life is a highway
May. 18th, 2026 06:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the_siobhanThe Moving of Dad: The Saga Continues
Dad and wife were successfully transferred to the AirB&B on Saturday. My sister and her husband showed up with their truck, along with two nephews and a niece-in-law. Dozens of boxes and all the furniture the realtor doesn't want were wrestled down the stairs and carted off to storage. Their furniture is all this massive wooden stuff that you used to be able to buy that was intended to last for generations so it was bloody heavy. And their staircase is so narrow only one person can fit at a time. But we had enough muscle power that we could take turns and that meant we were able to do it all in about two hours.
Then it took an additional three hours to get my dad's wife to pack. We just could not get her to focus.
One of my nephews just started... repairing shit. Pulled apart the bathroom and fan and put it back together. Fixed a stuck doorknob. I told him I want him to spend a week at my house, just so he can get bored and start fixing things that annoy him.
Finally we got them to the AirB&B and got their stuff loaded in and then all went for food. My dad can't walk far but there was a diner about a block away and he was able to manage that with his cane and somebody to lean on. The second I walked in the door I said, "I am the youngest person in this room." Every barstool and table in the front of the room was full and the only people under 70 were the staff. The back half of the room was empty so we took a table back there and fifteen minutes later the band started up. All old 50s and 60s, Roy Orbison and artists from that era. Not my genre, but the band were really good! The whole crowd were dancing the entire time while we just sat there and watched them in awe. They did a cover of Goldfinger that was genuinely demented, everybody at the back of the room also clapped for that one.
At 6 PM on a Saturday. They were done by 8 PM. It was wild.
The AirB&B is in a neighbourhood called The Beaches and there are a ton of parks along the shore of Lake Ontario and lots of little restaurants and shops. (And a movie theatre across the street that is showing 90s cheerleader movies presented by drag queens.) They're treating it as a mini-vacation which is great for both of them and it's within the catchment area for dad's support staff, so he doesn't lose the PSW visits. The last two days have been hot and sunny so we've been getting texted pictures of my dad sitting on patios in the sun.
I get next weekend off having to move stuff, then the following Thursday my sister and I will go back to retrieve them. A load will have to come back out of the storage unit, like their TV. Unfortunately this is also my first back-to-office day where we're supposed to get our desks and stuff sorted. I'm going to talk to my boss about going to the office in the morning to get set up and then taking the afternoon off to deal with dad stuff.
***
Saturday night I got woken up in the middle of the night by Lord Brock making a bunch of weird yipping noises I had never heard before. He finally stopped and I fell back asleep.
Sunday morning I was having coffee at my desk and I turned my head to look over at him - and there is a decapitated mouse on the floor.
Said mouse was disposed of immediately. Lord Brock was given treats for his service. I remain concerned about the location of the missing head.
***
House stuff is kinda stalled, both because of being busy with dad stuff and because the weather is refusing to cooperate. Everything I want to do right now requires it to not rain for several days in a row, and the weather just will not do that.
Mind you, I could probably be doing more to start getting rid of all the crap in my house. Maybe I should start reaching out to shelters this week to see what they need and I can cart it over this coming weekend.
Dad and wife were successfully transferred to the AirB&B on Saturday. My sister and her husband showed up with their truck, along with two nephews and a niece-in-law. Dozens of boxes and all the furniture the realtor doesn't want were wrestled down the stairs and carted off to storage. Their furniture is all this massive wooden stuff that you used to be able to buy that was intended to last for generations so it was bloody heavy. And their staircase is so narrow only one person can fit at a time. But we had enough muscle power that we could take turns and that meant we were able to do it all in about two hours.
Then it took an additional three hours to get my dad's wife to pack. We just could not get her to focus.
One of my nephews just started... repairing shit. Pulled apart the bathroom and fan and put it back together. Fixed a stuck doorknob. I told him I want him to spend a week at my house, just so he can get bored and start fixing things that annoy him.
Finally we got them to the AirB&B and got their stuff loaded in and then all went for food. My dad can't walk far but there was a diner about a block away and he was able to manage that with his cane and somebody to lean on. The second I walked in the door I said, "I am the youngest person in this room." Every barstool and table in the front of the room was full and the only people under 70 were the staff. The back half of the room was empty so we took a table back there and fifteen minutes later the band started up. All old 50s and 60s, Roy Orbison and artists from that era. Not my genre, but the band were really good! The whole crowd were dancing the entire time while we just sat there and watched them in awe. They did a cover of Goldfinger that was genuinely demented, everybody at the back of the room also clapped for that one.
At 6 PM on a Saturday. They were done by 8 PM. It was wild.
The AirB&B is in a neighbourhood called The Beaches and there are a ton of parks along the shore of Lake Ontario and lots of little restaurants and shops. (And a movie theatre across the street that is showing 90s cheerleader movies presented by drag queens.) They're treating it as a mini-vacation which is great for both of them and it's within the catchment area for dad's support staff, so he doesn't lose the PSW visits. The last two days have been hot and sunny so we've been getting texted pictures of my dad sitting on patios in the sun.
I get next weekend off having to move stuff, then the following Thursday my sister and I will go back to retrieve them. A load will have to come back out of the storage unit, like their TV. Unfortunately this is also my first back-to-office day where we're supposed to get our desks and stuff sorted. I'm going to talk to my boss about going to the office in the morning to get set up and then taking the afternoon off to deal with dad stuff.
***
Saturday night I got woken up in the middle of the night by Lord Brock making a bunch of weird yipping noises I had never heard before. He finally stopped and I fell back asleep.
Sunday morning I was having coffee at my desk and I turned my head to look over at him - and there is a decapitated mouse on the floor.
Said mouse was disposed of immediately. Lord Brock was given treats for his service. I remain concerned about the location of the missing head.
***
House stuff is kinda stalled, both because of being busy with dad stuff and because the weather is refusing to cooperate. Everything I want to do right now requires it to not rain for several days in a row, and the weather just will not do that.
Mind you, I could probably be doing more to start getting rid of all the crap in my house. Maybe I should start reaching out to shelters this week to see what they need and I can cart it over this coming weekend.
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