Tuesday, February 27, 2018

Gone and back again

Mrs. Paco and I rented a U-Haul truck to carry some things down to our new home in North Carolina: notably my, er, collection of Hummel figurines. Plus about a score of Mrs. Paco's plants (roses and peonies and such). It rained during the entire trip down there, and water was coming into the cab from a small hole in the seal around the windshield in front of the passenger seat. The missus plugged it with chewing gum (is this what U-Haul means when it declares that its vehicles are "water resistant but not waterproof"?)

We were preparing to return this morning when I found two cables running from external electric outlets on my house to the house next door which is under construction. The workers had hooked up to my electricity, perhaps under the misapprehension that the stuff is free. I put a quick stop to that (the site manager had told them to run their cables to a hook-up across the street - which must be Spanish for "next door").

Anyhow, I'll be glad when this moving business is over. My back's aching from loading and unloading several thousand rounds accoutrements for those damned figurines.

11 comments:

Mike_W said...

Best wishes for the move and I hope you love your new home, Paco.

Do you paint the figurines, Paco?
I did some figurine painting years back when I was into table-top wargaming a long time ago; really enjoyed bringing the little warmongers to life.


Speaking of warmongering figurines, I recently enjoyed this film :Battleground.

bruce said...

I think they're the kind of 'Hummel figurines' which John Howard banned here 20 years ago, Mike W. But boxes of rounds, they're halved muffins I think, shouldn't be so heavy... :-)

rinardman said...

My younger brother & his wife are moving to Ohio, and he just loaded up his figurine collection a couple days ago. I had to help him load a big wooden box of accoutrements, that must have weighed 250 pounds. I asked him what he had in it - "A little bit of everything". The bigger your collection, the more accoutrements you need.

Some Chicago Dim is wanting to greatly raise the taxes on figurines and accoutrements in Illinois, so I guess I need to stock up on my favorite accoutrements before they do that.

I hope you thought to shut off the power to the outside outlets, Paco. Otherwise, they probably plugged in again as soon as you left.

JeffS said...

One solution to unauthorized use of exterior outlets is to cut the extension cord. Works gangbusters, I hear.

And, oy!, the assessorial for those figurines sure are heavy, huh?

Paco said...

Jeff: Tell me about it! My back hasn't hurt this bad since tobacco picking days.

bruce said...

It occurs to me that you folks practice so regularly with your figurines (hence the need for a supply of accoutrements) that you would be way more skilled than our security guys over here who only go to the range a couple of times a year. So totally missing from 'debates' is this level of skill and self-control. Well I'm one foreigner who understands, even if most don't (they talk about understanding other cultures, but some more than others, weird world of selective outrage).

Mike_W said...

Oh, figurine accoutrements...yes, they could get heavy.

Steve Skubinna said...

I saw that chewing gum trick in The Rocketeer.

Be careful with the Hummel figurines. I know lots of guys who have lost entire collections in canoe accidents.

Deborah said...

Paco, thankfully Mrs. Paco chews gum.

As for the site "manager". He needs to brush up on his colloquial Spanish. OR was "free electricity" and living on-site one of the perks of working there. Who is paying for the electric across the street? I'm not sure I'd leave any accoutrements at the new place. By-the-way, why did you get a place in a subdivision on an island? Traded snow for hurricanes. I know Mrs. Paco needs the ocean and shore, but....

Luckily, my brother-in-law helped us move. One of the neighbors offered to help drive since we had two trucks, but we managed without him. We got everything in one trip. Hope you're done soon.

So you thought you'd have a leisurely retirement, did you.

Paco said...

Our place is on the mainland. Oak Island is across a bridge a few miles away (that's where the beaches are).

Mike said...

What some more hummels? I've got sources.