Moving Day Three (and counting)--Slush is Good!

Well, at least slush is a lot better than many more inches of wet snow, which was predicted for Sunday and Monday.  As it was, we got about an inch or two of very wet snow and then it turned warm and began to melt today.  As a result, the driveway was slushy, but not as bad as we had feared it might be.  This was the third full day of packing, and they brought the container van by today so it is getting serious.  Because of the size of the van (53 feet!) and the narrow roadway in front of the house because of the snow berm, they had to park it on the street.

The Bedroom Is All Packed Up--Sleeping in the RV Tonight

We are estimating that we are about 90 percent packed, and that if they bring a large enough crew tomorrow (Tuesday), that they will get it all loaded into the van and down the road to be put on a barge for Seattle and then trucked to the Portland, Oregon area.

Wall Bed On the Way Down the Stairs

One of the larger and heavier pieces to move was the queen sized wall bed from the den/guest room.  It was solid oak, and it took all four guys to get it out on the deck and down the stairs.

Going from Packing to Moving on Day Three

They also got the freezer, garage fridge, Coleman Scanoe, and lots of boxes from the garage moved today.  Tomorrow they plan to finish it all off, so it will be a busy day for them and for us.  We have moved just about everything that we are taking with us on the ferry out to the Fifth Wheel today, and are spending our first night in the "Fiver" since we arrived in May.  It is nice and cozy, and with the warm weather Neil turned on the water so we have water for washing and cooking.  We will continue to take showers in the house so we do not fill up the holding tanks, but if it continues to thaw, Neil will probably hook up the sewer hose so we don't have to be too conservative on water use.

More Boxes Going Into the Monster Van

So you don't feel too sorry for us "camping" in the RV, we have a good propane furnace, a water heater, cable TV from the house, and our wireless internet connection from the house is good in the Fiver.  All in all, it is a comfortable place to stay while we wait for our ferry to leave Juneau.  We are just praying for some warmer and less snowy weather until we leave.

Pamela and Neil are Snug in the Fiver

Many thanks for visiting,

Neil and Pamela

Weekend Packing and Public Market

Look familiar?  We got more snow and there is yet more on the way.  Neil spent the weekend shoveling again and moving things around for the movers who show up for the last day (maybe?) on Monday. He moved many things into the garage from outside so that it dries out before the packers put it in the van.  Pamela was at the Juneau Public Market with her Creative Memories team and sold a number of items.  

The other big thing that we got done today was putting chains on the front axle of the fifth wheel trailer.  Sam came over with his air compressor, air jack, and air tools and we jacked up the axles, removed the tires, and installed the chains.  We then reversed the process and we now have the trailer chained up in case we need it in a couple of weeks.  It sure went a lot faster and easier with Sam's air tools.  The weekend before the ferry, if the weather and road conditions require it, Neil will put the pickup in the warm garage and chain up all four wheels of the truck.  It is hard to tell what the weather is going to be that far ahead.

Both of us are pretty tired of this moving stuff, but thankful for the help and that we have packers and movers taking care of of the heavy lifting.  Our job tomorrow is to make sure that they don't pack things that they are not supposed to, and that they get everything wrapped well before it goes into the container van.

In an earlier post, we mentioned that when we left Juneau in 1991 it snowed heavily and was followed by heavy rain.  Unfortunately, history may repeat itself as we have yet another winter storm warning tonight (Sunday) through Monday afternoon and then it is supposed to get warmer and rain heavily.  It will be a real mess if that happens, but we will deal with it as it comes.

We are looking forward to having everything moved out and not living with boxes.  We will be sleeping in the Fifth Wheel trailer parked behind the house, and using the bathroom and laundry in the house.  We think that we can even move the cable TV box into the trailer and have it for the two weeks we will be staying in it.  It will be warm and cozy and we will have all the comforts of home--plus our home.

Here is our short term weather forecast--we post it here so that you can feel sorry for us, or at least feel good about your weather where you are:

WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FROM 9 PM THIS EVENING TO 3 PM AKST
MONDAY...

