Jinxed Saturdays

I woke at five, as is normal for me now that I have acclimated to central time. After a couple of quick coffees I headed off to see if I could find the local farmer's market. After getting one house down the road I turned back. I had forgotten to grab some bags and a hankie (for wiping sweat off me). Back on the road a minute later I headed off with few qualms. Heck, I had all my directions printed so I knew where to turn and how far to walk (3.4 miles). And the walk went well. I now know where the police hide, where the Denton County correctional facility is, where the courthouse is, where the bail bondsman are, and more. The town is clearly a mix between a county seat, a farming center, and a college town. It should be an interesting mix I think. I wonder if there are some great bar fights here. Not that I will ever know, but it might be worth putting in a story/poem don't you think?

Any way, from what I have seen Texas is not that much different from other parts of North America. Once you have seen one paved parking lot, you have seen them all. The blight of strip malls along major highways is also far to common to be able to say that it is interesting. The names change, but the ugliness remains the same.

The farmer's market is tiny, with only half a dozen people selling, though that might change as the day goes on. I did get some interesting foods (onions, tomatoes, potatoes, leeks, beets, Swiss chard, and a parsnip) that I will be eating for a few days.

After leaving the farmer's market, I decided to slip down to another store to get some of the things we needed but I could not get at the market. The store I was looking for kept avoiding me (it must have been sneaking around back alleys because I did not see it on the main streets). I knew I was not that far from the Kroger's I went to last Saturday (first day in Denton), so I decided to walk there. I took a few minutes to check out the Ace and bring home a bright bulb for the garage and a new hand cultivator for the front flower beds. The bulb in the garage was just 100 watts and the place was dark enough to ensure a spider's ecstasy.

Grocery shopping went smoothly, and I even bought some frozen stuff anticipating a quick return home. Last Saturday, the taxi picked me up 15 minutes after I called and I was home shortly there after.

This morning, however, was a different story. I called, the taxi man says, sorry, we only have one cab on duty (the dispatcher driving that one), it is doing a round trip, and there is another pick up after that (no idea where it is going). The best I can say is it will take an hour (or more), do you want to be put on the list? I grumbled, but from previous experience with the cab company (AA Taxi)it would be much more than that. I said no. I thought about lugging the bags home by hand, but figured that was impossible (big can of cat litter among other things) and began pushing the cart home.

3.1 miles later, and a little grumpy cussing (the local bus service does not start running until after 10 am on Saturdays) I return home wet from sweat and with rather sore feet. I put the cart up to the front door, open it, drag in one bag, turn around and the cart is rumbling down the front lawn heading for the street. I lunge and skippy trot to catch it before it gets too far (cussing at Carol for not coming to the door when I arrived), and get the cart back to the front door. This time I wedge the cart securely into the door before beginning to unload once more.

A knock knock comes from the garage. Carol had seen the garage door open, stepped into the garage looking for kitties closed the door to keep the one in the house in the house, and locked her self in. She had been sitting there for at least half an hour (needing to use the bathroom and considering possibilities) waiting for me to come home.

So, now we have a grocery cart in our garage (I will have to push that back Monday). After getting everything stored and a bit to eat, I had a long hot bath. My feet thanked me for that (they still do). I am feeling mostly recovered now, and am almost prepared to laugh.

We bought the car, a 2001 Kia, and in a few days I will be on the road again. Look out Texas!

I am reluctant to open the freezer and investigate the popsicles. I suspect they will be rather interestingly shaped.

If anyone is looking for a business opportunity, I think you could do quite well by opening a taxi company in Denton. One cab for a town of 80, 000, ridiculous.

Next Day

I was going to go down town this morning, but I have decided I would rather stay home and paint. Actually, I need to go to Kroger's for some of the other things and the necessity for two or three taxi rides was not all that appealing. I will have time to do the down town exploration some other day.

I did not finish painting yesterday, though I did get one coat of the Gothic gold on the walls. I will do another coat this morning, and decide then if I need to do anything else.

We may be getting a car. An old beater, but it should do us for awhile, allow us to get our licenses, and putter about in the mornings. It is almost as hard to get around Denton as it is Cold Lake if one does not have a car. More on that in the future.

Evening

I had to throw two coats of paint on the wall, but it is not looking half bad now. I still have some touch up to do, but the job is essentially done.

After supper I went out into the back yard and rooted through two raised beds pulling weeds and prickly vines. Then I went out front and picked up a pile of leaves left over from the shrubbery fixing that occurred not long before we arrived. I also dug out the weeds in the little flower beds that are around our mail box. I have one more bed to dig up out front. It has some kind of vine in it, but it is not doing well and needs ripped out and replaced. I will likely work on that later this coming week.

Right now, I am going to finish drinking my glass of pink stuff and then go have a bath and sleep really really good. I have not done this much physical work in years. I am pleased with what I have done.

