Over and out

That's it. The end. Finito.

I'm DONE.

Todd and I moved another load from Cheyenne to Casper last night, I mean, this morning.  We pulled into Casper at 3 a.m.

In the last week we've had no sleep, no stopping, and no idea where our stuff is.

After moving four times in eight months I think I can reasonably say: I'm over it!

I just want to be settled.  And to have our house put away.  And to go to bed at 10 p.m. and sleep eight hours.  Is this too much to ask?

On an high note: We LOVE the new house.  It's huge!  And once we get some of those cosmetic upgrades done it will be amazing!

Stay tuned!

Homestead hopping

I've taken a hiatus from the blog it seems because, well, there's been some other things going on.  Like...moving into our new Casper home!

By the way - we closed on the house on Friday morning and my name was on there, so I am officially a first time homebuyer!  Yay!

Wednesday night and Thursday at ol' 304 in Cheyenne was nothing but packing central.  Our goal was to be on the road to Casper Thursday night, but we were apparently delusional.  We packed until midnight on Thursday, got up at 4:15 a.m. on Friday morning and were on the road to Casper by 5:30 a.m.  Why up so early?  Our closing was at 8 a.m.  We like to keep things exciting.

Here's our life since Thursday...

Ol' 304...

Our little mail slot.  The mailman spelled Todd's last name wrong - it's 'el' not 'le'.

Me packing up our bedroom...

The first mow of the year.  We were the worst kept yard on the block!  But with not being there or it raining we weren't able to get it done.  So, we took some time from packing to weed the flowers and mow the yard...

Packing up the trailer...

Our cute little living room in total disarray...

The kitchen...

Rhubarb from the backyard and a pie our neighbor Betty made for us with some of our rhubarb.  If I had to pick a favorite pie rhubarb would be it.  Pumpkin is a close second... I LOVE the color of rhubarb!

Taking a break to enjoy a piece of pie...

Rigby also taking a break.  It's hard being a cute puppy dog...

The beginning of the purple flowers and end of the tulips that Todd and I planted...

Friday morning, 5 a.m.: Pulling away from 304...

The next few photos document what might be classified as a disaster zone. It's the new house with all our stuff - EVERYWHERE.  The kitchen isn't as bad here.  Not like it was...

But brace yourselves! The living room.  We've slept on the air mattress the last few nights even though our real mattresses are in the bedroom.  Problem is, we don't have the bed frame and it seems pointless to put the mattresses down just to pick them up again and situate on the bed frame.  We have one more substantial load to get from Cheyenne and the frame will be included...

The dining room... You'll notice the place needs some cosmetic upgrades.  I'll get into that later, but let me say: The formal curtains are going, the carpet that is over every square inch of the house (and covering perfectly good, beautiful hardwood floors) will be out, and any wallpaper will be ripped ruthlessly down.  The chandeliers stay...

A prime example: Blue and white shag carpet covering wonderful hardwood floors...!

The upstairs bathroom.  We've decided this will likely be a complete gut.  It's awkwardly arranged making it tight and leaving very little room for storage.  And who puts carpet in a bathroom?  How gross around the toilet!

Speaking of the toilet... It's trapped between the tiled tub wall and the bathroom door making it a tight squeeze.  And it prevents Rigby from his, what we call, Potty Petting Time (PPT).  For some reason, the moment we make our way to the toilet Rigby makes a beeline for us so he can be pet.  He started this at 304 where the bathroom was much more open.  Now, he's having trouble squeezing around the door which seems to be kind of disappointing for him!  And we've become so accustomed to PPT we feel bad for the lil' boy...

And, speaking of Rigby, here he is comfortably sitting on his new front porch.  He loves to go out there and watch the world go by...

I've been jealous of folks who have dogs that are so well behaved they can be trusted to sit peacefully on a porch unattended.  I never thought Rigby would be that dog.  He's a very good boy, but he's also very social and usually can't resist the urge to meet and greet every dog and human within a one mile radius.  At the new house he's been different.  He just lounges out there.  I've only sneaked out a few times to make sure he's still there...

Discoveries

I've been hardcore packing our Cheyenne house this week and last night I came across a couple interesting things.

First, was a stack of notes and papers regarding the second time my vehicle was stolen in D.C.  Yes, second.  There was a total of three times.  It was funny to see officers' names written on drink napkins - I remember very clearly that I was eating dinner with Carrie at an Asian diner when I got that call.

The other thing I stumbled across was my Colorado "book."  In D.C., I had the D.C. "book" where I kept a collection of ideas for restaurants, bars, shopping, events, outdoor activities, etc.  Friends looking for fresh ideas of where to go and what to do would call me for a suggestion.

When I left D.C., I passed that "book" to Linds C. and focused on a Colorado one; filling it with new stuff as well as ideas I'd collected even as I lived in D.C.  The Colorado "book" also had ideas for restaurants, happy hours, cute boutiques, places to hike and other things Coloradans do...

And, since I expected to be living in Denver I had collected a lot of information about its different neighborhoods so I could know which one I'd love living in the most...

I just threw my collection out and have decided to let my subscription to Denver's 5280 magazine expire.  I'm never going to live in Denver.  Or Colorado.  

And I discovered a while back I no longer want to.  

I think I landed where I'm supposed to be.

Caught red branded

Yesterday, Todd and I went to Jonna's family's branding.  Todd had never been to a branding and I was excited for him to see what it was like.

Relaxin' and grazin' with no idea of what's to come...

Time to round 'em up!

The branding irons heating up...

Jonna getting ready to brand!

Jonna's brother Nathan (in the white hat) holding a calf down...

Todd helping Jonna get a calf down!

Still working on him...

He's down for the count!  There's a lot that happens all at once: branding, tagging, vaccination, dehorning, and...castration.  Hmmm...it's only 10 a.m. and I want Rocky Mountain Oysters.  That sounds wrong.  Like, how it's not "proper" to have a drink before noon...maybe a person shouldn't want RMO in the morning...

The branding was delayed earlier in the morning because of rain, which quit then started up again.  The branding was put off completely then.

An action shot...

Four calves down at the same time!  I actually participated for a while this year - I got to tag - which amounts to basically piercing their ears...

Jonna's brother Nathan again.  I just liked this photo of him...

Shutting down early and letting the cows out of the corral...

Mooovin' out...

Jonna, her mom Gayann, and dad Wayne putting the final touches on lunch.  Usually there's a big spread at the end of the event.

Too bad they'll have to finish them up later!

Tornado!

We had terrible storms around Cheyenne today - including several tornado sightings!

I also watched one!

This is a photo of the tornado I saw.  I only had my crappy phone camera with me, so my pics aren't that great.  This is from Lind H.'s friend...