Strange Days

Tuesday was a repeat of Monday, weather-wise. It was a strange day in many ways.

If you remember, I unfortunately lost my bridge in the hospital. So, since I never much trusted the dentist I chose when I moved here, I joined Angie’s List to find a better one to recreate my bridge after I healed a bit.

But then came that immunity problem and I was afraid to go to the dentist (especially after they said I probably got the infection on my spine from a dental cleaning. Your mouth is a sewer, it seems).

But, good old Angie’s List kept sending me specials to consider. One that caught my eye was for auto detailing, either at your home or work. Hmmm... My car was looking pretty bad from the winter months and neglect as there is no way I can clean it out. So I signed up.

When I called to make the appointment, the guy said there had been so much response to the ad, he was way behind. But, I’m on the list and I should be patient. Of course, he charged my credit card right away!

And I was, for about three weeks. Then I called back, a little annoyed. He said they could come out to where I work, but only if there was an electrical outlet nearby as their generator had broken. I said, “No, it’s a parking lot!”

So, he said maybe they’d come after work to the house, if I could lend them an extension cord. I said sure. He said he’d get back to me with a day and time. Meanwhile, Angie’s List emailed me for a report on how I liked their service. I thought about replying, but I bit my tongue and didn’t.

After another week or so, I called back, more annoyed. We settled on today at 2:00 PM. So, I told my boss I’d be taking a late lunch (as they said it took about an hour).

This morning, my brother Joe called at work and left a message. He said he had to be in Royal Oak today, and wanted to go the Hiller’s Market, so could he drop off my stuff from Orion at lunch. I called back and told his wife Kathy it would be fine, except I would be home at 2:00 PM, not noon.

When I got home, nobody was there. But, there was a big box on the porch. Let me give you some background first: I had a half bag of mulch in the back. Since I had the whole back mulched, I thought I’d move it to the front (where it really needed it). So, I put it in the wheelbarrow, thinking it wasn’t much different than my walker, right? Wrong! It immediately took off from me and I darn near fell over.

So, when I saw this all-terrain landscaper’s wagon, I knew that was the answer to a disabled gardener’s prayer. It’s got pneumatic tires that will roll over bumpy ground and can carry 550 pounds. The bed is just 11 inches off the ground and all the sides fold down to minimize lifting. It’s made of heavy duty steel mesh, but it also comes with a liner so you can move dirt, etc., in it too.

I ordered it a couple weeks ago and it came today. The box was over 50 pounds, but the delivery man set it up on one end. So, I sort of walked it into the garage for assembly at a later date. I’ll take a photo when its not in pieces.

The detailer called and said they were running late and would be there about 2:30 PM (my boss will love this one).

So, my Brother Joe showed up first and unloaded one of the porch rockers, a box filled with glass things (an oil lamp, some small containers and an glass oil jar that probably held a gallon of lamp oil) and finally, all the bird houses that my daughters had decorated the cottage with back in the day. BTW, I am 63 years old and never have seen these glass items, so they must have been stashed somewhere safe.

The detail guys pulled in, not in a truck as I expected, but in a little car! How the hell do you wash a car with no water supply? Joe left after explaining about the bottom of the rocker. It seems the first two that Jim got had the seats badly worn (the seats were wicker, or rush or caned or something). Joe said he hoped the one Carl took was in better shape. But, when he went to check on mine (under all these pillows), the original seat was gone and someone had replaced it with the webbing for a lawn chair! I never even noticed that before!

He also had a couple of envelopes with old stuff in them I can’t wait to go through (the first one that caught my eye was a heating oil ration card dated 1945 with stamps you could redeem for heating oil in the second world war!)

The detail guys were unloading “stuff” from that little car (and eating lunch, too) and then they pulled out to let Joe leave. They fired up something (a power washer, perhaps) and started in on the car. I checked on them now and then through the living room windows. At one point, one was scrubbing the tires and rims and the other working on the inside.

Finally (they took almost two hours), it was finished, and I drove back to work, wondering all the while where you could get a rocking chair seat rewoven with whatever the heck that was that was once on it. (Carl, do you know what it’s called?)

So, I got back to work at 4:30 PM and apologized to my boss. He shrugged it off and asked how the car looked. I have to admit, they did do a heck of a job, both inside and out. About the only thing they couldn’t get “like new” were the two front floor mats (you can still see some of the white from the winter salt).

I did stay later than usual (feeling guilty) and left about 5:30 PM.

Back home, I unloaded my treasures and took some pictures for you. I gotta tell you, my back was killing me, so the first thing I did was to take off the brace and take a pain pill. I am supposed to see the spine doctor in early May and I hope to hell he says I can ditch this damn brace.

I lay down and ate the last of the pizza, cold. It wasn’t enough to make up for no lunch (I did drink an Ensure at noon, though) and be dinner too. So, I ate some cottage cheese as well.

My brother Carl called and we talked for a while. He tried weeding one of his gardens over the weekend while sitting down (no BLT) but still can hardly walk today. I completely forgot to ask him about the chair bottom!

I quit everything after that and watched a little TV until I started getting sleepy. Then I went to bed.