They’re Home And I’m Still Stuck

Posted on by Sarah A. Hoyt

Okay, the cats are still hiding. But I need to go home….

And I don’t think I’m going to make it this week.

I’m in too much pain to even try to post a guest post, I’m sorry. If I survive this, I’ll make it up to you.

156 thoughts on “They’re Home And I’m Still Stuck”

          2. Attention all planets of the Solar Federation!
            Attention all planets of the Solar Federation!
            Attention all planets of the Solar Federation!
            We have assumed control.
            We have assumed control.
            We have assumed control.

          3. Nuts. I tried to find a picture of the glowy Shadow eyes from Babylon 5, like the scene where Ivanova was scouting Z’ha’dum, but no dice.
            ———————————
            Susan Ivanova: “Get us the hell out of here!”

            Lennier: “Executing…” [confused look] “…getting-the-hell-out-of-here maneuver!”

  5. I’m solidly in the “say f it and just get the thing on the market” camp, being FULLY AWARE that you’ve sold more houses, more successfully, than I have.

      1. Which is why I point out that you have way more experience, a higher rate of success, and then there’s little details like FIRST HAND FAMILIARITY WITH THE SITUATION…..

        1. Evacuating from the CA Bay Area, we paid movers to move everything, we drove cross-country carrying whatever the movers wouldn’t move (e,g, flammables), and we paid our agent to repair, repaint, stage, list, and show the house. The house sold in a week and closed a month later. Yea! Today we pay taxes. Boo! Ouch, it was hard enough as it was to deal with everything. But we are out of California, and their non-recalled idiot governor.

            3. I like the part where when GN looked like he might get recalled, every media outlet in CA was running stories about election irregularity concerns, then when he didn’t, anyone concerned with election regularities was a full blown conspiracy nutter about to storm Sacramento with their “stop the steal” signs and their buffalo headdresses.

              Oh well, at least California doesn’t a white supremacist, black governor from South Central LA. That would really make the state unlivable.

              Sigh.

                1. I don’t think they stole the election (although evidence is that some chicanery went on.) Given the corruption of unions, Media, and state institutions any attempt at a steal seems quite unnecessary. They mobilized their base, flooded the state with ballots ripe for harvesting and outspent opponents by approximately 8:1 [ https://www.latimes.com/projects/california-recall-election-money-newsom-vs-jenner-cox/ ]. Actually stealing votes suggests the practice is reflexive and done merely to cover their intended future thefts.
                  ~

              2. One of the news stories I saw showed a picture of Newsom’s campaign workers celebrating that emphasized the black guys in a way that might make you think that a black guy beat a white guy, and not the other way around.

            4. In California an election “irregularity” means they inadvertently allowed an honest count of votes cast in some areas.
              ~

            5. The fix was in.

              Let’s face it. Democracy in America was on life-support for a good while but it died in Nov, 2020. We are not going to resurrect it by voting harder.

          2. We were renters, but otherwise our approach was much the same, and we’re very glad to be in Kansas. And all the more so now that our former fellow Californians have shown a persistent will to self-destruction.

          3. “Paying taxes”??? Are you not rolling it into the basis of your new home, or does your gain on sale in California exceed your basis in new home?

            Hmmm … that might be a factor in Californians’ tendency to overpay for houses in new locations.
            ~

            1. Used to be that the sale of CA homes was so great that excessive buying of property elsewhere (Oregon), allowed the CA to outbid locals. What happened to the 80 acre last 2 pieces of acreage family owned from Jesse Applegate’s homestead. Both bought by those moving from CA. First parcel, “the old McKirdy”/poison-oak-hill/Sheep-Hill section (don’t know acreage, mostly timber and rocks), sold late 60s. Then Great-Uncle’s place, mid-70’s, after he passed away. It was offered to Uncle, who at the time was running a sheep operation on a rented ranch. But 1) too small (?), and 2) too expensive. Even in mid-70s the property sold for way more than expected.

              Now? There is the $125k/person, over original purchase cost, onetime exception to take the tax burden in to account as people retire, downsize, and change areas; applies to everyone, not just retires, but that was the reasoning. But that phases out for higher taxable incomes. This discounts inherited property, that basis is the value at time inherited.

