A CHORE LEADS TO A TIME FOR SOME REST

Well we now both have working computers - yay! 

The fridge seems to be working - bigger yay!  Husband found out that the drawers at the bottom of fridge keep a more even temperature than the rest of the fridge.  After testing the temperature in same, we decided that the best place for his insulin in one of the drawers as the temperature in same seems to always be 36F or higher so that problem is resolved too.

Missed working with my sisters and their husbands at mom’s house again last weekend.  We had terribly hot weather here and I was “under” it.  My sister told me that they have gone through all but 3 rooms and 6 closets - not sure if that includes the room I have to go through as I left a lot of “stuff” in my old room.  I found out that the other day that “we” will having a tag sale.  Hmmm, I guess if I found stuff to donate it might be worth leaving it for the tag sale and  maybe I will add some of the stuff we need to get rid of in our house and the money from same when (if?) it sells can go towards mom’s living expenses while not costing us anything that we don’t have to give her.

I has been HOT here - over 100F one day and almost the same the day before.  Monday night there were major rain storms around the area - over several states. Husband was again demonstrating to me how wonderful having Roku is and that we can see every episode of “Midsummer Murders” from the start (we- mostly I - have only seen about 3 seasons as that is when I found the show) and we don’t have to watch it 3-5 am when it is on PBS we can see it any time.  Last week when he ran the second episode (had run the first one previously) it kept going out of sync and needing to be restarted. Monday the hottest of the days and at night was the huge thunderstorm.  We were watching episode 3 when it froze.  He kept trying to get it going.  Then something dawned on me - I turned on my cell phone and turned on the house wifi - nothing.  I switched the TV to the cable - nothing.  We had lost our Internet service - no cable, no computer Internet.  (We still have copper wire telephone service from old telephone company so same still worked.)  Husband was having a fit over no TV and no Internet.  I knew that at least we had electricity.  The TV came back gradually over several hours.  At first the broadcast channels were back.  Then the non-premium channels.  The cable company’s local news channel was not there - but husband found it on their local weather channel - how the heck can one channel from their studio work and not the other?  And shouldn’t their news channel at some point have mentioned - hey, we are on this other channel do an outage of our service - sorry - here is what is going on and which problems are where?  They did not even do so after the service was restored.  When the first channels were back, I went on my cell phone to see what had happened - just lots of people complaining that they had called to report the outage and find out what they could and got the message I did - “We are experiencing a large call volume.  Please contact us through our website.”  No website working of course!!

Today we went on a little trip.  (Oh, no, another of her nightmare trips.)  Our RV has two batteries (the type that are used in golf carts) which charge from the RV being driven, running the RV generator and/or plugging in the RV to electricity at home or at campground.  As I am pretty sure I mentioned our two had reached beyond the end of their lives.  We found a company in New Jersey that could order the batteries that husband had been told were the best to get for our RV and could install them.  We ordered the batteries last week - paying for the batteries themselves at that time by charge card over the phone.  They came in and we made an appointment to go to have them put in  - for this past Monday - the day of the storm.  On last Friday husband looked at the weather and saw the huge storms expected and told me to call and change the appointment to today (Wednesday).  Blew out my week - I had planned to go to my client this week either Tuesday or Thursday and could not wake up that early two days in a row.  I did so.  Good thing we did.  The area where the company is located was hit hard by the storm.  Parts of the area were still out today and the company was running on two generators. 

We (I) cleared out stuff where they might need to work - both halves of the bed were stacked on the base for husband’s side of the bed on each other.  (His side is longer than my side and they might have needed to access the cabinet under my bed.)  We figured out what we needed to bring.  Not having been to this place before and having looked at online maps and there was no place for lunch near by, we bought sliced deli turkey and made sandwiches last night and bagged them in a cold bag made for lunch with two cans of diet soda and plastic ice.  I emptied out my travel backpack.  (I use it when we go somewhere where we will not have easy access back to the RV or car if we use same instead during the day.  I put in what we might need based on where we go and what we do.)  I put the cold bag with our lunch in it.  I also added a package of saltine crackers as they work well for husband if he has a blood sugar low.  In our other cold bag I put some bottles of a sugar drink he uses if his blood sugar goes too low and I put that bag in the RV fridge - which we did not put on.  We had no idea if there was a place for us to wait while the work was done inside the building or if we would be sitting outside (in lesser, but still heat) on a curb waiting for it.  We were also not sure how long it would take for the work to be done as we knew that there was no way we would be there by 8:30 am as we just cannot get up early enough to get ready and drive at least 2 hours and be there by then. 

