June 2017

June 3^rd weekend – We were supposed to move into our new home this weekend but issues with the appraisal caused the close to be delayed.  This has been frustrating for us but at least we’re not alone in that everyone else related to the transaction that has a profit motive (listing agent, seller, lender, etc) wants this to go through.  Thus momentum is on our side and hopefully all issues will be resolved soon and satisfactorily. 

Saturday began with me waking up and getting out of bed around 7:00.  After feeding Bella I plopped on the couch while she headed upstairs to sleep in bed with Susan.  They came trundling down the stairs around 10:30.  I elected we get food outside our home and drove us to Village Inn.  I ate my normal breakfast and Susan tried a turkey avocado sandwich which was very tasty.  As our storage unit is essentially full and all other home-moving stuff is on hold we satisfied ourselves by driving by the property to gaze at its splendor.  Afterwards we went to a nearby American Furniture Warehouse where we primarily looked at dressers.  Then we headed home.  We were initially planning on missing the rallycross occurring on Sunday but as moving plans were pushed out we figured we’d participate.  Thus we spent the rest of the day time preparing for the next day’s race.  It was an old school effort as most of the racing stuff we have was packed in the storage unit including things necessary to load up the evo on the car trailer.  So we loaded the rally wheels/tires we had kept in the garage, tool bag, and coolers full of water in the car.  The rest of the evening was spent hanging with Bella on the couch. 

Sunday started with Susan’s alarm going off at 4:30.  We finally rolled out of bed at 5:00 and finished packing up for the day.  Susan convinced me that we should bring Bella (the adventure pug) so she came along.  We left home around 6:00 and arrived at 7:15.  As only a couple of people were there not including the person who was supposed to design the day’s course me and Will (a fellow rallycrosser) set to doing so ourselves.  This took up much of my time until the driver’s meeting around 9:30.  I rambled my way through it per usual and got to handle worker assignments as well (yes, we were short-staffed).  There was a minor (almost major) issue in that no one received confirmation that the event was sanctioned yet.  This means that technically we didn’t know the site had the proper insurance for the event.  As all the proper paperwork was sent in as is normal we decided to go on ahead and start the event.  I asked Susan to have our class run in the second run group so I had time to swap out the street tires for rally tires while the first run group drove the course.  While there wasn’t universal praise for the course I laid out most everyone seemed ok with it.  By lunch time I was firmly in first place in our class and Susan was in fifth.  I tried to make lunch short but by the time we finished rearranging the course for the afternoon runs we were running late.  Despite this I decided we should have an extra run in the afternoon (sometimes it’s nice to call the shots).  While the course was bumpy and several cars broke (virtually all mechanical issues) I believe the event turned out great.  The weather finally cooperated with us with the sun shining all day and little wind to speak of.  In the end I held onto first place and Susan moved up to fourth for the day.  After the final car finished driving I rushed to swap out the rally tires and Susan compiled the results.  I got to babble out said results before we all packed up and left the site.  We would have been the last to leave except there was an unfortunate competitor whose tow rig wouldn’t start (he did get his issue resolved later and made it home alright).  On our way home we stopped at Five Guys for hamburgers as they have outdoor seating which accommodated for Bella’s presence.  When we finally got home Susan applied some aloe to my burned neck (I was scorched all over) and we hung out before I took a cold shower and went to bed.  Bella was a great companion during the day and will probably accompany us in the future when the weather is right (not too hot).  Even though we didn’t get to move into our new home we still had a great weekend. 

June 6 – We took John to a Boston concert at Fiddler’s Green.  He met us at our house right on time at 5:30 to ride with us in Jay.  We stopped Jimmy Johns on our way for dinner (yum!).  Traffic was bad but it didn’t matter much as we were pretty early.  Susan had gotten us prepaid parking which was great as we were relatively close to the venue and had a guaranteed spot.  After we got inside and found our seat Susan and I acquired the required nachos and Susan a “glass” of wine.  The first band was alright and we paid attention to them a bit.  After they were done there was a long break before Boston was to go on.  Right about the time the sun was fully below the horizon the band took the stage and began to play.  They put on quite a show and sounded fantastic.  We figure they played for around two and a half hours which in itself was a feat.  The seats weren’t filled all the way and toward the midpoint of their show some sitting around us made their way to open rows which allowed us to spread out a bit which was nice.  We left for home around 11:30 and the trip was uneventful.  Not to be outdone by the already late weeknight Susan and I ended up staying up until past 1:00, duly setting ourselves up for a very tired Wednesday. 

June 10^th weekend – This was a sad but relaxed weekend.  Sad because closing on the Dogwood house is still up in the air which has really been demotivating.  Relaxed because we didn’t really accomplish much and instead spent an inordinate amount of time on the couch.  Saturday was almost a nothing day when we received an email saying some cell phone accessories I ordered were being returned because the address was bad.  Whoops!  Part of moving is setting up forwarding of mail and with the delays in our close the post office was behind on switching back our mail service to our old address.  Susan called the post office and they still had the rejected mail so we went to pick it up there.  We arrived after they closed but because Susan talked to them it was alright.  While we were out we went to Costco for some Costco stuff and had a late lunch at Lark Burger.  We were stuffed so walked around the Southwest Plaza Mall to work off some of the good food before heading home.  I did end up cooking a late dinner and we spent much of the evening binge watching the latest Orange is the New Black on Netflix (it came out the day before).  Sunday was the ultimate in lazy days for us.  I was wanting to go out as soon as we finished watching the rest of the Orange show but decided at the last minute to order Chinese delivery and just hang out for the remainder of the day.  Not exactly us being our best but it was what it was. 

