Germ Warfare

If you’ve ever had kids, or been around children for any length of time, you know that when they are young and their immune systems are developing they basically become the world’s cutest little plague carriers. For several years, pretty much every bug going through the day care/school comes home to infect the whole family. Fortunately, as the kids grow and their immune systems strengthen, not every illness comes home. Then, after several years, the grandchildren come along and the process begins anew.

As of this writing, Kenn and I have three grandchildren: a twelve-year-old grandson, and his three-year-old brother and sister (fraternal twins). Up until our oldest son and his family (which includes all of the grandkids) moved to South Carolina, we kept our oldest grandson every other weekend; one of the times I have been the sickest was courtesy of him. At the time he was nine months old and fond of giving open-mouthed kisses as babies do when they’re first learning to kiss. It was adorable until he basically took out the whole family. I was sick as a dog for two weeks; everyone else shook it off after about a week. As for the grandson, he was fine; he was just a carrier. We still refer to it as the Babe-onic Plague.

Earlier this month, the twins were down visiting their other grandparents for a few days. Since we were headed to South Carolina for a weekend visit, we took the twins back with us. Lulu got a dose of Dramamine before we got on the road since she tends to get carsick. Everything was fine until just before we reached the Georgia/South Carolina border when Lulu started getting fussy. We took a break at the South Carolina Visitor’s Center so everyone could get out an move around. Lulu was not interested in anything. As I was carrying the pitiful little girl across the parking lot, I realized that she felt a little warm, but didn’t say anything. Kenn and I swapped off keeping an eye on the twins while the other went to the restroom. When I rejoined the group, Kenn said “Lulu feels a little warm to me.” I agreed, but we were almost to their house, so we loaded up and continued the journey. When we got to our son’s house, I told him that Lulu was fussy and felt a little warm, but he didn’t think she had a fever – until he took her temperature. Poor little girl had a temperature off 100.4o. Our daughter-in-law joined us at that point and our son greeted her with “Why does she get sick every time she visits your parents?” Of course, that’s one of those questions that has no answer. Poor little Lulu was sick all weekend; she was just miserable with a low-grade fever and a cough/congestion. (Linus, meanwhile, was fine.)

Kenn makes a pretty good napping buddy for a sick little girl.

When Kenn and I headed home on Monday, I was sleepy – which tends to be one of the first signs that I’m getting sick. The kids contacted us to let us know that Lulu’s COVID test was negative and that she was starting to feel a little better. Once we got home, Kenn and I spent the next few days suffering from a mild fatigue and I had a day of “brain fog” where words just weren’t working. After we started feeling better, I told him that I felt like I’d had a really mild case of COVID. It turns out that we probably did. Apparently there are a couple of new COVID variants that a lot of tests don’t detect. I’m just thankful that Lulu was feeling better in just a few days and that Kenn and I were only slightly under the weather.

Are there any Babe-onic Plague type stories in your family?

What once was lost, now is found.

I tend to be an organized person, although I’ve relaxed a lot in retirement. However, I still find it annoying when I can’t find something – especially when I just had it and I haven’t moved from where I was working. Pro Tip: always check under the cat. (Of course, now that Roxie is a member of the family, things go missing more often; the girl is a total kleptomaniac.)

Roxie, aka Klepto Kitty

We are currently trying to find the biggest item we have ever misplaced. Actually, we didn’t misplace it, we’ve never known where it is.🤷‍♀️ The Cabin is our third home, but the first to have a septic tank. The general rule of thumb seems to be that a septic tank should be pumped out every three to five years; as of August 5th, we have been living here eight years. Kenn and I have had a few discussions about having the septic tank checked/pumped, but then it slips our minds. However, we have finally taken action. (Go, us!) We had someone come out last week, but the ground was too boggy to do much. He’s supposed to come out again this Friday, but what with regular rainstorms, I’m not sure that the ground will be much better.

