Week 28 - Bound for Oregon

You'd think coming off a 4 day weekend I'd have been all caught up. Nope. So I started the week making lists. Things to do before work, during lunch and after work. I don't know what possessed me but I was a machine. Good thing because the end of my week did not go as planned. 

After swimming on Wednesday, Anne mentioned that a "friend" was leaving campus and moving to Oregon. Now I say "friend" because this is a woman I've enjoyed working with over the years and wanted to explore a friendship with but never got around to it. We'd never had so much as had lunch together. I went right home and messaged her on Facebook, after which she called and I got details. 

She was in fact driving a UHaul alone, unless you count her dog, across the country that weekend. Now I'm not a fearful person but that had me concerned, especially thinking about the barren desert between the mountains and the coast. I certainly wouldn't want to do it myself and so I hung up and checked on how much a one way ticket would be back from Oregon. When it was only $300, I started thinking I should offer to go with her. 

After running it by a couple of friends, that's what I did on Thursday morning. Susan jumped at my offer and then said she could leave her dog home since she'd be driving her other 2 dogs back in her car a week later. So I bought the ticket, put in for Monday as a vacation day and called friends to get watering and cat coverage. Good thing I'd gotten so much done early in the week with my to do lists! 

From that point until I met Susan at the Lincoln airport at 7:00 on Saturday morning, everything was a blur. On Thursday I treated Dodie to birthday lunch at Green Gateau and then there was a going away party for Dawn at Lana's house after work, for which I'd baked brownies Wednesday night – one of my many to do's. I went right home Friday to throw a load of clothes in and pack what I'd need for 3 days – 2 days of comfy veg clothes for driving and 1 presentable outfit for flying home. I also packed a big bag of snacks and all my travel must haves like hand towels, napkins and Kleenex. I went to bed early on Friday and set my alarm for 5:30. 

After a quick breakfast, I headed to Lincoln. After stopping at McDonald's for Susan's breakfast and filling up the tank, we were on our way by 7:30. She was driving a 17' UHaul that was apparently chock full. For someone I barely knew, we got along swimmingly and talked for 12 hours straight, sharing each other's life stories. Other than many, many stops for gas and bathrooms, we grabbed a salad at Runza in Ogallala and a decent dinner in some little town in Wyoming. Salt Lake City was halfway but we stopped just short of the Utah border and stayed at a Motel 6. I slept like a rock. 

We were up and out by 6:00 the next morning and after a stop in Park City for Starbuck's and a yogurt parfait for breakfast, we headed west on what would be a LONG day. We stopped at the Bonneville Salt Flats just long enough for a few pics (the bathroom was disgusting so I chose not to go. Susan braved it – ick!) and then faced the desert. 

All the maps I'd checked routed us on I-80 to Reno before heading north but the GPS on Susan's phone suggested another route that would save us many miles and half an hour of driving so we took it. Here's a warning – your phone GPS doesn't take terrain into consideration. When we stopped for gas, we asked a woman at the next pump if there were any food options up ahead because the phone was showing nothing. She said that the Denio cutoff, which was what the phone said to take, was hundreds of miles with absolutely nothing so we needed to gas up and get whatever food we'd need. Susan went in for chicken fingers (they were delish) and off we went. 

The first sign was 81 miles until the next services, which were a roadside food stand and nothing else. We didn't stop. It was another 100+ miles to Lakeville before we stopped for gas and a bathroom break. It was already starting to green up by then but we had a steady climb ahead of us. And what goes up must come down! 

The multiple warnings signs were no preparation for the scary ass mountain driving we were faced with. Picture a 2 lane – 1 in each direction – highway hugging the side of a mountain. At least we were on the inside lane but the transmission was screaming as we descended going around hairpin turns. Twice. It was white knuckle driving (I even stopped knitting!) and Susan did great. And with each valley it was getting greener and greener. It was a huge relief to finally get through the mountains and see Klamuth Falls, which was 2 hours from our destination. We were bone tired but with her sister's in sight, we powered through, arriving after 14.5 hours of driving. A shower and beds were calling our names. 

