LICENSE TABS

          It only took me more than nine months to realize I had been driving around illegally and could have been stopped at any point in time. It only took two months for me to realize I didn’t have up-to-date insurance information in my car.

          I’m sure I would have continued to drive around blissfully unaware I didn’t have my 2023 tags on my license plate. I could have done the same with the insurance information. The only reason I discovered I hadn’t renewed my tabs when they were due last December or printed out insurance information the beginning of July was because I cleaned out my car.

          Now, I didn’t have to clean out the glove compartment. I planned on just making sure Kuma’s hair was off the passenger seat, that his nose prints had been scrubbed off the side windows and that the various detritus had been vacuumed up off the floors. I got that done and since I plan on having my car detailed after the upcoming trip to the ocean where my friend and our two dogs will undoubtedly bring in lots of sand, I figured I might as well go whole hog and clean the debris out of the glove compartments as well. My detail place doesn’t want you to leave stuff in your car.

          In the envelop that holds the paperwork the police would want to see, I had numerous registrations and insurance papers. I went through those and took out all the expired ones. That was when I realized I didn’t have the latest paperwork. I couldn’t believe I had neglected to take care of this business.

          John always gave me my car registration as a Christmas gift. All I had to do was stick the tab on the license plate and the paperwork in the car. The first time I had to do it myself was 2019 and I barely made it to the license place to pick up the tabs and registration before it closed on December 31. The next two years I managed to take care of business in a timely manner. I don’t know what happened last December. I did find the renewal reminder in the glove box as well, so I guess I had planned on doing something with it.

          Anyway, I’m getting on a ferry at 9:35 am and am planning on getting to the license place at 9:00 am to pick up the tab that will be good for only three and a half months. Hopefully, I can dash in and out and stick the tab on the plate on the ferry. Not complaining though since I’ve managed to get through the entire year, so far, without having the police stop and ticket me. I’m hoping my good luck continues for another seventeen hours. Fingers crossed, prayers said, candles lit, Buddha’s belly rubbed.

          I’ve also put a note in my calendar for December…RENEW LICENSE TABS!!!...and, I’ve made it a recurring note that will continue until I no longer need a renewal. Can’t wait to hear what my kids have to say about this…actually, I can definitely wait.

FURNACE FUN

 

          My thermostat has been blinking at me since June. It wants to have its filters cleaned. This morning it was 63 degrees in my house and I really wanted to turn the heat on but will not until I clean the filters.

          Back in January of 2001, I had to stay home from work for a week because I had a radiation burn under my right boob. When I called in sick, I jokingly told my boss I had to hang from the rafters by my knees so my boob would fall in the right direction and the burn could heal…and then I burst into tears. Little did I know then the house would become as cold as the attic. Anyway, I’m digressing from my furnace tale.

          I was always the first one up because I was the only one with a job that required my presence at 8;00 am. John worked for himself so he could set his own hours and was almost always still in bed when I left…more digressing. Anyway, I kept smelling something in the morning when the furnace came on. Since I had to stay home from work, I thought I was doing a good thing by calling the gas company…WRONG.

          This was Monday morning and my perception was that someone would probably come during my week at home. Instead, they came almost within the hour. I found out later it was because I said I smelled something. The serviceman checked things out, showed me how flames were climbing up the outside of the furnace, turned off the gas and locked up the furnace. There would be no heat until we either fixed the furnace or bought a new one.

          John was absolutely furious when he came home to find out we had no heat because I’d called the gas company. He told me he was aware of what was wrong and was “taking care of it.” When flames are climbing up the outside of the furnace, how can you be “taking care of it?” I was absolutely amazed at how angry he was, especially since I needed warmth since I had to stay at home. And it wasn't like we couldn't afford a new furnace. I thought we were really lucky the house hadn't burned down. 

