The Crone's Journal

The Saga Continues

cronesmoon@livejournal.com — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 19:58:07 GMT

The loan company applied huge fees as a consequence of their own negligence, and we reached the end of our patience and said no. We assumed this would end the process and we'd get our earnest money back (because we weren't walking, but only refusing an unexpected and unwarranted fee); but then the seller called. She really can't afford to put it back on the market and the deadline was only a bluff by her agent.

The loan company promptly required Yet Another bit of paperwork that they should have asked for weeks ago if they really need it, which we can only assume they don't. My honey is dutifully providing it. I don't know whether he is agreeing to the outrageous fees. Nor what else the loan company will ask for when they find he's able to fulfill their latest request.

Who knows what weevils lurk in the hearts of men?

Blizzard Entertainment

cronesmoon@livejournal.com — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:23:36 GMT

Blizzard continues to amaze. I looted a valuable item that the game would not let me auction or vendor. I queried Blizz. They provided "restoration" and warned me that each player is granted only a limited number of restorations for virtual property: while they understand that "accidents can happen" (wtf?), I should be more careful with my stuff in future.

That's bizarre. The thing was broken when I got it. How could I be more careful? WTF was I supposed to do to prevent looting a broken item? Man, there are times when I would like to stuff "user error" up some people's sanctimonious behinds.

Incidentally, "restoration" seems to consist of removing the item from my inventory. I dunno, maybe they gave me the couple of gold it was worth at a vendor. I don't keep exact track of that toon's finances, but I doubt they'd have given me the tens of gold it was worth at auction. Oh, well. I'm no worse off than I was before I queried. At least that.

Not Looking Good

cronesmoon@livejournal.com — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 20:26:33 GMT

The seller is leaving on vacation Friday at noon. She has decided, I think quite reasonably, that if we can't close by then, she'll put the house back on the market. (Really I'm amazed she's been as patient as she has been.)

At the rate ERA Home Loans is fumbling, I don't think we'll close by then.

Oh, well. They could yet come through. And if they don't ... There are other houses. You never know; there might be an even better one waiting for us to discover it.

Death by Hearthstone

cronesmoon@livejournal.com — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 20:01:19 GMT

Another WoW toon of mine died (of exhaustion from falling into the sea miles from land) while hearthing to Dalaran the other day (and graveyard rezzed in the Barrens), so I thought maybe Blizz needs to hear about this; if they get enough reports, maybe they'll look into it.

I opened a ticket, mentioning in it that I don't use add-ons. After a while I got an email response from donotreply@blizzard.com. Surprise! "After some research it appears the issue you are having may be related to your User Interface (UI). This applies whether you have a custom UI or not." To resolve the problem I should delete the wtf file and some others, thus necessitating an entire reset of all my action-bar hot keys and macros. Ow, ow, ow! Thanks, no! "If these steps do not resolve your issue, please submit a new In-Game ticket and we will attempt to assist you further." Lawl! This is a problem that has happened twice in as many months. I should spend a few hours resetting my UI and then wait to see whether it happens again? And if it does, it'll likely be long enough from the reset that Mr. Donotreply can say that "after some research" yatta yatta, and that a person should consequently reset the UI again.

I don't think so. Not unless it begins to happen a lot more often. What the heck, most of my toons aren't well-enough geared for a graveyard rez to cost all that much anyway. The real problem is waiting for the hearthstone's cooldown so they can get back to Dalaran.

Loan Company Adventures

cronesmoon@livejournal.com — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 22:02:27 GMT

It is becoming SO tempting to tell them to stuff it, that we'll find another house and a loan company that knows how to do business. But if we did that, come the end of the month we wouldn't have anyplace to live.

Of course we may not, anyway. We don't know what further hurdles the loan company may come up with. It has just decided, a week after receiving some information, that it might be a good idea to submit the associated paperwork the VA has to receive before the loan can close. It has also decided, in its wisdom, that it won't allow any of our money because it has all been "co-mingled" with money from the sale of the school. Consequently we're going to have to do some very fancy footwork, trying to fulfill our agreement with the seller without either of us actually breaking the law.

