Moving in Containers – Part 4

It was a cloudy morning in State College, Pennsylvania when the last two containers loaded in Tucson were scheduled to be delivered and unloaded. The unloading would require steps down to the door of the apartment building and then a half flight of stairs up to the apartment (unlike the Tucson apartment where there were no stairs and dollies could be used).

The crew arrived with the two container (the U-Haul covers removed) and backed into the loading area. My daughter unlocked the locks on the containers.

Surprise! U-Haul had not taken the bolt they add from either container. Fortunately, my daughter had tools in the apartment so the bolts only delayed the unloading by about 5 minutes.

The two-man crew worked quickly – noticing the box that I’d labelled ‘last box’ in Tucson and finding one that wasn’t labelled at all (a mystery box…and demonstrating how tired I was by the last boxes to be packed). I began folding up the furniture blankets as they unloaded since we planned to keep them and the boxes for the next move (which could be in another year or two).

The dolly did end up being useful to hold the door to the container open while it was unloaded. It took the crew just over an hour to unload the 2 containers.

The ‘moving in containers’ experience (hiring people to load and unload) has been a positive one and is probably the way we’ll move in the future.

Previous Moving in Containers posts: Packing up in Tucson (one and two), Unloading in Pittsburgh (three).

Prius Prime – Month 6 – Finally a road trip

I was filled with anticipation last week – ready to make my first road trip in the car: a 3.5 hour drive between my home and my daughter’s new apartment in State College, Pennsylvania.  The trip would push the miles on the car over the 2000 mark and use up the first tank of gas. I took some pictures of the sunflower on my deck before I left at about 6:30 AM.  The unpleasant surprise came about 30 minutes later as I was driving on I70 (at about 70 mph): a rear tire blew out! I managed to get the car off the side of the road and then pulled further off when I looked at the tire. The car does not have a spare and the tire was too damaged for the temporary repair kit to work at all. I called my husband and my insurance company (since towing is part of our policy). Aargh!

While I waited for my husband and the tow truck, I took pictures. I did not take any pictures of the flat (too upsetting); it was calming to take pictures of the roadside vegetation,

critters on the still intact tires, and

closeups of some flowers.

The car was towed to the dealership and the car was ready to drive again my mid-afternoon (paid for by an extra warranty we had purchased when we found out it had no spare). I decided to start out again the next morning; charging up the car again overnight. This time it was more like I expected. I left even earlier – at 5:30. My first rest stop was the South Mountain Welcome Center. There is one on both sides of I70 about an hour into the trip so planned to stop there coming and going.

The next stop was a Sunoco – not for gas yet; it was a rest stop. I did buy gas in State College even though, the car still had about 1/4 tank of gas left. I later calculated that the car got about 2060 miles on the first tank of gas…but maybe for plug in hybrids that is a meaningless metric. Most of my trips from home are short enough to be completed as an EV which is why I decided to buy the car in the first place.

A few days later I headed home and stopped at the South Midway rest area on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. I like it better than the other options. This road trip is one I will make frequently enough that it’s worth it to find places that are easy on/off the highway and open all the time.

I stopped at the South Mountain Welcome Center and

Noticed the rocks on the façade of the structure and the encouragement to venture off the highway. Maybe I do that next time. As I came down off South Mountain, I got the only bug splats of the trip on my windshield!

Previous posts: My new car – a Prius Prime, week 1, month 1, month 2, month 3, month 4

Moving in Containers – Part 1

I am helping my daughter and son-in-law move from Arizona to Pennsylvania in U-Haul containers. The move was happening in two stages. Part of the packing for the first stage was done before I arrived last Tuesday and we packed up the rest before the team arrived with the container that they would load. I was glad that the futon was already in a mattress box (although I’ll have to help box queen size bed for the second stage of the move.

It only took them about an hour because we were packed and ready for them. I took a series of pictures to document the loading progress. It was a very full container!

After they left, we had plenty of room to pack up the rest of the apartment. Two containers arrive later today…and I’ll post about what happened with that loading.

So far – I like this kind of moving better than the full-service moves. It is easier to schedule loading…and delivery on the other end too. If this move continues to go well, I’ll probably choose to move in containers next time I move.

Ten Little Celebrations – March 2017

March was a more hectic month than usual….but full of lots of little celebrations!

Potluck lunch. There was the potluck lunch for volunteer naturalists at the Howard County Conservancy – celebrating our time together for training…getting ready for the field trips that will start in the next few weeks and continue until June. The food is always luscious.

Snow. We haven’t had much snow this year…the first one of more than an inch was this month – much later than usual. I celebrated the beauty of it all and that I didn’t have to get out in it until the streets were all cleared by plows and salt application.

