Day 1 and then some

My, my, my...the days begin to blur.  Not really, but I wasn't really sure what to call this day.  It is Wednesday - if I have been tracking properly, though I haven't really been tracking at all.     Technically Thomas & I began the move to Miami long before the end of May.  We even spent the night on May 1st, when we moved quite a bit in to the house and storage buildings.  But Sunday was the official Day 1 of having no other place to go.  Gratefully, we were accompanied by our good friend Jennifer, who not only came down and unpacked a whole lot of boxes after unloading them from the trailers, but she also hauled a load herself.  It was a lot of fun driving down the highway together, though a pair of walkie talkies would have made it much more entertaining.   Sunday was exhausting: cleaning out the apartment, loading up Tom's trailer, my car, and Jennifer's car, emptying the freezer and fridge, shortly after cleaning the freezer and fridge, and lastly sweeping and mopping the whole place.  Phew!  That should have put us all in the mood for a nap, not four hours of solo driving.  Jennifer and I arrived around 5 pm, followed soon after by Tom's pop Mike.  I felt so foolish, but I greeted him with a "howdy neighbor!" and a "good thing you're here because the fridge kicked on when I twisted the nob, but now it is doing nothing."  Sure, sure, it was just a month and a half of inactivity that gave the freon a hard time getting going, but I panicked that I had the opposite of Midas' Touch - instead of turning things to gold, I just broke them!  We hastily unloaded what we could before heading to Tom's parents' house for pizza.  From there Jennifer and I walked to Marie & Dave's for a hello, while Thomas got his first turn on Pop's new backhoe.  Oh boy!   So the day is not over yet.  Aside from the other unpacking and making of beds, the grand finale was yet to come.  Shortly after oohing and aaahing at the beautiful sky full of stars - more than you'll see anywhere! - I jumped in the shower to wash the weariness off.  Gratefully, the hot water heater worked well, a little too well maybe.  Uponturning the nobs off, the shower continued to run, so I turned a little further.  I was too tired to really process that the running water was just draining off the shower nozzle, so the extra little oomph snapped the plastic inner workings of the hot water nob, and I found out the hot water heater really does work too well.  I struggled to switch the water from the shower to the faucet as the water got hotter and hotter, just in time to scald my foot instead of my head and back.  Calling out a few profanities, Thomas and Jennifer came running to find out what was the matter.  Much grumbling and futzing later, we found the water shut off valve just outside the front door.  Sadly, many other efforts were taken first, and the water gushed for a good 30 minutes as we tried one thing and then the next.  What a night!  I felt terribly sorry for stirring up so much trouble, but I am sure it would have happened to anyone.  Tuesday morning we made a trip to Raton for our first supply run, including a new handle mount.  Oh brother!    So far there haven't been any other minor catastrophes, but there have been a fantastic family BBQ on Sunday, lots of unpacking, a wonderful first homecooked meal, a first movie, lots of beautiful sunsets, and a couple of nice walks.  More to come...   PS - this message is brought to you by the graciousness of Mike & Alice, who are letting us use internet this week.  We'll get ours set up when we get back, but no sense messing with it (or paying for it) since we'll be gone three weeks...