House Closing Date Set for Tomorrow!!!

Things have been just a little too quiet here at Stollen Central lately, what with the coming house purchase and associated packing up of our lives into a multitude of moving boxes and cartons. I see though that many of you are continuing to drop by, checking for the latest news of the Grand Duke Irwin-Amadeus II, his manservant Hives, the Portuguese Water Dogs Max and Moritz, and the continuing build-up of the Stollenian and Zichenauer armies. Thank you everyone for your dedication and continued interest. I certainly appreciate it. I should have things up and running again in the next several weeks, just in time for the summer campaigning season. Please keep checking in for an occasional update.

On the housing front, things are beginning to move quickly. Yesterday, we met at the house with our real estate lady for the final walk-through, and everything was as it should be. I even had a few minutes to myself in the house to measure windows for curtains and walls in the front living room for new bookshelves, which we ordered last night. The Grand Duchess and I have decided to turn this first of two living rooms into a more formal room. Some might have called it a parlor at one time, but we are using the term “library” and will have many (but not all) of our books displayed there on the new shelves.

Tomorrow, we have our closing in which we sign the final papers, take care of the initial payment for the house and a few other administrative details. Then, we get the keys and take possession of the house -- our house. Welcome home! And welcome to Der Stollenkeller too!

We will celebrate by having a pizza delivered to the new digs tomorrow evening where we will enjoy it picnic style on the dining room floor with maybe a glass of wine or two. Saturday, we begin the arduous process of moving all our “stuff”. This prospect is made easier to accept thanks to the fact that we have about three weeks to move our things from the apartment to the house – just three blocks or so away. For the heavy book boxes (there are TOO many of these!) and BIG pieces of furniture, we will bite the bullet and pay to have movers take care of that in a couple of weeks. Frankly, it's worth it to save our backs and fingers!.

So, I guess you could say that things are moving right along here at Stollen Central although things are at a stand-still with regards to painting and gaming. Nevertheless, I’ve managed to dig up a photo of a certain key old school wargamer for your enjoyment. Can you guess who it is?