WEATHER OR NOT YOU ARE READY - WEATHER HAPPENS - PLAN AHEAD -BIG STORM HERE

 Well, at least I made it back here in when I am suppose to do so.

Our area got hit with a huge rain storm the end of last week.  We do live on an island – though it is so large we sort of tend to forget that it is an island from day to day.  (How big?  There are 4 counties on the Island – two of them are part of New York City – which is almost half the counties in same as there are 5 counties which make up NYC.)  We live in a county which is not part of NYC.

We live on a fairly main road.  We knew a large rain storm was coming and we made plans to stay in the house for the day.  During the day we looked outside a number of times and all we saw was a good sized rain storm.  At dinner time we put on the local news while we ate.  We were surprised to see/hear about how much flooding there had been on the Island from the storm.  Where I grew up was close to the south shore of the Island and we did get a flooded basement there from time to time (two worst cases were Hurricane Ida in the early 1960s a couple of years after we moved in and Superstorm Sandy recently shortly before mom moved out).  But our house here is about halfway between the north and south shores and in the all decades we have lived here – we have not had water in the basement and the only time we saw flooding in the street was Sandy.  Husband grew up nearby and we had an apartment nearby before our house so we are talking about somehere over 60 memories of storms in this area.  

I still have memories of when I was maybe 7 years old and the basement in my parents was flooded from Donna – I remember looking down the stairs (too deep water for me to be allowed down in the flood) and watching my toys float past.  When we took mom to see the house after Sandy we opened the door to the basement and seeing the items floating in the basement – major memories from Donna came “floating” past.  

Since we don't get flooding in our house it did not occur that us to even check for same.  On the TV, we were seeing flooding in the streets and houses near where I used to live and other places along the north and south shores of the Island.  Late in the evening I went down to take up the laundry I had washed and dried the night before and forgotten to take up and fold and I saw a rivulet of water from the wall of the basement to almost husband's work table along the wall of that room in the basement.  I quickly checked the spots in both rooms which might have flooded or be wet and all was okay.  I was trying to figure out where the water came from – AHA!  We have a small (about 4”x 4”) door in the wall of the basement behind the chimney which is used to clean out and check the chimney behind it.  The water had come in around the bottom of the door and dripped down.  We dropped pieces of paper towels over the wet spots to soak up the water and left the basement.  

On TV news the next day we found out that there had been flooding in our area.  Pictures of streets filled with water deeper then the curb – people showing their flooded basements – with more water coming in.  The next main road of the size of our street was flooded – we are often on that street and we saw the property around the library there (recently expanded and redone over several year) and at the gas station we go to, as well as the areas around these places – we were shocked that such a short distance had made such a bid difference in the amount of water on the street. We have wondered if the sewer drains there were backed up for some reason.

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

One never knows when Mother Nature will reek havoc somewhere.  After the first hurricane had hit my family's home nothing of value was kept low to the basement floor – in case of flooding again.  My parents also found out that there was connection to the sewer in the basement which should have opened before the storm to help get rid of any water that came in.  

Always know where you are suppose to go if there is an emergency such as this.  Around here it tends to be the school buildings.  If you do have to leave your house in a flood or other emergency – bring what you might need for a few days – food, medications, clothing – well charged cell phones, etc. Something to read or for children to play with (that special toy especially) to keep busy.  Hopefully you will get the all clear and be able to return to an intact home – but as is said – better safe than sorry.  When you leave your house for an emergency such as this make sure that your lights and gas are off also.  

Hopefully you will never have this problem, but better to be prepared than not.  (How the heck can I get a few hundred stuffed and other teddy bears into our vehicles to take with us in an emergency?)

STILL WORKING ON STORING CHRISTMAS STUFF AWAY - BUT ALMOST THERE AND WOULD BE IF NOT FOR A RUBIK'S CUBE

 My goodness – where did January and February go?!!!

I finished a partnership tax return which is due by March 15. I still have to get back the power of attorney form from client – signed – so I can prepare her business's state exemption form. And – I have to prepare sales tax returns for all 3 businesses by March 20!

