The hard part

We've reached the hard part of this move, saying goodbyes, parting with the last of our stuff, and confronting my feelings of inadequacy when it comes to home maintenance. 

The goodbyes are bitter sweet, but we aren't dropping from the face of the earth, we will be back to visit and we hope that many folks will come visit us. 

Clearing the house is difficult and we've reached the stage where most things that we can't rehome will just be heading to our Happy Little Dumpster. There will be final runs to Habitat, Green Dogs, Goodwill, CASPCA, and Circa today and tomorrow. Some things that I had hoped to sell have not. I hope to never again post anything for sale on Facebook Marketplace. I had refused to have a yard sale because I could not stand the idea of the local population invading our space en masse. Instead, we've dealt with them one at a time through Marketplace. Some people have been great, but so many are flaky and I'm reminded why I didn't want to have a yard sale. I'm content with donating the stuff we might have sold at such an event. 

The house has been difficult and we've thrown a lot of money at it in the past month, but considering how little we spent on home maintenance, repairs, and improvements over the past 25 years, I can't complain, much. The insultation from the attic has been removed (it will be replaced), mold has been treated, and ceilings have been repaired and repainted. The damage that Woody had done to our outside a/c unit piping and conduits was repaired yesterday. A plumber fixed a leaking toilet. The vines have been removed from the house. I managed to kill yet another mower and will be happy if I never own another one. In fact, at this point I am thinking that I should be a renter for the rest of my life. 

Clay and I have both been stressed and are not getting a lot of sleep. There are things that won't get done but everything that's truly essential will. Bailey's health certificate arrived via FedEx today. Come hell or high water we are out of here on Thursday. 

We said goodbye to beautiful Bridget and her parents on Monday evening.

The dumpster is approaching full capacity. 

We had a farewell dinner with Duvel's family on Tuesday evening.

Chester, also a former foster, is Duvel's big brother.

Our flamingos didn't fly too far away and have settled in nicely in new gardens.

Good citizenship

We are in the final countdown to our departure. It's less than a week away. Progress is happening, much has been done, although it seems that much still remains. We had dinner with some friends the other night and the fact that we are leaving really began to hit me. I've been too busy to really think about it much up till now. I was hoping that we'd have everything finished a week ahead of time so we could take the last week to just relax, reflect, and do some things that we really enjoy. But maybe being busy is better. 

One thing that I've wanted to accomplish is getting Bailey to pass the Canine Good Citizen test. It's not required by any means and it's just a certificate from the AKC that probably doesn't mean squat in Europe anyway, but I thought it might be something good to have, perhaps to make landlords feel more inclined to rent to us. Erika is certified to administer the test and we did so yesterday evening. As you can see from the smiles and blue ribbon, she passed and I was very proud of her.

Thank you to Kim who was there and helped with the stranger greeting part of the test.

And thank you to Kevin for helping out as well. Sorry I cut his head off, but mine looked bad.

Bailey got some quality time with Kevin afterwards.

Not eating the children should count as extra credit, right?

Vet check

Moving a dog internationally is tricky. There are rules and regulations as one might expect, both from the destination country and the airline that is getting us there. There's no quarantine like there used to be, but what is required is a vet check within 10 days of travel. We had that today and it went very well. Bailey can be nervous around strangers but she took treats from both the vet and the vet tech and ended up giving them kisses. She was up to date on everything already so it all went smoothly. She weighed in at just under 70 pounds, or rather 31.75 kg. 

The vet check is just the beginning of the requirements, however. The vet must be one that is approved by the US Department of Agriculture. Dr. Ashley Rethemeyer at the Animal Wellness Center in Crozet is that vet. I knew her because she often helps out with Green Dogs fosters and in fact she had given Bailey her first rabies vaccination. We saw her in her office earlier this spring to get Bailey current on everything so today's visit was mostly about paperwork. She submitted the necessary information to USDA today. Now it's up to them to issue the necessary health certificate and get it back to us in time for our flight on the 31st. Depending on this government for anything right now is more than a bit worrisome, but apparently they've been getting things out on time.

