A Month Gone By...

At this point a full month has come and gone since we moved to Dayton, TN. Luanne and I are both happy with our new home and very happy that we moved away from California, but we do miss our old friends there and wish they would all just spontaneously decide to move here. Here are a few more pictures of things we've done and seen in the last month...

This is the famous courthouse in downtown Dayton where the "Scopes Monkey Trial" occurred in 1925. Famous blowhard attorneys, Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan, fought it out in the hot, pre-airconditioning August weather, the issue being the recent Tennessee law again teaching evolution in the classroom. Bryan (upholding the law) won the court case and celebrated by dying 5 days later. The local Christian college is named after him.

On Friday, January 23, our PODS container was delivered after having successfully traversed the country. I am pleased to report that very little was damaged in the journey.

On Saturday, January 24, we decided to take a break from the moving, packing, unpacking, lifting, etc. and take Luanne's parents to see some of what East TN has to offer. One of the most beautiful natural scenes around here is Fall Creek Falls, the tallest waterfall east of the Mississippi River. The state park is located about 40 miles from Dayton.

This is the oldest jail in Tennessee, located in Pikeville, the town where my mom and her two sisters grew up. The car is considerably newer than the jail.

My home office space setup is very much like it was in California...

But the view is better!

Our minibarn arrived on a trailer behind a big Dodge truck.

After the delivery man expertly set it up, we were able to empty the POD into the barn and get our driveway back.

And now comes the joy of home ownership...we will be shortly starting our early 2009 projects, including painting both bathrooms and sanding and painting both the back deck (shown in the picture above with the barn) and the front porch. We would love to do some planting around the property, put some extra braces under the living room and office floors to prevent them from creaking, and entirely re-model the small of the two bathrooms (and about a hundred other things), but for now we love our house, we love our neighborhood, and we love our new home state (no state income tax!!!). We look forward to visits from many friends--you are always welcome here!