Busy Weekend

Saturday :

I am able to goof off for the first half of the day.

At 2:30 it is at least 95 degrees and sunny outside. We are moving D’s school stuff to her new library from home and from a storage locker she rented.

To facilitate moving, we take the back two seats out of D’s van – we each would need to haul two kids. Due to operator error it takes 15 minutes of sweating to get the seats out.

We go to D’s rented storage locker and load up the back of my truck, a 4x8’ trailer, and her van. In my truck are H (age 9) and J(age 3). N(6) and L(5 months) are with D. N helps load boxes. I realize that I do not have a tarp. While there, we leaving both vehicles idling the entire time to provide air conditioning for the smaller children still inside.

When we arrive, we find between our truck, van, and trailer and the library an entire lane of drive way with a fresh “tack coat” (imagine dirt and gravel with a light sticky coat of tar – this is an intermediate step in paving). The route available to us is from the parking lot through the main entrance. On the side walk are large wooden crates holding precast concrete columns for the entrance, these are arranged haphazardly and allow passage of a hand truck with a few inches to spare. Blocking the driveway is a large “cherry picker” type lift with the boom a little lower than my head level.

When I wheel the first hand truck load of boxes in, I realize that I am leaving a black inky trail on the tile. Our first instinct is to think that it is tar, but the hand truck has not gone through any tar. We realize that a scrap of carpet at the entrance is soaked by rain and probably the source of this. We clean this up and don’t bring the hand truck past the door.

The older two kids help move the lighter boxes.

I return for an additional load from the storage locker. I decide to take D’s tricycle (grown up sized with a basket), the only way I see to carry it is to put it on top of the camper shell. I get many second looks from people I pass. ¼ mile from the school, it begins to rain.
Hard. There is no place to park out of the rain. I hurriedly take the exposed cardboard boxes under the shelter of the entry archway. When I am done, it stops raining.

D stays at school with two of the children while I take to pick up dinner. It is after 9pm.

Going home, after dark, my battery light comes on and my voltage gauge starts dropping. When at a light, the needle on the voltage gauge jerks to the left in time with the turn signal. I suspect my battery and possibly alternator are bad, or maybe there is a problem with the trailer lighting adding an unusual load. When I gun the engine, the voltage needle moves to the right, so perhaps it is not the alternator…

Sunday :

After church we go to Circuit City to pick up a TV for school. We get there at 1:00. They open at 1:30.

We discover that there is not enough room behind the back seat for the TV (my in-laws’ van). After 10 minutes of moving things (including a car
seat) around in the near 100 degree heat, we discover that the rear seat slides and there /is/ room for the TV

We eat at Sonic.

While at home loading up for a second day of moving, Jonah decides he needed some attention by having a double barreled potty accident upstairs that results in a load of laundry, a bath, and the use of the remainder of a can of carpet cleaner.

We load our van, truck, and trailer again. Our plan is to later come home and get the in-laws' van because we need to drop our van off at the body shop for repairs before Monday morning. My in-laws’ van is the only one that can carry all 6 of us at one time today.

My truck to be jumpstarted. I let it run for a few minutes and try to start it without the cables – it will not start. I suspect a bad cell in the battery – most of my battery failures have been in very hot weather. I jump start it a second time.

We get to school and between us and the front door, in the only path that I can maneuver a hand truck is a guy in a lift pressure washing the entry arch way. He will be here for 2 hours or more. As I am concerned about driving after dark because of what happened last night, I feel we need to empty the truck and trailer now. We carry the bulk of the boxes in by hand.

At one point the pressure washer guy tells me that he has started spraying a chemical (muriatic acid) to clean the masonry and that I will need to keep the kids back. They all happen to be outside by the vehicles. H reads to the two boys while sitting on the sidewalk in the shade of the crates of precast columns.

We plan to take the kids to the pool for some swimming and to check the pool equipment and my in-laws’ mail. My truck has to be jump started again. I decide to go get a battery after dropping off the trailer and my load of kids. The car parts stores are open til 9 – it is only 6.

I drive to my inlaws and unhitch the trailer. I then drop the two kids I have at the pool with D.

