Leaves are falling all around,
Its time I was on my way.
Thanks to you, I'm much obliged
For such a pleasant stay.
But now its time for me to go,
The autumn moon lights my way.
For now I smell the rain, And with it pain,
And its headed my way.
Ah, sometimes I grow so tired,
But I know Ive got one thing I got to do,
Ramble on,
And nows the time, the time is now
To sing my song.
Im goin round the world,
I got to find my girl, on my way.
Ive been this way ten years to the day,
ramble on...
(Led Zepplin II, 1969)
Monday, October 6, 2008
Saturday, October 4, 2008
The beginning of change
Peter usually goes to sleep between 7-730pm in his crib in his own room. This was the routine that has been in place for at least 3 months. Last night Peter went to bed late (830p) and spent at least 2 hours being distracted by a completely new room.
We are staying with our friends in Redmond and the three of us are sharing a very large room. Melissa actually did fall asleep early because she is battling a nasty cold. Mike finally left the room at 10 pm and surfed the internet for an hour. When he came back Peter was asleep on Mike's side of the bed. Mike spent the night on an air-filled mattress on the floor. It was fine except that every time I moved it made noise. At 6:17 am it was a little too much noise and Peter woke up and would not go back to sleep.
We had a sleepy morning and finally left the house at noon so that we could be at our old house in Lake City at 1 pm to meet the new renters and walk-thru our house. We tried not to tell them every little thing but it was hard not to go into detail. They are still very happy with the house and they are looking forward to living in it and taking care of it.
We spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning and trying to keep Peter entertained. Luckily, he is very good at entertaining himself.
We picked up Thai on the way to Redmond for dinner with our friends. At 715 pm Peter began fuss. We decided to adjust his sleeping area by moving our bed to a location in the room that created a box around where we wanted him to sleep. It had tall enough sides that he could not climb out (I watched him try.) We removed the air mattress and laid down a thick sleeping bag. Peter and I got into the "box" and he had his bottle and I sat against the wall. After finishing his bottle he sat against the wall too! Then, I laid down and he laid down. The light was low and we said our prayers. During this time Melissa was doing something in another part of the room. When she was ready to go I hopped up and scooted out the door as Peter began to wail.
The wailing went on for a good 15 minutes (we had set up the baby monitor) and then it stopped. I am hopeful that when we go to bed I will actually be sleeping on the bed and not on the floor.
We are staying with our friends in Redmond and the three of us are sharing a very large room. Melissa actually did fall asleep early because she is battling a nasty cold. Mike finally left the room at 10 pm and surfed the internet for an hour. When he came back Peter was asleep on Mike's side of the bed. Mike spent the night on an air-filled mattress on the floor. It was fine except that every time I moved it made noise. At 6:17 am it was a little too much noise and Peter woke up and would not go back to sleep.
We had a sleepy morning and finally left the house at noon so that we could be at our old house in Lake City at 1 pm to meet the new renters and walk-thru our house. We tried not to tell them every little thing but it was hard not to go into detail. They are still very happy with the house and they are looking forward to living in it and taking care of it.
We spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning and trying to keep Peter entertained. Luckily, he is very good at entertaining himself.
We picked up Thai on the way to Redmond for dinner with our friends. At 715 pm Peter began fuss. We decided to adjust his sleeping area by moving our bed to a location in the room that created a box around where we wanted him to sleep. It had tall enough sides that he could not climb out (I watched him try.) We removed the air mattress and laid down a thick sleeping bag. Peter and I got into the "box" and he had his bottle and I sat against the wall. After finishing his bottle he sat against the wall too! Then, I laid down and he laid down. The light was low and we said our prayers. During this time Melissa was doing something in another part of the room. When she was ready to go I hopped up and scooted out the door as Peter began to wail.
The wailing went on for a good 15 minutes (we had set up the baby monitor) and then it stopped. I am hopeful that when we go to bed I will actually be sleeping on the bed and not on the floor.
Friday, October 3, 2008
Moving Day - Part 3 - random thoughts
We slept one last time at the house. Peter slept okay in his empty room. Melissa woke up with cold (headache, etc).
The dogs are at doggy daycare until Monday. Ashland was so nervous she pooped on the floor. As usual, Madeleine, could not wait to get out back to play with the other dogs.
