snow???

I look up from my third cup of coffee and it's snowing. The weather forecast didn't mention any possibility of snow (or any other form of precipitation) an hour and a half ago. (checking--or now, either.) It's pretty to look at, but my plans for the day don't include driving on snowy roads, so I'd better move my "get things done before things close early for New Year's Eve" list even earlier. And the Jeep is parked at the old house--car switching time.

resting up for tomorrow

Tomorrow another round of moving furniture with my helpful hunters. With luck, that will bring it down to things I can fit in the Jeep and that I don't need someone to carry the other end of. I'll still be a long way from finished. But I'll have My Own Bed back! Sleeping on a not-firm mattress on the floor takes it out of me at fifty-five.

partial office

(More crappy phone pictures.)

I had wanted very much to get my office usable today.

But the other file cabinet that holds up my desktop is still at the old house.

Until that gets set up most of the stuff that's already here can't be unpacked and arranged. The weather today is pouring rain and winds with gusts up to 45 mph--not a good time to move drawers full of paper removed from their cabinet. Not, actually, a good time to drive at all. I'm staying home by the fire and consoling myself by making cookies. 

(ETA: or maybe I won't--my neighbor just brought me a rum cake hot from the oven.)

tree

I went out this afternoon and cut a tree of my own for the first time since I was grown. I went for years without a tree at my place, and my parents (where I spent holidays) had an artificial one after my mother got allergic to them. I said I'd never have a tree that wasn't a cedar, so I couldn't buy one. When I bought a house in North Carolina, I had my first tree of my own: very small, and cut without permission from somebody's hedge of variegated pyracanthus, where a cedar wasn't going to last long. Then, when I moved back to Kentucky, one of my friends and I would go tree-poaching. We'd find a fence row with a lot of little cedars in it, and she'd drive slowly back and forth, and we'd decide on one, and I'd hop out with the pruners and nab it and throw it in the back seat. Then, after she died, I couldn't bear to go tree-poaching without her, so I haven't had one until this year. You can see even with my phone camera that it stood up to a lot of wind--I tried straightening it up in the bucket, but it wouldn't cooperate.

timeline

12/17/08: approximately 3 PM I get around to printing Christmas cards, or so I think

12/17/08: 7:30 PM I order a new printer

12/18/08: printer ships

12/19/08: printer arrives 5 PM

12/20/08:approximately 3 PM (must be the magic hour) I set up printer

12/20/08: 7:30 PM Christmas cards are printing--should they be called New Years cards now?

plants at home

So, the plants looked at me until I took their pictures with the awful phone camera. This bunch have been squished against each other for several years as I put off re-potting them and giving them more room "because we're going to move soon." The plant stand was built by my father years ago out of things he had around.

This one has been hanging over the kitchen sink for nearly ten years. Now, it's still in a kitchen but it can't grab my hair as I wash dishes.

The metal cabinet was left behind in the house my parents bought in 1952, and they took it with them when they built the new house in 1960, to store things in the basement. In the mouse-dominated house I'm moving out of, I begged it from them and put another coat of paint on it. It was pure white when I did that almost ten years ago. Now the wall behind it is pure white (not blue.) It yellowed faster than I would have expected.

The living room plant is large and fierce.

It likes to reach out and grab things. 

But the sun is in the other direction, so I hope it will leave the chair alone.

hearing sleet

The forecast for mixed sleet, snow, and freezing rain kept me busy yesterday and today making sure everything I might need was at the new house--suddenly I remembered all the batteries and my favorite flashlight and the kerosene lamps were still at the old house. I cancelled my father's already rescheduled doctor's appointment in case the freezing rain arrived on schedule (it didn't) and I brought in enough wood for a day for both stoves yesterday before the rain started. I did seven loads of laundry today, instead of my usual pre-storm cooking frenzy, because I'd already cooked a lot, and there were a lot of sheets and blankets that had been moved dirty. Now I'm sitting here listening to the sleet on the windows. It sounds like insects bumping against a lamp.

I still haven't found the camera. Otherwise there would be pictures of the newly moved houseplants looking confused with their leaves pointing the wrong way.

wireless back

The wireless is working now. I got the voicemail option taken off my phone service, which even though I never set it up was accepting calls that I couldn't delete. For some reason the internal modem on the Powerbook would wait for the beepbeepbeepbeep to end, but the modem in the wireless router wouldn't. In that respect at least, life is back to normal. Still haven't found the camera. Still working too hard moving things--this morning I realized I washed my sheets without any detergent because I started them right after breakfast before my second pot of coffee. Need more sleep. 

still wireless-less

Still plugged into the wall in an uncomfortable chair. No luck getting the wireless working. Spending hours every day moving things from one house to another and then when I get them unpacked moving them from place to place here. How will it all fit?

I packed the camera in a nice soft cushiony place. I haven't found it yet and I've unpacked most of my clothes. 

first coffee

I forgot to pack the filters.... Fortunately there were paper towels. 

in!

I don't expect to get much sleep tonight, but my father can find the bathroom without a guide, and I will be able to find breakfast.

Terror

This morning I went to the new house and got the mattress on my father's bed and made the bed. (The bed is cherry and was made by my great-great-grandfather; my great-grandfather was born and died in it; my grandfather was born in it.)

Here's the foot board and my father's chair with a blanket on it. 

After I did this, I went home (er, back to the old house) and fixed my father's lunch and called the appliance movers. They said "What about tomorrow?" and I said "All right." (Right before Christmas seems not to be a busy moving time!) Now I'm terrified. Tomorrow we and the refrigerator and the dryer go to join the bed and the washer and the freezer and a few other things. 

I hope I remember to take everything that's totally essential. I know I'll be making at least one trip a day to move more things for at least a month. How long will it take me to get the computers and my desk operational in the same place I'm sleeping? 

minor chaos

Today I cleaned those metal shelves in the background and moved them into the office. Boy, are they ugly! But I won't see much of them when they're loaded with books. I didn't have time to carry those boxes in the foreground down to the basement where they belong. 

I also spent ten minutes carrying wet wood indoors so it will be dry again by the time we want to build a fire. I tried to find time to do that a month ago before it started raining, but time was not to be had. I couldn't carry nearly as much with it wet as I could when I was unloading it dry. Must bring garden cart over soon! Tarps still needed for covering loads of stuff, so I can't cover the wood yet.

still no pictures

Yesterday was amazingly tiring. I haven't done anything I planned to do today except go to the grocery. I'm too tired to think.

Yesterday I had four men with pickups moving things from my parents' house, which is still far from empty but we're almost ready to start sleeping at the new house. If it doesn't snow Monday I will be over there bringing some order out of the chaos. 

Grateful to be moving

Too tired to take any pictures. My neighbor helped me move some more furniture in the morning before leaving to spend Thanksgiving with his in-laws. I went back in the afternoon and cleaned and put things away. It's not even halfway there yet, but it's beginning to look like a start. To quote Churchill: "not the beginning of the end, but the end of the beginning."

Er, NOT!

Southern Living December 2008 page 172: "Studies show we only really enjoy the taste of food for the first three bites." 

Veering completely off topic here, but come on. What kind of weird half awake subhumans were they studying? If I'm only eating on auto-pilot why do I go back for seconds and carefully choose exactly the right variety?

I read that after breakfast this morning and twelve hours (and two meals!) later I'm still boggled!

more proof of furniture

Not all the furniture is in its final position. Here's my father's bedroom, without the bed yet. The black armchair is one he found beside the road about thirty years ago and had reupholstered for fifty dollars.

Here's the front door. The green cabinet was painted to match my parents' living room (and hall, and family room, and bathroom...I'm just a little tired of that color in large amounts) when my father took the old television out of it--it had been my grandparents' until it couldn't be repaired anymore--and installed shelves to make a sheet music cabinet. 

One lonely armchair in the living room, waiting for a couch and at least two other armchairs to join it. They can't all be next to the stove, can they? It's not fair.

Not very much in my study yet, especially no bookshelves, which can't be moved until I get the books off them. The chair was made by one of my great-grandfathers as a rocking chair, but when my parents got it the rockers had rotted so now it's a straight chair. 

I can't believe how long everything is taking. Today, on my third try, I managed to drill holes for the hooks to hang fifty feet of clothesline in the basement. Using power tools above my head while standing on a ladder is not one of my favorite things.

I also took the dog over and washed him in the new raised tub. He's forgotten what a high velocity dryer sounds like--since I quit working a year ago to stay with my father I've been bathing him at home and towel drying him. For a dog who whines if I don't vacuum him when I use the shop vac in the kitchen, he didn't readjust to the HV dryer very quickly. He never used to mind it. 

There was a little flurry of snow last night, and I got to see the new house with touches of white on the grass (and weeds.)

furniture in the living room

There is furniture in other rooms, too, but after I got this one, the camera told me to change its batteries and shut itself off. 

Yesterday my neighbor helped me move some of the things I need someone to carry the other end of, and next week we'll go back for another round. In the meantime, I've got more than enough smaller things to deal with. 

a few things

This afternoon, as planned, I moved a few things: a few drawers and a few boxes, just enough to fill the Jeep, and loading and unloading that, plus gluing the missing pieces of laminate onto the dresser I'd already moved, took four hours, longer than I like to be away from my father. I took the camera but didn't have time to take progress pictures. 

Tomorrow I get someone to lift the other end of things and move some more.

No snow

The forecast for snow last night and this morning came to nothing. My lawyer-friend cancelled plans to come see the new house in its empty state because of it, so I have spent the whole day on the couch with the computer. I'm enjoying the rest, and staying out of the cold damp wind.

