We close today at 1 pm! Our agent was the last to find out. And we still don't know how much we're supposed to bring (in the form of a cashier's check, naturally) to the event!! I wanted to go out and buy a pen with a big giant pink feather on it, but that was like two weeks ago. Now I just want to get the whole thing over and done with. A nudie-guy pen will suffice.

Stay tuned for hot closing action!

Speaking of closings, I'm still confused about all these proposed military base closings they're trying to prevent here in the Northeast. I mean, imagine it. If regular civilians like you and me got together and protested and demanded they close some military bases, the Republicans would call us traitors, they'd say we were trying to jeopardize the security of the people, trying to aid and abet the enemy! They'd call us un-American, anti-freedom, anti-military, haters of liberty. Anyway, they'd call us something. But now here's our very own Pentagon and our very own Secretary of Defense calling for the shutting down of military bases? Whatever happened to supporting the troops? Wasn't that a big deal?


And yet I haven't seen a single news article from the liberal media critical of Bush, Rumsfeld or the Pentagon about the closings — or even an article that just points out the ridiculous irony of the whole thing!

We did our final walk-through yesterday and things went even better than we expected. They replaced the rotting bulkhead like they were supposed to, but even better, they went one step further (so to speak) and fixed also the stairs to the basement, and finished up the basement entirely, completing the drywall job.

Raegan and I figured it was probably something like the last owner had a contract with somebody to finish it up, so the executrix was just making good on the contract, but nevertheless it was a nice surprise and we don't know any of that contract stuff for sure, it's just conjecture, so we're trying not to be too cynical.

Our sprinklers have been going mad for the last couple weeks. Our neighbors describe the condition of the back yard as "tropical." We sloshed around in it for a few minutes until the sprinklers came on again and soaked us. The grass is totally green and in need of a good cutting. Fortunately, they left us, not one, but two lawn mowers in the shed. Which is good, because we'll most likely burn one of them out.

Also, they left behind all the pots and pans, the appliances, and much of the furniture. I'll be scouring the house over the next couple weeks for that huge wad of money.