Jay's Visit

 January 30, 2021

Today Jay wanted to come and start Anton's car.  He had no problem and returned my library book on his little trip.

Purple Heart is coming on Monday and I wanted to donate my Nesco roaster from the basement that I didn't use in many years.  When he got back from starting the car I asked him to bring up the Nesco and set it outside the door.  Before he did that I put some cat litter in front of the door on an icy patch.  As the ice melted it turned that cat litter and melted ice into a slushy mud.  Jay said that I should put a tarp on my upstairs porch to prevent the melting snow from dripping on my front step.  I said that the porch has deep snow.  So he took my snow shovel and went upstairs to clear off the snow and spread a plastic shower curtain on the porch that he anchored with some bricks. 

When he went upstairs, his shoes had that messy slush that stained the carpet.  He now had to scrub the stains off the carpet.  When he finished with that, he said my stairs could use a vacuuming.  The tool he was using wasn't functioning properly, so he took it apart, put some WD-40 on it and cleaned it up.  The vacuum wasn't giving enough suction, so he cleaned out the lint container, cleaned the brushes and washed out the filters.  After putting everything together, he vacuumed my stairs from upstairs all the way to the basement.  All the while he was doing that I was sitting and watching him.  We both were wearing masks and keeping our distance. 

I offered him some wine with cheese and crackers that we both enjoyed.

Before he left I asked him to take the snow shovel and get rid of that slushy mess in front of the door.  That was no easy task because it really was muddy.  He used snow to try to clean it, but ended up with a bucket of hot water that I added floor cleaner to so that he could scrub it clean.

So what began as a simple project of getting the car started ended up in a major job.

Monday, February 1

Laura called me with a check-up call and we had a nice visit.  I told her all about Jay's visit and she told me about the magic cake that Anton made.  We had such a nice visit.

About an hour later Jay called and told me that Laura got her test results about 30 minutes ago that she tested positive for Covid.  She had flu symptoms. 

How long she was positive is anyone's guess, but Jay was at my house on Saturday doing all of his odd jobs.

Will I get symptoms also?

February 2, 2021

Could not get back to sleep after using the bathroom at 3:30 am.  The toilet was slow in flushing, so I went down for a plunger and tried to loosen it to to avail.  Stayed up and played gin online.  The toilet worked fine the next time I flushed.

Tried to take a nap before book club, but that didn't work with Dolly's weight on my legs.

A pretty uneventful day.  Book Club discussed Kingdom of the Blind by Louise Penny.  I misread some of the plot.

Went to get the COVID test on 73rd & Rawson.  Very efficient after I printed out and filled in the paper work.  Very pleasant people.  Results were negative.

 

 

 

Magic Jack

January 28, 2021

Today I am totally whipped after trying to get my Magic Jack to work. I hooked up the phone on Monday and called Spectrum to discontinue my service (big mistake).  When I talked to someone at MJ to arrange for my home phone to be ported over, the person said they would contact Spectrum to get that arranged.  This morning's e-mail from MJ said that the number could not be ported over since it does not exist.  I called Spectrum and was told after long waits and thanking me for my patience, that it could not be ported over. 

I was not getting a dial tone on my other phones in the house.  By some miracle I got a person on the line and got myself established with MJ, but the dial tone was not resolved.  The guy kept telling my that there is something wrong with my phone lines.  This is all in my nightgown, before taking a shower and breakfast.  I called Terry, and she suggested calling Bill Regner, who seems to know everything about MJ.  I got myself started for the day and decided to give him a call.  What a gem!  I didn't connect it correctly.  I never removed the phone line from the modem, which is supposed to go into the MJ.  Once I did that, the phones were getting a dial tone.

My next problem was getting the phone to give the caller a code number to press.  Terry and Bill's phones did that.  I had the service activated, but I never got that message when I called.  After numerous tries, it finally worked; how that happened I can't say.  But everything seems to be working.

Janice called me to my cell and she didn't think much of such a service and wondered why I just didn't use my cell as my primary phone. The thought occurred to my, but I didn't follow through.

 

Storming the Capitol

 January 6, 2021

While I ate breakfast I did a load of whites, dried and folded.  I wrote a letter to Don, Annika and packaged two chimo caps for Doug Scott.  I went to the post office to send everything off, then to Walgreens to pick up my meds, some reading glasses and greeting card for the entire year, about $60 worth.

I dropped off an infant booster seat at Terry's when Everly comes to visit and relieved her mind when I told her that I changed my mind about moving.  She was overjoyed.

Next, bought some groceries at Festival, even though I picked up groceries at Pick'n Save yesterday, but I really didn't have anything for supper.  I stopped at Consumer Liquor for wine and Boodles.  Next it was to Kohl's to return the cap and scarf set from Amazon.  I had to let others get in front of me so that I could find the item I purchased on my phone.  Once I got on the Amazon site and located it there was no problem, and it will be credited to my account.

I crossed over to 76th Street and got a battery for my watch.  When I was ready to pay for it, the man said don't bother.  I didn't think I understood him right, but he repeated and said I didn't have to pay anything.  I thanked him and wished him a Happy New Year.  Then a short way away I had my calendar bound.  The last thing on my list was to turn in my converter boxes to Spectrum.  I was sure it was on 76th Street.  I went back and forth, then called Terry and she said it was on Hwy 100 north of Greenfield.  When I finally found it, there was a sign on the door that they moved to National Ave. right around Office Max.  I started out at 11:30 am and didn't get home until 5:30 pm.  I turned on the news to see the terrorist storming the Capitol to protest the electoral vote, all motivated by Trump's refusal to concede the election.