But there just ain’t much going on! I continue to move stuff around trying to find a place for everything and put everything in it’s place. I’m still tired! Just loaded the truck up with stuff in the garage and unloaded it downstairs. Pretty bad when it’s easier to load it into the truck, drive around the house to downstairs and unload it. Not that I’m lazy or anything…

New house is working out grand! I’m sleeping like a baby; it’s so much quieter and darker here than the last place we lived. And it is really nice not hearing that Post Office truck smashing things around @ 0530 everymorning. Nor do I miss those buttheads and their boom-box vehicles stopping by the Post Office at all hours of the night. Cool!

It’s been really nice weatherwise the past week. Got out to the property a couple of times just to mess around. I feel almost lost out there cause I haven’t really anything to do but sit around and read or whatever. No dirt I have to move. No rocks I have to dig out. Just chill. Kind of hard to get used to after 3 years of doing all that.

Went to church last Sunday for the whole session. That’s the first time I’ve been to Sunday School or Elders Quorum in about 10 years. Not sure if I’m going back for them again. Oh, the meetings were okay; but I think I’ve changed. We’ll see.

Went over and picked up our friend Philip last Monday and took him to COSTCO. He bought only 1 thing but spent about half an hour hitting the free samples. And I even managed to spend $50 on things we needed. Got me one of those office chair mats so I don’t ruck up the new carpet too much.

Spend my evenings re-ripping our cd’s and finding a place for stuff in boxes. No, not really. I am re-ripping our cd collection so they’ll all be mp3’s instead of mix of wma’s & mp3’s. What I’m not doing is finding a place for things in boxes. I’m trying to get everything OUT of boxes; so I guess I’m trying to find a place for everything in the house.

OTT, just not much going on.

Switch to digital broadcasting didn’t affect us much here as we’re already using the converter box for our tv (what little we watch). I’m not picking up any more channels than before the switch. Thinking about buying a bigger antenna for the roof but still not sure that would bring in any more channels. Hell, I only watch the news and weather now anyway. But, when it’s time for the new season of Smallville & Supernatural & Fringe I’d like to watch them. Probably will to check it out anyway.

Anywho, that’s about all there is from us here outside Belfair, Washington.

We’ve been in the new house for over a week now. I’m tired! I spend most of the day moving things in or around. Spent a couple of days putting in shelves in the little room behind the garage for our food storage. Shelves look good and should stand up to everything but a MAJOR earthquake. Bought some heavy duty boards to put across the stairwell going down to the basement for me to stand on and get that last area painted. Now I have to figure out when I want to do that. SWMBO needs to mow.

Pat from (West Sound Carpet?) came in last Tuesday and installed the carpet in the "Family" room. (Which is the tv and my computer room.) That was fun. He did a pretty good job but I can still see one of the seams; but he says it’ll wear out in time and be unnoticeable. Hope so. And soon!

Man, I like living out here! Quiet. Dark.

Turns out our property (the new property) backs up against a national forest (or state forest. I’m not sure.) so we don’t have to worry about anyone building back there. Now I gotta make up my mind if I mind the dirt bikers using my dirt road/trail to go to and from. First off the top of my head is: Block It Off. But I think that’s the old guy in me talking.

Started work on my "Man Cave" downstairs in the basement. Got a workbench set up for me to work on computers and a couple of cabinets to store thing. Got the NAS units set up and serving us our movies/tv/music wirelessly. Router seems to be working great. Now if only my new computer would fall into line! Damn thing keeps randomly rebooting. No rhyme or reason. Seems to happen more often if I’m doing 2 things at once. Damn! I’ve taken this thing completely apart and reassembled it twice. Today I even replaced the power supply "just in case." Didn’t help. (I’m even saving this post after every sentence "just in case.")

Just not much else going on around here. Pretty quiet except for whoever it was shooting their gun in the forest earlier today. Friends came over for lunch and we had a BBQ out on the deck. Ate some of the burger I ground up this morning. Was good!

Anywho, the cell phones are working out pretty good. I got mine set up to retrieve all my e-mail accounts and I can delete them from the mail server from the phone if I want. Saves a lot of time for when I later download the messages. I don’t get many calls; except from SWMBO but it has worked really well. Welcome to the 21st Century, Doc!

That’s about it from here. Think I’ll go lay down and read awhile as it is getting late. Re-reading some of my "Destroyer" books. Of the several I’ve re-read I know I’ve read them before, I just can’t remember anything of the story. Think I ought to get checked for memory problems…

But, actually, I’m lucky to even be able to check my e-mail much less post to my blog!

