liminal
This next couple of blogs come with a disclaimer: they are not well-written as I've been too tired to formulate sentences well. The work is long and hard, although rewarding. Here's to working for yourself.
August 1. Moving out.
Our boxes were piled nearly to the ceiling; furniture dismantled and stacked in the bedroom, my sister on the couch, my parents sleeping in the truck out front. At 7am my sister were given orders: coffee and doughnuts. It only took us 4 hours to load our home onto the trailer.
My sister stayed to help as my parents headed home. We spent the afternoon scrubbing the fridge, shower, stove and walls.
We spent a sleepless night on the living room's hardwood floors. In the morning we rose early, packed up the last of the cleaning supplies, and walked out of California.
August 2. Unpacking, repacking and packing up for stage II.
Our car was packed to the brim. We shoved ourselves in and headed home: the two places I call home, anyway. It was in the nineties when we arrived in Chiloquin, exhausted and tired of sitting. My parents were in the midst of cleaning out the shed; making room for out things.
They unpacked box after box of unused things, useless things, old things, dusty things and some downright cool things (a buoyancy compensator, for example). Some of it went to the garage, some to the Salvation Army and some back into the house to be sorted out later.
We jumped right in, and began sorting, then adding our stuff to my other stuff already stacked in the back of the shed from my move from house to small apartment two years ago. Then the thunder rolled in: the first clouds, the first thunder, the first lightening and real rain I've seen in years. Big fat cold drops in the hot summer afternoon. We abandoned our project for the evening, and watched as the storm filled cistern with runoff from the roof: water for the apple trees.
August 3. Tires and things.
In order to return the favor of moving us yet again, A and I stayed an extra day to reorganize my parents' garage, and weed their garden. Most of the day we spent compiling my dad's multiple stacks of extra tires from various vehicles into one stash to be loaded up and taken down to the barn for storage. While we were at it, we organized the garage, and added some things to the Salvation Army pile.
The afternoon was too hot for work, so we waited out the heat in the cool of the house. The evening was full of weeding and dirt and fresh blueberries.
August 4. Back to work.
We quit our jobs in part to spend a month self-employed; working harder than either of us would work for anyone else. We're fixing up the house. Project #1? Drive to Eugene and clean up after dude tenants. Note to self: charge huge security and cleaning deposit next time.
The entire day was dedicated to gathering up their stuff, scrubbing the fridge, shower, stove and walls, just as we had done in Santa Rosa. Then we moved in with our tools and work clothes.
August 5. Yard day.
Andrew worked on tearing out nails from the walls and floors, prepping for some wall touch-up and floor refinishing while I spent the day outside. I gathered up leaves and garbage. I cut down a tree, I hacked a path through the dense, overgrown garden, and I threw it all in a giant pile.
I filled an entire full-sized pickup with yard debris then called it quits. I was covered in bugs, dirt, leaves, and cut up head to toe by blackberry and rose.
August 6. Getting rid.
We dropped off the car for a tune-up. We looked at new tires. I dropped off the yard waste and priced gravel and boulders. I started digging a trench for a new retaining wall in the front yard. The appliance repairman came to fix the washer and dryer. I set up Internet access. Then I loaded up a truckload of garbage, hazardous waste and recyclables and drove to the dump. Turns out, you have to make an appointment for the hazardous waste. I made an appointment for tomorrow. We reserved a floor sander for tomorrow too.
Then I went back home, loaded up a truckload of Salvation Army stash and headed out again. Meanwhile, Andrew hand-sanded the edges of the floor in the whole of the downstairs.
August 7. Big day.
I dug all day long. Must finish the trench, I thought, must finish the trench and have the rocks delivered before my sister gets here. As a break from digging, I took over the sanding he had been working on all day. We gave each other a break. Then I dug some more, and andrew sanded some more. Then we went and bought boulders. They were delivered an hour later. A driveway full of boulders (two tons) and a parking spot on the street covered in gravel (3 yards).
