A Rainy Day in PA

Sasha woke me up early this Sunday morning, letting me know in her own inimitable way that she had to take care of business. Our little window A/C unit was humming away (although the temp outside this morning showed 69º) as I tossed on a pair of cargo shorts and my sandals and headed downstairs to her leash and the door. The original plan was to walk her down the sidewalk a few yards, let her pee, and bring her right back in...I was going back to bed, oh, yeah!

I hooked the leash to her harness and walked both of us to the front door, and opened it. Uh-oh! It's pouring outside! I had not heard the rain because of the A/C, but now I'm committed, and so is Sasha. I remain on the front porch and let the leash out as far as it can go, and Sasha immediately squats and goes. Good girl! Now it's back inside, wipe the dog down with a towel and go back upstairs to bed.

That doesn't last long barely an hour later, Sasha again signals an urge to purge. Now I'm up for the day. It's back downstairs, but this time I have an umbrella, and we go for a short walk, until she does her thing and we return to our dry house. It looks like I'm awake for good now, although I'm not quite sure I want to be.

It's days like this that show me the difference between Florida and Pennsylvania. I walk out back and look up at that mountain behind our house, and the top of it is covered in cloud.

 

That's something I've never seen before. I look to the west, to the pass where we come into the town, and it's also cloudy and wet.

 

So I walk out of the back yard to the alley, and it's drizzly and wet, but very peaceful, so I head down the street a bit along the stream, to see what that looks like this morning.

 

It's barely flowing, but still... It looks like I could easily wade across it to the other side - it's not too deep. And then I remember our landlord showing us pictures of a brown bear that had done just that, coming into town and strolling down the neighborhood sidewalks before disappearing back into the mountains. So I might even run into a bear or two around these parts. There are also deer and wild turkeys, and a common road sign in this state is a deer warning...I've seen pictures of encounters between deer and cars, and I have no desire to hit one in our little Escort.

And so I walk back to the house, where Jen is just now waking up herself, and together we look for a good Bible teaching on the tube. We haven't had time yet to find a church, but we love Pastor Bob Coy and Calvary Ft. Lauderdale, and watch him on-line. We also love Dr. Charles Stanley and In Touch, and find him on the cable, so we settle in to some good teaching. We know that God has brought us to PA, Jen back to her family and me...I don't yet know. But I know that Jen and I are at home when we are together, and since I have no family of my own, her family is mine, too. I love her two daughters as if they were mine, and I am grandpa (I think the grandkids have decided to call me "Pappi" instead) to 7 wonderful children (well, one of them is 19 and on his own). I think that is why God brought me here - to live out the best part of my life. He has rewarded me for being obedient and for loving Jen, and has given me greater purpose in my older years. 

Thank you, Father!

An Amazing Daughter (and Grand-daughter)!

If you have been following this blog, you will know that the main reason we decided to move to PA was the soon-to-be birth of our 7th grandchild. Our daughter Amanda was expecting, and when we found out, Jen began to pack, planning our arrival to be close to the birth. That event was calculated to be somewhere in late July or early August.

Well, we made it up here right at the beginning of July, and Amanda was really pregnant. I mean, she was "great with child" as the phrase might go. She and her Mom kept comparing notes on past family history, and Amanda had already made a decision not to know the sex of the child until it was born, and that she would have this child at home, with a mid-wife attending. Me, I had absolutely no idea what was going on, and liked it that way. Let the women take care of this "birthing" thing, and just let me know what the baby's name was after the fact. Easy enough.

As I said, Amanda was very pregnant when I first saw her, the day we unloaded the truck, and she was still very active. I thought pregnant women kind of kept off their feet a lot - shows you how much I know - but not Amanda. Of course, she wasn't due until the end of the month, or maybe August, so...

Well, on Friday (7/26), Amanda calls and asks Jen if we'd like to do lunch, and then maybe go shopping at a place called Country Junction, which bills itself as the World's Largest General Store. Jen and Amanda said I'd love the place, and I couldn't wait to see what the big deal was. We'll have lunch at the Palmerton Hotel first. Amanda shows up with her girls, Zoe and Madalyn, and we all climb into her SUV and head for chow. I notice that Amanda is checking her cell-phone frequently - must be expecting a call or something - and we sit down at the table and give the waitress our orders.