Okay, We got the keys to the house last Thursday. (We’d already been inside for two days taping things off and spray painting the two living rooms and the dining area. Had to buy a 10ft step ladder to reach the ceiling!) So we kinda sorta started moving in on that Friday. Saturday I rented a big truck from Budget Rental (really good service) in Gig Harbor and a few of the guys from church showed up and we had all the heavy stuff stuffed into it (took all of 45 minutes!). Cool!

Drove it on over to the new house where a few guys from the new Ward we’re in showed up to help unload. Let me tell you; they/we had the truck unloaded AND the PODS thing unloaded in an hour and a half! They worked good. Course, most everything went straight into the garage…

Of course, our first night sleeping in the new house was, well, strange. Different noises and such. And it is DARK out here! Man, after 10 years living next to a mechanic shop with a streetlight, and the past 3 years living next to the Olalla Post Office with it’s several big lights lighting up the whole building and parking lot (not to mention the people with their damned boom box cars stopping by at all hours) it is SO nice to live out where there just isn’t much light at all. Neighbors keep their front porch light on, and the neighbor uphill does have one of those street light things; but you can’t really see it from out place. Cool! You can see so many stars out here!

And, of course, we’ve been really busy cleaning things and moving stuff from the garage to the house. I am so sore! (I’m old!) Right now I’m kind of putting like boxes in one place; meaning boxes full of book in one place and food storage in another, etc. Did have to get most of the kitchen boxes into the kitchen so I could cook us something to eat. (Did I mention that we moved the electric stove from the MIL Apt up to our kitchen? We did. Going to use it until I can get a gas line run to switch over to gas.)

SWMBO and I started pulling up the laminate in the family room (where my computer is going to be) so the carpet guy can install carpeting next Monday. Good thing I know how to use a circular saw! I finally got all the painting equipment cleaned up and ready for the next job. Gotta lot of swabbing to do!

And we have to replace everything in our freezer! Damn! We were so busy moving things in that we didn’t notice that it wasn’t working after we plugged it in. So it had 3 days for everything to thaw out before I noticed. Damn! So I cleaned it out and made a dump run yesterday to get rid of it all. But it does give me a great chance to really clean the freezer out!

AND we spent 4 days running back and forth to the old place getting the last of the stuff out (I made 4 trips in one day @ 30 miles (rounded off) each way = 240 miles) and cleaning. SWMBO had some help from a friend who did some excellent work and I finally got the last of the stuff yesterday and paid Virgil 4 days rent and gave him the keys and we’re FINALLY out of there! Too too cool!

Anywho, gotta make a run to Silverdale. SWMBO’s picking up her new glasses (which could worry me as she’ll be getting her first good look at me in several years) and gotta start re-filling that freezer.

And what a traumatic experience it was! Way too many papers to sign. Way too much money spent. Final numbers came in at $361k and we had to show up with a check for $2500. Damn! Good thing we had it. SWMBO does a pretty good job with the finances.

So we went to McDonalds on the way home from Belfair to celebrate.

Spent my weekend, my Memorial Day weekend, My Holiday weekend – painting. Used the sprayer we bought last week ($300) and SWMBO spent $500 on paint (and something called KILZ) so the least I could do was spread it all over the walls and ceilings of the two big rooms in the new house. Man, at the end of the day I had paint in places I didn’t know I still had! I got paint everywhere! Looks good though. Will look better when I get the actual paint on!

I don’t know how often I’ll be posting for awhile. The only Internet access we can find is through Verizon Wireless; which will be hooked to SWMBO’s computer so she can continue to work from home. I’ll get to check my e-mail every so often (probably at least once a day) but won’t be able to download any new episodes of Fringe or Smallville. There’s a 5 Gig download limit per month on their wireless Internet. Bummer! But I should be able to check the news and weather without too many problems; as long as I remember not to go over the download limit.

Gotta let NetFlix know about the address change. But we don’t even know if we have a mailbox that far out (nearest we can find to the new house is 1/2 mile away) or if we have to rent a PO Box. PO Box will be a hassle as you have to make a stop on the way home or make a trip into town. I’ve got to go out to the house tomorrow so I’ll see if I can find a mailbox then or stop by the Post Office and rent a mailbox (if they have any available).

Anywho, have most of everything I can get into that PODS thingie in the PODS thingie. Need more boxes. Still have quite a bit to pack and get out there before Thursday. Gotta return the scaffolding I rented tomorrow also. And stop by Home Depot and buy a 10ft step ladder. Looks like my day is planned.

Ought to get off my lazy fat ass and get the last of the dishes and laundry done tonight so I won’t have to worry about it later. Cio!