New Adventure begins

[Uncle Al]

Well, as the ol' sayin' goes - you can take the boy(girl) out of the country but,
you can't take the country out of the boy(girl). Best wishes going home

Also, CONGRATULATIONS on 21 years of marriage




Uncle Al

[Elisabetta]

Well, as the ol' sayin' goes - you can take the boy(girl) out of the country but,
you can't take the country out of the boy(girl). Best wishes going home

Also, CONGRATULATIONS on 21 years of marriage




Uncle Al

That's right and thanks UA

[moonshadow]

Yeah, unless some miracle find should reveal itself, we plan to stick around for another year or two, pay off our remaining debts, and head back where costs are a little more reasonable.

I've already challenged the local GOP in Snohomish County... "find me a reasonably priced house that I won't be paying on until I'm a hundred years old, and I'll gladly give you my vote for life"

They said they've got big plans to making housing affordable if they win. I told them they have about two years to figure it out, as that's when I expect I'll be debt free. I'm already 43 years old, I don't have time to waste waiting for Washington to go red. I've got a peace of heaven in a purple state waiting for me when/if I decide to go back.

[Mouse]

So, I am old and easily confused and have probably not been paying enough attention...... Last year you moved from Virginia to Washington. This year you are moving back, but maybe in a year or two.......

It is good to be free and move when you want to move. I hope you are both happy and things work out well for you both.

21 years married is also a great milestone. Well done.

[crfriend]

In other news Moon and I celebrated 21 years of marriage yesterday.

Congratulations! The news about moving back to VA was a bit of a shocker, but people do get homesick after a while, and moving is always a traumatic event. But at least you had the courage to try!

[denimini]

Congratulations on your nickle and brass anniversary.
I am surprised that you are talking about returning to your roots so soon, but I certainly can understand that, especially when you are still calling it home. I probably missed some points in your post with GOP and red and purple. In Australia Red is Labour which is more blue collar, left wing and Blue is Liberal which is more white collar, right wing; then there is Green which is self evident and also recently Teal. Similarly house prices in Australia have also become beyond the reach of young people without really high paid jobs. I hope that my comrades in Australia don't object to my crude summary.

I get homesick if I am away for just a week.

[Elisabetta]

In other news Moon and I celebrated 21 years of marriage yesterday.

Congratulations! The news about moving back to VA was a bit of a shocker, but people do get homesick after a while, and moving is always a traumatic event. But at least you had the courage to try!

Thank you. We'd love to stay but who has millions of dollars to buy a house? The cost of houses is insane!

[moonshadow]

Unless something drastic happens, we will be here for another year or two, and I will stay under one condition:

We will stay if we can find an decent home NOT under a HOA, not in a trailer park (it can be a trailer, but I want to OWN the land it sits on), NOT in a flood zone, and needs off street parking for up to 4 vehicles (my service van, our truck, my car, and an extra spot for company), oh, and while it can be a "handyman special", it needs to at least be livable, not condemned, with all utilities in tact, NO FIRE DAMAGE. AND I needs to be somewhere in Snohomish or Skagit County, within a half hour of I5. All this for... get ready...

$250,000 or less.

Don't laugh... I realize we won't find it, hence my "come to Jesus moment" I've experienced. We'll have a good romp for a couple more seasons, but eventually we're heading back.

The people are friendly here. Nobody has laughed at me for what I wear. It's a pretty area, almost like a postcard. I enjoy my job, the people I work with, and frankly, they need me pretty bad up here having lost several senior techs over the last couple of months.

But here's the deal...

20240518_085054.jpg

This is how we're living, and frankly, it sucks. While the lake is nice, it's not like some isolated mountain lake. It's surrounded by million dollar homes all around. You can't even see our camper, it's tucked away behind that service van. We have about 5 feet of clearance on both sides. We can't put our awning out, we can't really have a fire going, we're so close, you can hear your neighbors snore. We're in a hole. We're having to pay $80 per month to park Jax in town (we swap them out from time to time). It's CRAMPED, VERY CRAMPED.

All this for $925 per month plus electric. And believe me, that's cheap compared to normal apartment/house living.

This has been an interesting experience, and there will be much I will miss, but I also have many things I won't miss.

When discussing it last night, I asked Liz if she wanted to know one of the biggest things I miss about Appalachia? I teased her that I could give a hundred guesses and she wouldn't never get it.

I bet nobody here would either... so I'll go ahead and come out with it...

The ground.

That's right... the ground, the Earth, the rocks, etc. When I walk a mountain trail, there's just something... different.. about it. It seems softer, less mature, and in point of fact, while the Appalachian mountains may not be as tall as the ones out west, they are considerably older and more stable. The ground is more solid. It's the smell too. I miss the smell of last year's decomposing maple and oak leaves, the whiff of eastern pine in the spring, and... crazy as it sounds, the humidity.

I think John Denver got it, he must have visited the area and experienced it first hand, because the lyric captures the essence perfectly...

