May began with me replacing the alternator on Jay. Afterward it seemed that the battery was also
not taking a charge despite being less than a year old so I took it to Wal-Mart
to get a replacement. It turned out the
battery was fine and the battery cables were just not connecting well
enough. Now that I think about it the
alternator was probably ok too. *sigh*
Susan took Tweetie to the vet and I met them there to see
about getting her bowel issues figured out.
Susan had noticed puss-drool under Tweetie’s chin and the vet found an
abscessed molar. We set up a dental for
Friday and went home with prescription canned food to calm Tweetie’s
stomach. On Friday the vet pulling her
teeth (she had an additional tooth pulled) found that cancer is growing on the
roof of her mouth. Again we both were
there to pick her up and talk with the vet.
They took a sample for testing and we’ll find out more information next
week. The abscess caused Tweetie’s face
to be swollen on her right side and she sneezes and makes funny snorting
sounds.
May 6 weekend – Friday night after coming home from work
with Tweetie and Bella (Susan had taken Bella to work on Friday and I drove
Tweetie home from the vet) we packed some before going to bed. Saturday morning we got up around 8:30 and
after taking care of the pugs went to sign a lease on a storage unit close to
our (hopefully) new home in Parker.
Susan had slept on the floor in the kitchen with Tweetie who was
vomiting the night before (side-effects of the anesthesia from her dental) and
was tired. We brought with us a couple
of sets of wheels and tires in Jay to start the moving process. It didn’t take us long to sign the lease and
drop off the wheels and tires and we decided to head into the city of Parker
and have a late breakfast at Village Inn.
The restaurant wasn’t exactly close but the food and coffee were tasty
enough when we got there. Afterwards we
went home to pack more. The plan for the
evening was to pick up Kari and head up to J J Madwell’s in Aspen Park for
John’s birthday and as an early Mother’s Day celebration for Karen. As we had extra time before we needed to pick
up Kari we took the opportunity to drop off some donations at the Salvation
Army and do some quick shopping at Costco (wine and storage bins). The timing worked out well as we picked up
Kari and arrived just after Karen and John at the restaurant. The food was good and we talked and
talked. We ended up leaving after almost
three hours which had our hind-quarters wishing the seats had padding. It was a nice time for sure.
Sunday morning Susan and I got up and loaded up the car
trailer with most of the remaining tires and wheels and all the boxes and bins
we had ready to go. Susan found a long
nylon rope we had in the garage which we used to tie everything down. This along with some strategically placed
tie-down straps was employed and we headed out.
The drive was smooth until we got onto Lincoln where the concrete was
extremely bumpy. We had to quickly stop
and tighten and restack some of the wheels as the jouncing had stuff almost
falling off the trailer. Luckily we were
very close to the storage unit at this point and made it the rest of the way
fine. After moving everything into the storage
unit we went home to reward ourselves with Mike’s Hard Lemonade and some chili
I whipped up. We (mostly Susan) then
packed up a few boxes for me to drop off on Monday morning (the storage unit is
just outside my normal morning commute).
The weather was acting strange with crazy rain blowing into our
neighborhood. We opened up the garage to
watch the rain fall and sat in chairs talking about our move. After we were thoroughly chilled and the rain
had blown past our area we went inside to pack more and hang with the
pugs. Thus we ended this first weekend
of May.
May 13 weekend – Friday night Jeff reached out to Susan to
see if we wanted to hang out. Of course
we did and he came by for the evening.
We talked about this and that and, after some prompting from Jeff,
bought ice cream from Safeway for a late evening snack. It was a nice time.
Saturday morning we woke up around 8:00 ready for the
day. We hooked up the car trailer to the
Suburban and headed off to get coffee before making our way to our storage
unit. The day after we had moved the
majority of tires into the storage unit (Monday) Susan got a call from an
employee there. Apparently they don’t
allow more than four tires to be stored and we had to move them out. As the storage of the tires was one of the
main reasons for having the storage unit we ended our relationship with them
and had to move them to a different place that did allow tire storage. After a tense phone call between me and Gary
at the first storage place we agreed to move out on Saturday and they’d refund
the remainder of the month’s rent. Thus
Susan and I went to the storage unit with an empty car trailer and proceeded to
pack up everything we’d previously stored there. Fortunately we were able to load everything in
the Suburban and onto the trailer in one shot and brought it to another, albeit
less-convenient, storage place which had assured me over the phone that they
allowed tires. I was only mildly
surprised that the person on site stated exactly the opposite regarding storing
tires but also that she’d pretend she didn’t know about our numerous tires
(good enough for us!). We finished the
transition around 1:00 and caught lunch at the Chili’s on the way home. We were wiped out and were planning on
calling it a day but found that we were re-energized by the time we got home
and ended up making another trip to the unit with shelves from the
basement. Thanks to copious zip ties and
Susan’s vigilance in tying them down the shelves made the voyage without
issue. After we got home we packed more
before rewarding ourselves with an evening hanging with the pugs.
