A new chapter for an old bird

Jan 17, 2022 20:22


Well, this weekend we moved my mother out of her home in NH where she has been for the last 35 years. She and my step father moved there in 1987 after I graduated, as did I for a short while before returning to MA. Over the years they lived in 3 main homes, had two built and enjoyed their time in the woods. But with the death of my step father last February, living alone in the woods in her early 80's was just not a viable option. I actually wanted to move her down here sooner, before the beginning of the winter, but things didn't quite go as smoothly as I was hoping. But they went.

So since my father left me his house, which he and my brother (and at one time my uncle, talk about a batchelor pad) lived in, and since the house was almost unused except for my brother sleeping there, I figured my mom could move in with him and it would be moments from my door and she would have someone in the house at least once a day looking in on her if anything happend. The only problem was that the house was in a state of 1950. The kitchen and bath, which were an addition to the house in the 1860's, was in terrible shape, and had been since before my father died. Nothing had been really updated at all since hte 1970's, and the sink was from the 1950's. The floor was too.. pink and black asbesdos tile. great for its' time I'm sure. lol. So old it was dull white and gray. So after proposing to my brother at my step father's funeral that our mom move down with him, he was very agreeable. We then began the process of finding a contractor, and beginning a home renovation in the pandemic. Becaue of shortages and wait times and all that jazz, we went from a 2 month project to almost 6 months. My brother moved out and stayed at his girlfriends (and miricle of miricles they didn't kill each other) and I began working on the other two rooms that were the dining room and living room that are going to be my mom's bedroom and living area. That and painting the bathroom and kitchen once the demo and reconstruction were done. This and going up to NH every two weeks or so to check on my mom and make sure things were going okay up there, getting her ready to leave, clearing out 30 years of stuff OH, AND helping her dig up over 100 day lillies she insisted on taking with her. Fuck it, why not? LOL

Oh AND dealing with my uncle's estate because he died in May and l was the executrix in charge of the estate. That was another reason I had to to up to NH so often.. When it rains it pours, right?

So at the end of the day, we loaded everything that was left into a POD, her truck and my car, and still didn't have enough room. She is going back up on Wed to take one more truckload to the dump, and hopefully bring her chairs and a few more boxes down with her. I am making my brother go with her to do this because I have worked my butt off all summer and it's HIS TURN. I only hold a little anger over his lack of stepping up to do things at the house or offering to go to NH to help out.. Just a little.

Anyway.. today was the day for the POD to get picked up and of course I sweated the weather this weekend going up and coming back and that worked out, but winter being winter, today we got pouring rain and NH got snow then rain. We sweated out whether the driveway would get plowed or if there would be snow on the roof that needed to be cleared and there was no one to do it.. but the gods were kind and the rain prevailed, the snow plow came, and the driver of the POD got it out and safely to her new home.

Which isn't quite done yet. Because again.. delays. The guy who installed the stove has to come back because it wont go all the way back to the wall, I think the anti tip bracket is in the way, and the floors still need to be sanded and sealed, and that wont happen until next week I have been told.. who knows if there will be delays. The good news is that my aunt is in FL, her sister, so my mom is able to stay there. But she has no internet and wants to be in her new home, so she brings her cat over to the house during the day. The cat seems to like it at her new home better than my aunts.. We'll see if that lasts once it becomes perminant. Also the cat is an outdoor cat and because of the traffic where she is now, she is going to become an indoor cat. Or at least that is the plan. We hope to build her a 'catio' in the spring to hang out in. We'll see how that goes.

And that is the big update that I have not made in a while. I, as always, should come back more often and comment. Besides FB, I'm now sucked into Twitter. I wonder if there are not more trolls there from Russia than here, under Russian ownership? Who knows.

mom, cats, moving, flowers, home improvements, homes, family

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