"What a hassle!" ... BUT God is Faithful !!!

To borrow a line from a friend (that will always cause both of us to remember the exact situation) - "What a hassle!"

A Simple Delivery ...
It seemed like a simple thing. I was to have a new refrigerator and a new stove delivered today. The new dishwasher and hood for the stove will have to be delivered separately, since they require "installation" into the house. Okay. I can handle that.

The mix-up ...
They were scheduled "between noon and 5pm." You know the drill. So, I called around 11 to see if they could tell me where I fell on the delivery schedule. I was told I was last of five deliveries, so I could expect it to be between 4 & 5pm. Okay. Great. I could run another errand I needed to do while I was off.

I won't go into the saga of what should have taken about an hour total, from the time I left home until I returned, turning into over 2 hours at the service center and the expected $40 bill being $140. I'll just leave that one for another day.

At any rate, it's still just after 1:30 and as I leave I decided to check my home recorder for messages. At 12:20 there's a message from the delivery guy that they are just leaving the store and heading to my house. What happened to being scheduled last? To expect them between 4 & 5pm? At about 12:50 there is another message that they were at my house and no one was there, so I needed to call the store and reschedule.

You betcha, I'm calling the store!!

Person at store: "Oh, sorry, who told you that? They should not had done that."

Okay, "Thanks!" Next time remind me not to believe what I am told by your employees...

She made a quick phone call to the delivery guys & back to me. They would come back by after the one they were working, and they were almost finished there. "So, are they calling me again before they come?" "No, they're almost done. They will be back to your house shortly."

I quickly pull all the food out of the refrigerator. (The freezer food had already been moved to my upright freezer in the garage.) Some could go in ice chests, but not all of it.

An hour later, they call to say they are on their way and will be there in about 20 minutes.

Discovery 1
The first "discovery" was when they pulled the old stove out. It was not plugged into an outlet - it was hardwired into a 6' cable coming out of the wall!

Of course, the "delivery" guys couldn't remove the wires from the old stove and put them in the new one. A call back to the store - and the wait on the subsequent return call to find out the answer - revealed that the "installers" who were coming out later in the week couldn't do that either. I would need to call an electrician to install my stove!

While I was waiting on the call back from the store to determine what could be done with the stove, they started unloading the refrigerator.

Enter Hero # 1
Just as the "lovely" discovery was made, the friend who was coming to take my old refrigerator and stove away to be used by others arrived. "Hold on a minute." He started investigating the situation and determined that it simply needed the "strands" disconnected and then connected correctly to the new stove, and started working to disassemble it. In the process, we decided it really would be better if the stove had the normal electrical cable attached to an outlet rather than running into this same problem the next time. So, he left for Ace Hardware to get a circuit box.

Back to the refrigerator ...
The delivery guys have realized that they can't wheel the refrigerator through the door from the garage into the hall without moving a shelf unit that blocked the approach by about an inch. There was disagreement between them about which would be easier - take the doors off the refrigerator or unload and move the shelves and take the entry door off it's hinges. The second opinion was held by the guy who seemed to be "in charge" - though not the one I would have assigned to be! Hence it won out. They started rearranging my garage and removing my door.

Once the refrigerator was in the kitchen, it soon became apparent that it was not going to simply "slip" into place. The bottom edge of the shelf unit I had measured so carefully, wasn't exactly straight. In the middle, it failed to clear by about 1/8". Seriously! Of course, I had measured the outer edges - on both sides! Then it turned out there was also an opening for access to the ice maker on the top. (I've never seen one of those before - even when looking at and measuring this model in the store.) It also extended up about 1/8-1/4". So, the refrigerator is not going to slide under the built in cabinet.

Enter Hero #2
I have a friend who is an incredibly gifted handy-man that I knew had recently encountered a similar problem when installing a new microwave in his kitchen. I called him to see if he could help me out. Not only was he willing, he had time to come this evening and take care of it - and show me some of his new fancy (actually, very cool!) tools.

Back to the stove ...
Jess was back from the hardware store, had the wiring installed in the stove (hmmm, you would have thought the guys who delivered the cable with the stove would have done that!), the receptacle attached to the 6' wire that was coming out of the wall, and we were ready for power. First good sign: no casualties when I flipped the breaker back on. :) And there was power to the stove. It took a little bit to get all 12' of wiring bundled up small enough that the stove would slide back and the drawer on the bottom close. Having a "long & lanky" son helped - AJ had to crawl behind and bundle up the wiring cables and then be lifted out over the stove!

Yea!! The new stove is functional.

