An exhausting week…………………………………………………………..

As always, first the chronology:

2/20/22 – Sunday – Up at the usual time.  Down for breakfast.  Back to the room to wait for Todd to call.  He called shortly before 10AM so we started over to the house.  Looked around and look at what Todd wanted to get done.  Then to Lowe’s with lunch on the way.  Got some things and back to the house.  Fixed the leak on the washing machine and started pulling nails and patching walls.  Kathy worked on the kitchen.  Gave up about 5:30 and stopped at Ruby Tuesday’s on the way home for a light dinner.  Did the blog and usual evening routine.

2/21/22 – Monday – Up a little early.  Over to Todd’s and worked on painting and putting up fixtures for Todd.  Then Todd took us out for dinner at the Texas Roadhouse for our anniversary dinner.  Back to the motel and usual evening routine.

2/22/22 – Tuesday – Up at the usual time and over to Todd’s.  He didn’t give me the correct key for the back door so we couldn’t get in to do anything.  Todd was taking his REMAC test and was tied up for the day.  Kathy and I made a stop at Homedepot and Walmart on our way over so we let those items in the shed at Todd’s place.  Took the cover off the bed of the truck and we stopped on the way back to the motel and got the truck washed.  Spent the rest of the day hanging out in the motel room until time to head to Carmel.  We toured the area to see what has changed including our old house.  Then to the Eveready Diner to have dinner with friends.  Home late.

2/23/22 – Wednesday – Up a little early and down for breakfast.  Over to Todd’s and continued the painting effort.  Did some plumbing work and wood work.  Cleaned up over there and back to the motel to clean ourselves up.  Todd went down to the city to retrieve his work truck.  He met us at Applebees for dinner.  He went shopping and Kathy and I went back to the motel.  Usual evening routine.

2/24/22 – Thursday – Up a little early today and down to breakfast.  Over to Todd’s.  Cleaned up the second room we painted.  Helped Todd with some things like finding the filters for the furnace and AC.  Put up a curtain rod and helped him organize his tools.  He took us out to lunch at a nice place close to his house.  We departed his house around 5PM and stopped at Denny’s for a light dinner.  To the motel and started to pack for starting home tomorrow.  Otherwise, usual evening routine.

2/25/22 – Friday – Up at the usual time.  Got things packed in the truck and departed Middletown, NY.  It was snowing with freezing rain.  Roads had piles of snow till we got out on interstate 84.  Then just slush covered.  Ran at a conservative speed till we got well into PA where the roads where just wet.  Had an issue with the window freezing up with the rain so had to run the heat very high.  But we made it to Weston, WV in one piece.  Stopped and had lunch at Perkins Pancake House.  Haven’t been to one of those in a long time.  Not much around in Weston so we just caught a burger at Burger King.  Usual evening routine.

2/26/22 – Saturday – Up a little early, down for breakfast and on the road by 8:30AM.  Had about a 15 minute delay in Charleston, WV with construction.  Stopped at a Cracker Barrel once we were in Kentucky but they were crowded.  Went on down the road and finally stopped at a Texas Roadhouse.  Got to the house about 1:30PM.  Started unloading the truck then ran down to Country Mart for Groceries.  In the mean time Kathy went after the dogs.  She got home and all is well.  Had dinner at the house.  Usual evening routine.

---

Now the particulars:

Well the ride up to New York and back was definitely a challenge. We got the trailer Thursday last week and loaded it. Got everything ready to take of Friday morning. The weather was good on our trip Friday up to Morgantown, WV. Saturday we got up to snow in Morgantown. Had snow the entire time across 68 to Columbia, Maryland. But it cleared up just north of Cumberland. Then we got to Altoona and between there and Port Matilda we hit blinding snow squalls off and on. The first one hit us hard and fast so I had no time to adjust. An idiot was coming up the left hand lane and when we hit the squall he swerved in front of us and stopped in the middle of the road. It was all I could do to keep control of the truck with the trailer on and navigate around the right of him. Only by the grace of God am I here to tell you about this. Last Friday (The day we planned to leave New York) it had been snowing with sleet and freezing rain. There was a couple inches of a combination of sleet and snow on the roads. We didn’t have the trailer to deal with now which was a blessing. We made it to the interstate which they seemed to have under control in terms of keeping it clear. We had issues with the windshield of the truck freezing up from the freezing rain. We had to keep the heat very high inside the truck to keep the windshield clear. We dealt with that until we were well into Pennsylvania. Then the roads turned to being just wet. About half way between Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and interstate 80 things started to dry off. The rest of the trip was rather uneventful. So the good thing is we made it. My winter weather driving skills were tested, but I passed.

Last Sunday we got to see the house. At first I think Kathy and I were somewhat surprised with the poor condition. It was built in the 1800s and obviously old. But it is sturdy. I think the major problem was that with the normal settling of an old house like that, there was no one to keep up with the necessary renovations. I think the people that worked on the house were much better at hiding issues than fixing them. By the time we were done helping Todd, it didn’t seem so bad.

We got two rooms painted for him upstairs. He set one up as his bedroom and he got the bathroom all squared away. And of course the kitchen was set up rather well. He moved all his things from the storage facility and the place he had a room in the city up to his new house and is now living there.

He is very anxious to do a lot of things to improve and upgrade the house but I tried to tell him he needs to get organized first. After he has it livable, he can then start on one project at a time and do what he wants.

Kathy of course was in her usual mode of operation. Todd would start on something and Kathy would take off on a tangent and add more confusion to the issue. I’m sure Todd learned as I have that Kathy’s help always comes at a price. It was so bad that on Wednesday after we ate, Kathy offered to go shopping with Todd to help him out and he refused her assistance.

The highlight of the trip for me was meeting old friends in Carmel for dinner on Tuesday evening. Kathy had a friend from the hospital come say hello. I got to see Jen Efferen and her daughter Layla. Layla is a very special young lady with a very special mother. I’m not sure who is luckier. And of course my very good friend Peggy, John and his wife and a very important guy named Rick showed up. I can’t thank all these people enough for taking time out of their busy schedules to come have dinner with us.

I think that’s as much as I should comment about today. There is of course much more to the story but I think the other things need to be left unsaid. With that I will say goodbye for this week. As always, hope this finds everyone safe and well. Hugs to all the special people in my life. Blog at you again next week.