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?)

MUST BE ABLE TO THINK QUICKLY OF WHAT TO DO OR SUBSITUTE WHEN SOMETHING IS NOT WORKING

 Sorry I haven't posted. Life has been a bit crazy. I even still have one tax return to prepare – for a business.

I am guessing that I have posted before around 2010 we had bed bugs and that has shaped a good part of our life since then. Husband decided he needed a new bed pillow. (None of the spare, un - or rarely – used ones could even be tried.) He thinks his head/face hurts due to his pillows. Today we were at Walmart and he bought a new pillow.

After we had the bedbugs we bought a device called a Pack-tite. One is suppose to put their suitcase(s) in it after traveling and heat the suitcases and contents so that if one has brought back any bed bugs they will die from the heat. We no longer travel using suitcases as we dealt with this problem by buying a tiny Class B RV (think Chevy van, not big RV lumbering down the road or in a movie). So when he bought a pillow today I had to put it in the Packtite to heat it – just in case.

I do laundry on Wednesday nights and so it was no problem to heat the pillow at the same time as the Pack-tite is in the same room in the basement. Or so I thought. The remote read thermometer I use to monitor the temperature in the Packtite stopped reading while the Packtite was still heating to temperature. I have to make sure the air in it does not go over 120F. It uses one of those “button” batteries – we have all different sizes of them in a bag in our bedroom. Up two flights of stairs. Thought I found the correct size battery. Back down 2 flights. No, it was the wrong size. Back up 2 flights. We do not have this size battery! Heating already started and husband wants to use the pillow tonight – what to do?

We have two double read thermometers in the kitchen – both read the temperature in the kitchen. One also reads the temperature outside the house. The other one reads the temperature in our refrigerator in right near husband's insulin. Which to take? Well, it was just after midnight so the temperature outside does not matter and I took that thermometer. Since I do not have the remote read – I have been running down and up the stairs every 5 -10 minutes. There is a maximum temperature and it has to be shut off when same is reached. On last trip down – that occurred.

For some reason these past few years life seems to get crazier and crazier.

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

We all have to learn to think “outside the box”. When something does not work or is missing one has to think of alternative methods or items to use.

WATER, WATER, EVERYWHERE - AT LEAST IN THE BASEMENT

 My apologies for missing last week's post.  After years of not missing any posts, seems lately my attention gets taken away and I forget to post or I am otherwise needed in the house and don't get a chance to write and post.  

Lest you think this is a unique situation to this blog, on the final Wednesday of the month I send out a newsletter to my embroidery chapter which includes the meeting notice for the meeting the following Tuesday.  Club used to meet on Wednesday and the newsletter/meeting notice went out a week before.  Location of meeting was changed and with it the day the group meets and I have not yet gotten into the habit of sending out the newsletter a day earlier so it would remain a week before the meeting.  Being the lazy person that I am, I write and post the newsletter  for them at the same time.  (I do send an email a week in advance to the other board members in case they have something to include.)

Today I dealt with all sorts of things online and then suddenly realized that their newsletter had to go out today.  It was put together quickly, but as completely as possible and went out today just before I started making dinner – all 3 versions of the newsletter, which this week were basically the same.  (One version to members, one to region of group to be sent to other newsletter editors in the region plus the head of the region, and one version I send to people (okay, ladies) who have asked about joining our chapter or used to be members and like to keep in touch.) Mostly all 3 versions are the same, but, for example, we normally have our June meeting at a specific members house before we break for the summer and I don't want to send her name, address, and contact information to everyone who has asked about our chapter, so only the member's version will have the info.

We are also dealing with water in the basement whenever it rains since Hurricane Ida earlier this year.  We never had this problem before (or at least never noticed it before) and it is now a recurring problem.  When it rains we check the basement and vacuum up the water with a wet/dry vacuum and then run our dehumidifier  - which would running anyway, but it is set at 35% dampness instead of its normal 70% dampness so it needs to be emptied much more often.  Yes – we had a large rain storm yesterday and will have another one this weekend.  We are hoping this is only a problem with needing new plastic covers over our basement windows (on the outside of the house) and the second window so far, thank goodness, does not seem to have this problem.

Husband has decided that we need to clear out a bookcase which stands in front of the window in question.  It is adjacent to his exercise bicycle and has his stereo, a VHS player, and some other similar electronics on top – so he is figuring out where we will moving these items.  The books on the shelves tend to be ones from when he was in college and of his field of study.  He figures that they can be donated – presuming we find someplace to donate them and go out to do so.  (If we do, I have some items I packed to donate just before the pandemic started and they will go out also.)  Another bookcase near by has books he plans to get rid of also, but thinks he can sell them online so they will remain for now.  

We can then move the bookcase and see what is going on behind it – as well as sort see to each side of where it was – behind a second bookcase and behind metal storage cabinets.  He has given me notice that he plans to work on this over the coming weekend.  Well, at least I know I have to finish up anything I want to do before then – such as pay any bills and write any letters I want to mail out on Sunday night (unless it raining again on Sunday night).  I know that there is some mail in our box at the Post Office and would like to post the outgoing mail from there and take out the mail in the box if we can, one in particular has me wondering what it is – looks like a card, addressed to me, and from someone I have never heard of in Washington state – and we live on the east side of the U.S.  Probably just a piece of fancy junk mail.

How do I know what it is our Post Office box?  No, I am not a psychic.  The USPS has a service which will send an email to one when there is mail at their address – including in their USPS boxes at their Post Office.  They will only send if first class mail and there is a scanned picture of that first class mail.      It does work well for us now when we are not going daily to our box as we did back in normal times.  (Back in normal times almost all of our mail was going to the box as more secure than box at our front door, especially when we went on a trip.)  We do not have to go to the Post Office unless we know there is something there to pick up (we can post outgoing mail at a local USPS collection box instead).

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
Too much to do when doing nothing!

P.S,  The problem which I posted about when last I posted – the money from the loom we sold being taken back by the company it was paid through – has been resolved and we have the money back in our bank account.  It will sit there for a month before we touch it again!

Stay dry all!

THE EVENING IDA STOPPED NEW YORK - PLANNING AHEAD OF TIME WHAT TO DO IN EMERGENCIES

 Late again in posting – then again, this week was sort of a repeat of last week.

Well, remember last week that problem we had in the basement from Henri passing by?  We were lucky  - within 3 days the carpet on the floor that had been wet was dry.  We kept the dehumidifier set to a very low level all week making sure that the basement stayed dry.

