Well, we loaded up the truck and took our first trip out to the big city today! We got to see all the fancy people and their fancy hats and their horseless carriages all around. We spent many hundreds of dollars on groceries and other important setup items (like a new cell phone! Now we can leave the computer online on dial-up all day, while we chat freely back and forth on our dueling cell phones). It was unbelievably exhausting, to both myself and the credit card. But now we feel more set up. Granted, we still have no hot water, which is a key to feeling comfortable. We have no gas for the stove either, which limits our dining options (as does living a few miles outside of a town with only one restaurant! But it's a good one, which we will strive not to visit much - we should be cooking for ourselves, right?).
It's nice that we have food now, at least. It's interesting to discover the various ways in which we can cook without gas. We've got the toaster oven to bake things (smaller things), a rice cooker for rice, a slow cooker, and of course the most important of all: 2 microwaves. Okay, we only need one, but we have this fabulous one we got years ago, which is the best microwave we've ever seen, incredibly powerful. We just can't part with it, even though we keep moving into houses that have built-in microwaves. Actually, I think it may have just been defeated by the one built into our new house. That thing is very nice. Like everything else about this house - the guy who built it really went out of his way to upgrade things more than he had to. It's a great house. We are really happy with it. We'll be happier yet when taking a shower doesn't cause hypothermia.
We have lots of wildlife in our big yard too. We've seen tons of rabbits, a squirrel, a bunch of really big lizards, a horny toad, and of course lots and lots of bugs (including some really weird and really big ones). No snakes or coyotes yet, though we hear the coyotes at night. It's
so silent out here. If we shut all our windows, the only sound at all is the refrigerator running. If we open them, you can hear the occasional dog barking or coyote howling, and that's it. I just wish the fridge was quieter! Solee was mentioning the other day - you know how in movies, they like to show deserts being really hot by whiting out the scene? That's what it looks like here. It's just so
bright out there! Not that it's all sand, we have an absolute forest of manzanita trees. But it's bright.
The best news? Guild Wars runs flawlessly on dial-up! I never have to work again! No, I'll get back to work soon, but not today my friend. I am beat, and my mind is in too many places to focus on ninjas and time travel.
Oh, and hey, I won a board game design mini-contest! It's a monthly thing at the
Board Game Designer's Forum, which I frequent. You can find my design there.
