Weather as a topic of conversation

The fickleness of storm systems, and the dangerousness of cold and ice, make winter weather a frequent topic of conversation. It was cold here(teens and low 20's) on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, then on Sunday it warmed up to the mid-30's and misted and drizzled. Since the ground was already frozen, it turned to ice almost instantly. Our alley was almost pure ice. By Monday morning it was really raining, and it turned to snow on Monday afternoon. This morning there was only about 3 inches on the ground, and it is in the upper 20's. My father and brother were planning to drive up on Sunday but had to cancel. They got the freezing rain and ice before we did. I'm glad I had the re-orientation to cold, snow and ice spread over the course of nearly a week rather than all at once! One plans one's life, or at least one's travel, around the forecast.

DSL connection at last!

We got spoiled, living in Portland with a wireless coffee shop on every other corner!
They are difficult to find at truck stops in Montana and North Dakota!
We got our DSL connection and phone connection late on Saturday, and I just opened my computer for the first time. The rest of the trip went very smoothly. We had warm weather and dry roads all of Tuesday and made it as far as Detroit Lakes, MN. We made the remainder of the trip to Grand Rapids in about 3.5 hours on Wednesday morning, and only encountered snow when we got to Remer, about an hour away. We arrived in time to get a walk-through of the house, then head to the Abstract company office to close. Once the house was ours, we unloaded the cats, the cooler and the week's worth of clothes we had brought, then headed out to buy something to sleep on for a couple of nights. We had movers coming on Friday to unload the truck, so spent Thursday figuring out what goes where, and figuring out priorities for repairs etc.

From the middle of Montana

We made it from Pasco, WA to Columbus, MT today in a grueling 15 hour marathon. big trucks towing vehicles over mountains really don't go very fast! The 30-40 mph uphill and the 25-35 mph on the steep downhills slow you down considerably. The cats seem to be doing fine. We let them loose in the back of the pickup while we were stopped for lunch and dinner today, and they seem to handle it just fine. The motel rooms are just opportunities to explore new space and find new perches and viewing spots. We've had relatively good roads, and only some mist and fog.

Preparations for winter

I took my bike to Citybikes and had them put snow tires on it, the knobby tires that came with the bike when I bought it. It helps with the leaf glop on the streets here, even if it will be too cold to ride in December.
I also dug out my Sorels to see if they still fit, and my warm Timberland boots. Now if I can only find my Polarguard parka!

It's for real!

We signed the real copy of the purchase agreement today, and returned it via overnight delivery. We received the inspector's report on Monday, all 20 pages of it, detailing every piece of rotting wood, every leak and potential leak, all of the bad wiring jobs someone did, and all of the dripping faucets. The house is in great shape! Closing is Nov. 25, or before.

Successful Hunting!

We have a house! At least, we have an agreement. After a whirlwind tour of 12 houses on Monday, we revisted 4 on Tuesday morning, and called our agent when we were halfway to the airport and asked her to make an offer on one. It's a very large old house, but with a monster in the basement in the form of an ancient oil furnace.
Our low offer was politely rejected, so we moved on to house number two, a much more reasonably sized house. The cats don't really need their own bedrooms! After some negotiations about the removal of an underground oil tank, we reached an agreement, subject, of course, to an inspection.
The listing is here, with pictures.

House Hunting in Grand Rapids

The next step, aside from packing, is a trip to Grand Rapids to hunt for a suitable house. We're flying out on Sunday am.
We've got a real estate agent.
We've got a list of houses.
We've got a camera.
We've got a notepad.
We'll be off and running on Monday morning on a whirlwind house tour!

Portland House is sold!!

Our house in Portland went on the market on Friday, October 21, and by Sunday evening we had 3 offers to consider. Hooray for Gerry at Bridgetown Realty!
We accepted one of the offers.
The inspection on Tuesday revealed that we had a shared sewer, one of the problems of owning an old house in old Portland. Today we signed an addendum accepting some of the closing costs and agreeing to clean and do minor repairs to the roof, so the house is really sold!!