Last week two of our new Arlington neighbors came by to say Hi and brought us a pineapple, said to be a token of welcome. We chatted at the door, cuz we had a t.v. installer here working on tweaking the installation and also because the living room was stacked with boxes. Maybe soon we will be able to ask folks to come in to sit.
Their visit got me thinking about our memorable neighbors through out the years.
We had some memorable neighbors in Brownwood. Across the street was a lovely lady named Mary Kah, who had retired on three different occasions from working in the financial office of the hospital. She was well known for cutting the usual red tape involved in preparing hospital bills and if a person ever had trouble with a bill, they were encouraged to “Call Mary”. Her last retirement was when she was over 80 yrs old. She died last year a few days before Easter. Next door were Keith and Julie who watched out for us as we did for them. They were "chat over the fence" and "we'll be gone this weekend, please watch the house" type of neighbors. I will miss their friendship. Our real estate agent was also a neighbor. Although we didn’t know her well before selling the house, we talked on Christmas and whenever we saw each other outside.
Years before that, we had a family of neighbors in Clint whose children were very good friends with NLP. The girls were close enough to walk from house to house and to spend lots of time together.
Going back even farther, the neighbors we had next door to our very first house on Callison Rd,( in El Paso in the late 60’s and early 70's) were our first day care.
Neighbors are people who can be depended on. Neighbors are people who share a piece of land and try to live in harmony.
As we were moving in a couple of weeks ago, we had the opportunity to meet several of our new neighbors. I have met Lisa, Bill, Shirley, Cheryl and Brooklyn who stopped her car in the middle of the road to talk to us and welcome us to the neighborhood. I'm looking forward to a bevy of new relationships with our new friends in this new neighborhood.
New beginnings are hopeful.
Friday, May 28, 2010
Monday, May 24, 2010
An Unsettled Cat
Kitty Hawk
Before he became "unsettled"
This move to Arlington has been very hard on K H, our 14-year-old cat. He wanders around the house not seeming to believe we have actually uprooted him from his backyard-hunting domain. We aren’t letting him out (in Bwd he was an indoor/outdoor cat) right now for several reasons, which will become clear as you read on.
But first a little background. KH has lived with us for about 11 years. He was living “on the streets” when we moved to the family lake property in Proctor from our 30+ years in El Paso. When we moved into the added-on-to trailer, we had an only-cat named Calvin who was pretty much the boss of his world. This black “alley” cat continued to come up to the Proctor house to pick fights w/ Calvin. Eventually the black cat invited himself into our house and into our family—who adopted whom? Unclear, but Calvin and KH co-existed and fought. When we bought a house in Brownwood, we had every intention of taking KH with us, but he didn’t know that, so he “stowed away” on the U-Haul we packed with our belongings. Not sure who was the most surprised, when the U-Haul was opened in Bwd and the cat flew out. For those of you who think his name is unusual, he was named for an airfreight company for which our son-in-law worked at the time. He was black (hawk) and a kitty, hence Kitty Hawk.
Calvin died several years ago and KH became an only-cat who didn’t have to share love and attention with another critter. He was notorious for his hunting. He brought us dead birds, live birds (yep, in the house), snakes, you name it. One time he brought us a bulldog puppy that he had cornered in our yard and terrorized until we rescued the poor little thing. KH has been known as a mean cat, he’ll bite, and scratch when he doesn’t get his way. I always chalked that trait up to his homeless roots. Not something he was doing intentionally just instinct.
When we began moving furniture out of the Bwd house, he became “different”. Maybe worried is the word. His favorite sitting places were vanishing and no one had asked his permission. We went away for 2-3 days at a time and left him to fend for himself. This was not unusual, he is a pretty independent sort of guy, but when we returned, we were scolded.
We were concerned how he would take the actual 3-hour drive to our new home. Five minutes in a car to visit the vet once a year sent him into a frenzy of crying—he is not a traveler. I consulted friends and each one suggested that we get a sedative from the vet for the trip. Sounded like a good idea to me, so I did.
