Move it on over

My apologies for the lack of updating around here.  I have been helping clean onion seeds at Tres' work and am still trying to figure out how to do other things too.  Pretend this entry was posted about six weeks ago.


That's when we loaded up a 26 foot moving truck (inexplicably, the largest size was also the cheapest) with all of our belongings from Seattle and brought them out here.  It was by far the easiest, least painful/stressful move ever.  We actually took the time to organize, pack, and clean just about everything up before we came out here, so moving our stuff was just a matter of trying to be smart about the order in which we loaded everything up.  That said, it still took us several hours, punctuated by several trips to the hardware store for replacement stove pans (why, WHY do they make them in different depths?  Is there even the slightest justifiable reason for this?), the one matter I had not addressed before leaving Seattle.  Luckily,  just as we were starting to slow down, we were mercifully aided by our friends Jeff and Amalia, who then accompanied us back home.

the cat explores our moving truck

Unpacking was saved for the next day, when Tres' dad also joined us.  Quickly realizing that we were going to need some sort of organizational system (namely, places to put things we would like to use over the next several months), we headed out for some cinder blocks and boards and made shelves along 3 sections of the walls.  Next, we unpacked the boxes of things we knew we would want to access immediately (non-perishable food items, kitchen utensils, clothes, records, stereo, etc.) and put them in their new homes.  Finally, we moved the rest in, stacking the boxes on pallets (thank you, Pro-Build!) according to usefulness/need.  Everything ended up fitting with surprising efficiency, leaving us with lots of room left over and easy access to pretty much everything.  Here's how it looked when we'd finished (also before the second window was cut and installed, you may note):

In the ensuing weeks, we have continued to move things around, unpack more, and otherwise live and work in here.  The photo below shows some of the reorganization and additions in the back:

kitties enjoy furniture and boxes

There has been other stuff going on and I have two other entries started, so I will do my best to get some more posted soon!