The spy was back, this time he was parked in a different spot around the corner, and in the original white car, however, I have taken some important steps....
As shared previously I was to be renting a secure self storage unit large enough to take my trailer plus some items of furniture. So I measured my trailer and in total including the hitch etc, it is close to 3 meters in length and 1.7 meters wide wheel to wheel - it is a good size trailer. So as a minimum I determined I would need an extra 2 meters behind the trailer and a meter to the side, giving a minimum size of 3x5. Then with trusty ole Google I managed to locate at least four self storage companies - 3 located within the metro area and 1 out in the boonies as I heard they're cheaper. Then I buzzed them an email asking for quotes. Of course they have to work with what was available, so all units that I received quotes on were somewhat larger but all reasonably similar sizes. But the price differences really surprised me. The three metropolitan based places gave quotes of between $400 and a little over $500 per month. However the place that is out in the boonies quoted only $225 which is around half price!!! I knew such places would be cheaper but not THAT much cheaper!! I double checked to see if it was actually a monthly rate not fortnitely! No it was indeed monthly. And all these places offer the standard services, that includes 24/7 security with cams and all-night lighting, and the whole premises (except front offices in some cases) accessible through a security gate where you have to enter a code in the keypad to open it.
So no prizes for guessing which unit I chose in spite of the fact that it is an 45-minutes to 1-hour drive from here!! A 3x6 unit for only $225/month!! In contrast, a storage place only 10 minutes from me charges close to $500 for a similar size unit!! Needless to say I called to secure for myself a unit almost as soon as I gotten the email as there were only two such units available!! Then yesterday, Saturday, I made the long drive to the place, near Rockingham, to arrive just after the office was due to open. And after about 20 minutes of filling out paperwork and making the first payment, the unit was mine to take. You can either supply your own padlock or purchase one from the office, I already had my own so I made use of it to secure my storage space. However I found that the locking mechanism was designed to take up to TWO padlocks, so I decided I would get a 2nd one, this time a high quality one from somewhere like Bunnings as opposed to one I had gotten from the supermarket.
Anyway, on my way home I decided to stop off at Bibra Lakes to do my walk for the day. Bibra Lakes was where Mother would walk around it each and every morning before she got sick. I had wanted to go to Bibra Lakes before but it was too far from my place so up to now I hadn't been there. But with now renting storage space further south of it, I now have perfect opportunities to visit Bibra Lakes to follow in Mother's footsteps - literally!!!!!
After lunch back home, I embarked on my first task in regards to secure storage - preparing the family heirloom for transport to the storage facility. It is one of those antique display cabinets, it was passed onto Mother from Poppa. Evidently Mother was able to grab this cabinet when Aunt Mavis died, before the "vultures" being the other rellies of Mavis' side proceeded to grab as much as Poppa's belongings as they could!!! Aunt Mavis married Poppa sometimes after Nanna died. Then after Sally and I moved into our first house from being in apartments, Mother decided to pass this cabinet onto us. Sally thinks, since it was just before Mother was diagnosed with this disease, she somehow knew her days on Earth were numbered so wanted to assigned this cabinet while she was still able to, hence she passed it onto Sally and I. It is a classic antique, made of wood with lots of this old style glass, glass door, glass sides, the shelves made of glass, and a mirror at the back.
So now to figure the task of safely transporting this delicate piece of furniture the 45-mins to 1-hour trip to the storage facility. My first plan was to attempt ever so carefully to put it into the back of the car as it is not a terribly large piece of furniture. However, it was just a wee bit bigger than the car door, just too big to fit through it. Therefore the only other option was to transport it in the trailer, a far more risky venture!! Fortunately, due to the legacy of Sally's medical needs, I had more pillows than you can poke a stick at. So I first carefully loaded the item onto the trailer using an old quilt cover, laying it on it's wooden back, then I placed pillows underneath it so to cushion it from the trailer's floor. Then I placed pillows on either side of the item, there was just enough space between the item and the trailer sides to enable stuffing down the pillows keeping them in place. Then I placed further pillows and blankets inside the item inbetween the glass shelves to absorb any further shocks and to keep the door from rattling. With all the padding and impact protection measures, this single unit took up the whole trailer.
