Flying solo

I find myself living alone for the first time in more than six years and I have to admit it feels odd.

Maria got to Jonesboro early last evening, called to give me her landline phone number and got her computer set up and connected to the DSL line, so there was an e-mail waiting for me when the dogs barked me awake this morning.

I called Maria from the hot tub this morning and had the phone on speakerphone. Pete recognized her voice because he kept popping his head up over the edge of the tub and looking around for Maria.

I spent a couple of hours this morning painting woodwork in the kitchen and will do another hour or so before I head off to the newspaper later this afternoon. The painting is going slowly, but I think I can get it done in another day or so.

Gone

After a Bob Evans breakfast with me, her parents, her son and his girlfriend, Maria bade us all a tearful goodbye and headed for Arkansas and her new job.
I'm left with the finishing touches on the kitchen paint job and the coordinating of work to get our house ready to market.
This place feels surprisingly empty and lonely this afternoon. I phoned her a few minutes ago as she drove south on I-57 through south-central Illinois. She seemed to be in good spirits, but realized she had forgotten to give me some keys and had gone off without some of her laundry, including all of her clean underwear. No problem. They sell underwear in Jonesboro and she'll enjoy shopping at Dillard's this evening.
I'm glad we spent the last several days watching HGTV off and on and picking up valuable pointers on how to "stage" a house for potential buyers. That, combined with suggestions from our Realtors, makes my task seem a lot less daunting.
Even so, it will be weeks before we're ready to list it.
The dogs have been quiet - almost lethargic - but I expect they'll perk up any minute now when Harold Patterson shows up in his pickup truck to collect the mini-fridge I offered on the BMW Club e-mail list. No takers yet on the 18.5 cubic foot Maytag refrigerator that stands in our driveway.

The fun never stops

We'd dearly love to have lunch today with our friends at the newspaper, but we're up to our elbows in last-minute fixups before Maria flees to Arkansas tomorrow morning.
We're painting the kitchen and waiting for a call from the Subaru dealer to tell us we can come pick up our Forester.
We took it in on Wednesday for an oil change and lube and to find out what the "check engine" light was trying to tell us. It was telling us we had a faulty knock sensor, which is about a $100 item. Later, they called and said we also need a front-end brake job and, oh by the way, our head gasket is leaking and we need a new one.
The work - minus the insanely expensive head gasket job - will be about $700. The service manager opined the car will get Maria to Arkansas and she can have the head gasket replaced there.
Meantime, my '94 Honda del Sol is less than 100 miles from the 200,000-mile mark and seems to be between catastrophic mechanical failures.
And now it's back to work.

Nice dog

In the parking lot of the Lafayette Lowe's, where we dropped about $140 on paint and other house fix-up stuff.

Getting Croced

My wife has been wearing Crocs for more than a year and swears by them. She had a lavender pair she wore out and more recently a red pair with the Bernina sewing machine logo.
I've never thought clogs were for me. It looked like it would be too easy to walk right out of something that didn't have a proper back on it. Besides, it looked like a chick shoe to me.
But they've been growing on me. I discovered they originated in Colorado as an all-purpose shoe for whitewater rafters, which gives them credentials as outdoor gear. And they recently introduced some styles that have a more masculine look.
So I took the plunge this evening at the Sportsman's Warehouse in Lafayette, Ind.
The black-and-red Off Road model was the most appealing to me, so I whipped out the plastic and bought a pair.
I've been wearing them around the house for a couple of hours and have to admit they're pretty comfortable for a pair of plastic Chinese-made clogs.

What next?

We slept in later than we should have this morning, then decided to hot tub for a few minutes before plunging back into the work of getting the house ready for showing and sale.
While running water in the kitchen sink to load the coffee maker, we heard the sound of water spashing in the basement - always a bad sign.
We discovered a connection in a PVC pipe from the kitchen sink and dishwasher had let go and was dumping food waste into the sump, creating a hideous stench.
So I called our plumber, only to discover that he is no longer in business for himself and that the firm for which he works is tied up on a big job.
Okay, we'll call the plumbing and heating folks who did our furnace and air conditioning.
But their number has been disconnected.
And our internet just went out, which is how we normally track down phone numbers because it's more current and less cumbersome than the phone book.
I rebooted the router and DSL modem and got the internet back.
Maria finally got in touch with a plumber who will supposedly be here this afternoon.
And in the background of all of this is the fact that 60% of our phones are missing or fucked up.
The cordless that belongs in the kitchen and the cordless that belongs in the master bedroom can't be found because Maria and everyone who shares her DNA can't be bothered to return them to their charging cradles after using them. And the headset that I use on my desk has stopped working. (It was working perfectly when I left for Colorado, BTW...)
So we're left with the wonky desk set phone tethered to a jack in the dining room and the lone cordless that docks on a bookcase in the office.
I'd complain more, but I gotta get back to work because today is in the toilet with two doctors' appointments, taking the Subuaru in for service and the Realtors coming to view and strategize.
I fucking hate this.

****************************
Good news: Maria found one of the missing cordless phones under the parlor couch cushions.
Meantime, I'm choking on dust as I clean never-before-dusted regions in the bedroom.

