A brief timeline of recent events:

15 January 2018—Moved from Kanawha County, West Virginia to Vinton County, Ohio

28 January 2018—Ran out of coarse salt for my grinder

29 January 2018—Ordered one pound of coarse salt from J.Q. Dickenson Salt Works . . . in Kanawha County, West Virginia.

**EDIT**

31 January 2018—Salt arrived via USPS. The same day I travelled to and from Kanawha to do some work on the old house.

The move is done. Well, mostly, anyway; I still have stuff at the old crib that couldn’t be taken by the movers, oh, and Buford the Smoker of course. We packed and packed and packed, right up until the evening before the movers arrived. For a while leading up to moving day, I was stress waking thinking there was no way we’d be ready in time. But we were, you know, because we had to be. It snowed the days before the movers arrived, but the weather held off on moving day, for which I’m certain the movers were quite grateful. Our ski jump of a driveway is challenging in good weather and perilous in snow and ice. Six guys and two trucks later, we were packed out (419 pieces!!) and Dr. Evil and I sped west trying to beat more weather. We arrived at the farm just after dark, and Dr. Evil’s parents were kind enough to bring us a picnic dinner. It was snowing by the time we arrived and was ridiculously cold. The delivery of our stuff was supposed to occur on Tuesday, but we got a couple weather delays, which were actually kind of welcome. Our stuff arrived on Thursday, and it’s been an unpacking frenzy since then, but we are pretty well settled in now.

It’s very different here, of course, and I’m finding something new and notable every day. For example: Being out of the hills and hollers, we now have a huge slice of sky visible to us. Crazy.

The weather has been fickle, warming up after the move, which has turned the landscape into a bog. I am now the proud owner of big, clunky muck boots.

We had a scare with Zöe the Cat, thinking she’d managed to slip out of the house one very cold evening. She was nowhere to be found in the house, and there was a trail of catprints in the snow going to the barn and back, then out to the road where they disappeared. I looked for her for a long time, then gave up and came home. Hours later, we heard a *thunk* from a utility area (which we’d searched twice), and I opened it up to find her covered in sawdust and cobwebs, yelling for some food, Damned cat. Needless to say, she got spoiled that night, and access to that space is now restricted to humans only.

We were not as fortunate with Roscoe the Wonder Dog, however. Sad news, my friends: Roscoe is gone. He died last Sunday and my heart is broken. He was nearly eighteen years old and had cheated the canine grim reaper a year and a half ago, but I was not ready to see him go, not by a long shot. Hug your critters. Excuse their annoyances. Give them a treat. Tell them they’re loved. They know it already, but it’ll be good for you.

Yes friends, I have indeed dropped the ball at the Surly Farmer. Sorry, but things have been kinda hectic here at Casa de Uhaul Boxes. Add to that the holidays, which seem to be going by faster, yet require more energy with each passing year.

The girls came home for the holidays, our last Christmas in this house, and the girls’ last days in the house. Girl Number One left this morning, to be followed by her sister this weekend. It’s stupid cold here lately, but that did not stop GNO from taking a quick spin around the exterior, taking it all in for the last time. She moved into this house when she was 10 years old, so this is effectively her childhood home. There were tears. Coming back into the house, I noted a cosmic emptiness, bigger than when she left for college the first year, and that’s saying something. I’ll be interested to see Girl Number Two’s reaction upon her departure. Dr. Evil is traveling next week, so it’ll be just me, the boxes, and the geriatric animals next week. Should be interesting.

I’ll be packing up the main computer in the next few days, so this’ll probably be the last post until we get settled at the farm. I did want to take time to wish everyone a happy New Year, and hope for a much better 2018. Thanks for reading, and I’ll be back as soon as possible, broadcasting from a whole new ZipCode. (Four? How did I end up with a 4 ZipCode??)