As for that refrigerator...
Tim and his wife, Theresa, who is almost always beside him in his many "charity" efforts like tonight's, came by after work. Even with her making a run back to their house to pick up one tool they failed to get loaded, he had the lip and sides of the flange on that cabinet trimmed and my refrigerator sitting in it's rightful place in less than an hour and a half - cleanup included. Wow! Tim, you're the man!!

So, a mere 5.5 hours after I was told the delivery men "would be there shortly," I had stove and refrigerator installed and operational. (At least I got the food back in the refrigerator after only about 3.5 - 4 hrs).

BUT God is Faithful!!

In spite of all the hassles, God has Jess arrive just as the stove is sitting there, with the delivery guys waiting for me to tell them to leave it or take it back. And Tim answered his phone rather than it rolling to voicemail as is often the case, and was not only willing to help but could do so this evening. God really does know what we have need of, even before we ask.

But, for the record, I am asking ahead of time for a quick, simple, no surprise delivery and installation of the dishwasher and stove hood on Friday afternoon. Prayers of agreement welcomed!!

is it spring yet?

So much for getting landscaping done this year. Okay, at least I had indicated that it would likely take me 2-3 years - and that was starting this year, since 2008 with all it's issues doesn't count!

At least I am finally getting started. I cut the wisteria back last fall as far as I could with heavy-duty pruning sheers. This spring, after cutting back all the new growth coming out of the stumps that were left (3' to 4' each) a couple of times, I sawed the stumps off as close to grown level as possible. There are nine of them - three across my back patio & six along the wooden fence that is on one side of my front courtyard. Some were 8"-10" in diameter.

The other major projects this year - outside of normal weeding, etc. - have been trying to limb up some trees. There's a huge Austree ("swamp willow") out my back area, between me & the neighbor to my south. The HOA is in the process of taking the 30-somthing of these that were planted in "commons" areas in the development down and replacing them. I would like to do the same with this one. They only have an expected life of about 15 years and they are 10-12 years old. Hence, they are losing lots of limbs (they are dying). In addition, the roots run along the surface of the ground and go everywhere - which can tears up your patio or foundation! Unfortunately, my neighbor loves it. So, I keep trying to get the limbs that are over my house cut down. I've gone "three rounds" with it. After cutting them down, I have to cut them up into small enough pieces for the trash service to pick up (no more than 2.5'-3' sections, bundled) - and cut up and bag all the smaller pieces and leaves. THAT is what takes the time. And now I am down to a couple of larger limbs that I need help to get down safely. (Note that I am doing all this with a hand limbing saw. :)

There is also a fruit tree of some sort (I haven't figured it out) in the center of my courtyard that got a good limbing on my last "work day." I would actually like to take it down & plant something else. I was multi-trunked; but one of the three had been sawed off to ground level before I bought this place. I assume an ice storm got it - that's the usual culprit in such cases. So, it's already only 2/3rds of a tree. Then, this year, there were a LOT of dead branches on it. So, I cut all of those down (and cut them up for the trash - that's just "so much fun!"). And there is a pear tree between me and my neighbor to the north that I keep trimmed (the new growth "suckers" mostly). It has a couple of branches that I would take down if it were mine, so that the mowers don't have to duck to mow - but I haven't cleared that with my neighbor yet. She was grateful that was doing the other - and that I helped her trim her wisteria back last year. I did that partially because it was "over the fence" and on my side. She said she wants her's taken out as well, but didn't want me to trim it back as severely as I did mine - so it's all overgrown again. (She is in her late 70s & is quite interesting. She's a strong believer & is a former KS state representative & KS state senator.)

Okay, back to the wisteria. One reason for planting wisteria is its resilience. You just about can't kill it! So, I regularly go back and break or cut off the shoots coming up around the stumps. I have been told that drilling holes in them & pouring RoundUp concentrate will kill them. I was going to try that today, but it rained (hard!) this morning & I didn't want to pull the power cord for the drill across the wet ground! So, that job is left for another day.

I did spend 4+ hours cutting back the wisteria shoots, pulling weeds in all the beds, (finally!) putting mulch around a couple of trees, and pulling up ivy ... and more ivy ... and more ivy.

For those who have never visited my new home, there is a bed that runs between my house and the front sidewalk as you approach my front door. It's about 30' long and about 2' wide. The previous owners had attached three huge trellises (probably at least 4' wide & nearly the height of the house) to the side of the house and planted ivy in the bed to grow up them. The portion of the bed closest to the front door (and under the covering of the porch area) has ivy all the way up that trellis. In fact, the main base of ivy there is as thick as the wisteria stumps. (I didn't even know it would do that!) There's one other area of one of the other two trellises that has some ivy that they had growing up a pole. (That is also a "stump" at the base.) There are three shrubs in the portion of the bed that is uncovered. But ivy was everywhere through the bed.

I pulled ... and pulled ... and pulled. I filled 3.5 of the large, outdoor trash bags. And there's still ivy in that bed! I think I got most of it, except for what is coming directly from the two main stumps. We'll see how much of it I just "broke off" instead of getting the root when it starts growing back. :( I left trying to dig out the stumps out for another day. I cut back what was growing on the one trellis to get everything except what is coming from that one source and was above my head.

That wasn't exactly the project I had in mind for today, but at least it does look much better out there. I intend to also remove the three shrubs that are in it - as well as most (if not all) of those around the courtyard, inside & out. I plan to plant roses in the portion of that bed that is exposed to the sun. But, I'm having a hard time finding any of them (or anything else I want) left this late in the year.

Oh, I guess I should explain why I have kept delaying on getting started (besides time, of course). I need to paint my concrete wall. I was waiting to redo the landscaping until that is done, since part of what needs to be redone is both sides of that wall. However, before I paint it, there's a portion of it that needs repair. Actually, there are three "sections" to "my" wall. One is mine, exclusively. I share each of the other two with a neighbor - one on one side & one on the other. (Don't ask me why they built them that way!) Part of the "shared" wall needs repair. I keep waiting on my neighbors to make decisions about what to do with those & get them done before painting. And waiting on painting to redo the landscaping. So ... that's (at least part of) the reason for the delay.

And I thought I was moving here to get out of yardwork ... :(

working on the "to do" list

Wow how time flies. I can't believe it's been over a month since I posted here. Guess I've been focusing on Facebook & other things. So, let me catch up a little.

I finally got the new roof on my house the first week of February. For those not from Kansas, waiting from September to February may seem like a long time. Last year was "a bad roof year" here. That means lots of hail damage. Not only did it get both of my roofs (the one on the house I was trying to sell and on my current home), it got lots of others as well.

For those of you who do live in Wichita, if you haven't had your roof checked you might want to do so. Often people do not realize they've had hail damage until the roof begins leaking. Better to get it replaced before that happens. Since I had a notice put in the homeowners association newsletter, at least four others have had their's checked and had enough damage for the insurance company to replace it.

Now that I have that done, I can start hanging pictures. Since they had indicated I needed to take them down while they were banging on the roof (which is, of course, by design connected to the walls :-), I used that as my excuse for not starting to get them hung. Now that excuse is gone.

My other two major jobs inside the house here were to re-caulk all the bathrooms and kitchen and to put knobs on all my cabinets and drawers. Today I "bit the bullet" on the caulking job. It's something I just never have been good at -- so I have NOT been looking forward to doing it. (Yes, you can translate that as "dreading it!")

Today, as I was about to start, I sent a reply txt to a friend and added a request for prayer because I was about to start the caulking job. I added, "Need Daddy God to show me how 2 do this right." As I was finishing up all the clean up tonight, I realized that He had! This is the first time that I have ever had it turn out looking "neat" (like it's supposed to!). And I did approach it a different way.

God is so good! And those of us who do not have a husband to pawn these tasks off on :-) or a father to teach us how to do them (which my dad couldn't have done, even if he were still alive), we learn how to turn both to Father ("Abba" really translates "Daddy") God & to our husband, Jesus.

I frequently talk with one or the other when I need to figure out how to do something around the house or yard - or even when I really need another hand. That may sound strange to some of you. But there have been MANY times over the years when I was struggling with something because I couldn't hold it and fix it or whatever (you know, those times when married couples call their spouse for an extra hand) and I would stop and ask my husband, Jesus, to give me a hand or send an angel or whatever. Then I would try "one more time" and "suddenly" be able to accomplish the task. He is a faithful Husband as well as faithful Savior and Lord.

Okay ... I've probably "wierded some of you out." Oh, well. That's my life. :-)

So, that leaves me two major jobs inside: hanging pictures and putting knobs on all the cabinets and drawers. For those who have not seen my house, realize that between the three bathrooms, utility room and kitchen that adds up to 45 cabinet knobs and knobs or handles for 22 drawers, some of which are long enough to need two. So that is not a quick or trivial task. It's likely the pictures will be hung first. :-)

And with the promise of spring there is the yard work. I thought moving to a patio home would get me out of that. My recommendation: be sure to read the fine print in the HOA covenants! [Okay, I did know this before I bought.] We are responsible for our beds and landscaping. The HOA dues only pays for the lawn care & snow removal. And my yard desparately needs relandscaping. So, I will be "starting" that this spring. It will likely take 2-3 years. One thing I want to do is put more lighting between the wall and the street - but will likely not get that done this year.

Ok. The clock says 11:30pm, but in a couple of hours we will "spring forward" and miss an hour's sleep. So I better get this posted and get off to bed.