Office update

Back in February I told you about moving the “new” office furniture into my home office, an began in early December. The last big part of that process finally happened on Saturday, almost exactly four months after it suddenly began. A couple of things came together that allowed this to finally occur: Dave’s torn rotator cuff has finally healed enough that he can do most things again, and our (good) next door neighbor’s brother-in-law was in town for the weekend, so we had three strong men available at the same time to move the huge hutch from our entry way down the stairs and into my office.

I wish that at some point in the last four months I’d taken the time to snap a picture of this hutch standing on end next to my front door. It was a sight. The thing is huge: 43 inches high x 69 inches wide. The entry way seems ten times bigger now with it gone. As it is, I only have photos of moving it down the stairs, and getting it set in its new home.

Now that we have the manpower, it’s time to move the hutch. Blair and Bob came over wearing their matching t-shirts. Dave had already moved the bookcases—and four boxes of books—that normally line the landing, so there was room to turn the corner easily. Here they come: down the stairs, a brief pause while they figure out how to get it around the corner, then down the hall it goes.

We’d also done a bunch of preparation in my office. Everything had to come off the top of the part of the desk where the hutch would go, plus the wire shelves came down from on top of the oak printer table in the corner. Once the dollie was under it again, it was a simple thing to roll the hutch down the hall and into my room. Then they had to figure out the best way to lift it into place, which took but a moment, then voila! there it is.

Most of the rest of the day was spent moving stuff back in, a lot of which has been in one guestroom or the other since mid December. It’s sure nice getting my life put back together again. There aren’t as many shelves in here as there used to be, so I don’t know quite what I’m going to do with everything, but I’m making progress. The knitting books that I reference all the time are in a handy spot that I can reach from my chair, blank envelopes are within reach, printer paper is actually just above the printer—what a concept—and most of the memorabilia have new homes.

Weed abatement

It’s time to comply with local fire authority laws, and cut down all of the weeds in the yard. We learned early on that it’s much, much more efficient to hire the local gardeners to do this for us. They take care of a lot of the weeds in our neighborhood by cutting them down and hauling them away for somewhere between one and two hundred bucks. Well worth it, especially since they haul them away, and take care of the required paperwork. That, and it’s kind of fun to watch. Some of the gardeners in the area stuff the cut grasses into plastic bags. Our guys rake it all onto large squares of burlap, which they reuse—a practice that I wholeheartedly applaud.

They started this process on Monday, but were rained out. They returned on Tuesday, but it rained a bit Tuesday morning, so it was still too wet to cut. Now they’re back, and are nearly done cutting down the neighbor’s grasses. This is good. The sound of the weed-eater is getting a little annoying. We were hoping that the stuff they cut down on Monday would be dry enough to haul away today, but I’m assuming not, since they haven’t started moving it yet. Drat. Maybe they’ll be able to do it tomorrow.

Amaryllis

The amaryllis, though still beautiful, has begun to fade. Both flowers are getting age spots on them, and the petals are starting to curl a bit at the edges. I don’t feel at all gypped. Mom did. She didn’t think her flowers were open very long at all, when her bulb bloomed last year. I actually love that they’ve been so delightful and showy. The sheer size of these flowers is truly awe inspiring, especially when you consider that they’re putting on this fabulous show for us right there on our kitchen table.