Move 99% Complete

I've been off-line for nearly two weeks because Janet and I are in the throes of finalizing our home consolidation.  Two Saturdays ago was the "Big Move."  The plan was to rented a U-Haul to move all the big and/or heavy furniture out of my old place.

But as von Moltke said:  No plan survives contact with the enemy.  The enemy in this case was her home plumbing.  Just as we woke up to start our day, Janet noticed the carpet in the family room was damp and when I tried showering, water was backing up through the washing machine drain.  We thought the septic tank was plugged. 

 

But when the plumbing team arrived, they discovered the pipe between the house and septic tank was broken.  It actually broke several years ago and either the previous owners or some shady contractor spliced the break with Duck Tape.

 

 

Yes, Duck Tape, man's "other best friend" and multi-purpose fix-it-all.

 

Now I know there's some talented folks out there who can make anything out of Duck Tape, like...

 

...flowers (image by "DuckTapeBandit") and would you believe...

 

 

...ball gowns.  Check out the winners' incredible outfits of Duck Tape's Stuck at Prom. 

 

 

 

Not only can teens win scholarship money with Duck Tape, but the stuff can last several years as field-expedient plumbing.

 

But keep in mind, it will probably fail at the worst possible moment--just like it did for Janet and I.

 

So Janet ended up staying home to deal with the pipe repairs, while her son and I took the U-Haul and hauled my furniture out of my old house. 

 

SNAFU #2 occurred when we had the truck half packed and realized the truck was too small and it would take a second trip to remove everything we planned on removing that day.  After a quick lunch break we brought the second load just as the last plumber was putting new sealant on and around the septic tank.

 

Despite the hectic (and expensive) chain of events, we managed to get everything placed inside the new home where we wanted it, more or less.  (We did some adjusting the following day).  The only casualty, other than some strained ligaments/muscles/tendons on triceps and thighs, suffered during the move was my L-shaped studio desk.

 

It's so large we had trouble getting it out of the original room, so we had to discombobulate it.  The problem was, we discombobulated too much.  When we went to lift on portion of it, the wood split in several places and the whole thing fell apart.

 

 

The above picture isn't actually my desk.  I found this on line to give readers an idea what my desk looks like and how it came apart. 

 

I'm not as broken-up about it as I thought I'd be.  That's because I've had my doubts as to how we'd be able to carry the desk up the narrow staircase, through the narrow hallway and maneuver it into my new Studio.  Especially since the remaining desk-half is larger than the one that fell apart.

 

Looks like a trip to Ikea is in order.