But I'll end this post with the biggest surprise ever. Susan had told me that her sister was married to someone from Rhode Island who had changed his name from DiFillipo to Phillips. So when I met him I asked if he knew a Paul DiFillipo, a friend of mine from Brown's Urban Environment Lab garden who I'll see at a UEL reunion dinner when I'm in RI in August. Turns out that's his brother! What are the chances? Knock me over with a feather!

Week 27 - A Short Week

Spending days alone at work in the past two weeks decided the fate of July 5th and I asked for it off, burning yet another vacation day in my nearly empty bank. But with the drama at work, a 4 day weekend was just the ticket. So I only had 3 days to get through.

Mary called Monday night when I was at knitting with some news on the upcoming changes. I was happy to hear them but there was definitely awkwardness at work the next day. I was almost relieved when I woke up Wednesday morning to find that my AC wasn't working. Or rather the AC was working but the fan wasn't blowing the cool air into the house. With temps pushing 100 for the week, I had no choice but to take the morning off and call the HVAC company. They said they'd send someone in the morning so I decided I should call the appliance guy to come (way to maximize half a vacation day!) while I was waiting for the AC guy. My garbage disposal had been dead for a couple of months and the sink was now clogged, which also impacted my dishwasher. I had tried to fix it myself but failed, btw. The appliance guy said he didn't do garbage disposals but would come over and at least get it unclogged. He's worked on most every appliance in my house so this was a freebie. Nice.

He arrived before the AC guy and immediately got it unclogged but when he was showing me how to unclog it, he hit a pipe and the nasty backed up water poured out everywhere. We mopped it up with towels and he said I needed to call a plumber. As he was walking out, I asked him about a hot spot on the side of my freezer and he asked when I'd last cleaned behind the grill at the bottom. Cleaned behind the grill? NEVER. (I really need a home maintenance for dummies book. Does that exist?) Anyway, he pulled it off and dust bunnies exploded out of the opening. He said to get out the vacuum and left. While I was vacuuming under there, I decided I might as well vacuum the basement stairs. When I got to the bottom, I saw that the floor, which I'd already swept first thing that morning, was also covered with water so out came the squeegee. One thing was just leading to another. Sheesh!

That done, I called the HVAC company, which also does plumbing, but they couldn't send a plumber until early the following week so I said no thanks and called Ed, my friend's husband who is ever so handy. I explained about the pipe and he said he'd come that afternoon and see what he could do. During all this, the AC guy came, took the fan out of my furnace, went to his shop to fix it then came back and reinstalled it. With the AC running, I took a quick shower and headed to work. I left the door unlocked for Ed, who is a gem.

Fast forward to the end of the day. I walked into my cool house after swimming and found a note from Ed. Not only had he fixed the pipe (an easy O ring replacement) but he'd gotten the garbage disposal working again! The one everyone said was dead. I called him with a thank you and the promise of a pie for his efforts.

With 4 days off with burning hot weather, I had big plans for organizing things in the house. Having rifled through the desk looking for the name of the HVAC guy who fixed it last time (a friend of Ed's who ended up already having a job for Wednesday so I called the regular company), I had a laundry basket full of crap and another full of knitting projects. Not to mention the top of the desk, which was still covered. So I spent the day slogging through all that junk, ending with a clear desk and a recycle bin full of paper. Why do I keep it in the first place? I've gotta wonder.

Since it was the 4th, I decided to drive over to the lake for the city fireworks. This was the first year they weren't at the park at the end of my street but I decided I should go. Well, I drove over there and parked where they sent me and it was the most non-festive thing ever. People sat in their cars to watch and it was so far away across the lake that you couldn't even feel the booms. I might as well have been watching fireworks on TV. I left early to avoid the traffic and posted my feelings on the Saunders County Facebook page. While most people agreed, a lot of people got downright nasty. The ignorance (someone suggested I watch from a boat - as if everyone has a boat!) was nuts and I ended up ignoring most of the responses.

