All Our Worldly Possessions (except one) ...

... are now here.

Last night we celebrated our 4th anniversary in a very romantic way.

I unplugged a clogged vacuum cleaner and vacuumed the floors at the apartment while Janice took the remaining few items down to the car. The only thing that remains there now (and only in the parking garage) is my motorcycle, which I will have to jump-start today since the battery is dead. With that final item gone, it will be the official end of that chapter of our lives. We turn in our keys, and say goodbye to the Velvet Mill.

We had a lot of memories there, and of course had it not been for that place we would probably not have met. So we had mixed emotions while walking out down that block-and-a-half of hallway as we left.

However, the night wasn't all drudgery. We had finished up with the apartment chores by 9:00 and I had Janice call Cavey's to see if they could fit us in for some dinner to celebrate. She explained to Steve Cavagnaro (the owner) that we wanted to celebrate our anniversary and our moving.

We had a good time, the barmaid bought us our first round of "adult beverages", and before our entrees arrived, Steve came over to congratulate us on both our anniversary and our move. He apparently thought we were moving away from Manchester and told us that he'd been pleased to have us as customers these many years and that if we were ever back in town he would love to see us. We explained we had only moved to the other side of town. He's a nice guy ... always remembers our names (and how he does that, I'll never know - the place is always packed). He even remembered the night we celebrated our engagement there.

Anyway, he helped us celebrate by having his dessert chef whip up a fresh strawberry shortbread with "Happy Anniversary Janice & Lee" written in chocolate around the rim of the plate. It was a nice little touch to end yet another terrific meal there.

I Think I Have Some James Otis

I've been spackling the apartment for the past three nights.

What I've noticed is that I apparently put a few things up with a thought in the back of my head of (a) nuclear war, (b) an earthquake, or (c) a nearby strike by a 50-mile-wide comet, or (d) all of the above.

Tonight, I finished taking things off the walls.

I found that I had used four molly bolts to secure each of two 1-pound swing-arm lamps to the walls. I guess I thought I would be swinging from them at some time.

When I took down the shelf that held the Department 56 village houses, I found I had used six molly bolts for the drywall side of that, as well. Nothing like making sure your ceramic collectible holiday houses don't pull down a 20 foot tall wall. Especially since they are anchored to a two-foot-thick brick wall on one end.

I had put up a 16" wide glass shelf in the main bathroom to hold deodorant, toothpaste, and a jar of Q-tips ... Guess what ... four more molly bolts. Dang ... that deodorant, toothpaste, and a jar of Q-tips might just pull down the whole bathroom wall!

You know ... Dad always told me that "Anything worth doing is worth doing right".

I guess in my desire to "do things right" I may have "overdone things right".

At least I remembered to pick up the 575 pound tub of spackle from Home Depot yesterday.

Just A Reminder

Today is the Canadian Gran Prix. For those of you who are interested in watching some "Real Racing" here is a good opportunity, since we'll all likely be pretty busy when the US Gran Prix is run on July 2nd. LOL

FYI ... It's on the Speed Channel, with coverage beginning at 12:30 ET.

It's not a good sign that Schumi only qualified for fifth position. Ferrari is having some problems this year.

The Last Big "Push", finale

God ... what a pain in the butt. And God ... how happy we are that it's relatively over.

I had requested the truck from UHaul for 24 hours. They called to confirm the reservation and pick-up time yesterday afternoon, and could only offer a 7:00AM to 2:00PM time slot. And from their Hartford location, no less. NOT our Manchester location, which on Thursday had probably 100 trucks sitting in the lot when I checked then. One of the things you pay for is mileage at $0.99 a mile. I think there is a conspiracy going on there. Why, Eric might think it's all because of Bush43. Any hoo ...

We had two "casualties" in the storage process over the 4 or 5 years we had stuff stored. When we uncovered Janice's sofa and loveseat from the storage unit, we discovered that a family of mice had decided that both these pieces of furniture were perfect places to build nests and to ... ahem ... do their "business". We were thinking of putting these two pieces downstairs, but to be honest to you all, I never really liked them. I guess it was a bit of serendipity. It's fortunate that the storage unit is less than three minutes from the town landfill. So there we headed, after putting these on the truck last.

