Finally Vertical

The drive up to Nevada on Sunday was during the huge winds which caused PG&E to do massive power outages across the State again.  For us, the drive confirmed the intensity and danger of these winds because we've honestly never seen or experienced anything like it.  Many instances of gusts that would move your car - or the truck next to you (really scary).  Watching debris swirl against the freeway median wall like mini-tornadoes everywhere.  Truly hurricane gusts (strength wise) which then whirled into vortexes that you could actually see.  It was scary even just driving. 

PG&E has majorly screwed up for decades in terms of not maintaining the power grid and we're all paying for it - but it is what it is and I do think shutting power off was the right call.  I wasn't thinking that on the way home yesterday when I stopped in Colfax and the entire town was shut down.  No power = no lights = no bathrooms.  But shutting down the grid vs. risking sparking another fire - seems like the better option.  Yes, I wish they had worked on putting more underground across the last decades....but they didn't.   And, on the drive home, I also saw Cal Trans working on trimming trees and vegetation along the freeway that could get sparked by nearby power lines - so it's not just PG&E that needs to be tending things - it's everywhere. 

But now, for the drive up.  As we rounded the corner on the final approach to Carson City, I was pretty sure I saw our new house with actual walls!  I was right!  You can now go in and 'see' the rooms and that's a huge thing 'cuz it's very hard to have size perspective in a 'flat' house.

Our last round trip up and back and now we're 'home' (in Tracy) for a few more days before we trek back up permanently.

I've had some tears this past weekend - wrapping my head around this massive change and already missing my friends and our beautiful house (here).  We spent time in the town house this weekend and it will be OK but wow, it is hard to feel like we'll be living 'between' for months in what feels like an oppressively small space.  I'm sure it will get easier and once we're in and get more settled, we should be fine - I hope, anyway.  It will have to do - because the new house will be well worth whatever the wait is and we just have to get through our first winter as Nevada residents.  Spring will be even more our favorite season in 2020 and we're sure hoping our 30th anniversary gift to each other will be a house.

We're taking some drastic steps with H. - in hindsight, we really messed up getting him to Texas so quickly after finishing his DUI classes and counseling.  Realizing that he's living in a suburb of Houston with absolutely zero public transportation of any kind - yes, really - we've checked multiple times - he is completely stuck without wheels.  First step in getting some kind of wheels is getting a license and he can't do that it appears without getting the California DMV involved.  So we're likely flying him back to Reno in a week or so and he and J. will trek to Truckee, CA (about an hour and a half away) to wait in line to figure out next steps.  It's a complicated mess and has been really revealing of the things that happen that make it impossible for people to move forward.  One thing leads to another and leads to another - and yes, all these 'things' are issues that H. is responsible for - solely - but we are willing to help him sort it out.  He sounds motivated and positive for the first time in a long time - there are great jobs to be had - we just have to navigate all the steps that go with getting him squared away in Texas.

He really messed up by not prioritizing better and he knows that.  But leaving him 'trapped' in Texas isn't a great choice so we're going to get him here to help get things taken care of on the California side of the issue.

It's cold here and we both slept fitfully lacking warmth.  J. turned on the heat in the early morning hours and I finally got a blanket - it is feeling like Fall.  It was 18 degrees in Carson City this morning so yikes, that is going to be quite an adjustment.  The heater will be running a lot there.  The garage was super warm this weekend and we realized it's the doors - they absorb the heat from the sun and put it into the space - it truly was the warmest place in the town house and it felt so good to go out there and feel warm.  We're still figuring out the heater settings.

J. took the back route home so he was able to stop by the new house again and the trusses were delivered!!  We will have a framed roof shortly!

I hear J. taping boxes so I'd better get moving - lots to pack up still.