This week “the remnants” of Hurricane Ida were to “pass by”.  This is not unusual around here for the leftover rain from a hurricane down south to pass through – normally a bit of rain, no big deal.

Early on in showing the route of these remnants it was obvious it was coming here and that it was going to be a large storm coming through.  As we got closer and closer to the storm being here we were warned and warned about this would be a major storm.  

I did our laundry on Tuesday night instead of on Wednesday and Thursday - just in case, I wanted to make sure we had  as much clean clothing as possible.

As we had the news on the TV on Wednesday we saw major flooding in Pennsylvania – 2 states away.  I heard that the area there, Lancaster County, that we often travel was being hit terribly bad – showing flooded roads and hearing of flooding in areas we know.  The campground we stay in Lancaster is adjacent to a creek – we hate to think what it must look like and how damage may have been done as the creek probably ran over its banks – for the second time since we started staying there 20 years ago. 

The storm came closer.  As I heard about what might be happened here I started looking up online – What does one do if a flash flood comes – go upstairs in the house  - yeah, that was I figured.  A lot of rain here (though not this much) is not that uncommon here, but flash floods not common.  Tornadoes, on the other hand – DO NOT HAPPEN HERE!  We were put on notice that there might tornadoes with this storm as it passed through.  Looked up online what does one do if a tornado is passing through – go in the basement – hmm, sort of figured that, so I was right.  BUT – what if a tornado and a flash flood pass through at the same time??????  Stay in the middle of the house and pray?  We have a small half bathroom on the lower floor of the house which has no windows and is surrounded on all 4 sides by other rooms and I have always figured it to be the safest place if a hurricane was coming (hurricanes not the most common thing, but do pass through here as you can probably tell) – would that do?  High enough to avoid the first 8 feet or so of flood and fairly low down?  No idea and thank goodness we did not have to figure it out.  

For the first time since the system was started – we received text alert messages that flash floods were in the area – looked out the front windows – looked okay to us, looked out the back windows – ditto, stayed where we were on the first floor.  We received 5 text messages about flash floods in the area over a 3 hour period.  

Luckily we did not receive any text alert message about a tornado in the immediate area – but there were several in the greater NYC/Long Island area.  

I had cooked dinner a bit earlier than usual – always best to face a disaster with a full stomach.  I am the sane, sensible one of the two of us – my husband is the one who panics.  My brain says “What are the chances this will happen?” and “What do we need to do to deal with it if does happen – taking into account the chances that it will?  

I was not going to start packing clothing and such to take with us.  What we would actually NEED if we had to run? Hmm, cash, prescription medications, keys, cell phones, our wallets with identification and credit cards and -  these days -  our Covid-19 vaccination cards and masks.  

Husband keeps his wallet in his pocket all the time.  I have mine down here in the kitchen on magnetic pocket on the refrigerator with the rest of the items I need when I walk out of the house.  

I have a smaller zippered purse that we have items we take when we go on trips that we don't normally need at home – including a third wallet with a credit card that I don't normally carry and a different one which husband does not normally carry (if one of our wallets was stolen, we could cancel all of the other credit cards and still have one to use).   Debit cards from banks we don't normally use – but do have money in accounts there.  Important to have – I went upstairs and got it.  I added into it the 2 credit cards (on one account) we keep upstairs and only use when have to order something and pay with a credit card.   

We have a plastic shopping bag we have been keeping in the kitchen – hangs on the door to our basement – which has items we need to take out with us these days due to Covid – masks, plastic zip bags to put the worn masks in, a handle husband made to open doors which one has to turn the handle to open while out so we don't have to actually touch the handle, his eyeglasses (these are unrelated to Covid – he happened to find out just before the pandemic started that he needs to wear his eyeglasses while driving and by keeping it in this bag we take when we go in the car, he has his eyeglasses and since it is in the kitchen, if he needs them while watching TV, etc he can easily get them, and small plastic bags (sandwich sized) to use to push doors open and similar without touching them.  The bag is from a different store than our other stored plastic shopping bags so it is obvious  to us what it is.  I added to this bag the zippered purse from upstairs and also added our main checkbook.  (I thought about grabbing our passports – but they both expired in the middle of the pandemic and no one would accept  them for any purpose due to same.)

I then took all the backup medications we have – we get 90 days at a time so these bottles currently hold 30-60 days worth of our meds – put them in a plastic zip loc bag and added them to the bag in the kitchen – which was now a bit too heavy so I put it in a large more sturdy shopping bag and back on the basement door knob.  

Hmmm, we don't keep a lot of cash in our wallets – cash is always something good to have in an emergency – credit card machine might not work, might need to buy something from someone who does not take credit cards, etc.  We keep cash for change for when we do an event with our craft business – grabbed the bag of cash ($100) and added that.  

I had decided to keep all of this in the kitchen with me.  Husband would soon be down here also and I could meet up with him outside if something did happen and he had to go out the front door and I had to go out the kitchen door.  I also grabbed our two rain jackets and hung them on the hooks in the kitchen.  

Not perfect as nothing else in the house is set up to be cared for, no spare clothing, but we could get by in an emergency.  

We ate dinner and were watching TV in the kitchen (where we normally do so in the evening) when the emergency warnings started – and mostly we were local news.  

Thank goodness as far as our area is concerned we were fine!  The rain came pouring down – we could hear it, but no flash flood in our area and no tornado.  

In NYC (at least) 15 people died – several of them due to the fact that they lived in a basement apartment (some legal, some not) and it flooded and they could not get out.  Roads were overrun with rain elsewhere in the NYC area to the point that vehicles had to be abandoned and people saved from them.  The commuter rail lines were stopped for hours.  The subway – well, there is footage of one subway station with a gigantic wave of water coming down the stairs – the subway also had to be stopped overnight and people who not get home spent the night in the stations.  Municipal buses could not run – in at least one case the bus driver who could not go anywhere was letting people into the bus just to stand on the seats (bus was filling up with water also) as it was safer than being out in the street.  There were at least 2 tornadoes in the general area.

Then the clean up began – vehicles which were abandoned on the road had to be moved to reopen the roads – and I am talking 3 lane, limited access roads in addition to more local roads.  People cleaning up around their homes and businesses. In one case a couple in their 80s actually slept though a tornado and a tree coming down through their roof to next to their bed – their poor son who lived in the house had trouble both getting in their room due to the tree and waking them up and thought that they were dead – luckily they were unharmed!

