Found in Fishers

3 men & a dog run

Status: Post closing plus three days...and the work continues. Sally & Buddy will be in dog heaven with their own little slice of sideyard as their fence went in this afternoon. 3 guys + 3 hours = 1 dog run. Okay, it's not exactly a dog run, it's more like a dog area. Nevertheless, no more having to walk the pooches for their daily poops and pees. They can stroll around their pea gravel (or should it be pee gravel) to their hearts' content, while we sip a bottle of Chardonnay from our wine chiller.

Flora's Quick and Hot went in this morning with one little hiccup: A matter of a non-switched electrical outlet under the sink. Never mind the fact that we had more outlets than we thought would ever be needed put in the house. But a second one under the sink? Minor oversight. We're waiting for the electrical contractor to call back with the bad news.

Everything is building up to a crescendo on Friday, which is the official moving day...from the apartment and from storage in Schererville. Before the day if over we will have used three moving trucks and three crews of 3 men each. There's also the showdown tomorrow evening between the cable company and our low-voltage contractor. That should be fun. We'll be hanging out in our camping chairs until then...

Of plumbing, painting, & provisioning

By mid-morning today we needed a valet parking service on Dekoven Drive to handle all the service vans that started rolling up shortly after sunrise. There was U.S. Water for the water softner and drinking water system...Andre and his crew for painting...Insight Communications for HDTV and internet twice. Insight is a whole post in itself; kudos to tech manager Mike and account rep Jeff for hanging onto us a customers. And finally, SBC to install our new phone service. Whew!

The service van shuffle on Dekoven Drive.

Andre & crew painted the four largest rooms in just a tad over six hours.

By the time the sun set nearly half the house was painted...Andre is playing Dekoven Drive again next Saturday...back by popular demand from Flora, where he will finish off the front half of the house. By Monday morning we can say bon voyage to Fishers' nasty hard water when installation of the Quick & Hot (for instant hot water) and the reverse osmosis drinking water system will be polished off. And Mark is thrilled because the cable internet and TV service is up and running (hey, it kept him out of our hair for a few hours tonight).

And thanks to our friends Katie & Jeff who gave us the use of their mini-van...without our even asking...so that all the boxes and clothes could be moved from the apartment this weekend. Liz's friends are suppose to provide some manual labor to get 'em from the garage into the house. We two, old duffers are learning the downside of a 2-story house...plenty of stairs to climb. Speaking of climbing, it's time to climb into bed and call put a wrap on day one. Check back tomorrow for more from Fishers.

CLOSED in Fishers!

The ceremonial check passing is complete and at a few minutes past noon today the good folks from Ryland Homes placed the keys to 13174 Dekoven Drive in our hot little hands. Woo-hoo...homeowners again! Time to say adios to that lovely little apartment on the other side of town.

That's Cameron on the left, Ryland's construction manager at Tanglewood, with Juan after our pre-closing walk through.

Check back often because the transformation begins bright and early Saturday morning, beginning with a moving truck filled with all those silly pillows Flora dragged out of Kohl's during some sort of once-in-a-lifetime-never-to-happen-again sale. Whatever. Sounds like an excuse to stock up. Then again, maybe Flora wants to lounge around the new place like the Queen she is. Until the next installment...ta-ta.

Found in Fishers

From Moe's Southwestern Grill (where Liz works) to Bodacious Bar-B-Que, from an antique train to the Royal Command & Guard, all sorts of interesting things can be found in Fishers. But the latest find was a pack of current and expatriate Region rats who found themselves cheering on the Lady Royals at the Southport Regional on Saturday night, who by the way, will play in semi-state action on the 25th.

A few hours before tip-off the phone rang...twice. The first call was Flora's friend Ellen, whom she taught with in Highland nearly two decades ago. "Hey, I'm in Fishers for the game; let's get together." Right on the heels of that call came another from Ed, the principal of Franklin Elementary in Griffith, just down the street from Ready Elementary where Flora was principal for the past 10 years. "Hey, I'm in Fishers for the game; what are you up to?" So we joined them...along with other friends of either Ellen or Ed who came to support their friend Coach Huppenthal another fellow Regionite who recently took over as the new coach of the Lady Royals.

Some of da Region rats who were found in Fishers.

