and up *before* the crack of dawn again! (It was 6:30 AM and BLACK outside when I started this message) :o/ I drifted off to sleep on the sofa at about midnight last night, and woke up at 4 AM. I went to bed, but laid there for two solid hours unable to go back to sleep. No sense in laying there when you're awake... so I got up and let the dogs out for a couple of minutes and here I am after FOUR hours sleep.
Got a couple of things accomplished since I was here last (no nothing yarn related). I decided to try to get some laundry done on Friday while Matthew was still away because (a bit of good news here) he was re-hired at the place that fired him in July after a previous supervisor of his (not the one who got him fired... she quit a couple of weeks after having Matthew fired) pulled some strings. I think he has to start in training again, but I'm not positive on that, we haven't spoken much... but he starts on Monday and will need clean clothes. Anyway, I made up three lighter weight (because I had to carry them myself) baskets to take to the laundry, washed the clothes, and since it was a beautiful sunny day I hung them on the clothesline when I got home.
Other stuff happened during the afternoon that I would rather not get into, and by the time I finished taking the clothes in (I started while there was still daylight) it had gotten dark at only 5:30 - 5:45 PM. I realized that I hadn't gone to the cemetery, and I *always* do on Remembrance Day, so off I went (yes in the dark... it was the first time I ever did that too). Because it was dark and my parents are buried on a row where the town has decided to block off people driving, I had to park the next row over... so I left the van lights on so that I could see where I was going and not fall, as I wasn't planning on being there very long. I fixed the wreath into the ground better that I had set up a couple of weeks ago (it had been blown over in the strong winds we had last week), had a chat with my parents about things going on, said a prayer, and went back to the van. It wouldn't start!!! Just sat there making a brrrrrrrrr sound at me. Wonderful... just the thing to add to my already bad day!!
My parents' gravesite is at the FAR end of the cemetery, so I had to walk through the cemetery in the dark (and bitter cold) alone. Walking through the cemetery in the dark didn't bother me as much as I had always thought it would... although my mind *was* preoccupied with the van. I walked up to the first couple of houses that were just outside the cemetery that had all their lights on and vehicles in the laneway, hoping that someone could come give the van a boost. No one answered their doors! Someone else backed out of their laneway and drove away *just* before I got to them, and as I was walking along that dark road (with my cane, I might add) someone drove by me without slowing down to ask if there was a problem... when I looked back I could see that it had been one of the vehicles from one the first places I had rung the doorbell of. :o/
By this point I was frozen and ticked off, so I really wasn't in the mood anymore to walk up to a stranger's door and ask nicely if they could help me... so I walked all the way home which is about FIVE to SIX blocks away from my parents' gravesite at the far side of the cemetery. I had been going for walks on the old railway path almost everyday (weather permitting), but not that far... more like the equivalent of two blocks (not
*around*, just down the street to the second street and back), so I was chilled to the bone and hurting a LOT by the time I got home.I called my nephew who lives in town and told him what happened... he came over after finishing his supper, and we went to see if the battery booster box he had bought would work. He recently got a new truck, and because it is computerized he can't boose other vehicle's batteries with it. When we got to my van, I got in to turn the key so he could hear it... and the damned thing started!!! Can I *tell* you how extremely p*ssed I was, after me walking all that way and freezing my butt off?!?!? Anyway, Mark had originally said it could be the starter... but when it did start he said "Considering winter is coming, you might want to consider getting a new battery so you don't have this happen and be stranded outside of town somewhere on the road." I'd LOVE to, but I can't even catch up with my bills, so I certainly can't afford a new battery! He followed me home... it stalled FIVE times on the way, whenever I eased off the accelerator to brake... and into my laneway. He then told me it *could* be that the connectors to the battery may be corroded and need to be cleaned. He didn't have what he needed in his truck, but said he would try to get around to have a look at them this weekend.
I did call the garage yesterday morning and told them what had happened, just in case I need to borrow one of their vehicles for Monday. They suggested that I take the van for a good run outside of town to really get it running and that might help to reset whatever it was they said. They also said if all else fails I can bring it in on Monday morning, and they will see what they can do... because I have a specialist appointment on Monday afternoon in the city, which took MONTHS to get, and I need a report from him to add to my list of things that I will be sending to Disability when I reapply. Well, yesterday came and went and my nephew couldn't make it here then. I popped out to the store (the van worked with no problem on the way out), but when I pulled away from the store it started acting up again so I had to do what I did on Friday night... keep my right foot on the accelerator and use my left foot on the brake to keep it from stalling again. Of course I forgot three times, and each time... it stalled. I was almost home and decided to try what they had said at the garage. I turned the corner just before our house, and headed out the road... I drove fast and hard to try to kick out whatever was in there making it act up... turned at the first sideroad (I didn't want to go TOO far outside of town, just in case I ended up having to walk back in the cold and dark again), crossed over to the next paved road coming back into town (at the other end of our block)... driving fast and hard again. As I came into town and had to slow down... it stalled AGAIN. So, obviously THAT didn't work! If my nephew can't make it here today to have a look at it, I will definitely be taking the van to the garage in the morning to have them do something with it. If it is something that will take them into the afternoon to fix... they will have to lend me one of their vehicles so that I can get to my specialist appointment in the afternoon.
So that has been my weekend.... crappy all over the place! :o/ I sure hope this week gets better, because I can't take a whole lot more of any of the things that have been happening lately!
Considering my mood lately (not depressed, but VERY anti-social), I *may* be on once in a while from time to time... but definitely not half as much as before anymore! Besides, I have to get used to it... if Matthew moves to the city I will be left without a computer and have to go back to popping in at the library for an hour once in a while. And I can't remember my password for google, so I'll just be reading and not posting again anyway.
*shrug* Whatever... as the saying goes... sh*t happens, then you die! :o/Gemini