Surprises, the flu bug, and weather woes

My daughter and grandson picked me up at my son's on Sunday. Neither she nor Eli were feeling well, so the visit was short. However, we did make our stop at Costco to stock up on a number of items. Leaving the store, I was driving and when I reached the highway the car started jerking and revving the engine. 

I pulled over and D took over and we limped our way home. The car was misfiring at lower speeds, but once we got it to 100 kph (60 mph), it would do reasonably well, until we were on a slight incline. Then the car would drop its speed and she would have to ease it up to the limit again. It was a tense ride home but we did make it. 

On the drive we talked about the car; D has had it for about 6 years, and it is now 11-12 years old. In the past five years, she's put almost as much money into it as she originally paid for it. The local Chev dealership has had in the shop at least once every spring. They diagnosed bad spark plugs (and some other piece that I don't recall) each time. This didn't seem like spark plugs to me, with the exception of the mis-firing at the lower speeds. Rather, as she would attempt to increase her speed, the RPM would go very high before it would seem to change gears (it is an automatic). Since the transmission light kept going on and off too, I self-diagnosed it as a failing transmission. She had just had it in the shop for a oil change and fluid check so we figured it probably wasn't low on transmission fluid. Of course, I'm not a mechanic, as my daughter remind me, so whatever it was, I was very concerned.

It seemed pointless to me to spend any more money on the vehicle. If it needed a new transmission, it would be very costly and would leave her without a vehicle. Since my vehicle is in Arizona, we'd have no way to get around. As a result, we perused the local websites of the car dealerships, finding only two vehicles in our price range. The first, a yellow Ford Mustang would have been fun but not practical. The second an orange Ford Escape seemed more useful. After a morning of phone calls, we drove over in D's car...it made it there. 

After a test drive, which was so much nicer than the old car, we headed back to the dealership to do a bit of wheeling and dealing. The total price was acceptable, though a little higher than I would have liked. (Isn't it always?) After our agreement, I put a deposit down, and the salesperson - the same woman who sold D the other car - sent us off to the next town over with the bill of sale so I could get a bank draft. Back in our town, we stopped at the insurance broker to pick up the license plate, and finally to the dealership to drop off the draft and the dealer plate. 

D will either privately sell the old vehicle (unlikely) or get someone to pick it up for scrap. At the moment it is parked in the garage - one the small SUV will not fit in. She's actually okay with that, she can park beside the garage to plug in (block heater), and the Escape has command start. In fact, she can start the car with her cellphone!

After spending several hours in a vehicle on Sunday and Monday with my daughter and Eli, it wasn't a surprise when I woke up Tuesday with a tickle in my throat and a runny nose. The symptoms kept increasing through the day, with a sore throat, cough, and dripping nose. 

We got a few inches of snow throughout the day, and both D and I were out to shovel. She did the majority of it, as I got winded quite easily. It seems that a nasty flu is making its way through the community. She was speaking to the school early in the morning, as Eli was still coughing. The principal told her that he was aware that 20 junior school age children were at the emergency room the night prior, and that number did not include the toddlers and babies who were brought in. Both D and I had our flu shots in October, but the variant out there isn't well covered by this year's vaccine. Eli had not gotten his, he is allergic to eggs, and must have his vaccine at the hospital. Every time D would want to take him, he'd come down with the sniffles. He definitely had the worst case of the three of us.

The temperature dropped significantly overnight Tuesday into Wednesday. Have I said how much I'm missing the sunshine of Yuma? I spent the night either shivering or sweating, waking myself coughing, so much coughing that my ribs hurt. Wednesday was a write-off as I spent much of the day napping. I'd be up for a half hour or so, and then feel exhausted and need to lie down. At 8 p.m. I woke up, and stayed awake for four hours before falling back into a deep sleep again. The coughing had eased off.

I woke Thursday feeling so much better. My cat had thrown up overnight so I got the little green machine out to clean the carpet. By the time I was finished, I was wiped out again and slept another hour and a half. If you've been reading my blog for any amount of time, you'll know I don't do sick well. It annoys me that I can't manage to stay upright and get some things done around here. The kitchen floor needs mopping (desperately), I wanted to finish decorating my Christmas tree, and perhaps start a knitting project.