.TONIGHT...SNOW. SNOW ACCUMULATION 2 TO 3 INCHES. LOWS AROUND 29.
EAST WIND 10 TO 15 MPH INCREASING TO 15 TO 25 MPH LATE IN THE
NIGHT.
.MONDAY...SNOW...MIXING WITH RAIN IN THE AFTERNOON. SNOW
ACCUMULATION 2 TO 4 INCHES. STORM TOTAL SNOW ACCUMULATION OF 4 TO
7 INCHES. HIGHS AROUND 36. SOUTHEAST WIND 10 TO 20 MPH.
.MONDAY NIGHT...RAIN AND SNOW LIKELY. SNOW ACCUMULATION UP TO
2 INCHES. LOWS AROUND 32. SOUTH WIND 10 TO 15 MPH. 

Thanks for visiting, and for thinking of us,

Neil and Pamela

Great Thanksgiving, Snow Removal, and Public Market

We had a great Thanksgiving with good friends, Sam and Cindy Carlson yesterday.  Lots of great food, including both ham and turkey.  There were about ten of us, and it was a great day.  We returned to our mostly packed house and watched some TV and did some planning for the rest of the weekend.

Today is Black Friday, and the start of  the shopping season everywhere--including Juneau.  Pamela left in mid morning to staff the Creative Memories booth at the Juneau Public Market where she joined some of her co-workers in selling photo cards, calendars, and other products.

Neil used today as a snow removal day.  We got about another foot of snow (enough already!) in the past 24 hours, so he climbed up on top of the fifth wheel RV and pushed off the snow, then pushed snow off the three slides on the RV.  He then moved the canoe to the back of the house to get it ready for shipping, and borrowed Sam's snow blower to move snow from the back of the house, around the RV and in all other places that our snow plow driver cannot get to.  After a break to take items to recycling, Neil then shoveled the deck and stairs to complete a wonderful day of snow removal.  All in all, he figures that he shoveled snow for about five hours today--but some of that was with the help of a snow blower, thank goodness.

Neil picked up Chinese food at the Dragon Inn for when Pamela got home from Public Market around 1830, and found out that there is another three to five inches of show forecast for tonight.  Tomorrow, Pamela is back at the Public Market and Neil is going to do some clean up in the garage to make room to move outside things into the garage to dry out before it goes into a moving van on Monday.  He isn't sure that he will be able to move the canoe into the garage with all of the packing gear that is in there now.  Then again, he may just take Saturday off as a day of rest!  Thanks for visiting,

Neil and Pamela

Packing Days 2 & 3--and Another Dump of Snow

Happy Thanksgiving to you all.  We hope that you have a good one and that this finds you in good health and spirits.  We are spending Thanksgiving with friends Sam and Cindy Carlson just down the street.  It would be in walking distance if it wasn't for the road conditions--more about that below.

Building a "Christmas Tree" of Boxes in the Living Room

Well, as you can see from the photo,we are in full swing of the house move with boxes all over the place and at the end of Wednesday about 80 percent of the household goods in boxes.  We and the movers are taking a few days off, and will resume on Monday with the final packing and moving of all the boxes into the van.  We are not certain that they will get it done in one more day, but we have some extra time if necessary.  Because of the snowy roads, they won't be able to move the large (53 foot) van into the driveway.  That means that the movers will have to hump all the packages and boxes down the driveway into the van.  What fun it must be to be a mover in the winter time, eh?

More Snow Today--Nearly a Foot

One of the challenges is the snow that we have received over the past couple of days--about a foot and more on the way.  Today, it was snowing so fast that the snow blower that Neil borrowed from Sam couldn't keep up.  Tonight, we went to the downtown convention center to set up for the Public Market that begins on Friday and runs through the weekend.  It is a very popular shopping venue for Juneau, and Pamela and her Creative Memories pals have photo cards, calendars and other items for sale at the Public Market.

