Well, missed another week. It’s not like we’re sitting on the veranda sipping a mint julep. We don’t have a veranda, but that’s another story.
The last two weeks have genuinely been a blur. Once all the administrivia of the house sale and townhouse rental was resolved, and there was plenty of that, the ginormity of the situation began to descend.
MOVE. ALL. OUR. STUFF…..
This posting is going to seem a bit all over the place as my mind is going about 300 mile/shour trying to work through how we will do all this.
CALM….. DOWN…..
Geeze. Well, this brings forth the adage, “How do you eat an Elephant? One bite at a time”. Off to “The BORG*” I go and a plethora of small and medium sized boxes follows me home.
The next decision seems to be “where is our furniture going to go in the new place?”. So Melanie and I went over and measured it out and had out first dinner of Choong Man chicken in our new home. Don’t know if this is a sign or not. Who knows, right?
The remainder of weekend was identifying movers, and then starting to take all the stuff down that was mounted on the walls of the shop. Holy crap on a cracker. There was a lot of stuff on the walls. The shop floor in now full of tools, cabinets, hose reels, etc, all laughing at me for being a pack rat. H’mmm , that’s not nice 🙂
Melanie was able to line up 2 movers to come and give us estimates for moving, and they came by on Thursday and Friday. I was not here for the Thursday visit, but was able to walk around with the guy looking at all the “stuff”. He was very charismatic, and when asked about damage his response was “we’re responsible for everything”. Well as it turns out, they aren’t. The contracts for both companies were clear that they are only responsible for a small dollar amount after which a separately purchased insurance policy takes effect. So, it’s looking like we will go with the first mover, whose price was some 50% less than that second one.
In the middle of all this, one of the tires on the Pilot delaminated. I know that I needed to replace the tires, and this was the kick in the backside I needed to get them replaced. So I placed an order with discount tire for Friday.
On Friday morning, I replaced the failed tire with the space saver spare, which was completely flat as the valve stem was leaking. So I pumped it up and put it on the car and was done. Or so I thought. So after the mover left on Friday I left here and headed down to Discount Tire in Fredericksburg.
About half way down the tire starts to make a lot of noise, and then bam, it gone. Getting out of the car, the tire has broken completely off the wheel. So, I get the jack out, took off the rear tire to go on the front and put the delaminated tire on the rear. Then I replaced the space saver spare with the tire that had been taken off the back. Driving the car it was acceptable, but it was clear I needed to go slow. Thankfully, traffic on the way down to Fredericksburg made that easy, and I got there safe and sound, albeit a bit late. I’ll give Discount Tire credit, they were extremely efficient and customer centric.
As the spare was dead, and the rim fairly corroded, I asked the guys if they could replace the spare, but they said they would have to order the wheel. So after getting done with the service agent, I sat down and ordered a tire/wheel combo from TireRack. A couple of minutes later, I get an e-mail from them saying I need to call and “confirm” the order. H’mmm. This typically means a hard press for some sort of after sell. My experiences with Tire Rack have not been bathed in glory. On my way home I call them, and he tells me the tire ordered will not be in stock until May. Awesome. He tells me that he has a Kuomo tire that will fit and will give to me at the original price. Done.
On my way home, I stop at the townhouse for a handover with the owner. We walk through the house, and go over all the details. Garage remotes, lawncutting, etc. etc. The owner is a very nice professor type. All is well with that.
On Saturday morning I get a message from the same guy at TireRack telling me the tire won’t fit on the subject wheel and they don’t have a wheel that it will fit on. What? You recommended a tire that wouldn’t fit on the wheel? What? So, I sent him an e-mail cancelling the order. This being the second less than positive situation with TireRack, I’m done with them.
After the obligatory grocery run, I sat down to do a floor layout of the townhouse so that we could figure out what furniture goes where. That done, I get Jessica uncovered, started up and moved out of the garage as it’s going to the townhouse.
After loading up the Pilot with boxes of China for Meghan and a bunch of the supplies bought earlier in the day, Bently and I load up and head to the townhouse. We get there, Bently jumps out of the car, relives himself on one of the columns holding up the patio and then makes a bee line for the open garage door across the street. The door from the garage into the house is open and Bently just goes on in, much to the surprise of the young man sitting there at the desk. Apologizing profusely, I grab him by the collar, and we go back across the street, closing the garage door behind us. LOL.
Melanie arrives shortly thereafter in the Pilot and Meghan and Rob meet us for a take out Sushi dinner in the townhouse for a end to a long day.
So, that’s were we are as of this precise instant. This hasn’t been the most coherent rambling, but there it is. Until next time:
*BORG = Big Orange Retail Giant