Just to continue my record of very infrequent blogging, it is now April of 2014. I find myself living in an apartment with Barbara in Georgetown, Texas. I can only say, we should have discovered Texas before! While we were both enamoured of North Carolina, still there were things that nagged us about that decision. We found a house we loved and while we were considering an offer before our Maine house sold, the house was sold, we understood for less than we were contemplating offering for it. As if that weren't enough to discourage us about North Carolina, the following spring, it was wracked by tornadoes. While Hendersonville was not badly damaged, it did give us pause.
Since Barbara is a southwesterner, she was longing for much more sun than is normal along the mountainous part of the east, and wanted to try some more southwestern location. We talked some of Arizona, but that seemed to connected to drug problems for us. The artistic parts of the state beckoned to her and we did some research, but decided crime and drugs had a foothold and it lost some of it's appeal. Her father was a Texan and had always talked fondly of the state, so we decided to give it a look and it entered our considerations. The conservative government appealed to me as did the somewhat better economy, and we added it to our list to look at. Our first significant visit took us to San Antonio and a bit further north to Kerrville, where her Mom and Dad had a small condo. We spent three or four nights with them and looked at the Kerrville area, but it seemed a bit limiting to us. We also found San Antonio both hot and humid for our taste. One day during the visit we went over to Austin and found nice weather and pleasant hills, but it seemed to much of a city for what we really wanted.
Back in Maine, the housing market was not conducive to selling, so we decided to stay another winter. It turned out to be one of substantial snow and lots of shoveling and snow blowing, so that added fuel to the fire to move. In the spring of 2013, our next door neighbors decided to leave the area, as she was offered a job at the Cleveland Clinic. They succeeded in selling in about three months, so we listed again and reduced our price some. I was not happy about that, but Barbara said, "Don, you are 77 and you just can't keep up with this place anymore and it is time to admit it". Tough words, but I needed to hear them, I guess. We were having quite a bit of traffic and lots of interest, but no real offers. Finally, one afternoon, our agent had a call from a couple who had just sold their house in Massachusetts and were pretty familiar with Maine and had seen the listing for our house. We had made contact with a realtor in Austin while we were there and called her. She, of course, flooded us with listings to look at. That same day, the couple from MA came to look at our house and spent nearly two hours looking at everything. We got a call later that afternoon from our agent and he told us they were at his office writing a full cash offer on our house! While it was less than the listing price, it was a good offer and would allow a very quick close, and we could go to Texas or North Carolina that fall, if we chose! What a dramatic change in our lives this would make if we could make it work.
When we received the offer it was not quite as much as we had hoped, but it was all cash and they would like a rapid close. A long evening of decision making followed and we decided it was time to make the jump. So, we were signing up for lots of decision making in a very short time, and lots of sorting, sifting and disposing of goods and furniture as the closing was scheduled for just over a month! We were foolish enough to think we could do it. My first trip downstairs into the office and workshop made me realize just how much work was to be done! I think I had not yet come to realize how much my abilities had changed since we moved into Tara Lane twelve years before! But, it wouldn't be long before I came to understand.
The first big decision was about having an estate sale. We had always thought they were done as a result of having an estate to settle, but we learned that lots of folks did them as they downsized and prepared to move from one large home to a much smaller one. Described us to a "T". But, as we investigated further, we found they were not as easy as they sounded. Everyone tells you that you hire an auctioneer, and they sell just what you tell them to, and they organize and run the whole thing, including advertising and getting stuff organized to get you the maximum price, and they get a percentage. Well, not exactly. There are many more ifs, ands and buts when you dig into the details. A few years before we had a\participated in a "garage sale" with some friends and neighbors. It turned out to be a gruelling weekend and there was much less return than we had expected. Of course, this time we had a lot more attractive stuff to sell (snow blower, chain saw, tractor and trailer, some good furniture, tools, and much more) so maybe a big garage sale was a good start. We talked about it together, and then with my son and grandsons, and decided to give it a go.
