I woke up this morning twisted into an ‘S’ with a cat on either side and a dog a few feet away in the bedroom doorway of a mostly empty house. Yes, you may surmise, we did not receive any inspection visits, so four out of five of us have not moved, although most of our possessions have.
At least we got a fairly early call yesterday from Dusty, telling us what he had just learned: Tuesdays and Thursdays are Delta County days for the plumbing inspector, who works for the state and not Gunnison County. At least that made moving decisions easier than not knowing: the TV and the bed stayed put, and Na Ki’o had a place to hide.
It does put us on Day Three of what so far is an empty promise: the inspector will come today. Some Day. The Tuesday-Thursday thing is problematic, though, because if he doesn’t come today, he probably isn’t coming tomorrow, and then we will be out of time to stay in this not-as-empty-as-it-could-be house. So he really needs to come today.
Lynn, in the meantime, has tested out her new bathtub (illegally, mind you, since it’s not inspector approved); the report is that it is an “awesome” experience. And we did have pizza last night at our dining table, which is no longer jammed into a corner that once housed a woodstove and was not conducive for use other than as a plant stand.
Moving went smoothly enough, with a few minor mishaps. Our crew was late arriving, but at least they let us know that was going to be the case. Oz and I need not have rushed to walk him to work, then, although our timing took us past an odd cloud that turned out to be a plume of smoke, marking the alley location where a woman backed her car into a gas meter, which then ignited her car and drew firefighters in full gear including masks, police and the gas company to the scene.
We did not stop to gawk (or inhale the acrid odor of a gas fire), just continued on to Pat’s Screen Printing and Doggie Daycare, where string cheese equals love. And then I rushed back home to sit and wait.
Once they got here, though, our movers meant business. Between their open trailer and my truck, everything went to the house in three loads, plus they did a run to our storage shed while I was taking lunch to Lynn, out at the house with the internet installer from Spectrum. (And it only took one month and multiple calls!)
Surrounded by boxes, Lynn could not find a single food item. I think this is what life is going to be like for the next few weeks, if not months.
Our lead mover nearly impaled himself with the dolly as he tugged Lynn’s commercial mixer, weighing in the hundreds of pounds, onto the trailer, and all the screws popped off the runners on my dresser. But Dusty has already located the screws and is effecting the repair as I write this, so all seems well.
The lesson we may have learned — or not — is to rearrange furniture more than once every two decades to avoid the dust jackalopes uncovered every time they picked up a large piece. The largest moment of dismay came when they grabbed Lynn’s recliner. After I scooped up an entire pet’s-worth of black hair from underneath, it turned out the chair has badly scratched the wood floor. So we made sure to set it down on protective vapor barrier on the new wood floor — although we do have about 120 square feet of replacement left over.
I also discovered, in the garage ceiling, several perfectly good sheets of plywood that predate me, along with some shelves that I was going to write off because of the absolutely hideous shelf paper covering them. But Lynn thinks they’re oak. If only I knew someone who needed a bunch of shelving for their new house.
So once again, between false starts — I’m a little tired and fuzzy today — and phone calls (still no inspector, but my real bathroom vanity has arrived at the house), it is once again past time to be headed for work, where I will attempt a meager couple of hours before turning back to my new full-time job of housing.
So I will dislodge a very contented cat (probably tired and fuzzy himself today), roust a sleeping dog (aren’t I supposed to let those lie?), try not to startle the deer I just saw pass by the window, and take my leave of you all. Cross your fingers as hard as you can for the arrival of a plumbing inspector.
Garbanzo Beans for Breakfast 