              Then you have people like mom or us. Mom’s basis is the $35k they paid in ’63. It is worth $335k. So she’d have to replace it either for $175 or more. But since the only reason she’s selling before we inherit, is because of her going into a nursing home, taxes will be owed on the entire $175k. Now if that was spent on medical, and her estate extinguished before tax was due, whomever can go pound sand. As far as our inheriting it, that is essentially the estate; well under even state inheritance tax level, let alone federal. Us, same boat, for about what we paid for the house in ’88. If we’re lucky, old house would sell high enough to pay for new house + moving costs. Moving costs would be well under the $250k exclusion.

              Not a lawyer, or in real estate, but this is how I understand the process. Do know property basis is what was originally paid for + improvements, NOT whatever the actual mortgage is being paid off.

              1. An honest state would index the basis on property held long-term,, but I am in grave doubt as to whether any state retains the claim to honest. Some are merely less dishonest than others, it seems.

                I acknowledge I was thinking in terms of Federal, not State, taxes. Foolish of me.
                ~

                1. index the basis

                  –
                  Do not know about other states, pretty sure Oregon doesn’t. BIL and his sister did not have their mother sell her house when she had to go into assisted living (financially she didn’t have to). Not that she’d approve it because she “was going home”. Not that she could approve it (dementia). But it made no sense for her to pay the capital gain taxes on it. Lake Oswego home purchased early 60s. Same problem mom has, only worse. House sold for $799k after she died. His folks paid $40k for it originally. Could have gotten more had they updated it. But that would have thrown them into Oregon estate taxes, eating some of the difference gained, not worth the little extra they’d get.

                1. That, I didn’t know. Dad died in 2009. That will make a difference for mom. Not that she’s selling. She really does not need to downsize. Single story, ~1400 sq ft. We’re not too far away. She has good neighbors.

                  This still wouldn’t have helped BIL mother, much. His dad died mid-’90s. Largest gain has been since then. Luckily it didn’t have to be sold to pay her assisted living care expenses. They kept someone living in the house to keep it both properly conditioned and overseen, without turning it officially into a rental (his youngest 3 daughters cycled through renting for nominal rent). House sold after his mom died, and youngest moved into an apartment she could afford. The older two moved out as they bought their own homes, next one in line moved in.

      2. First loss is usually the smallest loss. just sayin.

        How much upside is reasonable given the work you think you need to do?

        As for this making up, you owe us nothing it is we who owe you. How you might collect, I don’t know, but I do know where the debt is.

        Good luck.

        1. ^^^THIS^^^

          Lecture time, young lady. YOU owe ME nothing. If anything, it is the opposite. (BGE, we repay by buying the books (which I have), and writing reviews (which I have not nearly as much I should – attempting to correct this)).

          All that I would ask of Sarah – ask, as I cannot demand – is a daily “I’m alive.”

            1. Once it’s set up, it works pretty good. Just used it myself on Saturday (ordered the Scorpion series direct from Amie Gibbons to reduce her pile that the Con of Creeps left her with).

            2. Poorly and slowly, right now. Crazy delays on refunds, payments held as pending for hours or days with no explanation, etc.

      2. Sending an energy boost. Ought to perk you up for 5 to 10 minutes. Rosicrucian’s aren’t too clear about, speed, duration, or efficacity though.

  7. You can make it up to us by taking care of yourself and sticking around for a few more decades. 😀

  9. No need to apologize! Please take care of yourself and until you feel better we, your rabid readers, will find other sustenance to hold us over!

    1. >ahem< Speak for yourself; wallabies do not become rabid; that is a practice engaged in only by mammals, who are prone to poor hygiene and bad associates.
      ~

      1. Not a mammal??? I’m sure that Mrs RES would be fascinated to know she never had mammaries…..;-)

      2. >> “that is a practice engaged in only by mammals, who are prone to poor hygiene”

        [raised eyebrow]

        You really like giving me excuses to mention that wallabies can’t be housetrained, don’t you? 😛

        More seriously: glad to see you’re still okay, RES. How goes the quest for a decent keyboard?

        1. Wallabies disdain “housetraining” as a practice only fit for slave species. We can control our eliminations but … for the convenience of humans? We don’t think so.

          Laptop keyboard is increasingly crappy (really, KB? Only doing symbols if I first strike the number and then overwriting when I Shift/number?)

          I have managed to reengage the wireless keyboard, but its convenience is … meh.

          Still stuck with same old irregular fingers, however, so there’s a limit on what better keyboards can achieve.
          ~

    1. I think it only works when Dan does it….

      Hugs (careful ones). It’s the day of Our Lady of Sorrows/Pains, but I think it’s okay if you don’t take it so literally!

