| leatherman's log |
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September 2008 |
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| Week One: |
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If you don't know yet that I'll be moving, check out
the last update here! |
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| Goodbye Summer,
Goodbye Pool |
Although we are getting one last blast
of Summer during the Labor Day weekend (almost 90 degrees!), I
didn't spend much time in the pool. I was hoping to have a little
bit longer; but with no chlorine and several days of rain, the water
was becoming quite dirty and starting to turn a lovely light green.
To be honest, I don't know but I was a little leery of whether that
algaefied water would cause me any problems. Heaven knows, I've got
plenty of problems with getting some weird bacterial sickness from
the pool.
 So
instead of beating the heat playing in the water, I sweated my butt
off giving it one last cleaning and closing up the pool. |
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| While the pool drained down to the
intake/outlet holes, I filled up pop bottles to use as weights to
hold the cover down. Next I cleared the chairs, toys and equipment
off the deck. |
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| After the water drained down, it was
time to disconnect the pump (under the deck) and store it on the
patio along with the brushes, nets, and pole. The only thing left
then was to put the cover on and lash it down for the Winter. |
I've spent a lot of time and had a lot of fun in Jim's pool over the
years, and it's very sad saying goodbye. Unfortunately, playing in
the pool this year wasn't as fun as it usually has been, as the pool
itself was a constant reminder of Jim's absence. Even with all
the problems I had getting it cleaned up this year, fixing the
problems with the filter and pump, and trying to keep enough
chemicals to keep the water clear, I'm very grateful to have been
able to not only enjoy it one last Summer; but to have shared some
of that fun with my friends. |
| I'm Moving Out |
I swear this has got
to be about the last "deja vu" moment for a while. Just a short year
and 9 months ago, I was packing up my house, and all my life spent
there, and moving on to a new home. Now, here I am doing it again.
Never in a million years did I ever imagine that I would be moving
again so soon, and for such dreadful reasons.
I've spent some days just crying buckets while I kept packing things
away. Other days, I was excited thinking where this piece of
furniture or that will be going in the new place, as I got them
moved out to the garage .It's like some sort other temporary
bi-polar condition
I'm having right now; and it's very un-nerving to have these mood
swings happen from just one day to the next.
But the change is nearly here and from now on things will once again
be totally different than I ever dreamed or even considered. When
Randy passed away, I was comfortable staying in the house and as
time passed I moved on with my life. Staying here these last few
months has only kept me stuck in a terrible time in the past. But
there'll be no more deja vu now. Though there were many similarities
between Jim and Randy's passing, moving out to live in a new home
with new roommates has never happened to me before.
(Not that I'm looking for trouble, but I'm glad things will be
different for a while and I'll be occupied with starting over. The
holidays, and my anniversaries with both guys, will be coming up in
a few months. It won't be as hard handling those times, and those
memories, when I have a few months of a stable life under my belt.
 ) |
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Little by little, I took down
my collections of masks from the wall, wrapping them up, and packing
them away for the move. I forgot to count them; but I do know I hung
up 100 when I first moved into Jim's, and we accidentally broke 2 or
3 of them. I'll be sure to keep count when I hang them in the new
house - though I still have no idea where that's going to be.
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| Each day I get a little more done -
from taking pictures off the walls to packing up the CDs, DVDs,
games, and VHS tape from the entertainment center. The garage
is filling up and will soon be as crowded as it was when I moved
over here. Sean and I spent a whole morning just packing up part of
the kitchen and still have more to go. You never realize just how
much is in your house until it's unloaded from the drawers cabinets,
and closets and stacked up in the way. |
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| I spent the next morning
starting to unhook all the electronics. I'll leave the TV alone for
now; but I can live a few days with the DVD player, stereo, VCR and
Nintendo.
