Moving - Homeless

 Once we closed on the sale of our house, we were homeless.  Well, we had a home that we were going to move into, but it was being rented out for the summer.  With no place to go, this gave us the freedom to travel.

Our first stop, Oak Park, IL.  Yea, not too far from where we lived.  We stuck around for a few grad parties and last minute goodbyes.

We traveled through many states, including, Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado and Wisconsion.  We made sure not to drive through Illinois on our return.

During our homelessness, we realized that we were able to live on a minimal number of things (clothing, shoes, etc.) It made us wonder what we packed into our storage units.

Some sites we took in:

The Corn Palace

Wall Drug Store

80Ft Dinosaur

Mt. Rushmore

The Badlands

The Black Hills

Deadwood - Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hickok

Devil's Tower

Breckenridge

Snowmass Mountain

Boulder

Buena Vista

We ended our homelessness by picking up My Weird Dog Pippen (earlier than planned) and drove to our new home.

National Tea Day

 Today is National Tea Day in the United Kingdom.  A day for Britain to celebrate it's love for this hot, steeped beverage. It's so loved that they consume over 60 billion cups of tea a year!  That's a lot of tea!

Every year, the Britains host a "Fes-Tea-Val" where they showcase new teas, bringing together tea drinkers, servers and the entire tea industry.  This year's slogan is, "Brew more. Do more." 

Here is a list on how my fellow tea infusiasts can celebrate #NationalTeaDay: 

Host an afternoon tea (it is National Afternoon Tea month, after all)

Visit the festival.

Learn proper tea decorum (in case you get invited to afternoon tea with King Charles)

Here are some tea etiquette tips, in case you find yourself with tea royalty.

Dispensing the tea:

The host should pour the tea for every guest.  Make sure to leave the teapot on the table with the spout facing the host.

Dunking:

Dunking a biscuit in your tea is not appropriate.

Food:

A tiered cake stand is the appropriate serving piece.  The upper tier is filled with scones, the middle has sandwiches and the bottom has treats and pastries.  Food must be eaten in this order: sandwiches, scones and then desserts.

Too bad I'm not in Boston to celebrate this holiday.  

I think I'll go make myself a cup of tea!

How will you celebrate today?

Χριστός Ανέστη

 Happy Easter!  Καλό Πάσχα!

We are celebrating Greek Orthodox Easter at our house.   

Xristos anesti

ek nekron,

thanato thanaton patisas,

ke tis en tis mnimasin zoin xarisamenos

Christ is risen

from the dead,

having beaten Death by [his own] death

and having given the gift of life to those in the graves.

Christos Anesti. (Χριστός Ανέστη)  (Christ has Risen)

Alithos Anesti.  ( Aληθώς ανέστη!)  (He has risen indeed)

My Weird Dog - Takes a Vacation

 I thought I would continue our conversation about our move.

We are two days from having to be completely out of our house.  We still have some loose ends to tie up, but first we need to pack up My Weird Dog Pippen and take him to his vacation destination:  N's house.  A lovely three hour drive.

A little background on why we were forced to waited until the last minute for this transfer.  We planned our move very carefully, down to every last detail.

Getting rid of stuff

Fixing things around the house

Packing boxes

Parties (Easter celebration)

Graduation

Drop off Pippen

First moving truck

Selling off stuff

Pack up remaining items

Second moving truck

Pack up car and get out of town

Before that first moving truck, Pippen was scheduled to "go on vacation."  We discussed this with N back in January.  He agreed to take Pippen.  There were monthly reminders of his commitment.  A week before the drop off, N tells us that he can't take him at that time.  He had other plans.  Yes. He agreed five months ago to our plan, but I guess things change.....

Luckily, RT and I are pretty flexible.  We had to move our dog drop off right after the second moving truck.  Sadly, this required My Weird Dog Pippen to watch (from the deck) people enter our house and take all of our stuff.  This did not set right with Pippen.  It became worse because he saw RT and I leave with the truck full of stuff.  Luckily (or unluckily, depending on who you ask) he had B to hang with him until our return.

When we returned, we packed Pippen's belongings, popped some CBD in him, loaded him in the car and started on our three hour journey.  He was happy to see N but not happy when RT and I left.

Pippen had quite the adventure.  N brought him camping.  Turns out Pippen loves camping.  He loved being inside the tent and was always sad when they took it down.  He even tolerated car rides (with out being drugged).  That last one is huge since he is a pain to travel with in the car.

N called us with updates on Pippen and his antics.  There were also photos and videos of mischief Pippen.  About two weeks in, N called and asked when we were picking Pippen up.  Not a good sign since N signed up for a four month visit.

After our vacation, we decided to stop and pick up Pippen on our way to our new home.