Fun With Deliveries

Do you catch a whiff of sarcasm with "fun"?

This morning a Fed Ex truck drove slowly by our home. OK, no biggie, they normally do that several times a day. So does Amazon. And repair companies. It happens to be a Sunday, which often translates into new or substitute driver. This Sunday also happens to be very cold with recent subsequent snowfalls covering most everything. Including my car, because with my cold I haven't been out to deal with it. I'm not even going to work to share my cold with somebody who doesn't need it. I did call Paul to come over to shovel for us a few days ago post another snowfall, but the current addition barely qualifies for removal. I'll have to head out later in the week for a drive into the metro for a doctor's appointment, but I still won't be digging out the car since Paul will be driving me. As clogged as my head is right now, and having seat belt issues, I'm relying on a different driver. I'll navigate, he'll drive, I'll pay for gas, and his company will pay him for using accumulated PTO. He's valued enough that they let him set his own hours, within reason. This is the shoulder surgeon so hopefully we may repeat this before too long.

All of that is by way of saying there was nothing near the street-facing steps off a tiny porc to indicate they were ever used. Almost enough snow covered them to disguise the step edges.  FedEx knows to bring packages to the covered porch, where the sidewalk and steps are walkable. They are supposed to have that information as part of our address. The regular drivers do it without question. 

They are also supposed to take a photo of the delivery site, send an email, ring the doorbell so we know something happened. But stuff is supposed to land on the large porch platform, under the roof and where nobody inside has to figure out how to haul deliveries up stairs. Most stuff isn't that heavy these days, but when we do expect something heavy we arrange for assistance if needed. Most of that came just after we moved in when I could still handle it.

I got around to checking email around lunchtime. Head cold management these days requires a fair amount of regimen before facing the day, and I spent some time looking up arcane facts about OTC medications and side effects, among other things, first. Some emails had to be answered while I was thinking about them. I gifted myself with a bonus morning nap between breakfast and dressing. You know, all the various stuff that gets one ready for trying to cope with the day. 

Anyway, last thing on the email list was a notice of a delivery. By then I was dressed for keeping warm and comfortable inside, not for the cold or being seen publicly outside. These days that's a 10 minute job... on a good day, when Steve is around to help with  getting extra upper layers pulled on and adjusted.  Cloth has an amazing amount of friction you don't notice until you need to. Before  going to that trouble, I poked my head out the front door to see what had been delivered - I just might take one step, pick up a tiny something, and pop back in again.

Nothing was there.  ???

I glanced down towards the street and there were huge boxes stacked alongside the driveway, not even on the steps, much less at the top of the platform, however covered in snow. OK then, start the routine. Who the heck ordered what this time? I knew we were waiting for a variety of packages, some for months now and likely stuck in customs somewhere... or totally lost and money wasted. There was also a box of boots for winter Steve ordered, though when he checked back on the order details last week they said they filled the order with size 6 instead of size 10 boots! When that arrives he's to take it straight back to the PO and refuse it. Supposedly they'll either refund his money or send the  correct size. Who knows these days? 

There is also a small box I'm waiting for, likely via the post office, for an unusual tree ornament from Smithsonian for somebody on my gift list. I had to call them yesterday to see what happened. I ordered it in early October, ready to wait through the shutdown for it, but I was starting to wonder where it was. After a pleasant chat with somebody in a supervisory position, they had no record of my order, though they had my delivery address and phone number in their records, and showed the last 4 of my credit card that was used. Nothing else.  I asked if they were informing me I'd simply made a donation to them last fall? I'm not saying they don't deserve it, but I did want to find out what was where and why. Was it ever coming? Did I have to reorder? I'd almost forgotten the order after all this time, but the same ad has been in their magazine for the last three issues, reminding me. Since it was identical, I had the item number, price, and description, along with their phone number. It's been so long I didn't have a confirmation number - if one was ever sent via email. I checked my various email boxes. Nada. I did have the old credit card charge for that price, giving me the date of the charge, but it didn't have any tax added or shipping costs. It hadn't occurred to me to miss those at the time I called that order in. Or since. Life got a bit too interesting back then. The woman I was talking with promised to look into it further, since it was a combination of my proof of payment and their their total lack of record. I wonder how many other order glitches happened during early in the shutdown. Are they even finding out yet? Or were others, like me, exercising patience and only now figuring it was time to start asking questions?

I'd actually like to add the extra fees if needed - tax and shipping - and finish the order to get the gift. It is so perfect for the recipient. I might even consider a complete new order and consider the first a donation. (Would that screw up their accounting? Awwwwww. I pity the tax accountants.... sort of.)

All of this was being considered while I was getting dressed for the cold. I've totally lost track of what's been ordered, what is likely sitting down some rabbit hole in some port thanks to tariff confusion, what might still be expected to appear, "popping" into existence as if borne by some genie. (Yeah, magic needed for that job by now!) When I got to "the" huge  box at the bottom of the other steps, I found it was really three boxes! At first look, one had morphed into two but then became three.  THREE? OK, now I really wanted to see who had ordered what. Before any lifting, since all were heavy, I started checking labels. The smallest was definitely for us, so I carried it back and up the steps to where Steve was waiting for it, and handed it off. 

