“Remoted” – Day 180 (Saturday)

In Dr. Gary Chapman’s The 5 Love Languages, the five different ways of giving and receiving love are “Words of Affirmation, Acts of Service, Receiving Gifts, Quality Time, and Physical Touch.” I think StepDad, who is the most awesome step dad possible and I will fight anyone who disagrees, seems to be in the “Acts of Service” camp for showing love.

Today, I was once again fortunate to be on the receiving end of a full day’s worth of his acts of service when StepDad and Mom came to visit because he wanted to tighten my loose deck railing. While here, he also fixed the jammed garbage disposal, leveled the washer so now I can use all the cycles instead of just hand wash with no spin cycle, and leveled the dryer and cleaned the vent.

It was horrifying how much lint was behind the dryer and trapped in the vent, but that is all cleared now. The laundry project started as leveling the washer. Like so many projects, it suffered scope creep and evolved to include the dryer and removing the laundry closet folding doors, the top track, and the bottom anchors to pull the doors forward an inch or so to the frontmost edge of the door frame and allow the closet doors to clear the hinges of the dryer door, which has been a problem.

Winston has grabbed
the throne.

While the laundry closet work was underway, the dogs seemed puzzled by the activity and all the laundry closet stuff that was strewn about. Even the dog beds were disrupted, with both beds, pillows, and blankets stacked in a pile, and Moose and Winston alternated being king of the heap. Winston is a pro at tricking Moose off the couch and today, the dog bed pile, so he can assume occupancy of the space. Poor Moosie falls for it every time.

After the inside work, StepDad headed out to tighten the deck rail, and also cut an opening in the back of the deck rail to create direct access to the back yard, made steps to the back yard using stacked paver stones, and took the removed section of deck railing home to add hinges and create a gate for the driveway end of the deck. I’m exhausted thinking about all he did today. For much of the time, Mom and I hung out talking about a million different things and started a new puzzle. I’ve always felt badly that my 12 years in Tennessee meant 12 years I didn’t get to spend with Mom. But it also means I value and appreciate the quality time we get to spend together now.

This could take a while.

The puzzle, which features quilt blocks and has 2,000 pieces is going to keep me busy for a while, not that it was any kind of potential issue. My track record of keeping myself entertained at home since March is pretty solidly established. 

The freezer/magician’s cabinet delivered again today. While looking for the hot dogs and rolls, I found two cider donuts. That makes three treats found in three days – brownies, vodka, and cider donuts.