The Unicycle Commute

This morning I was driving into work because I had a rental car yesterday for our one-day of field work up in Virginia, and I was taking it back to work. Of all days to not be on my bike -- I missed the opportunity of meeting a really fun fellow cyclist. I was just barely out of my apartment complex and saw the familiar look: helmet, backpack, i-pod, comfy clothes and windbreaker. I always have to slow down and see who else is riding to work on my route so that I can make sure I say hi next time. But this was no ordinary cycle-commuter (the sport cyclist looks different: he/she would have a matching jersey outfit, slick spandex, aerodynamic sunglasses and a tough frown). He was a uncyclist-commuter! Not a clown unicyclist like this:

He was a college-kid type obviously not looking like he wanted to attract attention (picture shown is not the real guy, but a look-alike I found on google):

He was deep in concentration, listening to his music and had the countenance of any other commuter on their way to work. I had to hand it to him for giving it his all! I would agree with him that one wheel was better than none, but two is much more relaxing.

Our House Walk-Through

Hmmmm... not exaclty a "walk-through" at 4 hours, but we did walk through and inspect the semi-final home. What a thrill it was to come up the walkway and see the home all lit up! Our project manager, Nate, was waiting outside for us checking on a few last-minute things. We went over all the warranty details and who to contact in case there are any problems, etc., and then we got to the fun part. We walked around with Nate and Nancy (our real estate agent if you recall) and we put our 8 eyes into finding areas for touch up paint, a little extra sanding here, a little caulking there... room by room for four hours. So, if you look carefully at the pictures you will see blue tape everywhere-- those are the places that need a little work.

Landscaping is in! The straw is to protect the grass seed and keep moisture in.

Discussing details with Nate in the kitchen.

The carpet in the gathering room, freshly vacuumed

Looking at the gathering room from the entry-way.

Entry-way and staircase, freshly stained banister.

We are sooooo excited-- less than a week away now!

Varying Degrees of "Liking the Cold"

Yesterday I had the romantic, feel-good feeling of liking the cold because it makes winter feel like winter. Remember how I said that? This morning was a little different. I'd like to revise that statement by saying that I have varying degrees of liking the cold, depending on the varying degrees outside!

I waved Paul off to work at 6:45 this morning and stood out for a few minutes gauging the temperature to decide if I need to wear Paul's Wooly Bear jumpsuit with gloves and a hat during my ride to work, or if I could get away with wearing my two pairs of leggings, a long-sleeve shirt, windbreaker, wool hat and gloves. It didn't feel that bad and so opted for the leggings (easier to peddle in than a bulky jumpsuit).

Once on my bike, however, I did not warm up as usual. My hands stayed frozen to the handlebars, my lungs still ached with the cold air, and my legs were still resisting the peddling motion by the time I made it to work. Huh. So I checked the temperature on the internet while thawing out in my office, and lo! It was only 18 degrees outside. No wonder! Yesterday was in the 30-40's, I believe, and so that's where I'd like to say my degree range of liking the cold resides.

Hot Chocolate Day

It's been cold and cloudy here for the last few weeks, with a few intermittent days of sunshine, but it is glorious! I love the rain and cold weather because it designates winter as winter. With California sunshine most of the winter long as my background, I'm really enjoying the feeling of moving through the year with progressive seasons.

In our office, it's a nearly daily ritual for several folks to walk over to the Barnes and Nobles' Starbucks for a bit of warming refreshment. Today was a good day for it, and so I joined in for the brisk walk in the crisp air with my fellow co-workers. Ah, hot chocolate! It has become my new drink of choice replacing my beloved Dr. Pepper. I'm trying to ween myself off the stuff that I have been drinking every day since college. Hot Chocolate satisfies the sweet craving, and is not loaded with carmel coloring (nasty stuff), or high fructose corn syrup (another nasty) and does not have as much caffeine and hopefully not as much sugar (not sure about that one) as Dr. Pepper. Hopefully by the time the warmer weather hits I will find something else sweet to drink that is healthier than hot chocolate. Orange juice?

While I was at Barnes and Noble, I bought the winter Spin-Off magazine -lots of inspiration as usual!

Don't know if I'll be reading much over the next few days, what with more fiber from Trish and packing to do.

Graveyard Revisited

Mike, being very enthusiastic about the hidden graveyard, sent me some pictures that he took (I didn't have my camera along) during our field work last week. These three were the only graves at this hidden location in the forest, and were of the same family. I think the middle grave has a more recent headstone (concrete lattice) than the era in which the original graves were placed (early 1800's).

I'm not a body-snatcher or anything, so don't get the wrong idea by me taking this spooky facsination, but I think cemeteries are intersting places full of unspoken history. Makes me wonder who the people were and what they saw in their lifetimes, especially these older sites that are scattered everywhere in the south (in comparison to the west coast).

House Update... Again

I'm finally back from Cape Fear and very happy to be home. We finished our last well at 5:30 on Friday (next to the swamp pictured below) which meant we had to spend the night, as our company has a policy of not working/traveling more than 12 hours in one day. Already having 12 hours in after packing and shipping samples, we made the best of it and went to a nice dinner, extended our hotel rooms for one more night and left yesterday morning for the 4 hour drive home.

