BOXES, BOXES AND MORE BOXES

 

Yes, we are down in Bluffton, South Carolina. We were surprised that our three cats did as well as they did coming down. Hardly any meowing for an 11 hour trip the second day. Our movers did their job well, unloaded our meager store of furniture and then our 50 boxes of “stuff.” Who would have ever imagined that we would have accumulated such a treasure trove over a nine year period in our condo?

Even our new garage groaned with the weight of the boxes and their friends-ladders, bridge chairs and table, plastic storage bins, multitudinous pictures, two cars and a partridge in a pear tree. Since this is Saturday and we arrived and settled on Monday, you would think that we were finished unboxing. That is certainly not true. Where will be store the various trinkets, such as election pins, phony Rolex watches, a box of 146 Jewish baseball players and enough polo shirts to give out to all of the fans at a Washington Nationals baseball game.

First of all, where is our can opener, out knives, our dish dryer, our dishwashing powder, Carol’s beautiful red purse, her new hard drive for her new Mac Pro Computer and jet dry? They could not have been left in our old home. We called our kids and they confirmed that was impossible. I called the movers and they said that there was nothing left on the truck. What would we eat, if there was no can opener?

The cats seemed anxious to help. They nuzzled us and skulked between every item on the floor and on the counters in the kitchen. They were of no help. It took us three days to figure out where to put their food, water and poop box. We are still discussing it.

By Thursday, we were ready for deliveries from the great beyond. A chest of drawers arrived from a consignment store that we had seen the last time were down. The two twin beds arrived with no bed frames. The person who sold us the beds insisted that he had not made a mistake that we had asked for gliders, not wheels. What the heck is a glider (other than a powerless plane)? He told us that he could not deliver the real frames because he had no one to do it. We told him that was not our problem. He complained loudly to us and we eventually settled that he would drive the 36 minutes to get to us and do it on his day off. Fie on him.

The Best Buy guys delivered our mammoth TV. Carol thought that I wanted it and I thought that she did. We compromised and had them set it up. It is so big that we don’t have a piece of furniture to set it on. We will not do the wall thing. A new chest of drawers is coming that will hold its ponderous weight. It is so complicated that when the cable guy came on Friday it took him about 40 minutes to tell me how to turn it on without synchronizing the signal ( or something like that). I was going to tell all of you that it is 100 inches large (measuring diagonally) and it is 10K. However since they do not have one that big and they do not broadcast in 10k, I will not do it.

Our friends and new neighbors have been incredibly helpful. I was sent to the recycle place about a mile from where we live. It is straight out of a Mice and Men movie set. There is a real old guy, chewing tobacco, setting near a small shark surrounded by the largest bunch of crap that I have ever seen. There a many signs that say OPEN and CLOSED. I have no idea what those signs meant. The gentleman told me to get out of the way of other cars and throw my collapsed boxes over the fence, take my house garbage and throw it over another fence and drive around the fence to another place to get rid of my plastic things. I accomplished all of that and then felt a certain sense of satisfaction.

However, Carol had asked that I pick up some foodstuffs at the local Publix, which I could not find. Fortunately Bartolo, our GPS system with a slight Spanish accent, was on the ball. We had made friends with the manager of the Publix who also suffers from Gluten intolerance. He was happy to show me around the store and tell me which things was gluten free (they have a large green GF on them). He also introduced me to the pharmacist who is going to take care of our prescriptions.

Carol and I were really tired last night. I spent the evening, until 9:30 fooling around with Mr. Mammoth (the TV set) and Carol read in bed. We have been going to sleep about 8 or 9 o’clock every night, except for Thursday when we watched some people talking at each other on a stage in Cleveland. I am still not sure exactly what was going on, but the audience seemed to enjoy it.

It is now Saturday morning in Sun City, SC (it really is sunny here all of the time). We have a play date with our friends at the pool at twelve. Carol has just informed me that her arms are tired. I informed her that all of me was tired. I have already lost 5 lbs. just being here. What a joy, unpacking boxes, losing weight and being tired- a perfect combination.