Well my client was not there when I telephoned her last week. I will be going to her on Thursday. Due to not going to her and a few other bills that popped up I started to go into a panic about paying our bills on time. We pay every bill, every month in full - no payouts, with two much discussed before we did them, exceptions, in the almost 40 years we have been married and we each did so before. This was a timing error - bills were due out and the money was coming in too late to pay them. So we had to raid my tiny IRA for $1000 to carry us through. We will need to make a regular scheduled withdrawal from husband’s IRA next month to pay our quarterly real estate taxes and our semi-annual car insurance payment in February.
I packed up the rest of the ornaments from the main and studio trees over the weekend. Monday night I took the lights off the tree - except the top section which the lights stay in place on. My right elbow started hurting last week (maybe even the week before at this point) especially when lifting my arm or lifting something heavy with my arm and it has been hard to do all of this. Our main tree is artificial (well, all of them are) and had to be disassembled and the sections are too heavy for me to lift with this arm, so last night husband took it apart and stacked the pieces in the dining room where I told him to put them. This way he can warp his loom and start working on it again and the pieces of tree can “drift” downstairs as I can deal with them - he would get ill bending over to put them into the tree box. The studio tree is not in the way and will also find its way downstairs and after the these trees are down I will be able to take apart the one in the dining room- currently blocked by the pieces from the main tree. Since we don’t really get Christmas gifts there is nothing of same to put away - just one empty box that I will ask husband about tossing. I did move the “Christmas boxes” we use for storage out of the way - these are Christmas decorated gift or storage boxes that I store Christmas decorations in during the year and then put them - empty - under the tree so it looks pretty and like there are gifts under the tree. So today we warped his loom - without the tree there is enough room to do so. But he is still surrounded by Santas, angels, Christmas and Chanukah bears.
I finally had a chance to write a cover letter and get out the renewal reminders for our reenactment unit - I serve as the membership chair in addition to being the treasurer as it is easier than passing the info back and forth to someone else about renewals. I had been delayed due to an error on our national group’s website. Something interesting - when I went on their website with my computer and clicked on this year’s membership form I got instead a form for people to form and sign up a new unit. When I contacted the person in charge she said that when she clicked on it she got the membership form. Hmmm? Turns out if one went on the site with a computer one got the unit form, but if one went on the site with a tablet or phone one got the correct the form. It has been corrected thank to my asking about it - it also delayed sending out the renewals a week waiting for this. We put together the mailing t - folded cover letter and forms, put in envelopes, put on stamps and address and return address labels. Out in the mail today. The renewal reminders and forms went out in today’s mail.
I have out a stack of books to write a talk that I am scheduled to give at my embroidery chapter on our meeting next month - 2 weeks from today - on the history of samplers. I keep trying to get started writing it. I know the basics of what I plan to say and the order, but I have to get it all together and have an outline to follow - I would hate to suddenly forget a word in the middle of the talk and I don’t want to start to wander off point! Husband will print out photos for me that he has taken at exhibitions we have gone to - plus I may pull some off the Internet or out of the books I have. Somehow I know it will be done as I want to do it. I don’t feel that I can teach stitches or techniques at meetings as others have done, but I am real good at talking. (Can you tell that from my posts?) I sent out an email today to the chapter board asking if anyone had anything for me to include in the newsletter - which will go out next Wednesday (meeting is the week after).
I put my older software DVDs/CDs that I still need to keep in 2 new boxes as the old ones did not hold much and kept falling apart. The old ones will be donated next month - along with a bag of unworn pantyhose - I wore one and it was awful, so I tossed that one and the rest of the huge bag (from an outlet) will be donated. I have a glass bowl that did not make it in December when I went to Goodwill that will join them. Looking around for what else can be donated.
And now tomorrow I will spend driving to Queens, taking the subway to Manhattan, working for about 3 hours, and then take the subway back to Queens and drive home. I will spend between 4 and 5 hours in transit for the 3 hour visit. Hopefully our mechanic found the problem last month and the drive home will be comfortable. I have already put burgers in the refrigerator to defrost for dinner tomorrow night when I get home.
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -
We can get more done when we have to than we do when we don’t have to.
It seems odd to me that I normally have trouble getting through what I need to in a week, but then those weeks come when I have to do a LOT more - Christmas decorating or decoration storage, writing a talk to give at a meeting, catching up on laundry when I fall behind, tax season, and other assorted extra or emergency jobs. Somehow it all always seems to get done.
