On my way

As you'll have seen in Wednesday's pictures the peonies are open! I'll expect to be at the house by later today and I'm hopeful I'll get to see the blooms in person. The area has had a significant amount of rain over the past few days and I'm sure many of the flowers have been damaged. D did cut a couple and brought them indoors. She googled how to take care of them, and made certain to wash them well to avoid bringing in some pests. 

I did not get everything done I'd hoped to this week, though a fair amount of weeding in the back was accomplished. Something I discovered was a bit worrisome; there is a utility box in the back yard and while I was digging out weeds, I came across what appeared to be a utility line or possibly an irrigation line - I couldn't tell which. I spent some time on the phone trying to reach someone at the utility company but was unsuccessful. That meant going back to the chat feature. The initial AI chatbot clearly didn't understand what I was asking, but at least it transferred me to a live person almost immediately. He was located in another city and unable to answer my question, so I was transferred to tech support. After some consultation with his supervisor, I learned that their line would be at least 4-6 feet underground. As a result I did a bit more digging and discovered a very long tree root. 

Tuesday was a very good day. To make a long story short (as much as I ever can), I bought a new-to-me vehicle! I've been driving my 2007 Toyota Corolla for over 14 years and though it is a good vehicle, it is starting to show signs of wearing out. I had set aside enough funds from the sale of my house in the city to pay off the mortgage on the old house in town, not thinking it would sell as quickly as it did. Since it did, I decided to use some of those funds for a newer vehicle. 

It is a 2023 Chevy Equinox, with low mileage and more bells and whistles than I'll ever know what to do with. We took it out on the highway and for a short city drive after the salesman had gone through several of the features. While I appreciate a few of the extras, I do worry it just means more things can go wrong. (Though the back-up camera will be a treat.) With regular maintenance, I hope it will last for nearly 15 years too. After a couple of hours of paperwork, I left the vehicle at the lot for an oil change and detailing. Pick-up was scheduled for 5 p.m. on Friday. 

My brother R and his friend P came on Wednesday morning to install the new garage door opener that C had purchased. P needed R's help to hold up the one end of the rail and opener while he drilled the other end into the wall above the garage door. Since that didn't take a lot of time, R took apart a large shelving unit, built by the former renter, from along the one side of the garage. It had blocked the side by C's car and made it more difficult for us to park both vehicles in the garage. Once the shelves were apart, he used the lumber and the base, to build a work bench. He and I moved it against the far wall, opening up the parking area and providing a space to put tools.

I did some errands on Thursday morning, including getting the license plate for the new vehicle. Since the dealership would have given me an amount well below the market value, I decided I'd have to sell the Toyota privately. Back at the house, I finished the weeding out behind the garage, piled up the yard waste and sprayed the area. It won't likely keep the weeds from growing while I'm away, so I'll have my son spray in a couple of weeks to keep them at bay.

Friday was set aside for completing the packing. However, the morning started out with a panicked call from my daughter. They have had heavy rains in the area, the sump pumps weren't kicking in (these were just installed in April), and the basement had standing water in it. She went over to the old house, possession was happening at noon, and found water in that basement too. After a trip to Canadian Tire, where she picked up a shop vac and a dehumidifier, she went back to the old house and cleaned up as much as she could with the vac. Meanwhile I called our realtor to give him the head's up. He spoke with the buyer's agent, and they were not surprised, and not upset about it. The buyer said, "Shoot, we should have taken possession a few days earlier and I could have done the grading." The agent was actually in the house by this point, and assured Rob, there wouldn't be any issue regarding the sale. Phew! By noon, the new owners were in the house and our involvement is done.

Back here in the city, I had a call from my brother's friend. R had told him about my Corolla being available for sale. After a conversation, G said he would take it, sight unseen for a price close to my original asking. He and his wife drove the 3 1/2 hours from Prince Albert on Friday to pick up the car. 

They arrived shortly after 4:15, they took it for a short test drive and came back to say they wanted it. I drove us down to the insurance agents where the vehicle was transferred to them, and they got their license plate. Back at the house, we tried to wrestle the old plate off the car, but G figures he'll have to grind the bolts. I sent them on their way with my plate - if they get stopped by the RCMP, they can explain the situation and do have the new plate with them. They will mail the plate back to me (and I'll mail the second key to them), so I can cancel the plate.

My son and I hopped in his car, and he dropped me off at the dealership. The salesman and I sat in the car, while he went through the various buttons. Oh my goodness, the buttons - some were familiar, some were not. On the way home, I stopped twice, once to fill the car with gasoline and then at Subway to grab sandwiches for dinner for C and I. I am thrilled to say I was able to park the larger vehicle between two others with no issues. 

Later, my brother R came by the house and loaded a small stand alone a/c unit to take out to D. The a/c we had installed doesn't do much for the second floor because there is only a single vent. She'll only use the stand alone as needed...if summer ever actually arrives.

D had the plumber in twice on Friday, once in the morning, once later in the day. His recommendation is a third sump pump. I think I'll call in the local plumbers for their advice before we go ahead with any more work. The sump pumps were working (I assume) but just unable to keep up with the amount of water coming into the house. Meanwhile the foam tiles she put down are wet, so need to be lifted so the floor can dry, and the tiles cleaned before they are put down again. I'm so glad we didn't decide on carpet tiles!

In between calls from D, the realtor, the car buyer, and my brother, I managed to get laundry done, vacuumed the main floor, and organized most of the items I'll take with me. I'd had several items in the trunk of my car, and had moved those to the garage earlier in the week, but there was still clothing, my camera, another bag of assorted items,  and a bag of jigsaw puzzles. I won't need them until late fall but as I'll have room in the SUV, I'll take them with me now. This morning, I finished with the few grocery items, things that C doesn't normally eat and will spoil before I return. Oh, and my laptop too! Can't forget that. :)

I'm off to load the car and get on the road. I expect we'll be spending much of the weekend cleaning up the water in the basement. The town is having a parade on Saturday evening; we'll attend as it will pass by just a half block from the house. There are activities in the park on Sunday too for Canada Day. The weather is supposed to be mostly sunny. I sure hope so, we'll all tired of the rain. Then I get to start weeding!

To my Canadian readers, Happy Canada Day weekend. To all, have a wonderful week ahead.