Welcome back to Thursday Blog Day. It’s May 12, 2016 and that puts us exactly 12 days away from the morning United Van Lines will arrive to pack up our lives into many boxes. It puts us 13 days away from when they load those boxes into a big moving van. And it puts us exactly two weeks from when we will make one final sweep through this then-empty house on a golf course, before we load Boofus and Buster into my car and head to Minnesota.

We’re very much looking forward to being “home” for sure, and even the long drive is an adventure I enjoy. Getting to that point, though, is a complex process and I’m not going to inflate that word by saying it’s an enjoyable one. It’s just a process, with a lot of moving parts, and it all has to happen in a specific order.

When Barbara accepted the offer, four years ago, to take a job out here in the Spokane area, we needed to move and we needed to downsize. Our wonderful home in Woodbury, with Pond Cam views out of the massive living-room windows, featured three levels, four bedrooms, and about 4,800 square feet of McMansion “stuff.” The home here in Liberty Lake is wonderful, and it’s not exactly small at 3,700 square feet, but the purge we went through back then, to make the move, was massive. After making as many runs to charities and thrift stores as we could bear, we were still looking at rooms full of things we’d accumulated but no longer needed, so we had the trash company deliver a huge 10-yard dumpster to the driveway. We filled it.

Leading up to this next move back to Minnesota, we started looking around here and the feeling was slightly overwhelming. Once again, we had way too much stuff in our lives. Downsize version 2.0 was staring us in the face.

Nearly all of the furniture we brought out here with us was purchased when we lived in the larger home back in Woodbury. We’ve been furnishing our new place back there, piece by piece, with new things though, so there was no need to take most of this stuff back. Basically, that meant we had a ton of furnishings here that didn’t need to get expensively hauled across the country to the Land of 10,000 Lakes. Some of it had what you’d have to call “sentimental value” for sure, but you have to draw the line and say “This all has to go” when you’re once again downsizing to something more appropriate for a married couple with two cats. The new home in Woodbury is about 2,800 square feet.

We’ve made a lot of charitable donations over the course of the last month, and we’ve thrown a lot of pure junk away, but we were still sitting on rooms full of furniture we didn’t need. I was kind of at a loss to figure it out, but then we got the great news that Barb’s niece Leah and her boyfriend Levi had signed a contract to buy their first home, near where they’ve been living in an apartment just north of Denver. It was a heartwarming concept to think that we could help them start this important new phase of their lives by turning over custody of a lot of our furnishings, but the logistics seemed tough. We thought about renting a “POD” from the company of the same name, where you load up a big square crate and they haul it where you want it to go. That was reasonable in terms of price, but the challenge of actually having to carry and move some very heavy furniture was too daunting for just Barbara and me.

We talked to United Van Lines about possibly making two deliveries for us, but the price was too rich. It all just seemed like a great idea that couldn’t be implemented, and the stress and details about their first-ever home purchase had Leah and Levi too consumed to think much about it. And then I had an idea. Why not fly them out here, rent a U-Haul truck, and load all of these things into it so they could drive it home? Barb then took iPhone pics of much of our furniture, and sent those to Leah. That sealed the deal.

The two of them arrived here late on Sunday night. We picked up the truck first thing on Monday, and got it about 80% loaded that day, thanks to the strength and perseverance of all four of us. The sofa was the big elephant in the room, and we danced around it for more than a little while before diving in, since it had to go into the truck first. After measuring it five times, pondering how to do it, hoping for the rain to stop, and putting the boyz in my office to keep them from trying to escape the madness, we got after it and managed to get it out the front door, up the ramp, and into the truck. After that, it was on…

Levi has a great knack for visually figuring out how to put the jigsaw puzzle together, and as the day went on it all started to fit together and fill the U-Haul. We even had a few “alternate” pieces that we left for last, just in case the packing job was so neat we’d have room for more than we’d originally planned. Everything fit. Everything got loaded.

We had accomplished our Monday goals, right on time, and we celebrated by having dinner at Cedar’s, a fabulous floating restaurant on Coeur d’Alene Lake, with million dollar views and meals that are off the hook (Guy Fieri reference). It was sublime. Or as Guy would say, it was money. And then we drove back to the house and retired to the lower-level home theater to watch “Miracle,” one of our all-time favorite movies. “You were BORN to be hockey players!” Somehow, some way, we all stayed awake until the end and then we crashed.

We did have to leave one last thing for Tuesday morning, because we all needed beds to sleep in on Monday night. We have a nice new king bed back in Woodbury, so we decided to give “the kids” our phenomenal king-sized Sleep Number bed, and we all tackled the semi-complicated disassembly of it after we got up on Tuesday morning. Then, we had to move a queen bed from the lower level here, up to our master bedroom, and coming at the end of this long process that simple move taxed us to the limit. That mattress was not just heavy, it was bulky, it had no handles, and it had to make a sharp turn on the landing, coming up the stairs. Finally, the last pieces went in the truck and the door was closed. Leah and Levi cranked the motor and hit the road.

They made it to Billings by Tuesday night, and that put them a bit more than halfway home. They got to Loveland, Colorado yesterday afternoon, safe and sound. We feel great that we could help them out, and in the process it helped us. It was a huge purge, and a lot of the stuff we sent with them was important to us, but it’s all going to a good home and it’s staying in the family. Heck, we can go visit our furniture anytime we want, and I’m sure we will. It was a momentous couple of days, and it’s made the move very real.

