Home, Trash, Parking

Coming home from a visit like we enjoyed over Thanksgiving is, at the very least, anti-climactic. To spice up the eight hours of travel home we stopped to eat at Pancho’s and later we stopped at a mall in Wichita Falls for Chase to check out one of the name brand stores he likes to advertize for. We did pick up a few things which I was assured were priced really great.


We rolled into Amarillo about 7 p.m. and parked in front of the house because the one open spot in the driveway, which is in the back of the house, was where we had Seth park his car while we were away. It is not a bad location but the person or company that installed the fence was not very forward thinking. The houses are fenced solid across the front of all the houses so there is no communication from front to back.

After we had moved in I asked the builder about the plan for mowing the yard. If the mower is stored in the garage – which is in back of the house – what plan was there to get the mower around to the front of the house? As it stands right now it has to be walked from the garage, down the alley to the corner and along the sidewalk to the front of the house. I asked Mama if I could push it through the house when I needed to mow the front yard. That suggestion was not well received.

The boys farmed out the forty or so trash bags full of packing paper to the many dumpsters that are placed in the alley behind the houses. This alley parallels the street for several blocks and there are at least fifteen dumpsters along the way. I did not want to overload any one so we partially loaded all of them. I still have over fifty boxes broken down and ready to recycle if I can find a place to take them. Otherwise, we will follow suit with them.

As we opened every box still stacked in the garage today I tried to keep an eye open for the possibility of moving all the stored items to the sides of the garage in hopes of parking at least one car in the garage. Fortunately most of the cabinetry and shelving for my tools are on wheels or some sort of mobile platform so I can consolidate when needed. After we put some large totes – full of Beanies – in the very limited attic space, I was able to make room.

And after twenty-eight years of marriage, Mama and I have a two car garage with enough space to park one car inside it. That may not seem like much of an accomplishment for others, but I was happy with some little progress.