Moving Day - Part 1, Leaving Albany

I packed the cats, guinea pig and parakeet into my little car (along with the dogs, of course) and drove them up to the farm, but I'll tell you about that in another post. I finally turned 65, retired and moved to the farm. I had friends offer to help with the move, but I was by then so tired that I hired a local moving company:

And they were terrific! I couldn't have asked for better service. Their website is here in case you need a move:

They handled everything without hand-trucks and did so carefully and respectfully:

I didn't have much to move, at least not compared to what these guys are used to, but it was a long drive and I was much too tired to tackle it myself. And in case you are the carefully observant type, that hand truck was mine, not theirs and they didn't use it. They did, however, include it in the move:

My giant old filing cabinet had been mostly emptied and discarded in favor of this smaller version, seen here on its way out to the moving van:

The glass fronted shelves were carefully wrapped in padded blankets:

And carried by hand out to the truck:

There wasn't much left in the house when they wrapped up this piece of furniture:

Then they moved the two rocking chairs out to the sidewalk and the boss thought they looked awfully inviting:

So he sat down to test one of them out:

Then the other mover rested also and they laughingly suggested I entitle this photo, "Movers hard at work:"

The stuff in the back yard shed was the last to be loaded and, when we arrived at the farm, I carried those tomato cages directly out to the garden and put them to use. But that's a subject for tomorrow's blog post:

Alongside The Ausable River

It was almost crunch time, when I'd move the last of my animals and possessions up to the farm. I made a short trip up to the farm with a carload of dog beds and kitchen supplies. And then I spent my time at the farm working on gardens and the lawn, not taking a single photo. When it came time to drive home, the dogs and I made it all the way to our favorite Ausable River rest stop before I took out my camera - just in time to capture Fergus trotting off into the Adirondack forest:

It was cold and rainy, but the trees overhead made for pretty good umbrellas:

I kept true to my determination to keep the dogs closer to me, perhaps no farther than 15 feet:

And when they'd try to run ahead, I'd call out, "Stop!" and call them back. Of course they got petted and praised for doing so:

"What, Dad? What do you want this time?:"

The forest was vibrantly colored in the mist and glistening with raindrops:

Daphne and Madeline hung out together as we returned to the car:

The scenery was lovely, serene and quiet:

When we arrived at the car, we walked right past it:

And over to the steep bank below which the Ausable River raged. All that rain had swollen the river:

I did not go down to the river but kept the dogs and myself safely atop the hill:

But this was our one and only photo session for an entire trip. We all jumped back up into the car and finished the long drive back to Albany. The next trip north would be with the cats, guinea pig, parakeet, etc. I shuddered just thinking about it. But that will be a story for another post: