Toto, I think we're back in Kansas...(month one: Altus, OK)

And what a whirlwind it has been! I drove into town on May 25th, cruised around for a few hours "exploring the new city" then drove to our soon-to-be new house for our final walk through before closing. After we walked, we went to our closing meeting, signed a bajillion papers, and the house was OURS!!

We celebrated the purchase of our first home over a lovely meal at a nice little Italian restaurant called Romas. Familiarize yourself with this name because if you ever visit, you will dine there. You will also eat at The Plaza or Pick-Up Taco. Otherwise you will eat at home.

 We couldn't move in for a few days because of our agreement with the previous owner, so we stayed in temporary base housing.  Eric had been living there for months by that point and I honestly don't know how he did it. Our new house is only a few minutes from Altus, AFB. From time to time over the past several months, Eric and I have asked ourselves, "Why us? Why Altus?" But when I arrived on base and saw this sign, I knew why. It was our destiny to come here. As a child, Eric was a member of the Indian Guides. During this time, he named himself, "Flaming Arrow" .....need I say more?
 
We moved into the house on the 27th of  May, which was a very exciting day! We spent hours walking around the empty house, admiring every room. Our household goods were not scheduled to arrive until June 1st so we geared up for a good 5 days of  indoor camping. The first night, we slept on a pile of blankets, but on the second day, a colleague of Eric's let us know they were selling a mattress. We scooped that right up, and we were happy as clams for the next few nights. Just in case you didn't catch on, this means we now have a mattress for every room! That's right, folks, TWO whole guestrooms for the hoards of visitors we are expecting! We had a great time in the days before our belongings arrived and we got right to work on projects that we knew would be easier accomplished without furniture in the way. We painted the living room, our bedroom, and the master bathroom. It was fun, but it was a TON of work! Eric and I got busy watering our gardens and grass and trying to keep the green things alive in this intense heat. We kept finding ourselves doing the chores and routines we've watched our parents do our whole lives and joked that we had turned into them overnight. We feel like real, live adults and it's great!

We lived in the bliss of happy home-ownership for days, weeks even, until we got rocked by a massive hail storm. This storm was the most extreme weather either of us have ever seen. It was well over 100 degrees outside when the sky started to cloud over. We celebrated the coming storm because it had been so long since we had seen any rain. The hail started and it was really cool! We were running around all excited and trying to take pictures of the little tiny beads of ice falling from the sky. Eric was trying to catch them in his hand and we were marveling at how funny it was to have snow in 100 degree weather. Then it got worse, and worse, and windier, and WORSE! The hail was the size of golf balls or small baseballs and was pounding into the sides of the house and onto the roof. It sounded like we were getting bombed or like a train was blazing through our house. We started to regret ever buying a home as the storm continued on like this, powerful and relentless for a good 45 minutes. After the storm finally ended, we joined the rest of the neighborhood to survey the damage. We lost a portion of our fence and could see that we had some trim and roof damage. There was also a frightening number dead birds...it was like a scene from a horror movie. We found close to 10 in our yard in the days after the storm. It has since been confirmed that we will need a whole new roof and likely all new trim as well. Others had it worse. Some people's cars were totaled and a lot of people had windows break. A boy across the street got knocked in the head by hail as he attempted to run into the house from a car. He had a big knot on his head with a gash in the middle of it. I thanked Eric for not getting the bright idea to "see what the hail feels like" during the storm. We are thankful for homeowners insurance, but laughed because we found ourselves filing a claim before we had even received our policy in the mail. Such is life!

As for life in Altus...we are getting used to it. It is such a big change from what was familiar to us. I have been to Wal-Mart more times since I got here than ever in my life, I haven't had to fill my gas tank yet (probably won't need to for some time), I already see people that I recognize or know everywhere I go, and the temperature is well over 100 degrees every day. This extreme temperature is accompanied by a constant and less-than-refreshing  HOT wind. Put it this way, the weather report on the news a couple of weeks ago just said, "ridiculous." It definitely seems like we are going to have to be creative about finding things to do here, but we have met some people who we can have a good time with, which is really all that matters. We miss our family and friends so much, but are determined to make the best of this and every adventure. I close with a picture taken within walking distance of our house. Altus: a tiny town built around a grid of four main roads surrounded by endless fields...call it home.