Summary

February focused on finalizing the property purchase, completing additional steps for immigration, concluding septic repairs and a new well water issue. We traveled between timezones quite a bit and are feeling a bit exhausted. Glad to be home.

This month’s image may begin to show some slight differences in color, or maybe it’s my imagination that spring is coming.

Travel weary

Nearing 60 days living out of a suitcase, traversing time zones, continents, hotel rooms, airbnb’s and friend’s/family’s guesthouses, and nearly 60 hours in the air, we are ready to be home for awhile. We returned to Italy on Feb 25th and we are definitely looking forward to our own bed, good food and a more relaxed life.

Immigration

We came back to Italy for a few days in early February. Collected needed consulate paperwork and flew back to LA without a formal appointment. We understood this was a bit of a gamble, but our immigration attorney felt confident we’d receive it soon and we were also out of time on our visitor visa again. After a short delay in LA we received the approval to proceed and immediately scheduled the consulate visit in which we’d receive the visa. As a reminder there are a few ways to immigrate, we have chosen the investment visa and family reunification. Which means I come in as the spouse following George’s approvals. So this visit for the visa is for George specifically. The appointment comes very quickly, so quick in fact we had to move the date. The appointment involved bringing a stack of precompleted forms and a quick review. George was in and out in less than a half hour. Armed with the visa now we quickly booked a return flight, having us back in Italy on the 25th with several more steps to complete. We visited the Orvieto immigration office to turn in more paperwork and scheduled a return visit for George to receive his PDS, (the permit of stay (permesso di soggiorno) which is issued by local Police Headquarters (Questura, Commissariato or Ufficio Immigrazione) and allows you to live in Italy for an extended period of time). We’ll also visit the post office to turn in more paperwork and get date for Mark’s immigration. Two tracks, but they are linked.

Construction / Property Purchase

Last update had seen an additional delay for the wagon wheel room requiring an approval from Umbria and delaying us until March. All items have now been received, submitted and processed allowing the purchase to finally conclude on March 12th. Wagon wheel room roof looks great. All needed parties are scheduled to be in Siena on March 12th to officially wrap everything up. This could be it, we’ll reserve enthusiasm until it happens.

The final remaining repair is on the septic system. Apparently a second tank needed installation. This work is mostly finished, they just wait for some dry weather to fully complete, but it won’t influence the purchase.

Well pump

We’ve recently discovered that the well pump has been turned off due to a fault that keeps triggering the breaker. Unfortunately we weren’t notified by anyone, but instead sort of uncovered it during some documentation efforts on the water system. As far as we can tell it was working when we were here in early February or we would have run out of water in the house. We believe that during work on electrical and water repairs something also got affected with the well. As we understand it the pump is working, it just keeps triggering the breaker so they filled the large water tank and turned off the pump. So now we’ve needed to engage a pump electrical resource to uncover where the fault is occurring. They’ve traced the line to the pump location, which is located in a different place than where we were told it was. Anyhow, at this point they need to pull the pump up from the well to investigate further. It’s supposed to be 150 meters down, so they’ll need special equipment to pull it. The pump is likely 20 years old and we’re told they typically last 10-15 years. Since the cost is the same to fix the pump, we’ve agreed to just replace it as it will likely fail again. This cost is falling to us due to our arragement to live at the house before the sale has fully completed.

White road repair

Our Property Manager has reported that the municipality is about to resurface the white road again. We’ve noticed the road is getting a little rough and we were wondering if they intended regular maintence from the last work. It’s looking like they do this resufacing every 2 years. They basically level the road of the ruts, then cover in the white product to harden things. We still have nightmares from its condition a few years ago, it’s a joy to drive down when it’s maintained.

Large tractor purchase

Due to the house purchase being delayed, it’s delayed our purchase of the large tractor. The sellers seem to understand, but also were pressuring us by saying they had other buyers. Of course this is not our first priority, so we let them know if they wanted to sell to others they should, but that we did intend to buy it, we just couldn’t do it with the property still in limbo. They have agreed to wait a bit longer. Turns out we need some details from our immigration process on the final paper work for ownership transfer, so until we get that information we are on hold.

Stables

With the stables now repaired, it’s time to start prepping for chickens (and beyond). We have been slowly cleaning things up inside and identified which stall should hold the chickens. We’ve chosen one near the entrance so they’ll get some outside light. We’ll need to buy some chicken wire and build some nesting boxes and places for them to roost. We are thinking about 6 hens and a rooster. George is thrilled by the rooster idea, another adventure. (not really…)

Spring in the air

As temps slowly begin to move higher, we’ll see 60 degrees this coming week. You can now see and hear birds around the property. The folliage is starting to bud. It’s time to start planning for some plantings and improvements to a couple of areas outside. One that we’ll focus on is the outside dining area. We hope to go from before to after, here’s where we are starting. Lots of opportunity for overhead vines, lighting, Bougainvillea, Lavender, Rosemary, stepping stones and such. We’ll do a mock up and share the goals.

Wildlife

While looking at the well work we came upon this deer who had entered the property. When he noticed me he began howling and steam was coming from his mouth. Not sure what he was trying to say, but he quickly bounded off. He was far enough away that I didn’t need to worry about agression. George thought perhaps he knew hunting season was over and now felt more confident to express himself.

We also came across our first of this kind. We were somewhat used to them in LA in the canyon, but this one’s a little bigger. This one was in the laundry room, we assume looking for the heat.

Kitchen design

Before heading to LA at the beginning of February, we engaged a local design team in Orvieto to help us come up with some ideas on how to make best use of the small kitchen and dining area in the house. While we were gone they paid a visit to collect specifics on the space. We will see them soon to review their concepts.