We’ve managed to unpack our primary stuff - finding some things damaged from the move (expected) and a few things unaccounted for yet but overall we are in good shape.
Animals are still my main focal point surrounding our place. The second morning in our new home I woke up early and saw a huge cockroach on my bedroom wall. Length of my cell phone. Antenna moving around busily. Accordingly, the next day on our Home Depot run we picked up 3 kinds of roach killing traps (borax tablets we put in kitchen, some nest-killing plastic things we put in living room, and 2 roach motels for my bed/bath upstairs).
So that evening as I was going to bed (9:30 as you know) I heard some banging around and it was my cockroach who had discovered the motel in the bathroom! Fortunately, I had put one other roach-killing thing in our cart that day which was a SPRAY-CAN-TO-KILL-INDIVIDUALS and I called out for Rob to save me and he sprayed the roach. But then a few minutes later it started reanimating and Rob slayed it and took it away in a plastic bag. A few days later Rob dispatched with another one in our dining room. I knew we’d likely deal with bugs, including cockroaches, but I didn’t expect they’d be waiting for us when we moved in!!
Our landlord, Carrie, has given us a bit more information about our neighbors. The farm next door has, in addition to the 2 pigs, an assortment of chickens & roosters, horses, mules, and goats. The goats used to wander in our yard when Carrie had the gate open that separates us but more recently they shifted goat location so they haven’t been in our yard. We plan to meet the farm people soon. Sounds like they do sustainable techniques and stuff. They are also into music. Rob has already seen a young man riding a horse on our street the other day. I need to find out the names of the pigs and if it is OK to feed them things such as melon rinds, mango skins, banana peels. I try green things on them too, like scallion tops and brussels sprout leaves but those aren’t as well liked. Yesterday the black pig practically ran toward me in a rush to see what scraps I had to offer. Carrie said it loves to be rubbed on its belly if you reach under there and then it will lay on its back! I haven’t tried that yet as they look so intimidating but I will.
On the other side is Freckles, the cute puppy, and her owner is rarely seen. But we met a man who rents a smaller home on the same plot and he was nice, but also seemed like he keeps to himself.
The cat loves to hang out by our side door and scratch at the screen and pretend it is aloof but I’m realizing it really wants to be inside and be a spoiled house cat. And the pigs like to sleep under our dining room and sometimes you’ll hear a low rumble turn into a looooooong deep sound which is a pig perhaps groaning after a long nap? Rob likens it to how we might imagine prehistoric animals sounded in the days of the dinosaurs.
On top of this, our street has a dense wooded area all around which harbors who knows what all including coyotes. Another neighbor a couple doors down is slightly famous here. The “6th Street Cowboy” has an interesting story, and I have learned from it that you can’t be arrested for DWI while riding a horse.
We already had our cars emission tested and registered our vehicles. Our cars now have Texas license plates!
I’m also fixated on the puzzle of the local grocery store monopoly, H-E-B. There seem to be virtually no other competing grocery stores! We have also attended one meeting of the Extinction Rebellion group but I feel like that topic may just be its own entry in the future.
Dramatic garden sculpture. That empty plastic carton was left by Freckles who uses it as a toy.
Finally, we find that many destinations are west of our place. When we return home, the exit we take is Montopolis Drive. Mark my words, someday that will be as familiar as “Mulholland Drive”. I don’t know exactly why, whether it be earned by the culture, the weird, or a movie-set, but it’s going to be the vortex of all the coolest things.
Sometimes this cat is on the 2nd floor deck or even the roof.