The dogs are ready to move the household; the cat, not so much, really

No word yet on a closing date, but things are ticking along.

Meanwhile, back at the old house, we are accumulating boxes, and starting to pack things up.

The cat does NOT approve of this activity.

One-word description of my "happy-place": BARN. No other words needed.

Sky's barn plans arrived in the mail yesterday, and were waiting for us in the box when we returned home from meeting with Tony the Caffeine Junkie.

It's perfect! (click the picture to enlarge it)

Very humble, really, but completely practical. We'll be able to start with just a basic shelter for horses and hay, and expand in time to make it fancier.

I can hardy wait to get started!!!

Counting chickens prior to hatching...well, LEARNING about hens, at least!

A brief update on the mortgage situation before moving on to more interesting news:

Gary the financial genius has thrown in the towel, and Tony the Caffeine Junkie has picked it up again.

TCJ is highly motivated to close the sale on our house for the following reasons:
* the highpoint seller in his office gets a reserved parking spot close to the building.
* Much of downtown Everett is under major construction, and parking is extremely scarce.
* TCJ wears shiny shoes, and you know dang well that he doesn't walk more than two blocks in those suckers unless they're handing out free quadruple lattes.

I'm thinking that those shoes are my lock for this sale. TCJ thinks we can close in about 10 days. Yup, he's motivated.

MORE INTERESTING NEWS:
Jim and I attended a very crowded lecture tonight at the Everett Public Library about Backyard Poultry Flocks. I was envisioning spraying hens with that white foamy stuff you put on Xmas trees, but apparently that was inappropriate. Hmmm.

Laura Faley, a "livestock advisor", 4-H leader and chicken enthusiast from Hidden Meadow Ranch in Mt Vernon gave us all kinds of information and tips about raising chickens for fun and food. She was very tactful with her mostly-city-folk audience, and carefully skipped over the "meat chicken" slides in her presentation. Instead, she focused on the practical aspects of chicken-keeping, including breed selection, ordering tips, care of young chicks, materials and equipment needed, and care concerns.




My young friend Henry was completely enthused by the descriptions of the Jersey Giant chickens, which grow in mere weeks from cute-fluffy-chicklets to bigger-than-a-Sheltie, until we got to the fine print. "EAT THEM????!!!!" he yelped, to the delight of his mom and the rest of the adults surrounding him.

I have a feeling that there will be long discussions this week at Henry's house about where McNuggets actually come from (you don't really want to know, trust me).


For those of us who actually read labels, the prospect of eggs laid less than 24 hours ago in the backyard by chickens with names is MUCH more appealing than those white dozens from the grocery store which can be as much as 4 months old.

Myself, I can hardly wait.

lower interest rates + banks being more careful = slow money

Our sale closure will definitely be delayed, apparently, because there is so much traffic at the banks lately. Financial institutions are behind schedule. And so, now, are we. Bah.

No word yet on how long this will take. Hopefully, not too long...our lease at the old house expires March 31st, and we've gotta be out of there. I've got a bunch of boxes packed already, and I'm ready for somebody to just hand me the key and congratulate me.

Instead, we wait.

Bah, I say, and bah yet again.

Five days left until the sale is final--keep your fingers crossed for us!