The family gathered today to bid farewell to our old house and to say hello to our new one. We started by making one last walk through all the rooms of our old house and recalling stories from the past. The kids relitigated why Maya got the bedroom with the fireplace and private bathroom while the boy’s bedrooms had neither. We then walked to our new house traversing our beloved field one last time. The distance is just over 1 mile as the crow flies, 2 miles as the car drives, and about 1.5 miles walking. When we arrived at the new house, Jeanine performed an ancient Native American spiritual ritual called smudging in which a bundle of sage is lit and carried throughout the home allowing the smoke to permeate the new space. This was prefaced by giving thanks to and honoring the Bartlett family who owned the house before us. It was followed by a visit from the Concord Fire Department in response to our smoke detectors going off. They arrived in under five minutes in full fire fighting gear on a big red pumper truck with the sirens blaring and the lights flashing. Let’s just say that we have made a dramatic entrance into our new neighborhood. Jeanine has now earned something of a reputation for setting off smoke alarms in our new homes. When we moved into our first house as a couple, she thought it would be nice to cook a turkey on our move-in day to feed our friends who were helping us. She placed a wet cheesecloth over the turkey which came into contact with the heating element and caught fire.

Earlier in the day, Maya and I moved the tiny house to our new home. Things were going smoothly until we arrived at our new driveway where a telephone poll necessitated a wide turn and I managed to get the rental truck stuck on a tree stump. Fortunately, I was able to use my chainsaw to extricate the truck and after a few repositioning moves we were able to enter the driveway and position the tiny house in a very nice setting. The video below shows the departure sequence which utilized a ramp to come off the leveling blocks.