New York is home but it ain't mine no more.

The ABF  truck was dropped off at my house in TN last Thursday just a few hours before my Mom and I arrived. Which was perfect timing since it allowed us to start unpacking it as soon as we got settled from the drive. We unpacked the truck for several hours until it was about half empty and then called it a night since we were tired from the drive. The next morning we had some of the NY bagels we brought with us and then started unpacking again. The night before we had taken out the furniture and we were now up to boxes of various wonderful things that I had found in my attics that at this point had survived so long I couldn't see just trashing them or giving them away. I mean all kinds of wonderful collectible things from the 80s and 90s; for example this entire collection of Nightmare Before Christmas action figures (Tim Burton's finest accomplishment).

It was another successful packing job. The only shift involved three boxes at the very back. One box had suffered a partial collapse and the two boxes on top had fallen forward. Luckily my wall of cardboard and bungee cords did their job and prevented any damage. About half way through Friday we finished unloading the truck. I called ABF to let them know we were done and it was ready for pickup. They picked it up sometime around six pm. I have nothing but good things to say about ABF. The drivers were all nice, the truck was dropped off and picked up in a timely manner, and the pricing was very fair. They definitely get a highly recommend from me!

The next step in the moving weekend was to make a few trips to my Mom's condo. We had packed a lot of kitchen items that we aren't using right now and some of my Great Aunt's things which will eventually be in my Mom's condo as well as my Mom's patio furniture. So while we had the time we took what we could over. It resulted in my truck looking like a vehicle you change lanes to get away from quickly!

That was how we spent the rest of Friday driving back and forth between the condo and my house and unpacking what we could in the condo. We stopped at a nice place near where Meghan works called the Brewhouse. It is an open air restaurant and since TN has nice warm weather for most of the year I can see this being a good spot to stop for karaoke and pub trivia!

Saturday we ran a bunch of errands and made some more trips to the condo. We did have time for a little fun. First I got a tablecloth for my dining room table and the room is starting to come together very nicely!

We also built our pumpkin witch. This was something we always did as kids. My Mom got the idea from a vegetable store she remembered as a kid in Brooklyn. Every Halloween the owner would make one and display it as a decoration.

It is a quick and easy decoration and very fun to do with kids, well I had fun as a kid. We used lettuce for her hair, bread and grapes for her eyes, a green pepper for her ears, red pepper for her lips, candy corn for her teeth, a raisin for her nose wart, and an Italian pepper for her nose. Also in between errands we stopped by a party being thrown at one of the empty lots in the development. It was a good chance to meet some of my new neighbors and we discovered that the area gets almost 300 trick or treaters.

Then I had dinner in my house on my birthday which coincidentally was the year anniversary of my being a home owner. By next year I will be permanently living there and not just visiting. That night we went into Nashville (I mean come on it was a vacation we had to have a little fun). First we stopped at The Wheel in downtown for a shot of fireball whiskey, which um...... my Mom did not appreciate. Then we moved up Broadway to The Full Moon Saloon. We liked the second bar (and band) much better and we stayed there for the rest of the night.

Sunday we started back to NY. Unfortunately so did the remnants of tropical storm Karen. As we were driving back the tornado warnings were moving with us. At one point my Mom said "We need to have a plan for if we see a tornado." I answered "I have a plan there is a video camera in my backpack and I can take pictures with my i-phone." Luckily we didn't see any tornados though there were some threatening looking clouds and a lot of drenching rain.

When we got back to NY it seemed to really hit. The house is mostly empty and strangely silent. My real home is in TN. This is just where I live right now.

The Pod Worked!

Update on the pod: it was 200lbs over but obviously they took it anyway!

A couple of weeks ago I drove down to TN with Meghan and my dog, Schultzy. On the drive down we saw this pickup truck pulled over on the highway:

Maybe this guy should have gotten a pod! Seriously I am sure he thought it was a good idea when he started his drive but.  ... I wouldn't want to be behind that truck and trailer.

We timed the drive so that we would arrive in TN around 12-2 in the afternoon (depending on how many times we stopped to nap/walk the dog). I figured that way we could grab a nap and then unload the pod in the evening when it wouldn't be so hot. When the driver got there he started telling us this charming story about how one of the drivers flipped a pod last week while unloading it from his truck ... not what I wanted to hear at all! But it's ok he was a professional and there was no flipping of the pod. He had us open it before he left, something I very much planned on doing whether he wanted us to or not. When I say 'not a thing shifted' I mean "not a single thing shifted!!!!!!!!!" Also we had it unpacked in just a couple of hours, due in large part to one of our favorite neighbors.

That night sitting on my second floor porch Meg tried her hand at capturing star trails. It's something we couldn't hope for here unless we went out to Montauk and even then the light pollution maybe to bright.  As we were sitting there in a cool breeze with the silence of nature around us we just watched the stars appearing ... actually appearing! We also saw what we could only call UFOs. I was watching what I thought was a star. it was staying still as they should for several minutes at-least and then it just started moving to the right. It wasn't a plane because I had been watching it for a long time. I realize now it was most likely a satellite. But at the time UFO was definitely an apt term.

Catching star trails was an experiment a very slow experiment. We tried the first picture at 30 minutes and learned that we had to much light pollution in the shot so Meg angled the camera up higher. The next shot was also 30 minutes. We had no light pollution in that shot but also didn't get a trail. So we tried another on and hour exposure. Here is what we got:

The picture showed light pollution on the bottom which is why it is red. We did however catch a bit of the trail of the stars. We will have plenty of time when we are down there to experiment and learn more about Meg's next frontier deep space photography.

Friday morning we ran some errands and then went into Nashville for the night. We tried a new place called Paradise Park Trailer Resort. It is on Broadway across the street from our normal haunt, The Stage. I really liked it! I tried a shot of fireball whiskey and let me tell you it held up to it's name! The thing that impressed me the most was that in the bathroom was a matron. When you came out of the stall she turned the water on, gave you soap, and then gave you a paper towel which made the trailer park probably the cleanest honky tonk in town. Anyway, the band was real good and the singer was funny and talented. Since I only come to Nashville a few times right now there are some songs you just gotta hear at a honky tonk when you get a chance. So I requested David Allan Coe's You Never Even Call Me by My Name AKA the perfect country and western song. The story goes that Steve Goodman wrote and recorded the song and then sent a copy to David Allan Coe saying that he may have written the "perfect country and western song." Coe being a true smart ass wrote him back saying "No, because he didn't say anything about Momma, or trains, or trucks, or prison, or getting drunk." So Steve Goodman being an equal if not superior smart ass wrote another verse to the song:

Well I was drunk the day my mom got out of prison

And I went to pick her up in the rain

But before I could get to the station in my pickup truck

She got runned over by a damn old train. 

The singer whispered something to the band and the steel guitarist said "somebody out there hates us." I turned to Meg and said our song is up next ... and sure enough it was!

All in all it was a good trip and a big successful step in the move.