Tag Archives: packing

Countdown

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In 10 days I will be on a plane heading back east. And then way south!

The time is going by so fast. It feels just like yesterday that I made the decision to go. Since then, the days have been flying by and departure is staring me in the face. Fortunately, I’ve been doing a bit of packing/clearing out/trashing every day, so I don’t feel rushed. I don’t do “rushed” any more. It might seem like an old lady way of doing things, but to me the stress of last minute stuff, putting things off, procrastination is worse than just about anything else. Sure, the house is a wreck and has been for weeks, but I know where everything is and where it is to go. The boxes are stacking up and I have actually managed to label them! A first!

The worst part has been the paperwork – what can I throw out and what do I absolutely have to save? But even that is being whittled down nicely. I have several goodwill boxes to go tomorrow and my clothing is down to minimal. I can take two suitcases and I need room in one for my Kangen machine! So that limits the space a bit. I think I am going to go the UPS luggage route as I can tape them completely closed and that might hinder sticky fingers in the airport luggage departments! And then just toss them once I get there. Both the boxes will get shipped down to Ryan before leaving here. I’ll take just a carry on back east.

With the weather changing I am getting out of here just in time, I think. Trees are turning, yellow and rust mixed in with the green now. And the maples turning beautiful reds. In the howling winds, poplar leaves are coming down like driving snow; pretty soon the trees will be bare limbed and dark against the gray sky.

I don’t remember if I mentioned I am keeping my car. After I had it detailed, and haven’t had a single bite on craigslist, I reconsidered. It’s paid for, a really good vehicle and I am pretty sure that I will have to be back here within the year to handle stuff with the house. And unless I want to pay an absolute fortune, will have to come back through the States to get to Panama or wherever I decide to land. So will have wheels and can then decide whether to sell or what. It will go under a cover here at the house, get driven once a month or so and will be fine.

It’s amazing how many odds and ends have to be handled – Hinckley had to go for his shots on Friday (yowling in the car but he is fine); changing utility accounts; runs to the Goodwill with all sorts of “stuff”; and on and on. But now things are coming together. Boxes stored in a cupboard; the last of the paperwork sorted; final bit of shopping today; then the clean sweep of desks etc.

And all the while, the old Mac is whirring away, loading my thousands of photos into dropbox out in a cloud! Love it!

Chaos is becoming order

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Where did all this stuff come from?!!!

Actually, it’s more things that need to be done, than things I have. For instance, all my photos are on an external drive – for Mac! So I can’t access them from my PC. So have to upload them to Dropbox and it is taking FOREVER! Last I looked on the old mac (drive to old mac to dropbox) there were still 10 days of uploading! I hope the old machine doesn’t blow up before that happens. But at least everything will be accessible then, in the cloud!

Gotta love technology!

The paper stuff is getting whittled down, too. The biggest paper hogs are government agencies, none of which accept digital anything. So print, copy, mail – copy, copy, copy. And then you have to keep everything for years. Stupid! And then they want things faxed, which means I have to drive somewhere to fax a page! Even though I have an all-in-one printer/fax/copier, I don’t have a phone line to use! Faxes are soooo 20th century!

Anyway, my kayak is gone, a lot of odds and ends on craigslist are going. The car is all spiffed up like new and I am having second thoughts about selling it, as I most likely will be back here sometime next year, on my way to somewhere else. I can cover it and leave it here at the house.

The gang here want to do a going away party for me. I guess it will be next week sometime. But it really doesn’t feel like I am going away forever. The length of time really depends on the house situation and that is still in limbo. It might be that way for years, for all I know.

The new ecology.com is supposed to launch at the end of this week. The site looks soooo good and am excited to see the final product. I’ve been really busy reworking old articles and actually got to write a new one! What a concept! Something of my own. I hope I can do more, there are so many things to write about and South Africa has a lot to offer in that regard.

So onward and forward…more boxes!

“notorious’ bars and ‘outrageous’ crab shacks

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Chesapeake

Yep, well that’s what is happening!

I know, I should be focusing on packing up, working etc., but why would I turn down the opportunity to go sailing on the Chesapeake, when the timing fits in perfectly with my Washington departure?

