Meteor showers and bacon

Meteor showers and bacon are two of our favorite new things in North Dakota. Not that either are particularly unique to North Dakota, but I am sure that we would not have been able to see so many bright meteors leaving tails across the sky last night if we were still in Baltimore City. As for the bacon, well, they just seem to do pig well here. Hopefully they do deer well too. We see an average of 15-25 in the fields by our house everyday and a big one strolled down the road this morning while I was waiting for the internet guy. Michael is itchng for hunting season.

Things are going well as we continue to adapt to a new lifestyle. We had propane delivered yesterday as our heat and cooking and hot water depend on that big ugly thing in the yard now. Our internet was connected at home this morning though to keep us in touch with the real world. Still no new cell phones. I know that many of you are frustrated with us because we have almost no AT&T service here except for some pockets in town, but it gets old walking circles around Best Buy talking on the phone or driving back and forth on 29. If they worked in Walmart that would be a different story, but no go. In a pinch, Michael's phone is better than mine, and text messages usually get through within a couple of hours. We've been struggling to find good windows mobile phones on the Verizon network which is delaying our transition. It looks like the HTC touch pro 2 will be released next month though, so I am saving my pennies. I really want to be able to sync to my work contacts and calendar and stuff since I am all grown up with a new job now.

Michael is job hunting. Radio stations, a portrait studio and some alternative energy jobs top the list of his prospects out here. He'll find something so that he can save up his pennies for flight school! We'll see how the cookie crumbles. The lousy economy hasn't been nearly as destructive up here, but its still a recession. Having the internet up and running at home will help. he's been keeping busy though and is re-finishing an antique radio as we speak that we bought for ten dollars. Its a 1949 Philco cabinet radio with a turntable and is pretty cool. He's doing an amazing job on it. We were shocked when he plugged the thing in and it worked beautifully. Michael found an oldies station to complete the effect. It had been gathering dust and spiders in a barn. The lady also has a very nice antique dresser that she's selling very cheap so we'll probably go back and get that too since we actually need one of those. Both the dresser and the radio will look gorgeous with our fold up camp chairs. :) I'll be happy to get our stuff from Baltimore. Hopefully soon.

We've also started looking for winter weather worthy vehicles for me. Fortunately, there are a lot of them up here! My requirements are 4 wheel drive, working heat, and enough clearance to blow through a snow drift or two. :) That'll probably wait until after we finish the move unless we find something extremely cool like an international scout between now and then. Next step will be equiping all of the vehicles with cold weather survival gear in case of a break down. Seems silly to think about when its 95 out today, but well, I'm planning ahead these days.

We've actually had the air conditioning on for the last few days as we've been in the mid 90s. The humidity is much lower here than Baltimore though so it hasn't been too painful. We tried to go swimming in the Larimore Dam yesterday, but both Michael and I chickened out on account of it being a bit too au naturale for us. There is a huge goose population there and they leave a lot of ... droppings... on the beach area. Their poo piles make Duke's look puny and left the water a bit murky. Michael assured me that the huge turtles we've seen swimming by (one of which Michael caught while he was fishing the other day) are not snapping turtles, but between the goose poo and the high algae content, we both only went in up to our knees and then drove to Larimore to see if the pool was still open (nope). Would still swim in the dam before I jumped in Baltimore's Inner Harbor, but guess I'm not completely countrified yet (or maybe I just wasn't hot enough!)!

I've rambled on enough. To those of you on better terms with the Big Man upstairs than I am, if you could say some extra prayers for my friends Kate and Reagan's daughter Hallie this week, it would be much appreciated. Hallie and her twin brother were born 15 weeks ago as extreme preemies. Unfortunately, their little boy did not make it and Hallie is really struggling for her life. She a beautiful little fighter, but well, she and her amazing parents could use some extra prayers right about now.

Lots of love!