random thoughts – Day 2,285 (Wednesday) – flowers and stuff

It was the day after the show the night before. The show was great, I got home late, and I was tired. The morning air was cool and perfect for sleeping, but the morning light and the cat conspired to prevent me from doing so. The light was pricking my eyes open and the cat was licking my forehead. It was time to flee the bed.

Two tote bags crammed with costumes from the show occupied the kitchen counter. They greeted me in the kitchen as I headed to the coffee maker. After setting up the machine, I headed to the couch to start the morning email and games. After the usual amount of time, I realized it was just hot water because I had forgotten to add the coffee. Clearly I was still tired and definitely in need of the coffee. The situation was fixed.

Once awake, it was time to get things done. The freezer was checked. No miracles had occurred overnight and it wasn’t fixed. Things were cold, but not solidly frozen. I contacted the store in Worcester  I bought it from last August via online chat. The rep opened a service ticket and suggested turning the fridge off for 30 minutes to recycle some thing or other. That was easier said than done because the plug is low on the wall behind the fridge which is crammed between a counter and a wall. I figured I would try the electrical panel and turn off whichever lever controlled the fridge. The switches are labeled, but the handwriting is so terrible that I can’t make out most of them. I popped next door and StepDad came over to help me figure it out. He flipped switches, I watched the light in the refrigerator and when it went out, we knew which was the magic switch and it was labeled accordingly and legibly. Thirty minutes later, I set the panel switch back to the “on” position.

The online chat was quickly followed up by a call from someone in the service department who arranged for a service call and a loaner refrigerator to be delivered Thursday between 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Effective tomorrow, there will be a refrigerator crammed into the dining room for an as yet undefined length of time to be determined by the availability of any replacement parts needed. It would have been today if the local service partner in my town wasn’t closed on Wednesdays. 

Halloween flowers at Dollar Tree.

Costumes were unpacked, hung, and crammed into the already full costume closet. Hair flowers and makeup were returned to their homes in the bathroom closet. Later in the day, I went out to buy paper towels and toothpaste. This just in – Dollar Tree has Halloween flowers on display (some with plastic eyeballs!), so now is the time to get your black fabric roses edged with orange glitter before they sell out. 

Although Wednesday is often grocery shopping day, no perishables or frozen items were procured in light of the current freezer situation. I'm already a bit nervous about the viability of the current freezer contents. 

I bought a basil plant and a hanging flower plant (20% off) from Tractor Supply. The basil was immediately repotted into a purple pot and set on the front door landing. For now. The hanging plant was intended for one of the two empty chains hanging from the carport, but the hook on the pot is too big to fit in the links so it was hung on one of the bigger iron hangers on the shed. I very nearly also bought a two-foot white metal rooster painted with flowers for the yard (30% off!) but talked myself out of it. For now, anyway. I make no promises that it won't happen tomorrow or the next day. 

Flowers for the shed.

Around 5:00 I headed to the hedges with the big cutters and did some shaping and trimming. The second rhododendron was also trimmed. There is still a long way to go with both overgrown monstrosities. And the poor forsythia, which was basically flattened by the roof replacement, needs some love and protection, not that I know what to do. That can be a problem for another day.