As usual, my undiagnosed ADHD has pushed me into a veritable sit-com of a situation that has seen me moving my shit here and there, temporary rentals, missed bus stops, a complete replay of a scene from Plains, Trains and Automobiles (see the Pit entry).
Short version of that link - Budget fucked me, sent me to a building that didn’t exist (in the rain), and still didn’t rent to me because I don’t have a major credit card.
Since then I’ve been scrambling to figure things out. I went to my bank to see how long it would take to actually get a credit card and I was prepared to secure more temporary rental to wait for it to arrive. Or I was going to have to fly with Bob - and I don’t really think he could take that, in a kennel in the belly of a plane for a day.
So I did a little research on where I might be able to rent an SUV (for my stuff, me and Bob) with a debit card. Avis does, with some restrictions - one of them being credit rating. Uh oh. But I went to the office in the city - NOT the one at the airport, manned by the same people as with Budget - and the guy was an absolute peach to me. He walked me through everything I needed, reserved me an SUV and told me that, yes, credit would be checked but it shouldn’t be a problem. I wasn’t so sure.
I went back this morning to pick up the vehicle, with my sphincter spasming like drum roll. It was a different guy, who seemed to be in heads down data entry, efficient running of the service desk mode. I don’t even think he checked my credit. With barely ten words shared between us, I was signing papers and had the keys to a Ford Explorer in my hands.
So now I’m back at my temp rental in complete collapse mode. Once I muster my energy, I’ll spend the rest of the day packing and then tomorrow I’m on the road … heading from Portland, OR to The Villages in Florida. I’m planning for a five day drive, but how early I leave tomorrow is the deciding factor.
I haven’t done the diagonal trip, but I once did San Diego to Wilmington, NC in 2. I was younger and dumber back then, but 5 days seems reasonable. You may have mentioned, but I missed it…why are you going to FLA? And glad that the rental went off OK.
My back is once again mad at me. This whole working 6 days a week thing is getting tiresome. I need to stop working for the school dept. They don’t pay enough for the bother. But I hate to leave my friend high and dry. At this point in his career, as a 63 year old guy who used to be 6’6" 280lbs, and is now 6’2" 300 lbs with a bad back, he simply can’t do the things.
I was clerking the Slides today. Except when I was working the 100 and 300 tables, or Seconday Sort. And of course there was the obligatory wrecked box of Home Despot porcelain tile. I wish I had thought up the business plan of “Give us money online, and we’ll break some stuff and toss it in the dumpster in your honor.” I stopped at Teeter for some boneless, skinless thighs for tonight’s stirfry. They had a sale on Guinness at $8.97 for an 8pk, and it was all blown out. Except for 1 forlorn box on top of the Modelo. So I took it home.
Quite the adventure. Hope the driving is much less so.
Well, as usual, it’s a long convoluted story, but the long and the short of is that A) I just can’t afford to live in this city anymore and my lease was up. 2) I haven’t seen my parents in about four or five years and my dad’s health isn’t what it used to be. And lastly) I’ve been a bit depressed over turning 60, so I need some pick me up.
Arlis’s was disappointing. It was nowhere near as good as when I moved up here. The Spousal Unit was unimpressed. She had crab cake Benedict. She couldn’t taste the crab. ‘I think they just waved a crab over it.’ I could barely taste the crab in the bite I had. I had chicken-fried steak, hashbrowns, & eggs. You get a choice of toast, biscuit, or two pancakes. I got the pancakes. I could make better at home. I carbed out and totally blew my diet, and it wasn’t even that good. We won’t be going back.
I made it back from the hike with no broken bones.
Housemate was stuck with leftovers for supper, so I baked a berry clafoutis as consolation. Then I actually escaped, leaving the princess dog behind.
