Jim

Another warm day today, in the mid seventies. I spent the day cleaning an apartment from tippy top to tippy bottom. Tomorrow, I'll finish. I only have to shampoo the carpet and mop my way out the door. George, our new tenant, will begin moving in next week. 

I am finishing up just in time. Tim was working at the other apartment. He walked home for lunch and on his way back, he saw a vehicle in the driveway. He was quite curious. It was our old friend Jim. 

Jim had looked at both apartments last week. I thought that he'd decided against them. It's a hard move for him. He lives in the one room schoolhouse he went to as a young boy, alone since his wife died.  He's lived in the country most of his life. Moving into town is going to be a big change for him. Moving away from his own history is going to be hard too. He's been waffling about it, but had a scary situation this winter which forced him to face the fact that he needs to make some changes. 

So, he's been having yard sales. He's got a huge stash of historical stuff, muzzle loading stuff, books, deerskin clothing, all sorts of historical things. He knows he's going to have to downsize. Tim helped him out buying a brass train whistle, his collection of oil cans, a titanium crowbar and a railroad crossing sign. (I thought we were downsizing too. I guess that I was wrong.) 

Anyways, after pondering things for a week, Jim was back. He decided to take the apartment. We were a bit surprised. 

There's no real rush as of yet, since his house has not sold, so we are not in a crunch. The two bedrooms are ready to be primed and painted. The bathroom is pretty much deconstructed and ready to put back together. The kitchen is done. The laundry room could use a coat of paint. The dining room  is a cosmetic fix. The deck over looking the river is being refreshed. Maybe a month of work, mostly focused in the livingroom. 

I love old Jim, and I am glad that he's taking that apartment. On one side of him lives a librarian, and he's done a lot of library work putting together a local history section. In the other half of the building, there's our Paula, who is active in a local history group for an area that was lost when the Kinzua Dam was built. A big part of the Seneca reservation was taken from the Indians. 

Johnny Cash sang about it:

Paula is one of the former residents of the town of Kinzua. Another of our tenants, exactly one block away, is another. They are connected to a whole group of former Kinzua residents who lost everything when the government bought them out and forced them to move right along with the Seneca. 

They are excited to have Jim moving in. He's well known in their circle. The bridge crossing the reservoir is named after his great-grandfather, so he has strong ties to the area as well.

Yep. Jim will have no shortage of people to talk about local history with. 

Change is always frightening when it looms ahead, but once he's made the change, I fully expect that he'll be content in his new home.