June 17 weekend – Word came late in the previous week that our close would finally be happening on Monday the 19^th.  Thus we spent much of the weekend packing.  Susan and Kari did to go to a musical on Saturday to see Susan’s old coworker do her thing.  I was told the show was great and quite entertaining.  I stayed home and packed up this and that.  Sunday was more packing with the close the next day. 

Move Week:

Monday – The close was scheduled for 12:00.  I took the whole day off and Susan had a half day at work.  We met and the Egg and I for a late breakfast around 11:00 just down the street from the title company.  After a bunch of coffee and some tasty food we sat down with the sellers, selling agent, lending agent, and title person to sign a pile of documents.  There were no surprises and the process went as smoothly as it probably could have.  Susan and I, of course, made a b-line to the new house to soak up some of its goodness and drop off a load of stuff from the Suburban we’d packed the night before.  Then we made three more trips to pick up our cars and other household stuff so we could stay the night in the new house (Susan said that we should name the new house the “Dogwood Estate” and so we shall).  It wasn’t until the sun was almost down that we were able to pack all our cars (sans Suburban) in the Dogwood Estate’s garage for an epic picture Susan used to tell the Facebook world of our new digs.  As there is/was no central air conditioning the house was hot except in the bedroom where I’d installed our stand-alone air conditioning unit to its window.  Bella was thoroughly confused by the house and apprehensive about using the pads we’d laid about to do her business.  It took a measure of cajoling but she did figure it out in the end.  We bought four box fans which we mounted in windows in the kitchen and living rooms.  I made the mistake of not noticing that one of the windows did not have a screen (it was dark, sue me) and thus bugs were blown into our faces while we sat in the kitchen on the one piece of furniture we’d managed to bring (yep, we were right in front of the screen-less fan). 

Tuesday – This was our main moving day.  We got up early enough for breakfast at our (now) local breakfast place, Great Beginnings Café, before heading to the Dawn house to meet John and Karen with their truck and trailer.  Once they arrived we loaded up both vehicles and trailers with virtually all of our furniture and lots of miscellaneous stuff.  I had bought many more tie-down straps and we used every single one.  This exhausted the entirety of the morning and our caravan left for the Dogwood Estate right around noon.  Barring a couple of stops to re-secure the loads we made the trip without incident.  We gave a brief tour of the new abode and ordered delivery from Jimmy Johns.  Kari and Alvin had a small window unit air conditioning unit they let us borrow and I installed it almost immediately (it was HOT outside and inside).  Unloading the goods wasn’t too bad except for the couch which was incredibly heavy and awkward.  Eventually John and I managed to finagle it through the front door and into the living room with only a few swear words uttered and no major damage to the house or couch.  Ok, there may have been exclaimed swear words (I can’t say for sure).  Unloading and moving things about took some time and when we were finally finished I declared the moving portion of the day over.  It was just too dang hot out and we’d accomplished quite a bit.  A Century Link installer came by to inform us that he could not connect us to their DSL internet.  It turns out the house never had phone service.  A Dish Network installer came by and was able to install their service so at least we had something.  John and Karen stayed for dinner via Perry’s Pizza which was alright (I’d put the food a few notches below the Garlic Knot).  Susan and I were exhausted that evening and slept hard. 

Wednesday – Back on our own Susan and I made a trip to the storage unit to load up the Suburban and trailer with stuff.  We took a large chunk out of the boxes and various other items and, after unloading everything in the Dogwood Estate garage, made another trip.  Once again it was very hot outside (I believe we experienced record highs) so I curtailed a final voyage to clean out the unit that day.  Instead we went to the Dawn house for a load of odds and ends we didn’t manage to get the previous day (there will be many more such trips as it’s amazing the amount of small things that are difficult to put in a box and thus move).  We finally came home very tired from the long day not exactly chomping at the bit to do a whole lot more moving.  Dinner was leftover pizza and we were satisfied and tired. 

Thursday – Susan had to go to work and I got to stay home to meet with a Cooper HVAC guy for estimates for having air conditioning installed.  This took an hour or so and I was presented with four incredibly high (to me) estimates.  I bid him good day and called another place to schedule another consultation.  I have to admit that I didn’t accomplish a whole lot the rest of the day.  The previous two days had me physically drained though I was able to rearrange a bit in the garage and unpack tools and whatnot.  If I remember correctly dinner was Chinese delivery.  The food was alright although the gastro-related issues I endured over the next day or so may be an indicator that we shouldn’t order from them in the future.  It was at some point in the evening when the large garage door opener stopped working.  This was a bummer as the 12’x12’ door was stuck open and it was getting dark.  To stave off burglars and various hoodlums for the night we zip-tied several shelves together across the opening to block access. 