However ... to get to the dumping spot, we had to travel about a mile up the landfill hill. That was quite the challenge, with the rain we've had over the past 24 hours. The mud was about 10 inches deep. When we got to the site where we could dump it, we actually had to wait for a truck to dump a load of dirt and gravel to fill the giant mud swamp that was where we were supposed to dump our stuff.

I am normally not a "scoff-law" but I said "**** it". I had paid $14 for two pieces of furniture to dump. Off went the blankets the mice had used to build their nests. Off went the microwave that had been purchased when the only two buttons were "On" and "Off". Off went the love seat. Off went the sofa. Off went the fold-up bed from IKEA I had bought several years ago. They didn't ask ... I didn't tell ... so I think I probably got a $30-$40 "deal" on it all. LOL

Janice has never been to a landfill ... it was a cool experience for her. GIANT (and I mean GIANT) earthmovers with foot-long spiked steel "tires" were crushing all sorts of stuff. Ross would have loved it - these things are enormous!

I wanted to stick around to see all this stuff get crushed, but Janice didn't want to stick around to see ("I loved that set") ... ("Sorry, it smells of mouse whiz) ... it get CRUSHED.

We dropped the remainder of that load off at the house, then went to the apartment for the GIANT plants. By this point, I told Janice to take her co-worker Michael's offer to help, and he showed up to real quick-like. That was a huge help. I'm happy to report that our plants were flexible enough to survive being having their tops being drug along the ceilings of the hallways. We're talking 10 to 12-foot high plants. I'm also happy that the people at UHaul were able to extend our rental return to 4:00PM. We needed every minute of it.

The plants are all sitting out in our driveway right now. We had some rain, and it seemed like a good time to let them get a little bit of rain to wash them off and give them a good drenching. I'm pulling them into the garage before the end of the night, so they don't blow over.

Jesus ... I think we must look like the most "Beverly Hillbillies" Movers-In in the entire neighborhood. No ... actually, perhaps in the entire known Universe.

Whatever ... we're tired, we stink, and we're tired. Yes, we are doubly tired. Perhaps this is the first night we hit the Jacuzzi. Or, perhaps not, since I'm so tired I might slip "untersee". I'm reiterating Danny Glover's line from "Lethal Weapon" ... "I'm getting too old for this sh*t".

I love you all. I'm looking forward to seeing you all. The kids are very much looking forward to seeing you all. And Janice is looking forward to seeing you all at the Outer Banks.

Right now ... we are going to have some drinks. We are going to have a couple of T-Bones for dinner. I love when a plan comes together with a good grocery store sale.

:-)

The Last Big "Push"

Tomorrow is the final phase of our move ... namely, the completion of the clearing-out of the big storage unit, and the completion of the clearing-out of the apartment. It's got to be done this weekend.

I've been systematically moving carloads of as much stuff as I can cram into the car out of both spots every afternoon at lunch or after work, and have narrowed it down to the items that are just too big for the car.

What's left in the big storage unit:

• Kitchen Table
• Sofa
• Loveseat
• Two Twin Mattresses
• Two Twin Boxsprings and bedrails
• Stepladder
  
• Miscellaneous boxes and storage bins too large for the car

What's left in the apartment:

• 6 Giant Plants and 1 Slightly Smaller Plant
• Mom's paintings
• 5 Other Wall-hangings, including our wedding picture
  
• Winter coats
• 2 Wire Shelves to take down and bring over
• Vacuum Cleaner (won't be moved until Sunday, when we tidy up)

We have a 17 foot UHaul rented for 24 hours, and may use it to also pick up a set of patio furniture from Lowe's that we saw and liked in our travels. Even at $0.99 per mile, the $7 or so we would spend for using the truck to pick that up would be a far cry from the $75 they charge for home delivery, so money well spent there.

Janice and I will be doing it ourselves, unless I can prevail on Frank for a few hours of his time, or anyone else who ... ahem ... volunteers. :)

I'm so freaking sick of moving, I could just spit.

I May Be Weird ...