I am actually almost finished actually storing away the inside Christmas decorations. I had 2 large filled plastic boxes of inside decorations (as opposed to the tree decorations which were already put away). Being lazy I hate to make down the stairs and up again trips so they were sitting in the dining room. As I go down to change down to change laundry loads I have taken the two boxes down – last one just went down. Also took down the last couple of small fabric decorations which had been missed when the box they are stored in was filled. I do have a box left with a glass domed beaded tree (which I had made some years ago) in it and a smallish plastic Santa of Robert's from when he was a buy both of which I will take downstairs on later trips down for the laundry.

That leaves 3 decorative boxes which have to go to the closet in the Teddys' room with items I don't want stored in the basement as wax (would melt in basement) or otherwise need better care than the basement. Of course this is not easy this year. I have our suitcases which store in the bottom of the same closet out in the middle of that room. We no longer use them as we travel in our small RV, but have kept them as we like them, just in case we need suitcases in the future. (For example if one of us, God forbid, had to go to the hospital.) I took the suitcases out to solve a storage problem in our bedroom. Husband has more clothes than should go in his dresser than he can fit in same. Most of them he does not wear and a good percentage of them do not fit him (no, too big – not too small) but he does not want to get rid of them. The clothes he actually wears – such as his pjs – are sitting on top of his dresser. I came up the idea of storing the clothing he is not wearing and wants to keep in – yes – the suitcases. I got the suitcases out, but he needs me to help back them so they are in the middle of the Teddys' room until we get a chance to pack the clothes away – so there is no easy access to the closet. Oh, add in, part of the Teddy Village blocks the door to that room into the open position and the closet is, of course, behind that door – so I have to be able to move that section of the room into the room where the suitcases are to be able to put the suitcases and these Christmas boxes back. It is all sort of like a room sized Rubik's cube! But every step I take in all of this gets us that closer to being finished.

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

It is amazing what a puzzle storage can be and what needs to be moved to get this or that to store it away or take it out.

STORED AWAY (MOSTLY) INSIDE CHRISTMAS DECORATONS FINALLY

 Well, over the last couple of weekends we have taken down all of the inside Christmas decorations (except one small beaded tree which still has to be put into its box) and stored most of what we took down in the basement.  

It was the most disorganized take down of decorations I have ever done!  Things are not in the correct storage boxes – so decorating next year will be a MESS!  But everything other than that tree is in its box.  

After the stuff was boxed I took the decoration boxes to the basement – stored in the finished half of same in a corner where the boxes fit EXACTLY in their space (so tight, husband could not get them out as they cannot be on any angle when being moved).  I stored my Christmas soft figures (teddy bears, large Mrs. Rudolph Reindeer I made etc.) and Christmas stockings in the box they all go in – also on that side of the basement, but in a different spot.  

The main tree gets carried downstairs section by section as they are heavy – and between same and the stairs I have to rest between the 9 sections.  I stacked them in the box in the order they have go into the box and added the pole, tree skirt and other similar items which fit into the box.  Doing well at this point.  

Then I made a big error which I did not realize until too late.  I had stored the assortment of various sized Santas and elves (varying up to about 3 ½ feet in height – some made by me, some were bought by us and a number of them were Christmas gifts from someone husband worked with) in their individual plastic bags on top of the big tree box where they go and put the basement back together again in front of the box and figures. The box stores under the stairs to upstairs so it is not at all easily accessible when everything else which stores in front of it is back in place.

We have two smaller trees (one goes in the dining room and one in our studio).  They each store in a box.  They also store on top of the Christmas tree box – but are suppose to be UNDER the figures to keep the figures from being squashed or damaged!  So now I have to move at least enough of what is front of the box to be able to reach the figures and remove them from where they are, put the boxes in places, get the figures on top of the boxes, and then put it all back together again.  I cannot do this until I get the laundry done as what is in front of the tree box has to be moved onto the washer and dryer to get them out of the way!!  

