Road Trip

I didn’t set the alarm for Tuesday morning. I had an appointment with my spine doctor at 10:00 so I knew I’d be up in time. But, I woke up at 5:30 AM anyway. I had a cup of coffee in bed and read a magazine that came in the mail yesterday.

About 7:00 AM, I started my normal routine (breakfast, pills, shave, shower and get dressed). I left early to go to Home Depot (for another shelving unit) and to the bank to see if the ATM worked. It did! So, at least I don’t have to worry about driving around with that kind of cash on me.

I came back home and dropped everything off. I took my now-empty garbage can back inside and then left for the doctor’s.

I should have paid more attention to the morning traffic reports, because when I got to I-94, the on-ramp was backed up about 1/4 mile. I sat there for a bit, but when there was a break in traffic, I pulled out of line and went to I-75. From there, I went back to I-94 and whatever construction was going on had ended by that point and the rest was smooth sailing. So smooth in fact, I got there about 20 minute early.

My appointment went well. My x-rays were good (she double-checked after I told her about hurting myself really bad putting my bicycle on those hooks – she said I might have pulled a muscle, but the screws were fine).

She asked about my meds and I said I still had plenty left. I asked about therapy and she said enough time had gone by she didn’t see why that would be a problem. So, she wrote me out a script for four weeks of physical therapy 2-3 times a week.

On the return trip, I got off onto I-75 again and took that to I-96, just in case the construction on I-94 was on both sides of the expressway. I got off at Beech-Daly and went straight to the physical therapy place. I got an appointment for my first consultation and a ton of paperwork to fill out (even though I’ve been there twice before) and bring back with me next week.

From there, I took I-96 to Newburgh Road and went to Lowe’s to return that air cleaner for the tractor. I used some of the returned cash to buy a four pack of those 60 watt equivalent CFL bulbs (to replace the outdoor lights on the porch and the edge of the garage. On the way back towards work, I stopped at the Newburgh Grill for lunch and had a bowl of their ham and bean soup.

I got to work about 12:30 PM. It was a long ride, but in that car it was easy (I really like that car, which is probably why they gave it to me, to lure me to buy it). Since everyone was out to lunch, I started to fill out as much as I could of the paperwork (I’ll need to check the names of the prescriptions I take and the dates of my other surgeries when I get home).

Vicky and Michelle got back from lunch and I loaded the one chair into Vicky’s trunk (I couldn’t get both in mine, although I tried).

The rest of the afternoon went by and I headed for home at 5:00 PM. When I pulled in, I saw my neighbor was true to his word and cut out those branches on my black oak that might interfere with the cable wire. I checked it out. He only had to cut four branches and now the cables are safe and way under the tree. This also means my front flower garden will get a lot more sun!

Since I had the camera out for the tree shots, I took a picture of my loaner car for you.

So, I just changed shoes again and watered the grass seed areas again. My neighbor and a buddy walked over, so I thanked him and told him he did an excellent job.

I had about six items on my list of things I wanted to do tonight. Second was to switch out the bulbs in the porch and front garage fixtures. Now these are those black metal framed boxes with glass panels on all sides and the bottom, so the only way to replace the bulbs is to take out the two screws that hold the metal and glass cover on.

I used that short step ladder Jake gave me and did the garage one first. It was a little hard on the fingers, but the screws did finally come out (I know I’ve never had either off since I moved here). I sprayed the screws with WD-40, replaced the bulbs with the compact fluorescent ones and then took the fixture to the laundry tub to wash out years of dust, dirt pine needles and dead bugs, etc. I dried it all off good with paper towels and went out to re-install it.

That’s when the trouble began...

I couldn’t get the screws to start, no matter how hard I tried. I finally got one and was trying to install the other when I dropped the screw! It fell down and bounced who knows where into the garden behind the trellis.

Thank God they were cheap fixtures to begin with and it wasn’t brass, or I never would have found it. As it was, I had to leave the glass fixture hanging with just one screw (hoping it wouldn’t fall and break). I ended up cutting the entire wisteria down (it was dying from the bottom up anyway and would have needed it in another month) and using the garage floor magnet I have to find the little bugger.

I cleaned it up, oiled it and tried again and dropped it! In my defense, there is less than, say, eight inches between the fixture and the trellis, so you don’t have much room to maneuver. So, I got the magnet and found it again.

I finally got it started, but by this time my poor fingers were too sore to turn it. So I got a pair of needle nose pliers and got it tight that way.

Then I moved onto the next fixture. This was much easier as I could position the ladder directly under the fixture. I did the same thing: washed and dried the glass cover, switched out the bulbs, sprayed the screws and so on. It didn’t take any less time to get the damn things started though, but at least I didn’t drop one. I finally got them both and tightened them up with the pliers again.

I put away the ladder, magnet and pliers and shut the garage door. Then I washed up. I looked at the list (assemble the shelving unit, rearrange the backroom, etc.) and looked at the clock. It was almost 8:00 PM!

So, I decided the list could wait. I warmed up the rest of the steak and two ears of sweet corn. The meal tasted just as it did on Sunday. That trick with the blue cheese crumbles was a good one, Melissa!

I watched a little TV, but fell asleep after only two shows. It had been a long day.