Packrats and Moving

Across the street from Sarah and Teresa live Larry and Nita (whom I lovingly refer to as the "churchy lady"). They are a classic example of how NOT to move when you decide to relocate.

I guess they're moving to their daughter's place in another state, so they're moving it all on a full sized semi truck. It's the kind that's an open flatbed until you put the segmented tarp walls up. I saw the truck parked in front of their house when I dropped Sarah off from school on Wednesday, but didn't think much of it because there was no activity of any kind going on that suggested that it was there for that purpose.

Based on what I witnessed last night, it should have been parked there a week sooner. I got the impression that they just started their moving yesterday, when in reality it should have been started a year ago. It was a classic example of "too little, too late". There was nothing really even packed into boxes yet.

I used to think Teresa was a pack rat. Well, she is kind of a cross between a hoarder and a pack rat. These people however, could have written the book on pack rats. Their whole house was so full of stuff that there was just a small area in the living room that was usable. After being there last night, I saw that the rest of the upper floor was the same way. The master bedroom was totally packed. I only recently found out that they actually had a garage in the house! I mean I knew the space was there, but as long as I lived across the street from them had never seen it open, so I assumed it was a converted space or something. I guess I just never thought about it. It was packed. The house had a full basement too. You guessed it: Packed. The whole place was that way.

I took a look at the whole scenario when I first got there and was shocked. They are actually flying out this morning! It still amazes me that someone could wait until the last minute for a project that enormous.

There were people there helping when I got there of course, and I helped too. Nita herself was doing nothing except running around talking and telling stories about certain items that people wondered about. We only wanted to know if they were going on the truck, but she wanted us to know about them. Larry, on the other hand, was methodically going through piles and boxes, taking way too long. He would spend all this time going through a stack of books or something, then finally hand it to someone to put on the truck or into another pile. It was unbelievable. More people came and went as the evening wore on, but only a few people that came actually came to help pack. Thank goodness for them.

There were piles everywhere as the evening wore on. There was a pile in the back yard that was just empty cardboard and product boxes that were destined to be recycled. There was a pile in the front of the house that was destined for the people from St. Vincent to pick up. The whole garage evidently was eventually destined for the "junk man" whoever that is. ( That one kind of floored me, as there was lots of really good stuff in the garage.) A lot of the local helpers also had "piles" of their own set up in various places. Naturally, Teresa got a lot of good stuff (fortunately I talked her out of taking one of those giant military/Boeing surplus style light green metal desks).

I'd be lying if I said I didn't get anything myself, but all I got was 3 complete, like new antique Kaypro computers. These are old and collectible. I also got a huge pile of books and software related to them. All of it filled my car to the brim. Unlike stuff everyone else got, I plan on liquidating mine for a profit. After I play with them first of course. These are the brand of computers that we sold back in 1985 when I worked as an outside salesman for Enumclaw Computer Center (long gone now).

I finally had to leave at 8:30 last night and come home. I was wrung out. As a matter of fact, I'm going to take the Harley to work today because my car is so full of stuff. I didn't even have the energy to unload it last night.

My new cell phones from Virgin Mobile showed up at work right before quitting time. When I picked Sarah I knew that I would end up over there helping move, so before I took her home we stopped at my house and threw a bunch of beer into a cooler first. Sarah and I sat on the deck of her house for about an hour while I got her phone service switched and she transferred her contacts from phone to phone and stuff. I still haven't touched mine yet. She looked very pleased to get a new phone though. According to the guy on the phone, the $25 free air time that came with the phone was indeed there, and in addition, when I start my phone up as a new service and use her as a referral, she'll get an additional $20 added to her account. What a deal. It's a win-win for me, beings I'm the one paying her bill anyway.

By the time I got home last night, I was so tired and hungry... I nuked a couple burritos, wandered off to the shower, then hit the sack.

I have no idea how all this is going to play out for them. One of the gals that was helping had a professional interest as well--In addition to being a neighbor just up the street that we all knew, she was a real estate agent and would be handling the sale of their house. She just kept shaking her head when we would comment amongst ourselves from time to time. I guess I'll stop by again after work tonight and see how it's going.

Yep, too little... Too late...