Powell, WY

Well, plenty of things have happened since I last wrote!

On Friday morning I walked over to the Powell Branch Work Force Office and met Ilene, the lady who works in there. She was helpful! She recommended that I try the laborer job at a bentonite factory in Greybull (about 40 miles away) because it pays $19.81 per hour. She also found a listing for a customer service manager for Sierra Trader, a catalog order company.

I went home and wrote a nice letter and sent my resume to the HR lady at Sierra Trader, and before long she wrote back saying that the position had been filled.

Later I phoned and spoke with Jacob at US Staffing about the temporary laborer job in Greybull. He said he would email the new employee packet to me and I should complete it and send it back with my resume.

I never received the packet from Jacob, and when I tried to call him again and again, all I got was his voice mail.

The phone rang in the afternoon and Michele at Powell Valley Health Care called to ask if I was still interested in the Secretary/Billing position open in their hospice center. We made an appointment for an interview on Thursday, Feb. 2.

Over the weekend we mostly stayed home and stayed inside. United Van Lines called to say that the rest of our household goods would be delivered on Monday morning at 8:30 AM. We made a trip to the library where I completed my 2011 Taxes and checked out a couple books.

Pictured here are two of the leather carving projects I worked on this weekend: a key fob and a coaster. These were not very difficult and they were kind of fun! Bobby worked on knitting this weekend, and while he did not knit anything, he became very good and casting on!

The movers came on Monday morning right on time. They sent two old fossils to unload our stuff. This took about four hours. They were slow and they were NOT GENTLE with our stuff. They were dropping stuff right in front of us! We haven't gone through all of the boxes yet, but it does not look like we took a huge amount of damage.

It was breezy while they moved our stuff in, but the temperature rose into the 50's.

We really really need to go through all of our boxes and sort out what is going to be kept from what is going to a yard sale/charitable donation/etc. We have so much stuff and a lot of it is duplicated.

I finally got Jacob on the phone again and he emailed the new employee packet to me. I went to the library and printed all of the pages out, filled them out, and then took them to Ilene to fax back to him.

Last night I screwed the legs back onto our computer table and set it back up. Shortly after that we went to bed.

This morning we went to Bank Of The West to deposit our refund check from U-Haul, and a refund check from Public Storage. Next we went next door to True Value Hardware to get electric plugs that turn an ungrounded two-prong socket into a three-prong grounded plug. We needed this to set up our computers.

We stopped at a blue box and dropped my 2011 tax return in then we went to the supermarket to get milk, eggs, stew meat, cheese, sliced turkey, and bread. We burned up the rest of our EBT and I had to pay $14 for the balance.

The Realty Connection repair man, Earl, showed up this afternoon to check out the damaged garage door. After the camper is moved out of Bay 2, he will come back with a ladder and work on replacing the missing panel, and fix the split wooded rails. He also came in and checked out the low hot water pressure problem. He's going to ask Karen if he can get some pex tubing and bypass the section of pipe that he believes is blocked up with calcium deposits. I hope they can get the hot water pressure up.

I told Earl, "Remind Karen that this house is still being seen by buyers. If someone makes an offer, they are going to have a house inspection, and this low pressure will become an issue then."

This afternoon I spent some time talking with the neighbor, Johnny, about soil tests and house construction. He likes to talk, a lot. While I was over there Bobby got both computers up and running. Mine took a little bit of work because the memory DIMMS were shaken loose during the move. We will get Internet service here at the house soon.

This evening, a man named Roger came to pick up the camper from our garage. We helped him push it out and crank it up so that it could be loaded on to his pick up truck.

I am making vegetable beef stew for dinner. I spent a lot of time outside today and the cold makes me tired.

Powell, WY

On Tuesday I went back down to Cody to apply for the pressman/helper job at the Cody Enterprise. The receptionist said that they had received enough applications that the man in charge will have his choice of applicants.

In the afternoon, after a scenic drive down Absaroka Street to Wyoming 295 and up onto the Polecat Bench, we went to the Powell Library and I posted a new Monster.com and Careerbuilder.com resume. While we were at the computers my cellphone rang.

