Normal wear and tear on my poor little truck. The little beast that helped move a man-eating plant to our local theater. The one that moved things for all of my daughters. Moved firewood to keep me warm in the winter. Carried my dearest family to their home in Florida. 6 years and 175000 miles of travel and hauling. Last week some of its age showed up.

There have been the little things like worn out tires, slightly balky windows, a worn out battery. But last week the poor little beast lost its muffler. Nothing prepared me for the sound that the little 5 cylinder engine made without that noise reducer. It was hard to hear myself think. So of course I needed to get it replace/fixed before the big trip Friday evening (more on that later).

Started out as a nice simple fix, no problems. A loose joint welded together and everything would be back to normal. Except that after they did that, they noticed something else was wrong… Hmm more time and money gone.

I drove off with a new muffler and fixed Then something else in the exhaust came off. Back the the shop.. Grumble…. More time spent, but at least this time no money…. Most of the day shot.

Except, I was able to memorize were everything was in our local WalMart. But they moved everything now, since Halloween is over….. 🙁

I know that I haven’t written in about a month, but Tony and I have settled into my sister’s house, in a way. Most of our belongings are in

storage at the moment, since we really only have one room to put our stuff in. I know Emmy said we can put things in other parts of the room, but there still really isn’t much room. My cats have somewhat adjusted. They are getting there, but Padme and Grim are still trying to decide who is going to be in charge. None of my babies like the dogs very well. They prefer Oakly over Isaac, but than Isaac gets in their faces and whines. He also likes to herd them back into our bedroom. Beru and Darth seem to be accepting the dogs better than Wedge and Padme.

I am working at Midwest Tape with Emmy. Well, not exactly with her, since she is in the office and I’m working in the warehouse. There is no air condition in the warehouse, so it’s really hot, but I like what I am doing. I get to see so many different movies and walk around all day. I would hate to sit around all day. I get too fidgety. I do that sitting at the computer at home. I am always moving, getting up to move around before sitting back down. Tony doesn’t have a job yet, but we are being positive that he will find one soon. I know we are very thankful that Emmy and Bill are letting us stay here for now, but I know we both want a place of our own again.

If anyone has any more questions about Egypt, I will be answering those in my next blog.

I rented a BIG truck today. I then went to the Froggy’s house and help load up things into a van, a couple of pick-ups and The BIG truck. With this thing and that thing happening, the move didn’t start as early as we would have liked. It got hot, very hot. The vehicles were loaded up and we left B-town at around 1:45.

BIG truck liked to BOUNCE. I’m not sure if I would have been sore with just moving stuff, but I was sore after driving that BIG truck. It actually handled well, but it bounce me up and down in the seat for the entire trip to T-town.

At 2:45 we were emptying the vans and pick-ups. We had more help on the unloading end, so it went much faster. We took most of the stuff for storage. That was another adventure that I may write about when I have a bit more energy.

I’m still wondering why today reminded me of George Carlin… The link is not really kid friendly, it is George Carlin on stage…

https://youtube.com/embed/MvgN5gCuLac

I know I haven’t written in over a week and I am sorry about that. This one is going to be short as well. I need to get back to packing. My husband and I are moving to Maumee to live with my oldest sister and her husband until we can afford our own place. I have a job at either the DeVeaux Goodwill or where my sister works: Midwest Tape. I need everything packed and ready to move by Friday night. Wish me luck.

And yes, my anniversary was awesome!

Well, today I won’t be writing much. I haven’t been home much at all since I worked 9-5 at Goodwill and then went to see a house with Amie almost as soon as I got home and then there was church after that and then waiting for Tony to get off work! Whew, it seems that there are days that I am never at home and I miss my cats terribly! They are my babies, and they know it. Anyway, I have been trying to get ahold of my older sister to see if she has found me a job in Toledo but does she answer her phone? Noooooo. Though my other sister has found me a job in Florida. Tony really doesn’t want to move down there since it would be a pain to move all our stuff down there. It would be very expensive! I just know that we need insurance, very badly! I am over due for my check-up with the doctor and unless I see the doctor for this check-up, I can’t get any birth control! ARGH!!!!

Yesterday I stopped at our local theater to pick up two barrels to take back to the theater we borrowed them from. When I got there, as stove was waiting to be delivered back to our theater. A lot of work to do the day of and day after a surgical procedure. Me, I scheduled all of this last week when I thought my visit to the hospital was next Monday.

I was feeling well enough to roll a couple of barrels, so that wasn’t a problem. The return trip with the stove, well that started out good. We were able to roll the barrels out and then load the stove. Two people with minimal effort. I like that kind of move.

Then I got to the final destination of the stove. No ramp, no steps to back up to, just brute strength and manpower to move the stove. Lucky for me, there were other there to do the work. Don’t you love it when a plan comes together. Really there was no plan, just luck and younger theater people there to do the heavy work. I like that kind of move too.

There were more things to move and I was lucky enough to get out of most of that too. I guess until the same things have to move again I am safe. There is a very good chance that my name will be in the mix if and when those items need to be moved again. Any volunteers?

Then a quick trip to a local establishment to share a drink or two with a couple of friends. They helped with the move and it was fun to talk without having a play to rehearse or perform. Nice time, even if I don’t care for the bar scene. Maybe I will volunteer for the next move. I think I owe a round or two.

Or the continuing story of 1 guy and his truck.

I have a small bed pickup (2004 Chevy Colorado, crew cab), and I do use this thing as a truck. I bought it to be a truck, and to move people (hence the crew cab), and that is how I use it.

A couple of weekends ago it was used to carry 5 people to an animal park and haunted house. Approx 4 hour drive (not including the animal park) and everyone got home safe. Today it was used as a truck. Moving a few pieces of furniture needed for the latest stage production, I visited 3 houses and pick up 1 coffee table, 1 stereo rack, 1 couch, a couple of posters and 1 folding table. Not all in one trip, the couch took up the rear bed with the gate down.

This is not the first time I’ve used my truck to move various things for the theater, or myself. Over the past four years, I’ve moved lots of firewood, plywood, refrigerators, dishwashers, washing machines, stuff from my daughter’s apartment, equipment needed for a magic show, stage flats, and almost anything else that could fit in the bed.

After 4 years, I still like this truck. Even with gas being $4.00 a gallon, I like this truck.

I hope to keep the truck for a good long time, and I plan on driving it until it drops. Still get around 25 miles to the gallon on the highway (no load), so it isn’t really too bad to drive to and from work. And I guess for the next few years, the people I know will say, I know somebody with a truck, and he doesn’t mind moving things….

Hey, watch out- will ya? Get that house outa’ the middle of the road! Er- house? In the road? It must be Mount Prospect’s Central School. Today was the day they moved the 1896 schoolhouse to its new location by the Mount Prospect Historical Society. This building was saved recently when funds were raised to move it from its old location, where it would have been torn down to make way for progress. Unfortunately, the schoolhouse still has to wait for the new foundation to set. Once it does, they will have to lift it again off it’s temporary spot and plop it down where it will hopefully stay for awhile. Next, they will need to raise some money to renovate it and finally will hopefully open it for tours (just a guess), at a reasonable cost of course. You can find the story by clicking the picture below. Oh, I hope the driver didn’t speed with his 105,000 pound load…

Another story link is:  Mount Prospect Historical Society moves Central School