Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Hot not-fun in the summertime

I am feeling nostalgic because 2 years ago (in July) we moved from Minnesota to Iowa. And we moved on what might have been the hottest day of the year.

The movers came to the MN house early in the a.m. and worked for 5 or 6 hours. We had all the doors open, of course, and by the time they were done, the tile floor in the basement was slippery with "sweat" from the air co running and the humidity outside, fighting to get in. I literally mopped up the floor with towels and then turned it over to the cleaning crew.

We proceeded to IA a few days later for our closing there, and the next day the furniture arrived. The poor movers: they couldn't get the truck down our driveway (very long, very narrow). So they parked in the street and used dollies to get everything in.

One guy almost passed out from heat exhaustion. I stocked plenty of water and we went through it fast. We didn't have as much sweating in the new house because there was carpeting, not wood floors, but in a couple of spots it was slippery.

We tipped them well -- believe me, we did. They spent at least 10 hours in blistering heat to get all our stuff moved. And believe it or not, there was only one item that broke (and that because of bad packing on my part).

I've moved about 30 times in my life, and summer moves vie with dead-of-winter moves as the worst. There's one small thing in favor of summer moves -- the cold beverage at the end of it all!

J L
(jayellwilson.com)

7 comments:

Margo Hoornstra said...

We haven't had to move in thirty some years. Before that, between military service and trying to get a house, we moved a lot. Never fun, but it sounds like you had/have the right attitude.

Vonnie Davis ~ Romance Author said...

When I was younger, I loved moving. I loved redecorating the new place. Our last move was from the DC metro area to southern VA. It was hot then, too. All the work in the heat fixed me. I have zero desire to move again.

Jannine Gallant said...

Our last move was only about a mile. We did it in stages, moving stuff in our pickup. It wasn't bad at all. Your experience sounds like a nightmare!

glenys said...

You captured the joy of moving :-) really well! Moving in the heat is awful, but in three feet of snow, or an ongoing winter storm, that's even worse! Our last move was only 15 minutes away and we did it with our old Dodge Caravan and ingenuity. Before that, we moved back from Europe and the whole shipping container/customs issue was a nightmare. To say nothing of 'camping out' in the new house for 2 months till our stuff arrived. We're thinking of moving again soon, and I come close to tears when I look at all the stuff that's accumulated...

Sandra Leesmith said...

We moved to Tempe Arizona in August and we set one of my pieces of furniture on the sidewalk and sitting in that hot sun peeled the finish. sigh. A big lesson learned.

But I'm like Vonnie. I used to love to move. Great spring cleaning opportunity. Now packing is a big job.

Diane Burton said...

We helped daughter move from Indy 2 yrs ago on a HOT summer day. (Actually, we corraled the grandkids & kept them out of the movers' way.) That vied with the winter blizzard as the worst move in/move out day. Hopefully, ours coming up next month won't be too bad. I mean, September in Michigan is supposed to be cool, right?

Alicia Dean said...

UGH. Sounds miserable. I very much dislike HEAT. And moving, come to think of it.