Sorry I have been a little quite the past 7 days.
Today we were supposed to close on our High Tower house so I have been frantically packing, throwing out, donating, packing, wondering why we have so much stuff, throwing out and packing! 165 boxes so far. Super duper important possessions were carted to my mom's house, boxes and boxes and boxes have been moved to our airport hanger at the Crystal Airport, the "things we can't do without" are in the garage at Comet Circle and eventually our beds will go to my brother's garage - he's my only relative with any space left to allocate to storage for me!
I was looking forward to an eventful day on July 18th and I have to admit it was that and more.... but not for the reasons I thought it would be. I envisioned checking into our temporary "home" (the Residence Inn in Eden Prairie), showing up at the title company, signing some papers and no longer owning this house.
Well, we found out late Tuesday night that our buyers did not get their mortgage paperwork in order (go figure - mortgage companies are actually checking into people's finances before they loan them boat loads of money) so we were forced to delay by a WEEK! Yep an entire week. It sure would have been nice to know that before we had help all day Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday with packing and moving. We couldn't have done what we did (almost empty this house) without the help of Randy Thompson, Art Felgate, Tim Shannon, Bennett Jasmine, Andrew Glover, Nancy Olene and of course, our children. It was a huge undertaking so THANK YOU to each of you.
I am glad that we got so much done over the weekend and early part of the week so the POD that has been in our driveway since Saturday could be taken away. That is where today's excitement comes into play.
I spent about 40 minutes on the phone last night with POD customer service explaining that our driveway is "kinda steep". She assured me that she would put in detailed pick up instructions so we would get an experienced driver that could handle the job.
It all started when the driver that dropped the POD off said "Don't let the pick up driver drive the truck up the driveway and load it at the top. Have him leave the truck in the street and only use the lift." I was feeling pretty confident that the driver would get the message from all that she was saying to me on the phone.
Our pick up time was between Noon and 3pm. I was watching for his arrival but missed it. Looking out the window I see him in the street and he is moving the lift up the driveway. "Great", I think to myself, "He got the message" and I go out to greet him. What I missed was his attempt at backing his truck up the driveway. He made it about a foot before the bottom of the truck dug in and he damaged the driveway!
He was damaging it further with the lift because he was too far to the right - the steeper side. I proceeded to greet him and explain that the driveway wasn't as steep on the left and that if he positions the lift "like this" (and I point out the proper angle to him), he will be more successful in getting up the driveway. He re-positions and has little trouble getting to the top. I am sure he loved having a "house wife" tell him how to do his job.
He gets the POD loaded and heads down the driveway with this enormously heavy contraption. Again I explained that he needed to keep to the left side which was not easy as he had to run the controls from that side too.
He was squeezing by the tree and maneuvering down the steep part when I yelled "Stop, Stop Stop". He was too wide and ended up sliding off the right side of the driveway so he now had the back right wheels (each corner has 2 wheels close together like the back of a semi but they are small wheels) in the landscaping rocks and they turned sideways so they were skidding. He examined it, thought about what to do and went back to the controls. With a bit more damage to the driveway, he got the back wheels back on the driveway and the front wheels almost down to the street then SNAP! The front tire on the right side BROKE OFF. The chain was just hanging there and the POD was smack in my driveway.
I figured he would be there for hours now. I went into the house to call Mark to tell him I couldn't bring him lunch as I was trapped behind a stranded POD. The driver went to his truck to call the office to ask for another truck and lift to come help him. As I was talking to Mark on the phone, the driver went back to the controls. I was guessing that the dispatcher gave him some advice on what to do. I'm talking and watching and the next thing I see is the back of the POD careening sideways down the driveway. He just missed taking out the rock wall. The front wheels could not hold the weight with only one working wheel. I thought the driver was trapped as the front went right at him and the rock wall was behind him. I ran out to check on him. He was getting up off the ground just as I came down the driveway. He fell into the rocks on his shoulder but at least he got out of the way! YIKES! He was shaken up but tried to play it off.
He got the POD loaded on the trailer without too much additional trouble (only a little rolling backwards and sideways sliding because of the broken wheel), loaded the broken wheel into the cab of the truck, took pictures of the driveway damage and was on his way - to the nearest bar I am sure. He needed a drink after that adventure. He told me he has been doing this job for 9 years and has never had a lift break. Leave it to this house! I think it is possessed.
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