And my Teddy Bear Village upstairs remains as Christmas until I have a chance to put away the Christmas items and set it up for ?  Will be a bit late for Valentines Day – which is set up as bears in pairs kissing or holding paws and going to the Asian restaurant and the honey restaurant in the Village.

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

Always check twice  - and then check again and again – before storing seasonal items away to make sure they are stored in the correct order so they will fit where they need to be without damaging anything and so that what is needed the following year will come out in the correct order.

CHRISTMAS ALMOST ALL STORED AWAY

 

Well my storage of our Christmas items has progressed. I have put away all 3 regular trees, the Christmas figures (Santas, elves…) that we put out in the living room (most were Christmas gifts from someone husband worked with – one small plastic Santa goes back to when husband was a boy and one elf I sewed and entered in the local tri-county County Fair), and a set of bear figurines that I put out by the month – December is boxed and stored and when I finish putting away the rest of Christmas I will put out the February bears from that set – they go in the corner display unit in our living room (this is NOT part of the Teddy Village I talk about – that is upstairs). (BTW – I store the Christmas bear figurines to this set in holiday design boxes which are sold to store photographs. When the figurines are all put out the boxes are empty and put them under the big Christmas tree in the living room as set dressing of presents as we do not get many Christmas presents – husband buys himself a couple of things and gives them to me to wrap and I do not get any presents – don't need more stuff around the house. But the tree so looked so lonely without any gifts so this way it looks cheerful with (empty boxes as) gifts under it during the entire season.)

The ornaments from the trees has progressed and are boxed and waiting to go downstairs – it is a tall set of steps so as I go down on trips I take the boxes down – second box will go down when I go down to change laundry loads shortly and third will follow later when I go down to bring up the laundry – that leaves one box to go down tomorrow.

I have to pack the assorted small decorations – candles, “greens”, mugs, Lego Christmas figures, and the like in the 2 boxes they store in. These two boxes will be stored on top of the ornament boxes – all of which go in a corner of the basement which is a perfect fit for them.

I have beaded Christmas tree which I made some years ago and is in a glass dome, as well as a large light up teddy bear and the wreath for our front door which will go on top of the stack of boxes.

I have a number of soft decorations – small stuffed toys, as well as items I have embroidered – other stuffed toys, wall hangings, holiday throw pillows, and such. They will go down last to their box which is elsewhere in the basement.

I do have great incentive to get the tree and the items which go on top of it quickly – I can't do the laundry until I put away these items as assorted items which are stored in front of these items are moved to the top of the washer and dryer to get the items out for Christmas – and I had to get them put away – Wednesday night is laundry night! Second load washing first load drying – and a load of Covid masks to follow.

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

While it is much more fun to take out the Christmas (or other seasonal) decorations – it is not as much fun to put them away – but it must done so go ahead and get it done – it is February after all!

NEW YEAR TO COME AND ADDEDUM TO LAST WEEK'S POST

 Before this weeks' post a followup –

I finally found the rest of the Christmas ornament hooks I wrote about last week (about 5 times more hooks than we used on the tree).  I always store things logically – problem is the logic is often forgotten.  I have two open plastic boxes under part of my teddy bear village which I keep various small items which are used at different times during the year – such as little park benches, chairs, tables…  I had been turning the idea of what would I consider a logical place to put the tree hooks under the circumstances of last year.  The idea entered my head that I have a bear in an airplane attached to the tree in the village (so he doesn't fall off and it looks like he is flying around the tree) with Christmas tree hooks and I did that since last year.  Yep, the hooks were in one of the brown baskets.  So the teddy bear village Christmas tree is decorated, but, sitting here the night before New Year's Eve, the rest of the village is only partly set up for the “Winter Festival” - okay it is called that instead of the “Christmas Festival” so it can be left up after Christmas.  Things keep happening.  


