Hello readers, and welcome to Thursday Blog Day once again. I am starting this missive in my office here in Liberty Lake, but there’s good reason to think I might just finish it and post it from the lobby of Larry H. Miller Lexus, in downtown Spokane. As one of 1.27 million details that have to be taken care of prior to next week’s move, my car is going in for its 10,000-mile service check-up today, despite the fact it only has 7,800 miles on it. I’d rather do it early, to have it looked over and get the oil changed prior to the long drive home to Minnesota. It’s about 1,400 miles, door to door.

Moving is hard. Moving yourself, as we helped Leah and Levi do recently, is physically hard. I still have some bruises on my arms from carrying heavy bulky objects, but I got off easy. They had to drive back to Colorado and then unload it all, in Jim Doyle’s garage. Then once they close on their new house, it all has to get moved yet again.

We have United Van Lines coming on Tuesday to pack everything up. On Wednesday they load. On Thursday, my blog day, we’ll clean up the house one last time and then hit the road for much of three full days of driving. With Buster and Boofus. I always look forward to the first part of this trip, at least the part from Liberty Lake to Billings, because it’s scenic and the driving is fun on those mountain roads. When you’re doing the trip the other direction, you’re tired when you get to the most fun parts, so it’s better going eastbound. But, as far as I know, I’ll never again have to do it westbound, unless we have a crazy idea to do a road trip.

Yesterday, I made a huge dent in getting all of my credit cards, bank accounts, and utilities set for the change. There are a couple of utilities here in Liberty Lake that I can’t alter, since I don’t own this house, but we’re getting that handled. And, yesterday I heard from the listing agent that the appraisal on the house came back right at value, so that’s another important box ticked off the list. The buyers are scheduled to close on May 30, so all of my fingers and toes are crossed in the hope that happens. The military guy who owns this house is a spectacularly good dude, and I want to help him get his place sold and off his hands. No better landlord ever, anywhere.

Yes, I made a “To-Do” list for all the utilities and accounts. It was just too hard to remember them all and remember what I’d done, but now all items but the two local ones are checked off. Fortunately, we’re all set up for this stuff in Woodbury, so I’m not going to be swamped with details once we get there. We’re officially “move-in ready” there, with the exception of one fun assignment still to complete. We’re leaving the fantastic home theater intact here, because it was such a selling point, but we’re fully spoiled by having it to enjoy for four years. Once we get back to Minny, we’ll be off to find a huge TV and then have it installed along with the surround-sound system we already own. I’ll be counting the days.

There is an office waiting for me there, as well, but I’ve decided to give that to Barb. She’ll have a ton of real work to still do once we get back, since she’s going to continue to work for her company, and the dedicated office is the best place to do that. I’m going to move my desk and workplace stuff to the lower level. That will be cool, because it will also double as my Man Cave. A guy needs his Man Cave. It’s a rule. You can look it up.

So much stuff still to do, but we’ve made huge progress so far and it will all take care of itself if we just stay focused on each new next task at hand. Then we’ll load up The Boyz and enjoy the ride.

Cool. Just got a phone call from our State Farm agent in Woodbury, letting me know that my agent out here has sent them what they needed to shift our car insurance and liability coverage. We’re going to save about $250 per year just making the move! Bonus!!! And seamlessly done with zero hassle for me. One phone call yesterday, to Emily here in Liberty Lake, made it all happen, and now we’re back with Lori in Woodbury.

What’s not enjoyable this year is the pollen in the Inland Northwest. My gosh, it’s horrible. I doubt it will be any better in Minnesota, but right now it’s so thick I need to be the “Bubble Boy” and just inflate a giant ball around me. My eyes itch and water, I’m hacking and coughing all day, and even bike rides are way less fun when you can feel the tiny yellow spores travel through your nose and mouth and into your lungs. Yeccchhh! And forget about keeping your car clean. An hour after a car wash, it’s covered in the stuff.

Okay, enough complaining. Everyone around here is hating on the pollen, so we all have to just deal with it. Or I can inflate the bubble.

Despite the fact we came out here four years ago with the thought of being somewhat anti-social, so that we wouldn’t make too many friends and then be sad when we had to leave them, we are both a bit melancholy. After four years in a town this small, you can’t help but to get to know a lot of people. Whether it’s Pat at the dry cleaner, or Lori at Barlow’s restaurant, or Patti who used to live next door but now has a new place a mile away, or the check-out clerks at Albertson’s, we could not have avoided getting to know them all and then finding ourselves liking them. And let’s never forget Nancy, who has come over so many times to be with The Boyz when we’re both out of town. She’s the best, and it’s hard to say goodbye to her. I know Boofie and Buster will miss her.

I’m going to miss this house and this area, as well. Just the other day, a high-school golf tournament was going on here on the course, so I went outside to watch these talented kids play the second hole, in our backyard. I was, in effect, the entire gallery for their regional tournament, and Barb took a photo for her Facebook “Pic Of The Day” thing she’s been doing. She decided, a week or so ago, to post at least one local photo every day, right up until we pull off I-94 and park in the garage in Woodbury. It was such a beautiful day, I just wanted to watch the kids and soak it all in. (And, as always, you can click on the photos to enlarge them.)