Since the pool is now closed, I'm going to go ahead and shut down
the PoolCam computer too. I'm going to leave mIkIEcam,
DriveWayCam and LivingRoomCam on for as long as possible. I'll be
posting still pictures later on about the move that will come from
those webcams in case you don't get a chance to "tune in" and see us
during the move. The cams can always be seen at
http://reigningpages.com/cams |
While there were still a few more hot
days, and so the few fleas that are around don't go to the new
house, the boyz got bathed and dipped. After being brushed out,
everyone is fresh, clean, stylish and bug-free. Since baths, hair
dos, and change seem to be the order of the day around here, I
colored my hair and finally got a haircut. (Special thanks
to a special friend for helping provide funds to cover the supplies
for me and the dogz to have our hair done!) I really was worried
recently seeing myself in the mirror in the mornings lately with the
white hair that I had. Unfortunately it wasn't that color from the
sun and pool chlorine. My hair is just that white now; but thanks to
Miss Clairol is doesn't have to stay that way.
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(My hair might not be white any longer; but it's sure starting to
recede! ) |
| I've had some busy days
later getting ready for the move. We're got all the utilities
scheduled to be on Friday, except the phone/internet (more on that
in minute). I swung by the hospital and had my blood work done at
the lab, so there'll be a doctor appointment for me in about two
weeks. I'm not even going to offer a guess what these results might
be.
Previously I thought they would be terrible (from the stress I've
been under, missed meals and haphazard med taking): but those
numbers weren't really all that different from the average counts I
usually have. It's the pessimist in me lately that just can help but
think at soon point my counts are going to be worse from all that's
happened in my life the last 6 months. Oh well though, here's hoping
my numbers come back as good (relatively speaking) as always. |
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Hopefully some of my
pessimism will be leaving me soon, because I have to admit that
things have been looking up in the last few days, even if packing
and moving is a sad event. First, I have a house to move to!
I'm not being evicted or having the roof cave in.
In just a few more days, I'll be back in a house with hot water.
(and I can't wait to get into a HOT shower!) I can't forget to
mention my friends that are coming through with boxes, vehicles, and
assistance when moving day gets here. |
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As an extra perk to
helping me have happier thoughts, I got a call and paid a visit to
Avenue Antiques. It's been a month now and the ladies had a nice
check for me after having sold just a fraction of my items. Pocket
watches, war memorabilia, lockets and several vases have been sold,
netting me just over $1,500! I'll be able to pay off a few of my
bills and have no problem with the security deposits for the
utilities. WooHoo!
 And
just in case my king size water doesn't fit into any of the new
bedrooms, I'll have enough to get myself a new bed so I won't have
to sleep on the floor.
There are still more items the ladies are hoping to sell for me.
It's taking time to inventory everything, so I should still be
receiving more as time goes by. Actually, right now, they have an
offer for two hand-painted vases (which I thought were hideous!)
that might just be purchased for nearly $3,000!! If that deal does
go through, my first purchase will be a plane ticket back home to NC
for Christmas!
So keep your fingers crossed! |
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| The
house before Leatherman and the boyz move in |
Hopefully this will be the
last time I'll have an address change or phone number change for a
long while. We're transferring John's RoadRunner account and adding a digital
phone so we won't technically be online until next Wed (you can
email me anyway! You know me - Ill be going over to Joyce's to check
on my email and do my online stuff probably everyday LOL); but I can go ahead give you
my new mailing address:
1447 Miami Court NE
Canton, OH 44714
(I sent my phone number in an email already to many
of you.) |
Click the picture of my
new house to see some of the pictures the realtor had posted on
their website (RTO
Leasing). There's no picture of the third bedroom, nor the
backyard; but never fear! I'll have some online within a week.
I just can't wait to see how the house will look next year, with
that dogwood tree in bloom, and lattice full of morning glories in
front of the porch. |
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| By the end of the month,
I'll have to show you side-by-side pictures of how the rooms looked
empty, and then filled up with all this stuff we've been packing the
last few days.