Now this week's post -

Of course a New Year's post is needed at this time.  I don't believe in making resolutions – they tend to be too big and grand and one does not carry through one feels like a failure.  Those of you who read my blog on an ongoing basis know that I believe that each day is a start of a new year.  

I like to work with the idea of trying to do something better, not making resolutions.  Pick something – relatively small and think how can you do better at dealing with it.  It may be organizing related or family relationship related, or work related or just something that you do or don't do which drives you crazy.  Decide that you will try to do better – and see what you can do about it.  Small steps – not big jumps.

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

May the year to come be better for all of us.  

Please keep separate with your immediate family and wear your masks and gloves for awhile longer so you and I and most of us will be here a year from now and will be looking at back at 2020 at the end of 2021 thinking “Thank goodness Covid 19 ended this past year and we can all be together safely.”

COVID - 19 # 18 HAVING SERVICEMEN IN THE HOUSE

Last week since I diverged to the car accident clean up I did not finish the story of our bedroom air conditioner replacement from the week before.

We purchased the air conditioner from a local appliance store that has been around “forever”.  We have purchased air conditioners from them before, as well as other appliances.  I do not really like them as I think they overcharge and they don't seem to understand how our state sales tax applies to air conditioners.  If we were not in the corona virus situation, I would suggested to husband that we should shop around before buying, but since we are that in situation – I said nothing as we needed to resolve the matter quickly.   

In our state sales tax does not apply to things which are are “capital improvements” to one's house.  For those who might not understand this, a capital improvement becomes a permanent part of one house – a  window (new or replaced) is a capital improvement, a window shade or curtain is not.  If one buys an air conditioner and sticks it in their window opening it is not a capital improvement as one can easily remove it from the window and the house would not damaged from doing so.  The exact same air conditioner if it is installed through a hole in the wall, as our is, – a permanent installation – is a capital improvement.  In both cases it does not matter if it is a new unit (and new hole in the wall for the permanent install) or a replacement unit (even if through an existing hole in the wall).  If one only replaced part of the air conditioner it would be a repair not a capital improvement whether the air conditioner was in a window or through the wall. 

So basically- we should not have paid sales tax on the new air conditioner, but we were charged sales tax.  This has happened in the past when we have replaced air conditioners (all through the wall) from this store and is one of the reasons I don't like this store.  I have argued in the past to no avail and did not want to get excited and make a fuss this particular time, so after one questioning of the salesman, I went did not make a fuss.  (His story was that there is sales tax except on the first air conditioner installed – I did double check at the state tax website that there should not have sales tax on the air conditioner, and I downloaded the form from the state tax website to apply for a refund of the sales tax we paid. 

I will say that I am giving the store (employees) the benefit of the doubt that they are not trying to rip off customers and they actually think that they should charge the sales tax and are sending it to the state when they send in the sales taxes they have collected.  I hate to think (though I do) that they are knowingly charging sales tax which they should not and either keeping the sales tax collected themselves or are charging the sales tax and sending it to the state as it is too much trouble for them to bother to deal with sales that should not have sales tax charged.

Now our house is rather, ahem, “casual” – as in my dresser has all manner of bric a brac and other items on it.  In addition our rooms are small.  The day before the air conditioner was to be installed I cleared off the dresser (left the clock , my eyeglasses holder and my day of the week pill box).  I packed it into a large plastic box (husband was nice enough to remove scarves he wove that were stored in the box so I could have it.  I wrapped the items – most being breakable – in two of my worn tee shirts and some spare underwear and socks to keep them from breaking.  In the hallway at the top of the stairs – an area of limited space – I have my teddy  figurine village and I was concerned that since the area is small one of the installers might bump into the village – so its “residents” were stored in the same box as the items from my dresser and the “buildings” were moved to the table in our living room that husband uses when weaving (at his suggestion). 

That night we took clothes for the next day out of our closets and then moved our night stands to in front of the closets and pushed my dresser along its wall towards the closets to give the installers the most room possible by where the air conditioner would be placed.    In doing so my lack of vacuuming the room was obvious, so we had to vacuum.  We also pushed our bed to husband's side of the bedroom as far as we could – against his dresser and a bookcase – he had to get into and out of bed at the foot of the bed – had to vacuum under the bed also.  Prepared for coming adventure we went to sleep.

