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A Week in Photos: 2026, Part 8
February 25, 2026
Monday, February 16: Of course it was snowing when our moving pod was scheduled to arrive, because nothing about this process has been easy. When the driver called to say he was up on the mountain, he sounded very skeptical that he could make it up our road. I passed my phone to Mr. Karen, who basically coaxed him through where to put his chains on, how to go past both intersections where our street intersects the mountain road and where to turn around so the approach would be easier. The truck made it up and the pod got placed where it needed to be, so it turned out fine, but it was more stress than I’d hoped for (and having to shovel the driveway multiple times while waiting kept us from getting things ready to put into the pod).
Tuesday, February 17: After a season of hardly any snow, the mountain got 13 inches in 24 hours. All of which will have to be cleared off of and away from the pod before it gets picked up. Of course. (There was so much snow that the worker doing something at the condo next door couldn’t get up their driveway and parked behind the pod in our driveway.)
Wednesday, February 18: Even more snow fell overnight. We thought we’d shoveled the balconies for the last time living here, but looks like they’ll need it again. We might not have time to do that, though; if something has to not happen, shoveling will be that thing, because the new owners can do that, while they cannot pack up our stuff for us and clear it out of the place before closing.
Thursday, February 19: Last push to pack up the condo, which meant saying goodby to this drawer which is sized perfectly for the boxes of plastic bags and rolls of foil, wax paper, and cling film we use most often. Sometimes it’s the little things. (We don’t talk about how the roll of parchment paper didn’t fit in here and so had to be retrieved from the pantry every time I baked biscuits or such.)
Friday, February 20: I had expected to greet this day waking up in the hotel room I’d booked in town (since all our beds were in the pod before bedtime the night before). Instead, I greeted it looking out at my favorite view as the snowplows worked to clean up yet more snow we’d gotten, as Mr. K and I had to pull an all nighter to get our condo cleared out. We did go to the hotel and grabbed about an hour of sleep before checking out and going to signe the closing paperwork on the condo (at 10 a.m., not our preferred time but apparently the best they could do for us). Being extra super tired just made my sadness at leaving feel worse. After closing, we had a celebratory brunch at a restaurant in town, then went back up to the condo to await the pod pickup (we did also meet one of the new owners, who had already had new toilets delivered and two different service providers show up for appointments). It was a sunny day after a week of snow, but the pods driver decided he couldn’t make it up to get the pod, so without calling to even discuss the situation, rescheduled us for a week later. (He did call to say he was on his way, but when I called back, the voice mail wasn’t set up so I couldn’t leave a message.) So frustrating! I called customer service and went as close to full Karen as I ever get. Didn’t get any relief on the pickup date, but did get $500 discount (I’ll have to check that comes through). When I think of all the time we wasted clearing all that snow on and around the pod (mostly Mr. Karen’s time as I was still on post-surgery restrictions), I feel sick.
Saturday, February 21: Despite our tiredness the night before, we had managed to drive part of the way towards our new home and get a hotel where we slept enough to feel almost fully revived. After checking out, we caravaned in our two cars the rest of the way, arriving at our new place around 5:30 at night (which this time of year is after dark). Instead of being able to make up a bed and enjoy our first night there, we found there was no heat, still some of the previous owners stuff in the house (including a load of laundry in the washer), and all the farm animals still on site despite us having given them two weeks past closing to clear everything out. (Granted, given how badly we did timing-wise clearing out of a 1600 square foot condo, we could see how vacating a whole big house and barn could take longer than expected.) We unloaded the food we’d brought into the freezer and fridge (marking the shelves as ours since the old owner still had stuff in there, too), then went to Kathy’s house to sleep since her house wasn’t 45 degrees (Fahrenheit).
Sunday, February 22: Went back to the new house and said hello to all the animals. Met one of the old owners, who wasn’t apologetic at all about not having cleared out yet, and we decided there was no point in pushing it since he had information about the property that we wanted and they were mostly out of the house so it’s not like they hadn’t made any progress. The reason for no heat? The previous owners let the propane run out. Unfortunately, getting an account setup and a fill scheduled won’t be a quick process. We stayed bundled up in our outside clothes while we unloaded our two cars into the formal dining room area (it will likely be something else for us, but we’re not sure yet).
On this date in 2025: A Week in Photos: 2025, Part 7
2024: No journal entry
2023: A Week in Photos: 2023, Part 7
2015 through 2022: No entries
2014: Winter Fun Close to Home
2008 through 2013: No entries
2007: Farewell, Orange Ranger
2003 through 2006: No entries