Tweetie’s difficulty breathing through her nose had me up
before 5:00 am on Sunday morning. Initially
we figured the abscessed tooth was the cause of her sneezing and swelling but
now we know it’s the cancer in her mouth and the tooth was a symptom. It’s hard to hear her struggle and know that
we can’t help her. I decided to waste my
morning playing video games until Susan got up and we fed the pugs. Susan worked on packing boxes in the kitchen
while I mowed the back yard. Then we
proceeded to load the boxes and donation items in both Jay and the evo and head
back to the storage unit. With the
shelves set up in the unit packing in more items is now inherently organized
which is nice. After we were finished I
dropped off donation items in Jay and Susan headed home in the evo.
We have an ongoing passive-aggressive parking spat with our
next door neighbor Sam. We fully
acknowledge that we have a car-buying problem and also fully-utilize the
available street parking. As we live on
a public street parking is first-come first-serve and anyone can technically
park in front of any house. Of course we
all generally try to only park in front of our own homes as a courtesy which is
nice but somehow our neighbor “claims” the parking spot next to our driveway
which bridges the property line. This
isn’t a big deal and we’ve always moved our cars so he can have “his” spot until
recently. Now that we’re moving my level
of caring about leaving the spot open (he rarely actually parks anything there)
has come down considerably and we’ve been parking Jay there for the past
several weeks. On one of our trips to
shuttle boxes to the storage unit using Jay he (unsurprisingly) moved one of
his vehicles to the vacated spot (this has happened before). I wasn’t mad because I understand how it goes
and could park somewhere else (there is always more parking down the street). No biggie.
Hilariously (at least to me) the car he moved to take Jay’s prior
parking spot came from the other side of his driveway. Thus I parked Jay in the now-vacated spot. I consider it a check in our
passive-aggressive parking game of chess.
Your move Sam!
Anyways, when I got home from dropping off donation stuff I
was again able to park next to neighbor’s drive which brought me much spiteful delight. The plan for the rest of the afternoon was to
do some Costco shopping and we left to do so (not taking Jay of course). We stopped at the Roxborough Tavern for lunch
as we were both starved. Susan got their
guac burger and I their southwest burger which is served in a tortilla
smothered in chili (it was weirdly tasty).
We left with full bellies and couldn’t help but think we’d miss the
place after we moved. Costco was Costco
and after we left Susan thought maybe we could catch Kari and Alvin at their
property so we drove up there. We seem
to have bad luck seeing them there unannounced and pulled into their land just
to flip a u-turn and come home as Kari and Alvin weren’t there. As I don’t mind driving and it was a
beautiful day I did not judge this a negative or a waste of time. Once home we packed up enough kitchen stuff
for me to drop off at the unit before work the next morning and I cooked
dinner. I called Mom to wish her a happy
mother’s day and we spent the rest of the evening on the couch with the
pugs. A fine and productive weekend for
sure.
May 19 weekend – This weekend started off rather sad. We had Tweetie euthanized on Friday
morning. Her difficulty breathing was
causing her almost constant misery. When
she could hardly eat on Friday morning we knew a line had been crossed. The tumor was not ever going to get better
and her suffering would only increase.
We took the day off to grieve and hug Bella a lot. Tweetie was always the troublemaker and the
one we had to make sure wasn’t up to something.
She also was so loving and a cuddle-bug.
She especially liked being with me and I’ll miss her by my side. With just Bella in the house it is so
quiet.
Saturday was a productive day as we loaded up the Suburban
with boxes and dropped them and the rally supplies (which was taking a lot of
space in the truck) off at the storage unit.
I made us coffee before we left and we let Bella have free reign (this
probably will become the norm for her).
Then we went home for another load of boxes and a shelf from the
garage. Jeff reached out to Susan to see
what we were up to and we invited him over for dinner and conversation. I made hamburgers on the stove using an old
camping pan that had a lid (we’d packed up all our regular pans with
lids). A new/used gas grill is on our
list of things to buy for the new house but probably won’t become a reality
until after we are finished moving. In
any case the burgers were fantastic and we ate them and some standard salad
sides (macaroni and potato). After
eating we spent some time in the garage talking with the door open. Tristan dropped by for awhile before we went
inside to warm up and talk more. It was
a nice evening and Jeff stayed until around 9:00.
Sunday began with me waking up around 4:30 for no good
reason that I could determine. What was
clearly evident was that I was not going back to sleep so after laying in bed
for an hour I got up and fed Bella before plopping myself on the couch for some
solitary video games. A couple of hours
later and Susan was also awake and we were packing up what we could. At 11:00 we went to US Bank to close on our
second mortgage so we loaded up the Suburban with what we had to take another
trip to the storage unit afterwards. The
close went fine and we were soon on our way.
We didn’t have the time before the close to load up much in the Suburban
so it was a quick drop-off at the unit.
On the way home we decided to stop at The Container Store and Pets
Mart. We found a bin for the rest of
Susan’s records at The Container Store (we were one crate shy) and a bully
stick for Bella at Pets Mart before we dropped off a bunch more donation stuff
at Goodwill. Once home we spent a few
hours sifting through old stuff and packing up more boxes and things. We decided we didn’t have enough to warrant
using the Suburban for a final trip to the unit and instead loaded up the
WRX. After dropping off what we had
Susan convinced me that dinner at Texas Roadhouse would be proper and we went
there to eat. The food and drinks were
yummy and we talked at length about the move, plans for the new house, and how
we are going to handle a rental property.
