House closed today around 3PM with no problems. We're free! Got our new DLs, got our new plates, tomorrow we'll get our official Chincoteague Island stickers. I asked the inspection guy today "What is the sticker for, maybe parking?" He said the stickers are for letting the Town of Chincoteague extract money from you. If you live here, but you don't buy one, the cops here get to give you a ticket.
Anyway, the place is daily getting less cluttered (mostly due to EB's work). There is a bit left, but we can walk around now. Despite fall coming on, it is still sunny and fairly warm during the days. The view continues to be marvelous. We've been so tied up with the closing and the cleanup that we are really looking forward to a walk on the beach tomorrow.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Chincoteague Waterfront Park
Unbelievably, we got the van unloaded this morning! We rewarded ourselves by visiting a little festival at the Chincoteague Waterfront Park off Main Street. From this park, which is quite new and nice, you can view the bascule bridge now in use to get on/off the island.
Chincoteague is still a working waterman's island. Here is a little tug used around the harbor and waterways.
Here are a couple of working boats tied up near the park. In earlier days they used to stink up the place, but somehow they have been sanitized. Or, maybe the wind was just blowing right today.
Marsh Island is just across the channel. When the bascule is dismantled, an offshoot of the new bridge will connect to it.
The festival had free food and drink served up by volunteers.
There were also lots of activities for kids. There was also a Christian band, and a set of Christian puppets singing gospel to the tune of the Beach Boys.
This is Southern Baptist country, for sure.
Escape from New Jersey - the final chapter
Thursday night at 5:30PM the dude who was to fix the septic distribution box finally showed up, two weeks and a bunch of appointments late. Esther was frantic and stressed. As he and a buddy worked, it grew dark and buggy. At 8:30PM he bonged the front door, took me out in the yard, and explained how he had just broken the new distribution box. They appear to be made of concrete, but are apparently made of cheese! More stress, as we were to leave on Friday! We had already postponed our trip a day to make sure he was on the job. The buddy promised to come back and complete the job on Friday, though.
We packed up the last load Friday morning and motored past Comcast (returning our cable gear), continuing on down the NJ Turnpike toward Chincoteague. The last load proved a bit more than we had expected, underestimation being our watchword so far. It looked like this:
I really don't like driving when I can't see properly out the back, but we were stuck. There was ridiculous amount of crap, and this after we had thrown away, given away, FreeCycled away, and dumpstered away a boatload of other crap. The nooks and crannies of the nooks and crannies all had stuff in them.
Even Esther was packed in. It was so full around her and on the floor that she could only get one foot on the floor of the car. Getting out at the pit stop was even difficult. Every time we fastened seat belts we had to pick up a bag between our seats.
We got some good news on the machine as soon as we landed. Our buyers' house had closed early, and they were in the process of moving. It seems there are no obstacles to our closing, but neither of us is counting chickens until next Wednesday.
Today we got more good news. The hole is closed and the job is done.
We packed up the last load Friday morning and motored past Comcast (returning our cable gear), continuing on down the NJ Turnpike toward Chincoteague. The last load proved a bit more than we had expected, underestimation being our watchword so far. It looked like this:
I really don't like driving when I can't see properly out the back, but we were stuck. There was ridiculous amount of crap, and this after we had thrown away, given away, FreeCycled away, and dumpstered away a boatload of other crap. The nooks and crannies of the nooks and crannies all had stuff in them.
Even Esther was packed in. It was so full around her and on the floor that she could only get one foot on the floor of the car. Getting out at the pit stop was even difficult. Every time we fastened seat belts we had to pick up a bag between our seats.
We got some good news on the machine as soon as we landed. Our buyers' house had closed early, and they were in the process of moving. It seems there are no obstacles to our closing, but neither of us is counting chickens until next Wednesday.
Today we got more good news. The hole is closed and the job is done.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Tick, tick
Closing is on 30-Sep-2009. We couldn't be happier. We'll sign papers next week so we won't even need to go to the closing. In the mean time we have 1 (one) more load of crap to transport. We've had dinner with some friends in the last couple of weeks. We'll miss them and others, as well.