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Moving Day is just a little bit over 24 hrs. away
now, so it's time for me to get the packing finished, and say goodbye
to so many memories at this house. I have such convoluted feelings
right now. Part of me is so very excited about the move. No, I'm not
thrilled that it's going to be a physically hard chore and very
tiring; but it's got to be done, so I'll make the best of it.
I'm also very excited and looking forward to doing some landscaping
at the new property, even though Fall is just around the corner.
There's plenty I can do to get everything ready for planting next
Spring.
However, it's going to be heart-wrenching to walk around Jim's house
and property once last time. I'll be saying one last goodbye to
Gabby, Showie, Nami, and Recky who are all buried out in the
backyard. I'm going to miss my sunflowers finally blooming next
week, along with the rampaging bamboo and the cosmos still
blossoming in the last of the Summer heat. Then I'll have to take a
final tour through the empty house, remembering the good times,
along with the times that will never be now. Although I know I
haven't let Jim down, I'm still going to feel horrible for losing
the house.
And on top of all the sad and the glad feeling, I'm going to be
bushed!
I wanted to give you one last update from Jim's house, and let you
know that everything was moving forward. My next update will be from
the new house. WooHoo! Chat with you all soon!!
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Week Two: |
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| A Last
Look at My Old Home |
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Starting off the day, I moved all my
clothes, bedding, etc. downstairs to start filling up the van, while
the furniture was loaded next onto the truck. |
| I have to give a BIG
THANKS to Joyce (my OhioMom) and Angie for the use of their vehicles
throughout the weekend. Although I had just received a check from
Avenue Antiques, my credit union only made $100 available, while the
rest was sitting under a three day hold. I wouldn't have had enough
money to rent a truck; but I was able to keep both these vehicles
gassed up to cover what I used, plus a little extra.
(I always try to be good to my friends, so they'll be good to me
when I need helping out) |
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| DO's van |
Angie's truck |
| The pile of stuff in the living room
never seemed to shrink much; but it always looked different, so we
hoped we were actually making progress.
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One last check of my email and then it
was time to turn off my computers. This was the last webcam picture
from Jim's house. |
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| As each day wore on (move
about just how many days later), the rooms become more and more
barren. Dust, cobwebs, and balls of dog fur (and dog balls and
toys!) seemed to be everywhere! I really was a good housekeeper; but
you could tell that I wasn't able to do Spring Cleaning this year. |
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| The basement and the garage, like the living room,
became a staging point for all the contents of the house. For a
while the garage looked almost as full was when I moved here a short
year and nine months ago. |
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A BIG THANKS has to go to my good
friend, Mike Poland. Just like when he helped Jim and I with my last
month, he was a godsend for this move too. |
| Moving
into My New House |
I appreciate and thank you all for the
well wishes
you sent me for a smooth move. However, things didn't really go so
well
 ;
but in the end when all is said and done, me and doggies have
finally moved.
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| Day One: Friday |
The first clue that things might not go as planned
started first thing Friday morning when Angie ran late
bringing her truck over for me to use. That little glitch
wasn't so important, as I didn't have my crew together; but
it was the first of many glitches to my plans. Sean and I
loaded up the truck, and then picked up John, so we could
sign the lease and get the keys. After unloading the truck
at the new house, my friend Mikie P came to help; but wasn't
able to bring his smaller truck like I had hoped. DO had
loaned her van out to her daughter for the morning, so we
four guys (Sean, John, Mikie P and I) continued making trips
using the big truck until we had access to both vehicles.
Unfortunately, during one of the first trips, Sean got hurt
as he and Mikie P moved the couches out from Jim's house.
For the rest of the weekend, Sean's badly sprained ankle
would get hit over and over. I just knew that I was going to
have to stop the moving process to run him to the ER at some
point. Of course, each time we loaded a vehicle, it would
have to be unloaded on the other end. The trips to the new
house began to take longer and longer as we had to unpack
some boxes and move other around to be able to get another
load into the house. We weren't able to get much more done
even after the van was added to the mix though, because Mikie P (who was by far the BEST help I had the whole
weekend!!! Thanks again, dude!!) had to leave to go to work.
