If You're Going Through Hell

[kayc]

18 hours ago, Gwenivere said:

Trying to figure out what to do about all the snow covering my car.

Covering with a tarp before it snows can help if it doesn't stick to the car and freeze, some people have sprays to prevent that.  Mine is garaged so I just have to shovel to the street but if the plow doesn't bother coming, moot point.  It's 15% grade so hard to make it up/down the driveway on ice.  I back in so I can be heading out/up.

I live in my boots in the winter!  If not snow, pouring rain, cold.  I even wear them to church, people have to get used to it, not dressing up this time of year!  I think it's crazy when I see people wearing heels and short dresses in the winter here.  Not me, I'm a jeans/boots girl!  My life isn't conducive to dressing up although I enjoy it in the summer.

My little sister is in Aloha (outside of Portland) and her Cabana and tropical plants are all under snow, she's worried about it doing them in.  They aren't used to more than an inch!  I don't worry about an inch or two, but sure don't like it when it's feet!

16 hours ago, widow'15 said:

As tired as I am with the rain, this year I'll take the rain.

Yep!  After all, I am an Oregonian.  At least rain you don't have to shovel!

 

 

[Gwenivere]

Woke up,to  more d*nmed snow.  Had to redo my tracks down the driveway to my escape trek later.  Saw a mail truck and my box monitor had been triggered, but there was nothing there.  The getting TO the box was hard in over a foot of snowing it has just a few steps from my car while moving it. Now I see why many are walking in the street.  Just let Melody out and she had a cold rev'd up run a few times bringing in snow all over her paws and legs.  Lost her tennis ball for a long time so we gave that up, or I did waiting on her looking for it.  

Have a Zoom call with a buddy soon.  Never know how I’m going to feel afterwards.  I know better than to talk about my feelings much.  Same with a couple other people I have met recently at the community center.  Only have  one local friend, and I rarely see him lately. Has i life and all.  Friend is a meaningful connection for me so I’m careful with the word.  It’s so easily tossed about by some.  If I can’t be me as I am at the moment, and they them, it doesn’t apply.  My Sunday buddy allots me a certain amount of time and shares very little of her own feelings and wearies of mine.  I know I’m really down so try not make it all about that, but her patience level is always a mystery to me so I just say nothing much.  It’s a sad way to pass 45 minutes.  And it’s always that, watching the clock.   

Yup, Kay, give me rain.  This snow is overdone here.  An inch or 2 would be livable, but not this.  I killed a 15 drive in over an hour yesterday.  Good for that but was tense driving because of slopes and other drivers.  Steve taught me to drive on this stuff.  It’s bad with Seattlites in rain, snow is NOT their thing.  

 

[kayc]

15 hours ago, Gwenivere said:

Saw a mail truck and my box monitor had been triggered, but there was nothing there.

You can sign up at usps.com for informed delivery, they send you an email every morning of what is coming in your mail that day and you can look back a week and see packages coming in and when/where they are.
That way if something says it's coming and you didn't get it you can report it, but they've never gotten back to me so I call my post office and inquire.  They'll ask the mail carrier about it and call me back.  

I was worried you'd try to make it out yesterday and fall, so I'm glad that didn't happen, be careful!

[Gwenivere]

Thanks for the info, Kay.  I’ll look into it.  I think USPS  charges for membership if I recall right.  Steve used to use it.

 I did go out and it was trickier walking than driving.  Just kept a snails pace which is my usual anyway.  Slept wrong so paying today.  Being so wobbly I feel like I am too tall.  I sometime trip myself from shuffling.  The oxygen tubing doesn’t help as it gets snagged.  Add in Melody jumping when she gets excited and it's a wonder I’ve stayed afoot.

Snow does not help and I’m glad to see it melting.  The sooner the better.  

[Gin]

Expecting 12-18”+ and not above freezing until next Sunday,  gin

[Kieron]

Gwen, I can second the Informed Delivery thing, and it is free.  It's a slight hassle to sign up for the account but once you do, it runs smoothly.  I signed up because I suspect my mail is going astray.  I get the mail for the house after me in the route so I assume my mail is going elsewhere on occasion.  Just the other day, I got the "Digest" that included a scanned image of an envelope from the utility company.  It was a rebate payment I had been waiting for.  It didn't show up in the mailbox that day or the next, so I was annoyed.  So I logged into the account to see if I could find a way to report it, and noticed that I could check each day's digest.  I found the missing envelope and checked the tiny box on the lower right that says something like "I didn't receive this."  I figured, well, we'll see.  And the envelope showed up a day or two later in the mailbox.  I wonder where it went in the meantime? 

 

[Gwenivere]

I did sign up and hope it will help on some things that seem to be missing. Mostly tax info I usually have by now.  I heard in the news USPS is going to raise rates, yet their service is not expected to get better.   This is when I miss our PO Box.  It was such a pain going there tho.  I’ve noticed stuff I’ve been told was coming is taking much longer.  

Thanks for the help to you both.  It will be handy if I can see what should be here if it goes astray.  

[widow'15]

15 hours ago, kayc said:

You can sign up at usps.com for informed delivery, they send you an email  for every morning of what is coming in your mail that day and you can look back a week and see packages coming in and when/where they are.

Yes, kayc,  I use this system and since my street must be the last street on this mail route, many times it is dark (and raining) at 6 pm .  If there is an important piece of mail, me and my flashlight will retrieve it, if not I wait until morning until I go to my mailbox for the multitude of advertisements.   More importantly, my medications are mail delivered so it's nice to know when they are expected.  Great service. Dee

[Gwenivere]

Excellent point, Dee.  My mail order meds are essential and I don’t want those falling behind.  Mail should resume today.  They got 3 days off with the holiday.  Hoping more snow is gone by my mailbox.  Last check was stepping into over 12 depths.  Not wise for wobbly older ladies.  😱

[kayc]

18 hours ago, Gwenivere said:

I think USPS  charges for membership if I recall right.

Nope, it's free!  https://reg.usps.com/entreg/LoginAction_input?app=RMIN&appURL=https%3A%2F%2Finformeddelivery.usps.com%2Fbox%2Fpages%2Fsecure%2FDashboardAction_input.action  You join usps.com and THEN look for informed delivery once logged in.  They'll send you daily emails.  It really helps to know what's coming.

[kayc]

18 hours ago, Gin said:

Expecting 12-18”+ and not above freezing until next Sunday,  gin

 Do be careful, try to stay in!

17 hours ago, Kieron said:

I found the missing envelope and checked the tiny box on the lower right that says something like "I didn't receive this."

I've never had them respond to a report on line BUT I call my local post office and they talk to the carrier, so the sooner the better so he can remember if he delivered it or not.  Still go ahead and report it on line, just don't expect them to get back to you in this lifetime.

 

[Kieron]

4 hours ago, kayc said:

BUT I call my local post office and they talk to the carrier,

🤣  You can't call them here.  Too big a city.  You'd be on hold forever.  But no, they never got back to me, just delivered the item a day or two later.  Today the digest said I could expect 5 mail items.  I got two, and not one of the 2 look like the scanned images in the email digest.  So I don't know... must be other factors at work delaying things.

[widow'15]

12 hours ago, Gwenivere said:

Last check was stepping into over 12 depths.  Not wise for wobbly older ladies.  😱

No Gwen:  Not wise for "wobbly older ladies" stepping in that much snow.  I was somewhat thankful the snow fell on holiday weekend.  Did not realize they had two days off.  Dee

[Gwenivere]

The service works.  (I don’t know about missing stuff yet and hopefully won’t) Showed me I was getting mail from my insurance company.  It looked to be about 7 pieces and turned out to be 25!  EOB's.  What a pain that was to go thru.  All from my old policy, so no charges, but couldn’t take the chance there was something from my new one.  This med stuff never ends.  

Snows melting!  I still had a hard time by my mail box but that should end and I can quit wearing these boots that are painful to put on and take off.  Yup, Dee, it sucks being a wobbler.  

[kayc]

15 hours ago, Kieron said:

🤣  You can't call them here.  Too big a city.  You'd be on hold forever.  But no, they never got back to me, just delivered the item a day or two later.  Today the digest said I could expect 5 mail items.  I got two, and not one of the 2 look like the scanned images in the email digest.  So I don't know... must be other factors at work delaying things.

I've talked to them about that too and they said the mail arrived late, sometimes it's scanned at the sorter (Eugene) whereas Oakridge delivers it but can't deliver what they don't receive.  By rights, if Eugene has it scheduled to leave there at 4 am, Oakridge should get it in plenty of time to send it out for delivery, but sometimes Eugene directs it to the wrong place or it gets left behind, usually is discovered and delivered within a couple of days, hard when you're waiting for something.  I had a 2 day priority mail pkg sit in Eugene for ONE WEEK a few months ago, annoying!  I was about to file a lost claim when it finally came.  USPS isn't as good about conveying info or getting to the bottom of something as Fed Ex or UPS are.

Yeah, ice is what caused my last fall.  I have a permanently damaged knee from the October fall, in that one I was stupid (running), like I thought I was 20 or something!  We don't fall like we're 20!

[Gwenivere]

I was just reading some posts  in another  group I peek in on but don’t participate as they aren’t like a family, more like Facebook interaction.  Very removed.  and mostly 'me too' replies.  But someone wrote something that with a word I never used and had been searching To describe how deeply I feel there is something is wrong inside right now emotionally.  

Homesick.  

That's how I feel away and worse, when I am here.

[kayc]

Yes, that's an apt word for what we feel.  I just feel this world is not my home anymore and I'm glad I have hope for something better than this because it's sure not all it's cracked up to be in the here and now.  Maybe for those who still have their spouse it's different, IDK.

[Gwenivere]

I was doing some chores last night and really feeling that 'homesick' feeling.   I got to thinking about how it was getting time to have the carpets cleaned.  But they aren’t very dirty looking anymore.  Without Steve and Ally, and no visitors, when I do have it done, it’s just going to be the back room that leads outside, the hallway and the living room.  No sense on our bedroom or my office.  I know there’s lots of dirt in there, but it sure doesn’t feel lived in.  This was always our house.  It still is.  Sometimes I feel like an interloper wandering around all these ghosts and memories.  

[widow'15]

On 2/22/2021 at 5:43 AM, kayc said:

I just feel this world is not my home anymore and I'm glad I have hope for something better than this because it's sure not all it's cracked up to be in the here and now.  Maybe for those who still have their spouse it's different, IDK.

kayc:  I use that statement probably once a week.  At my age, and not having my Bob with me physically I state out loud or to myself, "I just don't like being here because I feel like I don't belong here anymore".  I try to imagine what my grandparent's life must have felt like during and after WWII, losing a son, dying in an airplane crash as he attempted to land on an air carrier.  Another uncle being in the Army suffering the freezing cold in Europe, with little to no contact via telephone calls or "skype", etc.  They eventually had to leave the depressed area where they grew up in order to find work, relocate and continue to support their family.  How did they find the courage to go on?   Maybe, it was doable because they had each other and family for support and courage.  Their world must have been as scary as my world is to me now.  Dee

[kayc]

I feel like this place is also haunted by memories...nearly 44 years here!  It's where I've raised my kids, had my marriage with George, all of our animals over the years, esp. since I've been alone, I've had and lost so many.  My kids jokingly call that place in the backyard as "the family graveyard."  It's where I want my ashes when the time comes.  This is where I've lived my life.

1 hour ago, widow'15 said:

Maybe, it was doable because they had each other and family for support and courage.

I reckon so!  Makes a huge difference.  My grandparents raised eight kids in the depression, I don't know how they did it.  I wish my grandpa was still alive to talk with, I miss him.

[kayc]

I went through more of the same today, same old Walgreen's but different problems with them.  I tried to do it all right, called before I left, made sure they checked with the ins. beforehand, told them when I'd be there, etc.  Got there and their system would not take my M/C so of course I could not put it on file with them.  I haven't had these problems with Shopco, CVS Caremark, WalMart, etc. and it's there system!  Of course, they're never apologetic or caring.  Another wasted day going to town, hours down the drain.

[Gwenivere]

I don’t want to continue tallying my wasted hours.  There’s just too many of them!  Running into problems when you have covered every possibility is maddening.  I really try and go armed for any hitch.  There's often one I never thought of.  Today was just trying to get into my oxygen company’s website.  My password wouldn’t work and I spent more time fixing that than the simple question I had.  I could verify by phone, but I wanted to see why some charges were inconsistent.  Arg!  I’m just glad I don’t have to make the drives you do, Kay.  

4 hours ago, widow'15 said:

At my age, and not having my Bob with me physically I state out loud or to myself, "I just don't like being here because I feel like I don't belong here anymore". 

I know that is why I feel homesick.  It’s definitely age, tho if Steve were here, it would be easier together.  We could make fun of our old selves compared to the immortal beings we were.  How easy it was to carry things in or out like a ladder to do something.  To have the drive to want to!    I keep this place up as I can, even to my detriment, but there’s not any company or someone to share it with. I don’t dress up anymore.   I don’t know where I belong either.  It’s not here.  But I don’t have anywhere to go.

[kayc]

Poor Kodie, he got a very late walk this morning (and me a very late breakfast) because I worked on tax prep for hours!  Got it done and faxed it to the tax preparer so I wouldn't have to make another long trip into town!  I told them I'm sick, so they let me.  Figured the stupid thrush ought to be good for something!

[kayc]

They're predicting over a foot of snow the next couple of days, but the same site predicts only a couple of inches depending on zone forecast or my latitude/longitude.  So we'll see, so far nothing.  I hope to God it's not more than a couple of inches a day!  I hate the shoveling, I didn't mind so much before I damaged my knee and my hands went kaput.  I'm getting old. 

[widow'15]

6 hours ago, kayc said:

They're predicting over a foot of snow the next couple of days, but the same site predicts only a couple of inches depending on zone forecast or my latitude/longitude.  So we'll see, so far nothing.  I hope to God it's not more than a couple of inches a day!  I hate the shoveling,

 No more snow PLEASE.  I've got too much driving to do this week and next.  You are truly a "pioneer woman", kayc,  still being able to shovel snow.  A couple of inches would be fine and then immediately melt, not freeze making everything slick and dangerous.  Keeping fingers crossed.  Dee