Moving Day - February 21, 2007

When I arrived at the airport,

the movers were still in Cincinnati.

So I went to Bob's to see Maria

and grab the stuff I had left there.

Then it was on to Brewers Yard,

my new home.

After getting lost in Columbus,

the movers finally arrived.

I was no help when they called

for directions because no street

names register yet.

Apartment, sweet apartment...

The front door opens into a small foyer:

to the west is the living room;

to the south is the kitchen.

This island (peninsula?) overlooks the

living area and provides lots of

extra cabinet space.

Opposite the last photo is my

cooking area and more storage.

From the living area looking east,
you can see the kitchen over the
peninsula. The doors lead to
the coat closet. To the right of
this photo is the door leading
to the bedroom.


This is the very bare bedroom.
It faces west and overlooks the pool.


From the bedroom, there is a door
heading east. Inside is the vanity.
As you can see, there is even
more storage space in here.
(I forgot to take a photo of the
master closet. When you enter
this room, it sits to the north--
directly behind the coat closet.)



This is my bathroom.

Notice the garden tub with
arm and back rests. Ahhh....

Looking from the kitchen
south into the bathroom, I've
come full circle. The doors on
the left hide the washer and dryer;
the doors on the right, the
hot water heater and central unit.

I made this photo from my living room
window. It shows a little of the balcony,
which overlooks the pool.

The movers have begun to empty the truck.
Hoo boy...

Hopefully, within the next few days,

I'll have photos of a fully

decorated apartment...

The Trip Home

I know this entry has been a long time

in coming, but I've been SO busy with

the move. Hopefully, these will

catch us up...

My boss Kevin told me on Thursday,

February 15th, that we were going to

have more snow the day I was to depart

for Memphis. Needless, to say I was

a bit nervous when I heard the news...

especially since my car was still stuck in

the ice from storm two days earlier.

Friday didn't calm my fears. In fact, that

day the worry escalated. I discovered that

the buyer of my house indeed wanted

repairs, but I didn't find out until

3:00 Friday afternoon, and closing was

scheduled for 10:00 a.m. Tuesday.

The joy of Friday was when Bob and

his neighbor were able to push

my car from its frozen grave.

Life plugged along, and sure enough we had

about 4-6 inches of new snow on Saturday morning.

I parked in the cheap lot at the airport, and it took

the shuttle about 15 minutes to get us to the terminal.

Below is a shot of the runway at the Columbus

Airport. Snowplows were all over the place!

There was a Starbucks near the gate

so I had my favorite frappe and a

blueberry scone while I waited.

The plane was delayed about 50 minutes

once we boarded. I wasn't worried...not much.

I did get a free Bloody Mary because

of the tardiness so why should I complain?

Em picked me up at the Memphis

Airport, and we went to Ione's to drop

my stuff off. Here are pictures of

my home away from home away from home...

And what home is complete without a

few of these critters hanging around?!?

Above is Cue.

Below is BW.

And the beautiful boy under this caption

is Grey Ghost.

OH, and who can forget Bogey!

Tippy, Bogey's girlfriend, was always hiding

when I had the camera out...

Em and I joined Jimmy Stephens at

Macaroni Grill on Saturday evening for

supper, and then Em and I went to

the Orpheum to see Spamalot.

Sunday Daniel took me to Batesville to

meet my family so we could travel on

to Parchman, where my cousin Chris

is incarcerated.

Later that night, Ione helped me finish packing.

Monday the 19th was the trip to my hometown

of Mantachie. Aunt Louise had been

hospitalized twice since my move to Ohio,

and I wanted not only to see her but the

rest of my family as well.

This is my parents' home and the place

I called home from 1979 to 1996.

Below is a quick shot of Mama and

the girls before we left the house to

visit Louise. Aren't they adorable?

And, of course, no trip is complete with

my nieces without a trip to the

Home of the Whopper!

To my surprise Louise was

doing exceptionally well.

Now, tell me...Does she look almost 80?!?

(NOTE: She had a bad night after I left.

Her blood sugar dropped to 14!

Nevertheless, she has now been

released from the step-down unit

and is once again living at home.

Okay, my Ohio friends, don't be shocked!

Yes, it was February 19th, and the

daffodils at my homeplace were in

full bloom!!!

I asked Daddy to check Ione's tires

before I headed back to Memphis.

(Beth is supervising.)

Below is the inside of Daddy's shop.

