homeless, and then home!

What a difference a day makes.

Yesterday morning John told me that since we still hadn’t nailed an apartment, I should tell them at the Motel 8 front desk that we would need the room for at least another couple of days.  So on my way out to my office at the picnic table, I extended our stay.  Then I called the corporate apartment company and asked about the status of the one-bedroom apartment that might be available on Monday.  He said that yes, we should be able to get in.  I asked if we couldn’t get in sooner.  No -- but wait, there was a 2-bedroom that might be available, and he put me on hold.  He said that yes, the 2-bedroom would be available and he would only charge me for the 1-bedroom if I took it for the month.  Since the other 1-bedroom wouldn’t be available until the first week of August, I took it!  I quickly filled out the online form and checked out of the Motel 8 (which is a lot more expensive that renting a corporate apartment for a month).  I still wasn’t 100% sure that this apartment deal was going to happen.  He told me that he would give me the details - like where the apartment was located, where the keys were, etc. - later in the day.  It was all somewhat mysterious.

It's 9AM and promises to be a scorchingly hot day, and Jubilee and I have nowhere to go.  If you’re a normal person, a person without a dog, and you have a day to kill, you could go to the mall, or to a movie.  But I have Jubilee, and I can’t leave her in the car for more than 5 minutes or else she’ll die of the heat.  So I start in search of a park.  Actually, just a shady picnic table.  I don’t know the area, and I don’t know where the parks are.  After some minutes of futile driving around, I head back up to the McConnells Mill State Park, where we were on Monday.  It’s about 15 miles away, but I know that dogs are allowed and that there are shady picnic tables.  I feel a bit like what the homeless people must feel, as they shuffle from one picnic table to the next, never knowing quite where they will end up.

Actually, it turned out to be a pretty nice adventure.  Not many people were there.  I’m not sure if this is because it was so hot, or the middle of the week.  We sat at picnic tables, and we hiked again. 
This is my weed photo for the day (more like a root photo):

At noon I called the corporate place and they said that the information I needed was sent to me by email.  But I was out in the middle of the woods, and I didn’t have access to email.  So she told me where the apartment was, and the “code” that I would need to get in.  But the apartment wouldn’t be ready until 4PM.

So Jubilee went down the road to Moraine Lake SP, found some picnic tables and hiked some more.  Jubilee went for a little swim.

Finally, at around 3, I decided to go for it.  We found our way to the apartment, and just as we were pulling up, a fine African American man pulled up in a pickup truck beside us.  I realized that he was going to our apartment.  Hey, that’s where I’m going!  He smiled, gave me the keys and the other information that I needed to get in and even offered to help me carry up my bags.

Well, what a treat this apartment is!  Probably too fancy for us, but it will do.  (Not the best photos, but more will be coming.  I promised Eric I would send photos of the apartment).

It’s now Friday morning and I have classical music playing, am sitting on a leather couch, have the balcony door open for Jubilee’s interest and some fresh morning air.  I have hot tea to drink. Having a kitchen, and the ability to cook for oneself, makes a difference when you’re “on the road”. 

This is a friendly apartment complex.  Everyone has dogs and there are always people walking around the “circle”.  We get to know each other by the dogs' names.  Jubilee is still a bit skittish, I think because she knows she’s the new dog on the block and invading other dogs’ territories.

I do not yet have an Internet connection, but can walk down to the clubhouse (or whatever it’s called) a couple of times a day to download email, pay the bills, and update this blog.  For now, I’m not in a rush to get an internet connection.  This may be good for me to be disconnected for awhile, so the posts may not come so fast, but they might contain more writing.

Anyway, we’re here for the month!  (Can you believe that 15 minutes after I got in here, with most of my bags unloaded, the Carriage House lady called.  I didn’t even want to know what she had to say - she should have called 3 days before!)

It’s supposed to rain and cool off some today.