Sorry for the long absence here. I’ve been treading water both at home and at work, and frankly, I’m still trying to figure out how to write here in a way that’s useful for me and potentially interesting to you. Fortunately it’s been so long that I’ll go with an update for now.

I quit trying with the door. It seems easy, but to get it installed correctly, it requires skills and tools I don’t have yet. Our good friend and talented contractor handled it perfectly in thirty minutes. I watched, and I have a much better idea of what to do next time. These days that’s the minimum standard – if I can’t do it myself, then I’ll watch and learn what I can.

We’ve had a large pile of logs that are ready to be cut and split, and we outsourced those last week, also. The estimate given by the tree company was that the logs represented potentially thirteen cords, and they offered us 5-6 of those. I think that estimate is high, but some of the logs are 36″ wide, and I don’t have the time to cut and split logs that big by hand. I also have 50-60 more trees that are down in various spots on the property that need to be processed, so getting this large pile out of the processing spot and being able to focus on those smaller trees just made sense this time. I’m not entirely sure I won’t get fleeced in the deal, but I’ve already gotten a couple of truckloads of firewood out of it, which, ultimately makes it worth it.

We’ve finally started taking the tractor out with some regularity, and are learning tractor operating skills one bit at a time. Yesterday we  attempted to grade the driveway with a box blade, which was extremely frustrating. But I learned how to swap attachments and remove and replace the mid mount mower, so that’s something.

Using the box blade is pretty representative of why I fail at things I try here. I’m so worried about breaking something that’s working relatively well (in this case that’s the driveway) that I won’t even try working on it to improve it. That’s a mentality I’m trying to get over. If nothing else, I literally can’t afford to have it, as I can’t pay people to do everything I don’t know how to do.

I tried to fire up a tiller left behind by the previous owner this weekend, and I suspect the carb needs to be cleaned, as it’s been sitting with a full tank of gas for two years, and it won’t start. So small engines are going to be the lesson for the next few weeks – oil and filter change on the generator, carb clean, oil change, and who knows what else on the tiller.

Themed or not, this post sums up the days and decisions here. What do we try to learn today, what do we outsource, and what can we accomplish without learning or outsourcing?

Quite a gap there. Moving was a lot of work…Prep at home and work left almost no time to socialize with the friends I was leaving, which meant there was no time at all for blogging.

We drove from Rhode Island to Virginia on Christmas Eve and had a nice time with my family. We then drove to our new house in Western NC and slept on an air mattress awaiting the arrival of our stuff. That arrived on Thursday, and we’ve been setting up our house since.

There are definitely a lot of “what were we thinking” moments. We’re far from town. You don’t want to get home to realize you forgot the milk. And you certainly don’t want to make three trips to a hardware store each day, which is how it’s been going lately.

And, well, it’s creepy out here. Lots of unfamiliar noises…Lots of back and forth of “what was that?” and “did you hear something?”

It’s also unbelievably beautiful. And the quiet and darkness are outstanding. And the view of the mountains in the morning is breathtaking.

The to do list is breathtaking in a different way. We’re still unpacking the house and office…Once that’s done, I think mending the fence is first on the list.

Well, that’s not entirely true. Putting a bathroom door on the master bath is first priority. Here’s how that’s going…I finally bought a door. And a knob. And I foolishly thought that was it…I already had hinges, so I assumed I was good to go. But apparently, and I’m sure everyone knows this but me, doors don’t come pre-chiseled for hinges. Neither do door frames.

So I’ve done some research, and I’ve purchased a chisel. And now I’m just waiting for the chisel to unwrap itself and chisel the door for me. While I wander the couple of  acres of the property that are fenced looking around at everything that needs attention and scratching my head.

Once we got word that our landlords were selling the house we were renting, we made the decision to rent short-term while making plans to move south, where we would be closer to our families and able to afford the type of permanent housing situation we both wanted: a small house on at least five acres within driving distance to both of our families.

We found a couple with a small single family residence for sale in a town outside of Providence who was willing to rent to us through December, and we began gathering information necessary to implement our plan to migrate South. I met with my boss, and we came to an agreement that would allow me to work remotely, and my girlfriend began looking at job listings relevant to her line of work south of DC. We discussed possible geographic locations between our families, and ultimately we decided on Western North Carolina; it fell between our parents’ towns, and we had both lived in the area before and knew it offered numerous perks most rural areas did not – Democrats, restaurants, and great live music (local and touring bands). Continue reading →