Sheep Guarding Llama

Today was supposed to be our moving to Texas day.  This is going to be rough.  I was up at seven thirty this morning getting some work out of the way so that I would have more time to focus on getting ready.

Brian and Tara were up super early this morning and actually drove up from Philadelphia at like six thirty and arrived in Peekskill at half past eight – way earlier than we were expecting them.  Dominica was only just getting out of bed when they arrived.  We were very thankful to see them as we desperately need their help today.

The entire day was a crazy packing day.  Tara watched Liesl while Dominica, Brian and I packed like crazy.  Throughout the course of the day we were able to take several large, dual truck loads out to the storage unit which really got the house cleared out.  We are so thankful that we don’t really have to take care of the furniture.  That would just be impossible.

Katie came by with her empty Baja this evening and picked up the recliner that she was taking as well.  So that helped a bunch too.

Brian and Tara stayed until very late. What a day.  This was, by far, our most productive day, though, and we got more done that we have done in the whole of the last two weeks.  But there was no way to leave for Texas today.  We worked until around midnight and then decided that we just needed to get up tomorrow and continue or we would be so tired that we would never be able to drive at all.

We have an emergency update from the Ralstons in the Republic of the Congo today on Laborers for the Harvest.  Impfondo in the ROC is not embroiled in war but is sitting right on the border with the DRC where there is a rebel insurrection underway and gunfire is being exchanged over the border and refugees, as well as soldiers, are being accepted by the hospitals in Impfondo.  ROC military helicopters and ships are having to be used to deliver relief supplies to Impfondo.  Things are apparently getting really rough over there although Michael seems to think that the war is pretty cool and interesting.

If everything goes to plan, we are supposed to be moving tomorrow.  That does not seem possible at all.  We are not even remotely ready and without having any car we have no idea what we are going to do.  This is really bad.

I had to work today so that took a chunk out of the packing time.  Additionally, we don’t have the minivan this morning so we have no way to get a load ready.

Around one this afternoon Katie drove me down to downtown Peekskill to pick up the Sedona that was still stuck in a snow bank on the side of the road.  It took me more than ten minutes to work that car free of the snow so that I could drive it out to get fuel and then home so that we could pack it.

There was so much going on and so much to do that once we had the minivan back we were only able to get a single load out in it this afternoon.  We are not being nearly as productive as we need to be.  We are starting to move into panic mode here!

Katie left this afternoon so it is just Dominica and I tonight worrying about how we are going to get this all done.  Brian and Tara are coming up tomorrow morning to help us for the day.  We have to return the minivan first thing in the morning making it almost completely worthless for us to have gotten this weekend – it didn’t even serve as an emergency vehicle since we were never able to get to it when we might have needed it.  Brian has a Chevy truck that we are going to use in addition to the BMW for hauling stuff over to storage and Tara is going to watch Liesl so that Dominica can pack as well.  There is so much to do, we have no idea where to start.

The original plan for today was that we were going to hold a large “drink all of our booze in our empty apartment” party.  The theory being that the apartment would be pretty much empty at this point with nothing left except for the furniture.  Unfortunately, as we were stuck without vehicle this week that did not happen at all.  So the apartment is still as full as it was when I left on Tuesday.

First thing this morning I got a ride down to Enterprise Rent A Car and picked up the Kia Sedona that we are renting for the weekend.  We got that home and shortly thereafter Katie arrived to help us get ready for the party tonight.  Katie helped put down the seats in the minivan so that we were able to fit a ton of stuff into it.  The Sedona will be awesome for moving things to storage.  Each load in it is three or four loads in the BMW.

We got the Sedona loaded and then Katie and I ran down to storage to drop off the load.  That was a super productive trip – the best one of the entire process thus far.  So far, Dominica and I are liking the Sedona much more than the Grand Caravan that we rented in Texas a few months ago.  Sitting in each is about the same but driving the Grand Caravan is terrifying to drive as it has no control and slides even on hot, dry pavement.  The Sedona felt solid and safe.  Considering that it is less expensive and has a better crash rating it is clearly a better choice.  We are definitely going to be considering getting one of these once we live in Texas and have lots of kids to drive around.

That one load with the Sedona made a huge impact on the house.  You can completely see that the house is much more empty now.  It is a relief to see some progress actually happening on the packing.