... (ok stop all your chuckling and up-and-down-head-nodding) ... but I had a really good time getting the yard mowed no less than two minutes before we had a bit of a hill-top cloudburst.

We've been under a thunderstorm warning for the past two days, and I'd done other things like clear out storage units, move more small stuff from the apartment, etc.

But the grass needed a good cut. Even without my Michael Schumacher/Ferrari hat (which I normally drive the mower with, since Home Depot is too cheap to give you a John Deere hat), I finished in record time, and even made a pit stop for gas. 42 minutes ... a new "world's record" for this lawn. Even neighbors were coming out to cheer.

Not really.

Anyway, to make things even more impressive ... I was able to get into an area I'd only been able to hit with the Echo string-trimmer (Weed-Whacker, whatever you want to call it) since I finally had some dry-soil-traction before going over a 10-foot rock ledge (shhh ... don't tell Janice ... she would have a fit ... but really, I took it VERY slow, and it worked out ok). John, you would have been proud ... I manuevered that sucker like a champ. It's a good 35 degree hill on that slope downhill to a 10-foot rock ledge in front of you ... 45-degree slope if you try it sideways. I know, it sounds goofy, but it's a real tricky spot. Anyway ... this was the first time I got traction, so I decided to "GIT-R-DONE" and did.

The rocks I cleared on Saturday with the pick proved to be a timesaver. I think that probably got me through in such a record time.

Anyway ... Love to all ... and I'll see you real soon!

Happy Father's Day To All You Dads

Here is a "shout out" to all you fathers. May you enjoy your day doing whatever it is you feel like doing. After all, that's how we should be able to celebrate it, right?

Let's take a moment today to reminisce about Dad ... he'd be 85 now, and I'll bet still have a great head of hair. He was always a good example for me (and I think all of us) to live by, and as I get older I recognize some of his traits in me (thanks for the nose and ear hairs, Dad and Grandpa Lee). On a serious note, he was a good man, he believed what he believed ("I may not know everything, but what I do know I know as well as anyone else") and he and Mom both gave us all a great work ethic (even though mine may have not developed until after leaving home). He persevered for what 44 years (?) with the one hand, and did things with it that still amaze me to this day. I think he smiles down everytime we have popcorn - it always goes in Mom's old aluminum cake pan, his favorite serving dish for popcorn. I miss him, and I know you all do too.

I do have some "work" work to do today, in preparation for an implementation first thing tomorrow morning. However, it shouldn't take all day, and I will at least have some time to rest my weary aching bones.

As some of you know, I met three more of our neighbors yesterday afternoon while I was trimming back some low-hanging branches and a few of the blackberry or raspberry vines that have both vexed and maybe permanently scarred me while mowing in the front yard. One of them, Greg Best, invited us to a neighborhood party at his home a few blocks away. Janice and I were initially willing to make a go of it since it would have been a great way to meet even more of the neighborhood, and we got a couple of nice bottles of wine to take to the host and hostess. However, by the time we had finished our gigantic subs we picked up on the way back from hauling another carload of "schtuff" from the apartment ... we both looked at each other and decided we were just too damned tired to be "on" for a party. Either we're getting old, or more mature (very doubtful) or this move crap is more of a pain in the butt than we remember. I think it's more the latter, considering the amount of "schtuff" we've both accumulated over the years. Oh well ... at least Janice can enjoy the wine. LOL

Now that we're in a bigger space ... God only knows how much MORE "schtuff" we'll be tempted to accumulate.

You know how there are "Personal Shoppers"? I think there is (or should be) a market for "Personal Movers". You would just sit back, tell the moving team what you want to keep, what you want to donate to charity, have them box things up, move them, then tell them where you want things or have them suggest placement, have them unbox and put away everything on the "receiving end" and let them do all the work. Oh well ... too late for my having formed that kind of service to do us any good. Not that I don't think we got a good deal on our move, but with 157 boxes ... ugh.

