I’m just…
I don’t know what to even think anymore. Continue reading
movers
More damage
Yesterday, I managed to unpack a few more boxes the movers packed.
I was disappointed to find this.
This was another situation where they packet had to physically damage something – in this case, break it – to fit it in the box.
This latch hook wall hanging was made by my late mother-in-law.
Then there was this utterly ridiculous find.
Who does this? I realize its just a roll up sheet of poster paper, but it was folded like this and crunched into a plastic bin.
Insane.
The Re-farmer
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Seriously? More from the Movers Saga
So my claim to the movers has gone out, and I got a confirmation email, telling me it takes 2-4 weeks for claims to be resolved.
Today, I got this. Continue reading
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Cat Whisperer, and more
My younger daughter is some kind of cat whisperer!
Last night, when she headed out to give the outside cats some warm water for the night, The Mothman came out. He’s been hanging out more often, and even taken over one of the old dog houses at times. The other cats are nervous around him, so they won’t go in with him, like they do with each other. When she came out, there were cats all over for some reason. Then Mothman came out of the dog house and she saw why! Continue reading
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More moving causalities…
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…
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
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Insane
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
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Movers Confirmed
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
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The Saga of the Movers
I have sort of set up my desktop right now. It is hooked up to the TV for a monitor, and I am using the tiny Bluetooth keyboard. It’s difficult to type on, compared to my lovely, ergonomic keyboard, but better than tapping on my phone, so I will finally attempt to pass on the ongoing debacle with our movers.
Why, you may ask, do I have this strange set up for my computer? Continue reading
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Stocked Up
We managed to all make the trip into The City today. Unfortunately, my husband misunderstood our breaker issues and didn’t realize it wasn’t on anymore. He showered. The water got so cold, it was painful.
Growing up in the house, I remember before the New Part was built, and we had no running water. So I can at least appreciate we don’t have to haul water from the pump shack every day. We can easily, if inconveniently, heat water for bathing. Theoretically, we can go to my brother’s place. He has generously offered the use of his shower. None of us are quite ready to travel the quarter mile to infringe on him, though. It would be too difficult for my husband, anyhow. Especially since he has not been able to fill one of his prescriptions for pain meds. There has been a screw up on his insurance and until it gets fixed, we can’t afford it. This makes any outing, like today’s, incredibly difficult. But he got to see his dad. So he was willing. He just stayed in the van for the rest of the trip.
The girls bought their paint and supplies for the upstairs. Some more hauling, patching and scrubbing the walls, and they are ready to go.
We got a Costco trip in, too, so we are stocked up for the next while. I even got more filters for the fish tank. They will last long enough for our 90 gallon tank to get here. During packing, a part of the big filter’s hose assembly broke, so we won’t be able to set it up completely until I find someplace that stocks the brand.
After discussion, we have decided we can be ready enough to have our stuff delivered by around the eighth. Originally, we were thinking the eleventh or so. However, we really need our stuff. One pot cooking and having only one useable kitchen knife – barely – is getting a bit much. Plus, it will be nice to have the rest of our clothing. And our own beds! I’ve been sleeping on the couch lately. My husband is spasming and twitching from pain so much in his sleep, he needs the whole bed.
Meanwhile, I just have to share another cat picture. I fed the outside cars before we left, and they did this.
For some reason, they all crowded around the one bowl and ignored the other. Lol
Now that we have internet, I am going to try and share some video I took in another post. Uploads on satellite are notoriously slow, so if you don’t see the video post, that’s because it failed! 😅
The Re-farmer
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One down
Well, it’s official. I have completely finished clearing one room on the second floor. (My daughter has pretty much finished the entire 3rd floor.) It is now going to hold boxes that are packed and ready for the movers, as well as a few other things. Not the box spring in the photo, though. It’s damaged, and is waiting to be hauled out, along with two others we discovered were broken.
One of the things my mother dangled in front of us to entice us to move was the offer to pay for the movers. She has followed through with that promise, to our great appreciation. It simply would not be possible, otherwise.
The problem is that, because of the shortened time line, things we expected to be able to set money aside for slowly, over several months, aren’t going to happen. What we have is it. There is no more coming in until after the move. Our total of funds must not only cover the cost of the movers, basic living expenses (like groceries at both ends of the move), stocking up on prescriptions until we can get a new doctor, etc, but also the extra costs in fuel for the drive out, travel food, and those million and one little things that add up, unexpectedly. I’ve moved often enough to know what to expect.
Movers charge by weight. I got estimates based on the average weight for a 5 bedroom home, which is about 10,000 pounds. We are going to a smaller home, so I got updated estimates for the smaller size, since we would have to pare things down. Based on those numbers, we should be good. Even including the weight of our heirloom piano, plus surcharges for the piano and the (soon to be empty) aquarium.
Then I got two in home estimates. One by estimated weight, the other a flat rate.
Despite pointing out all the stuff we would NOT be taking with us (almost all the furniture, plus a lot of other stuff we would be getting rid of), we were still told the weight would be 10,000 – 12,000 pounds. When I questioned that, I was told he had been doing this for 20 years and was sure, based on experience. I also asked for the cost of a full pack, which was based on the same weight. The base cost alone was more than we have. The packing fee was completely out of budget.
The flat rate guy was actually a higher base cost, because he factored in the distance, plus packing fees were an hourly rate. And he estimated two days to pack everything.
We aren’t going with either company.
My older daughter and I have been purging like crazy. The only way to bring the cost down is to bring the weight down. Between the boxes and bins and bags we have already given away, donated, shredded and thrown out, I’m a bit surprised by how little is left to pack. And some if it will be going with us in the van for the drive out, not with the movers. We will also be packing as much as possible ourselves, so that if there is anything left for the movers to pack, it won’t add more than a couple hundred dollars.
In my head, I know there is no way this move is going to be 10,000 pounds. I doubt we were ever that much to begin with. We should be fine.
That isn’t stopping me from being in an almost constant state of low anxiety over it.
For the most part, I can look at the explosion that is the current state of our home, and know that most of what we are sifting through is not going with us. Intellectually, I know we will be fine. And I know I tend to over estimate. The last time we had stuff hauled between provinces, I had estimated the weight and figured the cost out to be $1000. The reality turned out to be half that. But in the back of my head is that constant niggling paranoia. Those two high estimates are completely overriding the much more reasonable estimates I got.
In the end, we will not know for sure until the movers go through the government scales, which is what they use to base the final cost on.
And that uncertainty is like a worm, wriggling away in the back of my mind.
All I can do is just keep on purging.
The Re-farmer.
The Re-Farmer 