Cleanout, Cleanup and SOLD!

Annnd, a good morning it was! This hotel, in Winchester, VA, was still serving their "free" breakfast buffet.  Of sorts.  They offered yogurt, dry muffins, juice and a pass through pancake oven.  You push a button, a squirt of batter comes out and rides a conveyor belt through the oven, and voila, 1 minute later, you've got your pancake!  Ready for syrup and butter.  Too bad there wasn't any available. That's ok, a quick bite to eat, brush the teeth and we're back on the road again.  

After a few miles of construction, we passed into West Virginia.  Then Maryland.  It was quick, and it all looked the same:

Then, before we knew it, we were finally in Pennsylvania.  I'm not sure we were there to pursue our happiness, but we did hope to achieve some closure and peace of mind.

I don't really remember much about the area, but I don't recall ever seeing this part of the state.  We were really quite surprised to see such vast farms and acres of corn.  It's been a looong time since we've had good corn, so maybe we'll manage to find some before we leave?

We also didn't realize there were mountains in this part of the state.   I remember the Poconos, but they are in the eastern half, so, I dunno what's going on here.

Ummmm....did we take a wrong turn somewhere?

Texas may have some large farms (I believe they call 'em RANCHES), but they do not have the building complexes that seem to be so prevalent here.

I believe this is the Susquehanna River, runs right through Harrisburg.

Now, THIS is one sign we didn't want to see ever again...

Today's odd load...a monster Tonka Toy

Soooo, you know we've been really sheltered, there on the Refuge, and we haven't been out of our little cocoon in quite some time, this trip being the exception.  We haven't really been paying attention to any activities other than what we see on the nightly news, so when we drove by the Olive Garden, we were really surprised to see minimal social distancing, and fewer masks than deemed required by local ordinance.  ???  What's up with that?  Are we the only ones that seem to think there's a pandemic going on and people should be exhibiting a little more concern for others, and themselves too?  Is it any wonder we want to retreat back under our rock?

We passed through several small towns and PA's Amish Country on the way to Newtown Square.

And, since it was only about noon (how could that even BE?  We had already been in four states, and it was still just noon!!), it was too early to check into the hotel, so we just went straight on to Dad's house.  We had seen photos, from when Charlie was there, but, Oh.My.Gosh.  NOTHING could have prepared us for the actual reality of 40+ years of accumulation on top of physical infirmities on top of being closed up for the last 9 months.  Please, friends, please do your children a BIG favor, don't be afraid to throw things out!

But, hey, we did find this chair up in the attic.  As I recall, it was needlepointed by my Grandmother's mother, so, that makes it ummmm, pretty darned old.

A couple of days ago, I had posted an ad on Craigslist, for the stained glass tools and supplies.  Charlie had mentioned there was well over $1000 worth, but we had no pictures, so I just asked for $350 for the whole lot.  A very nice lady, who happens to be a dental hygienist responded, and after a bit of chat, she said she'd take the lot off our hands.  She actually lived in Maryland, about an hour away, and we arranged for her to come up to get the glass.  She asked if she should bring her utility trailer and I told her she was certainly welcome to do so.  Sooo, she and her hubby drove on up and helped us go through the rubble.  They found lots of treasures and every bit they took away was that much less the cleanout guys were going to have to haul to the landfill.  They spent a couple of hours searching all the nooks and crannies for items of interest or things they could use.  Truthfully, I was happy to see it all go.  Along the way, we all chatted a bit (which was really hard, considering we were all wearing masks, plus the foul odor of the house and the heat...apparently, it's SUMMER here in PA, and it was hot and muggy!) and we learned a little about them and they learned a little about us.  Their names are Lisa and Bill, and they are very nice people.  In another lifetime, we could all be very good friends, I'm sure.  But, they live in MD, and we don't, so it's unlikely we'll ever cross paths again.  But, if you're reading this, Lisa & Bill, please know that you really touched our hearts and we are glad to have made your acquaintance.  It was an honor to meet you.

Off they go, with their haul!

It was late when we finally got back to the hotel, but, hey, we found a pizza joint that uses only mozzarella and has good reviews.  And, boy, was it GOOD!

The next morning, we were right back at it, bright and early.  Here is just a part of the camera collection... I put these on Craigslist too, but the only person that contacted me was one young man looking for PlayStations and X Boxes.  HAHA, yeah, none of that here.  Although, the neighbor Harry, was able to get a city pickup truck here and FILLED the ENTIRE bed with obsolete electronics.  Lordy, you really just cannot imagine..nor would you want to.  Just trust me.  It was all too much.

Here's the garage, after several hours and truckloads of cleanout.  It's amazing how much stuff one can accumulate.  I know he used to keep a car and 3 motorcycles in here.  Please, people, don't do this to your kids!  