There is a huge snow storm, a big Noreaster, predicted for today expected to hit our entire area so our attendance for the party tonight is rapidly dwindling.  We had a few cancellations yesterday and all morning more and more people have been contacting us to tell us that they can’t make it or feel that they should not because of the weather.   Katie arrived way before there was a hint of snow so we didn’t have to worry about her and Ryan was coming via Metro North so he doesn’t have to worry about snow either.  Brian and Tara were leaving Philadelphia when their dog sitter canceled on them due to the inclement weather that they were expecting down that way so they had to cancel as well.  So our party of ten or more dwindled to just four (including Dominica and I) in no time.

Katie and Dominica prepared for the party most of the day while I did some work for the office and some packing.  Not a lot of spare time today.  Ryan came up around six thirty, if I remember correctly, we had been clear all day but the snow started a little while before Ryan came so when I drove down to the train station to pick him up the Kia Sedona slid a significant way down Hudson Street which is very, very steep.  It was a little scary driving out there even though there was not very much snow.  They are not plowing the streets yet which is rather a problem on these crazy Peekskill hills.

We had our small party which was fun.  It was nice to get to see Ryan for the first time in more than a year since we moved out of Eleven80 in Newark.  Ryan is the only one of the “old gang” left at Eleven80 since Kevin and Pam bought a house recently.  Ramona is still living in China.

After the party I drove Ryan down to the train station so that he could begin his long trek back to Newark, NJ.  After I dropped him off I quickly realized that I had no way to get back home.  With it having snowed quite a bit more than my last time out driving and still no plowing having happened I didn’t even have the slightest hope of making it away from the train station.  I started sliding backwards down Hudson as soon as I tried it.  Very scary.

After some experimenting I was able to get around to downtown Peekskill and made an attempt at getting up the hill on Maple rather than Hudson which is less steep and less likely to have me slide out of control backwards into heavy traffic.  On Maple I actually made it fairly far, but never to the steep part of the hill, but lost all momentum because someone was stuck sideway in the road (and then, when they got unstuck they drove straight at me like crazy people even though they knew that they had trapped me in the middle of the road.)

I spent a good thirty or forty minutes trying to get the car someplace safe.  I was stuck going down the hills backwards as I could control the car enough to turn it without it becoming stuck mid-incline.  Eventually I managed to get the car stuck in a snowbank downtown where I got out and began the long trek, on foot, from downtown Peekskill up to the house in Chapel Hill.  It was very cold and the roads were so slippery that I was almost unable to walk up them.  No wonder the car wasn’t able to make it.  I was actually considering whether or not I would have to crawl up the hill to be able to keep moving.

It took almost an hour of walking in heavy snow uphill to get back to Chapel Hill.  Katie and Dominica were still waiting up for me with hot coffee when I walked in the door.  Boy was I exhausted.  I was pretty frozen too and my right ears had a piercing pain in it (which is still bothering me a week later as I write this!)  It was pretty much time for bed after I arrived home.

So much for our packing plans.  Now, once again, we have no car at all but now we are paying $175 per day for it!  This is really bad.  We couldn’t possible have worse timing for this level of automotive disaster.

Today is supposed to be our crazy packing day.  We don’t have unlimited flexibility to pack today, though, as the BMW is not ready today so we have no way to get anything moved from our house out to storage.  Dominica had not realized that I had left the storage key behind so she and Katie did not take any loads out to storage for the three days while I was away so the house is pretty much in the same state than it was when I left on Tuesday evening to head up to dad’s.  The big load that I took to dad’s did help quite a bit in getting things cleared out but it was nothing more than a single storage load equivalent which only does so much.

We heard from the dealer that the BMW is not going to be ready today and they are only hopeful that it will be available come Monday!!  This is really bad.  We desperately needed that vehicle today and all weekend to even have the slightest hope of being ready.  Now that we have delivered the Mazda PR5 up to dad’s house to get it ready to sell we have no vehicle whatsoever.  Argh.  This is the worst possible time for this.

So the only thing that we could come up with to do was to call Enterprise and rent a minivan, a Kia Sedona which we will pick up tomorrow morning.  We are desperate and even though renting a car for the weekend is incredibly expensive we really do not have a choice.  At this point we just have to do what we have to do.  We are really backed into a corner if we are going to get out of the house and get to Texas before Christmas.  Our options are pretty much gone at this point.

We worked and packed all day.  Without being able to take loads away it is really hard to tell if there is any progress being made or not.  Things just pile up and get in our way so we slow down the more work that we do and end up spinning our wheels a bit.

Katie came by after work to pick up Dudley and his containment system.  They hung around for a while before heading home for the night.  We are hoping that Enterprise can pick me up in the morning so that Katie does not have to run back from Nyack just to get me down so that we can pick up the rental vehicle.  What a pain that would be.  Tomorrow is our “empty house” party as well which we are not looking to be too well prepared for at this point.  The house was supposed to be much more empty than this.

Four days left until we move to Texas!  This move is closing in on us rapidly.  We are so thankful that Katie and Dudley (her dog) have been at the house helping Dominica while Brian and I have been in Canada.

I was not up early today.  I just could not do it.  I managed to get about five hours of sleep which was enough to let me get through the day today but just barely.  Boy am I tired.

We had been hopeful to have been able to have gotten breakfast with dad today but our snow storm ruined any chance of that.  I got up and worked this morning as much as I could.  Due to the inclement weather not only did we get in super late last night but we also need to leave early for the train station to be sure that we will be able to make it in time.

There is no question that these last several days of horrible driving in New York snow have made me very glad to be moving to Texas in half a week.  I am sick of this.  I’ve put up with snow my entire life and I am really ready for a change of scenery.

We didn’t have time for breakfast so we ordered Davis’ pizza for lunch instead.  My last chance to get Davis’ for a very long time, most likely.  It was burnt, though, so Brian did not get a good sampling of how good Western NY pizza can be.

We were off to the Amtrak station in Rochester just after noon.  We were scrambling to get the car packed and everything ready for the trip.  Too much to do in way too little time.

We ended up making it to the Amtrak station in plenty of time for the train.  We are taking the Maple Leaf from Rochester to Croton.  Not a fast trip but traveling by train is relaxing and we are both looking for the chance to zone out for a while.

The train ride was great.  I love traveling via Amtrak.  Trains are so much more comfortable than anything else and so little stress.  We made out really well on the tickets too, just $51 for each of us.  That is cheaper than the price of gas and far less than any flight would have been.

Brian and I got dinner on the train as well.  No dining car but there was a cafe car and they served beer which we really needed.  We did nearly nothing while on the trip.  I was on email constantly but almost nothing was happening so I stuck to just email and reading magazines that I had brought along for the trip.  Very relaxing.  I am always looking for ways to utilize the train rather than driving.

I was happy to find that they have a selection of vegetarian-friendly items on Amtrak these days.  They have a very tasty vegan burger as well as a humus and pita item that I noticed.

The trip was long but we didn’t care as it was our chance to just zone out and do nothing.  Brian managed to nap quite a bit on the train as well.  I can’t sleep in situations like that because I need my CPAP which is unfortunate or else I might have slept most of the way.  I am so worn out from all of the driving.  I am not looking forward to needing to drive all of the way to Texas in a few days!

It was pretty late, around eight thirty, when Brian and I pulled into Croton Harmon station in the lower Hudson Valley.  Brian got picked up and they headed right off back down to Philadelphia.  Katie picked me up and took me back up to Peekskill.  Katie is spending the night tonight and heading back home to Nyack tomorrow after work.

It was Katie’s homemade stuffed poblano peppers tonight which was spicy and delicious.  Dominica couldn’t eat too much of it, though, as it was too spicy for her being spiced with chipotle peppers which are much hotter than poblanos.

I went to bed pretty soon after getting back tonight.  I need sleep badly.  We have way too much work to do this weekend.  I am not looking forward to all of this packing.  Dominica thinks that we are in pretty decent shape but I don’t see how we are going to get all of this packing done before it is time to leave.

Our BMW X3 is still in the shop.  It went in on Tuesday.  We had been hoping that we would have gotten it back on Tuesday night or Wednesday at the latest but they still have it and haven’t given us a definite answer as to when it might be ready for us.  We are beginning to worry as it is already impacting our ability to get our stuff moved into storage so that we can get moved out of the house in Peekskill.  We have no spare time built into our schedule so this is very bad.