Surprise Move

Ever since our house has been on the market, we have had to make sure that it maintained a "lived in" look. Apparently, research studies have shown that homes with furniture in them sell better than empty houses. (Although when we were looking at houses and condos, I much preferred touring the ones that were vacant.) We abided by the rules set by Jim's company's relocation representatives because they were the people who would be buying our house from us if we didn't sell it on our own. Having a buyout offer as a back-up, even though it was a lower price than we had hoped, was a relief. So we kept our furniture in the house, and Jacob and I stayed there whenever we were in town. I cleaned and cleaned the place each time we went out the door in case a potential buyer breezed through for a peek. After almost 100 showings, no one wanted to buy it. (Ok, we did have a few offers, but none were above the company's buyout price.)

Last week when we were in the Upper Peninsula, our realtor called to inform us that we had received a decent offer on the house. As we drove down I-75 towards home on Friday afternoon, Jim was finally able to get the consent from his company to move our furniture to the condo. Jim was due to fly back to Texas on Sunday, so that left us one day to move all of our stuff. We rented a truck on Saturday morning, and Richie, Fatty, Rob, & Nancy came over to help us. Even with over half of our couches, dressers, and beds in Texas, it was still a grueling job! We managed to get all of the large items out of the house, leaving only small, lift-able things for Adam, Jacob, and I to finish moving. The house is still under contract with the pending offer, Jim is back to work in Houston, and the condo is now quite messy & unorganized. My fingers are crossed that all goes well with the sale, which is due to be finalized before the end of July.

Mini Travelogue

During our recent travels, we have seen numerous fascinating things and encountered many fun & interesting people. Three and a half weeks ago, we took one of our typical routes down to Houston from Michigan. From there we drove over the flatlands of Texas, through the corner of New Mexico, and into mountainous Colorado. Next, we traveled across the prairies of the Great Plains - yawn. We skirted the far southern 'burbs of Chicago and regretted that; the traffic there was hideous! We then drove 600 miles from southeast Michigan to the tip of the Upper Peninsula, where we met up with family from out-of-town and had an absolute blast. We arrived back home on Friday and have been busy ever since.

This is the Capulin Volcano in northeast New Mexico.

The boys rented bikes in the U.P. and tackled some grueling trails.

We watched the sun set over Lake Superior.

Jim got his hands on the camera for five minutes and took some unflattering candid shots.

Jacob had fun with his little cousin.

Stats

The family and I, along with Irma and Richie, are in the Upper Peninsula this week. The weather has been very pleasant, especially when compared to the heatwave that the rest of the country is experiencing.

In the past 17 days, Jim, Jacob, and I have logged well over 4,000 highway miles. We have slept in nine different buildings, including three houses, one condo, and five separate hotel rooms. We have roamed through ten states. We have dealt with temperatures as high as 100 degrees and as low as the upper 40s. We have been down near sea level and at elevations above 5,000 feet.

This gypsy lifestyle, while sometimes exhausting, certainly satisfies the wanderlust! Good thing I enjoy it - we have approximately 1,200 miles left to travel in the next ten days.

Pictures of our adventures to follow soon!

Purple Mountain Majesties

After finishing Adam's search for a grad school apartment in Colorado, we drove around the area to see what it had to offer. Being situated in the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains certainly has advantages - the scenery is pretty spectacular out there. We discovered a reservoir only a few miles from Adam's apartment that offers boating, swimming, hiking, camping, fishing, and more.

Here is the Atmospheric Sciences building (the tall one) where Adam will be working and taking classes, as seen from the foothills.

A view of the reservoir.

The boys at the reservoir.

Adam's new apartment is on the left. That darn tree will block his view of the mountains.

On our drive from Colorado to Michigan, this truckstop was a must-see for Jacob. It had numerous stores & restaurants, a truck showroom, and a dentist office!

