Post Nineteen: Settling In

OK.  So, things like address changes, mailbox setup, BBQ with the neighbors.....  I think this all means we can be called permanent residents of Nevada County.  Not to mention the fact the house in Novato is completely empty and in the final stages of escrow, and will no longer be ours.

We have been doing a LOT of driving back and forth.  We knew this was going to be the case, but I think we are ready to be done with the moving part.  My question is, how the heck do people move when the distance travelled is a plane ride or even more, away?  I am in awe......  And, as much as we are pretty tired of doing the Highway 80 drive, I still love to be behind the wheel, having the chance to view things like this amazing sunset to the west of my eastbound travels last week.

And, we are not off the roads by any means.  Now that we are fully located in the foothills, we are trying out the "drive to Marin for the Day" thing for work --and yes, it's more complicated then we thought.  The weekday commute traffic is unpredictable at best, and often just plain unjustifiably slow or stopped.  But, we are driving for work, and done with the moving.  

Now it's just the unpacking.

Which is going fairly well.  Two straight days of effort last weekend have left the garage at least half empty, and with most things inside the house in a reasonable state of semi-order.  There are still random acts of furniture, many pictures leaning on tables waiting to be properly hung up, bags of personal effects still piled in the cabinets in the laundry room.  But things are very livable.  I'm enjoying the kitchen more now that we have more than one sharp knife to work with.  

The daily routine is a pleasant blend of work, house chores, errands in town, wildlife sightings.  No one commuting anywhere means we are lounging in bed later than normal on workdays, coffee on the deck getting organized for the day, retreating to our respective offices for rounds of conference calls, document editing, corporate whatever-doing, usually sharing lunchtime, more work, winding down by 5:30 or so to change shoes

and walk "the bench" as the neighbors call the NID road that winds through our property parallel to Pasquale Road.  The evenings as always, are my favorite time of the day, me in the kitchen playing around with dinner, Barry checking his bee traps, watering trees, playing music or on the computer researching stuff.  Dinner and cleanup, reading or watching something, then retiring to the huge and still mostly empty master bedroom where we can hear and sometimes see the beautiful night in the forest.

There are also the things that set each day apart; Marin Sierra is close enough I am able to drop by for lunch with Mr. Dybeck while camp is going on,
  other

lunchtimes spent at Lefty's Grill along Deer Creek just down the road, and a real real live rock concert  at the Miner's Foundry, where we saw an amazing Neil Young Tribute band, Tribe of the Red Horse.  

I wonder -- often aloud -- how long we will feel this sense of awe in what we have here.  I'm sure that the reality of the challenges of the property will slowly gnaw away at the amazement, but my hope is that coming back an re-reading this blog in the future will remind us of this time, and keep us thankful for what we have here.