And then there were seven

The packing and loading crew was supposed to be here between 8 and 9 a.m. They're late.

But the three additional shipping vaults were early - a day early.

When I took the dogs out for their morning walk about 7:30 a.m., I was startled to see a UPS flatbed truck idling at the corner and loaded with three SmartMove vaults.

I consulted with the driver and we concluded it made the most sense for him to drop the three that were supposed to be swapped for the four on site tomorrow and go back empty.

That way, the packers and loaders have no chance of running out of loading space today and may be able to accomplish more than they would have under the original plan.

Of course, this means UPS has to make two trips to pick up all of the vaults, since they can only haul four at a time, but that's their problem.

My trick today is to get as much stuff into the vaults as possible while leaving the materials I need to work on the house and survive here.

At the same time, I did some frantic check-writing and bill-paying and made sure our important payment books and checkbooks will go into the laptop carrying case, rather than disappear into a vault for God knows how long.

A neighbor just knocked on the back door to ask how things were going and, in the course of the conversation, it became clear that his real reason was to ask if our hot tub is for sale. I told him it goes with the house, since we want to do whatever we can to sweeten the deal.