February 2006 Archives

Last night was the last "trash night" for the old homestead. History and prior sweeps had accumulated stacks of cardboard, some scrap lumber, old oil and latex paint, and a couple of big, abandoned mirrors in to the garage. I had never seen a car in the garage, and after a couple hours of bundling and smashing, bagging, and schlepping, the garage was as clean as can be. See now, the Volvo actually fits! Someone did tell me so.

And as a bonus, the photo shows that one of the two(?) bulbs in the left taillight is out. That explains the dashboard idiot light. This just in time for inspection next month.

Here it is, a week after the prior post. As with any death march project, we are done. Well, done in the sense that everything is now moved from the old house to the new. The reduction in square footage is very evident: there just isn't enough places to put all of our stuff. The basement recalls the closing scene of "Raiders of the Lost Ark", although I apparently have conflated that somehow with the end of "Citizen Kane". Wishful thinking?

But I did get out for a first-time-at-new-house short jog today. I would have run unsuspecting past this house about twenty five years ago when I did my short stint at DMS. That was a five-plus mile loop with this healthy hill included. I could crank out seven minute miles in those days, so it wasn't too much of a long lunch. Today, the hill feels steeper than I recall.

As we march closer to our house move, it is hard to dodge the tendency to say or think "This will be the last time ...". That started perhaps a month ago as I laced up the sneakers and hit the streets for a jog around one of my standard routes. Indeed, given how busy we all have been, I have not had a chance to hit the pavement since then. Baring a post-move visit, it was the last time.