I took my leave about 5:00 p.m.

and headed back to Memphis.

Stella had invited me to dinner at her

new apartment. What she had not

expected was that her oven was going

to stop working. We shot over to Emily's

house after the salad, cooked the main

course and dessert, and finished our

meal about 8:30 p.m. Monday night.

Here's Stella in a very unstaged photo. HA!

The next day was a flurry of activity.

We changed the closing to 2:00 from 10:00,

so I had the movers come at 9:00 instead of 12:00.

Without going into the financial details of

the sale of my home, I'll just say that Tuesday the

20th was one of the most stressful days

in recent memories. (I have zits this week

to prove it.) BUT the house sold, I FINALLY

signed papers, and the day was almost over.

My friends met over at Ione's for a final

meal together. Ione is always so

kind to play hostess. Thank you, Ione!

Below, Johnny (RUFUS) has arrived from

Tupelo and is washing up. It was Mardi Gras

so that explains his showy jewelry.

Another shot of Rufie with Ione and Bogey.

Everyone congregated around the birds

to try to see Tippy and her egg.

This final shot is one of my best friend Em

and her new friend Jason.

Tomorrow I'll try to upload photos of

my move into Brewers Yard.

More disappointments and blessings...

Debbie Shrum, a co-worker from the Foundation, has been such a blessing to me. As you will recall, my car has been stuck in the ice since Wednesday. Debbie took me home from work on Thursday and Friday and took me to work on Friday. Not only did I not have to drive the interstate, but she has a parking space next door to the Foundation. She also agreed to take me to the airport today. Leslie Meyer, another co-worker, was gracious enough to offer to take time off work to pick me up and transport me to Bob's apartment in Reynoldsburg on Wednesday of next week.

Oh, and my boss Kevin said he will pay for the cab fare I spent getting to work on Thursday. Isn't that great!

My best friend Emily Bien may have gotten salmonella poisoning from her Peter Pan peanut butter. She has had abdominal cramps for the last several days, and she definitely was eating pb from the serial numbers mentioned on the radio of those jars that needed to be tossed. Pray for Emily to recover quickly.

Yesterday afternoon about 3:30 I received a call from my realtor's office. The buyer of my house had finally completed the inspection in anticipation of closing on Tuesday. To my dismay, she is wanting several items repaired along with a letter stating that the roof still has years of use.

If the inspection had been completed in a timely manner, this would not be an issue. Now I have three days, counting today and tomorrow, to provide the documents and repairs she has requested.

My realtor says it SHOULD be no problem. I suppose we'll see...

When I got home yesterday, I called Emily to check on her. As I was chatting, Bob walked into the house and gave me my first paycheck from Children's. To my dismay, the advance I had been offered for payment to my movers this coming Tuesday was missing from the amount!

Bob offered to help me try to "unstick" my car from the ice. So after I hung up talking with Em, he and I headed outside to give the car extraction one more try.

Bob's neighbor came out and offered some rock-like kitty litter she had purchased to get her car out of the ice. With the litter and the neighbor and Bob pushing the car forward and backward, I was finally able to drive the car out of its frozen grave! YEA! (I've already let my co-workers Debbie and Leslie know that I won't be needing their assistance with transportation. )

Since I had hung up with Em abruptly to get outside before dark, I called again to chat a while longer. She offered to let me use her savings for city taxes (which are due at the end of February) to pay the movers. Then I could return her money by month's end after Children's cuts me a check. It just might work!

Meanwhile, I've emailed my boss and someone in HR at the hospital to see how quickly the advance check can be cut and when I can pick it up.

I head out in a few hours for Memphis. Let's hope that the plane is able to leave on schedule.

Em and I are going to see "Spamalot" at the Orpheum tonight. We're meeting Jimmy Stephens at Spaghetti Warehouse around 5:30. Ione's will be my home while I'm on this trip to finish the move.

So keep on praying that everything works out and that at this time next week I'll be in my new digs in the Brewery District with my home in Cordova in someone else's name.

By the way, happy birthday, Peterson Toscano! I love you, man!!!

insignificant...

It's times like these when I feel small and insignificant.

The car's stuck; a taxi to work and back is outrageous; a tow truck is $65 just to get me moving....

In a city of over a million, there's no one to ask for help...whose services don't cost most of my day's pay.

:(

Stuck!

Well, the bad news is that it's 0 degrees here this morning; the good new news is that there's no wind so it also feels like 0.

