Garden Djinn

For Every Thing, A Season

The wheel of the year has turned twice since I wrote about the Star Magnolia, and again the talk is of moving.    This time, the move is imminent.  Tomorrow I finish packing the trailer and call for the driver to pick it up.

Then I pack up the dogs and my mom and my houseplants.  Er.  Let me rephrase that:  My mom and my dogs and... er.  anyway.  Mom and I pack up the dogs and the houseplants and pile into the van for the cross-country road show.    Spring has finally come to Michigan, creeping in from the corners all flushed and overheated.  We've been welcoming the sun these past few days.   I won't complain about the heat.    Good  Ol'Michigan.  Rowdy seasons are always a trademark. It's hard to say goodbye with spring busting up out of the ground.

But this move will be a good one.  Arizona's sunny clime will be kinder to me than Michigan's beautiful green forests and blue lakes ever were.  I need the sun to stay on the chipper side.  Michigan is one of the cloudiest states in the Union.

The sewer saga finally resoved itself, with the help of several scads of money liberally floated across the waters.  Handiman Dan will be back one more time to do a final grade of the lot and pick up his mini-dozer and shovel.

Tomorrow I turn the page, and start writing from a new perspective.

Down the Drain... or not...

So in the middle of madly packing for a 2000 mile move to Arizona, my plumbing decides to back up.  They've torn up my yard and replaced all the clay drain tile, pulled the toilets and power snaked, and tomorrow they are coming to bypass the clay that remains under the house (a mobile home, with about 18 inches of clearance between ground level and the bottom of the floor joists.)

It's been a week without toilets - I had a bucket but when the second phase of plumbing work didn't fix the issue I leased a portajohn. You'd be amazed how happy I am to have that thing in my driveway.

Anyway, if you are wondering where I am - that's the current picture. 

We are slated to have the truck loaded and on the road on Monday the 23rd.

Wish me luck, crew.  I could use a little right now!

Update - April 19, 2007 - I HAVE TOILETS.  17 days later, I have working sewer lines.