And that is when I discover that Amanda's "obsession" with her cell-phone is actually an app she keeps checking that is timing her contractions!!!  "Yep! Mom, they're about 5 minutes on the dot now!" You have GOT to be kidding me! Here we are, 5 of us, including two little girls, waiting patiently (I use that word now, but I have no idea what "patiently" is at the moment) for our lunch, while the pregnant one is timing her contractions. What the heck are we doing out to lunch when Amanda should be about ready to pop this baby out at any second??? And as it turns out, this has got to be the very s-l-o-w-e-s-t waitress I have ever come across - what seems to be hours comes and goes with no food, and a continuing litany of 5-minute reports. I am thinking, in this order: I guess we'll cancel lunch and get Amanda home ASAP, then, I guess we'll call off the trip to Country Junction, because Amanda is about ready to have her baby, like, ANY TIME NOW!!  And then, the food comes, and we eat and before I can say, "Well, thanks for coming to lunch, Amanda!" we pay the bill and...bet you didn't guess it - we head to Country Junction!

Now, I'm trying to remember what to do to help deliver a baby in the back of an SUV. First, call 9-1-1! Give our location. "Where are you, sir?" "Oh, we're in the parking lot at Country Junction!" And then my mind goes blank...this ain't happening. Amanda's baby isn't due for...any minute now!!! What are we doing at the World's Largest General Store? Looking for a STORK?? I can't believe it, but Amanda asks me to drive, because it's a bit hard for her right now. Oh, really?? I guess if she was behind the wheel and decided to give birth it would be a bit tight. But we get to the store, I let everyone out up front and park the car, and meet them all inside.

And we commence to walk around the place for-EVER! I'm being very cool, acting like I'm just another customer, but planning on how fast I can get to the car and get all of us to the nearest hospital!  And here is Amanda, walking around, holding her big belly and pointing out all of the neat things, like a sofa for our house, little knick-knacks, and planning on visiting the petting zoo outside. Apparently, 5-minutes-apart contractions aren't all that important right now. And I'm wondering how many of the customers here have ever witnessed the birth of a baby at the petting zoo!

Again, we walk all over the place, and who's the most uncomfortable? ME! Amanda is, like, so nonchalant, like she's just out for an afternoon stroll. But then, she says that she's a little tired (not THAT'S an understatement!) and she'd like to just go home and rest up a little. Ah-hah! Frankly, I can't comprehend that she has made it this far today, but I feel so much better knowing that she is finally going to go home and rest. And I'm just her step-father...who's the nervous one here? ME! I go get the car, we all load up and head for home. I had inadvertently left my credit card at the restaurant where we had lunch, and Amanda had called them to make sure it was there. I wanted to go straight home to our place, let her and her kids head straight home, and I would go down later and get the card. Nope! Amanda wanted me to go by the restaurant and get my card before we went home. Damn! Is there not any way I can get her home ASAP? We stop by, I grab my card, we bail out at our place, and Amanda heads home. And I'm hoping she will get there before she has her baby.

Her youngest, Madalyn, wants to stay and sleep over, so she gets out with us and comes in. She's a sweet little girl and soon she and Nana are having fun, she's doing acrobatics in our living room and we pull up "The AristoCats" on Amazon for her to watch. Amanda and Jen are keeping in touch by texting, just in case "something happens."  I take one of the dogs out for a walk, and as I'm coming in the front door, Madalyn tells me that Nana will be sleeping over at her house tonight. Oh, really? And then I realize that Jen is packing an over-night bag. Can only mean one thing - baby is coming or baby is here! Jen comes down with her ag in hand and tells me that the mid-wife is on the way, and that the baby will probably be born within the next several hours. Now, we were just at Country Junction a couple of hours ago...how the heck was Amanda walking around, timing her contractions? I am not comprehending this at all - women are in labor for 18 - 24 hours, bed-ridden, biting on a stick in pain and screaming bloody murder! At least, that's MY version of childbirth. Obviously, something has changed.

And when Jen gets to Amanda's house, she's not there! She's out walking around the freakin' block!!!  My daughter Amanda, it seems, just will not stay still. And I am so far out of touch with reality that it takes Jen a long time to explain to me what is really happening - that all of this activity actually is helping Amanda's delivery, that it is gravity and the exercise of walking that is helping make the birth easier. Well, what the heck do I know? I'm just an innocent bystander to this event. And that event happens around midnight on the 26th, or early on the 27th (I'm not sure of the time yet), and after a short labor period, our 7th little grand-baby is born! Her name is Penelope Lane Loper, and she is 20" long and weighs 7 pounds and 10 ounces, and she is a perfect little bundle of joy! Jen comes home around 6 in the morning with the news. This event began our trip North, and God has brought us here with just a few weeks to spare. And now we are proud grandparents and the next episode will begin.

