Rainy Saturday

Park Butte last Thursday

I took this picture last week on our hike, but it sort of looks like the outdoors here in Bellingham this Saturday morning. When I went out earlier for the walk with the ladies, it hadn't started raining yet, but once it started, it kept up all through the hour-and-a-half walk. I was prepared with my new rain hat and a light raincoat, so it wasn't bad at all, although that's partly because it's warm and not windy. When that happens, it's pretty miserable to be wet. But we were all just fine, if a bit on the drippy side at the end.

Quite a project to move all that stuff

Our apartment neighbor to the south is moving out. There is a little pathway through her things (for us), and this has been going on for pretty much a week. She brings stuff out, packs it into her car and repeats the process again and again. I knew she was a bit of a pack rat and really doesn't like to throw anything away, but now it all needs to be moved. I'm so glad it's not me having to sort through all that stuff. It's important to her, though. I have commiserated with her plight, but I don't think she would be happy to have me help. Anyhow, I really will miss her, since she's quiet and has been a good neighbor.

I'm going to the movies with my friend Judy, and I just got a notice that it's time to get ready to leave. We're going to see Grandma with Lily Tomlin. See you later!
:-)

The hardest part is behind us

Saturday, old place to Monday, new place

We made it! That picture of me Saturday, with my wine in hand at the end of a long day and that blue heated neck warmer around my neck tell the story of how I was feeling. Oh, and don't forget to note the knee pads so I could scrub floors in relative comfort. The internet and cable are up and running, and everything had pretty much gotten back to "normal" by Monday. Sunday was the day that the two young men with strong backs helped to move everything into the new apartment. By the end of Sunday I was worn to a frazzle, and I still had to finish the vacuuming and floor scrubbing of the old place. However, it was all finished by noon on Monday, Labor Day, and we can get accustomed to the new place more slowly. We have a very nice view of Mt. Baker from our front porch.

We have had amazingly beautiful weather for this move, and Seattle is getting close to a record spell of days without any rain. The record is 51 days, and they are already up to 43 days with no rain in sight. We here in Bellingham had a bit of rain a couple of times during August, but Seattle has had nothing. The grass everywhere is dry and the garden is incredibly happy. Here's the view of the garden from my new back porch:

You can see that the grass outside the garden is all brown. I've watered my little plot almost every day, and it's paying off. I've harvested lots of zucchini and green beans, some collards and kale, and lots of tomatoes.

In this picture you can also see my apartment, the last one on the upper left. I haven't had any time to spend in the garden lately; it's in need of some tending, but I'm lucky just to get it watered regularly right now. I've fallen into bed very tired every night, but today I'm finally beginning to feel that I can begin to relax a little. I can understand why moving is considered to be one of the big stresses of life.

I threw out a portable TV that I brought with me from Colorado. I couldn't bear to let it go five years ago, but today I couldn't even give it away. Technology has changed so much in the past few years that an old TV with a tape player is totally useless. And it was such a treasure ten years ago!

That's the news from my corner of the world, and I look forward to my hike on Thursday and my life taking on some semblance of our new normal. Hope you had a relaxing Labor Day!
:-)

A day without internet

It's been a long time since I've used a rotary dial phone like this one. I've grown so accustomed to being constantly and completely connected all the time, without wires. My cellphone is only turned off when hiking in the wilderness where coverage is spotty or nonexistent. With the move I'm going through right now, I will be a day without internet access, although I will still have my cellphone, so I won't be completely without connection. Plus if I need a fix I can always go into town and use some free internet.

It's actually possible that it won't be as bad as I fear, but I'm not optimistic. The move will culminate tomorrow, September 2, so I made arrangements with Comcast to make the switch. When I woke this morning and went to get online and read my blogs, email, and news, I got a message that I needed to activate my new account. To do that, I needed my account number. However, as I learned after more than an hour on the phone with an agent, when you move (even if it's just around the corner), you create a new account. And that number had not yet been assigned! Okay, what happens now? I was able to finally get a representative who managed to reconnect my new account to this address, but who knows what will happen tomorrow? Sigh. I've got a tech coming by sometime in the morning, but it's not clear to me whether he will be forced to create yet ANOTHER account with a new number. In the meantime, I figured I'd better say hello, read my blogs and email while I still can. More to come... sometime.

I long for a normal life again, and although I know it's coming somewhere in the near future (at least I hope so), I can barely sleep I'm so tired. By the middle of next week I'm hoping that I will have finished finding things again. (Where did I put my cellphone charger?)
:-)