The Big Move

[Sharkey]

An update for those of you who are interested. I know that I have several friends who are keeping track of my "progress" via the forum.

Week-and-a-half later (August 26):

I'm going to leave out a lot of background, partly because I don't want to type that much text, and also because I get too uptight when I think about it. Suffice it to say that the buyer of my "old" property has decided that I have outlived my usefulness, and has turned into a grade AAA turd, and only wants me off the property ASAP, in spite of our prior agreements.

After nearly 22 months of stress involved with his building the huge ugly McMansion next door, the sale of my property, the search for new property and it's purchase, and now two weeks until moving day, my nerves have stopped stretching and I am under a doctor's care for stress-related health symptoms. I've never looked into a pill bottle for solutions to my problems, but after a series of panic attacks, I am now taking a popular prescription anti-anxiety drug in small doses and only as needed to allow me to continue to function in a more-or-less normal manner. Hopefully, I'll be able to cope better after the move is complete.

Another developing situation is that Prakash is coming up from Santa Cruz to assist me in the move and to spend five weeks working as a contractor on the much-needed remodel of my new house. Of course, this is going to add to the stress in the short term, but will serve to relieve one of the worst problems I've been anticipating, having a dirty house that even I don't want to go into. We should be able to get the worst of the grimy sheetrock and such torn out and replaced with new in that period of time.

So, I'll finish up with this photo I scanned this afternoon to use as desktop wallpaper. It's an image of my father on February 6th, 1956, taken outside some motel out in the desert between Los Angeles and Albuquerque, New Mexico. He was in the process of moving us to Albuquerque, where we lived for a little over a year before returning to L.A.



I'm amazed to think of the load he is hauling behind the old 1951 Chevy panel truck. That thing had a 235 cubic inch inline six cylinder gasoline engine and a three-speed transmission. It must have crawled up the mountain passes in first gear and flown like a rollercoaster on the downhill side. Dad's 37 years old in this photo. I wonder how he dealt with the stress of moving all that distance (twice)?

[Dennis The Bus Dweller]

Hi Sharkey

I just thought I would put my 2 cents in about your problem. If all else fails use the Dennis the bus dweller method. Be as nice as you can for as long as you can then when all else fails, unload on that jerk. Tell him to scratch his ass with a broken bottle and that your doing the best you can do and if that isn't good enough for him, well then thats just to dam bad. After the smoke clears you will feel much better then any pill in a bottle will do. Just a thought

[Sharkey]

Some update info:

Somehow, the description of Friday's trip over to the new property and the two trailer loads of stuff that I loaded, hauled, and unloaded got deleted from the above post. My friend and biodiesel business partner Thomas brought the company truck and a 16 foot flatbed trailer, which we loaded up to the tops of the side rails with lumber and materials from the yard here. Scaffold planks, 4x4 posts, 2x4 studs, redwood, cedar, etc. My own pickup and utility trailer was packed with the last of the firewood and the heavy, cast-iron clawfoot bathtub that I use as my solar heated hot tub.

We had to clean 10 or so bales of rotted hay out of the old shed down by the county road, then lay down pallets to stack the lumber off the dirt floor. It was an immense amount of work, and we finished right at dark, about 9 PM. As tired as we were, we had to drive the 80 miles back to town, almost hitting some Elk on the road right after getting under way.

Today, I took a day off, even though I couldn't afford it. I had been invited by a neighbor at the new place to attend a three-day party that much of the neighborhood participates in. Yesterday, I was too sore and wiped out from Friday's work to go, but wanted to at least show up so as to not snub the invitation.

Packed a lunch, and took highway 36 over to the coast, instead of highway 126. I know 126 like the back of my hand now, every turn, every pothole (literally). It's a commuter corridor and not somewhere to poke along enjoying the ride. Highway 36 was leisurely, I seldom drove over 45 MPH the whole way.

Ate lunch at Heceta Beach park, then threw down a blanket on the beach and took a very satisfying 45 minute nap. After waking I was annoyed to find that in spite of having a fresh pouch of tobacco, I didn't have any rolling papers, so I couldn't roll and smoke even a single cigarette (my first since Wednesday). Oh well, read a few articles from a 1989 Wooden Boat magazine that I had brought along, then packed up the blanket and headed up river to the party.

