Day 146, 147, 148 of Sheltering In

Thursday, Friday, Saturday. Thursday:  Power came back on at 11:55am. That would be about an hour before my neighbor said my generator was fixed. He just had to clean it out, carburetor and gas tank. I must have bought a higher quality generator than I thought, because I was sure it was toast.

My brother in law was over cutting up branches Thursday and Friday. Friday he showed up with another new chainsaw. Supposedly this one cost $500. I am not familiar with expensive chainsaws, so I have no reason to doubt it. He was showing it off to my neighbor...and then cut up all that neighbor‘s fallen tree branches and he and my son put them by the street.

Saturday was laundry day at my father in law’s house. I woke up with a migraine and very congested. I got a pass! Yup. I got to stay home. I can’t tell you how thrilled I was. Laundry at a laundromat has been my responsibility since October. When I say “responsibility”, I actually mean supervisory responsibility. My son does all the lifting and moving and putting the items in the machines. I make sure he does it correctly and I fill the detergent dispenser and the coin slots. Even though I’m not actually doing the laundry, it’s still a pain because we have to get up early so we get to the laundromat early enough to get as many machines as needed. I use the biggest machines they have so that I don’t monopolize all of the regular size machines, which I don’t like. I don’t feel like the laundromat keeps them as clean and I don’t feel they get the clothes as clean as the front load big machines. They are stainless steel inside and out so I can see right away if they are kept clean.

While I was home I accomplished 3 things. I printed the template for the custom sized face masks for my daughter. I got the laptop out and put my music back on my iPhone. (It mysteriously disappeared 2 iOS updates ago.) I also forked up my laptop’s iTunes because Microsoft One Drive got control of my iPhone and when I wanted to check if all my music transferred and to transfer photos I couldn’t because iTunes on my laptop didn’t recognize my iPhone unless I had One Drive open....until I removed my iPhone from One Drive’s list of devices. I also got error 54 at some point.  I forked things up good. I can’t find anything on Google to help me, and I did read way to many Apple support links that were of no help. I hated One Drive from day one with this laptop. I had been getting a “can’t sign into One Drive error”. Today I stupidly decided to resolve that by resetting the password. That allowed it to open in the background and screw up iTunes. I put the laptop away and gave up for today. I wrote a note on a post it so next time I use it I will be reminded. Grrrrrr!

It’s nearly 8:30pm and they are still not home. That also means no dinner yet. They were supposed to pick up frozen dinners or frozen pizza on the way home. Normally that wouldn’t be an issue, I could fix myself something to eat, or have cereal, but I haven’t yet replaced the food that went bad from the power outage. I wasn’t sure if the fridge cleanup was done when I went to the store Saturday, so I bought very little.

Lola’s Diner cc.  2008-2020

Day 145 of Sheltering In ***UPDATE***

Approximately 11:55am electricity was restored. 

Electricity just went on. Woo hoo! We have electricity and internet. Our prayers have been answered! Thank you God! I will continue to pray for the thousands still without electricity. H town is projected next week power will be restored.

Last night was so hot upstairs in the bedrooms we couldn’t sleep. So glad that we can stop living like we’re camping. Nothing against camping, love it.

Wednesday. Electricity is still out. Now they are saying by Friday 7am. 

I’ve had enough. It’s 84° in the master bedroom. (Not guesstimating, I have a wall thermometer.) It sux trying to sleep in this heat. I did open the window adjacent to the bedrooms, so there is some airflow. Doesn’t seem as bad as last night.

I’m sick of fast food. We did have Chinese lunch boxes for lunch, so that was something different. My brother in law treated. We have 2 coolers. A big one downstairs that serves as our substitute fridge, and a large size lunch type cooler that has ice, water and my insulin. I’m praying my insulin will be okay. It was cool when I moved it to the cooler Tuesday morning. I don’t think it’s cold enough to freeze it. 

Our neighbor came and picked up my generator this morning. I had to text Facebook dude and let him know I didn’t need him to come over. I felt bad, but due to my cancellation he can help someone else. Always look on the bright side, right?

