February 2022

In February we saw many cold and icy days, as depicted in many of our photos and videos you can see here. We also had a few warm days mixed in too. But our main focus was on planning, preparing, and executing a local move, something we are still recovering from.

Move to Montgomery, NY

In January we stumbled on a unique rental listing for a place with a lot more square footage. We were fortunate to win over the landlords, so then we had to move on short notice from our old 1-bedroom apartment in Washingtonville to a 2-bedroom farmhouse about 10 miles away that we are now renting in Montgomery, NY. We had half-a-month overlap between the two places, so the first week was all about moving our stuff from A to B, and the second week was cleaning out our old place so we can get our deposit back. The rest of the month (and beyond) was unpacking and trying to get settled. We got a small Uhaul that first weekend and hauled what we could fit in two trips. Everything else came in multiple trips in the Subaru. Becky and I managed it on our own, but we shouldn't have been too proud to ask (or hire) for help. Moving weekend happened to follow a weird ice storm that left a frozen shell on every surface, and icicles hanging from all the trees. By sheer luck though, Becky and I managed to make several trips down from our second floor apartment and several trips up the stairs of our new place without suffering any incapacitating slips on the ice along the way. By the end of it, my legs felt like they did after hiking to Machu Picchu. 

I don't have the best pictures of our new place, but it is essentially a very old barn structure that was repurposed into a living space some time ago. There are still stables (but no horses) on the bottom, and we live upstairs in the red area above that. Aside from that, it's pretty basic with spacious rooms (about 1500 square feet). The unit is owned by an older couple who work in real estate, and they live on the other side. We rarely see them, never hear them and I hope they don't hear us because I'm sure we (Alex) are much louder. I went over there to pay the rent and they gave me the full tour of their side and explained all the history. I've never seen a living space like what's    on their side. It probably doesn't meet code; they have definitely made it their own and the decor would put an antique shop to shame. They are quite chatty and friendly and I think we will enjoy having them as landlords, and hopefully friends too.

The move was a bit tough on Alex. He is a creature of routines and comforts who holds his possessions dearly, and he didn't like seeing us pack things up. We can't explain to him what is happening, so the poor little guy just has had to figure it out over time while at the same time being left alone more than usual as we deal with the fun of moving boxes and stuff around. He was feeling pretty insecure the first couple of weeks in the new place, and was more resistant than usual to some of the things we make him do, like brushing teeth and clipping nails. But by the end of the month he seemed more settled, and he has carved out new areas of the house as his designated places for his cars and toys. He is enjoying the extra space to run around, and we are enjoying the quiet of the second bedroom. In Alex's 5 years, he has lived in five locations: Mesa, AZ; Chenango Bridge, NY; Endwell, NY, Washingtonville, NY; and now Montgomery, NY. Hopefully this one will be the last for a while.

From AirBnB to Zillow

For the past two years or so, we have been renting our house in Endwell, NY through AirBnB. Most guests stay the weekend or sometimes longer. The guests have been overwhelmingly great with a few minor exceptions. It's worked out well in attracting far more guests than I ever expected for a town that is definitely not a tourist destination. The biggest downside is that I have to drive out there every week to do cleaning between guests. Since I'm not working at the university there anymore, I wanted to try renting it to longer term guests -- people looking to stay from 1-6 months. That way, we can get a bit more income out of it and still take trips to the house for a change of scenery on occasion. Renting it furnished also allows us to justify getting some new furniture for our new place and not having to move all our old furniture . It was hard to find renters on AirBnB interested in staying more than a week, so I decided to try listing it on Zillow. In about a week I found a guy looking for a place who was coming to the area to work a contract job for about six months. Zillow was actually really helpful in not just finding a renter, but also enabling me to check his background and credit and serve as a portal for payments -- at no cost to me (for my small scale purposes). So this guy moved in at the end of February and I was able to meet up with him and start this new venture, which will hopefully run its course with no drama.

Favorite Things:

Rob: There are two podcast series I've really enjoyed recently, mostly on my drives to and from Binghamton. The Plot Thickens, Season 3, Lucy -- all about the story of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. It's a nice companion piece to the recent movie starring Nicole Kidman as Lucille Ball. And Chameleon Season 3, Wild Boys -- a strange story about two wandering kids that showed up in a small Canadian town with sketchy details about their past and a strange commitment to only eating fruit. Both highly recommended. 

Becky:  Getting Alex more used to the water at an indoor swimming pool is probably my favorite ongoing effort this month.  He loves bath time, but aside from that it took us three swim lessons to get him in the water at the pool, and he is reluctantly tolerating it now.  We've gotten him used to the Hudson River in the past, but with so much winter, it's been hard to be consistent with keeping him acclimated to the water.  Now that we have state self-directed services to pay for his swim lessons, we're able to more consistently  take him to an indoor pool.  Looks like we may have to get some gym membership as well in the weeks ahead, which I will try to take advantage of to finally start toning up and dropping a few pounds.  Plus, it would be  SO great to play any type of sport again.
I would also say I love how Alex is finally starting to play on playgrounds more typically- meaning he's showing greater interest in playground equipment and is much less afraid to climb and go down slides.  This is in contrast to just running around the perimeter of playgrounds as he has in the past. There is some video of that below despite the cold weather.

Alex: We set up an area in our new place with a bookshelf, desk, chair, and beanbag chair that Alex has claimed as his reading nook. This, along with his table with all his Hot Wheels and airplanes, are the places he spends the most time at home, usually going back and forth between them. There haven't been any new iPad games or shows he's been into, so lately he has been more into looking at pictures in his books and playing with his vehicles.