A Parlour for a Plague

Coming down to the wire.
Both houses are closing on Monday. I had thought my new one would close Tuesday, so this is bonus time for me, if I can get the keys right way.

Movers come Wed. So I'll have all day Tues to ferry back and forth bringing stuff over that are odd shaped, or that I just couldn't bother to pack. Last thing I'll do Tuesday is put the boys in cages, take them over there, and close off in laundry room with everything they need.
That way, no problems when movers are there.

I keep finding mother lodes of Kirks stuff. Today I tackled cabinets and drawers in the kitchen. Honestly, there were a lot of them I never really went into. I had an inkling he had them full of stuff.

I realize now how I just didn't see how big a problem this was, because he would keep a lot of it stored away.
But for instance, kitchen wise...
Every holiday season he would love to bake cakes and loaves for people. I never paid attention because it was his thing, and he was happy in the kitchen, humming away.
What never really hit me was that every year he was going out and buying gizmos and this and that. The same things he already had from previous years.
I really see the connection with his other hoarding behavior.
He loved containers/boxes etc.
I think this is why I didn't see it all, because it was boxes in boxes, all nested like Russian dolls.
So when I really dug into the cabinets, I found enough storage containers of all different kinds to take care of 5 families with kids.

See, this is where I get conflicted. Because they are all perfectly fine and usable. I would never use them because no need, but someone could.

However, during this entire process, I just have to keep telling myself, screw it, put it in the haul off pile.
I took so much bigger stuff to Habitat for Humanity early on.

Now, it's all these small things, and I just cannot deal with collecting them all and donating this stuff that some other person will buy for a quarter, and stick in their cabinets and never use either.

It's like the buck stops here.

I know I am putting in packing boxes some stuff I know I don't need or want, but I'm even tired of making these million little 1 second decisions. I'm all out of decision power for the next week.

When I get where I'm going, I can further purge little by slowly. As things go into the "get rid of" bins, I can just put them in the trash or recycle as I go along.

I feel such a visceral yearning to be in an empty place. Borderline monastic.

I really get that all out of deciding power time....also it takes time to be ready to get rid of some things.

Good luck with the move and all the legal stuff detailing neatly and on time.

Monastic here you come....eventually

I hate tchotchkes.

AKA dust collectors, pieces of crap that take up space.

It's like "why?"

Especially with cell phones, just take a picture of some item, and start a tchotchke album.


Oh! Needing time to get rid of some thing? Not 100% sure, but I believe I've gotten past that as I have selected some particular items of his that have meaning to me.
A couple of them I am going to have placed as a decoration. There's just those 2.
The other items, no more than another 5 or 6 can be stored in a box in a closet. Like I said, there's not going to be a shrine.

The bulk of the "stuff"? At this point it's more like I don't have the physical capacity to throw out these tons of tiny items. Things that mean nothing to me, but still hold this niggling power of "but it's useful" Well if I've never used it, it's gone.

Last year, my sister sold the house she had been in for what seemed like forever. She decided what she was keeping, asked her children (adults with their own places) if they were interested in anything.

The house was sold with the new owner already informed he was getting the "extras". Since his intent is/was to demolish the house it wouldn't make a difference to him.


As far as knick knacks go, I keep them until they bore me. Wrap some of them up and shove 'em on others as thoughtful gifts. A few of them I've just taken from the shelves or mantle and given to an interested visitor. Others I toss, a few used to be placed on a long brick wall around the corner. The wall started crumbling following a truck hitting it after incorrectly estimating the space when making a tight turn. The wall was removed and not replaced.

Ha. I like that idea of leaving something on the brick wall.

Oh yeah, there are places I could put something and it'd be gone in a minute.

Even as a child I wasn't interested in knick knacks and such.

Oh God. Giving (shoving) something on others as a gift. I could never do that.

A couple places I worked would do a secret santa thing, or a white elephant.

Oh great. Another opportunity get another piece kitsch or "thoughtful gift" Worse yet were people that would learn one thing about you, and by god, year after year you'd get something related to that.

This guy Frank who was a manager at another location was a really super guy. But somewhere along the line he learned that I had a couple cats.

You guessed it. Because obviously if you have a particular pet, you want all sorts of reminders around the house of that fact.
I mean, I know he meant well, and thought I'd really like them. But honestly? I think I put them in the trash as soon as I got home.

I am really ready to give up my worldly possessions without looking back. Except for things that are used regularly, and/or perform their function in a lovely fashion.

That said, I am looking foward to when I get my new furniture in Sept, and posting pictures.

Had best birthday whale watching boat trip at Victor Harbour!

To be honest, more of the fun was from the helms person using the large southern ocean swell today as a way of playing roller coaster with our delightfully speedy boat!

You have to stay 300 meters away from the whales, so we just saw a bit of blowing and breaching from the new baby calf, showing off her pectoral fins.

Then fur seals and sea lions.

How big was the boat?

That boat trip sounds wonderful! Wish I could have been there.

Very shallow bottomed, so it could go very close to the rocky islands the seals live on....sat about 20 people. I’m not sure how big that makes it.

