BUT I'M RETIRED!!

My life is supposed to be peaceful and non-stressful. Right? Right?? Apparently not! I usually have my post done by 11 am, and here it is 5:04 pm. What's wrong with this picture?

Well, first off, I had no power for at least five hours. The exact time is unknown because I had a dentist appointment to get my crown at 2:20. Of course, they made me wait until 2:45 to go back. I should have stayed home until 2:45. Their office is just across the freeway from me. Then the tech had to add to it because she ground it down too far. That was another 20 minutes. But when I got home at 4:00, I could see the lights were on.

The reason they were off is ironic at best. It was again the generator. The electrician was going to put the circuits into the generator powered box. I have no idea what we have powered by the generator, but he put them in. To do that, he wanted to turn the power off for two hours. OK. I could stand that. It was 10, I would have power by noon.

The power went off, then after a bit it came back. There was a knock at the back door. There was the electrician telling me he had to find which breaker ran the furnace and a/c. Well of course! He wanted me to turn on the blower fan. Well, since we have HAL (from the movie 2001) sitting on the wall running our heat/ac, I was a little worried.

I cranked the temperature reading on the thermostat down to 46. Then I ventured into fiddling with the fan - a totally new experience. I found a command that said "on" so I did that. Then it came to a setting of fan speed. I moved it to maximum. Then the lights went out again.

I huddled here in the dark until noon when my soap came on. I got my new little battery operated digital tv out. You can't live around here without one of these -especially if you don't have a generator. When a storm hits, you can really feel isolated without the weather.

Time kept going by, and at 1:45 I had to get dressed - in the dark - for my dental appointment. I really felt sorry for the guys when I left. It had been raining for a while ( a cold rain for these parts too), and they were drenched.

I left. The ac set for 46, the fan on and on high. I was very worried about what I would find. When I was waiting for the crown to be built up, I called home. I always have my answering machine on. If it rings more than four times, I know the power is off. The machine picked up.

When I got in, the house was 67. I think I have it all set back. HAL is supposed to go back to normal at 5 anyway, but I wasn't sure. It doesn't seem too cold in here now, but we'll see what happens.

I don't really know where we stand with the electricians. I do know we still have to have a new gas meter installed. Then the plumbers can hook it all up. I also know that someone around here doesn't have a phone. The gas company told me they cut the cable. When the phone repairman came, he told me he will have to send his crew out because the hole the gas company left for him is too small to get in.

So the story goes on.

Peace.