They want my refrigerator and tractor!  Of course, for one hundred and ninety-four thousand, maybe my $1400 frig and $5600 tractor is not so bad.  It's just that most of the money will go to pay off the mortgages, which is fine since I would have to pay it monthly otherwise.  Now I won't.

I am selling my horse farm, sans horses, to a young couple with two small children and one haflinger pony.  They are rumored to be very nice by my friend Carol Eilers who called me to encourage me to accept their offer.  

I am moving next door, to the OTHER farm.  I am gradually working my way down Forty-third Street into smaller and smaller houses.  I am lucky that I have a choice.  I was afraid that I wouldn't.  I am still proceeding very cautiously.  None of the deals are done...like an unconsummated marriage, we sit and wait to see what exactly will happen, now that we are engaged.  

Last night I sat on the top of the hill, in the "new" house, looking down at the flashlights bobbing in my old yard next door as the realtor showed the house and out-buildings in the dark.   The "new" house is small, mouse- and termite-ridden, but otherwise very pleasant with knotty pine walls and a picture window on the north.  It was cosy.  

Now, all I have to do is let go of a whole lot more of my, and my daughters', stuff.   I will disgorge an enormous amount of flotsam and jetsam, and come to live with a small amount of stuff in a small space.  It will be a relief to have a much less complicated life, with less upkeep and no debt.  Maybe I'll even have time to write again.