Friday, July 18, 2025
In the End, She Stayed
Friday, May 30, 2025
The Long Way Home
It was to be a simple task: drive my husband to Christiansburg, about 45 miles away, to retrieve the new vehicle a friend had purchased the day before.
It's about an hour's drive, unless you're with me, the one with the lead foot and the propensity to "go with the flow" of the other 80 mph drivers. Then you get there much quicker.
However, we were on Interstate 81, which is like driving through a mini-golf course complete with windmills, potholes, and other intriguing traps. Weaving in and out of traffic, I tried not to pay attention to my husband's grip on the overhead handle on the passenger door and his occasional mutterings about speeding.
I-81 is notorious for its hazards. It's one of the most dangerous highways in the state. The highway is two lanes each way, and it now has many times more traffic than it was originally designed to carry. In particular, tractor-trailers travel this road in great numbers. Since the highway has fairly steep grades that the big rigs can't take at speed, traffic frequently slows to a crawl, with backups as long as 3 miles or more not at all unusual.
Fortunately, the southbound lane I was racing down was not all that crowded, but the northbound lane, where I would need to return, was backed up for miles. A tractor trailer on its side had turned the highway into a parking lot.
We discussed a different route for the return trip home with my husband's friend's new car. We decided to go US 460, a much less traveled route.
After we picked up the vehicle, I followed my husband down the highway. I like driving US 460, it's a good road and the traffic is light. However, as we reached other exits, the traffic picked up as folks trapped on I-81 began to siphon themselves off the interstate and onto the less frequented roads.
By the time we reached Salem, I was ready to get back on the interstate and get home. However, to my left, I could see a dark, vicious-looking cloud. My husband called me on the cell. "We're going to take the long way and try to miss that cloud. It might have hail in it," he said. "Follow me."
I knew he didn't want to ding up the new vehicle, and I didn't particularly want to mess mine up, either. But the cloud didn't look like a hail cloud to me. They usually have a little orange in them. But I am a good wife, so I obediently followed him. I thought at first we would get back on the interstate at Exit 140, but no.
Then I thought he was going to make a left turn off of US 460 business and head up Cove Road to Hershberger, but no.
The next thing I knew, we were driving by Roanoke City Fire Station 5. What were we doing in the heart of the city at 3:15 in the afternoon? I had no idea. I kept following him.
He turned left, finally, onto Plantation. I knew where that came out on US 11, but this seemed like a very long way home.
Then he turned right onto some other road that I have traveled only a few times.
And the rain poured.
It rained so hard I could not see him in front of me. I slowed way down because I didn't want to hit him. The water began ponding; cars coming from the other direction sent waves of water over top of my vehicle.
I clung to the steering wheel with both hands, thinking all the while, "We're heading toward Tinker Creek."
My mind leapt back 40 years to the Flood of 1985, when it took me over three hours to get home because of flash flooding and most of Roanoke was underwater, including the area we were driving through. I was on an unfamiliar road. I couldn't see. I couldn't tell what was in front of me. I didn't know where there might be a place to pull off and wait out the storm.
Finally, we neared the train tracks that I thought were coming up, and saw my husband make another right turn on Sanderson, only at the time I didn't realize it was Sanderson because it was raining so hard I couldn't see the sign. I called him. "I can't see to drive, where are we?"
"We're on Sanderson, we're near Jen's house."
"Do you have the lights on on that car? Because I can't see your rear end," I told him. He braked and I told him I could see that, but the lights for simply driving were quite dim. Since the car is silver, I was having a very difficult time seeing it.
It was a new car, so I assumed he just needed to find the right switch, and after a while he did. Then it was easier to see him. The rain also began letting up and I was able to release my death grip on the steering wheel. I was back on familiar turf.
That short task turned into quite the marathon, what with my husband's failed effort to keep the car clean and my fright at being on unfamiliar roads in such a downpour.
Next time it’s a “simple task,” I’m going home the simple way. Mine.
Wednesday, February 26, 2025
I Do Not Like Green Eggs and Ham
Monday, February 24, 2025
Things I Did Last Week
- Washed 15 loads of laundry
- Put away 15 loads of laundry
- Made the bed 7 times
- Changed the bed linen and washed the bedspread and blanket, which takes a long time because the bedspread takes at least two turns in the dryer to dry.
- Fixed lunch for two people 7 times
- Fixed dinner for two people 7 times
- Emptied the dishwasher 7 times
- Filled the dishwasher 7 times
- Wrote 7 blog posts
- Read 110 pages of a book
- Listened to an audio book for 6 hours+
- Assisted my husband with the installation of a new mirror on his truck
- Spoke with friends and family on the telephone
- Looked up information online
- Read a lot about the federal government via doom scrolling on FB
- Took the tax records to the accountant
- Spoke with my banker on the telephone
- Walked on the treadmill for 25 minutes each day
- Talked to my chiropractor on the phone to reschedule an appointment due to snow/ice
- Visited the grocery store and purchased groceries
Monday, January 27, 2025
An Internet Boost
I have fiber! I have fiber!
Today I moved from the early 21st century to the now. I am no longer on DSL. I have fiber!
This was a BIG DEAL. I have been trying to get fiber to my house for years.
I have sent a letter to my county officials every six months for the last 7 years, asking them to ensure my area received fiber connection.
And finally, today, it happened.
After hearing that a certain person in a house made of white had stopped the payouts on the infrastructure bill passed by Biden, I was concerned that I would not get the promised "free" connection from the provider, but no one said anything about a hook up charge.
Maybe they already had the money in hand. I am not asking.
Things are not always fair. I know my brother had to pay a connection fee to get his fiber, but he paid it gladly. However, people near him who lived along the road (he lives a ways off the road), did not have such a hefty connection fee.
