Moved the lights to the white shelves on the south wall, moved the plants. The big gray shelf is now empty and I can use it for storage. This is a short post, it's late.
The privacy issues and vertical blinds caused me to rethink shelf placement and plant placement over and over and over again. My Haworthia and Haworthiopsis are relatively easy, as long as you don't put them in full sun. They are fine under lights, and forgiving about most anything except overwatering.
My Adromischus are a whole new story. Some of them are fussy, meaning they need certain conditions. They need sunny days (or partial shade and protection from the heat of the day) and cool nights. They were not getting that. The shelf was right above the heat. This was happening:
Was this move good for us?
It depends who you ask. My hubby seems to be happy. He likes his job. He's kind of a city person. I tell him I'm a country girl and he's a city boy.
Do I hate it here? No. Am I happy? I can't answer that. The sting of losses are still upon me. The view, the quiet little town that was so easy to drive around in, my doctor, the close proximity of beautiful State Parks with HILLS. Great windows for my plants. Hartford Utilities which was FAR more affordable than WE Energies. I am making a great deal of adjustments to make this new life fit into my comfort zone.
This apartment..."spacious" 2 bedroom, 1 bath, 970 sq. feet, not enough closet space, vertical blinds which make the windows nearly unusable for plants, no view, is only $45 cheaper than the 1110 sq. foot roomy apartment we left in Hartford, with a view. What do I like better about this one? The water is softened and the windows aren't drafty.
The utilities. The highest bill I had in Hartford was $144 in July of last year. Hartford Utilities combines water, sewer and electric all on one bill. Only people who use gas need WE Energies.
Here the city water and sewer was $58 and next month the WE Energies electric bill will be $105. So that is $165 for wintertime utilities. I dread summer, add two window airs to that bill. I'm sure utilities will be close to $200 per month.
This apartment is old. It's ok, but not like what we had in Hartford. Rent is highway robbery in most places, even Hartford is getting that way. Our rent was reasonable because we were the first tenants in that building and stayed there 7 years. I wanted to live there for the rest of my life. Here, anything newer and nicer than where we are now is going to be in the $1200 to $1400 range at the lowest.
Maintenance. The maintenance at the apartment in Hartford was Awesome. Here it is mediocre to non-existent. We have resorted to doing some of it ourselves...gluing wood strips back that were loose, washing things that were dirty (and we didn't notice when we moved in), etc.
I guess the two main things in all this mess is (1) hubby's job has a fair wage and lots of overtime, meaning bigger checks, and (2) the airport is only blocks away, meaning he can fly home more easily. Note...I will be flying down to visit my daughter. Around $300 round trip to South Bend. She will pick me up!
My plants? Some have suffered. I am still working on moving them around AGAIN. Some might not make the cut. In fact, I need to get back to that project. I promise I will share pictures when I'm done.
The future? We are still waiting for spring, for things to green up. There are lots of awesome photos on the Internet of autumn colors along the river and in the parks. Fall colors are the best. Now if this apartment only had a real bathtub and a view...
That's what was going through my mind when our service advisor called us over to his computer so he could show us the pictures on his screen and the two page printout of all the codes the diagnostic spit out. I think it was the PCM (Powertrain Control Module), but don't quote me on that. It's a box under the hood and it has an electrical harness attached to it. The plug inside it, a complicated plug with lots of connectors, is corroded. The only way it can be corroded is by water leaking in. The box and the electrical harness needs to be replaced.
Cost: $4,000.00
Plus car rental at $40 per day, time needed, two days.
We have a Ford maintenance plan. Can you run it through the insurance?
Oh, great news! It's covered!
But it doesn't end there. We need to address the leak.
"The windshield has been replaced," he said.
Yes, but that was before we bought it (it's listed in the CARFAX records).
"I would like you to take it somewhere to have it re-sealed. Call around, try a local place, not a chain."
In the meantime, we were told it's safe to drive like we have been doing, disconnect the battery to turn off the lights. So we came home and started making phone calls.
Safelight and other national chains will not re-seal a windshield, only replace it. We finally found a local company that will carefully remove it (hopefully it doesn't break) and re-seal it. Price, just under $150. However, if it breaks during the removal process, they are not liable for that and we will need to have a new one installed, for $658. Having a new windshield installed is close to the same price. We are scheduled for that service on Monday, March 31st.
The parts for the $4,000 repair are on backorder, so maybe that will be done during the first half of April.
Our Ford Protect Service Plan is active until the end of this year. We bought 3 years and paid it off in two at the rate of $156 per month. We have used it several times. Two wheel bearing replacements ($100 co-pay on each), other stuff I can't remember right now, and this, so it paid for itself and then some.
That's all for today. I have been working on my plant shelves. Will update soon.
Our truck's electrical system must have gone haywire. Friday hubby called me from work. He was on break and notice the blinkers were on. Then he noticed the horn was honking. He rushed over to the truck to find that the doors were locking and unlocking by themselves, ALL the warning signals were flashing on and off and the ear-splitting horn wouldn't shut the f up. He was kind of freaked out, and going deaf from the horn. By now I was freaked too. He disconnected the battery and all the noise shut off. Of course he had to leave the truck unlocked, because now the key fob had no effect.
He was able to drive home without the horn going off again. He disconnected the battery and left it as is for the rest of the night. Saturday morning I called Service. I called Ford Service everywhere and NOTHING was open until Monday.
Hubby watched YouTube videos, consulted the manual, and decided to pull the fuse for the horn, because who wants a horn loud enough to wake the dead honking continuously. We decided to stop at Auto Zone so they could diagnose it. Battery was ok. No codes were picked up by the handheld tester they use. The Alternator seemed to be questionable.
