Our departure for North Dakota is imminent, and Tom and I have been busy packing and preparing the house. Preparing the house is a new thing for us because this is the first time we have owned a house since we retired. It feels like there are twice as many things to think about in leaving.
Here are some of the ways we have been preparing the house for our departure. We cleaned up some of the odd jobs we have been putting off. Tom finished closing the carpenter bee holes in the front porch beam, once we were sure all the bees were dead. We hate to kill bees but these things were going to cause a collapsed porch roof. Once the putty dried, I painted the beam so it looks good again.
Tom spent a couple of evenings trimming the shrubs and cutting down a couple of small volunteer trees at the edge of the woods in the back yard. We have a row of pine trees that act as a sound barrier against the noise on Route 3 and the volunteer trees were causing the pine trees to lose their lower branches. I helped pick up the debris from the trimming and we got things cleaned up in no time. I also made sure all the landscaping is weeded, although all the rain we have had means the weeds are growing like crazy!
We stopped the stuff we won’t be using while we are gone. I suspended our garbage and recycling pick-up until we get back. Tom has a special tool to turn off the water. The refrigerator is empty turned off. The appliances are unplugged except for the internet. We kept that on so we could keep our security system connected.
Our neighbor, Dave, has a key to the house and is going to keep an eye on things and bring in our mail. The post office only lets you stop mail for a time, shorter than what we will be gone. We don’t get bills or much important stuff in the mail, so Dave will let us know if there is anything that needs attention before we get back. We let the Township Police know that we will be gone and when we will be back. John and Jackie will stop by periodically to check on things. Our mowing guy will continue to take care of the lawn.
The RV is packed up and ready to go and we had a trail run with loading the Prius on the tow dolly. All we have to do now is finish loading up and attend our final big event. Then we will lock the doors and be on our way to North Dakota.
Everything is most stressful the first time you do it. In packing the RV and in preparing the house, we keep wondering what we have forgotten. But, we are pretty good at being innovative and have people we trust looking after things, so I’m sure it will be fine. Starting next week, all the posts will be written in North Dakota!
