Progress?

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Technically, I unpacked 4 medium boxes, 2 small boxes and a bin.

In reality, I took things out and they are just sitting on the table, or tucked into shelf cubes, until we can clear out the kitchen cupboards, clean them, then put our own stuff in. Which will likely take days.

I have never been so excited to see a box of kitchen utensils, tea supplies and cups before.

Also, pantry items.  I have herbs and spices and other ingredients that aren’t several years old again.  Some pots and pans.  Plus one of my two big crock pots is unpacked.  Even our stovetop popcorn popper and giant bowl!  I also found our BluRay player and we opened a box with movies in it the other day.

If we can find places to sit, we could have a movie night tonight!

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I have a pair of these. I bought them from a mail order company in California that specialized in everything dragons. They are almost 30 years old and the company no longer exists.

For now, tea. In one of my own cups (though not the giant ones I usually use.  I found those later).

Pretty good for a couple hours work. And to think I went into the kitchen to make breakfast.

Oh.  I should probably have breakfast!

The Re-farmer

More moving causalities…

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My older daughter is an artist.  For years, she sold her paintings at art festivals and the like.  These days, she’s focusing more on her online work.

Among the things we left for the movers to pack was her art.  We figured that professional movers would have access to the sorts of boxes and wrapping materials we couldn’t find at the local Home Depot.

As our stuff was being unloaded, I got my first warning that things were amiss when I picked up what I at first though was part of a dismantled piece of furniture, and it turned out to be a blank canvas.

Just the canvas.

It wasn’t wrapped in any way.  When I picked it up, I could see dirty fingermarks from any number of people who picked it up and moved it.

As the girls have been unpacking their boxes upstairs, my daughter found some of her watercolours…

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There is another box of her stuff downstairs that we have to get at.  It’s been opened and her portfolio sleeve was folded up in it.

I’m afraid to look at see what else in there was damaged.

The Re-farmer

Casualty of the Move?

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Well, after many attempts, it looks like we have a confirmed casualty of the move.

My husband’s desktop computer.

It came with us in the van, in the same box as my own.  We hooked mine up to the TV because it is newer and could connect to the Bluetooth keyboard.  As my daughter moved her system upstairs, he borrowed her keyboard and tried his.

It won’t even start up. It turns on, then just spins. It never gets past the point where the logo first appears.

Several more attempts have been made.  We even found the box with the keyboards and monitor stands.

Nothing.

We are unsure of the cause.  It was working fine before we packed it.

This really sucks.

Meanwhile, I need to put a priority on setting up my office and inventory.  I need to print out a shipping label and mail off a purchase.

The Re-farmer

More Outside Cats

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It has taken me forever to get a good shot of Rolando Moon.  He She is constantly moving!

Rolando Moon does not approve of Beep Beep’s methods of keeping the toes warm.

Bonus Mothman shot.

Strrrreeeetttccchhh…

 

The Re-farmer

Damage 

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Got some pictures of the damage done.


They were really lucky the pole broke, and not the wire!

They tore up the driveway quite a bit.


Even at the gate.


They even went into the ditch a bit.

I never imagined a few inches of snow would be too much for the truck. It’s not like they don’t drive through snow all the time!

The driveway is what it is.  It’s not going to be a problem.  That only the pole will need to be replaced, and not the roof is good.  Very fortunate no one got electrocuted.

The latch on our screen door got broken, too.  It can close, but the bottom part broke off, so it turns on the remaining top screw.  I have discovered it opens in the wind.

Ah, well.

The Re-farmer 

Some Outside Cats

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I went to take pictures of the damage the movers did, after feeding the outside cats.  As I got back, several were co-operative photo subjects.

Allow me to introduce…

Butterscotch.

Butterscotch awaits. But don’t come too close!

Beep Beep.

Beep Beep just wants to drink water in peace, but will tolerate a bit of closeness. While eating, pets will even be allowed.

Trüllbus the Crime Eater

Trüllbus is much more nervous, and tries to sneak over to fresh water from behind.

And finally…

The Mothman. Who seems to be getting more comfortable with us. A bit.

The Mothman does not tolerate much.

The Re-farmer

Insane

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The delivery of our stuff was simply insane.  I am not up to detailing it, so here are the highlights.

