The packing and box moving continued this weekend. One very challenging project I started is assembling an Ikea bunk bed for the boys that I got for cheap on craigslist. I had taken it hastily apart at the house of folks I bought it from and they were kind enough to bundle the pieces of wood together for easy carrying. I had to take it entirely apart to fit in the car so what was at first a bed was only a pile of wood and a bag of nuts and bolts.

Assembling Ikea furniture is hard enough with instructions…without its pret’near impossible. I’m taking it as little bit of a puzzle game to figure out and expect it to take a few weeks to get together.  I was using where the bolt heads had indented the wood to tell which part ought to be on the outside and you could vaguely make out it was lighter where one piece of wood met another and could use that to tell the thickness of wood that went there. I’m also expecting to find at some point I’ve missed something critical and will have to disassemble the whole thing to rectify the error as that usually happens even when I have instructions.

Our move to Maple Ridge draws ever nearer. We’ve spent every weekend out there painting and transporting the odd box or two, but the move proper is not far off and there isn’t much properly packed around here. It does, though, resemble a house in transition with empty boxes piled to the ceiling, half packed boxes and things all out of sorts waiting to be packed. Although I like change I have trouble when everywhere I look things are out of order. And then there’s the unpacking…

One thing I’ve noted about Maple Ridge that for most familiar would be less than revelatory was the number of big trucks. Not semi’s or broken down old jalopies but huge, new, clean and shiny, gas guzzling ‘monster’ trucks with giant lifts, huge wheels, and every conceivable accessory that could be bolted to them. They look to be 45-80,000 dollar vehicles, and no kidding, I’ve seen at least four or five every time we take some boxes to the new place. I don’t know what to say about it…Not too many environmentalists in Maple Ridge? They need the lifts to stay above the flood water? Lots of guys making Porsche money out there but not buying Porsche’s?

At any rate, being the big kid that I am I love looking at those big machines…kinda fun. “ooh lookit the lift on that one! bet it could squish us!”

Christopher Hitchens, author of “God Is Not Great” has a brother who’s of a different mind than him on a great many things. Interesting hearing this siblings view of his brothers work and ideas.