The Big Move...

The movers were supposed to arrive at 8:30. When they hadn't shown by 9:30, I called. Someone hadn't shown up so they were late but said they would be at my house by 10:30. At just 10:30, they arrived with a huge truck. Three burly guys quickly loaded everything including all the books.

They didn't load the propane tank that goes with the grill. Legally, they couldn't take that on the truck. The guys unhooked it & took the grill while I put the tank on the passenger seat of my car. If someone broadsided me, it would be quite an explosion.

(no one broadsided me. Remember, my car is safe as long as it keeps moving. It's only when my car is stopped that it gets hit.)

Then we started to go to the new house. Or, rather, I started my car ready for them to follow me. Nothing happened. The truck wouldn't start. Since the truck was facing down hill, they decided to try and push start it. They took the blocks off the tires and let it go. The truck didn't start. Fortunately, they didn't hit anything before rolling to the side of the street and stopping. Then they called a tow truck.

The tow truck showed up and gave the moving truck a jump start. The truck sounded as if it was going to die at any minute. All I wanted was it for the truck to survive the three mile trip to my new house. The truck could die outside my house. That would be ok. I just wanted the truck unloaded. I was very very tired at this point.

The truck made it to the house. They unloaded everything except my bed. They tried to get it up the stairs but the bed wouldn't make the 90 degree turn. They looked at the window. Fortunately, they measured before trying to hoist the bed over the decorative railing into the house. The bed was bigger than the window. They ended up dismantling the bed on the floor of the garage, carrying the pieces upstairs and reassembling it. However, there were some difficulties with the reassembly. They eventually got the pieces together. I later found one large screw on the floor. I don't know what piece of the bed it's supposed to be holding together. Maybe I'll find out in the next earthquake.

While the truck was blocking the neighbor's driveway, I met one of the neighbors. These are the downhill neighbors. I'd guessed it was a large extended family living in the house and I was right. The neighbor I met said that his uncle owned the house and 'a lot' of them lived there. He didn't give an exact count. The neighbor introduced himself and told me his name is Rolex.

"You know, like the watch" he said.

He said this with a straight face. I live next door to Rolex. Rolex said that he was very good friends with the woman who had lived in the house before me. He said she was very nice and that the yard would grow anything. Nothing will grow in Rolex's yard. They've enclosed it in a large steel shed.

Stacey