I swear I’ve come close to a nervous breakdown. Between all the food that we’re going to lose, all the money wasted on fast food, the heat, and heightened tempers, it just isn’t pretty over here. I bought lots of fresh fruit and veggies to get back on track, but now that’s all garbage.

Laundry is still in delay mode. I am scraping the bottom of the barrel in terms of T-shirt’s. My wife wants to take the laundry to her Dad’s on Saturday because his wife is supposed to be working. I don’t think this will end well. One time when he invited us over his wife decided not to go in to work. Talk about awkward! I still kinda want to go to the laundromat, and will need to cuz no way can it all get done in regular size top load washer and dryer. Maybe Monday. 

My brother in law was working on the tree limbs since late morning. The tree limbs are taken care of, but he still has the other trees he’s been promising to take care of. He did get rid of everything behind the porch steps by my cement Buddha. It’s just a lot because he hasn’t followed through. I get so frustrated because I would have done this all myself, with my son piling the branches, but I can’t do it since my accident. 

No more PT. Insurance won’t approve it. So my L arm is fixed. My R knee only had a small amount of PT ONE day. And my R arm is royally f’d up. It needs a lot of work. I can’t get into the orthopedic doctor til the 25th. I did leave a detailed voicemail message for his PA, but no one listens to them. I know this, because this is my wife’s doctor also.

I got a new toy. We used it this afternoon. I just sat by it, supervising, everyone else came by for breaks. It’s called the Cobra. It’s a mister. It attaches to your hose and sprays a fine cooling mist. Reminds me of the misting tents at fairs, but this is a lot smaller. Still did the cooled off 4 people. If it weren’t so buggy I would have stayed outside. I got bit up quite a bit by the mosquitoes.

Lola’s Diner cc.  2008-2020

Day 144 of Sheltering In

Tuesday. It’s a nightmare! Flashbacks from the tornado August 27, 2007.

We went to the hardware store where we had my name on a list for a delivery at 2pm. We got there early and had our ‘spidey people watching senses’ on full alert. It was kind of funny. Guy gets out of his car, he looks determined, like he’s on a mission. Goes in, comes out with a small bag of hardware. Many people going in, coming out, many empty handed. Oh look, I bet they went in and asked about generators. Past 2pm a guy walked out with just a receipt. Bingo! He walked to his car and drove around to the back of the store. Yup. He got one. This went on until about 3:30pm when we gave up and went home. We talked to the guy parked across from us, he went in to check, they only got 8, that’s it. So he left and we left.

I made a run to put gas in my car first thing in the morning. It was very much on E. We charged our phones yesterday and today in the car. We also used the Internet to search for generators. Much faster than using data. After gas, I was on a mission for lunch. Everything was closed except for the grocery stores on the main road. We went to Meijer and got sandwich fixins. The lunch meat area was wiped out. I grabbed 4 very small packages of ham and turkey, and cheese. Trying to save and avoid fast food. I could have driven further out in search of fast food, but I decided to be budget minded. We were in and out quickly. I made sandwiches for everyone after we got home from the hardware store. My brother in law met us there and then went to my house to cut up the fallen tree limbs with his new toy. He got a gas chainsaw. He didn’t like my electric one. At my house in Chicago I had just 1 tree so I didn’t need an expensive gas chainsaw. He’s coming back Wednesday. My son and I go for bloodwork in the morning...if they have power. They did not have power today.

***Update: My daughter had a doctor appointment scheduled for after our bloodwork. I got a call saying that my daughter’s appointment was cancelled “due to the weather”. That means no electricity again on Wednesday. I got the call because everyone gives my phone number out for medical appointments. I did not get a call about the bloodwork appointments, however, I did call and their phone system was all wonky. I doubt they will be drawing blood by candlelight. Lol! So no bloodwork today. Gotta get coffee! Too funny, all the Karens on were on Facebook Tuesday asking if any Starbucks locations were open. Really? That’s your priority, getting Starbucks? I’ll take coffee from anywhere, I’m not picky. McD’s, BK, the gas station.

My wife did a run for dinner at about 9:30pn. That’s when everything settled down. Her brother had left, and the cleanup was put on pause til tomorrow.