It's a beautiful morning here, and the forecast calls for sun, sun, and more sun, so it should be a glorious day. It will be interesting to see if the temp actually does hit the forecasted 94 ... it seems we are about 5 degrees cooler than the "lowlands" (as I now call it) parts of Manchester. I brought over the thermometer from the apartment, yesterday (or at least I think it ended up in one of the many boxes of little stuff we brought). It will be interesting to see if my "5 degrees cooler" theory is indeed true.

Also, we bought a rain gauge ... I need to put that up. Curt (or Kurt, don't know the spelling) one of the neighbors I met yesterday, said he had emptied his three times over the past month ... 18" of rain? I kind of believe it.

I think the "Mosquito Dunks" I put out yesterday might actually be working. I noticed a decline in "strikes" when we got home last night and I walked around outside for a bit.

Maybe you all won't get that "Malaria" or "Dengue Fever" or "West Nile Virus" call after all. LOL

For Those Things ...

... you want to donate, have you tried "ItsDeductible"?

We've used this in the past, and are using it this year (post-move, unfortunately ... meaning of course that we paid to move stuff we're going to donate ... D'OHHHhhh).

Regardless if you use TurboTax or another product or a paid tax preparer, "ItsDeductible" is a very inexpensive program that is great for keeping track of, AND valuating your donations. It has all the IRS-sanctioned values of items, and it guarantees 100% compliance with IRS guidelines.

We didn't use it last year, because we had no donations, but it gives different values if an item is in "Good", "Fair" or "Poor" condition.

You would be very surprised how it all adds up.

And now, back to your regularly scheduled programming ... LOL

Productive Weekend

We now have the kitchen pretty much in order. Boxes have been unpacked, things have been put away (we may need to make some adjustments or put labels on drawers, since I seem to be a little forgetful where what drawer contains what in the new layout).

Janice also unpacked the dining room stuff and has only a few boxes to go in there.

We unpacked the eight large wardrobe boxes and got the walk-in closet taken set up. I'm happy to report I have my one hanging row for my clothes, plus there's a bit of room to spare even. Shocking!

We also did some rearranging of furniture in the Master Bedroom ... the chest of drawers wasn't in a really good spot, so we made room for it alongside the bureau/mirror combination and moved it over to that side of the room. We also moved the armoire to better center it on its wall. We also better centered the bed and moved the nightstands a little closer so they were more within arms' reach.

Next weekend is our "phase 2", where we clear out the two storage units and get the balance of that stuff moved over here and get the large plants out of 185 Pine Street. John, I could use a big old farm truck and some muscle. Feel like driving out with Brad and Jake? LOL

Anyway ... we're getting there, slowly but surely ... but we keep wondering ... will it ever end?

The Basement

We had Stanley Steemers come out and steamclean and deodorize the downstairs carpet (as well as the rest of the carpets). The smell was pretty bad in the basement, and I went out yesterday and picked up a 5-gallon dehumidifier. I plugged it in last night when I got home and this morning there was approximately 4 gallons of water in it.

Hopefully this will help.

Several people have suggested lava rocks ... anyone else ever hear of this?

Well ...

... here is the first "post" from the new home. Things here are hectic, to say the least, and we are slowly getting unpacked.

The "boys" are seeming to get a little more acclimated to their new surroundings, as are we. In fact, they are getting wild and crazy, with the new steps. The pitter-patter of little cat feet running like ponies up and down the steps at 4:00 am is starting to wear on us a little bit. Jake has even decided that it's not such a stretch to jump onto the bed from the top of the armoire. LOL

I have finally begun getting the home PC set up, but need to probably refer to the installation manuals for the monitors. Hmmm ...

I cut the grass again today, in preparation for the next three forecasted days of rain. Ugh ... I'm getting sick of the rain. Also, I've borrowed a couple of picks from my two best coworkers, and will begin the surreptitious digging of a drainage trench to better the "protected wetlands" area. I'm apparently not as fond of mosquitos as the tree huggers out this way. LOL

Anyway, I hadn't posted anything for a while, and decided this would be the first "internet" communication I sent. :-)

Love to all, and hope you're doing well.

OH ... BY THE WAY ... my old phone number is what we brought over to the house. We picked up a new telephone, so we can actually hear people talking now.

So, Janice's old number, for those of you who had it, is no longer active.