We got out this morning just ahead of our planned leaving time (okay - it was the same 8:30 am that it had been suggested we be there) and when husband went to back the RV out into the busy main street we live on it was actually empty on our side of the street long enough to pull out without waiting.  (I stand in the street with a walkie talkie and tell him when he can pull out - he pulls up next to the curb and I jump in and we go.)  As mentioned in past posts, what used to be a 45 minute drive to the bridge off the huge island we live on, can take 2 hours now.  We have found that leaving the house at 8:30 am seems to be the best time for us to leave - we are driving at the rear end of rush hour and by the time we reach the construction areas - they are just short of starting work. 

Drive was going pretty well and then the news announced that there had been a car fire on the bridge we had to take off the Island and traffic was bad.  OH (expletive deleted)!!  We figured we were in a mess for sure.   Husband asked me about alternatives.  I started thinking.  We are on the south end of the Island and therefore also the south end of Manhattan Island.  To get to “the main land” - mostly New Jersey we can take a bridge to Staten Island and then another bridge from there to New Jersey.  We can drive through one of several bridges or two tunnels into Manhattan and then go across same and go out through one of two tunnels to New Jersey - this would involve driving the large van that is our RV in crowded Manhattan streets and we cannot take a tunnel due to having propane in a tank in the RV.  So, we could get into Manhattan from where we were, but we would have to drive most of the length (south to north) of it to get to the George Washington Bridge.  We could go north on our Island on one road that we can go on (we are too tall for many limited access roads here) just at the start of the next (Queens) county/NYC line drive north to the Bronx - over a bridge - and then across the Bronx on a road that I have never seen or heard of not being stopped by traffic - and then into Manhattan (on a bridge) and then over the same George Washington Bridge to New Jersey.  An additional problem was the road we needed to use in New Jersey was only open to vehicles like ours for part of the way - no problem if we go by State Island, but if we go by the George Washington Bridge we have to figure an alternate way to drive south until we are near where we would get on the road if we went through Staten Island.  We decided to keep on the way we normally go as it was so much simpler and it would probably take more time to go north and then come back south again than deal with the delay. The car that had been on fire was in the opposite direction from the one we were going.  And the GPS traffic was not showing any drastic problems.

We figured that we would monitor the reports on the radio news channel we listen to as we went along and that, along with the traffic we hit would make our decision. But - today was the day that Robert Mueller was testifying at Congress and the radio station decided to run same instead of news and weather. The road was not as bad as usual.  The bridge barely had a slow down.  At 9:30 am I called the company and told them that we were on way and would be there in about an hour. 

When we got there we were very pleasantly surprised.  The building was large.  The employees very friendly and nice.  Robert had some info that the guys putting in the batteries needed to know and he gave it to the nice woman who wrote up the work order.  I took my back pack - with lunch and some paperwork (about the ordering of the batteries) I had in case we needed it out of the RV.  She wrote up the work order and then showed us what she called their “living room”.  There were sofas, a huge TV showing - of course - Robert Mueller testifying.  There was a man already there waiting for them to work on his car.  I sat down - backpack on an end table - and husband walked around their small shop area of stuff for RV s.  The man was very nice and we talked thorough out the time we were waiting.  (Found out that there was a TV remote and he had chosen the show - fine with us.)  I played solitaire on my cell phone.  I had also brought my old Palm Centro as it had different games I like to play in case I got bored with the solitaire I play.  The poor fellow was going to be there most of the day and have a huge bill when he was done.  (Not that our bill between the parts paid for and the work to be done was small.)  At one point the employee came out and asked him if he wanted to see local food place menus to order lunch as he would be there so long.  (Very nice of her to think of this.)  He offered it to us also, but I pointed at the backpack and we explained that we had brought lunch when we saw there was nothing near by.  Of course I needed a trip to the ladies room.  Very nice compared to most and especially to what I thought it might be based on other RV places. 

Our work was done by 1:30 pm and we paid for it and were off - with our lunch still uneaten.  We found out that the place still had not had their electricity restored and were running on 2 generators.  We had not even noticed a problem with same.  We were glad that they had been able to do the work under these conditions.

We have been in the general area before and had planned to hang around, have dinner in the area and then drive home - both because there is a chain buffet restaurant husband likes near there and to avoid being stuck in rush hour - which we would hit by the time we got back to Long Island.  We decided to go to a shopping mall and walk around - and we figured to eat lunch in their food court area.  As we were driving there we noticed soooo many stores that were dark and no cars in their parking lots as well as utility crews working.  I suggested to husband that since we would pass it, we should check that the buffet was open after the storm instead of spending time and then finding ourselves with a dinner problem.  Few cars outside it, but the lights were on and we saw people at tables.

Went to the mall and had lunch and walked around for over an hour.  Then we went to Barnes and Nobles and walked around.  Then we drove to a Walmart we knew about  - closer to the restaurant then the other two - and went there for a while.  Then dinner and home.    Coming home the upper level of the bridge was closed - we presume based on what we saw that they were still clearing the bridge from the accident or making repairs due to same.  It was the most traffic we had the entire trip. 

Although much of the day was wasted time as we did not want to come home and got stuck in traffic (and he REALLY likes that buffet) I don’t feel like we had a wasted day.  We had a lot of down time and actually I feel as if I had a chance for an enforced rest period today.  (He, on the other hand, was in a constant state of concern.)  Now that the batteries are replaced and new - he is worrying that the alternator is going bad or the “separator” is going bad.  (The same alternator charges both the car battery under the hood that most if not all cars have and the RV batteries.  The separator - surprise - keeps the RV and car batteries separated when same is going on - one is charged than when it is finished, the other is.

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -

Sometimes things work out better than one thinks they will - but always make sure to plan for the problems that may arise.  Sometimes a chore that wastes a lot of time can bring some needed rest to you. 

ACHOO!

Achoo!  Last week I was feeling fine.  Then it happened.  You know, you wake up with a scratchy throat and wonder - is it a cold or did I just sleep on my back with my mouth open and annoy my throat.  Then the coughing starts - and you still hope it is a just a scratchy throat from sleeping on your back, but you are pretty sure it is not.  Once the sneezing starts and your nose is clogged...  My husband lives in fear of me having a cold.  He is a bit of a hypochondriac so he won’t let me do anything if I might “spread the germs” to him.  But he doesn’t want to do what he is not letting me do either.  Everything takes longer to do as a result and wastes time. Don’t worry - you can’t catch the cold.

He doesn’t want to cook (although he used to love to cook and is the better cook).  He doesn’t want to do the dishes. but he doesn’t want me to do either as I will get him sick.  The first night he made dinner - ham steak that we shared and a packaged macaroni with mushrooms - add to boiling water and let cook - and canned soup.  I did the dishes afterwards with disposable plastic gloves on.  One night he was on the computer with a client and I asked if I should make dinner or wait for him and he told me he was busy - so I made dinner and he ate it, but not happily.  Then the weekend came and cooking was resolved as we eat out Friday through Sunday nights.  This week he cooked dinner on Monday.  Last night as we were trying to figure out what to have for dinner a rain storm hit.  I mean A RAIN STORM HIT.  He received a warning on his cell phone - I did not, although my, no cell service for over a year as it was not working for Internet or phone service and I had to switch,  Blackberry received a notice.  (I keep it charged for it games and camera.)  We had major lightning and thunder for about 2 hours - remember I have fired a reproduction 18th century cannon - the thunder was like cannon fire.  We lost our electricity - one of husband’s other great fears.  We stood/sat with the front door open watching “the show” .  We live on a main road.  A UPS truck went past to the right, then to the left, then two of them passed our house, then another one and so on.  Assorted emergency vehicles passed the house in both directions with lights flashing - police, ambulances, fire trucks, a couple of electric utility trucks...  Cars kept driving in the mess, some would pull over a few minutes and then go on.  I am a pretty fearless driver (scared husband the few times he had to drive with me as the driver) and I would have pulled over.  Sooo, what will we eat?  I was thinking - we have rolls, peanut butter - crunchy and smooth, jelly - strawberry and Ikea ligonberry, American cheese, mozzarella cheese - no problem.  I suggested this to him.  NO!  We cannot open the fridge or his insulin would go bad.  (Well, technically if it got too warm it would still be good for 42 days, but I was not going to argue.)   Luckily the rain let up around 10:30 pm.  We got in the car and drove to a nearby supermarket and bought more rolls and cold cuts for dinner.  On the corner passed a 7-11 shut down do to lack of electricity, employees seemed to be sitting in cars in the parking lot.  We got home and were getting ready to eat and - the lights came back on.  Apparently we were in the largest outage area so we were put back quickly.  I honestly do not remember a thunderstorm with so much or such loud thunder with rain that heavy for so long.

