verrry quiet here....

The houseguests got (mostly) moved on Monday. The huge (over 50 feet long) moving van with their household stuff that has been stored in Dubuque since last May was waiting on the street when we got to the house about 8 a.m. My assignment was to check off all the (over 300) boxes and bins when they came off the truck. I immediately discovered I am very Thankful that I am not in the business of moving/transporting other people's stuff. I have been commenting for many years when I see folks trundling down the highway with pickup truck piled high, roped in, looking like the opening scene from the Beverly Hillbillies, with Granny tied to her rocking chair atop boxes and barrels: I am so thankful that's not me!

In addition to having 27 banker's size boxes of reference books, and a huge stack of kitchenware, the cartons and tubs took up half of the two car-size carport. And that's just stuff, not really any of their furniture, which the moving-men took in the different rooms and set up as instructed. But they seem to be pretty well settled, though I expect it will take weeks to empty all the cartons. (And already thinking they will find one box of empty plastic jugs they meant to recycle, but supposed the packers had boxed up for storage!) So It's Really Quiet here.

Before they got underway, on Sunday night, knowing they would be sleeping in their own -but 'strange' -beds on Monday night, I said that it was going to be pretty lonesome here, with virtually no converstion during the evening meal. I also discovered there is no one here to help with eating up all the left-overs (now commonly referred to as 'must-go': if you don't consume it the second go-round, it Must Go in the trash), or doing the dishes after we eat. It has been good having them around, and they leave a Lot of Silence in their wake.

The up side is that when I wake up in the wee hours with no possiblity of going back to sleep (likely due to illicit chocolate consumption before bed) I can peck away on the computer! Which I was doing at 2:00 and 4:00 and etc...