Long time no see...

Hey everyone, sorry for the radio silence.  Blogging's been slow because there hasn't been much to talk about these last couple of months.  Here's life in a nutshell: 

I moved in with my parents at the end of April, set up a home office, and continued working from home.  Exciting! Ripley got over his illness from when we were on the road trip pretty quickly but has since had to go to the vet TWICE for a variety of ailments. Right now it's these weird bumps around his eyes and in his ears.  The vet has no idea what they're from but the hypothesis is, essentially, he's a lab, he gets into everything, and there's a whole lot more to get into out here.  See?

Ripley and the berners checking out mom and dad's chickens

I spent a solid week cleaning/prepping my house and we got the house on the market in late April.  We had a healthy number of viewings around the end of May, but things have been slowing down and no offers yet.  Hopefully we will sell it soon.  If you know anyone looking to buy a house in the Salem area (who isn't, really?), send them over to The Listing. Please and thank you.

The best part about being here is the chance to say goodbye to family and make them really sick of me before I leave.  Kelly was out for about a month with Abby and Mike was here for a bit, too.  I also got to spend some quality time with Grandma during her visit.  Ripley and I have both enjoyed having all the people around.  Before I leave I'll find some photos and update more about all the stuff we've done over the last few months. 

Andy started his job in late April and he's really enjoying it.  He's been reconnecting with friends in Alaska and getting settled.  Though I know he's been excited to be back in the Great White North, we're both eager to be in the same city again.  Luckily....

...there's the big news! I was just offered a job with the State of Alaska working as a securities examiner (if anyone knows what that means, please let me know before I start on 7/10.  Thanks).  I'm really excited that Andy and I will essentially have the same hours and holidays since we're both working for the state and we should both have great benefits.  We also will work about a block away from each other so we should be able to carpool!  My last day of work is this Thursday and I'm sad to leave for a lot of reasons - not so sad for some others.  If you want to check out Marni's recap of my (first) going away "party" at Boon's, which is the only place my coworker Steve will go in Salem, you can go here.  If you're wondering, no, I haven't read the book yet, I'm saving it for the drive.  (Also, Marni, you're welcome for the 4 additional hits on your blog that this link just got you.  My mom will probably start stalking you now.) 

Speaking of the drive, we are heading up to Alaska again by car, leaving on the 4th of July - since Canada is exactly where you want to spend America's indepedence day - and hoping to get up there in 3-4 days.  This time we're taking a different route, so I'll be posting again and everyone can see if my theory that taking the Cassiar Highway rather than the ALCAN for a large portion of the drive is really faster.  And if not, you can laugh at me.  I'm mostly looking forward to doing the drive without a screaming cat.