Wandering Woodwards: November

First I realize I need to say that Roy was offered and accepted the job from the interview in "The Big Drive". wwwhhhaatt?! We are moving to South Dakota?! As many people would tell us in the next couple of months: "You're moving where? do you know how cold it gets in South Dakota?" Well, after living in Wisconsin for 3 winters, I think we can do winter, and the Black Hills in Western SD do not get as cold as the Great Plains part of SD. As much as I have enjoyed Texas and made some wonderful, unforgettable friends, we are excited to get out of the Texas flat and humidity, Roy especially! We are excited to live in a small town and enjoy four seasons again. I will truly miss living 15 minutes from a Temple though.
So Roy will be the FermiLab on-site ES&H manager for the LBNF-DUNE - Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility - Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment - project at the Sanford Underground Research Facility in Lead, South Dakota. (he is actually a DOE employee - Department of Energy).
Here is the website for FermiLab Home: www.fnal.gov
look for the Small Particles, Big Science: The International LBNF/DUNE Project. (Long Baseline Neutrino Facility).
What exactly is a Neutrino? A very small atomic particle. Simply, the FermiLab in Chicago is going to shoot neutrinos and we are going to catch them here 700 miles away in the Black Hills.
They are working in the Ross shaft of the old Homestake Mine in Lead, down 4,850 ft underground and will be constructing 4 huge chambers with to catch those little neutrinos. These chambers will be 60' high, 90' wide and 100 yards long with an Argon gas tank in each one.

We also made a quick house hunting trip to SD in October and bought this beautiful home in the Boulder Canyon subdivision between Deadwood and Sturgis. We are super excited to be living in the country. A 15 minute drive to work for Roy and about the same to Church in Sturgis.

with these big changes coming, I came home to Texas in November to "set our house in order" to sell. It was a herculean task and looking back at it, I can hardly believe I did it by myself as Roy had to stay in Alabama/Georgia to work. All I can say, it was Grace. Pure grace. A few friends came over to help one afternoon and evening and I greatly appreciated their help. A big shout out to our wonderful realtor Kim Kindred and her team and handyman extraordinaire Dave Bullock. . I could never have done it without my box-and-stuff moving boys - Brighton and Sterling Jensen. So many thank yous.

Brighton and Sterling Jensen

Brighton and Sterling came over 4 different times to move the many boxes I had packed, and furniture. They eventually filled our 3 car garage.

stage one of the garage.

it was a little sad to see this sign go in

I returned to Alabama and then we drove to Orlando to spend Thanksgiving with Mary, Stuart and the kids. We kidnapped the big kids and had a little adventure to southern Florida. First stop: the beach!

Grandpa at the beach. lol.

Next stop: the western edge of EverGlades National Park near Naples, and a super fun jet boat ride.

Last stop: Big Cypress Nature Preserve

yes, I know.. everyone is squinting but it was great light for the pictures.
We missed this little cutie though: (I love this picture!)

Rosie

Back in Orlando Mary surprised me with a day at Harry Potter World in Universal Studios. (She had friends that work there and could "check" us in. THANK YOU Mike and Brenda!!!) We had such a fun day; Butter beer, chocolate frogs, the whole works. and heart felt Thank you to Mary - I've really been wanting to go for a while but couldn't justify the trip and the $$.