It will take some time for all to be cleared up.  We went out for lunch today – things seem to be okay.  Most areas managed to keep their electricity somehow and much of what was out has been (surprisingly based on other events in the past) restored by the local utility already.  We did not lose our electricity.  

We did get water in our basement for the second time in the 31 years we have been here (Henri being the first time).  We again vacuumed up the water with a wet dry vac and ran the dehumidifier, which is always on in hot weather any way, but we set it to a dryer setting so it is pulling more water out of the air and by this morning the carpet was dry.  

The area had more rain from the remnants of Ida than New Orleans had from the actual hurricane and worse wind than same.  

What I pulled out in case we had to run out of the house for safety is all put back where it belongs.  We are hoping we will not need to do any of this again – or at least not soon.  

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

One does not know what will happen.  Do YOU have a plan of what to do if something like this happened in your area?  Do you know what you need to take and where to go?

By the way – what I think is terrible thinking – The New York Tennis Open has been on this week.  They did not call off the scheduled games the day this happened.  The storm hit here as people were leaving.  At least one of the areas of play was outside.  People left the Open by car and subway as the storm was starting so many people who had been there were caught in the mess on the subways, trains and roads.  With what was known to be coming, they should have canceled playing that day!

FOLLOWUP TO ORDERS ARE LATE - OR NOT AND NEW POST - NO MATTER WHAT ONE PREPARES FOR - SOMETHING ELSE HAPPENS

 First an update – last weeks jeans post – So they were suppose to come on Wednesday, then late Wednesday we got an email that they were delayed and would be coming Friday – so, of course they came on Thursday!  Now most people would think it great to get a day earlier than the amended date of arrival – But what if we had not been home?  What it was raining all day?  What we if we gone away as it was not coming until Friday?  The package would have had a good chance of disappearing!  This is one of the main reasons we don't order things – delivery is so iffy.  (We had sort of resolved this problem, at least items were not sitting out in front of our house, by using a service from the Post Office called “Street Addressing” for our Post Office Box – which allows the Post Office to sign for the items and deliver them to our box (technically the item is being delivered to the Post Office itself, not us, which is how they get around the idea that other carriers cannot deliver to a box intended to receive Postal mail (which includes that box you put up next to your door at home for your mail delivery – which is why the other delivery companies do not put anything in that box).  But since we are not going out, we have to have things delivered to our house – and then keep looking out the door all day to see if the item was received.  It would have been nice if when they left the package, they did not leave it against the door which meant we had to go out the side door to the front door to get the package as we could not open the or walk out the front door.

Now this week's subject -

Our area was just missed by Hurricane/Tropical Storm Henri last weekend.  First it was to hit the east of our Island, then it was going to hit the east end of the Island, then it was going to hit further west along the Island – it finally passed the Island on the east side by a good bit, so we had rain but no wind.  

Wind is what concerns us the most.  Our local electric utility has not done well dealing with major storms to the point that the utility company which was managing and running it was fired and a new company hired a short few years ago.  That company failed in a major way last year with Hurricane Isaias – some people had no electricity for weeks afterward.  Their system to let them know about outages and later get information about restoration time frames did not work.  (A friend of a neighbor worked at the utility and neighbor let us know we would be out for 3 days minimum.  Information was wrong – we were lucky and we were back on that night.)

When a storm is coming we prepare.  Every cell phone and laptop computer, no matter how old (or if the cell phone has service) is plugged in to charge and left to do so until we until we know we are not having an outage.  Why every one?  Well, cell phones can dial 911 if one has no service, so the older phones can be used in an emergency if our current ones' batteries are used up.  Our cable company has wifi running in the street outside our house and we can always use laptops – whether Windows 10 or XP (the assortment of laptops we have) with the wifi to access the Internet to contact someone in an emergency.  Our flashlights are checked to make sure their batteries are good.    We have a camping lantern which runs on batteries or a charge pack – we make sure the charge pack is fully charged is also charged and left charged until we know we are okay.  

I also clear areas where we will be walking.  I got this idea from how rooms were set up in the 1700s.  The furniture was placed against the walls (other than items such as beds) when the furniture was not in used.  When an item of furniture was needed it would be carried to the center of the room (and beds were too heavy to carry easily) and used – time to eat?  Table and chairs carried to center of room and family eats.  Done eating?  Table and chairs put back against the wall.  Main reason was that it allowed one room to be used for many purposes.  A secondary reason (which applies here) is that one could walk through the room without walking into anything even in low light.  I first tried this idea during Hurricane Sandy and it worked well.  We could easily walk around the living room, front hall, and dining room without a flashlight until it was dark at night.  I move items we keep on the upstairs landing of our house into the spare bedroom so we don't trip on them.  (Two low, small tables with bear figurines on it.)  

So we did all our preparations in anticipation of losing our electricity.  We thought how lucky we were that the storm hit further east and our electricity was safe – the main rain from the storm was far west of us in New Jersey and further upstate New York – though we did get a LOT of heavy rain.  It rained from just before we stepped out the door Saturday night to pickup Chinese food (was not raining at all when we ordered it and rain was not suppose to come until late – concert run by NYC got caught in the rain also had to be canceled mid-concert – though I think them foolish for having it once the storm was coming).  The rain continued all day Sunday and well into Monday morning.  

Monday we went out and checked around  - everything thing seemed to be okay.  There was a dove who seemingly was sitting on our side steps as when we opened the door she (our assumption for no particular reason) was flustered or pushed off the steps and was walking around confused.   We then went out for fast food lunch.  On our return the dove was still walking around dazed and confused and we were concerned it had been injured as it did not fly.  (There are usually two of these doves around and we don't know what happened to the other and if this one was waiting for the other or confused as to where it was.)  I tried calling wild animal agencies with no luck and husband went to move her to see what was going on – she then flew off – thank goodness she was okay – just dazed – and we did not have to worry about her not eating.

