Day(s)

 

Monday and (oh yes) Tuesday were both

One of Those Days

You know – the kind of day when, at 9AM, you think - - - IS IT BEDTIME YET?

Soooo --- last week I started the process of changing electric providers.  Now, I don’t know how it works in your part of the universe, but here in my part of Texas it takes three entities to provide electricity to ……. well, to me.  Three.  It takes ERCOT, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, an organization that regulates and operates the electric grid for 75% of the state.  It takes Centerpoint, the company that owns all the hardware – poles, lines, meters, transformers and whatever else.  And it takes a provider (of which there are many choices) to actually make sure I get electricity at my house. 

I had decided to change providers for a buncha reasons and now was the time as my contract with A was up.  And, I called R.  Spoke with a nice woman – blah, blah, blah – and it was done.  R to start on 14 Jul.  Next I called A and canceled the service as of 14 Jul. 

Rocking right along!

Then, on this past Monday, I got an email from R saying --- THERE’S A PROBLEM AND WE CANNOT START YOUR ELECTRICITY ON 14 JUL!!!!! 

This is not an email I want to receive . . . . . . ever, but specially not during July in Texas. 

I call R – pdq.  Spoke with a nice man and after several long minutes, during which I said many, many times – I don’t understand, he decided that ERCOT would not let R start the electricity because they had received a cancelation from A on my address for 14 Jul.  This was another – I don’t understand.  Well, he thought ERCOT wouldn’t do both things on the same day.

Well, sez he, I will put in an escalation request on this.  Here’s a reference number if you have to call back because of no electricity.

I replied with – LISTEN! I have an all-electric house, it is July in Texas, and I am a little old lady!  That solution does not work for me! 

I finally suggested what if R starts my electricity on Tuesday, 13 Jul instead.  No problem, sez he, I can do that!

Of course I was going to pay for the electricity used on Tuesday twice - once from A and once from R but at least I was assured of having power.

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I know you’ve heard we’ve had a bit of rain lately but Monday, it wasn’t going to rain.

Wahoo!!

I decided to do a little mowing.  Wasn’t completely miserable outside, a bit overcast so no broiling sun, out I went.

Now, I have a small electric mower.  Actually, I have two.  One uses a 100ft extension cord and a newer one I bought from a friend, is battery powered.  I had charged the battery last week and was hoping it would still be good.  Got the SJ out and - - no, dead battery.  Fine, put it on the charger.  According to instruction book it would be 100% charged in four hours.  I did other things.  I pulled weeds, moved container plants around, watered a few things, repotted a few things – in general stayed busy for three hours. 

And, here is my herb garden with (left to right) savory, marjoram, lemongrass, oregano, basil, basil, and basil.  I also have allspice, lemon balm, lemon verbina, mint, sage, parsley, and rosemary but those are in different locations. 

Oh, and here’s my dill.  Covered with monarch caterpillars.  Sigh.  (I went out to look at the dill today and it's just sticks with only 4 caterpillars munching away.)

The plan was that I would go back out to do about 30 minutes worth of mowing after the battery was charged.  Which is what I did.

Full battery – yes!  Pressed the button, squeezed the handle and – nothing.  Got the manual out again.  And, keeping in mind that the battery is an integral part of the mower, I read that to ensure battery life, the battery should be kept at room temperature not in a hot shed.  REALLY?????  Who keeps their mower in the house??  

Got the corded mower, plugged it in and pressed the button, squeezed the handle and – nothing. 

Two dead mowers.  Okay, FINE I don’t like to mow anyway.

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I came back inside to take a shower and change.  I needed to drive into Rosenberg to the Hobby Lobby for thread for a new cross stitch piece I wanted to start.

back up a day – Sunday I decided on a new counted cross stitch piece to work on.  It’s pretty large and difficult as it requires 40 bobbins of thread all of which are variations of blue and lavender.  It’s one of those that you stitch two squares, change color, stitch 3 squares, change color, etc.  When I work on any cross stitch, I pull threads, place them, the pattern, fabric and hoop in a large Ziploc bag.  Keeps the boys from getting into my stuff. 

Got my thread, came home and sat down to wind bobbins.  Put everything in the bag, zipped it closed and went to do something back in my little office.  A bit later, I walked toward the bedroom and noticed a long piece of string on the floor – what the …..

Aaaarrrggghhhh!  That’s my embroidery thread!!!!!

Followed the thread to my bed, looked under it to see the Demon Duo, both looking like

Walked around to the other side of the bed and looked to find three bobbins of thread chewed and tangled laying on the floor behind them!  Which as it happens, took me several hours to untangled and rewind.  One of them, and I’m pretty sure it was this guy,

had opened the zipped bag and dragged out 3 bobbins and between him and his brother they carried them to a hidey place and had fun.

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So, Mondays I drive to yoga.  Ellen drives on Wednesday.  I went out to the car, got in, started it and up popped this little symbol on the dash –

I just hate it when these symbols pop up.  I never know what they mean and I’m always fearful to drive in case it means the engine is going to explode (cars are waaaaaaay outside my comfort level).  Fortunately, along with the symbol there was a little picture of the car that popped up with the right rear area highlighted. 

Oh – this can’t be good.

Got out and walked around to find the right rear tire had

a big screw sticking out of the sidewall.  Sigh.

So, Ellen drove to yoga.

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When she dropped me home afterward, I checked the mail to find . . . .

a postcard from ERCOT saying they had received a request from A to discontinue electricity on 14 Jul and a request from R to start providing electricity on 14 Jul.  If I had made those changes, I could ignore the postcard otherwise I needed o call A or R.   Guess I didn't need to call R Monday morning and talk with someone who DOES NOT KNOW WHAT HE IS TALKING ABOUT!

And that was Monday.

To be Continued

14 Jul 2021