The day came, we were sitting around in an absolutely empty house, not even a chair to sit on, waiting for the check for our house and then we would leave town. We had the blue Smart Car all set for KH with his basket (bed), food, water, litter box, etc. We got the call that the check was ready, gave the cat the pill (not really easy, but do-able). The pill was supposed to need an hour to take effect. When we returned from depositing the check, poor KH was drunk. Not funny drunk, but sad, pitiful, drunk. We immediately were afraid we had somehow “overdosed” him. He could hardly walk and his eyes looked weird and he was frightened.
We loaded him in the car, and drove the 3 hrs to Arlington. He moaned some, but was CALM, just as the vet’s asst said he would be. He never really went to sleep, but the trip was not nearly as difficult as it might have been---on all of us.
The sedative was supposed to last about 5 hrs, but 8 hrs later, he was still stumbling around. I don’t think he recovered completely until the middle of the next day.
The first day in our new house, we made an unusual discovery---a duck was sitting on her eggs (we think, we haven’t seen them) in some ground cover in our back yard. The house had been empty while it was for sale, and I’m sure the duck family figured that was a wonderful place to raise a family. We’re about a quarter of a mile from Arlington Lake. Now we have an additional problem. Other than keeping KH inside for a few days to get him acclimated to the new place, we have the nesting duck to consider. If he gets wind of the duck, he’ll consider her a challenge. Yes, ducks can be mean, especially nesting ducks, so I’m not sure whether I’m concerned about protecting the duck or the cat, or both.
We’ve been here for 5 days and KH has been allowed once into the backyard under our supervision, and he hasn’t discovered the duck. He just wanders around the house seemingly not knowing what to do with himself, since he doesn’t have any outside to explore.
I am hoping that when the ducklings have hatched, Mom duck will find a way to get them to water and will never come back, leaving the yard to K H.
Any suggestions?
Post Script----
May 29th-- we discovered duck egg shells scattered around and no momma duck, so I am hoping that means the babies hatched and are safely elsewhere. At least that is what I choose to believe. No sign of Mom, Dad or babies and no sign of any nefarious activity. K H is spending more time outside and he is a much happier boy.
Before he became "unsettled"
This move to Arlington has been very hard on K H, our 14-year-old cat. He wanders around the house not seeming to believe we have actually uprooted him from his backyard-hunting domain. We aren’t letting him out (in Bwd he was an indoor/outdoor cat) right now for several reasons, which will become clear as you read on.
But first a little background. KH has lived with us for about 11 years. He was living “on the streets” when we moved to the family lake property in Proctor from our 30+ years in El Paso. When we moved into the added-on-to trailer, we had an only-cat named Calvin who was pretty much the boss of his world. This black “alley” cat continued to come up to the Proctor house to pick fights w/ Calvin. Eventually the black cat invited himself into our house and into our family—who adopted whom? Unclear, but Calvin and KH co-existed and fought. When we bought a house in Brownwood, we had every intention of taking KH with us, but he didn’t know that, so he “stowed away” on the U-Haul we packed with our belongings. Not sure who was the most surprised, when the U-Haul was opened in Bwd and the cat flew out. For those of you who think his name is unusual, he was named for an airfreight company for which our son-in-law worked at the time. He was black (hawk) and a kitty, hence Kitty Hawk.
Calvin died several years ago and KH became an only-cat who didn’t have to share love and attention with another critter. He was notorious for his hunting. He brought us dead birds, live birds (yep, in the house), snakes, you name it. One time he brought us a bulldog puppy that he had cornered in our yard and terrorized until we rescued the poor little thing. KH has been known as a mean cat, he’ll bite, and scratch when he doesn’t get his way. I always chalked that trait up to his homeless roots. Not something he was doing intentionally just instinct.
When we began moving furniture out of the Bwd house, he became “different”. Maybe worried is the word. His favorite sitting places were vanishing and no one had asked his permission. We went away for 2-3 days at a time and left him to fend for himself. This was not unusual, he is a pretty independent sort of guy, but when we returned, we were scolded.
We were concerned how he would take the actual 3-hour drive to our new home. Five minutes in a car to visit the vet once a year sent him into a frenzy of crying—he is not a traveler. I consulted friends and each one suggested that we get a sedative from the vet for the trip. Sounded like a good idea to me, so I did.