          Since John had a project, he was working on, and since he was hugely pissed, he told me it was up to me to take care of the problem. What did I know about furnaces? Absolutely nothing. So, I called around and found a company that could give us a new furnace that week (the one that died was installed when the house was built in 1963). I opted to go for the electronic filter. I’d heard about them and it sounded like it would be perfect because it would eliminate a lot of dust. It cost extra.

          Meanwhile, it’s January and it’s cold. John remained furious and finally brought a couple of electric heaters home on Wednesday. I was pretty cold by then. I was also pretty pissed at his attitude because, after all, I was sick and should be taken care of...you know, "...in sickness and in health." I arranged for the new furnace to be installed on Thursday at 9:00 am.

          On Thursday, the furnace installer arrived at 8:15 am, and John quite rudely informed him he’d have to come back at the scheduled time of 9:00 am because he (John) wasn’t ready to leave home yet. I was positive John’s rudeness would cause the installer to not return that morning or to come back and install the furnace incorrectly.

          Fortunately, the man returned at 9:00 am and I apologized on my husband’s behalf. He took out the old one and installed the new furnace. By the end of the day, we had heat flowing through all the vents. I was very happy about that.

          Unfortunately, the electronic filter wasn’t a good choice. Every time something hit the wires, there was a noise like you heard with those bug zappers. It wasn’t long before John disconnected the electronic part…money down the drain, really, or would that be out the vent?

          I have no idea how often John cleaned the filters in the furnace. I wasn’t around when or if he did it. Eventually, a new thermostat was installed (by my HVAC son) that now flashes red when there’s a problem or the filter needs cleaning. I think it was the year after John died that AJ showed me how to remove the filter in order to clean it.

          There are actually four pieces to the filter. I take off the furnace front and remove the front large piece and then remove the back large piece. Then, I remove the two small metal screens which are the ones that are coated with yukky stuff. I don’t remember who told me I should put them in the dishwasher in order to clean them, but that’s what I do. It works really well and once they’ve cooled off and are dry, I can then reinstall.

Once that’s all done, it will be time to tell the thermostat I’ve cleaned the filter. What I wonder is if it is smart enough to tell me the filters need cleaning, why can’t it figure out the filters are clean? Instead, I have to go into the thermostat and confirm I’ve done my job.

The dishwasher just beeped that it’s done its job and the dishes are clean. I’ve opened the door and while everything cools off, I guess I’ll begin dismantling that electronic filter. I’ll feel accomplished once the filter is clean and back inside the furnace. Still, it’s just another one of those jobs I’d be happy to not have to do, but that’s the way it is when it’s just me, myself and I (and Kuma, but he has no cleaning skills) living the good life.

UPDATES...PIE, PIE IN THE SKY

           I’m absolutely positive, dear readers, that you want an update from my Labor Day post. I’m happy to report I did everything I said I was planning to do with the exception of cleaning the kitchen/dining room. I did that on Thursday as opposed to Monday.

          The blackberry pie almost didn’t come to fruition. Kuma and I went to ballyball hill after I went to the grocery store. I couldn’t believe how the blackberries had turned into small, dried lumps. I persevered, however, and managed to pick enough very small ones to fill my small cast iron skillet. Kuma had a fine time chasing the ball up and down the hill as I worked to fill my berry container. The first time I set it down, though, Kuma thought I’d picked the berries for him. I very quickly pushed his nose out of the bowl before he could gobble up the ones I’d managed to pick.

          Back home, I used one pie crust from the box I bought to make the pie. I really should have taken it out of the oven sooner…the recipe said forty minutes, but that was for the big skillet. Later that day, after the grilled flank steak and corn-on-the-cob, I had a dish of blackberry pie with vanilla ice cream…YUMMY!!!

          Thursday I had an appointment with the podiatrist. In the morning, I watered everything outside, did my office work, and then decided it was time to Swiffer up all the dog hair in the kitchen and dining room. Seriously, I don’t see how Kuma has any hair left. There was enough on the pad I had to use the hand vacuum to suck it off twice before tossing the pad. The rugs were washed as was the floor, so now everything looks very nice.