This move convinces me that Esther has it right - do not put so much furniture in a room that you get congestion. We have thrown and given away a ton of stuff in the run-up to this point.There is still a pile down here in Chincoteague that we need to give away. Esther is doing quite a bit of wizardry finding places for our crap. She is quite amazing at it. I don't have the patience for that, so I try to supply schlepping power.
We had a great walk on the beach today, maybe a couple of miles in the sunshine. Temperatures are 75 or so down here and the water is still warm enough for swimming. I told Esther that "this is starting to seem like retirement!"
Here is a volunteer in the lawn.
This move convinces me that Esther has it right - do not put so much furniture in a room that you get congestion. We have thrown and given away a ton of stuff in the run-up to this point.There is still a pile down here in Chincoteague that we need to give away. Esther is doing quite a bit of wizardry finding places for our crap. She is quite amazing at it. I don't have the patience for that, so I try to supply schlepping power.
We had a great walk on the beach today, maybe a couple of miles in the sunshine. Temperatures are 75 or so down here and the water is still warm enough for swimming. I told Esther that "this is starting to seem like retirement!"
Here is a volunteer in the lawn.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Lazy Saturday in Onancock
Onancock Harborfest was this Saturday. We took off to wander around a little and have a bit of lunch. We had been here before a couple of times. Once, we took the ferry to Tangier Island for the day. Another time we just came to see the harbor and have a lunch.
We were surprised at the size and enthusiasm of the festival. It started down the sides of Marsh Street with a series of antique automobiles. They were really well done. Then we strolled down to the waterfront where the rest of the festival resided. I did not take any pictures there, but there was a fair bit of activity:
The team was just unwinding the lane sides for the rubber ducks. The lanes were quite long. The ducks do not move very fast, though, as they just drift on the water.
As the lanes unfolded, we chatted with people on the bridge. Esther and I both discovered transplanted New Jerseyans. Both sets of people independently mentioned how happy they were to get rid of NJ taxes. Big surprise! They also mentioned how happy they were down there on the Delmarva Peninsula.
Meanwhile, the escort kayaks gathered, fooling around doing Eskimo rolls, etc.
While we all talked and got acquainted, the ducks were residing in a big front-end loader at the other end of the bridge.
People contribute a couple of bucks for each duck so the town can do something with it (not sure what - no one explained that part). Anyway, the locals all seemed to know each other. It seemed to be a happy gathering.
Everybody waited along the bridge to see the ducks released. Slowly the loader crept to the release point, then tipped its bucket.
Unfortunately, my camera crapped out just before I could get the release and race. Too bad, it was kind of interesting. Anyway, a good time was had by all, but especially by the kids.
We were surprised at the size and enthusiasm of the festival. It started down the sides of Marsh Street with a series of antique automobiles. They were really well done. Then we strolled down to the waterfront where the rest of the festival resided. I did not take any pictures there, but there was a fair bit of activity:
- beer tent
- arm wrestling competition
- local vendor booths
- food boths
- climbing wall
- craft show
- music tent
The team was just unwinding the lane sides for the rubber ducks. The lanes were quite long. The ducks do not move very fast, though, as they just drift on the water.
As the lanes unfolded, we chatted with people on the bridge. Esther and I both discovered transplanted New Jerseyans. Both sets of people independently mentioned how happy they were to get rid of NJ taxes. Big surprise! They also mentioned how happy they were down there on the Delmarva Peninsula.
Meanwhile, the escort kayaks gathered, fooling around doing Eskimo rolls, etc.
While we all talked and got acquainted, the ducks were residing in a big front-end loader at the other end of the bridge.
People contribute a couple of bucks for each duck so the town can do something with it (not sure what - no one explained that part). Anyway, the locals all seemed to know each other. It seemed to be a happy gathering.
Everybody waited along the bridge to see the ducks released. Slowly the loader crept to the release point, then tipped its bucket.
