Yesterday morning, Kelly and I woke up to the sound of the birds outside. It was beautiful! We never realized how much ambient noise we heard at our Hobhouse home from Capital Boulevard and I-540. We never thought life would get quieter moving closer to downtown!

While we had a patch of woods behind our Hobhouse home, the birds rarely nested there as the passing train usually drove them from the trees. We’ve got a few mockingbirds that next nearby, too. I’m not used to hearing birds sing at nightfall but its a wonderful sound.
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We’re here! It took all day but we got (most of) our stuff from Hobhouse to here with one truck. The moving guys (3 of them) had our Hobhouse home cleaned out in a little over two hours. They thought they’d be done by lunch. Instead, they were done by 4 PM! Unloading the truck was only a small part of moving in: the storage container took the lion’s share of the work. Those guys made a ton of trips up and down stairs to get things stored in our attic, but their labor was well worth it!
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Today is moving day. The movers showed up promptly at 8:30 and they’re already making short work of the house. I’m simply amazed at how organized things are so far. The hard part will be directing them to the appropriate rooms once things are on the other end.

The weather is overcast, breezy and around 50 degrees, a far cry from yesterday’s weather of sun and 82 degrees. At least there’s no chance of rain today.

We’re in the midst of moving, with one toe in the new house and the rest of us still at Hobhouse Circle. After closing and lunch with our agent, we drove back to Hobhouse to gather another load of stuff to take back to Tonsler (our new home). After unloading that trip’s worth I went back for another round while Kelly visited on the front porch with Mollie, who had brought back a sleeping Travis from a trip to the Durham’s most excellent Museum of Life and Science. I then spent the next two hours at Hobhouse unplugging computers, stereos, and TVs and packing them into the car. I also learned what a doggone hassle it is to repeatedly navigate Capital Boulevard.
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Well, we’re back from closing on our new home at 1108 Tonsler Drive. The bank should be very proud (heh). Closing went smoothly and our agent took us out to Winston’s for a celebratory lunch.

Its a beautiful home. Especially empty! And we met our new neighbor, Miss Ruth, a sweet older lady who lives by herself. Nice to already be making new friends.

I’ll post more as the day progresses. For now we’re back to our new home to get the moving-in process started.

Today we pledge our allegiance to the bank as we make our financial institution (and by extension China) the official owner of our new home. A whirlwind of activity is planned. The walk-through at 9 AM, the closing at 10 AM, and then the rest of the day unscheduled but likely full of moving stuff.

We’re thrilled and a bit wary of all the work ahead. We’ll be worn out by the end of the weekend but in a happy way.

I can’t believe this day is finally here!

Kelly and I were so giddy the night we found a buyer for our home that we had trouble falling asleep. Eventually Kelly dozed off but I was still a bit wired and sleeping lightly for some time after.

At about 2:40 AM, I was dozing when I heard the familiar rumble of a diesel engine. A train had sneaked through the Durant Road crossing with nary a sound and was tip-toeing at nothing more than an idle past our home. It only sounded its horn when it was miles south of us and then only briefly. I may never have heard the train if I wasn’t already awake and Kelly never heard it at all!

Earlier, a train had ventured by right after the kids had gone to bed. I walked out back to watch it pass but the train driver never honked. Instead, a flashlight danced through the cabin window: a quiet way to say hello. (I returned the greeting in like manner!)

Did I mention the CSX crews are awesome? Thanks, guys, for the night-time courtesy!

For those who’ve been wondering, yes our home is now under contract! The buyers saw the home yesterday afternoon, fell in love with it, and immediately went to work on an offer. And as their agent told us, it is a “beautiful offer” indeed: above list price and with a few extra things thrown in. Though we got our other expected offer late yesterday, it was out of the running before it even came in.
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