Then back to check out the really large and heavy ones. From my standing position, I had to read their labels upside down. Wheee. Wait...... uh-oh, weird name on the label, and no house number. Not ours then. We have close to 50 sub-addresses in our location. Still, our problem for a bit. I've seen boxes like these before in the mail area. Everybody who goes in for mail checks out large boxes left scattered on the floor when they don't fit in the lockers with a key left in with your paper mail. You never know, right? But the ones with no unit number tend to go to the big old house in the middle of us all, formerly the managers of the place, now still living there but having turned over management to a company. Their adult daughter I know since she mows our lawn weekly for us. We chat a bit while I hand over her pay, and I found out she was in teachers' ed this last year, now graduated, and last news was looking for a place to finish a term where a previous teacher had to step out, say, for a new baby. But a "real" job instead of mowing lawns. (Hey, mowing lawns is REAL WORK! Trust me!) Point is I have her phone number, so I explained the packages to her. No way would I be hauling them to their house - not even up our own stairs, thank you very much - but she'd send family over in their car to pick them up. Oddly enough the names on the label were just a bit off, both last names and even first, so she guessed which family member they might be for. Either way, a few minutes later the car pulled up, boxes went in the trunk, and they went to their house or were left in the mail area.

I returned to the FedEx email and saw they wanted feedback on their delivery.

Oh boy, was I ready.......!

Steve was impatient to open our real package. Once I heard it was obviously a Christmas present in a box that gave every indication of being food goodies,  and it being by now a bit past lunchtime, I sat and watched.  Oh my! We divvied up the things I currently can't eat and the things he can't eat, and after having a snack on the spot as a reward for our work, we put the rest in the fridge for the next few days. Really, food that good needs to be appreciated immediately! None of this nonsense about saving it for under the tree or something! Right? Some will be snacked on, some cut and added to yogurt, some cut and microwaved with cinnamon or honey....... YUMMM! 

(And thanks! Yes, I know you read this. )

Not Your Best Pick-up Line

Sometimes at mixers people just can't quite get it right.  Did he think he was being clever? Too nervous to say what he tried? I overheard this on TV:

 He:  Has anybody ever told you I have the most beautiful eyes?

She just turned away to talk with somebody else. It wouldn't leave me. There should have been a comeback.  Perhaps,  "Awwwww, no, but maybe someday you can pay someone a big enough bribe to actually get them to say that about you."

I Hate A Cold!

 Lucky me, I've avoided getting one for years. Yesterday I woke up in the middle of the night with an extremely sore throat, enough that my muddled mind started inventing causes for it. None of them made sense. I take that as a sign.

By morning it was a fairly normal sore throat, with the bonus that my voice had dropped a good octave. It was enough that anybody hearing me who knows me were immediately alerted to what's going on. Steve knew without my saying a more than "Good Morning". My PCA client over the phone immediately agreed that I should not visit her and share it - she has plenty of health issues without any assistance in acquiring more. My only concern there is there is up to a 3 day incubation, and I was there Monday, feeling fine, but possibly contagious. Or possibly I picked it up later.

There's the usual stuffy nose now, with kleenex boxes  in high demand. I'd shopped for a bunch over a year ago, and it finally looks like they will need replacing before the weekend. Of course there is a huge supply of fast-food napkins in the car door pockets I could grab, but it's DAMN FRICKING COLD! out there today, as cold as we're had since moving back north. The lakes are even iced over - lightly - but early. Probably safe for squirrels to walk on if they are stupid enough to emerge from snug nests, but everything else recently on it - swans and geese - has flown south. The throat isn't so sore, thankfully, but the voice is still low enough for gender confusion over the phone with a stranger.

Coughing has started, light so far. The good news there is I make a habit of stocking up on sugarless cough drops, and just opened the first of 4 bags this morning. There are still a couple of emptied pill bottles stuffed full of them for easy transport in a purse without spilling all over creation... but just currently not in my purse. Where? Sigh.  Our pharmacy provides fatter bottles for larger pills, great to reuse for cough drops, and ones I can actually open. It takes Steve's hands to open his pill bottles so I don't use them, except to dump collections of sharps in to throw out where they won't cause any problems. I have all kinds of uses for smaller pill bottles I can actually open, once the labels are peeled off.

On the plus side for this cold, I have been getting more sleep, eyes drooping earlier and opening later. Just to stay warm, and avoid struggling with my shoulders, my PJs currently are sweats and polar fleece, since without them plus a blanket I'm chilled and don't warm up. I'm sure they'll be rank by the time I'm ready to go out in public again, but that'll be a few days. I promise I'll change by then.