Unfortunately, my camera crapped out just before I could get the release and race. Too bad, it was kind of interesting. Anyway, a good time was had by all, but especially by the kids.
Wednesday, September 02, 2009
Getting more real by the minute
A guy from my former workplace just came by to collect some of our furniture. He will take it to a church in Pennsylvania. He'll be back next week for the rest. The house is starting to look very bare. There are still boxes around, along with a couple of Esther's favorite pieces of furniture. We will take those with us soon to Chincoteague. The property looks great. We have had minimal misery from the inspections. It looks like maybe sometime early in September we'll get to close the sale.
The other day Esther asked me if I would miss the house. I told her "No" very quickly. Houses are not much fun, other than the life that goes on there. They always need something. I'll miss the kitchen a bit, as will Esther. A lot of bread was baked there. A lot of dinner was prepared there by the family. It has been a great place for sharing and laughing. Other than that, meh! All I require is a good bed and a strong shower. I can be happy with that and a place to play.
The other day Esther asked me if I would miss the house. I told her "No" very quickly. Houses are not much fun, other than the life that goes on there. They always need something. I'll miss the kitchen a bit, as will Esther. A lot of bread was baked there. A lot of dinner was prepared there by the family. It has been a great place for sharing and laughing. Other than that, meh! All I require is a good bed and a strong shower. I can be happy with that and a place to play.
A lovely day in Manhattan with Granny Crack Whore
We have been taking loads of stuff (furniture, mostly) over to our daughter living in Spanish Harlem. It's not a bad neighborhood, but not great, either. It's kind of a slice of life, New York style. Anyway, today we took a few things over on a glorious, cool, sunny, fall morning. The sky was blue, the temperature was perfect, and the air was dry. We had a nice talk with our daughter, met her puppy, then took a walk to get some lunch. We stopped at a cantina a couple of blocks away. It was a decent looking place, and the menu was good. After ordering we had a pleasant lunch, discussing opportunities to get together after our upcoming move.
We sat by an open door right next to the sidewalk. Just as we were finishing up, Granny Crack Whore showed up. I have to assume she was a neighborhood person. Anyway, there she was, singing to herself and dancing just outside the restaurant door. Then she started getting louder and louder, shouting across the street at someone. After a bit of that she picked up her shirt and danced around with her titties hanging out. It was nice and warm, so I'm sure that felt good. They were Granny titties, though, so they looked pretty droopy. The dancing was not very energetic, so there was no swinging and swaying going on.
We could sense her getting closer and closer as we paid our bill and got ready to go. Finally, just before we got up, she came through the open door to our table, put her hand down on the table, bent over, and kissed my arm. Then she began speaking Spanish to me. I didn't understand, but it sounded rather warm-hearted and accepting. Esther and my daughter were not quite so sure, though. So we got up and left, just as the owner went outside and began trying to clear Grannie and her titties out of the restaurant. I heard a few shouts of "Maricon" as we walked away. Granny was resisting undressed.
We sat by an open door right next to the sidewalk. Just as we were finishing up, Granny Crack Whore showed up. I have to assume she was a neighborhood person. Anyway, there she was, singing to herself and dancing just outside the restaurant door. Then she started getting louder and louder, shouting across the street at someone. After a bit of that she picked up her shirt and danced around with her titties hanging out. It was nice and warm, so I'm sure that felt good. They were Granny titties, though, so they looked pretty droopy. The dancing was not very energetic, so there was no swinging and swaying going on.
We could sense her getting closer and closer as we paid our bill and got ready to go. Finally, just before we got up, she came through the open door to our table, put her hand down on the table, bent over, and kissed my arm. Then she began speaking Spanish to me. I didn't understand, but it sounded rather warm-hearted and accepting. Esther and my daughter were not quite so sure, though. So we got up and left, just as the owner went outside and began trying to clear Grannie and her titties out of the restaurant. I heard a few shouts of "Maricon" as we walked away. Granny was resisting undressed.
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