Jeanine is enjoying a much needed weekend getaway on Martha’s Vinyard with a small group of her gal pals. She spent part of the day doing “clam therapy” in her bare feet and will be making a meal of the harvest this evening. I took advantage of what can only be described as perfect weather to move a good amount of my shop from the basement to the garage in preparation for moving day which is rapidly approaching. Doing so with a hand truck using the sloping lawn as a ramp is much easier for the heavy items than the shorter distance up the stairs.

I find geese much less interesting than most other birds and rarely take the time to photograph them unless they are doing something interesting. Today, the field behind our house was overrun with them so I thought I would do a couple of group portraits. The first features just over a dozen, the second about a hundred, and the final one something in the neighborhood of 300. That’s a lot of geese.

Our goal is to pack the entire contents of our house (excluding my shop) into the tiny POD on the right. Impossible you say. Perhaps, but this is what we are attempting to do. The plan is predicated on selling most of our furniture which I have been doing diligently for the past several months and packing the POD from floor to ceiling. Only time will tell but I feel like we might actually make it. I will move my shop using a U-haul trailer or truck to the garage of our new house where it will be stored until I can prepare the basement for occupancy.

I have more than 50 for sale listings on Craig’s List at the moment, most of them for furniture. I am most interested in selling items that are either large or heavy so we do not have to move / store them. Our new home represents the beginning of a new chapter in our lives and we have decided we should give ourselves a fresh opportunity to furnish it. Today, I sold this set of wicker furniture to a couple who drove three hours with a U-haul trailer to pick it up.

I came across this article about 10-year old Jeanine.

Today I started packing the POD we will be using for our move. I made extensive use of surplus banana boxes in which food was delivered to Open Table. The uniform size and strength allow for packing to the full height over our 16-foot-long moving container.

Having sold my snowblower last week, I could have predicted we would soon have snow. It arrived today in greater amounts than predicted. It was very wet snow which makes for wonderful images and downed power lines. Unfortunately, I did not have an opportunity to go outside to enjoy it and had to settle for this picture taken through our kitchen window.

Inspired by my brother who is equipping his new woodworking shop with pneumatic blast gates, I built a prototype of the one I will use when I put my new dust collection system into action. The idea is that all of the dust and chip producing tools share a common vacuum system and each one is fitted with a blast gate to connect or disconnect from the ducting system. When a tool is turned on, the corresponding blast gate is opened while all others remain closed. My brother’s system is much more sophisticated, employing an Arduino controller and current sensors on all machines. Mine is basic with each valve solenoid hard-wired to each tool and a slower close than open rate to allow the lines to clear. Above is a video of my test run. I spent less than an hour putting the whole thing together and it worked like a charm.

In addition to his job at Concord Carlisle High School teaching World Cultures this term, Nicolai is also coaching the men’s junior varsity soccer team. This evening, at his request, I took the team photo employing a small hill to help create a more interesting COVID-19 appropriate portrait. Earlier in the day, I had one of my teeth extracted. It was one I would have preferred to keep but I broke it too badly to repair. My dentist does not feel I will miss it all that much so I am going to do without tooth number 18 from here on out.

We are sending positive energy to my younger sister Mayela and her husband Stephen today. Their beloved dog, Peachy, is having surgery to remove a tumor. Despite her lovely face and docile demeanor, this dog is tough as nails, a lot like my sister come to think of it. This dog is so tough my sister uses her as bait while fishing.

Maya came home today to help pack up her belongings in preparation for our move. While she was going through her stuff she came across her childhood piggy bank and was thrilled to discover that it contained over $800 in babysitting savings. She had forgotten about or never realized she had amassed such a small fortune. I believe she is going to treat herself to a new set of hiking boots with some of her newly discovered loot. Later in the afternoon, Maya and I replaced the front brake pads on her Audi. I did most of the first wheel and she did all of the second. Next weekend she plans to do the rear pads.

My morning on the soccer pitch was rather chilly but netted a satisfying 7-0 win. I played a good 60 minutes and my conditioning is improving with each week. I had one shot on goal but it missed by more than a good bit. Jeanine spent the day packing for the move while Kyle went apartment hunting, returning with a lease in hand.

The last of our trees to show fall color, the Japanese maple we planted 17 years ago was looking very beautiful today. It is not as close to our kitchen sink window as the photo suggests but it does frame one side of the view into our backyard. Over the years, I have pruned it to create a canopy over the stairs that lead from our deck into the yard. I hope the new owners of our home continue with the practice, as it creates a very strong connection between the house and the great outdoors.

This evening, our driveway featured a new addition. Behold Kyle’s Mazda CX 5. Now all three kids have their own cars which will eliminate the source of contention that car-sharing has caused in recent months. Some people drive cars that just do not seem to fit their personality. I’d say that this one is a perfect match for Kyle’s.

Photographing mirrors can be very tricky for obvious reasons. I am rather pleased with the way this one turned out after I carefully selected a pleasing reflection to complement the scene. I have now posted for sale listings for about 80% of the furniture we own on Craig’s List. Our goal is to enter our new home with as few decorating constraints as possible and to give ourselves a chance to change things up after more than 30 years with most of our furnishings.