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let's not do that again in a hurry..
Aug. 3rd, 2006 09:55 amWell, we're in.
The move on Saturday went really well, the forecast rain and hail was a no-show and all the big stuff came across without harm (well, except one wash stand that lost a foot to borers and has to be treated, as will everything else no doubt). The last couple of weeks spent shifting small things made the job a lot smaller, so Elaine's folks didn't have as much work to do to helping us on the day. By the end my legs were killing me but my back was fine, which means i succeeded in lifting things properly, though i noticed Paul bending from the waist a lot and his back was probably stuffed by the next day. The house actually started to look like a home with all the big furniture in, at least until the boxes of crap started to pile in and turned it into a pig sty.
The one hitch on the day was Felix escaping in the morning and not coming back in again. He showed up around dusk when we went back there to get the others, but he took one look in the back door, howled and nicked off again. So we had to waste valuable daylight hours on Sunday organising a cat trap in case we couldn't catch him, and stressing about what to do if that failed. By Sunday night he was hanging around again, acting paranoid and not wanting to come near, but eventually i managed to coax him nearer with crunchies until he was eating them from my hand, then off the ground at my feet so i could grab him up and bring him inside. So that was a relief, even if he did freak out and hide in the bedroom chimney for a while.
The cats seem to be getting on quite well. Blasko growled and hissed a bit when the others came over, while they just ignored him and went about checking out the new surrounds. Hissy was stressed out and hid under the bed most of the time, but once Felix arrived they stuck together and reassured each other so they could go exploring. Sam and Alex quickly found what was important - the rug and the heater - and got straight down to work for some serious slothing.
Since the weekend, every spare hour has been spent going over to the old house to clear out everything that didn't come on the truck - the concrete statues, incidental bits of furniture, pot plants, and finally last night the hard rubbish and broken bits of crap. Tuesday night's safari was particularly fun - dragging pot plants by trolley through the mud of the sideway, trying to navigate past all the crap on the front porch, tipping dirt all over the place and having to shovel it back up, then returning at midnight for another trip to get the remaining inside furniture out for the steam cleaners to come yesterday. I can't calculate the amount of petrol money we've poured into the van for the trips back and forth, but finally it's all across and done with (well, almost - we've got to go back one last time to see what the opp shop doesn't collect of the excess furniture) and by tomorrow the keys will be back and it'll all be over.
Then we can finally move on to trying to find the floor of the new place. I estimate we'll be close to finished by Christmas.
Now, let's see about getting back to that life thing.
The move on Saturday went really well, the forecast rain and hail was a no-show and all the big stuff came across without harm (well, except one wash stand that lost a foot to borers and has to be treated, as will everything else no doubt). The last couple of weeks spent shifting small things made the job a lot smaller, so Elaine's folks didn't have as much work to do to helping us on the day. By the end my legs were killing me but my back was fine, which means i succeeded in lifting things properly, though i noticed Paul bending from the waist a lot and his back was probably stuffed by the next day. The house actually started to look like a home with all the big furniture in, at least until the boxes of crap started to pile in and turned it into a pig sty.
The one hitch on the day was Felix escaping in the morning and not coming back in again. He showed up around dusk when we went back there to get the others, but he took one look in the back door, howled and nicked off again. So we had to waste valuable daylight hours on Sunday organising a cat trap in case we couldn't catch him, and stressing about what to do if that failed. By Sunday night he was hanging around again, acting paranoid and not wanting to come near, but eventually i managed to coax him nearer with crunchies until he was eating them from my hand, then off the ground at my feet so i could grab him up and bring him inside. So that was a relief, even if he did freak out and hide in the bedroom chimney for a while.
The cats seem to be getting on quite well. Blasko growled and hissed a bit when the others came over, while they just ignored him and went about checking out the new surrounds. Hissy was stressed out and hid under the bed most of the time, but once Felix arrived they stuck together and reassured each other so they could go exploring. Sam and Alex quickly found what was important - the rug and the heater - and got straight down to work for some serious slothing.
Since the weekend, every spare hour has been spent going over to the old house to clear out everything that didn't come on the truck - the concrete statues, incidental bits of furniture, pot plants, and finally last night the hard rubbish and broken bits of crap. Tuesday night's safari was particularly fun - dragging pot plants by trolley through the mud of the sideway, trying to navigate past all the crap on the front porch, tipping dirt all over the place and having to shovel it back up, then returning at midnight for another trip to get the remaining inside furniture out for the steam cleaners to come yesterday. I can't calculate the amount of petrol money we've poured into the van for the trips back and forth, but finally it's all across and done with (well, almost - we've got to go back one last time to see what the opp shop doesn't collect of the excess furniture) and by tomorrow the keys will be back and it'll all be over.
Then we can finally move on to trying to find the floor of the new place. I estimate we'll be close to finished by Christmas.
Now, let's see about getting back to that life thing.
