We took a quick weekend trip home, and it was more than full of... "things."
Carrie and the kids were there from Thursday until Saturday around noon. We arrived Friday afternoon and left Sunday morning. Here is the bulk of the list of happenings:
- Caleb got poked in the eye in a tree
- Power steering went out on our car
- Raked leaves
- Put away patio furniture & carpet
- Took down the flag
- Upended bird baths
- Installed hand mount on new shower
- Door knob on bathroom door
- Updated the TV to get Netflix, Youtube, Hulu, etc.
- Changed the clocks
- Got mom a Chromebook
- Visited dad in the nursing home
THE TRIP & POWER STEERING FAIL
The trip for us was good... most of the way. We left home around noon and other than a half hour at a Culver's Drive-thru for lunch it went quickly. We'd made it all ~270 miles but as we turned onto my mom's street the power steering went out on the 2011 Ford Escape. Great!
I was tired from the drive (and working in the morning), but I called the lone mechanic in town. Of course he had just closed. I messaged him and asked if he had any advice. He said that had been a recall and we should call the Ford Dealership. I did this first thing Saturday morning, and they gave me some line about it being recalled so long ago, and since we didn't purchase the extended warranty and all... it wasn't covered. Which I had already read online was probably going happen.
It turns out these cars have electric power steering, and this is a known problem. The funny thing is, when I started it back up, it worked fine! Apparently sometimes they just "act up." So we drove the Escape whenever we needed to go somewhere and, sure enough, it was fine.
We decided to take the 'long route' home, which is mostly on 2-lane roads. I didn't want to chance it going out again barreling down eight lanes of Chicago-land traffic. So instead of 4 1/2 hours it took to get there, it took us 5 1/2 to get home, but it was a comfortable and uneventful drive. I didn't mind. In fact, the change of pace was kind of nice.
YARD WORK
Carrie had already started raking leaves before we got there. There were still plenty left. Saturday morning my mom, Jane, and myself started in on them again.
Since I am still in the boot, I used the blower to make piles and clean up, and Jane raked them onto a tarp and transported them to the ditch across the street. My mom helped for awhile. It seemed like it took forever, but turned out it was only a few hours. Although I think everyone else in town was burning their leaves and my citified lungs were struggling with the smoke and smell.
Once we had the leaves done we started putting away the patio furniture and carpet on the back patio. I had finally had enough of the hobbling around and my mom and Jane finished up. There are also a ton of bird baths and other ornaments that needed flipped over or moved. It was a full day and I am feeling it in my arms, shoulders, and back still today.
NEW SHOWER/BATHROOM
My mom had a shower put in her main floor half bathroom recently. She needed another mount added for the hand-held shower head, so I tackled that Saturday afternoon. She also needed a handle of some kind on the inside of the bi-fold door. Fortunately she had a ton of handles and I was able to find one that screwed in perfectly.
NEW COMPUTER AND TV CHANNELS
One of the big things about this trip was we got my mom a Chromebook for her birthday. She has an old desktop computer but it doesn't have wifi and hasn't been hooked up to the internet since she moved it upstairs. We found an Asus Chromebook on sale for $179 and added a wireless mouse and keyboard for another $20. It should be more than sufficient for her games and occasional typing. Carrie got her set up on it before we arrived, and I think she was pretty happy. It even worked with her wired printer!
We had actually looked at Chromebooks at the Best Buy store and the salesperson said they didn't have USB ports and you could only connect one Bluetooth item at a time. I knew this wasn't true, so we just ordered it online through Best Buy. It has two USB ports - one for the keyboard/mouse and the other for the printer. So I'm glad we went that route.
One other thing of note: we finally got my mom's TV set up for streaming. I knew it was a 'smart' TV, but we had never been able to get Netflix or anything. We just messed around until we 'unlocked' it. I think it was set up to be wired, and I somehow switched it to wireless. It is waaaaay smarter than our TV. I don't know if she will ever watch Netflix or not, but she'd been wanting to, and now she can. Or at least we can when we're there!
VISITING DAD & COVID
We went to the nursing home Saturday afternoon and my dad did not look good at all. A nurse brought him to the window and he was gray and his eyes were all red. I'm not sure he knew any of us - or cared. He just kept saying he didn't feel good and he looked pretty distant. I felt genuinely sorry for him.
My mom texted us on our way home Sunday that she just found out he tested positive for Covid. That would explain it. I hate to say it, but at 88 years old, I think this is likely it. It might be different if his quality of life were better, but it isn't.
So... for such a short trip, it seems like a lot happened. I guess we will also be heading back pretty soon as well - if even just for Thanksgiving.
The pic at the top and bottom is from Mautino State Park. The grandkids always like going out there. My dad used to be the caretaker of sorts before it was a state park. It's a nice place for the area to have.
***
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
6 a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
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