It’s mid-afternoon, sunny, and 66 degrees on this, the day before the moving van arrives with our stuff and one of our 2 vehicles. We’ve been staying at a VRBO on the outskirts of Merced that has been such a comfortable, beautiful, and practical alternative, and will probably continue to be so indefinitely, at least until I get our place in town up and running. I’ll have more to say about this VRBO and the cool folks who run it in due time. In the meantime I’ll simply mention a few key characteristics: hot tub, pool, home brewer, 2 dogs, beautiful patio, and above all, those cool, interesting, conversant folks who run this VRBO, with this kind of a view: