Author: peterb51

16th January 2024

Nicely refreshed from a good nights sleep, I was ready to tackle the O2 website.

Amongst my other issues, I couldn’t seem to use my new phone to call the UK, so I needed to check if my plan had that option.

I repeated using the virtual assistant, typing my question simply hoping to get some help.

Back came the vague answer that wasn’t useful at all, but embedded in the reply was another clue to aid my quest. Apparently there was another process for communicating with an actual assistant, but first I had to find it.

More by luck that judgment I managed to find my way in.

I started my messaging by asking my simple question, I could tell that there was a human on the other end. Within minutes I had the confirmation I needed that my contract included international calls, so why wasn’t it working?

What came back was a detailed troubleshooting list, including removing the SIM and cleaning it, another was to reset to the phone.

Well I did both these, and it worked!!!

The assistant made the fatal mistake of asking if there was anything else he could help with.

I cheekily I asked if he could unlock my old phone.

He responded by saying he could, and once I gave him the phone’s IMEI number he set about booking it in, I guess it was too much to ask for them to do it straight away, but at least it’s being done.

So whilst I’m waiting for the code to do the unlocking I got on with other stuff.

We were due to deliver a large dresser, but the person cancelled at the last moment, this did piss us off as we had loaded it into the truck.

Needless to say we blocked her for ever seeing our posts again, we don’t these people.

15th January 2024

Technology has never been a friend to me, although I’ve embraced it, there is something about it that will bite me every time.

When I was in the UK, I upgraded my iPhone, but I brought my old one with me intending to get a sim to use it here.

Well today was the day when I took it to the store to get things sorted.

I thought it was fully charged, so the only thing I was able to do was walk out with the phone and the card to charge everything when I got home.

That is when I hit the first problem, the SIM card was not recognised by the phone.

I was sure that it had been unlocked after all the data had been transferred, but maybe it hadn’t.

So I spent the evening looking for information to do it.

YouTube wasn’t much help, there were many “dudes” spouting bollocks on screens I didn’t recognise, so I gave that up.

I went on the O2 website which was as clear as mud also. The so called standard questions did not apply to me and the virtual assistant didn’t, it kept going around in circles, in the end I gave that up until tomorrow when I will have a clear head ready to take on the establishment again.

On a lighter and more happy note, we delivered the cedar chest back to its owner. She was delighted because she hadn’t seen it in its plain cedar colour for sixty one years. That was a great start to the day, and made the drive in the snow worthwhile.

Talking of snow, the old plough has been busy, I have been out there twice a day, the snow continues to fall in light flurries making it light work for the machine.

The warmth of the home and the smell from the kitchen helps me forget the cold, and sets me up for an evening to chill.

14th January 2024

The snow continued to fall, my freshly ploughed drive was covered again.

After breakfast I dressed up in artic gear and set about clearing the drive once more. It was much easier, there was about an inch and a half, so I did that in ten minutes.

Productivity in the garage has been steady, but finally two pieces came off the line.

There was a long dresser and two side tables. Originally Kelli wanted to sell them as a set, but at the last minute split them.

I also got close to finishing the cedar chest that I want to deliver tomorrow.

There was another glorious smell of bread baking in the kitchen, this stuff is good.

The trouble is she needs to bake bread every other day, so we need a constant supply of the flour.

13th January 2024

It managed six inches, so much for that boast of eighteen. However it was time to get the snow blower out of hibernation. With two fully charged batteries I set out to clear the driveway.

I knew within two feet that this was going to be hard. The blower was designed for about two inches, tackling six was a lot to ask.

What made it worse was it had frozen overnight giving my machine a massive mountain to climb.

It was easier to take it in small bites, anything greater would make the motor cut out.

I was doing quite well, I manage to clear all the snow from the garage forward, the real hard stuff was at the end where the drive met the road. The snow ploughs had heaped a mound of tightly packed ice like a scale model of the Alps.

I could feel the little blower was having a hard time. I was expecting the blade to shatter into a million pieces, but what let me down was the batteries. I rushed into the garage to get another two, putting the spent ones on charge, but they were hot, and the light on the charger was red instead of green, they had to cool off first.

I loaded the fresh batteries into the blower and continued to chip away at the small mountain range at the end on the drive.

