THE MOVE TO SOUTH DAKOTA

The sorting was the hard part of preparing to move to South Dakota. I say that because it is a temporary move for a stay of around five months and we still have the house in Puyallup.

The Washington house is in the care of family, so it is in good hands, but the delema was what to take and what to leave for the caretakers.

We plan to stay here in South Dakota from June through October, and that is a good chunk of time. If something essential is overlooked in the packing, it has to be replaced on this end.

For some reason, I prioritized my office stuff over everything else. Maybe I have some miserable need to surround myself in clutter, (here we go, peddling around that issue again).

At any rate, we had to limit our possessions to the confines of the same three horse slant trailer that we used on the first trip to S.D. in April. On that trip we brought furniture for two bedrooms, and living room and kitchen, and felt very comfortable with what we had. This time however, with a longer stay in mind, we brought a few things for a downstairs family room, and most of my office files, and of course this Mac that I love so dearly, and Jim's computer desk and hutch, lamps and so forth.

What stayed in Washington was the good office furniture. There is not room enough for it in this house. And there are other things that stayed, because that house is more deserving of them than this one. All of the yard furniture stayed because this place doesn't have a yard.

This is a transitionary time for us. We are trying to decide what we really want.

We were lucky to have family here in Mobridge that helped us find this house, which has a beautiful view of the water, and a reasonable rent with option to buy, but the house has one issue that I can't overlook. The elderly (now deceased) owner sold at least half of the back yard to the next door neighbor. Now his three sons own the house and have used it as a rental property since their father's death.

Now, there are two ways to look at this. The first is that we have the acreage in Dewey County, and we don't really need a back yard here in town. The second is the outrageous situation of seeing the lot split and cut off from alley access. Some one else's garden is in the back yard that should be part of this property. and their garage has a back door that opens onto what used to be this yard.

Jim is comfortable here, but I don't want some else's trouble. What about resale? What do you think?

So, we will rent this house for a year, and my plan is and always has been to live out on the property in Dewey County. It is beautiful, especially now. We had two more inches of rain last night and everything is green. We have also heard from FSA office that one of our projects, the wildlife conservation plan has been approved. And that is exciting. I have been ill this week but we need to go back over and discuss it further.

But, I'm getting off the subject of the move itself. We left Puyallup in the truck with two dogs and a cockatiel, and pulling the horse trailer with our furnishings. Jim commented that all we needed to complete the picture was granny in a rocking chair strapped on top of the cab.

One of the dogs is our silver poodle, Oliver and the other is a little "foster dog" which belongs to my nephew Casey Fischer, who is deployed with the Navy. This little white fur ball goes by the name of Grover, and he is a mixed toy breed, maybe poodle and yorkshire terrier or maltese. Grover has been under the care of our daughter Steph and family, but came with us on the move. He is cheerfully waiting for Casey's return from sea. and has attached to me with all his little heart and soul until then. I actually enjoy grooming him with a little slicker brush, and telling him how pretty he is.

Because we have virtually no yard here, the dogs must be walked on leash several times a day. They look forward to these outings and I wish I could say that we feel the same.

We drove straight through from Washington to S.D. with a stop for a nap at a road side rest stop, as we didn't want to stop with a load full of critters.

We arrived in Mobridge just in time to unload the furniture, and then left for Rapid City for a family wedding at the Baker ranch. We experienced the joy and festivity of the wedding on Saturday, June 6th, and then returned for a funeral of another family member, baby Graycen, who lived only 48 hours, and was as beautiful as an angel.

We feel blessed to be able to be here with our families during times of joy and sorrow. That's what life is all about, wouldn't you say?

The first project we started when we returned from Rapid City/Buffalo Gap, S.D. area was my mother's garden, and what a project it is, but that is a separate blog.