Now the big test.... did my methods work?? I was about to find out as I began the nerve-wracking trip to the storage unit, holding my breath at every bump in the road, at times watching the item bounce around in the trailer!!! But most fortunately, the item survived the trip unscathed, and it is now safely stored at the high security storage unit. Mission accomplished!! For the most part it materially doesn't matter if someone manages to burgle the house as I do have contents insurance. However this heirloom cannot be replaced, all the insurance on earth couldn't replace this. Besides I have no idea how much it might be worth. Sally used to watch these antique shows where people would bring in their items for valuation and a lot of the time the find it is worth $1000's when the owner thought it may be only $100's. This item I have is in it's original condition, nothing has been replaced, and it is still in very good condition, Poppa had looked after it well!! So for all I know I could be sitting on a fortune!!!! It's not that I would ever sell it, there is no way I would sell it, but I should perhaps have it valued for insurance purposes, as my current content insurance doesn't really cover this item - only the more mundane items such as the TV, furniture, my computer, etc. Anyway, now it is safely stored in a more secure location, bar any earthquake or other similar calamities, it is safe and sound!!
Today I moved another trailer load of items to the storage unit. All subsequent moves are aimed at removing items that I don't actually need immediately, mostly Sally's items, so to make more space in the house, making it easier to keep clean and to move out if and when the time comes. So I loaded two of Sally's craft cupboards into the trailer, that alone took up most of the trailer. It is fortunate that it is a caged trailer with steel barred walls all around it. This enables me to fit more items, and there was just enough room down one side for Sally's wheel chair and a small box. I managed to stash a couple of boxes of surplus kitchen items, again mostly Sally's legacy, into the car, and a couple of boxes of Sally's craft items into the trunk.
Before my trip to the storage unit, I first went for my walk, and then I went to Bunnings for another Padlock. This time I bought a top of the range lock, a large lock costing about $70 and according to the claims on the packaging the lock cannot be cut by bolt cutters. Well I hope that claim will never be tested!!!! But I decided it was a worthy investment to further protect the heirloom. So for someone to break into the unit, he will first have to get past the front gate which needs the correct pin on the keypad to access. By then Security services would have been alerted. Then the would-be-burglar will have to literally break down the metal roller door, and hopefully the coppers will have arrived before he succeeded. So bar any Al Quaida-style terrorist plot, I'd say my items in the unit are safe from any malicious hands!!
Alas the weather!!!! After being without rain for over a month, the forecast did say a "chance" of a shower. Well as luck would have it, this "chance" of a shower decided to materialize while half-way down the Freeway towing my exposed load - two wooden cupboards made mostly from chip boards!! - classic Akea stuff!!! Most Akea items are made from chip boards which is why they are so cheap, aside from the fact that it all comes in kit form which we had to assemble ourselves - and those cupboards were most lovingly assembled by me for Sally!!! And it was more than just a "shower"!! It bloody poured down!!!! I could have cursed that weather!!! The rain lasted for only about 10 minutes, and it hadn't rained since!!!!But it was enough to soak the cupboards, and being made of chip boards, the water has a tendency to make it warp!!!! It did manage to mostly dry out by the wind as I made the rest of the trip to the storage unit. But I guess I will find out soon enough if the cupboards developed warping!!!! Not a happy camper!!!! Just 10 minutes of rain after over a month of drought!!!! It could have waited another 30 minutes!!! grrrrrrrr...... just my bloody luck!!!!! It probably won't rain again for another bloody month!!!! Anyway, I left the trailer in the storage facility, so not only I have a little more room in the house, I now have a lot more room in the garage!!
So the plan is, over the next few weekends, bar any burglaries or other calamities, is to each weekend first pick up the trailer, transporting whatever can fit into the car to the storage unit while going to pick up the trailer. Bring the trailer back home, and proceed to load larger items or more items into it, then transport it back to the storage unit and leave the trailer there for another week until the next weekend. The task would be performed over the two days of the weekend while fitting in my other schedules such as my walks, the inevitable yard work, trips to the shops, etc.
Other issues..... just as I mentioned previous blog, I definitely decided to get out of the dating game. I am more convinced than ever that I am meant to be a nomad. That is why my spirit name, Wandering Wolf, was given to me from a past life. I am indeed a wanderer, ever to wander, never to settle down, never to have a lifetime companion. Sally was not a lifetime companion, though she would have been if not for her death, but for reasons I have partial ideas of, she was taken away from me. So it seems I am not meant to be with a companion. That is why I was incarnated to this little city of Perth rather than the east coast or America or Europe. There be no one for me in Perth, all of my matches were either located on the east coast or overseas. So indeed, I am meant to be alone. So now to fulfill my calling. I am a star child, incarnated from the stars, spending many past lives as ETs on other planets, which is why I have ET experiences - many of them are my kins from my past incarnations. As well as my Earth family I also have a star family, Andromedeans and Pleaideans. It is also why I am so drawn to whales and dolphins, they are Pleaidean souls (as well as Sirius). There are many on this planet like me, to be sure some do have partners, but it seems that due to my particular tasks I would not have a lifetime partner.
Now back to work tomorrow for another week.......
With Pluto being in my natal sign, I feel like another Alice Cooper song..... it's about necro sex, which is why I like it so much.... hehe... haha.....
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