Thursday, January 25, 2018
Thursday, January 18, 2018
FRUSTRATION'S ALL AROUND
Since the main Christmas tree did not go up until the last minute, I sort of figured that husband would be okay leaving it up a bit later than usual. Usual being this past Monday (3rd Monday in January - no reason other than it is a holiday here in the U.S. - honoring Martin Luther King, Jr - a civil rights leader - and therefore sticks out in one’s mind as it being the time to start taking down the tree and the decorations. But on Monday afternoon before I had a chance to bring up the subject, he asked when the tree would be down - so he could take back the living room for his weaving. He needs the length of the room to warp (set up threads on) his loom for his next project. He said that he regretted having to take it down, and the rest of the decorations could/should stay up for a while yet. This also led him to consider maybe putting the tree in the dining room next year to avoid this - the only time our living room is used for anything other than his weaving these days is decorating for Christmas, opening our limited presents on Christmas morning, and taking down the decorations. I told him that it was scheduled to start coming down the same day he asked and it would.
So after dinner I went downstairs and brought up box #4 for the tree decorations - last up, first off as it gets the outermost decorations. I started taking down icicles, plain balls, gold paper figures, etc used to fill in open spaces after the nicer decorations go on the tree. He suddenly realized what I was going and came into the living room, looked, and then said “Maybe it all should stay up a little longer.” I stared at him - “Yeah, I know it was my idea.” He then started helping me take things off the tree - actually trees as I have to pack the studio tree ornaments away at the same time as they are packed together and shared ornaments. I did most of 2 boxes of ornaments (out of 4). Frustrating - I would rather not have started yet - and then he says I shouldn’t have!
I am on a comics discussion group. As of a week ago Monday (maybe earlier, that is when I go online to the group to read a week’s worth of posts) the site was not so much there - and I was not sure if it was a problem with the site or my computer. A check with another computer showed that it was not accesible from that computer either. I figured all would be well the next day - it was not. I went looking back in my emails as I had a couple of email conversations with the fellow whose site it is. I never kept a record of his email address, because it is on the site. I found that, yes, there was a problem and it was “now” expected to be back by Thursday (last Thursday now) after it had not been back by “Tuesday” (2 days before last Thursday). As of last night it is still not working right enough to use. Frustration - I enjoy the company of those on that group and we have great discussions beyond the comics we are talking about.
I am also on an embroidery discussion group. This group is in the middle of migrating to a new site and “wonderful”changes. The site started moving in December and due to everything that was going on, I did not have a chance to register with and start to use the new site. The old site is still open (until at least the end of January) and I was communicating a bit with the members through that site. But it was now January and I signed up with the new site. Not as bad to use as I feared. There was one problem - either very few people were posting or I was not able to see all of the posts. The page numbers were listed at the top of the page - but when I clicked on any page number, I was still on the same page. Very frustrating I was missing seeing photos of everyone’s work and hearing about their holidays. I posted about this and finally had an answer appear as the last one in the list and therefore on the page I came on the group on - there was a problem and there was a work around. So finally last night I was able to move around in this group and read the posts for half of December and all of January.
Last night I went to make a monthly backup of my main computer, while at the same time making a quarterly backup of my work laptop -onto 2 separate external hard drives. The one I have been using for quarterly backups did not work. It had electricity, but did not show up on the computer. I then tried plugging it into my desktop computer - did not work there either. Oh, well, I had thought about replacing it, just had not gotten around to it. The biggest problem I had was this computer is wonky. The oldest back up of this computer is on the drive which did not work - and it is a “clean” backup which I need if I have to start this computer over.
I did what I hate to so. I told husband about the drive not working. This resulted in at least an hour’s worth of his repeating all I did with his computer. We then took apart the case the drive was in and took the drive out of it. When I updated the hard drive on my main computer we had bought an external drive case for the old drive so I could still access it when I found missing things. We opened that case, took out the old drive, and put the backup drive with the problem in it - it worked. I copied the needed file off it to the monthly back up drive. (And husband thought it a waste when I decided to back up the computers to 2 drives instead of one.) We then reassembled my old hard drive into the case and put the backup drive into a small box to keep it safe. I now will get a new second backup drive. (See backing up drives is important!) Now the backups are set up when I am going to backup and I walk away and they just run on their own. Very frustrating and a waste of time.
I have to go to my client in Manhattan as I have to do her payroll taxes - and the date for filing the company’s copy of her W2 has been moved up to January 31 from February 28. Last year I mailed the forms to her for her to mail out and it did not get to her - but came back to me in the mail, despite being correctly addressed to her. So I really wanted to get to her early this month in case there were problems getting the forms to her to mail. Then I realized something - she will have taken at most one payroll check last year (the business is not doing well) and I can make do the paperwork in advance and bring it with me. So I pulled out my typewriter and started typing the forms. I had ordered the forms from IRS in December to make sure I had them - 2 different forms and a different cover form for each - 4 kinds of forms in all. I was fine until I did the second form - there were no cover forms! I went looking and counting - they had sent me 2 sets of the other cover form. So I had to go online and order more forms - and I hope they will be here early enough to fill in and mail to her for her to sign. I am going to her tomorrow - I hope. We have had another snow storm - very light, but I didn’t want to drive in the snow. It was last night to today. So tomorrow morning I will get up and call the client and hope she says I can come there tomorrow - if not I hope I can go there next week. Not only do I have to do her work - I get paid quarterly and we need the money to pay bills. So, between the weather and IRS not sending forms it has been frustrating.
