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8/19 Hi, Time is running out! The movers come between 8:30 and 9:30 in the morning! I think I am as ready as I know how to be. I packed box #260 tonight, and cannot really find another box worth of things to pack, which is good, as I am out of boxes. The shop is empty except for a bench, lathe, mill, and drill press. I have prepared these machines for shipment. The stone room is eerily empty. The movers will not take anything from there. The garage is nearly full again! the back half is stacked full of boxes and machines almost out to the stairs. I also have boxes stacked in the very front along my electronics shop wall. I have really been using a 3000 foot roll of saran wrap I got at Costco. All my tool boxes and cabinets with drawers are well wrapped with it. I also used it to bundle things like broom handles, garden tools, levels, dowels, and many more. I have a number of saran wrapped bundles of small tools and cutter bits. I still have almost half the roll left. I am very concerned how they will handle my heavy tools. Probably they will just put them on dollys and push with a lot more strength than I have. My sales contact says it is not a problem. I'll see tomorrow. Yesterday the buyers and their realtor came and did the final walkthrough - we passed with flying colors! I had just finished installing the solid core door into the stone room a couple days before, and that was my final inspection report requested repair. Steve (of Steve and Kathe, the buyers) is buying several items from me, and I am throwing in many, many more. Every time I ask if he would like something, or if I should remove it, he says he'll take it! That makes a lot of things easier. He is getting a "starter kit" of wood pieces, pipe pieces, nuts, bolts, screws, nails, drill bits, and a number of other things I either have an excess of, or feel he needs to start out. He is also getting a couple of shelves worth of paint thinner, lacquer thinner, acetone, etc. and spackle, patching plaster, etc. I am giving him some basic painting equipment also. I went through my garden tools and left more than I took! I just added a couple of shelving units to his list along with a 6 foot stepladder. He has bought my 24 foot extension ladder, and I thought adding the stepladder made a nice pair. I am taking a 16 foot extension ladder and a 6 foot stepladder. The only thing I could think of where the 24 foot ladder might come in handy would be to reach the roof of the motorhome garage at the peak, but I am now the same age Dad was when we forbade him to climb on the (much lower) roof of his house. (Of course, my 65 is MUCH younger than his 65 was!) We are really keeping our fingers crossed. Their realtor said "These things almost never close on schedule." She urged Steve and Kathe to get in by tomorrow at the latest to sign the loan papers, and to urge their buyers to do the same. They were already set to sign today, and would talk to their buyers today. Actually they are in much worse shape if it closes late than we are. They are all set to move in Saturday, the 24th, and their buyer has tenants moving into their place on the 27th. We just have to drive somewhere else when escrow closes! We are planning to take the truck to Deb's for a short while. We will then take the motorhome and Saturn to some friends' in Valley Center. Assuming all goes on schedule, we will then head to Prescott on Tuesday the 27th. We will probably stay a week to a week and a half, then head back without the Saturn, possibly visit the kids in Atascadero, then back to see Debbie and then HOME towing the truck. Hopefully we can carry all the things the movers are not taking on those two trips. I am fairly convinced that my spider bite relapse I told you about last time was caused by a second bite! Starting with the flair-up I have essentially been going through the whole cycle again. It is still moving around, but getting less severe. One of these days it should be gone. You can bet I am much more careful about where I stick my hand or head! I am constantly plagued by an itch somewhere, where I immediately swat it in case it is a spider. I think this thing is going to my head! The official countdown is: 0 to movers, 3 to escrow close. Talk to you soon, Dick
8/20 Hi,
Boy, does the place look empty now! They arrived a little before 8:30 this morning. It was the same crew that was here to empty the house exactly 3 months ago (May 20). They brought 4 vaults as that was the capacity of the truck. The sales guru had estimated 5 would be needed. The driver looked at my stuff and said he thought we could fit it into 4. We ended up just filling 3! I am sure part of this is that I sold several items to the buyers, and decided to take all my machine shop stock myself. I thought the lathe would be the nasty machine, but they used an upright dolly to lift one end, then slid a flat 4 wheel dolly under it. They did the same thing on the other end, then just rolled it out, down the steep driveway, up the gangplank to the open vault and reversed the dolly process to set it on the floor. Piece of cake! I thought the mill would be easier than the lathe. Wrong! First, it was a jig saw puzzle getting the motor, the table, and the other protruding parts through the two doors from the machine shop to the garage. Finally they put the mill on a flat 4 wheel dolly at a 45 degree angle. After one end of the table cleared the doorway, we cranked it to the other limit of its travel, and the second end cleared the door. We had to have the head turned 90 degrees sideways to make it under the top of the first door, but vertical to clear the sides of the second. They successfully manhandled it down the driveway and up the ramp to the truck. It really made it all so much harder that nothing is level in any direction, and that the mill is so top heavy! The driver said the mill was much heavier than the lathe. He estimated it at 1000 lbs. I had figured about 600. Their main problem was that they constantly needed something light to put on top. Nothing was light! Well almost nothing. We had 2 empty ice chests, and a whole bunch of plastic tote trays I got from the company. I had told them to use them only to fill any otherwise un-fillable space, or excess space in the last vault. They needed fillers for the first vault, so used all the trays. By 12:00 they pulled out with most of our remaining earthly possessions. I spent the afternoon cleaning the shop, patching the shop walls (holes and cracks), cleaning out the balance of the stone room (almost done), and working on the remaining things I had shoved to one corner of the garage. I hadn't realized how much junk was still in the area where I store my ladders under the house. I pulled out a huge pile of pipe, wood, metal, stucco powder left from the original construction, and junk in general. I now have a large pile on the driveway to go to the scrap yard tomorrow, after I empty the Salvation Army stuff from the truck. Trash is my big problem at the moment. Both our city barrels are over full, I have lined a couple of large trash barrels with construction trash bags, and they are both full. I will shop the neighborhood barrels Friday and add to the ones with room. If I cannot place all my bags by trash time, I plan to meet the truck and see if the driver would let me refill one of the barrels while he is here and dump it again. Failing that, Gene Michals has agreed to take the overflow. Usually I would just set a bag or two aside until next week, but there is no next week! We called the local trash company to see what our other options are. One is to rent a dumpster at $68 for the small one or $85 for the larger one. I don't think so. Another is to take a load to the transfer station. During the week it is $28 for up to 800 pounds. Saturday it is $18, and Sunday is $15. I guess they want you to avoid the weekdays when all the commercial traffic is there. Unfortunately, all I have left here is weekdays. Back to plan A. I quit early this evening, showered and took Betty out to dinner. We then went to Costco where my only purchase was one more pack of banker's boxes. I will pack steel, aluminum, and brass/copper odds and ends of metal in these to carry over myself. I also have some things I just felt I wanted to be accessible for the next several months. Tomorrow I will pull all the stock from behind the machine shop and sort it into "take" and "scrap" piles. I will then see if the take pile is within capacity. If not, I will reduce the quantity of what I take until it is in capacity. We will be pretty well loaded these first two trips HOME. That was more of an update than I started to do, so I'll quit now. See you soon, Dick
8/21 Hi,
There has been a delay in our buyers' condo sale. It seems they did not disclose a minor lawsuit between two other members of the HOA, and somehow involving the HOA, in another unit, that they (our buyers) had no knowledge of, or any reason to have knowledge of. The lender (Washington Mutual) stopped in it tracks when it heard (from somewhere) that there was litigation nearby. Supposedly the HOA lawyers were to have a full explanation of the situation ready for the lender this afternoon. If all goes well, we should close Tuesday morning - we'll see. That changes a lot of plans. It relives some pressure to finish up, but I am easily on track there. Keith's poor truck is really sagging from the load I have in it for the scrap yard in the morning. That is a 12 ton truck, isn't it Keith? This is the result of cleaning out the stock storage area behind my machine shop. I formed 4 piles as I pulled stuff out: Steel, Aluminum, Brass, and a huge pile I knew I did not want to keep. After loading the steel from the scrap pile, I sorted through the steel pile and decided to scrap about 80% of that. I'll do the aluminum tomorrow. It won't be nearly as hard on the truck. I'm keeping all the brass. I took what I think is my last load to Salvation Army this morning. They took everything except some very old wood (including the screw) table top clamps. I stopped by an antique store and sold them for $15. Thanks, SA! I now have everything cleaned out from its hiding places. There are still stacks on the floor, but under the house is clean, the stone room dirt areas are clean and raked, and the floors of all the downstairs are empty and clean, except for all the junk that is now piled, and the newly distributed dirt. You cannot win! In some ways, life is easier with the delay of the escrow. I can now easily (logistically speaking) see what happens with the trash Friday and take a truckload to the transfer station Saturday or Sunday for the cheaper rates. Then I can load the truck for travel. Betty has to make a bunch of calls now to change the cancellations that she has just finished making. I would like to keep our phone, electric, and Internet a little longer now. I just called our friends in Valley Center and cancelled our stay in their driveway, as we can now stay at home till escrow closes and leave directly from here. We had wanted to stay through the weekend, now that's a given. I'll keep you advised on our progress. I hope it has little effect on our actual move to Prescott. Talk to you soon, Dick
8/26 Hi, Well, we really don't know much more than last time. Escrow is still on hold waiting for resolution of the buyers' sale financing. The letter of explanation has made it to the lender, who supposedly has said they will fund the loan. Papers were supposed to be drawn today, but I have had no confirmation. The general feeling is that it will close sometime this week. Since all my toys are now in storage, and the house is totally cleaned out and ready to transfer, we are leaving anyway. Tomorrow we are heading to Prescott, taking 2 days to drive, arriving Wednesday. We will be in Point of Rocks campground on a weekly basis for a little over a week. We then head to Atascadero for a couple of days, then Escondido to see Deb, and to pick up the truck. A friend offered to keep the truck for me, so I am not leaving it at Deb's. We will then tow the truck back to Prescott, and all our vehicles will be there. There should be a monthly spot for us when we return to Prescott. It's been a busy week, emptying all the metal from behind my machine shop, taking most of it to the scrapyard, loading the truck with most of everything that was left, then doing a final cleaning of the shop, stone room, and garage. Tonight I loaded my bike rack and bike on the