So all seemed fine and we relaxed.  Monday night we walked into the basement to empty the dehumidifier before going to bed.  Husband said “Why are my slippers wet?”  Since we have never (to our knowledge) had a flood in the basement – we had not thought about same.  From what we can determine rain came in the basement side window.  We were vacuuming up water until almost 5 in the morning with a wet vacuum.  I have been going down often to empty the dehumidifier for the past two days.  The carpet (indoor/outdoor) is seemingly approaching dry – we moved the dehumidifier to a different stop which seemed damper and may have to do so in a couple of other spots.  Also have a fan running downstairs during the day.  We have had to toss a large sheet of card board and when it is dry down there will have to check for which other items need to be tossed – most items are in plastic boxes or bags so hopefully nothing important or expensive is lost.  

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
No matter how or what emergency one prepares for, something will happen that one did not expect.  Do the best you can to deal with emergency possibilities ahead of time.

CLEARING OUT MY OLD CLOSET AT THE FAMILY HOME

Last Thursday husband and I went to my family home to deal with “my stuff”.  I knew that there should be certain things there that I wanted - not many - and I sort of figured that there would not be much more in the closet I had to go through.

A digression - yeah, I always do same, without labeling it - I am the oldest of 3 girls and there are big age jumps between us - 5 years to #2 and another 7 years to #3.  When my family bought the house I was 4 or 5 years old  - it was then built to order in a 1950s subdevelopment - and my sister #2 was born several months before we moved in.  The house as shown in the model house had 5 bedrooms - 2 regular and a master bedroom on one floor and another 2 bedrooms (and a 4th bathroom) on the floor above it.  The house is a split level so floors not on top of each other they alternate back and forth.  My parents did not need the extra 2 bedrooms or the 4th bathroom and wanted to save money, so that floor was not finished into rooms when we moved in.  I had one bedroom of the 2 regular ones and my sister #2 - baby in a crib - was put in the other one.  The house stayed with this layout and each of us in our bedrooms for about 7 or 8 years.  At that time sister #3 was born.  My parents idea was that they would now finish the upstairs and have a bedroom for me, an office for my dad, and the fourth bathroom up there.  Being only about 12 and not knowing that in the future I would love the idea of a bedroom so private, I refused to move up there and sleep alone.  So instead my parents made it into a second (larger) master bedroom.  Sister #2 moved into my bedroom.  Dad got an office in her old bedroom.  Sister #3 and I moved into the original master bedroom.  This worked great.  When sister #2 got married a year before I did over 10 years later, I left sister #3 with the original master bedroom and moved back to my original room - which by then had sister #2's furniture in it, except her desk, and I left my furniture with sister #3 = except for my desk.  The house arrangement remained the same after that until I married a year later and moved out and then sister #3 moved out some 10 years later when she was married.  So, the room I had to clear out was not filled with items from when I was a child, but rather items I had after college.  I took almost all of my stuff either when we were first married or 9 years later when we bought a house.  Just a cute story - I had picked this bedroom originally as the room in the model had a little rocking chair - no one told me that the house did not come with what was on display in it and I thought I would get the rocking chair - boy was I disappointed. 

So, back to clearing out the room.  I had expected to walk in and see my old bed and a room as I left it.  Hah!  Either my mom had turned it into a mess of a storage room or my sisters had been throwing stuff in there to decide what to do with as they have been there several times to work on clearing out the house. 

My desk was not there as I have it here and use it as my desk - and still hit my knee on the leg of it as I did when I was a child.  I looked at the dresser in the room and started opening drawers.  As I thought they were empty but with 2 exceptions.  When I was baby I had a dresser set (not a child’s set, a grown up person’s set).  It had 2 small china dishes and a china box with lid.  I have one of the dishes still on my dresser and thought the rest gone - I knew the box’s lid and the other dish were broken and presumed that I had forgotten about breaking the box - but there it was!!  And in it was my girl scout knife and a couple of other small items.  Took it and the contents to go through - the box will go back on my dresser.    In another drawer I found a small tack hammer and two small boxes of tacks - not mine and I left them. 

It was rather hot when we were there.  I had asked sister #2 - who is coordinating all of this as she seems to know what to do - in advance if the air conditioners were working - she said yes, but not well.  Husband put on same in the original master bedroom and the one in the dining room (covers same, living room and kitchen).  Not much cool.  So as I am working he is starting to get overhot.  I sent him to the dining room then to outside several times to cool off.

I should say at this point - this entire process would have been harder for me if not for Hurricane Sandy.  Most of our toys were in the basement.  If I had to decide which toys to take and which to donate or toss it would have been close to impossible.  Since mom’s basement was flooded in the Hurricane, everything down there had been tossed out - including her washer, dryer, furnace etc. (furnace was replaced, but she decided to go to a laundry for her clothes).  No more Barbies (I have one trunk of them I had brought here).  No more doll house that I got when I was 3 or 4.  No more games.  No more Bobbsey Twins, Honey Bunch, Nancy Drew, Dana Girls, etc books. 

I opened the closet door expecting a mostly empty closet - OH BOY.  I started taking stuff out.  I found a red looseleaf book that I had copied folk songs into while in high school - took as I hoped to find it.  I found love letters from husband - definite take.  I found 2 art projects from college - painting - took (I am not a good artist and it actually came out good), cut out initials - toss.  I had expected/hoped to find my dad’s army shirt - he had given it to me back in the late 1960s when “hippies” wore same - it had reproduced and I took both of them.  While I know that the rank and badges on them are not right, I figure one of the military museums might like and his name would go down in posterity (and my nephew had previously said the did not want same) so they were a definite take.  Some “awards” drawn by a friend who was editor in chief of our college yearbook (before I was) had been taped on the inside of the door - took the one I found - hope to find at least one more.

For a closet it was lacking in clothes.  As mentioned, my dad’s army shirts were in there.  There was a pink gown.  I took it out.  We looked at it and then at each other.  I was maid of honor at sister # 2's wedding  - I wore brown (the others wore orange - fat girls don’t wear orange).  I was not in my other sister’s wedding party - and did not buy a gown for same.  I had not worn a gown to the afternoon wedding of the sister of my old high school boyfriend.  What the heck was it for? It looked to be in good condition - I hung it over the top of the bedroom door and went on.  I found a sweater I bought in Mexico  - tossed it.  If husband was not there I would have put it in a donate bag - but he insisted it was not wearable.  I found a “genuine” 1960's/early 1970's peasant blouse - hung it over the bedroom door.  (Sister #2 has come across so much clothing from that period in the house that she plans to contact theatrical costume houses to see if they want them - she can add the blouse and gown.) My college house plan (similar to a sorority) windbreaker - took that.   I also hung a green jacket over the door - I have no idea whose it is, but it would not have fit me at 12 years old, let alone when I was grown. 