Here's a picture of the swamp that we were monitoring wells near. Great place for a graveyard, eh? This wasn't exactly next to the graveyard I metioned before, but it's close enough to show the eeriness of the area.

As I said before, Paul's got us on an excellent schedule so I got home and changed and we headed out for our scheduled second phase of appliance research. Our calendar says that we need to have these picked out this weekend, along with getting our utilities sorted out and house insurance.

I don't know how much we are going to get done, but we have narrowed down our appliances to Kenmore or Whirlpool front-loading washer and dryers and between a GE or Whirlpool side by side, stainless steel fridge. Paul of course has a spreadsheet set up with price comparisons of all combinations being bought from either Sears or Hhgregg, which makes it easier to see in terms of dollars and features.

As we were out appliance shopping, it started to snow! Sadly, it didn't stick to the ground and melted instantly, but it did snow almost all afternoon.

As promised, I have some pictures that we took last Sunday of the progress.

The driveway has been poured, and that's carpet laid out in the driveway, as the carpet workers were there on Sunday installing.

Granite counter tops have been put in and the microwave, sink and dishwasher


The floors have been stained walnut color.

The light fixtures have been put in too!

Carpet being installed in the master bedroom.

Well, that's it for now!!

Secret Graveyard and Lizard Wells

Just when I was thinking this was going to be a routine sampling event-- wrong again! This is kinda a fun little story.

Four of us are working as a team out at this particular job site and it can be really good times with the right people. The three people I'm with out here are a lot of fun and are the adventure-seeking type. Our project manager, Fred (names have been changed to protect the innocent), only here with us for the first day, was oblivious to this fact somehow, and he was giving us a general tour on the first day since none of us had been out here before. "There's well # such and such over there (motioning) and off to the left and around that hill behind the stump is well #such and such." Poor guy was droning in a very monotone voice while the four of us were jostling around on the dirt road ride trying to sound interested and attentive. As usual, when in a situation that is best not to fall asleep, I did. Mike jabbed me in the ribs as usual to wake me up and it didn't seem that I missed much. Yawn.

So we come around another bend in the road, and Fred was saying, "... and there's well# such and such by that pallet, and here's where we drop off the purge water, and the graveyard is off to the right in that forest..." That's when everyone's eyes became saucers and and their heads were craned to the back as we ambled past where the graveyard was supposed to be.

Fred was happy to continue on the grand well tour but luckily, Mike said, "Hoooollld on Fred. You said graveyard. Can we have a look?"

Fred looked surprised at the interest and then shrugged his shoulders. "Oh, if you really want to," he chuckled. "Actually it's quite interesting. John and I were here installing wells and were told by some employees about it. So we started snooping around in the forest and found it. Aparently the graves are of a family that lived here in the late 1700's to early 1800's. We were reading the tombstones once we cleared back the brush, and when we looked up we saw a large black snake hanging from the tree looking at us. That's when we cleared off and didn't come back."

Meanwhile Fred was driving slowly along the mysterious forest edge looking for the spot when he slammed on the breaks and pointed his finger, saying, "There." We couldn't see any telltail signs but as we got out of the car and walked closer we could see a faint trail easily missed by an untrained eye. We made our way slowly through the trees and thick shrubs to a little overgrown fenced in area with three tombstones inside. Someone had been by recently to tidy up a bit, but not enough to appear to be a regularly visited area. It was a well-kept secret. As I gazed down at the tombstones trying to make out the engravings, I couldn't help but wonder what these people saw when they lived here along the Cape Fear River (the grave was not 50 yards from the water although we could not see it through the forest) 200 years ago. Did they see much of the Revolutionary War? Was the father who was buried there fight in it? He passed away in 1811, and lived to be 54 years old, so it was possible. I think we were all thinking similar thoughts, as there was a respectful silence as we stood there.

We made our way back to the car, all deep in thought, and deeply impressed with Fred and his interesting way of shrugging off adventure. Mike asked dubiously, "Is there anything else cool about this place?" Fred thought, reflectively and finally came up with something he thought might pass, "Well there is an alligator living in the pond over by the shed over there and he's usually just hanging out ."

Needless to say, we were all most impressed again, and feeling bolstered by everyone's enthusiasm Fred thought it was a good time to mention "Lizard Well." He took us to the well and warned us that inside this well lives a family of lizards that are very territorial and stand their ground. "So becareful when you take the top off the well, because they're all likely to run out and be aggressive. Just give them their space and sample as if they aren't there." I can tell you everyone was thinking it but didn't say it for fear of sounding chicken: "Yeah, right."

Nobody was too excited to volunteer for that one, but Mike and Lindsay got the luck of the draw and had to sample that well yesterday. Mike sent us a picture message showing him holding the well cap with a lizard perched staunchly on the top, not about to go anywhere. Actually, Mike said because the weather was so cold, and being that they are cold-blooded, the poor guys had a hard time of being territorial as they were not able to move above a crawl! It's been about 30 degrees.. maybe not exactly, but that's how it's felt.