And Jen is so proud of her daughter and new grand-daughter. All of the work and the sweat and the tears of getting up here is now evidence of a new life - a new life for a little baby, and a new life for me and Jen. I just love it when a plan comes together! Thank you, Lord!

A Trip to Wilkes-Barre

Today, I had to make a journey to the VA hospital in Wilkes-Barre for my initial interview in PA. Although I will be going to the Allentown outpatient clinic, about 20 miles away, my first visit couldn't be scheduled before August 24th, so they "rerouted" me to the main VA hospital in Wilkes-Barre, where they could get me an earlier appointment. This trip is about 45 miles distant, and totally out of my comfort zone, so I ask Jen to accompany me on this trip and be my navigator. The appointment is for 8:45 AM, so we have to leave around 7:30. And we have to travel by way of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. We are calling this another "adventure" - it makes the drive fun instead of a chore. I've never been to Wilkes-Barre, so...

Probably 10 miles out of Palmerton, I look up ahead and all I can see are mou8ntain ranges, like ripples in the landscape. Jen says that the farthest is probably in New York state, you can see that far. But then the weather starts closing in. Pilots would call it 'scud' - really low clouds hugging the scenery ahead. I realize that we are at a really high elevation, and we're driving through those clouds. It's kind of neat, actually. The sun was out when we left home, but now it's totally overcast and dark, we have the wipers on, and we seem to be climbing higher and higher. Our little Escort is used to flat Florida, not mountainous PA, and it keeps shifting gears, trying to find a sweet spot. I usually like to drive about 5 over, but here on the turnpike, in the mountains, I am very happy with our 55 mph.

It almost seems like a preview of winter to me. I try to imagine what this drive will look like in about 3 months, with the trees in their autumn format - yellows and oranges and browns. And I start to smile a little, thinking that all of this new stuff is going to be nice. Maybe by my second winter, it'll wear off, but for now, I'm thinking of autumn and cold and snow, and I'm ready for it. Remember, I've been in Florida for 66 years...I'm ready for a change. As we cruise along, it gets darker and chillier. But we're almost there.

And then there's this BIG hospital up on a hill, and we've arrived. I'm actually 10 minutes early, and we walk into the lobby and ask where I have to go. And I make the mistake of telling the information girl that I am new to the area, having moved up from Florida. Mistake? Yep! Because I get the response that I am starting to hate: "Why on earth did you come up here from FLORIDA?"  It seems that everyone in these parts thinks that anyone who would intentionally leave all that warmth and sunshine to plant themselves in Pennsylvania is just plain nuts!  I feel sorry for them for having to live up here winter after winter, never having known Daytona Beach, Miami or Disney World.

But there is a little something that makes their query sad. You see, I moved up here because it was time to become Grandpa to my 7 grand-kids, and to give Jen what she has wanted ever since I took her away from these parts 15 years ago - family!  Winter? Okay, so it gets a little colder, and it snows, and the trees are bare and the sun doesn't shine so much. But there's the warmth of hearing, "Hey, Grandpa, watch me dive into the pool!" Or, "Grandpa, I hit a home run in the game today!" And there's the dinners and the picnics and the other outings where our daughters, their hubbies and the grand-kids will all be around, having fun and sharing experiences. So, again, what makes Florida so special? Sun and the beach? That ain't so special, now, is it? Home is where the heart, and the family, is!

And my intake interview is over with, and I have this melanoma on my left shoulder that was discovered in Orlando that will now need to be excised, so there will be more tests and more visits, hopefully to the Allentown outpatient clinic instead of Wilkes-Barre. But the doctor was very nice, and all my records are now here in PA instead of Florida. As we leave the hospital, I see another thing I have never seen in person before - wind turbines! They are on top of the mountains just west of Wilkes-Barre, and they are huge! Seeing pictures of them and viewing videos does not do them justice, until you see them yourself. And although I wasn't even close, they were still HUGE!  So I discover that PA uses wind to generate some power in these parts. I didn't know that, so I researched it further: Bear Creek Wind Farm. Very interesting. I'm having a great time exploring and discovering Pennsylvania. How long will it last? I don't know, but I suspect it'll probably take me another 66 years to find out.

