Quarantine Lessons

If Covid-19 quarantine has taught me anything, it's that it's really important to be careful about who you pick to share your quarters. For example, you want partners/roommates/housemates who:

1. Will take his/her turn making the pot roast;

2. Use the recipe that calls for red wine; and

3. Set aside most of the said wine for direct consumption.

It's a bonus if the partners/roommates/housemates will clean up on occasion, pitch in for laundry duty and know when to find themselves their won corner of the space and stay there. It's also helpful if you have partners/roommates/housemates who don't break important things you all need.                                                                                                                                                                               ⬇

Chez Reed has been blessed in some of the areas mentioned above and cursed in others. Overall it's made for a tolerable quarantine. We also have ample liquor, food and toilet paper in the house. So that helps.

We are down one toilet, though, and it's totally my fault. I was working in the basement and I heard a funky noise coming from the downstairs bathroom. The Captain advised me first that it didn't exist and then second that it didn't matter. But it persisted, so I took off the tank lid to find out why it was hissing a little bit. I pushed down the rubber thing that seals off the water, thinking it wasn't closing properly.

But when I went to put the lid back on the tank, my hands were wet and the thing slipped. It landed against the tank. If you don't know what happens when a 20-pound block of enamel hits a hollowed-out block of enamel, I'll tell you: 

1. You curse and try to catch the slippery object.
2. You grab onto it and pray that it didn't damage anything.
3. You spy the fracturing and hear its crackle as it continues to spread.
4. You put the lid back on, step back and gulp because you know duct tape isn't going to fix it.
5. You swallow hard and go find the Captain to confirm that yeah, we're going to have to shut the water off and get a new toilet/tank.

Fortunately, we have two other toilets, but the quarantine space inside our quarantine space has been compromised. I guess the next sick person we need to separate from the herd can pee in the shower.

Hopefully we'll get it fixed before we need to double isolate anyone else. On another bit of household consternation, Jeff added an extender to broaden the areas where we could all work online. It seemed awesome until my laptop stopped talking to some sites critical to my job.

Happily, we got nearly instantaneous professional help from Alan Ng, who used to be technically family (he's my cousin in-law's brother in-law.) He's now fully part of the clan at least as far I'm concerned. He not only helped us identify the issue, he's going to help with the fix that will broaden our modem strength but won't put up roadblocks for my PC.

On a funny note, within the same 12 hours of time I was trashing our toilet tank, my sister Donna took a hammer to what I think was frost build-up on her garage freezer. The door had been inadvertently been left ajar. So we're both going to soon contribute to the local economy with replacement/repairs. 

In other news, the daffodils have gone by, my neighbors' tulips are trying to bloom, the flox is trying to come in and Easter came and went. 

My housemates were not as excited to see their Easter baskets as I thought they would be but they didn't reject their treats. I guess 18 may be the end of this ritual, though I suspect had The Bunny not hopped by, there would have been a bit of melancholy.

We've had weather whiplash, too. I had a few online meetings on the porch and outside under Lois' magnolia. Ali and I even napped in the sunshine one day. But now it's like winter is back. 

My magnolia was glorious this year, but has flagged a bit under high winds and winter's return.

I got a lesson in using the power drill, and finally got around to putting legs on the cheese wheel container-table our cousin Mary gave me at Christmas. It's a perfect addition to the back porch. 

Jeff's been a regular handyman, too. He's fixed a drawer, did some fine sanding/gluing on the cheese table and replaced our shower heads so we feel like we're getting hotel service when we remember that we need to actually wash our whole bodies.

If only he were confident in his toilet repair abilities...