The party was pretty much wound down to a half-dozen guests or so when I arrived. I had to politely decline the offers of beer, wine, and whiskey, due to the medication I'm taking for stress, but accepted a soft drink. The host showed me "King Swing", a huge rope swing that he and some of the party organizers had built between two tall fir trees. The lines supporting the seat were attached near the top of two 100 foot trees, and the launch platform was on a big stump on the hillside. Jumping from the platform produced a fast ride out over a ravine, probably 80 feet in the air or more. I did give the swing a try from the lower launch position, but as I'm supposed to be working on being calm, I didn't see a benefit to getting my heart rate up on the high platform launch.

I may have wasted a day that I should have spent packing to move, but I'm hoping that a day off will be valuable in other ways. Yesterday, I didn't take the medication to see if I was still in need of it, perhaps the anxiety wouldn't return now that I'd had a couple of days break from it. I had a couple of uncomfortable moments, but nothing I couldn't cope with. This morning, I felt all tweaky and weird, so I took a dose. Right now, I feel fine (this mornings meds have long since worn off), so I'm going to keep the cork in the bottle until morning, which seems to be the worse time. I also picked up some herbal calming tablets, which I am going to try tonight to keep sleep time peaceful.

Man, will I ever be glad to see the end of this moving process!

[Stillphil]

Sharkey,
Sorry to hear about the stress! I've found buying a new place and moving to be really far up the scale of stress producing situations for myself. BUT, it will be over before too long. Better living through chemistry, eh? At least your drugs are legal! Wink.

Tell the jerk if he wants you out any faster, to loan you his crew and trucks and if that is not possible to remember your prior agreements or you'll put a hex on him and all his people. (grin).

As we say around here, "F--- him, the horse he rode in on, and the man he bought it from!!

Stillphil

[Sharkey]

Another day without the pharmaceuticals. The homeopathic herbal remedy seems to be keeping things in check for the time being.

In the morning, I dismantled my wood shed and got the materials ready to ship out. Afternoon, I had plans to begin disassembling my PV solar array, but ended up having coffee with an engineering associate who volunteered his time next week to take a couple of loads over to the new place, then spent a couple of hours talking with a close neighbor that I've known since moving into this area. Basically, I frittered away the afternoon. Not good for moving progress.

I did manage to make some calls regarding having the driveway graded, and set up a new account with the electric utility so that the power will not be disconnected before I move in. Remaining things to get accomplished are arranging for a cargo container to be delivered for storing household furniture during the remodel, finding out if the tires for the bus are ready to put on, and bugging the auto parts place about the clutch slave cylinder for the housetruck. Oh, and packing, lots of packing.

Thanks for the suggestions. I decided very early to tell the buyer to stuff it if he isn't happy with my progress. The worst he can do is continue to charge me $35/day for rent until I vacate. I want more than anything to be gone, but until it's a done deal, I'm here and he'll just have to deal with it. Of course, my rational mind recognizes all this, but my emotional self apparently still has some other ideas for the moment. I can't help thinking about people in New Orleans or Baghdad, and how much more serious their situations are, and wonder how on earth they are getting through it if a simple move across the county is enough to throw me off my track.

[Sharkey]

Continuing:

Things go up and down, yesterday was craptastic, I laid on the couch for two hours in the morning trying to come out of a bad feeling before giving up and getting out the medication. I'm working on training my mind to not jump around so much and dwell on all of the things I need to do but haven't gotten to yet. I have to remember to concentrate in real time on what is right in front of me and let the rest go, trusting that it will all work out. What is overwhelming my mind is trying to think through all of the next couple weeks of projects and labor. As you probably know, thinking about doing something always makes it seem more difficult than it really is. When you actually get around to doing it, it seems simple. That's what is wigging me out right now, too many seemingly difficult tasks all at once with a deadline attached.

Screw the deadline. There will probably be lots of stuff that is left unfinished by moving day. I'll probably end up loading the trucks with loose possessions and dumping it all at the other end like a load of rocks and sorting it out over there. It doesn't matter, once I'm out of here, there is no longer a time factor that I'm up against, and I can live with clutter and confusion for as long as it takes to put it all back into a logical order.

It was all so much easier when it was just me and the housetruck. Get tired of living in some place? Put the key in the ignition, give it a twist and be somewhere else. If I wasn't having to lug so many material possessions, I'd have nothing to worry about and already be enjoying my new, astoundingly quiet and private acreage.

Today was very productive in spite of my taking the lunch hour off to eat downtown at a quiet cafe with one of my engineer friends. The anxiety stayed in check without a pill.

The slave cylinder to get the clutch operational on the housetruck had come in at the auto parts distributor, but instead of putting in will call, which would have triggered a phone call to me telling me it had arrived, it got put into stock, so, no call. $47 and a couple of hours rolling in the dirt later, I now have a functional clutch. The clutch disk is not even stuck to the pressure plate or flywheel, like happens so often when the truck sits. I also have a brake pedal, although I may have to wait until the downhill side of Badger Mountain to find out if the bits out at the ends of the axles are still in good condition.

At the end of the day, I rolled back under the housetruck to inspect the gear lubricant level in the transmissions and rear axle. The main transmission was just barely low, the auxiliary transmission was dangerously low, and the rear end needed some as well. Rather than put it off, I changed clothes and went to the parts store and got two quarts of 85W-140 gear lube and a small delivery pump. I also did some clownin' on the gas station attendant when I drove in with the electric car and told him I wanted $30 worth of regular grade. Then I took the gas cans out of the back of the car. It's always easier to transport fuel to the housetruck instead of driving it to the gas station. Too much of a circus for a 20 gallon purchase.

Back at home, I filled the aux (almost a full quart), the main (a few ounces) and the rear axle (over a pint). It's taken five years for that much oil to leak out of the housings, so I'm not too worried about the low levels. I always check them and top up before a trip.

Tomorrow, I'll get the truck down off the blocks that support it at the frame to keep the weight off the springs and tires, and begin cleaning the cab and exterior. I need to fabricate the AMP connectors at each end of the cable that I pulled between the instrument panel and the rear bumper, so that I can use the Pusher for power assist on the trip over. I also need to get the walnut tree over the housetruck trimmed back so that I can drive out from under it (amazing how fast a thigh-sized branch can grow in and become an obstruction). The bus is pretty much ready to roll (once the new used tires are on), and the tree over the driveway is all trimmed up as of last evening.

Tomorrow, Prakash is driving up from Santa Cruz. I'll have live-in help when he arrives, should make the preparations and moving much faster.

Here's the Housetruck opening wide and saying "Ahhhhh". Think I have a little caked-on dirt to scrub off?

[Stillphil]

Very cool to see the housetruck with the abstract mountain painting on the box. We've seen it in so many other pics on the web and in books and mags and such. Old paint is gettin ready to trot again!

Stillphil

[Sharkey]

Say, does that gallon of brake fluid on the front remind you of anything, say, like, a housetruck-sized pill? Could it be that Mudflaps Massage Parlor is also having nervousness about moving? Down the hatch! [gulp]

[Wallfly]

I've known her for thirty-odd years; she's not trying to gulp that gallon in the picture. She's reaching for that strange plant in front of her that stirs happy memories of her youth in So. Cal. and her first years in Oregon!
She is eager for the trip to the Coast. The last part may be a challenge, but she's done rough terrain before. Just wash her face before she appears in public - she's old, but she's proud.

[Sharkey]

Ha ha, I know who Wallfly is, IP addresses never lie! About time I got you to post something.

Waiting up for Prakash to arrive. Today was the best day I've had in the last two weeks without medication. I feel like I now have my hand on the panic control, and have figured out which way to move it to avoid hitting the guard rails. Woke up this morning with the anxiety nagging at me after having a thought about moving my electric dehumidifier. Stupid. The damned dehumidifier will take about 30 seconds to throw on the truck and about as long to take off at the new place. Squelched the thought and the feeling right then. The rest of the day took care of itself.