It turned out that my two grandsons were more than happy to help Grampy, and they were just more help than I could have imagined. In the process, I learned that my two grandsons had turned into very strong young men and hard workers right under my nose. I have learned a little bit about accommodating to some of my physical changes and using my head rather than just overpowering things as I used to. Sam and I were moving a bunch of old magazines out of the basement and into a bagster (a wonderful invention) and had a large, wheeled trash can full to get into the trailer. I told him we would put the top on the trailer and then pick up the bottom, one on each side and slide it into the trailer. When we got it out of the basement, he said, "I got this, Grampy", and wrapped his arms around it and picked it up and dropped it into the trailer! If you can imagine my astonishment, you are very perceptive.
At the end of these days of physical labor, needless to say, I was bushed and ready for a nap. But, we were just starting. The next job was deciding what we could pack, getting mover quotes, and all the decision making that goes with it. As I recall, it was about here that the buyer was having his inspections done and one of them was a survey. We found, much to our surprise that our driveway and turn around pad were about ten feet on our neighbors property. The buyer was willing to just tear up the drive and continue, but I pointed out how important that feature was when there was lots of snow to plow and find a place for. So, we worked out a trade with our neighbor to do a land swap, and all would work out. Then we found that the local planning board had to approve it as we were in a legal subdivision. Their next meeting was the day after our closing was scheduled. The buyer was willing to change the closing date, but there were several anxious days about the deal. We were proceeding with this whole process when Barbara's Dad had to have a dual bypass surgery. Of course, she had to pack up and go to Maryland to help through that crisis. Fortunately, all went quite well and she was only gone five days. I couldn't accomplish a lot with her gone, but did get lots of decisions made about what tools to sell and what to pack, and got several boxes of stuff packed in the office. I also made some packing progress in my workshop, but not as much as I had hoped.
When Barbara got back home, we put it in overdrive. The following weekend was when we were doing the garage sale and Charlie, my son, and Sam, his son, were coming up on Saturday to help with the crowd. On Saturday morning we placed signs out pointing to our house at all nearby intersections. We had no one in the first hour, which led to a great deal of distress. In Maine, those who are constantly on the lookout for garage sales have the reputation of arriving an hour early. But, it was late in the year for garage sales and we hoped they were just slow getting started. And, they were! After they started coming, they never stopped. We were busy all day and when it started to get darker and we decided to move stuff in the garage and shut the doors for the night, we had trouble accomplishing that. The next morning, although we had not advertised a second day, we had some come back to try to get what they wanted yesterday, and in a few cases where it was gone, they bought something else. We cleared nearly twice what we had hoped for and had a few customers during the following week for things that were left. All in all, it was very successful. We could now go into overdrive packing!
I think it was the next Friday, I was in the basement doing some more sorting and packing in the office when I heard Barbara screaming. I am not too quick anymore, and by the time I got upstairs she was standing in the mud room, and said she had fallen in the garage and broken her wrist. We got in the car and took her to the York Hospital, where she was X-rayed and the break was confirmed. She was operated on the following Monday and came home with a surgical splint and lots of pain medication. What a time for this. She came out of the surgical splint and was casted a few days later. Then on Sunday morning she was talking to her Dad who had done well, been in rehab two days and was home. All of a sudden she said he was talking gibberish, and kept saying he didn't know what was happening. I suspected a stroke, she hung up after telling him not to lay down, to sit right still and we were sending help. We called a nearby lady friend of his and she took charge and got the EMS folks for help. He had had a stroke. How lucky Barbara was on the phone with him.
He was admitted to the hospital and treated for three days, then discharged into rehab and came home with his other daughter taking care of him for about two full weeks before we could get loaded and get to Maryland, where we had planned to stop to be with him for a week on the way to Texas. We struggled mightily with getting the rest of the packing done, engaging the movers, and finishing the land swap (complete with new surveying, and other legal maneuvers) and finally got out of York (oh yes, in the midst of all this other stuff, we had traded two 2005 vehicles for a 2012 Chevy Equinox) on November 18, 2013.
The trip to Maryland itself was pretty uneventful, although we arrived late in the evening. We had let the beginning of the trip slip back by two days to get a little rest before undertaking the drive. When we arrived in Maryland, we were put up in a friend of Bill’s basement apartment. The lady was Pat Lansdale, the same one that had gotten the EMT’s on the job. She had very nice quarters for us, and it afforded us some privacy and some space of our own. It proved to be much better than camping out at Bill’s and gave us a way to get the occasional break. Each morning saw the opportunity for coffee and a chat with Pat before facing another day of confusion and activity. She frequently joined us for dinner in the evening and we came away from that period with a new friend.
