November 2008 Update

Life is finally beginning to return to normal. We lost out house last year on October 21, 2007. The new house was finally completed on October 20, 2008, ready for us to move in on the 21st, exactly one year later. It took us longer to move that I had anticipated, so we didn’t actually make it back home until October 29. It is now November 18, 2008, and we are still living out of boxes, trying to find a place for everything, and hanging pictures. We are still waiting for most of our furniture to arrive. It will be easier to complete the move when we have drawers to put things into. We had our furniture custom made in India from solid rosewood. As a longtime guitarist, I am aware of the lasting qualities of Indian rosewood – that’s what most of the fine guitars are made from. We are waiting for a dining table with chairs and a bench, bed frame with headboard and footer, 2 night stands, dresser and mirror, chest of drawers, living room coffee table and 2 end tables, dining room hutch, curio cabinet, and a DVD and VCR cabinet. Hopefully the furniture should arrive soon and we can put an end to this chapter in our life. By the way, you can see the furniture on picasaweb.google.com/tsmerk if you really want to. They sent us photos before it got loaded on to the ship.

Our outdoor spa should arrive tomorrow. It is a nice large unit with music, lights and a waterfall. I’m all ready for a nice soak! The pool arrived last month, but we decided not to install it until next spring. It is a 20 foot above ground “Tuff Pool” with all of the accessories. It will be a lot of fun, but right now there are not that many warm evenings left to keep the pool water warm enough to use.

The trip to visit our children and grandchildren in July was wonderful. No problems getting there or getting back, I was in good health this trip, we saw a lot of interesting sights and had a really great time. I really like the Kentucky and Tennessee area. We saw the country’s largest (in size) church in Louisville, saw the Gibson Guitar factory and went to the company showroom where you could play and Gibson or Epiphone guitar (and of course I played a few), we visited Daniel Boone’s grave site, my favorite vintage guitar shop, Gruhn Guitars in Nashville, and a lot of other sites of local or historic interest.

It is so nice to be home that I don’t even mind the extra hour each direction of driving to and from work. It is a nice scenic drive, and it’s always so nice to arrive home. Living in the rural mountain area is like coming home to a campground, only no quite so rustic. I used to love to sit out on the swing at night and listen to the sounds of nature under the big, bright starry sky. We bought a swing at a yard sale for $20, so we are able to once again enjoy this. It is so nice to be home!