What a Three Days! (Ten Things of Thankful)

(Because some people like Blogger and some like WordPress, i am putting the same content at both.  If you would prefer to read this on the other site, it is linked here.) 

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Where do i start with this past few days?  There’s so much for which to be thankful, i’m overloaded.

Let’s begin with Wednesday morning, around 12:30am, when a tree fell somewhere in this area on our side of the highway and took out power to us and around 140 others, but not our immediate neighbors.  (Yes, this whole area is wired up very oddly, you might even be the only house on a circuit.)  The generator did not come on, so i headed out to find out why.  It was turned to off instead of automatic.

This brings up the problem of the fact that the generator is supposed to run a test weekly, and i am never home during testing time, so i have no clue when that happened.  Therefore, i am thankful to now know that it hasn’t been testing, someone messed with it, and i can ultimately get Generator Guy to show me how to reset the test time for an evening when i am home.  If it ever gets messed with again and doesn’t test, i will know it and can get to the bottom of it.

When i turned it to automatic, i came on, and i was flooded with relief and thankfulness as the lights came on.

Around 3:30am, the electricity went out again, and i was unable to get the generator to start.  Now that i know what had happened, i am thankful for that because it would have delayed getting to the root of the problem.

When i went downstairs for the day to get ready to leave for my morning shift at the shelter, i was quite thankful for my phone flashlight.  (It turned out to be quite needed later on, too, but i am getting ahead of myself.)

Then came a big piece of information that ultimately helped us solve the puzzle, i went to very quickly get something out of the refrigerator in the back of the house (where i keep my coffee and spinach and bananas) and noticed it was running.  This told me the electricity to the house was back on, but only in the areas not hooked to the generator.  How thankful i am that i happened to go to it when it was running!  It doesn’t have a light bulb in it, so if i’d opened it when the compressor was not actually on, i would have simply thought it was still cold from not being opened and missed a huge clue about what was going on.

Once at the shelter, Kirby escaped and took refuge behind the security camera monitor.  Sweetie and i decided to leave him be and see if he came down on his own if we just left the room.  He not only came down, i am thankful to say, he also got back in his cage and hid himself under his blanket.  (Or hid his head under his blanket.  He has not mastered getting his whole self under there, and i am also thankful for the smile that brought me when i saw him.)

When i finally got my very sleepy Generator Guy on the phone just after 7am, i am thankful that he was willing to take me seriously and do everything he could to help, even though he was out of town on a job.

His first piece of advice was for one of us to go back home and turn off the breaker that is on the generator itself.  Sweetie did that as soon as he was done feeding cats, and reported back that while the generator was no longer making a buzzing noise, the lights were not on.

That’s another thankful right there, it gave us the clue that the generator itself was not the problem, the generator’s breaker box indoors was.  (It’s separate from and next to the house box.)

When i got to work, Ms. G had an emergency out of town so i could not work for her (she is a lovely lady and a micromanager who doesn’t want anything going on in her house if she is not there to control it), thus i would not be paid that day.  The thankful part is that it meant i could go home and wait for the Generator Guy, who had said he was on his way and would be in town in about 2 hours.

Anyone who read the story on Thursday knows what comes next.  Generator Guy called me and said, “You’re not going to believe our luck.  I’ve broken down on the side of the highway and I’m waiting for a tow truck.”  While he said he might, after he got back to the town where his job was and dropped the truck at a shop, be able to borrow a vehicle to come, he wanted to talk me through trying a few things first.

This is the second time i am thankful for a phone flashlight, since the kids had moved the regular one (i think it is at the apartment of a child who will remain nameless), and i am glad we have a spare old flip phone in the house that i keep working just for emergencies.

Calling Generator Guy on the spare phone, he talked me through checking the outdoor main breakers, then getting to the breaker box indoors, then opening up the generator’s indoor breaker box.  The person who had installed the generator about 10 years ago (before we knew this Generator Guy) had told me about the transfer switch, so thankfully i was able to tell it was the problem right away.