Peter is at daycare for the last time. :(
It is all packed up and the truck has left. There was a little bit of room left. Hard to believe.
The house is empty except for our cleaning supplies.
The rug guy is here to clean the carpets.
For lunch we went to the deli at Fred Meyer and sat at the tables for the first time.
We'll spend the rest of the afternoon cleaning.
The dogs are at doggy daycare until Monday. Ashland was so nervous she pooped on the floor. As usual, Madeleine, could not wait to get out back to play with the other dogs.
Peter is at daycare for the last time. :(
It is all packed up and the truck has left. There was a little bit of room left. Hard to believe.
The house is empty except for our cleaning supplies.
The rug guy is here to clean the carpets.
For lunch we went to the deli at Fred Meyer and sat at the tables for the first time.
We'll spend the rest of the afternoon cleaning.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Moving Day - Part 2
Our cars have been picked up and taken away.
They are loading the truck with boxes and furniture from most of the house. Rick is packing the kitchen himself. He is close to being finished. He is talking genetics with Melissa right now. Asking her all sorts of questions. They are leaving are beds, the crib and a few things for us tonight. We are having dinner with our neighbors, Henry and Nellia, tonight.
The garage is mostly packed. Terry has been working the garage most of the day. Early in the day we talked about some spiders and how they are out in force this fall. Later on in the day he told me that the spiders got bigger and he found alot of them. I'm glad I was not around for that scene because I really don't like spiders.
Then, they found the rat! It explains why our dogs have long been sniffing around the garage and deck for over a year or two. Terry told me that when he saw the rat he moved about 20 ft in 2 steps. He told Rick that it was THAT big. Rick is like, right. But Rick found out a couple of minutes later that it WAS about a foot long rat. That rat had a nice place, a nice bed, a nice life in our garage. He is not going to be happy after we leave.
The dogs have been outside most of the day. Thank goodness it didn't rain all day. The black dog doesn't care if it rains. The gold dog complains by barking every 5 seconds. Luckily, it stopped raining and warmed up, and she dried out and stopped barking. Tomorrow they will go to the dog boarding place down the street and spend 3 days playing. The dogs are usually wiped after a couple of days down there. Hopefully, it will help them sleep through the flight.
They are loading the truck with boxes and furniture from most of the house. Rick is packing the kitchen himself. He is close to being finished. He is talking genetics with Melissa right now. Asking her all sorts of questions. They are leaving are beds, the crib and a few things for us tonight. We are having dinner with our neighbors, Henry and Nellia, tonight.
The garage is mostly packed. Terry has been working the garage most of the day. Early in the day we talked about some spiders and how they are out in force this fall. Later on in the day he told me that the spiders got bigger and he found alot of them. I'm glad I was not around for that scene because I really don't like spiders.
Then, they found the rat! It explains why our dogs have long been sniffing around the garage and deck for over a year or two. Terry told me that when he saw the rat he moved about 20 ft in 2 steps. He told Rick that it was THAT big. Rick is like, right. But Rick found out a couple of minutes later that it WAS about a foot long rat. That rat had a nice place, a nice bed, a nice life in our garage. He is not going to be happy after we leave.
The dogs have been outside most of the day. Thank goodness it didn't rain all day. The black dog doesn't care if it rains. The gold dog complains by barking every 5 seconds. Luckily, it stopped raining and warmed up, and she dried out and stopped barking. Tomorrow they will go to the dog boarding place down the street and spend 3 days playing. The dogs are usually wiped after a couple of days down there. Hopefully, it will help them sleep through the flight.
Packing Day! Part 1
Peter was still asleep at 715 am when the movers arrived. We did a walk through of the house and garage. with Rick, the truck driver(more on him later). Melissa was talking to them in the kitchen when I came down from my shower in my bathrobe!
The truck is taking up half our street, width-wise. They didn't want to park on the front lawn because of our tree branches. This truck is one of those huge atlas vans that is 83 feet long and 13.6 feet high. There is already one household in it that will be dropped off in Wisconsin. It is hard to believe that all of our stuff is going to fit into the remainig space. I'll post some before and after pictures later.