The days were filled with trying to get Bill in a frame of mind to continue his rehabilitation from his stroke, which was a trying task at first. He didn't like his visiting nurse, nor was he enamoured of his therapist who was trying to help him overcome the aphasia, which was a notable result of his stroke. But Barbara was able to make him see that if he wanted to improve, he had to use all the resources at his disposal, and he got so he was somewhat more tolerant of the whole situation. The plan was for us to stay through Thanksgiving and we were all going out to Thanksgiving dinner with Barbara’s sister, Dana and her kids, one of whom, Taylor would be our server at the restaurant where he worked. But, since the reservations were for eight o’clock, and Bill didn't want to, and shouldn't eat that late, he resisted. I was unwilling to leave him alone on Thanksgiving Day for dinner, so we scrounged at home and Barbara and Dana went. I don’t think it was much of a celebration for anybody.
On the day we were to pack up the car with boxes, suitcases and clothes, Gracie (our much loved Golden/Lab) and head off to Texas and our new apartment from which we would search for our new home, Bill called and said we needed to take him to the hospital. As it turned out when we got there, he was having another rather serious intestinal bleed. It was not the first one he had had, nor as serious as the one immediately preceding it, but it was bad enough to get him immediately admitted to the ER and result in two day stay for further testing. It added yet another week to our delay, since we just couldn’t leave under those circumstances. After a couple of days in hospital, and completion of more tests, he was discharged and came home. We did get off the day before he was discharged, and started our drive to Texas.
Probably the easiest part of the whole moving experience was the drive to Texas! The weather wasn’t too bad, except for one day when we encountered freezing fog, and we holed up for an unplanned stay on a Sunday, but the loafing and rest were welcome. We spent six nights on the road, including the extra one, so our road trip to Texas was actually pretty easy. Of course with Barbara’s wrist in a cast, and the cautions she had about using her wrist, I did most of the driving, but fortunately I can still drive without too much problem. The last day we were on the road was December 10th and that was the day the ice storm caused so many road problems in the Dallas/Ft Worth area, so we skipped the Interstates there and came down through east Texas from Texarkana. I have learned from that experience that the roads in Texas are great, and you really don’t need to stay on Interstates if you want to wander.
Settling into our apartment was not too bad, as we had rented furniture from Cort Furniture for our six months planned in the apartment, and the fact that we were delayed a day from what we expected, our place was all furnished and we moved in our clothes and personal possessions and went to bed. By the way, if you want to rent furniture, I would suggest you avoid Cort. They made it very difficult for three months to get our renters insurance accepted and stop charging us an exorbitant rate for insurance on the furniture. They should be ashamed of their business practices. My insurance agent told me they were famous for such tricks.
I rapidly found the necessary doctors for my care and, of course went through all kinds of baseline testing. I guess I should be glad they were thorough, but it sure took up a lot of time during the first two months. Getting care for Barbara’s wrist proved more difficult. We were told when we left Maine, that it was a matter of getting an orthopedic surgeon to take off the cast, and get going with some physical therapy and all should be good. So, we made an appointment with Texas Orthopedics, a big and well regarded practice here to have the cast removed and X-rays taken. When that happened we got the surprise of our life, because the screws had pulled out of the plate and more surgery was needed. Fortunately, Barbara was seen by the founder of Texas Orthopedics and she got Barbara an appointment with one of their top hand surgeons. Unfortunately, we could not see him until after the New Year, so we were back at ground zero as far as insurance was concerned. We met with Dr. Brandon MacKay on January 3rd, and got lots of bad news. Her break was much more serious than we had been led to believe in Maine, but he was very well qualified, having been the chief resident in Orthopedics at Bellevue Hospital, and having gone from there to a fellowship in a hand surgery clinic in San Antonio. He is a brash, young, self confident city kid, just what you would want for a tough surgery! He spent enough time with us, explaining the problems, and outlining five approaches that the surgery might take. He told us that diagnostics were very helpful, but a surgeon never really understood the problem until he could get in there and put his eyes on the damage. One of the possibilities he made us understand, was that a total fusion of the wrist might be the only option that would work, but he would avoid that if anything else had promise.
With just that much assurance, and confidence in his credentials and plan for the surgery, Barbara decided to go ahead. I will continue soon.
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