Neil Snow Blowing the Driveway This Afternoon

Yesterday, Neil stopped by Les Schwab and picked up two more sets of cable chains.  One pair is a second set for the GMC four wheel drive pickup and one set is for the braking axle of the fifth wheel trailer.  If this weather continues, we will chain up everything and take it slow to the ferry terminal.  Not what we had hoped for, but you gotta do what you gotta do.

Neil Saw This Sign on a Snow Removal Truck

Since we won't be closing on the house until we get to Oregon, we have decided to stay in the fifth wheel trailer here at our place until it is time to move it to the ferry terminal on the afternoon before our December 13th ferry.  That way we have our shower, bathrooms, hot tub, laundry right next to the fifth wheel.  We will spend the time visiting with friends and doing all the final prep stuff for moving the trailer.

Looks Like We Need to Clean Off the Fiver Again--Darn

Because of all the snow, we had to go out and clean the wet snow off the slides.  It probably will have to be done again this week since we had all the snow this afternoon.  Neil hadn't planned on snow blowing and shoveling snow on Thanksgiving weekend, but it probably will happen.

Our short term weather forecast--snow with freezing fog and about four to six more inches of snow.  Several more days of snow before it warms up next week.  There is nothing like rain on top of a bunch of snow.  We had that happen in 1991 when we moved from Juneau to Washington, DC.  It did have the affect of making us glad to leave back then.  We are anxious to be on our way to the next step of our adventure, so we will do what we have to do.

A Very Snowy November So Far!

We are doing well and looking forward to a good Thanksgiving with friends and having a few days without packers.  Many thanks for visiting,

Neil and Pamela

Day One Moving and a Ermine Surprise

After a very cold and snowy weekend, we had our first full day of the packers at the house today.  They seem to be a good crew, and are going to do all of the packing before Thanksgiving and the moving into the van next Monday.  They think that they will be done by the end of Monday, so we will be living out of the RV beginning next week.  The weekend was bitter cold, but we were plenty cozy in the house.  Neil actually barbecued with a temperature of seven degrees.

We have 90 percent of what we plan to take with us in the RV or vehicles, or set aside in the garage.  When Neil was working behind the house today, he saw some unusual wildlife.  It was an ermine, peeking from behind the big cooler at the back of the house.  It was solid white and very pretty.  Neil hasn't seen one in the wild since when he was a kind in Cordova, where his oldest brother Jim ran a trap line on the Copper River Delta.

This is a Picture of What an Ermine Looks Like

Since we woke up to about four inches of snow this morning, Neil spent some time shoveling the driveway and clearing paths around the RV and vehicles.  We had a good dinner out tonight with friend/renter Dave at Zen Restaurant in downtown Juneau and then filled up one of the RV propane tanks that was emptied yesterday.  With the very cold weather, we are burning through a lot more propane than usual.

Tomorrow is another full day of packing and trying to make sure that they don't pack things we don't want packed.  It will get easier from here on out, we are certain.  We are now planning on keeping the RV here at the house until the day before our ferry on December 13.  Neil is going to look into some tire chains for the RV to make sure that we can make a safe tow to the ferry terminal--better safe than sorry!

It was a very long day (getting up at 0700 is for the birds!) but we are happy that we are "moving ahead".  Thanks for visiting,

Neil and Pamela

Sunny and VERY Cold

A nice sunny day today--as long as you stayed inside.  It got down to about nine degrees last night and was below freezing all day long.  Today was a day of more sorting and packing, getting ready for the movers on Monday morning.  It seems a little bit daunting, but it will be fine.

Pamela is getting ready for some special events where she is selling some of the calendars and note cards that she has created.  The big event is on Black Friday after Christmas at the Juneau Public Market.

We will be spending the weekend getting things ready for the RV, car and truck so that it does not get packed and moved.  All in all, it is already a "moving experience".

We hope that you are keeping warm wherever you are.

Neil and Pamela