My neighbors were letting off fireworks until after midnight so it was a short night's sleep and I was tired on Friday. I managed to get a few things done and then threw on my favorite dress and ran some errands in town. When I got home, I immediately changed into my shorts for the rest of the night. Unfortunately I had gotten distracted and didn't hang up my dress so when I headed to bed early, I found it on the bed with a hole sucked in it by Gansey, my rotten bottle fed cat who nurses on things. I was devastated. The 2.5" hole was on one side of the front and could probably be patched but I spent hours looking at YouTube videos of how to patch knitted fabric (there are some HACK videos of people who know absolutely nothing about sewing!) and then spent another chunk of time looking for a replacement dress. Failed on that too. No one makes 100% cotton jersey knit dresses these days (this dress is 15 years old for sure) and poly/cotton will not work for me. It makes my skin crawl. So it was another late night. Grrr.....

I woke up tired and despondent on Saturday. I was in a funk all morning and so decided to head outside to garden in hopes that it would turn my mood around. It worked while I had my hands in the dirt but the funk returned as soon as I came back inside. I decided I'd take my dress to a professional to fix. The pockets were made from the same material so I'd sacrifice one for the patch. Even if it didn't look good enough to wear to work, I'd at least have it for weekend wear for errands and such.

Luckily the funk was gone on Sunday and I spent the morning neatizing the house, doing dishes and starting laundry. With the house all neat and clean, I couldn't help but start cooking. I had been wanting lasagna so started with that, complete with homemade red sauce, and went on from there. Strata for breakfasts, taco salad mix, turkey dinner casserole, banana bread, Ed's pie... By the end of the day my freezer and fridge were full of food but my kitchen was a mess. I'd deal with that later. It was time to get back to work and hope some of the drama had blown over. Time would tell.

Week 26 - Drama vs. Knitting

Well, it was not a banner week. Things had been going downhill at work and on Friday I called from my car and requested a meeting with my boss. It went well and some changes are coming but the week leading up to the meeting was not fun. That said, I still enjoy my job and the people I work with. Hopefully the changes will help smooth things out. There is hope on the horizon.

On a positive note, I scored 145 skeins of yarn at Goodwill for 80 cents/skein and 2 weeks later, I've already sold dozens of them on Ravelry for twice what I paid. I'm not going to make a killing but it's a fun game for me. The money sits in my PayPal account to use for sock yarn and patterns. All good.

On Saturday, my plan was to have the house neatized by noon, which would leave me the rest of the weekend for something fun. I had everything done by 11:30 and sat down for lunch of some yummy chicken salad I'd made. I put one bite in my mouth and then saw an email suggesting knitting at Mocha C's - the coffee shop/cafe in Wahoo. I put my lunch in the fridge, threw on presentable clothes and ran out the door. I ordered a chicken salad croissant for lunch (ha!) and we closed the place down. It was a lovely interlude in a super hot weekend.

Alas, I didn't get anything momentous done for the rest of the weekend. I did laundry and puttered a bit but mostly sat on my butt knitting and streaming. I'm fine with that in the dog days of summer so am calling it good. I needed a recharge break anyway after the work drama. : )

Week 25 - Goodbye to Jay

Nothing like sad news on Sunday to end the week. There were a few bright spots in an otherwise lonely week (I do not do well working in an empty office!) but then I got a call Sunday afternoon.