The digging went well, but the sanding not so much. Off to a rough start, the sander blew the breakers multiple times, then it blew it's own breaker. After two phone calls for suggestions to the rental shop, they delivered us a brand new sander, but to no avail. The sander worked just fine, but it couldn't break through the floor finish or the layers of paint in the front room. 8 hours of sanding and digging, and all we had was an incomplete trench, a big pile of rocks and a slightly sanded floor. Then my sister arrived.
August 8. The Blues.
My parents arrived early along with my grandma and aunt. We were all in for a few hours of blueberry pickin' in the forest of 50-year-old high bush blueberries. After picking, my family jumped right in. My mom and aunt went to buy food, my dad and Andrew took out the rotting windows in the living room, my grandma started weeding, Alex, who is now 7, shoveled gravel and picked bulbs out of the piles of dirt. My sister and I, well we started moving boulders. We quickly realized that there weren't enough big rocks, and though we tried to order more, the hauling fee was higher than we wanted to pay and they couldn't deliver until Monday anyway... not soon enough. So we went to go look at windows instead. They couldn't order the windows soon enough, so we bought lavender and rosemary. Then went to another home improvement store, where they also couldn't get the windows in time.
We reserved and picked up another, bigger sander along the way for tomorrow.
At home again, we nailed tarps over the gaping holes in the wall, cleaned up the kitchen and called it a day.
Oh yeah. And the washing machine is still broken. We found out when we tried to run a load of laundry and it didn't drain, not to mention the terrible grumbling rattle it made when it hit the spin cycle. So our soapy soggy wet clothes are drying on the gutter downspout that was ripped off our house for some reason in the backyard. Classy.
August 9. Cleaning up.
The plan: get more rock. Finish the wall. Finish sanding the floors. Be done with the yard. Order windows. Cross fingers.
And we managed to get it all done...
INTERMISSION
August 1. Moving out.
Our boxes were piled nearly to the ceiling; furniture dismantled and stacked in the bedroom, my sister on the couch, my parents sleeping in the truck out front. At 7am my sister were given orders: coffee and doughnuts. It only took us 4 hours to load our home onto the trailer.
My sister stayed to help as my parents headed home. We spent the afternoon scrubbing the fridge, shower, stove and walls.
We spent a sleepless night on the living room's hardwood floors. In the morning we rose early, packed up the last of the cleaning supplies, and walked out of California.
August 2. Unpacking, repacking and packing up for stage II.
Our car was packed to the brim. We shoved ourselves in and headed home: the two places I call home, anyway. It was in the nineties when we arrived in Chiloquin, exhausted and tired of sitting. My parents were in the midst of cleaning out the shed; making room for out things.
They unpacked box after box of unused things, useless things, old things, dusty things and some downright cool things (a buoyancy compensator, for example). Some of it went to the garage, some to the Salvation Army and some back into the house to be sorted out later.
We jumped right in, and began sorting, then adding our stuff to my other stuff already stacked in the back of the shed from my move from house to small apartment two years ago. Then the thunder rolled in: the first clouds, the first thunder, the first lightening and real rain I've seen in years. Big fat cold drops in the hot summer afternoon. We abandoned our project for the evening, and watched as the storm filled cistern with runoff from the roof: water for the apple trees.
August 3. Tires and things.
In order to return the favor of moving us yet again, A and I stayed an extra day to reorganize my parents' garage, and weed their garden. Most of the day we spent compiling my dad's multiple stacks of extra tires from various vehicles into one stash to be loaded up and taken down to the barn for storage. While we were at it, we organized the garage, and added some things to the Salvation Army pile.
The afternoon was too hot for work, so we waited out the heat in the cool of the house. The evening was full of weeding and dirt and fresh blueberries.
August 4. Back to work.
