Wow. We sure have packed in a lot in the past 5 weeks. We had a couple of parties in Ct to attend with old friends that were a joy to see again. Other than a few more lines on all of our faces, things have not changed too much.
Emily got to see her old house
and walk through the inside. The new
owners were gracious enough to invite us in and even had a few questions that
only the builders (us) would know. They
have kept the house even better than we could have and they both must have
green thumbs since the landscaping was much improved.
We got some health insurance and have all started to get
medical exams to determine how we fared outside of the USA for 6 years. Emily was fitted with braces for her teeth
and is thrilled (NOT) to be entering high school with a mouth filled with
metal. Her school placement testing went
better than expected as she will waive normal 9th grade Algebra 1
and Physics and take all subjects except gym and Spanish at honors level. We
are very proud parents!
Tom has been clearing overgrown brush and fallen trees
around the Ludlow mass cottage and trying to get it livable for the coming cold
winter. Already replaced were 3 rotting floor joists and heat tape is being
installed under the house to keep exposed water pipes from bursting (again). Kim and Emily have been scrubbing ceilings,
walls and floors of 6 years (or more) of dirt and making new curtains. A washing machine was wired and plumbed in
the barn and the house refrigerator needed replacement.
We all got Samsung Galaxy S4 or S5 smart phones and are
slowly discovering all the magic they contain. Smart TVs are being researched
as Tom is trying to figure a way to eliminate cable TV altogether by using
streaming internet. We found no good reason to re-connect our land-line phone,
so good riddance to another bill!
We have held some discussions with the town and uncovering
the bureaucratic hurtles we will have to overcome to build another house on our
40 acres of land. Surveyors, lawyers and
architects are being contacted. We attended a local Ludlow fair and Emily did
pretty good at rock climbing.
We will continue to shuttle back and forth between Ludlow,
Ma and Groton, CT until the boat is hauled out near the end of August. 0ver 60 boxes have been off-loaded into our
dear friend’s basement and 4 carloads have been brought north so far. The water line is slowly rising as we uncover
parts of the boat that have been buried for years. Tom is trying to remember
the winterizing steps and how many gallons of pink antifreeze will be needed.
Going south until the butter melts was a much better plan!
We got a little more press; this time from Nordhavn, the
boat builder. Here’s the link but it was
mostly a copy job from the Maryland newspaper piece:
Well life goes on and we will continue to chip away at
becoming dirt dwellers again. Once Emily
is back in school and the boat is out of the water, things should settle down a
bit…We shall see.
Tom
