Packing up before the snow

Dec. 2, 2008
It's hardly been a quiet week in Mount Horeb. OK, it's not my home town, but I live here. I've been busy hauling a variety of items to the auction center, and after the last auction of the year, coming up Dec 14, we will have lots more in January and February of '09.

The day after Thanksgiving, hired help was in short supply, and I had at least a truck and trailer load of household goods to pack and haul. Turns out I made the drive with Karen Zethmayr, the lady I will marry this coming summer. I think we were brought together by mutual passions for dancing, thoughtful living, and the conservation of our planet. She says she always wanted a part time dock loading job for the exercise. Little did she know.

Our Thanksgiving Friday trip had started days before with a call from Bill Holman, of Holman Realty, Highland, Wisconsin. He was selling a house for an elderly lady who needed help packing up things that would never fit into the place she was moving into. That's how it starts. Once more I'd said yes, and I was making the time to pack and haul and find new homes for things that had surrounded someone before a turning point.

We pulled up to the isolated ranch house in rural Iowa/Grant County territory, and the note on the door read: "Please bang on the door loud. I'm hard of hearing." Bill greeted us at the door and introduced us to a trim, perky lady in a red sweat suit. We carried out a big blue plastic hand for sitting on, and other less striking furniture. We stuffed boxes with lamps, tools, sound equipment, camping gear, and knick knacks. She grinned gamely at the idea of putting old fashioned lamps into huge decorative tin cans for protection. As we packed, we learned that she and her husband had moved here 5 years ago from Chicago. They didn't know anyone in the area, but they liked the house.

Then this past summer, her husband was killed in a car accident. No longer able to drive, she needed a smaller place close to town. I know what it is to be alone in a house where the one you love has been taken away. She'll make it. Though hard of hearing, she uses her bright eyes and lively expression to assure you that she wants to connect. Handing us a pile of newspapers to wrap a collection of little lighthouses, she mused, "well, it's not snowing yet! That's a real good thing."

I was happy to help her, though the cost of moving will surely be more than what money today's market will bring for these things. Sometimes at Hawley Auctions we run across top of the line antiques and collectibles, even big ticket items. Other times we just manage to match up folks who want decent things for a reasonable price with those who hope for some return on what they can no longer fit into their lives.

Have a safe and happy holiday.