Life is old there, older than the trees, younger than the mountains, blowing like a breeze

There's something about those hills, it gets into the core of your soul, and even the occasional teasing one might get for wearing a skirt can't diminish the feeling of wholeness when you take a walk up in those mountains.

The last few years prior to coming here, I was lost, searching for something inside, trying to find out who I am.

I believe I have made light-years of progress. I came here to find out who I was, and I've learned a lot about who I am.

I'm just an old hillbilly, a little bit hippy, a little bit traditional, I'll wear bibs on one day and a long black skirt on another. I'm not a church goer, I'm not part of the LGBTQ scene either. I like the smell of kerosene heaters, camp fires, and old pickup trucks running a little rich. I like cheap gas station fountain drinks, Little Debbie cakes, pinto beans with Gunnoes Sausage mixed in. I was raised in old single wide trailers parked out in old hay fields in the country, American by birth, Southern by the Grace of God. The holes in my shoes and the rust under my car tell the tales of the places I've been and the things I've seen.

Dad, I'd trade everything I own today for just one more phone call conversation with you. I miss you so much.

This one's for you dad, keep em' straight up there in heaven...

trump.jpg

Somewhere out there, a Democrat is going to get my father's dead vote. Don't worry dad, I'll take one for the team here on the west coast.

*pours a little beer on the ground, and takes a drag off a cheap cigarette* ... for my hillbilly homies.

https://youtu.be/7Hc58uRmM6M?si=gWRQFQJpG-AZvjtA

dad_andy.jpg

DSC_0103.JPG

[Barleymower]

I moved away from my home town many years ago. 1993. I know what you mean about missing the ground.
I'm from Torquay in Devon. My Mum and Dad had a guest house. As a kid I didnt have any money save the £2 a week from a paper round. We had two dogs so I spent all my time out with the dogs. I really miss my walks. I miss Walls Hill, Ansteys Cove, Oddicome Beach, Reigate Beach, Bishops Walk and lots of other places like Long Quarry point and Hopes Nose.
I miss most the rich damp smell of the woods that haven't changed since the ice age. I miss the red soil and the stoney limestone paths.
I miss the mackerel, the Pollack, whiting and garfish.
I don't miss my mum but then again I do. She was always in mood when I was young and used to hit me a lot. She threw a knife at me once, missed me by a mile and it stuck in outside door. She burst into tears.
She smashed my sister's tape recorder with a claw hammer because she listened to the Bay City Rollers rather than do her school work. My sister cried over the pieces.
When I was grown up you could really talk to her. She knew exactly what you meant and gave the best advice. She died suddenly on a ferry.
Isn't death strange? People that were there all the time just go and they never come back.

I'm lucky though. My Dad is still there and I visit him with my kids all the time. We spend most of the summer holidays with him. They know Torquay almost as well as me now. I still miss it though. It's not the same when you don't live there anymore.

Good luck with finding a place.

[Fred in Skirts]

In other news Moon and I celebrated 21 years of marriage yesterday.

Congratulations on 21 years of being one with each other. May you have many more years to come!!!

[Jim]

We will stay if we can find an decent home NOT under a HOA, not in a trailer park (it can be a trailer, but I want to OWN the land it sits on), NOT in a flood zone, and needs off street parking for up to 4 vehicles (my service van, our truck, my car, and an extra spot for company), oh, and while it can be a "handyman special", it needs to at least be livable, not condemned, with all utilities in tact, NO FIRE DAMAGE. AND I needs to be somewhere in Snohomish or Skagit County, within a half hour of I5. All this for... get ready...

$250,000 or less.

Checking Zillow, there seem to be some such options.
https://www.zillow.com/wa/?searchQueryS ... %3Atrue%7D

[Elisabetta]

Yesterday we got the best phone call on our way home from the store. It was the owners of the campground telling us they had a better site for us. We're now in the upper lot and able to fully extend our awning. It's more of an actual camp site than just a hole you're stuck in.

Moon and I moved to Washington for a reason a fresh start and to leave the old life behind. Once we're out of debt then Moon and I are wanting to sell our home in Virginia and hopefully have enough of a down payment to place on a reasonably priced home. It will take patience and Moon not to give up on this place. I'm sure he won't. A lot has happened in the last year especially since he lost his dad. He longs for those conversations again.

I'm sure God has bigger plans for us and I know he will help us find a permanent home.

Barleymower- I left home at 16 and never went back. I didn't have a great relationship with my mother and mine and my father's relationship died when my mother died.

My in laws don't like me because I stand up to them when they hurt Moon and I. They're very dramatic and like playing victim a lot when you try to tell then how you feel and what they're doing hurts you.

[shadowfax]

Yesterday we got the best phone call on our way home from the store. It was the owners of the campground telling us they had a better site for us. We're now in the upper lot and able to fully extend our awning. It's more of an actual camp site than just a hole you're stuck in.

That's great news. I'm pleased for you both.

[Grok]

Progress!

[Ozdelights]

Congratulations on 21 years.

I'm a bit different to many people, I was born and raised in a city near the coast but have been very contented in a small country town in outback Australia.
Barry