Jessica's Rose Garden

[Jessica_Rose]

Day one of packing went well. They sent five people! It was mayhem, with boxes, tape, and paper crinkling all day. I'm trying to squeeze as much as I can into our Toyota, to increase the odds that we'll be able to take the rest of what we need in our other car. We have water, gas, and electric service switched over to our name. I checked on internet service, and the cable provider can only guarantee 3MBb/sec! I called one of the fiber companies, and they will install 1GB service on 12 Sep.

I'm going to box up my desktop PC this evening. I'll be heading to Colorado again tomorrow afternoon. On Saturday, I'll get the keys to the house, and on Sunday I'll fly home. Next weekend, Susan and I will be in our new home.

Love always -- Jessica Rose

[Lori Dee]

Exciting times ahead!  🙂

Then you get to spend all winter unpacking and putting away. 

[Jessica_Rose]

My trip to Colorado went well. Lori gave me a ride to the Colorado Springs Airport on Sunday. A turkey sandwich, chips, and soda was $25! I had a brief layover in Dallas, and landed in Little Rock around 6:00pm. Some friends drove me home.

We spent Monday going through our stuff. Susan worked inside, and I worked on the Garage.

The movers continued packing today, and they will start loading the truck tomorrow (Wednesday). We plan to stay at a friend's house Wednesday and Thursday nights. I also mowed the yard one last time. We don't need to mow at our new house, so I sold the lawn mower. The buyer will pick it up tomorrow.

The moving company plans to deliver on Monday, 8 Sep. It will be great not having to wait long. Our new home is already partially furnished, so we can live there comfortably  while waiting for delivery.

Love always -- Jessica Rose

[Jessica_Rose]

I'm back. Susan and I are now in our new home. We still have hundreds of boxes to open, and there are many things we haven't found yet. Our internet access was installed this afternoon, so I can finally use my computer again.

Our new house is designed much differently than any of our previous homes. It's going to take some time to figure our where to put everything. I expect we will be donating some of our excess furniture. We left a couch and dining room table at our old house, and they have already found new homes.

We have already seen several beautiful sunsets, and quite a bit of wildlife. Deer like to nap outside my office window. We've also seen coyotes, rabbits, squirrels, lizards, tarantulas, and many species of birds.

We still have a lot of work to do at our new home, but eventually we'll open that last box.

Love always -- Jessica Rose

[Emma1017]

So glad that you and Susan are sharing sunsets in your new home!  We still have unpacked boxes from our last move 20 years ago.  They are like time capsules.

Enjoy!

 

[Jessica_Rose]

So glad that you and Susan are sharing sunsets in your new home!  We still have unpacked boxes from our last move 20 years ago.  They are like time capsules.

Enjoy!

Thanks, Emma! We've even had dinner on our deck several times. The weather has been really nice.

We have only found one broken item so far, a handmade glass figurine. It was heart-shaped, with two small glass birds hanging in the center. It had survived all of our moves for the last 40 years, but now it is gone.

I forgot to give thanks to @Lori Dee ! She came over last weekend and helped us move a huge desk the previous owner had left behind. The primary bedroom doesn't have much closet space. The old office space is next to the primary bedroom, so we plan to convert it into a large closet. We moved the desk to what used to be a parlor, which will now be my office.

I expect anyone who has ever moved has a box or two that remained sealed for years. When it eventually gets opened, you'll finally find that remote control for the TV, or a 'missing' garage door opener, or maybe some long-lost photos.

Love always -- Jessica Rose

[Lori Dee]

I forgot to give thanks to @Lori Dee ! She came over last weekend and helped us move a huge desk the previous owner had left behind.

No thanks are necessary. I work cheap and was paid in pizza and root beer. What could be better than that?

And now we know why the sellers left that beast of a desk behind. Yowza. But it is a very nice desk. 😁

[ChrissyRyan]

Jess,


I am glad you are settling in to yours and Susan's new home.

I hope you enjoy your new settings for many years together.


Hugs,

Christine

[Pema]

Oh, Jessica, this is fantastic news! I feel like I've been waiting for this moment for a long time, and it's finally here.

I hope you will be so comfortable and happy in your new home for a long time to come.

[Jessica_Rose]

Thanks Christine and Pema!

For some reason, this move seems to have been more difficult than any of our previous moves. Maybe it's just the volume of 'stuff' we have accumulated, but it may also be that we aren't as young as we used to be. We still have a lot of work to do. We've nearly filled a 20yd dumpster with empty boxes and packing paper, and we haven't done anything in our basement yet! Whenever we get overwhelmed with things, we sit on our deck for a while and relax. It has the best views of any home we have ever lived in.

I convinced Susan that we should put up a hummingbird feeder. I zip-tied a shepherds hook to our deck railing, and Susan put a feeder out. Within five minutes, the hummingbirds found it. We still haven't explored our lot, it's close to 3 acres, with all 'natural' landscaping -- no lawn to mow.

Love always -- Jessica Rose

[Lori Dee]

Those are great pics. I am sure you will have plenty of photo ops in the future. Once the wildfire smoke clears and the peaks get dusted with snow, you will have prime opportunities. 😁

[Jessica_Rose]

Thanks @Lori Dee ! Compared to a few days ago, the smoke has cleared out pretty well. I really enjoy photography. The more I learn, the more I realize how little I know.

I'm on-call for work through next weekend. Usually it's pretty quiet, but not this time. I've already had to respond to four issues. Luckily, none of them were serious. I'm running a trace for one of the issues right now. Once it's started, it can take several hours to complete. Then I have to run several 'unzip' steps before I can access the data we need to send to the vendor for analysis. Although I'm not tied to my desk, I can't step away for more than 10 - 15 minutes at a time until it's finished.

I've started updating my official address. I did a change of address with the US Postal Service. I also updated my address for work last Saturday, which should shift my taxes over to Colorado. Both my home and auto insurance rates are higher here, but at least sales taxes are a little lower.

Love always -- Jessica Rose

[Maid Marion]

Light, Science and Magic: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting

is a great book for learning photography.

[Lori Dee]

My auto insurance went up almost 50%, but it is still affordable.

There is money to be made selling wildlife and landscape photos.

My brother takes photos of all kinds of things you wouldn't think of, like batteries, nuts and bolts, rusty manhole covers, and such. He has a website where he sells them as stock photos. His customers are website builders (for businesses) and video game developers. He has thousands of photos for sale and the website handles all the transactions.

He won't become wealthy from it, but it puts gas in his car.