Friday – Once again I had the day off and spent the morning trying to get the garage door repaired and switching out the locks on the house.  I had an estimate from a local place when Susan (bless her) remembered we had a home warranty which probably covered the repair.  Sure enough broken garage doors fall under our warrantee’s purview so I scheduled a fix for the following Monday.  Unfortunately the guy that had come out first thing to diagnose the problem was not on the list of approved contractors so I had to cancel with him.  Fortunately he was nice enough to come by later in the day to close the door for us free of charge (yes there was a pull-cable but, as the opener is commercial-grade, it didn’t work like the normal pull-cables).  After getting the temporary garage door fix done we picked up Jimmy Johns on our way to see Susan’s (and now my) favorite punk/ska band Streetlight Manifesto at the Ogden theater downtown.  We parked in Susan’s work garage and hoofed it the few blocks to the venue.  Kari was to come with us too but bailed on account that she was wiped out from work and stuff.  As the show was sold out Susan was able to Kari’s ticket at full price to a guy standing in front of the theater (we’re sure he later resold it for a lot more but we were satisfied with the transaction).  The opening act was bizarre.  The performers (there were two) sang and played acoustic guitars while a slideshow was projected on a screen informing us of the racial injustices Asian Americans deal with in Hollywood.  It was entertaining in its own way.  Next we were treated to a solo act by Jenny Owen Youngs who was fantastic.  The songs were mostly understandable and the writing was funny and her singing chops were great.  There was a long gap after Jenny finished her last song before Streetlight started.  Their show was as amazing as always and they played all their best songs.  After the show we walked back to Susan’s work for a pit stop before finally getting home at midnight. 

Saturday – We woke up earlyish and made our way to the storage unit to pick up the last stuff inside which mainly consisted of tires and wheels.  We were the only ones there which was great for us as we utilized both the carts the facility provided.  By the time we were tying down our load there were a lot of others there and we were glad to have gotten a slight head start on the crowd.  We did manage to get everything in this final trip and it all made the journey back to the Dogwood Estate.  After unloading we went to Lowes to buy a mirror and BBQ.  Then we stopped at the Olive Garden on our way to the Dawn home for more stuff.  On the way home I picked up food to BBQ for dinner.  We were going to finally drive the RS the next day for the rallycross and I went out to get the car gassed up.  On a whim I headed to the closest auto-parts store to pick up oil for an oil-change when I say smoke coming from under the hood.  Something was causing a LOT of oil to come out of the top of the motor.  I did buy a five-quart jug of oil of which half of which I used to refill what had leaked out.  The RS made it home and we made the easy decision to race the evo the following day instead.  Thus I changed the evo’s oil and swapped out its wheels/tires to rally-specific wheels/tires while Susan began painting her spare bedroom (it was pink (yuck) and she was painting it blue).  Not much seemed to be going my way as the skid guard bolts were almost seized up and the oil filter was painful to remove (so messy).  Ugh.  Eventually I finished up and loaded up the Suburban with our racing gear and Susan helped me drive the evo on the trailer.  Finally done preparing for the next day I used the BBQ for the first time to made delicious hamburgers we both enjoyed with tasty Mimosas mixed using Champagne we’d brought with us from the Dawn house (a leftover bottle from New Year’s).  We went to bed relatively early very tired (a theme for the week). 

Sunday – We woke around 6:00 and packed up the last few things (including Bella) for race-day.  I stopped to get ice, coffee, and donuts and we made good time down to Fountain where the event was being held.  This particular event was actually rescheduled event #2 (weather).  We arrived around 7:30 and I promptly worked on laying out the course.  There were some serious concerns due to the copious deep ruts and we convinced the site owners to let us utilize a new lot to avoid some of the worst obstacles.  With this change the event was delayed around 30 minutes but once finished things were, once again, on track (heh).  The temperature was mercifully cooler than the previous few days which made the day better overall.  It was a lightly attended event (46 entrants) which had us a little short on workers though we made due with no real issues.  At lunch I was leading our class with Susan sitting in third.  In the end I coned myself to second and Susan landed in fifth (only half a second from fourth).  The last runs were extra exciting as the front tires started delaminating which resulted in chunks of rubber flying off the tires and what was left slapping the wheel wells.  We actually thought I’d had my first de-bead the noise was so loud.  The tires did survive the event but their racing days are over.  We managed to just finish racing as rain was beginning to fall (a no-no at this site).  Several competitors helped pick up cones and load up the rallybus which was great.  Susan and I were almost the last to leave the site at 4:30 after loading up the evo in the rain.  Poor Bella was so exhausted from the day and she slept most all of the way home.  Dinner was more BBQ’d hamburgers which, no surprise, were tasty again.  We were so so tired that the rest of the evening was us sitting on the couch with Bella. 

Last week of June – The final week of June had us busy painting Susan’s room and unpacking.  The Dogwood Estate is beginning to feel like our home which is nice.  June was a crazy month!