WHITBY FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, MAY 6-.1987, PAGE .5 The movers arrived at 1 p.m. - almost two hours early. That shouid have tipped everybody off right away. -"Three men and a truck," the driver said. "R1ight,"'came the reply. (Aimost two hours early; can you believe that?) The driver bounced out of the cab, rattled racks and gates the way moving crews do, and bounded up the steps. "Let's have a littie look." He looked in the dining room and said, "Hmm." He Iooked in the living roomn and said, "Mmmm. " In each of the four bedrooms he said, "Oh, oh." Finally he looked in the garage and said, "Oh- mahgawd. " He scratched his head, conversed in whispers with his twvo helpers. "Can I borrow your phone?" He borrowed the pnone, talking to a guy he called dispatch in ciipped, moving-van lingo. He-hung Up. "Too big," he said. "This is a semi. It was supposed to be a balf-day, maybe six-hour mové. Tmis is too much. We need a bigger truck. A bigger truck wil corne. Goodbye. " "The bigger truck will come," he was asked, "when?" "i'n hour. Maybe two. By three at the iatest." Do you believe in fainies? Three -o'clock came. A truck didn't. Dispatch said wait another hour. Four o'clock came. Dispatch said he'll be there any haif hour. Five o'clock came. Then so did the truck. A big, long truck. A noisy truck. A truck longer than the driveway. A truck longer than the driveway plus three quarters of the width of the road. ,.The driver feil out of the truck. "Tired," he said. "Star- ted at seven today. " The driver and his two helpers shuffled into the house. They looked in the dining room and gasped. They looked in the living room and bianched. In each of the four WITH OUR FEET UP by Bill Swan Moving - for the last time bedrooms they fainted. In the garage they vomited,cursed the dispatcher, and whimpered. "This," they said, "is an ail-day move. This should.be started tomorrow. And I.'m going to kiil the guy on dispat- ch."? "We've checked," the driver was told. "There are no moving vans available in ail of Hunidrum Region tomorrow, or for several days. It's tonight or neyer. " "Neyer?" replied the driver, and some people might even say he cherished the idea. "Tonight, " the householder whimpered back. "Well," said the driver, "we didn't have coffee break this morning, we skipped lunch, we didn't stop for a smoke this afternoon. We started at six this morning. Or was it five? And thîs is going to take until midnight to load, another three, four hours to unload. It's going to be late when we finish. But what the heck. We've got to stant work at seven tomorrow, too. Give us five andw'] eyo moved." e1 e o So the driver and his two helpers feil down on the lawn and feli asleep. The big long truck blocked the road. Neighbors honked. Dogs barked. Then on a signal, the moving crew became untangied. They dusted off their fatigue, sent out a few more signals for food, mentioned on ce more that they had skipped lun- ch. Somieone fnally got. the hint andi nrdered a bigïpizza. Moving began. - Moving is packing. Moving is boxes, packed with stuff. Moving is boxes filled with brick collections and books. Moving is packing boxes'on a big truck. Moving is pulling and tugging and cursing and smiling. Moving sucks. Movingis a big van with no interior lîghts being packed to the roof with boxes packed witb -qnchor collec- tions and anvil samples. In the dark. Moving isstuff that won't fit being squeezed into spaces just too smnall. And making it.. Moving is six hours of packing until midnight and the house is empty and someone throws the microwave oven on the tailgate and the truck is fuil. "We can unload tonight," the driver said, "or we can unload tomorrow." "Tomorrow, " the householder said. Everyone smiied. Everyone was happy. Everyone wan- ted to go home to bed. Everyone did. Except some people feel they have to vacuum and dlean and scrub an empty bouse so people moving in won't think that ail that lint and fuzz coilected behind the refrigerator. Those are the same kind of people who then sit, up with a baby with a tem- SEE PAGE 6 DR. JIM HOLMES ispeets Max, Mayor Bob At- tersley's dog, ýat the grand opening of a 'new veterinarian clinie on *nossland Rd. Whitby's new vet uses acupuncture The new veteririarian in town, Dr. Jim Holmes, is one of only two in the province who uses acupun- cture on animais. WhiIe lie acimits tbere are opinions for and against acupun- cture (defined as the stinmulation of 'special points on the body resuiting in a desired phy$iological effect) and that some cail it "hokey," Holmes says the treatment has shown "extremely impresive" resuits on animaIs as well as humans since discovered by the Chinese 4,000years ago. "If drugs don't work, it's a sort of last resort," he said at the grand opening Saturday of his clinicat the new Fallingbrook Glen Square, at the corner of Rossland and Ander- son. Holmes decideo to locate in Whitby after four years as one of the veterinarians at the Taunton Road Animal Hospital in Oshawa. "Most people dream of opening Up their own practice," he says, noting that he decided on the Whit- by location, near his home, after seeing the signs go up advertising the new plaza. Holmes says acupunture works, in particular, on dogs with arthritic pains. He first became interested when he Iearned of the technique at a lecture -in the. U.S. three years ag 1o. He became a convert when he took courses in animal acupun- cture. Needies, the most common in- strument, as well as electrical or ultrasound stimulation, heat ap- plication, finger pressure and now laser beams are the instruments used in acupuncture.- Needies, inserted to a depth of 1/ to 11/ inches in "strategic locations," are twisted a littie to be "iset" in treatments that last from 12 to 16 minutes. Therapy is first performed once or twice a week for six to eight weeks and then tapered off to maintain the animal's im- provement. Hoimes says other conditions, besides arthritis, that may respond to acupunture include chronic ailergic dermatitis, epiiepsy, nerve injury, asthma and gastrointestinal conditions. "Admittediy, acupunture isn't fully understood as yet," says Holmes. But he dlaims that the "venifiable history of veterinary acupunture's sûùccess" provides a "guarantee" that it will continue to progress toward general acceptan- ce in Canada. The only other veterinary in On- tario who uses acupuncture is Dr. Clare Holmes (no relation) in Alliston. Among the favorite "patients" of Whitby's Holmnes are birds and rep- tiles-. what'the Gas Company doesn' t tel yo-ui about heating your home s FC Oji furnaces manufactured since 1979 have an efficiency rating of approximately 85%/, while a new conventional gas furnace is only 62% efficient. OIL HEAT IS MORE ECONOMICAL The cost of heating oil reduced by 22%o from February 1986 to February 1987. In that same period, the cost of gas reduced by only 1.4%. -OIL DEALERS ARE COMMITTED TO LOWERING VOUR HEATING BILLS s ACT If you're considering converting, the typical cost of a conventional gas furnace is $1900. You can get greater --fficiency by upgrading your present oil system for less than $600. A new high efficiency oul furnace costs-less than $1700. IT DOESN'T PAY TO CON VERT TO NATURAL GAS OR ELECTRICITY Our oil fired water heater eau provide an entire tank full of A hot water in just 20 minutes. Compare-this to the 1.3 hours it takes natural gas to heat up a whoie tank. OIL IS MORE EFFICIENT Don't be mislead by the gas company's guarantee -of lower heatin'g costs. The formula they use is comparing a brand lew gas system to an old oil furnace. You can have a more :fficient system for less money (than a gas conversion) by upgrading your current oil furnace. now that's a guara"ntee!1 You have the freedom to choose the supplier who gives the best service. With gas or electricity, tiiere is no choice. ÀMCKee ...................... ............. *»»******** .......... ............. :: . ......... .............. fSince *1902 y 668-3381. 723-4663 655-3316 011 LIMITED 728-5138 ) '«% ---.00 E FA TC 1 00,