You know the old adage, "It's a small world." Turns out just after we landed in Fishers, Liz's new geometry teacher was the coach who actually grew up in Highland not far from John. The group decided to set up their cheering spot just behind the team in a real nail-biter of a win and celebrate afterwards at a local watering hole. The night didn't end too quietly as Liz was entertaining teenaged Region rats for the weekend in the apartment. With everyone back in their own homes maybe we'll get a little more sleep tonight as we head into closing week on Dekoven Drive.

The snow of aught six

Direct to you from Hard Bean Coffee & Booksellers...just across the street from the bay in downtown Annapolis...comes this installment of Found in Fishers. So to be absolutely correct this should be posted to the Not Found in Fishers blog.

The view from Max & Suzanne's back yard on the morning after.

Winged my way to the coast for friend Margie (the "g" is hard as in "go") Allen's ordination to the Unitarian Universalist ministry. Margie did her internship at the UU Church of Annapolis a year or so ago. I had the pleasure of being her colleague in ministry for a while at Rush Univeristy Medical Center in Chicago where we were both chaplains. On Saturday night a serious nor'easter blew across the mid-Atlantic region dumping a record 13-26 inches of snow on Annapolis. I stayed with friends of Margie's - Max & Suzanne Ochs - and along with some 57,000 in Anne Arundel County alone (150,000 in Maryland) we spent the weekend without power. But it was warm inside one room, thanks to a wood-burning stove, and some really neat people. I was treated to the first public and private reading of Max's new play "Anna Noplace" along with some of his first-rate blues guitar playing and singing...and shared the time with Fable, the Ochs' black beagle mix. Don't tell Sally and Buddy I was cheating on them.

That's Rev. Margie in the center for the laying on of hands.

In a few hours it's back to BWI for the flight home to Indy and then an early morning drive to Chitown for a couple days at Rush. Then back to Fishers for our pre-closing walk through on Dekoven Drive. In the words of my mentor and friend George Fitchett: "Whew!"

Movin’ on up...

With closing on Dekoven Drive at T-minus 14 days and counting I find myself becoming increasingly lost in bittersweet memories of the place that I've always called home...northwest Indiana and Chicagoland. For years - Boss Lady will testify to this - I've dropped hints and outright nagged about wanting to escape da Region. And now we have. While I've long said that the only place I'd willingly move to within Indiana was the Indy area, it's one thing thinking about it and quite another doing it. It was the late, great Erma Bombeck who said it best: The grass is always greener on the other side of the septic tank. Or as everyone's mama said at one time or another, " Be careful what you wish for; you just might get it."

While we've been in Fishers for 7 months now - can't believe it's been that long - calling the movers to have everything brought out of storage somehow makes it seem much more real...and permanent. ApartmIf you've ever moved to a new place then you know what I'm talking about.ent living only has added to our singing the Temporary Blues. We've each done things to help assuage the up-until-now transitory nature of our relocation. My most recent contribution to the cause was forking over some classic dough for Indy 500 tickets for me and the boy. It's something to look forward to, and it'll be fun. But there's an awful lot I'll miss about living up north, and truth be told, an equal number of things I won't miss. If you've ever moved to a new place then you know what I'm talking about. In any event, I've been making a mental list these past few days...

I'll miss living close enough to the Windy City that we don't have to deal with it every day, but are a quick drive or train ride away to enjoy all that it offers. I'll miss knowing my way around the area...the shortcuts, having frequent expressway exits when traffic grinds to a halt (Indy - okay, the state - seems to favor infrequent exits on the monster known as I465)...and knowing the best places to grab a greasy burger or great pizza. I'll miss Lake Michigan and cruising up north toward Hollywood with water on the driver's side (first to email me with the song this refers to wins a t-shirt!) late on a summer afternoon. I'll miss stepping out of the Randolph Street Station into the bright sunlight of a Chicago morning on the way to work. I'll miss the misfits who shop at Wally World at 30 & 41 after midnight...though I did run into a NIPSCO veep there one time and was he embarrassed.

I won't miss losing 3+ hours a day commuting into Chicago. I won't miss the hellish traffic that snarls every highway and byway for miles around, nor will I miss the perpetual construction season up north. Before Punxsatweny Phil moved to Philadelphia and started prognosticating 6 more weeks of winter with his damnable shadow, he had a gig in northwest Indiana with the County Highway Department. He was promptly run out of town the day he saw his shadow and forecasted 6 more milleniums of road construction. I won't miss the buffoons masquerading as civic leaders in Lake County politics, though the entertainment value is sometimes worth the price of admission (read higher taxes).