I found an assortment of papers I had written (brought them home to shred as my personal info on them).  I found needlework  - kits and almost finished.  Husband had me leave the 2 latch hook rugs - hooking finished, rug edges not finished there.  (If we go back and they are still there I will take them home - I decided I really want them.)  Two embroidery kits - not finished, I took.   One unstarted latch hook kit - left for donation or sale.

I also found a complete, unopened set of “spurtles”.  These were cooking utensils that a TV chef named Graham Kerr used.  We had apparently bought 2 sets - either to give the second set as gift or for when the others broke - they are still in great condition.  We opened the box and took the spurtles out and tossed the box. 

Then I hit the problem.  Apparently when we lived in our apartment we used this closet for storage of - yes - empty boxes.  Cabbage Patch Dolls, fancy teddy bears, etc - empty boxes - you know, because they will be worth a fortune one day.  I did not take the boxes - but since I had not thought that there would be this much stuff - I did not have enough garbage bags so the boxes had to stay for next time. 

I filled 3 large bags of garbage.  I could not put it out as there would be no pickup until the following Monday and the house is near an animal preserve and the animals come and go through the bags.  I left them in the living room - sisters would be there on the weekend to put it out.

There was a section of stuff still on the top shelf that was not boxes - but neither of us could reach them safely and husband was soaked through his shirt and we needed to leave.

Problem - I had not figured out how to pack the stuff we were taking in plastic bags and seal them without them coming into the house (that bed bug fear).  So I carried the stuff I was taking down to the front door and husband held a bag outside and little by little I filled 2 bags of stuff to take.  They are now in our garage - I will take it out a bit at time and heat it in our Packtite bedbug heater - just in case. 

I am missing an item I would like to have.  I embroidered a tablecloth while in high school.  When I got married I went looking for it - I could not find it.  I have looked a couple of times since.  I told both my sisters about it and asked that if they find it they save it for me.

As we were driving home husband commented on the lack of air conditioning in the house.  He had seen the one in the office (bedroom next to mine - remember?) but could not get to it as that room is completely filled.  I then remembered - there was one in my bedroom!  He insisted that there was none - unless it was removed and the wall fixed it should be there - not sure it works, but we will look next time we are there.

Sister #2 insists that we are almost done - I am not sure how - there is soooooo much there of mom’s..
                   
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK -

One can go home again - but mostly to clear out home.  Why not post about your experience in something like this?

NOW WE NEED TO PUT EVERYTHING BACK TO WHERE IT BELONGS

In preparing for the old refrigerator to leave and the new one to come in - the first time - we had to make room for the crew to bring the fridges through the house.  Being lazy - plus going away in the middle - we left the house as it was after the first new fridge - until the second one was here and installed.

I am not so much talking about moving clutter as moving furniture and household items in common usage.  We have a small house. The new fridges had to come in the front door go to the left into the living room, close the front door, then double back in the opposite direction into the dining room through a doorway.  We took the floor mats out of the front hall - put in living room.  We have a standing chest for our good silver/tableware  - it blocks the doorway into the dining room.  It had to be moved - which we did, moving it further into the dining room.  A wooden box with husband’s reenacting gun stuff that is kept under the silver chest also had to be moved into the room.  We set up in the dining room a table which we take when go to reenactments to set up some stuff we put out for education and sales at events to put stuff from the kitchen/fridge on.  So this gave a wide pathway through the dining room into the kitchen.  What is on your fridge?  We have 4 magnetic pockets on ours - one each with stuff to take when we go out, one with pencils and pens (and emery board) and one with papers which we need in the kitchen - maybe a dozen recipes or package instructions and other items.  Magnets that hold our keys - 2 each.  Magnetic calculator.  Decorative magnets which hold small items.  On the front of the fridge we added 2 years ago a large dry erase calendar - we use it to keep track of TV shows we want to watch since seasons no longer run as long as they used to - held on with magnets.  Much of this went onto the table we set up in the dining room - the small magnets and the, oh, forgot to mention, the clippers I keep on the side of the fridge near the stove, held with magnets and potholders hanging on magnets went into a plastic basket that is normally next to the silver chest in the dining room - it normally holds items we have bought or received in the mail that we are concerned may have bed bugs and we need to heat in our Packtite heater until we have enough items to run it - this basket went into our studio behind the office with the magnets in it, and during the following week the items we wanted to heat were added.  (Doing laundry and running the Packtite as I write to you.) The food that did not actually need to be in a fridge - soda, condiments, beer (hey, we did not even know we had beer), and the like took over the one open kitchen counter area.  Our kitchen chairs were in the back room during the time(s) they were actually moving the fridges.  Things were so confused that the first time I went to cook after all this, I stuck my hand out (by habit) to grab a potholder - and there were not only no potholders - but no hook for them either and I could not for the life of me remember where they all went.  (I used a kitchen towel as a pot holder.)  If I had to write something down no pen or pencil, no paper?)  Leaving the house - where the heck are our keys?  A couple of days after the second fridge was put in place and we knew it was staying we started putting stuff back.  We also were adding back the soda, condiments, and such to the fridge - a little bit at a time to keep the temperature in the fridge from going up.  I filled plastic bottles with water.  It is recommended that the fridge be kept half full and we generally don’t have that much in it - and certainly we don’t now.  So bottles filled with water are going in.  We found out that the drawers stay a little warmer than the rest of the fridge, so husband’s insulin pens will go in there as too cold is more of a problem than them being a bit warmer than the food needs to be. 

Then it hit us.  Our reenactment unit’s big event at our headquarters would be on Sunday (this past).  We needed the table we had set up.  We needed access to 2 large box/benches that we bring for storage - and where the heck are the folding seats we have we bring with us?  So we did a lot of putting back quickly - the silver chest and goes under it, as well as what was on the table.  We broke down the table- the legs unscrew - and put the legs together in their carrier.  We took out the box benches to the middle of the room so I could sort through - make sure we had what we needed for this event and not bring things we did not - this including checking that we had money for change if we sold anything and setting my embroidery so I could work on the area I intended to stitch without taking out anything modern.  Husband packed a small loom he was taking with what he needed to work with it at the event.  This all went out into our van on last Friday - Saturday was to be rain and we did not want to load it all in the rain if we could avoid it.  Event went extremely well - hot day, but bearable, good sized crowd - no rain.  Everything from the event is back in place in the house.