Took the truck down off the blocks, put 20 gallons of gasoline in the right hand saddle tank and washed the cab exterior. Doesn't sound like much, but I did have lunch with an old friend and coffee in the afternoon with my engineer friend Tom. Both friends are volunteering their time next week to help with the move. Tom will be bringing a 12 foot enclosed trailer, which will be perfect for moving the furniture and audio/visual equipment from my home theatre.

Been having thoughts about the new place for the first time since my breakdown. I noticed that I had stopped thinking much about how the escape from this place will mean a whole new life without sirens, car alarms, rice cars with fart can mufflers and the McMansion next door's seven barking miniature schnauzers. Oh, sweet silence.

[Sharkey]

Oh God, what a screwed up day...

Prakash arrived Thursday night after what he decided was a very long and tiring drive. Yesterday, we unloaded about a half ton of tools from his pop-up camper, then removed the camper from the bed of his pickup truck, setting it up near the front of the Housetruck for his stay here at the old place before the big move over the coast range. Reloaded the tools back into the bed of the truck so that we could take them over to the new place and store them in the garage (which we would need to clean up, so we took the pressure washer along).

Here's an image of our "camp" at the old property. The picnic table is the social area and kitchen, cooking outside to beat the evening heat. We have WiFi, so the laptops are in use a lot.



Last night I received a message from my realtor telling me that the sellers had vacated the property Friday, removing all the vehicles and animals.

Had a nice leisurely drive over the mountains on highway 36 again, no traffic to speak of, and drove the gravel logging road over the ridge, coming into the valley where my new place is from the back way.

Prakash was very impressed with the land, and was doubly impressed with the large level area surrounding the house. He was less than impressed with all of the junk in the yard, in spite of all my warnings. His lack of impression turned to utter disgust when we went into the house. I won't go into it, but it was too much filth for him to absorb all at once.

We noticed that the sellers have been busy digging up nearly every shrub and plant from the landscaping in the yard. There was also an old pickup loaded with plants, fence posts that had been removed from the ground, and a utility trailer that I hadn't seen before.

Since the sellers are more moved out than ever, we decided to make a path through the cluttered carport so that we could remove the tools from the truck, so I began dismantling the fence fragments and old pallets that barricaded the carport entrance. Prakash wandered off to take some documenting photographs of the damage to the landscaping.

About this time a strange Suburban drove into the yard and disgorged some people I hadn't yet met. I greeted them and learned that they were the sellers son and daughter-in-law. About that time, the sellers arrived in a station wagon. I made some small talk with them, and was getting the lowdown from the old man on how they had wrecked their pickup truck last week when the trailer they were towing broke loose when the old lady came storming out of the house madder than a wet hen. She began barking about us having left the bathroom lights on and how she wasn't going to pay the bill on that, and was going to have the power disconnected on Tuesday. I tried to calm her down, reminding her that two overhead lights left on for a few minutes wouldn't use much electricity, and there was no reason to get upset, that we could work together to prevent misunderstandings. Then one of the two sons present came up to me, got right in my face and told me that I had no business anywhere near the house, that I was only allowed in the far part of the driveway, and that I could get the F**k out. NOW.

Prakash had already gotten into the drivers seat of the truck, as it was apparent that we didn't want to unload tools with them there. I didn't say anything, just dropped the rope that I was untying from the load into the bed of the truck, walked over to the passenger door, got in and said "let's go". We drove down the hill to the county road, where we stopped to tie the load down and I changed back into clean clothes.

The whole scene was very bizarre. These people have never shown any indication that there was any problem previously. Of course, there are still two high powered hunting rifles with sighting scopes behind the front door, ready to use, so we were more than happy to leave without a fuss.

Now my entire plan for next week is on hold, as I can't imagine that I would want to try and deliver any other of my possessions to the property until they are completely out and I have complete legal possession.

I'm also planning on contacting my realtor and find out the legalities of their removing the plants and fencing from the yard. As there were still vehicles on the property, I plan on telling the escrow company that the sellers have not completed the requirements of the $10k hold back that insures that all vehicles and animals are removed from the property. I am also contemplating legal action or dispute resolution due to the large amount of rubbish, including about 200 old tires, that is being left on the property.