I've got a crate that Bailey is comfortable in, although I still need to get some bolts and wingnuts to secure it. Temperature is also a concern and it's a big reason that we've scheduled an overnight flight that doesn't leave until 9:30 p.m. Air France won't fly animals if the temperature is over 85 degrees and right now, at least, the forecast for next week looks favorable. 

We have an air tag on Bailey's collar now and I don't think I'll be able to relax until we're able to confirm that she's on board the flight with us next week. Even then I'll probably be a wreck until we actually pick her up after the flight to Paris. We're having a driver take us from there to Lille instead of taking the train mostly so we don't have to put her through a train ride after a long flight. 

There's many moving parts to making this all work. Clay's exhaustive research and Dr. Rethemeyer's experience will hopefully make it all come together to get us there. 

The ordinary is extraordinary

There's still a ton of things to do, but I've got someone working on the major house projects and I'm confident that the work will get done. I have a semi-functioning mower on loan so I think I'll be able to handle the mowing, trimming, and spraying to be done before we leave. We have fewer and fewer things listed on eBay and Marketplace each day, so stuff is moving out. And we are into the packing stage finally. 

I have two interesting dog experiences to report. They are barely worth mentioning but they struck a chord. Last week we walked into a store in Charlottesville. The woman working there recognized us immediately, saying "I adopted a dog from you." That happens periodically, and I'm always glad when people say something. Being associated with someone's beloved dog is a very nice way to be recognized and remembered. It happened again today when someone came by to pick up something we had offered for free on Marketplace. I usually don't remember the people (nothing personal, that's just me), but hearing the dog's name usually does bring back some memories. 

We had a lot of puppies in the past year but none of them were actually born here. The doberman and the shar-pei litters arrived here about the same time from a hoarding situation. Marvel was intended to deliver her pups here, but she decided to give birth during the transport. They arrived already born and cleaned up, but less than a day old. I had used chalk board paint inside the puppy shed and wrote out every pup's name and collar color so I could tell them apart. 

This is one of those pictures where Bailey looks very much like Maya. They are similar in many ways, but fortunately Bailey doesn't have Maya's wanderlust. Bailey is afflicted with a serious case of FOMO (fear of missing out), which keeps her nearby most of the time. 

This is just a picture of a couple of crates from my van that I took to Green Dogs today. We had as many as six or seven crates in the house that have been passed along previously, and many more that I had in the outdoor sheds or in storage. But these two crates are special because they were the two that were permanently installed inside my van behind the driver's and passenger's seats. These are the crates that gave hundreds of dogs rides to their new lives - from shelters to foster care, often in our home, and then from foster care to their forever homes. These crates have been peed and pooped in and barfed in more times than I care to remember. They've carried nervous, anxious, scared dogs, and they've carried happy, excited dogs, often to the park for hikes or for the biggest adventure of all, to a new home. They are just two ordinary crates that have done and seen extraordinary things.

I wasn't gardening this year, but my lotus flower didn't know that. I was very happy to see it budded and even happier to see the flowers opening while we're still here.

A trip down a long memory lane

There's a lot to dislike about Facebook, ass-kissing Trump-loving Zuckerburg heads that list, but one feature that I enjoy is the practice of showing memory photos that you had posted on that day in prior years. I almost always enjoy those and today I had a number of them that were particularly good. 

This is Maya and me at James River Brewery 12 years ago. Maya loved to go along, anywhere, and she really didn't like being left at home when we went out, so we took her as much as possible. In her later years she became very much a homebody and preferred to stay home. 

This is Killian, one of Della's puppies at five weeks of age, six years ago. He was adorable, and still is. 

This is a moose that I saw on an evening hike in Glacier National Park on a trip with my mother and sisters, eight years ago. It was a wonderful trip and we saw a lot of wildlife.

Back at home, 12 years ago, I took a foster Great Dane named Patton, a/k/a Horse, to a big dog meet up that included a Saint Bernard named Desi, another Saint named Gus, and Great Pyrenees named Daisy. It was great fun.