And the whole thing is a problem because, and only because, the loan company didn't think to question the source of the school-sale money till the day before closing. (That is, the day before we were supposed to close, obviously. At this point it's not at all clear when or really even whether we will close; we can only hope.)

Given a little time, we could have come up with some evidence of the money's provenance. Or delayed applying for the loan the week or so it would have taken to grandfather the money into our bank account. But no. The loan company's astounding incompetence, layered on astonishing negligence, and really quite impressive stupidity, adds up to ... maybe we'll still get the house.

We'll see. I do not hold my breath. Meantime we had to give sixty days' notice here at the townhouse, so we're expected to be fully moved out by the end of this month. Wheeeeee!

The Folly

cronesmoon@livejournal.com — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 13:37:57 GMT

I rode along yesterday when my honey went out to the Folly to meet the cable installation guy (my honey is absolutely certain the deal is going to go through soon, so no need delay installations). Much better able to look over the house without people and dogs in it. I picked a bag full of peas from the garden and another of blueberries (the which neither of us particularly likes but we both know they're superfood that has to be eaten). And I wandered through the house considering the rooms. They're all quite small, but that may only be in comparison with the school. I expect they may be a little larger than the rooms here at the townhouse.

The interior decoration is amazing. The wallpaper, pictures left on the walls, shower curtains, light switchplates, all are coordinated. In one room it's lighthouses, in another dragonflies, in the downstairs hallway it's seashells (they're even glued to the switchplates). It seems mildly oppressive, but maybe that's just because I like room for my imagination and my decorating ideas. Here for each room it's either conform to the existing theme or redecorate entirely. In some cases the existing theme is kind of cool, in some it's tacky, but in all cases it's just too overwhelming for my taste. There are no contrasts. All is conformity. And oddly, most is seashore, the which the Folly is very far from.

I suppose just moving our stuff in will lend a certain contrast, our stuff being of considerably more WalMart quality than most of these decorations; and the rest can be considered over time. Some of the floors are ceramic tile, which I like, but the rest are carpet, which I hate. Should it become ours, I will be peeking under the carpet to see whether it can just be removed and the floor below treated in some way, or whether it must be replaced with some other purchased flooring.

The apple trees have lots of wormy baby apples on them; there are baby pears and peaches as well, and I don't know what else. The garden is somewhat weedy, which I began to deal with but it would need more time. The grass everywhere is getting too tall, and we don't even own a mower at present, but the owner's ex stopped by to check on the pool filter for her/us, and pointed out people in the neighborhood who might help out with that.

It's not as quiet there as it seemed the other time I looked at it; there were traffic sounds all the time, and helicopters, but at least it was quieter than here at the townhouse. I don't suppose we're going to get the deep quiet of real country anywhere in Pennsylvania. Overall it was nice, though. We refilled the barn cats' watering dispenser and tilted the kibble dispenser to fill its bowl so they might have enough till someone lives there. It's summer, so they can probably find their own food anyway, for now.

And then the cable fellow was done and we all left.

New House

cronesmoon@livejournal.com — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:08:47 GMT

We were supposed to acquire it today. Had an appointment for 2:30 this pm to complete the paperwork and receive the keys. However, late yesterday the mortgage company suddenly announced that we could not use our money from the school for the down payment and closing costs. The quit-claim deed for the school doesn't say what amount we were paid. (It didn't say how much we paid when we bought it, either; in both cases probably because the other party wanted to cheat on his taxes. Most people seem to think that acceptable behavior.) Consequently, the mortgage company has only our word for where we got the money. Ergo, it must be drug money.

[sigh] My honey has gone to our bank to see whether he can get a loan against the money in our account, since that would launder our money by providing a paper trail the mortgage company could accept. He also contacted our Hawaii bank to see whether he could get a loan against his IRA. They said yes, but it might not be processed in time, which is why he's now trying the local bank as well. My guess is, neither one can be processed in time for today's meeting, so we're not moving this weekend after all.

