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After arriving back at the house, we found Karen's sister Sue and her husband Jim carrying things out of the house and stacking them in the driveway. Ken's dad and Karen's dad and mom were also helping. The pile was HUGE - apparently everyone had been at it for a while. We had initially looked at the truck when we picked it up and said "no problem, it'll all fit". Now we looked and said "it'll never fit!" We started loading, heavy stuff first and Karen's dad took the role of making sure that every available nook and cranny was filled with something. Loading the truck basically took all day and then some. We had a farewell dinner with Karen's work group at 5pm, so we showered and changed and headed off at about 4:15pm. Sue and Jim and Ken's dad had left by then, so it was just Karen's parents who said they would continue to pack the truck. We just needed to have room to pack the bed and the dog crates and a few miscellaneous items the next day.

We got back from dinner at a little after 8pm, and they were still there. It was now a jigsaw puzzle, with odd-shaped items left to fit in, and trying to get them all in and leave room as mentioned. They finally went home with our assurances that we could do the rest the next day. And so to bed...

The next day was Sunday, and we got up, had our last breakfast at Casey's Malt Shoppe, and headed off to church. They had a farewell lunch for us, and then we were back by about 1:30. There really wasn't that much left to pack, but between getting that done, doing the little bit of vacuuming that needed to be done (Karen's mom had basically cleaned the house already), wiping out the fridge, and getting all the trash out to the road, we weren't ready to leave until 5pm. We said goodbye to our neighbors Geri and Gary, and headed for Albany.

Normally from Ransomville to Albany is about 5 hours. With a large truck however, you need to take it easy, especially when you (Karen) are not used to driving something that large. Once on the Thruway we aimed for about 60mph and let the traffic pass us. We drove as far as the Port Byron rest area, and stopped for dinner. We also checked the truck tires and the front tire on the passenger side seemed soft. Sure enough, it was only at 74.5 psi hot. They are supposed to be filled to 100 psi cold. So before getting back on the highway we stopped at the air pump and it took all three minutes (75 cents please) to get it up to about 95 psi, which we figured was safe. So, we headed out again.

At about 10:30 Ken called to say that he need a break to rest his eyes. We stopped at the next rest area that came up, which might have been Indian Castle, and took a half hour nap. Ken said it was the first time he'd ever woken up and immediately started driving. We finally made it to our hotel after midnight.

Continued in Part 3....

Last Saturday was load-the-truck day. Of course, prior to Saturday, there was a whole lot of packing going on. Karen's parents came up a few times to help pack and clean, and Karen's dad did a lot of the fixes that the buyers wanted done. Thursday night Ken and his dad arrived from Tamworth where Ken's mom stayed behind to take care of the sheep and other critters. Friday was Karen's last day at work, but in the morning we went to our lawyer's office to sign all the papers that we needed to sign for selling the house. Karen's co-workers gave her a wonderful send-off with a luscious cake from Muscoreil's and a card, and many hugs goodbye.

Saturday we had to go get the UHaul truck. When the UHaul reservations agent called on Friday, she said the place was open at 8am and when did we want to pick it up? We told her 8am, so we were there, bright and early, at the "East Park Gas & Convenient Mart" in Tonawanda, and no one was there. A few cars drove in wanting to get gas, and had to drive away again. There was a paper lying in front of the door and another piece of paper stuck in the door, and the whole place looked sort of trashy - literally - with garbage cans and a dumpster filled to overflowing. At about 8:20 we called UHaul and told them there was no one there. They put us on hold and came back to say that the main UHaul terminal said that this place was not usually open until 9am, but we could pick up another truck at a different place on Main Street. Where on Main Street we asked? Across from Canisius College, they said. Oh. Well, it would take almost as long to drive down into Buffalo as it would to wait for the store here to open up, so we opted to wait.

About 10 minutes later the store owner/manager arrived. He was very smiley and apologetic. He opened the store and then got our reservation information and printed out the contract (3 copies), gave us the key, and said "have a nice trip". We went out to the truck, which was a big one. We reserved a 24 footer, but I think we actually got a 26. Overall the truck was 34.5 feet long. We checked the mileage on the truck and it was higher than what was on the contract, by about 80 miles. The gas gauge was also reading lower than what was on the contract. So Ken went back inside to let the guy know, and he said someone would have to come out from the UHaul terminal to verify the mileage. About 10 minutes later the UHaul guy showed up and wrote the correct mileage and gas amount on the contracts and initialed them. We had also checked the oil while waiting and it seemed a bit low, so he got us a quart of oil to top it up.

So we finally headed back to Ransomville, Karen driving the UHaul and Ken driving the Santa Fe. We stopped at the reservation for gas, and it took 47 gallons to fill the truck, at 3.89/gallon. Ouch! It also took something like 15 minutes because the pumps were running so slow.

When all was said and done, we didn't get back to Ransomville with the truck until 10:30am, after assuming we'd be back by 9!

Continued in Part 2....

First off - our NY house is under contract! Yippeeeeeee! They want to close by May 30, and if the lawyers all have their acts together, there's no reason why that can't happen. So, we are making plans for the final move and there's a lot still left to pack. We did some research, and it looks like the old U-Haul is going to be the most economical. We tried the ABF "U-Pack" site, and they don't service our part of NH (guess we're too far out in the boonies). Then we tried PODS, and they do come to our part of NH, but they also charge a phenomenally large amount, given that you do all the work, and they just drive the PODS from one place to the other. Since with either ABF or PODS you are packing the truck or storage unit yourself, it's really no different from U-Haul, except we do the driving.

In other news, the snow in NH is finally melting. There's a regular stream running down the hill, and you can see a lot of ground now. Here's some pics - the first is the view from the side yard out to the paddock. The chicken coop is at the far right:

This is a shot along the side of the paddock, looking up the logging road that runs the length of the property:

And this of course is Mixie, eating. She likes eating:

Here is my haiku for Spring:

Snow melting softly
Streams flow quickly past grey trees
Warmth and life are here

This is what's known as WAAAAYYYYY too much snow. This is our neighbor's house. They have a metal roof which lets the snow slide off easily. As you can see, there's nowhere for the snow to go anymore. You can just see the roof of our car which is parked in the driveway, and the blue thing next to it is our tractor, with a tarp on top and snow on top of that.

Our sheep seem unfazed. The last time I was there we rounded everyone up in the hoophouse and gave them a once-over and some selenium-E gel. Everyone was a good weight, and seemed quite healthy and happy. They just keep eating....

Here's what you see when you open the back door to go out:

More snow has fallen since these pictures were taken. However, it's supposed to warm up this week a bit, and hopefully the weather will start to turn. It has to end sometime, right? Right?

Will it EVER stop snowing in NH? Here are the results of the latest storms:

Ken has to keep shoveling the paths through the yard that let him get from the house to the sheep, and then he has to keep the gate clear and keep some area clear for the sheep themselves.

I love this picture though. You can just make out the curve of the hoophouse and the roof of the hayfeeder in front of this huge pine:

This is the path that runs from the driveway, across in front of the apartment, and then forks to go left to the sheep or right to the rear of the attached shed:

Spring is coming... Spring is coming... Spring is coming... Please!