life in the old lane

I had no idea that moving out of the last place I lived with Carlton would be so hard. I had no idea that the emotions that have been well under control for almost a year would come undone. We lived in lots of places. Four main places. But lots of NPS and/or other temporary places. Places that were “home”.”Home” was wherever we happened to be. Places where I cooked dinner, Carlton cleaned up, we made love, places where we lived out our lives. 

And now, I am tucking all those memories away. And, I am moving to a place where no one knows Carlton. A place where Carlton will just be a ring on my hand, pictures on my wall, a treasure in my heart and a void in my life. The Old Bat Cave will be where I live. But, it will not be home. Because Carlton made a place a home.

I have one more day here. Two more nights. I will be too busy to lapse into melancholia. I hope. ( and this time I am the cleaning crew!)

September 22, 2014 Happy September Equinox was very “normal”.

These two pictures are worth at least 500 words.  Guess who wanted to “make it legal”? And who said “it works don’t fix it”?

72 hours from now it will be over. I’ll be moved. And, if I get my act together here in the apartment – I might be out of the apartment when the moving van moves out. Then, I can spend all of Friday getting “settled in” the Old Bat Cave and not need to come back to check out. 

A potential problem??? The Holy Father will be in town on moving day. He isn’t coming to Virginia. He will stay in DC.  But, he is going to seriously disrupt traffic. Sort of like a snow storm. What if my moving van gets stuck? Well, I have people who will worry about that. Feel sure that once the van gets to the apartment – no problem getting it to the asylum – but, getting it here??? 

I loaded up the push cart with “stuff” and rolled the “stuff” down to the Goodwill. I could have left it for my people to deal with – but – taking the “stuff” to Goodwill – it reminds me that “stuff” is a burden that I don’t need at this stage of my life. And, I made 3 or 4 trips to the building dumpsters. I also checked with building management on the exit process, passed out tips to the building stuff. And scrubbed the tubs. (I plan to do what Carlton would do – the bathtubs are squeaky clean – I will not use them – I’ll use the showers in the gym.)

Cleaning the apartment reminds me of Park Service times – in September we would get the fridge down to zero food. AND, get our quarters clean enough for the Park Administrative Officer. Then we would pack our car and leave. Sort of what I am doing.

Thanks Laurent, I’ll keep iOS8 for another week or so…

September 21, 2014 Happy Birthday, Little Brother

 

 

Sixteen pieces of furniture tagged to go to Goodwill or the dump. And the outdoor furniture all is tagged to go bye-bye. I have another pile of small stuff ready for Goodwill. And, a couple of big ole trash bags ready for the dumpster. But the building dumpsters are overflowing. 

The kitchen looks like a hand grenade exploded. My bathtub “needs work”. 

I used the tools that I didn’t give away today. For the last 45 years the men in my life promised to replace the casters on a midcentury “hifi cabinet”. It is now used as a storage cabinet for photo albums and camera gear. This is a very heavy cabinet and it used to house the starter hubby’s McIntosh stereo gear. It is from Denmark. It’s casters were not up to the weight of the gear and the heat of DC summers without air conditioning. The casters sort of melted. They don’t go round and round any more. They are flat. 

At least 3 men (2 of them husbands) said “I’ll replace the casters for you.”.  Carlton too. Well, I didn’t replace them. But, I removed the flat ones. The cabinet looks a little strange – sitting flat on the floor. But, in the asylum – no one is going to notice. It took about an hour to get them off. I am going to sit it on a small fragment – that will protect the hardwood floor. 

I resisted the urge to put iOS 9 on my iPad today. I’ll do that next weekend. 

Note to Carlton: The ‘Skins finally won today. And, our favorite Saturday night TV diversion, “Sabado Gigante” had its last show yesterday – after 53 years.

Speaking of Carlton…
September 20, 2014 – It must be autumn – the new apples are here – proves that Carlton was no seer.

 

I captured the message on Carlton’s answering machine before I pitched it. I think that this little grief ritual is universal. Of course, most people have phone messages left by their loved ones. Not me – Carlton, saving his money, eschewed cell phones. 

It seemed like a good idea at the time – signing up for a 90 minute yoga class on Saturday morning. I walked to yoga. Did yoga. Continued on to the asylum. Ate lunch (and got a takeout order – since I am out of food at the apartment). Walked to the bus stop. Came home. Logged 5.38 miles on the fitbit and crashed. No moving activities today. (yet)

Had lunch with one of my neighbors – she is organizing a welcome to the neighborhood party for me. Next Saturday. She told me that she runs the thrift shop at “The Hermitage” – which I thought was a little funny. The Hermitage is an old folks asylum about a mile from my asylum, Goodwin House. My neighbor explained that The Hermitage is run by the Methodist Church and they don’t have as much money as the Episcopailians who our establishment. 