Unfortunately, everything added up to the move not being
finished and the appliances being put on hold until Sunday.
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| Day Two: Saturday |
Unfortunately, the second day of moving started like the
next several days would, with the guys (Sean and John)
sleeping in while I got up and started working by myself.
After riding my bike up to DO's to borrow her van, each day
I would make one to two trips loading the van at the old
house and unloading it at the new house before the guys
would be up and helping. And I use the word "helping"
loosely because the guys weren't that much help at all. With
Sean's ankle quite swollen, he was still able to help; but
not near as much. John seemed pretty content to be of next
to NO help, as his belongings were already moved. Then we
had to take time
out from moving to go get the truck again (we really needed
it; but it did mean putting moving off for an hour to run
that errand) (Thanks again, Angie! Your truck was a GREAT
help!) Of course, I had hoped to move everything else but
the appliances on this day; but with the limited help for
such a limited time, it just didn't work out that way.
I won't even tell you about how pissed off I got as the day
progressed. I need to thank Joyce, not only for the use of
her van over so many days; but letting me vent some of
my frustration on her. At that point, I sure couldn't afford
to really tell off my "help" so I didn't lose what little
help I was getting. Each step they moved an item from the
porch railing of the new house to the dining room was about
10 less steps that I had to carry it. After lugging things
down from upstairs at Jim's house or up from the basment, to the van or truck, and
then unloading it to the porch at the new house, I think I
had carried things quite far enough.
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| Day Three: Sunday |
Once again starting off yet another day of moving
things from the old house to the new, I was working all by
myself. Knowing Sean's ankle was still messed up and that
John has back problems, I tried to leave the guys easy
chores to handle while I did the actual moving alone. Too
many times though, I arrived at the new house to find the
guys turning off the PlayStation 3, and the curtains not
hung, the floors not mopped, no boxes unpacked, and no
dishes washed. I noticed that they didn't even set up the
furniture in the dining room (which is going to be THEIR
computer room because I don't want to be anywhere near them
right now!)
It didn't help matters any that I had been sleeping on the
floor the last few nights either. Although the guys already
had their bedrooms in order, I had been so busy with the
actual moving that my bedroom was nearly impossible to enter
as it was filled with boxes. It was quite a chore trying to
fit my personal belongings, along with Jim's and Randy's,
and everything from my computer room into my new small
bedroom. At first I had hoped that my waterbed would fit
into that room too; but with it being a king-size bed, I
would have had only a foot of space on either side between
it and the walls.
To make matters worse, I screwed up things myself! After
Joyce dropped me off at Angie's truck (Angie was letting me
use it while she was at work, so we picked it up in the
parking lot), I accidentally forgot to give Joyce the keys to
her van. DOH!
 I didn't realize my mistake until Sean and I
pulled into the driveway at Jim's. That meant I had to go
all the way back across town to give Joyce her keys. DOUBLE DOH! And the reason, she wasn't following me to help with
another van-load was because she and John decided that
though the move wasn't completed, John "needed "to take
time off - and the van - to go visit his children for a few hours.Argh!
I did eventually solve my bedding crisis on this afternoon.
Leaving behind the headboard, middle sheet of decking and
baffles, I turned my king-size waterbed into a queen-size
pedestal bed. During a side trip to the store to pick up
supplies/tools/hardware that were needed for the new house,
I purchased an inflatable mattress. (Though it's not heated
like my old bed, I must say that I got a good night's sleep
that night in my new bed!)
I spent a lot of the time this day moving, and also crying.