Yesterday we went and visited my mom.  She has moved into what is called the “assisted living” building at the facility she has been in.  My sister’s plan had been for mom to go to same for a few weeks so mom would realize that she cannot be home alone and then move mom home with her and then into an apartment with aides.  Mom has liked it here so much that as of now we plan for to stay as long as the money can be found for her to do so.  (It is not cheap.)  It is the same group/agency as the one that runs the physical rehab she was in and it seems a wonderful place.  We had not visited since her move to assisted living until yesterday.  She has a small apartment - tiny main room with microwave and fridge and kitchen cabinets (no stove).  It is set up to put one’s own TV and attach to the cable.  It comes with a love seat and chair, as well as table and 2 chairs.  (My sister plans to bring the living room chairs from mom’s house and get her a drop leaf table.)  There is a good sized bedroom for one it is - another TV cable connection in same - she has a small TV for right now.  The bathroom has a walk in - no lip shower and seat to use in same.  Very nice, very modern, and housekeeping will keep it clean for her.  She has a key and locks the apartment when she leaves.  There are pull strings in case of emergency to get help.  Talk about an efficient setup that is nice.  Her meals are included so the cooking/fridge are just extra or if she wants to cook for herself.  The breakfast is served too early for her and instead they bring cold cereal and muffin for breakfast to her apartment.  There are trips - including shopping and entertainment trips that one can sign up for.  They will take her to the doctor.  Of course, she can go out with us whenever she wants and I am pretty sure she could call an Uber, Lyft or cab to go out if she wanted. Movies in a theater twice every day.  Other programs are in a large space which also functions for religious services.  My sister has decorating plans for it for mom with items from the house.  Husband and I were highly impressed. The halls look like one is in a hotel.  We were very impressed.  She has made friends already which is good as before she sat home alone.  The apartment is a model of efficiency and organization.

On the other hand the family now has to go through the house and deal with everything in it.  My sisters, their husbands and the adult children of one of them started last weekend.  (We couldn’t go as we were at the reenactment event.  I have to clear out the stuff left in the last bedroom I used in the house (and maybe in the other bedroom I used for awhile) and help with the rest of the house.  Since the house was hit by Hurricane Sandy the basement is empty.  I am actually glad of same now, as the toys down there would have been the hardest to go through and get rid of it.  I am not sure what is still in my old bedroom, but I think I can deal with it okay.  I let my sisters know that I embroidered a tablecloth when in high school and when I got married I could not find it  - I gave a description and told them that if they came across it to hold onto it for me.  I am lucky that one of my sisters has a plan for items that are not toss, donate or take - but try to sell as they are of value and will follow her suggestions.

Today the monitor we ordered for me came in.  I like it much better than the one we bought quickly at Walmart - it is squarer (more similar to my old one) and it can be turned vertical for when I am reading pages so I can see the full page.  We are not sure we may return the one we had bought for me or we may keep it in case we have another problem like this and need a spare monitor that is easy to move around. 

So last night - husband’s computer started shutting itself down while he was working on it.  We spent most of this afternoon pulling it out from under his work table, clearing off a space on the top of one file cabinets for it stay now.  We opened it and vacuumed it out.  (He read that too much dust in it would make it overheat and shut down.)  We then rewired everything so instead of connecting to the computer on the right side of his desk on the floor, it does on the left hand side of his desk on the file cabinet.  We may be getting rid of a printer that is rarely used and was where the computer now is.  Some small items have to be rearranged - including a label maker that may end up on top of our secondary printer and then be moved when that printer is needed.

Weather is very hot - over 91F today - and humid (thunderstorm tonight), plus everything we had to do - and I never even checked email yesterday - so we stopped at the supermarket while we were out and bought sliced deli turkey for us and potato salad for husband - added to bread in the house and turkey gravy we bought yesterday made a quick relatively cool dinner.  We normally have soup with dinner, but skipped it tonight.

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

Oh, so many this week -

Make dinner quick and easy, even if it costs more than normal dinner, when you need to.

Just because a facility is a care facility does not mean that it cannot be nice.  (Oh, I forgot, mom had her hair cut and dyed today - first time in year.  She looks 20 years younger than she did before - she is 90, but to be honest, husband and I both liked her hair better how it was.)  One has to be open to what help one needs as hard as it is to admit to needing it and moving to have the help.

Keep your computer clean - outside and inside.

Hurricanes have a good side - I hate to think what it would take to go through the basement and decide what to keep and what to get rid of. 

REPLACE THE REFRIGERATOR?

Well the ants were resolve as of last week.  I have been very careful - I wash the dishes, etc immediately after we eat, then dry them and put them away, then dry the drying rack, dishpan and sink.  So far, so good.  (Fingers crossed.)

The refrigerator is a different story.  I have spent weeks now watching the thermometer in it - it is a remote read so I don’t have to open the door.  I understand that there is some play in the temperature of the fridge and I sort of know how it works.  For food purposes it has to be kept at 40F or less and for insulin related reasons it has to be kept at 36 F or higher.  It can go as high as 46F, but since the food has a lower top limit, I basically have to keep the fridge (house or RV) between 36 and 40 F.  I try to keep both at 38F and between 37 and 39F to allow some play or in case the thermometer is off. 

I know how to adjust the temperature - turn the knob colder if the temperature is too high until the compressor just clicks on, it if too low then turn the knob just warmer so the compressor clicks off.  I am at good at this.  In the RV I have been known to jump to the back when we stop for gas to make a quick adjustment. 

Recently our house refrigerator has been acting wrong.  I look at the thermometer and it is 37F.  I leave it.  I look again maybe 10-15 minutes later and it is 40F.  It should not jump that much that fast or without seemingly hitting any temperatures between.  It is then hard to get the temperature back down to where it belongs.  I am not adding large amounts of food at all, let alone food that is not already cold.  I thought I was just missing the adjustments and started setting the timer in my mobile phone to go off every 15 or 20 minutes to remind me to check the timer.  Still missed the jumps.  Husband and I have been discussing what to do.  For what a repair would cost, it would not pay. 