There are a total of 5 guys. They are nice guys. It is like we are all just hanging out. While they pack our stuff we're making quick decisions but also talking and getting to know each other. Rick has been all over the country and doing his job for 28 years so he has lots of stories.
It is 10 am and they are almost finished with the upstairs! Rick said they MIGHT be able to pack and load today but there is more packing than they realized at first.
Rick is on the road about 300 days out of the year. He lives in southern Maryland, has a wife, and 3 kids, one in college and two in high school. I imagine it must be hard to be away from his family so much.
We have one little area we are keeping segregated that is going with us. One area outside is stuff going to the dump or goodwill.
Our cars are going to get picked up this afternoon. The first one goes at 1 pm and the second one goes after 3 pm. The will get towed by local services and then loaded on to a carrier tonight for the trip back East. Unfortunately, the date range of delivery is longer than we would like. Our cars might not make it to our house until Oct 16th.
The truck is taking up half our street, width-wise. They didn't want to park on the front lawn because of our tree branches. This truck is one of those huge atlas vans that is 83 feet long and 13.6 feet high. There is already one household in it that will be dropped off in Wisconsin. It is hard to believe that all of our stuff is going to fit into the remainig space. I'll post some before and after pictures later.
There are a total of 5 guys. They are nice guys. It is like we are all just hanging out. While they pack our stuff we're making quick decisions but also talking and getting to know each other. Rick has been all over the country and doing his job for 28 years so he has lots of stories.
It is 10 am and they are almost finished with the upstairs! Rick said they MIGHT be able to pack and load today but there is more packing than they realized at first.
Rick is on the road about 300 days out of the year. He lives in southern Maryland, has a wife, and 3 kids, one in college and two in high school. I imagine it must be hard to be away from his family so much.
We have one little area we are keeping segregated that is going with us. One area outside is stuff going to the dump or goodwill.
Our cars are going to get picked up this afternoon. The first one goes at 1 pm and the second one goes after 3 pm. The will get towed by local services and then loaded on to a carrier tonight for the trip back East. Unfortunately, the date range of delivery is longer than we would like. Our cars might not make it to our house until Oct 16th.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
A view of Lake Union
Today, I had some time to kill before meeting my good friend Dennis for lunch in downtown Seattle. I sat on the new dock at Lake Union Park on the south end of the lake. The sun was out and I just soaked up the scenery.
I did a self tour of the M.V. Lotus, a 93ft wooden boat built in 1909 that is a National Historic Landmark and someone's house. The woman who lives on the boat told me that over 1 million people have toured the boat. It really felt like someone's home.
Afterwards on my way to lunch I saw the S.L.U.T. (south lake untion train).
I did a self tour of the M.V. Lotus, a 93ft wooden boat built in 1909 that is a National Historic Landmark and someone's house. The woman who lives on the boat told me that over 1 million people have toured the boat. It really felt like someone's home.
Afterwards on my way to lunch I saw the S.L.U.T. (south lake untion train).
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Where are you going to live?
We rented a house, sight-unseen, using craigslist. It is in Bethesda, MD. It is 1/2 way between her new office and the main campus of the NIH (National Institute of Health). Our landlords live two blocks away and via email and phone calls seem really nice. They know we are arriving ahead of our stuff so they are providing a crib and a air-filled mattress for us.
Are we really leaving?
It is a strange feeling knowing that you are leaving and yet you are instructed not to do any packing. It feels more like we are going through a long overdue fall cleanup. Besides using craigslist I've also been using freecycle. This organization exists in many communities and the golden rule is: "It must be free". In the last few days I have given away a 27" color tv, 8 milk crates and that old comfy couch! I added two more items tonight.
The reason why we haven't done any packing is because if we pack they might unpack it and repack it to their specifications. Also, if we pack something and it is damaged, they will not be responsbile.
Not having to pack just doesn't make it seem real.
The reason why we haven't done any packing is because if we pack they might unpack it and repack it to their specifications. Also, if we pack something and it is damaged, they will not be responsbile.
Not having to pack just doesn't make it seem real.
Wait...Wait...Wait...Wait...Go!
After Melissa accepted her new job we waited for the details. For 4 months. As September began to wind down with no details on the logistics of our move the stress began to go up. Finally, the govt began to respond although at times it is still hit and miss. We are in the final week of our 14+ years in Seattle.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
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