We drove from Prince Frederick, MD to Mechanicsville, VA on Friday evening and got a hotel room near the Home Depot where we picked up our rental truck on Saturday morning. Tom and I were both excited to drive the big truck. It took us about an hour to drive to our storage unit in Tappahannock, VA. Daughter Kathy was there to visit and help us. The professional movers were half an hour late. We used that time to drag things out of the storage unit. I had bought and set up some moving boxes to pack the odds and ends we have thrown in there over the years.
The movers were two big strong men. We were in awe of all the boxes they could carry. It took about three and a half hours to load the truck and we were on our way south. We made it to Wilson, NC in time for dinner at Bill Ellis Barbecue. We spent the night at a motel along the interstate and reached the new house at sunset on Sunday, October 8. I backed the car off the tow dolly and Tom disconnected the dolly from the truck. We drove the car to the motorhome for a night’s sleep.
When we drove back to the house in the morning we could see that the Cranes had moved into 3737. Four of them were in the nook between the front door and the garage. They did not leave when Tom got close to take pictures or when Andy unlocked the front door.
Two movers arrived right on time. We had already begun unloading smaller items. We told them to put any boxes with Andy’s name on them in his office. Boxes labeled kitchen and dining room were self-explanatory. I led them to the spots where I wanted the furniture placed. Everything else (many, many boxes) went into the garage. They had the truck empty in two hours.
On Tuesday morning, we returned the rental truck and drove to Home Depot to buy ceiling fans. I had intended to do that later, but Tom kept mentioning them. On the advice of everyone who we talked to about fans, we got one for every room. Tom spent the rest of the day installing them. That guy really knows how to spend a vacation.
All I can say here is that it was a really nice house before the Misovecs moved in and trashed the place.
The family room furniture looks pretty good in the new family room. It held up fairly well in storage but is a bit dusty and slightly musty. The cushions were somewhat squashed by things piled on top of them, but I think they will survive. I’ll have them cleaned after the next load arrives so I can get it all done at once.
The kitchen table is a dilemma. I turned it ninety degrees to make room for the tall table in the background. I really love that marble top. I may turn the table forty-five degrees to see if that fits better. I love my kitchen table too. It’s where Daughter Jennifer did all her homework.
Tom was having a grand vacation installing ceiling fans. This one is in Andy’s office.
There were so many boxes and pictures in the dining room that I didn’t know how we would get the furniture in. Tom rearranged it later to make room for the table and china cabinet.
Wednesday, Tom installed the last two fans, this one is in the sewing room.
I have Gran Thorn’s settee in the parlor. Jane Moulton’s end tables flank it and Mrs. Evan’s coffee table is in front of it. Daughter Jennifer has laid claim to the settee. She’ll have to come pick it up to get it. It is a lovely piece of furniture, stuffed with down.
I put Mrs. Evans’ desk in the front corner and added the chair Mother Moulton gave me for my birthday years ago.
When we were unloading the storage unit, I almost unloaded this corner cabinet. It seemed too big for the small room. I did not care for it in the Moulton dining room but just love it in my parlor. I’m so glad I did not sell it to the antique dealer in Tappahannock.
Back to the kitchen. I decided I could not live without this marble-topped cart. It has to stay there.
Andy was having quite a time of opening boxes of books and papers. He found his masters and Ph.D. theses and diplomas. I put the rug from the boat salon on the floor, but he has not mentioned it.
No matter how many boxes I empty, there are still more. I am washing all the dishes, pots and pans, utensils, and, well, everything. It was all clean when I packed it up seventeen years ago but has accumulated a layer of dust since then. It must be the newspaper wrapping disintegrating.
This is the view going from the laundry room to the garage.
I discovered three men outside digging a ditch and laying cable from the street to our house.
This is what the garage looks like from outside.
Once the fans were installed, Tom and I assembled the trellis. He did most of it; I helped.
The trellis has had a storied life so far. Remember we followed the UPS truck to ask if he had a package for us? He told us he would not have delivered it if we had not stopped him because we did not have a house number at that time. Then, a week or so ago, I caught John McDaniels, the construction superintendent, carrying the trellis to the dumpster (just in time to stop him). He thought a contractor had left it in our driveway. Today, just as Tom finished putting the screws in the trellis, Andy noticed movement outside. I opened the door to find a man digging a hole for our temporary mailbox with a post-hole digger. I saw that he was driving an Earthscapes truck and asked him if he would dig two holes for my trellis. He said, “Sure”. We had the trellis installed in short order. I forgot to take my camera outside to take a picture so that will come another day.
Finally, Tom started acting like he was on vacation. We went to the pool for a few hours. Andy and Tom swam laps while I lounged in the resort pool and hot tub. Tom is a graceful swimmer; he went to college on a swimming scholarship.
After his swim, Tom did the lounge-in-the-sun thing for a while.
Today, we worked in the morning. Andy unpacked books, Tom flattened the cardboard boxes for recycling, I unpacked kitchen boxes and washed more dishes. Then we took Tom to Mellow Mushroom for a mighty fine pizza for lunch.
After lunch, we went back to the pool so Tom could act like he is on vacation some more. Andy does his laps with a mask and snorkel.
Tom was swimming with his sunglasses on.
We sat out back and watched the sunset over the 13th green.
Tom took a picture of us.
Dinata Misovec 
After all these years, it just now dawned on me: Andy is full of theses!