It was a great hike, about three hours to a favorite site, Camp Damp, a bowl-shaped holler where the wildlife seems particularly active even while I’m there. Damp because late at night it turns into a big bowl of mist, and it looks amazing but everything gets soaked. Supper was homemade hiker stew-- I tested a new ultralight stove; it’s junk-- with a big squished slab of clafoutis for dessert.
It was a noisy night. I heard at least two small furry critters utter their final squeak. A couple of large furry critters-- probably deer, not the axe-murderer my monkey brain conjures up-- rambled through camp but I didn’t check. I want to see a bear, but so far it’s NEVER been a bear and it was too cold to bother. I heard the coyotes calling far away and heard several owl species but didn’t see any owls or pellets. No sparkly rocks or fossils this time, but I did find a couple of pine galls for my collection.
Coffee this morning was instant Anthony’s with powdered cream and powdered stevia. It’s as awful as it sounds.
The return hike is considerably more strenuous than the hike out, and I’m whupped. The princess was ecstatic at my return and immediately set off down the driveway doing her happy trot-- why else would I be carrying hiking poles if not to walk the dog? Instead, I staggered inside for a shower and some ibuprofen. I am a constant disappointment to this dog.
The princess is well aware of her adorability and makes good use of it.
I exaggerated a teeny bit on the conversation length. I really am trying to avoid people who are aware I have free time and access to a pickup truck. I have a hard time saying no, and will end up agreeing to something I’ll regret later.
Isn’t Apoquel amazing? Wish it wasn’t so expensive, even from Costco.
My shower is a tall insert with a glass door. I scrub that thing with a car wash brush on a telescoping pole!
Hey everyone, we are home and the fuzzbutts didn’t starve to death! Our cat-sitter had to go and help clean the church and garden today and her mom wouldn’t let her un-voluntold to hang out here. The mom brought her here for 20 minutes but was almost 7 minutes late for dinner and it was horrible and very dramatic.
The angsty teen messages “OMG, mom is in the bathroom and won’t hurry and now we aren’t going to leave on time and you are going to fire me and I’ll never be able to submit my reports on time again!” were very entertaining and reminded me once again how happy I am that we didn’t do the parent thing.
(cat-sitter isn’t going to get fired for only giving us the time we are paying for!)
The drive to the Virginia border was beautiful as always. The dogwoods and forsythia are in full bloom and there is lots of red showing in the forest. Many of the trees are starting to leaf out, adding that vibrant new green to the mature green of the pines.
The sides of the roads are covered with white and yellow daffodils and nobody’s hydrangea has started even turning green which makes me feel better about the dead looking pair I planted in the fall. There is still hope.
I impostered my way into an open house for a 2 anna half million dollar mansion and ate horse devores washed down with a mimosa while looking in closets. The selling realtor clocked me as an imposter right away, (she ran my license and saw was able to access my sales record) but she liked having me there because prospective buyers seeing someone measure closets and windows tend to get Fear Of Missing Out. She showed me the really special parts of the house so I could ask questions about the walk in cedar closet’s hidden safe in front of other people.
I left Hubs in the car and he had a nice nap then texted me when he wanted to go, so that worked out nicely.
When we got to the cousin’s house, I was appalled at the state of the kitchen, dining room and Ronald himself. He’s lost a lot of weight and seems to have forgotten about changing clothes or showering. It is so good that his daughter will be taking him to GA next week, he isn’t able to take care of himself anymore and refuses to have a stranger in his home.
Despite Gina’s (disabled daughter who bought a house from me last year) pleas I am not going to touch the house Ronald owns. Five generations of Hodges lived in that home, every nail has a story and anything I do with it will upset someone.
I’m not willing to buy Gina’s home back with her selling offer either. I sold her a sixty thousand dollar home with updated electrical and fuse-box. That’s the only improvement I had done, and that’s only because of the liability issue involved in selling a fire hazard.
In the last year, the kitchen and bathroom has been remodeled, the walls have been patched and painted, carpets and lino replaced and the windows replaced. It has been turned into a nice starter home for a small family (one bath, two bedrooms) or retired couple and is worth much more than the $60100.00 she asked.