      1. Tuesday was the 700the anniversary of Dante’s death. If we updated his works, I wonder who Sarah would consign to which level of the Inferno?

        1. I have a little list….
          The Circle of Barratry would get more crowded. And the Bolge for the Corrupters of Language.
          I pray for ’em, but their ultimate fate is their choice.

      2. >> “Our Lady of Sorrows/Pains”

        Wait, we have our own Lady of Pain? As in, one of these?

        …Why haven’t we been USING her? It would make things so much easier!

  11. The body does learn to ignore even constant pain. Hand in there and, like me, you will overcome it!

  15. It is true Mrs. Hoyt is drawing down on the virtual relationship bank

    Since she has built it to Swiss vault capacity, I hope she will accept my sincere wishes for her to get rested, get well, and get out safe. I’ll still be here. I cannot, of course, speak for the other regular readers, but I’d be willing to gamble a tidy sum with anyone who wanted to bet against them.

  16. Adding my prayers (and careful virtual hugs) to the collective. Every little bit helps, don’t ya’know.

  20. Take care, Sarah!

    We did major renovations in our last house sale, but for the sake of 10 days, we didn’t refinish the living room & master bedroom floors. OTOH, it was the post-Dot-Com-Bomb (V1.0) bubble, so the house sold for something like 3X what I paid 17 years before.

    As it stands, we really needed the extra bit of time to move before winter set in. Two days after I did the last load from California, we had the first snowstorm of the fairly wet & snowy winter.

  22. Of course you’ll get through this. You don’t actually think they are going to let you off this easy, do you? (Words my dear Irish mother used to say, God rest her soul)

    Offer all the pain and suffering of this time up for a special intention that is close to your heart. One doesn’t have this sort of trial and tribulation for no reason. Even if it is only being grateful every day after this that you aren’t here doing this. Remember, you are a month farther along in this than you were last month!!

    And knowing you are safe in your new home will be payment enough I should think.

  26. Take care of yourself, try to get some sleep. We’ll be here when you get back, and like others have said, you don’t owe us anything. Many hugs.

  28. Take care of yourself. Also the white cat looks like he is hoping that when he opens his eyes everything will be back to normal.

  29. Call me crazy, but what legitimate whistleblower would find Bob Woodward, of all people, a credible person to approach?

    1. What sort of politically, um, challenged general brags about undermining his civilian boss?
      And what sort of President says he has total trust in the guy he knows is willing to undercut his boss?
      But you’re making sense. What can I say?

      2. A president who forgets the Australian Prime Minister’s name while announcing that we’re giving them the secrets to nuclear subs? That kind of President. “the guy from down under” indeed.

        1. He also forgot that we were supposed to working with the French & New Zealand governments on this …

          France fuming over Biden ‘backstab’ on US-UK-Aussie nuclear submarines pact
          France’s government is fuming over President Biden’s decision to exclude the NATO ally from a three-country security pact called AUKUS that will provide nuclear submarines to Australia, likening the snub to being stabbed in the back.

          French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told France Info radio, “It is really a stab in the back. We built a relationship of trust with Australia, and this trust was betrayed and I’m angry today, with a lot of bitterness, about this breach.”

          The AUKUS initiative includes the UK and aims to strengthen cooperation as China emerges as a strategic threat. It also affirms the US alliance with Australia after Biden snubbed the country’s prime minister during the recent Afghanistan troop pullout.

          “The American choice to exclude a European ally and partner such as France from a structuring partnership with Australia, at a time when we are facing unprecedented challenges in the Indo-Pacific region, whether in terms of our values or in terms of respect for multilateralism based on the rule of law, shows a lack of coherence that France can only note and regret,” the French embassy in DC said in a statement.[END EXCERPT]

          Sure glad America has rejoined the World Community.
          ~

      3. The old saw was “If you’re a mistress and you marry your paramour you know you you have issues because you just married a man KNOWN to cheat on his wife”. The same logic applies here, if you keep a general that will perform a coup what you have is a general that will perform a coup. At a Minimum Milley and EVERY general that was in the room when he told them NOT to listen to Trump should be given a BCD for violating every frickin’ security rule known to the Military. In truth there ought to be a bunch of courts martial and he and several other generals ought to dance to Danny Deever (pour encourager les autre) but that ain’t happening. Dear Author why, why not?