The first call was from The Realty Connection to let us know that potential buyers were going to be shown the house on Friday at 12:30 PM, so we would have to be out of the house for about twenty minutes at that time.

The second call was from Christine at Workforce Center. She had a job lead for me. Schmalz Fencing needed a new foreman to lead a four man team putting up fancy ranch gates in the northfork area. I thought to myself, "this woman is out of her mind, I just moved here from FLORIDA, I don't have heavy work clothes, and I am not going to work outside all day long"!

The third call was from Lori at Certainteed Gypsum in Cody. She wanted me to come in on Wednesday for aptitude and math testing. I agreed to meet her at the plant office at 10:30.

That evening after a dinner of pork chops and apple sauce, we stepped next door to return the coffee cups to Mary and bring her a jar of home made strawberry jam. She had her children all over the place and she had her brother, Johnny, come upstairs too. We ended up staying much longer than we had planned. It was after 9:00 PM when we finally left. Before we left she pressed some books about high-altitude baking into Bob's hands.

On Wednesday I drove down toward Cody, but just before you get to Cody you turn on to Park County Road 2AB. I followed this road all the way around to the Certainteed plant. The plant is one mile from the end of 2AB and it turns out this road intersects with Wyoming Route 120. That's cool - when we build in Clark, the road will lead straight to the plant and it's on the same side of town!

I got to the plant a little early and had to wait for Lori to get out of a conference. Then she led me to a meeting room and put a test down in front of me. This was the aptitude test and it was full of tricky questions, like "read the following two sentences and then decide whether the third sentence is true or false" or "which two numbers would you draw a line between to cut the figure into two equal parts that could be assembled into a square?"

After the aptitude test I was given an addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division test. I was given a piece of scratch paper too.

I did well on the tests, but she had other applicants to test and said that after the testing they would begin interviewing. However, they might start interviewing before everyone is done testing. After interviews, they will do background checks. She said the process could take a couple of weeks. There are only two open positions.

Seeing a listing online for a secretary/billing person at Powell Valley Health Care, I put in an application and copy of my resume online for that job. I think I've applied for eight jobs so far.

The weather became a little windy in the afternoon and temps dropped below freezing during the night. The streets are clean and dry again although the gutters still have some frozen ice in them.

Today we hung around the house all day. We attempted to visit the free Homesteader Museum, but when we got there we found a sign that said it was closed in January and February. So we went to China Town buffet for lunch. We ate til we were filled and probably won't eat dinner.

Bob watched a Youtube.com video about knitting and casting on and he's been practicing this all afternoon. Tomorrow I am going to make him start knitting.

Powell, WY

I got up at 5:45 AM, made a breakfast of eggs, strawberries, and pbj sandwiches with hot chocolate. Then I started to dress for the Wyoming Work Force Center and any potential interviews.

My drive down to Cody was very easy. The sun was fully up by the time I arrived at the office. I was about 20 minutes early and I just waited in the truck until they opened at 8:00.

Inside I filled out the form and selected four jobs from the current listings (four is the max number you are allowed per day). I spoke with a lady named Wendy and she printed each of the jobs out for me. She also brought applications for some of the employers from the file.

I filled out two of the applications at a table in the middle of the office. For one of the employers, I had to turn the application in to a woman named Christine.

I applied at Y Tex and Certainteed Building Products (a drywall plant). Tomorrow I am going to stop at The Cody Enterprise to apply in person for a job as a pressman.

While I was visiting with Wendy, she asked me if I knew about the Powell branch of the Work Force service. I told her I did not. As it turns out, the Powell office is one block north and one block west of our house! I can walk over there!

One the way home I stopped at the Cody Feed and Seed to check on food for Buddy. They carry the Blue Buffalo brand dog food there and the owner agreed to order a few six-pound bags so that Buddy can sample it, but they gave me a free sample of a dog food I have never heard of called "Dog Fuel". I brought some home in a ziploc bag for Buddy to try out. We have to be careful of what Buddy eats to prevent another ear infection.