And consequently, probably not anytime soon, even assuming we are indeed able to buy the house next week (or ever). My honey's work is very, very busy this month as the product "goes live." He expects to work early and late every day and possibly weekends. In fact we were surprised he could get this weekend off, and were gladly planning to rush the move to take advantage of that.

I feel a tad fretful about "my" garden at the Folly, as the owner has now moved and I can't be there to take over its tending; but what the heck, it'll survive or it won't, and there's nothing I can do about it now. Not much we can do about any of this but wait and see. Life's like that, sometimes.

I don't see why those pesky drug dealers had to go trying to buy houses and whatnot with their unlaundered drug money, thus spoiling things for the rest of us!

Aggro Is Mine

cronesmoon@livejournal.com — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 04:40:41 GMT

Yeah, it's WoW again:

"The Tank Song" amuses me mightily.

So does "Run to the Tank," but it's not nearly as well-done, it's just good lyrics. "He just kept on kiting that mob away from me." Oh, yeah. And "I can't get back the aggro when you're that far away."

Of course I'm not really a tank; my Saturday night toon that tanks for our dysfunctional group is a blood-specced DK, not a warrior or pally. But what the heck, she survives better than my pally did when he was tanking, and she has more tools than our warrior had for when the other players kite or knock or pull the mobs off the tank. She can yank at least one back if it hasn't gone too far, and can sometimes blood-boil the rest back onto her if the other players let up for a minute to give her a chance. (Which they sometimes do, mostly by accident, but hey, whatever works.)

That's really why the warrior quit; it was just too dispiriting, with no ranged weapons or real AoEs, trying to tank for a bunch of players who totally do not understand aggro. I mean really, no clue. They were surprised when we suggested they try not to level past the tank, and never did understand why being the lowest-level toon in the group would make it impossible for him to hold aggro off them.

We're incompetent. The healer smites, the hunter melees, one of the mages pulls with fireballs and tends to AoE inappropriately (and he flees away from the tank when he pulls aggro; but then, he often doesn't know where the tank is). But we have fun, and that's gotta be what counts. And hey, we made it all the way to 80 (though we did have to stop trying level-appropriate dungeons; it was to ROFLMAO. We wiped to trash).

So anyway, "The Tank Song" and "Run to the Tank" are cute and funny and I thought I would share them with those of you who play WoW. (I assume everyone else stopped reading back up there at the top.)

WTF?

cronesmoon@livejournal.com — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 23:39:39 GMT

Was just reading an article in Newsweek about Oprah and people on her show. They were talking about a woman whose son has autism, which the woman firmly believes was caused by childhood immunizations. She says she had a bad feeling about the immunizations, and the doctor gave them anyway, and not long after, "the soul was gone from [her son's] eyes."

If I wrote short stories, there'd be one. We know there's been an increase in cases of autism. We know there's been an increase in the number of children who survive infancy and childhood due to those immunizations. [Theme from Twilight Zone] The children who have autism are those who would have died! [/Theme from Twilight Zone]

Of course I've never heard any sane parent refer to their autistic child as having "the soul gone from [their] eyes." Actually the concept of a parent who believes we have souls saying that her son's is "gone" is more shuddery than anything I've ever read about autism. That's horrifying. How can she parent him capably if she believes that? [Night of the Living Dead theme] What does she think she's raising? [/Night of the Living Dead theme]

(Now there's an interesting question: assuming we have souls, and assuming we can be turned into zombies, do our souls remain, or depart? ...I suppose the literature has covered this, but I'm less fascinated with zombies than is trendy, so the thought never occurred to me before.)

Incidentally if you're curious about autism, there are a couple of obvious starting places for information: if you like to learn from fiction, The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon is an excellent novel by a woman who knows her autistic son's soul is right where it aught to be; or if you prefer nonfiction, then try just about anything by Dr. Temple Grandin, a noted autistic whose soul is, also, right where it ought to be.

