(AF) MOVING UPDATE - A Very Wild and Memorable Load!

 Yesterday, while Dave worked on things at his end, my mom and I took a load of my cookbooks and more delicate things in her car. Not quite all of my cookbooks made it out, yet. There are still a few scattered around here and there, but I think one more box will do it. I can toss them in as I come across them , then seal them up and go. It is such a relief to know that my most important cookbooks made it out! That might not seem like much to some people, but it is HUGE for me! 

Just as we started to pull away from my house, a few rain drops began to fall. About 15 miles out, the sky opened up! It was one of the hardest downpours I ever had to drive in! I HATE DRIVING IN STORMS! Just as we got to David's, it let up to an occasional drip now and then. I counted that as a huge blessing! We got it all unloaded, left, and the sky opened back up! We had storm to drive in all the way back! Once, my mom nearly jumped out the window. My phone has a storm radio on it and the storm alarm went off. . . LOUDLY! ! !  She didn't know it was on there, or that any phone had them (I didn't either until it went off the first time), and nearly jumped out of her skin. Her friend and neighbor kept in contact and let us know how bad the flooding was getting in Muskogee, where she lives. There was even a large special forces police department unit driving around town looking for flood victims to rescue!  I went cautiously and tried to get back home, but the flooding was just too bad. By that point, we even had a hard time trying to get back to my mom's house, but we finally made it. I was a nervous wreck worrying about all my critters that needed to be fed, especially my dogs, but I figure God decided I needed one good night's sleep under an air conditioner before I jump into this last leg. And the ground needed a good soaking so that I could pop up some starts of my blackberries so we can get a blackberry bed of my variety started. They are so yummy!

When I got home, I discovered that the dogs had solved their own dinner problem. I was afraid that if they got hungry enough, they might try to get into the chickens. But they did something better. As we were emptying the old store supplies from the steel building, I had set a box of stuff to throw away, up on an old shelf outside. The dogs had sniffed out the candy inside of it! In the bottom of the box were lots and lots of old honey straws and gummy burgers. Obviously, they liked the honey straws best. There were only a few empty gummy wrappers, and a big pile of empty honey straws! They had also grazed on the ragweed. They love that stuff! I have one dog that stays fat on it.  My dogs are so smart!

I am betting that as you readers follow along, you are finding it interesting the order in which we choose the most important things to move/save/keep. The decisions have been, and are, extremely difficult to make!. . . . and not without many, many tears Our order, for the most part, has been . . . 1) Animals/Life first and foremost. 2) Keepsakes and Family Heirlooms (although I still have many of those to get out. I am a sentimental old fool for sure)  3) Business and Farm supplies . . . . without them we will not have an income much of any kind after we get straightened back out and settled. 4) Things of great monetary value    5) Everything else I want to keep
What would your order be?

You would think that since the neighbors now know that I have to move out, that they would leave us alone. But NO . . . . . . They have started their crud back up. A few nights ago, over at the Hacker's, they were shooting off fireworks. As they finished, they just had to shoot an aerial, right over my yard, right behind and against my house, raining firework debris everywhere. They don't know it, yet, but they will truly miss having me around to bully, lol. PATHETIC!

Night before last is when we moved out the trailer with most of the stuff out of that storage building (2 storage buildings to go). David left with the long trailer full right after dark. Apparently someone over at the Phipps' must have thought I had left with him, because he hadn't been gone 10 minutes when I heard loud thumps and crashes in the junk pile right behind that storage building! I was outside on the phone, and enjoying the lightening bugs a moment (I will miss their multitude out here), and all the outside dogs were sitting with me, so it wasn't them. But did they ever go running and growling to check it out! A big rustle at the fence and all was quiet again. I made it clear that I was here and would have the sheriff back out in a snap if they tried it again.  10 minutes . . . TEN MINUTES! ! !  is all it took for them to think I was gone and start to pilfer through my belongings! It is getting tough for us to be gone at the same time, which is very inconvenient and slows things down even more. Throughout all of this, we keep constantly catching the neighbors on that side, daylight and dark, peeking through the bushes, through the fence, to see what load we are gathering up next. Regardless of everything, I am so thankful I have my life and not theirs!

Well, back to my packing. Please continue to keep us in your prayers and good thoughts that somehow, we are blessed with the ability and means to do what appears to be the impossible. Our arthritis continues to worsen from the stress, exertion, and unseasonable storms/rain, and one of Dave's legs is almost unfunctioning, which is getting really scary. My bronchitis isn't any better, much, but it IS holding at the stage it is at and we are praying it doesn't roll on over into pneumonia. It is annoying, but I can manage it at this stage. Thank you all so much for reading this post, and continuing to support us in your own way. Have a super terrific day! Bless you!