If any of this had happened last week, I would have had a complete melt down. As it is, I just think "it figures" and that it's all part of the Master Plan, for whatever reason. I've been enjoying four days now of pretty much "normal" feeling without the medication or herbal calming tablets, so if this didn't make me blow a fuse, I must be back in the game.

Prakash is now resolved to make this pig's ear of a house into a silk purse, so the plan is evolving. Lots of purifying will ensue.

[etinhidesert]

Removing the plants and other "permament" fixtures from the property after the sale is like a car salesman removing the tires after you buy the car. I belive you do have legal recourse....

Stay cool,
Elden in Hesperia

[Sharkey]

A tiny update.

I've been running flat-out for days now, attempting to get ahead on the move. Yesterday and today, we took down the car shed behind the Crown, and have been working on getting the bus ready for the trip by stapling plastic on the inside walls to keep the insulation in place. Tomorrow, I have an appointment to have the eight used tires put on. First time I've driven the bus in 11 years, I'll have to learn how all over again.

The solar panels have been down for several days. It's weird to know that the electric meter is not spinning backwards, and my bill this month will be huge.

Prakash has been taking some pictures, but we've been to busy to take them off the camera, maybe in a few days I'll have something to post. I'm sure he will be snapping the shutter during tomorrow's move.

The sellers have surrendered possession as of yesterday. The real estate agents (mine and his) are pooh-poohing the plants, so I don't know how far that is going to go without me hiring a lawyer. I just don't have time to deal with it right now, so it'll probably just get swept under the rug. The main thing is that I can now get to the actual moving in part.

I've rented a 10'x10' storage garage two blocks from my old place, and much of my furniture, etc will be being stored here until the house at the other end is sanitized enough to accept it.

Moving forward with as much speed as I can muster. My mind is remaining strong, and I seem to be building some mighty muscles (!!!) from all the lifting and toting. In all, I think I'd rather be on a sunny beach having mixed drinks delivered on a tray by scantily-clad young women. Oh well, there's always time to collapse in October after Prakash goes back to Santa Cruz....

[Sharkey]

On and on and on....

Thursday, the Crown was supposed to go into the tire shop, but that got switched to Friday, so Prakash and I loaded up my pickup truck for a fast trip to the new property to start leaving our scent on the place. Stopped by the local Farm store for a 12' utility gate and a push broom, then drove out to the coast, arriving just in time to meet with one of the neighbors who was following us in on the forest service road that is the "back way in".

Put the gate up across the driveway, then went up to the house. I set to work removing the last of the rotten home-canned foods from the shelves in the garage, then used the wrecking bar to knock the shelves into splinters. Prakash spent some time hauling junk out of the back yard, then fired up the high pressure washer and cleaned the patio, gutters and siding on the east side of the house while I used a broom, and then a leaf blower to try and remove dirt from the garage floor. (It's next in line for the pressure washer)

We finished just at twilight, and I wandered away from the house a bit, out into the yard and after removing my dust respirator, was struck by the smell of dusk away from the city. I think I could get used to living in this place.

Prakash got his second wind after I changed back into clean clothes, and he went through the house, removing the last of the nasty crap that the previous owners had left, bags of garbage, old bedbug infested foam mattresses, raunchy wall-to-wall carpet scraps, diapers, bowls crusted with moldy food remains, etc. He wanted to get anything that smelled or harbored smells out of the house to see if it helped. The hide-a-bed couch was last, everything heaped outside the car port waiting for a dumpster to be loaded into.

Friday, I ordered a 30 yard drop box dumpster to be delivered. $130 transportation and $45 a ton to unload at the dump.

Today, Thomas came down with the SeQuential truck and 16' flatbed trailer. We loaded that to the tops of the side rails with more dimensional lumber from the demolition of the car shed and wood shed, and Rohn 25 radio tower sections that were the trusses in the car shed. We also loaded my big air compressor and the watertight enclosure that my solar power processing equipment and batteries live in. Prakash loaded his pickup with tools, ladders, the wheelbarrow, and concrete pier blocks from the car shed. I had my pickup with the pressure washer, a steel wardrobe cabinet that I use to store tools and a hand truck. My utility trailer was loaded with my washer and dryer, and some milk crates of car shed stuff that I use when working on my cars. Three loads in one day!