Now, tonight I took the garbage from the kitchen out for pickup tomorrow morning. Husband was having a reaction of some sort from the dinner we had and I did not want to open the garbage pail when he was in the room. I took it out while he was upstairs. I did not tell him I was doing so - I have taken the garbage out for the 29 years we have lived in the house and I just about never tell him I am doing so - unless there is some unusual reason to do so. I put the garbage at the street and came back to our side porch and pushed the handle button to open the storm door - the button did not move. I tried again several times - and it is cold out (not as bad as has been this winter, but still around freezing) and it did not work. I thought about the front door - but I had only cleared snow from half of the steps and I was concerned it might be icy since it would have melted and might have refrozen - so I pulled out my cell phone and texted my husband. He got the message and for a minute thought I was just telling him something - then figured out that I was stuck outside the house and came and let me in - and also went back and sprayed the handle lock. Following this I was told that I should never go out of the house without telling him! This led to an extensive discussion with no resolution as to my competence to go out alone without telling him - again, frustration.
I have been good at keeping up with my housework,, but - uh oh - I just realized that I never put in laundry to wash - I will do so as soon I get this posted.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
Frustration takes so much away from us (or at least from me). It takes concentration (why else would I forget the laundry) and time - I have had to keep going back and checking to see if the two group sites are working that I could have used on other matters. But we have to deal with it and move on.
So after dinner I went downstairs and brought up box #4 for the tree decorations - last up, first off as it gets the outermost decorations. I started taking down icicles, plain balls, gold paper figures, etc used to fill in open spaces after the nicer decorations go on the tree. He suddenly realized what I was going and came into the living room, looked, and then said “Maybe it all should stay up a little longer.” I stared at him - “Yeah, I know it was my idea.” He then started helping me take things off the tree - actually trees as I have to pack the studio tree ornaments away at the same time as they are packed together and shared ornaments. I did most of 2 boxes of ornaments (out of 4). Frustrating - I would rather not have started yet - and then he says I shouldn’t have!
I am on a comics discussion group. As of a week ago Monday (maybe earlier, that is when I go online to the group to read a week’s worth of posts) the site was not so much there - and I was not sure if it was a problem with the site or my computer. A check with another computer showed that it was not accesible from that computer either. I figured all would be well the next day - it was not. I went looking back in my emails as I had a couple of email conversations with the fellow whose site it is. I never kept a record of his email address, because it is on the site. I found that, yes, there was a problem and it was “now” expected to be back by Thursday (last Thursday now) after it had not been back by “Tuesday” (2 days before last Thursday). As of last night it is still not working right enough to use. Frustration - I enjoy the company of those on that group and we have great discussions beyond the comics we are talking about.
I am also on an embroidery discussion group. This group is in the middle of migrating to a new site and “wonderful”changes. The site started moving in December and due to everything that was going on, I did not have a chance to register with and start to use the new site. The old site is still open (until at least the end of January) and I was communicating a bit with the members through that site. But it was now January and I signed up with the new site. Not as bad to use as I feared. There was one problem - either very few people were posting or I was not able to see all of the posts. The page numbers were listed at the top of the page - but when I clicked on any page number, I was still on the same page. Very frustrating I was missing seeing photos of everyone’s work and hearing about their holidays. I posted about this and finally had an answer appear as the last one in the list and therefore on the page I came on the group on - there was a problem and there was a work around. So finally last night I was able to move around in this group and read the posts for half of December and all of January.
Last night I went to make a monthly backup of my main computer, while at the same time making a quarterly backup of my work laptop -onto 2 separate external hard drives. The one I have been using for quarterly backups did not work. It had electricity, but did not show up on the computer. I then tried plugging it into my desktop computer - did not work there either. Oh, well, I had thought about replacing it, just had not gotten around to it. The biggest problem I had was this computer is wonky. The oldest back up of this computer is on the drive which did not work - and it is a “clean” backup which I need if I have to start this computer over.
I did what I hate to so. I told husband about the drive not working. This resulted in at least an hour’s worth of his repeating all I did with his computer. We then took apart the case the drive was in and took the drive out of it. When I updated the hard drive on my main computer we had bought an external drive case for the old drive so I could still access it when I found missing things. We opened that case, took out the old drive, and put the backup drive with the problem in it - it worked. I copied the needed file off it to the monthly back up drive. (And husband thought it a waste when I decided to back up the computers to 2 drives instead of one.) We then reassembled my old hard drive into the case and put the backup drive into a small box to keep it safe. I now will get a new second backup drive. (See backing up drives is important!) Now the backups are set up when I am going to backup and I walk away and they just run on their own. Very frustrating and a waste of time.
