Thursday, March 27, 2008

Another Orbit Completed

I am celebrating today, my 54th birthday, by not moving. I don’t mean to imply that I have spent the day in a catatonic state. I have moved around a lot today. I went to my chiropractor’s office and I got a pedicure. I took Lani for a nice walk in the woods and then dropped her off to get a bath. It is just that the past two years, we have been moving on my birthday.

In 2006, we moved from here: (Don’t be fooled by the picture. It was not as good as it looks.)



To here:



where we thought that we had found a little slice of heaven in Austin but that was not the case in so many ways. To make matters worse, our landlords were, if not exactly friends of ours, at least in our close social circle so I did not feel that I could really let them have it about all the things that were promised and not followed through on. As soon as our lease was up, we started looking for a new place. Acting on a tip from a former neighbor, Stephen drove up the street and found our current residence less than an hour after the ‘for rent’ sign went up. We have a beautiful home with a great fenced yard for Princess Lani. We have the world’s best landlord. We ain’t goin’ nowhere.




Soundtrack for this post: Bob Dylan's You Ain't Goin' Nowhere . Gotta love this version by the Byrds with Earl Scruggs as well as this one from Desert Rose Band. I've always had a thing for Chris Hillman.

9 comments:

thailandchani said...

Happy birthday! And I think all those places look pretty good. Of course I live amidst urban decay so anything surrounded by trees looks exceptional to me. :)

heartinsanfrancisco said...

Happy birthday, Sister!

The new place looks great and it's good to see you guys so well-situated in all those trees.

Have a wonderful, happy and prosperous year.

Taexalia said...

Happy Birthday! You are going to celebrate for the whole weekend, right?

:) xxx

Christine said...

happy birthday-- glad you found the right spot after a couple of duds!

Running on empty

Friðvin said...

Happy Birthday!! txrad told me about it yesterday but I've been a tad busy with various things.

I actually like the pictures of the before houses but I'm in a rustic phase most of the time.

Your latter house looks similar to ours with the white stone exterior. I noticed you have the "white" roof I've been ranting against that txrad said he prefers! :lol:

Friðvin said...

OH! And that tree beside the driveway in the foreground is GORGEOUS!

Unknown said...

Thanks for all the birthday wishes.

Yeah, all the places we have lived in Austin have had great trees. There are several pics of the trees in this yard at various places on this blog.

One good thing about that apartment was that the complex is small and was built so long ago that it was probably the only complex that for south on S. 1st when it was built. They left a lot of room between the buildings and left all those beautiful live oaks. It was a nice place when we moved in and the owner lived on the property. Then she moved and did not care to whom she rented and things really went down hill.

The second place shared 2 acres with another house and the owner's workshop. Right after we moved in, we discovered that it was infested with fleas and that the septic tank was in failure. The fleas were a nightmare (thankfully we did not have Lani then) and the septic tank took about 7 months to replace because of permiting and possible procrastination on the part of the owner. Then he dumped the extra fill dirt, which was a yucky clay, in our yard, never tore down a rodent infested shed and kept piling his junk in our yard. I felt like I was living in Sanford and Son's place. Then winter came and I could not keep the place warm despite spending about $350 every 5 to 6 weeks on propane.

As I said, we love this place.

Angela said...

YAY!!! Good for you. What a beautiful home. I wouldn't move either if the landlord was good. Happy, happy birthday to you!!

Brave Sir Robin said...

Happy Birthday!!!!!!!!!!