The worse news is that I'm all dressed up with someplace to go and no way to get there. My car's tires are spinning feverishly but not budging.

I'm torn. Should I call a taxi and spend $50 to $75 to try to get to work and back since I'm a new employee and don't want to risk being absent this early in the game or do I just wait to see if something miraculous happens and the tires start moving through the ice although it's 32 degrees below freezing.

No chains, no snow tires, no clue...

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!

Well, I got ready for work this morning, broke my car door free from its icy prison, and started the car so it would de-ice. (This ice was too thick to remove with my ice scraper.)

I came back in the house to watch the weather while the car thawed.

To my surprise, Columbus and Franklin County had issued a Level 2 Snow Alert. (It was Level 1 when I went to bed last night.) My boss had said not to come in today if the level was raised to levels 2 or 3...so I'm staying home today.

Below are a few photos I snapped from

INSIDE Bob's apartment.

Notice that the ice on the limbs are

as thick as the limbs themselves.

Good thing Ohio doesn't boast pines

like the South!

I had Blackie completely ice- and

snow-free yesterday after work.

A few icicles hanging from the roof...

The temperature right now is 12

with a windchill of -3.

Below are descriptions of the snow alert possibilities:

Winter weather often means hazardous driving conditions. Knowing the facts about Franklin County’s Snow Emergency levels can mean the difference between arriving safely at your destination and not arriving at all. The Sheriff may close county, township, state, or municipal roads within his jurisdiction for preservation of the public peace.

Level 1—Snow Alert: Roadways are hazardous with blowing and drifting snow. Roads are also icy. Drive carefully.

Level 2—Snow Advisory: Roadways are hazardous, with blowing and drifting snow. Only those who feel it is necessary to drive should be out on the roadways. Contact your employer to see if you should report to work.

Level 3—Snow Emergency: All roadways are closed to non-emergency personnel. No one should be out during these conditions unless it is absolutely necessary to travel. All employees should contact their employers to see if they should report to work. Those traveling on the roadways may subject themselves to arrest.

Snow...snow...freezing rain... (February 13, 2007)

I know...all it's done

since I've been here is snow!

The hillside in the photo below

was completely snow-free yesterday.

Probably even as recently as 4:00

this morning, it was clear.

You can tell in both the shot above

and the one below that the rain

is hitting the windows and

freezing where it lands.

When I got home, I cleaned

all of the snow, ice and slush

off the car. See Blackie?

You've seen the shot below in other photos.

Notice how thick the snow is

on the railing.

It would be thicker if the rain

had not caused it to lose fluffiness.

This is another shot of the tributary.

Notice that the entire stream is iced

over, and snow is covering the ice.

Still a trickle is finding its way

under the snow and ice to its

next destination...

Of course, a parting shot of Maria!

If I'd tried to get her to lick her chops,

it would never have happened! HA!

You know, she may just be sticking

her tongue out at me!!!

Maria's Morning Bath (February 10, 2007)

Columbus Children's Hospital Foundation

I experienced my first big snow since I arrived. Starting yesterday about noon, it snowed and snowed and snowed. It took two hours for me to get home from work yesterday. I waited 25 minutes for one of our hospital shuttles to arrive. (They're supposed to be on a 10-minute rotation.) With nothing on my head, I was completely white-haired by the time the shuttle finally arrived. Then these people who had arrived moments before the shuttle did started filing onto the shuttle ahead of me. I was not happy. Anyway, this morning I decided to leave for work about 6:00 to make sure I arrived on time.

This was what I saw when I got to Bob's apartment complex parking lot...

The snow looked fake.

It was SO BEAUTIFUL!

The only way I can describe the snow

was like shattered glass or

billions of diamonds on mounds of cotton.

Have you seen that plastic snow

some people use at Christmas

to decorate with? Same appearance...

On to work...

This is my new boss Kevin.

He turned 40 on January 5th.

This is the receptionist's desk.

And this is our reception area...

This is one of three hallways

in our building.

All of our secretaries and VPs

live here eight hours a day--

secretaries on once side of the aisle,

VPs on the other.

This is where my secretary sits.

Her name is Kay.

This is one of the coolest parts of the office.

It is here we can get

Coke, Diet Coke, Mountain Dew,

coffee, tea, hot chocolate,

and cafe mocha--all free of charge!

And this is my humble abode...



I made a shot of myself to include here,
but it was much too scary for publication...