Too Much Work, part #1 the House

We have a friend who is going to stay in our house while we are gone. She has a son in the 8th grade. Getting the house ready for other people to occupy is about the same as selling it; the main difference is no need to repaint, although it does need it.

Closet and dressers are getting emptied; cabinets are being cleared out; boxes are moving to the attic; stuff is going to the dump site. The left handed benefit of all of this is a general "decrapping" of the accumulation of 5-years of occupancy. The house will be less cluttered when we move back in.

Needless to say, this has been traumatic for Carol, who forms emotional bonds easily with any/everything she has accumulated, and she has accumulated a lot of stuff. She's in shock but the prognosis is fairly good; she still has not exceeded the credit card limits.

I, on the other hand, have. The list of things we may need to travel safely is long, and since these are for a boat, they are, by definition, expensive. The main acquisitions have been have been an EPIRB and an inflatable life raft in case the boat sinks. Since we have these, of course the boat won't sink, I hope. New anchors and rodes, weather software and spare computers, charts and navigation guides; the list just goes on and on.

We have dodged the dog question, for now anyway. Wile E's former owner has agreed to mind the mutt while we are gone. This is good; we like the dog, but he doesn't work on the boat.

The headline news is that Carol has cut her hair shorter than it's ever been since I met her in 1965. If she were driving a Cadillac she would perfectly look the part of a 61-year old real estate agent. Wanna' buy some mountain land?

Work not withstanding, Fall in the mountains is gorgeous. The weather is cool; the leaves are turning; life is way good