We are waiting for our letter carrier, Mary Ann, to bring the mail. My mail should be forwarded beginning today.

Everything was covered in ice and snow when we arrived, but after a couple of 40 to 50 degree days, most of it has melted away and the streets are dry. The days have been very sunny.

The picture on this post is of me standing on my patch of land in Clark, WY last Thursday, Jan. 19. It was a little breezy and chilly that day and you can see that the clouds were just spilling over the Beartooths.

Powell, WY

We spent all day Wednesday unloading the moving truck. We pulled it into the alley behind the house and backed it in next to the garage and began rolling stuff out of it and down the ramp.

Most of the contents went into the garage, but we rolled and dragged enough stuff across the frozen backyard to clear a snow-free path to the house!

We met the neighbors on the right side of us. They are an older brother and sister who are raising their grandchildren after their mother was killed. The lady, Mary, invited us over for a cup of coffee.

I called Powell Veterinary Services to make a walk-in appointment for Buddy and the lady told us to bring him over and drop him off because the vet was on her way out to see some cows, but she would get to him before the end of the day.

After dropping Buddy off, we went to Subway for lunch. Then returned to unloading the truck. Bob put the bed together and then we dragged the box spring and mattress inside.

Because there is a chance that we might be asked to move again, we are not unpacking everything and the stuff that we unpack, we are keeping the boxes for down in the basement.

At 5:30 we went to pick up Buddy. He had a very bad urinary tract infection. He probably got this from the long trip in the truck out here and not drinking enough, but I cannot rule out the possibility that he caught it from his cousin, Newz.

The vet provided us with two antibiotics and a pain reliever for him to take twice a day. The bill for this visit came to $70. After the drugs run out, she wants me to "capture" another sample of his urine and bring it to her. That ought to be interesting!

We only have two utility bills for the house - a gas bill that averages $56 per month, and a water/sewer/trash/electric bill from City Of Powell that averages $117 per month.

On Thursday we drove the U-Haul truck and trailer to Billings to turn it in at a dealer up there (we saved $300 by doing so). As we drove farther north the conditions on the road got worse and worse. The snow was terrible up there!

We stopped at a Conoco station one block from the drop-off dealer to bring the gas back up to 3/8 tank and then we went to the dealer lot. The lot had 14 inches of snow in it, but we pulled in.

Our experience here was less-than-acceptable. Because we were 10 minutes late (on a 2200 mile trip!) they were going to charge us another day of rental and rental insurance, and then the customer service guy disputed that the gas tank was up where it was when we got it, and although the interior of the truck was "customer-ready", he remarked that the outside was very dirty.

We protested the additional day of rental and the dealer took that off, but he still charged us $40 fee for having to refill the gas tank and $4.50 for one gallon of gasoline. We didn't say anything else, and just paid the man. Later, at home, I called 1-800-GO-UHAUL, and complained about it. The charges were refunded to us and a $20 gift certificate was emailed to me!

After the equipment drop-off, we drove out in my little Tacoma, but the roads were terrible there! I had originally wanted to shop for some more of Buddy's dog food and find a Bank Of America ATM for Bob, but instead we headed back to Laurel, MT and ate breakfast at Hardees. Then we went south on US 212 toward Red Lodge.

It was amazing - as we went south, the air temps warmed up and my gas tank gauge actually went UP! The gas was expanding as it warmed up.

We turned onto US 310 and went toward Bridger where we got on MT 72 to Belfry, MT. Here we turned left and headed into Wyoming. We drove down to Clark's Fork and paid our property a sunny, if chilly visit. We also drove around the development before heading back to Powell.

In the afternoon I cut down a bunch of saplings next to the house and fence and replaced the locking door knob on the garage. We got some days knocked off of our rent for doing this. The realtor is very pleased that we got this done so quickly.

Right now we are using the computers at the Powell Library. We cannot wait for our own computers to be delivered next week. Then we will have to get Internet service at the house. We do not know if we will be using cable or satellite dish (there is a dish already at the house).

So far we are both well and looking forward to our next steps. I updated my resume on the library computer yesterday and I am going to Cody to visit the employment agency on Monday.

Powell, WY

Well, a lot has happened since I last wrote! We left Memphis and drove across Arkansas and Oklahoma stopping for the night in Wichita, KS. The next day we drove north from Wichita, across Kansas, into Nebraska, and stopped for the night in Scottsbluff.

Each segment of this trip presented challenges - finding gas stations, getting temporarily lost, etc.

Finally, we drove from Scottsbluff, NE into Wyoming and stopped at Casper for breakfast. We went to McDonalds to eat and then stopped at Shell to fuel up.

The Shell station also happened to rent U-Haul truck and I stepped inside out of the snow that was starting to fall to ask whether my planned route to Cody was safe and feasible.

The lady at the counter assured me that the tunnels in the Wind River Canyon were tall enough to allow the truck to pass and that going via US 26 to Shoshoni, and then US 20 to Thermopolis, and then WY 120 to Cody was the best way since any other route would take you over the top of the Bighorn Mountains and into worse snow.

We pulled out and headed out of Cody into some heavy snowfall. Visibility was down to 1/2 mile and I haven't driven on this stuff in 8 years, let alone while driving a huge moving van towing a car!

We parked the truck and visited American West Realty, The Donogan Group, and Prudential Real Estate. The first two offices were very bleak in their hopes for us to find a house that would accept a pet, but the receptionist at the last place was very optimistic and cheerful. She gave us her listing sheet and we left feeling more hopeful.

We stayed the night at Super 8 Motel and started calling the listings on the sheet, in the Cody Enterprise, the Powell Tribune, and the Real Estate Connection.

One owner called back saying that he had two cabins for rent 27 miles out of town on the road to Yellowstone Park for $650 per month with all utilities paid. Right after we spoke with him, Karen at The Real Estate Connection called us back with a couple of possibilities too!

We drove clear out to the Northfork to inspect the cabins, but the drive was harrowing in the dark, on an icy road, driving this big rig, with deer running out in front of us. We saw these cabins and while they were attractive, they were very small.

The better idea was to visit Karen in Powell on Tuesday and see what she had available. She had two houses, and the first one was almost perfect for us - two bedrooms, kitchen, bath, living, dining, full basement with appliances, a two-car detached garage and workshop! $600 per month.

We are living at 555 North Absaroka Street, Powell, WY 82435 for now.

Route to Wyoming

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Memphis, TN

On the evening of Monday, Jan. 9, we flew back to Orlando, FL on Allegiant Flight 717. We got in around 10 PM, got the truck out of economy parking, paid $40 for the parking lot, and drove home. We spent the last night in the condo on the memory foam mattress.

The next morning after showering, I scrubbed the tub/shower down so that it was shiny clean, took the shower curtain down and loaded the foods, liquids, and cleaning products into the bed of the truck. Then I went to U-Haul to pick up the 26-foot-long moving van and vehicle carrier.

I drove the truck up onto the vehicle carrier, and towed the truck with the big van back to the Waverly to get Bob and the mattress/bedding. Then we drove out to Metrowest on the 408 to pick Buddy up from the kennel. They only charged me $70 versus the $114 quoted because we got him a day early and they did not have him bathed yet.

After this we went to the storage unit and spent the rest of the day loading the big moving van. Here we had to take the truck off of the trailer, and unhitch the trailer so that we could pull out the ramp to load the big truck up.

Getting the big truck loaded was hard work! We were both sweating heavily. We were loading for about six hours. We pulled out around 4:00 PM, got onto the 408 West, to the Florida Turnpike, and headed north. We spent about $12 in tolls on the turnpike.

At Wildwood, FL we stopped to fill the 60-gallon gas tank on this big barge. It took $170 to fill it up! I got a quart of 5W-20 oil for the engine and a bag of Florida oranges for Dawndee. We continued up I-75 to Valdosta, GA where we spent the night in a LaQuinta Inn.

