Okay, we're getting close to finishing this housebuying process. The money's in our bank, the paper trails are established, and the loan is locked in (not a great rate but since our credit was terrible we're taking what we can get, and we'll refinance in a year). We meet at the title company on Monday to sign a bunch of documents transfering the money to escrow. The sellers do their bit. On Wednesday, or possibly Thursday, we get our keys.
We then give notice at the condo and start packing like mad. Hire a moving company. Yes, hire. We are not going to ask friends to help us in exchange for pizza and cokes, that's for college kids with a few brick and board shelves. We own eight tons of stuff, which I find shocking. 16,000 pounds of personal possessions were trucked out here from Tennessee when we moved two and a half years ago. I'm sure we've acquired a little on top of that since then. So we're going to pay professionals to heft it in and out of the houses. But we will do our own packing.
We have a final walk-through with our agent this morning. Denise is going to come by and check out the new house. Our first visitor! Afterwards, I'll go back to her house with her while John goes into the city to make his usual rounds of used bookstores and foreign magazine shops. We will talk gardening non-stop, because Denise went to the San Francisco Garden Show last week. She took home lots of catalogs and advertisements and ideas on gardening. I am looking forward to seeing what she's done with her yard. I think our yards are similar sizes, and have similar sun/shade configurations. I am going to rely on her for a lot of help.
I have such plans for this garden of mine. I have now read up on how to build an arbor, various kinds of pools and fountains, securing fence posts, and ways of setting paving stones. I'm starting to eye trees enviously, looking for things I can grow in pots for a while, reminding myself that I don't want anything that fruits. I'm inclined towards ornamental cherry and plum, Japanese maples, anything with beautiful fall foliage. I cannot decide whether I want a cottage garden with masses of flowers or a more orderly series of plants. I must have a statue, preferably a Buddha, somewhere. I foresee manure and compost in my future. I shall have to buy a wheelbarrow.
The garden talk is going to become intense here. I have begun organizing a separate garden journal section so I can freely indulge myself without boring non-gardeners in the main diary. I have the main design done, but must still think through layout overall. I expect to have that in place next week.
Meanwhile, I've repotted my euphorbia, something it desperately needed. Of course, I accidentally used the pot I meant to put the dicentra in, so then I had to remove a large clump of violas to make room for the dicentra, after which I realized I would need to move the wallflowers as well and I don't have anything suitable for their root system on hand. It's really annoying. I need to make a list of everything I own and plan to transplant instead of relying on my obviously faulty memory. This is one way a proper garden journal can help. I'll be better able to track plants and tasks.
Mainly, I'll feel a lot better knowing I'm not sending half my readership to sleep every other day throughout the growing season. I can go back to amusing and horrifying them with my wacky client stories, instead.
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