Ready and waiting!

We are finally almost ready for our great adventure which began in February when the Irish one's job ended. August 6 I had my appearance before the Peer Review panel and after that, I could concentrate on packing up this big 3000+ sq foot house with two grand porches.  We will never again have a magnificent house like this most likely and I have enjoyed every moment in it. (How selective the mind is!!)   It is a friendly house with laughter and love in its long memory and I hope the new owner will treat it with the care it deserves.

It has been an incredible summer here; unbearably hot and humid in July and temperate, beautiful weather in August.  Crops and harvests have been over the top.  All summer I picked the most luscious raspberries and blackberries out back,  We are now enjoying the beginnings of an incredible apple harvest.  The crabapple tree has produced the most magnificent plump, enormous apples.  It is as if the Kingdom is displaying its irresistible charms to keep us here.

Other things have contributed to that feeling.  We had a series of setbacks, the worst one being the near amputation of the Irish lad's finger when it and two other fingers were caught up in the pulley of a shingle mill.  After a series of clinic, ER, and Ortho visits, it has been determined that the finger will most likely be saved although we are cautioned that he is not out of the woods yet.  I wish I had taken a picture of it in the ER; the digit was hanging by very few epithelial cells.  We have one more Ortho visit.  We are three weeks and two days out from the trauma. 

The next worse one, which was also bad, was the fall through of the sale of the house which turned out to be a long drawn-out, nightmarish drama.  If the person had said, I don't want it, it would have been easier to bear although we had people with time constraints waiting to haul our stuff in a UHaul.  However, we found another buyer and are awaiting the final transaction.

In the meantime, Cat, Dog, Man, and Woman are preparing in as best a way as possible.  Today's agenda includes finding among the packed clothes some warmer ones and repacking the summer outfits which will now not be needed.  Dog has been 'Ready' since February as her place has always been in the front seat of the truck with me.  On my last great adventure she was navigator and carefully watched out for perils from her perch.  At my 'get your head out of the way' when I needed to see past her beautiful face into the side mirror, she would fling her head sideways and against the seat!  Smart baby.  Cat is not so sure.  He will condescend to be in the trailer if it is quiet and if he is hungry, otherwise he much prefers to be free in the outdoors.  Our neighbor is convinced she will find him on her doorstep in six months, having made his way home.