Although we set the alarm to go off at 3:30 AM, we continued to sleep for another two hours. We finally headed out of Valdosta at 6:00 AM. It took another four hours to get to Atlanta. This big barge will not be setting any land speed records. I think we were averaging 50 MPH.

On the way to Atlanta, Bob discovered his cellphone missing. Believing he left it in the room we called Dawndee and asked her to Google the phone number for the LaQuinta Inn in Valdosta. She gave us the number and Bob called. The housekeeper went to the room, but did not find the phone.

Before Bob called to report the phone missing, I called his phone a couple of times hoping that if anyone picked up the phone we could ask them to take it to the front desk. On my second call we heard the phone ringing somewhere in the cab with us!

I guess the phone was heavy enough that when he climbed into the cab, it fell backwards in his pocket and he ended up sitting on it!

Around 10:00 AM we came to Atlanta and turned on to I-20 West. We stopped a short distance west of Atlanta to get a tank of gasoline and a modest McDonalds lunch. Then it was back to the highway toward Birmingham.

At Birmingham, AL, we turned onto US 78 West. There was a couple of miles of strip malls and stop lights, and then the highway became a nice six-lane limited-access freeway! We followed US 78 into Mississippi and passed Tupelo.

Soon we began running low on gas again. We were going to need a little more gas to make it into Memphis. We began looking for an exit with a gas station. Our trusty GPS told us that the next exit, Exit 37 at Lake Center (a place that refuses to show up on any map) had a gas station. We turned off here and this is where the trip truly started to become an adventure.

We followed the GPS instructions across the overpass and down a two lane road next to the highway. We came to a gate and stopped. We could not see anything inside and we opened the gate up to get some room to turn the big truck and trailer around. Even inside the gate we did not have enough space to turn around and the ground was very wet and soft.

So, we followed the paved lane back hoping to find a place to turn the truck around. We came to a big maintenance shed/barn where I turned off. Still there was no place to turn or even make a three-point turn. I backed the truck/trailer combo back down the drive, but could not get it all completely turned around.

Bob thought we might be able drive it all right across the grass and get it back on the pavement. We tried this and promptly became stuck.

The first thing we tried was putting bricks and wood under the wheels, but we were not able to get the big drivers up onto them and the truck seemed to sink deeper. It was starting to get dark.

We walked down the hill to where the paved road ended. A big house on a lake was here and there was someone home. We rang the doorbell and asked the lady if a tow truck could be called for us. She said that she did not know any wreckers or service stations around there and she was home alone. We thanked her and headed back up the hill.

I called U-Haul Roadside Service for help, but the lady on the phone could not find our location. While I was talking to her, a man in a silver truck pulled up. He checked out our predicament and figured that he could help us get out.

He backed up to the trailer, hooked a chain around the frame of the trailer and hooked the other end around the frame of his truck. While I backed up spinning the wheels, he took off forward spinning his wheels and making a cloud of smoke! Finally the big truck heaved up and rolled back up onto the pavement!

The man then backed the truck/trailer up and got it turned around so that it was headed out. Bob and I took some boards and began filling in the wheel ruts in the grass, but the man said that the property owner asked to have us sent on our way.

We carefully drove back out, but as we passed out of the gate a big black pick-up truck came roaring down the road and it stopped in front of the truck. He was very mad at us for trespassing and said he wanted to shoot us!

He drove on back to talk to the man who helped us out and we got out of there! I stopped at the highway on-ramp to pour one of our jerry cans into the gas tank and then we continued down the highway. We were stuck at Lake Center for about an hour and forty-five minutes.

The next town, Holly Springs, had a veritable cornucopia of Shell gas stations! One in each direction on the crossing road! We filled the gas tank again and headed west to Memphis.

At Memphis we took I-240 around the east side of town to I-40 West and got off on TN14 North. We took this two-lane road about 20 miles north where Dawndee met us at gas station and led us the last couple of miles to her house. It was a relief to finally get in around 8:00 PM!

After unloading our clothes and some food for Buddy we all went into the house and sat down to enjoy some nice ribeyes, twice-baked potatoes, broccoli, and home made cheesecake!