Now, in addition to fear of catching Covid-19, I am still terrified of having bed bugs again.  It was an exhausting and expensive process (1/3 of our income for the year) to get rid of them 11 years ago, and we have been very careful and worked hard to avoid having them again.  Service people who walk in and out of people's houses can easily pick up bed bugs at one house and bring them to their later stops and this was not just someone coming in the house - they were coming in our bedroom!  So the next morning we covered our bed with 2 plastic tarps that we normally use on the bed in our RV when it made it up (in this case to keep the bed clean and so anyone looking in would not see a bed in the van).

When the installers came husband opened the front door.  (We had rearranged our vehicles on the driveway the day before to allow them the most access to the house we could.)  The main installer walked in – he did have mask – sitting below his nose – but no gloves.  Husband made a comment about the mask and it was put into proper place, but when asked about gloves – he said they don't use gloves.  (If me and another time I would refused the air conditioner – but we were stuck.)  Husband dealt with showing him where it was to go, etc.  I stayed downstairs as I felt myself getting upset with virus and bed bug fears.  The assistant installer was outside unpacking the new air conditioner on the driveway – his mask was around his neck as he breathed and sweated all over the air conditioner.  When the main installer went out to him he said something and the assistant's mask was put on properly.  I am under the impression that if nothing had been said – the masks would not be on or at least not properly on.

I stayed mostly towards the back of our living room breathing deeply in an attempt to keep from being upset over people in the house.  It worked – more or less. 

When they were done and left husband sprayed Lysol on the air conditioner, wherever they had been working or put their equipment down, the covers on the bed, etc. We moved the furniture back into place.   It took me well into the next day – as I put the pieces back on my dresser before I stopped feeling in a panic.  The teddy figurine village took another day before it was put back together. 

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

When something is unpleasant (such as having people in our house – in general and especially right now) one has to go ahead and get whatever it is done and over with. 

COVID 19 #17 SIMPLE THINGS IN NORMAL TIMES TAKE PATIENCE AND UNDERSTANDING NOW

I have been writing about our lives under the current corona virus pandemic as it involves organizing in a totally different way than normal.  What were simple things to do before this past March when this started in our area of the U.S. - such as running out of bread and needing to buy more – has become things which take much more planning and organizing to deal with.  I know that those reading my posts are going through similar problems and I hope that those in the areas now being hit hard by the virus and their loved ones (as well as the rest of you) are well and safe and stay that way.  I had intended to post once or twice about the subject, but it seems to have become a series and will stay that way for awhile – dealing with emergencies being more exciting to read about than how I do my laundry or do (or do not) clean my house.

We have separate “through the wall” air conditioners in different rooms of the house.  The one in our bedroom was not doing well at the end of last summer.  But rather than buy one right away and have most of the warranty run during the winter when the air conditioner was not running, we figured we would buy one in the spring – ha ha ha.  We need to have the air conditioner installed for us as it is not something we can do – especially since the bedroom is on the second floor.  Since I am generally cold I have been fine.  Husband though is feeling terrible while sleeping and waking up from the heat. 

When we realized this air conditioner was not working, other than as a fan, I suggested we bring up the “portable” one we have for the living room.  This is a device about 3 and half feet tall and weighs 68 pounds – it can be rolled around to where it is needed and attaches to an approximately 6 inch tall plastic piece which expands in width to fit the window and is placed in the bottom of an open window and the window is pulled down on top of the plastic piece.  We managed with both us lifting, to carry it upstairs – one step at a time.  We set into the window and did a proper installation of it in the window, sealing it into the open window.  We turned it on – and – it did not work either, except as a fan!  We took it out of the window and pushed it into the spare  (teddys') room as we are not sure we can get it back downstairs. 

