Samain                                                                     Closing Moon

I now feel like a temporary resident of Minnesota. When I drove back over the Minnesota state border yesterday, the sign said, “Welcome to Minnesota.” In the past welcome back to Minnesota would have been how I read it. Yesterday I read it, for the first time in over forty years, as welcoming an out-stater coming to visit.

There are many details yet to be handled before we fully leave Minnesota, yes, but the past 6 days were an immersion in the new: roads, driveways, restaurants, vistas, rooms, scents, animal cohabitants, appliances, people. That immersion has left a strong impact on me, a feeling that I am now more a new resident just beginning to learn a new place than I am an old resident grieving the loss of the familiar.

Samain                                                                       Closing Moon

A day of rest tomorrow. Maybe some art. Then on Friday back to the packing, sorting and phone calls.

Hitting a snag on snow removal. Folks are getting out of it in Conifer. One guy, with 80 driveways, quit this year. That means, in an already saturated market (according to Mike the Fence Guy), 80 homes will need to find someone to plow their driveways. I might, I suppose, have to buy a snowblower (or snowthrower as some are now called). Outdoor recreation.

Found one guy who delivers seasoned hardwood for $300+ a cord. Might be worth it in Colorado where the normal cord has all conifers. $22o. It’s a small fireplace and a cord might well go two seasons. I’m going to call him tomorrow along with boiler and gas heater service guy.

The front office guy at Colorado Toyota Services moved to Conifer from northern Iowa. He said the first week he was there it snowed 44″. “But I walked right through it to the garage. It was powder.”

Hard to wind back into Minnesota after 5 days concentrating on the house.

Samain                                                                        Closing Moon

Back home in Minnesota. There was enough time in the new house to get used to certain things like light switch locations, getting in and out of the garage (not connected to the house), fiddling with room-by-room heating and the wonderful canopy of stars at night. There was also enough time to begin to get a feel for the retail clusters nearby and what they have to offer.

Then, there were the mountains. Only enough time to drive around a bit, get used to curvy, all up or all down roads, some pitched at spectacular angles, look at the views. Not enough time to wander, walk in them, visit for hours. That time will come.

Driving into Denver, and what that will be like, I experienced three times, enough to get a feel for the distance, the various routes. My existing mental map of Denver has some solid foundations, but most of the metro is still unfamiliar to me.

With about six weeks before we move there are still many things to complete: our part of the packing, finalizing the painting contractor, stopping newspaper delivery and trash pickup, finding a person to connect our generator to the house, getting leads on firewood providers. And more, too.

We’ve worked along at a deliberate pace and finishing all this in six weeks is well within our ability. Not finished, not yet, but the end of getting ready is visible just up ahead.

Samain                                                          Closing Moon

Coming home a day early. Sears Outlet, which I love for its prices, does not get the same affection for its service. We ordered a washer and dryer a couple of weeks ago, both to be delivered today. This was online.

When nothing appeared about the washer in our e-mail, Kate called. Oh, the store had cancelled that order. Huh? Today, November 4th, the day promised on the website I had received no call from Sears about delivery times. Another call. Oh, the store hasn’t shipped that yet. OK. Cancel the dryer. We’ll take care of these when we can look someone in the eye.

Aside from a few phone calls, that was my last reason for staying. With it removed, I’m on the road for my second home. Today.

Samain                                            Closing Moon

Body on Central Daylight Time so I’m up with the stars still brilliant. The night sky here, with very little light pollution, is an amenity itself. The Milky Way shows off its galaxy collection and the constellations look like they were placed and lit with the aid of a teaching astronomer.

With the fence contracted this trip feels like a success. Yes, there have been other things accomplished, but without a fence completed before we move the remainder of the winter would have been difficult. Not pioneer, huddle around the peat stove difficult, but doggy difficult.

One anomaly will present itself to any visitor here. Though we are in the mountains, we are in a small neighborhood with folks closer on either side than at our Andover home. At 67 neighbors are good. So is highway 78, which runs in front of our home here. It’s a main thoroughfare (although between sparsely populated areas) and as a result receives full county snow removal.

Though we’re not off completely by ourselves, the neighbors are keep to themselves types, probably NRA friendly, but that’s the environment politically in Anoka County, too. Conifer and Evergreen as a whole though seem to lean more liberal, at least judging by the ever reliable bumper sticker survey.

Just went out on the balcony a moment ago and discovered my old buddy Orion rising off to the west. Which seemed wrong to me, at least to my sense of direction, so I went inside to recheck our orientation with my backcountry navigator app. It was my sense of where Orion ought to be that was off. He is in the west.

I can already feel my mind returning to its normal level of curiosity. With the house purchased and the fence contractor identified, the unknowns that remain are exciting. Finding the Maxwell waterfall trailhead, which is only a couple of miles from here. Visiting the national forest information center just off 285. Driving more of the roads around here.

Though we have neighbors and a main road, we are otherwise isolated with national forest, state and city and county parks all around us. It will be the natural world here that will take the place of the Twin Cities’ cultural scene.

There are yet a few more matters to do today: get the dryer installed, call firewood folk, call boiler guy, call Intermountain electric for locate service, pack for trip home.

I’ll be coming down the mountain Wednesday morning, headed for Minnesota.

Samain                                                      Closing Moon

Oh. And yes I voted absentee before I left.

In the end Brian’s numbers were too high. Mike’s going to do the fence. His plan is less effective in some ways, but with a spare $3,600 (over Brian’s bid) to make up for problems, Mike’s our guy. Since we plan to marry traditional fencing and the invisible fence, this should work fine.

We have gas, electricity, broadband, a phone number, water and will have a fence. Kate’s been advancing at home, gathering bids from painters and final numbers from the carpet guy. We still need trash collection, snow removal and firewood. And, of course, out stuff. George Carlin would be proud of us. We’ve got stuff. A full moving van’s worth. Ah, the monastic life.

The Colorado Toyota service seem like a real find. Spent a half an hour with them discussing mountain driving, tires, their service. Basically, they have Toyota trained techs, OEM parts, but are not affiliated with a dealer. They recommend Blizzak tires, a Bridgestone product, which I’ll buy once we get out there in December. “You go through brakes faster in the mountains,” Kevin said. With 2nd gear and careful planning we can save the brakes.

I’ve done our forwarding changes on line, so mail should be no problem. I’ve also tried to eat my through the area restaurants, to gauge quality. So far my favorite food came at Los 3Garcias. Authentic Mexican. Brooks is good, too, as is the Brookforest Inn.

Our process continues to serve us well, keeping us just ahead of looming deadlines and schedules. It’s been a joint effort all the way. That doesn’t mean I haven’t managed to crank up a few good anxiety episodes, I have, but they have not dominated.