We’re back at the boat for a few days, and I’m going to take this opportunity to bring you up-to-date on the Texarkana side of our lives. I think I mentioned in a past entry that the lease on the duplex we’ve been renting was up on June first. And since rentals are very expensive compared to buying a house in Texarkana, we’d been looking for a place to buy. Well, we found one, so here’s a timeline of our lives since we were last on the boat.

Jamie was on her hospital rotation for the whole month of May, which meant short days of 11 hours and long days of 14 hours. At least she only had to work one weekend, and that for only about 6 hours each day. When we returned from the boat we had a week or so with only the normal stuff (50 to 60 hours a week of watching Adler, taking care of one demented old dog and two crazy-bad Boston Terriers) with only the added tasks of packing whatever we could to get ready for the move and hauling down all the boxes from the attic. Then the work started.

May 23: Close on house and learn that the family that is moving out is having the movers come that day, so no work can be done.

May 24: No word on occupancy of the new house, but what the heck, we own it, so at 10 AM we dropped Adler off at the park where a friend was going to stand in and watch Adler and Alex for a couple of hours, and headed over to the new house. The very nice former owner was just hauling a trailer load of stuff from the back yard with the help of his two oldest sons. He said the house was empty and we could start, but between talking to him about different things about the house and meeting several of our new neighbors, almost nothing got done before it was time to go get Adler at the park. We went home, ate lunch, fed the dogs and came back with an inflatable bed for Adler’s nap and Fuzzy and his bed. We spent the afternoon cleaning and prepping the living room for painting.

May 25 & May 26: Jamie is off. The three of us paint the living room, dining room (which will be Adler’s play room) the entryway and the kitchen.

May 27: Bud paints the master bedroom (which is ours). I had the inspiration to pack Adler’s table and chairs and two bins of toys. I set him up in the playroom while I cleaned his room. Then he lay down on the air mattress again and watched videos and “took a nap” while Bud kept painting and I kept cleaning. I cleaned the three “kids” bedrooms. Jamie is using two of those, one to sleep and one for her clothes and Elliptical exercise machine. That bedroom is right by the back door to the garage, so she’s hoping she can exercise and dress and sneak out without waking Adler, whose room is the back bedroom. Jamie’s sleeping room is in between the two. We’ll see how that works as we settle in. Jamie had hoped to pack up some of the last of her stuff but didn’t get home until about 9:30 PM.

May 28: Bud, Adler and I take over a load of stuff to the new house including our TV. Bud stays there to continue painting the bedroom (it needs a second coat) and wait for the Direct TV guy. Fuzzy stays with Bud. Adler and I return to the old house and I pack up what I can with the time and the boxes I have left. The movers are supposed to be there between 11 AM and 1 PM. They arrive at about 3 PM. Adler again misses his nap, but I manage to keep him occupied with a few toys and games in one corner of his old play room. The movers provide a fascinating diversion. At about 5:30 they are ready to leave. Adler and I follow them to the new house where I supervise where boxes are put. Jamie arrives home in the middle of this with food from the hospital cafeteria, which we finally get to eat sometime after the movers leave at 7 PM. Jamie had to go to the old house and bring her dogs over, who’d been in the backyard during most of the move, then locked with their beds in our old bedroom while the swing set and things from the backyard are moved.

May 29: I leave Bud unpacking kitchen stuff while I take Adler to the park. He desperately needs something to do besides getting underfoot and being told “No.”
We get back from the park and Bud takes the car for a grocery run. I feed Adler his lunch and get him ready for his nap. Bud gets home with the groceries, I say good-bye to Bud and Adler and take off for Dallas. My mother is arriving for a visit on a 5:30 PM flight. Why would we have Great-Grandma Marnie come the day after we moved? Well, she really wanted to see the new house, and she didn’t want to come in the heat of the summer, and at 94, she does not take it for granted that she will be able to come in the fall. Besides, I got a great price on the tickets and she couldn’t turn it down. So at 10:30 at night we arrive in Texarkana to a house in chaos and filled with boxes. But we have Adler’s bed made up for her and a place big enough in his closet for her to hang her clothes and she is fine with that.

May 30: Grandma Marnie plays with Adler at the new house while Bud and I go back to the old house. Bud ferries things over while I pack the rest of the stuff in boxes brought back from the new house. By the end of the day everything is out of the old place except the cleaning supplies and I’ve cleaned our old bedroom and Adler’s old bedroom.

May 31: Grandma Marnie agrees to try to watch Adler and Alex at the park. Alex’s mom and I choose Kidtopia, a small park with a huge fenced play structure, because it’s easier to keep track of the boys without having to wander around. Mom did fine, despite two separate busloads of school kids that came. At least the first busload didn’t stay long and were gone by the time the second group came. I got to the park just before 12:30 and took Grandma Marnie and Adler back to the house and got Adler settled for his nap. I left as I thought he was falling asleep. Bud and I worked until just after 5 PM and had the old place sparkling. We went back to the new house to find that Adler had gotten up about 10 minutes after I left. But he and Grandma Marnie played nicely all afternoon and he managed not to wear her out! Jamie, Adler and I dropped off the keys for the duplex at about 5:45 PM.

June 1: Jamie, Grandpa, Grandma and Grandma Marnie celebrate Adler’s 4th birthday with him after his nap (he actually does sleep) amidst much unpacking. Jamie got Adler a 15-foot by 42-inch pool. He was more impressed with the Ben 10 watch from Grandma and Grandpa, though at first he was disappointed because he thought it was broken because it didn’t actually turn him into aliens, like the Ben character on the cartoon. He was probably the most impressed with the card I got him, which had a witch doctor figure that jiggled and chanted “Ooga chucka, ooga chucka, ooga, ooga, ooga chucka” when you opened the card.

June 2: This is Adler’s actual birthday and Eric and Jamie take him to a water park in Hot Springs for the day. Bud, Mom and I take a day to sightsee. We took her to Washington State Park, which is a historical village in Arkansas that we had visited last summer. Despite my warning Mom that I’d been told it was going to be HOT by the end of May, the weather was warm, but not hot. Most days had a nice breeze and enough clouds to keep it pleasant. We had a fine time and took the horse drawn surrey ride around the little village. We’d all earned this day off.

For the rest of the week I spent a few hours each day working on the house and spent some time in the afternoon doing things with Mom. I got the lawn mowed Monday, Tuesday Mom and I took Adler to the park and Wednesday Jamie, Bud and I leveled a spot in the back yard and set up Adler’s new pool. Thursday it poured all morning. Adler’s pool sits on part of the footprint of the much larger pool the former owners had. Part of the deal that got us this house (it sold the first day it was on the market) was that we agreed they didn’t have to sod the lawn when they removed the old pool. Now, until we get some sod down, Adler’s pool sits on a big dirt patch (unless it rains, then it’s a big mud patch). Sometime during the week, Bud painted the hallway. Friday afternoon, Mom and I put away anything we could that hadn’t already found a home so she could take pictures. My siblings had requested photos of the new house. I also took pictures, and you’ll find them in the gallery (including some from Adler’s birthday).

Anyway, today is Saturday and Bud and I took Mom back to Dallas to fly home, and then came on down to the boat. We’re pretty worn out. Jamie has off until Wednesday evening, so we plan to stay here and relax and give her and Adler some time to themselves in the new house.

Now although our permanent address remains in Florida, we have a boat in Texas and a house in Arkansas! So glad we opted for the simple life for our retirement.