I was as upset by my own carelessness and wasted time as I
was with the lack of assistance. Making matters worse, by
this time in the move, I was having to sort through so many
odds-n-ends just to decide if it was worth moving, or if we
even had room for it at the new place. I thought I was done
sorting through Jim's belongings; but in every room there
were his possessions, reminding me of my loss. Though I
hoped that each "next load" would be the last one, I also
dreaded that moment. That would be when I said goodbye to
the house and my Gabby buried in the back yard just last
December. On the last trip, I would also be taking an urn
with some of Jim's remains from his house. (Though he'll
never truly be gone from his house. Because he had wanted to
return home so badly, I placed a small jar with his ashes
far under the rafters in the upstairs crawlspace. Jim will
always be home now.)
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| Day Four: Monday |
The last day of moving was like all the others - me
working alone most of the time. (I should mention that the
guys did accomplish one task late last night. Starting at
midnight, they put together John's new large computer desk.
Not that that chore really helped me at all with actually
moving; but at least they did do one constructive thing!) Getting the van for
only a few hours, I tried to
move as much as possible, so everything would be finished up
finally. By this time, I was so frustrated and so depressed
about it all, that I found myself evaluating what things I
would just leave behind! I had gotten to a point of
just not caring about the remaining items. I only wanted the
move to be over! I was dead tired, madder than hell, and
sadder than I've EVER been. Personally, I've decided that
unless I move again because of a lottery winning, that I'll
never move again. If something would happen to make another
move inevitable, then I think I'll just stop taking my meds,
and let nature take it's course. I know that may sound bad,
folks; but there's only so much suffering and grief I can
handle. In the late afternoon, I did get a bunch of help to
finally finish up
the moving. After he got off work, Mikie P got another
friend of ours, Josh (who has just moved the previous
weekend with his mom Rhonda, into the house next door to DO's.
Thanks loads for helping me out, Josh!!), and they loaded and unloaded up my appliances using
Angie's truck. Ritchie came along with me after I borrowed
his mom's truck again, and I put him to the task of sorting
through the tools on Jim's work bench. (Thanks to you too,
Ritchie! You were a good help there at the last of this
move.)
At my wit's end, I finally gave up and just called an end
to the move. I was leaving behind tools, Jim's Star Trek
book collection, leftovers that the antique store might have
taken in the future, the rest of my waterbed, and various
computer stuff in the basement; but I couldn't handle it any
longer. The sun was already setting and part of my help was
having to leave for the evening (Mikie P and Josh). Though
it was late, Sean and Ritchie helped me with one last truck
load. Before driving away, I walked out back and took a last
look at the "big back yard", as we called it for the dogs
(rather than the "dog yard" off the patio where I usually
let them ou)t. While picking one last handful of
blackberries, I saw that three of the sunflowers that I had
planted so late this year because of what was happening with
Jim had finally burst into bloom. I said my goodbyes to
Jim's cats that he had buried over the years (Tsunami, Showdakan, Sarek, along with several others). I sat on the
tree that Carolynn and Jim had cut down last Fall, and told
Gabby goodbye. Then I walked through the house one last
time. I picked up Jim's urn in the back room, and had to
stop and sit on the stairs for a while as my grief
overwhelmed me thinking of taking Jim from the house and
leaving this part of my life behind forever.
|
| Day Five: Tuesday |
Though I thought I really was done moving, I realized I
had left behind one last thing that I just had to have - a
plant.
Back when Randy passed away I was working as a courier. My
company sent me a "plant basket" (an arrangement of 6
different plants) rather than flowers with their sympathy
card. In the first months after losing Randy, one by one the
plants began to die off, despite my best efforts (or maybe
because of them!
