The Learning Curve

We're almost at the three week mark now in our new house.  Actually, we left Normal sometime around July 11.

I saw this truck in Tucson last week and had to snap a quick photo because it looked like the tableau of my life since early July.  I know my head's in that pile somewhere!

It's August 27th and we're still mired with settling.  All the boxes in the garage are unpacked.  I was feeling pretty smug about that until I walked into the casita on Sunday and realized it's crammed full of unpacked boxes and furniture that won't fit in the house.

It's a learning curve out here in the sticks.  We went to the nearest post office yesterday to send our passport renewals by Priority Mail.  It was closed at 11:00 a.m. on a Monday!  Say what?  I need to take a photo of the post office because it's straight out of the set from Little House on the Prairie -- a little wooden shed.  No brick and mortar, and no drive up mail drop.  Being city slickers, we decided to drive on into civilization (another 15 miles towards Tucson) to find a post office open for business.

In the process, we found the Chinese food we'd been craving.  The joint was packed and the food was better than the neighborhood carryout we left in Chandler!  I don't even know the name of the place because I was too busy eating (Dragon something or other), but my brain has a homing device for good Chinese food and we'll be back.

 One of my favorite things about our new life is that we are out in the sticks.  This is our backyard.

I zoomed beyond the dirt for this photo.  A landscape company will be fixing the yard (dirt) in late September or October.   I love living with no walls where we can see the approaching storms

                                                                       and gorgeous sunrises.

The learning curve is living out here in the country.  My car stops at the grocery store automatically now on the way home to stock up.  I'm learning not to scream when I see tarantulas in the front courtyard.  Craig gets a bucket and a broom and releases them in the rough behind our house.  So far the rattlesnakes haven't visited, but we got a neighborhood notice yesterday to be especially vigilant now because the critters become more active as the temperatures start to cool.  I did not know that.  I'm waiting for October when they crawl back into their holes and don't emerge until March.

The big perk for Craig is that he has a golf course right in the backyard.  My perk is that Tucson with all its funky shopping areas and art galleries is just a short jaunt down the road.

We live in Duck Dynasty . . .

 but this world is just 20 or 30 minutes down the highway!

My laptop is on the verge of collapse and needs to be sent away for a new battery and overhaul, so don't be alarmed if I go away for awhile.  I'll be back!  I still have photos of our April trip to Isla Mujeres that I need to revisit.

Manana!