Diving Back In

 

(Not actually our pool, which is, however, now fit for human entry, albeit a bit chilly still)
Image from Moerschy on Pixabay.

How did over a month go by without posting?!?

Wayne and I moved into our home on March 25th. It closed on March 14th, but we waited until the wood floors were refinished before we moved in.

Ever since we moved in, we've been busy cleaning up, despite the "professional deep clean" we requested in our closing that the sellers ignored. But then, what can you expect from sellers who show their home for sale in late January with a deflated larger-than-life Santa in their front yard and a pool covered with a brown tarp, and a box of Kirkland organic chicken potstickers floating above the tarp in the pool? Not to mention dodging six hungry chickens whose defecation along with the dogs' littered the yard. I could go on, but you probably get the idea.

One of my latest tasks is finding someone to take this overabundance
of horse poop away so we can address the fence rotting away
from wet, organic matter pressing against it.
The ladder came from my dumpter dive; Wayne working on repairing it.

We wisely focused on getting the guest bedroom ready almost as quickly as our own bedroom; we've hosted three different sets of friends for at least one overnight each already—and a couple of dinners, too. Kudos in particular to my longtime bestie Anna, who generously exchanged her horror for a scrub brush, scrubbing bubbles and a paintbrush. That's after we've spent a substantial amount of time cleaning and painting before she arrived.

The multi-talented Anna not only put Shiva into a kitty nivana,
she takes a photo of it with her other hand.

We also got out kitty up to speed with a new vet, got our Oregon driver's licenses and voter reistration and getting in our ballots by May 17th and registered our vehicles. We've mostly furnished our place, no small feat given that not long ago we didn't own a stick of furniture and most of what we have came from thrift shows, Craigslist, estate sales and secondhand stores. Boring, time-consuming but necessary stuff.

In fact, here it is on the tailend of another weekend, and if I take the time to put together some before and after photos, this post will go up too late for anyone to want to read it.

We're also a the point where the bulk of the remaining short-term work on our place plays more to Wayne's skills than, mine, so rather than just spending money on the house, I just got a job.

Lots more updates, befores and afters coming up.

Location Location

The Dalles, Oregon, roughly an hour and a quarter east of Portland, Oregon, up the Columbia Gorge.

The balamroot in our area is getting an extra long bloom,
thanks to a cooler than nirmal spring.

Our yard is more wild, than flowers, currently, unless you count dandelions.

Dandelion removal is currently my primary gardening activity.
They're prolific!!!