The tree featured in the photo on wednesday was a surprise! D bought the tree for my space. Her/our main tree is in the dining room and covered in her ornaments, silver and blue. After last Christmas I gave away my ornaments that were red/green/gold because I didn't think I'd have a use for them again. I did keep a few favorites, six bird bells, and a couple of cats. D bought me some icicles for the tree and another bird ornament.

I managed to stay upright for much of Thursday, finished decorating my tree, stripped and remade my bed (D helped), had a shower, did some banking, folded laundry, and cleaned up the kitchen after dinner. I didn't easily fall asleep, and when I did, I only slept for about 5 hours before waking...at 2:13 a.m. Though I tried, I wasn't able to fall back asleep. Up at 6 a.m., I fed the cats, unloaded the dishwasher, did up the dishes left in the sink overnight and made a cup of tea. I definitely felt so much better.

After dropping Eli off at school, D and I picked up some groceries, an extension cord for her new car, and outlet expander for me. We were back at home, car unloaded and putting away the groceries in less than an hour. With a windchill near -40 we hustled!

As a result of the winter weather, we've decided that this weekend will be spent here in the house. I've got curling to watch, RBC Dominion Western Showdown being held in Swift Current, Saskatchewan. It is a men's and women's event so there seems to be a new game to watch several times a day. I'm streaming it on the Curlingzone You-tube channel.

I haven't started a new knitting project, but have turned my mind to the Advent calendar jigsaw puzzle D bought for me. I started it on the 12th...which mean it should be half-completed...it is not. 

The photo above is the only photo I took this week. It was taken on Monday, before we had another few inches of snow. 

Have a wonderful week ahead everyone. Hope you are warm, happy and healthy!

 

What's happening?

 First off, just a few words about my wordless Wednesday.  Last year Jackie, from In the land of the Living Skies II, shared that she had knit up several scarves for donation. (I think it was last year...or maybe the year before). In any event, she inspired me to get off my duff and use some of my extra stash of yarn to make up scarves that I donated to a warming center here in Regina. This year I started a little earlier, but still didn't make any more than I had last year. There are nine scarves and four headbands. The latter are made of double strands so they ought to be nice and warm. I typically don't follow a pattern, I just knit until I run out of yarn or until I reach a length I think is reasonable. It was a good way to use up some of the stash and as Patty said, to keep my hands busy.

I washed and dried them on Tuesday to get rid of as much cat hair as possible. After folding they were placed in a bag and the bag tied up. It was my plan to drop them off the same day, but with the slightly warmer weather we got, came snow! I did make a trip to the closest grocery store for a few items, but turned around and came directly home. I put things away, had a bite to eat and then I was back outside to shovel the snow that fallen. Two to three inches maybe? It took about 45 minutes to clear the driveway and sidewalks. 

We had more snow overnight into Wednesday, so I cleared the driveway again of the 1/2 inch or so that had accumulated. I had forgotten my grocery list the day prior, so headed out to Walmart to pick up the last few items. It was bitterly cold -28C (-18F) but I decided to make a fast trip to the Dollar store as well. I did pick up a couple of things, but nothing particularly exciting.

The excitement for the day though, was hearing from my brother R, that sister-in-law P tested positive for Covid. Later in the day, he let me know that their daughter L tested positive as well. L had a couple of friends out around New Years, had driven her friends home the next day, and the following day both friends tested positive. L had been testing every day since and had always had a negative test. It was only when P started showing symptoms that L's test came positive as well. R had been at work when he got the call so he immediately called his boss and headed home to isolate for a few days. P has planned to isolate at the lake house, but as R said, if he tests positive in the next day or so, she may as well come home. (Update: L tested negative this morning, has completed her quarantine of 5 days, and returned to work today. P is still isolating at the lake house...I think she's enjoying the quiet time.)

The stupid cold weather continued into Thursday - it was -36C (-33F). It had "warmed up" to -34C (-29F) by the time I went out to feed the birds around 9 a.m. We're expecting slightly warmer weather over the next four days. I will get those scarves to the warming center soon.

Since I had no plans to leave the house, I set up a batch of dough for buns. We have leftover chili from the night before so dinner was figured out early in the day. While the dough was rising, I caught up on blog reading and then turned to Ancestry. When I signed in for the first time after the new year, I found a couple of messages.

One was from a young woman seeking information about my maternal grandmother's family. Unfortunately I wasn't able to give her much assistance. My grandparents married in 1899, moved from Quebec to Saskatchewan in 1904. My Dad had mentioned that his mother went back east (Ontario) to visit family members - however, I was just 8 years old when she passed away so did not hear the stories first hand. This contact indicated both her mother and grandmother were adopted, and her grandmother was a niece of my grandmother's. 

The second was from a gentleman, someone my mother would call a shirt tail relative. To be honest I haven't quite worked out where he fits in on the family tree. But his family and my father's families are entwined through several marriages. He indicated that I had incorrect information for one of the daughter's of my great grandfather's brother's. I guess that makes her a niece of my great grandfather. To correct the error (I'd copied from other trees), I had to delete a large branch of the family, and then add in the correct information. This is what can happen when cousins have daughters who have the identical name and are born within months of one another. I've been working my way through that branch. I've been able to identify some additional information that Doug did not have so have shared that with him in an e-mail. It was kind of him to reach to me, it's the least I can do.

On Friday, the temperatures started to improve, though the wind was still freaking cold. -28C/-18F with windchill of -44C (-47F). You can bet I didn't stay outside for long when I fed the birds. It appears the hares have found a way under the new gate and are bunking down in the back yard, along with the Hungarian partridges. The latter are scraping at the snow and getting down to the frozen grass below. Too bad they won't do the same on the driveway. Especially since, with the warmer weather came another dump of snow. 

I went out to the garbage bin mid-afternoon and spent another hour clearing the driveway and sidewalks of the snow. I don't think that much fell, but the blowing snow blew in nearly 6 inches at my garage door. It always seems to pile up there. 

I've been puttering in the craft room in between chores and playing on the computer. I repaired a couple of items that got damaged over Christmas and finished a set of coasters. I had picked up the cork pieces on my day trip in November in one of the small towns we've visited. I've never seen them in the craft stores here in the city. I used scrap book paper and modge podge to finish them off. I think I'll tie them in a ribbon and they'll make a nice small gift for some one. (I made the crocheted peppermint candies for myself). I'm currently working on a new wreath for summer - it's made of clothespins and will be painted to look (somewhat) like a sunflower. I'll share a photo when it is finished...assuming it looks decent. :)

Today, I needed to run out to do an errand for D, and pick up bird seed. With this cold weather they're going to eat me out of house and home. I shovelled the path to the back yard (I didn't get that far yesterday), as well as cleared the driveway of the snow that had blown in overnight. The pile on the east side of the driveway is a good four feet tall now! Again, with the wind it was freaking cold out there. 

The snow plows were out on the main roads nearby when I went out. They're moving the snow into the center of the road, so that what is normally a two lane street is now a 1 1/2 lane street. The piles are almost up to the roof of my car so it makes for some fun driving as one nears corners especially. They will eventually have the snow removed by trucks and taken to a snow dump. Meanwhile the wind is doing a lovely job of polishing the remaining snow on the road into ice. Have I mentioned recently how much I hate winter?

When D called this morning, she told me she'd had an e-mail from the school that there was a confirmed case of Covid in the pre-K class. She had kept Eli home this week because of the rising number of cases, and intends to keep him home this week as well. He has a couple of appointments that she doesn't want him to miss. He is missing his friends so she is arranging a Zoom playdate with a friend K for later this week. Her family is currently in quarantine as most of the family members have Covid, thankfully most with relatively mild cases.

On a happier note, I'm home with no plans to leave the house until Tuesday when the weather improves. There are several curling games on today, with the women's provincial tournaments being run in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. I've got the first of a pair of mittens on the needles, a cup of tea beside me, and dinner is prepped and in the fridge.

Have a great week ahead, stay warm, stay safe, and be well.