With 100% of our living room furniture moving to Colorado, we needed a place to sit out there, so we moved two chairs (with ottomans) and plopped them down right in the middle of the room. This is no time to worry about how things look or if they conform to the rules of Feng Shui. We just need a place to sit and relax for a couple of weeks.

And the process is in full swing. Early this morning, a guy with a mobile “shredder” truck arrived to destroy about six boxes of files we didn’t want to simply throw away. When it comes to tax data, old contracts, banking info, and other private materials, it’s best to have it all shredded. In an hour, an appraiser will be here to take a look at the house for the buyers who have a contract on it, and right after that my guy from United Van Lines will come out to reassess what we’re moving, since we gave Leah and Levi more than we originally planned. Once the stuff started going and getting loaded, we just told them to “go shopping” and take anything they wanted other than my office furniture.

And, later this week I have to start contacting all the utility companies to begin the transition. There’s a lot to do. But, and this is a big “but” after so many weeks of seeing this as something way off in the future that we didn’t need to yet worry about, it’s all real. By the end of the month, we’ll be heading back to Minnesota. We’ll be headed home. We can’t wait to get there.

Aside from the move, my “job” as a full-time writer continues to go so well it’s thrilling. I’ve sent Chapter 17 off to my esteemed editor, Greg Halling, and I’m well into Chapter 18 now (although today is Thursday Blog Day, so this takes precedence). 17 and 18 are really important chapters, because they mark the “big change” in my life wherein I leave baseball and head off to do other things. All of that, of course, eventually leads to indoor soccer and then to racing, so we’re getting to the point where the finish line for “Bats, Balls, & Burnouts” is almost within sight. That’s a thrilling concept.

As much as my memory is fantastic, and I can recall specific conversations or moments from 40 years ago, I still have to do quite a bit of research to connect all the dots when I’m writing. To that end, when I was on the chapter that included my first summer of professional ball, playing for the Paintsville Hilanders in the Appalachian League, I had to go back and reconstruct many of the memories. I knew I had an 8×10 color glossy of our team picture somewhere, but for weeks I’d been unable to find it. Then, in our massive effort to de-clutter and purge unneeded stuff from this house, I came upon a file box marked “Keeper – Old photos” and in there were two framed pics I wanted and needed. The first was the Paintsville photo, and here it is. (Remember, you can click on the photos to enlarge them!)

This photo brought back so many memories I could almost smell the grass and the pine tar on the bats. In it are a bunch of minor league ballplayers who ranged from pretty good to excellent, in terms of their talent, but every guy you see in the picture had the same dream. It was an extraordinarily close group, a true band of brothers, and we had the time of our lives that summer, playing every day, getting paid to do so, and riding our bus all over Appalachia.

One guy on this team played in the big leagues. He’s the 3rd person from the right in the second row. That’s Kevin Hickey, a lefty relief pitcher from Chicago who had a fine career for the White Sox. Sadly, we lost him a few years ago. Rest in peace, my friend.

Another guy in the photo, who was one of our most popular teammates, ended up managing quite a bit in the minor leagues and then coaching in the big leagues, for the Braves and then the Royals. Chino Cadahia is in the top row, 6th from the left. He’s still in the game, as a front-office advisor for Kansas City.

Great guys, all of them. Including Vince “The Bronze Fox” Bienek, far right in the top row. Thanks to the magic of Facebook, Vince and I have reconnected after all these decades.

The second photo is this one, and it provided me a ton of material for the book. This pic, taken at old Exhibition Stadium in Toronto, is populated with the entire scouting staff of the Blue Jays, as well as other front-0ffice staff and all of the minor league managers and coaches. In it are two gentlemen who ended up in the Baseball Hall of Fame, in Cooperstown. Can you figure that out?

Well, if you can’t, here they are: 2nd row, third from the right. That would be Pat Gillick, one of the greatest and most accomplished general managers in baseball history. It was both a pleasure and an honor to work for Pat.

In the 3rd row, third from the right, is Bobby Cox. He was the manager of the Blue Jays while I was with them, and he then went on to greater fame as the skipper of the Atlanta Braves. Both Gillick and Cox have been inducted into the Hall.

If you’re a baseball fan, there are plenty of other familiar names and faces in this photo. And in the third row, wearing a brown jacket and a dark red sweater, is the 27-year old version of me. I was still the youngest full-time professional scout in all of baseball then, and the second-youngest was standing next to me. Tim Wilken is still in baseball, and still highly respected. Plus, he and I became good friends when we started this journey and figured out how to spot talent. It was a tough job and a tough life, but the chapters about it in my book were a thrill to write. The stories and the characters are so rich it was great to recall it all and put it into words.

(Five minutes later).  Okay, the appraiser was just here and he’s already done. That was quick.

Now it’s time for me to wrap up this weekly installment and move back over to book writing. The shredder dude was here so early this morning we had to get up before our alarms to hand him all the documents, and that got me to work on this earlier than I normally do. Now, it’s only 10:00 a.m. and I can shift over to the book for the rest of today. I’m a writing fool!!!

T-minus 12 days and counting.  Minnesota is on the horizon.

Bob Wilber, at your service and ready to move.