Hello California!

Five and a half days of driving, 1 new tire in Gallup, NM, and a very exhausted Ozzy-Dog--we're finally here in time for family Thanksgiving! I forget how doggone big this country is until I actually drive the 2,341 miles door-to-door.

Mom has gotten everything ready for a big feast with family and friends. I am catching up on my sleep. Oz seems to be settling in just fine. Bill is at sea and looking forward to his Thanksgiving meal somewhere out on the briny deep. It's all good.

Sunrise -- 2 days to departure

It is so beautiful in the early morning hours in the fall. Ozzy starts whining before it is light out, so I get to be a witness to the lovely fall sunlight lightening the skies through the clouds each day. (Of course, this also means that I am falling asleep on the couch each afternoon around 3 to recharge the mental and physical batteries).

Today is PACK DAY.

But I have a moment to savor the peace and quiet of the new day dawning, listening to the forest coming alive around me with the sound of birds, before I jump up and start running around, tackling the list that has grown to a truly monumental length.

Why am I awake at 5 am?

Things are shaping up. Bill is at sea now, I am slowly working through my list of "To Dos," and even Ozzy is settling down a little bit. So why am I wide awake at 5, thinking of more things to put on the list?

Yesterday, I made hundreds of cookies and scores of chocolate-covered caramels--gifts for my co-workers to give before I leave, lest they think I am getting out of town to avoid them during the holidays. And I rented one of Ray's houses, interviewed the new property manager, and got a line on a tenant for the other house, due to be vacant Dec. 20.

The car is serviced. The house is still a wreck. I am leaving for California a week from today.

All I have left to do is:

Plant 9 trees in the new orchard
Empty the water barrels so they don't freeze
Shut down the house systems
Laundry
Go to the dump (several times)
Pick up my new glasses
Return the plumbing parts to Henard's
Pay bills
Remember what to pack
Pack (for what kind of weather, I wonder?)
Gather Dog stuff
Revise phone list
Don't forget Juli's jam!
Figure out what knitting to take
Christmas gifts!
Rental keys
Work
Forward mail

Not such a bad, long list. So why am I awake at 5 am?

Ack! The Frantic-ness Continues

I got an email from Bill in Illinois last night while I was at work. The powers that be want him on a plane to Japan on Friday.

He had planned on driving home today and getting his shipboard drug test tomorrow morning in Johnson City. (Nothing quite so inconvenient as driving 100 miles to pee in a cup for the Dept. of Transportation). Then a last weekend at home.

Now don't go all misty-eyed on me. The weekend at home would most likely have been Bill sitting in the woods for the opening of muzzleloading deer season, not a romantic dinner for two. But that's all gone anyway, whatever activities WERE planned. Instead, we'll be going to the airport and saying goodbye again.

Rats.

A Brief October Recap

The wedding was fabulous, the car trip was fun, the visiting on the road with Ron & Kendra, Gary & Anita, Mark & Jo was so wonderful! Ozzy was quite put out about being left in the hoosegow for 5 days, but eventually he forgave us. He and Juli shared the futon, though Juli says he's a covers hog.

Juli and I made blackberry jam with all my summer pickin's from the freezer. Then we hauled out all the peaches and made spiced peach jam too. She and Bill argued politics at high volume for 5 days.

Juli and Bill flew their separate directions on the 24th. Bill went to Florida for a 3-day computer class. Juli went home to her husband, refreshed and content. I went back to work and found that the air-conditioning is finally being fixed--JUST IN TIME for winter!

Bill came home Thursday and left for Illinois the next day. I'm hoping to see him come home tomorrow, just in time for his drug test and his inevitable shipping out, probably early next week. I spent 3 days cleaning the rental house that the previous tenants trashed.

Yesterday, I ran around Kingsport spending money. I finally got in to see Mr. Acupuncture (ah--relief!), then went to Best Buy to recycle the dead printer and buy a DVD cleaning disk. Then to Lowes, where fruit trees were 50% off! I bought white peaches, red peaches, bush peaches, two kinds of pears, a plum, and an apricot. Lunch at 5 Guys, then to Walmart for new glasses and dress work shirts for Alex. On the way home, I stopped at the vet's and bought heartworm pills and Frontline for Ozzy. Whew!

Now it's Tuesday, and time to go back to work. The mornings are delightfully frosty, and the days are sunny and blessedly cool. I am loving being back on my mountain, and savoring every moment. Soon, when Bill leaves and I find a tenant for the rental, I'll be leaving for the long trip to Los Angeles.

I feel like I've been traveling all year long. It would be nice to just plop and rest, but there are big doings coming up again, and I'll be back feeling frantic again in no time.

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Wow. I was just typing in the time and date and realizing I was surgerized 3 years ago TODAY.
How strange life is. What suffused my entire consciousness then is now just a distant ho-hum today. Life is good.