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"Life doesn't have to be perfect to be wonderful."
- Unknown

"That which does not kill you, makes you stronger."
- Handed down through the ages.

"Life's tough. It's even tougher when you're stupid."
- John Wayne



A Blessing In Disguise

Well, Mother Nature's rain brought a blessing in disguise.  It rained and rained all day Friday and most of yesterday . . . and then the temps dropped precipitously.  (For once, the forecast was correct!)  As you know, today was to be the final day for getting my last things from Swamp River Ridge, but the overseer called me late yesterday afternoon and said that there was just no way - NO ONE could travel on the roads.  Even with chains on.  A guy who lives up his way, about halfway from me (now) to SRR, and who has driven those roads for about 20 years, tried to go out with chains on - driving 5 mph, reportedly - and slid into the ditch, breaking both front brake lines.  

The report from my dear friend on Friday (when it was still only raining), and who was scheduled to help today, went as follows (her hubby is the maintenance man for the reservation and is responsible for all the plowing for the businesses and elders in the community):


He got up at 3:00 this morning and took the Suburban; well, it - for some unknown reason - didn't go into 4-wheel drive, so he pulled it into our neighbor's because he was all over the road.  He walked home in the pitch dark, then took his Blazer, and that still doesn't go into 4-wheel drive.  He tried to stop at the end of the driveway and went into the ditch on the other side!

So, in short, no Moving Day today.  And, that is JUST FINE - the blessing in disguise - because I got sick, sick, sick Friday night.  It's no surprise because I've been "pushing it" for so long now, but I hit the proverbial wall just 48 hours too soon, I thought.  I didn't know HOW I was gonna make it through today - just that I'd HAVE to!  I hardly slept at all Friday night and called in sick to work yesterday.  My take-my-head-off headache finally broke last night, and I slept until 1:00 today!!  Thank GAWD!  Now I just feel "regular" sick and wrung out instead of I-might-die sick.

When I could get a little bit of gumption up yesterday afternoon - when I still thought the trailer, etc. had to emptied for moving today - I attacked weakly surveyed and then slowly started going through the process of unloading.  And what another whammy that hit me with - totally undid me, mentally.  The terrific job I THOUGHT I'd done of tarping the loads on Thursday night was basically for naught.  There was so much rain that pooled in the tarp on top of the high-sided trailer that it found weaknesses and spilled into the load.  I could *not* believe it.  I really didn't think we'd gotten THAT much rain!  And, WHY didn't I think of that possibility - so I could have kept an eye on the accumulating puddle and figured out a way to empty it???

There was frozen rain all over my Arts-and-Crafts dining room table.  All over and already seeped into the finish of the old, rustic dresser.  Accumulated and frozen into the floor of the trailer, where all the boxes were sitting.  

With Mom and Dad's help, we unloaded the washing machine, the small safe, the dresser, the table, and all the boxes straight into their garage for immediate attention.  Fortunately, many of the boxes we'd loaded that day were Rubbermaid-type ones.  Still, I had to get the ice off all the tops and open them up to make sure no water had seeped inside (none had - yayyy!).  But, ALL but two of the rest of the boxes - cardboard - had to be completely unpacked and repacked in new, dry ones.  Mom went to work on my table, and it has a good enough finish that it was completely unharmed by the time she got all the rain and ice off it.  The dresser didn't fare as well, and the top is toast.  Refinishing it will be a project down the road.  Fortunately, it was an old piece (but not an antique) and so it's not the absolute end of the world.

What DID suck rotten eggs, though, was that rain water seeped into the safe, and ALL the paperwork and old coins in it were SOAKED.  So, every single thing had to be gingerly taken apart and spread out all over Mom & Dad's garage to dry.  I lost a few things in there completely - the ink melting into unreadable pools.  Fortunately, none of those were legal papers - just sentimental ones.

Anyway, yesterday was a tough one and just about did me in.  So, let me tell you, it was a HUGE relief to find out that today's "game" had been 'called on account of rain'.  And, since I still had the back of my folks' Suburban plus the HUGE load in my plow truck to unload when the overseer called . . . I pushed all of that work to today's To Do list and excused myself to my little cabin to crash.

Now, the last day at SRR has been pushed to this coming Thursday, and I will be SO much better prepared for it (i.e. NOT SICK)!  Thank goodness!

 
 

5 comments:

  1. Hopefully, that will be the case and everything will go well. Enough is enough already!

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  2. Oh that just stinks about the rain ruining all your stuff! I am praying the rest goes quickly and smoothly for you, rest and get better!

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  3. Well crud, I would say when it rains it pours but I wont! So glad your folks had the garage space. Can you get a visual of all the papers laying about the cabin drying? You are SO OVERDUE for a good year! All the cruddy stuff is done now. The rest of the year is yours!

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  4. Praying for you in this last push to get it all done.

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