So, here I am in Fort Collins.  Been here maybe 3 full days now.  And the ground is blanketed in snow.
I must say, the place is lovlier with snow. Without, it is just drear and brown and flat.  But perhaps that is the predjudice of someone moving from a beloved place with water and trees and such.
The people here are very nice. Â These last few days, we’ve been driving about and shopping a bit and generally being lost and clueless – and everyone, on the road and in the stores, has been very patient with us. Â We both long for a “Visitor Driver” tag to put on the back of the car, though.
I am all set up to work from home. Â Â Figuring out how that will work and how I will like it.
Cats are making the transition OK.  Annwynn did perfectly well with the sedative and flight, but then he stopped eating once we got here – today was the first day I’ve seen him eat anything. I was glad to see it, though; I was beginning to get worried.   Mileva took a double dose of the sedative and was still embarrasingly vocal on the airplane, but she settled into the new house in a matter of minutes. Both cats are fascinated by the basement and would probably stay down there all the time if it were an option.  The basement is unfinished, all concrete and cobwebs and interesting smells.
Temporary living is quite posh. It is going to be such a letdown to go back to our own furniture.  I think perhaps we might actually upgrade now.  The old stuff can go in the basement, now that we’ll have one, and Kevin is getting himself accustomed to the nice stuff.
Kevin is in the process of up-selling himself on the housing options.   A small number of houses in the price range have three car garages, and I think it’s becomming a requirement in his mind.  It is interesting the way they do it; they are called tandem 3-car garages – it’s a two car garage, but one side is extended so far that you could pull a third car all the way in.  It would make a great bike and workshop area, I will grant him that.
That’s about all I have. Â Living out of suitcases, don’t know where anything is, still eating out all the time, and now the snow is sticking to the sidewalks. Â Â Roofs are covered, grass is barely peeping out .. quite lovely, but now there’s some expectation that I drive in it. Â Â We shall see –
SNOW!!!! sqweeeeeeee
glad to hear the kitties did ok on the journey. we have a talking travel kitty as well…so i can empathise with what you may have gone through there. new houses are so interesting and fun.
the garage idea sounds neat, when you get really frozen up…it will be a godsend. hey maybe you guys can rebuild old cars in the winter (when you’re not skiing of course) 😉
oh and a “Visitor Driver” or “New to Town” sticker on the back of the car would be both priceless and wonderful in that “please forgive me…i REALLY don’t know where I’m going” sense
Your first mission is get out a camera and take pictures. Then post them here.
Good to hear that the trip went off without major problems.
So, this working from home…. still have the old job, just now doing it from the other side of the country? How do they have you setup for that?
That mission is a bit beyond my abilities, I’m afraid. We have the camera, but not the port, and I have no idea how to connect the camera to the laptop.
The work at home thing – the USGS provided me with a laptop (which is what I’m using now) and I have all the software and remote logins to connect to my desktop back in NC. My arrangement with NC is very temporary, only through December – got to get these pages done. After that, who knows. I mail back the laptop and we go from there.
I do hope to get on board with the Colorado USGS. Had a meeting with them Tuesday; we’ll see how that goes. It would be nice.
Wow, that is almost the same what I do remote work.
I have a connection back to the main office and I use Remote Desktop to control my office computer.
Good luck on Colorado USGS; I’m sure they could use a great addition to their team with a great track record.
Ramona, you be careful driving in that snow. Get snow chains or whatever the current version of snow chains is. Start slow and easy. You have had a little experience on snow and on ice, but up there you are going to have to do it so much more. I love snow but driving in it is a big downside. You be careful… very careful.
Are you going to be working from home, as in fron “Home” or will you be working out of the USGS office there?
Home for now is real home – the second bedroom. It may turn into the Fort Collins BRD office, or it may not – the office there will host me, but the CO WSC would have to pay overhead. So if I’m productive enough at home, they might elect to just have me stay here.
And …. and I don’t know. I think I like it. This week has been pretty good, but it’s also been pretty disjointed.
The cats are not disruptive – I thought they would distract me, but they sleep all day. It took them a few days to figure out that I stayed back here all day, and now they keep me company, but all they want to do is sleep in here. It’s almost more productive with the cat-in-lap, as I’m calmer and soothed.
And if I’m working from home, I’m not driving out in anything. The upside to being here is that they are prepared and fast with clearing the roads. But yes – I’m very aware of my lack of experience and very cautious. Will ease my way into any snow driving.
I wonder how you are going to like working at home long term… welll sort-of long term… you are talking about 3 months? I think it might be kind-of nice at first, but i wonder of you will miss being around people.
I also wonder how the people at the USGS there are going to doscover how wonderful it is to have you around. 🙂
Will you be going in to their office at all?
Incidentally, I had intended to comment on the cats and the basement. What a delightful playground for them… The new will wear off. of course. but it is nice that they have and hopefully will have a very different feeling part of the house to explore.