Portland or Bust

I think we are going to like it here!
The cats are finally settling into the place, we were worried that we had turned them into little Vagabond’s – days following our arrival they jumped out of bed in the AM as if to say OK- time to “load up”. Sitting by the door watching every move we made, waiting to be shoved into the carriers and on to our next destination. They now have their own favorite spots to chill and love eye-spying on people and cars 15 floors down on the street.
We have spent the last two weekends shopping, ug, I hate to shop. We pack the crown vic to the hilt with this and that, attempting to re-build a household, at one point having to tie the trunk shut with some random twine we found. Not sure this will hold, so we drive as slow as possible on the freeway and attempt make it home. Ner, ner, ner, ner, ner nerrrrrr – we hear banjos playing in our heads as we slump down in the seats, hats pulled tightly over our heads, dark sunglasses, grateful no one knows us here!
We have made a conscious effort to not over buy, but to just buy necessities, still it has been 3 full days of shopping, cramming, assembling, arranging. Shopping, cramming, assembling, organizing. I have worked two full pages of “things” to buy down to ¼ page. I will not have to work on the floor, using a box as a computer desk! The house is coming together.
We found a couch and had it delivered, the delivery shows up 5 hours early at 7AM. Luckily we are still on East Coast time and have been up by 5:30AM every day, I am in my pajamas, hair glued to my head, teeth brushed – BTW-my new hair style is quite a sight to see, gray, pulled back and in a bun – I look like an old school marm (sp?). Next week, priority hair dresser!
Our home resembles nothing of our “old life” no Asian influences, no antiques, no art – I think my art will be the cityscape – the views from the 15th floor can be stunning. Red/orange sunrises, making the vertical clouds look as if they are on fire, the full moon looked close enough to lasso and the skyline filled with buildings of all shapes and sizes. Mount St. Helens is visible, we know this is her – the top of the mountain is missing, blown off by a violent release of energy some years back, Mount Hood barely visible, blocked by an aforementioned building. We watch the storms roll in and snowflakes dance by the windows.
We are still not used to the street noise, our alarm clock today was bongos at 4AM, crazy crack heads – probably thought they sounded great, me I wanted to cram the bongos up someone’s a@$^!!! We both mumble, damn crack heads…………..get up throw on a pot of coffee, I settle in to write. Garbage is picked up somewhere between 4-6AM everyday of the week, I debate getting a movement started to push this to 8AM, a more civilized hour of the day. But know humans do not want to “see” the garbage we produce, collection has always been done under the cover of night – I wonder how this came to be? Hummmmmm. I think about garbage. I have become a fearless recycler, we have spent hours separating the trash, and flattening cardboard we have created in this move and deposited it in the proper receptacles. Recycle, Reuse, Repair – the planet, our life.