One week in Texas!

Painting Denton Gold

Gothic Gold actually. I was going to go to the farmer's market this morning, but decided to work at finishing the painting as quickly as possible. I want to get the shelves up, the books unboxed and out of the way so that the living room is finished.

It is a beautiful morning. The sun is up, the birds are singing, and I am enjoying our new place.

11:08 Two coats of Killz is on the wall, the painting tools are cleaned and drying, and I am getting ready to cook a quick lunch. Already, the living room is 100 times brighter and looking more spacious. I am still learning to paint, but the second coat looks a lot better than the first one did.

Tuesday

Just a quick update. I went to Lowes today (it is about 2.5 miles away, but on a nasty road so I taxied both ways) and picked up most of what I need to get the place looking nice again. I felt sick when I heard the total for the purchases, but most of it is long lasting, and will keep the house in decent shape.

I will be painting a little bit this week/weekend. I do hope to be done by Friday night, but that may not happen. It will depend on how much trouble I have getting ready and finishing things off.

Thursday I hope to get down to the farmer's market and get some fresh veggies. I am craving a tasty tomato.

Other than that, I have been busy unpacking and moving things around and making small repairs here and there.

It is feeling more and more like home.

Raleigh to Denton

From June 1 2009

Saturday May 30, 2009

It is just after 7 pm Saturday, and we have been in Denton for almost 24 hours. The departure went smoothly and I hope the next few days will go as smoothly.

The moving truck arrived almost on time Friday morning, and the six men had all our stuff packed and out by one. I spent most of the day locked into my old bedroom teasing cats. I sedated them fairly early (10:30 I think), and the Maggie was definitely high an hour later. Daph, however, was fighting the drug, so I gave her another half tab. That made her even more wobbly and grumpy but did not put her out. When we got into the cab, she meowed for a while, then began clawing at her carrier. She continued to pull at the carrier for the entire trip to Denton every time she could gather her strength. Both cats are a bit nervous this evening, but they are doing much better. Daph seems to be settling in faster than Maggie, but they are both less anxious than they were last night.

For most of the flight the skies were clear and I was able to watch the land pass below me. I saw the Mississippi river, but not Memphis Tennessee as it was on the opposite side of the plane. Two big barges were heading downstream as we flew over (we were flying at 32000 feet), and of course I thought of Huck Finn. We arrived right on schedule, no delays. We did have to wait until everyone had left (we were near the back) before we dragged the drugged kitties off the plane.

The taxi driver was not very good, and ended up getting lost. It took a few tries to convince him he had missed the right turn. When he finally decided he had, it took a few tries to get him to look in the right part of the index. We live on Brittany Drive, he was convinced Brittany should appear in the V’s. I finally asked to see the index, flipped to the B’s and found Brittany right away. We turned around and headed back, finally arriving at our home, exhausted, sore, and ready for supper.

All our boxes sent by UPS were sitting at our door waiting for us. Inside one of them was the blow up mattress and bedding we are using to sleep on. Inside the other was some food supplies, including the makings for some vegan Queso and refried beans. I was too lazy to actually do the refried beans, so we had some corn chips, salsa, the Queso, and some black beans. Simple, filling, and tasty. I am not a big fan of blow up beds, and though this one is not too bad, it is hard to sleep well on it.

I woke at 4:30 Denton time, or 5:30 Raleigh time, had some coffee, and headed off to find Kroger’s. Kroger’s is the local IGA/Safeway/Harris Teeter. I think it is better than any one of those though, except for the lack of any heirloom tomatoes. I was able to find everything I wanted, though I did not go looking for some of the more exotic things I sometimes get. Where the K lives near TWU, there is also an Ace Hardware which allowed me to get some spare keys cut. As the taxi was leaving K’s, I saw an Indian store across the street, so I will have to stop by one day and see if it has the things we need.

Around lunch, we heard from the movers that we had to pay a little extra due to all the books we have. So, we called the taxi again and went down to a local Wachovia to get a money order. While there we had lunch at a Chinese buffet (rather boring food options for vegans, but at least there were some things I could eat), went to a Walgreen’s for some SPF stuff, and then back across the street for flowers, dust pan, and some treats for the movers when they come tomorrow.

Our taxi ride home was horrible because it did not come for over an hour. There was a mix up in the directions, and the taxi was cruising around the wrong Kroger’s (the one I went to in the morning, not the one we were at this afternoon). After getting home we met our landlady, she seems ok, but I think she is reluctant to open her wallet, ever. Supper was wonderful (roasted veggies, dry fried tofu, and the rest of the Queso).

After supper I climbed into the garden tub and had the first really wonderful bath in ages. It is big enough that I can soak one half of myself at a time! My fingers got all wrinkly and my feet are still tingling from the soaking they received. It was wonderful after a long trip and a long walk (3 miles), and a long wait in the sun this afternoon. Already I can tell that the air is much drier here than in Raleigh.