Yesterday, while George was at work and Tyler was at school, we rode with Dawn downtown to see famous Beale Street, Union Avenue, and Graceland. We saw the Graceland Parking lot, but did not go inside because they wanted $40 a person! We saw the Lisa Marie airplane from the parking lot.

Next Dawn took us to Lenny's subs for a lunch, then we went to Wal*Mart to get some 5W-20 motor oil for the big truck, some bottled water for us to drink, and some foods to make dinner with.

While we were out driving it began to snow. It snowed fairly heavily and it started to accumulate on the ground. I was hoping that this was not going to continue.

Dawn made a big pot of spaghetti with meatballs and garlic bread for dinner.

We slept much better on the second night. The dogs were both worn out from playing all day and they slept peacefully too!

Now Dawn is working a four-hour shift at the clothing store. We are doing some laundry, and I have cleaned out the truck, cleaned the windshield, topped off the motor oil and antifreeze. I think we are going to head on out tomorrow and continue going west to Oklahoma where we will turn north. Traffic should be lighter on the highways on the weekend.

So far, so good!

Wilmington, NC

Well, the time for my last Orlando journal entry came sooner than I expected - BrightHouse turned off the cable in the middle of the day on Wednesday! We returned the cable modem to the office and prepared for the movers to come in.

We packed up the computers and took our long computer table apart. We put the legs into one of the tall wardrobe boxes and we made sure that all of our boxes were sealed up.

On Thursday morning we drove to the United Van Lines warehouse to meet the moving truck so that we could follow it to the truck scale to witness the empty weight. Then the truck drove to the Waverly and parked in the loading dock. Andrew, the concierge, came and opened the dock for them and put Elevator No. 3 in to move-in/move-out mode.

There were three men packing us up. They took the boxes out of the house first. I think there were over 30 boxes of various sizes. Then they began wrapping up our furniture and packing it into the truck. It was amazing to watch how quickly they could work and empty the house out!

While they worked, Buddy was confined to the master bathroom. He cried and cried to be let out. He could hear the men outside working.

I went across the street to the ATM to get some cash, and then I got a carton of softdrinks. With some cash in hand I was able to give each mover a $10 tip. After all, I don't want all of my stuff demolished before it is delivered!

In about two-and-a-half hours they had all of the stuff packed up. Their 26-foot-long truck was only about 2/3 of the way full. This truck is going to the warehouse where the furniture will be transferred to a bigger truck.

We followed the truck back to the scale to witness the heavy weight. The estimator figured we had 4000 pounds to move, but the scale showed 4600 pounds! We are only getting charged for 4000 pounds.

With all of the furniture and boxes out of the house we began cleaning. We cleaned the bathrooms and windows. When we tried to use the self-cleaning mode on the oven we got an error code telling us the door lock was broken, so I went to Publix and got two cans of Easy Off. I hate using this product - it's noxious, but I heated the oven up and sprayed the entire can onto the porcelain surfaces.

I used gloves in the beginning, but because my hands were wet, they were sticking and did not fit on very well. Later I took them off and wiped the sponge with my bare hands, which was fine, but some of the oven cleaner got onto my arm and burned me really good!!

We slept in the second bedroom on the memory foam mattress from the murphy bed. The dog must have been confused at all of our stuff being taken away and then seeing us sleeping on the floor! "Oh no, we really have hit bottom now - my people are sleeping on the floor with me!"

On Friday morning we went out to breakfast at Fairbanks Diner. We came directly home from breakfast and began cleaning again. Today we had to get the floors cleaned. I started with a 5-gallon bucket of hot water and Pine Sol and a mop. I mopped the tile floor in the foyer first, then the bathrooms, and the laundry room. I pulled the washer and dryer each out from the wall and cleaned behind and under each too.

Once the hard floors were cleaned I started transferring the boxes of food, liquor, and cleaning supplies to those areas so that the carpet was completely clear.

