Seattle is just learning that you’re never too old to be having a hot flash. Unfortunately, due to our normal 70-80 degree summer weather, most of the citizenry were under the impression that air conditioning is a feature they put in movie theaters to congeal the popcorn butter. Not to be installed in our houses! But as a fearsome surprise to everybody, these are the warnings we’re getting this week:
“Historic heat wave begins in Pacific Northwest today. The Weather Service calling it “historic, dangerous, prolonged and unprecedented.” Seattle is now forecast to hit 107 Monday, Portland 110 on Sunday, Spokane 112 on Tuesday …”
Right now, it’s the previous Saturday and the outdoor temperature is 96 degrees, but please remain calm. I know there’s lots of worrisome talk about how it’s all due to climate change, but instead, I’m pretty sure I may be partially responsible for it. It’s not fair, but, obviously, the weather has it in for me!
A few minutes ago – in my un-air-conditioned house – I just finished packing the 67th box for the movers to transport to Enumclaw. The splotches on the boxes aren’t from my tears – it’s from SWEAT!
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Meanwhile, all morning, a very interesting sociological drama has been taking place in the house. Son Matthew and I will be moving from a 12 room house to a 5 room house. I had planned to hire a moving company to deliver a lot of the excess furniture to donate to Goodwill or St. Vincent de Paul, or Salvation Army. Since the pandemic started, those organizations won’t send out trucks to pick up the donations anymore, so you have to hire a truck and PAY in order to donate.
Grandson Bryce wouldn’t hear of it. “I’ll take care of it, Grandma”. (Yeah. Like I can’t recognize a cockamamie idea when I hear one.)
Bryce’s plan – executed last night (!) – was to take a photo of each piece, and post them all under the caption “Free furniture” on craigslist.com. Each bookcase, bed, chair, buffet, table, file cabinet, etc. – in all its undusted, as-is condition – was to be available to any interested parties (victims) by contacting Bryce by 11 a.m. this morning.
Too hot to sleep, I rolled out of bed at 8:30 this morning, and resumed my new career as a Skilled Packer of Moving Boxes. Meanwhile, it never occurred to me that anybody was actually going to read Bryce’s post and then act on it! Even Lawrence of Arabia travelling via camel train wasn’t about to show up on my front porch in order to enrich himself of my cast-offs, ESPECIALLY IN AN ALIEN-TO-SEATTLE HEAT WAVE.
At 10:30 am Bryce’s dad – my son-in-law Brad – opened the patio door, and rolled in two hand trucks. “The first pick-up is scheduled for 25 minutes from now”, he said. “Bryce said they’ll be taking 4 of the file cabinets.” And they did.
During the next hour and 24 minutes, – thanks to Brad’s and Bryce’s seemingly endless trips hauling items down the stairs while the temperature peaked at 101 degrees, everything had been picked up or spoken for except for the buffet, some office chairs and 2 bookcases. Ever-determined Bryce plans to re-post them soon, and yes, I fully expect he’ll be finding a good home for them.
Look how empty some of the rooms are now following Bryce’s masterful evacuation campaign. Plenty of room now to pile up more boxes!
We met some nice people this morning. Smiling in spite of the heat, – a medical doctor, a couple just moving into a houseboat, a mother and son combo, a young couple starting up a home, a graduate student – all united in their practicality and good sense in recognizing value in re-purposing and re-cycling my soon-to-be-unused-slightly-battered-but-still-useful-stuff.
Bryce, of course, was right on! Oddly, it was a day that – in spite of the heat – all who participated in the event felt like we had done something right. It was a good day, thanks to Bryce and Brad. And craigslist.com.
Before I head for a nice cool shower, just discovered that today was the 50th wedding anniversary of my niece and nephew-in-law Chris (Fitzpatrick) and Mark Milner.
It can’t be possible, can it? It seems like only yesterday, husband Gene and I were at their beautiful wedding, and we were melting in an Iowa heat wave similar to the one Seattle is frying in this week. It must have been a great time to tie the knot though. Check out the family shot for a peek at the direct result of that happy union.
That is such an amazing story. Bryce is so resourceful and used his talents to solve a problem and to make so many people happy. I love that the furniture got repurposed. We can’t wait for the BIG day!
What a triumph (with some extra umph)! I didn’t even recognize the rooms, at first I thought you were showing us the new place. HUGE THANKS to Bryce and Brad, you done good. Slowly but surely, the move is becoming more of a reality. Good job all of you!
It’s hard enough to pack a house but then to do it in this terrible heat! Ugh! Your progress looks amazing! I do have to wonder where you’re sleeping now that the bedrooms are empty!?! I love your story about Bryce and his ingenuity! A few years back we got new furniture and I couldn’t sell our well loved navy leather loveseat, chair and ottoman so finally just put them up for ‘free to good home’. The folks who took them were so sweet. They were furnishing a new apartment for his brother and 3 kids, who’d been sitting on boxes. They sent us a photo of the family who were so excited to have it, and looked so cozy all cuddled together. I’m sure your furniture has found loving new homes.
BTW thanks for the shout out for our anniversary! We had high temps on our wedding day, Mark’s dad reached in his inside jacket pocket and all his cigarettes were wet! My dad grumbled, “for as much as I’ve spent on this wedding I could have air conditioned the whole da*n church!” It was 108° yesterday on our anniversary (with an expected high of 114° today). No one can say we’re not a ‘hot’ couple!!