March 11th, 2009

A few things just to keep in mind that this is a big change and it's an adventure and all of that. I must remember some little things that come up to get me through some of the more interesting times.

It is SOOO cool to actually make a pot of coffee AND toast a bagel at the same time. I can even turn on the microwave just for fun. And you know what - I probably will. I may even do a silly dance when I do. No one will see me, its good.  Old houses may have their charm but newer homes certainly have their conveniences. Not having to keep a flashlight on hand for the breaker box is kind of nice.

It's great to have a garage. I have crap scattered about it at the moment but, I'm an organizer so, that will take a couple more weeks. I liked not having to clean off the snow from the car. I'm one of those people who actually DOES clean the snow off my entire car (other than that time I forgot the license plate) so, it's odd for me not to. Having someone plow the driveway is nice too. Hell if I would ever shovel that thing anyway but, still nice to have. The only real odd thing is that whole shoveling the deck. It's a big old deck man. Finding the pathway from the deck down around to the front of the house was pretty interesting too.

How fun is it to find tracks in the snow? It's all good until you come upon that of the feline or canine variety (large feline/small canine) and no one within about 100 acres has a dog. Humm. Then you go out trampling about the wild without even a freakin knife. Duh. Must fix that. Its the crazy wild though. It's good. It's refreshing and interesting. Theres LOTS of deer poo. Everywhere...wholly hell and damnation. There's two other remnants though I cant identify. One is of the unknown canine/feline and the other I found no tracks with it but LOTS of flat, round light colored leavings. It's odd. Even the "What Shat That?" book had nothing close. That one shows up around the deer, around and about the house, in around brush and trees. It's odd. Hopefuly the sun will come out and dry up bunches of stuff after this rain and maybe I can find more information out there.

The wildlife is diverse. Especially the birds. I havent seen much of the Bluebirds this week but I've got every other bird visiting. Hawk, Owl, Chickadee, Cardinal, BlueJay, Raven, Finches, and somekind of swallow/sparrow I'm not familiar with. They are all very tame. I can sit on the steps and watch them all flitter about the feeder which is about 6-8 ft away. The owl just swooped down through the trees and sat on a branch outside the window. Occassionally I hear them bump the windows though. I'd hate to go out there and find one on the ground from that. I also hear the ladybugs bumping into the screens. The cats seem to like them. Should be interesting when that gets into high gear. Ladybugs are fine though, I'll take them.

The store may be a bit of a ride but, it's still not big huge city and there are lots of quaint little things to see along the way. I found another WalMart yesterday. It has food. So strange to have that with the WalMart. Something to keep  in mind. The other odd thing was all the beer in the grocery stores. Might not be able to get anything after 8 or on Sundays or Holidays (boo hiss) but, you can pick up a variety of items in the grocery store. Funny stuff.

Dehydration. Shrivelling up like a prune. I don't know if its the well water or the fact that I dont live blocks from the ocean or both. Making me crazy though. I miss the salt air smell. The smell of the woods is a nice replacement though.

Quiet. Absolute quiet. What a difference. Sometime I find myself listening for a fog horn or traffic or something but, its not there. No damn drum player either. Yeah!

Okay, thats enough babbling for now. Hope you enjoyed. Will be adding some pictures to the back country gallery at some point today.