housebound

Fridge water error light is on, doggie blanket outside, rain comes, doggie blanket is sopping, pup separation anxiety back and running, rose needs planting but pup anxiety is back and running, beetles are here -- roses are their nirvana, dog across the alley stares at my dog across her invisible fence causing great distress, workers are putting in porch rail next door -- a hair's length away from the window where Millie patrols the world and barks at real or imagined dangers, heatwave coming with ten straight days of intense sunshine...

... what else could go wrong??

A trickle of small insignificant irritating issues. The kind that remind you that it's all good and well  to talk patience and calm, but to practice it when your pinky keeps hitting the shift key AND EVERYTHING STARTS LOOKING LIKE THIS, and all the gritty details of daily living hit you in the face like a cloud of midges -- that's a whole other level of serenity to which only a select few can aspire.

But, the start of the day? Beautiful.

And the beetles have not yet destroyed the roses. Not for want of trying.

 

 

Only I'm still getting up too early and I am decidedly sleepy. Normally, working away outside would shake me into awakeness, even more than a cup of milky coffee would, but I try leaving Millie to her morning nap in her crate, so that I can step out, and it just doesn't work. Same crate, same stuffie, same music, but where once calm prevailed, now I'm getting howling and yapping as only Millie can do. I should check the neighborhood FaceBook page to see if anyone is complaining yet (once someone posted. that a dog on her block sounded like it was in total agony and despair and should she do anything about it... I wanted to suggest -- go help your neighbor by offering to take the dog for a walk, or take over a cherry pie or something!), but thankfully Millie's voice doesn't carry far. It stops with my ears, though honestly, she shatters my hearing well and good with her high pitched cries.

When my pup settles for a nap (me -- inside), I take care of paperwork (more change of addresses -- did you know you can get a new drivers license with your new address without once lifting your butt off the couch?) and then settle down to read in my reading corner and promptly doze off. The one cup of coffee in the morning never really woke me up. I force myself to get up and make a second cup. In another hour I make a third.

A repair person is to come over to look at my fridge. I dont think it's broken and yet I cannot get the water dispenser to work. Ed, too, comes up short from his online search of troubleshooting. I am thinking that they deliberately make water dispensers complicated so that people would come up short on how to adjust them and call a trusted GE repair person to do a house call. 

Does Millie like having a strange man come to the house? She does not, but close to my chest calms her down, so that only a low grumble can be heard. 

The repair person (from a company mysteriously called "Ghost") doesn't even have to pretend to carry in tools. All he needs is that special know-how on what to do when no water comes out of the dispenser on what is almost a brand new fridge. I'm fascinated which buttons he will be pressing. It's all about buttons and screens these days. And indeed -- he presses his smart phone buttons, looking up the secret fridge buttons that give him passageway to steps he has to take. Future repairs I'm sure will be done by some mastermind sitting like the Wizard, directing twenty or even a hundred customers at a time from a comfortable chair elsewhere. Perhaps in Taiwan.

Speaking of foreign places, my tech person was from Russia. I could tell by his accent and the last name. And he knew I was "from a Slavic country." How? well, he has sharp eyes that take in everything. In a nook by the door stands a bookshelf. On it -- family photos. Including this one:

"The woman's head scarf..." -- he tells me. "Slavic." My grandmother's dress-up scarf.  She was so young then! Or at least younger than me (my grandfather, also in the photo, died when she was 70).

 

It's hot outside. Every plant that is in a pot has to be watered every day in weather like this. I try to sneak this in on the porch, I did attend to the tomatoes earlier, but of course, I should also make sure the heat isn't destroying any of the new plantings in the garden. That comprehensive flower care goes on the list for tomorrow, when Millie is in doggie daycare. Everything goes on the list for tomorrow when Millie is in doggie daycare. 

It will be a very full day. 

with so much love...