September 19, 2014 – Manhole Covers – a pretty normal day. Speaking of sandwiches – the brie and turkey sandwich that I brought home from the asylum was pretty good.

 

Sort of a low key day. No moving panic. Went to check out the Old Bat Cave after work. The floors are done. The countertops are installed. The appliances are waiting to be installed. No potty. That is kind of important. Guess they are trying to find a tiny toilet!

The closets are outfitted with plain old cheap wire shelves. Which is what I wanted. Yesterday, I decided that I didn’t want anything in my hall closet. But, it was already outfitted with a standard closet rod and wire shelf today. I’ll just make it work. Don’t want to be a huge pest. And, I did win my big battle – I got them to reverse the bathroom and closet doors so they open out not in. That makes a HUGE difference in the amount of space in the closet.

By this time next week – I’ll be completely out of my current apartment and will be totally ensconced in the asylum.

BTW: Asylum from the Apple Thesaurus

1. refuge, sanctuary, shelter, safety, protection, security, immunity; a safe haven.
2. psychiatric hospital, mental hospital, mental institution, mental asylum.
3. informal: madhouse, loony bin, funny farm, nuthouse, bughouse.
4. dated lunatic asylum.
5. archaic: bedlam.

From what I have seen the asylum is a lot like middle school. Cliques, “Special” tables in the cafeteria, Dress codes – formal and unwritten.

I think it will be important to – as Yogi Berra famously said “Observe at lot by watching”.

And, I’ll be happy to have internet back again.

More relaxed about the move today. Don’t know how long this will last.

Day before yesterday – my beloved Kona had a huge flood.

Yesterday – my beloved Kona had a tsunami alert – it didn’t happen

Today – in my beloved Kona – the USGS raised the volcano level from “normal” to “advisory”. This would be for Mauna Loa. It hasn’t done anything since the 1980’s.

For the first time in recorded history – the east coast seems better than the west side of the Island of Hawai’i.

My current apartment is being looked at tomorrow afternoon by prospective renters. I promised to round up the dust kangaroos and take out the trash.

September 17, 2014 Manhole Cover #2 I was working on accepting the necessity of moving to the asylum.

Moving: I packed a box today. And, took some stuff to the trash room. The fridge is almost bare. And, a week of now – I’ll be all moved in the new apartment.

Went to the asylum for lunch and a looksee. Lunch was fine and not much progress had been made in the Old Bat Cave. The shower was finished. The bathroom sink was in place. No potty yet. I am still amazed at how tiny the bathroom is. There isn’t even room for a waste basket. The bathroom vanity has a strange feature. It has a drawer that goes the entire (not very long) length of the vanity. This drawer is down at the bottom. Inches from the floor. Totally useless. It is too shallow to store anything and too inconvenient to use. Annoyance #1 – the tiny bathroom continues.

Came home. (the kitchen sink was fine – annoyance #3) Took a nap. Work up in TOTAL panic. The move is a week away. The Old Bat Cave is too small. Nothing is going to fit. I am going to hate it. The location sucks. Everyone who lives there is ancient. It is in Fairfax County. I hate it. 

Starbuck Grande Pike Place. Strawberry Cheesecake. Inhale. Exhale. Carry On. 

After the above therapy – It occurs to me that my totally useless bathroom drawer will be a fine – if inconvenient – junk and tool drawer. (That helps with annoyance #2 – only one kitchen drawer.)

Inhale, exhale, this will be over. I will like the Old Bat Cave. I will never have to clean a toilet again. My new neighborhood will provide new photo opportunities. I will have internet access again. (That will fix annoyance #4) It will be okay.

September 16, 2014 – Almost Done I was finishing up to paperwork so Carlton and I could apply for admission to the asylum. What a year this has been.

Got home from work and yoga at about 2PM to a sink full of water. Fortunately all the water was in the sink. Called down to the desk to remind them that I called them last night about the water problem. I was hungry – but lunch was a granola bar, a stick of cheese and some left over cantaloupe. Not satisfactory. But, soon … Mike arrives with his stopped up sink cart and went to work.

Mike didn’t need me hanging around watching him run the snake. (It is more like a dragon than a snake.) So, I walked down to The Container Store -where I spent some quality time scoping out solutions to my single drawer kitchen annoyance. By the time I got back it was quarter to six and Mike was gone. So was the water.

I will keep this in my mind – to remind me when I get to the Asylum that VA Sq was not perfect.

