Moving Update

We did it and mostly survived unscathed, with our relationship not only intact but well...enhanced. Satisfied. Sated. Uh...you know. :-)

Saturday we lifted and toted and hauled and carried all our bedroom furniture and most of the contents of the kitchen and bathroom by early evening. We quit at 6 or 7 and sat out on the deck for a while, then Lori walked back down to Carrie's for something and came back to find a medium-sized frog stuck to the glass on the sliding door. As you may know, Lori is a little frog-phobic. However, she only squealed a little delicate ladylike squeal before cautiously edging past it and into the house. Another potential crisis averted.

The only oddness was that the landlords left their pit bull chained up in the yard and their duck, thankfully not on a chain, wandering freely. We kept expecting them to come back for the dog all day Saturday, since Ms. Landlord was reminiscing about the 10 years she'd had the dog, and how fond she was of it.

So we kept working while we kept an eye on him. He was on the kind of a chain you would use to anchor an ocean liner, with a massive bolt attaching it to his collar. Over the last 10 years, he'd dug a trench a foot deep around the tree he was chained to, from pacing laps around it endlessly.
Finally, when it became apparent that they wouldn't be back for him on Saturday, I went out with food and water for him. I'll admit I was a little nervous about getting into his circle, in case he was the kind of territorial pit bull that would want to take my leg off and eat my face. But no; he was the kind of pit bull who was profoundly grateful for a big bowl of water and a mountain of kibble. He inhaled that, and then three more kibble mountains afterwards, until he seemed to be slowing down. Finally, after he'd eaten about 5 pounds of Sage's kibble, I gave him a chunk of fish and he laid down in the shade and fell asleep. Poor guy. They finally came back for him Sunday night.

The duck hasn't required nearly as much intervention. He's been waddling around the yard, snacking on seeds and splashing in his pond, and apparently oblivious to the fact that we aren't the same humans who shared his yard with him last week. He visited the pit bull occasionally but stayed outside the circle.

Lori worked like a demon getting everything unpacked and arranged...and rearranged. And re-rearranged, and I lifted and toted like a good housebutch. Today, my job has been to get the utilities switched over (done that) and knock down the weeks in the yard (haven't done that yet).

Pictures to follow. Thanks for all the good wishes! I think we're doing good. By the end of the week, we ought to be moving faster than a slow shuffle. Or maybe not...we're elderly.