Kenn contacted the previous owners of The Cabin and asked about the location of the septic tank. They gave him a rough idea of its location, but he wasn’t able to find it. Before the technician was scheduled to arrive, Kenn said he remembered us getting a hand-drawn diagram of the location of the septic tank when we closed on the house. Of course, neither of us could find the closing paperwork. So much for my organizational skill! (I found the paperwork for our first two houses with no problems.🙄)

Kenn has become friends with the owners of the local pawn shop. (How’s that for a non sequitur?) He stopped in at the pawn shop for a visit and asked if they knew where their septic tank is; they did. They also gave Kenn a tip. It turns out that we can get a copy of the latest septic tank inspection from our local… health department. I thought we might be able to locate the information on the Tax Commissioner’s website, but I was wrong. Getting the information from the health department would have never even crossed my mind. Kenn gave the health department a call yesterday, and they have already sent him some information; he also got out and did some digging and is pretty sure he found the septic tank. According to the paperwork from the health department, the original 1979 septic system was replaced and relocated in 2001; the location of the “new” system matches up to what Kenn found. He has also flagged the location so we don’t “lose” it again.

What’s the biggest (or most important thing) you have misplaced?

Also, today is Kenn’s birthday. Happy 63rd, Kenn!

Out with the old.

I don’t know what happened, but when my part-time job ended, I decided that it is time for us to start working on the projects that we’ve discussed seemingly forever. Among those projects are:

  • Replacing the ceiling fan and light fixture in our living/dining area.
  • Install vinyl plank flooring in the basement bathroom and replace the sink and toilet.
  • Replace the counter and sink in the main floor bathroom.

The basement bathroom project revolves around us agreeing on which vinyl plank flooring pattern to use which may take a while. Kenn likes lighter flooring, I don’t – especially for the basement bathroom. The basement bath is between the half of the basement that serves as Kenn workshop and the half where my video game consoles are set up. As such, that bathroom sees a lot of muddy boots (Kenn’s) which, in my opinion, are not conducive to a light colored floor. I think he now sees the logic behind going with something a little darker, but we haven’t found exactly what we’re looking for yet.

Our next door neighbor has his own counter/cabinetry business, so replacing the counter/sink in the main floor bath is only a matter of getting on his schedule. We purchased the sink/counter combo for our master bath from him, so we already know what pattern we want – no decisions to make here!

We usually replace ceiling fans and light fixtures on our own, but the ones in the “great room” are going to require a professional with a scaffold or something due to the twenty-foot ceilings. I will dust the ceiling occasionally, but that’s where it stops for me.

We recently undertook a smaller project. Well, it was a smaller project for me; I don’t think it was even on Kenn’s list. We replaced our mailbox. The Cabin came with a rustic mailbox. (Shocking, I know.) The cedar mailbox was great for our rural location and rustic house, but it required too much upkeep for me. The mailbox looked like a house and the previous owners had stained the sides and roof of the mailbox to match those of The Cabin. They had even painted the “doors and windows” on the mailbox green like those on The Cabin. I played around with the idea of repainting the mailbox “door” yellow after we repainted our front door, but… no. The mailbox roof had faded and needed to be restained; it also had moss and lichen growing on it. I mentioned it to Kenn, and he was enthusiastic. “We can clean it and restain it!” However, I strongly suspected that that “we” meant “me” and “me” had no interest in taking on that task. I’m not a high-maintenance person, and I don’t want a high-maintenance mailbox. So, I bought a basic bronze mailbox and we installed it a few days ago.

The original mailbox.
The new mailbox.

While we were installing the new mailbox, we were also waiting for an air conditioning technician to arrive. Our A/C had stopped working the previous day, and it was time for us to find out if the existing unit could be repaired or if it would need to be replaced. Based on the date written on the unit, it’s twenty-two years old; I couldn’t help but feel that the odds were not in our favor. However, we dodged a bullet. A new switch and capacitor got the unit back up and running. We know it’s at the end of its lifespan, but hopefully, this fix will keep it running a little longer.🤞

Are you a DIY-er or do you prefer to hire a professional for your home improvement projects?