Getting ready

There is so much to do before leaving your house for a full year. We had just downsized the year before to move into our remodeled basement, so getting the upstairs of our house ready hasn't been so bad. It had been rented until March of this year, so it was clean and empty when we moved back upstairs from the basement. Luckily we found some great renters for the basement apartment only 30 minutes after we posted the Craig's list ad.

But there have been lots of other things to take care of such as applying for social security and medicare, researching healthcare options in Albuquerque, getting our 2001 Prius in tip-top driving condition, buying the biggest Yakima box for the top (It's almost as big as the car!), and DEQing and renewing the car registration. If we hadn't of thought to do that before we left next week, we would have had to register it in New Mexico.

One big chore is to prepare our two cats for the trip. We bought a large pet carrier, one made for a big dog, and we are putting both our cats in it. To get them used to it, we've been putting treats in the carrier at odd times during the day, so now our older Siamese looks in the box occasionally to be sure she isn't missing a treat that might be hiding out. Some evenings we bring the box into the TV room and put both cats in it and leave them there while we watch a movie. They just lie down and patiently wait for their release. We also took them for a couple of car rides, but we have to do more of that. During the last ride Fiona pooped and peed in the carrier and it was a bit of a mess to clean out. We put a soft bathmat in the bottom which needed laundering. Next time we will wrap the bathmat in a plastic bag. We also have some absorbent hospital pads to put over the bathmat. We need to do more rides in the car this week replete with plenty of treats. Just in case, I've gotten tranquilizers from the vet.

This week we are also electing to auto-pay all our utility bills, canceling the newspaper, and finishing the yard maintenance. We weeded, pruned, chipped, mulched, and set up an automatic sprinkling system with hoses and timers to run for the summer.

But the biggest adjustment has been in our attitudes. Yesterday Lee came home from his last day at work and told me there's good news and bad news. The good news: I quit my job! The bad news: I quit my job! It's both freeing and frightening. We are going to have to live on about half what we did... that means no daily morning espressos, no more eating out whenever we don't feel like cooking, we are cutting out the monthly pledges to charity, and we may have to scale back on insurance, which has been a major monthly expense for us. I know there will be more cut backs and I feel pretty queasy about our ability to economize. We've been preparing for this cruise into retirement, but now that we've actually pushed off from the dock, we feel a bit adrift. At least Lee and I are in the same boat and are good at pulling together as a team. Good thing we enjoy each other's company because it's going to be a long trip!

Trying it on - Fiona is dreaming of Albuquerque and so are we.

A few months ago Lee subscribed to "New Mexico Magazine" and we've been devouring every issue. This is the correct verb because food is always a focus. This month featured a Salsa contest with lots of recipes. Tonight we were inspired by a recipe for pineapple salsa. We had skewered and grilled some veggies a few days ago, and this was a good way to use up the left-overs. The house that we are trading to is only 4 blocks to La Montanita Food Co-op and this dinner made us eager to have more time to cook fresh.

Pineapple and avocado salsa:

3/4 c of julienned fresh pineapple. (Choose one whose skin is yellow and the fruit is very sweet.)

1 small jalapeno (diced)

2 TB of minced yellow onion

1 c of diced heirloom tomato

1/4 c of grilled green pepper

2 green onions with stems - minced

1 small ripe avocado

1/4 c parsley - minced

4 large leaves of fresh basil - minced

juice from 1/2 lime

a dash sea salt

Turkey filling:

1 TB of olive oil

3/4 lb Turkey tenderloin cut into quarter sized medallions

1 large tomato diced

the remainder of our grilled onion, green pepper, and 1 roma tomato

3 cloves garlic - macerated

8 leaves red chard with stems - chopped

a handful of fresh basil - chopped

Heat the oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add the turkey and cook until lightly browned. Add the garlic, mix, and then add the rest of the veggies and basil. Cook about 10 minutes over a lowered heat.

Put tortillas in a tortilla warmer and nuke for about 1 minute to soften. Serve with large leaves of washed lettuce. Fill a tortilla with the turkey mix, top with salsa, fold and use the lettuce in the crack to keep the goodies from falling out. 

You could top this with yogurt or sour cream, but all these fresh veggies can stand alone!

Why Albuquerque?

It was October 2010 and we were getting ready to retire in June. We've pretty thoroughly explored the NW near our home over the last 24 years we've been married. It was time for a change. I went to homeexchange.com, a website that we have used for about 7 years to find home exchanges. It's worked well for us in the past for short 1-2 week exchanges, so I looked for something longer term.


I did a 'reverse' search to see who might like to come to Portland. I found Liz and Bill who live in Albuquerque, NM. They were thinking about moving to Portland, but they didn't want to commit to something permanent without first trying on a Portland winter. Lee and I had been to Albuquerque several times in the past. Lee spent his early years in Clovis, NM and then went to college there. He had good memories of expansive landscapes and open skies filled with stars. Me? I wanted to try on some year-round sun shine!  We contacted Liz and Bill, and a year-long exchange was born!!