That evening we hung out with Bella and each other. Thus ended a sad but ultimately productive
weekend.
On Monday night we picked up a workbench including vice from
a guy moving to Florida. The previous
night Susan found the ad on craigslist for said workbench and vice which
happened to be located roughly a mile from the storage unit we’re using. $25 and the heavy duty bench and vice were
ours. He was also getting rid of a
caster-cart which he was happy for us to take.
We quickly dropped our new goodies off at the unit while the sky rained
on us. We had hoped to eat at the Jimmy
Johns close to the new house but found that the location was under construction
and not open yet. Instead we went home
where I made dinner which included fresh garlic Susan convinced me to buy (yum). The next night had me at his house again to
pick up two long folding tables for $10.
I was glad to take them off his hands.
May 26 weekend – Friday was an overly-stressful day. The day before I had picked up the second
mortgage check and had it deposited (necessary for close). Friday we found out there was an issue with
the appraisal which could cause the closing to be delayed. It ended up that, yes, a deadline was missed
and late Friday we were informed the close would be delayed until June 2. We were bummed but such it is. Luckily for us the possession date remained
the same as we didn’t have to reschedule various utilities
installations/consultations.
Saturday began with taking care of Bella and home-brewed coffee. We then commenced packing up boxes to bring
to the storage unit. We’re getting to
the last of the easily packable stuff and the storage unit is actually quite full. On the way there we stopped at Great
Beginnings Café for breakfast. The
restaurant is located very close to our new home and we wanted to try the place
out. It ended up being a great
experience and I’m sure we’ll be eating there often once we’re settled in. As it was still early we set out to Costco
after we got back home. Likely it was
our last trip there until after we move which is crazy to think about. Once home we loaded up more stuff (book
shelves as well as boxes and donations) and made another trip to the storage
unit. We decided perhaps only one more
load will realistically fit in the unit.
One the way home Susan ordered Dominos through their app and we enjoyed
fresh pizza for dinner with Bella (though she ate her dog food) before hanging
out on the couch for the remainder of the evening.
Sunday we didn’t plan on doing any moving. Instead, after we took care of Bella and had
some coffee, we attended to some lawn maintenance. I mowed the back yard while Susan trimmed
down a planter box (it was out of control).
Then we pulled weeds in the front yard and sprayed plant killer. This wet and warm spring has meant that the
weeds and grass have really been growing fast this year. It took two kitchen trash bags just to
contain the weeds we pulled in the front yard and another two for the clippings
from the back yard. This occupied a
couple of hours which was alright as it was a gorgeous day. The Tiedemans had invited us over for a BBQ
at 3:00 and we made a quick trip to Safeway to pick up chips and dip to
contribute. As they are across the
street we arrived exactly on time. We
talked a lot about our new home and upcoming move while we waited for the
burgers to be cooked. An old rallycross
friend Kubo came by after a bit and it was interesting catching up with
him. Kubo hasn’t always made the most
rational decisions but is a nice guy so it was nice to see him. After a time he and Gregg headed off to a
concert and we stayed awhile longer chatting with Sandra before heading back
home for the evening. As the BBQ was
early I ended up making chicken fried rice for a late dinner.
Until late on Sunday the only plan we had for Monday
(memorial day) was seeing the new Guardians of the Galaxy at noon. Sunday evening Kari invited us up to their
property for another BBQ and we happily accepted. Of course it was to begin around 1:00 so we
were to be late but such it is. We saw
the movie at Alamo Drafthouse which is always fun. I lucked into reserving perhaps the best
seats in the theater and we both enjoyed the movie with adult beverages,
popcorn, and fried pickles (so good). We
made a quick stop at home to load up burgers, buns, and umbrellas (it was
rainy-lookin’ out) and drove up to Kari and Alvin’s property. Our joint pals Ken, Randy, and Jeff were
there along with Alvin’s parents and John and Karen. They had already made BBQ chicken so it was
good that we brought our own food to cook as they didn’t have much left (we
thought this might be the case). We
talked about our house and move as well as their progress on digging the
foundation for their home. They found
that there was a lot of trash and building detritus buried where they dug which
unfortunately means they’ll need to bring in better dirt before they can pour
the foundation. We played with Ringo and
Dandi and gabbed about this and the other.
After everyone else had left Kari and Alvin gave us a tour of their
trailer. They have recently acquired a
larger trailer for the property and it is really nice. Electrical and septic are hooked up so they
can stay at the property there while they work on their permanent abode. Once we were finally home we settled in to a
quiet night with Bella on the couch. It
was a good end to a busy weekend.
Now that May is ending it’s insane to think how much has
happened this past month. Tweetie is
gone and now there’s just Bella remaining to fill the pug-sized hole in our
hearts. We’re about to close on a new
home with property and have been continually moving throughout the month. Excitement mixed with sadness. Such has been May 2017.
