Moving is Hell

This week is crazy at work. The State Library is in the process of moving from one building to another, and let me tell you, moving a library is no fun. We didn't have to move the books, thank goodness, but that still left a lot of, well, stuff, for us to deal with. The actual moving process is almost complete; now comes the reorganization and the re-configuring. Sigh.

On the plus side, the new building (really an old one that was retrofitted) is nice and shiny. And my commute is about 5 minutes shorter each way.

Almost there...

Today after work we go to do our final walk-through of our house. Tomorrow is the closing. We are all, cats included, ready to be out of the apartment and into a house. As the day gets closer, the apartment seems to shrink, the walls closing in like the garbage compactor that almost gets Han, Leia and Luke in Star Wars. It is definitely getting more cluttered, as things come out to get packed, don't get packed and we lack the energy to put them away again, for just a couple of days. The cats just want to go outside. This is an interesting time of year for them, with all the bugs to watch and chase, and grass to eat, and they are stuck inside, with two crazy humans.

Pictures, as promised

OK, so I am a little late in getting any pictures up from Arkansas. Well, here are a few for you. The first is of our living room and kitchen area. I am standing near the front door, and the dining table is to my left, in front of two windows that look out onto the parking lot and a semi-empty grass field. The doorway visible in the background is the laundry room - my favorite room in the place! It would be yours too, if you had lived for the last 4 years without your own washer and drier! The bedrooms and bathrooms are through a hallway to the right, off screen.
This bookshelf is in the living room at the end of the couch. Creamsicle and Oliver take turns sitting on top of it. I have several other plants that would like that space, but I figure the cats need some options.
Here is Torreyson Library on the campus of UCA. It is a good example of the campus - lots of brick buildings, some big oak and locust trees, and some grass. Not bad, as far as campuses go. I think the school has done a good job of blending the older buildings in with the newer, and there aren't any egregious eyesores.

Sigh.

There are so many things you have to do when you move to a new town and state, and all of them end up rather complicated. Because we are going to be New York residents now, we have to get NY driver's licenses. This does not seem a particularly complicated task in and of itself, but we do have to show several things to the DMV to get it done, one of which is an out-of-state driver's license that shows the date it was issued. Easy enough, I think, and I take out my Texas license and look. Oops. It has the date it expires, but nothing about date issued. So, that means we have to get a "Driver's Record" letter from Texas with that information. Over to the Texas DPS web site, where I finally find the form to order the letter, but it doesn't say exactly what information will be included. I don't want to pay the $4.50 fee, get the letter, and then find out that it won't do the job. An email is sent to customer service, which they promise will be answered in 24 hours, unless it is answered in 48. Sigh.

We also have to register the car, which I think will not be a huge problem, but all the information on the web site is geared toward someone who is just buying a car. I am not buying a car and bringing it from out of state. I OWN my car. So I don't know if I have all the proper paperwork or not. And there is no DMV here in Brockport (see garbage pick-up below re services); we have to go to Greece or Rochester. Sigh.

Getting garbage pick-up is also complicated here in Brockport. The Village is not really big enough to have its own municipal facilities set up, so you have to contact a company yourself. But, they don't tell you which companies service the area. Luckily, today is garbage day, so I could see the trucks going up and down the street and then find their web site. But why is it so hard for someone to tell me who is available? And how much I should expect to pay? Another email that will be answered in 24 hours, unless it isn't. Sigh.

And I won't even go in to phone/cable/internet. It is as difficult here as it is anywhere, if you are trying to get a good deal. I know that getting the bundled package is theoretically a good deal, but I don't want caller ID, a billion channels, or unlimited long distance calling to Europe. I don't make that many phone calls, and don't get that many. I don't want to watch TV for 8 hours a day. I don't know anyone to call in Europe. Sigh.

But I have bread baking in the oven, and fresh bread can make most things right again... (Perhaps not so well as brownies, but I don't have enough chocolate for those, and I don't feel like going to the store at the moment.)

Trek part 3

Thanks to our persistence on Day two, day three was only about 8 1/2 hours of driving, and only 3 states. We arrived at our new home around 5 PM, and had time to go get a real dinner (although we did have to hunt for utensils and plates to eat it on) and get the bed set up. The first thing we noticed was that it wasn't hot. In fact, it was downright chilly - only about 70. Heck, it hasn't been that cold in Austin for months, even though it has been a "cool" summer. And that was at 5:30. By bed time, we had to drag out the comforter in order to stay warm. But I am not complaining - I'd rather put more clothes on to stay warm than have to take them off. I mean, you can only take off so many, and then even when you are unclothed, you are still hot...

The house is great. It is about the same square footage as our last apartment, but feels much bigger. I mean, there are windows on all sides of the house, not just the one that doesn't have neighbors attached. And speaking of neighbors, we have some, but they are not actually touching our walls. We have a great screened in porch (where I am at the moment), and a good sized backyard. The Erie Canal is at the end of the garden, and yes, we have seen a few boats go by. I saw a woodchuck in the yard this morning, strolling and munching his way across the lawn.

