The Preparations Continue

Today is moving day! (for Andy anyway).  We have two very nice gentlemen in our house packing up all of Andy's stuff that he'll have with him in Alaska until we sell the house.  (And some of my clothes that I snuck into his suitcases).  Best money we ever spent.  Oh, and even better, we aren't paying for it! Thanks, State of Alaska!

That's me taking a sneaky iphone photo of the truck from the side of the house so the movers don't think I'm a psychopath. One step away from Ansel Adams, I know. 

After sticking his nose in their business (and their butts) for the last hour, Ripley has finally settled down.

Ripley has two modes: excited and dead.

So he doesn't get lonely with me staying in Oregon, Andy's going to be taking the kitties up to Alaska with him when we drive up in a couple of weeks and keeping them there.  This also saves them from having to live in dog land at mom and dad's for the foreseeable future.  Have I mentioned before how much fun this car ride is going to be?  To prepare for this epic journey with the cats, we had to get them checked out at the vet.  Thankfully our vet office did some research and made sure to get all the paperwork covered.  Enter Zeus' worst nightmare:

Zeus incorrectly believes that if he's not readily visible, he can't be subjected to the stranger danger. 

I wasn't able to get any pictures of Fro because she was "grumpy."  The vet had to tag-team her with a couple of vet techs in the backroom and couldn't even do the exam without some restraints.  Remember this when you see her at our house and make a comment about how friendly she is.  She is faking it.  When the vet brought her back into the room she was in the kennel and put down with the door facing the wall.  The vet then put a towel over the carrier.  Even with all of this, she growled the entire rest of the appointment.  Why yes, we will be taking that prescription for valium, thanks Vet! (And can we get a couple for us, too?)

With every item we check off the list, we're one step closer to the move!

Snow!

It seems like nature realized I would need to be acclimated to Alaskan weather before moving up there.  Not that this is anything like what winters are like in Alaska (maybe spring? summer?), but the last couple of weeks it's been pretty cold and snowy around here.  This was what we woke up to this morning:

I'm glad the city plowed our street - that 1/2 inch was pretty treacherous.

Yesterday Ripley and I went to mom and dad's for our weekly dinner and he got to play in the snow with his friends.  I would say they had about 3-4".  Like he usually is in cold weather, he was a huge wuss and just wanted to spend the whole evening inside by the fire.  Get used to it, buddy!

That's Windisch and Davos in the background.  They love the snow and would rather lie in it all day than sit inside with my wussy dog. 

Getting Ready

Okay, it's time to finally get this blogging thing off the ground.  That last post was a test to see if Andy and I could put all of our brain cells and our law degrees together and actually get some content on the internet.  So far, so good.  

These last couple of weeks have been a huge whirlwind of preparation.  Andy found out that he got the new job on March 8th and that left us just about five weeks to get Andy up to Anchorage.  We've finally nailed down some of the biggest issues, including getting some stuff up there for Andy (movers come Friday!), preparing to drive up the Alcan in the end of winter (need studded tires on the Subaru!), and getting the house ready to be sold (April 30 is the goal day...can I make it?!).  I will be so happy when all of this is over.  

At least the animals are chipping in:  

Zeus is enjoying all the boxes we have lying around.  I do not know how much he and his sister will enjoy riding in the car for a minimum of 3-4 days.  Maybe if I keep them in a box the whole time...

Looks like this move is actually happening!! 

We're taking the plunge!

Andy just accepted a new job in Anchorage, Alaska! We're busy making arrangements for the big move and can't wait to start our new adventure.