Real Estate

Jim, Jacob, and I departed Houston on Saturday and headed northwest. We arrived in Denver on Sunday evening and met up with Adam, who had flown in from Detroit. We have spent the past two days hunting for apartments in northern Colorado for the new grad student. We looked at close to 20 units - some really nice and some kind of skanky - and, after all was said and done, Adam chose to sign a lease at the very first place that we had toured. It is a lovely apartment complex and Adam's unit would have a gorgeous view of the Rocky Mountains . . . if only there weren't a large tree in the way. After all of the Texas houses and Michigan condos that we have looked at over the past months, I must say that I rather enjoyed searching for real estate that will be paid for with someone else's money for a change. We intend to check out more of this college town tomorrow before leaving for Michigan later in the afternoon.

We hiked around the "Garden of the Gods" in Colorado Springs. Our shoes and socks turned completely reddish-brown from the dirt on the trails.

Unprepared

Hurricane season began on June 1. Normally, this is just another unimportant date to me, but it has taken on a new significance ever since we bought a home in Houston, Texas. Stores down here are selling hurricane preparedness supplies, including weather radios, batteries, and plywood for boarding up windows. Neighbors have told us stories about how the electricity was out for two weeks after Hurricane Ike in 2008, and that storm was merely a category two. I am beginning to get a tad concerned about what it might be like if a stronger hurricane decides to roar through our area. Naturally, I have purchased non-perishable food, extra water, and the necessary battery-operated flashlights & radios. Roughly half of our neighbors say that they typically board up their windows when tropical storms are imminent. But it has been almost impossible to convince Jim that we should have plywood on hand "just in case." We've measured our windows, debated which of several techniques to use to cover the glass, questioned people, read articles, and done just about everything except purchase some actual lumber. Until yesterday. I was finally able to persuade Jim that even if he didn't feel that it was necessary to board up our house, we should at least have plywood on hand to replace any glass that might break during a storm because - hello - repair crews are going to be a bit too busy doing other things than to rush out to our house to fix a shattered window. We drove to Lowes with our measurements in hand, debated over which wood to buy, had two boards cut to size, and returned home with enough supplies to cover one - yes, one - of our fifteen windows. I doubt that Jim will be pleased when and if a powerful hurricane heads our way and he finds that Lowes has tripled the price of the boards that we bought yesterday for $8.00 each. I tell him that he is in "Hurricane Denial." And now I am kind of freaking out because the first tropical depression of the year is tracking right into the Gulf of Mexico. But, really, it is such a large body of water; what are the odds that the storm will head directly towards Houston . . .

On the Go

The past week has been another busy one. Jacob and I woke up last Monday to find a work crew ripping up the sidewalk at the end of our driveway. I was aware that the township planned to replace some cement squares in our neighborhood, but I never received any notification of when the job would begin. It was only through some dumb luck that I happened to hear the ruckus out front and was able to move our cars out of the garage before they became blocked in for the week. The paving crew was sloppy & careless, and on top of leaving a big mess, they also broke two of our buried sprinkler lines. They are allegedly fixing those this week.

On Saturday, we had family and friends over to the house to watch our community's annual fireworks. In addition, we were finally able to celebrate Adam's graduation. Everyone had a fun time, and I will miss being within walking distance of our township park when we eventually sell the house and move into our condo. We have been spoiled having such a prime fireworks-viewing location all these years.

We woke up early Sunday and frantically cleaned the leftover party debris just in time for a morning house showing. Jim, Jacob, and I then took off for Texas, arriving on Monday - in plenty of time for an evening swim. The Houston weather is hot, but our pool is a balmy, yet refreshing, 92 degrees.

Our missing sidewalk.

We had a cake for Adam

Julia attempted to keep her sparkler away from her clothes.

These crop dusting planes entertained us with their wild swoops and turns as we cruised through Arkansas yesterday.

I wonder how large this banana tree will get?

The Boys are Back in Town

Both Jim and Adam have returned to Michigan - Jim from Texas via Delta Airlines and Adam from New Mexico via U of M minivan. It is good to have the whole family back together, especially since we plan to spend the next few days madly moving boxes from our house to our condo. We are also going to have a small graduation celebration for Adam with some family and friends over the weekend. The grad party will be held in tandem with our community's annual fireworks hullabaloo. We held Adam's high school graduation party on the day of the township fireworks four years ago. It is hard for me to believe that much time has gone by - it seems like just yesterday. I wonder if Adam's years in grad school will fly by as quickly?