Slowly I made progress, the horrible sound of plastic blade on ice was terrifying but eventually I got through.

Now I just had to clear the snow on the other side of the car. I managed to get one full strip done before the second set of batteries ran out.

At that moment the next door neighbour arrived back. He must have been impressed with my efforts because I heard him start his snow blower up. He had a gas guzzling monster that shook the windows of all the houses nearby. It tore through the snow and ice like it was sand. He did his entire driveway in a quarter of the time it took me to do three quarters of mine.

I just had the satisfaction that he would be poisoned by the fumes and die years before me, although with the effort I had to exert, I might get a heart attack at about the same time.

I finished the drive way eventually, but if there is going to be more snow, I need to clear it as it lands.

12th January 2024

The weather forecast today was grim, there was eighteen inches of snow and fifty miles an hour winds expected, but it hadn’t started yet.

We had a dresser to pick up, and just as we set off, the snow and wind started.

It started off quite normal, the GPS was spitting out directions as normal, but then things took an odd twist. The order came through to take a right turn into a cemetery which we okayed. We drove down the track between the graves trying to understand what was happening. This didn’t make any sense, there were no dressers propped against any grave stones.

Then in desperation we drove out and took the closest right turn, the guess was correct, the address that we were looking for was just the other side of the fence.

The dresser was in a downstairs basement, my favourite location, but with shear determination I got it up the stairs. The only consolation was, if I died in the attempt, I was certainly in the most convenient place.

Whilst we were out, our other mission was to look for a Dutch oven. Kelli has decided to have a go at making bread. Driven by the high price of almond flower made loves, and the physical size of the them,(each slice was less than two inches square) she searched for a recipe using an organic old grain flour.

We had bought that and the yeast yesterday, and she set about making the dough.

We had to leave it for three hours to rise up or something. By the time we returned it had taken over the house! Well not quite, but it had risen a lot.

We tried to find a Dutch oven because the recipe called for it, so in good American tradition we went to Goodwill. Unfortunately there was nothing. Then we went to another thrift place, but it was closed due to the weather.

Finally we tried an upmarket resale store, a place with a better class of tat. They didn’t have any either. By now desperation was setting in, “Let’s try downtown” I said knowing that it would probably cost ten times more, but the snow was falling faster and there was spaghetti left overs in the fridge. That shop were closed as well, my wallet gave a sigh of relief.

“Surely your mother must have something we could borrow” I asked. Kelli sent a message and we waited for a reply.

Needless to say we stopped there to pick up a dish with a lid that should do the job.

So Kelli peeled the risen dough from the basin and placed it into the dish, placing the lid on top, putting it into the oven, for twenty five minutes.

It was like watching paint dry waiting for the timer to ring, then it was another five minutes with the top off.

The house was smelling like a bakery, so wonderful.

As the dish was pulled from the oven we could see the beautiful form of the loaf appear, slightly brown on the top, it was placed on a wire rack to cool. However we couldn’t wait, Kelli hacked off a piece covering it with butter that melted immediately. It was heaven, freshly baked bread, it made me glad I married her.

11th January 2024

I forgot to put the rubbish and recycle bin out this morning, so I was forced to put on real clothes. Normally I stay in my teeshirt and shorts and stand in front of the window exposing myself to the squirrels. They don’t stay around for long.

I don’t know why I had to take out the rubbish, as there wasn’t much in it. Just a couple of small bags of dog poo, yes, we put dog poo in bags!

It’s better than nothing, I would feel guilty putting out an empty bin. The recycling on the other hand is always full, Kelli even orders loads of stuff from Amazon so she can break up the boxes to fill up the bin.

The snow that had fallen yesterday had melted but where I had to position the bins, to be collected was a solid wall of hard packed ice, thanks to the snow plough team who mange to block off everyone’s driveway.

I dragged each bin to a flat portion of the ice drift, happy that I was still early enough.

For breakfast Kelli cooked some Black Forest bacon, it was different from what we usually have, and to celebrate, she cooked them black. Well she burnt them, she did a pretty good job of it, good old black Black Forest bacon.

She did cook some more to make up for it, but the lure of the blacken bacon was just too much. During the cooking process we both managed to finished it off, leaving a couple of bits for the dogs, they will eat anything.