Getting a move on

We've been in a cleaning/packing frenzy since Sunday morning and it looks like this is what the whole week will be like.
Saturday night brought a welcome pause in the chaos when we spent a delightful evening at Lauri and Jim's house in the country with good friends from the newspaper. We even spent time in Lauri's new hot tub, which was dry at the moment. Great food, lots of booze, good friends.
We got so busy today that I completely forgot an appointment with a dermatologist I had scheduled for 7:10 a.m. today. I got it reset for 8:10 a.m. Wednesday.
We closed out our savings account and emptied out the safe deposit box at the local bank and loaded the car up with empty boxes from the grocery store this morning.
Maria just nailed down a temporary home in a little brick house about four blocks from her office. We'll pack up the Subaru Saturday morning and she'll head off on her great adventure while I continue working on the house to get it in shape to show and sell.
I have an appointment with the Subaru dealer to service the car early Wednesday afternoon. The Realtors come at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday to look the house over and map a strategy.
As far as the house we made an offer on is concerned, the owners came back with a counteroffer that our Realtors said is not grounded in reality. If we need to sell the place in less than three years, we'd probably take a loss at that price. So we have not responded to their counteroffer and are letting them twist in the wind. We're feeling surprisingly detached about it. If we get the house at the price we want, we'll go for it. If not, there are other houses.
In the meantime, the focus is on getting as much done here as possible, which includes painting the kitchen and maybe the upstairs porch.
My friend Skip has offered to drive down sometime in the next few weeks while I ride Maria's motorcycle to Jonesboro and then bring me home, which will be a huge help. Weather permitting, maybe we should think about making that trip the middle of next week.

Blending in

Adjusting my wardrobe to fit my new surroundings: a $2.99 camo cap from Boomland, a cheesy general store/gas station/restaurant/fireworks outlet on I-57 near Charleston, Mo.
Made Maria laugh. A lot.

Heading home

Maria at the wheel, rolling north on I-55 through the bootheel of Missouri.
Just got a call from our Realtor saying the sellers' agent was pretty sure his people would reject our offer, but added he'd try to get his people to make a counter-offer. And so the dance begins. What did we do without cell phones?

Still homeless...

Here are some of the houses we've looked at and ruled out, and finally the one on which we made an offer this afternoon. It expires at 5 p.m. tomorrow. We shall see...

Approved

We just got pre-approved for mortgage money that is way more than we expect to spend.
Our Realtor called last night to say his sister, who is also in the real estate biz, wants to eyeball our prospective new home to be sure we're not offering too much and that she has one more house for us to view.
We're at the mall right now where Maria is shopping for something to wear because we've run out of clean clothes.
Then we meet the Realtor siblings and, we hope, make an offer and get the hell out of town.
I'll post pics of the new place as soon as we're sure it's the one.

A-freaking-mazing

We're sitting in our Realtor's office making an offer on a house in a wooded area about 5 minutes west of Jonesboro.
We must have looked at about 20 houses in the last two days.
Photos soon.

With the Realtor

Putting together a list of properties to view.

Reconnaisance

Locating a quilt store.

Hiiiiiiii, Honey!

Maria greeting me in the Hampton Inn parking lot.

Real Life

At a McDonald's somewhere in the Ozarks.

Maps & coffee

I'm at Starbucks across from my motel, working out my circuitous route to Jonesboro via mostly U.S. & state roads.
Maria is already on the road and will almost certainly cover a similar distance before me, since it's almost all interstates for her.
Time to load, gas and go.

Topeka, right on time

I guessed I'd get to my motel in Topeka right at sunset and that's exactly what I did.
I noticed a time/temp sign reading 92 as I left Russell, so my temperature guessing is pretty decent too.
I checked in with Maria after unloading the bike and determined our rendezvous point tomorrow in Jonesboro, Ark.
We'll spend tomorrow and part of Wednesday hunting a house and also a place for her to stay when she starts work on the 17th.
I think I did about 650 miles today - nothing spectacular, but a good full day.
Here's my naked bike from my motel room door.

Hot & sweaty in Russell, Kans.

Must be 90+ here. Gas & water & an ice cream sandwich. No sign of Bob or Arlen to greet me.

Let's call it a learning experience

Goodland, Kans. - It's 1 p.m. MDT and I'm having a quick lunch & fuel in Goodland.
I left Alma at 7:30 a.m. I stopped at Georgetown to shed my electric gloves & jacket liner, then at Byers for gas, water and a change into my hot weather gear.
The shorter boots lace and tie, so I put my foot on the right footpeg to tie the lace and, to my horror, the bike came over on me. I fought it all the way down, but there is no stopping a loaded and fuelled K1200GT when it's going down.
Fortunately, a passerby rushed over and helped me get the bike back on its sidestand.
I soon discovered that it's the weight in the oversize right saddlebag that fucks up the equilibrium. The good news is that the oversize bags have a rubber bumper for just such occasions and that spared me a lot of damage.
I ripped off a quick 152 miles to Goodland and now I'm off to Topeka.