A Short Pause

I often post pictures of Barney happily running hills and digging in the dirt, but we do have another dear pet, our cat, Minnow (smallest Fish) who has a huge personality. Her expression says it all with - we are moving where???!!!

I won't be posting for about a week or more as we have reached a pause in progress. The garage is basically done, our basement is good and the sand has been smoothed.

Barney even helped Bob with some of the digging as we uncovered the big stump that was completely buried by a mound of sand.

Now we wait for garage doors to be delivered and trusses for our basement ceiling and house floor. They should both be in in about a week, but the 4th of July holiday might get in the way. We've been told that things can't be delivered the day before or the day after a holiday. So, we decided to take advantage of this pause and go to our cabin in Canada to check on things there. We have plenty to do here with packing, but we also have to keep things in good order there.

My friend Diane brought us lunch and helped me get started actually putting things in boxes this last week. Her experience and advice was valuable. It kind of took my breath as it made it all very real. Diane just pushed me into another room with another box and soon the boxes started to fill. Why do I have so many books and toys? It is beginning to look a little bare but the progress feels good.

Two weeks till we move. I tell myself, breathe, breathe and make lists! Chatting with my niece yesterday she said I was very brave. I explained that I was just oblivious. As long as I keep fairly clueless (and that seems to come easy for me), I can just follow my lists.

Garage and Dirt

I don't know where to start as the days whistle by and I need to keep better notes of all that happens...or doesn't happen.

Last Friday they finished the garage floor and started to smooth more of the dirt hills.
Our lovely neighbors, the VanWagnens had us over in the late afternoon to show us where we could possibly park our travel trailer as they have full hook up. We'd have a perfect view of the building site and it would be very convenient as our living quarters for the next few months. They even offered a bathroom and laundry. We are very blessed to have such generous friends. Meanwhile, their son and his wife are also going to build by the end of the summer and will be living there in the mother in law apartment with their three kids. Oh, and of course, we all have a dog. Since it all feels like we'll be at the VanWagnen Camp, Bob's interest was when meals would be served. I had to kick him under the table. Anyway, if we all stayed in the frame of mind we were in Friday, life will be lots of laughs. However, I'm sure it will continue to be an adventure and a roller coaster.

I met with the moving company, Two Men and a Truck, and booked them for July 10 to move everything into the garage. We were lucky that Brad and Kathy's closing date on the sale of their house got moved giving us a little more than an extra week. Every little bit helps. The plan is to have our house empty by early afternoon and then carpet cleaners will do their job. The 11th and 12th of July will be moving days for Brad & Kathy.

The weekend was hot and humid and we tried to use it to rest up a little as it was too hot to do a lot of physical stuff and we needed some catch up time. We actually kayaked and swam. It felt like a mini vacation. We took ourselves out to a Chinese dinner and bought new mail boxes for us and a matching one for Scott, our new neighbor. (He was concerned that his old one would look bad next to our new one.) It felt kind of official and we can now start the process of changing our address to 63 Finch.

Monday morning in continued heat and humidity, activity started early. Bob took a cooler of ice and bottles of water to the site. The roofing crew pounded shingles on the hot roof and the builders worked on the siding for the garage. They were all incredible to watch. We were amazed at the progress. Kristi had to finish another job and with the dryness and dust, we felt it was just as well that she wasn't coming till Tuesday. By the end of the day, tempers and tolerance were short but a lot got done.

Tuesday on a much cooler and slightly cloudy day, the roof was finished, more siding was added and Kristi started filling dirt in around our new basement.

We all continue to study siding possibilities for the house and depend on Mike's artistic touch to make it look great. There is so much to consider along with trim, windows and doors. 

Now we wait for garage doors to be delivered next week and tresses for the basement ceiling and house floor.

My friend Diane is coming to help me start packing in earnest as she just moved a while ago and is offering her experience.

And we push ahead. I don't think about it. I just keep moving.

Just Quick

We started our morning over coffee making a list of what we needed to accomplish for the day and Bob's phone rang. Both crews were at the site and Mike was on his way. Bob dropped everything and off he went for the day. He called me midmorning and said I should come over as it was interesting to watch both crews.

Here they are pouring cement for the floor of half of our new garage. And, we now have a floor in the basement of our new house.

I had to get a picture of lunch break under our dear shade tree. Then the last picture is of them sanding down the basement floor. 

Friday the building crew will be putting in the rest of the floor for the garage and Monday Kristi is booked to come back and smooth our hills of sand.

Meanwhile, the building crew thinks they can have the garage done in two weeks. My goal is to pack and move all big things into the garage for storage three weeks from today. Is that realistic??

No Crews Today

No crews came today. Our builders had to finish another job. The cement guys didn't show up till late and just did some grading to get ready to pour the basement floor tomorrow. Bob did site clean up and shoveled piles of dirt to even up the garage floor to get ready for the cement to eventually to be poured there. Mike brought his tractor out and moved lot of dirt around and evened out some of our hills. Barney enjoyed running those hills and thought we might need some rocks brought up.

The cement guys finally took their huge truck full of forms and it felt much more open. We can get a better feel for the shape of the house and garage and how it will look. 

Here is the view I'll  have outside of my kitchen windows. It is a lovely woods and we've seen wild turkeys there. 

Tomorrow we should get a basement floor.

Five Day Catch Up

Both crews - the builders for the new garage and the concrete company putting in the basement walls were supposed to show up Wednesday morning. Bob hit the ground running and was out the door at 6:45 to be ready to help. The construction crew was there right on time, but didn't have a generator for their power tools. So Bob came home to get our backup generator as a temporary fix. Mike came and he and Bob worked over there most of the day.

