How many boxes can you live out of???

Wow.  I can't believe how much has gone on in the last three weeks.  *deep breath*  Here goes:

1. Discovered different loan people who like hubby & myself more.....more enough to give us full pre-approval and the possibility of closing on a house by July 15th.  So....
2. We made another offer on the adorable yellow house that we are now fully obsessed with.  And somehow ended up under contract after a week of back and forth.....
3. And then started doing some digging on the septic system the house is on, and whether we would be legally required to hook up to the sewer system, and then how much that would cost exactly.  You all probably know how hard it is to gather information from that from a city...the engineer sends us to the sewer guy who is on vacation, who then sends us to the health department....
4.  We weren't getting info on the septic from the owners......and then we were offered 5k to NOT do a septic inspection.  Hmmm...
5.  It became clear to us from the LACK of info (either from the owners or Health dept) that the septic was the original from...wait for it....1942.  As in there is no way it would meet modern standards, and would be at high risk of complete failure at any moment (and I've got some clear memories of helping my dad replace to top of the old metal septic tank on the island after it rusted through.....ugh).
6.  We also found out 'bout the same time that the sewer connection could cost anywhere from $12,000 to $25,000.  This probably seems expensive, but it's because the city sewer line would have to be extended up the road to the house, then the lateral line put in to the house, then whatever indoor plumbing was involved AND the septic would have to be decommissioned.  We couldn't get an itemized estimate from the city for the line extension (which is the lion's share of the cost) and thus the wide margin for cost.
7.  So, with only 14 days before our planned "move" the contract was cancelled and we were once again without housing.  Nobody better accuse me of not being spontaneous ever again!!!!
8.  In the last 10 days, we have :
 - gone to B'burg 3 times
 - had my horse transportation completely cancel 24hrs before they were to move Dax
 - nailed down a small 2bedroom apt as temp housing (although it's a year lease...more on that later)
 - got a moving truck at the last minute
 - found a storage unit for most of our crap
 - I finished up in my lab, leaving Friday night at 10:30pm on my last day.
 - have boxed up about 3/4 of our crap
 - have said more times than we can count "why do we have this much crap??"
 - celebrated our 2 year anniversary
 - begged farrier's wife to trailer Dax to B'burg, who had to travel 300miles round trip (and I got to pay for)
 - finally moved pony-butt to her new digs....after sitting on I81 for 45mins when they stopped traffic to "blast"
 - watched an amazing Blue Ridge sunset over the now empty field
 - completely freaked our dogs and cats out (poor blind Haley keeps running into all the boxes!)
 - begged some really good friends for help both packing and moving some large appliances
 - gotten hubby shipped back to b'burg for his first day of his new job tomorrow!! (he's sleeping on two camping mattresses and a sleeping bag in our empty apt)

(Sorry for the cheesy lists, but for some reason it helps me organize my thoughts and forces me to be succinct.  We'd be on page 9 of the story if not for the list!  I'm going to blame it on too much lab influence.)

So yeah, that's what's going on.  I know I complained a lot about planning the wedding, doing classes and working full time while applying to vet school but....this takes the cake.

It's too crazy to be either excited or sad...I'm just, kind of, shell-shocked.  And I'm REALLY tired of all the planning and decision making.  And I thought orchestrating a caterer and rentals and photos was tricky....it stinks when I've got to call 4 different storage places to find one that has the right sized unit available now, can fit a 24ft moving truck and doesn't charge and arm and a leg....that's after spending 45mins online doing research.  Then our truck rental turns out not to be available.

I had to sacrifice a precious day of packing to go with Dax on our trailering odyssey....seriously, my farrier and his wife and WONDERFUL people.  But between me forgetting some critical paperwork and getting stuck on 81 (pony was sitting in a big, brown metal "oven" essentially) then finally getting to the barn only to have Dax melt-down over the site of the resident mini-horse....yeah, it was an odyssey. By the way, mini-horses and tiny ponies are Dax's cryptonite - no prob with fire trucks or polo balls whizzing by her head, but show her a mini and she turns into a quivering 1300lb shotgun ready to go off at the end of the lead rope.  Of course she had the melt down in front of the barn owner/her new caretaker.  So much for my assurances that she's easy to handle.....