On this day 11 years ago I was out on a hike with Sparky. Sparky is the dog who got me out on the trails on a regular basis. He loved it so much and his joy was infectious. I don't know how many miles we went that day, but over the years he and I covered hundreds of miles on the trails at Pleasant Grove. 

Memories are often a mixed bag. This is Smokey, a former foster that I had euthanized six years ago because he had an unfortunate tendency to bite people. Even so, my memory of him isn't entirely bad. He was a good dog in many ways and I loved him. I still have his collar with me along with those of all of our own dogs and former fosters who passed away in our home. That box of collars is making the journey with us as a tangible reminder of all the precious memories we've made with the many dogs who have passed through our doors but are still at home in our hearts. 

Time flies

Generally before any trip I obsess over getting the house clean, the yard cut and cleaned up, so things won't be a disaster when we get back home, but I know what needs to be done and how long it will take so I can plan accordingly. This is not a normal "trip" and the need to get the house and yard in shape relates to selling the house. There is 10 times more work to be done, more like 100 times, and the time left to get everything done is shrinking at an ever accelerating pace. I don't have the knowledge, skills, or patience for a lot of things that need to be done which is giving me big feelings of inadequacy and failing. 

The dumpster got filled up and was taken away and a new one brought in it's place today. It's already about 1/3rd full. I'm finally making progress on the outdoor stuff and we've started throwing money at the house projects in a desperate attempt to get things done. That should have started at least two weeks before it did. Mechanical things, particularly the damn mower, are the bane of my existence and I will be very happy to be free of it in two weeks, living without a car and without grass to cut.

We've about reached the end of things that can be sold, except for a few that I still need. I'm guessing that the dumpster will be full again when it it taken away next Friday. 

Bailey seems unbothered by the removal of furniture and other things. Her focus is on me. I look forward to being able to keep up my side of this co-dependent relationship and return the attention and focus with time spent on her. She's been letting me slide for now. 

My makeshift bird feeding station was very popular with the goldfinch community today, with a dozen or more of them on it at any time.

The first dumpster was filled mostly with wood. 

The next load will be more varied.

A HOWS Project truck leaving today with one of my kennels and a lot of outdoor dog stuff (toys, poop scoopers, feeder, dishes, water buckets, etc.)

I think and hope they will be able to put it to good use with the community dogs that they help.

Moving stuff out

The last few weeks have been all about moving stuff out of here. Clay's been selling on eBay for months and I've been moving larger items with the help of Facebook Marketplace. In addition to multiple trips to the dump and Goodwill, 

we've taken things to a consignment shop and Clay has made two trips to Circa selling our stuff. They seem to like our stuff and yesterday sent a truck out here and they left with a full load. And yet, I look around the house and there is still stuff that we'll need to deal with in the next two weeks. 

I finally got someone at work removing the insulation from the attic, and have contracted with another company who will do some other work up there and then re-fill it with new insulation. There are still other things to do.  I've been doing the demolition work removing a lot of the things I had built in the yard that were now looking rather sad. The dumpster is almost full and they will be taking it away next Tuesday. 

My one remaining mower has suffered a deck failure, which sucks big time because I can not be without a mower right now, or without something to haul around the utility trailer that I'm using in the demolition work. 

As always, Bailey remains my faithful companion through whatever is going on. 

It was like an episode of American Pickers here yesterday. 

A lot of our stuff went away, including many items that I had no idea what to do with.

I did some outdoor work in Daneland early this morning when it was shaded.

In the afternoon, I worked in the puppy palace, removing the torn up linoleum

and clearing off the shelves. Bailey helped.

Clay also made a second trip to coin dealer in Charlottesville, selling a lot of my childhood coin collection for more than I expected. 

I should have taken "before" pictures, but this is the area where our firepit was, along with the summer kitchen and several other assorted things. 

This is what remains of Playstation K9. This part is solid and in good shape so I'm leaving it.