So we have been looking refrigerators online and in stores.  Since we have a small house, we have a small kitchen and a relatively small fridge.  When we moved into this house 30 years ago we owned a refrigerator that we had used in our apartment and brought that with us.  Sending the one that came with the house (from the prior owners) to the garage (which did not have electricity) where its main use was to have our, then, Christmas tree stored on top of it.  One July 4th week we were away and came home and found that while we had been away the fridge had died.  As we threw out most of what was in the fridge, we thought to and tried to plug in the fridge in the garage - it no longer worked.  So we bought a new fridge. 

For our apartment we had bought a 15 cu ft refrigerator.  Due to confusion the company that we bought it from took about a week to deliver it to us - and they delivered an 18 cu ft one - with an ice maker and told us to keep both when I called that they were wrong.  (Apparently they kept mixing us up with another customer which led to them claiming that originally they tried to deliver and I was not home - I was home and on the phone, by coincidence, at that time.  We bought the fridge in 1982 for the apartment.  I know this as I was working on a piece of embroidery at the time, worked on it all work while stuck in our apartment waiting, and it is, yes, dated 1982.  I am not sure of when we bought the first one for this house or its size.

When we had our house treated for the bed bugs in 2009 we found afterwards that the refrigerator which we had replaced that one with was no longer working.  Since we found several individual bottles of water in the fridge and its freezer which were not ours, so apparently the bed bug crew had stashed their water bottles in our fridge (it was a major heat treatment) and had been opening the doors all day - so our fridge died. 

At that time we bought the fridge that is currently in our house.  It is 20.9 cu ft.  Like all of our other ones it is white and a top freezer.  I did not particularly like a number of things about it, but we were in a rush and bought it - it has served us well.

Monday night we decided that we had to replace it.  We both looked online and found that there seemed to be 3 possible replacements of about the same size.  Tuesday we went to a major house/hardware chain to look at what they had. None of the 3 excited me.  They had oddly arranged shelves (all were actually from different companies - not just the same company with different nameplates) and such.  Husband had heard about fridges which allow one to set an actual temperature and the fridge will keep that temperature - not the usual turn the dial a little this way or that and stick a thermometer in the fridge to check the temperature.  I found one that was “only” $300 more than what we were looking at - or to look at the extra price another way - it added the equivalent of 50% more of the price to the price.  This was something he REALLY wanted.  He had given me measurements at home before we went out and this one did not seem that much larger in size and we left it in consideration.

We then went to the other major house/hardware chain to see what they had.  Basically the same, but the model that we had seen and husband was interested in, was slightly different - or at least it’s number was. 

We have bought large appliances from both in the past and based on same decided that we wanted to buy from the first company, but decided to go a different store in the chain which was larger and “maybe” would have something different.

They did not.  So I made the decision.  As much as I would hate the fancier fridge - it was side by side and I was not even sure a turkey would fit on the tiny shelves and we had to take it in stainless as white add another 50% to the price, it made sense for the problem we have with keeping the temperature in such a small range.  We bought it.  To be delivered and set up on Friday.

We then went home and measured the front door - it was about an inch too small, but we figured that they could take the fridge doors off as there was a measurement without same and it would fit. 

One thing husband had read about is that the freezer in this type of fridge has a small “door” to the main compartment which opens and closes to take cold air into the freezer and it makes the main fridge section warmer.  We have a small freezer in the basement - from when we used to grow vegetables and I would actually shop at sales to buy food and would store the extra in this freezer.  Now it is mostly empty  - when I went to see what was in it - everything had a date to use by in 2016.  I tossed them out.  I then took all of the items in our fridge’s freezer downstairs to the freezer. Only things I left in the upstairs freezer are some of those liquid filled plastic things that one freezes and puts with food or meds to keep them cold in transit.  I then turned the fridge’s freezer temperature almost all the way to the warmest temperature.  (We would need to move the frozen food to same anyway as it takes a day for the new fridge/freezer to reach temperature.

Overnight the same thought came to each of us - the fridge also had to pass through 2 doorways in the house - and they were narrower.  Then husband went downstairs and laid out the measurements of the fridge we ordered - it was huge!  It would not only block part of the entry into the kitchen from the dining room, it would also block access the (only) light switches in the kitchen.  I measured the old fridge and came in about 3-4 inches smaller front to back then he had measured.  We went back to the store and canceled the order. 

Now what to do?  Well, the fridge had been working okay since yesterday (Tuesday).  Maybe it would keep working - at least until we return from a trip next week.  The sale on the various refrigerators continues to July 10, so we could still get the price when we came back.  We looked at the 3 fridges in the right size and decided which one we would get - but we figured we would buy it after we returned from our trip.

Husband decided he wanted a chicken pie we had in the freezer.  I went down and took it out.  Temperature in the fridge was 37F - great!  I put the pie in to cook and was playing games on my cell phone.  I wanted a glass of soda - in taking out the bottle that was there, I notice we would need more and added a bottle - a room temperature bottle - to the fridge.  When I looked up again the temperature was 45F??!!!  By now we have several thermometers sitting in the fridge - the one we normally use seems to always be the odd one out.  In this case the others all showed the temperature to be 40F - could it be a thermometer problem?  We have spare of the remote read and I set that up and took the first one out - same problem.  Even with the temperature set to the coldest setting  - it was not getting colder, the compressor did not seem to be on.  We unplugged the fridge and then plugged it in again (it seemed to help twice before since the weekend).  No effect. 

Extremely s l o w l y the temperature dropped.  After dinner, we went out and ordered the fridge that we had decided to order next week. I don’t love it - but hopefully it will work and it is better than the huge side by side husband wanted - and it should fit through all the doors it needs to.  It is suppose to be here Friday. 

Now for logistics -

We have an automatic ice maker to old fridge - as we had one before, we had bought it again.  We are not getting one for our new fridge - we rarely use ice and end up tossing out the shrunken cubes that are in the freezer.  We can do it “the old fashioned way” and have frozen trays of ice in the freezer.  But we have to shut off the water to the fridge and get rid of the water in the line.  Husband found it and turned it closed as far it as it went.  I threw out the shrunken, dried cubes in the ice bucket and turned the ice maker on to use the rest of the water in the line up.  We either have much more water in the line than we thought, the ice maker uses much less water than we figure - or the water is not actually off and has a leak in the tap as we keep getting more ice cubes - right now they are just shells of ice, but they keep coming.  Just heard more drop.  We bought a “cap” for the end of the water line - just in case the water is not and cannot be shut off completely. 

Freezer, as mentioned, is basically empty.