Musing on the New Location

Woke up this morning, around 7 AM, and went to the back door for a look-see. There is a big mountain out there, and this morning it was encased in clouds...I guess it might rain today. Being from the flat state of Florida, any mountain amuses me, and this one is no different. It was cool, temp-wise, too, around 65-70ºF. And as I looked out the back door, a small rodent crawled up on the deck railing...oh, it's a chipmunk! Never saw one of those in Florida. I think it was looking for a hand-out. In Florida, I used to feed the local squirrels, so Sasha would have something to chase. Now I don't know about chipmunks. Are they supposed to be reviled or should I try and hand-feed the critters? Some in Florida called squirrels "bushy-tailed rats," but I loved to feed them and watch them play with the dog. So I might end up making friends with the 'munks in our back yard, at least until someone comes along and tells me they are no-good vermin. This little guy was so cute that I cannot imagine anyone disliking them.

It poured last evening! A real gully-washer, with thunder and lightning and what might have been some hail. Our dog Sasha is having incontinence problems (she was just diagnosed with a urinary tract infection and is now on antibiotics), so we have her on a timer - every 90 minutes we take her outside for a short walk. In Florida, all four fur-kids had 24/7 access to our large fenced-in back yard, through two pet doors. Now that we have no back yard to speak of, and the neighborhood is fairly yard-less, it's down the sidewalk with plastic bags to collect any foul stuff the dogs might deposit. Don't want to be bad neighbors, do we? Anyway, as I took Sasha out at 10 PM in a fairly heavy rain, it occurred to me that this might be a preview of what is going to happen when the white stuff starts falling. Here I am, trying to find our umbrella, leashed dog in one hand and a baggie in the other, all the while trying to keep Sasha out of everyone's yard and on the very small grassy strip between the sidewalk and the street. Jugglers have it easier, and they have a huge tent to work under. We finally have results and make it back to the front "stoop," where I now have to dry off the dog before letting her back into the house. I can almost deal with the rain - how will I deal with snow and ice? Matter of fact, how will the dogs deal with it? Come winter, I'll bet they'll want to trade places with the cats.

The landlord has been over doing repairs. When we moved in, there was this big ugly home-built bookcase on one wall in the living room. It had to go. At least Jen thought so. And when we asked the landlord about removing it, he concurred. I guess he wasn't too crazy about it in the first place. I told him I'd be very careful in breaking it down, and he didn't seem to care one way or the other, so I ended up pulling it to pieces trying to get it off the wall. And I cannot believe what I found! Picture something about 8' across by 4' tall, with two vertical dividers, all built with 3/4'x12" shelving. Now this thing was mounted on a paneled wall, but for some obscene reason, the builder actually scored the paneling to fit the shelving boards - when I pulled down the shelf, an outline of it was left exposing the wall. It had been toe-nailed and LIquid-Nailed to the wall. When I pulled the paneling off, there were at least two layers of wallpaper under it. Now we have to remove the paneling and the wallpaper from the entire wall to prepare it for painting. Oh, and the builder also cut out the carpeting to fit the base, so now we also have an exposed wood floor where the bookcase was. How do you fix that? Turns out, he won't - at least with carpeting. Looks like we will get some linoleum to cover the wood, and that's it.

In any event, Evan (the landlord) has been over for several days now, steaming off the wallpaper, scraping the wall smooth and spackling all of the holes (nail and otherwise), then hand-sanding the wall, and this morning putting a base coat of paint on it. There is now  a layer of fine dust all over the living room and kitchen - Jen has spent a lot of time cleaning things up and now she has to go over everything again. Will this never end? Probably not, in a house that has been vacant for 5 years. I have a thought that we'll be cleaning until the day we move.

Here's a few shots of the neighborhood - the mountain behind the place, and a shot down the street toward the east:

Me & Snow?

Okay, the real meat of "Florida Boy Goes North!" Short history lesson: I was born in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida in 1946. And I lived there my entire youth. When I graduated from high school in 1964, I had already enlisted in the US Air Force, and 10 days after I left St. Thomas Aquinas, I was on a plane to San Antonio, Texas for Basic Training. And after 8 weeks of intro to military life, I was sent north to Rantoul, Illinois, to Chanute Air Force Base for my technical training in electronics. I arrived in late July, and immediately started thinking about "winter."  Another trainee by the name of Wayne Kouchi, a Hawaiian, was barracked with me, and the two of us had never, ever seen snow! So when the weatherman forecast snow for the first time, in late November, we were thrilled. We told the barracks guard (there was always someone on guard in every barracks at night - don't ask me why) that as soon as the first flakes fell, he was to come and wake us up. He was a northern boy and thought we were both nuts! Well, he was half-right, anyway.

