The tired packers go to dinner

On Thursday we go back to the house for the final clean-up of the garage and make the final trip to Jack and Karen's with all the cars and trucks full. Have I mentioned that Jack generously gave us use of his workshop to store stuff until we are ready to load it on the boat? And the spare bedroom as well?

Not much payment for all the hard work but we did go out to dinner (on us) at Jack's favorite dive bar. (I suggested the Mansion, but he wanted the Moose...)

DONE....but not gone

The morning of the 13th, I got up at 4:00 AM and started cleaning out the fridge. The cleaning lady was arriving at 1:00 PM. and the new owner at 5:15 for the final walkthrough. Karen and Jack arrive late morning with two grandsons in tow. We used those young muscles a lot that day and were very grateful they were available. We were done in the house about 3:30 - I as packing the last few items just ahead of Susan (the cleaning lady).


Every square inch of that truck was used...the barrel chairs were the last to go (Mom wanted them for their living room) and the guitar pick shaped glass top from the living room 'coffee' table was stuffed in the memory foam from the bed and Mark jumped on the handle of the truck door to close it...whew! I don't know what we would have done without the considerable help of both family and friends...

Almost done....

Here we are with the truck, it is almost loaded. But there is space so it means we aren't quite done yet....

Keeping the help refreshed

Rose worked her butt off but had to leave on Saturday August the 9th just 4 days prior to our due out date of Wednesday the 13th as we were closing on the 14th. Our friends Jack and Karen come over every day to help do what needs to be done. Here, Mark helps Karen to a beer as she is (you aren't going to believe this one!) is washing engine parts. Oh, and have I mentioned that we had daily temperatures over 100 degrees during the first part of August? And, the day after the move was totally done it was only 88....figures.

No such thing as TOO may Ziploc bags

Rose was very patient with me but had fun at my expense. Here we see she is taking exception to the number of Ziploc bags (the Ultimate Storage Facility) I had. She also made me realize that I was more of a packrat than I thought - drat! She really helped me really clean out file cabinets and paper work not needed for years.

With Roses' help (and maybe many years of therapy) I hope to squelch this of behavior in the future. I am making progress, this years birthday cards were tossed the trash yesterday and not filed in the 'Cards and Letters' pendaflex....in fact, I don't even have a 'Cards and Letters' penda flex in my new filing system!

Cleaning the attic til midnight

One Tuesday evening we went to a favorite spot (Gloria's) for dinner to celebrate Bob and Roses' 32 ond anniversary and Mark and my birthdays. Dad and Mom sent cash for the occasions. We had a great dinner and a Rose and I had couple glasses of wine while Mark had beer.

When we got home we decided that we had not worked hard enough that day so decided to clean the garage attic. The next day (Wednesday) was, in our neighborhood is 'big' trash pickup day.

As you can see, we had 'big' trash to contribute.

This sailboat will be safe

During the packing endeavor Rose and I learned a new trade - how to make boxes. I must admit that my Dad was instrumental in showing me how to construct boxes a few years ago. I took the lesson to heart and between the two of us we became really proficient at the task.

We had some huge sailboats that needed special care in packing and we had no boxes big enough, so had to make our own.

In our next life Rose and I may be come 'house packers'!