Speaking of the asylum on

September 15, 2014 Manhole Covers, 

I was bitching about having to move to the asylum – sometime in the “future”. Little did I know. Little did I know.

Went to check on progress at the old bat cave after work. A guy was tiling in the tiny bathroom. He said floors were going to happen on Wednesday or Thursday. The bathroom is TINY. tiny. That is annoyance #1. I’ll just think of it was a weight control device. I don’t want to get too fat to get in my bathroom!

The old bat kitchen has one drawer. My current kitchen has seven drawers. Every drawer is used. Rethinking is required! That would be annoyance #2

The kitchen sink in the current apartment is backing up. It has always had this problem. Why it has to do it when I only have 9 days left? Hopefully, it will not go critical before tomorrow morning. It is a good reminder that the place isn’t perfect. The potential sewage flood is annoyance #3.

Annoyance #4 – Verizon turned off my internet today.

All things considered – I have nothing to complain about – as long as the sink doesn’t get worse.

September 14, 2014 – Still not a wildlife photographer

Time to go figure out something for dinner that will not require running water… Starbucks anyone? Or the Korean Deli. Or maybe wander down the street for a nice bowl of pho. Or I could make my very own PB&Jelly sandwich. We’ll see.

Which just proves that a poor image, when post processed is still a poor image. But, I knew that. I just wanted it to work.

Did some moving stuff today. A little getting rid of, A little (very little) packing, some paperwork chores. Like moving the renters insurance etc.

And, it is out to dinner tonight – so, I’d best get off the okole and burn some calories. Why is that less than 2 weeks away for moving into an old ladies asylum – why is it that I am still concerned about my weight? I haven’t seen any old men there that I am in the least bit interested in seeing naked. And, I am sure they feel the same about me! But, I still care.

September 13, 2014 – Starting to think about Hawaii.. which is what I am going to do real soon now this year. Now that I passed my mammogram.

The nuclear cost assessment technique slides hit the trash can. I was in full “What would Betsy do” mode. Betsy being my lawyer who will have ZERO trouble trashing stuff after I am gone. So, I may as well do it myself. Carlton’s desk, AKA the Ark of the Covenant, is now completely empty and cleared off except for his desk lamp. My “people” will “do something” with it (both desk and lamp) His Viagra Clock – well, it might just have to go to the trash bin. Most guys would not consider it as amusing as Carlton did.

Clearing off the desk was my move related accomplishment. Oh and I made of list of things that I need to do.

Yesterday – late in the day I ordered some printer ink. Yepper – the ink cost more than the printer… before noon today – Amazon delivered it. Well, I started fussing at my Hospital… If Amazon can deliver ink in less than 24 hours what is so hard about getting me my mammogram results. They didn’t come in today’s snail mail. Were they waiting to call me with bad news on Monday? A serious case of “living in the wreckage of the future”…

Well, I happened to look at the SPAM tab of my Gmail – and what should I find – but an email from my Doctor’s office telling me that new “lab reports”  were added to my account. That email had arrived shortly after midnight. So, I check out the results. The mammogram is OK. And, the bone scan says my bones are better than the average 30 year old woman’s. Now I should be really happy with that news. And, I am… but you know me.. If some part of me is going to be way better than average – why can’t it be something that shows????

More good news. Verizon turned of Carlton’s phone service – but the Snail DSL still works.

It was cloudy and rainy all day.

September 12, 2014 Macro No Way. A pretty normal day – no signs of trouble ahead. I know where I found those interesting wasps in the top photo last year… maybe I’ll go look for them again tomorrow. Weather permitting.

Seems like one of the many republicans running for prez has pulled out. Gee, only 15 left.

Had the dreaded mammogram today. At 0730. I haven’t gotten the “we need to take another look…” phone call yet – it is 1730. If bad they call. If OK they snail mail.

I took an old friend to lunch – she needs a break – her partner is slipping off into dementia. And, I needed a break from me. We had a good time catching up. And, we checked out the Old Bat Cave. Kitchen was being installed. I am guessing the kitchen will be good to go by COB Tuesday. They have installed some outlets, switches, a thermostat etc. And – the shower floor is set. I noticed some nice and unexpected crown molding. Or maybe I just imagined crown molding.

So, the Old Bat Cave might be all fixed up in time to move in.

49 weeks ago today – I came home and found Carlton very dead.

September 11, 2014 Macro Day 11?  everything seemed to be “fine”.

September 11, 2001 – nothing was fine. We were in Alaska. And, the blog was very new. Optimized for low bandwidth, small screens, Firefox.