Wednesday, March 26, 2008

I Love Lucy vs. the Moving Van

So, lest you think that moving was a totally traumatic occurrence, let me assure you that there was plenty of levity to be had; some of it not discovered until after the actual move, but funny nonetheless. In order to tell this story properly, I need to back up a little. When we moved into the house in 1969 there was carpet only in the living room and hall. The three bedrooms were hardwood. My father, coming from the generation that looked upon hardwood floors as an indication of poverty, put carpet in those rooms as soon as possible. This meant that the ends of those three doors had to be cut off. When I removed the carpet, the doors were of course too short and left gaps when closed.

To present day - since moving meant having the front door open, I had to trap BooBear in the bathroom; Bubba and Aidan in the first bedroom. Anyone who has followed this blog for any length of time knows that Bubba doesn’t like to be closed up in a room. He protests quite loudly. Moving day was no exception. It was so funny to see Bubba’s nose and one eye peeking out from under the door. Poor pitiful Bubba, begging with that one eye.

Obviously, we had to unhook the washing machine in order to move it. No problem for the guy who was helping us. He used to be a professional mover. Easy, right? Hmmmm. When he unhooked the hot water, it wouldn’t turn off. Water was squirting everywhere, the floor was flooding and the three of us (Cavin, Bebo and I) were in a panic. The water was scalding his hand and Bebo grabbed some of my clean clothes for him to wrap around his hand as he tried to turn off the valve. I made frantic calls to my cousins who are plumbers. Brother number one didn’t answer. Brother number two did. And laughed. “Go turn off the hot water at the water heater” he gasped when he could. Huh? That’s too obvious, right? Of course that worked. Water was everywhere; a small lake in the middle of the dining room. Cavin was soaked.

Fast forward to me unpacking; I came across a small box that perplexed me. I could have sworn that I had left it on the bathroom counter. I put it on my bar and waited for Bebo to get there. “What is this?” I said as she came in the door. “It’s a light bulb” she answered. “No, it’s not just a light bulb. It’s a garage door opener bulb.” She stared at me. “I left it there on purpose as it’s quite obvious that I don’t have a garage door.” Bebo is a real good packer. In fact, Bebo is a terrific packer. She packs all sorts of things that I wouldn’t need. Like the cover to the smoke alarm in the study at home. What am I going to do with that?

So see, it wasn’t all tears and sorrow, there was laughter involved. Some funny memories to start my new life with.

12 comments:

Brandy said...

What delightful new memories to have! We had a water issue today as well, but not as funny as yours! And you're right, Bebo sure is a heck of a packer! *G*

Anonymous said...

OK I don't mean to sound stupid...but what the heck is a garage door opener bulb??? My garage door opener light bulb is a normal regular ol' light bulb??? I am perplexed :) Now I know you...you just don't do "Normal" :) so I am guessing you have a bizarre opener...of course you had a bizarre garage as far as I am concerned...but then I am a firm believer in if you have a garage the car belongs in it :) hee hee

Christa said...

Sounds like an eventful move.
My brother has a dog that hate being locked away so when he moved he put him in the bathroom. One time during the evening, my sister and I went to her place and my 3 brothers went to the new place with a load leaving the dog still in the bathroom. Big mistake. The dog scratched the crap out of the door. My brother was only gone for like 15 minutes but needless to say he needed to buy a new bathroom door. If he was gone another 15 minutes the dog probably scratched right through the door.

Anonymous said...

OMG I sound like a fool - a PACKING fool, let's get that straight. If it's loose & laying around & looks like it might be needed... I PACK IT.

Okay, so I didn't actually see the words GARAGE DOOR OPENER on the package for the light bulbs... because I wasn't actually wearing glasses at the time. And we all know that I'm far-sighted. If I ain't wearing glasses, I cain't see it close-up.

And I think my brain was just turned off when I packed the cover to the smoke alarm. After all, there were screws & keys (okay - HOUSE keys) in it... and they looked useful! So I packed them!

Sheesh....

Anonymous said...

Look on the bright side, at least Bebo didn't pack the garbage. *g* I've heard of professional movers doing that!

Kelly Boyce said...

Glad the move had some sunny spots! Laughter is always good. I much prefer it over the alternative.

Dru said...

Thanks for sharing your funny moments. These will make good memories.

Bebo, you're better than me, if it looks like you don't need it, I won't pack it. Of course it will be something that is needed to make an item work.

Bailey Stewart said...

Dru, you're funny!

Yes Brandy, delightful would be the word all right. LOL

Glenice - just like there are certain bulbs made for refrigerators (although any appliance bulb will do) there are bulbs just for garage door openers. You could actually use any bulb. And yes, once upon a time, cars were parked in that garage.

Christa - I'm glad that Bubba is declawed or there would have been scratches all over the bottom of the door. That's what Neely Shae did. Also, this being an "as is" buy, it wouldn't have mattered. But that's a cute story.

Bebo - Sheesh is right. *gg*

Tori! Me too. One of my old friends had a party before they moved and the movers came in the next day and packed the ashtrays WITH cig butts still in them. And they were carefully packed too!

So do I Kelly. So do I.

Susan said...

At least with Bebo packing you won't overlook anything! *G*

Hey, Bubba stayed dry so he should be happy he was locked in a room.

LOL at the water story!

Melissa Amateis said...

See, I would do something like that - not know where to turn off the hot water. ;-)

catslady said...

Glad to hear you thought the water fiasoc was funny :)

I could just see me trying to keep 6 cats out of the way hahahahahaha.

Unknown said...

I'm glad you started life in your new home with some funny memories. And I've heard of professional removal people packing the garbage too. :o)