Around 3 AM (oh-three- hundred, for you military types, or simply oh-dark-thirty), we were roused from sleep to see snow flakes softly falling outside our window. Within 3 seconds, we were outside in our skivvies, running around in the snow and trying to make snowballs from the sparse fall. And that would be the first and last time we would cheer the snow. Weeks later we got our first really bad weather - very cold, probably around 10-15ºF at 0500, which is when we were awakened by reveille and had to march to breakfast and then to tech school. No matter that it was colder than I had ever believed it could be (only in the Antarctic, I thought), but dark, windy and I was dressed in layers: first, the thermal long-johns, then two pair of socks, a T-shirt, a sweat shirt, sweat pants, a pair of jeans, my fatigue pants, a field jacket liner, my field jacket, glove liners and gloves, and finally heavy rubber boots. Sometimes, we even had to wear a face mask. And then came the book-bag with our notebooks and textbooks. Marching across the flight line one morning, I slipped and fell on the ice. I couldn't have hurt myself if I had tried, I was so heavily cushioned. BUT - there was no way I was getting up on my own. Now I knew how a turtle feels on his back. Remember this scene from "A Christmas Story"? Well, I know just how Randy felt! It took 3 airmen to get me back on my feet.

As we got "undressed" and ready for class inside the hangar, I couldn't feel my fingers. I couldn't even hold a pen to write. So I went into the latrine, turned on the hot water and ran my hands under the flow! Bad, BAD mistake - it felt like I had set my hands on fire! One of the instructors heard my screams and took me outside, where he advised me to put my bare hands in the snow. Oh, the relief! Anyway, to make a long story short, that winter turned out to be one of the most severe Chanute had ever experienced. We had snow drifts that covered our barracks - I woke up one morning and all I saw was white. The snow had piled up over the windows to the roof. And the room was freezing.  I went to turn up the radiator that was heating our room, and found out that it was frozen solid. The temps plunged to around 10 below zero, and believe it or not, we still marched to school every morning. Northern winters and snow had taken their toll on this Florida boy.

Later on in the Air Force, I visited Minot AFB in Grand Forks, North Dakota and found out that the temperature could go even lower than 10 below...way below! Years later, I took a job with an electronics firm that sent me to school in Greeley, Colorado - in the winter time. I loved the Rockies, and I loved the scenery, but the snow I could have lived without. That was only a 60-day exposure. When I finished the training, I was sent to Manhattan in NYC to work, in the winter. I lasted until Easter, and quit over salary, but the winter helped the decision. After every experience, it was always back to my home state of Florida. On January 19th, 1977, it actually snowed in Ft. Lauderdale! Aside from that rare event, I successfully kept myself away from the Great White North.

And then I met Jen, and fell in love! Strange story, but she was a Jersey girl who had moved to South Florida to live with her older sister Carolyn as a teen-ager. She met and married her first husband in Hollywood FL, and had both of her daughters there, and then moved to Pennsylvania to live and raise her family. She had vowed, before she ever heard of me, that she would never, ever return to Florida. Me? Well, I had sworn I'd never leave Florida. And then we met, circumstances that I will cover in another post, and Jen ended up marrying me and living 1,000 miles from where she had started her family. But she always longed to return to PA, and be with her kids and a growing brood of grandchildren. Fast-forward 15 years, and with grand-child #7 on the way, it was time to go back home. And although I had sworn I would never leave that good ol' Sunshine State, we were packing and making plans to head north.

My friends and co-workers all chided me - "People leave Pennsylvania and move to Florida! Why the heck do you want to leave Florida and move to PA?" Even Jen had thoughts about how Florida winters were still not cold, and kept dropping lines like "It gets to 10º and colder!" to remind me of my fate. Still, I had no family left in Florida, her family is my family, hence I have 2 daughters and soon-to-be 7 grandkids, and home was now in the Lehigh Valley of PA. No reason to keep me down South (except for the mild winters), and I wanted more than ever to bring Jen back to the family she always longed for.

And so I will "throw myself on the grenade" for the family, and endure what I know is coming. I think. I have never driven in snow, or ice. I have never shoveled snow from my front sidewalk. I have never had to walk my dogs in the snow (and, I might add, my poor poochies have absolutely NO idea what will happen when I open that door and the ground is covered with white stuff!), and I have to face the associated chores of making sure we have enough fuel oil for our furnace...I had never even seen an oil furnace until now. In New York, in Hastings-on-the-Hudson where I had rented a place, there was an old coal furnace - now that is a story I will tell someday!

