Yes, this is still on the front burner!

We’re looking hard for the right place, crunching Craigslist every hour, checking the paper, running down leads. Not looking to buy, but you never know. What we really need a long-term rental. I’d consider a lease with option to buy if the place were right. The main thing is, we need a deal… That’s what the best places are always like, something happens with a kind of mutual attraction. A personal relationship with a landlord is usually involved. Friendship, an exchange of energy. You stumble on it or it comes to you.

We took a drive to Las Vegas, NM the other day to help break in the new car and also just to get away. [Mouse over my photo above to see a chunk of the road.] There was a store that had a great selection of wind chimes and we bought one. It’s black, not shiny metal, one that would hang in the shadow of a tree and not be seen but only heard. I like that idea. We figured getting this now would help us find a house. It’s hanging inside now — not outdoors in this location! — and we give it a push whenever we walk by.

It’s time. I want to drive us to Iowa in the new car in the spring, so my wife can supervise the piano moving and get that sucker here. It needs a home, and so do we.