Tuesday 15 March 2011

Monday's Blues followed by Tuesday's Sunshine, and Wednesday's Update

Yesterday was a strange day.  I went in to pick up Shea who is our house guest this week and ran some errands in town before I collected him. All went well until I got home.  Then everything seemed to go to hell in a hand basket.

1.   My trunk wouldn't open, and that is where my groceries were.

2.   I put such things as wine and boxes containing kitchen supplies and paint cans, which were packed in the car interior on the sled and tried to get down the hill.  First one leg sank in up to the thigh and I fell into a most ungraceful sprawl in the snow.  With difficulty I hauled that leg out  and made my way down the hill sinking in to my knees with each step while preventing the sled from spinning out of control and making a much more rapid descent straight down the hill, over the retaining wall and into the building.

3.   Peter was working on the staircase and he tried to help me by using graphite in the keyhole to open the trunk. We ascertained that the inside lever was doing something at the latch end because we could hear its mechanism. But it was all sound and fury. Nothing happened to open the trunk.

4.   I made myself something to eat and headed off to visit Grant's Garage.  $28 later the trunk was working and we had no idea why.  I probably put something in the wrong place and it interfered with the latching mechanism.  The Toyota seat does not come out easily  and when Grant got it out,  I discovered huge amounts of sand and dog hair under the seat. When I get the car properly cleaned this spring I will clean that area too.

5.   I returned home and put away the groceries.  That was not easy as the the staircase and kitchen/pantry area were swathed in plastic.

6.   I let the dogs out with me while I unloaded the car and they stayed with me, so I let them out alone for a few minutes while I looked at Peter's handiwork.  Big mistake when one is a husky mix. They disappeared.

7.   I went out hunting and calling, took the car about 1 1/2 kilometres in either direction, asked neighbours if they'd seen them, and called some more.

8.   When I got home, Kenya was under the dining room table but there was still no sign of Shea.  I called Carlos.  He said Shea would come back; he always did.  He was right.  About an hour later while Peter and I were drinking tea, Kenya announced Shea's arrival.  An exhausted dog came in, had his cookie and curled up in a corner, and Peter headed home.

9.   By now I was exhausted but I tried on the clothes I bought and discovered I wanted to return almost all of them.  Problem was I couldn't find the bill.  Found all the others, but no Costco bill.  Damn again.

10.   Despite the exhaustion I had one of my now normal non-sleeping nights.  I have learned to survive the insomnia by bringing the radio into bed with me and turning it on when I awaken.  You'd be surprised how many good programmes air between midnight and 5 a.m. and music sounds better in the silent darkness too.

11.   Today has dawned bright and fairly mild and I am intending to take the dogs for a long walk as soon as Peter arrives and starts sanding.  Maybe the physical exercise will make me healthily tired in a way that mental stress does not, and I'll  have a sound sleep tonight.

And so the week begins!

Grey Wednesday  Update:

I am tired of eating sawdust, listening to incessant noise, and dealing with crusty snow that the dogs and I don't do well in.  The cake I made yesterday tastes fine but looks like a dog's regurgitated breakfast.  I will ice it today and hide the mess as best I can.  Yesterday I sent a a couple of bags of canned goods and other food a non-cook could cope with to a friend without a stove who is in a bind right now, but until the sawdust settles and can be cleaned up, it is awfully hard to find a clean pot or utensil let alone cook.  I hate renovations, especially messy ones ... and Peter, who is doing the really filthy work, is getting fed up too, so his temper is at least as short as mine. I hope our friendship survives our renovation!

I will get out this afternoon when I have my first professional haircut in about two years, and go to my class.  The dogs and Peter will remain stuck inside.

Hope your week is going better than mine is!

1 comment:

Barbara Carlson said...

Sometimes just knowing not every day is like that helps...and you WILL sleep tonight. Some days are just shitty -- but today felt like spring if you were in the sun, eh?
Perhaps days like Monday are why there is golf -- you get to hit something, many times.