Saturday, August 10, 2024

 Saturday, August 10, 2024 

     I woke up from my deep sleep around 1:30. I didn't fall into stinking thinking, but I couldn't fall back into a deep sleep. I got up around 5 a.m.  I completed my seated yoga with laughter yoga and my floor exercises, where I worked on upper arm and leg stretches before heading out for my long morning walk with Elsa. 

    As we headed out at 6:35, I got a text from Mama K. The girls were available now, but she had to leave by 8 a.m. for paddling practice. I told her I would be available by 7:30, so please make Twin E the priority. 

   I was home by 7:15. After a few glitches, I had Twin E on Zoom. I designed a lesson on recognizing the difference between the letter C written correctly and one with the opening on the left rather than the right.  I wrote the same word with the Draw function with the letter C written in both directions.  She aced the exercise., circling the correct one every time. Then, I opened a page of regular text and highlighted each b and d as it appeared. She aced that, too. For those who don't get the association, the letter d starts with a c; the letter b has a backward c.  

    I walked down to Darby's to pick up the empty trash barrel and two 5-gal. orange buckets. I didn't announce my presence because I was tired. I didn't have the energy for conversation, and I had to get home to deal with the electrician.

    When I drove to town yesterday, I noticed I didn't have a full charge on my battery. Weird. I thought I had charged it. I plugged it in when I got home.  I checked it periodically. Sure enough, it wasn't charging. I thought, "Damn, something's wrong with the car again."  But it wasn't the car but the connection to the outdoor outlet. I tried the lower one when I saw it didn't work when plugged into the upper slot. That worked briefly and then stopped. I called the electrician. He told me he would be over my way today and would stop by.

  When I told Lutz about the problem, he came and looked at the equipment. He said the electrician installed a 10 amp outlet or a cheap one made in China. He should install another one for free. I told him I wasn't up to arguing with him. It would be easier for me to pay him. 

  I ran the wire from the charger to the outlet for the washing machine inside the house. That one worked. At 10 p.m., just before going to bed, I unplugged the charger and closed the door.

    By 8:30 a.m., I was down for a nap.  I woke up an hour and a half later when I got a call from the electrician announcing he was at the door.  He took the outdoor outlet apart.  He said it was working well. He didn't understand why it didn't work.  It could be attached to another outlet, or it could be a frayed wire.  He couldn't find an indoor outlet that shared the wiring with the outdoor one. That wasn't the problem. The plugs on the 10 gauge wire and the charger showed signs of a burn. Something was clearly wrong, but what.  He instructed me to buy another wire. He suggested I get a new 10 gauge extension cord and use the other charger I had bought in case of emergency. He would stop by on his way home after making another call in the area. Charge-$126.

   I took Elsa to Judy's at 11 for grooming. I tried to make an appointment at Petco for the 15th. I stopped by the store and found no one in the grooming room. Strange. I waited. Someone had to be there. The store clerk saw me and told me it was closed for the time being because of a leak in the ceiling. She took my name and number.

     I scheduled a bath for Elsa at 10:30 for Judy's 11 a.m. grooming appointment. I got started a little late because of the electrician. Halfway through bathing her, it occurred to me that her hair needed to be dry for the razor to work. Oh, well. Her hair wasn't thick or coarse; it would dry pretty quickly. 

    Judy was waiting for me on the lanai. She got her dryer out to finish that job. I left before she started shaving. We both thought Elsa would be better off without me there.  I don't know if having a parent out of sight makes it better for a child or a dog, but it sure makes it better for the adult in charge.

   I left for Lowes to try and return the defective 10 gauge extension cord and buy a new one. The electrician told me the quality control on these cords is poor. They couldn't take it back because I didn't have a receipt.  They didn't have a good extension cord selection. I found one 10 gauge cord and brought it to the return counter. If they had the item number of the new one, they would locate the purchase and reimburse me for the old one.  That didn't work. I found out why when I got home. It wasn't the same type of plug as the one I had. I had never seen anything like it. it had something like four prongs.  It was a good thing I had the receipt emailed to me.  I printed it and put it in the box on the ready to be returned.

    I got the second Kia charger out of the back seat of my car and plugged the damaged extension cord into the outdoor outlet that hadn't been working before. Everything was working well. However, to be on the safe side, I needed an undamaged extension cord.