I tried reaching my guy who repaired my snowblower yesterday. His voicemail was full. Today there was a guy on the village page offering to borrow out generators. I found that too late, but he did offer to fix mine. I’ll have to get ahold of him Wednesday. My neighbor that fixes small engines is an asshat. He again promised to work on that and the riders at the end of the week. I’m not holding my breathe. If this guy can get my generator going I’ll ask him if he works on riders. Hoping the engine in the Craftsman is still good. I want to have it swapped with the dead engine in the shiny red Troy Built Pony in the shed. (I bought it brand new when I bought the house and a couple months later I killed it by running over a tree limb that I didn’t see.) We get the Pony working and my wife and I can mow the grass.

My back is SCREAMING. I sat in the car much too long at the hardware store. I’m medicating. Not feeling it as much, but it’s flippin hot in the bedroom.

We had a few laughs, or at least a chuckle or two looking at generators online. My intent was to find one in stock, order it online for pickup in store, but nothing was in stock and delivery dates were too far out. Anywho, the laughs...Some of the generators boasted having electric start. How does that work? 🤷🏻‍♀️You use a generator because you have no electricity. Later on, I thought maybe a battery was involved, but it was a hoot for sure. Eased the tension a bit. Other generators boasted having a Remote. How’s that work? You still have to pull the pull cord to start it. What makes that advantageous? I mean, you still have to plug in your items you want to have electricity. I dunno. Both amused us, probably much more than anyone reading this.

My daughter has been calling and texting a lot. I feel bad that I couldn’t talk to her, but time was of the essence. If we found a generator in stock we had to go. Turned out all we did was surf the web and come up empty. She was ok. They did not lose power, but a tree limb fell on a house staff’s car. My daughter said it sounds much worse than it was. Little to no damage.

Lola’s Diner cc.  2008-2020

Day 143 of Sheltering In

Monday. For some reason I called and moved my PT appointment from 3 to 2. Good thing because I pull up at home and the rain starts. It was like I knew I needed to be home after 4 when the 💩 storm was coming. A very large tree in my side yard had a large branch ripped off. Trees all over the street. And...the power went out. Three weeks ago I asked my neighbor who fixes small engines to get my generator tuned up and running. Still waiting for him to get it.

It’s REALY dark here. We have a gas range and I guess we could have made pasta or rice but we didn’t think about that. So around 10pm my wife toured the area. We are 1 of 2 blocks without power in our area. The Main Street was shut down. I mean shut down as in barricades to prevent anyone from driving that street. No reason we could think of for that to be done. All the fast food restaurants were closed, even the one that had power. Speedway was packed. People getting gas and convenience store stuff, so she went to Circle K and got sub sandwiches. That’s all they had in terms of food to go. So we had subs that were mostly bun, and chips. Way too many carbs. I’m having bloodwork on Wednesday. This isn’t going to go well.

It’s after midnight. Power is still out. I haven’t checked the website for 3 hours. But it’s out! What do I need to check?

I watched a good movie on the weekend. Well, at least I thought it was good. “The Peanut Butter Falcon” on Amazon Prime.

Lola’s Diner cc.  2008-2020

Day 142 of Sheltering In

Sunday. Missed my usual QVC “In the Kitchen With David”. Ended up having a “date” with my wife. The 2 of us went to Meijer, Target/CVS, and the tobacco store.🤭

This will make y’all laugh. When my wife saw her PCP, apparently he talked to her about quitting smoking because the pharmacy had a bag full of quit smoking stuff. After Target/CVS we went to...the tobacco store where my wife got tubes and tobacco. (She makes her cigarettes with a small machine.) So we picked up prescription quit smoking stuff and then went to the tobacco store for cigarettes, basically. I had to stifle a laugh. I didn’t say anything. Nope. I pick my battles and this is no longer one of them. This is the 3rd time her PCP prescribed quit smoking stuff. She never opened the 2nd bag of quit smoking stuff. Yes, I want her to quit, and I’m not shy about telling her when the cigarette smoke is bothering me.

Went to Meijer to pick up the items I needed for an Indian dinner. I wanted to replace the Ghee spray that didn’t work. Every single can was expired. Either 2 months ago or 5 months ago. I emailed corporate. 

Lola’s Diner cc.  2008-2020