The day came, we were sitting around in an absolutely empty house, not even a chair to sit on, waiting for the check for our house and then we would leave town. We had the blue Smart Car all set for KH with his basket (bed), food, water, litter box, etc. We got the call that the check was ready, gave the cat the pill (not really easy, but do-able). The pill was supposed to need an hour to take effect. When we returned from depositing the check, poor KH was drunk. Not funny drunk, but sad, pitiful, drunk. We immediately were afraid we had somehow “overdosed” him. He could hardly walk and his eyes looked weird and he was frightened.
We loaded him in the car, and drove the 3 hrs to Arlington. He moaned some, but was CALM, just as the vet’s asst said he would be. He never really went to sleep, but the trip was not nearly as difficult as it might have been---on all of us.
The sedative was supposed to last about 5 hrs, but 8 hrs later, he was still stumbling around. I don’t think he recovered completely until the middle of the next day.
The first day in our new house, we made an unusual discovery---a duck was sitting on her eggs (we think, we haven’t seen them) in some ground cover in our back yard. The house had been empty while it was for sale, and I’m sure the duck family figured that was a wonderful place to raise a family. We’re about a quarter of a mile from Arlington Lake. Now we have an additional problem. Other than keeping KH inside for a few days to get him acclimated to the new place, we have the nesting duck to consider. If he gets wind of the duck, he’ll consider her a challenge. Yes, ducks can be mean, especially nesting ducks, so I’m not sure whether I’m concerned about protecting the duck or the cat, or both.
We’ve been here for 5 days and KH has been allowed once into the backyard under our supervision, and he hasn’t discovered the duck. He just wanders around the house seemingly not knowing what to do with himself, since he doesn’t have any outside to explore.
I am hoping that when the ducklings have hatched, Mom duck will find a way to get them to water and will never come back, leaving the yard to K H.
Any suggestions?
Post Script----
May 29th-- we discovered duck egg shells scattered around and no momma duck, so I am hoping that means the babies hatched and are safely elsewhere. At least that is what I choose to believe. No sign of Mom, Dad or babies and no sign of any nefarious activity. K H is spending more time outside and he is a much happier boy.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
U-Hauls come in 3 sizes
Bwd house w/ boxes everywhere
We became very friendly with Bwd's U-Haul guy on Main Street. We rented the LARGE truck for our first load/move right after we signed papers on our Arlington house. We not only rented the truck, but Nick found three truck loaders who were young and strong and loaded EVERYTHING IN SIGHT. Yep, I went on the truck to get my box of underwear I had set aside for wearing during the move. They loaded everything not tied down. But they did lift, tote, and seemingly not even break a sweat while doing it. The trip was awkward with N driving the huge truck and me driving the loaded van. It wasn't hard, just long and tiring, knowing that when we arrived at Woodshire Drive, we'd have to unload. Our wonderful kids were there to help us unload much of the truck that evening. We had stopped by Stephenville to buy 2 mattress sets on the way, so we had a wonderful soft place to sleep. We finished unloading the truck the next day and and organized some of the items in boxes, so could take the boxes back to repack. Took the big truck to a nearby U-Haul place (a feed store that sells animals, feed, saddles, plants and of course rents big trucks and trailers.
For our second U-Haul trip, we rented a smaller truck and a car trailer for the yellow Smart Car. We loaded the trailer ourselves (altho' N did most of the loading). For this trip, w/ N driving the medium sized truck and pulling the yellow car on the trailer. I drove a very fully loaded van pulling our utility trailer loaded with lawn mower and yard things. Again, N and B were there to assist in the unloading of the medium sized truck and various trailers. This time the boxes were left in the garage for unpacking later.
Back to Brownwood for the absolutely final load.
That's another story for another day.
Packing, packing, packing
It seems like we spent weeks culling out, weeding, and disposing of unused, and unusable stuff. Why in the world we kept the stuff is beyond me, except it was probably laziness. Just not motivated to dispose of anything. For years we have been in a "we might need it, later" mode. I have been told recently by a long time friend, that she is moving from a 6000 sq. ft fully furnished house, so our challenge was no so great, even tho' our 2000 ft house contained memorabilia from 4 parents, at least 2 grandparents and our married life for the past 46 years, plus childhood memories from us both and our daughter.