I have to go to my client in Manhattan as I have to do her payroll taxes - and the date for filing the company’s copy of her W2 has been moved up to January 31 from February 28. Last year I mailed the forms to her for her to mail out and it did not get to her - but came back to me in the mail, despite being correctly addressed to her. So I really wanted to get to her early this month in case there were problems getting the forms to her to mail. Then I realized something - she will have taken at most one payroll check last year (the business is not doing well) and I can make do the paperwork in advance and bring it with me. So I pulled out my typewriter and started typing the forms. I had ordered the forms from IRS in December to make sure I had them - 2 different forms and a different cover form for each - 4 kinds of forms in all. I was fine until I did the second form - there were no cover forms! I went looking and counting - they had sent me 2 sets of the other cover form. So I had to go online and order more forms - and I hope they will be here early enough to fill in and mail to her for her to sign. I am going to her tomorrow - I hope. We have had another snow storm - very light, but I didn’t want to drive in the snow. It was last night to today. So tomorrow morning I will get up and call the client and hope she says I can come there tomorrow - if not I hope I can go there next week. Not only do I have to do her work - I get paid quarterly and we need the money to pay bills. So, between the weather and IRS not sending forms it has been frustrating.
Now, tonight I took the garbage from the kitchen out for pickup tomorrow morning. Husband was having a reaction of some sort from the dinner we had and I did not want to open the garbage pail when he was in the room. I took it out while he was upstairs. I did not tell him I was doing so - I have taken the garbage out for the 29 years we have lived in the house and I just about never tell him I am doing so - unless there is some unusual reason to do so. I put the garbage at the street and came back to our side porch and pushed the handle button to open the storm door - the button did not move. I tried again several times - and it is cold out (not as bad as has been this winter, but still around freezing) and it did not work. I thought about the front door - but I had only cleared snow from half of the steps and I was concerned it might be icy since it would have melted and might have refrozen - so I pulled out my cell phone and texted my husband. He got the message and for a minute thought I was just telling him something - then figured out that I was stuck outside the house and came and let me in - and also went back and sprayed the handle lock. Following this I was told that I should never go out of the house without telling him! This led to an extensive discussion with no resolution as to my competence to go out alone without telling him - again, frustration.
I have been good at keeping up with my housework,, but - uh oh - I just realized that I never put in laundry to wash - I will do so as soon I get this posted.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
Frustration takes so much away from us (or at least from me). It takes concentration (why else would I forget the laundry) and time - I have had to keep going back and checking to see if the two group sites are working that I could have used on other matters. But we have to deal with it and move on.
Thursday, January 11, 2018
VERY COLD START TO THE NEW YEAR
Being in the northeast US we had a terribly cold start to the year, well, technically it also ended 2017. It has been (according to the weather reports) the 3rd longest period with the temperature below freezing for this area since records were kept. I know many of you will scoff at this as the temperature where you are is (much) more often below freezing, but luckily for us, not that common here. Add to the unusually cold weather strong winds - in some areas wind chills were below 0 Fahrenheit - again I know elsewhere this is not that unusual.
As you know from last week’ post, we had a snow storm last Thursday. Due to the cold weather, the snow has stayed. - I must make a correction to last week’s post - I mentioned that a neighbor had helped us removes snow from one of the driveway cuts. I assumed (and you know what that means) that it was the neighbor who lived in the house immediately next to us on that side as he had been helping, what I thought was his wife. I was surprised as the neighbor has had back problems and even asked about same and he told me that he was fine. I later telephoned him and thanked him again. The next day I received an email from his wife - the neighbor had not been the one who helped us - he was in the house as he cannot leave same due to his back problem. The neighbor on the other side of her house - who we have never even met before (it is a main street and therefore we only know the neighbors on either side and one house to the other side, but that is due to a shared car accident by a 3rd party). Even nicer of him to have helped. She did not know his telephone number or email so I am going to write a thank you note. So, thank you, Dave! - Oh, and we did find the nut that goes with the handle that fell off the snow blower.
We stayed in the house on Friday for the entire day as it was the coldest day of this period of subfreezing weather. I took advantage of this time in the house to finally finish putting up my Christmas decorations - yes, on the twelfth and last day of Christmas I set up my teddy bear village! It is now setup and we are enjoying it. My normal time to start take down the other decorations is this coming Monday, but I may leave them up a few extra days - I will ask husband what he thinks and if he is ready. Between his worrying over the weather and our “visit to the 18th century” we have not really had a chance to look at them The village always stays up longer.
