morrowlife

This isn’t an artistic picture by any stretch of the imagination, but I really love the store name on this lady’s bag. Woob, woob, woob. The picture was taken up on the Eiffel tower. I’m well aware of the irrational French love of Jerry Lewis, which is reason enough to dislike them, but if they’re Curly fans too, I might have to rethink my opinion.

Visited my friend Mike this evening. Reader Number One and I spent two and a half hours over there and had a delightful conversation. He’s able to carry on a fascinating conversation on pretty much any topic. I’ll really miss him when we’re gone.

We went to stake conference this morning. It was conducted by video from church headquarters and was seen in various stakes in Pennsylvania and Michigan. In fact, some of my family members in Michigan were also in attendance. Small world. We heard President Monson, Elder Perry, Elder Bednar, and a very nice lady in the general Primary presidency whose name escapes me at the moment. All the talks were excellent and timely, as were last night’s stake adult meeting talks. It was a good church weekend.

Only one more Sunday here. Yikes.

Moving preparations continue to go well, if at breakneck speed. It’s definitely more than a full-time job just getting ready to move. I need to call utility companies tomorrow to arrange the shutoff of some things and transfer of others. Reader Number Four will take care of essentially everything else.

As usual, it’s late already, so I need to get to bed. Only seven more days at work in Newtown!

Here’s an old-fashioned wheelbarrow, not too unlike the one we hope to sell at our garage sale (link warning – lots of sound!) on Saturday. Buy, buy buy!

I listened to a few moments of Reader Number Two’s jazz band practice tonight. They were formed within the last few days and they’ll have their one and only performance tomorrow night. It should be good, though. Too bad they can’t stay together longer (another link warning – music clip).

The granite‘s in the kitchen! Reader Number Four wasn’t too sure she was happy with it, but I think it will be just fine. Now this place will really sell. If not, we’ll just keep covering things with granite until it does. I had to reinstall the garbage disposal and hook up the water supply and drain lines. Got it done and leak-free in about forty-five minutes or so.

I’m getting very tired of being in Newtown. I want to start my new job! Only three more weeks left, of which one will be spent in France. My last trip to Europe, hopefully. Not that I don’t like it there, but I’ve been there quite often for the last few years and I can’t stand the flight anymore. I’m ready to start working with laser beams.

It’s late, as usual. Isn’t it ever early? Anyway, time for bed.

Here are Reader Number One and Your Humble and Obedient Servant at the Hopewell Furnace. That was really an excellent day and an interesting place. I think we can pretty safely say this picture wasn’t taken by me. Sadly, I don’t know who to credit. It’s either Loyal Reader Number Two or Number Four.

I finally fixed the door on the bottom of the planter box in the back yard. After only one and a half years! It took about half an hour. It’s funny how you get motivated by the desire for money. Come to think of it, though, that’s the only reason I go to work too.

I also fixed the pond again. Both pumps had basically stopped pumping. I took some things apart, based on what I’ve discovered in the past, but finally found out the filters were both just really full. Apparently, the fish have been pooping at a record rate. Good work, fellas!

I also found Whitey again. He hadn’t shown up at mealtime for a day or two, and we were getting worried. I noticed him when I was working on the filters, and he popped up again when I fed the fellas this evening. Had quite an appetite too. I’m really going to miss the fellas when we’re gone.

Reader Number Two and I went over to my friend Mike’s house to help him take the snowplow off his tractor and get the bucket back on. He’s a lot of fun to visit because he owns literally everything, most of which he bought on eBay. He showed us his new military water-supply bags today. They hold a hundred gallons each but fold down to about the size of a small pillow when empty – perfect for food storage. He’s in a little bit of trouble health-wise. We’re hoping and praying for him.

We have a house showing tomorrow morning! It’s really good to get the first one out of the way – it makes it feel like we’re making progress. Of course, one of our garage door springs broke this evening, just in time for the first showing. We have a serviceman coming tomorrow in the early afternoon. I guess we’ll have to leave a note for the suckers guests telling them not to open the garage door. Reader Number Four is seriously worried about what else is going to break before we can get this place sold. “Pretty much everything” is my guess.

We’re planning to take a quarry tour tomorrow during the showing. Our local quarry is having an open house and we need someplace to go. Besides, we’ve always been curious as to what exactly is going on in there.

Time for bed – I missed out on ice cream tonight. See you on Monday.

Okay, this is kind of a formulaic picture, but I like it. Hopefully, you do too.

There’s a price to be paid for not posting for a couple of days, on top of missing a few days last week. I fear my loyal readers are starting to abandon me for other blogs. We cannot allow this to happen. This calls for a dramatic increase in quality.

Maybe I can think of something besides that. There must be some other way.

Nobody bought the house yet. I guess we need to give it at least a few days. It’s not even on realtor.com yet. As soon as it hits there, you can depend on finding a link here.

Took Reader Number Two to a barbershop chorus performance this evening. They did a very nice job and I was glad to get to go. Reader Number One went to his dance class and Reader Number Four went to her book group. I’m the only one who had nothing to do tonight. Well, there’s also Belle, but I’m not sure she counts, being a non-human and all.

We had our Relocation Orientation Session this morning with Matt, our Relocation Consultant. It went fine, and I was delighted to learn that the company will pay to ship our two cars and for us to drive the truck with the trailer. They won’t cover meals and lodging while we’re on the road because we’re flying out there in June and coming back for the truck and trailer in August, but the mileage is the important thing, believe me. I calculated today that we’ll spend about $1000 on gas alone, assuming we take the most direct route, which we don’t intend to do. In fact, we hope to be able to follow through with our family camping trip to Ohio in August as part of the trip. Fortunately, the company will pay over $1600 for the mileage (45.5 cents/mile for the truck and 13.5 cents/mile for the trailer). That ought to about cover the gas.

It’s only 10:00 and I’m already exhausted, so I’m off to bed. I need to chase the boys there too. See you tomorrow.

I’m pretty sure this picture has never graced these pages before. It’s Reader Number One working on his Eagle project, for which the court of honor is scheduled on the twenty-sixth of this month. Congratulations, Number One!

No posts yesterday or the day before, and barely time for one tonight. We just got home from the opera – well, from a dress rehearsal for the opera. It was very well done and the director didn’t have to stop the action at any point. There were a lot of school kids in the audience, so it was maybe a little noisier than the average opera, but we really enjoyed it. And the tickets were free. Rode the train down there, which was also enjoyable.

Our house went on the market today. We’re priced surprisingly high, but the real estate agent is pretty sure we’ll get our price or very close to it. We certainly need it. Maybe we can afford a shack in California, rather than the hovel I was expecting.

It’s way late, so I’m off to bed. Good night.