My normal routines have gone entirely out of whack this past week or so. Too many annoyances...
Let me say clearly,that my troubles are minor compared with many peoples'. But they are MY troubles and on my mind constantly.
1. I just can't seem to get in tough with the owner of the neighboring property. The contractors won't tell me (don't want to get in trouble). The County tax records still list the previous owner and I know ownership passed to a bank and then the property was sold.
I need to talk to the actual owner or whoever is managing the contractors renovating the property. I can't find the person, though the contractor boss says 'he". I am worried every day they will start painting or tearing down MY fence when I'm not looking.
WHY I care if they paint it is a whole separate post and I will try to get to that soon. Meanwhile, it is my fence on my property and I claim the right to decide how it looks.
2. My beloved 60" plasma HDTV died Wednesday. It just went *blink* and then nothing. It is only 3 1/2 years old. The soonest appointment for a repair I could get is next Wednesday. Actually, I called Samsung for trouble-shooting advice hoping for some rebooting advice. I didn't know that repairs on those things were even possible.
The Sumsung service desk says it sounds like a power supply problem. I have my doubts, since there is a little red power "on" indicator and it is lit. But maybe there is a circuit past that which can be replaced.
Anyway, the idea of having no TV at all for week was just too much, so I went to Walmart and bought a 24" model for $138. Plus, I wanted tit as a test o know if it was the TV or just some cable or the cable box etc.
Right out of the box, the new little TV came right on. It's the 60" that is having the problem. Plus I can show that to the repair person. Having a small TV isn't bad. Since I have MSNBC on most of the day, I listen to TV more than I watch it. Who needs to watch talking heads?
But The Washington Nationals baseball team are in the playoffs, and watching THAT on a small TV is annoying. But I'm old enough to remember our first family 12" B&W TV and then years later thinking a color 20" TV was just "amazing". So I pulled the TV stand closer to the chair and got used to it. 4 days of "tiny" TV isn't the worst thing. Some people drink water from polluted creeks...
But I'll still be happy to see the big screen again.
3. I mentioned a couple weeks ago getting the metal spout of a gas can stuck in the car's fuel inlet. The dealership did the job removing it just fine. How they did it is not something I expect to have to know for future situations, but they did suggest I have the timing belt and all drive belts replaced. Not from wear, but due to age. They wanted $1000 for that. My automatic response was no because there was no actual problem. It wasn't like they said "we looked at your timing belt and it is worn out".
But now everytime I start the car I worry. Some problems you can see developing. The engine is hart to start, the engine runs rough while driving, there are noises, the brakes squeal, etc. But when a timing belt breaks, everything just STOPS all at once and nothing first.
It's like falling off a cliff. The falling isn't the problem. The problem is the sudden "THUD". A broken timing belt is a "THUD". That happened on a previous car, and lucky that I was directly in front of a good local repair shop. They just pushed it into the shop and replaced the timing belt in an hour! I doubt I would be so lucky again.
I think I may pay for the whole belt assembly. I've been lucky. No sense pushing my luck. The Toyota Highlander is 12 years old. It only has about 28,000 miles
on it. But it has mostly been stop-and-go traffic commuting and local
errands, and that is really hard on an engine. I want to keep the current car running until there is a good SUV hybrid or fuel cell model available. I like SUVs for the height and cargo capacity. And since I don't drive much, gas mileage isn't a concern.
4. I'm listing information about Iza to bring to the vet. My thanks to everyone who mentioned things to ask about. I want to talk to the vet about a plan of exams rather that just bring Iza to the vet and say "do stuff" I want the vet to think about it, advise me of what tests he indends to perform, and them look them up before I agree.
But I'll do anything within reason to make her life (and mine) better. My regular vet of 30 years gets the first chance to identify her problems. I trust him a lot because of years of good attntion but also because HE was the one who found Ayla had almost a whole ovary after the breeder's vet did 2 failed spay operations. But he might not be so skilled/equipped at detailed tests. I know of a certified feline specialist (an annoying hour drive away because of few bridges across a river but closest - 40 road miles, 10 as the crows fly) and will go there if my regular vet can't find the problems.
But to be clear, the feline specialist vet wanted $1700 for exploratory surgery and my vet did it for $400.
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Daffodils, Trash, And Old Electronics
I finally got about 3/4 of the daffodils planted. I have a front yard island bed surrounding the Saucer Magnolia tree and a 3' boulder ...
4 comments:
You are really having a lot all at once. That makes me feel rather a form of harassment when it happens to me. But that's me. I like getting things done one-two-three--- and that is not possible most times. For an orderly person as me...having "things" in disarray or needing attention and it can't get done quickly enough to suit me, is hard. You'd think I'd learn! :-)
Hang in, TBT.
Mark - I live a similar kind of life: most of my problems are small irritants that pale into insignificance compared with those of most people, but, as you say, it's your life and these are your issues. (And this is your blog, so you can write about whatever you like!)
TV: I really enjoy watching TV. I watch it every evening. If there's nothing on free to air (we don't have cable/pay TV), then we watch a DVD from our large collection. Being without a TV unexpectedly would be a blow to us, too! We upgraded to a 44in screen at the beginning of this year. Our loungeroom isn't large enough for a 60in.
Cars: we have two. One is driven less than 2000 miles per year (it's a 27 year old Volvo) and the other (10 year old Holden) is driven about 5000 miles per year. Mostly short local runs to the shops, doctors etc. One of the good things about having two is that on those rare occasions when we have trouble with one, we can just start up the other one. LOL But, as you say, this kind of driving isn't good for engines, so it's worth investing to keep yours keeping on.
Vet: I'm hoping that you'll get something sorted out soon.
Megan
Sydney, Australia
Glad you got a small tv for now, that was a good price. That stinks though that your big tv is already having problems when it is not that old. I am praying that Iza feels better soon.
I understand. This is your life, your stuff, and it all matters to you. As far as the timing belt, I can tell you when it broke on my car years back, it whiplashed and the damage was close to $1,800 to fix. In my case the dealership was supposed to replace it before I even would drive it off the lot, but they lied and didn't actually do it, so two years later, it just broke.
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