I checked with my mom - 88 years old - tonight to make sure she has groceries, heat, running water, etc. and she does. I asked if she needs anything and she told me no, she has groceries for at least another week and she is sure the snow will melt by then. She cannot open her front door as there is snow against it, but is sure after tomorrow (it is suppose to be 50 degrees Fahrenheit and to rain tomorrow) she will be able to open her door. I made her promise (which she would never keep) to call me if she needs food or help getting out. She is our only parent left.
Another followup to the snow removal story. When we put out our outdoor Christmas lights husband placed a strand on a low bush next to the steps to our door. He was draping them around the front of the bush. I suggested that maybe we did not want them that far forward and reminded him that once when we had someone to clear the snow, they ran the snow blower over the lights on that bush. He did not remember. Before the snow came I suggested that I unplug all the outside lights - afraid that water might get into the lights and short them out - maybe even start a fire. Husband instead turned off the breaker to that circuit. (The front outdoor outlet is on its own circuit as is the back outdoor outlet.) Good thing. As I mentioned last week husband ran over the Christmas light strand with the snow blower and we found pieces of the wire as far away as the other side of our small property). We have basically just left the snow as it was after we cleared it then as it was too cold and we were too discouraged to do anything about it. Today the temperature was in the upper 30s. Husband decided that the snow would not melt properly and he would blow some more of the snow out of the driveway cuts so that it would spread around more and melt faster. In addition we are suppose to clear the sidewalk in front of our house and had not done so - too much work and anyone can use our driveway to get from one side to the other. But, he also had not cleared the driver’s side of our van and to use it one needed to go in through the passenger side to get to the driver’s seat and he found it cumbersome, the time he tried moving the van to see if would move. So he decided to clear the sidewalk now, which would also give him access to the driver’s side of the van. (Normally the van sits there, but I need to go to a client next week and if the van is frozen in, he has no way to go out for lunch or to amuse himself while I have the car.) He was doing okay, but then the snow blower started to make funny noises and sort of “buck’. He pulled the snow blower to a spot on the driveway that was clear and shut it off. He looked inside (with a little shovel stick that came with the blower) - nothing stuck. He had me lay down the blower for him - handle to the ground and found the problem. Apparently much more of the light strand had been pulled by the blower and it was wrapped around both sides of the axle of the blower’s wheels. About 15 minutes later - with the help of needlenose pliers and a wire cutter - the blower was fixed.
Instead of going in, husband decided to clear the snow off the windshield and hood of our RV (remember this is a Chevy van). It would not move. I suggested starting the engine - by logic and what I have seen happen before - this would heat the snow on the bottom and it would slide off the hood easily - if not on it’s own. He insisted that would not work and kept pushing until he removed enough to make him happy.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
Okay two of them -
First, unplug or shut off the power to your Christmas lights before using a snow blower near them.
Second - Keep yourself, your loved ones, and your home warm in cold weather so that all survive safely.
As you know from last week’ post, we had a snow storm last Thursday. Due to the cold weather, the snow has stayed. - I must make a correction to last week’s post - I mentioned that a neighbor had helped us removes snow from one of the driveway cuts. I assumed (and you know what that means) that it was the neighbor who lived in the house immediately next to us on that side as he had been helping, what I thought was his wife. I was surprised as the neighbor has had back problems and even asked about same and he told me that he was fine. I later telephoned him and thanked him again. The next day I received an email from his wife - the neighbor had not been the one who helped us - he was in the house as he cannot leave same due to his back problem. The neighbor on the other side of her house - who we have never even met before (it is a main street and therefore we only know the neighbors on either side and one house to the other side, but that is due to a shared car accident by a 3rd party). Even nicer of him to have helped. She did not know his telephone number or email so I am going to write a thank you note. So, thank you, Dave! - Oh, and we did find the nut that goes with the handle that fell off the snow blower.
We stayed in the house on Friday for the entire day as it was the coldest day of this period of subfreezing weather. I took advantage of this time in the house to finally finish putting up my Christmas decorations - yes, on the twelfth and last day of Christmas I set up my teddy bear village! It is now setup and we are enjoying it. My normal time to start take down the other decorations is this coming Monday, but I may leave them up a few extra days - I will ask husband what he thinks and if he is ready. Between his worrying over the weather and our “visit to the 18th century” we have not really had a chance to look at them The village always stays up longer.
I checked with my mom - 88 years old - tonight to make sure she has groceries, heat, running water, etc. and she does. I asked if she needs anything and she told me no, she has groceries for at least another week and she is sure the snow will melt by then. She cannot open her front door as there is snow against it, but is sure after tomorrow (it is suppose to be 50 degrees Fahrenheit and to rain tomorrow) she will be able to open her door. I made her promise (which she would never keep) to call me if she needs food or help getting out. She is our only parent left.