Is it fair that I did not have to pay? I don't know, but he's had fiber for 2-3 years longer than I have. Was that fair?
I don't know.
Fair is a juggling act. Sometimes you're on the receiving end of fair. Most times, I have found, one is not.
So, I will take my fiber and rejoice.
Now if only someone can tell me how to reliably look for online work that isn't a scam.
Wednesday, December 04, 2024
My Busy Wednesday
Most days, I sit at home and do home stuff. But once or twice a week, I remember I have a car.
So my busy days go like this:
- Wake up about 6:15 a.m.
- Drink a cup of hot water.
- Reset my video game.
- Read news in The New York Times, Washington Post, The Guardian, the local paper, or whatever I see that may be interesting.
- Check my email and look at Facebook.
- Mix up my Cheerios (half plain Cheerios and half something like Honey Nut Cheerios) and eat them.
- Take my medication.
- Shower and dress.
- Put the recycling into the backseat of the car.
- Make out a grocery list.
- Check the grocery store online for coupons to add to my digital card.
- Talk to a friend who calls.
- Get in the car and leave.
- Stop in the middle of the driveway because someone is coming up the driveway.
- Talk to the men from the fiber company who are "checking" to be sure some things necessary for you to one day have something besides DSL internet access have been done. No, they don't know when you will be hooked up. Have a nice day.
- Take my leave of the men and head out.
- Drop off the recycling at the recycling bins. Today it took two different tries, as the paper bin was overflowing at my first stop. They'd been emptied at the second one.
- Put gasoline in the car.
- Get lucky at the crossover and manage to get across 4 lanes without stopping.
- Drive to the grocery store.
- Once inside, purchase a lottery ticket for my husband.
- Travel the aisles looking for the items on the list. Speak to my neighbor who's using the electric cart, call out to someone else I know and wish them a happy holiday season.
- Back track because I forgot to pick up some sausage for my husband. They are out of sausage.
- Check out and speak enthusiastically to the checkout clerk and tell him what a great job he does.
- Haul the groceries to the car and load them in the trunk.
- Put the grocery cart in the rack.
- Return to the car, start it, and head back home. Take the long route because I want to stop at the mailbox withotu getting out of the car because it's cold outside, and if I come from the west I can do that.
- The mail hasn't run.
- Go up the driveway and park the car.
- Change my shoes and wash my hands.
- Empty the truck of its groceries. Put everything away.
- Wash my hands again.
- Throw a load of towels in the wash.
- Check the destination arrival time for several packages expected today.
- Fix myself an egg sandwich and eat the crumbs of a bag of Baked Lays potato chips.
- Read a couple of articles in The Atlantic.
- Take my medication.
- Put the dirty dishes in the dishwasher.
- Turn on the humidifiers because the house is dry.
- Put the towels in the dryer.
- Reset my video game. (This should be done every 3 hours, but I only manage it three times a day, at the most).
- Drive down to the mailbox to see if the mail has run. No mail. Drive back home. Wonder if I should do a video of the drive up and down the driveway so people will understand it's a very long gravel driveway.
- Answer a few texts.
- Talk to another friend.
- Check on the packages I'm expecting. Note that the "latest arrival time" has changed. Again.
- Work on this blog post.
- Answer the door to find the USPS driver has dropped off one package. I'm expecting several. She waves at me. I scoop up the package and deposit it on the kitchen counter.
- Drive down to the mailbox again. It is stuffed full. I guess she couldn't get the one package in the box.
- Return home and puzzle over the packages. Not exactly what I thought I was buying. Hmm.
- Decide this is enough of this blog post - this day will finish out itself with a walk on the treadmill, fixing dinner, and watching TV with the husband.
Tuesday, November 12, 2024
Negative Space
Wednesday, October 23, 2024
Nothing But Blue Sky
I am trying hard to be more positive about everything, from the upcoming election to my personal life to local folks with whom I must deal with frequently.
Tuesday, October 08, 2024
2020 All Over Again
Friday, October 04, 2024
A Crazy Friday
Monday, March 04, 2024
At the X Roads
Tuesday, February 27, 2024
What's My Name?
Wednesday, January 17, 2024
Havoc
Last year, frankly, was not a good year for us. Everything that could break, broke, or so it seemed. My husband was constantly patching tractors and other pieces of farm equipment. We replaced tires on both vehicles. We had to replace the heat pump and the furnace/air handler at the house. We had a drought and fretted over hay so much that our hay count is down to the smallest piece of dried straw that a cow could feasibly munch on. Vultures killed a calf.
We have a small home we rent out, a place I inherited from my mother, and things went wrong over there, too. This doohickey didn't work, some other thing-a-ma-bob didn't function. The well pump went out.
On and on it went all last year. One hopes that such luck doesn't follow one into the new year, but so far that isn't happening.
In the bitter cold, the pipes are frozen over at the small rental home. Or perhaps not the pipes, but the actual well pump itself, we're not sure yet. We've owned this home for over 20 years, and up until last year, never had a problem with pipes freezing. (They froze and burst during the horrid Christmas cold of 2022; perhaps that was the beginning of this run of tortuous bad luck.) Now it appears every time the temperatures drop into the teens, we are going to be heading over there with a blow torch, and we don't know what changed to create this problem.
Additionally, the cattle waterers froze during the night, and my husband will have to check those every few hours until the weather warms up, which won't be until next week.
The only good thing is, knock wood, the electrical power has thus far stayed on, and the expected high winds did not materialize - yet.
I am useless in these situations and can do little to help my poor old husband. The best thing I can do is stay out of his way and fix his lunch.
But I fret. I worry about my husband being out in the cold. I worry about whatever is wrong. I worry about the cattle.
Come on 2024. Do your thing and smooth out the rough seas!