Horsibal-Lector fears nothing....except her own kind.

(Old picture, in her old pasture before the move with fly mask and grazing muzzle....notice the gut?)

SO tomorrow is the last day of packing, hubby picks up the rental truck Sat, we're planning on loading all day then heading to B'burg first thing Sunday.  Truck goes back Monday morning, we unpack and I head to my new lab Tuesday morning!

We are lucky we have a super chill landlord in Crozet who is letting us keep the place until July 17th, so we'll be back to pick up odds and ends, clean the place spotless (or better yet, hair-less!) and mow one last time.  I guess from then on, we'll officially be Blacksburgers, instead of Crozetians.  Mmmm, burgers....

On a completely different note, in an effort to use as little stuff in the kitchen as possible while packing, I discovered a secret of the universe.

Have you ever considered grilling....bacon?

WELL, not only did I consider it, I did it and it is DAMN GOOD!!!  And not only is the bacon smoky-crispy-yummy, my house is also grease free and there's not splatter or dishes!  Now I realize that one must have the right equipment....We've got a small Weber with a heavy duty grate (think wide metal slats to support the bacon).  And it does cook faster than one might expect....I had a few extra-crispy specimens that went to the dogs while I was perfecting my bacon-grill timing.  But talk about easy and tasty!!  I'll have to admit that the high point for me was not having my towels smell like bacon for the next two days.  Current home has no vent over the stove what-so-ever,  so every time I've cooked bacon, the entire place smells like cold grease for days.  It's nasty.  But now....oh, it's a whole new world of bacon-inspired cooking!!  I don't know, maybe everybody else has heard of this, but I hadn't and I think it was a stroke of brilliance!

Well, I've wasted enough packing time....this was supposed to be my dinner break, but it got slightly extended.  Please be patient with me, as it'll probably be more than a week before I post again.

Since this experience has taken the cake for craziest of my life, I leave you with.....cake.  Technically it's the cake I left my lab with, but...whatever.  So much for witty word-play :-P

Super quick update

It's past my bedtime, but wanted to give a heads up - still alive, still not sure where I'm going to live in two weeks.  Hubby and I are back in negotiation over the little yellow house...it's a long story which will be told when there is more time and I'm not yawning at my computer.  Hopefully we will officially be under contract and having inspections done this week.  The contract says closing will be July 15th, and if all goes straightforward with the inspections, we'll probably make that date.  Until the 15th, we'll be storing our stuff at the house in Crozet, probably boarding the animules and staying in an extended-stay place in Blacksburg.  Wee!!  Life is never dull!

This upcoming week is my last at work.  I'm both sad and relieved, as it's been hard to focus on experiments while obsessing over buying our first house, moving, and starting a new program.  While there are things I'm not going to miss (like giving mice medication at 9pm on a Sunday, for instance) there is so much more that is wonderful.  I can't imagine finding another group of better people to work with *sigh*  Honestly, my new lab seems like it's going to be great, but it's hard when the bar is set so high to begin with.

On a more fun note, Happy Father's day to my dear old Dad and my step-Dad, and to all the other wonderful dads out there!

Pictures finally

So here's a random assortment of pics I've collected....just some nice visuals from early summer in Crozet.

Blueberries from our bush!

 Ah, nature's bounty......

Haley

Ol' crazy eye shows off her new "trim"...

Mr. Toad

This guy was the size of my palm!!

The Sam

"I kill you."

Needless to say the shaves/trims did not all go over equally well.  

Craziness and housing...oh wait, same thing

So hubby and I have not sat idly by the last two weeks in the search for housing.  While many of my dear readers know the story, here's the break-down:
 1. We house hunt with our amazingly hard working, friendly, knowledgable and responsible agent.
2. We find house we love for cheap (i.e. the little yellow house)
3. We make offer on the little yellow house.
4. Things get complicated b/c it's on a grandfathered septic within city limits.
5. We spend time hashing details, possibilities, small forests of paperwork.
6. We find out financing isn't approved b/c we haven't started our new jobs.  We MUST have pay stubs as proof of income/employment.  We were told a written offer letter with acceptance would work.
7. We return to scrambling to find short term rental that will allow four pets.

