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Saturday
June 17, 2000
"The easiest
way for your children to learn about money is for you not to have any."
Katherine Whitehorn,
How to Survive Children
.
a gate in Tarrytown
invasion of the giant
chicken
flags over Westwood
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moving, moving,
moving
Saturday. The eXtreme
dog walking team takes a wander in Tarrytown. We intend to go from Windsor
and Exposition to Mozart's and back. But an aimless wander down Scenic
Drive causes us to just return to the car. About three miles, I judge.
And some hills. Chalow tries twice to jump in the back of SuRu's CR/V
and finally gets a boost. She sits in my lap with her face in front of
the A.C. vent. She refuses to jump down from there when we get to the
house. I lift her out. We gave them water all along the trek and she recovers
her jumpy good cheer after an hour or two.
Forrest heads off
to Westwood. I tell him to order me a chicken Caesar salad and follow
in my own car in a few minutes. Food, ten laps in the pool, five minutes
in the sun, home to wait for the parents to arrive.
Dad and Mom arrive
with a topper on the van and towing a UHaul. They unload a few things
and Dad and I go off to their new house. We unload plants, grateful for
a dolly the seller has that lies flat. With a little help from the seller,
we have the plants unloaded and some of Dad's tools stowed in a storage
closet. Holding two old axes, I say, "If there is an axe murder in
the neighborhood, you didn't see this!".
We go to to the
storage unit and take a few loads up to the unit. "This is our old
camping box," Dad says, opening the old cardboard beer box to reveal
a old coffee pot and some other stuff. I don't think they will be camping
again. Back at the house, we get the suitcases out of the topper and take
it off the van to store in my side yard. "What kind of knot is this?"
I ask struggling with the tie down rope he put on. I always ask this when
faced with his knots. "A hay hauler's knot," he says. It always
is. SuRu drives up and offers to help, not realizing we are finishing
not beginning. Her house stinks of the floor seal from her remodel. She
has been getting out of the house because of it so she hangs out with
us a while.
Dad is exhausted.
Up at 5:30, renting the trailer packing all this, driving in the rain
towing a trailer, unpacking it with my help. He sits on the couch and
dozes off and on while drinking a Shiner Bock. But he gets up and gets
a shower and dresses to go to dinner.
We celebrate Dad's
day a few hours early by going to Zoot. While trying to manuever my car
out of the garage and let Dad pull the van and trailer back up, I scrape
my bumper and put a little dent in my fender. Happily, the wood and garage
door rail aren't too damaged. Oh, well.
Food at Zoot is
good. I have a green tomato chilled gazpacho with a fried oyster garnish
and this great tuna with a black-eyed pea and bacon sauce. It's wonderful
even though the tuna got cooked a little more
than I like.
It's interesting
sitting there with all four of our parents. Forrest's dad tells me that
he worked on Westwood when it was being converted from someone's mansion
to a country club. "I hung the doors and helped build the dock,"
he says.
When we arrive home,
SuRu is driving up. She has brought her take-out
sandwich to eat at our house because of the fumes. Zoey in tow, she eats
at the table talking to my parents. We all read a bit and then the parents
go off to sleep. I fix the couch up for SuRu so she and Zoey can sleep
away from fumes.
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