Last night I went back to the house, took all the trash we had accumulated in the garage to the curb for pickup, and used the shop-vac to clean up all the dirt/dust/leaves/webs that had made things pretti nasti in there. The garage looks nice, and I even found all the various tools and extensions for the shop-vac and left them all on the garage workbench in plain sight. I checked the house again, and all is well. I think this is all we need to do - the rest is up to the buyer.

We decided to let the tapestry convey. I think the new owners liked it, and it is a huge hassle to get that big & heavy folding ladder into the house, down the stairs, then opened and up to the tapestry (around 12-15' high). Then standing on a ladder trying to take the tapestry down and the brackets that support it? I dislike heights. Putting it up four years ago was a trial, and nearly ended up with injuries and pain. I decided to leave the tapestry up there, even though it cost us over $500 all those years ago. It is very nice, but it is also large and heavy, and there is simply noplace to put it in my apartment. I'm going to have a lot of fun trying to make the pictures I have work in my apartment, much less a huge tapestry!

When I got to the house, the sky was rumbling and you could see bright flashes in the distance, getting closer - I left Maggie in the car and ran several trips worth of stuff to the curb before it started really raining hard - I mean dumping it! The lightning and thunder were truly impressive. Poor Maggie barking her head off in the car, and I couldn't even hear her! I ended up taking a large flat box that once upon a time enclosed a large painting and holding it over my body as I ran thru the rain to the car. The box was big enough (4x3) that I was able to balance it on top of the car roof and door while I got Maggie disconnected and let her jump down. We ran back to the garage, and from there went into the house - she was soaked, I wasn't. I stayed under the box while she wanted to forge ahead.

I'm considering letting Maggie go with Patty once everything settles down and Patty has all the boxes clear and Sara is all moved in. I think it might be better for both dogs to be together, and from a purely selfish point of view it would free me up to actually have a life that didn't revolve around the dog. My ball and chain, I call her. I also worry about the barking and my neighbors - she doesn't bark so much when Toby is with her. But this is all just conjecture and I may end up keeping her, we shall see. Perhaps I'll get more comfortable with having her around and she will adapt to apt living and being left alone a lot.