Come On Get Happy

I just heard that song on iTunes and thought it described my feelings about the house closing. Yes! We closed on October 15th and we are now officially houseless and are loving it. No longer dealing with a monthly mortgage, crazy insurance people, pest exterminators, constant maintenance, and the task of mowing 5 acres every week throughout the spring, summer, and fall. We never really grew attached to this house the way we did the house in Los Gatos but we did have some great memories. My favorite were when Mom and Dad lived with us and when we had the big family reunions. We could sleep 10 people and during the reunions we had every bed filled. It was nice to have family together like that.

I've been working pretty hard in the park these last couple of weeks. I helped a host cut, split and stack wood. For those of you counting that was my 4th week working in the wood pit. I think next week I'm going to gracefully bow out of the wood pit for a while. Even in the cool weather you'll break a sweat stacking and hauling wood over to the wood shed. The good news is that it's great exercise and I imagine has been partly the reason for my recent weight loss.

The park has a Festival of Lights every year a week before Thanksgiving to the weekend after New Years. Starting in October crews put up light displays all over the park. Some are animated and others are just static lights. It looks like it's going to be beautiful. I hope we get some snow during the event. It will make everything that much more beautiful. The only downside is that we are pretty much stuck in the park the entire time the lights are on (4:30 PM or so until 10:30 PM) because the lines to get into the park and see the show are long. There is a secret entrance from the back of the park, through the soccer fields and down a dirt road that we can use -- if we can figure it out. I'm going to put the truck into 4WD and see what I can find. Should be some fun off roading at the very least.

I went over to stay with my favorite aunt last weekend. Her son and daugher-in-law needed to be out of town and didn't want her to be alone at night. We always have a great time together. It breaks my heart to see her losing her ability to get around. The body may be failing but she's sharp as a tack. She entertained me with stories about being a model in New York, being one of the women who smashed though the glass ceiling in her profession and how she did all of that while being a single mother raising two boys. She is an amazing woman. She also can't cook. While I was there she made a little snack for us before we had dinner. The snack was spinach ravioli that was microwaved so much the edges were hard and cold tomato soup to go on it. For all of her talents and know-how she has never been able to master cooking. I cooked dinner for us that night in self defense. I've always described her as a cross between Lucille Ball and Auntie Mame. That is not totally fair since I think she's a lot smarter than either of those characters but sometimes she is just like them. She really makes me laugh.

I've made good friends with the other hosts. We're a tight knit bunch - always ready to lend a hand to another host (that's how I end up in the wood pit so often). Since getting married I mostly refer to Matt as my husband and I have done so here with the other hosts. There is a lesbian couple here too who are also married. Even though most of the hosts are my age or older our acceptance has been complete. They refer to Matt as my husband too. The lesbian couple had an anniversary a couple of weeks ago and some the hosts decorated their campsite for the occasion. That's what I call acceptance. These are totally cool people.

The trees here are turning colors at an rapid pace. When it's sunny (like today) the forest we live in is full of colors. Due to my color blindness I can mostly see the yellows and sometimes the reds if they are solidly red and not too close to being brown. Every now and then I'l see an orange but I don't know if I'm really seeing orange or it's some other color that appears orange to me. In any case I have my own little world of colors that I am quite happy with. As an aside, most people with brown hair appear to have forest green hair to me. I know that people don't have forest green hair in the world of normal color vision so I call it brown. But it's forest green to me.

People have been asking what exactly do I do here at the camp to get our free site in the forest. I do a lot of things. As you all know I cut and stack wood, I keep the bathhouses clean, I police the campground and clean the cabins. It's a lot of manual labor and rather mindless. It keeps me outside a lot and I like that. Most of the time I put in my ear buds and listen to some good music while I work.

You may be wondering why would I give up my consulting practice and resort to being a camp host. To be clear I haven't given up my consulting practice. I have time during the day between my daily responsibilities when I work on Ocius business. I've written an article and have another I'm working that I hope will be published. I have an international client whose working time is about 8:00 PM my time so I can work with them in the evening and not interfere with my day job. Mostly I do this so we can be here in Northern Virginia close to my aunt for three months with a housing cost of zero. If I wasn't a camp host the fee for this wonderful spot in the forest with free electric would be $50/night. In addition to that I like the idea of being unplugged from the rat race for a bit. At the end of the day I walk back to the trailer, have dinner and don't think or worry about work for the most part. I have a lot of friends here who are doing the same thing -- unplugging for a bit. Taking a break. Reflecting on what comes next. I'm 56, my life is more than half over. Time to look at priorities.