And, finally, the last load is headed out!  Let me tell you a quick story about that last load,too. It contains the washer and dryer, and why do you suppose that is?  We WANTED to sell them on Craigslist, and hoped to get a couple hundred bucks out of the pair.  Yeah, no.  Dick Luck, remember?  We had been expecting to do our laundry when we got to Dad's house, knowing he had a washer/dryer for us to use.  Charlie had mentioned that they appeared to be relatively new, so we were glad to see them when we arrived.  They were dirty and grody, so we figured, we'd put some of Dad's clothes through a cycle, just to check 'em out, make sure they worked, and hopefully, get rid of some of the grime, before we put our own clothes in.  HA, said God.  The washer worked great, all through the fill, soak and rinse.  Then came the spin.  Or, in our case, the not spin.  Yup, it drained some but did.not.spin.  Soooo, we were left with a tub full of sopping wet clothes.  OK, so, no big deal, right?  The washer's no good, but what about the dryer?  Well, I took a couple of the sodden shirts out, wrung 'em out in the sink and tossed 'em in the dryer.  Set the timer and pushed start.  Fired right up and started turning.  Walked about 20 feet away, came back into the room and hollered, I SMELL SMOKE!  I guess the good thing about that is that I could smell, right? Proves I don't have COVID!  We all ran over to the dyer, stopped the drum and opened the door.  Smoke just poured out and we decided not to sell the dryer either.  In all truth, we considered putting it back on and letting it run while we went out for lunch. Good thing we're honest peeps.

It's been such a pleasure coming "home" every night to our room at Brinton Suites, a lovely little kitchenette with an outdoor patio and this peaceful view.  We have breakfast and dinner out here every day.  Just being outside in the fresh air and watching the birds at the feeders restores our souls. 

Have y'all ever seen one of these mobile shredding trucks?  They are amazing!  Charlie had filled 4 large trash bags with files and papers he thought should be shredded.  I cleaned out 2 filing cabinets with more of the same.  He was thinking we could just burn the lot of it, but....nah....that would take forever, and we weren't sure the neighbors would be too keen on that.  These guys came on out, wheeled that big ole can down the driveway, loaded it up and pushed it back up to the truck.

The can was placed in the bay, the arms came out...

The can was sucked up, and that's when the magic really started!  Somehow, the can got dumped, the truck rattled and shook, and poof!  Papers, staples and paper clips were turned into mulch.  Or, whatever they call shred.  They handed me a destruction certificate, ran our credit card, and then they were on their way.  Easy-peasy.  

Every day, we got to pass Pete's Produce Stand, and this little charmer was guarding the gate. She's made from an old oil tank, a bucket, some paint and a few other upcycled metal pieces.  She's a real cutie, eh? 

Also at the produce stand, was this little wonky house.  Up till this day, the door had been closed, so we didn't know it was a lending library until we stopped to take this picture.

And this is the actual produce retail area.

So, all this time, we've been in discussion with an investor, a neighbor, and another neighbor's friend, trying to get this house sold.  The neighbor wanted it for her daughter, a single mom, working full time, with FOUR, count 'em, FOUR kids.  Being as the house is in terrible disrepair and is in dire need of (expensive) updating, we didn't think it was suitable for her.  And the neighbor's friend and his girlfriend spent 2 hours walking through it and discussing the possibilities last night, but, ultimately, they declined to make an offer.  However, the investor was not afraid.  He flips houses for a living, and he seemed well versed in the sales process, even though we were going to do it all electronically.  He offered us enough money to pay the taxes and a quick closing, to get it off our hands, so we accepted his offer this morning, and within minutes of me telling him so, he had the paperwork completed and sent to Charlie via email.  Now, ya gotta remember, Phoenix is 3 hours behind us, so when I called Charlie to get him to check his email, it was only 7:30 am.  Sorry Charlie!  But, I thought you'd want to know....and take action, quick, before he changed his mind. By noon, we had the car somewhat packed up, and we had the afternoon free.  What to do?  I know, we can go geocaching!  Check out our first Pennsylvania smiley!  

And the next one..it was a tiny bison tube, tied to a string and dropped down the sign post.  Cute hide!

 

We saw this little guy on the way to another cache...Ben Franklin, the Punctual Plumber.

Now, THIS brought back some fond memories, of some dear friends.  Barbara and Charles, we have been reminiscing about those crab cakes your brought us from Maryland and all the good times we've shared.  We can't wait to get back to Silver Springs and see y'all again!

This is one of the tiniest caches we've ever seen.  That rolled paper is actually the log, and it's only about an eighth of an inch wide.  Yeah, really.

So we got to celebrate World Geocaching Day and the 20th Anniversary of Geocaching, as well as the sale of Dad's house and the cleanup we've all been working towards for 20 years.  Tomorrow, we get to head back to Dallas to pick up our motorhome.  Oh, wait, I forgot to tell you about that!  Thursday, we got a call from Laurie, telling us they were expecting our power steering hose to arrive on Friday, around noon.  And what do ya know?!  Friday about 3 pm, Laurie called and told us she had our hose in her hand!!!  Whoooohooo!!  They are going to install it on Monday, will take a day or two, and it should be ready by Wednesday!!  So we are ready to hit the road once more.  Dallas, here we come!

Till next time, y'all stay safe and well, remember to mask up!  Life is precious!