What will happen with me and snow? I honestly do not know. But I am ready to man up and face it full-bore. It has been 66 years since I was born, and for those 66 years, I never really had to deal with this northern winter stuff. But that is over now. I'm not visiting Pennsylvania, I live here. For good, for real, and most likely for the remainder of my life. Crazy thing is, Jen is already talking about going South for the winter. She's half-kidding, half-serious. But I'm planning on going out and buying myself some Northern winter wear - thermal underwear, a good coat (probably a parka!), rubber boots, and absolutely an all-wheel drive vehicle of some kind. It has been suggested that we also install a remote starter for our car so we can have it warming up before we go out the door. I'm sure there will be other suggestions coming forth. And I'm not looking forward to the first of many times when I will find myself flat on the ground after a slip on the ice.

But I also want to learn how to snow-board. Our oldest, Annie, and her family take to the slopes every winter, and she has promised to show me how to kill mys...er...negotiate the bunny slope on a board. And Jen, sweet Jen, has promised to do everything in her power to keep me off that snow-board. She's probably right! I'm looking forward with some trepidation and some eager anticipation at my first winter here in Pennsylvania. I know it's going to be cold. I know it's going to snow. I know all the leaves will fall off the trees. I know the days will be gray and sunless. I know all these things.

I just haven't experienced them yet! Wish me luck! Better yet, pray for me! I say with certainty that God has brought us to Pennsylvania, and that He has told us: "For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." That is Jeremiah 29:11, and it is inscribed in Jen's wedding band. Thank you, Lord for bringing us here!

And Now, the Real Saga Begins!

Well, we're moved in! Most of our stuff is either unpacked or still in boxes in a huge closet or the attic. Where it will probably stay until we are in a more permanent home. We will be looking for (probably) a manufactured (mobile) home - there are quite a few around here that have more space than the place we're in now. Double-wide, 28x56=almost 1600 sq. ft. and that's all we need. Two bedrooms, two baths, and one story - no stairs. Neither of us wants to climb up and down a lot anymore. And a price around $15K. Now THAT I can live with.

Our basement is a place that takes a little getting used to. It's dark and primitive - the floor is dirt, and the previous owner did a lot of, shall we say, very crude and messy wiring. As I said previously, no building inspector would ever pass this place without major renovations. Service is 100A, the breaker box is...let's just say it works. I have managed to figure out how to turn most of the lighting on and off, but since I don't like even going down there, who cares?

It's strange living in modern (by most standards) housing for almost my entire life and then moving into a house that is probably well over 100 years old. Cloth-covered wiring. Wooden floors. Red brick walls, the dirt basement - more properly called a cellar, I think. The neighborhood is all antique. Ironically, right across the street they're putting up a brand new apartment building, complete with indoor parking. In this neighborhood, everyone parks in the street, parallel-style. No reserved parking, so if someone takes the place in front of your house, you find the next open space, hopefully within close walking distance. Then there are the parking rules: the 2nd Thursday of every month, in the summer, your car has to be moved (anywhere...they don't care) so that the city can run a street sweeper along the curb. And you can't move your car back until an inspector has followed the cleaner to be sure that cleaning is complete and no major repairs are needed. I'm told that, in the winter months, the car has to be moved for snow removal. Oh, joy! I cannot wait!

The town of Palmerton is about 2 miles, west to east. Main street is Delaware Ave. There are signs prohibiting "cruising" the main drag - 3 times past a given spot within an hour is against the law. For a small town, they seem to have a big police force...I see police cruisers all the time. We've been told that there is no crime in Palmerton, and I'll believe that. It's a very slow-moving 'burg, and there isn't a whole lot going on. I've laready checked out two pizza places, the local Subway (there are no McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's, or anything else within the city limits) and a great little sandwich shop called Joes' Place. Both pizza and sandwiches are great - Joe's provides about twice the sub for the money that Subway does, and the meat is sliced to make the sandwich - it's the place to go. We haven't tried any of the restaurants yet. It seems that most of them are bars or taverns which serve food. There's supposed to be a great Italian place out on 248, but we haven't had time to check it out yet. These things take time, you know.

The place to shop, to really shop, is over in Lehighton, about 9 miles east of us. There is a new year-old Lowe's and a massive Wal-Mart Super Center over there, and between the two of them, it looks like we'll be over there a lot. I don't really like shopping at Wally World, but since it is really the only place to go within 20 miles, it's more a necessity than a pleasure. I am pondering applying for a part-time job at the Lowe's...talked to the electrical manager, who told me they could use someone dependable. It's a brand new store, and it's totally laid out different than my store in Orange City, FL. I've already bought several hundred $$ of supplies from them and got to know some of the employees. We'll see...

