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cathyr19355 at 05:21pm on 06/02/2012 under life happens
cathyr19355 at 05:21pm on 06/02/2012 under life happensLast weekend, I noticed that my car's front tires were going flat. As in nearly flat-tire flat. So I scheduled an appointment with my mechanic for (last) Monday.
At about the same time,esrblog and I noticed that our waterbed was cooling down. Drastically. This typically means that the waterbed heater (a separate part, costing about $80) has died and needs to be replaced. That, unfortunately, requires emptying all the water from the mattress, pulling the old heater out from its hiding place under the liner, sticking a new heater in, and then refilling and rewarming the mattress. Because this is a sucky job, we put it off for a day or two--until it became obvious we couldn't get any real sleep in the chilling bed.
Meanwhile, on Monday, my boss called me in to a meeting to announce that I was being laid off, effective Friday. They haven't started hating me--it's just that the crappy economy has finally resulted in a situation where they didn't have enough work for me to do. We've discussed the possibility of my doing some piecework for the firm, but the details still need to be worked out.
And then we noticed the invader. A can of peanuts, kept on the kitchen counter, turned up in the basement spilled and with its lid badly chewed. A nearly empty jar of peanut butter followed it, with scratches on the lid. Round depressions were eaten from several pears in a basket on top of the dishwasher. You guessed it--we had a squirrel.
So now it's a week later. The tires have been fixed (cost, $63--not bad). The waterbed heater has been replaced and the bed is warm again (cost, $80). Thanks to a friend, we found a company that specializes in getting wildlife out of houses. The wildlife removal guy came this morning--afternancylebov, who was visiting, saw the squirrel dancing in the basement, followed it upstairs to the kitchen, told esrblog that it had darted behind the microwave, and kept us company in the kitchen while we waited for the wildlife removal guy to show up (because it was afraid to move while we were in the kitchen with it). It turned out that the squirrel was male and no squirrely young were in evidence, so the guy removed it and took it out of the house in a cage, to be released 25 miles away. (Cost: $200) Right after that, our handyman showed up and repaired the ripped screen that had let the fuzzy invader get in, adding heavy gauge mesh to the screens behind both roof vents. (Cost: $150, more or less).
But still no job. Not broke yet--I get severance pay, and I've applied for unemployment compensation.
This last week has sucked. I'm making a point of being upbeat. Brave even. But I'm getting tired, already, of having stuff to have to be brave about.
At about the same time,
esrblog and I noticed that our waterbed was cooling down. Drastically. This typically means that the waterbed heater (a separate part, costing about $80) has died and needs to be replaced. That, unfortunately, requires emptying all the water from the mattress, pulling the old heater out from its hiding place under the liner, sticking a new heater in, and then refilling and rewarming the mattress. Because this is a sucky job, we put it off for a day or two--until it became obvious we couldn't get any real sleep in the chilling bed. Meanwhile, on Monday, my boss called me in to a meeting to announce that I was being laid off, effective Friday. They haven't started hating me--it's just that the crappy economy has finally resulted in a situation where they didn't have enough work for me to do. We've discussed the possibility of my doing some piecework for the firm, but the details still need to be worked out.
And then we noticed the invader. A can of peanuts, kept on the kitchen counter, turned up in the basement spilled and with its lid badly chewed. A nearly empty jar of peanut butter followed it, with scratches on the lid. Round depressions were eaten from several pears in a basket on top of the dishwasher. You guessed it--we had a squirrel.
So now it's a week later. The tires have been fixed (cost, $63--not bad). The waterbed heater has been replaced and the bed is warm again (cost, $80). Thanks to a friend, we found a company that specializes in getting wildlife out of houses. The wildlife removal guy came this morning--after
nancylebov, who was visiting, saw the squirrel dancing in the basement, followed it upstairs to the kitchen, told esrblog that it had darted behind the microwave, and kept us company in the kitchen while we waited for the wildlife removal guy to show up (because it was afraid to move while we were in the kitchen with it). It turned out that the squirrel was male and no squirrely young were in evidence, so the guy removed it and took it out of the house in a cage, to be released 25 miles away. (Cost: $200) Right after that, our handyman showed up and repaired the ripped screen that had let the fuzzy invader get in, adding heavy gauge mesh to the screens behind both roof vents. (Cost: $150, more or less). But still no job. Not broke yet--I get severance pay, and I've applied for unemployment compensation.
This last week has sucked. I'm making a point of being upbeat. Brave even. But I'm getting tired, already, of having stuff to have to be brave about.
exhausted
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