Wednesday morning came quickly, and before I knew it I was out of bed hauling boxes to our van and trailer that we'd be using for hauling stuff (who need U-Hauls when you've got the Casket Van?). After driving to the Shack and unloading whatever load it was, I'd sometimes get to ride in the trailer back to the house, much to my mother's chagrin. The biggest problem that day was the off-and-on rain showers. At one point, we were hauling a load of clothes and other such things that shouldn't get wet in the [open-air] trailer, when suddenly the heavens decided
to burst open and send us quite a downpour. Dad put on a burst of speed, and we quickly made the short trip to the Shack, then ran into the partially constructed garage, grabbed one of the many tarps which reside inside and spread it over the trailer. Of course, this one [very thin]
tarp was not enough, and besides, the water was beginning to pool, so dad went and grabbed another rather hardcore one. Using our innovative spirits, and somewhat encouraged by our desire to stay relatively dry ourselves, to prevent pooling we
stood underneath the tarp as it covered the trailer, holing it up like human pillars. (See image on left)
Aside from that, the only real problem the rain posed (and will continue to) is the fact that the window in my bedroom happens to let rain in when open, but is very difficult to close. Oh well!
The tarp adventure proved to be essentially the only major setback, and the day went by quite smoothly with help from friends and relatives. After most of the work was done, supper proved to be an adventure in itself. We ordered four pizzas from Domino's and had 10 people crowded into our very small living/dining room for the meal. It was decided that we probably wouldn't be hosting too many large gatherings of people over the course of our Shack life.
After supper, we proceeded to move the television over to the shack, so that we could watch movies for a couple days (TV service didn't come about until today). After hooking everything up, hanging a couple posters in my room and watching a classic episode of Hogan's Heroes I was about ready for bed. Using a permanent marker I tallied the first "Shack night" on the slanted ceiling above my bed. Being very tired, I then promptly fell asleep.
Waking up in my new bedroom on Thursday morning didn't faze me too much, but stepping out of bed sort of did. Being used to sleeping on a ping-pong table that was about 3 feet off the ground, I was surprised that my feet found the ground much sooner getting out of a "normal" bed. Funny thing. There were a few more things to move over the course of the day, but not too much. Most of the action at the "non-Shack" was centered around cleaning the place up. I participated in a bit of that (vacuuming!!), and also spent much of the day working on the decor in my room. I hammered a few nails into the slanted ceiling causing small showers of drywall dust and hung some 45 rpm records on them. It looks pretty cool. I also hung a few posters, and some 45 rpm records that I had previously framed (I have a lot of them...). A couple good friends of mine helped start the effort of drawing stuff all over my walls in multicoloured permanent markers (thanks again for the markers, Carla!). More and more decorating is happening every day. I must admit, it's pretty fun to live in a house you know is going to be torn down, so you can really do whatever you please to the walls in your room.
On Thursday evening we shared in a delightful family meal around our very small table. Eating soup and homemade biscuits was a relief after living off of pizza and toast for two days.
Friday saw a lot more cleaning of the non-shack, which proved to be incredibly tiring. I recall lying down on the laminate floor in the very-upstairs room with the vacuum cleaner in my hand at one point, very nearly falling asleep. There was one major item to be moved as well, the basketball hoop out back. Fortunately it was not actually rooted into the ground, just on a very large and heavy concrete base. After managing to shoehorn it into the trailer, Dad had to drive the van very carefully, or the hoop would hit the back of the van. This became especially tricky when it was necessary to make a left turn out of the back alley and onto the street. I actually got out of the van and manually guided the net out of the van's path, yelling instructions to Dad such as, "Go, go, STOP! Okay go...". At one point, as we were almost finished the turn, a transit bus suddenly turned onto the street and started bearing down on us, so in the middle of my directions I simply yelled "BUS!". Dad stopped the van and the bus went around us. I sort of waved at the driver, who was probably a little surprised to see this happening. We eventually got to the Shack though, and successfuly got the hoop out of the trailer and onto a new spot of land, right behind the shop.
Today has been a day of pure Shack life, since the non-Shack has now officially changed hands. I went and got Bruce [our dog] from the friend's house where he had been staying during the moving process (moving makes him very nervous). He seemed okay as I brought him to the new home for the first time since our stuff has been in it (he had been in the Shack before we moved in and didn't like it). Currently he is barking loudly at my Dad, who is using a staple gun to secure some cords.
So life is now supposed to settle down, I guess. Not much left to do but settle into a new life in the Shack. And finish building a shop. And then build a house. Okay, it might not be too relaxing after all.
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