Category Archives: Diary

Escrow closed!

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“What we call the beginning is often the end
And to make an end is to make a beginning.
The end is where we start from.”

~ T.S. Elliott

It was weird waking up this morning on someone else’s property. This will be the status quo in the months to come but this morning is a bit different. The property that belongs to someone else looks just like ours … emptier and cleaner than usual, no doubt … but the “grandpa” tree and the twin firs … the beautiful rock wall and lovely creekside decks … the cozy hexagon treehouse with triangle skylights … well, it all looks like home.

But it isn’t. And it hasn’t felt like home in quite some time. We have been emotionally separating from it for months and tomorrow the break will be complete when we drive “off the mountain” without looking back.

There’s more to write… about the wonderful neighbors who have helped us through this transition (Trux and Vaiva, you are the BEST!) … about the sweet folks who fell in love with this place and whose future is here … and of course about the adventures to come. But for now, it’s off to work for me. And off to the dump and the storage yet one more time for Steve. Then one more night here, and a seemingly endless number of “final” tasks in the morning, and then our new life begins. Stay tuned …

First Dog Show and Camping in LA

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It’s been so long. Where do I start? As I write we are camped alongside the beach in Santa Barbara. I’m perched up on the bed with Dottie licking my legs while I type. Ginger and Noche watch Steve’s every move as he prepares to go outside. Grayson is quiet in his post-surgical pen on the lower bunk. We have just experienced our first dog show.



It would have been more fun if Dottie had won but the Danish judge awarded her second place, behind her sister, Lexi. She did receive an “excellent” rating so she is now officially “breeding approved”. Meeting all the farmdogs and their people was fun, as was visiting with my cousin, Jeff, after not seeing him for 15 years. On the flip side, showing Dottie was nerve-wracking, and “camping” in LA leaves something to be desired. We spent three nights in the back of a parking lot next to a freeway soundwall. At least it was private and we could run the generator guilt-free as you couldn’t hear it over the freeway noise.

Our last night in the LA area, Steve found us a regional park campground not far from where he grew up in Corona. We had an amazing amount of space, with a large grassy field on one side, empty campsites on either end, a vast valley between us and city lights, and a nearby fake lake. Except for the flies and smell from the adjacent dairy operation, it was wonderful, and quite unexpected in such proximity to LA. We’re headed home today so I can go back to work and Grayson can see the surgeon for a check-up and suture removal.