Eric’s Blog

I went to Pennsylvania to help Dad move Aunt Darlene from her apartment in Tyrone to a much better place in Bellwood. We had a lot of help, thanks to Diana, David, Uncle Dick, Dad, Mom, and Aunt Pat. It took us about eight trips overall, Aunt Darlene has a lot of stuff; I guess that’s what happens when you move, you realize all the things you have. I’m so grateful she’s in a better situation now.

The day after I got back from my trip to Pennsylvania, I had to help move Austin out of the house to his apartment over on Chincoteague. He rented a panel truck, so it only took one trip to get our little bird out of the nest and into his new place. Thanks to Nick, Mike, his fiancee, Sarah, and Adrianne for all the help getting him set up. He needed a different kind of help getting moved in. Adrianne and Sarah went to the dollar store and bought him some start up stuff, rubber spatulas, measuring cups, spoons, and the like. Then they had to wash everything, dry it, and put it all away for him before we could leave. I set up the table that was my Grandfather and Grandmothers’. Aunt Darlene had donated those items to the cause along with a few extra lamps she had that she didn’t need anymore. Poor Austin, he had to borrow a spare key from the landlord on day one because he left his key at our house. We got him all settled in and left him be for the last two weeks. He was here this past weekend for a visit and took Sarah with him over to his place one night. She helped him unpack the last boxes. We’ve said for years that it takes a village.

That’s about it really, we’ve also had the election and Veterans’ Day since my last update. There’s not much else to tell. We’re trying to get photographs taken for the retirement announcements, but we had to bail last weekend on the photographer, and she had to bail on us this past weekend. All the leaves are brown and down now, so I guess our fall photos aren’t going to happen. Maybe we’ll get some taken in the spring instead.

There are lots of little projects around the house I need to get done, but I’m seriously lacking the energy and motivation to do anything right now. I need to get the Christmas decorations down out of storage, put all the Halloween stuff away, clean up all the leaves, get the boat in storage for the winter, clean out the garden box and potato bin, and I need to put the summer furniture away before the really nasty weather comes.

We’re just going to do Thanksgiving ourselves this year, we usually offer up our house to Sailors who don’t have a place to go for the holiday, but with COVID, and me stepping back from my normal roles in the Navy, we’re just going to do us this year. It’s funny, the powers-that-be, tell us we’re only allowed to have 25 people over for Turkey Day and everything has to be outside. Well, when they pay my bills, they can tell me what to do. Either way, we’re still going to keep it simple this year; I just hate the fact that they think they can tell us what to do and how to live our own lives.

The Eastern Shore Broadband Authority has been stringing guy-lines and support cables for the upcoming fiber optic cables that are being put in our neighborhood. They’re supposed to be done with the installation by the end of this year, and we should be online by the end of February next year with our new internet service. It will be a lot better for us once that happens. I’ll never live anywhere else ever again that doesn’t already have broadband internet.

This year has definitely been a challenge, but we’ve survived thus far. As arbitrary as our calendar and way of measuring time is, I have zero qualms with making 2020 out to be the villain of the story in this case. I’ll be happy to put it behind me and hope that next year is better.