I will show that house and deal with selling it for a reasonable commission, I am not going to steal 40 grand from her.
Other than me exercising my ability to say No, we had a pretty good visit. I brought six finished canvases to show Gina in case she wanted one as a house-warming gift and she asked for them all which made me super happy. We talked colors and stitches and now I get to do a larger piece for her dining room wall. Ronald thought the cottage cheese was pretty good stuff and we went out for mexican and margaritas before heading home.
Practice, practice, practice! Saying No is an important thing for any woman to learn. We are raised to be accommodating and helpful, saying “yes, of course” just comes natural for us.
Humble yourself and remember that you are very unimportant in the big scheme of things. You aren’t the only one in the world who can do those favors for people. When you say no, they get upset because it is inconvenient, not because they can’t handle it themselves.
Or maybe I’m just a stone bitch, who knows?
Your hike sounds lovely. I’ve never seen a bear in the wild, but I’ve seen several big cats. All three sightings are branded into my memory and I treasure them.
Do you have foxes? No foxes in AZ, I saw my first one in the wild last year and what a beautiful sight it was. It had a flaming red coat and black stockings and nose.
Then a few months later I was out watching the sun set over the forest and an in-heat vixen started calling. Scared me to death, I thought someone was being ax murdered.
I’m so sorry. I would have ordered the crab cake Benedict too, I’m so sad you two were so badly disappointed.
Hubs spent most of our married life as an auto body repairman. That means he handled a lot of very sharp sheet metal and being a manly-he-man tended to think that safety gear was best left in his tool box lest it get damaged.
One time he had sliced the palm of his left hand open badly enough for a whole bunch of stitches and didn’t keep the dressings on because “wounds heal better if they get the air”. He was working under a car on a rack and had it half lifted. He moved under it and was doing something, forgot where he was and stood up hard enough to slice halfway down his back, then fell on his poor hand, ripping all of the stitches and a lot of skin out while rubbing the open wound on the very not clean garage bay floor.
I hope this helps and that you find another job you like as much as the doggy day care job. too bad they couldn’t pay you enough to keep you housed and fed, you sounded like it was your forever job otherwise.
Wonderful pictures and cute puppers!
Does he really need skilled labor, though? He knows how to do the things, can he find a high school kid to do the muscle things? It would cost less money and give a young person some practical hands-on training.
Back when I was in high school, I took metal shop because I already knew how to cook. Some of the boys did auto shop or carpentry and were always looking for work in their field instead of mowing lawns.
Wifey read reviews, and it was recommended. So she was especially disappointed.
Arlis’s reminded me of Crazy Otto’s, down in Lancaster. Good food, and lots of it. But after this morning, there’s no need to go back.
One cool thing is that not-our-server had a tattoo on her arm that I caught a glimpse of the bottom of. I flagged her down as we were getting ready to leave. I asked, ‘Is that Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here”?’ She said it was, and that it’s her favourite Pink Floyd album. Girl must’ve been like 20.
Howdy Y’all! Been home a little while from the big feast.A wonderful crowd on hand to enjoy nummy foodstuffs and entertainment. We had an Irish singalong. Everyone was so complimentary of the food it made me . OYKW really enjoyed himself servin’ which made me happy. We brought fried chikin, cabbage, carrots and rutabaga for tomorrow’s supper. Soon I will go sleepy bye as I’s tahrd!
So…Hubs has been unhappy that I can’t walk around and see all of the things he wants to share with me. He thinks he/we are missing out too much and something must be done.
He has ordered an electric 4-wheeled scooter and carrier thing so we can go to the New River Bridge and watch maniacs/lemmings jump off.
Sigh.
I’ve been thinking about it at times, but doing this would make me admit that I’m not going to get any younger or healthier, so I guess I’m happy he made the choice for me.
I’m sure I’ll be happy about it soon, it is the practical choice and he’s always been a practical sorta guy.
