Daily Archives: November 19, 2014

Colorado, The Move

Change of Narrative

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Samain                                                                          Closing Moon

IMAG0773In a month this story I’ve been writing since April will cease to be about moving and shift to the act of settling in to a new home. It’s a narrative we had originally planned to take two years and instead it will have taken only seven and a half months. The process picked up speed at its own pace, one decision seguing into another and that one into another until on October 31st, we bought a house and set a moving date.

I don’t know whether the speed is good or bad, probably neither, but I do know that once the decision was firm, the desire to execute it swiftly grew. At the same time we have wanted a measured pace, one that allowed us to pack easily, look for a new house without getting frantic and determine an actual day without angst.

We have, for the most part, succeeded in that. We have a Thanksgiving reservation at the Capital Grille for ourselves and Kate’s sister, Ann. This will be our last Thanksgiving here and we wanted a nice meal to remember it, but not one that required us to cook.

Finishing up our part of the packing before Thanksgiving has been my goal and I’ve decided that no matter where we are on Thanksgiving, that that’s where we’ll stop. After that A1 movers can complete the work. There won’t be much more. We’ve already contracted with them to pack up the garage, the tools and the kitchen. Whatever’s left will be minor. (We both will pack the stuff we need to use till then. Computers, sewing machine, that sort of thing, but the rest. A1.)

 

 

Colorado, Mountains, The Move

Leave the Viking in Minnesota. (seems right, eh?)

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Samain                                                                                    Closing Moon

Breakfast at Keys, then over to Sears Outlet to talk ourselves out of taking our Viking stove with us. Looked at Warner-Stellian for a bit, stoves like Thermador and Viking are tres expensive! Considering an induction cooktop and a wall mounted electric oven for Black Mountain Drive. The point is we decided to go for more flexibility in Colorado.

Back for an early nap. Then, more packing. I’m really close on the study, but packing the smaller stuff is harder than the books. Books I’ve packed so often that I understand them intuitively. Smaller things I have to think about some, make sure things are secure and don’t rattle around.

Mike the Fence guy called for the code for the garage door. Good idea, but I didn’t know it. So I contacted Ann Beck, the realtor. Turns out I never got the code because it was never activated. Don’t know where Mike’s going to store his concrete now. He’ll have to figure something else out.

Things feel chaotic, not out of control, but easy to tip over in that direction. Then, there’s the I can see the other side from here feeling and things tip back into balance, or as much balance as this part of the move allows.. Shadow Mountain looms closer and closer each day, becomes more tactile.

 

 

Colorado, Dogs, The Move

Dog Gone

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Samain                                                                          Closing Moon

IMAG0810This day a month from now we’ll be getting ready to collect the dogs from Armstrong Kennels, Kate in the rented cargo van and me in the Rav4. I’ll pick up Vega, Rigel and Kepler while Kate will take Gertie. We’ll drive together to Shorewood where I’ll pick up my co-driver, Tom Crane. Then it will be good-bye to Minnesota.

That thank you for visiting Minnesota sign at the border with Iowa will have a different IMAG0805signification for Kate and me. We’ve lived in the Twin Cities a similar amount of time, Kate coming in 1968 and me in 1971. So, ok, it was a long visit.

Don’t know why I’m writing about this except that the sense of abbreviation to our time here has begun to increase. It has become palpable, as if the future is pressing back against the present, calling us forward. As I wrote a day or so ago, the closest analogy seems to be the anticipation of Christmas for young children. Not so much in the sense of eagerness, though there is that element, but in the way a particular future day and its events can dominate a present moment.

Now even the small world between my desk and my bookcase, punctuated at one end with the computer and at the other by the gas heater, feels impermanent. I can see it stripped down, bare, then gone. That’s new.

More moving business today. Buy a new stove for the kitchen since we’ve decided to take our Viking with us. Take hazardous waste to a dump site. Perhaps deploy the bagster to clear some space in the garage.