    2. An arrogant one.
      Who wants to brag.

      I was very skeptical.
      Until the Pentagon released a statement that managed to deny nothing.

      1. Point and point.

        My initial thought, ‘even if it is 100% true, who would go to Woodward if they aren’t pulling something?’

  30. Take care from me and the kitties as well! Don’t worry about us and if you need a kitty break I made sure to get another picture of C in all his adorableness up for the occasion in the usual spots!

        1. That’s something he’s very much aware of and exploits to the fullest, especially when he demands attention! Those claws and teeth aren’t so adorable when he play bites or gets into a play fight with Big Brother R on my arm, though! =P

  31. Please take care of yourself first. I’m sure you’ve weighed if the financial loss is too much to sell ‘as is’, but I do worry about the cost of this on you physically and mentally. Praying for you.

  33. Maybe time to post Americat here? I’m actually surprised no one’s put up either of the videos in the comments in one of the posts here.

    Here’s the Twitchy piece on it. Note that there are two videos from different angles. The second one’s a ways down the page.

    https://twitchy.com/dougp-3137/2021/09/11/americat-falling-cat-caught-in-american-flag-during-college-football-game-gets-simba-trending-video/?fbclid=IwAR3z4O2iK9D_ZIEqjuKlnvCMgQ_1ft2ehiScuKpchbxxwvSJOcwPSqLL63I

  34. There’s nothing to make up.

    Just let us know if there’s something we can do to help.
    Or to lift your spirits.
    We’re a bit worried about you.

  35. Conan the Barbarian, and everything Robert E. Howard that isn’t public domain, now belongs to a video game company, as of September 14.

    And honestly, that is probably for the best.

      1. I wonder what would happen if Tencent decided to relocate? They’ve got a *lot* of international holdings…

        They’d need to get the company leadership out of China, though.

        1. >> “Clonans”

          😐

          Y’know, clever bits of wordplay aren’t the ONLY reason to hang out in a community of mad writers, but I have to admit it does go in the “plus” column.

    2. Huh? Howard died in 1936. Life of the Author +75 (presuming it falls under modern copyright, due to reverting/posession of the author) As the Mouse has decreed yields 2011. If there are other Non-Howard Conan works they might be under the works for hire or fall under their authors copyright. One could Trademark Conan maybe (like certain Mice) and but unless they’ve been diligent about protecting the trademark it’s really to the folks with the most pitbull lawyer.

        1. And indeed you are correct. Originally it would have had 55 years from the publication(1909 law). This would have had it expire (if renewed at the 28 year date) in 1987. The 1976 act push it to author+75 years moving it to the date I came up with (2011), The Doubly damnable Sonny Bono act (apologies to our hostess) as sponsored by the House of Mouse pushes it to life + 95 so 2028 for Conan, Solomon Kane et alia. The only question is were the copyrights renewed in ~1950 at the 28th year, A 1992 act removed the renewal requirement, but anything that had gone into public domain at that point would remain so. As Howard died in 36 (and much of Conan was published before 1932) one wonders who held the copyrights. Often authors sold their stories rights and all to the magazine it would be published in. And many of those magazines disappeared in the run up to WWII and during the war. But probably as long as at least one Conan story WAS renewed the character is protected to the end of the copyright.

          One does not like to complain about the dead but Mr. Bono’s complicity in extending the copyright has stifled creativity that might otherwise exist.

            1. Yeah, I try to avoid discussing the matter, it tends to group up in the extremes of either “society should defend my claim on a story/character I came up with for all eternity because my ideals say so” up to “copyright shouldn’t exist.”

              This doesn’t play well with my view that copyright law is there to encourage story/thought/philosophy basically public conversation, so the only reason to spend the resources to HAVE the law is “encourage the population involved to make more cool stuff*, which requires building with the old stuff**, so balance those interests.”

              (Imagine Life Hacks being copyright protected for a moment; those definitely take work, don’t folks deserve to profit from them? Is Mickey Mouse really worth the same legal protection as a life-saving drug, but at the same time of such little value for future advancement he should be protected FOREVER?)

              This is difficult and complicated and it really sucks if you get into a good conversation because inside of ten metaphorical minutes someone comes through to scream and drag it all to nonsense.
              /sigh

              A poetic solution would be something like story-protection lasting a generation– because then you have the story someone told BECOMING the myths that the new writers build with.

              *which means that the work can’t be a waste, which means some sort of profit.
              **this connects to the issue with the ideal I mentioned at the start, where what the authors drawing on inspiration should be fair game because shut up.

