Rusted Sky

One last trip today to K-Mart, to get a couple of storage units that could be used as nightstands temporarily, a couple of towels to put on top of them, a bathmat, an alarm clock, toilet paper and paper towels. (Supplies are provided, but having extras doesn't hurt.)

Total time in store - 15 minutes. Man, it's such a RELIEF when I can shop by myself!

Ran coax around the room to the TV, ran a phone cord around the room to the little table between the chairs, unpacked and assembled three lamps, found out one was broken so it got repacked for return to Home Depot. Moved chairs into position, put throws over the chairs, put away some of the stuff I took over, cleaned up the room and called it good...

Then I came back to the house and picked them up... and got them there in time for lunch. (BBQ pork sandwiches, coleslaw, and bean salad. They liked it.) They were pleased with the room.

Had a couple more errands to run, got the lamp swapped out and a couple of prescriptions filled, went back around 4 and listened to how things were going. Overall, Mother's fairly pleased... though this idea of scheduled meal times isn't to her liking. (Breakfast at 7:30, lunch at 12, dinner at 5, snack at 7) Father looks more relaxed than he has in a long time.

Tomorrow Mother wants to go to Walgreens. Well, once more into the store....

Overall? I'm fairly pleased with how things have turned out. Mother and Father are pretty happy. I kept thinking I could/should have done more, but I don't know what I realistically could have done. Got them here, got bank accounts set up, got them around to let them select a place, and get them furniture, and a lot of the little things - filled out endless paperwork to get them in, carted luggage, furniture, lamps, a TV...

I'm satisfied. Things didn't end up as first envisioned, but that's life. The end results were satisfactory. I'll go with that.

J.

As some of you know - my folks moved here a couple of years back to go into an 'assisted care' facility. They've been doing okay, kind of... but recently Mother's started a severe decline. Father is concerned - and I'm glad I arranged to get my brother out here next Friday for a visit.

On the way back, my lovely bride called - her van is having problems - running very rough with the check engine light alternately flashing and on solidly. After replacing the radiator last week (crack in the plastic - but at 100k+ miles you expect that sort of stuff) we were hoping for a respite. We'll see. It's currently at the shop - hopefully it'll be fixed tomorrow. So plans changed, and we went out to dinner.

We get home - and there's a smell of gas. For some reason I can't smell the odorant they mix in - never have been able to - but it went away when we lit the fireplace. When it's off - it's back. I shut the valve leading to the fireplace pipe - and the smell went away. I'm REAL leery of gas plumbing - if I can't smell it, it's hard to tell if it's safe and I'd really hate for things to go 'boom'. But it looks like the gas starter valve (which naturally is bricked into place) has a seal that isn't sealing. THAT will be a joy to fix, you betcha... I don't know if the valve comes apart like a water valve or not - I'll examine it tomorrow.

Sigh.

Spent the evening watching Dr. Who through Netflix on the XBox - the last of season 2. It's funny, I seem to remember an ad in the late '90s that showed kids sitting down 'in the future' to watch a movie on demand - looks like the future is here... Anyone recall the ad, or the company?

J.