At any rate, it was a little painful and very exhilarating to dispose of so much stuff. I would guess it was dumpster after dumpster load. I did keep ALL family pictures, even the ones from my mother’s past that I couldn’t identify (which is silly, but I kept them) I have 3 tubs of pictures. Visualize plastic WalMart tubs for storage. I have lots of pictures in NO PARTICULAR ORDER. I am guessing Nikki will deal with these someday—I’m pretty sure I won’t get around to organizing them . Perhaps I should at least identify them for future reference.
In the last post I mentioned auctioning antique furniture. One wonderful thing about that sort of furniture is that it has wonderful storage. Without the sideboard, or huge dresser, my stuff that was contained in it has no home (including my clothing). We are in the process now (in Arlington) of replacing the old furniture with something more suited to our lifestyle but obviously something with lots of storage.
I don’t know why, but we had saved some boxes from our move to Brownwood. We had told ourselves that we weren’t moving again, EVER. Don’t ever promise yourself anything like that, it will backfire. Anyway, we began with saved boxes and a church friend provided some more boxes from her husband’s business and N went on a tub buying spree. They are easier to carry, once they are packed, and we have them still for storage. We packed and packed and packed. At first we were organized and labeled and put like items in the same box, but as we got closer to the first U Haul date, we became less organized.
At any rate, it was a little painful and very exhilarating to dispose of so much stuff. I would guess it was dumpster after dumpster load. I did keep ALL family pictures, even the ones from my mother’s past that I couldn’t identify (which is silly, but I kept them) I have 3 tubs of pictures. Visualize plastic WalMart tubs for storage. I have lots of pictures in NO PARTICULAR ORDER. I am guessing Nikki will deal with these someday—I’m pretty sure I won’t get around to organizing them . Perhaps I should at least identify them for future reference.
In the last post I mentioned auctioning antique furniture. One wonderful thing about that sort of furniture is that it has wonderful storage. Without the sideboard, or huge dresser, my stuff that was contained in it has no home (including my clothing). We are in the process now (in Arlington) of replacing the old furniture with something more suited to our lifestyle but obviously something with lots of storage.
I don’t know why, but we had saved some boxes from our move to Brownwood. We had told ourselves that we weren’t moving again, EVER. Don’t ever promise yourself anything like that, it will backfire. Anyway, we began with saved boxes and a church friend provided some more boxes from her husband’s business and N went on a tub buying spree. They are easier to carry, once they are packed, and we have them still for storage. We packed and packed and packed. At first we were organized and labeled and put like items in the same box, but as we got closer to the first U Haul date, we became less organized.
Friday, May 21, 2010
Antiques Auction
We decided that we didn't want to move the huge family antique furniture again. It was moved from my grandmother's house in Alpine, Tx, to the house in Clint (El Paso area) then when we moved to the city, it was moved to a rental house before we bought our house on Vista Laguna, El Paso. It then went to Proctor with us before being moved to our house in Brownwood. Needless to say it has been moved and MOVED. Since my daughter really didn't want it, I thought it would be good to have it settled with someone/s who would love and appreciate it, hence the antiques auction.
I'm talking about a turn-of-the-century claw foot black lacquer dining room set with side board, china cabinet, serving table, table with 4 leaves and 8 chairs.
This was joined by another piece that is hard to describe--it had been in my mother's dining room forever. Very heavy, lots of beveled glass with drawers, and glass doors.
The bedroom furniture was equally massive with a chest of drawers almost as tall as I am, a large bedside table, a rather ordinary bed (except for the fact that it was made for a short lady--a cousin of my grandmother's- and was originally very short. The bed had been lengthened to fit a full size mattress before I got it, but the extensions were obvious on the frame) The unique and unusual part of the bedroom set was the dresser. In some rooms where it was housed, it dwarfed the entire room, in others--really large rooms-- it was right at home. The dresser was built in 4 parts, a base about 36 inches high with 4 drawers, a massive beveled oval mirror with two side mirrors attached, the 3rd and 4th parts were side cabinets which sat on the base on either side having the side mirrors on top of them. Sounds really complicated, but it was massive and elegant.
At any rate, these items were sold at an antique auction in Brownwood. I hope that whoever bought these pieces, will appreciate them and enjoy them as I did.
We decided to keep some of our easier-to-move antique furniture items. We kept my grandmother's treadle sewing machine,
a wind up victrola (which still works)
and 3 sets of lawyer stacks (bookshelves) which were in my grandfather's law office.
It is amazing how much STUFF we disposed of from our house, storage shed, and workshop either via auctions, giving things to friends, donating to Good Samaritan, or just TRASHING. Come on, who needs boxes of never opened floppy discs--antiques in their own right. We whittled and pared down our stuff before packing, so we could make this move lighter than our other times.
More later about U-Hauls and packing and packing and packing.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Do you need any stamps or a button sewn on?
Readers,
I was planning on describing THE MOVE chronologically, but I just can't resist slipping this event in out of order. I do plan to discuss the joys of U-haul trucks, driving 3 hours with a drunk cat, friendly neighbors, sadness at leaving Brownwood, and all sorts of other events, but---this is too good to forget.
We've been Arlington residents for a day and a half and we needed to mail a package. I looked up post offices in Arlington on Google. There was one on a street we are very familiar with -Green Oaks, so armed with the address and driving instructions, we headed out. We drove to the place where it should have been--and as N drove past it, I exclaimed "look there's a sign over there. " We had to circle around but got to a strip shopping area with the familiar blue and white eagle sign for the U.S. Post office. Turns out it was a corner of a dry cleaner business. The proprietor (a gentleman from India) came around the dry cleaner counter and waited on us. That side of the establishment looked just like a post office, with the foldable boxes, and stamp displays. He even asked us after he "processed" our package, if we needed any mailing supplies. After I paid for the shipping, he offered me a 10% coupon for dry cleaning. The most unusual post office I ever experienced. Wonder what my Grandmother, who was postmistress in Alpine forever, would have thought about this sort of incarnation of her post office.
I was planning on describing THE MOVE chronologically, but I just can't resist slipping this event in out of order. I do plan to discuss the joys of U-haul trucks, driving 3 hours with a drunk cat, friendly neighbors, sadness at leaving Brownwood, and all sorts of other events, but---this is too good to forget.
We've been Arlington residents for a day and a half and we needed to mail a package. I looked up post offices in Arlington on Google. There was one on a street we are very familiar with -Green Oaks, so armed with the address and driving instructions, we headed out. We drove to the place where it should have been--and as N drove past it, I exclaimed "look there's a sign over there. " We had to circle around but got to a strip shopping area with the familiar blue and white eagle sign for the U.S. Post office. Turns out it was a corner of a dry cleaner business. The proprietor (a gentleman from India) came around the dry cleaner counter and waited on us. That side of the establishment looked just like a post office, with the foldable boxes, and stamp displays. He even asked us after he "processed" our package, if we needed any mailing supplies. After I paid for the shipping, he offered me a 10% coupon for dry cleaning. The most unusual post office I ever experienced. Wonder what my Grandmother, who was postmistress in Alpine forever, would have thought about this sort of incarnation of her post office.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
The Big Adventure
For more than 2 years we have been encouraged to move closer to Arlington by "our kids" We have been cajoled and reminded and encouraged. And for the most part we ignored the requests cuz we had decided WE WEREN'T MOVING AGAIN.
Then came Lillian Elizabeth, our one and probably only grand daughter and our attitudes changed.
We "looked" a little in Weatherford, in '09 thinking the smaller city is closer to Arlington, but still not in "the big city". We got a realtor and spent a couple of afternoons looking at houses in our price range. We did learn one thing---Weatherford is NOT a small town and seems to have some huge infrastructure problems at the moment. In January we found an Arlington realtor and began looking there. We thought we'd have to give up, because nothing was what we wanted--size, price, condition.
Then we found the house. We put in a contract for $5,000 under asking price and were accepted. We had some negotiations concerning repairs and mineral rights that were resolved eventually.
We learned the house had been under more than one contract, but problems were not resolved with those earlier contracts. The owners are a young family raising funds to travel to Nicaragua to become missionaries. And they were very anxious to sell as quickly as possible.