Interesting thing happened at the Wally World. First of all, it seems to have been built on top of a small mountain itself. You can't see the store from the highway, just a sign. Make a left turn and start climbing a very sharp grade, and probably about 300 yards up, there's the store. It's huge! And the view!!! We park the car, and look out to the west, and there is this beautiful valley, with mountains as far in both directions as you can see! With farms and houses. Toto, I don't think we're in Florida anymore! Jen takes a few pictures with her cell-phone. This shot doesn't do justice but it gives you a good idea (you can see the Wal-Mart sign at the bottom):

This place has to be 200 feet above the surrounding area. Anyway, after the shock and awe of the scenery, we proceed inside. Jen grabs an electric cart, and I grab a push cart, and we walk in. It's as huge inside as it is outside, one of the biggest Wallys I've ever seen. As we start to shop, I notice a guy in cargo shorts and a tank top looking at razor blades. Nothing special, except that he's wearing a Galco Miami Classic shoulder holster, with a Glock G17 9mm and a brace of magazines. His wife, next to him is sporting a Keltec PF-9 in an IWB holster. I have to stop him and ask. "I'm new to the area, just came up from Florida...is open-carry cool up here?" I find out that just about everywhere except Philly, you can walk around with a piece on your side. In Philly, only if you have a permit. If you get in your car with the weapon, it becomes "concealed" and you need a CCW permit to keep it loaded and available. Now I know I'm going to like this place, and this state.

I've been walking along the alley behind our place, and there's a stream that runs along just below it with trout. I don't like to fish, but again, it's a very nice change of scenery from Florida. There isn't a fast flow of water, but there are a few "rapids" within view. I heard a lot of big-engine noises from behind the trees on the other side, so I decided to Mapquest the area to get a satellite view of whatever it was. This is a view from Google Maps: Palmerton South. If you look in the lower left-hand corner, you will see 4th Street and Lehigh Ave. Just below the "e" in Ave, there is a long building with a parking lot to it's right. Well, two houses further right is our house, just above the "6" in 6th Street. You'll notice the stream, and then if you look at what fills up the rest of the picture to the east, THAT'S where all the noises are coming from. Train cars regularly transit in and out, along with big semis. I haven't asked what this is yet, but I think it has something to do with the New Jersey Zinc Co. - Wiki says, "The East Plant continues to operate at reduced capacity, processing electric arc furnace dust into zinc calcine." So it's not quite paradise. Whoops!

I understand that the town is in the SuperFund program, supposedly because of the zinc caol mining and its aftermath. I can truthfully say that I like the small town and its atmosphere. I haven't seen or heard of any adverse effects on the townspeople, and for a small town, it seems to be thriving.

Can't say the same for the pet problems. We never had any problems in Florida with fleas and ticks, but up here, it's tick convention time. As I stated previously, I was walking the dogs along the stream behind our house, but I have been warned, and now know from personal experience, that this is tick paradise. After the dogs brought several ticks into the house, one which ended up on me and another on Jen, we went to the vet and got tick preventative for both dogs. It's costly ($90 for a 6 months supply, per dog), but worth peace of mind. The cats, who do not leave the premises, will be getting flea & tick collars, just in case. I do not fear most animals, but I hate spiders, and I abhor ticks. I'd seriously think about moving right away, but my kids have told me that ticks are bad through eastern PA, and you can't get away from them. So unless we move to...Texas...I guess it's "prevent" time.

And We Move Into Our New Home

July 1st - We officially move in! Well, not yet. I have to return the truck to Penske; luckily, the lot is only a few blocks from the hotel. But I have to return it with a full tank, so while Jen prepares the pets for our final trip, I go out in search of diesel fuel. When I return, everyone is ready to go, but this is going to be a little different - we had all of the "kids" in a big truck cab and now they all have to fit in a little Ford Escort. A little Ford Escort that is already packed full of other stuff. With some resourceful planning, everyone gets in except me - I have to drive the truck. Jen follows me over to the Penske dealer, and after a few minutes of truck inspection and a receipt, I come out to find Jen in tears. I think that everything has finally caught up with her - it's been a long trip, it's hot outside, 4 animals are squirming around...she is overwhelmed and tired. I feel so bad for her, and I tell her to relax and I will do the final driving up to Palmerton. The GPS is already set up for the trip, and we head to what will be our home.