              1. Foxfier as you’ve noted the purpose of Patent/Copyright is to make sure that a creator (be it a human or a corporation) gets some benefit from their creation BEFORE others mob it and take advantage/exploit of the idea or creation. What seems fair depends on your point of view. I work using a LOT of open/free software. There are those in that community (I’m Looking at YOU Richard Stallman) who are adamant (to the point of ranting) that software should be free. There are others that would license the heck out of everything ( Looking at you Mr Gates et alia) and want a permanent revenue stream. And software is just the tip of the iceberg…

                The old authors (e.g Shakespeare) stole stories from EVERYWHERE, things like Hamlet were oft told tales, the Bard just tweaked it and really upped the language. Modern FanFic really follows that example, but in general unless permitted by the copyright holder (and legal usage STRONGLY discourages that) the characters have to be seriously ancient. Barsoom, Oz(well the original stuff), and Sherlock Holmes only just went public Domain. The House of Mouse is just plain evil. Part of why they keep making live action of old animation is to keep the characters (in some form) in copyright. If there are 7 billion people on the earth there are 7 billion and 1 opinions (at least maybe more) of how to deal with this. Lets discuss something un controversial like politics religion or sexual proclivities 🙂 .

                1. *snickers*

                  You want really fun?

                  My girls are addicted to Disney Princesses…. yes, I do plan on using the irony of that huge mass of characters (protect my product, but not my inspiration) on them at some point. 😀

                  1. I’ll warn you that they may never grow out of that. My girls are in their mid 20’s and still love the assorted Disney Princesses. Of course they ALSO love Star Wars (the Mouse) and the MCU (also the Mouse).
                    I did try to addict them to Star Trek and B5, one loves B5, both tolerate ST although they prefer Next Generation and Voyager to TOS.

  36. Yesterday on the beach, Kanmusu Nathan Hale told me that the real problem with America today is that we should have never let women into the US Navy.

    “OK, Boomer” I responded.

    1. Women have been in the Navy for, what, 80 years or so? [search] Yup, July 21 1942. By 1945 there were almost 90,000 WAVEs in the US Navy. Unless your buddy is really, really old, he doesn’t remember a Navy without women.

      1. It’s a joke. It’s a terrible, terrible joke, son. A joke.

        Anyway, explaining it out right would prevent me from reusing it for the next few iterations, and I’m hoping to do that while things are crazy enough that I have nothing useful to say.

        So, Kancolle, and USS Nathan Hale.

          1. Had to look it up USS Nathan Hale was a Lafayette class SSBN originally fitted with Polaris later Poseidon . Commissioned 1963, decommissioned 1986 recycling complete 1994. Seems fitting that a
            sub built in Groton would be named after one of Connecticut’s most famous native sons.

        2. /sigh

          I actually went looking for a sub with that name, but of course a search for “Kanmasu Nathan Hale” doesn’t turn anything up…

          I’ve noted the joke in the past on an Azur Lane forum.

          1. Kanmusu

            Kan is for ship, musu for musume, girl. I’m guessing Azur Lane is not using Kancolle’s term.

            1. Azur Lane is made by a Chinese developer (though Japan has the single largest block of players), so no. The audio voices (and VAs) are all Japanese. But the original writers are all Chinese. So no portmanteau Japanese words in that game.

              Also, unlike KanCol, it has an official English translation (and English servers). 😛

      2. It’s perfectly possible to conclude from history that a certain change was for the worse, even if it happened before you were born.

        1. True.

          But once we adopt the conceit of a ship girl, we are not limited only to behaviors that are sane and reasonable.

        1. While I know the “gurlz was fighting” explanation is very popular, the actual cause was the same systematic understaffing that people in the Navy have been dealing with since at least 2004, with a shop that is supposed to have 20+ people having four, or an 8 man shop required for the ship to function having one tech and a chief from an unrelated field to supervise.

          That’s what the piss-bottles and food related stuff should have told people.

          Navigation is frequently undermanned; we had one guy who was the only one in his shop who could read one of their systems. Happened to be in the geek group. He regularly would not be allowed to leave his post for the entire time it took to go through anyplace that needed that system– not for food, not for the head. Some of those were over 24 hours.

          His department head, and the captains, and the fleet command on up, all had to sign off on this massive undermanning.