The Folly

cronesmoon@livejournal.com — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 20:50:47 GMT

I can't find my ftp client and wasn't in the mood to download another; this is my game computer anyway, and I hate it because its operating system is Vista, in which I can find nothing, I say, nothing! Probably my ftp client is on my work computer, which is packed in the garage awaiting the completion of our move.

So I investigated this "scrapbook" thing that seems to be included with my LJ, which I don't understand at all but to which I was quite easily able to upload the photos of The Folly. Perhaps they're viewable now...Or, of course, perhaps I don't understand this scrapbook business after all.

Viewing The Folly

cronesmoon@livejournal.com — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 12:54:17 GMT

My honey has made an appointment for us to go look at The Folly on Thursday evening. I suppose I'm mildly curious; it's probably where I'll spend the rest of my life, so perhaps I ought to be. But there's nothing to do about it. Seeing it won't change anything. If we were still in the deciding phase, I'd have wanted to see it to help decide; but since it's a done deal, I might just as well wait to see it when the deal closes and we move in.

But although I did say that, either my honey didn't believe me or he just wants to admire his purchase. Or wants me to admire his purchase. Anyway, the appointment is made, the owner is prepared to be intruded upon, and the real estate agent is prepared to take us there. (We're not sure why he wanted included, but hey, it's his time to do with as he will.) I hope it will have quit raining by then.

More Usage Police

cronesmoon@livejournal.com — Thu, 21 May 2009 13:20:04 GMT

Seen at Amazon: "ECOBAGS Duel Handle Natural Cotton String Market Bag"
"...duel (long & short) handles for carrying options..."
"The duel handles offer two carrying options...."

...so, you know, it's not a tyop, it's their best notion of how to spell "dual." And hey, the spellchecker didn't catch it, so it must be right, not?

In a related note, someone gave a review of one of these string bags, saying she was proud to own it because it's eco-friendly. But she doesn't use it for groceries; she uses it as a purse. Seems to me that kinda defeats the "eco-friendly" nature of a bag that is made of "natural" (but not organic) cotton (which is certainly better in many ways than the various plastics, but have you ever looked into the ecological costs of growing cotton?) and intended to replace disposable bags. As a replacement for disposable bags, it can reasonably be called "eco-friendly." As a replacement for a purse, not so much.

Hearthing Accident

cronesmoon@livejournal.com — Thu, 21 May 2009 11:52:19 GMT

(This may be incomprehensible if you don't play WoW. In that case, please excuse. I'll post about something IRL sometime soon.)

I've been playing WoW again since the expansion. The other evening when I went to hearthstone from Zul'Drak back to Dalaran, instead of getting the transport screen, I got a scene-change from my toon standing in Zul'Drak to my toon falling from hundreds of miles above Zul'Drak. All I could see from where I was falling was a horizon. Up was misted out, down was misted out by distance. I could tell where I was falling by the minimap; nothing else was visible. I fell for some moments with the camera following along just as it should, then suddenly I plummeted out of camera-range to my death. Ow! As my honey said, that was ten gold I wanted back. I'd just put on brand new gear a blacksmith friend had made for me, too.

And what's worse, I woke up in a graveyard in the Barrens. If I'd had time, it might have been interesting to see whether it was even possible to get from there to my body in ghost form; but we'd been about to quit for the night, so I accepted rez sickness and equipment damage. My hearthstone was burned even tho it hadn't hearthed me properly, so I ran into Crossroads for a flight to Org where my honey's toon met me and portaled us back to Dalaran. Whew.

And then the server crashed. Which may or may not explain my harrowing adventure. I find I'm just a tad nervous about hearthing now, oddly enough.

Anybody else ever have such an accident? Or wake up in the Barrens or Westfall from a death in Northrend or Outland? (I'd heard of the latter before, but it was always from a battle death or falling off the world, not from hearthing!)