          Of course, it’s not going to stay that way for long. Almost every day I tidy up the house. This involves using the little vacuum to suck up the dog hair that’s drifted down the day before. The bathroom had quite a bit of hair which also included mine. There were also Kuma pawprints all over the floor because he’d gone out into the wet garden and neglected to wipe his paws on the way back in.

          The podiatrist was really a waste of time. I have one toe where the nail points downward and pushes into the footbed. If I keep it as short as possible, it’d not too big a problem. I was hoping for a better solution, but the doctor merely trimmed it more and said if that didn’t work, he could remove the nail. Whoa, I’m not going there, especially when he said it would just grow back.

          This appointment was far down on Broadway in Seattle. I don’t usually drive to or in those areas and today’s trip made me very sad. There’s so much garbage on the streets and sidewalks, people living up close to buildings beneath a big umbrella or even in a bus stop shelter. Broadway is also narrow with only two lanes, unless there’s a left turn lane which trucks and cars park in while making pickups or deliveries. There’s also rails in the road as well as electric wires overhead for the transit system. My memories of Broadway from eons ago do not match what I saw today at all.

          Finally, I read there were 60,000 children who traversed some pass below Mexico to escape their countries and try to come to mine. Altogether, there have been 250,000 people over that pass just this year. This brings me to my “pie in the sky” idea.

          A year or two ago, there was a chart online which showed how much money some members of the 1% had. It was set up in such a way that you flicked your screen to the left. Jeff Bezos was the richest of the 1% and I finally gave up flicking the screen because it seemed as though this illustration of his wealth would never end. What if Bezos decided to play God with all his millions and set out to rectify the world’s problems? Perhaps we could reach a goal where everyone had a home, food, health care, and violence was eliminated. Like I said, pie in the sky.

LABOR DAY

        

 It’s Labor Day. It’s raining. It’s cold. I’m wearing long pants for the first time in quite a while…it was 80+ on Saturday…my “I’m Sad” sweatshirt and socks. I guess summer is over, more or less.

          I’m feeling kinda sad for no particular reason other than it’s now September and before I know it, it will be time to decide if I’m going to buy another Christmas tree or give up that tradition. I’m not sure what the answer will be when the time arrives. Maybe my kinda sad is due to the change in atmospheric pressure because it rained and may still be raining for all I know.

          Anyway, since time is passing by so quickly, I really don’t have time to sit around being sad. I need to get my flank steak in the marinade so I can grill this evening…what’s a Labor Day without grilling? I also need to find my recipe for cast iron blackberry pie. I don’t know if I can cut it down enough to simply use my small cast iron skillet or if I’ll need to make the entire recipe. If I do use the big skillet, someone(s) going to get to share this pie.

          Of course, making that pie means Kuma and I need to go to our Ballyball hill so he can chase the ball and I can pick berries. Then, it’s off to the grocery store and the completion of some other errands. I was going to go to Costco today too, but that wonderful company has given its employees the day off. Why is it I like Costco so much and detest Amazon even though I use Amazon often because it usually has what I want/need and the prices are good. I think it’s because I see Amazon as an evil giant…kinda like the one in Jack and the Beanstalk…and Costco as more family friendly. I digress

          There’s also one more room to clean, i.e., dining room and kitchen. I need to Swiffer the floor, wash the rugs, wash the floor and put the rugs back. To pat my own self on the back, I did the rest of the house (except for the two bedrooms I don’t use) in the last few days. True, I could wash all the windows, but I’m not going to do that. Eliminating all the dog hair, detritus from the garden, dust from the various tables and tchotchkes is clean enough for me. Oh, I also did all the laundry, including stripping the bed and turning the mattress.

          Don’t you just love the internet and Google. I couldn’t find the proper spelling for tchotchke, so I typed in, “Jewish word for knick knacks,” and there was the correct spelling. I digress again.

          So, I’m not going to be sitting around here being sad. I’ve things to do, places to go, people to see. By the time I sit down with a glass of wine, I’m sure to be quite happy…or become so after the wine.