Ancient Egypt course. I celebrated the last modules of the Coursera course --- and am savoring the book written by the teacher.

There were three celebrations involving travel in March:

Old friends. I celebrated visiting with people that have known me my whole life…savoring the time with them. I also celebrated renewing friendship with someone I had not seen in 40 years!

Phipps Conservatory. I like conservatories…and this one in Pittsburgh was one to celebrate.

National Aviary. The walk around the National Aviary in Pittsburgh was a hours long celebration of the diversity of bird life --- and becoming very aware of the fragility of that diversity around the world.

And then there were outdoor activities and photography to celebrate:

Brookside Garden skunk cabbage. It finally was up even though the plants looked like they were trying to hide again under the bald cypress needles from last fall.

Rockburn Branch macroinvertebrates. Yes – is was part of training…but I always celebrate that we find the creatures so easily.

Pileated Woodpecker. We had one the visited our yard – scouting apparently. The birds was on the sycamore at first, then on a neighbors deck, then the trunk of a pine tree, and the roof of our covered deck…finally into the maple tree. I had lots of opportunities for pictures.

Khepri (morning) light. I liked the Ancient Egypt class so much – I am calling the excellent light for photography that happens as the sun comes out after the Ancient Egyptian god for sunrise and rebirth…celebrating that time of day!

Phipps Conservatory – Pittsburgh

It was very cold the day we visited the Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens last week. I only went outside once…drawn by the red branches of a Japanese maple…and then quickly went back inside to enjoy the lush plantings that bask in the glass house warmth even in winter.

As usual – I was drawn to closer looks at cactus spines.

There were a lot of people working on garden decorations for the spring exhibit that will debut this week. Some were made of plants or plant materials…all were set among beds that develop over the months of the exhibit. I think my favorite was the rabbit with a dried hydrangea flower for a tail. The three bears with a hobbit like house were in the same area.

Fiddle head ferns are another classic draw for me to photograph.

The orchids were in a room with glass figures (long, slender…as alien looking as the orchids themselves). Slipper orchids are always my favorites.

I finally understand how ‘screw pines’ got their name. The way the leaves come off the trunk really is just like a screw. When I saw one in Hawaii, I was more interested in the fruit….didn’t even look closely at the trunk.

I’ve grouped the ‘best of the rest’ in these last collages. There were so many great plants to photograph…and the conservatory was not very crowded the afternoon we were there. I want to go again already!

Phipps Conservatory Chihuly Glass – Pittsburgh

The times I had been to Pittsburgh in the past offered no time for touring so I looked at places that could be enjoyed on the cold days we were in the city. On our first day in the city, my husband and I walked around the inside of the Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens (i.e. the Conservatory). We easily found parking in the Conservatory parking and I discovered it was difficult to get the whole conservatory in one image!

There was a lot to see inside too….so much that I am dividing it into 2 posts (today and tomorrow). The focus today is on the Dale Chihuly glass sculpture that is nestled in the plantings. The glass often has plant-like forms…but draws the eye with brilliant color.

The large ruffled edge bowls look like flowers.

At other times, the glass blends in with its surrounds. Is it glass or a very unusual plant?

Then there are the chandelier pieces that are suspended over the plants like an alternative sun.

Some are so complex that I find myself enjoying them for a second or third look via my camera zoom.

Tomorrow I’ll focus on the plants in the Phipps Conservatory.

A Jaunt to State College PA

Yesterday my husband I drove to State College and back to see my daughter and son-in-law…and switch cars. We’re replacing both of our cars (mine was already replaced with a Prius Prime…more on the replacement for my husband’s car in the next few days) and decided to give them the better of the two cars; the other will be traded in when we buy my husband’s new car. It was a 6-hour round trip; it rained most of the time.

We did a little looking around State College since it could become the place my daughter does a post doc – drove buy two houses that were ‘for sale’ that I’d seen on a real estate site and had lunch at Wegmans. Both houses looked nice from the outside and the Wegmans was very like the one I shop at every week – a little smaller, but still very familiar and not a place I want to be during peak grocery shopping hours!

Then we met up with my daughter and son-in-law at her hotel. While my husband and son-in-law did the car switch (set up of nav system with new addresses, etc.), my daughter and I walked to the Penn State campus following the route she would use to the building where she would be giving a talk and meeting with people for the early part of the week.

And then we were back in the car we would trade in and heading back to Maryland! The rain was lighter on our drive south but the clouds were low and sometimes reached the ground. I was glad the temperature stayed above freezing all day.