Mission Accomplished

Jacob, Nancy, Richie, and I took a drive up to the farm yesterday to check out the plumbing. It seems that our annual camping trip will be taking place there this summer since absolutely no group sites are available anywhere else in the state. Obviously, a bathroom is a priority for us, so we went to see if could get the water pump turned on in the 100-year-old farmhouse. After some twisting and turning and priming and fastening, Richie got the water flowing and we were not only able to use the toilet, we were able to wash our hands in the sink as well. It ended up, though, that the plumbing was not the only issue in the house. A large piece of the roof had rotted through and collapsed, sending plaster and drywall tumbling into the dining room, along with water each time it rained - and squirrels & the like at their whim. Nancy and I attempted a rather amateur-ish and comical repair of the roof hole, using a garbage bag and duct tape, but I doubt that it will keep out either precipitation or critters.

Richie and Jake working on the pump in the musty basement.

Ceiling debris on a rain-drenched couch.

Jacob got in some driving time on the back forty.

Crunch

Jacob and I stopped by Kohl's this evening to shop for some curtains for the condo. We were disappointed to find that Kohl's did not carry window treatments. We trotted back out to the CRV and backed slowly out of our parking spot. When we had gone about three feet, Jacob suddenly yelled, "CAR!" I heard the sickening sound of metal meeting metal. We jumped out to discover that the man backing out of the spot behind us had rammed right into our rear quarter panel. There was barely a dent in the CRV, and his car was not damaged at all, but the man was ranting and swinging his arms around. I tried to calmly explain that he must have been pulling out too fast and had quite obviously hit my vehicle, but he rudely ignored me and continued carrying on. I suggested we exchange names and phone numbers, but he refused. He bellowed that either we call the police or just leave. I knew that it wasn't necessary to get the cops involved, so I told him that he was not a very nice guy and hopped back into the CRV. I wrote down his license plate number, and he apparently noticed that and didn't like it. He charged over to my window and yelled that we might as well call the police if I needed his plate number. I repeated that he was not very nice and drove away. Just my luck to have a raving maniac run into me. What ever happened to simple manners?

When It Rains, It Pours

When we had our condo inspection a few weeks ago, we were informed by the inspector that our hot water heater was not on. The guy was not authorized to ignite it himself, but Richie was not intimidated and was more than happy to spark up the pilot light. The tank fired up fairly easily, and we enjoyed hot water for a day and a half before the pilot went out for good. Richie tried valiantly and repeatedly to re-light it, even replacing the thermal coupler, to no avail. Now I get to hire a heating-and-cooling specialist to come take a look at the water heater.

My decrepit washing machine at the house broke down about ten days ago, so I bought a new one with a matching dryer from Best Buy. The set was delivered to the condo on Friday. The delivery guys placed the appliances into the laundry room, then asked me for the hoses so they could hook up the washer. I peeked into the machine and found it empty. Then they requested the flexible tube that connects the dryer to the gas line. Nothing in the dryer, either. The delivery guys explained to me that washers and dryers do not come equipped with hoses and lines - the customer is required to buy those items separately. What? Since when? It would have been nice if the salesperson had mentioned this somewhat important fact to me when I made the purchase. Once again, Richie came to the rescue, accompanied me to Home Depot to pick up the necessary - and might I add not inexpensive - parts, and installed the washer & dryer himself. I was able to do a much-needed load of laundry yesterday.

Over the weekend, Jacob and I decided to take Adam's car out for a spin. It has been sitting in our garage ever since Adam left on his Vortex 2 tornado chase on May 1. Long story short - we ended up having to take the car to the repair shop and discovered that it will cost $1,400 to completely fix it. Adam plans to purchase a new vehicle before he takes off to grad school, so we are debating whether or not to spend the money to patch up the poor, little Focus.

The expense and fun of maintaining three households is suddenly coming at us from every direction. Maybe someone will make us an offer on our still-for-sale house any day now.