For three solid days, while the kid stays up north with
grandma, DH and I work on emptying out the garage. And work. And WORK.
The days start to blur together as we become begrimed with all sorts
of nastiness I'd really rather not think about until by the end of each
day we are coated with this guck mixed with our sweat. The fact that it's about 100 degrees just adds to the fun.
But progress is
being made, I swear it is. It must be, because the trash pile on the
patio is growing to monsterous size and the UHaul truck in the driveway
is slowly but surely filling up. Meanwhile, at the end of each day we
drag ourselves back to the Doubletree again, who once again are graceful
enough to ignore our bridge-troll-on-a-bad-day look and provide us with
hot food, hot water and a lovely soft bed. And wonderful, wonderful
cookies. The fact that every day we get up and realize we have to go BACK and work on the garage again is nearly enough to make strong men weep.
But
finally, on the third day, we realize halfway through the day that THIS
IS IT, we will finish this TODAY. In the early afternoon, even. It's
better than freakin' Disneyland. My husband has found a group of trash
hauling guys that appear with a truck and after bartering a bit, we all
agree on a price for them to take away all the trash. They get some
nifty cardboard and metal for recycling too, so it's a good deal for
them.
The chicken run is taken down and broken into it's component chunks to be loaded on the truck to go north.
The
garage is interesting, built in 1952 it harbors some odd little things.
If you look at this, you figure, 'Meh, garage workbench and wall.'
But if you look closer, you see the hidden slide-up doors!
In
between each stud is a slide-up door with a silver handle. When we
moved in, I found these about two weeks later by accident. Once I did, I
ran around the garage opening them and discovering long-forgotten 50's
treasures within. Old tools, tubes of grease...well, OK, the dead
dessicated mouse wasn't that hot, but he was the exception rather than
the rule.
More fun old stuff...
And fun newer stuff.
Our last night in southern California as official residents, we were treated to a decent sunset. It made a nice farewell.
The
next day hubby drove the UHaul while I drove the car, and we were off
on our second trip north. This time we hit some summer thunderstorms in
the higher passes, the rainstorms were short but furious. Just south
of Big Pine I saw this...a small brush fire.
It was right alongside the road. The various fire agencies were turned out in force.
Towards
evening it was raining in Bridgeport, where we had to join a group of
other cars being escorted by a pilot truck through a construction zone.
They took us onto the wrong side of the road because they were redoing
the shoulder on the other side, so there was nothing but about a 3 foot
ledge there.
Just after dark we finally got home and were able to relax.