          But hey! Personnel had enough manning! And people got their ESWS board done or it ended their career (hope you can schedule it when you don’t have a work schedule), and wow-eee did a lot of the departments get awards for how their guys had done great getting education– can’t get promoted if you don’t do all that stuff in addition to your assigned duties.

          Not enough people to do stuff on top of your assigned duties?

          Well, clearly you’re not the go-getter the Navy needs.

          ::Decade or two passes:: Gosh, why do we have so many issues in manning for the places that we’ve consistently under-manned and actively worked to prevent retention and promotion in?

          1. Yeah, as with every other part of the Clinton and post Clinton Federal bureaucracies, it is a viable working hypothesis that the Navy is being run by our enemies. Some part of that is female Representatives and Senators pushing for promotion of female officers, etc., but there are bigger problems. One of those could be the Democrat Representatives and Senators deliberately nominating male /and/ female officer candidates of poor character, and exerting pressure later to ensure that, say, male officers who are sexually abusive are protected so long as they ‘pay’ Party interests for it. Of course, this is ignoring that the establishment GOP may have been willfully and knowingly colluding in contributing to these messes. The biggest thing may simply be that the delusional morons in the Legislature were able to push for senior leadership who told them what they wanted to hear, and who themselves may have been delusional morons.

            1. And the focus on frills, not on actual job of the Navy.

              I prepared our department’s records and got us a perfect score on an inspection; the guy whose job it was, didn’t do it, because he was getting a degree in Islamic studies.

              Guess who got an award, and who got marked down for lack of enrichment activities.

  37. Sarah, many hugs and encouraging thoughts! Hang in there – your cats and Dan need you.

    Even reading your experiences didn’t fully prepare me for the sheer drudgery of moving, and we aren’t trying to sell a house, just buying one. Our closing is about three weeks out, and I swear we have at least four weeks more of packing to do.

    As for getting a full-service company to do all the loading, driving, and unloading – I got a quote from one of the top companies. It was going well until I mentioned the 200+ boxes of books. And the 50-60 boxes of wood (what remains of the 150 I brought with me when I moved here 15 years ago), and the 60 or so 6ft-8ft boards, half of them cabinet-grade lumber. And then I started enumerating the woodturning machinery. I could almost see the nice gentleman shaking his head in disbelief on the other end of the phone line. 😉

    Needless to say, even with discounts the quote was so very far in excess of our budget that it makes hiring a couple of u-load-em-we-drive-em type trucks look like a real bargain. If I don’t dwell on the ‘u-load-em’ part. *sigh*

    With every box I pack I acquire more empathy for what you are going thru. I tell myself “If Sarah can do it, I can do it.” So I’m cheering for you!

    1. Sounds like you need to hire a couple of strapping high school or college guys at either end of the move to help with the “put box here” stuff. (I’ve done that, before my back decided to inform me that I had indeed inherited THAT little quirk, too.)

    2. In 2003 we were moving from Silicon Valley to Flyover County in Oregon. U-pack was in its infancy, but the idea was they’d drop off either a ConEx box or a trailer, we’d pack it, they’d drive it, and so on.

      The gotcha was that the only place I could find had a *minimum* 450 mile requirement. As it turns out, barring a ludicrous route, it came out to 426 miles. No sale.

      Due to timing, we put almost everything in the house in three storage units, with the shop stuff taking one. Only had 70 boxes of books, and I had sold the excess metal back to the surplus metals place and did multiple runs to the dump and Salvation Army’s thrift store. (They picked up the big pieces, but a lot of smaller stuff got donated.) We moved essentials in the pickup and tent trailer. The sporty Ford Focus got traded for a 4WD pickup, since the existing truck was 2WD and winters tend to be intense.

      I considered renting a truck for multiple trips, but sanity prevailed. Ended up doing three trips. Trip 1, I drove to San Jose and got the movers access to the household storage units. I used Mayflower, though in general, people tend not to be happy with movers. I liked the loading crew, but the unloaders rushed things. $SPOUSE told them they could *not* stash the couch vertically in the living room corner. Trips 2 and 3 were the shop unit. I took a train down, rented a Budget truck (with lift gate) for the bulk. Trip 3, I had a utility trailer and used that to move a lathe that wasn’t going to fit/behave on the truck. Also got a few things I couldn’t find in Flyover Falls.