In the interim we have tried various solutions – using the dehumidifier from the basement – blew hot air out the side and the basement really needed it back as it started to smell of humidity.  (Also took both of us to carry up and then back down – 2 flights of stairs, but somewhat lighter than the portable air conditioner.)  3 different fans – the one we use in our RV works best and is what we are using.  I even tried the early version of air conditioning - “air cooling” putting frozen bottles of water in front of the fan – worked a bit, but the water was melted before the hot morning (overnight being cooler in the room).  We had thought to put the bottles in a baking pan on a thick towel so there was no wet mess on the table or floor to deal with.  He ends up turning on the other 2 air conditioners upstairs (in office and spare bedroom) in the morning to avoid getting sick and he is worried that he will “use them up”.

This past week the temperatures went up and seem to plan to stay up – we ae heading into the 90Fs late this week into next week.  I looked for alternatives.  I suggested husband sleep on the twin bed in the spare bedroom and I would make up a bed on the floor for me to sleep on, so he would not be alone.  He point out – politely – that the room would need a major cleaning – dusting and vacuuming at the very least as it has been years since we (I) bother cleaning it as all it is used for is bears, dolls, and their friends sitting around.  In the 31 years in the house it has been used as a guest room 3 times – and that was over 15 years ago.  So that idea was out. 

We were left with one solution.  It is a solution that in normal times (and for normal people) would be no problem – we need to buy a new air conditioner.  Now for me having someone come in the house, let alone the bedroom brings up major fears of getting bed bugs again – we had them 11 years ago and since then live our lives so as to avoid getting them again (hence our little RV for traveling).  Right now – we are both terrified about having someone come in  the house – especially the bedroom – but there is no other choice.  (I thought about sleeping in the RV – but we would need to either keep the generator running – burning gas and putting out fumes next to the bedroom of the little girl next door or plug it into to a 30 amp outlet – and do not have one.)

So Monday husband called the local appliance store we have bought our air conditioners from before and priced the one he saw online.  Tuesday we put on our masks and went in and bought it.  Their ad said “next day delivery”, but that is not case when it has to be installed – they are coming next Tuesday – a long hot week away from we bought it – but that will give me a chance to clear out the bedroom so we can move furniture for them to get to where they have to work and have room to do so. We plan to push the bed to the other side of the room the night before and cover it that day with plastic tarps we use to cover the RV bed days when we are using the RV (so it does not look a bed from outside).  We have been assured that they take all precautions as one of the employees died from the virus – very reassuring or it means that they may have caught it from him?

And since, as it is said, it never rains but it pours – Sunday night we dropped our RV to have the mechanic figure out what the noise in the car air conditioner/heater was.  (It was excessive leaves blown in by neighbor's gardener disposing of THEIR leaves by blowing onto our property as the driveway with RV on it is next to the fence between us.  (Hopefully this problem will end as the neighbor is filling in the fence with plastic slots – but then we won't be able to blow our snow onto the property.)  When we picked up the RV Monday night, we left our car – it needed an oil change – and as we drove it there, we found it needed a new headlight.  We picked it up Tuesday night.  So, of course, a reminder popped up on my computer calendar – our van needed to have the state inspection done by the end of the month.  So we just dropped it off for same and an oil change – as we pulled out of our driveway the brakes were not right…  The mechanic (and his staff) are very nice and very capable and honest.  What we have been doing is dropping the vehicles off late night when no one is around.  Since we don't want to go and leave the keys (or we could leave the vehicles also) during the day – we want it  “contactless” we put the keys in an envelope and throw it in a slot in the building when we leave the vehicle.  When it is finished he calls us and I pay with a credit card by phone (paid the RV and car on one payment) and he leaves the receipt and keys hidden in the vehicle (we have spare sets of keys so we can get in).  He has been very nice about this. 


THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

All these normal problems that are handled so easily in normal times take a bit of a workaround to figure out how to deal with right now.  It takes patience and understanding by everyone involved to work it all out and luckily right now – people are mostly willing to do so. 

Stay well and safe.