We quit our jobs in part to spend a month self-employed; working harder than either of us would work for anyone else. We're fixing up the house. Project #1? Drive to Eugene and clean up after dude tenants. Note to self: charge huge security and cleaning deposit next time.
The entire day was dedicated to gathering up their stuff, scrubbing the fridge, shower, stove and walls, just as we had done in Santa Rosa. Then we moved in with our tools and work clothes.
August 5. Yard day.
Andrew worked on tearing out nails from the walls and floors, prepping for some wall touch-up and floor refinishing while I spent the day outside. I gathered up leaves and garbage. I cut down a tree, I hacked a path through the dense, overgrown garden, and I threw it all in a giant pile.
I filled an entire full-sized pickup with yard debris then called it quits. I was covered in bugs, dirt, leaves, and cut up head to toe by blackberry and rose.
August 6. Getting rid.
We dropped off the car for a tune-up. We looked at new tires. I dropped off the yard waste and priced gravel and boulders. I started digging a trench for a new retaining wall in the front yard. The appliance repairman came to fix the washer and dryer. I set up Internet access. Then I loaded up a truckload of garbage, hazardous waste and recyclables and drove to the dump. Turns out, you have to make an appointment for the hazardous waste. I made an appointment for tomorrow. We reserved a floor sander for tomorrow too.
Then I went back home, loaded up a truckload of Salvation Army stash and headed out again. Meanwhile, Andrew hand-sanded the edges of the floor in the whole of the downstairs.
August 7. Big day.
I dug all day long. Must finish the trench, I thought, must finish the trench and have the rocks delivered before my sister gets here. As a break from digging, I took over the sanding he had been working on all day. We gave each other a break. Then I dug some more, and andrew sanded some more. Then we went and bought boulders. They were delivered an hour later. A driveway full of boulders (two tons) and a parking spot on the street covered in gravel (3 yards).
The digging went well, but the sanding not so much. Off to a rough start, the sander blew the breakers multiple times, then it blew it's own breaker. After two phone calls for suggestions to the rental shop, they delivered us a brand new sander, but to no avail. The sander worked just fine, but it couldn't break through the floor finish or the layers of paint in the front room. 8 hours of sanding and digging, and all we had was an incomplete trench, a big pile of rocks and a slightly sanded floor. Then my sister arrived.
August 8. The Blues.
My parents arrived early along with my grandma and aunt. We were all in for a few hours of blueberry pickin' in the forest of 50-year-old high bush blueberries. After picking, my family jumped right in. My mom and aunt went to buy food, my dad and Andrew took out the rotting windows in the living room, my grandma started weeding, Alex, who is now 7, shoveled gravel and picked bulbs out of the piles of dirt. My sister and I, well we started moving boulders. We quickly realized that there weren't enough big rocks, and though we tried to order more, the hauling fee was higher than we wanted to pay and they couldn't deliver until Monday anyway... not soon enough. So we went to go look at windows instead. They couldn't order the windows soon enough, so we bought lavender and rosemary. Then went to another home improvement store, where they also couldn't get the windows in time.
We reserved and picked up another, bigger sander along the way for tomorrow.
At home again, we nailed tarps over the gaping holes in the wall, cleaned up the kitchen and called it a day.
Oh yeah. And the washing machine is still broken. We found out when we tried to run a load of laundry and it didn't drain, not to mention the terrible grumbling rattle it made when it hit the spin cycle. So our soapy soggy wet clothes are drying on the gutter downspout that was ripped off our house for some reason in the backyard. Classy.
August 9. Cleaning up.
The plan: get more rock. Finish the wall. Finish sanding the floors. Be done with the yard. Order windows. Cross fingers.
And we managed to get it all done...
INTERMISSION
posted by humble bee at 10:03 PM
1 Comments:
hey oh,
awesome job! yea! and what i love most about this blog is the word blue and how you capture the way your family loves take things on together, loves projects and work...it must be in the dna or something. ya?
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