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Today is the solstice, the first day of summer. It is the longest day of the year, and tonight is the shortest night. Personally for me today was the longest day because I committed to getting all my stuff out of my storage unit today, and I made a record 3 trips to get the last stuff here and nothing in my storage unit. It was indeed a long day for me, and technically it was the longest day for everybody.

Astronomically today is somewhat interesting too although the real interest is 1-2 days in the future, when the moon makes its closest passage to the Earth. I've seen this happening for at least the last week, every day the moon looming larger and the zenith getting nearer to midnight. Tonight zenith was before midnight but by only a half hour or so. I'm no expert but in the next few nights the moon will be full, the zenith will be near midnight, and the moon will be near the closest it ever gets.

I think this all bodes well for me in my new home, first summer night with the moon about as close as it ever gets. My bedroom window faces south and the moon is beautiful tonight. Astronomically speaking tonight is a very good night to become the first night of the rest of my life.
 
Don't think I have welcomed you back yet. So, I'm gonna say it, welcome back Greg. Can't wait to hear how you decked out your kitchen. I'm expecting it to be a very functional, and well laid out room.:chef:

Seeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North
 
Greg, I Just read your posts about being completely moved in and home! Good for you! I hope we can live here in our home for the rest of our lives. I really love my home too. Being home is such a good feeling. I am so glad you are home! :)
 
Greg would love to see pics of your new home when you have time or are inclined to share:LOL: I'm happy for you Enjoy fully.
kades
 
Greg, how is the new home going? The 4th is coming up. Time for a housewarming and party. :angel:

Things are going well although it's been a lot of work, and in fact still working hard moving in and fixing things. The guest bedroom toilet has never worked (was disclosed by seller) and I was at Lowe's today buying yet more parts (the main kit was good but the flusher handle had to be replaced too). While fixing this I realized that the MBR toilet wasn't working right either (had to hold the handle about 5-6 seconds or it wouldn't flush completely). I had a whole list of other parts I needed to buy to fix other stuff. This home was previously occupied by an elderly woman who was obviously not a stickler for every last thing working right.

I spent a couple hours yesterday working on sprinklers after I realized part of my front lawn was dying, and had wondered for days why I hadn't seen the sprinklers running. Turned out evidently the gardener weed whacked the sprinkler wiring which turned out to be Mickey Mouse so it took a couple hours to set things right, and still needed to buy a replacement for a common 180 degree sprinkler that didn't sprinkle. I spent 30 minutes just trying to find one sprinkler that was kind of gushing but not sprinkling. It was buried so deep in the grass that I could see it only when the sprinklers were on, and finally had to turn on the sprinklers and run out and put a rock next to it to mark it, then turned off the sprinklers and dug for it. I finally got it dug out enough to work. I bought a hand trowel today to dig out some more balky sprinklers. The salesman at the store didn't know what a hand trowel was, thought I needed a shovel... :)

Oh forgot to mention, the local public park had fireworks and I can see them from my back yard!!! My timing was bad, still eating dinner when they started (had a friend over) but we caught the finale and it was amazing! And turned out, doggy has been going deaf the last year (he's 15) and this is the first year he didn't freak out on 4th of July. Mixed blessing, fireworks don't freak him out any more but he can't hear me calling unless he turns around and sees me beckoning. I still murmur kind words when I'm petting him but he probably just responds to my motions and not to what he doesn't hear...
 
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Don't think I have welcomed you back yet. So, I'm gonna say it, welcome back Greg. Can't wait to hear how you decked out your kitchen. I'm expecting it to be a very functional, and well laid out room.:chef:

Seeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

Thanks Longweed! (LOL, I've been here long enough to remember that! Sort of.)

Truth is, in today's housing market (a seller's market, fiercely competitive, almost no inventory) I didn't have much choice about where I landed. If any of you visited me you'd say I am indeed very fortunate to have my nice house, but I didn't get to pick the details. I would have made the kitchen larger, with an island, and granite counters. Alas, the only thing I can fix is the counters, but the kitchen is nice and a great improvement over what I was used to in my old house.

I had some help from my cousin moving in and she organized my kitchen, and I'm still recovering from that. I still sometimes know I have something but can't find it. I think all of us are interested in cooking and very particular about our kitchens, so I'm probably not unusual in that it will take me a long time to get things exactly as I want them.

My best new purchase was my sous vide cooker which I've posted about in other topics here at the forum. I'm amazed at this new device and I'm sure my raves will convert other home chefs into buying one too.
 
Greg, I Just read your posts about being completely moved in and home! Good for you! I hope we can live here in our home for the rest of our lives. I really love my home too. Being home is such a good feeling. I am so glad you are home! :)

That's what I thought too, "I'm finally home!" Yes it's true, I expect to live here for the next 25-30 years, and after the ordeal of selling old house, storing everything, house hunting for 2 years, then buying and moving in, it's about time to finally be home.

BTW "completely moved in" means that I got all my last stuff from storage and closed that down. I still spend about 12 hours every day fixing things, getting things, shopping for things I still don't have. I have furnished part of my family room in Goodwill, still need an area rug since I have hardwood floors (I'm used to W/W carpet.) LR is furnished with hand me down couch (new neighbor helped me carry it from his front yard (sign said "free") and got a new friend out of the deal too.

