Gary’s post: Another morning post. We have to stop meeting like this. Yesterday was an interesting day emotionally. We closed on our house and are no longer homeowners. Funny thing is what the event does to you emotionally. Although Washington has a LOT of problems, socially and politically that don’t agree with us – we still have a lot of roots there. After living there for 8 years, our kids are there, grandkids are there and lots of good friends. And it has a lot of entertainment there. You don’t realize how much you miss that until it’s gone. For me, I was pretty depressed yesterday. It’s difficult you start to reevaluate your life decisions and wonder if you could have done things differently with a better result. Hard to know and a “rat-hole” that you can let yourself fall into. You only have one life – so you do the best you can with it. We’re in a good place, just different and it’ll take some time to adjust. Going from a large metropolis to a very small town – that will take some adjustment. Crazy thing is, I’ve lived here before.
Another topic, living in a trailer. I can’t see how people do this for long term. And to live in a van, that’s insane. Yesterday I emptied the waste tanks for the 4th time in two weeks. I need to figure out how to avoid this task – it’s stinky, smelly and no fun. I have to dump it into a smaller tank, transport it to a dump site and empty. Rinse and repeat 3 more time. GIANT PAIN IN THE ARSE! Then there’s the whole small space thing. While I LOVE MY WIFE, it’s still difficult to live in a super small space even though she’s gone most of the day. Then there’s working from the trailer. While I did work from home for 15 years, somehow, it’s different now. I think it’s knowing that I’m in a place with no friends, no immediate access to my kids, no ability to shop close by and nothing I can work on because my workshop is completely filled up with crap. It’s really the impact of knowing that you’re living in a limited space for a long time with no ability to maintain your regular routine. A new reality for sure.
Alright, enough complaining. Just interesting observations with this new reality. So today will be interesting. I’m going to try and get my New Mexico driver’s license. I’ve had one before, so we’ll see how this goes in our small town. I’m going to get the “real id” version since they don’t recognize Global Entry or any of the TSA issued id down here. Ridiculous. Then next week, we’ll attempt to register the truck. The I’m supposed to meet an electrician to estimate what it will cost to add another 50-amp outlet to charge our new EV. I’d really like to figure out how to split our current circuit, add a load monitoring device so that the EV charges at night while the RV isn’t using all the power. That would be optimal and save a lot of money.
To solve the RV wastewater problem, I’m meeting with our septic tank company on Monday and we’re going to sort out if it makes sense to install a 1000 gallon holding tank (which gets pumped) or go ahead and install our septic system for the house and use it. Either way it won’t be cheap.
The electric gate work starts next Monday, so that will be good. I just need to get money moved to pay for it. That’s a whole different story. I need to work with our investment people to make that process quicker or at least more convenient.
We’ll see if the foundation gets pinned today. Our general contractor has been sick for the last few days, so we need her to get well. Hopefully we can meet with here soon and sort out the budget. I still don’t have well water hydrant installed, so that project will be front and center next week along with getting the workshop more organized so I can get a garage door opener installed and some working space. The workshop is going to be a big project. I need to insulate it, wallboard and make it climate controlled so it’s usable all four seasons. That will keep me busy in retirement. And then there’s spreading gravel to keep the mud and dust down along with trying to restore the pasture to something reasonable. More work for after that house is built.
Enough for today. Need to get started and ready to deal with the local MVD people! Hopefully it goes smoothly. Should be a story in this somewhere!
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