Samain                                                                 New (Moving) Moon

I found a seventh novel! The Wild Pair. Geez. Put that in with the partly done Jennie’s Dead and Superior Wolf. That’s nine novel ideas, seven taken at least through first draft, one, Missing, through many more than that. Two, really three with the second book in the Unmaking trilogy, with substantial work done on them. I have another one, The Protectors, that I’ve been pushing around for a year or so, probably more.

In other moving news we went through the clothes yet one more time. We took a major pass through them about a year ago. Yes sir, Yes sir, four bags full. Kate’s planning her trips to Goodwill as combination trips with her doctor’s appointments. Tomorrow’s rheumatology, so the Maple Grove goodwill gets our unwanted garments.

Kept the Sorel’s even though they’re a Minnesota footwear. Just doesn’t get as cold in Colorado. Kept the Wellies, too, even though wetlands are scarce. Maybe for a vacation? Found a pair of not too worn hiking boots. Didn’t even remember I had them. (Hmm. Do you see a theme here?) Good deal.

The study here is in minimalist mode with all the shelves bare and folded up, the books gone except for the Ovid and Caesar texts. File cabinet emptied. Stripped down. I’m not a minimalist sort of guy, but there is a certain energy in emptiness, a stream-lined grace.

Samain                                                                           New (Moving) Moon

The study will be finished this morning. Wow. Then I’ll sort files until Kate’s ready to take yet another pass through all of our clothes. After that, who knows? Dancing in the streets?

A month from now we should have been reunited with our stuff. That will mark the beginning of the next phase, moving in. To be followed by settling in. The UU ministry has an interesting term for a minister who has been hired by a church. They are considered settled. Settled will be the culmination of the move itself. Maybe a year from now? Hard to say.

Moving in, settling in and being settled operate on our time frame and have financial expectations that we can control. They will, in that sense, be less fraught. Of course, the sale of this house will be an issue, but it will happen.

So far the days around the purchase of Black Mountain Drive and the mortgage approval have been the most stressful. May it continue to be so.

Samain                                                                 New (Moving) Moon

When people ask if this is a downsizing move, my first response is no. And it isn’t in terms of total square feet when you add in the spacious loft study above the garage. There are two ways though in which that response is misleading.

We’re making a huge change in the amount of outdoor work. There is no yard on Black Mountain Drive. Hallelujah. Just rocky soil, moss, lodgepole pine, a few aspen, and a small patch of green over the leach field for the septic system. The two small garden beds are both close to the house. Yes, we will put in a couple of raised beds, but that will be it. The bees will be no more than two colonies. Much simpler.

The second way in which that no misleads is in the distribution of space in the house itself.

Black Mountain Drive is an odd hybrid, a tri-level. It has a walk-out basement with a master bedroom, a full-bath, living room, laundry room and utility space. Up five steps is the main living level with a fireplace, what we’ll use as a reading room, a small dining area, a small kitchen and a closed in garage perfect for Kate’s sewing and quilting. Up seven steps from this level are three bedrooms and a full bath. One bedroom we’ll use as an office. The second, with its wonderful murals of the forest, will be for grandkids and the third, with its balcony overlooking the back and the pines, a guestroom.

Our current house has a very large basement area, 1,900 square feet, of which we use about half. The rest gathers stuff. It also has a too large for us living room and a long kitchen. The Andover house is not only bigger than Black Mountain Drive, its space divisions make it less useful to us. Black Mountain Drive has less square footage and the various spaces will each have a clear use. Too, the grandchildren’s room and guest room will get little use most of the time.

So, in terms of outside work and in terms of the economical use of space Black Mountain Drive does represent less responsibility for us. And we’re glad about that.

Samain                                                                          New (Moving) Moon

The book shelving has been dismantled. The teaware, ceramics, project organizers and various small objects like candles, bowls, book-ends are in boxes, sealed with packing tape and marked green for my study. What remains in here are my novel manuscripts (banker’s boxes), various office supplies, my computer and printer, a few desk items.

It has taken longer to finish the study than I imagined it would. The smaller and less uniform objects require more care. Even so, there was enough time, enough to keep my anxiety to a manageable level.

The short-timer feeling has vanished, too. We are no longer living in the move, as I said a few posts back, but are living the move. The focus now is on getting ready to leave.

Various matters that have to wait until the end, like closing out the Comcast account, will begin to appear. Comcast, infuriatingly, does not allow advance notice of stopping service. “You have to wait until two weeks before time,” the “customer service” denier said.

We can’t obtain new insurance in Colorado until we are resident there, even though the enrollment time will have passed for 2015. Our estate plan and trust documents will have to be updated there, too. It will be months before the immediate impacts of the move have all gotten sorted out.

Samain                                                                                        New (Moving) Moon

Nearing the end here in the study. Office supplies and a few odds and ends (plus the computer and printer which will get packed at the very last), my close files are all that’s left. This represents not only a lot of work, but a marker announcing the near end of packing. Hurrah!

A call from Mike this morning. All the corner posts and braces are set and they have begun stringing a guide wire to mark off and set the other fence posts. Strange to have a major project underway at our house, yet it’s happening 900 miles away.

The resistance I felt last week has vanished. It’s a matter now of slogging through the last items, making sure everything has a place and the appropriate amount of shielding from damage. On track to finish well before Thanksgiving.

Samain                                                                          Closing Moon

In a month this story I’ve been writing since April will cease to be about moving and shift to the act of settling in to a new home. It’s a narrative we had originally planned to take two years and instead it will have taken only seven and a half months. The process picked up speed at its own pace, one decision seguing into another and that one into another until on October 31st, we bought a house and set a moving date.

I don’t know whether the speed is good or bad, probably neither, but I do know that once the decision was firm, the desire to execute it swiftly grew. At the same time we have wanted a measured pace, one that allowed us to pack easily, look for a new house without getting frantic and determine an actual day without angst.

We have, for the most part, succeeded in that. We have a Thanksgiving reservation at the Capital Grille for ourselves and Kate’s sister, Ann. This will be our last Thanksgiving here and we wanted a nice meal to remember it, but not one that required us to cook.

Finishing up our part of the packing before Thanksgiving has been my goal and I’ve decided that no matter where we are on Thanksgiving, that that’s where we’ll stop. After that A1 movers can complete the work. There won’t be much more. We’ve already contracted with them to pack up the garage, the tools and the kitchen. Whatever’s left will be minor. (We both will pack the stuff we need to use till then. Computers, sewing machine, that sort of thing, but the rest. A1.)