I have to call a few people I've had contact with the last couple of days, pre-symptoms, just for a warning. They are all younger and should brush it off without problems, but one is caring for a parent just post surgery and may wish to take precautions. I did give her a hug, after all.

Meanwhile I'm not even heading out to bring the recycle bin back from the street, despite strict rules here for doing so. There's a fresh inch of snow that fell yesterday and still sits on everything here including stairs and car, no footprints anywhere, so somebody might figure out we have a reason for leaving it another day or so.

Meanwhile this has been a 5 tissue, three cough drop post, and I'm ready for a nap.

A Different Kind Of A Problem

 This one is totally new to me. In all the years (29) where driving was my career as an independent contractor (IC) I bought so many cars new, straight off the lot that I've mostly lost track. The company I contracted with required undamaged vehicles, no rust, or any thing else which might give their customers reason to believe we weren't trustworthy. Their solution was to mandate replacement after 5 years. With the amount of driving I was doing, that often involved well over 300,000 miles on a vehicle. Total driving for the career was over 2 million. One car went to 400,000. I turned that car over to my sons, and one promptly rolled it. Oh well. His loss.

Minnesota attack deer took out a couple. The last replacement was after I got rear-ended by a school bus while I was stopped at a red light. (Go read Dec. 10, 2013 post for details. Or not.) School bus insurance companies have really good insurance! I still drive the replacement, 12 years later.

Cars age two ways, in my experience. One is accumulated damage, rendering them eventually undriveable. The other is the toll of age (without shelter). Rust, dust, sun, cold, wear on the parts... all get their chances to attack. A car can simply sit and eventually fall apart. This current car only had about 65,000 miles on it before I retired. After that, it went south in winter, north in summer, and otherwise did a whole lot of sitting and very short drives, whether in wet northern summers or in dusty southern winters. Haboobs and hot sun take their tolls, even if it spent ten years avoiding ice and snow. Arizona is hell on rubber. One result is oil leaks requiring expensive replacements. 

I'm not sure of the precise cause of the latest issue, whether something rusted, got gooped up, cracked, or what have you. My seat belt has been getting more and more difficult to click and release. The part coming from the frame by the door has gotten stubborn, requiring me to pull it out enough to slip my shoulder in it, then rock forward, unwinding a bit more belt, rock back to take up the slack, and repeat as long as necessary so I can pull the buckle pieces together. I'm sure anybody watching is thinking about some oversized butterfly nets for the crazy lady.

If that were the only issue, no biggee. But getting it into the buckle between the seats has gotten so difficult that (my bad shoulder of course) has a royal struggle getting it down in to latch. When I have Steve next to me, he can do it, but still with trouble. It does stay latched, and it is only a little less of an issue separating the parts again.

I called the dealership, asking for a price quote on replacing the two parts of the driver's belt. I'd read on line I should expect around $400 to $600 for the set. The dealership came back with $1000!!!!! Just for the driver's side!

No thanks!

Colder weather has settled in, making the  belt more of an issue. I was discussing it with a family member who - bless her - saw the issue more clearly than I did. How about getting seat belt extenders, put then on once and leave them, then hook into the new ends? 

DUH !!!!!

Now Steve has been suggesting getting an extender for his side of the car. I never even thought of doing it for both. But it's gotten more urgent now since I can no longer get my bad shoulder to exert the pressure needed to attach or release mine. I figure, put them on both seats, and the "working" parts will be new and presumably functional. Just put them in and leave them. I could even put tape around the part I want to be sure to remember not to use, like I had to with the parking brake a couple months back. It did take a while, but I actually weaned myself of the habit of reaching to pull the brake over the time it took to get the car into the shop. I can do it again! (BTW the habit to set the brake has returned. I do notice I'm doing it now however.)

I called a national parts chain with a local branch. They had lots of extenders but... none for my car. I called the dealership parts department... and the manufacturer never made one for my model. I went online for a search and found some cheap ones at Walmart... that don't look like the shape of my buckles. Hmmm, maybe too cheap is not the way to go. OK, I tried nationally... and found a site that asks very specific questions about year, model, and which precise location it needs to fit - one for every different seat in the car.They also offered two varieties, a short rigid one, or a longer flexible one, only 2 inches difference between them. This inspired more confidence. The fact that they gave color choices, black or grey, made no difference. I don't care about color, just safety.

I ordered a pair, paid for faster shipping. I don't need to be stuck somewhere trying to decide between safety by torturing my shoulder, or only going places where somebody can put the belt together for me on both ends of the trip. I did the latter last night, with Steve doing it at home, then meeting my son Paul at a Fleet Farm to buy warm winter gloves for him as an early Christmas present. He does come and shovel for us after all, and gets paid for it. He'd mentioned cold hands after finishing his own driveway first the other day. After getting him two different kinds of gloves, (quality check), I had him walk me to the car, get in the passenger side for a moment, and fasten my seat belt before I drove home. Even he had problems!

But I did manage to get out of it after some work once home. It beats having to ask Steve to get dressed for the cold and come out.

Now we wait....