I've never been any good
with indoor plants). After a few months, only one straggly
vine and one little palm-frond plant remained. The vine
never did any better; but the palm continued to grow and
eventually sprouted a second stalk. During the following
years, I kept it outdoors during the Spring and Summer, and
always keep it in it's favorite sunny window during the cold
Fall and Winter months. I tossed away the dead vine when I
moved from my old house to Jim's. During that move, Jim
accidentally crushed on of the stalks in the car door, and I was sure the
plant would be a goner. But the plant seemed to like living
at Jim's as much and me and the doggies did, and it grow a
whole new set of fronds on the damaged stalk. Now it's at
the new home, and I'll have to find it a new
"favorite" window this Winter. |
|
| Settling
In |
The first part of the week in the
house was pretty hectic; but things have finally begun to settle
down as the week closed. After the moving was completed, unpacking
became my next priority. There was so much stuff crammed into my
room that I spent days trying to figure out what to do with
everything. Just as I had to do with the last of the items at Jim's
house, I had to evaluate what was truly worth keeping. Did I really
need to keep this or that trinket? How long has it been since I
played any of the tapes in the boxful of cassette tapes? Did I need
two tape dispensers or 3 pairs of scissors? Space is at a premium in
just this one room, so quite a lot of the stuff that had come up in
boxes went back now in garbage bags. It's just another tragic aspect
of this whole situation. I've had to brutally slash through the
belongings of my life and cut away whatever wasn't "necessary". I even
began to sort through the boxes of Randy's and Jim's things until my
dear OhioMom stopped me with her advice. She made me realize that
things in my life where just too hectic, to simply store those boxes
in the attic for now. Later there would be time to deal with those
boxes of memories.
|
Whatever went wrong with the moving
process and my roommates, it's over and done with now. I don't
forgive the guys for not helping more (the reality is that they
already screwed me over, and that'll never change. What's done is
done. However, I do appreciate their apologies for being such
jerks.). The only benefit of the doubt that I will afford them is
that we did come to the move from much different places. John and
Sean are both improving their lives by this move, and are happy with
moving. For both of them, this is a step-up However, it's a
step-down for me. My housing cost is going up and I've lost some of
my belongings. Plus I hated the reasons I had to move, having to do
this again in less than 2 years, and every last thing about it! I
would have preferred still having Jim alive, or being able to stay
at that house. (Then again, I would have preferred being able to pay
off his cremation bill too.) Surely I've been crying enough this
last week to fulfill my "grief quota" for the next 5 years.
But you play the hand that life deals you and try not to lose you
shirt. Throughout my life, I've struggled to continue by remembering
what I've come through. At first I use to compare how bad things
were by how they were when I was kicked out of my Christian college.
(too many demerits for stupid little broken rules). Back then,
having to tell my parents and come home between semesters was the
worst thing that had ever happened to me. Then the comparison was to
the house fire that left us living with friends for a month and all
the accompanying problems. For a few years when I was getting sick,
I NEVER dreamed that anything could be as bad as losing Randy. Being
hospitalized with PCP and pneumonia twice in three years - and
surviving - got me through a lot of grief-ridden sickness-filled
years.
Losing Jim, and everything that's happened because of that, has
truly been the worst thing that has ever happened to me, and I can't
imagine how anything could ever be as bad as things have been
lately. I feel slightly guilty even saying this, but losing Jim has
actually been worse than losing Randy. I'm still in a "bad place"
about all this right now; but I do hold onto the thought that
someday I'll be able to get through another problem by knowing that
I made it through this experience and came out the other side. As
I've said before, overcoming your problems takes hard work and
patience. I've definitely put in my share of hard work, so now I'll
just have to have the patience for my emotional wounds to heal. |
| A New
Yard Means New Yard Work |
| Of course, as the week
wore on and more of my belongings were unpacked and put away, I
began to feel a little better about, well, everything. It has been
emotionally, physically, and mentally draining dealing with all
those problems, but with so much already completed with unpacking, I
took some time out for myself. That's means I slapped on my
headphones, cranked up the tunes, grabbed my work gloves and rake, and went out to tackle
the backyard. |
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| I brought my roll of
fencing with me from the old house and temporarily threw it up
around a small part of the back yard to give the dogs a safe place
to go out. Right now, it's a tight squeeze out the side door and
around the corner of the house to get to the back yard. Right now
the dogs are fenced in on the top tier of the yard; but that's only
termporary. There is a
backdoor off the kitchen, but it doesn't have any steps. I've
already made plans to build a small porch/deck with a couple of steps,
so the doggies can go straight out to the back. |
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| This house has a shared
driveway with the neighbors that goes to the back of the property.
