It's the holidays, stupid!

It's been a slow period for the move. Last weekend was Thanksgiving, and the weekend before that Mom was off doing a church retreat. I was just emailing her, and she says she hasn't packed much lately. It was a little encouraging, though, as she says "Seems like I sort more and eliminate stuff than I do packing". My big worry is we'll end up filling up her new place and then some with the stuff they really don't need.

But, I got to watch the Michigan game at home, which was cool.

I did get a note from sister Maureen, I guess they went shopping for furniture and got a couch. And, the propane tank is moved, and they've plowed up space for Jim's garden.

I don't recall how much I've shared about Jim--he's my stepfather, in his 70's like Mom, and has Alzheimer's. He really doesn't want to move, as he believes his garden won't be big enough. Plus I can only assume he likes termite-ridden farmhouses with steep stairs that his wife can barely climb :-) That's not fair, really--he's pretty out of it and just knows he doesn't want to change.

Mom says an old family friend, Pete, came over the other day. Pete's in Cincinnati, so we don't see him often--I've not seen him in probably 10 years if not longer. Anyway, he and Jim always got along well. But he went over to the new place with Mom, and Jim wouldn't go. This pains Mom, I know, but she also knows she has to do this, for his health and hers.

Oh, one more thing--I have a buyer for my old '69 Saab. I wrecked it in the 80's and it's been in Mom's garage ever since. So hopefully that will be out of the way soon.

Mom's birthday

Yesterday was Mom's birthday, so we didn't get a whole lot done on the house. Daughter Rachel & I went over in the morning to take her to lunch. Maureen went along, with her kids Caleb & Naomi.


Rachel and Lil (my 2-yr-old granddaughter) live pretty close to OSU, and it was a game day. You'd think that for a noon game if you stay a few miles away that the traffic wouldn't be too bad. And I suppose it wasn't, but I messed up and ended up trying to head west at Lane Avenue & Kenny.

It didn't take that long, I guess...but the older I get, the more traffic and bonehead drivers annoy me. This is called the Curmudgeon Effect. It also applies to fast food servers, foolish co-workers, and barking dogs.

At any rate we made it over to Springfield OK. Mom's place is just like last week. We poked around awhile, showed Rachel and Lil some old stuff. We only had a couple hours before lunch, so we loaded a few boxes into the cars and ran over to the new place. Rachel likes it, I think, and I know Mom does.

I keep wondering when we will actually finish this job...we're about 1/2 thru the dining room after a month or more. AT this rate we'll be moving in 2010. So be it, I guess.

We did Mom's birthday at Los Mariachi's, which was nice. Darn Big 10 Network keeps the OSU game off the TV. There is a special place in hell for all utilities, I think, especially cable TV operators.

OK best be getting off to church now...

First post--What's this about anyway?

This blog will be like a diary of moving my folks out of their farm to a smaller home that they can maintain.

Here's some background:

I'm Mitch, aka Jack. I'm about 50, married, 4 grown daughters, and I work in the IT business. I have an older brother Mike and younger sister Maureen.

Mom's move is challenging in many ways. It starts with my stepfather, Jim, having alzheimer's. He doesn't want to move. Also, the farm is uninsurable due to termite damage, and it's an enormous mess of accumulated possessions with a large barn, several outbuildings, land, tractors, blah blah blah. Mom has trouble with stairs these days--she's in her 70's--and the farm house has, like most, a steep, narrow staircase to get to the bedrooms.

On the plus side, Mom and Jim have always been frugal, and that with some inheritances give them some options that many don't have. Mom can afford to buy a place without selling the old one, so she can spend an indeterminate amount of time moving. And yet, she wants to get to the new place before Jim gets to the point he needs more care than she can give, and before she falls down the stairs.

So...they gotta move. My daughter Rachel said I should start blogging on the whole thing, as lots of people go thru something like it. Maybe my experiences will help someone else, or maybe it will help me, or maybe this will just be that much more useless data floating around in cyberspace.

The farm is so full of allergens my brother Mike can only be there for short periods, and he lives 200 miles away anyway. I'm about an hour away, and my sister Maureen lives close but is a single Mom with high-schoolers and college kids. Me, I'm an empty nester, with four daughters in town but mostly grown up and independent. I figured I could spend most Saturdays over at Mom's helping her move. I hope my promise to do that helped her decide to go ahead with getting started.

Mom found a house a couple months ago. It's nice, a ranch, with a big yard, lots of trees, good plumbing. And, no termites :-) We've started moving a few things...

That should be enough background for now. Let the adventure begin!