Tomorrow, though, I can't take time for any moving because I'll be away from home all morning getting the car's oil change and checkup. Tuesday there should be some moving going on. 

another little bit

This afternoon I unpacked boxes while the heating contractor's man diagnosed the bad thermostat. He said they've never had one of that brand go bad before, but it has to be completely replaced, the whole thermostat and not just the sensor. The thing about the passive solar is that even on a cloudy day I couldn't tell that zone was any chillier than the other zones. 

Another "even on a cloudy day" moment: I was washing kitchen things before putting them away, and the sink is not near the windows, and I didn't even think about turning on the light. Here at the old house, the kitchen lights stay on all day, even on sunny days. I'm going to love this.

On my way back here, I had to brake suddenly to avoid the rooster in the middle of the road. The hens were already safely on the other side, investigating the ditch. These are the chickens I've been watching all summer as their pen was moved around their owners' garden. I've noticed a new coop away from the garden. Apparently their winter quarters aren't secure enough!

bits of moving

I really wanted to take today off, but I made myself make one trip. I called the heating contractor about the bad thermostat (I'm not even moved into a new house yet and already there are things to be fixed!) and made an appointment. Another few boxes of papers and a few kitchen things from my father's house. 

It was cloudy all day but it didn't rain much, and until the ground softens up some I can't get the mailbox post in. 

just a little moving

Getting my father to the doctor for his checkup this morning  and to the barber for a haircut took up enough of the day that I didn't try to move much. A long time after lunch I decided not to give up on the day after all, and loaded some clothes and one of the stereos in the car. 

I got it all put away, and tested the stereo. To my relief the radio reception isn't much worse than it is here. I was worried because cell phone reception is a lot worse. 

Tomorrow I have to see about getting the truck fixed, and take as big a load as I can find time for in the Jeep. 

lyrical luscious liver

 At eight tonight one of the men who hunts on the land at the new house knocked on my door with liver from two of them. By nine I had three pounds of liver sliced and in the freezer. Mine, all mine! (Stony had enjoyed the pieces that were all duct and the too-awkward-to-slice bits.)

When I was a child we lived next door to fourteen cats. When my mother cooked liver most of them would gather outside the back door and explain that they were starving and would collapse at any moment if not fed liver, so I was quite surprised to discover that there are people who don't like liver. Poor souls. 

Culture

I'm not sure whether this new gallery in town considers itself a gallery, a boutique, or a studio because every time I've been in town with a few minutes to spare they've been closed. The sign looks interesting, though.

I don't have time for any classes, but I must get into town for the music sessions and see what they turn out to be like.

showers

A few days ago the Bag Lady said "Even I don't take my camera into the shower with me!" so I took the camera over to the new house and took pictures from the showers. I didn't go to the trouble of removing the screens, so they're not very sharp.

Here are two angles from my shower:

The first one is from where I would be standing under the water, and the second looking straight out the window. Only if you have wings can you see in from outside, so no shades.

Here's the view from my father's shower:

I've taken several loads of things in the past three days, and the truck has chosen now to decide it needs a new fuel pump. Don't worry, there is no shortage of things that will fit in the Jeep needing to be moved while the truck is in the hospital. It's 17; we must respect its whims in its old age. 

Tired now

I moved two small loads to the new house--one from my house and one from my father's house. It took four hours. Thanksgiving is beginning to look too soon. Before Christmas, though, for certain. Zzzzzzz.

Diversity in the refrigerator

After I voted this afternoon (the polling place is halfway between the old house and the new house, so I took a load of things over) I stopped by the feed store for bird seed. My camera phone takes really bad pictures.

Along with the soda, chips and eggs, you can buy distemper, (something illegible that I can't remember--that's why I took a picture, drat it!), and "7 way dog vaccine" whatever that may be. Yet another reason living in the country makes me smile. 

It took me half an hour to vote this afternoon, although I didn't have to stand in line at all. There were half a dozen people there I needed to talk to.

Back Story

While I'm sitting around not actually moving things, let's do some history. This house in central Kentucky was designed by Gary Watrous of Watrous Associates for me and my 95 year old father.

http://sunearth.net

I requested a house on one floor (but with a basement) with accessibility features which seemed prudent, and which will be very welcome since my father broke his hip only a few weeks after the start of construction and now uses a walker. I have wanted to explore solar heat since the ice storm during my childhood when our house was without electricity for three days, and we cooked over the fireplace, but during the sunny days with highs of 20º F we

could let the fire die down to coals because the sun warmed the south facing rooms enough to take our sweaters off.

After growing up where the electricity went off several times a year, however, I don't want to rely on any single form of heat; I 

want backups of the backups. So there is radiant heat in the floors,

under the concrete (it's so pretty I wished there were such a thing as clear concrete)

 which soaks up the heat from the coils as well as from the sun when there is sun. 

But for when we have a power outage (I don't say if) I put in two wood stoves.

One in the living room, and one in the kitchen with a heating plate in the top!

So, off to the help pages now to find out why I can't copy and paste anything and why my images don't appear where the cursor is, and things like that. 

Stony

Stony says hello to Aunts Daryl and Chez. 

Nothing to see here

Move along now, move along.