Remember what I said about the state of the house, with all of the boxes and furniture shoe-horned in? We pull up in front and Jen sees the place for the first time - she likes it! Well, that's a good start, but I'm shaking inside, because I know what's coming next. She was a little overcome when we left Allentown...what will she be like when she opens the front door and sees...?

Unfortunately, I had called it right, and Jen is in tears. Her plan had been to be there during the unloading, and to supervise where everything went. And that didn't happen, so I convinced her that I would do my best to make sure her wishes were carried out. And I failed, miserably! There is enough room to walk from the front door through the house to the kitchen, and that is about it. The kitchen is full of boxes. There is no place to sit. I don't even want to take her upstairs. I forgot to mention that the house came with ramps leading up the front door, and inside there is a electric chair lift so she can navigate the stairs. Thankfully, the chair lift is working, and after what seems like an eternity of disappointment in my failings as an unloading supervisor, we head upstairs. This isn't much different. Both bedrooms are packed full of boxes. I did manage to leave enough space for the bed, which is still standing vertical against the wall. It's like a maze, and now both of us are wondering why we didn't get rid of more stuff before we came up here. Jen is so disappointed in this situation, and all I can do is try to defuse the moment by telling her that "this too shall pass." I tell her that it just looks bad right now, that in a few days, everything will get better, that I will be working my a** off to make sure she is comfortable. Not much consolation, but my contrition helps a little.

About Noon, Annie and Amanda show up. And immediately start to make Jen feel a little better. Amanda tears into the kitchen, and between the two of them, most of that room gets put away and re-arranged.  While they're at it, I sneak upstairs and set up our bed - get it put in place, make it up with padding, sheets and blankets and pillows. I want to make sure that when it comes time for Jen to rest up, she has a place to go and hide and relax. Yesterday, when we started the unloading, the first thing I did was carry the small 8,000 BTU A/C upstairs and install it in the bedroom window - I wanted to make sure that at least our bedroom was cool. Now it's running it's little heart out, and the room is wonderfully comfortable. I'm not going to tell Jen. I'm going to let her come up and find out what I've done.

And she does, and at least I have gained a bit of a reprieve from my failure to keep the house in order yesterday. The kitchen is in fairly good shape, but there are still boxes all over the place, and we both know that it's not going to be cleaned up overnight. It's been a long trip, but now the real work is starting - making this house our home.

We are moved in, and will spend the first night of many to come in our new bedroom. The 8,000 BTU A/C I put in has the room nice and cool. And we are ready to collapse once again. It's been a really long day. But...we have 4 animals who now need our attention. We have set up the kitty corral in the 2nd bedroom (soon to become my den), and have their kitty boxes, water and food there. We have kept them contained all day as we have gone about trying to make the place liveable, and now it's time to open the doors and let them roam around and explore. Meanwhile, Sandy and Sasha need to be taken out and walked, and I have no idea where I will take them. I've barely been out in the back, but on the leashes they go, and out the back door. I learn that there is a small alley behind the place, and across from that a stream, so I head there. It's a rather pleasant stroll, and the dogs are in scent-heaven. There are squirrels and rabbits back here (I find out later), and after taking their timely poops, they start to explore. I will find out a week later that this was a bad idea - it appears to be tick season in PA, something we never had to worry about in Florida. Later that night, as we are preparing for bed, I feel something on my arm, and discover a tick. Now, these things cannot be destroyed with anything less than a hammer, and after trying to contain the sucker (literally), I put it on desk and smash it with a knife handle. This is not something I want to face. I can deal with a lot of things, but not ticks. Later, we take Sasha to the local vet for a check-up (regarding some other issues), and we get both her and Sandy a flea and tick preventive. Now we only have to figure out how to keep them off of us.

But we are here, and we are ready to spend our first night in Palmerton. The room is cool, the naimals are all put in for the night - Sasha on her sleeping pad next to our bed and Sandy in her crate. The cats know where everything is. Jen and I thank God for getting us here in one piece, and for our new home, and we thank Him for each other. Jen had spent the last 6 months packing and preparing for this move, and now she is facing the daunting task of un-packing everything. Well, it ain't going to happen, because we figure out that, hopefully, after a year here we will find a permanent home to purchase, and then we will un-pack these boxes. For now, we will live on the basic necessities, opening other boxes only as needed. Everything else goes into a closet, the basement or the attic.

We are home! Thank you, Lord!