I mostly finished chopping down my old second oak table to become a coffee table for my new LR. It doesn't sound like much work but it was, getting things right. I finally had to use tornillos de metal (sheet metal screws) for the last 4 most important screws to connect the top with the base, because I had bought 1-1/2" #10 wood screws but it turned out it needed 2" #10 and all I had were sheet metal screws, and it was late afternoon 4th of July and I wasn't about to travel 30 minutes round trip to home improvement store to get 4 screws... The table looks great but one side about 1/2" lower than other. I'm a perfectionist. I'll probably disassemble it in the next day or two and plane off about 1/8" from the top of the base to get it perfectly level.
 
Greg would love to see pics of your new home when you have time or are inclined to share:LOL: I'm happy for you Enjoy fully.
kades

I'll probably eventually post some pics, particularly kitchen pics since of course that's what we are all interested in most.

Also, got some bar stools from Goodwill, they're perfect for my new house except they are almost impossible to swivel (I got some lazy susan bearings to fix that) and they're too high for the counter (I have a saw that will fix that).

Meanwhile the MBR shower still drips and spent an hour trying to disassemble it to reach the washer so I'd know what to buy... Gave up, this is going to require major plumbing talent, and that ain't me.

Yeah I'm home, and I'm moved in, but it's going to take months to turn this house into a real home. But everything I fix and improve will pay off for decades. One example, the 15 recessed ceiling spots (45 watts each) which I replaced with 11 watt LED spots ($43 each) -- I posted about this elsewhere in the forum. That's a *LOT* of money but it will pay off in less than 10 years (probably a lot less) and I don't worry about leaving lights on anymore. (I'm amazed that a 11 watt LED spot looks about as bright as an ordinary 100 watt incandescent fixture, and the 3000K lights look about exactly the same color as incandescent).

I've been working about 12 hours a day for most of a month moving in and fixing things, and I still have several 12 hour days ahead of me doing same. Some of my friends have told me I should let up, but I can't rest with things like the guest bedroom toilet not working, the lawn dying, no furniture in the living room (now partially addressed), MBR shower dripping, MBR ceiling fan lying on parts on the floor (no time to install it yet, the FR ceiling fan is great!).

I still have a big punch list of things needing to be fixed. I'm retired and got nothing better to do all day every day until things are set right. Fortunately I still get to quit in the evening and enjoy home cooked meals (by yours truly) and have had many friends over for dinner (some of them more than once) and still looking forward to other friends visiting who haven't been over yet (including my really nice ex-neighbors K & C from trailerville, known them for almost 2 years now).

It's going to take me a long time to settle in. I'm just hoping to get to the day when I don't have to spend 12 hours a day on the project.

And when I don't have to spend 12 hours a day with the necessary stuff I have plenty of optional jobs to work on. I need a contractor to expand my patio and put on a permanently attached to the house cover. I am determined to have a koi pond, although that's a DIY project for me, it doesn't require a contractor to build a koi pond, or a building permit.

And then there's the salt water tropical fish tank for the LR... I've had fresh water tropical fish off and on most of my life, and for years I've wanted to try salt water. I'm intent on having a reef tank and I'm sure I'll go at least 100 gallons! Good thing my hardwood floors are hardwood over concrete! With the tank and stand and filtering equipment that's over 1000 pounds!!! :)

Hm... I'll always have access to fresh sushi!!!! ;)

BTW I've already priced out my koi (for the outside fresh water pond) and little 2-3" koi cost $10-$15 each!!!!!! We have a nearby Japanese restaurant with a koi pond and I saw koi 12"-15" there, probably 3-5 pounds, and I estimate each of those big koi are worth over $1000!!!

By the way, if you get established in koi eventually your pond starts paying back, because they keep growing their entire lives, and eventually get too big for your pond, so you can sell the big ones at a profit and buy small ones to replace them, and eventually it nets cash to pay for food etc.

It's just amazing staring into a pond seething with koi. I first became interested in koi during a visit to Descanso Gardens, a botanical garden here in Los Angeles, and they have a koi pond with thousands of koi! As I sat next to the pond watching the koi swim around I felt the most tranquil I've ever felt in my entire life. It was like being on drugs, really! I totally understand the Japanese obsession with these fish. I've always wanted my own koi pond and in a few or several months that will be a hot project for me!
 
Those koi are gorgeous, aren't they? They figure prominently in Japanese art - I have seen some designs for fabric with swirling koi in beautiful combinations of colors on the fish.

One thing to watch out for, Greg, well, several really, are the fishing birds and the occasional raccoon. Our small pond (years ago - in Missouri) was raided by herons, who feasted on the small pond fish. Another night a fish just disappeared and we decided it had been a raccoon to blame. And in a bizarre incident, we discovered a large frog with a small fish stuck in his throat - it was too large for him to swallow and it wouldn't come back out. I imagine that if you are in a citified spot none of this will apply, and a pond is a lovely addition. I hope you will have yours.

Thanks for the details in your posts. I'm enjoying the blow-by-blow recreation of your experiences.
 

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