Jay, the cat I'd had in my house all winter, was dead. I had last seen him Thursday and while he wasn't 100% (he hasn't been since his surgery this winter), he seemed normal. The weekend feeder had seen him Saturday and he said he looked fine. But Animal Control got a call on Sunday and found him soaking wet and near death on a path by the library. They put him down. At my request, they sent me pictures (gruesome!) and he clearly had been outside all night in the rain and you could see that his skin was bright red where it showed through the wet fur. Whether this was from a raging infection or being hit by a car, we'll never know. While I wasn't surprised that he was gone, it was still sad. But he was ~11 years old, which is ancient for a feral, and I'd done all I could. At this rate, there is only 1 regular cat left at my feeder but there are others eating there that I never see. Pretty soon there may be no cats left on campus. Jay is the middle cat in this trio and the other 2 are also gone and presumed dead. Calico Kitty disappeared a couple of years ago when I was on a trip and Tweaker disappeared during a storm this past winter. Sad.

Here's a bright spot in the week. The weather was cooler than normal but also raining on and off. Tuesday is my only night to go straight home and I was bemoaning the fact that it was raining because I had hoped to weed my veg beds, figuring the earlier rain would make it easy pulling. Then I had a thought – I have a slicker! So I put on my raincoat and spent half an hour pulling weeds out of the mud and transplanting things in the garden. Since I was bent over at the waist, my butt got wet where it wasn't covered by the slicker but I got it done. Can you picture it?

Maybe all that wet weather weeding was what distracted me because when storms woke me up around midnight, I got up to let the cats and found that I'd left the lights on in the back room. Odd but I didn't think much of it. Then I woke up in the morning to find I hadn't put the coffee on and the back door was wide open and my keys were hanging from the door knob. Sheesh! Clearly VERY distracted.

Campus was dead quiet all week and there was way too much drama on many fronts. Then I was the only one in the office on Thursday and Friday. At least the consultants were there Thursday morning but when they left while I was at lunch with Darla, I was completely solo for the rest of the week. I am not good at being so solitary. The time dragged and I couldn't get out the door soon enough on Friday night. Layton was out of town so I'd gone food shopping over lunch so at least I got to head straight home. I had big plans for my first weekend home all month.

Well, you know how big plans go. I had hoped to get all the yarn in the front room sorted and stored in my wardrobe. I'd sent off another huge box of yarn to Dottie so was left mostly with yarn I was keeping. But I got a late start Saturday and was in the middle of what chores I was attempting to accomplish before starting the yarn when Anne Marie called. She wanted to borrow my cherry pitter and knit for a bit. It was a lovely break but just after she left I heard a mower. John was here at last and had remembered his bagger so as soon as he left, I went outside to finish weeding and then mulched with the grass clippings. I was tired and dripping with sweat so had a lame dinner of leftover rib meat on nachos with some cheese melted on top. See? Lame!

Sunday got derailed by the call about Jay, which lead to follow up calls with Animal Control and the weekend feeder. This was bookended by visits. Lorri had come over after church and then Anne Marie came over to drop the cherry pitter back so I could pit the cherries I'd picked from my tree. By the way, this will be the first year I've ever used my cherries, which I planted 19 years ago. I'm hoping to get enough to make a batch of cherry jam. I did manage to get my bedroom organized, going through a stack of summer clothes that needed culling and clearing some surfaces.

Still no yarn organization and at this point it wasn't going to happen. But I did have some yarny fun, using the toy knitting machine I'd bought at Joann's to make a sock blank, which I then dyed with Kool Aid. I got lots of knitting done during the week too, making a bib for the consultant who had been in my office for months but was going out on maternity leave. I also finished 2 pairs of socks and a hat for charity plus started another. Lots of rain lead to lots of knitting time.

Besides laundry and dishes, I absolutely had to clean out the fridge and cook something healthy. I'd eaten totally crappy all the previous week so was determined to have stuff ready to eat for this week. I'd hit the Asian store and bought everything to make the egg roll in a bowl that Carolyn had recommended. I quickly cleaned the fridge, adding way too much to the compost pile. (Note to self – eat the produce I buy!) Then I started cooking. I roasted fennel to go with more grilled chicken for suppers and made Carolyn's recipe. Delish! By then it was time for Masterpiece so I settled in for the night. Despite falling asleep in my chair, I had trouble falling asleep when I went to bed and had to get up and take a Benadryl. I had Jay on my mind. : (