When the landlord purchased the house, they had to tear down the
dilapidated building. I spent most of my working time, clearing out
the weeds, fallen branches, and tons of broken glass shards, as that
part of the back yard was an unsafe jungle! Since there is still a
nice brick foundation left from the garage, I'm planning on making
that the new patio for cookouts and get-togethers. |
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| There used to be a garage on this
property but it was torn down. - and in it's place was a MESS! |
After nearly 3 hours of work, the area
is almost starting to look like the patio area that I have
envisioned. |
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| I only left several piles
of stuff (debris and tree limbs) cleared up from the backyard. I'll
finish cleaning up after I finish fencing in the yard with another
roll of fencing I just purchased. |
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| My new back yard!
|
| I'm planning on fencing in
more of the yard - all the way to the retaining wall. |
|
|
Week Three: |
|---|
| I spent Sunday morning, tidying up the last boxes scattered
throughout the house. After hanging all my mask collection and
clearing out those three boxes, I'm now done to just one box of
tools left (and I hid it behind the couch).
There's a little bit I'd still like to do in the kitchen; but
there's plenty of time to get things sorted out as we cook, wash
dishes and put them away. |
Click here to see
Before/After
Pictures of the House
Comparing the pictures that the realtor had posted online, with
pictures that I took a week after we moved in. |
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This is the Living Room as
viewed from the front door
with all the masks on the wall. |
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| My new bedroom is still a
bit cluttered; but I am making progress |
| Considering the way things go in my
life, I decided to call the doctor and check on my appointment.
Usually his office will call me the day before my visit; but since I
just changed phone numbers and haven't given it to my doctor, I knew
they wouldn't be able to reach me. And it was a good thing I called
too! Even though this visit has been rescheduled once (by two
weeks), they needed to reschedule it again!
Now I'm not scheduled to
see the doctor until October 15th (in another month!). I'm going to
have to call the doctor back though. If I'm going to have to wait
that much longer, then I'm going to have to get more blood work
drawn to have more accurate counts. |
| But that doesn't mean my last lab
results were a waste. I did make sure to ask the nurse what my
numbers were this time (so we could decide just how soon the doctor
needed to get around to seeing me again). Once again, I totally
bamboozled by my results; but still very happy with them. I keep
thinking the stress, depression or lack of taking meds is going to
take it's toll; but my counts keep coming back okay. My T-cells rose
slightly from 214 to 256 (still near the average count for the last
10 years) and my Viral Load was under 75 (which still counts as
"undetectable").
WooHoo! |
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| A few
last "Moving Pictures" from Joyce's camera |
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The couches had already gone over to the new house (and got catch in
a flash downpour!!), so the rest of the living room was getting
readied for trip two. |
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We couldn't take any more in the van if
we wanted. LOL |
| Soon the new dining room would be
filled up to the brim. Then came the chore of unpacking it all and
putting it away. |
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| Playing
in the new Backyard |
With the fencing in place
now, I've been letting the dogs out more to play - and they really
like their new yard.
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| I may not have mentioned
this problem yet, as there have been so many recently. Joxer has
developed cataracts over the last several years . Though his vision
seemed to be a little fuzzy, for the most part he seemed to be doing
well enough. However, about a week before the move, I noticed that
he was definitely having a harder time seeing. After having been at
Jim's house for nearly two years, he was misjudging where things were and
stepping off the steps too early or banging into the patio screen
rather than going through the door. Just adding to the all my problems, I
worried for a while about moving Joxer to a new house with his bad
eyesight. Since there wasn't anything I could do to change having to
move, I've made other adjustments. (I'd rather be doing the hard
work to solve my problems, than going through that trying part of
having patience to wait on the solution to work.) I've been going out with the dogs
(especially with a flashlight at night) to keep an eye on Joxer and
help him find his way around the yard and back to the side door. |
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Joxie is not totally blind, so he does
the best he can, like this picture of him slowly going down the
hill, as he sniffs out the fence boundaries. After a week of helping
him, he's doing pretty good, except for occasionally taking a
"shortcut" up through the plants to get back to the door;
but all three of them are doing that. Obviously I'm going to have to
mark out my territory (flower beds) better for the boyz. |
| Here's a cute picture of Zeus. |
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Find the
three Spaniels!