      FWIW, the storage units were a great deal. They had a 90 day introductory price that was dirt cheap. We were completely done before 60 days had passed. Local trucks, we used U-haul (disliked them, though it was the company, not a franchise) and did a 2 week rental with Ryder. Would have considered them for the long move portion, but they didn’t have a drop-off terminal nearby. The closest one was 180 miles away. Nope. Budget had an operation at the Oregon airport, and I could get to the San Jose terminal walking from the hotel.

      1. $SPOUSE told me later that the Mayflower driver said he was willing to move the shop stuff, too. I had qualms about stuff not making it to the destination, plus fragility. Budget was a good alternative. Loading took a day, as did the drive and another full day to unload. Had to stop to get weighed, though I never saw the numbers. Hills were slooooooooow.

        1. Isn’t it fun?
          My last moving adventure was hopefully my LAST.
          My son was sick, wife was in fairly late stage of ALZ, and I was taking care of all needs of my grandson. It was all on me.
          Searched for and bought a house in new state, prepared old house for sale. Threw out and gave away a ton of stuff. Boxed and packed everything into U-Pack containers and used a big Penske rental for the things to drive.
          Oh yeah, arranged for trailer transport of 3 cars.
          Most people wind up experiencing at least one “move from hell” in their lifetime.
          I found U-Pack and Penske to be better than their competition.

    3. TXRed: I think we will be going with U-Pack. Son says they have referrals(?) to loading and unloading crews. We want bonded brawn.

      RCPete: My first thought was to use PODS for boxes, but they do not go where we are going. U-Pack does.

      My previous move down here (PNW to AZ) I went with Mayflower for everything but the wood. They did an excellent job with the shop machinery and metal cabinets, etc., as well as all the furniture, household goods, books and piano. And they placed all the furniture and all the shop equipment exactly where I had plotted it on my graph paper. Nothing was lost or broken. They were well worth the money.

      I used two PODS containers to move my wood, because I brought down three tons of it, starting with those 150 numbered boxes that weighed at least 35 pounds each. (For those who aren’t close friends with woodturners, suffice to say we collect wood the way bibliophiles collect books. And every twisty, curly, burly, quilted, spalted log and block is preciousssss!) I had the PODS delivered sequentially to a large climate-controlled storage locker I rented, which made it very easy to unload into neat stacks and rows I would walk thru to retrieve as needed.

      Now I am fifteen years older, and nothing has gotten lighter except my purse. *sigh*

      Ivehadit46: Yes, it IS fun, kinda. Packing is so much like putting 3-D jigsaw puzzles together, only with bigger, heavier pieces and no picture. At least my new shop accommodations will not be over 105º in the summer, or under 50º in the winter. Who knows, I might actually MAKE something from time to time. 😉

      Thanks for the replies! And the Like!

      1. The company we looked at wasn’t U-Pack (I thought the reference was generic…) and was the first I heard of that did the you-pack-it/we-ship-it business for residential moves. This was a few years before PODS hit the Left Coast market, and now even U-Haul is doing that.

        My shop (combined wood and metalworking) went from a 2 car garage with a small addition to a 1400 square foot barn, with a (now, barely accessible) 200 foot mezzanine above a workroom. It’s still jammed packed, due to one of Parkinson’s laws and my tendency to use any flat surface as a drop zone. The 200 gallon fire trailer also resides in there over winter.

        It’s insulated, sort of (R10 in the walls, R19 in the ceiling), and the kerosene-fueled primary heater keeps it warm enough to be above freezing. I have a night-light below the sensor to give me 38F instead of the nominal 50F from the controls. When I’m working in the winter, I’ll use the wood stove to get it warmer. I should have picked a bigger stove when I replaced the ancient Lopi, but it does insure that I’ll not need to cut any trees for firewood for any non-apocalyptic scenarios.

        Summertime, the ground level temps seldom exceed 80F, though the mezzanine gets pretty toasty. With my rebuilt knee, I’m trying to limit storage up there to things that are a) fairly light to get back down, b) don’t need to be accessed often, and c) can be left behind if circumstances require. My round-tuit project is to get the essential history books into the house, and to find space on the main floor for the technical books.

  39. On a different note, I did end up buying a LitterBot 3 for our cat. It’s been a huge success.

    The instructions say to run it on manual for a while son the cat can get used to it, so I was running it in the mornings and evenings.

    After about a week of this, one night I was up late and the cat was pestering me thoroughly, meowing down the hallway where his litter box is. I realized I hadn’t run the box yet. He had figured out running the box cleans the litter.

