It Begins Again! Phase One Gets Underway!
It Was Funny!
Sort Of Day By Day!
June 23rd - Wednesday Which is Called Hump Day; We Are Over The Hump; Ready For Mary's Move - 6:00 AM, and we are on the go! Mary got into her work clothes and headed to "the closets" while I headed to Casa Valencia to complete the garage and begin to move my clothes into other areas of the abode; Mary needs to have her stuff together!
June 24th - Getting Ready For The Move(s) - Mary stayed at her house and worked her tail off, going through each of the upstairs rooms. We have plenty of packing paper available for Mary's move!
Proceed with packing Dr. Mary!
June 26th - Saturday The Gorillas Came To Visit! - On Thursday, Bob Z and I tried to take apart the headboard, but we stripped two screws and couldn't get it out. We then decided to take it down the stairs out the front door and put it in the van. After two small attempts and a lot of measuring, we threw up our hands and said. "no way, Jose, we can't do this.
My son Joe and my grandson Zachary looked at the problem and said, will take it down the stairs. I thought they were kidding, but all of a sudden, boom, the headboard was in the air and floating down the stairway as if by magic.
June 29th - Tuesday Work Never Stops! - Well, we are making progress. We landed at Casa Valencia at 9:00 AM just in time for the measuring guy to show up; we are getting window treatments on the back and side of the house.
At 10:00, the shower door people showed up, and they worked for four-plus hours hanging new doors. Mary made a nice brunch, and then she took off to her place to continue pre-packing for the July 6th move.
She beat me, not unexpected, as she had a bottle of seasoning that was "best used by 2004". My best was a weird-looking powder with a "Best used by 2007" label on it. We had a good laugh.
July 3rd - Saturday We Worked All Day - We continued working all over the house. The packers come Monday at noon, and the movers come Tuesday morning. Then we repeat the process next week; that is known as phase two! We do have some work ahead of us.
July 4th - We Took The Day Off!
We worked before going to Old Ranch!
We needed fun before the 6th arrives!
July 5th - Monday It's A Holiday And We Worked! After sizing up the chandelier task, I called for assistance. Bob Z. came over, and we hung the chandelier. It took two people, but it is up and solidly mounted to the ceiling. Bob is great to work with as we read each other's minds. Bob asked if perhaps we should move it ourselves and save money. He thought he could do it in one trip!
We are well hung!
The packers showed up around 2:00 PM and went to work. Magically all the pictures and things were wrapped and ready for the movers tomorrow at 7:30 AM.
Pack away guys!
July 6th - Tuesday The Big Day (Part 1) Has Arrived! The packers and movers finally arrived at 9:30 AM, and they have a load of work to do. I plan to take Scout the Wonder Dog to Casa Valencia, so he is out of the way, and there I can do a little prep work. From 6:30 AM until they arrived, we did little jobs around Mary's house.
The first of many loads coming to Casa Valencia
July 8th - Thursday Unpacking Begins; We Be Busy! Scout, The Wonder Dog, and I went to Casa Valencia for the morning while Mary worked at home. "We", Scout and I, decided to take our first walk around the block; we did well!
Mary and Dianne continued the closet mission, and Dru & Jimmy worked on cleaning the rooms, which are now empty. I went to Casa Valencia, sat in the patio chair, and went promptly to sleep; I have never been so tired.
Friday July 9th - Preparing For Phase Two Of The Move As of this morning, I have been retired 14 Years, 3 Months, and 19 Days! Today is "paint day"; I have three appointments with folks coming to paint Mary's home. 9, 11, and 1 o'clock have been spoken for. I will, between those hours, work in the garage, and perhaps the storage containers align the side of the house.
Bob was a life saver!
We had dinner at Patty's to relax!
July 10th - Saturday No Rest For The Wicked! - Today would have been Sue's 70th birthday. Thanks to the many people who sent their wishes and memories to me today. All is OK, and life is moving on. Sue would be very happy for me.
We woke up early, and I headed to Casa Valencia to meet with some cement contractors, friends of Joe, who I hope can pour a foundation for the swim spa. They will do the wiring, drain, and the 12×16 reinforced pad. They will also do a slab for the new storage facility due to arrive on the 21st.
He is on the move!
July 13th - Tuesday OMG; Do Not Move Ever Again! - I had the guys pick up my frig at Casa Valencia for some extra dinero and move it to Karen's place, five-door down from Mary. She needed a frig, and we did NOT need three plus a freezer!
We departed Mary's at about 5:00 PM and went to work at Casa Valencia with Mary cooking dinner and me assembling the second bookshelf.
Ready to go!
"I wanna see the new place!!"
July 14th - Wednesday A Day That Will Live In History! Mary moved the last of her things to Casa Valencia today, and we had three trucks and eight guys working their tails off from 9:00 AM through 5:30 PM. The guys worked hard a; day and they were a very polite group which I would highly recommend if anyone ever wants to move.
The packers were at Mary's yesterday, and all the guys had to do was move boxes, plants, BBQ, gazebo, TV's and other goodies. I was shocked when it filled up two trucks!
Departing Bluebonnet!
July 16th - Friday Progress Was Made! It's Beginning To Look Like A House! I decided to attack the bedroom first since, at my age, middle-of-the-night urges need to be satisfied, and fighting a mountain of boxes does not fit the plan. First, I changed light fixtures in the closet to see what I was doing! (Mary got home later and was astounded by the difference between the 40W light and the 150W equivalent LED lighting).
Floor to ceiling boxes!
July 17th - Saturday Serious Backyard Work Begins Today! Today we attack the kitchen, so we can begin to cook at home again. At 8:00 AM sharp, the guys show up and begin tearing up the yard. We are putting in two cement pads, one for a storage shed and one for the swim spa.
We are getting a new She-Shed!
July 18th - Sunday We Worked Twelve Hours We attacked the kitchen and it was a chore. We had boxes and boxes of things plus we had to decide which "everyday" dishes, plates, and other kitchen essentials we would use. Mary had prettier things so we naturally went with her dishes and things. At one time I counted 24 boxes of kitchen items we had to integrate with what I already put into the kitchen.
July 19th - Monday Hear The Cement Pour? We woke up early to loud noises. What is going on? Sounds like a cement truck! Dang, it was! The cement truck and pumper were outside the driveway and getting ready to pour.
Ready for the Swim Spa and She-Shed!
July 19th - Wednesday We Needed More Storage! We needed to have room in the garage so a shed was required out back!
Floor to ceiling boxes!
July 22nd - Thursday Work Work Work! I Am, Thinking About Going Back To Work So I Can Rest! We worked from 6:00 AM until past sunset without with a one hour break when we went to the Elks for Girls Night Out. ! We got help at 5:00 PM because Robin came over to stay and we put her to work. When it started to get dark it was time for wine and a fire. I connected the propane tank and we were in hogs heaven.
Time to relax
July 24th - Saturday An Informal House Warming With Dear Friends And Family We are having a party tonight, so we were up and at it early, going through the house attempting to make everything at least presentable. We worked on the patio for a couple of hours, moving plants around and washing everything down. After two hours of work, Mary went inside and worked a miracle; Egg McMommies! She is a good cook and she makes sure I eat properly.
We declare victory!
Dinner with family and friends!
July 29th - The Swim Spa Comes Home - We were up and ready to go early as today is another big day on our three-month move schedule. The 2,200 pounds swim spa gets moved down the hill to our new place this afternoon. The crane was extended 134'9"; its max extension was another 6".
Click for the full sized image!
August 2nd - Victory; both cars fit in the garage!