MouseOver the dogs for a CloseUp |
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| Checking out the smells,
and marking THEIR territory.
|
| Well, Hurricane Ike was
something else, wasn't he? The storm was still full of wind as it
blew up the Mississippi Valley and into the Ohio Valley, leaving
behind a path of toppled trees, downed lines, and power outages.
Though I thought it sucked to have finally gotten moved into the new
house and then lost power, I won't complain too much. Too many of my
friends went for longer without power, than the 14 hrs. I had to
deal with. |
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One of the storms causalities was the
dogwood tree in Cliff and Joyce's side yard. We've known for years
that this tree was dying off; but it must have been pretty sick, as
the wind snapped the roots off right at ground level. |
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The falling dogwood brought now a few more dead branches off another
tree in their backyard. |
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| More
Storm Damage |
| Borrowing Joyce's van to
run a few errands to get things for the new house (an extra
extension cord for one room, cup hooks, a new mop, just odds-n-ends
to make my life nicer and easier),
I got a look at the wind damage around town. It's been nearly 5 days
now since the hurricane blew through and some of my friends still
don't even have the power back on yet! There are trees and branches
still down all over town. I've never seen so many in the two decades
that I've lived here - and we've had some pretty bad blizzards in
those years that did a lot of damage. |
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On what was probably my last visit to
Jim's house to check on the mail, I was surprised to find damage on
that property too. A huge chunk of bamboo was broken in half and
blocking the patio screen door. Without the fencing around the "dog
yard", I was able to go through the other screen door and get to the
backyard. |
| A ton of apples were blown off the tree
near the park of the property, and quite a few were actually blown
into the pool. Boy, that water doesn't look near as appealing as it
did during the Summer. |
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| If you look at the bottom
of the pampas grass (on the left half of this picture), you can see
several large branches that came down from a tree at the back corner
of the lot. |
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| the limbs down in the very back |
apples littering the ground |
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Mouseover Closeup
I knew my sunflowers were
about to bloom as I moved out of the house; but never got to see
them opened up until today. Before I left, I snagged up a handful of
flowers as a bouquet for Joyce's table. |
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But what's that?!
Do you see that one branch lying
slanted behind the trees and
peonies? |
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One of the trees at the back corner of
the house
was uprooted by the wind and had fallen down! |
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Luckily
, the tree fell missing the
neighbor's house
and just scraping down Jim's house. |
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The tree didn't damage any
windows or siding and got stuck in the front cedar
bush,
preventing it from pulling down the gutters |
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| Goodness! I just I left
Jim's house just in time. It seemed like everything there was
beginning to fall apart. With holes in the roof, the problems with
the pool, no hot water or heat, corroded water pipes, and now
falling trees, it looks like I got out of there before it all went
to hell in a hand basket.
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| A Final
Goodbye |
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| It's been almost two weeks
now, and the only mail that I have been picking up has been Jim's
medical bills, so I've decided that this was the last time I was
ever going back to the old house.
I did all I could; but I can't do anymore. I can't handle the
problems the house has, and I have no desire left to get the
remaining items. I know many people have suggested that I retrieve
the Star Trek items and the remaining items the antique store might
take; but I have an answer similar to the one I've given about
taking the pool - "you're more than welcome to come help". I mean I
have no vehicle, no storage space, and no strength left to handle
that chore by myself. |
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Week Four: |
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| There really wasn't much for me to add
for Week Four of September. Most of what I discussed in the
Week Three Update actually spans both weeks. So
it' off to October and Fall approaching..... |
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