Another followup to the snow removal story. When we put out our outdoor Christmas lights husband placed a strand on a low bush next to the steps to our door. He was draping them around the front of the bush. I suggested that maybe we did not want them that far forward and reminded him that once when we had someone to clear the snow, they ran the snow blower over the lights on that bush. He did not remember. Before the snow came I suggested that I unplug all the outside lights - afraid that water might get into the lights and short them out - maybe even start a fire. Husband instead turned off the breaker to that circuit. (The front outdoor outlet is on its own circuit as is the back outdoor outlet.) Good thing. As I mentioned last week husband ran over the Christmas light strand with the snow blower and we found pieces of the wire as far away as the other side of our small property). We have basically just left the snow as it was after we cleared it then as it was too cold and we were too discouraged to do anything about it. Today the temperature was in the upper 30s. Husband decided that the snow would not melt properly and he would blow some more of the snow out of the driveway cuts so that it would spread around more and melt faster. In addition we are suppose to clear the sidewalk in front of our house and had not done so - too much work and anyone can use our driveway to get from one side to the other. But, he also had not cleared the driver’s side of our van and to use it one needed to go in through the passenger side to get to the driver’s seat and he found it cumbersome, the time he tried moving the van to see if would move. So he decided to clear the sidewalk now, which would also give him access to the driver’s side of the van. (Normally the van sits there, but I need to go to a client next week and if the van is frozen in, he has no way to go out for lunch or to amuse himself while I have the car.) He was doing okay, but then the snow blower started to make funny noises and sort of “buck’. He pulled the snow blower to a spot on the driveway that was clear and shut it off. He looked inside (with a little shovel stick that came with the blower) - nothing stuck. He had me lay down the blower for him - handle to the ground and found the problem. Apparently much more of the light strand had been pulled by the blower and it was wrapped around both sides of the axle of the blower’s wheels. About 15 minutes later - with the help of needlenose pliers and a wire cutter - the blower was fixed.
Instead of going in, husband decided to clear the snow off the windshield and hood of our RV (remember this is a Chevy van). It would not move. I suggested starting the engine - by logic and what I have seen happen before - this would heat the snow on the bottom and it would slide off the hood easily - if not on it’s own. He insisted that would not work and kept pushing until he removed enough to make him happy.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
Okay two of them -
First, unplug or shut off the power to your Christmas lights before using a snow blower near them.
Second - Keep yourself, your loved ones, and your home warm in cold weather so that all survive safely.
Friday, January 5, 2018
18 CENTURY, SNOW STORM AND NEW YEAR
Sorry to be late again. I am still running terribly behind where I should be due to the holidays, I guess.
The reenactment event we did last week is usually a nice simple, although time consuming, event to do. It has been one of my favorites every year. It was an unusually cold week for around here. Normally the weather should be above freezing here in December, one night last week was 9 degrees Fahrenheit and on the final day of the event it snowed. While it is an 18th century house it does have a furnace in the basement and we also make a fire in the kitchen fireplace. This kitchen is unusual for the period as it is in the house - at least as it is set up to be interpreted by the restoration. Normally we are comfortable in the house, but this year it was cold in the house - so cold that husband (with his cold) actually asked to switch rooms with me during the last 2 nights as the room he was in was too cold for him. So he got to talk about our musicians/singers, the odd cabinet bed in the room, the kitchen, and Sinter Klaus (there is a display table related) while I got to talk about the owner’s office and the 2 bed chambers - he likes doing the back rooms as he can talk more about anything he wants to than in the kitchen where there are things to be covered in talking. We even brought plain knit gloves the last two nights to keep our hands warm in the house. Our unit is lucky - we are in the first house in the village so we have the shortest walk from the visitors’ center in the cold. One thing which surprised me was how many people came out in the terrible cold - and many brought very small children and babies.
So after “spending” 5 days in the 18th century, I was behind on everything. I have since read 9 newspapers, caught up on a week’s worth of email and mail, caught up on my online groups - one of which moved to a new setup and I had to join and setup my account all over again, plus doing all of same that has come in since.
We had been told that we were to have snow from early this morning (Thursday) through the day. Where we are was suppose to get about 4 inches. Husband now panics over bad weather. I had my embroidery chapter meeting yesterday so on Tuesday I told him that we should buy whatever he wants or feels we need to have for a snow day. We bought stuff. I told him that I would go to the meeting (which is actually in extended walking distance from our house) and would not stay for the class on stitches after the meeting part. I did make one stop after - I exchanged USB stick drives in our bank vault - I use same for offsite data storage, which is changed once a month. (When he went to work, I would send the drive to work with him and he would bring the old one home with him for reuse.) I then came home. We ended up going to Walmart, the adjacent supermarket and the Walmart supermarket here. (Our regular Walmarts have small food departments, but not the supermarket areas that they do in other places - the Walmart supermarket is smaller than the sections elsewhere and is only a supermarket and pharmacy.) When we came home we went into “horrible weather mode”. All of laptops and cell phones were plugged into charge (and have stayed same since) and he had bought two devices to recharge cell phones, so those were plugged in also so they would be fully charged. Normally I would move anything in the middle of the traffic patterns in rooms out of same - but the living room and dining room where this is mostly done were still neat from the holidays. This way if we did lose electricity it is easier to walk around in dim light and not walk into anything. (For us, we are still in the holidays.)
