Everything is on the truck. The condo is locked up. We got to the Car Train 3 hours before the train leaves. There’s nothing to do now but wait for dinner at 7. We know the train isn’t insanely late because we’re in the lobby instead of waiting in a long line in the car. With luck, we’ll arrive somewhere near 9 tomorrow morning. Below you can see crew boss Paul shortly after he found out they missed a dozen glass figurines, and the shuttle truck with everything Mom owns.

With no wall hangings, no furniture, no rugs, and a ceramic tile floor, the living room had an amazing echo. Mom couldn’t stop yodeling. We were so early we stopped in Sanford for an ice cream lunch. It was excellent ice cream.

This is so unusual I wouldn’t believe it if it were in a movie. Friday, Mom’s garbage disposal started leaking. We were still trying to figure out whether it was a leak or a spill when an electrical outlet shorted out. There was plenty of smoke and stink. Fortunately, our realtor has a good handyman. He was able to stop by Friday. He verified the electrical problem was s short and made sure it won’t short again until he can fix it. Then he verified the leak was from a rusted-out garbage disposal. So as it turns out, it’s just two old things that gave up the ghost on the same day. Repairs will be simple. Mom was understandably quite upset, but she was settled this afternoon.

The condo sale is still a go. In fact, the deadline for the buyers to back out without losing their deposit was Friday. The buyers are back in NY. The kitchen should be patched up Monday. I’ll be down Tuesday.

Mom’s bank is Chase. They don’t have any offices in Howard county, and none near Charlestown. PNC has branches right inside Charlestown. Danita and I already use PNC. I figured this would be an easy deal. I made an appointment and went down to the bank. My “personal banker” set up an account for Mom, but ** surprise ** it’s on hold until Mom can be physically present to sign her name. Then he told me he could issue Mom a credit card. It turns out he couldn’t until Mom is present. Along the way, he said many other things that were anywhere from irrelevant to untrue while not providing a useful answer to any of my questions. Then he told me that West Chester Financial Advisors was using my social security number. He obviously couldn’t help with that either. I called the call center, who also couldn’t help. I escalated the issue and got to talk to a competent person a few hours later. It turns out a business EIN (tax ID number) can use the same digits as an individual’s SSN. The numbers are easy to tell apart. The EIN is xx-xxxxxxx, the SSN is xxx-xx-xxxx. The competent person told me the personal banker should have never said that. For one thing, I was authenticated to discuss my SSN, and not business EINs. I had no right to know West Chester Financial Advisor’s tax ID number. Unfortunately, I plan to meet with this same personal banker next week. Maybe he’ll be competent enough to open Mom’s new accounts. If not, we’ll be in Charlestown the next day. We can try the Charlestown branch.

I hope this finds everybody doing well.

JaMM came for a visit this weekend. (Jiajia, Mark and Mira). We had a good time. JaM got to do some shopping and had a grown-up lunch at a real restaurant. Mira was not very happy about having grandparents when she visited a month ago. But this time she decided grandparents are OK, and can sometimes be fun. Mark found a phone app that plays notes and flashes lights when Mira touches the screen. She loves playing with that app. while Mark and Jiajia were out, Mira saw my phone and grabbed for it. It didn’t play any notes. The phone was no good to her. She tossed it aside and went on to more interesting things — like Bongo drums.

Mom had quite an exciting week. Her condo went live, asking $109,500. I thought the price was too high, but the realtor advised we wait two weeks before lowering the price. She had a bid the same day, before the professional pictures were posted. The next day, she got two more bids. We asked for “best and final” offers. We got three bids for $120,000. We couldn’t believe it. We chose one bid. The bidder accepted, and within 24 hours they had backed out. Their kids convinced them not to do it. Fortunately, our second choice bid was still interested. We signed the contract. The house will be inspected tomorrow. We hope to settle August 9.

We also signed the contract for the movers. I bought car train tickets. I’ll go down to WPB July 20. We’ll load up the trunk with stuff. Then Mom and I will head back north. We should arrive here July 26.

Lots of excitement this week on all fronts! I hope this finds everybody doing well.

Danita and I celebrated independence day by watching the Columbia fireworks. They always do a blow-out job with the fireworks, but this was by far the biggest display ever. It was great fun.

Mom celebrated her independence day by signing the contract to move into Charlestown. “Old eagle eyes” found a $1000 mistake on the finance page. That’s pretty good for a 91 year old. Hopefully we’ll be able to send the signed contract back tomorrow. We also hope to find out this week exactly when the movers will be packing up and loading Mom’s condo. And the condo should go up on MLS this week. There’s plenty of action in Florida!

We’re looking forward to Mira visiting us this weekend. We’ll let Mark and Jiajia come along as long and sleep by the wood shed.

That’s it for us this week. I hope this finds everybody doing well.