I vacuumed the carpets thoroughly, and then threw the filter bag away (a bag dirt in a vacuum being stored will attract rodents). Next I prepared cleaning solution for the carpet shampoo machine. Buddy had to stay outside on the balcony while we cleaning the carpets, but we had all of the windows open to ventilate the house really well.

It was about 1:30 when I finished the carpets. I took the shampoo machine apart and put the various parts into the bathtub. I climbed in, cleaned each really well, and then took a shower. Once I was dressed again I cleaned the shampoo machine of the filth and dog hair and put it back together again.

Now we moved the vacuum, shampooer, small handcart, cleaning supplies, dehydrator, brooms, mops, Swiffer mop, dog food bin - basically everything except for the boxed food out to the bed of the truck and we packed small carry-on bags for our trip to Wilmington.

The house looks very good when it is empty, clean, and the blinds are fully opened!

We took Buddy to Hiawassee Veterinary Clinic to be kenneled. He had to get a bordatella vaccine, and we requested a prescription for Revolution topical flea/tick medicine, a copy of his medical record, and a bath before we pick him up.

Next we headed over to the storage unit to pack our loaded down truck cargo somehow into the storage unit. I pulled stuff out of the first six feet and we stacked light items as high as we could. It was not easy, but it all fit!

Then we got a bottle of water for me to drink down, we filled the gas tank in the truck, and then headed down SR 408 and SR 417 to Orlando-Sanford International Airport to catch Allegiant Flight 716 with non-stop service to Wilmington, NC.

We are spending the weekend in Wilmington visiting Mom, Bill, and Grandma Pat.

Turning A Corner

Today was my last day at FER. I worked there for six years, seven months, and three days. I found out that the $388.89 extra in my paycheck was to pay me for the three days I was working in January.

This was not a hard day. I was busy all morning because I had to process $175k in new orders.

Several well-wishers phoned in during the day. Craig said that it turns out I have a lot of allies in the industry. I guess he's been swamped with people asking about me leaving, or asking to take my place!

The day was sunny, but even at midday it was cool outside. It got down into the 30's last night, and Buddy had a chilly walk this morning in his red sweatshirt. It is supposed to get even colder tonight!

I guess it's always sad when you leave people that you've worked with for a long time. I turned my door key and Exxon-Mobil card in to Fay.

Craig brought in my replacement this afternoon. Her name is Ileana and she works for Manpower. She starts tomorrow at 8:00 AM.

After Ileana left, I had to show Craig and Fay where "everything" is. Where I keep stuff on the computer, where things like quotes and prices are kept, how I was tracking events. I told them that if they cannot find something or cannot remember something to simply write to me at my Yahoo! address.

Tomorrow we are going to take the murphy bed down from the wall, and put these computers away. Then we will take the computer table apart and fix the blinds in this room. The movers come on Thursday to take the furniture and most of the boxes away. Then we clean house.

Happy New Year!

Ahhhh, 2012 has arrived. This year is supposed to be the end of history according to the Mayan calendar. I hope they were right because we can't continue on like before!

My last paycheck for 2011 was deposited on Saturday morning. It looks like a small bonus was included!

We were in bed when 2012 arrived, but we were made very aware of its arrival. The new year was greeted with fireworks and firecrackers and a lot of noise.

Most of New Year's Day was spent taping and packing boxes. The rooms are starting to sound empty and echoey. Today, a man came to get the sofa, love seat, and recliner. There is a lot of space in the living room now and we are moving all of the boxes to the living room so that we can take the Moddy Murphy Bed down from the wall.

Temps are dropping into the 30's tonight. Strangely, Wilmington, NC and Cody, WY are the same temperature right now - 41°F. Right now it is 24°F in Kent, OH, and it's snowing!

Tomorrow is my last day at FER. I am sure that this will be an interesting day.

On Wednesday we will take the murphy bed down, put the blinds back up, and put away the last few things from the bathroom. On Thursday the movers come to take the furniture and a large number of boxes. We will clean the house after the movers. We will clean on Friday morning too.

On Friday evening we are flying to North Carolina to visit Becky, Bill, Pat, Marrissia, and Kevin over the weekend. We will head out of here shortly after we return.