Well, it's official. We're living at the lodge. Turned out our schedule synchronized perfectly with mother nature's humid wrath. We got our start early Saturday morning with help from the parents, moving the other section of the couch, the mattress and box spring, and countless boxes. For the help we all went to J's for breakfast enroute to the lodge. Excellent food. Extremely disappointing service.
Unloaded the works a little past noon, headed to the parents with the extra box spring and to pick up an NOS lawn spreader I've had in the basement for some time. A quick turn-around then the great unpacking. It was a long, hot, humid day. The floors were sweating as much as we were.
Life is in disarray at the moment. Face it, people like stability. Some like to be in control, others need to feel like they're under someone's care (control). When the markers and sign posts one relies on (I watch the news at this time, I hang my keys here, milk goes on this shelf, I keep my important papers there) are upheaved, things get topsy-turvy real fast. Add to that open contruction items and a yard missing a Sanford and Son sign.
In the last month my work "situation" has congealed, so to speak. To use a poor comparison, it's like a person finding out they have a terminal illness. Alive and going through the motions as if they were unaware, but the knowledge that things are/will be changing sometime in the future makes the present difficult. I can see how after years of the same, people come to rely on their jobs and careers as crutches. The same desk, the same familiar names in Outlook. Showing up at the same time each day. No wonder the true-blue hard working salary folk drop dead of a heart attack within a year of retirement. Sure, no one's forcing the "job change" on me, and that's the problem…the easiest thing to do would be to continue on that straight and narrow. But, when you've truly convinced yourself, whether the markers are there or not, you no longer can see them.
Next on the screed blog, the inevitable conundrum of 'stuff'. I take a lot of flack for the state of the parent's basement, but 95% of the things down there are discrete. A washing machine, a console TV, table radios, iMacs, etc. Stuff toaster size and smaller gets put on shelves. The rats nest of wires and parts and junk that were on the workshop shelves was sorted and tossed this past winter. All that remains of the horror-of-horrors are the workbench tops. But, I know what's down there and pretty much where it is. Where I get in trouble is when I put things in boxes. I use the same methodology when packing stuff to move. Put like things in one box and don't mix. Perfect time to sort stuff that maybe wasn't sorted pre-move. Mark clearly. Inevitably, this leads to the "I remember this" exclamation sometimes heard by others at the parents when I do come across a cardboard box I haven't opened in ages.
Here's the rub…the lodge is a showcase venue rather than a storage building. As strange as this sounds coming from a guy with half a dozen blenders, "clutter" drives me nuts. Clutter is in direct opposition to the modern aesthetic. The entry "room" of the lodge now has a couple washers, couches, a sheet of plywood, power tools and cardboard boxes up to my waist. I know it's only temporary, and as long as the boxes are organized, I'm cool with it, but I know Cara takes it personally as I grouse around searching for a pair of socks. What I'm trying to avoid is a repeat of the neighbors up the street. They moved from Dubuque to CF when I was a kid and I distinctly remember there always being an unpacked box or two upstairs, and loads of moving boxes in the basement. Made excellent building materials for forts, and I don't know if they ever did unpack them all.
And the new sleeping digs….it'll take some getting use to. Curtains will be much appreciated over the clerestories and the cable is in place. I worked Saturday PM installing the cut-to-width wood blinds in the upstairs north windows which helps some. No joke, the moon was so bright Monday night shadow puppets were clearly visible on the upstairs wall.
Toiled Sunday in the heat focusing strictly on yard work. Rolled out and soaked the grass seed blankets on the east side of the cement pad, wired up a recept next to the lower deck, and planted two yews along the east foundation wall. Far too windy to seed the lawn. Ran into town for another round of apartment pick-up and grabbed some Godfather's for dinner. To give you an idea of how packed our Coldspot is, finding room for a couple slices of pizza was a real challenge. Sunday night, better sleep.
Monday, spent 10 hours on the line and an hour in the office. The line had the heat and humidity of the 90+F exterior temps without the aid of the breeze. Chillers do nothing for the dew point. Attempting to 'turn the other cheek', I stopped off for a cold one at the PL enroute to the apt for more of the discrete things (laserdisc player, microwave, shelves, etc.) The temps inside were cool, I assumed from the A/C but it could have been since Mel was bartending. Cam dropped in and we shot some pool after a few beers and an enjoyable egg. I parted ways, headed towards the hill, then to the lodge to unload and "relax".
A few more days of this and the 3-day weekend is upon us. Looking forward to it.
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