little freaked out about not having a place to move to. I'm effectively homeless at the end of the month. That's going to be weird. Hoping I get organized enough here to try one more time to find a place before June. It would make everything a lot less complicated.

I was going crazy yesterday morning over this beeping noise. I thought at first it was the computer, but I ruled that out and spent an hour prowling the apartment trying to find the source. Finally figured out it was the little old lady's apartment downstairs. Couldn't get her to answer the door. I was convinced she had one of those bracelets that beep when you fall and can't get up. Got the manager to send someone over to check on her. Turns out she wasn't home and her smoke alarm had shorted out or something. They made the beeping stop anyway. The absence of beeping is more blessedly quiet than never having heard beeping at all.

Daily Photo Blogging



Jeffraham's cat, Larry Elvis. He always has lot of pix of his boys.

Daily Photo Blogging

Since I'm likely to be busy and off-line a lot for the next three weeks, I'm going to start this new feature so there will something new every day. Mostly cat blogging since my world is full of people who post pictures of cats. Since I have none of my own, these will be stolen from other blogs that you probably don't read.


To start the series, meet Tunch. John Cole's cat who I'm told has weight 'issues' and a personality disorder.

Flowers for Mother's Day

Since I've been so remiss in posting, here's my favorite wildflower.



From Marcellina where she always has lovely photos of the mountains of Austria. Click over and scroll down to see many more lovely shots.

Happy Mother's Day

To all of you who are mothers, I hope you get treated to a lovely day by the family. If you're not a mom, but have a living one, let her know how much you appreciate her. And for those who have lost their moms, I hope you find comfort in the memories of good times past.

My family is sick with some bug, so it will be quiet day at the homestead. And of course, I screwed up this year and didn't get any cards out so I'll be going the phone call route myself this afternoon and will let my two moms know how much I appreciate all they've done for me over the years.

Stairway to Heaven

I know I've fallen down on posting here again. There's just so much to do before I move. I've been spending hours checking out the housing options in my new town and finally found a place where they advertise jobs around there. It all looks promising but I'm in sort of limbo since I can't do much about either from here.

The house share I was going to take temporarily fell through and just as well. I have a bad feeling about it and on reflection, it was going to be much more complicated that it was worth. Of course, it's still very complicated but I'll figure it out somehow.

Meanwhile, I'm happy to report Mom Helen got home from the hospital yesterday after a month on the inside. Everyone is cheered up by that and I have one funny story from my visit with Dad last week. We were driving back from the store and in the center of town on two major intersections were a horde of Baptists with signs. When you stop at the light they run up to the car, just like the window washers in NYC and hand you a pamphlet called: How to be sure you'll get into heaven, in four easy steps. Step One: Go to our Church. Step Two: See Step One. Step Three: See Step Two. Step Four: See Step Three. Repeat as necessary.... Wish I had my camera with me.

Anyway, I fully intend to put enough posts in the queue over the weekend to have something new here every day so bear with me my dears. I'll be back to regular posting soon.

Home again

Well I'm back. It was a very busy weekend. Didn't have time to even turn on the computer. Brought the camera and never took it out of my bag so no photos either. It was another great visit anyway. We had a family barbecue yesterday. That was great. I've been craving meat off the grill and finally got some. And there's a great pizza place in Dad's town so I finally had some decent pizza. I'm going to like living in that town.

I'm getting used to the driving too. Had a Mazda this time. Not as sweet a ride as the Malibu but still a good little car and the Gods were smiling on me. I was doing 75-80 most of the way home and for no apparent reason I dropped into the center lane and started doing 72 only a couple of minutes before a state cop cruised by in the left lane. Dodged the speeding ticket bullet again.

On the Road Again

I'm off to see my Dad for the weekend. Mom still not home from the hospital but the good news is she's in the rehab in town now so we can go visit easily instead of having to drive for an hour to get there. Also will be looking at housing options. Hope to come home with something firm so at least that much is off my mind.

And I'm off to a late start. Once again the car rental place screwed me up and was making deliveries or something when I arrived on time. It's all good I guess. I got some errands done while I was waiting. I'm never as ready as I hope to be when I pick it up anyway. And this time I won't to stop to for gas on the way out. They do this weird thing at this place where you bring it back with the same amount you get. Last time there was only a quater of tank. This time it's three quarters. Makes it more challenging to make sure you don't give them too much back though.

Anyway, not sure if I'm coming back tomorrow night or early Monday so probably no posting tomorrow. Have a great weekend.