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Tuesday, November 15, 2005

In moving, the surprises usually come in closets. They are used for hiding things people don't want to think about, yet they must be dealt with at moving time. Thankfully, the Den closet and the foyer coat closet were not too densely packed and each were freed of their ancient contents in about an hour.

The bigger task of the day was the "pantry" closets. My father built enclosed shelves along the rear hallway wall for food storage. Taking after her own mother, my mother was an avid gardener and canner in the '70s and amassed a large number of mason jars and ordinary food jars that she would reuse for canning. As the fires of domestic food production waned for her in the '80s, the jars remained on the shelves, supplanted by various other foodstuffs and containers that were kept around in case they could find reuse some day. They never did and November 15, 2005 was the end of the road. In keeping with my mother's wishes, the mason jars were wrapped and packed, but pretty much everything out got bagged and sent to the curb.

The evening brought a cold front that carried high winds and heavy rains. Ironically, the area suffered from drought conditions both before and after Rita and this evening's rains represented the first significant rainfall since the hurricane. After my parents left in the rain, I noticed that there was water leaking in the sewing room and I moved some of the boxes stored there to a dryer location in the house.

Next: Wednesday, November 16, 2005