November 25, 2012
Beds and Trailers
Life in the desert continues, of
course, with many of the same ups and downs that mark life in the big
city. As they say, no matter where you go, there you are, which is
sorta another way of saying you can't go anywhere without taking
yourself with you.
Although I'm in a new place with new
opportunities, rewards, and challenges, I'm still me. Even if they're
not in a nicely (or poorly) labeled box, my virtues and flaws are
still with me, but that's okay.
State of the home:
As can be imagined by now, this little
place is livable, at least by my standards. Many, if not most, of the
things I need are available to me and sitting in places that I'm
guessing will be their new homes. My needs, in other words, are
pretty much met and it's just down to wants.
That only took me about three weeks,
and I'm not sure if that's good or bad.
There is about four or five times as
much stuff outside as inside, and just about all of that crap is
still in boxes, although none of the boxes are sitting on the ground
any longer. No, they're up on tables, covered by a tarp or inside the
shed, stacked on top of each other.
To be fair, over half of those boxes
are books, which I still have no idea where they'll end up, or
computer stuff, including old DOS stuff and games. At one time, I
thought I might end up selling them on eBay, and I still might try
that.
The inside is still cluttered with
things wanting homes. I have fantasies of putting them all away, but
one thing or another stands in the way. Like, I feel I need to have a
working computer to set up the computer work area.
While I have most of the big shit
done, there's still tons of niggling little loose ends gnawing at me
and making sure I stay stressed. Most, if not all, of these things
pretty much require me to make decisions, something if I was ever
good at, is a virtue that's fallen away.
Like, for example, a bed.
I've been thinking about this since
before moving in. I had a bed in my old place, of course, but,
naturally, the process of having one here is one of those things that
I'm complicating quite beyond what's necessary.
First, I really liked my old bed, but
it was an old one from Ikea before they went to selling them here in
US sizes. I moved the bed, which is all wood and sitting outside, but
was talked into abandoning the mattress. The bed was a bit larger
than a standard full size but smaller than a queen, and is too large
for my current situation.
That's okay: I don't mind downsizing.
A twin bed will do me and Minardi just fine (he said hopefully).
And here's where it starts getting
complicated or, more truthfully, where I start complicating things.
I've looked around the Internet and
have found several beds that will do just fine. Getting them out of
the store and up here to my home, however, makes me pause and think,
something that's rarely good for productivity or, as the kids say,
getting things done or even over and done with.
I have, I guess, three or so ways of
handling this.
One, and this was my original plan, is
to buy a small utility trailer for the Jeep, one of those 4' x 8'
metal frame things that I can use for hauling things around. I even
found one, a bright purple one!, and was on the verge of buying it
when I started shying away because of the $1000 it would cost.
If it costs, say, $20 to rent one, I'd
need to use it some fifty times before breaking even.
Now, I once had plans of building all
sorts of additional structures, patios, sheds and the like, up here,
and a trailer would be very helpful if not downright necessary for
hauling all the lumber up here. Also, there's still the matter of
that loveseat, or couch and loveseat, that my niece wants me to take.
I'm sorta putting that off. The
loveseat I would love, but I can't see that I'll ever have room for
the couch. In any case, getting that loveseat up here means moving it
the hundred miles from Murrieta back up here. That could be done with
a trailer.
To see how much it costs to rent one
of those little utility trailers, I looked on the U-Haul site and
they run around fifteen dollars. I'm sure with taxes and all the
other, extra charges, that would come close to the twenty bucks I
figured. The thing is, according the fine print, they said something
about the vehicle (in this case, my Jeep), having to have a hard top.
My Jeep only has the soft, convertible
top, so I'm not even sure at this point if they'd let me rent one. It
may be something that's required, but that the people at U-Haul wink
away, or it may be a real sticking point.
If I owned my own trailer, like the
purple one I wanted but am sure has already been sold, that wouldn't
be a problem.
Also, my Jeep is the smallest model
and can only tow about a thousand pounds, total. Having made the trip
up here a few times now, I can imagine it would be long, slow haul up
the mountains to get here. I already have to be in the slow lane to
let the zippier passenger cars speed past and have to downshift to
make it up the steeper parts, but have no idea how slowly I could
make it up the mountains bringing a few hundred extra pounds with
Minardi and me. My ego doesn't suffer when I'm passed, but I hate
holding up traffic. I look in the mirror and imagine how annoyed
everyone is at me, and I don't like that feeling.
To get back to the bed, Ikea has one
that would be perfect and a perfect fit.
The nearest store, however, is about a
two hour drive away, each way. That doesn't bother me, but (if
nothing else) adds about forty or fifty dollars in gas alone to the
cost of the bed.
Ikea will happily ship the bed,
mattress, and supporting slats to my home address for around sixty
dollars, but if I had a trailer, I could also buy a bed and mattress
at a closer place, maybe even cheaper. Just ten miles away, just down
the hill, there's a furniture place, and I think there's a couple
more within twenty miles or so.
If I get the Ikea bed shipped, that's
one less thing I need a trailer for, and for some reason, I consider
that important.
So, now, instead of worrying about
beds, I'm back to worrying about trailers. Everything is dependent on
something else.
Trailer pros:
I get to move five to six hundred
pounds of stuff by myself, when I want
I could haul my garbage to the local
dump
I'd own a trailer, which is sorta cool
Trailer cons:
It's a lot of money that I'm not sure
I can afford
Slower drives, pissing off more people
What if the purple one isn't
available? Do I want a boring black one?
I've heard you can pick up used ones
on Craigslist for quite a bit cheaper than the thousand dollars the
trailer dealer wants for a new one, but I haven't found one yet. The
good thing about the trailer dealer is that they handle licensing and
registration and stuff and, since the trailer's new, it would
probably hold together for awhile.
Since these little utility trailers
are considered by most people who want them to be cheap, I'm thinking
most of the people who buy them just have one and hang onto it
because it's always coming in handy.
The worst thing, of course, and the
most likely to happen, is that I'll order the Ikea bed and have it
shipped and also buy a trailer. That would be both stupid and a waste
of money, so I can't imagine my not doing it.
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