Also, over the course of the last few weeks, we’ve been trying to judge whether or not we will hit the mark for moving day in terms of various household necessities. We don’t shift over to the Residence Inn until Tuesday, and I just put our last trash bag in the kitchen can. Missed it by THAT MUCH. Also just put my last scoop of coffee in the coffee maker. And we have just one roll of paper towels left. Looks like I’ll have to do some restocking before we go, and whatever is left can move with us. Moving is complex…

At some point over the weekend, we’re going to have to make the big purge in terms of things the movers won’t take. Pesticides, weed killers, aerosol spray cans, anything flammable, and food. To keep the gas range clean, I’ve also stopped cooking dinners on the cooktop. Baking and broiling are fine, and we’ll clean out the oven before we leave, but no more splatters on the range. To make up for this, I think it’s obvious we’ll have to put a firm moratorium on eating out once we get to Minny. Right? Who am I kidding? Some of our favorite restaurants in the country are in Woodbury and the Twin Cities, and new ones are popping up all the time. Maybe we’ll just have to institute some budgetary rules. Well, not exactly rules, but more like guidelines. Not strict guidelines, mind you, but suggestions. It’s hopeless, isn’t it?

And maybe I’ll take one last walk around Liberty Lake. We take the views for granted, too often. It’s a beautiful place, and just the other day I did stop to look around as I walked up the hill to the elementary school and around Pavillion Park (yes, they spell Pavillion with two “L”s). On the way back home, I took a shot of the third green and the water hazard on the course where we live. Since we live on the second green, we see and hear golfers teeing off for this hole all day.

The white things in the water are swans. Sort of. The swans are fake, as a ruse to keep the Canada Geese away, and as such a deterrent they seem to be only semi-successful. I’ve seen geese swim right by them. Canada Geese are no dummies. As for the Mallards and Bufflehead ducks, they seem to actually adore the fake geese. A Mallard couple sits on them during the day. Just taking a ride on a couple of swans, but man they don’t get very far. So the geese are no dummies, and the ducks are pretty smart. It’s the swans, technically, who are actual dummies.

So I was thinking this would be my final blog from Liberty Lake, but it’s likely not. I’ll probably write next week’s edition from the Residence Inn after we leave the house on Wednesday. Then, I’ll post it Thursday morning before we hit the road. See what I mean, in terms of all the details. My head is spinning. Not like in “The Exorcist” but more like just being confused, which I am quite often.

Barb is actually in Woodbury, and at the Woodbury house, right now. She reports all is well, and that’s a good thing when you go check on a house you own but don’t yet live in. Houses, it turns out, need to be lived in. Garage doors need to go up and down. Faucets, showers, and toilets need to move water, not hold it. Ice makers need to make ice. Refrigerators need to be cleaned out. In a couple of weeks, we’ll be settled and it will finally be our home again. I can’t quite picture it yet, but it will happen.

And I’m already making plans for July, when my college teammates and roommates, Lance, Radar, and Oscar will come to the Twin Cities for what is now our annual reunion. Last summer it was Cooperstown and Washington D.C., and this year we’ll spend two nights at the Grand Hotel in downtown Minneapolis, eating well and touring around, and then a third night at the St. Paul Hotel. We’ll go to the Twins game on the night of July 15, and a gentleman I know, named Dave St. Peter, is working on making that a very special deal for my buddies. Dave just happens to be the President of the Twins, and he was the first person to become part of our Advisory Board here at The Perfect Game Foundation, when we launched this charity. He’s a fine man, and a very generous one.

Speaking of baseball, I happened upon a photo of Yogi Berra, on Facebook, the other day. It was shot at spring training, and the photographer was clearly the Mark Rebilas of his day, because he captured Yogi’s swing from a precarious spot right next to the batter’s box. I thought it was a neat photo, but then something else occurred to me. The catcher looked familiar.

The stirrup socks told me the Yanks were playing Boston. The nose behind the mask sure looked like who I thought it might be. But the forearms and the hands sold it. That’s my father, Del Wilber, catching for the Red Sox. Amazing. In the family we call these “finds” as we discover photos or other memorabilia none of us has ever seen before. This one was roundly considered one of the best finds ever. I just wish I could get an actual print of it.

Finally, here’s your weekly update on “Bats, Balls, & Burnouts.” It’s been another fantastic week, and by tomorrow afternoon I’ll be firing off Chapter 19 to my editor. It’s yet another landmark chapter, because in it I leave my first non-baseball job, working for Converse Shoes, to head off to Washington D.C. to become a Project Director for a big successful sports-marketing agency, by the catchy name of DelWilber+Associates. That would be my oldest brother’s former company. The stories about projects I worked on and managed are many, and they include clients like IBM, Chrysler, Black & Decker, and USF&G. We managed major sponsorships in Major League Baseball, the National Hockey League, USA Baseball, the International Baseball Association, the Big East Conference, and many more. So far, it’s been a joy to write.

We’re really getting there now, and I’m actually sad that next week’s hurricane named “The Move” is going to cause me to probably not write for at least seven or eight days. We’ll see if I can squeeze any writing time into the process, but it’s likely I won’t. The thrilling thing is, at this point my move into NHRA Drag Racing is, chronologically, not that far away in terms of chapters. Then, all the stories I can tell about the people I’ve worked for or alongside will come to life. Can’t wait to get to that point and relive it all again.

Well look at that. My car appointment is still more than an hour away and I’ve put a bow on this blog. No need to bore you with photos of the showroom while I wait. This one, as we technically say, is in the books.

And, as is always the case, if you read this blog and liked what you read, please “Like” it with a click!

Bob Wilber, at your service and making the move…