When we had all the obstacles hurdled and the deal seemed to be going through, we began making plans to eventually sell our Brownwood house. We asked a nice neighbor who happens to be a realtor to come over and advise us how to make our house more "sell-able" . We discussed painting, redoing bathrooms, replacing an outside door and the garage doors (probably originals from the '60's). We talked to a handyman about the outside door and the garage doors were ordered. When he went to our financial advisor on a Tuesday to move some funds, Nick told him about our planned move and swore him to secrecy. We weren't telling anyone in Brownwood about our plans at that time, because we wanted to be SURE that things were going to happen. He happened to mention to Nick that he had friends who had been looking for a house in the Oak Park neighborhood for a year. Nick told our realtor to contact Ryan and the wheels were set in motion.
When I came home from tutoring on Thursday of that week, I was told that prospective buyers wanted to see the house at three thirty that day. We went into a frenzy of straightening and cleaning. We were as ready as possible by 3 and we left. We were told to be gone from the house at least an hour. We drove by at 4:30 and there were 3 cars there but all were gone by 5. We heard from our realtor that the buyer's fiancee wasn't able to get off work that Thurs and they would like to come back Saturday afternoon. (Remember all this is before the house was even "for sale" officially)
They came to look on Saturday afternoon and by 5 that afternoon we had a signed contract on the house. They also did not require that we paint, or do any of the little "prettying" things we were prepared to do. We had already ordered the garage door and had had scheduled the handyman to replace the shreaded outside door. Again, after an inspection we had some negotiations, but the contract holds.
More later---- THE CULLING AND WEEDING OF STUFF--THE AUCTION
Then came Lillian Elizabeth, our one and probably only grand daughter and our attitudes changed.
We "looked" a little in Weatherford, in '09 thinking the smaller city is closer to Arlington, but still not in "the big city". We got a realtor and spent a couple of afternoons looking at houses in our price range. We did learn one thing---Weatherford is NOT a small town and seems to have some huge infrastructure problems at the moment. In January we found an Arlington realtor and began looking there. We thought we'd have to give up, because nothing was what we wanted--size, price, condition.
Then we found the house. We put in a contract for $5,000 under asking price and were accepted. We had some negotiations concerning repairs and mineral rights that were resolved eventually.
We learned the house had been under more than one contract, but problems were not resolved with those earlier contracts. The owners are a young family raising funds to travel to Nicaragua to become missionaries. And they were very anxious to sell as quickly as possible.
When we had all the obstacles hurdled and the deal seemed to be going through, we began making plans to eventually sell our Brownwood house. We asked a nice neighbor who happens to be a realtor to come over and advise us how to make our house more "sell-able" . We discussed painting, redoing bathrooms, replacing an outside door and the garage doors (probably originals from the '60's). We talked to a handyman about the outside door and the garage doors were ordered. When he went to our financial advisor on a Tuesday to move some funds, Nick told him about our planned move and swore him to secrecy. We weren't telling anyone in Brownwood about our plans at that time, because we wanted to be SURE that things were going to happen. He happened to mention to Nick that he had friends who had been looking for a house in the Oak Park neighborhood for a year. Nick told our realtor to contact Ryan and the wheels were set in motion.
When I came home from tutoring on Thursday of that week, I was told that prospective buyers wanted to see the house at three thirty that day. We went into a frenzy of straightening and cleaning. We were as ready as possible by 3 and we left. We were told to be gone from the house at least an hour. We drove by at 4:30 and there were 3 cars there but all were gone by 5. We heard from our realtor that the buyer's fiancee wasn't able to get off work that Thurs and they would like to come back Saturday afternoon. (Remember all this is before the house was even "for sale" officially)
They came to look on Saturday afternoon and by 5 that afternoon we had a signed contract on the house. They also did not require that we paint, or do any of the little "prettying" things we were prepared to do. We had already ordered the garage door and had had scheduled the handyman to replace the shreaded outside door. Again, after an inspection we had some negotiations, but the contract holds.
More later---- THE CULLING AND WEEDING OF STUFF--THE AUCTION
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