It's Official!

We have keys to the house!!! The signing was yesterday and we were able to drop off a couple car loads last night. Have a bit of saw dust cleaning to do tonight to take off that last layer of wood dust in the kitchen and then we are ready to roll. The moving truck is coming Friday at 8:00 am and from there on out we will be busy. We absolutely love the house and can see all the hard work that the builder put into it - lots of great touches and excellent workmanship. The painter stopped by to drop off an extra bucket of paint and said how lucky we were that we had a good builder. That was nice to hear. Mark was questioning all the noises in the night - crickets, birds and some sort of animal. It is so dark there and pretty quiet.
It's also official that we only have one more night of sleeping in the shoe box! WOOHOO!!! Let the unpacking begin!

Adventures with Cali

Today we did three of Cali's least favorite things - I was not a nice "cat" mom at all if you were to ask her, but this was mostly her "father's" idea. It started off innocent enough with her being loaded into her cage (#3 least favorite activity) for a ride to the vet (#2 least favorite activity). She hates the car and whined all the way. We arrive and wait for Mark meets us as it's near his work. In the meantime I've fore warned the very nice tech that Mani scratched up last week at his visit that this is his sister. She is properly scared at this point. I might have overdone it if that's possible. In the exam room we pull her out of the cage and she's wet. That's right she PEED! IN THE CAGE! And for the first time ever I had not left a towel in the bottom of the cage. Don't ask, dumb move - I wasn't thinking. The tech is very nice and we mop her off and both end up smelling like cat pee. Mark held her so he too smelled good. The exam showed that her teeth don't need a cleaning, but she does need the lump on her back removed. So blood work was done and she will have surgery next week. Mark loaded her back up - the tech remembers Mani and trying to load him well so she is very happy Mark offered to do it. Being that Mark is working late tonight I get the honor of her #1 least favorite activity when we get home... yes folks...

We had a cat bath!

This is after the bath... and the bathroom needed to cleaned so this was a great way to do it.

Cali begging to be let out of the bathroom.

wet and really smelly now...

Never fear she quickly recovered and was eating less than two minutes after being let out of the bathroom. Mani has yet to come out from under the bed - he thinks he's next.

and this is Cali in much happier times.

Word to the wise - cats don't like baths!

And always put a towel in the bottom of the cat cage!

Wednesday is the day!

We are signing papers and will officially be homeowners once again on Wednesday. For some reason we thought it was Thursday, but this works out just great for us. One less day for something to go wrong and one day sooner we can start getting the dust out of the house! Woohoo! Bring on the boxes!

Corn on the Grill

Do you need a quick and easy way to cook your corn on the cob? Try grilling it - I don't think you can really ruin it this way if you watch it and keep an eye on your watch. Being that it's veggie season Mark wanted to try corn on the grill last night and he prepared it all on his own (I did take the tassles off, but that was really it). It was delicious! He peeled back the husk - not taking it off - and then put a butter pat and some salt on each one. This was sort of messy - do the butter first so it gets the salt to stick. He then wrapped them back in their husk and wrapped tightly in tin foil. They were grilled on high heat for 20 minutes and turned every five minutes. One did get burned so maybe it wasn't wrapped all that tight - and well it's one of those little camping grills so that probably was the issue. The real grill arrives this week - woohoo!!!

natures harvest

We've been spending a fair amount of time exploring our new neighborhood - really more like the 10 mile radius around our house-to-be and we've discovered it is very agricultural. Leaf Peepers have already started their fall trips and this also makes for a long commute on Friday afternoons as I found out by accident. Also by accident we found a fancy restuarant for dinner. It's right around corner from our house and I would classify as a fancy date place. Problem is we weren't in fancy date clothes. Not too big a deal and they still treated us nicely. All the servers were older men so that was a refreshing change from the teeny bopper you usually get. The view is amazing if you get a window seat and food mighty tasty too. I had grouper topped with Maryland crab and some sauce. So good. They grow some of the veggies right out their back door - how cool is that? I'm pretty sure the chef's veggie mix was from there.
On Saturday morning we took a trip to Lowe's to pick out our dryer and fridge. Gotta love the appliance clearance section. We did awesome! Along the way to Lowe's we must have passed at least 5 farm stands or farmer's markets. Most are organic and the selection is amazing. I've been to quite a few around here and it's really fun to see what they have. Peaches are in season and really this is the only time of year to eat them - I hate woody peaches and these are so juicy even though they feel firm. Tomato's are interesting as there are many heirlooms that the farmers sell. Last night we had tomato salad with orange, red and white streaks, green and yellow streaks and a funky red blue colored one. The flavors are all different, but good. Dare I try to grow them? Probably not because they are so cheap to buy and it supports another person. So I will enjoy them for now.

Dutchess County Fair

I'd heard the fair here was good and I figured for the $12 you had to pay to get in it must be pretty good and it was beyond my expectations - it was certainly nothing like the Michigan State Fair or even the Isabella County Fair. Probably not good comparisions at all either. I don't think we covered all the grounds in the three hours we were there and I wasn't going to last to find out. Like much of this area it was pretty hilly and it was at least 85 to 90 out so hot and sticky. Leave it to us to go at 2pm as well in the heat of the day and on empty bellies. We saw some Dock Dogs practicing (and not all would jump in - that was funny!), baby animals, lots of community businesses, rides, more animals and of course tons of food booths. I seriously think this is the big draw as they were everywhere. Burgers, hot dogs, pizza, sausage and peppers, Chinese food, Greek food, milkshakes and every sweet treat you can think of. There were picnic tables and tents everywhere and food booths at every corner and finding a seat was a challenge. They even had permanment food pavillions set up for some of them. Of course we were there to eat and I got a huge burger (hand patted I might add) with onions and cheese on top. Mark had the sausage and peppers and we split a handcut fry. We polished it all off with one of those hand squeezed lemonades and then set off to wander. Sad to say that we didn't have room for any more treats, but now we know to get when it's a bit cooler and I really want to try the Greek booth - it looked fantastic. The fair is in a cute little town called Rhinebeck and I'm planning to go back soon with guests in tow to check out the shops. First we must pack and unpack so that might be a while....