Perpetual Ruminations

Having a Hell of a Time

It's starting out to be quite a week! Or, perhaps it's a continuation of last week that ended up being quite a week. I suppose that's the best place to start, with last week. For some, it's likely nothing at all, but for me, being very introverted, the best week is one where everyone's at school or work and I have the house to myself for most of the day.

That was the case for me last week, until Thursday when my wife had to take a couple of days off because she was sick which interrupted my quiet time to write. Then, the weekend and our two teenagers were home, and the peace and quiet were replaced with chaos and noise. I maintained my sanity focusing on the week ahead when things would return to normal. There was one hitch, my wife had a medical appointment on Tuesday in Fargo ND. But, she would leave work to drive over, so it really didn't affect me. I should add, it's just a follow-up to have a few tests done to make sure everything is okay.

But, Sunday the boiler malfunctioned and I had to call the landlord. He notified the heating service he uses to come on Monday to fix it. But, there was no set time on Monday so it was a waiting game. The day started fine, but he was calling before noon to see if they had shown up and fixed the boiler. They had not, so he called them and then called me back. Then they called, and a bit later called again; there was no writing with all the interruptions and waiting. They never did show up.

Tuesday arrived with our first bad winter storm! My wife left for work, but she dislikes driving in crappy weather, and we were getting a crap-load of crappy weather. So, she left work at about eleven to come home and have me drive her to Fargo for her appointment. My morning was calling the heating place to try and get someone out to fix the boiler, and waiting for them to call back, and kind of a repeat of Monday. Also, with the weather being crap, school let out early, so I soon had two teens back home and soon after, my wife.

I had already loaded up the Yukon with some winter survival gear so we could be safe on our drive, and shortly after, headed to Fargo. The first half-hour wasn't bad. It was sleeting, but the roads were good. Soon, however, they were covered in slush and ice. We had left early and given ourselves extra time; we made it in time for the appointment only to learn that they had canceled it. Yes, upon arriving and entering the parking ramp, she received a notification that her appointment was canceled due to the bad weather.

The drive back home was a nightmare. We had heavy snow backed with forty-mile-per-hour winds drifting it across the ice-covered highway. With few trees, visibility was greatly reduced, sometimes to the point of not being able to see past the hood of the Yukon, but we arrived back home safe and stressed.

Later that evening we received notice that school would start two hours late today. Trying to be optimistic, I told myself that I would have a few more hours of peace before waking the kids up for school. But, the heating people had not arrived, and now I'm waiting for them to show up to fix the boiler. Also, the school sent notice that there is no school today, so I have two teens home until tomorrow. It's not looking good for a quiet day to write, but I'm still being optimistic.

If it gets too chaotic in the house, I have a crap load of snow to clean up. I also have to figure out how to get into the vehicles; my wife's car was in the garage, which only makes sense as she has to drive to work. So my car and the Yukon sat out and collected about a quarter of an inch of ice on them. Once I figure out how to get the doors open, I can park them, first one then the other, in the garage with the torpedo heater going until they unthaw and dry off.

After getting into the vehicles and getting them de-iced, then shoveling snow I may be able to get a chance to check out Dabble Book Writing Software. It's kind of costly, so I want to try it first. The problem is, there's only a week to try it and I don't want to start my free trial until I have the quiet to see how it works...