back of the Saturn, and my scooter and shop vac inside. There are several extra boxes of stuff tucked away in the motorhome, where I hope I can find them later. We had been invited to dinner Saturday night by the Johnsons, whose RV parking space we had originally been scheduled to use over the weekend. When I called to say we were staying here for the weekend, they said they would still like to have us over for dinner. After their not taking no for an answer, I said we would love to. We arrived at their beautiful home on a ridge with a fabulous view. They had a table set for six, and another couple showed up about as we did. About half an hour later, people started arriving in quantity. The entire group of the Ramblin' Recs, our church RV group was there! It turned out there were several other tables set up inside, where we had been carefully led so we would not see them. What a surprise! It was a wonderful evening! Yesterday in church Faith, our pastor, announced we are leaving, that we had been members since 1965, that I had "saved" them many times from computer disasters, etc. She then presented us with a beautiful inscribed wooden cross and flame. It was almost teary-eye time. Yesterday afternoon, we went to Balboa Park where the professional handbell choir Debbie plays with, the San Diego Harmony Ringers, was performing at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion. The Sunday concert was a combination of the handbells and the organ, separately and together. It was a marvelous performance! Tomorrow I need to finish packing several items, then we will be on our way! See you soon, Dick
8/27 Hi, Today has been a real roller-coaster! I started by calling the escrow company to see if our buyers' buyers' loan had been approved yet. What I heard really knocked me for a loop. She said she had not gotten any papers yet, and that was a very bad sign. The lawyers had still not agreed the loan was sound, even with several iterations of the letters from the HOA lawyers. She said the loan manager had not been successful in over-riding the lawyers. I asked about alternate financing and she said she tried to start that over a week ago, but that the condo buyers wanted Washington Mutual, and were willing to walk if that didn't work. It looked very likely that the whole package of the two sales was about to go up in smoke. About mid day, after a zillion phone calls, we decided to postpone our departure until tomorrow morning, as we had been told that the outcome should be decided today. Our buyer took the day off work and collared the HOA lawyers and the Wash. Mut. lawyers and had a meeting this afternoon. Also, I understand the loan manager for the condo escrow went to the problem branch of Wash. Mut. and told the branch manager to "Make it happen! If it doesn't happen today, you will get no more of my business!". Apparently he is a VERY good customer of WM. What really upsets me is that the lawsuit that is causing all the problems doesn't even involve the HOA! It is between two residents in another area! Why should that affect a totally non-involved party - our buyer? Bottom Line - about 3:00 I got a call from our agent - THE LOAN IS APPROVED !!!!!!!!!!!!. About the same time I got an email from our buyer saying the same thing. Tonight I got our cell phone from the car and there was a voice mail message on it (from 3:09). Our escrow officer had called to say the same thing! Three sources - maybe it's true! By now I was a basket case! I almost collapsed emotionally when I got the first call. It is just now sinking in - maybe the whole thing is not going to explode after all! We will still leave for Prescott early tomorrow. We had been going to split the trip, as 400 miles makes a long day, although we have always done it in one day. We can do it in one leg again, unless I get too tired, in which case we will arrive a day later. Its so tough being retired! Hopefully the next message will be that we have CASH in hand! Till later, Dick
8/30 Hi, After all the uncertainty of this week, the sometimes impossible sounding event has happened. Escrow has closed! We are now officially homeless. I received a cell phone call from our agent a little after 4 PM saying it was funded and they were waiting for confirmation of recording. About 3 minutes later I got a call from the escrow officer saying they had just received confirmation of recording. The new owners can now move in over the 3 day weekend. After the events of last Tuesday, where the whole package of both escrows looked like they were going to blow up, we delayed heading here to Prescott until Wednesday. Tuesday night we got the report that the loan on our buyers' condo had been approved. We slept much better that night than we would have otherwise. Wednesday morning we targeted leaving by about 7:00, and actually made it by 8. We could feel the extra load in the motorhome and car as we pulled the grades, but had a very uneventful trip, arriving at the campground a little before 5. Yesterday, Thursday, we seemed like we were going everywhere there was to go in town. We went to the Post Office, bank, a cellular dealer, looked (unsuccessfully) for the MVD (DMV for Californians), phone company (it turned out to be only the yellow page ad office) U-Haul, Radio Shack, and I'm sure other places I've already forgotten. I rented a 5 x 10 storage unit at U-Haul and left my bike, scooter, shop vac. and a couple other items I had in the Saturn. Today I took the items from the motorhome, including 3 very heavy boxes of metal for my shop. I was disappointed to find that several items I had planned to leave there, at least temporarily cannot be. That includes a couple cases of motor oil, and the spare tire from the motorhome, which I was going to leave just for our next trip to CA. (It takes about 1/3 of our storage bay.) Fortunately, Gene Wilkison has volunteered to store my oil for me. Thank you Gene! I will keep the tire with us, and just transfer less stuff from the truck to the motorhome before towing the truck here next trip. We now have to figure how to celebrate! On the other hand, maybe we'll hold off on the celebration until the wire transfer makes it into our bank! See you soon, Dick
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