Part 1 of 2
After two long weeks of waiting, the Packrat Pod is now sitting in my driveway! It’s a great day for celebration… and a day of dread!
I’m very excited to see how things survived the move across country. The weather during the week was cooler while the pod languished in storage locally. This is important because we have a live plant in the pod – a rare blueberry bush!
We’ll see if that was a good idea or not when I open the pod doors… it was quite worrisome the past couple days wondering if the poor bush was fried to a crisp in transit. I made a lot of calls to the company to arrange an earlier delivery, but that’s another story altogether! My mom assured me that it was a tough little plant and should make it through the tortures of moving.
It was watered heavily the day before the move and I dug up a lot of soil to keep as many roots as possible – we hope that was enough to keep it alive… My main worry is that I misunderstood the timing – thinking it would only be a week in transit. It was really a two-week journey for the plant with all the waiting to coordinate the move and delivery – even if the actual travel only took a few days.
setting expectations
We covered loading the pod in an earlier post a few weeks ago. At that point the expectation was the transport would take a week or so to arrive at my house, but somehow I messed up. It’s only a few extra days, but it would be better for the poor bush if it had more water to make sure it survived.
At least the expectations for the handling in transit were understood. The Packrat folks were clear about the method of delivery so I packed accordingly. The pod was stacked on a truck with other pods going the same way. It was amazing how gentle they handled the pod picking it up at my mom’s house… while I was watching!
My experience as a piano mover gives me insight so I know what to expect with the move. Road vibration is a killer and would be a problem for the stuff unless packed and padded well. I probably overcompensated for the vibration risk, but as I noted earlier, the boxes all fit together tightly like a Tetris game.
Moving the lathe into the pod was a major accomplishment. That took three big strong movers and I learned a few tricks watching them load the heavy stuff to move across town for me. We already talked about how to plan for a move like this and I am so glad I didn’t do that part all by myself – my brother is probably happier too since it was just the two of us on that end!
The local movers wrapped the lathe plastic and positioned it neatly in the pod for me. This machine is so heavy that after it was in place I couldn’t budge it an inch… so I had to make my packing method work.
If done right, we will have minimal damage risk to the items around the lathe, and it won’t crush anything else. I strapped it down as tight as possible to pod walls. Fingers crossed…
unloading the pod
When the Packrat folks dropped off the pod at my house, it was the loading process in reverse… and in slow motion. Amazing! Their method is so consistent and they really are gentle with the pods. That’s a good indicator the contents will be undamaged too.
My garage was in good shape to stage all the stuff from the pod… with two-weeks and lots of nervous energy it was easy enough. Even though I had staged a lot of yard tools for the outside storage shed, we still had a bunch of yard tools hanging on the garage wall. A key requirement from Mrs. Minimax is to have access to those tools for gardening! This gives me another challenge as I stage stuff so she has room grab a shovel or rake while I play the minimalist game.
I have a good idea for how much space all the stuff will require for staging since I packed the pod and knew exactly what was in it.
We discussed staging in a 4-part move series on organizing stuff to pack. Now I need to apply a version of that same system for staging stuff to unloaded the pod. I want my system as simple as possible, and easy too… The closer I can get items to their final location, the better! Especially that lather! Yikes – I only want to move it one time – off the pod and into place!
I have to admit I’m a geek about organizing stuff, packing stuff, and minimalism too. This project may not seem like it (adding all this stuff from my dad is the opposite of minimalism), but remember, the minimaxer is not a dogmatic minimalist! What I advocate is appropriate minimalism… actually it’s maximalism, or at least a form of it. I’m sorting through the new stuff to find what will make my creative life more productive – making for a happier and more fulfilling life…
the grand opening
Drum roll please…
It was amazing to see how well everything fared in the journey. The Tetris blocks were exactly as I placed them. The antique glass bookshelf was perfect! Incredibly, all the spaces I had left open were still open… nothing fell over… nothing shifted out of place… Even the blueberry bush was exactly were I left it!
That poor blueberry bush survived – but it is not a happy camper. It is clearly parched and all the leaves are dried up from sitting in the hot pod for two weeks. Maybe the dark helped it go into hibernation?
We will nurse it back with lots of water and find a cool place for it in the garden. It’s already in shock, so we will take it slowly as it adapts to it’s new home… and new environment…
In my next post we can share the details about the unloading. My minimax checklists are proving a handy reminder for best practice in the staging process – even the minimaxer needs reminders sometimes.
The next step of this adventure is beginning. We now phase into the most important parts of the minimax journey, and maybe the most difficult – for me – to minimize all this new stuff I’ve inherited.