Gualalans at Last

Don't worry, blog reader(s)!  I'm still there.  Except now I'm here--in GUALALA!  We made the move on Sunday. Of course, we'll still visit this coming weekend for a party and then at the end of the month for a wedding. But the only items remaining in the house are mattresses on the floor, patio furniture, and some workshop stuff that Dave needs for some final projects.  The tenants will get the keys August 1.

Our next door neighbors, a lovely family with two kids who Eddie has befriended over the last few years, will be moving into our house.  We trust them, like them, and are thrilled that they will live in our beloved house. I feel a tinsy bit guilty that we're "stealing" the tenants from the woman who owns the house they are currently in...but only a tinsy bit. Our house will be a better fit for them--we have an extra living room and nicer amenities.  They agreed to keep our chickens, which is a HUGE relief since we don't yet have a raptor/coon-proof pen for chickens up here on the coast yet. The neighbor kids know how to take care of the birds so I doubt it'll be an issue. Plus it's nice for the hens to not have to move and be penned up all the time. As it is, they're used to roaming the neighborhood.

The last two weeks in Davis were soooooooooooo hot. It was 100+ for about 10 straight days. Thank goodness for air conditioning!  I was not sad that I couldn't cook toward the end of our move.

My mom spent a few days with us over the last few weeks in Davis. Good thing she was there to enjoy the AC and hangout with us--if relaxing was on her agenda she must've been sorely disappointed because her grandsons don't take "no" for an answer!

Eddie and I spent a lot of time in the city pools in the afternoons (and twice at my aunt/uncle's house), eating fast food for dinner every night while watching cartoons on my laptop. I can't believe I had resorted to us eating Taco Bell, McDonald's (breakfast only, I can't stomach dinner foods), Panda Express, Jack in the Box, and pizza delivery.  I felt like I'd joined the Davis counter culture, eating fast food every day. BLEH. The only way I could stand it was by eating a giant salad every day at school. We'd do cereal and eggs each morning.

Swimming at Manor Pool with Dadda on July 4.

Swimming with Mama on July 5 at Uncle Bill and Aunt Bev's house.

So, we've been in Gualala this whole week and I've jumped head first into my usual home cooking and food preservation; after all, it's summer. And summer means fruit is ready to be picked and processed and the garden is just starting to yield meal-worthy produce. Today I'm making 10 batches of plum jam and will freeze apricot halves for pies and fruit leather later on.

Eddie's been going to daycare everyday up in Point Arena while I've been unpacking, organizing, dealing with moving stuff (changing addresses, new banking, etc.), exercising, and setting up my workspace at the water company office. I'll begin working as an administrative assistant there two days a week starting next Monday.  Can you believe that I now spend 80 minutes a DAY driving to/from Point Arena for Eddie's childcare?  Quite different from our 30 minutes of biking a day in Davis.  So now I have to make a point of exercising rather than having it folded into my commute, further shortening my daily availability to get dissertation work done. But since we JUST got here and are still figuring out our daily routine and summer fruit ripening waits for no one, I'm foregoing the major school work in favor of getting some jam made while Eddie's at daycare.

I'll try to get back on here soon with a slew up happenings from the last couple of months. We've been busy!