A Place in the Mountains

It's like a dream come true -- especially for my SO. We just spent two idyllic weeks in our new place. No internet, which is why there have been no new posts here. As much trouble, and as stressful as it was to get the place, it all seems worth it now.

I got up there the day before closing. The trip was fairly painless. The cat did well in the motel rooms, although he was freaked out the first night and stayed mainly under the bed. The second night was better, and by the time he stayed in his third motel room on our way home this week, he was an old hand at it. He's getting the hang of traveling with us, and taking him everywhere with us is less and less trouble. The dog, of course, is a breeze. She's traveled more than me, probably.

Anyway, the closing did not go as smoothly as hoped. There was a form HUD required, and then had to approve, which they did not do on the date of closing. The seller let us have possession of the house anyway, so we moved in on Friday. A lot of the things that were supposed to have been left in the house had been cleaned out by a home helper of the old woman who sold us the place -- two ladders, a leaf blower, a shelving unit, and a wheelbarrow being the main items. The lady's real estate agent caught the thief and her relatives taking the wooden deck furniture and managed to stop that from leaving, but the rest of it was gone for good. My SO was really angry about the ladders and leaf blower, but nothing could be done short of the seller filing criminal charges which she was unwilling to do. We were given compensation in the form of a check so we could replace the lost items, and we did so a few days later.

On Monday, while we were in town opening an account at a local bank, my cell rang. It was our real estate agent telling us that HUD required more escrow money before they would finally close the deal on the house. So, since we were at the bank, I got yet another cashier's check (we both hemorrhaged money while we were there) and we raced to the title company. Once that was done, and another paper signed, the house was finally ours. We could relax and enjoy it, which we did with a bottle of champagne and pot pies from the restaurant down the road. We were a little delirious with happiness.

Anyway, it's just gorgeous up there. I was able to get the satellite working for the TV but we only get the cable channels, so it really was a little like being separated from the world without news or weather. If we wanted a weather report we just walked out on the deck to see what the temperature was at the moment. Cold at night, and beautiful sunshine during the day. It got down in the 20s several times while we were there. We listened to the World Series on the radio. Felt like the old days doing that. You have to actually use your imagination to visualize the games.

We're at 7500 feet there, and I do have a bit of trouble with shortness of breath. I took the dog on daily walks and was proud that I could make it up the mountain. Of course, she dragged me, looking back, wondering why I was so slow. Sometimes I wanted to yell MUSH MUSH at her. She was so exuberant about our walks and I could almost feel the pounds melting off of me. By the end of two weeks, my jeans were loose. I took one pair off without unzipping, which pleased me. Wish there was a place around home as conducive to evening walks.

The morning we left, snow had dusted the mountains around us. There are two really high mountains that surround our valley: Elk Mountain at 11,627 and Hermit's Peak at 10,259. We can see Elk Mountain from the kitchen window. Through the trees it usually looks dark blue or purple. That morning it was ashy white. The air had the feel of impending snow, and since we've been back in Texas, we've learned that it has snowed throughout the valley now. I hate that we missed it. First snow, November 9th. Everybody we talked to told us it has been warmer than normal this year.

Last night we sat outside and both of us are already missing the new place. We love it here, too, of course, but it cannot compare in beautiful surroundings to our mountain house. What would be the perfect setup would be to have this house up there. Impossible, of course. It's like being in love with two men who are polar opposites.

Now, I just have to get ready for the holidays. My my, they sure did come around again quick.

Onward ....