Monday, January 10, 2022

The Days Of Hoarding Tests & Melting Machines...

 Friend: So, I have 3 tests and I have 5 double packs coming.  Then my boyfriend has 7 double packs coming plus a few he got from work.

Me: Yes, I have 14 I think when everything ships, including the three I have on hand now.

Friend: It's ridiculous that we have to keep a small hoard covid tests on hand like this.

Me: Everyone thought I was ridiculous in January of 2020 when I grabbed an extra case or two of TP, paper towels, and Lysol wipes.  But come April no one was laughing.


So that's where we're at over here folks.  Dodging cooties and hoarding tests.  I tell you, there's only two other times I had so much anxiety over waiting on two lines in a control window.  At least I didn't have to pee on this test. When you're a family of 5 (essentially) you need at least ten for every exposure. Sad, but true. Oldest is on the mend, though still testing positive, he was able to start his internship.  So far, the rest of us are doing our best to avoid the spike ball cooties. 

My husband's cousin was not so lucky.  He past away due to COVID complications this week. In case you're wondering, it is still very real.

We currently have more people out with COVID now than all together in the last two years. I think we have 6-7 people out per day just in our craft alone.  The clearing nurse the PO is using is so backed up that people are having to stay out far longer than the 10-day maximum, which is killing us.  The unions are all stressing to file a workman's comp claim for two reasons, one it forces the Post Office to pay out time for our leave rather than use our sick time, and two, it covers us in case we have complications of covid years from now, it will be covered under workman's comp. It's a lot of paperwork, but worth it in the end game.

Youngest's car is fully up and running, having had to spend half of what he paid for to get it running right.  As to be expected the dealer we bought it from is not returning emails or texts.  I will be filing with the Attorney General's office this week.  Well see if they still stay silent.

The Hubs has an appointment with his doctor this week.  Since we have the same doctor, he's giving me the appointment and rescheduling his for later in the month.  I'm hoping to get a full work up for everything right down to the knee.  Fingers crossed I can get a cortisone shot, because once again it's become unbearable.

And so as not to leave you with the impression that we have settled into the mundane, The Hubs woke me up at 5 am this morning because he couldn't get washer lid open.  It seems the washer had run on the spin and rinse cycle for, oh, 7 hours. It ran so long that the agitator actually melted and snapped in half, spreading liquid plastic all over Youngest's clothes.  Did I mention they were all brand new from Christmas and also included his favorite jacket that he never lets me wash?  Yeah.  Good times.  Thankfully since everything was wet, nothing caught fire, since you know, we were all sleeping at the time. 

Turns out, we were within 19 days of the end of the warrantee, and someone is coming out to check it out shortly. Youngest handled his clothing loss way better than I had expected (Hubs keeps reminding me what a HUGE win this is) and is off searching for a new coat with the girlfriend as we speak.

Which is good, since tomorrow's wind chills are expected to be -14F. (Somewhere around -25 for you C folks)

Which should make delivering everyone's grocery flyer so, SO, much fun.


6 comments:

  1. Where to start, where to start...
    My daughter apparently was down with COVID- not serious- just before Christmas. A former friend who she helped her hubby get a job where she works is now accusing her of giving it to him. I suspect the hubby was involved in funny business with another co-worker, but not my problem.

    Very sorry about your in-law. I was just reading a tweet-stream from a chaplain at some big hospital. Sometimes I wonder if it isn't worse than media presented.

    Ah, car dealers. So far so good with ours, thanks mainly to a lot of prayer.

    Sorry about your knee, too. Between you and Jo-Anne...

    On the washer, we had the switch in the lid go out. It just left us with wet clothes that were salvageable and a half-tub of soapy water that was bail-able. Easy peasy $10 fix.

    This round you guys get the brunt of those cold temps. COLD here, but WCs are around 0.

    I may have told you that several years ago when we were young and stupid, the local USPS was holding employment tests. My nephew and I went, only to find a line that wrapped twice around the High School hosting it. Much like Youngest might have at one time, we loaded a bowl and drove on home.

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  2. Brrr with your temps! And I was complaining here because it was only the high 60s.

    Wow with the tests. We have yet (only by the grace of God) had to get tested. Grandson (5 years old) was exposed to someone in school (not a new occurrence) and so had to get tested to get back into school. He tested positive and he has absolutely no symptoms. That was at the doctor's or some other testing site. Son did a home test on him the next day and he was negative. Not sure what they are doing next. So frustrating!

    Sorry to hear about hubby's cousin passing from Covid. Such sad times.

    Glad the washer decided to act up while still under warranty! That happened to us one time.

    I know a hospital here is letting employees work if they test positive but are asymptomatic or very mildly symptomatic because they are so short staffed. Our garbage people can't pick up the recycle bins because not enough people. Just a mess! I can only hope the next variant won't be so hard hitting with being so contagious!

    Good luck with your doctor's appointment!

    betty

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  3. Tests are rarer than hens teeth here - and the queues for the other ones impossibly long. Our numbers are skyrocketing and being significantly under counted too. Hopefully we will see an end to this. Soon.

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  4. I'm so sorry for the loss in your family. It's especially bitter these days.

    Actually, due to the current surge (and, yes, it IS real), I am so glad The Husband has retired - turns out two weeks after he left a wave swept through his company. Although the experts are calling this variant "mild," I keep seeing vaccinated (and boosted) people getting it and saying it is NOT "mild;" which makes me realize just how bad the other variants must have been. It's exhausting and disheartening.

    Lucky that there wasn't a fire and that the washing machine is still under warranty...but, holy cow! We just need to go back to the washing machines (and dryers and everything else) that our mother's had - they weren't pretty or fancy but they got the job done AND lasted forever.

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  5. I am due a cortinsone injection into my arm, the pain in my left arm is horrible. Car salesmen are a right bunch and some car yards are shocking.

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  6. Sorry to hear your Hubs lost a Cousin. I Lost Two BFF's over Christmas, people are indeed still dropping like Flies and it's Real. You were Wise to Hoard Tests, we can't get them here at all so you speculate if you have The Rona or not... and voluntarily Quarantine just in case. Even our Hospitals don't have Tests, I got Pneumonia and they couldn't Test me to conclusively say if it's the regular Pneumonia or COVID Pneumonia, WTF?! So, we pretend mebbe it is and I stay away from everyone even tho' during Winter and Flu/Cold Season isn't everyone getting Sick anyway even without a Pandemic, so, how can you possibly discern? Every time I hear someone Cough or say they don't Feel Well, I just figure they could be infected... but most don't know what their status is either. Sorry to hear about the Good Times involving the Laundry... we had a Water Heater catch on Fire last Winter, what a Scare that was!

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