so, I bought a house

...which is one of the reasons the blog went dark for a couple of eons this summer.

It's been one of those huge, life changing/life affirming/life imploding (in a good way) events into which I found myself diving head first back in May:

"I really think you should come check out this house a few miles west of here," said my realtor.

"But I don't want to move farther west," I told her. "If anything, I want to move farther east."

"It's a good deal, and it's only been on the market for a day."

"I don't know..."

"It's a horse property."

"When can we go look?"

So, we drove out to a little subdivision I've passed hundreds of times in the past decade - on my way to church, to the store, to the Grand Canyon. And there it was:

It's an old El Paso house, which means it was built for one of the EP workers (and maybe for his young family as well) back when the natural gas pipeline was going through. There are a few more of these in the neighborhood, and a guy who lives in one of them told me they were built extra sturdy so they could be moved, if need be...farther down the line, I suppose.

Inside, there are these old oak floors which, while in need of some TLC, might just be magnificent someday. That's my monstrous wood stove in the corner. I plan to use it as our primary source of winter heat, since propane is so dad-gummed expensive:

And there's a utility/laundry/workshop/sunroom, which may just be the thing that finally sold me on the place. It's already set up as a homework and soaping center. Updated pics to come:

These are my Red Hot Pokers out front. I'm still getting used to that term "mine." I mean, it could be argued that nothing is really "ours," that it's all God's - or that the Earth doesn't belong to us, we belong to the Earth, etc. But....oh, heck, You know what I mean. These are my flowers:

Here's the view out back. That's National Forest right across my fenceline, and I can't wait to head out there on Zzari while whistling Happy Trails:

Without a doubt, Independence day took on a whole new meaning this year:

I guess when it comes right down to it, I can probably sum up the whole experience in five words: It's good to be home.

I'm pretty sure Lizzie agrees:

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