Dreadfully Busy

Today is the last day of my birthday month. October has had a lot of goodness in it, although one sad thing.

The one sad thing is that the two little chicks we snuck under the broody hen didn’t make it. We had a friend downstate who didn’t provide a safe environment for his chickens. He simply let them roost in an open outbuilding. Coyotes got some of them and others froze to death in the winter. His attitude was that “They’ll live or they won’t.” We hate that attitude and do our best to protect and care for our animals, including the chickens. Despite our efforts, the chicks didn’t make it. Maybe the hen wasn’t a good mama. However, Richard VI, our new rooster, is thriving. He should: He’s currently the only rooster among 21 hens.

The last couple of weeks has been extremely busy. To quote a line from a children’s Veggie Tales song:

“I’m busy, busy, dreadfully busy,
You’ve no idea what I have to do…”

Our son was working on a Great Lakes bulk carrier for several years, but he decided he had had enough of it: The pay was very good but he wasn’t home much so it was difficult to have a social life and he’s had problems with his foot after he slipped on deck a year ago and badly broke it. So he quit in late July. He’s been working in a factory, but I think it bores him. He decided he wants a change. He wants a challenge.

So he has a notion to move to Alaska.
Yup. Alaska.

JJ knows someone who lives in Alaska who will let him stay with him while he gets established there. He’s not sure exactly what he will do when he gets there. He’s looking into various jobs but mostly winging it.

Honestly, we’d prefer that he not move so far away, but we also believe that he’s an adult and he needs to make his own decisions. We will help him as much as we can. This involves letting him move in with us for a few months so he can save money. The plan is that when he believes he has enough money, he will fly to Alaska to get settled. Then he will return for his belongings that we are storing for him. We will also take care of his two cats until he can come back for them. He gave his cats interesting Scandinavian names: Astrid and Solveig. Astrid is a calico and her name means “divinely beautiful.” Solveig is yellow and her name means “sun strength” or “daughter of the sun.” Astrid stayed with us before when JJ was working on the ship. She likes us but not the other pets so it’s a bit of a challenge. Solveig is his newest cat–actually just a half-grown kitten. I’m hoping she will adjust well. Maybe our cat, Clara, will finally have another cat to play with.

Over the last couple of weeks, EJ and I have made several trips to JJ’s place to help him pack and to transport boxes to our house. Some stuff will be stored in the garage, some in our storage room, and some, of course, in the guest bedroom where he will stay. He is giving us his living room furniture–a couch and chair he bought a few months ago–as well as a few other things. I told him we will only “borrow” his furniture and if he decides Alaska isn’t for him and returns to this area, he can have it back.

When we haven’t been making trips to JJ’s, I’ve been reorganizing everything to make space for his things. I hate clutter so I’m trying to make things fit and still look nice. It basically requires reorganizing the whole house. If I empty a dresser drawer in his bedroom, I have to find space for the things I took out. I’m putting his living room chair in the library, but it displaces a small deacon’s bench that I moved to our master closet, which required I find places for the things that had been there, which requires that I reorganize the whole closet. His couch is more like a love seat, so I think it will fit where the large recliner was. The recliner was worn and we’ve been wanting to get rid of it so this was a good excuse to toss it.

One challenge that we have is that EJ is allergic to scented products, which JJ uses. That means that a lot of the clothes he doesn’t need will have to be stored in the garage. The things brought into the house will have to be washed with unscented laundry soap. JJ suggested that he take his Dad shopping with him so EJ can show him which personal hygiene products are ok. I think that is considerate.

Another challenge is that JJ’s pickup is only 2-wheel drive and won’t be sufficient for making it up our steep driveway in the winter snow. EJ and JJ work in the same town, but they won’t be able to car-pool because they work on different days: EJ works Friday through Monday and JJ works Monday through Friday.JJ says that a truck that’s good enough to make it to Alaska would cost too much and delay his move. I suggested he buy a cheap 4-wheel drive pickup that’s good enough to make it through the winter. He can sell it before he moves to Alaska and probably recoup at least some of the money he spent. He will have to decide what to do before the snow gets deep enough to be a problem.

Preparing for JJ arrival is a major task, but reorganizing is actually a positive thing. It motivates EJ and me to sort our own things that we no longer need, use, or want. We are donating or recycling items as we have time. Once JJ moves in, I’ll help him further sort through his things to help him downsize. He can’t take everything to Alaska.

Oh, I think I forgot to mention that one of EJ’s co-workers is moving. A couple weeks ago, he gave EJ a nice bookshelf set–one large bookshelf and two matching smaller ones. The bookshelves were a tremendous gift because we needed more room for our books. After EJ brought them into the library, I spent a day or two deciding which books to go on their shelves. So that room was already re-organized and looking nice before JJ decided to move to Alaska. The only real change I had to make is moving the deacon’s bench to the master closet to replace with JJ’s living room chair. Here’s a link to the video I took after I finished getting the books on the shelves. The new shelves are the dark free-standing ones. I thought it was funny that months ago our Hannah Joy started storing her bones in the library as well. It was her own idea and effort. Apparently she knows that’s the room where we store our treasures–our books–and she wants to store her treasures there too. She goes into the library whenever she wants to chew on her bones.

Our Library video