10th January 2024

Another disruptive night, another early morning walk around the neighbourhood. I really didn’t want to be there. Sleet was falling and the pavements were slushy. It wasn’t so late as the last time, people were still awake in their homes.

There wasn’t any apparent reasons why Kelli couldn’t stay asleep, although with the tetanus shot and the antibiotics she had for the dog bite it could have affected her liver, which controls the gut and disrupts her sleep.

There was a lot to do today, first another trip to Plato’s to sell more surplus clothing, then on to her doctor for her monthly appointment.

She is now back on more supplements to strengthen her liver, and some tuning to help her sleep.

As I have said before this treatment she is having is still a mystery to me, I try to understand it, but I’ve come to the conclusion that if it aids Kelli, then I’m supportive.

It certainly isn’t a cheap method, I haven’t added up the consultation and supplement costs, but I’m sure it would make my eyes water.

It was also our shopping day, and walking around Aldi Kelli was approached by this little lady asking if I could get something from a high shelf. I made a move to try and lift her up which did result in hysterical laughter. It turned out that she was English and came from Northumberland, how crazy was that?

She had married a US serviceman and moved to America in the time before all this residents application bullshit started.

Life was far more simpler then.

9th January 2024

There was snow on the ground when I woke up. The last lot lasted a day and it was gone, today it was snowing all day.

It was quite fitting that Kelli had put a snow scene from YouTube on the TV, so we had snow everywhere, inside and out. I know which one I wanted to be.

I had to drive up to Kelli’s mum to collect some supplements. Whenever I get into the truck I have to adjust the seat, take a clip off the seat belt so it fits properly, then I have to start the thing. There was thick snow on the windscreen. I should have scraped it off, but I was cold and the snowbrush was buried under a load of crap that Kelli stacks between the seats. I trusted the wipers would do the job. They did, for one wipe then stopped, so I had to drive looking between the gaps. Once I arrived , and collected the things, I searched for the brush. I managed to clear the packed snow allowing the wipers to work again.

Getting back home, the thought of working in the garage was not appealing, I had a number of tops that needed finishing. The best way to get them to dry was to bring them into the house, so now the place looks like a drying room.

8th January 2024

Have you ever thought of what it must be like on South Shore Drive at 2.30am? Let me tell you, it’s bloody quiet.

Kelli was having problems getting to sleep, so, as I was awake at the time, I suggested taking a walk. We dressed up in warm clothes and headed out into the darkness. There was nothing about except a rabbit that looked at us as if we were aliens. We walked on, nothing stirred. I started thinking “what if someone is up and sees use walking up their street, and thinks that we are a threat?”

It didn’t look good, I was wearing the head covering that Kelli got me for Christmas, it’s warm, but it make me looks like I’m wearing a hajib. Not a good look that early in the morning.

We did a circle of the area, noting who had their Christmas lights on even after the 6th.

Getting back home, the warmth felt good, however the bed was cold by now, so a bit of shivering occurred. Kelli likes a cold room to sleep in, the window is open prior to sleeping, I have to close it otherwise the penguins chattering teeth would keep her awake.

We both manage to sleep through to about 9.00am, even the noise of the neighbours vehicles starting up did not disturb us, so a result there.

7th January 2024

There was a thin covering of snow outside, not the dump we were expecting, but white nonetheless.

I made the remark “has there ever been a time when there hasn’t been any snow?” Expecting a thoughtful answer from my wife, she said “Nope” well to me that said it all. I will wake up every morning expecting the worse.

Kelli had bought a dresser on Marketplace and we were due to pick it up from the car park at Family Fare. Car park pickups are quite common, it means the seller doesn’t want you to see their homes. I wish more people would do that, I’ve seen places that have given me nightmares for weeks.

We got to the designated place looking for a white Ford Edge, we circled round until we saw it and parked next to it. Immediately the tailgate on the Ford opened. I thought “show off” I have to manually open mine.

The guy got out and pulled it out to show us the dresser. There are times when you are pleasantly surprised at the quality of the piece, but not this time. It was a little cheaply made, and will have to be a total paint job.

We lifted it out of his vehicle and into ours paid him the money some of which was in quarters, if it was my choice I would have paid him all in quarters, the bag would have been heavier than the dresser itself.

We did a bit of work in the garage, I finished scraping the cedar chest, now just a lot of sanding ready for finishing.