Let's see...where did I leave off all those months ago...
- We made the anticipated trip to move K and a load of stuff. Spent 2 long crazy days looking at any house that had land available. Made an offer on the house that had been at the top of our list since we started searching online when K got back from his interview. Had our initial offer accepted outright...no back and forth at all. I interviewed for the job, despite our laptop crashing the night before and I had not saved the PowerPoint seminar to my USB drive yet (thank goodness for serendipity...soon after the laptop crashed, our realtor called asking if we could swing by her office to sign some papers so we could make our offer the next day..um, yeah, if I can borrow a computer to save the presentation that I had emailed to myself to my USB)
- Several long drives from Kansas to NC later, including trips at Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years (plus a couple more by Kirk in March and July), we finally got all of the critters (and most of our stuff) moved.
- For the 2nd time in our house-owning years, K got a house for his birthday. Dad and I flew out for closing, and then I left Dad for a couple of weeks to help get a few things fixed on the house and help K with horse fence. That was about the only negative on this place was the lack of horse fence, but on the other hand it allowed us to put up what we wanted, which was fence that not only kept the horses in, but the dogs as well.
- I was offered and started my job in late January. Despite some ups and downs in the company, I have really enjoyed what I do on a day-to-day basis, have learned a lot, and have some great coworkers.
- K loves his job. He has rapidly earned the trust and respect of his supervisors (of course) and has been assigned several challenging projects and extra activities that show he is being recognized for his contributions. One unexpected turn has been some sales travel, but he is a great representative for the company, and I am getting a routine down for holding down the fort while he is gone.
So, on with the show....
Here Henry enjoys the scenery from my lap. He seemed to be the one most interested in the scenery during the trip...he hardly would sit down and relax, he always had to be looking out a window. He and Charlie the cat moved on Christmas as they were the ones we trusted the most to be ok left alone in the house for a long weekend while we traveled back to get another load on New Years. Poor Charlie spent the entire trip drooling under the seat of the truck. The girl cats moved on the next trip with K in the truck while the pups rode with me in the Subaru.
The dogs, on the other hand, really could have cared less. They snoozed the whole way, as Bode demonstrates.
Here Charlie shows off his new spot...atop the kitchen cabinets. He discovered he could get from the counter top to the top of the fridge, and then up to the top of the cabinets. Thankfully this only lasted a couple of month as I had really hoped to be able to put decorative stuff up there, although for quite some time we did only place non-breakable items there.
This is the view from our front door, although, the trellises are missing now as K wiped one out with one of the moving trucks. And the trees in the middle area are gone and the flowerbed has been expanded...but that is another set of pictures. Ardee enjoys sitting here checking out the view.
Three of the horses (AsYou, Streaker and Twister) soon after they arrived checking out the neighbor horses. We hired an awesome horse hauler who was wonderful, and hauled the ducks in an extra stall space, along with feed and hay that we had left and anything else Dad got thrown in. Thank goodness I didn't have to listen to 20+ hours of quacking! He ended up being delayed several days, and so it worked out perfectly that we had to fence almost done by the time they arrived. We had a dry lot area fenced off, and with tons of grass, it worked well to be able to slowly introduce them to the grass (stuff they hadn't seen in months in KS).
The ducks were glad to get here and stretch their legs after 2.5 days stuck in crates. They seemed to enjoy green grass and warm weather as much as the horses.
Bode looking into the woods behind the house. While the pasture was not fenced, luckily the dog yard area had fence on 3 sides, so K was able to finish that off pretty easily (relatively speaking). The house even came with a small room in the walkout basement with a doggy door, so the pups were all set. While they may not be thrilled, they pretty easily made the adjustment from full time doggy day care with my parents to being on their own in the yard all day. It seems that the bunnies and squirrels that they stalk in the woods probably have a lot to do with that.