Usage Police

cronesmoon@livejournal.com — Fri, 15 May 2009 11:44:38 GMT

One of my quilting magazines, talking about a woman who is known for bunnies on her quilts and fabrics, says that "like the bunnies to which she is so endeared, the ideas just keep multiplying." Argh.

A magazine on container gardening that I bought for its pretty pictures says of one sort of plant that "it has a prostrate form that gives it stature." I looked at the picture. It didn't appear either prostrate or of particularly notable stature. I have no idea what they think they said.

OTOH

cronesmoon@livejournal.com — Mon, 11 May 2009 13:07:31 GMT

Now I've read kateelliott's review, and her points are valid. I'm very shallow in my tastes and love the ST movie anyway, but the rest of you might want to take her comments into account while deciding whether to bother seeing it in the theatre.

Star Trek

cronesmoon@livejournal.com — Mon, 11 May 2009 02:37:32 GMT

Wow. Went to the new Star Trek movie this pm. It is absolutely wonderful. Yeah, it isn't canon. But the new backstory is better than the original, the actors are cute as buttons and very well-cast, and the movie is just awesome. I came away feeling that it's really what the original should have been (and I am a TOS fan). They kept everything essential, including the relationships and the personalities, and they turned it into something way more powerful than it ever was before. Pwned! I want to go back to see it again in the theatre, something I just don't do anymore. But it's worth that. It's very, very good.

Rain, Rain, Go Away

cronesmoon@livejournal.com — Wed, 06 May 2009 11:42:31 GMT

Our stuff arrived yesterday afternoon, and although the driver tried to talk his way out of helping us unload it ("That's 8,000 pounds!" he said by way of explanation), once he was assured that we would in fact not excuse him from the task, he settled in to it with fair grace. Took less than an hour all told, and the boxes are all stacked now in the townhouse garage.

Some will have to be unpacked and repacked in new boxes; the truck had a considerable leak and several boxes are pretty soaked. The one box we opened to get the books away from the wet turned out not to be a disaster, however; the box itself was falling apart, but the contents were mostly pretty dry. The only two books that got severe water damage were iffy ones we can discard if they don't dry well.

And my quilting stash, quilt tops, and finished quilts were in dry boxes. Life is good.

Only it never seems to stop raining in PA. I'm longing for some sunshine. When I said so to my honey yesterday, he assured me that soon it's supposed to get "too hot" here. That's all very well, but I don't care so much about temperature. Chilly, hot, whatever, I just want some sunshine.

Whew

cronesmoon@livejournal.com — Mon, 04 May 2009 20:25:05 GMT

We made it safely. The pickup stalled a lot but didn't die, and now it's unpacked and we're more or less settled into the townhouse. Not exactly, as we're not buying furniture till we get to the farmette in a couple months; but I've unpacked most of the odds and ends we did bring and found places to stow much of it. And I've washed the previous owner's soap scum and beard hairs out of my bathroom's medicine cabinet (eeuw!). Why is it one always has to wash a place when moving in AND when moving out? Who are the people who get to move into the clean places? Oh well.

Incidentally I've just discovered we could call the property we're purchasing a "farmlet" if we prefer. My honey tends to want to call it a farm, but it ain't that. Maybe we should give it a name; that would satisfy the need, surely. Hm. "The Folly," perhaps. Or even "RK's Folly" if we're being formal.

The drive was long but mostly unexciting, which is how we like it. We were able to have a very late dinner with quietspaces on the first day, which was pleasant. Lu was reasonably forgiving the next morning, and went into her carrier without much fuss. On the second morning, somewhere in Iowa, she was less certain we knew what we were doing. On the third morning, in Elkhart Indiana, she had become aware that we knew nothing. "No," she said, when I suggested the carrier. "DO NOT WANT. Bad peepul. NO."

Now she is settled behind me on my chair, just the way she likes, and has seemingly forgiven our error, perhaps in part because last night I put away her carrier and, after dinner, bought her some nice catnip and a scratchy toy, as well as a shiny new litter box. Sometimes bribes really do help.