When we went to bed last night, the snow had gone up a bit in how much we would get, as it had shifted further west. (Those of you in the South or the Northeast part of the U.S. who were hit by this storm, you have my sympathy.) The weather reporters has also started talking about blizzard and nor’easter (think hurricane with snow in cold weather). But, he had not panicked and I was glad of that. When I went to sleep around 4:30 am, there were still no school closings showing up on the local news.
Well, it ended up that this area had over 10 inches of snow - in bitter cold weather. It finally stopped snowing around 4pm and based on the suggestion from the weather reporters, as well as husband’s need to do so, we went out to clear our driveway. Our neighbors on either side were also doing so (they are young with young children - we are old with no children). And shortly after the neighbor’s son from two doors over (in his 20s) came out with some friends to dig out their cars. Our driveway is semi circular. It goes from one edge of our property to the other so just figuring out where to put snow is hard. Husband used the lightweight snow blower we bought last year. I used a shovel and a brush - the latter to clear off our car. We were out there about 2 hours doing this. Husband had trouble with one of the cuts to the street (4 lane road so we get 2 driving lanes plus a parking lane’s worth of snow plowed over on same) and had me cutting it down with the shovel (breaking the snow loose so it would spread over more area and easier for him to throw) while he worked on the other cut. The neighbor on that side who has a larger snow blower, came and cleared it for us. (Thank you again Sal!!!). I cleared half the stair case to our front door so the mailman could get to the box (I have no idea if we got mail today - I was not going to look - we did get a newspaper, but I forgot to take it in and was not going back out for it) and also cleared the snow all the way across the top step so that the door would open in an emergency.
Finally exhausted we came back into the house. I could not feel my toes. Husband looked as if he would pass out. We lost a small piece off the snow blower - a knob - which we have lost before, found it, but are still missing the nut to it and hope to find it tomorrow when it is light out. (By 4 pm when we started it was dark out - and our garage light is on a motion detector, so when it went out one of us had to run to where it would go back on.) When he was coming to the end of the snow clearing he heard a noise in the blower which upset him - we later found out, he ran over the Christmas lights on one of the low bushes - good thing I told him to shut off the electricity to the lights last night. Schools are already closed for tomorrow. The weather is suppose to remain 15 degrees F or less until at least Monday, so there will be a lot of ice on the driveway.
I had told him to do a bit of the snow clearing, then in the house and rest a bit. But, being a man, it all had to be done at once, of course.
After dinner I went upstairs and did the paperwork I planned to do today and never got to. Moving some money around to pay bills, paying the bills, and a birthday card for my brother in law and one for the daughter of the neighbor who helped us out. Both birthdays are Monday and one bill is due out by then - not sure if we will get to the post office (and bank) in time for them to go out before Monday, but if they can, we are ready.
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -
We had a quiet New Year’s Eve.
The way I look at it, every day is the start of a New Year. I don’t make resolutions - the last one I made I have kept ever since, it was not to make any more resolutions. I look for what I can do (or not do) and then do my best to follow up. Resolutions are usually to broad to be followed and then one feels bad for not doing so.
And if you make resolutions and don’t keep them - remember every day is the start of a new year and one can start fresh.
Happy New Year.
Well, storms do not always do what they are predicted to do, and we got 10 inches! We had spent
The reenactment event we did last week is usually a nice simple, although time consuming, event to do. It has been one of my favorites every year. It was an unusually cold week for around here. Normally the weather should be above freezing here in December, one night last week was 9 degrees Fahrenheit and on the final day of the event it snowed. While it is an 18th century house it does have a furnace in the basement and we also make a fire in the kitchen fireplace. This kitchen is unusual for the period as it is in the house - at least as it is set up to be interpreted by the restoration. Normally we are comfortable in the house, but this year it was cold in the house - so cold that husband (with his cold) actually asked to switch rooms with me during the last 2 nights as the room he was in was too cold for him. So he got to talk about our musicians/singers, the odd cabinet bed in the room, the kitchen, and Sinter Klaus (there is a display table related) while I got to talk about the owner’s office and the 2 bed chambers - he likes doing the back rooms as he can talk more about anything he wants to than in the kitchen where there are things to be covered in talking. We even brought plain knit gloves the last two nights to keep our hands warm in the house. Our unit is lucky - we are in the first house in the village so we have the shortest walk from the visitors’ center in the cold. One thing which surprised me was how many people came out in the terrible cold - and many brought very small children and babies.