The concrete guys didn't show up until later and measured and painted marks on the footings where the walls would go in the basement. In the afternoon the forms were delivered. Blake & Eva had a half day of school so we picked up lunch to take to Bob and got to watch the workers for a while. Later more lumber for the garage was delivered. We were getting crowded.

 

Thursday was quite warm and humid with not much of a breeze. When we went over to check on the the site, we saw the concrete crew had the forms in and the builders were making noticeable progress on our new garage.  They worked fast through the morning. 

I haven't mentioned Barney for a while as we kept him home out of the way. However, two of the workers brought their dogs and Barney had instant friends. He played hard all day and we were all happy.

When we went back in the afternoon, it was even hotter and very noisy. There were three cement trucks going and several workers smoothing the cement as it poured into the forms. It was impressive. Trucks were coming and going and I held my breath watching the trees. One truck went over part of Scott's lawn and over a little fence he had put up. Bob helped him fix it and smoothed things over the best he could. The neighbors have been so understanding and wonderful. Nancy and Angie were sitting out on their porch watching and invited us to join them. Blake and Eva were too hot and just wanted to come back to our house and cool off and swim.

 

With all of the noise, we were surprised to see a little rabbit relaxing in what is left of our yard behind Bob's workshop. I hope that's a good sign as this will be a view out of our downstairs bedroom window.

Meanwhile, back at our house, every chance I got, I was in our garage setting up, displaying, cleaning and pricing to get ready for the sale. 

Friday morning our Garage Sale opened at 8:30. Bob helped when he could and also ran back and forth to the building site. Brad came out to help along with Bob's sister Sandy who brought donuts and my friend Joyce who is a retired math teacher. She keeps me calm and handles the totals. We were smoking busy which kept us all hopping. I wish I had gotten pictures but I was on the run all day. We had fun, met great people and made money. Happily, we found new homes for treasured stuff instead of taking it to the dump. 

Our sale traffic was helped by the fact that it was race weekend at MIS. I did take one picture of some race fans that were garage saling and wanted a picture to send to their wives to show them it isn't all about the race and drinking. They found our Halloween section.

Thank you! you very much!

We sent them on down to Becky Turk's sale and they bought dreadlock wigs there. She gave them a "Ya Mon" mug to go with the look.

We continued to sell right up until closing and then went down to see progress on the site.

The concrete crew was able to pop the forms off the basement walls and spray them with sealer. The garage was really taking shape and you can now see where we will park our two vehicles and then the tall part where our travel trailer will go.

We struggled to eat some dinner and were in bed by 8:30! We have become our parents!

Saturday Sandy came back to help and shortly after she got there, the rain moved in. It poured hard at times and we pretty much had to keep everything inside. It was slow going, but people still came and we gradually sold more and more. We could not believe some of the stuff that sold that no one had even looked at before. Maybe the rain actually helped us. Barney has loved this whole activity. He thinks everyone is here to fuss over him and he delights in the attention. He is going to be a tired, bored puppy when all of this settles down. Those of you that know Minnie, our cat, will understand that she is just disgusted with the whole thing!

Lindsey came to help and also brought the entertainment.

It was a long, damp day, but we stayed open an hour later than planned as when the rain cleared, people began to stop again. Brad came back with his three boys and everyone pitched in cleaning and packing up. The men took a truck load of the leftovers to donate to St. Vincent DePaul. It was a success. Then we jumped in cars and went over to have a look at the site and make sure out sand hills hadn't caved in the rain.

Sunday was then a clean up, catch up day as we prepared to begin a new week of activity.

This was a long post, but we are now up to date with sunny skies and renewed energy. Onward and upward!

No Time!

With the very busy garage sale going full swing and big things happening at the house site, we have not had time to breathe. I have taken pictures and plan to spend time tomorrow updating the blog. Things seem to pile up all at once, but so far, it’s all good and exciting. Stay tuned and thank you for following.

Taking Care of Business

I haven't posted in a while, as though we have been very busy, not much has happened at the house site. Friday, building materials were delivered for the garage. We went over to put some things in Bob's workshop for protection. We just enjoy hanging out over there and we're so anxious for things to get moving.

Sunday morning I finally finished going through the house purging closets, cupboards and drawers. Although I felt pretty proud, I realize I could probably go through again and get even more weeded out. I stacked things in the corner of the upstairs loft room, in the downstairs bedroom and finally in our living room as the piles got higher and higher.

Meanwhile, Bob cleaned the garage and together we set up tables. Our grandson, Logan was here and he helped setting up and then we started carrying the piles to the garage with the help of a wagon. I tried to be organized setting up areas such as dishes, toys, books, etc. Then Kathy and Luke came bringing pizza for dinner and they unloaded their piles. Then Sean and Lindsey came and unloaded their piles. Suddenly it was all too overwhelming. How did we have so much stuff?!

Tuesday morning we went to Manchester with Mike to meet with Rich Kennedy, Lindsey's dad, and his siding specialist Chris. We had a productive meeting picking out siding and roofing. Kleinsmidt's has a beautiful business facility and since we share grandchildren with Rich, I especially liked the pictures he had decorating his office.

They let us use their meeting room with Mike to also begin work picking out windows and doors. This is actually going to happen!

Bob and Mike then went to the building site to meet with the owner of Mechanical Extreme to plan out our heating and cooling system. They did some good decision making.

I continue to work in the garage to display and price. Lindsey is coming back tonight. She is great help organizing and she also has her own pricing to finish.
This is tedious work, but necessary. We will be happy in the next few weeks when we start packing, that our load is lighter and our clutter less.
Downsize. Downsize. Simplify. Simplify.

Tomorrow, if all goes according to plan, two crews are due to show up. (Both were originally due Monday but everyone has been behind with all of the rain.) One crew will begin the basement walls and one will begin work remodeling the carport into a proper garage. I will be clicking pictures!