ferrets in the new place

Since we moved out stuff here a week ago, I have been unpacking boxes and doing other work during the day. Still, it seems like there are always more boxes to unpack, and I haven't been taking pictures of the house because of its messy state.

There is one exception to this rule. I am always taking pictures of the ferrets, since they are always being cute. This week, we got a humidifier because the dry air caused a lot of carpet static. The ferrets were rubbing up against the carpet and then surprising themselves with little shocks when they touched their noses on my hands. The humidifier puts out a cool cloud of water vapor. The cloud has fascinated the ferrets. Rex took an open-armed leap at it a couple days ago, and he seemed unhappy he couldn't catch it.

Getting ready for Christmas / Sinterklaas

This week, I've been in Columbus boxing up our stuff. We are moving on Saturday, so there was a lot to do. Just about everything is ready to go, finally. Last weekend, we decorated a bit for Christmas and celebrated Sinterklaas. After putting together the tree, Brian put on lights and I put on ornaments. The tree is up in the front room, where the lights can shine through the windows.

My parents bought us a pair of leather chairs as an early Christmas gift. They are lovely (and some of our only furniture, until Saturday). This picture is to show off the new chairs. :)

Cincinnati visitors

This weekend, we had our first Cincinnati visitors: my parents. We might not have our furniture, but it was still great to show off our apartment and do some sight-seeing in our new city.

This is the view from our neighboring street, out to the Ohio River. As you can see, we are quite close to the river. Our street is also a dead end, facing the river, but there are trees and a house impeding the view. The view a couple streets over is much clearer.

We went downtown and saw Brian's work building (from the outside). Right next to it is fountain square (named such because of this fountain). It was really sunny, so the camera was having a little trouble capturing the blue sky. It is a beautiful fountain, even though it is turned off for the winter. The city had set up an ice-skating rink next to it, for December. I was impressed they could keep the ice frozen, since it was in the 50s and sunny yesterday afternoon.
We also visited the Freedom Center, a museum and learning center dedicated to the underground railroad. There are so many exhibits, we didn't have time to see them all. I learned a lot about slavery in the US, modern slavery, and the work of the underground railroad in Ohio. They even have a slave pen (a building used to store newly-purchased slaves), which was moved from a plantation in Kentucky to the museum, that you can go inside. I really liked this sculpture (the slave pen is the log cabin-like structure in the background).
After our time in the museum, I walked with my parents across one of the many bridges into Kentucky. We used the Ruebling Bridge, since it was next to the Freedom Center and has a nice walking lane. It is a beautiful bridge. Designed by the same person as the Brooklyn Bridge, it looks similar to the Brooklyn Bridge. While walking across, we saw several horse-drawn carriages also making the trip.
Ruebling Bridge, with Cincinnati downtown:

Happy Thanksgiving

This year, we went to Peter and Anne's house for Thanksgiving. Peter had to work, so we had a nice dinner together after he got home. My parents are in town for the weekend as well, so we had a great time catching up with family.

Ferrets support Brian's visit

The ferrets really enjoyed Brian's visit last weekend.

Rex, peeking out from his play tent:

A very sleepy Eve, relaxing:

Brian was a bit tired from the week, so he was easily dominated by the ferret herd. Eve was especially adept at being king of the mountain.

The ferrets kept a close eye on me, too.

Even when he's awake, it is easy for Eve to take control of Brian.

Ferrets

Brian is in Cincinnati, and the ferrets are still here with me. They seem to be doing pretty good so far, and are enjoying extended play times. Here are a few shots from the past week or so.

New (to us) car

Earlier this week, Brian and I met with my parents in the Toledo area to pick up our new Civic. It is working really great so far, although I have been reminded again why I avoid the DMV (or BMV, as it's called here in Ohio) at all costs. Still, I hope to get all the paperwork squared away and get plates early next week.

The Civic is the navy car we are all blocking from view. But you probably know what a Civic looks like anyway. :)

We have also been having some really lovely sunsets in the past couple weeks. Here is one I happened to take a picture of, but there have been many more great ones.

Cincinnati apartment: selected!

Brian and I were in Cincinnati on Friday to look at apartments. We saw quite a variety: tiny ones, huge ones, ones in great neighborhoods, ones in sketchy neighborhoods, etc. We narrowed our choices down to two top contenders. We really struggled to choose the best one for us, but I think we have finally decided!

Here is the one we chose! The apartment is the top level of this house. It is called the maid's quarters, because when the rest of the house was occupied by a (wealthy) family, the maid lived in our apartment. The rest of the house is now broken up into 3 units, and we have the fourth, all the way at the top. We have our own entrance on the side of the building, which I think is nice.

