Winter                                          Settling Moon

Up at 4:30 this morning. Not insomnia. Since moving to Shadow Mountain, I’ve been going to bed at 9 pm.  This means I have 6-7 hours of sleep by 4:00. I prefer 8, so 5 am or so is better, but 4 am on will do.

This transition occurred naturally thanks to switches from daylight savings time to standard time and the exhaustion brought on by unpacking while acclimatizing. I like it. It’s quiet in the early morning, just as it is late at night. Plus there’s the cultural lift that goes with being an early riser. I know about and believe in chronotypes (different sleep patterns), but there’s such a positive Western cultural value placed on early waking, especially among northern Europeans.

Winter                                                   Settling Moon

Another on task day. At ten we met with a Minnesota financial adviser by phone. She praised our methodical process and its result. There is one more missing piece, the selling of the Andover property, but we won’t know more on that until next month at the earliest.

Kate went on a sundries purchasing trip: shampoo, conditioner, cleaners of various kinds, laundry basket, trash can, rug for the lower level door. Meanwhile I got the material together to convert our title to a Colorado title and register the car with the state. Tomorrow I’ll get the Rav4 emission tested, the VIN number verified and hopefully complete the title conversion and registration.

There’s also the Medicare advantage plan. We have a couple of months to switch from UCare, which we’ve liked, to a Colorado plan. The Medicare.gov site, which has a lot of information, makes determining which plan makes sense a sort of complex game I’d rather not play. I consider myself able to read and understand with the best of them, but it baffles me. Another financial adviser has reached out to a Colorado colleague to find us a trusted broker.

We’ve had to keep one or more items related to the move in our consciousness since May, 2014. As the time for the move grew closer, the number of them increased. We’re now in a time period when the number has begun to dwindle, but it’s not zeroed out, not yet.

Winter                                                        Settling Moon

Found my Swede saw and loppers. Went out in the 60 degree! afternoon and pruned the pine tree whose drooping limbs obscure the view of Black Mountain Drive to the left. When driving out, I like to see what’s coming.

Opened a few book boxes while Kate napped this afternoon and finally found the light switch for the single overhead light that has been on since the movers packed boxes in rows four deep against it. Turned it off.

Both of us passed a significant threshold today. We were able to work with fatigue as the only barrier, though the fatigue did come earlier and deeper than comparable work in Andover. We are becoming of the mountain.

In Andover our woods obscured sunsets, but here the sky is clear over Black Mountain to our west. Clouds form above it (or above other, higher peaks) and reflect back the sun’s last light. Clear air and an unobscured vista make for the regular extraordinary.

Winter                                                Settling Moon

Settling task of the day so far, cut the tape joining a copper rod and my favorite snow shovel, then clearing the small deck off Kate’s sewing area and the stairs up to the loft. Settling task of the mid-morning. Crank up the bright yellow cub cadet two-stage snow-blower and clear the driveway. Oh, and retrieve the newspaper.

I’m having a mild case of acute altitude sickness, mainly shortness of breath on exertion and poor sleeping. It will pass.

Breakfast. Then out to find a new dryer and washer.