31 July: Friday

La Quinta, California: And, ta-da, tonight this blog post is actually being written in La Quinta. A BIG DAY! We have moved into our new house and will sleep here tonight. The Number-One part of this day is another heat-warning: 120+

A really ridiculous temperature. Rare, even for the Coachella Valley. 

Dave and I (or at least one of us) needed to be at the house for Arnold's tech guys to move the massive TV (left from the previous owner) from the (formal) living room, to the Media room (guest TV room/my needlepointing room).

In no time, the guys had the TV moved and everything was ready to roll. Then, they had a new challenge: we purchased a Samsung Frame TV. This television hangs flush to the wall - like a framed painting. When it is not a TV, it can show works of art, and look like a painting hanging on your wall. Not only does this TV hang flush to the wall, it only has one wire - I mean ONE wire - no power cord, no coaxial, no nothing - going from its own "control box" to the TV. One thin wire. So thin, Samsung actually calls it the "invisible" wire. If you want to add a DVR, (or sound bar, or whatever) there is no need to run a cable/wire to the TV. Simply plug it into the control box! The shape of things to come, fer sure.

So this wire maybe in invisible, but Arnold's crew had to basically carve-up our family room wall to achieve the access from the corner cable hook-up to the TV. Luckily, the guys do this all day, so had all the tools needed.

Reuben (and his crew) was ready. He had watched the official installation video and will now be the #1 install man at the Motorcoach Country Club when all the new build-outs hear about the new Samsung Frame TV. (Reuben and his dad worked on all the electronics, video, sound, etc., when we built our casita in 2011. He said today he still remembered the pie I baked for them. Dang, must have been a good pie? I only remember baking rugelach for them.)

Must. Feed. People.

While all this was happening, DT kept running back-and-forth from the house to the RV (seven minute drive, BTW) to bring the fridge/freezer items to our new house. (I was needed here for important technical audio/visual decisions.)

SIDE NOTE: A Reader asked if it wouldn't be easier to simply bring the bus to our new house to unload? Yes, it would have been, but since we had our belonging from Portland delivered two weeks ago, every time we drive to the new house, we load the car with anything we can bring along. So today, we only needed to bring the fridge/freezer to the new house.

So the TV works! The picture and sound are amazing... however, neither of the TWO (yes, two) cable outlets in the corner cabinet seem to be alive... so the CABLE GUY will be here on Sunday. It actually makes little difference, as the TV has the Spectrum app, so we can still watch Spectrum cable via the wifi... but this issue needs to be addressed.

It's always something when you buy a used house.

A crew will return in a few days to texture/paint their surgery marks on the wall. And... okay, maybe a little glare... ignore the shades on the windows to the left. They, and their paisley madness, will go away soon-ish. Our shutters won't be installed for at least a month. I popped-up Valley Of The Yosemite, by Albert Bierstadt as the screen saver. Thousands of paintings, genres, styles, etc., so choose from.

When things became a bit more organized this evening, My Driver took a swim in his new pool.

Then his wife of 40+ years, shook herself a martini and dipped her swollen ankles in her new pool.

A very long and tiring day, but we are both very happy to be living in our new home!

Until my next update, I remain, your La Quinta correspondent.