Ups and downs this weekend

There have been some ups and downs this weekend.  Starting on Friday, we've had some rain showers move through each afternoon.  As I was leaving work on Friday, it had been raining, but stopped long enough for me to get to my car and get about halfway home.  At that point, it starts to rain.  No big deal, until it starts to hail.  Fortunately, it was only pin-sized, but it was fast and furious and VERY noisy and slightly scary.  I drove through it and finished the drive home.  No damage to the car.  Yeah!

Saturday morning started out with me running errands and then heading to the State Fairgrounds for a quilt/craft market.  Part of the way there, my 'low tire pressure' light came on.  WTH?  A few minutes later, it went off.  Again, wth?  I found a gas station and put in a few pounds in the front tires.  (The rear tire pressure was fine.)  In the process I got dirt all over my right fingers from the tires.  Sigh.

I had a good time at the quilt/craft marketplace.  I found several fun panels.  A couple I may leave as is, just sandwich, quilt and bind.  One, I may cut up and rework since I want a longer than wide panel and as is, it's wider than long.  It's kitchen/bistro themed and should look cute on the wall in the kitchen.  I managed to get all my shopping done while there was a shower going on outside.

I headed homeward.  On the way, I thought I'd do my weekly stop by the old house to check things are OK.  I got there, stuck my key in the deadbolt and started turning it.  Only to have the cylinder come part way out of the lock.  It then got stuck in position, which meant I couldn't get the key out of the lock.  Sigh.  Then, when trying to get things to a position that'd allow me to get the key free, it snapped off.  Sigh.  All items are about 20 years old so can't entirely say I was surprised.

I went to the new house and called a locksmith I'd used to rekey the new house.  He could be at the old house in about 45 minutes.  Hooray!!  I stopped on the way back to the new house and bought a new deadbolt.  I got back to the old house and read part of a Perry Mason mystery until the locksmith showed up.  He was able to replace the old lock with the new one and rekeyed the new one to match the old deadbolt key (I had another non-snapped one on hand.)  Problem solved!  Woohoo!

This morning (Sunday) was sunny with a few clouds.  Around 7:30 AM I woke up to hear balloons overhead.

And another - in the distance.

And two more.

I make it a point to sleep in on weekends so after taking these photos I went back to bed.  About an hour later, I was again awakened by balloons somewhere close.  I rolled out of bed and what do I see but a couple of different balloons landing in the park in back of my house.

I would have taken more pictures, but the batteries in my camera picked this point to start flashing 'low battery' warnings.  At this point, I got up and headed out to get groceries.

In early afternoon, more clouds started rolling in.  I know there are probably folks who'd planned lots of outdoor activities this weekend.  I, on the other hand, am glad to see the rain.  It sure made it easier to pull weeds in the backyard.  Not to mention giving me an excellent reason to stay inside and read a good book.

Here's hoping tomorrow goes well.  I've been feeling a bit paranoid when I've been driving (since Saturday morning), keeping a wary eye on where the 'low tire pressure' light is.  So far, no recurrences.  Keeping my fingers crossed.

Papillon

A Weird and Annoying Week

The week started to get weird and annoying on Tuesday morning.  It was a cold morning, around 17 degrees. So when the low tire pressure indicator came on, I figured things would be OK once the tires got warmed up.

Things weren't OK.  The indicator stayed on.  I stopped at a gas station on the way to work and pumped some air into all the tires.  That helped and the indicator went off.  On the way home, I stopped at another gas station and made sure all the tires were up to the correct pressure.

On Wednesday the weather went to hell in a hand basket.  A nasty cold front blew through, literally.  All day it was cold and VERY windy.  Normally I would stay inside as much as possible, but work required me to be out and about.

Then, on Thursday, I noticed my sinuses were acting up.  Tight and some drainage (TMI?) causing some sporadic coughing.  I took some OTC sinus medication and things seemed to get better.

That is until Friday rolled around.  My sinuses were really tight and lots more coughing.  The OTC medication helped a little.  I was worried that I might be too sick to take part in Xmas activities.

Saturday morning I woke up to a headache and a whole lot of coughing.  However, after a while, things calmed down and the OTC medicine was helping.  At that point I thought I'd head to Target, get some additional OTC stuff and head home.

Imagine my annoyance when the low tire pressure indicator popped up.  WTH?  I drove to Target, but when I got out of the car, I noticed the left front tire was not flat, but it was rather low.  I got back in the car and drove to Firestone.  I've had the car for 4 years and the tires are originals, so I just went ahead and bought a new set.

They initially told me it'd be about an hour and a half or two hours before they could get me in and get things done.  I strolled over to a nearby Dollar Tree and got a bag of nuts.  Then on to the Goodwill next door.  There I found an Agatha Christie I hadn't read in a while.  I headed back to Firestone to wait things out.  Surprisingly, I was feeling better than I had in about 48 hours.  Not 100%, but at least around 75%.

The Firestone folks got me out in about an hour and I headed on home where I spent most of the rest of the day on the couch.  This helped and I did feel better - at about 80-85%.  It's been kinda up and down today, but the coughing has subsided a bit.  That's always good.

I'm hoping things continue to get better, but I'm going to continue to keep the OTC medication and Kleenex handy for the foreseeable future.

Joyeux Noel.
Papillon