Arriving, Part II

The next morning was our first in our new home. We woke up early, dressed and headed outside to a beautiful sunny day. Holding hands, we walked around the whole three acres and looked at every tree and bush and into all the sheds. At one point, when I turned to look back at the house from the meadow, with the hills above it, I burst into tears of pure joy and gratitude. We ate cherries fresh off the tree (two kinds, sweet and sour), looked at the baby peaches, pears, and apples, and picked raspberries. Paul found two matching four-leaf clovers. It was terribly, wonderfully romantic.

But soon, second moving van arrived and unloaded-- most of it directly into the 1600sq.ft. workshop so we don't have to move too much stuff out of the house once renovations begin.

                                                             Our stuff:

Empty truck, happy moving men.

And just in the nick of time, too. A terrific thunderstorm came through just after they left, with torrents of rain. I absolutely love and can't get enough of looking at the wide open sky around us. Being able to see big weather is awesome.

That's the old chicken coop behind Paul, which is now a garden shed and nesting place for wasps. The Ford tractor is parked beside it.

Shortly after the moving van left-- and pretty much in the middle of the storm, architect Steve and structural engineer Don arrived, with intern Julie. We walked them through the house and all around it, talking about our wish list. It turns out the house "has good bones." I like them, they seemed to focus on the integrity of the house, going local as much as possible (e.g., there are two electric dams upriver from us, so that's a greener source of energy), and working within our limited budget. Paul is all gung-ho to start ripping and tearing.