😉
Glad the move is going well. Gimme a holler when you’re passing through, I’d happily drive to Wilson to meet you for barbeque.
Jim
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It will be next Monday or Tuesday, depending on how the truck loading goes.
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Getting there. You are going to have to name those cranes
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Ha! I’ll have to give them all the same name because, as much as I have tried, I can’t tell one from the other.
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Congrats, you two. I am so excited for you. I get the vicarious pleasure of moving into a new house, but none of the work. 😀
Elinor
>
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Well, dear Elinor, you are welcome to stop in any time to unpack a few boxes!
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Oh wow! And I thought we were in a pickle! The house looks lovely though, and those Cranes! We have geese, ducks and swans. Swans, like cranes, mate for life. We haven’t seen the badger again though.
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Unpacking gives us something to do in our “settled down” phase of retirement. It will take Andy years to unpack his books; he begins to read each one he takes out of the box!
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Sadly when packing up the boat, the few books we’d kept from the Great Sort Out were reviewed and apart from about 5, given to charity. I borrowed a couple from the marina’s laundry room and just finished one which had a bit of a dead loss ending and the other is so dull and boring, I’ve given up. Time to go the library here I think as we joined shortly after our arrival.
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I found that many marina libraries were short on good literature. Maybe I should put some of mine in marinas. Andy’s books are all technical, related to his career. He does read a lot of pleasure-reading but doesn’t keep those books. I, on the other hand, hoard books.
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I used to, having all the Reacher books until Tom Cruise ruined the character for me. We had shelves of them in the cottage, but reading habits change I guess and I haven’t found anything to hold my attention recently.
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The movie, after a great read, is almost always a disappointment. The only one I can think of that I approved of was The Godfather and that was a long time ago. Granted, I haven’t seem many movies in a few years. Andy doesn’t like to go to movie theaters and we seldom watch television.
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Best film to the book imo was the four and a half hour version of Dances With Wolves.
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I have not read or seen, but I just ordered it to my Kindle. Then, I’ll watch the movie. Thanks.
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There were two versions of the film, one three hours and the other over four. The longer went back to the book, giving a better insight to the Indian way of life. Sadly it was only available as a video (unless they have it on two DVD discs now). I thoroughly enjoyed both, and bought the soundtrack too.
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I am looking forward to the day I have time to sit down and read rather than unpack boxes.
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Wow, I’m out of breath! Glad you’re in, but what a mountain of boxes you have to get through!
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We have waaaay too many books! I bet we could simply throw away a quarter of those boxes and never miss whatever is in them. I’m saying that if I unpack one box a day, I should be done in a year.
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😄 My mum is having a clear-out f her bungalow and can believe the stuff she has acquired in the 30 years she’s loved there, much of it she doesn’t remember buying and has never been used – guess where it’s all ending up?! Just as I finally got my kids to reclaim their stuff, it’s being replaced with Mumy 😄
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I have a lot of things from my mother’s house too. We also have duplicates – and triplicates of many things. We packed it all up when we sold the house. Then, when we lived on the boat, we bought more stuff. Then, when we moved into the motorhome there was not as much room, so we bought smaller versions. I too have opened some boxes today and found things I don’t remember. On the other hand, I opened a mysterious box labeled “baby linens”. I fell into a mother’s sentimental nostalgia when I found blankets and towels I used with my babies. I don’t know what I am going to do with them now. My daughter is done having babies and my son isn’t showing much chance of making me a grandmother again.
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*Mum’s
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WOW WOW WOW! Congratulations on all the progress you have already made moving in! (you must have had one whale of a storage space in Tappahannock!) From this distance, it looks like your furniture is going to go great with color scheme and unusually shaped living/dining spaces.
Maybe you could/should adopt Tom. He’s a keeper! Fans in every major room does sound like a good idea. That’s a beautiful trellis. Maybe you said…what are you going to grow on the trellis?
Oh!, those marvelous cranes. How endearing they are, moving into your landscaping, being so tame. They are probably after bugs and other crawly things, I guess. Am so jealous. Wish our resident ospreys and eagle would come walk around OUR yard! All we get are blackbirds. And turkey buzzards on the roof. Yuck.
Best wishes on the rest of the moving in project 🙂
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I should have taken a picture, but I forgot – again. The landscapers planted jasmine by the garage for the trellis. And, you are right about Tom. I was sorry to see him go!
I think the furniture looks pretty good in the family room. The white in it is creamy, rather than the bright white in the house, but I think it looks good enough for the likes of us.
Our storage unit was 10 x 20 and was packed to the gills.
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Wow, I love the desk, tables, so many other things! Moving sure does take time so glad Tom is helping. At first I thought maybe the cranes were statues, how gorgeous! Dont work too hard 🌸🌸
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Thank you, Lyn. I love them too and that is why I paid to have them stored rather than getting rid of everything when we sold the house in 2000. I could not afford to replace them. I have been fortunate; most of the furniture in the house right now was given to me (grandmother’s, mother’s, mother-in-law, father, son) over the years. I did buy the kitchen table from an Amish furniture store. And, the sideboard/serving cart sitting amongst the boxes in the dining room.
Aren’t the cranes great? They are so tame.
Too late on the “don’t work hard” advice. I’m beat!
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yes I am sure too late for that advice! Take care
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I forgot to mention, what a lovely couple!!!
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Thank you! We think we are good together.
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you are!
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