I could go on with both lists but will stop...for now. I invite you to share your hits and misses with us as well...whether you're a northlander or call the Circle City and its environs home. Whaddaya love and hate most? Don't hold back; tell it like it is. And if you've got a hot tip for getting around backups on 465 there will be a little something extra in your next paycheck. Oh...there is no paycheck...but you'll have my eternal gratitude. What more did you want...a Class 5A state football championship handed to you on a silver platter? Come to think of it, there is this politician up in Lake County whose third cousin twice removed has a friend who knows a judge who has a mistress whose father golfs with an IHSAA...

What the Heck is With the One-Toothed Beaver???

Our faithful bloggers are probably wondering, "What the heck is with the One-Toothed Beaver"? Our faithful bloggers are probably wondering, "What the heck is with the One-Toothed Beaver"?I thought you just might be interested in the story behind this comment made by the Princess herself. The northern visitors to Fishers came down so we kept ourselves busy around the Fishers area. Juan decided to run some important errands...like buying the water softener, getting chips at Costco, and exploring at White River Architectural Salvage in downtown Indianapolis. Based on our visits to the restoration store in downtown San Diego, I knew it would be a fun place and that Juan would find some treasure he just had to have. The confessional was out at $9500, and besides, there's not enough room for it. The old elevator car just did'nt match the decor of the new house. But, there was this long cherry table that Juan really fell in love with.

After calling me with the idea of putting it in the master bedroom I asked, "How much does this table cost"? The conversation made me curious enough to want see it in person. After hanging up the phone, Princess asked about the table and how much it cost. I said something around $400. Her response back was "Well, at that price it had better have been carved by a one-toothed beaver." That, of course, had the family rolling in laughter all weekend long. Ok, I agree that it's maybe a little pricey for a second hand piece of furniture, but solid wood furniture is not that cheap either. I wonder if beavers are used in sweat shops for Costco leather couches? Keep those one-toothed beaver jokes coming!

Fishers own Super "Bowl" Weekend

What a great weekend for the super "bowl" players in town. It was fun for the family and a great way to get out of the cramped apartment. There was quite a competition in place. First of all, you know Dad was on a bowling team; he strutted his style down the lane each time ending in a very interesting pose but still lost. Mom, what can I say. She perfected getting the 10 pin down repeatedly but not much else. I kinda bowled in the middle of the group. Sarah wasn't too bad. Her pose often ended with a flamingo move but she did not win first place like she thought she would. Liz perfected the gutter ball, and Mark by far was the best bowler. Liam came in a close second but boy-oh-boy did we find out his competitive nature. He was not a happy camper if any pins were left standing. By the end of the game he perfected his style and rather than just rolling the ball, he would strut...then roll. He often forgot about the line he was not suppose to cross. But come to think of it we all have issues every now and then with not crossing the proverbial line. Talk about having a ball!

A Royal Farewall to Harlequin Lane

In preparation for our final weeks on Harlequin Lane, we decided to think of a way to celebrate our departure to the other side of town. Some people have parties or go out to eat. We wanted to have a family sleepover!

Pondering on some good ideas to bid a royal farewell to the apartment on Harlequin Lane.  What could be more fun than a sleepover? While walking single file through the apartment, the royal clan had much fun enjoying each other's company, eating some fine grub, and doing a whole lot of laughing.  This was the final weekend that the northern members of the family would have a chance to bid the lovely and somewhat overcrowded apartment a final farewell. So you ask why would we add 4 more people to the place? Because we can. The day was full of activities so the cramped space during daylight was not a problem but at night we made some interesting adjustments. 

Here is the low down:  Mark left his room to give his bed to Juan. Liz stayed in her bed and kept the good ole fan blowing in her face making the room too chilly for Juan. Queen moved out of her room to offer the parental unit the queen size bed. Mark took the floor next to the stove but midway through the night moved to the love seat because he was uncomfortable. Sarah and Liam took the floor in the living room on the infamous green striped cushions and Flora took the only uncovered sofa in the living room. 

We did save some money...kept the heat off all weekend with the extra bodies. It sure was fun, kinda reminded me of the good ole days and the family pop-up camper.