Tonight we took in Chinese food - simple right?  Not really.  The place we took out from for decades (while I was waiting for the gas company to come and turn on the gas in our first apartment I went and took out from this place for lunch - I did not even have tableware, dishes, glasses, etc in the apartment - I did have a borrowed bridge table and 2 borrowed bridge chairs) has changed.  The original owners ran it for a long time - we knew their children, I remember hearing a car stop short in front of our apartment and the father coming running to the corner because his younger daughter had been riding her bicycle and just missed being hit by the car.  When he died his older daughter would come home from college on weekends to help her mom.  Then the son took over for awhile - even though he really wanted to be fishing - and the place often had fresh fish due to same.  Eventually the place was sold - to the son’s sister in law and her husband.  They were also nice and the food was the same and we kept going there.  Earlier this year we went there and the husband was not there and an older woman (I presume one of their moms) was cooking.  The food was not good.  We tried another place and were not happy with them.  We went back to them figuring maybe it was the change in cook.  But the last time we took out the soup was too salty to eat and all the dishes were wrong.  We don’t know what happened.  This is the place we called on our way back from our 5 hour trip in July, 2017 to get dinner made before they closed - http://wheredidileavethat.blogspot.com/2017/07/treading-water-5-hour-trip-to-nowhere.html So, we never know where to take out from and as a result we don’t.  We receive an assortment of fliers from take out places and I keep them.  One recently caught husband’s eye and he had been planning to try it - so tonight we did.  Very nice people and food.  Three street parking spaces in front of the 4 stores was the only parking.  Then, since I was sick, husband did not hand me the food to hold on the trip home, he put it in a plastic laundry basket we keep in the back in the car, he did not put anything against the bag to hold it.  Yes, the bag went on an angle and was soaked when he took it out of the car.  After dinner we had to wash the vinyl cover I keep in the car, the basket, and back of the car.  We will go back again - and I will hold the bag.


In the middle of all this I had to go to Manhattan to a client for work - I should have gone last month, but she had a cold (could I have caught this cold over the telephone :-) ).  So I went yesterday.  I packed a zip lock bag with sucking candy, lots of tissues, and an old prescription bottle with one dose of the cough medicine I am taking.  In another zip lock bag I had a small bottle I filled with water.  Did I mention the temperature yesterday was over 90 degrees Fahrenheit?  Luckily I did not need any of the items. 

As a result of this normal housework and keeping things in order are only done if absolutely needed.  Instead of changing the bedding, I changed only my pillowcases.  I suggested he change his, but he said it was okay to just leave them until next week.  I had to talk him through changing the hand towels. We were in the downstairs bathroom - “Where are they?” “In the cabinet under the sink  - see those 2 whiteish towels?  Take them and the green dish towel below them.”  (I put out a green dish towel each week in that bathroom to use for quick clean ups of water around the sink - it matches the bathroom.)  Upstairs?  “Which towels?”  “The yellow ones.” (I figured yellow was bright and he would easily see them.) “You mean these yellow ones?”  They are the only yellow ones we have. 

Last week I had washed and dried the clothes the night before I got the cold.  A load of jeans were in the dryer drying overnight.  So we had clothes for the week.  I did not wash the towels or the bed linens.  Good thing I have 2 weeks of towels plus one extra set for up and down.  I was trying to figure out how to mention to him about the laundry when he brought it up.  I put the clothes in to wash.  He will put them in the dryer - with me talking him through it - and then bring them upstairs afterwards.  He brought up last week jeans load when I put in the load to wash.  He says he will fold the laundry.  I normally pull out his shirts as I put the clean, dry laundry in the basket to take upstairs so that they do not need to be ironed, as I put them over the top of the other clothes and if he does that, and sorts mine from his, I can deal with my clothes and he can deal with his or leave them in the basket and pull them out as he needs them. 

Hopefully either this cold will be definitely over with or he will give up by Monday so life can return to normal.

On the other hand, I had some extra time in the office as we came home quicker in the afternoons.  I managed to shred all of my 2008 records - other than few I kept such as the checks written that year for our income taxes - 3 tall kitchen bags plus, worth of shredding.  I then packed my 2017 records into the same box, relabeled it, and put it back in the closet - ah, room to fit papers in file folders again. 

I also had time to transfer my 2017 computer files to my archive file and make 2 DVD copies of the revised archive files.  I still have to change my back up files so that the old files are gone from them, but that will happen as I make backup files.

I went through an assortment of old computer instruction manuals sitting on a shelf in the office - why?  I needed space for 2 magazine holders.  I pulled a number of the manuals - mostly from programs or hardware that I had - and I will put them out over a couple of weeks with the recycling.  I still have a stack for husband to go through - understand this are DOS or pre Windows XP software and hardware that I cannot figure out what or where it is.  The magazine holders fit nicely in the shelf now with room for the manuals for computer things we are actively using.

The office floor is a mess due to my cheapness in not wanting to waste extra garbage bags when doing shredding and pouring from one to another - as well as throwing handfuls of shreds from one bag to another.  I had planned to vacuum up the shreds - but then caught this cold - maybe tomorrow I will get to vacuuming.

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
One gets ill.  It happens.  I am glad that it only a cold so all it has been is inconvenient.  In the larger world it is nothing, just an inconvenience. I am happy that is not serious and by next week either I will be better or he will give up trying to do things for me so he does not catch the cold.  (I have never pointed out to him that I touch the light switches and so does he.) 

Try to do as much as one can without overtaxing one’s self - this will vary based on what is wrong with one.

I leave you with a final achoo!  If I rambled too much - will, hey!  I have a cold! :-)