Four down, three to go

The packers have completely filled the first four vaults and, since the weather has turned cold and drizzly, are spending the rest of their day here packing boxes.

In the meantime, I've been dragging stuff to the curb that we have no need for in Arkansas. A lot of it probably never should have come into this house in the first place because it spent the last six years unused and in the attic.

Passersby have been obliging, carrying away most of the items I've set out, including:

• An octagonal end table
• An old desk
• A large BMW carry-all with a broken zipper, thanks to Northwestern Airlines' baggage handlers
• A kitchen chair
• Three big brass lamps
• A metal office cabinet
• My mother's two-tier round curio table
• My mother's old Samsonite suitcase
• My parents' telephone table with a gray princess phone
• Other odds and ends

Nobody has bitten on the cross-country skis or the old breadmaker that looks like R2D2.

Thanks to Lauri for the inspiration, my fixit guy is going to cover the place where Pete the Aussie savaged the wallpaper in the back foyer with wainscoting. He figures one sheet of whitewash beadboard will cover the entire back door area. It will be a very elegant fix - one that will dress up the area significantly. He's going to have his guys come late tomorrow after the packers/loaders will have made most of their trips out of the back door.

Maria had initially planned to keep her apartment for another week and begin sleeping in the new house Thursday when our bed arrived.

Then she discovered that a queen-size air bed costs about as much as a week's rent on the apartment. Plus, when you're done, you have an air bed to show for your investment. So she'll make that purchase and, instead of waiting until next Wednesday to head for Arkansas, I'll roll out of here with the dogs in the Subaru as soon as the UPS truck collects the last three vaults on Saturday morning.