Catching up...
The last few nights have just been too busy, and too tiring, to update this as often as I ought to. Thus, what will likely be a long-winded wrap-up of the last few days, as much as I can recall. Unfortuantely, as usual, the stuff that I remember the most is the stuff that irritates the crud out of me, so this is likely going to be a complain-and-whine post as well. :P Anyway, onward...
I stopped taking the pain-killers with the midnight dose on Sunday, though I took one more anti-inflammatory on Monday morning. I'm pleased to say that while my back is occasionally still sore, it isn't crippling me with excruciating pain like it was at this time a week ago. My shoulders and elbows however, are another story; Yesterday my right shoulder was throbbing so badly that I was nearly on the verge of tears from the pain on several occasions. I've got a whole bottle of those Happy Pills, but I'm loathe to use them for anything other than truly excruciating levels of pain such as last week's back-pain. While the throbbing in my shoulders is horrible, I really don't want to wind up getting addicted to pain-killers; I see it as the start of a slippery slope. :/
Yesterday was a day of Ups and Downs, starting with a Down if you start your day at 12am.
trixstir and I are very different when it comes to body-heat; She doesn't produce much (usually) whereas I think I must be part Dragon or something. Case in point is the futile attempts at sleep the last couple of nights; Trixstir was clad in fuzzy fleece pajamas, and wrapped up in sheets and blankets while I lay stark naked with no covers at all, burning up with heat. I was't running a fever, I was just too darn hot! This happens a lot, actually, and it's terribly hard to get a decent night's sleep when you're burning up. Trixstir tends to fall asleep quickly and easily, and unfortunately snores like a congested Grizzley Bear, so between the heat, the pain, and her snoring, I haven't had a decent night's sleep since I can't remember when. :P
After much "Should I or Shouldn't I?" debate, and trying (and failing) to get online information about product stock, I finally decided to venture off to Swift Current to get some items that we needed, hoping that they would actually be in stock. One of the items most desperately needed was more fluorescent lighting for the shop. Back in Alberta, both Totem Building Supplies and Canadian Tire carried the item I wanted, but Totem's price was always substantially lower (despite CT's claim to always have the lowest prices.) Canadian Tire had a sale on fluorescent lighting this week, but trying to find any information online was a fruitless waste of time; some glitch in their website kept me from being able to check stock, or otherwise get the information I wanted. Still, even though I had my doubts about them having the items I was looking for, I went there first.
And I'm glad I did! One of the highlights of the day was finding out that Canadian Tire is no longer going to carry the lights I wanted, so they were liquidating what little stock they had left! I was able to get the last five lights, at less than half of their regular price! They also hadn't put away all of their swimming-pool accessories yet, so I was able to get a large (7kg) bucket of powdered chlorine to Chlorine-Shock the water well here. This is a lot more chlorine than I need, but this stuff doesn't go bad so I've got enough to last for a few years. Of course, after I had checked out I remember one other item I needed so it was back into the store again, this time for sand-paper. At least this time they had some of what I needed: 3.5" x 21" paper for my belt-sander, but only in extra-coarse, which is still OK because for the time being that's what I needed. They got lots of other grits in all the other sizes, but that last pack of 80-grit was the last packet of any type they had in that size. Those sanders had been on sale 2 weeks ago, and I guess people stocked up on extra paper, and the store either hasn't re-ordered, or the order is slow. In any case, thtpptpttpptptttt!
Before I had left for Swift Current, I had stopped in town to pay a couple of bills, and to pay for an order of Hay that we had made three weeks ago. The fellow that I was planning to buy the hay from wasn't in town, but I was able to reach him at home (his place is just a couple miles south of town) on the phone. We had agreed three weeks ago, that I would purchase 100 bales of hay at $4 per bale. Well, that it rained that weekend so that eliminated that chance, the next weekend was the Kidling's 4-H celebration, and we had to bale our own hay before it rained again. Then this last weekend, I had put my back out. This is where that whole ASS-U-ME thing comes into play, and granted we're both at fault, but since I'm the one telling the story I'm going to say that he was the bigger ass. When I finally contacted him yesterday, he said that he didn't think he had any more hay left, because I hadn't called him again so he assumed I didn't want it, so he sold most of it to someone else! On the other hand, I had assumed that since he hadn't called me to say otherwise, that the hay was still available, as per our agreement! In hindsight, I ought to have called him to assure him (yet again) that yes I wanted the hay, and I'd come get it as soon as I could. I would have thought that he would have called me if there had been any changes in that plan. I also ought to have paid him for it three weeks ago, to make sure he couldn't sell it to someone else. It's a good thing we got those 80-some bales from our own field, because now we're scrambling to find more. Fortunately, my bad mood from that was considerably lightened by my discovery of those liquidation-priced lamps mentioned above.
Back in Swift Current, my next stop was the Peavey-Mart, where they had almost everything that I had gone there for. In fact, they did have everything I went for, it was just some extra stuff that I thought about while I was there that they were a bit short on. In any case, I made out well there, even getting the parts I needed to repair the canvas on my swather. Now I just need to convince one of my more knowledgable neighbours to help me do the repair. By this time, it was just after 6pm and I headed to the Home Hardware store to get some other items on the list, only to discover that unlike the other hardware stores in town, Home Hardware closes at 6pm Mon-Weds, and I had missed the boat. :P Blast-it...
Trixstir called on my cellphone to ask where I was, and how things were going. Apparently she had been unable to contact the kidling back at the house, and we came to the (correct) conclusion that he had forgotten his keys and locked himself out. Fortunately for him, it was a beautifully warm evening, so even though he was locked out for several hours the worst that happened was being bored and hungry. Of course, it never occured to him to feed the horses while he was out there. When questioned about it later, he immediately tried to blame the teachers and/or the bus-driver for causing him to forget his keys at school because he wears his key on a string around his neck, and he's not allowed to wear it during gym-class, so it was back in his desk. Funny how all the other kids managed to have time to go back and get their things, but not him. No, it's never his fault, it's always someone else's fault. Maybe he'll learn from this experience, but frankly I doubt it. :P
The final thing I had to do in Swift Current was to go to the "Frontier Bowling Lanes" to talk with the owner to get some advice about our own lanes, and how to run the leagues, etc. That went wel, and I got a good amount of helpful advice and information. Our local rep for the Sask 5pin association was there as well, and he promised to get in touch with some folks on our behalf. One of them being a local woman who was a very active bowler in the past, and had indicated up until recently how eager she was to get back with the leagues again. More on that in a moment...
Trixstir was home by the time I arrived, and had let the Kidling in. As mentioned, he tried to blame everyone but himself for forgetting his key, and I wasn't in the mood to hear it. I told him it was his own fault, stop blaming everyone else, take some responsibility, and be thankful that it was a warm Autumn evening, instead of a -50c night like we'll be seeing in another few months. My shoulder was really acting up, and I stayed up just a little longer before heading to bed myself. Another horrible night of too hot, too sore, and too much snoring means I only got a couple of hours of sleep last night, which I am blaming for the severely disjointed layout of this entry. :P
Another thing that happened (but actually didn't) yesterday was that I bought a new back door for the house. Or at least, I thought I did. I stopped at the local Co-Op to see what their price was on a particular door, and it turned out to be a better price than I could get from the Home Hardware store in Swift Current, so I agreed to buy it from them. As I was heading to Swift Current right away, I wasn't able to pick it up then, but would come pick it up this afternoon. Except that when I came to get it this afternoon, it turns out that there was some mis-communication between the order-desk and the yard, and the door that they had was the wrong door. Could they order the proper one? Yes, but it would take two or three weeks to get here! Two or three weeks?!?! WTH people?! This is a common-part door, not some custom-made thing that they have to go out in the forest to cut a tree down, carve it into a door, and mount it in a frame. Home Hardware had skads of them in stock, other stores have them in stock, but as usual our local Co-Op (who always claim to have everything your home or farm needs!) doesn't have one available, and can't get it for X-number of weeks. While I really like to "shop local" is there any wonder I so often drive the hour-and-a-half to Swift Current to get the stuff I need/want?
Returning to the bowling issue... The woman in question had always been very friendly and chatty with us in the past, but for some unknown reason has become downright cold to us lately. I have no idea what's happening; I'm not aware of anything we may have said or done to provoke her, but won't acknowledge us at all. I hate it when this sort of thing happens; All of a sudden, someone you think is a friend suddenly stops talking to you, won't even acknowledge your existance, and you have no idea as to why. She's plenty chatty with others, but I can't get the time of day from her. I'm hoping the rep was able to talk to her and can get me some answers, because I'm at a total loss with this situation. It hurts to be treated that way, and it soured my mood for the rest of the evening.
When I got back from my nearly-wasted trip to town (I did manage to get the cardboard recycling done, and Trixstir and I placed our order with Pepsi, so it wasn't a total loss) it was just after Six PM. I put some stuff away in the shop, fed and watered the horses, and played with a small engine for a few minutes. The putt-putt-putt of these old small engines helps to cheer me up quite a bit, and this evening I really needed some of that. Afterwards, I made the kidling practice his guitar (he's getting better!) and then we watched "The World After People" on The History Channel. Here's hoping the end of the week is an improvement over the week thus far. :P