So I spent 3 days in a Pontiac with my Dad, his partner, Sidney Beagle, Sammy Puppy and Kitty! We traveled from Clearwater, Florida to Westminster, Colorado with NO major incidents – a major miracle!!!
Day One – We left Clearwater (after hitting a bagel store) and my GPS told us to go up 19 instead of taking interstates to Birmingham, Alabama. It was a generally interesting trip but it took about two hours extra…:( We got to my friend Jud’s house about 7:30. He is a maniac who had no problem with having me, Daddy, Wally, puppy, puppy and kitty stay overnight, his wife is a saint! We had real home cooking BBQ and settled in with their youngest daughter (such a good kid), two cats and three dogs – everyone behaved themselves VERY well!!!
Jud and Me
Jud is one of my absolute favorite people on earth – he was the CEO at Digital Chainsaw. He is GREAT at providing grown up advice to start-ups and helps them get on track business-wise. We talked about how to best position his business (disguised marketing talk…:) I will be setting him up with an online presence soon!
Day Two - We left Birmingham and headed to Tulsa, Oklahoma. We went via Memphis and had more BBQ at a hole in the wall that the locals go to…then onto Graceland! We only had a couple of minutes and did not want to do the whole tour so we did a driveby! Elvis’ house lacks a little something at 35 MPH…:)
Graceland
We stayed at a La Quinta that took doggies. Sammy (the puppy) was NOT a good girl. She barked A LOT in the hallway at 9:30pm and had 3 doors opening to see what all the rukus was! The next morning we were darting out the door, hoping to avoid seeing anyone else – we got almost all the way out the door before seeing two other doggies. My puppies wrapped their leases around my legs, pulled me over and chased after the invaders. Needless to say Sammy was on puppy downers for the rest of the trip!!!
Day Three – Kansas. I slept through the only good parts – the wind turbines and snow covered hills. Other than that it was fields, fields and more fields! We got to my new home at about 7…whew. Everyone was SO happy to get out of the car..:)
I wasn’t sure the day would ever arrive… but it DID! The rest of the family got here safely last night and except for the cat throwing up on Tara, none the worse for wear!
Today the movers arrive with all of our ‘stuff’ and we can almost start living like a real family again. WooWoo! I’ll take some photo’s this weekend of the new digs and post them.
Well this is just great… I woke up this morning to find a puddle of water in the bathroom. Actually, puddle might be an understatement. There’s enough standing water that it a) sloshes and b) is leaking through the ceiling below – ONTO THE TELEVISION!!!! @#$*&@#*($&@#
I’m really not sure how or where the leak started, but it just figures! Of course trying to get a plumber out here today or tomorrow is going to be interesting as we’re scheduled to get a half a foot of snow. (sigh)
So much for buying a newer house. Oh yeah. April Fools!!! :)
The excitement of closing on the house must have hit me last night as I didn’t get a good night sleep. After a full day of work my friend Greg helped me move some stuff into the new house (Thanks Greg!!!!)
After a couple of hours re-assembling beds, futons and all other manner of sleeping vessels, I’m Whupped! I did manage to kick the tires on the interweb and the extra $10/mo we’re paying for the super duper fast internet seems to be worth it – Ted Steven’s pipes are really fast!
One last thing before calling it a night – I need to figure out how to program the DVR. You see Tara has a little problem. She’s addicted to America’s Next Top Model. If she shows up Thursday and I don’t have that recorded there will be hell to pay!
There were a couple of hiccups today, but the closing was completed about 4:45 – proud new owners of a Colorado Ranch (er, I mean four level. Colorado four level!).
The movers stuffed as much of our junk in the truck as they could and should be at the new abode on Friday to unload. More importantly, the rest of the family unit should be here on Thursday.
This process started in November and I’ve been out here since mid-January. I can honestly say that for the first time, Colorado is starting to feel just a little bit like home.
I woke up early this today and headed out to get some early morning photos. I wasn’t really aware that it was 15 degrees out until I got out of my truck the first time… wow, that’s brisk at 6:15 in the morning!
My first stop was the RTD parking lot on Wadsworth and 36. I’ve driven by that spot every day and just knew that I needed to take a sunrise/early morning shot from there. I got a decent panorama (that took my poor G5 over 17 minutes to process!). I also dabbled with the fisheye a little bit. Still some time to get the golden hour light so I headed over to the foothills.