That leaves our fridge section.  There is an open package of American cheese slices, an open package of cream cheese, 2 hot dogs, and 6 eggs in it. I have 2 of husband’s insulin pens in it.  If we cannot keep them below 46F, I am not going to worry about it as they will need to be used within 42 days - and they are 20 days worth, plus husband is in the middle of pen - so they should be used up long before the 42 days.  The rest of what is in there does not really need to be in a fridge “to keep” - soda, sealed bottles of ice tea, condiments (no mayo), and similar.  Our RV is currently plugged in to charge the batteries (done twice a month, just happened to be doing it now) and we will turn on the fridge in the RV tomorrow and put the food from the fridge in it until we can move it to the new fridge.  (Hot dogs could just be frozen and put in the basement freezer.)

I soooooo hope that this is the last of the stupidity that has been going on.  (Well, I do have to make a 3rd call to an insurance for our reenacting unit - so, still repeating chores over and over.)  I really cannot take any more!


THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

When one thinks that everything is resolved - something isn’t and will need to be dealt with and redone.

Oh, and things always break at the wrong time.

Oh, and when all these things are going on and one goes down to do laundry and pours water out of the dehumidifier all over the basement - the laundry can wait!

 

ILLUMINATING LIGHTS, BUT ALMOST NO WORK- WORK, DONE

Well another week gone  - and nothing much done of what I planned to do.  Husband had plans. 

We have a solar outdoor light fixture that we bought at least a year ago - if not two years ago - at Costco to put up in the backyard.  We have electricity back there and at one time husband put up a light, but he cannot deal with heights - could not back when put the put the light up (nor can I deal well with heights) - but it is worse now.  The fact that we are both on the short side and have to climb up higher to reach what others can reach adds to the problem.  The light he had put up has not worked in a long while and we did not want to climb as high as the old light to replace it.   So our logic was that we would buy a solar fixture and replace it by putting the solar fixture lower down the wired fixture.  The fixture has been sitting in our dining room since we bought it waiting to be put up. 

When we had our garage finished we had electricity added.  You know the idea of ask around and find someone friends recommend?  We hired a contractor who had done work several times for husband at his job and were extremely happy with.  Our garage - not so much.  To leave out the extensive details, the (supposedly) licensed electrician the contractor had hired did the wiring rather oddly.  The outlet boxes inside the garage move as they are not attached to the studs. He put in 2 circuits - but rather than put half the outlets on one and half and half the lights on one and the other half on the other - all the outlets are on one circuit and the lights he put in were all on the same circuit.  The air conditioner - which we added later is also on one of the circuits.  (The ac installer said he never put one in a garage before.)  Oh that reminds me - the garage is husband’s wood workshop.  We did have the electrician put in a light next to the side door into the garage (something added when we had this work done - before there was only the large front garage door) which has a switch and a front spot light which has its own switch.  We have replaced the front spot light a few times - high up, but not as high as the light on the back of the house - when the motion detectors have gone bad.  Well, in the garage there are work lights - the two long flourescent bulbs type.  The front two are hung from the inside of the roof - one of them, for unknown reason, much further towards the center of the garage and therefore much higher up.  This fixture has been flashing and not really coming on, also for about a year.  We had a box with 2 of the LED replacement bulbs for this particular type of feature, but could not reach the fixture to replace them. 

The latest problem was that the light next to the side garage door stopped working completely.  Husband decided that something had to be done as he could not see in the backyard at night to go in and out of the garage, there was no light there for security, and he was getting a headache working in the garage. 

So while I am planning to work on tax returns for clients and for us, he was planning to work on lights.  He bought a fixture to replace the one next to the side garage door.  He then turned to the question of being able to reach things high up without fear of falling off a ladder.  He found a ladder of about the right height that had platforms for the two stop steps and we set out to buy one.  We had to go to one of major home store chain stores and then three of the other home store chain to find and buy one.  It was really worth the cost - but it did take a lot of time over 2 days. 

He was able to put the new light next to the side garage door.  He then figured he could reach the bulbs in the fixture inside the garage and was going to buy a pair of LED ones - I surprised him with a box of them that was in the basement and it was done (and I don’t have to worry about breaking them when I move the Christmas boxes around). 

That left the solar fixture that has been here for years. Problem is that where we planned to put it he decided after research, was not the place to put it.  He finally figured out where to put it - reachable, facing the sun, and lighting up the backyard.  So yesterday we put it up.  The light fixture first and then the solar panel.  Biggest problem was that where he put the light is where our TV antenna stands in the backyard.  I was in constant fear that he would lean back or fall back and the long metal prong of the antenna would be through his head.  He managed to avoid it and it is all in place.  It apparently needs to charge a few days before we can test it.

Tonight - after dinner - I finally got to start the first return.  It went easier than I thought with the new forms.  It is not finished yet, but done enough that I am not worried about it.  (Client lives on the other side of the country and I want to mail it out to her Monday if I can.)  Meanwhile I have heard from a client who normally gets an extension - same this year as he is away until after April 15.  Another client, a friend, contacted me last week - she has a return from 2015 that needs to be done or she will lose her refund from same.  Problem is that she has no access to her house as there is a problem with a support wall and the ground may fall away.  Luckily I have enough of her 2015 info (from when we filed the extension) to do a fairly correct return - but I sent her a form that will have IRS mail me copies of the forms sent to her by banks, etc.  from that year’s return just to make sure.  I am still waiting for other clients to mail their info to me.  I keep wondering if I will hear from the client who disappeared to do her taxes.  I really worry about her.                     

I have kept up on laundry - clothing load in the washer as I write and will go in the dryer as soon as my - yes - cell phone rings to tell me that the wash load should be done.  I also need to do a load of towels afterwards.

Husband is again hoping and planning to go away Friday for the day - but it looks like rain again.  We need a gift for my mom for her birthday on Sunday - she will be 90 and my sister is having a dinner for her.  No ideas of what to get for her.  I was going to embroider something, but husband talked me out of it.  He doesn’t like the idea of giving her gift cards for the supermarket she goes to either (I don’t normally give gift cards, but I am stuck for ideas.)  I had actually hoped we will go away as we maybe we can find a PA Dutch food item to bring her back as a gift. 

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

One cannot always do what wants/needs to do when one plans - especially if there are others involved in one’s life.  One can only do the best one can and not go crazy about it.

The timer in the cell phone just went off.  So I will copy and post this when I come back up from switching loads.  Okay laundry switched - now I can post.