CJ has been keeping a close eye on me lately–I think both because there’s no Mika around any more, and because of the disruption of all the packing. Her experience of packing has been long trips–but usually the packing only goes on for a few days, not weeks, and doesn’t tear up the whole house, so she has no frame for what is happening now.
Anyway, I decided to put shoes and hangars in suitcases, and laid them out on the bed to evaluate volume of each. Went into the next room to get suitcases, and when I came back, CJ had hopped up on the bed (which she does sometimes when I’m downstairs.) She was back in the corner because of all the stuff on the bed, with her ears back in an anxious position, and shaking. I cuddled her and told her that she doesn’t need to worry, I’m not going to leave her behind–but doubt the latter did much good. Thank goodness it’s only another week and a half–I think she’ll actually feel better once we hit the road, because we’ve done that before.
The packing is coming along. The garage is pretty much done–I may find things under the pile of boxes when it gets reduced, but tools are all packed (power and otherwise). Well, the table saw and bandsaw aren’t packed–they’ll go as-is. Wood and rocks that I am taking got packed yesterday, other random stuff from the garage–all packed. I even swept up the pile of sawdust under the table saw.
Packed boxes on the right, empty boxes on the left.
Had friends over for the 4th, for one last visit. Which made me scramble for chairs, but I managed to set things up for a visit:
That table has been in the family forever. It’s just a cheap thing, but I hang onto it because–well, it’s been in the family forever (at least since my mother’s youth.) It was a bit tight, but sociable–we spent a good deal of time just sitting around it and visiting. As people used to say.
And I managed to collect three chairs for the living room too.
Made a cozy circle–I don’t usually put things this close together, but this actually felt pretty good to me, so it’s something for me to keep in mind when I’m setting things up in Oregon. With different furniture–only the recliner is going with me, the others will go to Goodwill or Last Chance or the dump, depending on what Goodwill and Last Chance will take.
It was a beautiful day, so eventually we headed over to the coast (as I’ve mentioned a few times, “the coast” is relative–from Chicago, all of CA is “the coast”; from, say, Sacramento, I live at “the coast”; from my house, “the coast” is about 4-5 miles west) for a walk. And more talking.
We walked out to the bunkers, where the graffiti has bloomed recently, some of it pretty good.
Then came back for watermelon. What could be more traditional for the 4th of July?
The two on the left up there stayed over on Friday and helped me with a couple of things. First we dug up the hydrangea from the corner in my back yard. It was quite a job, involving shovels, scooping with hands, pushing with feet, a tarp, and some potting soil. It was definitely a three-person job–I don’t know that any two of us could have lifted it out of the hole or into the pot. I didn’t get any in-process pictures, but eventually we got it up and into the pot for transporting to Oregon. (It’s sitting on the filled-in hole we dug it out of.)
It came down from Vancouver, Washington lo these many years ago, and it’s looking pretty good considering this is California (western Oregon and Washington are hydrangea heaven; CA is not) and my neglect the last several years, so I figure it’s earned its way back north. It is really, really heavy, so it’s one of the things I’ll make sure the guys I’ve hired (I hope) to come help load get on the truck for me.
So then I put them to work on my framed pictures. I had some large sheets of cardboard that I bought years ago to make boxes from (don’t ask), and they came in handy for putting between and around the pictures to protect them.
They stayed over Friday night too, so Saturday morning they came on a walk with me and CJ.
One of the things I’m going to miss here is all the good off-leash walking that’s right outside my door. On the other hands–the developers are closing in, and I’m glad I won’t have to watch that happen, so maybe I’ll just be grateful that I was here when I was here.
So–garage is mostly packed up, polyester clothes (hanging in closets) either taken to Goodwill or packed, pictures packed. Let’s see, what else. Vases got packed yesterday, rocks and wood got packed. My office on campus is done (went in Sunday to finish it off–was much more efficient with no one else there. For one thing, I could borrow all the other trash and recycling bins for the stuff I was getting rid of, which was most of it.) I still have yard-care stuff and some paint in the garage to pack, but the remaining big chunks are: my upstairs office (lots of loose ends, plus taking apart the desk and setting the computer up downstairs–actually packing it will be one of the last things I do); bathrooms; tearing down the bed I sleep on (not looking forward to sleeping on the floor, but will have to for a few nights); and the kitchen. And taking more stuff to Goodwill and the dump. I’d like to have all that done by next Monday, and it doesn’t seem impossible to get at least the bulk of it done. That would leave the rest of the week for piddly details like signing on the house sale (not really piddly, but should just happen w/o a lot of doing on my part other than showing up), turning in my campus keys, and I don’t know what all. That’s why I want a few days–so the little piddly but all-important stuff has time to surface and get taken care of.
Two weeks from today I should be busy unloading the truck in Oregon, or supervising the unloading–I have (I hope) hired some guys at that end too to take care of the big stuff. Two weeks from tomorrow, I turn in the truck and it’s done. Good lord willin’ and the creek don’t rise. Wish me luck, and perhaps more important–energy 🙂
Energy to you, then! May your transition be awesome. Hugs to the dawg.
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Kevin, I’ve been wanting to congratulate you on your own upcoming life change, but frankly the commenting hoops on your blog don’t mix well with my ipad, so I don’t often leave comments there for you. So–taking this opportunity hoping you’ll come back and see this– CONGRATULATIONS. We’re at radically different stages in life, but both anticipating a major move at least somewhat into the unknown. May your’s be as happy, productive, and adventurous as you could wish.
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I’m coming back to this a bit late, but many thanks. Sorry about the “commenting hoops.” Enjoy retirement!
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