This row of windows can be seen clearly in the outside shot (at the top center of the house). I kind of like the curtains, although I might need to make some new ones, because these are a little short. This is the living room, and there is space for a dining room table where I am standing to take the shot. The ceilings angle in a bit, since we are at the very top of the house.
This is the next-largest room, which we are planning to use for our office/ferret room/general hanging out space. It is hard to see the size from this picture, but the room goes back a bit. There is also a huge closet, which I (Han) am excited about. Across the hall from this room is a similar (but smaller) room, which we will use for a bedroom. We usually choose to sleep in the smallest room, since we don't need a lot of room for sleeping.
The kitchen is in the back of the house. The walls are painted a nice red (which we both like) and the floor is a great black and white checkerboard pattern. I am crouching under the slanted ceiling to take this picture. We might put a little table right where I am standing. The kitchen was one of the big selling points of this apartment for us. The other apartment we were considering was a really cozy, charming place, but the kitchen was so small (this was a much bigger issue for me than for Brian). The counter on the right side of the picture does extend a bit more (the sink is there too), to the wall, where there is a window.
Across the street from this house is a Catholic Montessori school. Most of the other houses down the road towards the river are now occupied by retired nuns who used to teach at the school (or so I was told). Like several others in this neighborhood, the street dead-ends at the top of the bluff, which looks out over the Ohio river. Our street doesn't have a great view of the river because of a large house and private grounds (I'm sure people pay a lot for the view), but a couple streets over, there is a really clear view of the river and community on the other side.

I don't want to post the address here in this blog, since it has public access, but I can email the address to whomever is interested.

Apartment Update

Today Brian and I took a quick trip to Cincinnati in the afternoon to look at apartments. We have our choices narrowed down to just a couple and will probably decide in the next couple days. All the apartments on the final short list are very close to each other. What I do know: we are moving to East Walnut Hills (d.v.)! Feel free to google to neighborhood to learn a little more about it. We walked around the neighborhood a little bit today, checking out the area and meeting with folks renting out apartments. The area we are focusing on has nice views of the Ohio river (not from the apartments themselves, but just down the road).

Moving soon

A lot has happened in our lives the last couple of weeks, and our heads are spinning.

In the last post, I talked about our visit to Cincinnati, where Brian interviewed for a job and I visited with Anne. Brian was offered and accepted that job, so we will be moving to Cincinnati quite soon. His start date is October 24th. Between now and then, he will meet with his teaching replacement to sort out class transfer.

I will be sticking around here for a bit longer, since I don't want to give up my class. Still, I am searching for an apartment online and just starting to pack. I have also started a temporary job at a costume shop (part of their Halloween staff). I worked 15 hours last week, but the hours will increase each week until Halloween. This will make the time before Brian's move very busy for both of us, but it is a pretty entertaining job.

Cincinnati visit

Yesterday, Brian and I went to Cincinnati. Brian had an interview, and I tagged along to spend some time with Anne (& Ginger). Anne and I went to lunch, did some she shopping, and hung out around the house. It was great to see her and have a chance to visit.

Ginger was pretty excited to have a visitor too, I think. She showed me several of her toys and did a little running in the backyard to show off the new fence. She is a very attentive dog.

Obama in Columbus

Today Brian and I went to see President Obama give a speech at a high school in Columbus. The speech closely mirrored the one he gave last week when he introduced the American Jobs Act to Congress. It was a sunny afternoon, and we got hot and a bit sunburned waiting, but it was a fun thing to do together. We even had a decent view, since a large part of the crowd surrounding us was made up of school children, who were nice and short. :)

Brian got the tickets from Columbus State, where he works. They offered them to faculty and staff via email, and he was able to get us a couple.

Here we are, killing time while we wait. We were required to arrive by 1:00 pm, but it didn't start until about 2:30. Unlike when I went to see Jill Biden several years ago, here there was security, with a checkpoint we all had to go through. There were also several sharp-shooters and many guys with huge binoculars, keeping an eye on everyone.

Here is Obama! It was a great speech, and as you can see, we had a decent view.

We had to wait for the president's motorcade to leave before we could exit, but it was pretty fast and I thought it was cool to see. This picture also has one of the many secret service people in it.

The location for this speech was at a high school next to Columbus State (CSCC), so we parked there and walked over. And here's a bit of good news: I will soon also be employed by CSCC! I have a class for the autumn quarter, which starts next week. It's isn't as many hours as I would hope, but it is a start.

Ferrets report it is still hot

At least, it was until Saturday evening. Now we are enjoying very fall-like weather. Still, at the end of last week, we were suffering in hot and humid weather, and the AC was working hard.

During that time, we got a small baby pool for the ferrets to use to cool off. It turned out that the ferrets didn't much care for actually getting in the pool, but they thought it was a great giant dish to drink from.

Rex encouraging Brian to stay in place by sleeping on his foot:

Rex waiting at the door for me:

Visiting Grandpa

On Saturday, Brian and I went to visit his grandpa and Virginia in Franklin Furnace. We mainly relaxed at the house. For dinner, we grilled hamburgers and boiled corn. Overall, it was a great visit.

Brian's parents were also there.

The beautiful flowers in the backyard had some squashes growing in them. I didn't see them right away, since they were dwarfed by the other greenery.

The cat is pretty, but she doesn't like people. She only tolerated this photo because I was on the other side of the window. When she wasn't in the side yard, all the feeders were busy with birds all day long.