And Betsy says…is life supposed to be this much fun? should we let anyone know … ?

I actually considered not going and thought, why on earth not?

So I fly from Seattle to Baltimore with a shuttle to Annapolis, spend the week cruising around “notorius bars and and outrageous crab shacks,” then head back to Southern California to spend time with the boys (and girls) then head out to South Africa at the end of October.

This East coast trip came about just when I was trying to get mymixednuts closed down, with nuts everywhere and people coming by, saying how sad it was and making suggestions how to keep it going. This was when I had already pretty much come to terms with it going away. I did follow up on some suggestions about local angel investors, but I just don’t have the energy to put into it any more. Now, if it had happened last year, I would definitely have done something with them.

So I have boxes of nuts and fruit to send to Ryan and Cody and some for Annie, at Ryan’s request. All the documentation etc will go to her lawyer. I’ll do that tomorrow then it is over.

So when Betsy said, why not go with her, I was feeling so burned out I almost said no. But hell, why not?

Booked my flight this morning, leaving here 28th of September and fly back to S. Cal on 8th October and will spend a couple of weeks there, seeing everyone and meeting Jane and some of the ecology crew. I think Betsy and I will meet up with a couple more of them on the East coast, so this is definitely a business trip.

Then I think my departure date for South Africa is 25th October.

I’ve started packing my stuff up – really, I don’t have much and it is going to be stored in the cupboard in the second bedroom, out of the way, but dry as a lot of the “stuff” is pictures and slides.

My car is for sale, so have to go out and give it a good wash today – while the weather is nice! Still chilly, sunny but here it almost noon and it’s not 60F

 

Summer?

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I think we might have summer today! Here it is, on the downside of the summer solstice, and we are still waiting…

But today is beautifully clear, although it is very cold outside, 46F/10C. Maybe it will warm up to 60 or so, which will be a treat. The forecast is for 68/20 but I’m not holding my breath. I am tired, tired, tired of being cold and having the heat on in the house. And I am certainly not the only one complaining. People who are died-in-the wool Pacific northwesterners are complaining. It has been just miserable.

The birds don’t seem to mind – I am watching a huge osprey survey the estuary. He has been very active, diving and being quite successful too! Big fish being snatched! A lovely sight. In fact, we have two of these birds that have made this their own fishing grounds. The original one, which has been here for the past 3-4 years is still around and now this new one. The original one is smaller so maybe a female and now the male, so maybe babies soon?

But I hopefully won’t be here to see them, although staying focused on leaving is difficult. I wish I could simply pack up now and leave.

The nuts are still there and Annie knows I am leaving in November. But nobody seems to be making any effort to do anything about moving the business south to Southern California, or finding someone here to run it or close it down. It just blows my mind that they show so little interest – but want it to keep going, according to Ryan. It’s sad, as we keep getting more and more interest, with a big wedding favor order and a possible deal with gift baskets that I will find out about this week. If I had been getting paid properly, I probably would not be so anxious to leave, as I really am proud of the company and hate to just walk away from it. I guess that is why I keep working at it, keeping it ticking over, even though there is no money in it for me. Ever the optimist, I keep thinking someone is going to take it seriously, and it will become famous, and we will all make money. It takes years for a business to become profitable, and we are just in our second year. Very sad.

My tomatoes are finally growing well in the sunroom. The weeds outside are doing well too! It’s been so miserable, that things outside have had very little attention so everything is looking rather ragged at the moment. Maybe I’ll do some weeding today, put on my iPod music and sit in the sun.

I did find a couple of dress patterns for my summer clothes, but haven’t set up my machine yet. I’ve been dragging, but really must get myself in gear. I need to go through all the cupboards and boxes and discard stuff. Consolidate. Photos are about all I will save. The rest can go to Goodwill! Although, on second thoughts, there are things that I have saved for years: my Belize drum, jippy jappy baskets, Zulu baskets, beads. I can’t just get rid of them. So I guess I pack them up and store them until I am settled somewhere – wherever and whenever that might be.