As far as the house goes, I think it will work fine. We need to deal with an ant problem, likely always will here, but that seems to be the biggest problem at the moment. As I told Carol at lunch today, I feel comfortable here, and I think I will enjoy living here. It is not NC, but it is not bad.

I have been thinking about where I will plant my garden, and I have a possible site. All I need to do now is figure out exactly what, when, and how to plant. I am going to need to do something with the front lawn as well. At the moment it looks horrid. But there will be time enough for that later.

Tomorrow morning the movers arrive, and I will be surrounded by boxes. I will likely write some more then.

Sunday

It is 4:30. Once again I wake on Raleigh time. This is not an entirely bad thing. The town is so quiet at this hour. I stepped out back and could hear a train passing through roughly a mile away. I know where it travels because I walked over the tracks yesterday. It appears to be a rather busy track.

I am pacy this morning. I have stepped out both doors, opened enough windows to get a cross breeze, and bugged both cats. I have a long time before the movers arrive, so this will be a long morning. Once they have come and gone, I will have even more stuff to do. And that stuff will last for a few weeks. Eventually, all will be done and I will be able to relax a bit, but to start with, I will be working on putting our shit back into our lives.

I keep wanting to go online, but we don’t have internet for another day and a bit.

I suppose I should dig my camera out today as I dig everything else out that is important. I will need to begin to take photos of our place and its surroundings. It is nice to sit here and listen to trains and birds. I have a decent idea of where north is in relation to where I am already. I am not able to always determine the right direction, but with some thought I can usually figure things out. Partly because I know where one highway is (running north south) and where TWU is (to my west). Those landmarks are allowing me to obtain direction, even though the airplane did its best to dislocate me.

I have traveled with three different taxi drivers in Denton, and all three have had Texan accents. I think that is more than I heard in the first three months in NC.

Some kind of bird is doing a chirp/tweet thing constantly. It seems convinced that morning should be coming along soon.

I am looking forward to having my couch and chairs once again.

Sunday night

Everything arrived on time and without any problems. So far the only thing that I have found broken is the filter funnel for the water pitcher (one of them brita thingies, thingie is my word for the evening). So far I have set up Carol’s office and put her to work on her lit review. I have set up my computer so it will be ready to zoom the intersluices, and I have set up most of the kitchen. I have 3 boxes of spices I have no idea what to do with. Carol is talking spice shelves, so when we are webbing, it may be one of the things we look at.

I feel like a recluse tonight. I have been inside all day with no contact with anyone. Not all that weird I suppose, but I am used to at least being on line and able to email. With any luck we will be back in the 21st century by noon tomorrow.

Tuesday I will need to go to Lowe’s and get some supplies, including some paint to repaint one wall. It is a deep red and we are thinking of going to a lighter, more golden color. Once the house is set up and painted and what not, I will run around with my camera and take some photos to put up.

48 hours in Texas and things are going well but I remain on Raleigh time.

Monday Morning

Coffee drips into the pot in our new place. The kitchen looks like a kitchen should. I am sitting at the kitchen table almost asleep, wishing I had been able to sleep. I woke around two and rolled and tossed for half an hour before getting up and going outside for a bit. I think I need to pull my camera out and take some photos of the outside of the house and back yard this morning.

Cable person has just left, we are back on line (and a fast line it is!). So, now it is back to work for everyone. I must admit it feels great to once again be connected.

The image at the top is our new home. Once I have fixed the interior a bit, I will likely take some more shots and post them as well.

Last full day in NC

In 56 hours I should be in Dallas. How strange is that?

Boxes boxes everywhere
nothing can be found
I drink out of a paper cup
eat off plastic-ware
and wonder what has broken
will break during the move

This is my last blog post here in Raleigh. Tonight the innertubes get deflated and will not be puffed up until Monday. I don't know how I will survive for 3.5 days without my connection to the world.

All mail is being redirected to Denton as of today.
Very little food remains in the fridge.
Kitty's eat out of plastic too.

Our ups boxes should be almost there now
how strange to think of my self in TX

Movers arrive at 8 tomorrow.
We fly out at 3:30, arrive at 5:30 (central so a three hour fly)
45 minutes by taxi to denton
then a visit round the house

Saturday I will tour the town a little, get some groceries and think about what to grow.

Sunday our boxes find us (we are not trying to hide to hard from them). I will then set up two computers so the innerwebs can find us Monday.

Monday, Innerwebs.

For the rest of the summer I will be trying to empty boxes and get myself settled in.

UNT has accepted me, so I have to begin planning my fall (really my rise as I become).

I am going to miss Raleigh. The last two years have been some of the happiest years of my life. I only hope Denton will be as pleasant.

See you all in Texas (are hon's and sweeties legally required in Texas?).