I go to buy a battery and due to an electronic “communication failure” I cannot use a debit or credit card. The clerk thinks my “what we have heah is a fay-luh to communicate” quip was a Guns n’ Roses reference. When I say that came from a long time before GnR, he says they must have covered a song. I describe the movie “Cool Hand Luke”. I don’t think he appreciates it. The battery and other supplies will cost me $100. I cannot leave the store without being jump started or buying a battery.

I walk to a Nations Bank ATM where I plan to withdraw about $125. The “fast cash” option has a max of $100, when I hit “cancel” the machine spits out $30 (there was no option for $30) and a receipt indicating a $2 transaction fee. With no alternative, I try again and am able to withdraw an additional $100. I incur another $2 service fee.

We install the battery and test the alternator, it is bad. It is not generating the expected amperage and a “leaking diode” is allowing AC (alternating current) to leak into the circuit and could damage my computer. The alternator came from the same store chain and had a lifetime warranty. I do not have my receipt. The clerk says that even if I did have it, their thermal printouts are notoriously bad and it would be unreadable by now. The clerk suggests that I call the store I bought it originally (their computers are apparently not networked) to get the information he will need to provide me with a free replacement.

I had purchased that alternator in Fredericksburg, VA and replaced it in the parking lot of a Food Lion while on a road trip two years ago. I call directory assistance. They tell me of two stores of this particular chain in that town and I take both numbers. On the first try I find that there is a third. My second try is the right one. They are able to look me up and see that I made a $217 purchase but cannot provide any “history”. 20 minutes or so of hold time and a conversation with the manager in Virginia later the clerk at the local store says that it is obvious that I have a lifetime warranty based on the price and that they are the only vendors of that particular brand of alternator. He says he will replace my alternator, however he cannot place the order because their computers are now down completely. He suggests that I call back tomorrow to place the order. He won’t be working that day, but they can call him at home. This has taken 1 and a half hours. I revise my plan and head home to get the in-laws van and look for the receipt.

At home I cannot find the receipt and receive a call from D’Etta that we need to feed the kids something. I gather loose items in the kitchen because I cannot stomach feeding them another meal at Sonic. I leave the truck and take my in-laws' van. The van is partially loaded, leaving room for two passengers.

I decide to take a chance and call the auto parts place back at 8:45 to see if their computers are up and if the guy who knows what is going on can place the order. I am on hold for 15 minutes after which he places the order and assures me it will be in at 7:30 am Monday.

I rendezvous with D and the kids and we proceed to school to unload the items currently in the vans. The pressure washer guy is gone. I assemble a cart for the TV. We leave the library and drop the van at the body shop. We load up all in my in-laws’ van and go home. D takes the kids and preps them for bed.

I have to move the remaining items from the storage locker to a friend's shed. I unload my truck completely to head back to the storage locker.

Even with an empty truck bed the futon, the two tables, stack of 12 kids sized chairs, rocking chair, two pallets, and a Lazy Boy will not fit. I put the rocking chair in the front seat, this allows me to shift gears if reach from beneath the steering wheel. I leave the tail gate down and lash the Lazy Boy on. [By the way, moving a cotton ticking futon rolled up in plastic sheeting is probably very similar to moving a body.]

I arrive at about midnight. There are no lights and I don’t have a flashlight. To unload, I have to back up to the shed, meaning I cannot use my headlights to illuminate the shed.

On the way home I stop at Sonic.

Monday :

At 8:00am the car parts place does not have my alternator. They are to have it this afternoon. Apparently the order had been placed after the “cut off”.

My battery light comes on while driving to work on the interstate. I back into my space so I can be easily jump started if need be.

D’Etta says that her library cards have not been shipped. The supplier says design was never approved. School starts in a week.

The phones in school (even the principal’s) cannot call long distance.

There are no phones or network connections in the library.

To get the library card order moving, they need to send a fax. There are no fax machines. The number is long distance.

There is a moisture problem in the library and the brand new books are warping.

Today is registration and they are completing the paving at the entrance.

Note :
I left out a lot. I left out all the stuff D was doing when I was not there. All I did was heavy lifting and driving around. She is the one who has to figure out where all that stuff will go.

Unfortunately it never occured to me to take a picture of the heavily laden truck and trailer or the obstructed entrance to the school. However, I did take a picture of the intermediate school whose campus adjoins the elementary school's. This was after the rain on Saturday when a rainbow had come out.