Evening all. Spent a goodly amount of time at the gym, besides the usual calorie-burning I remembered my swimsuit so spent a half-hour in the whirlpool and 20 more minutes in the sauna, so I should be relaxed tonight. Did a little shopping afterward at the Mart of Wal, picked up a few odds and ends, and got a king-sized Kit-Kat bar because I could. Have finished adding calories for the evening and nothing else planned except internettin’ and maybe some TV watchin’.
Cookie, just looked at the weather map for your area, looks like the cold stuff will be around awhile. We’re supposed to get storms and high winds tomorrow night, but no snow.
J-Bats, safe drive and hope things work out well in Flor-i-da.
VanGo, glad you are supporting a friend, but how do you lose 4" of height in your mid-60’s? Or is the bad back just giving him a permanent stoop?
Mollie, lovely country. And dog and human both look happy.
GenJ, don’t think I had ever heard of clafoutis before, goggled it and looks interesting. The hike sounds like a great time, never camped out like that in my life and probably a little too late to start.
JtC, ah the joys (and angst) of youth. And I’d never have the nerve to do the open house thing, but glad the real estate agent was a good sport about it. And sorry to hear about cousin Ronald, but concur with both of your real estate decisions, Gina may be surprised at how much she can get for a good property today. Amazing Hubs has survived this long given some of the stories you’ve told–but I concur with him on the scooter, being able to see new things is what keeps us going, IMHO…not that I ever plan to jump off of anything higher than the last step…
swampy, glad you (if not your cholesterol level) survived the feast.
And back to my internettin’. If I don’t get back I’ll do my catching up Sunday.
I napped. I watched hockey, Canes won and Seth Jarvis got in a fight in front of his Mom. dinner tonight was a Sazarac and Chicken, mushroom, and asparagus stirfry.
A couple of crunched discs plus a permanent stoop. I’ve known him for 25+ years and he’s definitely looking worse for the mileage. The docs apparently say that there is nothing short of drastic surgery to fix his back. And with his wife in the state she’s in (fuck cancer) he can’t be bedridden to recover from that.
On the good side, I had a completely unproductive day, aside from 2 loads of laundry. Oh, and fetching my tape measure from the museum and getting roped into teaching my coworker how to fix an exhibit.
Good Mornin’ Y’all! Up and caffeinatin’. YAWN ‘Tis 56 Amurrkin out and clear with a predicted high of 81 and sunny. I shall deheathenate at the nine a.m. service. OYKW said last night that he didn’t want to deheathenate today. The early service is a spoken Rite I service with no music. It lasts around forty minutes. The rest of the day will be spent in high RDOS inactivities. Sup is already figured out.
Now I need more caffeine and to feed rumbly tummy. Then purtification for deheathenization shall commence.
The day is starting at 36 Ferrets, partly overcast, with much rain in store tonight. I’m wrangling the grands today while SIL works till Daughter fetches them on her way back from Akron. I’ll be making tortellini for supper, so I’ll feed them all before they go home. Oh, and Trevor will be here to add to the fun - he’ll help tire Otis.
Before SIL drops them off, I need to clear my sewing stuff out of the dining room and put the table coverings back on (table cloth and place mats) and bring out an extra chair. Neither of the kids like sitting in the armchairs, nor do we. I’ll use the spare chair from the guest room and everyone will be happy.
How’s your day gonna be?
I may or may not light a fire in the basement. Last time, they complained about it being too hot. The forecast is for upper 50s - they’ll probably be fine. Daughter keeps her house cooler than we keep ours so that’s what they’re used to. Fine by me - one less chore.
My seizure meds refill is ready for pickup - that’ll probably happen tomorrow. Looks like a stay-at-home day.
. OYKW really enjoyed himself servin’ which made me happy. We brought fried chikin, cabbage, carrots and rutabaga for tomorrow’s supper. Soon I will go sleepy bye as I’s tahrd!