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They Dug Up The Street

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When we moved into the house, there were utility locates all over.  Paint and flags and such.  They dug up a few places at either end of the street, did their work and then left, never digging up where they had marked on our property.  A week later, the "Road Closed" signs went up at both ends of our street.  This was like, June.  And nothing happened. We were wondering if we got away easy.     Until last week.   Suddenly we are a hive of activity.     The first day, they dug up all the sod along the street.  They put up temporary mail boxes at both ends of the street, and the post office left us a notice about where to go to get mail, and that packages would be held at the PO.   Now the pavement is completely gone.  As time has gone by this week, the construction zone has gotten more and more torn up.  Pipes laid out everywhere.  Giant concrete culverts are stacked along the way.  Man holes sticking up with traffic cones on them.  Those giant steel plate ditch-shoring boxes
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The Idea

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First, the first installment in the story on how we came here.......  The Idea.  The very idea! There we were.  Sitting in our living room on Kinsey Ave. in Kremmling, Colorado.  Circa 2017...ish.  I'm not entirely sure on the date.   Bryan had been working for the grocery store for roughly five years.  I had been with the paving company for 2 years, and I was off for the season.  (As you know, I had four months out of each year off, Thanksgiving through the 3rd week of April, every winter.) Bryan was working too hard.  His arthritis had been in remission, but was starting to creep back in.  He was stressed and tired and sick and cold and discouraged.   I had done a little research about retirement and what we needed to do to get ready.  So of course my "feed" online had retirement stuff in it.  An article popped up about the 10 best states to retire to.  Hmm, I thought.   We had started to feel like we were stuck where we were.  If you recall, we moved to Walden Colorado
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Location: Park Falls, WI, USA
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Shelving, Updates, and What's Coming

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 First an update: We are still fighting that John Deere.  It sucks that we paid so much money for the darn thing, and have had so many problems with it.  Reminds us of Gina's Neon.  It had one failed sensor after another.  This one has one failed safety switch after another.  We are putting some more switches in it this week, so we will see if we get anywhere.   Bryan is looking for substantial snow removal tools and methods.  It's a long sloping driveway, so we will need reliable and easy snow removal, or my car will never make it out of the garage in the winter.  Now that I know I have to work, it's a critical issue.   We got the raised beds delivered.  Some assembly required.  We are about half way through putting them together.  So stay tuned.   Bryan put up shelves pretty much everywhere!  He put me a set of shelves and a closet rod in the laundry room.  He put up that old set of coat hooks with a hat rack.  He put that in the little passthrough under the stairs betwee
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Location: Park Falls, WI, USA
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Storm Damage, and the Newest Wisconsin Residents

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 An update: We are of course working.  No time for either of us to do anything extracurricular.  But Bryan is getting a few things worked on, since he doesn't leave home until 10am each morning.   I got a bunch of stuff unpacked.  Started on loading my bookcases in the living room.  Found one box of oil lamps and put them on the mantle.  Found my good storage shelf until.  It will go in the "green room".   I did end up getting July 5th off, which gave me a four day weekend.  So I'm taking this time to catch up.  I'm hoping to come up with a better plan to keep on top of things, because work is literally kicking my butt!  I will try to work on my office stuff and blogs at night after supper from my couch.  Hoping that works out better.   We are officially Wisconsin residents.  Well, only Bryan is, for real.  Last week, Bryan was able to get Wisconsin plates on all our vehicles.  He got his driver's license within a few weeks of us getting here.  I, however, do
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Location: Park Falls, WI, USA
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Just Work

 Sorry, not much to add this week.  We have been working, dodging rain, and just maintaining the status quo until we feel like our schedules seem normal.  We got the grass mowed during a little window between downpours.  We have giant weeds...or they could be nice plants.  We don't know.  We have never seen some of these plants, so don't know what they are and if they should be pulled, weed-whacked, or just left to grow.   I have the 4th of July off (but not the 5th, like everyone else) so I'm going to weed my flower bed, and maybe try to get my deck washed off.  I will use the hose nozzle we bought.  Water pressure out there isn't great, but it can be done.    We don't have a pressure washer.  We were going to use our big rebate from the appliances at Menards to get it.  But our closest one does not have the model we want.  For some reason we can't use the rebate money to have one shipped.  Full price plus $50 shipping.  Bummer.  So, Bryan is going to find one
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Location: Park Falls, WI, USA
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I got a job!

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 Yay! Finally after 2 months of being here, I got a paying job!  I will be working as an office assistant at a landscaping business, Custom Caretaking and Landscaping, in Arbor Vitae, Wisconsin.  (Don't ask me how to pronounce it.  The lady there said is just like the arbor vitae plant....which I've never heard of either! hahaha.  I guess it's are burr vite ee. ) .  Anyway, it's about a 1 hour commute each way, but that was the only downfall.  It was the best-paying job I applied for, and it's just office work, no huge responsibilities, no working on my feet, just putting my head down and working until I can retire.  Relatively easy but a little challenging.  The people are super nice.  I'm pretty happy about it.  Oh, and it's Mon-Fri 8am-5pm.   Bry is settling into Pick-n-Save.  He likes the people, and the work isn't too hard on him.  He's working a split shift, so he doesn't have to get up too early, and isn't out late at night.  He works
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Location: Park Falls, WI, USA
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That Lawn is MOWED!

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 Between issues with the John Deere and all the rain we've been having, it was super tough to get in and get that giant lawn mowed.  But we did it!  It is all mowed up, at least for now.   Bryan has come to the conclusion that we have to use John Deere belts, and not an aftermarket one.  But he's still having issues.  It's all the safety switches.  There are bunches of them!  To get the tractor to work (AND WE DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS) Bryan hardwired past the safety switch on the seat.  Unfortunately there are several more and it's hard to tell which one is failing.  So, we are back to tractor not starting again.   So, news in general:  I forgot to report on the GIANT snapping turtle in the Wildlife Report!  We saw that sucker on the 3rd day we were here!  Coming back from our first house showing, which was east of Park Falls, it was in our lane of the county road.  It was about the size of a large pizza, and it had a foot long tail.  Holey Crap!  I shudder to think what
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Location: Park Falls, WI, USA
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