31 July 2011
Fairwell Rutherford House, Hello Crackerbox
31/07/11 15:17
Have you ever watched the series Bones? I completely understand the character of Dr. Temperance Brennan. Not that I’ve ever thought of myself as a 30 something year old beautiful woman with a Phd in Anthropology, (not recently anyway. Not even online). It’s more of the mindset, the being out of step with what is going on in other people’s heads.
You see, one of the biggest items we had to move was my 30 year old Jade Tree. It’s about 4 foot tall and I knew that if I just strapped it in the back of the pickup truck it would get broken. Marsha mentioned that we also needed to move one of our big leather and oak armchairs and pointed out that it would help break the wind.
So early on Sunday morning, we put the armchair in the truck facing backwards and set the Jade Tree in front of it. I sat in the chair and held onto the branches to support the tree. The back of the chair and I provided enough of a windbreak that it came through without any damage.
Here is where Bones comes in.
While we were travelling the four miles to the rental I got a lot of smiles and thumbs-up signs. At one light a guy in a pickup hollered “That’s AWSOME Dude!”. Going through Lantzville Marsha noticed a bunch of kids pointing with big grins on their faces. Everyone seemed to be very impressed with a guy in a leather and oak armchair riding in the back of a pickup truck. I on the other hand, assumed that all of this was due to everyone being so impressed with the Jade Tree and all the smiles and shouts were for my ingenuity in protecting this wonderful specimen. I completely missed their real motivation, but that’s nothing unusual for me.
We finished moving out of the house on Rutherford Rd. and into the rental. By Thursday we hauled the last of the stuff out and Marsha finished cleaning. I made a point of watering the potatoes, tomatoes, and peppers every day. I won’t get to enjoy the fruits of my labours but hopefully the new owner will. Finally Thursday evening we took one last walk around, remembering the laughs, and the projects. All the memories. It’s been a good house and we’ve left it in better shape than we found it, which is the least we could do. Now Rutherford House joins Tanglewood House and Sherwood House in the pantheon of places we’ve lived. In a few weeks we’ll start a new adventure with Harby House.
Anyway, for the moment we're in the rental. The garage is stuffed full and the overload is sitting at Barbara’s place. The living area smaller than we’re used to, around ~600 square foot, so the cats think they’re in the catetentary again and can’t figure out why we’re in there with them, but we’re settling in. You’d think with half the space we had before (less than half actually) we’d have half of our stuff out. Actually almost all of our stuff is still boxed up. We’ve only unpacked what we need to live for this month and many times a day we find ourselves starting to look for something only to realize it’s in ’The Pile” and won’t be accessible until we unpack. We really can’t wait to get into Harby House.
The cats are busy exploring and finding every nook and cranny in the place. Momiji discovered the real wood burning fireplace. She slipped in and crouched underneath the grate, sure she’d found the perfect spot to hide and spy on us. Those of you that have seen Momiji may remember that she used to be white with orange and black spots. After this exploration, she was mostly grey and black with and orange spots. We’ve been washing her repeatedly, much to her displeasure. By the end of the week she’d returned almost to normal and the fireplace has a stack of heavy boxes in front of it.
But we’re settled in. At least this month we won’t have to do anything in the way of yard work. Plus we get to skip three house payments, which is nice.
There are places I remember
All my life though some have changed
Some forever, not for better
Some have gone and some remain
Doug & Marsha
Pix: Rutherford House
2007 Xmas Card
As it was when we moved in. What the heck were they thinking with those bushes
I still say there was some green in that trim.
The orange brightened up the whole place, as did the beach stone flowerbeds. The changes on the inside were even greater.
You see, one of the biggest items we had to move was my 30 year old Jade Tree. It’s about 4 foot tall and I knew that if I just strapped it in the back of the pickup truck it would get broken. Marsha mentioned that we also needed to move one of our big leather and oak armchairs and pointed out that it would help break the wind.
So early on Sunday morning, we put the armchair in the truck facing backwards and set the Jade Tree in front of it. I sat in the chair and held onto the branches to support the tree. The back of the chair and I provided enough of a windbreak that it came through without any damage.
Here is where Bones comes in.
While we were travelling the four miles to the rental I got a lot of smiles and thumbs-up signs. At one light a guy in a pickup hollered “That’s AWSOME Dude!”. Going through Lantzville Marsha noticed a bunch of kids pointing with big grins on their faces. Everyone seemed to be very impressed with a guy in a leather and oak armchair riding in the back of a pickup truck. I on the other hand, assumed that all of this was due to everyone being so impressed with the Jade Tree and all the smiles and shouts were for my ingenuity in protecting this wonderful specimen. I completely missed their real motivation, but that’s nothing unusual for me.
We finished moving out of the house on Rutherford Rd. and into the rental. By Thursday we hauled the last of the stuff out and Marsha finished cleaning. I made a point of watering the potatoes, tomatoes, and peppers every day. I won’t get to enjoy the fruits of my labours but hopefully the new owner will. Finally Thursday evening we took one last walk around, remembering the laughs, and the projects. All the memories. It’s been a good house and we’ve left it in better shape than we found it, which is the least we could do. Now Rutherford House joins Tanglewood House and Sherwood House in the pantheon of places we’ve lived. In a few weeks we’ll start a new adventure with Harby House.
Anyway, for the moment we're in the rental. The garage is stuffed full and the overload is sitting at Barbara’s place. The living area smaller than we’re used to, around ~600 square foot, so the cats think they’re in the catetentary again and can’t figure out why we’re in there with them, but we’re settling in. You’d think with half the space we had before (less than half actually) we’d have half of our stuff out. Actually almost all of our stuff is still boxed up. We’ve only unpacked what we need to live for this month and many times a day we find ourselves starting to look for something only to realize it’s in ’The Pile” and won’t be accessible until we unpack. We really can’t wait to get into Harby House.
The cats are busy exploring and finding every nook and cranny in the place. Momiji discovered the real wood burning fireplace. She slipped in and crouched underneath the grate, sure she’d found the perfect spot to hide and spy on us. Those of you that have seen Momiji may remember that she used to be white with orange and black spots. After this exploration, she was mostly grey and black with and orange spots. We’ve been washing her repeatedly, much to her displeasure. By the end of the week she’d returned almost to normal and the fireplace has a stack of heavy boxes in front of it.
But we’re settled in. At least this month we won’t have to do anything in the way of yard work. Plus we get to skip three house payments, which is nice.
There are places I remember
All my life though some have changed
Some forever, not for better
Some have gone and some remain
Doug & Marsha
Pix: Rutherford House
2007 Xmas Card
As it was when we moved in. What the heck were they thinking with those bushes
I still say there was some green in that trim.
The orange brightened up the whole place, as did the beach stone flowerbeds. The changes on the inside were even greater.