So after “spending” 5 days in the 18th century, I was behind on everything. I have since read 9 newspapers, caught up on a week’s worth of email and mail, caught up on my online groups - one of which moved to a new setup and I had to join and setup my account all over again, plus doing all of same that has come in since.
We had been told that we were to have snow from early this morning (Thursday) through the day. Where we are was suppose to get about 4 inches. Husband now panics over bad weather. I had my embroidery chapter meeting yesterday so on Tuesday I told him that we should buy whatever he wants or feels we need to have for a snow day. We bought stuff. I told him that I would go to the meeting (which is actually in extended walking distance from our house) and would not stay for the class on stitches after the meeting part. I did make one stop after - I exchanged USB stick drives in our bank vault - I use same for offsite data storage, which is changed once a month. (When he went to work, I would send the drive to work with him and he would bring the old one home with him for reuse.) I then came home. We ended up going to Walmart, the adjacent supermarket and the Walmart supermarket here. (Our regular Walmarts have small food departments, but not the supermarket areas that they do in other places - the Walmart supermarket is smaller than the sections elsewhere and is only a supermarket and pharmacy.) When we came home we went into “horrible weather mode”. All of laptops and cell phones were plugged into charge (and have stayed same since) and he had bought two devices to recharge cell phones, so those were plugged in also so they would be fully charged. Normally I would move anything in the middle of the traffic patterns in rooms out of same - but the living room and dining room where this is mostly done were still neat from the holidays. This way if we did lose electricity it is easier to walk around in dim light and not walk into anything. (For us, we are still in the holidays.)
When we went to bed last night, the snow had gone up a bit in how much we would get, as it had shifted further west. (Those of you in the South or the Northeast part of the U.S. who were hit by this storm, you have my sympathy.) The weather reporters has also started talking about blizzard and nor’easter (think hurricane with snow in cold weather). But, he had not panicked and I was glad of that. When I went to sleep around 4:30 am, there were still no school closings showing up on the local news.
Well, it ended up that this area had over 10 inches of snow - in bitter cold weather. It finally stopped snowing around 4pm and based on the suggestion from the weather reporters, as well as husband’s need to do so, we went out to clear our driveway. Our neighbors on either side were also doing so (they are young with young children - we are old with no children). And shortly after the neighbor’s son from two doors over (in his 20s) came out with some friends to dig out their cars. Our driveway is semi circular. It goes from one edge of our property to the other so just figuring out where to put snow is hard. Husband used the lightweight snow blower we bought last year. I used a shovel and a brush - the latter to clear off our car. We were out there about 2 hours doing this. Husband had trouble with one of the cuts to the street (4 lane road so we get 2 driving lanes plus a parking lane’s worth of snow plowed over on same) and had me cutting it down with the shovel (breaking the snow loose so it would spread over more area and easier for him to throw) while he worked on the other cut. The neighbor on that side who has a larger snow blower, came and cleared it for us. (Thank you again Sal!!!). I cleared half the stair case to our front door so the mailman could get to the box (I have no idea if we got mail today - I was not going to look - we did get a newspaper, but I forgot to take it in and was not going back out for it) and also cleared the snow all the way across the top step so that the door would open in an emergency.
Finally exhausted we came back into the house. I could not feel my toes. Husband looked as if he would pass out. We lost a small piece off the snow blower - a knob - which we have lost before, found it, but are still missing the nut to it and hope to find it tomorrow when it is light out. (By 4 pm when we started it was dark out - and our garage light is on a motion detector, so when it went out one of us had to run to where it would go back on.) When he was coming to the end of the snow clearing he heard a noise in the blower which upset him - we later found out, he ran over the Christmas lights on one of the low bushes - good thing I told him to shut off the electricity to the lights last night. Schools are already closed for tomorrow. The weather is suppose to remain 15 degrees F or less until at least Monday, so there will be a lot of ice on the driveway.
I had told him to do a bit of the snow clearing, then in the house and rest a bit. But, being a man, it all had to be done at once, of course.
After dinner I went upstairs and did the paperwork I planned to do today and never got to. Moving some money around to pay bills, paying the bills, and a birthday card for my brother in law and one for the daughter of the neighbor who helped us out. Both birthdays are Monday and one bill is due out by then - not sure if we will get to the post office (and bank) in time for them to go out before Monday, but if they can, we are ready.
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -
We had a quiet New Year’s Eve.
The way I look at it, every day is the start of a New Year. I don’t make resolutions - the last one I made I have kept ever since, it was not to make any more resolutions. I look for what I can do (or not do) and then do my best to follow up. Resolutions are usually to broad to be followed and then one feels bad for not doing so.
And if you make resolutions and don’t keep them - remember every day is the start of a new year and one can start fresh.
Happy New Year.
Well, storms do not always do what they are predicted to do, and we got 10 inches! We had spent
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)