CAREGIVING: There has been a lot going on in February. Valentines, birthdays, snow storms, frozen pipes and various health issues. But life goes on.
Valentine’s Day is one of many bittersweet days. I try to make the most of it and Kathy seems to be happy. Pat says she is radiant and it is true. She smiles up at me and it is all I need. This was always one of Kathy’s favorite days. Because it is so close to my birthday we would usually go out to dinner or have a cheap adventure around that time and celebrate both at the same time. In our early days it was fun: flowers, home-made cards and chocolate. There were some tough years as Huntington’s Disease brought her anger to the surface. I was walking on eggshells for those years. But, eventually she stopped fighting and asked her doctor for meds. And she got a referral about Huntington’s. That was back in 2007 and things got better after that acceptance.
For this Valentine’s Day I ordered some nice European face cream. I looked through some of the cosmetics and stuff that she had bought for herself. From there I figured out what to look for. I bought a few roses down at a little flower shop in Hampden and I made her a card (from Marty). She even had a few sips of chardonnay on a suction swab.
Presidents’ Day in the US is when the car dealers try to get you to buy a new car. It has been so cold and miserable that I can’t imagine tromping around a car lot in this weather. The Springfield Republican, our newspaper highlighted the car buying season with a photo of a Saab on the cover. (I had an old Saab station wagon in college that I loved). But, the newspaper layout staff didn’t realize the brand is in bankruptcy. Or, they didn’t want to play favorites with their advertisers and picked a car that no longer exists. It might be a guy thing.
Get Well Soon: But, I digress. My Presidents’ Day started with no water. It has been record cold on top of the record snow. I was smart enough to open up the one heating register in the basement but it wasn’t enough. The pump from our well wouldn’t pump; didn’t make a sound. Almost all of Hampden has well water. Our well is actually under main street; but that is a separate story. I checked the usual suspects first: the pump was plugged in. And the outlet still had power from the breaker. I figured the problem was with a relay attached to the back of the pump. I gave it a few gentle taps with a hammer and decided Kathy couldn’t afford to not have water.
In the meanwhile Betsy was getting ready to clean up Kathy. I keep several gallons of water for emergencies. I started heating up a few gallons on the stove and in the microwave. Then I called the company that services our well and pump, Connecticut Valley Artesian Well. They had two guys in the neighborhood doing the same thing: getting pumps going in the cold. The two guys reminded me of Darryl and Darryl (from the Newhart Show). They had been here before and knew where the pump was and everything. Since the pump is in my tool cave Darryl #1 used my pliers to remove a short piece of plastic pipe and Darryl #2 took one of my screwdrivers and cleaned the ice out of it. Then they used my heat gun to warm the relay up until we heard a “click”. They put it together and we had water again. Unfortunately there was no discount for using my tools. They told me I should leave a clamp light to warm up the switch when it is really cold. After they left I remembered that we had the same problem when we first moved here: The short tube that tells the switch when to go on and off was clogged with crud and needed to be cleaned out. So I could have saved myself a hundred bucks by learning from the past.
Oh Well.
(That was a pun.)
It all comes out in the wash: As soon as they left I realized that the washing machine was broken. Since I didn’t have to buy a new water pump, now I could buy a washing machine for Presidents’ Day. Just what I needed. Hot water was coming out. But there was no cold water at all. No rinse. I finished the one load that was in the machine by washing in scalding hot water and then running the wash cycle again without soap as a rinse. I knew the problem was the mixing valve on the back of the machine, where the hoses go into the machine. I tried swapping the cold and hot water hoses, but that didn’t prove anything. Then I stuck my finger into the valve for the cold water and discovered it was filled with crud from the water pump. Apparently when Darryl or Darryl cleaned out that tube all the silt from the pump went to the first outlet it could find: the washer. Once I cleaned it out I got the washer running again. It was a day to celebrate the achievements of Presidents. (Harding and Hoover come to mind.)