We have a service plan with excellent coverage, but service must be performed at a Ford Dealership. I was able to make an early appointment for Wednesday.
In the meantime, hubby figured out that it was fine to drive, but when parked, he had to disconnect the battery in order to shut off the lights. If we were only going to be walking around for a few minutes, we figured it was fine. For any extended time the battery would need to be disconnected and the truck would be unlocked. That was ok for work (parking is fenced in) or here at the apartment (nothing so far has happened).
We did drive around over the weekend and checked out some parks. They will be pretty once they start the green up.
We got as far as Kaukauna before the rain and sleet started. What an interesting town. They have preserved many old buildings and factories and converted them. We want to go back when the library is open. It used to be a paper mill. Here is a picture.
The Ahlstrom-Munksjo Thilmany paper mill is down river, in this picture.
The river is wide and swift in Kaukauna. I looked it up. There is a 50 foot drop as the water races toward Green Bay. So the water runs north out of Lake Winnebago and into the Fox River. For some reason I thought it flowed the other way. Kaukauna generates electricity from the river.
On the way home I started to smell something. It smelled like dog poo. Just then hubby asked, what's that smell? Just then I noticed he had opened his window slightly. I also noticed we were downwind of the paper mill.
It's the Paper Mill!!!! Your window is open. He promptly closed it. After we were down the road more, hubby opened his window again to let in some fresh air. Honestly, it was like sticking your nose into a bag of dog sh*t.
I always heard people say, don't live downwind of a paper mill. Sometimes the wind shifts and there's nothing you can do.
I looked up the paper mill's page, out of curiosity. Headquarters are in Finland, the mill has Swedish owners. They have quite an operation. The smell is explained, and they try to vent it out away from town, but sometimes the wind shifts.
We got home just as it started to snow furiously.
I will update Wednesday, after we find out what's wrong with the truck.
We were alarmed. I was especially so, and told him, you can't get more rashes on top of these rashes, it will be like burns going deeper. He was thinking he needed longer gloves, that perhaps acid was still getting in his sleeves. His co-workers were trying to help. One guy doesn't even wear PPE (personal protection equipment), he says nothing bothers him. The other guy, who does wear PPE and has been working in that department for years, has never had a problem. One girl who used to work in that department broke out in rashes so bad she ended up in the hospital.
The next day hubby arrived at work and began putting on his PPE. Immediately the big boss came over and told him to put the equipment away. "We can't let you work in acid washing anymore, your health is more important." He called him in the office to talk.
"Where would you like to work? Pick anything, we can train you", the boss asked.
"I like metal finishing, I was hired as a metal finisher", hubby answered.
I don't know the full conversation, but they talked about the jobs and praised him for learning fast and doing good work. His work in the acid washing department was excellent, but because of the rashes he would not return to that job. The policy was made after the employee mentioned above ended up in the hospital. It is some type of allergic reaction that could only worsen.
So hubby is back in metal finishing, and quite happy about it. More people have been hired to fill needed positions. Someone else is helping in the acid washing department. All is well.
Below is one of several pictures I took of his rashes. They are clearing up nicely since he returned to metal finishing.
My bread machine fell apart back in Harford and I didn't buy a new one. Last week I decided to try making it by hand, kneading for 10 minutes...the whole nine yards. It was ok but didn't rise very well. Hubby said it tasted good (I don't eat bread). Saturday we bought new jar of yeast and bread flour. Hubby worked half a day on Sunday (double-time...yay!) so I set about trying to make another loaf. This one was better, but still needed something to make it better, maybe more flour. It seemed to slump down a little even though it rose great at first.
Unfortunately my wrist is swollen now and I can't be kneading any more dough.
I'm finally doing a little painting, just practice to get back into it. I'm going to try to stay with it now that my plants are fairly settled in. I say fairly because I have to keep the blinds half closed for privacy reasons, so most are not getting enough light, even though I bought supplemental lighting.
I tried to clean the walk in whirlpool tub. It was stressful and not something I will try again. In fact, I do not ever plan to turn that damn thing on again. I followed the instructions, fill with hot water to a few inches above the top jets, add two or three tablespoons dishwasher liquid and turn on the jets for 10 minutes.
Ten minutes later I come back to turn off the jets.
NOTHING
I press the button again, harder, firmly, all the way down, in case I didn't do it right the first time. I wait a few minutes and try again. Am I turning it on or off? I try again, just in case.
FREAKIN NOTHING THEY ARE STILL RUNNING.
So I'm looking at this mess, large dirty flakes of dried crap that blew out the jets is swirling around in a tub I can't empty because you can't run the jets dry, and I can't turn it off. See picture below (most of the water is drained out). It's obvious it hasn't been cleaned in ages!
I called maintenance. They don't know diddly about this thing because this is the only apartment with one of these things. By now an hour has gone by and I try again. Finally the piece of sh!t turned off.
To me, the terrifying scenario would be getting stuck in there. You can only fill it with the door shut, meaning you need to lock yourself in there. You can't get out until the water is out. Nope, not doing that.
I'm so thankful hubby loves to go places to shop or walk on his days off. The towns of Greenville and Hortonville are pretty and remind me of what used to be home, rolling hills and trees. Even though I didn't say anything, hubby has apologized for putting us where I have nothing to look at except a garage. I told him it wasn't his fault, that was the only apartment available in January in our price range. It's going to be very difficult to find an apartment with a view, on our budget. The place in Hartford was probably a one time deal. I miss it. I miss Hartford. It was easy to drive around there. I never cared for Appleton. Hubby loves his job. It's a good company. The airport is 10 minutes down the road. My plants are not happy. I have nothing to look at. Life is a mix of good and things that suck.
