Its been about 3 weeks since Kelly moved up to Salem, and we are trying to settle into a normal routine here in Oregon.

Today we did some yard work. It was one of the first days in recent memory that didn’t rain, so it made for a great opportunity to get outside and tidy things up a bit. That included weeding, going on ‘poop patrol’ and firing up our garage sale acquired weed eater.

One other thing we have learned? “As-is” appliances left behind is code word for “this shit is going to break on you.” We had a washer and dryer which have more or less fallen apart after maybe a dozen uses and now have to find a new one. Kind of a bummer.

The past few days have seen us go from a two story house in Phoenix, AZ to a one story (much smaller) house in Salem, OR. The process of un-boxing has commenced and the place is starting to look a little more like home.

Observations:

Love the neighborhood and the back yard, especially. We live right on a small creek (Glenn Creek to be precise) so walking around in the back yard is kind of like being in the deep woods. We have some big trees, some uneven elevation to make the yard a little more interesting, and of course, the creek which makes a great little ambient noise throughout the day and night.

Love the floor plan of the house. It is more in the 70′s style, but we have a nice kitchen and open view of what we call ‘the green room’ which may end up being our office. It has a fire place which is cool and a perfect place to hang a flat screen television, but its a little small to put our full couch which is why the green room may become an office instead.

The room (red room) which could be a candidate for our living room has a nice big window looking into the yard, with a comfortable window seat. It has more room for the couch, but might be a lesser entertainment room due to the fact the window lets in so much light.

Our bedroom is on the small side, along with both bathrooms. We may end up just splitting these and each of us taking a bathroom (which truth be told is just fine for me!)

Some of the negatives? The oven is really small. I’d be surprised if it could even fit a small turkey, but it is new and modern which is nice I guess. The kitchen floor seems to be at a slight slope so our fridge looks like it is leaning. The cabinets are spacious but they are old. The water pressure to the sink in the kitchen is almost non existent. Finally, our bedroom is painted pink

Its been a grueling past couple of days. The last I wrote, I was heading back to Phoenix to help move my wife and the 2 dogs up to Oregon.

When I arrived at the house, there was quite simply a staggering amount of work left to be done. My wife had done a lot, including renting our house and coordinating all the movers while working a full time job. However, there was a ton of cleaning to do and besides the major furniture being missing, there was pretty much all of the smaller items to pack and things to trash. Since we were moving into a house that was roughly half the size of our previous, there was just a lot to get rid of.

I personally made 4 car-full trips to Goodwill and 5 “after midnight” runs to nearby apartment complex dumpsters to discard of old mail, refrigerator items and miscellaneous crap.

That first night, i think the two of us slept a combined 3 hours. In all, we did about 20 hours of work in the house cleaning it up over a full day. To put that in perspective – we spent as much time cleaning in 1 day as it took for us to drive from Phoenix to Salem in 3 days (20 hours).

Once we got on the road things got a little easier. We weren’t running around cleaning things, but we were stuck inside a confined space for 3 days with 2 dogs and probably a fourth of our belongings. The drive from Phoenix to Salem took us across the state of Arizona, through Palm Springs and onto Los Angeles, then north through Bakersfield, Sacramento and Redding into southern Oregon, crossing Medford, Ashland, Eugene and finally Salem. 20 hours and 1000 miles later, we pulled up to our new rental house and immediately unloaded the car as we had about 2 hours to return our rental car.

Right now we are ALL relaxing (our dogs curled up on the floor next to us as we lay down in the only real furniture in the house, a window seat in the living room). The days ahead will still be busy, but less stressed as we can now move in at our own pace.

It feels good to rest.

Getting ready to pack up my backpack with 2 changes of clothes and fly back to Phoenix for a day.

I’d imagine it is going to be weird on a number of different levels:

1. I haven’t seen my house in about 2 months
2. I haven’t seen my dogs in about 2 months
3. I haven’t seen my friends in about 2 months

House wise, i’d expect the place to be in the same condition as we moved into it – totally empty. This was out first home, and I guess technically it still is until we sell it. It will be different to see it stripped of everything. It will also be weird to walk through it with the new family which will be occupying it for the next year. Someone else is going to be calling “The Monster” home.

My little boys… Well, i hope they remember me. I know they will, but wouldn’t it be fucked up if i walked in and they started angrily barking at me? I’d be heartbroken. My plan is to immediately fall to the ground and let them maul me though. That should be nice. It is a little bitter sweet, because i took their sister with me when I left and now she is gone.

My friends! They will be picking me up at the airport and taking me to lunch. That should be a lot of fun, and while I haven’t changed that much (gained about 10 lbs) it will still be a little weird to see them again. I feel guilty leaving them behind, but for the most part talk to them everyday.

For my wife Kelly! We finally rented our place in Phoenix. It took about a month and a half, and she worked her ass off but finally we found some tenants we were comfortable enough to leave our place with while we pack up the truck and move to Oregon.

Obviously, i am super excited about the move. For one, I missed my wife and over the past month and a half have felt more like a vacationer up here in Salem than an actual resident. Then there are my dogs. With the passing of my cat, its been pretty lonely. You never really know how much pets enhance your life until you lose one, or are separated from them. I have often wondered if they would miss me, or forget who I was. I guess i’ll find out next Friday when I see them. Really, i can’t wait to just let them maul me when i walk into the door.

It is going to be a little strange seeing my house totally empty. When i left it, it was full of our crap!

Get to grab the keys to the new place tomorrow evening, and that should be cool. We’ll have electricity, gas, water and all the utilities minus internet there. Maybe i should get that set up now? Still have my work furnished apartment for another 2 weeks so there isn’t a huge hurry.

Once Kelly gets here and we start to explore Oregon I am going to make this site (or some other site, i haven’t decided) more visual with pics and stuff.