But First (and a Little Dorm Nostalgia)

 It would be more appropriate to say "butt first" because I seem to keep backtracking.

A week since the last post.  I stated my intention of working on a puppet of Rocky.  That hasn't happened much.  Things just keep happening, and then I forget what they even were.

Last post - a week ago today - I wrote that the fridge guy had come, made his diagnosis, and ordered a part.  Then I waited.  And waited.  I had a twice daily ritual of swapping ice blocks and frozen water bottles from the coolers to the freezer and vice versa.  And trying to eat everything down (my milk gave up after four days but everything else has hung in there.)  The part finally came in and got installed this morning.  The fridge has cooled off.  So next step (instead of Rocky) will be to move everything from the coolers back to the fridge and then wash and store those.

I work on Fridays and Saturdays now, and I do tend to come home, eat lunch, and crash for a bit.  So Sunday I was going to hit the cottage - and somehow didn't, and now it's gone blank.  I realized I was out of my seedy bread (the only bread I keep around) so started that - and later, had to stay in the house to bake it because I have a self-imposed rule not to leave the house with the oven or the dryer on, or anything that produces heat.  I looked outside to the swing that I rebuilt a couple of years ago and noticed an odd sagging bulge.  Apparently the waterproof fabric let water in during the rainstorms but not out.  So I had to get out the socket wrench to remove the swing, and then go to town with the seam ripper to open it up and get the batting out.  It's all spread out to dry - then I have to resew everything and put it back together.  So - just little things that added up.

That brings us to yesterday - Monday.  Amanda and Robert were coming to Tally to bring Zeke to a swim camp at FSU.  Amanda wanted to hit a couple of thrift stores after we dropped him off.  So I figure - they have to drop him off at 10, we thrift, have lunch, they'll probably head home by 2:00.  Nope - they had to hang around until orientation so we didn't get out of that until after 12.

But I had a good time.  The campers are staying in Sally Hall - the dorm Bob and I used to live in (he in the boy's tower, me in the girl's tower).  I remembered that dorm as being the posh one - much better than my first dorm.  Sally had working elevators and air conditioning.  Honestly, now?  Although it looks pretty much the same (like me, maybe a little worse for wear 54 years later) - by today's standards, it's a dump.  Tiny rooms, generic student wood furniture.  But memories of happy times.  Especially when we went up to the deserted fourth floor (the kids were on the second and third floor).  No - I couldn't remember my room number.  But we looked around to find the metal plate on the brick wall where the pay phone used to be.  The phone where I called my parents to get their blessing to marry Bob.  He had the ring in his pocket (actually he held it over his head while I tried to climb him and grab it).  So I had to pose in the spot where we officially got engaged.

Then we went to lunch and thrifting.  And an extra errand. As long as we were running around, I asked Rob to take me to Best Buy to scratch something off my to-do list:  Buy a TV.  A few weeks ago a thin vertical line appeared in the middle of my screen.  I've ignored it.  Now it's four vertical lines, and a weird blip from the bottom.

With all that, it was closer to 5 when they dropped me off and headed home.

I did not mention that when they came to get me, and used the bathroom, the toilet (I never use that toilet) overflowed and flooded the bathroom but we got it plunged out and mopped up so I did have a load of wet towels to wash after they dropped off and headed back home.  Also, I was reminded that the flapper valve really needed to be replaced so I got out the universal one that I bought awhile back only to find out that it's not universal enough so another one should be delivered today.  And apparently all the rocking and plunging apparently loosened a screw because it was dripping last night.  I tightened it by hand, but there's still a slow drip happening.  After the new valve comes in I'll take care of both of those things.  But obviously I did not get out to work on Rocky yesterday.

So - on the docket today.  The repairman has already come (after waiting a week for the part, it was about a 20 minute job to replace it) and the fridge has cooled off.  So I need to refill it and put away the ice chests.  I need to take the old TV down and unbox the new one and get it going.  By then the new flapper valve should have arrived and I'll fix the toilet.  Put that big load of old towels away.

Then maybe Rocky?

This has been a lot of words, but it's how I keep a grip on my life and keep my brain from running around in circles.  Whatever works, works.