The trucking company says our stuff will arrive tomorrow. We had rather expected a few days' respite before having to unload it all, but what the heck, might as well get it over with. Then we'll have a couple of months to rest before we have to reload it in whatever (perhaps a U-haul) for the trip to The Folly.

Almost There

cronesmoon@livejournal.com — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 03:06:12 GMT

The truck is parked out front. Most of our belongings are packed. We loaded about half the books today, then went to town to pick up my pickup, which was only partially mended. They had decided it needs a new or rebuilt carburetor, and the nearest one they could order was in California and would take too long to get here, so we're hoping it will make it to PA on the old one.

We're to finish loading the truck tomorrow, then finish cleaning the school, then pack my pickup and my honey's car, and leave here Thurs or Fri depending how long all that stuff takes. We'd been aiming for Thurs, but the list is long. Sigh.

In related news, my honey has been looking at houses to buy in PA and has come up with something called a "farmette" that has a pretty nice house, almost four acres, an orchard, raised-bed gardens, well-established rhubarb and asparagus, a couple of sheds, a chicken coop, and a nice new horse barn with stalls for three horses. Of course we don't have or want chickens or horses, but still. It does sound nice for a dense-pop area. He's started the paperwork to buy it, and we're expecting to move in there in July. Wheee!

With that in mind, we won't be unpacking when we get to PA; we'll just park all the boxes in the garage of the town house he's rented, and move them again when the time comes. Perhaps in a dozen pickup loads; we'll see. Anyway, life progresses and remains interesting. I've been enjoying the social life here and will miss it very much, but looking forward to a garden is a mitigating factor.

Sold

cronesmoon@livejournal.com — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 13:28:05 GMT

We have traded the deed for cash money, and my departure date is set for May 1. Between now and then I have to get everything packed that we're taking and clean the entire school, as well as finish any projects for which I need the sewing machine I've borrowed from the church here. I had thought I might get a quilt completed and even have it quilted locally, but time is getting short and I still need to make it a pieced border (ew, math!) that will take a little while. Doubtless there'll be quilters-for-hire in PA. Maybe not as inexpensive, but we can't have everything.

School Sale

cronesmoon@livejournal.com — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 15:03:25 GMT

The tenants from last winter didn't come up with the money. (Surprise!) However, before I could get it listed on eBay we got a call from someone sorta local who'd heard it was for sale and was interested. He came over, examined it minutely, was not alarmed by all the leaks, and took two days to decide yes indeed, he did want it.

Trouble was he wanted to pay in platinum (!) instead of money. But he was willing to pay in money, and is now in the process of converting his platinum to money for us. Or so he says. So we're not listing after all, at least not till he fails to pay. We'll give him a couple-three weeks and see what happens.

Some Christians

cronesmoon@livejournal.com — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 18:21:47 GMT

I do not understand the inability of so many Christians to understand the difference between public prayer and private prayer. I'm confident that the very ones who bellow about how their children are supposedly not allowed to pray in school (private prayer is not and cannot be banned anywhere, at least not until we develop the technology to support thought police) would bellow even louder if a Hindu teacher led their Christian children in public prayer to Saraswati or Ganesha.

Of course they're also the ones who think it's "those atheists" who object to being wished a Merry Christmas. You know, I've never known an atheist who objected to being wished the happiness of a religious (or secular) holiday. I expect there may be some; but unsurprisingly, the primary objectors to "Merry Christmas" are those who believe in a religion that does not support or include Christmas. Hello. Those with beliefs in opposition to a religious holiday are more likely to object to it than those with few to no religious beliefs at all. And of course I don't think anybody at all objects to Christians wishing each other a merry Christmas. I could be wrong, but I think the objection is to the assumption that everyone is Christian.