    Later, I’d been holding off going to full automatic mode, because I hadn’t figured out how to hook up the monitoring, when one day I forgot to set it back to manual. He was sitting on my desk when it started cycling. His head popped up when he heard the sound, then when dashing over to go see what it was doing. He had this whole, “Wait it does it on its own now? I *don’t* need the human?” reaction to it. It was hilarious.

    It’s been on auto since. It takes about a week to fill up, though it does tend to prefer to deposit on one side of its tray.

    The cat has been very happy having a clean litter box, and it has removed the box smell from that part of the house, and I just have to replace the bag on trash day.

    It’s so nice. Wish I’d gotten one years ago.

    1. I am soooo tempted. We’d need at least 2, at that would be emptying them biweekly, at least. Then too I cannot keep them where I have the boxes now (no plug). Have to insure dog cannot get into them.

  40. “If I survive this, I’ll make it up to you.”

    Cat pix are always sufficient in and of themselves – no need for making up although cats might dispute that.)
    ~

    1. Thankie Kindly, always great to be scene. Trying to avoid being obscene, but the current maladministration makes that difficult.

      Re-visiting Mr. Twain’s Connecticut Yankees via Audible after something like a half century and amused at the many things I was too callow to register during prior tours.
      ~

      1. Yeah I reread Connecticut Yankee a while back and realized there was a WHOLE lot going on there that had simply gone around my teenage self. There is a reason Twain/Clemens was a favorite of RAH. Of course being a person of pallor and maleness no one is forced to read Twain anymore, likely not even in American Lit classes.

        1. I ran into two girls, both “English” majors in a second hand bookshop where one was telling the other that she’d read Tom Sawyer and couldn’t figure out why Twain was still allowed in print. He used the “N” word, — mmmmm, we’re all back in kindergarten. She had trouble reading him.

          Couldn’t help myself, I pointed out that Tom Sawyer was second rate but Huck Finn wasn’t and how likely it is that future people will look back on our prejudices with the same horror we look back at those of Twain’s time, and that their prejudices might be like those existing in Twain’s time , “progress” being a myth. That was mocking the attitudes of his times completely escaped them. So by all means avoid Tom Sawyer and do read Huck Finn.

          I despair.

          1. I think that if you can’t deal with the fact that people in the past had different beliefs, attitudes, customs, and vocabularies than our time has, and study them dispassionately, then you have no scholarly vocation and should be ceremonially stripped of your Ph.D.

            Or as Bernard Shaw put it, in a passage that Heinlein quoted on the opening page of Glory Road, “He is a barbarian, and thinks the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature.”

            1. While I agree with you in principle, I feel compelled to point out that such a standard, if put into practice, would result in a severe shortage of Ph.Ds.

              I leave it for others to debate whether this would be a result to be eminently desired.
              ~

          3. A lighter (mostly) treatment of Huck Finn can be found in Roger Miller’s Big River musical. It’s been a long time since I’ve read the book (50+ years, likely) and 20+ years since I’ve seen the show, but I have the B’way cast album on CD. Vague memories say the musical is reasonably true to the book, and Roger Miller (“King of the Road”, “Dang Me”, and more) is a great songwriter.

        2. Eh, Yankee is always my go-to work for an example of a bad POV choice.

          You can not debunk chivalry from the point of view of a man who decided it was all bunk before he arrived at Camelot, because we have no confidence in his honesty in reportage.

          When my class read it, we mostly thought it was satirizing him, not the knights.

          1. In essence he is an unreliable narrator. It’s still a lot of fun and the wordplay and innuendo are also fun. It’s really part of the genetic ancestry of much of the sent back in time genre (Lest Darkness Fall, Islands in a Sea of Time, Ring of Fire etc.) Which I have always enjoyed

            1. Perhaps it is just the accountant in me, but I’ve particularly enjoyed the extended discourse over monetary matters, especially the role of purchasing power as measure of value. The argument for free trade over protectionism is a knee-slapper and is still disregarded today.

              Of course, Twain having learned his trade in the Colorado gold fields must have had direct experience with the phenomenon of inflation and the reality that you can’t eat, drink or wear gold – only that which gold buys in a sellers’ market.
              ~

  43. Is there anybody in the Diner who’s been trusted with the new location? And would they be willing to serve as a delivery point for housewarming gifts or small luxuries? Seems to me that our hostess is overdue for a bit of pampering, and LibertyCon is a long way away.

    Just thinking…

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