2539 Harvey Street, coming to be known as the Harvey House, is now owned by DeeAnn and myself. We thought packing a home that had been lived in for 42 years was a long tedius process not knowing the unwinding of that – unpacking to live in a new home – is also a grueling process! With each item is the grappling of finding the location of where it goes with letting go of where it once was. Despite all the boxes, pictures, knick-knacks, dog toys, furniture, clothing, yard art and just plan stuff – the Harvey House is coming together. Harvey has a beautiful garage to host a rummage sale and it is appearing there will need to be one in the spring!
Historically we both were on the end of watching newbies move into the neighborhood. Now we are the new neighbors and find it just as awkward as when we were the ones peeking out the window to scout people moving to ‘our’ street. We know we have big shoes to fill as the family leaving their home owned longevity rights (40+ years) to the neighborhood. During closing we heard in detail about each neighbor so we know our neighbors are fully in the know about us. In the short week that we have been there, neighbors to our right have walked over waving us down expressing how excited they were to meet us. After sharing phone numbers, we received a text inviting us over for dinner when the timing is right. Anna, Amelia (6), and another ‘A’ name that I have to learn how to spell (3) were so genuinely welcoming. Amelia was anxiously waiting to ask us a question, and after her mother’s approval, she asked if she could slide down the hill that starts in our yard and ends in their yard. Her ear-to-ear grin was quite precious to see when we said ‘absolutely, and maybe our dogs will have to join you!’ They have a dog as well, we’ve since learned that nearly everyone the length of the block has dogs. Of course pictures were shared and Helen became a critter of interest right away.
Snow fell this week also testing our shoveling speed and strength. It was heavy wet yucky kind of snow, back breaking stuff that even DeeAnn’s snowblower would groan about. From across the street came another neighbor angel, this one named Mike. He offered to snowblow the driveway for us. It was too good of an offer to refuse. Mike’s wife, Laura, later came out with their dog. And the beginnings of a good neighborly rapport began. We haven’t learned yet if Mike is a beer or wine guy. Soon though. He did notice the dogs in the car. The dogs had the windows steamed up so he only saw two. He made mention of the two dogs and I sheepishly said, ‘actually there are four in there’. His head pivoted towards me, ‘Four?’, I nodded, then he proceeded to tell me how many dogs were in each of the homes all up and down the street. ‘Dog friendly place here’, he said. And all I could think to say was ‘Thank you!’
Holly, Helen, Keltie and Rainie are a tad confused, it’s a new and exciting place but they don’t have much fun there, yet. We scheduled a couple days to clean and prepare an empty house. One of those days the dogs joined us. They ripped through the house smelling every inch, going in and out of new rooms all excited about what they might find. It was fun to see them so interested and engaged. Just as we getting ready to leave, DeeAnn did an abrupt halt and succintly stated she smelled shit. We each had a 50-50 chance of it being our dog. Of course, it was mine. Holly, my recent 3 year old, left a motherload in DeeAnn’s bedroom closet. I had no defense for her, there was no putting that load on any of the other dogs. The next day I felt redeemed though when again, all the dogs were at the house, this time in the basement we found multiple piles from more than just one dog. The tables turned from them to us. We owned the issue. We’ve since taken them out the deck door to the back yard for routine potty stops. After a few trips out, we are confident they will know what door to stand by giving us a clue when nature calls them. Holly had been close – she found a door to go through, but it dead-ended.
At the Harvey House there is a no-couch rule. All the dogs have been taken aback by this, some more than others. Now, when back at 2125, I am finding the couch in frequent use. You don’t know how good you have it until you go without!
While we unwrap breakables and move boxes around, the dogs are confined to the kitchen area. They are not happy with confinement and let us know by burning holes through us with their expressive eyes. Conceding to their disgust, I baracaded them outside on the deck, just off the dining room. This only led to more confusion. You can see in their faces their concern and confusion about DeeAnn and my recent odd behavior and abnormal activity!
Watching the dogs adjust to the recent changes gives us the chuckles -and that is exactly what we both need!
Not At Harvey!
My Mitt
Harvey Kitchen Kennel
Game Over
