With our new house (new to us) we weighed the option of buying furniture and ALL. THE. STUFF. Or bringing up our own stuff from FL. Numbers were crunched and we opted to bring up our stuff—- Lord knows we have plenty of it—-and fill in the gaps later if needed.
The only way to do that (before we get snowy up here) was to have Hubs fly home and rent a U-Haul and make the slog back north to deliver it to the new-to-us house. Ooof. Beast mode activate.
Flights on Thanksgiving were pretty reasonable, so off he went. Arriving in time to grab a visit and some turkey with his mom and then home to pack the house with our youngest, who is also a beast like her daddy.
Friday morning was load ‘er up and hit the road.
And then. The long drive north. Very long. And very dark and windy for the last leg. The only way to get through it…..is to go through it. So he did.
And now, we unpack. Paint. Decorate for Christmas. Find homes for everything. And settle in. And start the newest NH chapter.
Swapped out a very light “mint green” for a neutral “shark”. Here I am with my supervisor whilst cutting in on the walls before hitting the baseboards and windows with a high gloss white. Painting. Always satisfying when complete. Never in the middle of it.
Thankful to have spent time with our family earlier this month in Thanksgiving. As we are so far from everyone right now, the time spent together is that much more precious.
Prepping the buffet line…..
Thankful that we are one step closer to making this a permanent move. (At least for me…..Hubs is now a resident with no plans to move back to FL. I still need to try on winter). We are off to a solid start!!
Thankful for a God who loves us so much he makes our wildest wishes come true, even when we can’t begin to imagine how to get there. He continues to amaze me.
Thankful. So very thankful.
Sweet backyard views, right through the Christmas tree farm! I spy a mountain!
I have anticipated this moment from the second we knew we were heading to New Hampshire. SNOW! I purchased my big, long, warm Land’s End coat, snow shoes, variety of socks, leggings and so on. Well. This week, it finally happened and I am ready to report on my experience.
The day before it snowed, I tried out my big coat; I was so warm. In just a T-shirt and leggings underneath, I was almost too warm—and it was 19degrees!! I have full faith this jacket will run the victorious race once “real winter” arrives.
So. First legit snow day and we had about 1-2” depending on where you were standing. It snowed during the night and we woke to a blanket of pure white—it was so pretty. I hated to go out and ruin the perfect canvas, but we have a doggo so out we went.
Bandit was a hoot. Sniffed, pawed, dug a bit. And then Zoomies were activated. This is great news for our short-haired FL dog. I went ahead and ordered him a 2nd sweater though, for “real winter”.
By the time I had to go anywhere, the roads were plowed and salted and driving was easy—although I did go slower than usual and this week we will put on snow tires, which will give me some more peace of mind.
We did take a walk and honestly, it was comfortable. I was layered (tshirt, long shirt, hoodie and rain coat—which is amazing at blocking wind and fleece-lined leggings under some long pants) with hat and gloves and it was awesome. Crisp. Glorious. These are good test days, boding well for skiing and snow-shoeing! Until you are in it, it’s hard to predict how you’ll do.
Currently, it’s still pretty cold and the 10-day forecast shows us in the highs at low 40+/- and lows at 20+/- with snow possible again next weekend. So here we are, dipping our toe in and getting ready to plunge full force into my first New England winter!! Ready or not, here we go!
Bandit and I took a hike this week on part of the Sunapee Ragged Kearsarge Greenway. My knee was (thankfully) feeling better but I wanted to play it a little safer and explore some of the beautiful areas the Hubby has explored.
It actually works out nicely, he hikes it when I am working and reports back places I’d enjoy.
It was a cool day and I had all the layers, water, map, trekking poles, etc. etc. so off we went. This part (section 4) passes through some beautiful farm land and I drove the first mile or so down the dirt road to the Class VI road.
Section 4. I parked somewhere around this star.
I had a feeling of foreboding as we drove in, which I promptly tucked away because it was a gorgeous bluebird day and I was pumped to see the area. A beautiful lake on the way in, miles of mountains as a backdrop to the trees, I was ready for digging in and soaking up the day.
Greetings from the big rock at the beginning of the road. A nod to the arts camp located on this road.
It was quite stunning. We passed 2 lovely old farms—“Lil Snowbound” and “Snowbound”—named according to the old practice of not plowing smaller roads in the winter thus leaving the homes snowbound. Blue skies, a carpet of leaves with no end, several inches thick and crisp air.
Attempt at showing how deep the leaves were
I am happy to report that I was clothed appropriately with multiple layers and my fleece lined leggings (THE bomb) and felt quite cozy in the 42degree weather. Of course, it helped that the prior day’s winds weren’t present!
Approximately 10 minutes into the hike I felt (and heard) something off to my right in the woods. Bandit also stopped and looked. The woods are straight sticks at this time of year and I looked and could see nothing. Now. This was a SIGNIFICANT “thump” followed by rapid retreating. But still. There was NO thing. I looked up, down, back, forward. Nada.
I mean really. Literally no where to hide a large thump. that sky tho’…..and the mountains in the background. So amazing!!!
Considering that Bandit didn’t seem too concerned—-no hair on end or growling and that whatever the thump it was going AWAY from us, we soldiered on. In reality, it was probably a chubby chipmunk. One never knows.
Making our way through the leaves and down the trail, Bandit kept stopping and turning around staring at the trail. Again. And again. And again. Now. He always does this, but is generally off leash. There was a truck parked at the trailhead so I kept him leashed until we were a little further down the trail, but after the “large thump” heard earlier, my mind started to play. And I couldn’t shut it off. Even after I finished the Rosary.
Peaceful and yet………..
After about 15 minutes of this walk, stop, stare, walk, stop, stare I stopped. Took some deep breaths and had a mini discussion with myself weighing my initial foreboding, the thump and Bandit’s kooky behavior and decided to go with my gut and end the hike.
I was disappointed but am learning to trust my instincts. Still not perfect (probably never will be!) but when I listen and act on my gut, it generally pays off. There’s no way to know what calamity I avoided by turning around—-maybe nothing at all—-probably nothing at all—but sometimes you have to trust.
On the way back to the car, as my trekking poles clinked their way down the path, once again, we felt/heard another “thump” and retreat with nary a sight to be seen. Co-workers say probably a moose, that a bear or deer would be quieter. I think I’d see a dang moose!!! Either way……hike ended. Next hike to be with a partner because I’m just a little scaredy-cat. And I’m ok with that.
Are we ever going to do away with Daylight Savings time? Twice a year this nonsense……although this year in New England I am in serious shock——it gets dark up here at 4 freaking thirty!!!!
And dark is DARK! I never fully appreciated the expression, “dark as night” until now. High beams in the car are pretty much on (with exception of oncoming, sporadic traffic) in the mornings and on/off at night—more traffic. So, yeah. Dark. As. Night. It’s a thing.
But I will say the morning sunrise is spectacular!
