House hiatus over

After a couple weeks without a computer, we are finally back online. I feel like a junkie getting her long-awaited fix.

Time has flown--it's hard to believe that it's been two weeks since we moved. We are slowly getting settled in. The house is still littered with boxes yet to be unpacked, but we are making progress. The two most important rooms--the kitchen and the bathroom--are in good shape, having been scrubbed from top to bottom.

The biggest drama of our move has been the "oil tank episode." Luckily, it's not nearly as dramatic as it could've been--I should say, not nearly as dramatic as our recent luck with moving would indicate--but dramatic enough. A huge, old oil tank, which was buried deep in our side yard, was removed as we were completing the move. Removal required all kinds of heavy machinery, like diggers and backhoes, which completely destroyed our front lawn (and our neighbor's side lawn) as well as our front walkway. But the walkway was replaced Friday, and the lawn will be reseeded this week...so, aside from the very muddy lawn, we should be in good shape.

Yesterday, our next-door neighbor came over to introduce herself, bearing a bottle of wine. This gesture was incredibly kind, considering the havoc we have wreaked upon her yard. And last week, we met some other neighbors--hippies who live behind us. Now, when you live in OlyWa, the fact that your neighbors are hippies is not even worth observing. Saying that you live next to a hippie here is like saying that you live next to a Catholic in Vatican City. They're a dime a dozen.

What caught our attention about these hippie neighbors is the fact that there seems to be some kind of hippie commune behind us. No, no, not like a Jonestown compound. It's just a little house where a bunch of earth mamas and papas live. In fact, we never would have even noticed, had we not met several of them in one day.

A few days after we moved in, another one of the hippie fellas introduced himself to SMH and told him that Rose, the previous owner of the house, had let them come and harvest the fruit trees in the yard and he hoped we would do the same. Ummmm, hmmmm, wellll...

Yes, we do have quite a few fruit trees in the backyard, and hey, I'm not selfish. I'm willing to share the fruit...but do I really want people "harvesting" our fruit? Not sure. On top of that, the house has a hot tub built into the deck, and I can't help it but have nightmarish visions of the hippies treating themselves to a nice hot "bath" after a day of harvesting under the sun. Eeek.

The neighbors on either side told us that they have seen coyotes in our yard. (Yes, we live in a relatively urban area, despite the images that "fruit trees" and "coyotes" may conjure up.) Oh, and deer, too, who apparently like to take their own share of the harvest from our trees. So, between the coyotes, the deer and the hippies, I think there are some wild times ahead in our backyard.

Lots more to tell, but so many e-mails to get through...two weeks without Internet is a long time!