Then too i am thankful that i remembered his caution of “touch that switch and die,” so i looked for the small tool that should be in the breaker box for dealing with the transfer switch.  It was not there.

Never in my life have i been more thankful that wood doesn’t conduct electricity and that i have plenty of wooden spoons.  It wasn’t the right shape, and i had a hard time applying pressure at the correct angle, but i am thankful to say it worked to flip that switch and we have had electricity in the rest of the house since.

We are also thankful to now know what’s wrong with the generator and what will need fixing when Generator Guy finishes this job and gets back in town.

Then came Thursday.  Yes, the saga for the week was not over, although the electrical troubles are (thank heaven) behind us for now.

Thursday was the day to start the prep for my colonoscopy on Friday, and i had Ms. V’s house, which includes Carl’s apartment, which takes about 9 hours to do both.

When i arrived at 6:30am, an hour earlier than usual, i am thankful Carl was almost ready to leave for work and i got started in plenty of time to get finished in plenty of time so i could get home and start my “cleanse.”

The “cleanse” went perfectly well, and i am thankful because there is probably nothing worse than not getting fully “cleansed” in this situation and having to reschedule the procedure and do it all over.

On Friday, at the procedure place itself, i am very thankful for the first nurse, who not only recognized me from the cat shelter but showed me pictures of the cat she adopted.

Then i am thankful that i am an easy stick for an IV.  (Because the “walls” are curtains, i had to hear, in excruciating detail, the attempts to get an IV going in the man in the next bed — it took the anesthesia person to finally come in and get it done, poor fellow.)

When i was shivering in my bed because i get cold so easily, i am thankful for the nice anesthetist who brought me a heated blanket.

When it was over, i am thankful they found only one small polyp that looks benign (it will be tested anyway), and that if it does come back okay i am good for another five years.

Getting to spend the rest of the day noshing on Little Girl’s guacamole and hanging around the house in my house dress is a bonus.

Today it is back to business as usual, since i will be going to NOLA to clean Grandma’s house while her housekeeper is on leave.  That’s okay, i am thankful to be able to do it for her.

While i wouldn’t want to go through these three days again, i am thankful for the good things that did come out of them, and thats a big part of the point in trying to maintain an attitude of thankfulness.

Please join us and our gracious and wonderful hostess Kristi from ThankfulMe, write up your own list and link up to Ten Things of Thankful.  You will be glad you did.  

   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

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Today is:

A Community Affair -- Menomonee Falls, WI, US (country lunch, arts, crafts, and collectibles, quilt raffle, juried art show, and more)

Autumn Historic Folklife Festival -- Hannibal, MO, US (Tom Sawyer's hometown celebrates the heritage and traditions of the 1800s; through tomorrow)

Birth of the Bab -- Baha'i

Bridge Day -- New River Gorge Bridge, Fayetteville, WV, US (world's biggest extreme sports event)

Feast of Agios Gerasimos -- Kefalonia, Greece (celebration of the patron saint of this Ionian island, with religious services followed by dancing and feasting)

Feast of No Excuse For A Feast Day -- internet generated, if you have no other excuse to celebrate something today, use this one

Festival of Ebisu -- Japan (the laughing god, who is the only one available this month, as the 8 million other gods of the pantheon gather at the Grand Shrine of Izumo; traditionally on 20th day of 10th month of the lunisolar calendar)

Great American Beer Festival -- Denver, CO, US (festival that holds the Guinness World Record for most beers tapped in one location; through Saturday)

Installation of Scriptures as Guru Granth -- Sikh

International Juan Valdez Appreciation Day -- internet generated, yet as we sip our morning wake up brew, let's remember the hardy souls who pick the beans for us!