Anyway, I think what I'm missing, which makes all this so puzzling to me, is what it's like to be of the dominant religion in a place where that religion has been the default for generations. I think it must blind some people to even the possibility that some perfectly nice others may believe differently, and maybe shouldn't have the dominant religion forced on them. (They wouldn't see it as forcing, of course.)

To me it's a strange concept, to assume that everyone you meet is of your religion, but it's a fairly safe assumption for Christians in the Bible Belt. And I remember from childhood the way other religions are (or were, anyway) mentioned in school: these are the odd superstitions of the unenlightened natives of primitive places like India and Japan. I suppose the wonder, really, is that once they understand I'm really not Christian they can still be inclusive and friendly.

But that doesn't explain why they can't understand the difference between public and private prayer.

New Developments

cronesmoon@livejournal.com — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 23:58:59 GMT

I was snooping on the Internet and found that the former "buyers" here had lost their Florida home to foreclosure over the summer. It occurred to me that they had still wanted the school when they left, even though the damage they did to it has reduced its resale value by half. (There are fewer working toilets, fewer working showers, fewer fixable showers, no plumbing at all to the darkroom and the science room, etc.) Maybe they want to strip it the rest of the way, I don't know. Anyway, I emailed them a not-at-all-nice letter explaining that it's for sale again and why it's so cheap this time, and letting them know that it'll be listed on eBay late this month or early next, but that they could have it without involving eBay if they paid CASH.

They're very excited and do indeed want to buy it, this time for cash. ROFL.

I don't seriously expect them to come up with the money, but it's an amusing development just the same. It would certainly resolve our problems; I'd still be stuck here till at least mid-April without my honey, but the time could be occupied with packing up whatever belongings we decide to keep (I haven't known whether to pack or unpack, so I've done neither) and enjoying the use of the space while I have it.

Well, we'll see.

Life Goes On

cronesmoon@livejournal.com — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 22:11:34 GMT

Our elder cat died. It had been a long time coming, but it's never easy to let a family member go. I was glad that she seemed to take comfort in my presence right to the end.

It's snowing again. The boiler is working fairly well but with a number of problems that haven't quite come to fruition yet, so one always has something to look forward to. And, of course, I'm shoveling coal every other day again, till there's room for a new load in the coal bin.

When we came back here, the plan was that we would both stay more or less forever. Of course I knew too well that life often gets in the way of such plans, but I had not thought the result would be that I would spend months here on my own. I had somehow imagined that if we did have to leave again, we would both leave. Together. "Life is what happens while you're busy making other plans."

At least at this point I'll be glad to leave when I can. This house is no great pleasure to me anymore; I can't have it, but I have to stay and take care of it for now anyway. It requires a great deal of taking care, in winter.

Oh well, there are certainly pleasant aspects. All the work is good exercise. And contrary to popular belief, small town social life can be quite a lot of fun.

When the weather permits.

W00t!11!

cronesmoon@livejournal.com — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 20:51:31 GMT

The parking lot is plowed. An acquaintance did all the work with brute force, ignorance, and a plow. It cost us a pretty penny in gas money for the plow, but it would have taken me a month to clear it all, and at that I'd not have done as good a job, so I'm pleased. Only a little more shifting of snow-boulders that rolled under the pickup, and I'll be able to try to start it and see how far I get.

Meantime I've been hastening to finish various projects for the Lutherans here: a couple of quilt-tops and some random stuff for their annual bazaar that I said I'd do before I knew we wouldn't be here. They don't require it of me (in fact they've been at some pains to mention that I don't have to do any of it), but I hope I'll be able to get most of it done. There's no one else to do it and besides, I enjoy it. One quilt-top is now in need only of a five-inch border and it will be complete. The other is only in its infancy, but shouldn't take long once I get started. These are both for their annual quilt sale that supports their Metigoshe Ministry Camp where many good things occur including summer camps for needy children. They do very good work. (That's not Good Works, it's good work. Although in the case of the summer camps I guess it's also Good Works. Anyway it's done with grace and tolerance, and when I visited during their summer camp for "special" children I was in awe of the joyous atmosphere.)