Happy Hour

"IF A LIFETIME CAN BE LIKENED TO A DAY, THEN THIS IS HAPPY HOUR!"
BUCK PENNINGTON

Mother, Mother Ocean

Mother, Mother Ocean, I've heard you call
Wanted to sail upon your waters since I was three feet tall
You've seen it all, you've seen it all
Watched the men who rode you, switch from sails to steam
In your belly you hold the treasures, few have ever seen
Most of 'em dream, most of 'em dream
Yes, I am a pirate, two hundred year's too late
The cannons don't thunder, there's nothin' to plunder
I'm an over-forty victim of fate
Arriving too late, arriving too late

Yoda

"Size matters not. Look at me. Judge me by my size, do you? Hmm? Hmm. And well you should not. For my ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is."
―Yoda, to Luke Skywalker

Counted the Stars

Counted the stars on the 4th of July
Wishing we were rockets bursting in the sky
Talking about redemption and leaving things behind
I have these pictures and I keep these photographs
To remind me of a time
These pictures and these photographs
Let me know I'm doin' fine
We used to be so happy once upon a time
Once upon a time
But the sun sank west of the Mendocino County Line
And the sun sank west of the Mendocino County Line


""SOME SEE A GLASS AS HALF FULL, SOME SEE IT AS HALF EMPTY, I JUST WANT TO KNOW WHO’S DRINKING MY RUM."
Rumbear

Tuesday, November 03, 2009

The house was found

WE found the house we wanted late yesterday afternoon. It is in that former planned community of California City. It is in Kern County. Think Buck Owens and Merle Haggard, with the county seat of Bakersfield.
We are renting a 1,600 square foot, three bedroom, two bath with a two car garage in a very nice neighborhood. It has an outstanding kitchen and a huge living room. It comes with the refrigerator, range, microwave and dishwasher. And there is a washer and dryer already there! And the rent is only 800 bucks a month! The back yard is just the right size for the sheltie that we have and it has a patio that is out of the evening sun. So those who I hope will show up next spring for a Santa Maria BBQ will have to enjoy the sunset over the Tehachapi Mountains from the driveway.
When we get internet service, we will send pictures to any and all and my facebook account!
Tomorrow will be occupied with getting utilities and such transferred to our name. The water has to be done at city hall.
There is no supermarket in town. The nearest is in Mojave but the commissary at Edwards is an easy trip. We did the Visiting Quarters at the base last night. We may even try to get into the system at the clinic for our primary care. One of those retired earned things, ya know.
On Thursday we are going to rent a U-haul to move a couch, occasional tables, lamps and maybe a small chest freezer from Palmdale. The Missus Old Retired Petty Officer's Sister has some things for us to use. And we can afford a small chest freezer.
I am glad we decided on Cal City over Lancaster/Palmdale. They are just to busy, even though having all the conveniences of a pair of cities that have almost 400,000 people in them just couldn't match the small town atmosphere and lower costs.
The Missus did ask the one rental agent office staff this one: Why do I want to move here? His answer was: low crime and affordable. Sounds good to me. As for flying the Missus back to Wichita, her sister in Palmdale will provide the lift to LAX. It is cheaper to fly out of LAX via DEN or DFW than Ontario or Bakersfield.

4 comments:

kc said...

After 22 years as a Navy Wife, and 3 as a Navy Wife, Retired (hey, that's what the certificate the Skipper at Test Pilot School says), I am GREEN with envy.

Buck said...

Congrats... sounds like you landed WELL. LocationX3!

By comparison: I paid $2K a month for an 800 sq ft 1BR apartment in Berkeley when I lived in SFO at the height of the dot-bomb fiasco... and I felt lucky to have THAT, as it took me three weeks of frantic searching to find something, anything at that point in time (August of 2000). Count your blessings!

Anonymous said...

Wow.

That was fast, and it sounds like you got a good idea. I particularly like the rental agent's pitch for renting in that neighborhood.

Of course, I'd like to live in a neighborhood with a bit less people and traffic too. The small town I moved into about 12 years ago isn't exactly small anymore. Instead it's turned into a big strip mall.

Glenn Mark Cassel said...

And the commute is about 25 minutes. Just as the sun is coming up over the mountains east of Barstow. The town is a mix of occupied and not occupied homes. The street on which we now live has a senior apartment community on it directly across from us. The house has been overhauled, with new kitchen appliances, the bathrooms have new tubs, sliding doors, fixtures and tile in the tub/shower. The back yard is small yet big enough for the sheltie to run in. And no grass! And it will stay that way! All I have to do is keep the weeds down. Maybe I will ask the agent to check with the owner next spring about coloured gravel in the front.
This week has been mostly check-in stuff but today I did get to spend time working panels on an F-16. I still need cockpit checkout and the other training. The Air Force is obsessed with quals of some sort or another.
And we don't have a major grocery store in town. But we do use the commissary on base and it is a good one.

I will not go down and tell my children I didn't have the courage, the conviction, the commitment or the character to fight for this country...Don't go home and let your children down~~ LTC Allen West

Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus

‎"Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum.("Therefore, he who desires peace, let him prepare for war")" from "Epitoma Rei Militaris," by Vegetius (Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus)