Spring break surprise

Sunday, 4:10 pm

Mar

16

2008

Yesterday afternoon the lad called. He is at the Dad’s house for the beginning of spring break. I was rather surprised and delighted when he announced that he will be arriving here on Tuesday or Wednesday. That wasn’t part of the original plan. But, I gather, the Dad has obligations the latter part of the week which won’t permit him to take the lad back to school. Therefore, it’s only fair to share the week with me if I’m the one who has to take him back. I can live with that.

So, I’ll be laying in supplies during the next couple of days. I am sure that food will disappear about as fast as he finds it. I’m pleased that his room is all tidy and clean, though. It has been since the day he left from the winter break. That’s one less thing to scurry around doing. He has already been in contact with his buddies to line up his social calendar. There should be a stream of kids walking through the door again in a couple of days. I enjoy that a lot. Looking forward to seeing my boy and his friends.

And while I’m very happy to have him home for a couple of days, that does put something of a crimp in my rapidly dwindling wood supply situation. The lad is not accustomed to living in arctic temperatures and I don’t think it’s quite fair to expect him to. Coming from a super heated dorm room to a sub 60 degree house is a lot to ask.

Therefore, despite all my vows and plans to the contrary, I may just have to relight the pilot light on the furnace and use it for a few days. Or, use up a lot of the wood while he’s home (he loves wood stove heat) and then use the furnace sparingly after he’s gone. I haven’t decided yet. But I only have about two to three weeks of very conservative wood use left and when the lad is home, wood use is anything but conservative. So much for that. I have decided that I’m not going to spend the next month without any heat. I just can’t do it. Spring is dawdling too much. On the bright side, I won’t shed any tears over being rid of the daily wood crumb clean-up for the season.

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I have contracted pink eye, again. That suggests that I don’t wash my hands at the critical moments. I’ve now installed a bottle of hand sanitizer in the car so that when I come out of a store, I can (possibly) head these little bugs off at the pass. And, fortunately, I also have a tube of eye ointment from the last time I contracted pink eye. It should be gone by tomorrow, I imagine. Seems to be responding well. It’s kind of a crummy way to spend a weekend though...looking as scary as I do. I’m also reluctant to go anywhere and broadcast these bugs far and wide.