So basically we're still planning on buying a house - financially and personally it makes all sorts of sense.  We're not in a huge rush, but want to do it in the next 6 months so we can be settled and be putting money towards a mortgage rather than rent.  But we've got to have our butts in Blacksburg for at least a month before we can qualify for a mortgage.  The mortgage guy had everything else processed, so we know we're in the clear and will be approved as soon as we get those pesky pay stubs!  We're headed back down this Sunday to hunt further...hubs has found some promising leads.

Sorry for the lack of updates last weekend...I managed to catch a frickin cold.  In May.  In the middle of a 90* heat wave.  (My immune system hates me.)

Everybody keep yer fingers crossed we find SOME place to live (that preferably doesn't charge by the night....)

PS: the other rentals we've looked at have all been 1yr long leases, and the one super cute one that seemed promising definitely turned out not to be.  Plus the landlord wasn't happy with 4 pets.  I'm starting to consider not "counting" Cato.  I mean, no one else ever sees her....she's like a ghost.  A big, hairy, matted ghost that gobbles cat food and stinks up the litter.  (she's next on the shave list....)

The land of the furries....

We're out of rawhides.  Zack does not understand the concept.  He's definitely convinced that he can will them into being.  But he can't.  He can only will me into driving over to Harris Teeter and picking up some.  Which he usually does.  Darn the adorable nub wags (Zack has a docked tail) and sweet-talk (Zack also "talks".  I've got to get video of this sometime.)

Haley just wants to snuggle.  Unless there is a ball, in which case she doesn't care if you have a porterhouse steak in your hands JUST THROW THE BALL!!!  Haley hasn't changed much.

Only bummer is that both of the pups end up limping around the house after a fetch session these days.  We've been limiting the fetching and doing more trail walking at Mint Springs, the park across the street.  And of course by "we" I mean the hubby...but that's for another post.

Pony-butt is ok.  She will sell her soul to you if you'll just take off the g***amn grazing muzzle.  She will shove it in your face so her request is loud and clear.   She'll rub it up and down your back if you turn away.  She will stand at her gate and glare balefully.  But I have a heart of steel and will not give in, as she's holding her rather high weight perfectly steady, even with the muzzle on.  Lucky for her horse cookies do fit through the tiny hole in the bottom.

Bad news:  A couple days after a longer ride to Mint Springs, during which Dax was very happy and forward, I put her on the longe line.  She was slightly lame on her bad leg (the one with the cyst).  It wasn't hugely obvious, but clearly there.  Then, this past week the farrier came to trim her hooves.  When a horse has to pick up a single front foot, most of their weight is transferred to the diagonal hind foot.  Well, she was fussy when he was working on her right front, meaning she wasn't thrilled with adding weight to her left hind leg - the bad one.  Of course I'm super bummed about this, but a good friend (and horsey expert) mentioned Dax's 'lameness" could partly be due to her favoring of that leg for so long.  Getting muscles and tendons back into shape in a way they haven't been used in a while will certainly make one sore.  Adding on top of that favoring a particular side....it's hard to say.  The really unfortunate part of all of this is I've simply got to do the very slow, easy rehab and push her until it's clear she's truly lame on that leg or not.

As of now, with moving to Blacksburg seriously looming now, Dax is on extended recovery/vacation.  This is actually not me just being a slacker - I found a peer-reviewd publication on the efficacy of steroid injection into bone cysts compared with surgery.  In the paper, they evaluated the horses after 6 months, not 60 days.  The 6 month mark for Dax is in the middle of June, probably right around when she's moving to her new digs.  Anyway, so factor in some settling in time, and she'll be ready to try riding again, with the benefit of being at a barn with an arena and a 1/2mile grass "track" for exercise.  Speaking of the new digs, the place is called the Stable at Hoge Pasture, and they've got a website if you've got time to kill: http://www.hogepasture.com/Home.html

Oh, and I shaved the dogs and Sam just in time for a serious heat wave.  They are sooooo much happier, and we have the bonus of laughing our butts off constantly.  I will share pics as soon as I can find the cable for my camera :-)