I pulled in to the road leading to El Dorado Canyon State Park and was immediately met by three white-tail deer. I scrambled to get my 70-200mm lens on but by the time I got a clear shot, they were well off in the distance. I really need to get this. =)
I pulled off at the Mesa Trailhead and proceeded to trudge around in up to two feet of snow. I got a bunch of pics that turned out pretty decent in b&w. To prove once again that my wife is correct (her favorite saying is “My husband is a moron!”), I was ankle deep in the stream trying to get just the right angle for the shot.
Needless to say, trudging around in two feet of snow and frolicking in the stream when it’s twenty degrees out isn’t the best for keeping warm. By 8AM I was shot! I packed up the gear and headed home…. just in time to pack up my stuff to great ready move in to our new house. w00t!
I was reminded this morning that I haven’t been doing a good job of keeping this updated… guilty as charged! So here goes…
The house is a go! WooWoo! We had some hurdles to clear with USAA but the loan has been finalized. We are closing as planned on March 30. Everyone is pretty darn happy about that.
Tara is feverishly trying to get everything packed in Florida – the movers show up on March 30. Tara is going to be driving out with her Dad and Wally. A quick stop in Birmingham, AL to visit an old friend (Hi Jud!), and they will be arriving in Colorado on Thursday, April 2
The movers should be getting to the new house on Friday April 3 (weather permitting) and the long, arduous task of unpacking begins. Mom found a contractor to spiff up her mother-in-law suite and that work should begin in about 3 to 4 weeks.
Finally – we found someone to buy our house in Clearwater! We are getting fleeced, but I think in the long run it’s better than trying to carry two mortgages. That house closes on April 25.
And yes – it’s SNOWING here today! We’re expecting 12-15″ of the white stuff the next 24 hours. It’s about time! I’ve lived here for 57 days and this is the first appreciable snow we’ve had. There have been a couple of minor snow dustings… nothing like this. I’m going to be like a kid in a candy store after work.
[UPDATE: Apparently this sort of shenanigans is normal in Colorado. Our realtor has talked us in from the ledge - for now. More to come....]
Wow – we must be cursed…. it’s happening again! The current twinkle in our eye – 11655 Grove St – appears to have some serious lien problems. No word yet on whether or not we can move forward on this purchase or not.
The moral of the story: NEVER get too excited about the purchase of a home until you’ve actually signed the papers and have moved in! This is twice we’ve all gotten fired up about a house and have had that excitement squashed during the purchase process. Argh!!!!!
So it is official that I am going to be moving to Colorado! With that in mind, when I saw this great program to help hunger in America I had to sign up and sponsor my new state!
Here is some info and a link to how you can help too! If times are a little tight, just spreading the word like I am can make a difference (although cash is nice too!!)
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Pledge now to end childhood hunger!
Tyson Foods teamed up with other companies to Pledge to End Hunger – by collecting our voices, our pledges and sending food trucks around America.
For each pledge made via the online form, Tyson will donate 35 lbs of food product (the equivalent of 140 servings).
There are several ways you can share and spread the word:
- Follow @HungerPledge on Twitter for updates and use #HungerPledge with your tweets.
- Write a blog post about Pledge to End Hunger (like this one!)
- Email the link to your colleagues, family, & friends.
- Join the Pledge to End Hunger Facebook cause.
- Embed the Pledge to End Hunger Tally widget on your website, blog, or MySpace account.
So, our dream house in the mountains got derailed but a number of factors – primarily a bad realtor. Everything happens for a reason however and we pulled ourselves up by our bootstraps and started the process all over again.
Tara arrive in Colorado on Thursday night and had a full day of looking at houses with our GOOD realtor – Candy Edwards. Mom and Tara found a really nice 2000 square foot four level house in Westminster. The house was just listed on Wednesday and there was a LOT of activity – 10 showings the first three days! I looked at it Saturday morning and we were writing up an offer within the hour.
We waited all afternoon and early evening before hearing the owners counter-offer. It was very acceptable so we accepted! Pending an inspection (one of the many things that derailed our mountain retreat) – we’ll have a great house in 30 days! It’s not a mountain home on 3/4 acre of land but I think we will be very happy there.
There are a lot of homes in the metropolitan area, but I doubt there are many that have a view as nice as we have of the Rocky Mountains – specifically Longs Peak. The house is also situated on an 800 acre open space called Big Dry Creek Open Space so there’s no threat of getting any neighbors. The tipping point for Tara was the hundreds of prairie dogs feet from our property.
So our fingers are crossed – we hope this one goes a LOT smoother than the first!
