Back from Barnesville I

What a lot of driving: Will got bored on the return trip and started counting road kill to pass the time. Quite a lot in West Virginia, especially deer, then it tapered off. We don't know why there's so much dead fauna on the side of the road in that state: more wildlife, faster drivers, a slower removal schedule, some combination of the three? Or just happenstance? Who knows?

Anyway, we returned Monday evening from our weekend in Barnesville. I got as far as posting a few pictures yesterday evening as I try to process the upcoming move.

We took a closer look at the Towe house, where we'll be living. It's being "scraped" as a prelude to painting. We're delighted it's getting a new coat of paint. The handymen took down the glassed-in porch, which was apparently falling apart, so now we have more light from the south coming into our big living room.

I was told the kitchen floor, which looks original to the 1950s-style house, is being replaced, as are the damaged yellow linoleum counters. Dan, the handyman who told me the news, said he wasn't sure when the replacement would happen, as there are certain repairs that have to made over the summer while the students are gone and they have priority. I may have to live with the kitchen "as is" for a few months, but that's OK. There's nothing like knowing relief will come!

I'll have to coexist more permanently with the "cuckoo clock rustic" (as I call them) knotty pine cabinets. They are well made and in decent condition, so no reason to replace them ... except of course the small matter of aesthetics, but I'll live. I do hope to take down the wallpaper.

Anyway, the move continues to be an exercise in perspective. Is the cup half empty or half full? I think if I could get beyond some of the tension of the move, I could enjoy the half full more ...

On the half full side:
The rooms in the new house are big.
A smaller house will be easier to care for.
We don't have to mow the lawn.
There's a clothesline (not allowed in Columbia)!
Our upstairs bathroom is big, and I misremembered it's appearance. It has pretty pearlescent white tiles on the wall, bordered with black tiles.
We have casement windows and terrific views.
The kitchen is big and has lots of cabinets, including a broom closet.
The kids love the barn.
Have I mentioned how much I am going to enjoy not cooking?
The campus meals are healthy. The school grows much of its own food.
We went to the Stillwater meeting and it had a warm, lovely, spiritual feeling. We can walk to meeting.
We can walk to town easily, at least one end of it, where we find a grocery store and a Rite Aid.
There's a big library in town.
No more $600 heating bills to pay!
Enough for now ...