Almost There

We got the notice yesterday that the closing on the sale our house would be today at 2:00 PM. We were ecstatic since we really thought the house would be taken before we could sell it but we prevailed with the expert assistance of our real estate agent Joseph Herrera. He really kept us motivated and confident that we could sell regardless of the issues we had in the house. If you need a real estate agent then you can't do better than Joseph. We owe him a debt of gratitude. If you are looking to buy or sell in the Charleston metro area call him. He's professional, hard working and knowledgeable. Unfortunately we woke up to an email delaying the closing until next week due to a paperwork snafu by Wells Fargo Bank. Hurry up and wait.

Life here at Bull Run has turned into a nice routine for my dear husband and me. We're parked in a  forest which, when the shooting range (the park has a shooting range) isn't active, is very quiet and peaceful. We are under the flight path to Dulles so we do hear jets but if you know me you'll know that I don't mind that at all. When I'm out in the park working I love to see the variety of jets that are headed into Dulles. It's one of my things.

This has been my week cutting, stacking and transporting wood. Not my favorite thing to do, especially in the rain. At the end of the day we usually run some errands, grab a bite to eat, come home, and walk the dogs. Then it's an evening of reading and music or sometimes a movie on iTunes. I also have time to write -- like now. I'm just now finishing an article that I'm writing about a very esoteric process in healthcare information technology. It's off to my editor soon (Matt) and then hopefully to a trade journal or industry magazine.

We haven't had a TV since starting this adventure. We initially thought we'd have DirecTV in the trailer but we procrastinated and found out that we really weren't missing much so it never materialized. We were watching a lot of TV when we had it home. Now I get my news online from several different news sources so I scratch that news itch every day. I have to admit that I'm not missing TV for the most part. The shows that I do want to see are available on iTunes or streaming on PBS.org so I'm not missing much.

Our plan for using cellular modems for our Internet service hasn't worked out as well as we would have liked. We learned early on that streaming a TV show or two really ate up our allotment of gigabytes. We have two accounts now that we try and balance throughout the month. We need a better solution than what AT&T and Verizon offer. That's a work in progress.

Fall is bringing us cooler weather and rain and I'm loving it (as is Matt). We've already had a night were we had to fire up the furnace--which thankfully ran right off the bat without any need for adjustments. When it's running it sounds like a jet engine outside at the outlet port. We use propane fuel and the heater goes through it pretty quickly. I have a feeling we're going to be wearing warmer clothes in side to preserve our fuel. Nothing to drastic though.

As you know I work here at the park to pay for our site. I have to work 60 hours per month. We have rotating assignments each week. Last week I was on bath house duty. This week I'm working in the wood pile. It's a dramatic departure from what my career has been in the last 30 years. I'm joined by other senior executives and successful business people that are here in a variety of mobile-home based vehicles. We all live on the same street in the campground and I've made some friends who like me have escaped the 9-5 grind and are slowing down to enjoy their lives a little more. It's funny to be working alongside a former CEO cleaning the bath house or working in the wood pile with someone who ran a successful real estate business for 20 years. It's interesting that we don't introduce ourselves as a former CEO or real estate broker. We talk more about our lives outside of work, what brought us to this lifestyle and certainly little tips on how to made our jobs more efficient. It's fun and on top of it all I'm losing weight from all of the physical labor involved with my jobs. I guess the best part is interacting with the park visitors. I miss those customer service days that I had so much of early in my career.

Charlotte and Gracie are also into the grove. Charlotte is barking less at anyone or any vehicle that passes our trailer. That is a good thing. Gracie sleeps, eats and randomly barks. Last night she was standing at the food bowls barking because one of them was empty. She'll bark at the water bowl if it isn't full enough for her tastes. They are happiest when we're all here in the trailer and they can sleep next to us while we do our work.

The food here in Northern VA has been amazing. It's like an international smorgasbord. We've had Latin American food, Korean barbecue, Mexican food, good old American diner food and Indian food. We're planning on finding a Dim Sum restaurant soon. I'd also like to try some Spanish food too. The world is represented here and the restaurants reflect that. The only problem we have is deciding what cuisine we are going to try next.

I've managed to see my favorite aunt in the world several times since we've parked here in Northern VA. She was a very important person to me when I was a kid and has remained important to me all my life. Her health is failing but she's hanging in there. I'm glad we're close and can see her often. I've promised her that I'd make chicken and dumplings for her while I was here. It's my mother's recipe which I think was handed down to her by her mother. The dumplings are the size of an egg. Now that's what I call a dumpling--none of those noodled type of dumplings for me. I want those soft light big dumplings cooked in chicken broth.

I hope by the time I write again the sale of our house will have closed. Keep your fingers crossed for us.