So, we are here, and almost settled. Cleo and Oliver have stopped hiding at every noise or movement, and are staking out their favorite places. We found the farmer's market on Sunday morning and got blueberries, peaches, apples, tomatoes, garlic, onions...

Here is a picture of our house, taken as we drove up for the first time:

Trek part 2

Day two of driving was not much fun, but then, I don't suppose any day where you spend 12 hours in a vehicle is. We drove from Benton to Blue Ash, Ohio (just north of Cincinnati), crossing through 4 states and changing time zones along the way. Arkansas, at least the western part, is quite pretty - lush and natural. Tennessee was my least favorite of the states that day, for a completely arbitrary set of reasons: too few rest stops, a nasty bathroom at one filling station, and the fact that I dropped my sunglasses into a toilet (unused, thank goodness). Seriously, there was about one rest stop per 100 miles, and not a lot of places to stop otherwise. Kentucky was physically pretty similar to Tennessee, at least the first half of it, but I liked it a whole lot better because they had a rest stop as soon as you crossed the border! They must know that Tennessee is lacking...

Somewhere along the way I decided that traveling with cats is a lot like traveling with small children. First there is the gear: You have the special seat (cat carrier), the special food, the diaper bag (litter box). Then there is the attitude: Cats, like small children, do not like being in the carrier, the car, the motel room. They whine and complain. They may throw a tantrum. If you are lucky, they sleep most of the way. If you are unlucky, they get carsick. Then, when released from the vehicle, they wake up and jump all over the bed while you are desperately trying to get some sleep.

Cleo is a seasoned traveler, having moved with us to Seattle and back to Texas a couple of summers ago. This does not mean that she likes traveling, just that she seems to know what to expect. Oliver, on the other hand, has never traveled and never lived anywhere but in our one apartment. He quickly discovered that traveling is not fun. Cleo knew that if she protested enough, we would let her out of the carrier to sit on our laps and explore the truck. Last time we moved, she spent most of the time watching semis go by from the back window of the car. In a truck, there are far fewer places for her to go. Day one she spent a bunch of time under the passenger seat. But by day two this was already boring, and she mostly wanted to sit with Benjamin, while he was trying to drive, or on the dashboard. This was not allowed, which made her cranky. She would eventually give up and fall asleep in the carrier, only to reawaken if we went over bumpy roads. Sigh. Oliver spent most of his time looking shocked at his temporary incarceration, although he did relax enough to take a bath on the last day. He wasn't allowed out to explore, partially because it was difficult to open his cage in the truck, and partially because we weren't sure we'd be able to get him back in again. They both had to be dragged from under the bed each morning to be reinserted into their carriers. Sigh.

Trek from Texas, part 1

The trek started on Wednesday, with the Loading of the Truck and Cleaning of the Apartment. In these two activities we had some very welcome help - an enormous, thanks to Ian, Woo Young and Louise who schlepped and cleaned far beyond the call of duty or friendship. We wouldn't have been able to get everything done so easily or quickly without their help. I am sure Ian was glad that we were only up one flight of stairs this time, rather than on the third floor with a spiral staircase as we were last time he helped us move - especially when it came to the couch!

It turned out we had been very lucky with the weather on Loading Day, because Moving Day dawned in a deluge, thanks to Tropical Storm Erin. Benjamin got drenched running the last few loads out to the truck and hooking up the tow dolly for our car. Meanwhile, in the apartment, I was busy doing the last cleaning tasks. Note 1: If you plan to make snacks, like carrot sticks, for the road, it is good idea to leave a knife and/or vegetable peeler out until you have done so. Note 2: When moving, make sure you leave the cleaning supplies out until the very end. It is much easier to clean when you have the right sponge, brush, and cleanser for the task. Note 3: when planning to make a three-day, cross-country drive in a moving truck, try not to strain your back. I foolishly forgot that note, and ended up with back spasms after scrubbing the grout in the shower. Oops.

Despite the rain, back spasms, and general moving confusion, we managed to get the cats into their carriers and us into the truck and on the road by 10:30. Later than we wanted, but at least in one piece. We made it to Benton, Arkansas on Day 1. Here is the truck at a rest stop somewhere in East Texas:

A blog begins...

I have been thinking about starting a blog for a while now, but graduate school, work, tai chi practice, dog walking, bassooning and general overscheduling kept me from it. This past weekend, however, Benjamin and I moved from Austin, Texas, where we had been for the past six years, to Brockport, New York. As a result, I am currently unscheduled and have time to get blogging. Also, when we were saying goodbye to all our friends in Austin I promised so many people that I would start a blog that I kind of have to now.
The plan is to write about what Benjamin and I are doing up here, as we reacquaint ourselves with the four seasons (Winter? Snow? You mean summer isn't 10 months long everywhere?!) and as we explore our new territory.There will be no knitting stories, since I don't knit (sorry Bonny Anne and Jennifer), but there may be tai chi, bassooning, and cats (and a dog if I manage to get one at last). There will be pictures, assuming I remember to take the camera when we go on our jaunts...
So, check back soon for the tale of our trek from Austin to Brockport, 1600 miles through seven states in three days with two cats and a 15' truck.