Just before we left the old property, my realtor called and said that the hillbillies had returned because the had "forgotten some things" and gone into their realtors office flaming mad after finding the locked gate at their old place. Their realtor reminded them that they had surrendered legal possession, and then contacted my realtor, who told them that I would call the County Sheriff and press charges for criminal trespass if they ever set foot on the property again (which is true). The stuff they had "forgotten" was a cheap nick-nack, some old Coke bottles, rusted antique tools from the old shed and three cut-in-half well water tanks that they used for planters. More likely, they thought that they could get another raid on the landscaping in before I noticed!

At any rate, we caravaned the three loads of stuff over to the coast. Prakash took the "short cut" while Thomas and I went the long way due to our pulling trailers behind our vehicles, which is a bit risky with the sharp dog leg turns on the forest service road.

Prakash arrived about 20 minutes before us, and found the seller's realtor waiting at the gate, there it see if he could get the items that the sellers wanted so that they'd settle down and go away. He was pleasant enough, and helped Prakash almost half fill the dumpster with rubbish before we arrived. I called him out behind the house after showing him all the holes left from the theft of the plants, but he wouldn't cop to anything. My realtor said that he had offered to pay for the first few dumpsters, and when I asked him about that, I didn't get a definite answer there either. I'll have the drop box company send him the bills and see if they get paid.

We unloaded the trucks, laboring until after dark, then drove back to the city.

Tomorrow, we'll do it all again, but try to get an earlier start so we can do some pressure washing in the garage so that the washer and dryer can be hoked up and used.

[Sharkey]

Oh, well, the days squash and blend into a indiscriminate mish-mash of the past. What happened which day?

Sunday, it was apparent that we wouldn't get the truck and trailer loaded in time to leave at a reasonable time, so we decided to make the trip over to the new place early on Monday. Early ended up being about 12:20 PM, so we arrived around 2:30 and began unloading.

This trip, I was driving the EV Rabbit and Pusher trailer, delivering them to the new property. The drive was fine, this was the first time I've had the homemade hybrid to the coast.

At the property, Prakash put on his respirator and got into a pressure washing frenzy after I removed the hot water heater from the garage floor. He washed the garage, carport (three times!) all the siding on the west side of the house and the eves and gutters. In all the pressure washer ran for about 5 hours this day.

Thomas and I unloaded the two pickups and tossed three toilets from around the yard into the dumpster, along with a mountain of other garbage.

The 16' flatbed trailer was loaded three feet deep with oak and alder flooring, cedar siding, dimensional lumber, posts, studs, etc. We didn't even begin unloading it until 5 PM or so, placing the materials under the cover of the wood shed until I can either use them or arrange more permanent storage for them so that they will be protected from the weather. When the trailer was about 80% unloaded, I "hit the wall" and fatigue slammed me hard. Thomas was bushed too, and Prakash, still buzzing from his pressure washing came over to lend a hand. I was unable to think clearly and was having trouble making the spacial relationships of the materials work in my head so that things could be stacked compactly. I kept dropping things, etc, so we decided to just throw the last of the materials on the ground and deal with them later. Just get unloaded and go back to the city and rest was the new plan.

Since I was leaving the EV and Pusher, I rode back with Thomas, bouncing around in the cab of the SeQuential truck. The seat backs were too uncomfortable to lay my head back and sleep, so I spent most of the hour and a half resting my head on my arm, elbow propped up on the arm rest, trying to sleep, but not fall over and crash into the glass. It was a weird trip, I'd open my eyes for a second and catch a glimpse of a road sign or approaching headlights streaking by and then try and nod out again. At one point, close to the end of our trip I sat up pretty much awake to see the nearly full moon hanging low on the horizon over some trees. The air was thick with the smell of hay and pollen, normal for the valley at this time of year.

Tuesday the Crown had to go into the shop for the power steering work, so it was off to bed and try to get some rest for the upcoming excitement there.