Mashujaa Day -- Kenya (National Day/Kenyatta Day)

Miss American Rose Day -- with online only pageants devoted to high achievement and community service for girls and women of all ages, Miss American Rose suggests treating all women in your life like beautiful roses and performing community service with them

Monster Mash Day -- Bogue Falaya Park, Covington, LA, US (annual fundraiser for the St. Tammany Parish Hospital Parenting Center, with a day of fun for everyone)

Nagoya Festival -- Nagoya, Japan (biggest festival in the city; through tomorrow)

National Brandied Fruit Day

National Day on Writing -- US (sponsored by National Council of Teachers of English)    

Quincy Preserves Fall Architectural Tour -- Quincy, IL, US

Rattlesnake Festival and Gopher Races -- San Antonio, FL, US (wild animal fun; through tomorrow)

Revolution Day -- Guatemala

Saint Mary's County Oyster Festival -- Leonardtown, MD, US (oysters served every style; through tomorrow)

Seeking of King Look Under Your Mattress -- Fairy Calendar

St. Acca's Day (Patron of learning)

Suspenders Day -- probably begun by the same people who wanted to see if you would observe Wear Something Gaudy Day and Dress Like A Dork Day

Sweetest Day -- begun by Herbert Birch Kingston, a candy company employee who decided it would be wonderful to distribute candy to the sick, shut-ins and orphans in Cleveland, OH; today is the day to do something for someone that makes him/her say, "Oh, that is so sweet!"

World Osteoporosis Day -- International Osteoporosis Foundation 

World Toy Camera Day -- now with a Flickr page    

Yorktown Victory Weekend -- VA, US (with special events today and tomorrow at the American Revolution Museum at Yorktown and the Jamestown Settlement)

Anniversaries Today:

Clint Black marries Lisa Hartman, 1991

William Shatner marries Marcy Lafferty, 1973

The Sydney Opera House opens, 1973

Aristotle Onassis marries Jacqueline Kennedy, 1968

Birthdays Today:

John Krasinski, 1979

Dann Gillen, 1967

Viggo Mortensen, 1958

Danny Boyle, 1956

Keith Hernandez, 1953

Tom Petty, 1953

Melanie Mayron, 1952

Tom Petty, 1950

Jerry Orbach, 1935

William Christopher, 1932

Mickey Mantle, 1931

Joyce Brothers

Art Buchwald, 1925

Fayard Nicholas, 1914

Bela Lugosi, 1882

Charles Ives, 1874

Charles Dewey, 1859

James Robert Mann, 1856

Arthur Rimbaud, 1854

Christopher Wren, 1632

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"The Six Million Dollar Man"(TV), 1973

"No Time for Sergeants"(Play), 1955

"Vor Sonnenaufgang/Before Sunrise"(Hauptmann play), 1889

Today in History:

The first Crusaders arrive at Antioch, 1097

The city of Nuestra Senora de La Paz (Our Lady of Peace), Bolivia, is founded, 1548 

Battle of sekigahara sets Tokugawa clan as Japan's Shoguns, 1600

Maria Theresa of Habsburg becomes ruler of Austria, Hungary, and Bohemia, 1740

Patent of Toleration, providing limited freedom of worship, is approved in Habsburg Monarchy, 1781

US Senate ratifies the Louisiana Purchase, 1803

The U.S. and U.K. sign the Convention of 1818, which, among other things settles the U.S. - Canada border at the 49th parallel for most of its length, 1818

First Edition of London Sunday Times, 1822

Lincoln formally establishes Thanksgiving as a national holiday in the US, on the 4th Thursday of November each year, 1864

P.T. Barnum's Hippodrome featuring "The Greatest Show on Earth" opens in NYC, 1873

The hull of the RMS Olympic, sister-ship to the ill-fated RMS Titanic, is launched, 1910

The first Negro League World Series is held, the KC Monarchs shut out the Hilldales, 5-0, 1924

United States of America and Pakistan establish diplomatic relations for the first time, 1947

The Nepal Stock Exchange collapses, 1971

The Sydney Opera House opens, 1973

BM-PC DOS Version 2.1 released, 1983

US accuses Microsoft of violating law by forcing IE browser on computers, 1997

European astronomers announce the discovery of 32 extrasolar planets, 2009

Atronomers announce that galaxy UDFy-38135539 is the most distant object observed from Earth, around 30 billion light-years, 2010

Muammar Gaddafi, and his son Mutassim Gaddafi are killed shortly after the Battle of Sirte, 2011