Very fast!

Looked bloody small when it was approaching the pier.

We all had to wear blue rubber long things because there were delicious amounts of spray. We looked like chubby blue seals because the blue things went on over all your winter clothes.

Must make the seals and sea lions wonder what in hell we were.

Sadly the sea lions and the weeny fairy penguins are endangered....especially the fairy penguins. Apparently there were forty last year, but a fox got into their colony and they don’t know how many babies and adults made it.

This company

https://www.thebigduck.com.au/victor-harbor-whale-watching/

I think they only allow one operator so that the whales and other wildlife don’t get stressed.

The pictures are most likely taken from shore as the southern right whales can some in very close to the rocky coast. They can handle being in just 3 metres of water.

I went to the Great Australian Bight years ago and there’s a place on the cliffs there where the whales come so close in you feel as though you could touch them.

Very glad you got to make this trip. Glad that you got to see some whales. And especially glad that you had a good birthday.

You desoive it.

How’s everyone going? I know Chai is moving!

I’m pleased because I’ve got somewhere housewise. Amazing the effect of getting more storage space, cleaning out pantry and kitchen cupboards.

We’ve gone a step backwards covid wise...not in lockdown but back to more social restrictions

I guess Russia is involved in a big in vivo experiment of a vaccine! Let’s hope it’s safe and efficacious.

I’m trying to save money big time in this strange new world of low income retirement. Have to go shopping today....this will be a challenge! I need to save up to get car serviced and to see if I can pay a year’s health cover in one payment...

Also need to have money put aside for cats’ veterinary needs.

I am redoing my CV, which is annoying because it’s in my work computer. I didn’t get the chance to save it for here because of circumstances when I finished work. I’m hoping I may find it on a USB but they all got scattered when my house was packed by the fire insurance people. I just found one on the bedroom floor! Things were packed and some left in this bedroom after the fire.

By the time I adjust to the new world of low-income retirement, I'll be dead. I wish you better luck.

Glad the house is shaping up.

Remembering putting money aside for vet bills. Sigh.

Resurfacing briefly. Things happening.
Will comment later

The move took place on Tuesday, and it wasn't until an hour before they finished loading the truck that I knew I move into my new house.

Another ball dropped by Juanita, the agent for the people who bought my house.
She had neglected to get one person to sign off on the paperwork, the builder for the NYC couple.
And....he's in the hospital.

The day before the movers, (which was the day after the closing) they rushed a mobile notary to the hospital to have him sign, but were unable to meet the 3:30pm deadline for funds to transfer.

Those funds would be the money I was getting, so I had no money to pay for the house I had bought.
I wasn't stressed, it was just the incompetence of Juanita that was irritating.

So, since they missed the deadline, they had to aim for first thing in the morning. Amy, my agent, was rocking and rolling all over it at 8am.
The movers had showed up at 7:30. and it only took them 4 hours to get everything I was taking loaded.

The junk haulers the next day took another 4 hours. Mostly because of tools that were in sheds in the back yard, and heavy items in the house.

But, here I am. I haven't had a cup of tea yet, but I have drunk a lot of ice tea.

There was also a problem with switching over the internet. That was fixed by 8:30 this morning.

Around noon, the final delivery for a couple weeks arrived. My Purple Bed!

It is absolutely heavenly.

When is the housewarming party? Are you hiring a caterer or fixing the vittles yourself?


....should I wrap up the knick knacks and refrigerator magnets in festive paper?


Anyways, glad you got the move done with.

Oh wow.

Talk about down to the wire.

Glad you’re in.

weve had a series of minor and serious flash floods. Our Farm is on the high sides of piedmont hills but we have two small stream valleys that separate our place from the roads. We were kept on our place for several days in the last 3 weeks. I had to drive to a small Amish supply store in my tractor to get some chicken feed and ice cream. (Weve got our priorities set).

Oh Yes! One of the first things I noticied here is the distinct lack of things like this....



Anything you can send my way would be much appreciated.

Speaking of felines, Roland went missing the first day. I figured he was just hiding well. Then after a while I started second guessing myself as to if I wasn't paying attention every time I opened a door.

Then I heard him meowing in thin air. Eventually I found the source behind an empty cabinet at floor level. I could hear him in the dead space where the countertops meet in a corner.

But, there were no openings at all for him to have gotten into, and I checked in the walls in other room that joined that wall. Hell, I went over every square inch of the house, twice.

I texted Amy asking her to find out if she could ask the former owner if there were any openings in the wall into crawl spaces or (gasp) the outside.
He said not that he was aware of.

The meowing went on to yowling. I started looking for a hammer or something to bash a hole.
I walked a couple feet, and heard a made scrampling high up, and turned around to see him hauling himself out of the top of the TOP cabinets, about 10 feet from the ground.
Obviously there is an opening up there, and it drops to the floor.

I figured he'd learned his lesson, and that when I got my ladder from the old house I'd climb up and cover the hole.

Nope. Yesterday I heard him back there again.

I just thought, "screw you. do what you want"

But it is on my to do list to cover it.