  • They had a hard time with finding us on a map, despite my directions. It’s actually very straightforward, but we are quite isolated.  I did tell them, we are in the bush.
  • They came with a full size semi trailer.  After stopping on the road and walking in, I told them they could go into the yard.  They would have broken tree branches, but I told them that was okay.  If they went into the yard, they potentially could have had a ramp right into our front door for an easy offload. They said they would look around and decide.
  • They decided to go in front of the yard, by the small people gate, and that’s where they started pulling up, with spotters.
  • While driving in, they hit the power line to the garage.  They broke the power pole by the garage, which is now leaning of the roof. The line got hung up on the truck.
  • The driver blamed me for not telling him about the power line.  It was dark, but we have a yard light. The light is on the main power pole, which means the lines to the garage and house were in the light.  By driving to the small gate instead of the yard, they drove under the lowest point of the line.
  • Unhooked, the only thing keeping the line off the ground was tree branches.
  • They got stuck in a few inches of snow.
  • The driver yelled at me because it way my fault, and he had been doing me a favour by coming out in the dark.
  • Later, he came in and talked at my husband, demanding we call a tow truck, on our dime. If we didn’t, he said he would leave with our stuff.  My husband refused.
  • After more than an hour, they started unloading. They called a tow truck. The driver ended up helping unload.
  • We called Hydro. A guy came and cut electricity to the line and took it down. The pole is not theirs, so it is up to our end to get it repaired.
  • Between the girls and I, the movers and the tow truck driver, there was 7 of us working on it.  The girls did much hauling of things upstairs.
  • They were finally done around 11pm. They got here at about 7pm.
  • The driver apologized.
  • It took them about another half hour to get out of our driveway.
  • The house is in chaos. But we slept on our own mattresses.

This is what the master bedroom looked like.  There was space on the floor for the mattress and that’s about it.

But our stuff is in.

Finally.

The Re-farmer

Timing

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My older daughter just shared this with me.

She and her sister were sitting on the bed, talking about how, with the movers coming and lots of work to do to prepare, there would be no time to heat enough water to take a bath.  It would be sponge baths again. My younger daughter was not too thrilled with the idea.

My older daughter then commented that at least, tonight, her sister would be sleeping in her own…

KA-KLUNK!!!!!

The bed collapsed under her.


The timing could not have been more perfect. If uncomfortable!

It looks like the box spring slipped off the frame.  Which was a problem I had with the bed when I came out for my father’s funeral, a year and a half ago.  It collapsed when I rolled over at about 2am.

Meanwhile, we have changed some plans.

After consulting with my brother about the noise the alternator is making, we do not want to risk a trip to The City today.  It’s one thing to be driving 15-20 minutes to the next town. Quite another to be on a highway for an hour.

So instead, they will be driving to town and transferring his file from the Costco pharmacy in The City.  We were not happy with them, and their confusion over my husband’s medications and insurance, as it was. It will be more expensive, but the trade off makes it more practical. And safer to drive.

After we get paid at the end of the month, we will get the alternator checked.  How much it will cost to fix will depend on if we can get used parts. We are not knowledgeable enough to go to the wreckers and find the parts ourselves. New, we are probably looking at anywhere from $260-$390.

That’s on top of paying my mom back the $300+ for the Hydro (electricity) bill.

The hot water tank will have to wait. I hope those replacement bands my brother ordered will work!

Damn. Does this mean we will have to cancel our Christmas dinner trip to The City next weekend?

The Re-farmer

Movers Confirmed

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It was later in the day, but I did finally get a call from the driver with our stuff. Turns out it never left our previous province.  He had made a drop off along the way and paused to call me, which I appreciated.

Tomorrow, he will arrive at The City for another drop off, then he will come to our place. He estimated 2, maybe 4 o’clock.  He also said he would phone me first.

I figure, with time to get lost, it’ll be more like 5pm.

I told him that, when he called, I would give directions to our place. He started to say he had our address, but I had to explain we didn’t really have an “address” (we do have a driveway marker, but that’s the closest to a street address there is out here), and that we literally live in the bush.  The house is in the bush. He was a bit concerned that the truck couldn’t get in. Our stuff is in a semi trailer, it turns out.  That won’t be a problem, at least.  They will be able to pull into the yard.  And if they have a side door, they might be able to put a ramp right into our front door.  That would certainly make getting the piano in easier, though there are still two steps inside the house to go over.

So that gives us a bit of time to get more boxes to the shed. We are not going to move the furniture. We are all lagging in energy.  Dismantling the beds we are using will be about as much as we can handle.

Then my husband and daughter can head into The City.  All I need to worry about is how serious that noise coming from the alternator is…

*sigh*

The Re-farmer