Last week I washed the mattress topper to our bed, and while it was in the dryer it started smelling funny. I've never washed it before, and I thought maybe because it was bamboo based it wasn't supposed to be washed and dried. Then the next load of clothes I tried to dry would not dry, not even after three cycles. Before I called the repairman, I thought I'd try and clean out the back filter, and I was horrified at what I found. Lint was so impacted in the escape vent that it maintained its cylinder shape even after I pulled it out. I saw the exit pipe was just as clogged and I knew I didn't have the tools to clean it from the dryer to outside the house. Bobby found a company that is made up of firemen who do the cleaning on their off days. I was baffled, because I clean the lint trap after every single use. He said lint would still escape underneath and through the back and needed to be cleaned out twice a year. Sadly it didn't make our dryer work again as the burning smell was the heating element and some of the lint on top of it being singed. We found a dryer repairman (Mike D's Dryer Repair) and he was able to come within two days. (Most places were booked five days out). He did have to order the part as ours was different than the one he bought, but when he took the machine apart, there was about 2" of lint lining the bottom of the dryer. He told me we were fortunate, that usually that much lint creates a fire. I am so thankful we were home, that I smelled it, and that it is now repaired and working remarkably well. He said that we needed to clean it out once or twice a year, depending on how much it was used.
Bobby had to make a quick stop somewhere where there are a lot of barn cats. Because of past experiences, he normally closes the lift to his van while there, but that time he didn't because he was only there about 5-10 minutes. He brought home two kittens. Thankfully we were able to get one home before it messed up the van. The other escaped into our garage. The next day it left it's hiding place and went inside my car engine. We could hear it crying. I put out some food and the squirrel trap hoping we could catch it and take it home. After a day of futile efforts, I was giving up. That night we went to his Mom's house, and on the way we heard a thunk and I saw the kitten behind the van running away at full speed. Evidently it went to his cousin's house and got in her car, so she went to our neighbor's house (her son) so he could get it out. He did, but when he let it go it went in his pickup truck. It took him several hours before he could get it again, but when he did he returned it to its original home. That was on ordeal.
Sunday night Bobby started getting a cold. Monday I gave him the last test in our covid kit (I took a test before we went to my parents at Christmas) and it was an immediate positive. Since the home tests are not the most reliable, we began looking for a place where he could get tested and was not having a lot of luck. Tuesday night he finally found a place in Raleigh. He filled out the paperwork online, and he went first thing Wednesday morning. The line was moving fairly fast, but it was backed up on the road by the time we left. Wednesday night I started coughing. By Thursday morning I had no voice and last night I began running a fever. His test came back positive this morning. He has a very mild cold. My voice is a little bit stronger today, and ibuprofen has taken care of the aches but hasn't really touched the mild headache. My sister-in-law and her youngest and his wife were coming in to town this weekend, so it has really worked out perfect. They are staying with Mrs. Bryan and will be here through the bad weather this weekend, and she dropped off some soup for us. I've actually cooked every meal, but it will be nice not having to do that for a few meals. Other than no voice and slight cough, I feel like I just had the vaccine. Bobby had the Pfizer (both shots plus booster) and only had the knot on his arm, though it was much smaller with the booster. I had the Moderna and had worsening side effects with each shot. I hadn't gotten the booster yet. I wasn't eligible for it until December, and couldn't find 2-3 days in our schedule where I wanted to deal with the side effects. Then as time passed and I kept hearing of people getting the Moderna booster and still getting sick with the virus I wasn't sure I wanted to put myself through that again. Our doctor was quite firm that we needed to stick with the same company we started with. He said all the journals he was reading did not advise mixing the shots. I do think I will probably get my blood checked for antibodies a week or two after this is gone and make a decision from there about the booster.
Meanwhile, our quilt guild is still meeting via Zoom. We were hoping to start meeting in person again in February, but that got changed. I am in charging of acquiring speakers for our meetings, and was having a hard time finding someone who would commit to speaking without a clear confirmation of in person or via Zoom. Most of the long distance Zoom speakers were already booked, and a lot of our local people are not set up for a Zoom presentation. So that means I get to speak in January. I've been working on the power point presentation, but now I'm hoping my voice is totally back to normal and my cough is gone by Tuesday night. I'm almost halfway finished with the project I'm going to present, and I think I've done enough that even if I don't feel like finishing it in the next day or two I'll be okay.
None of these things are how I envisioned 2022 starting, but the timing of everything couldn't work out better. Elections were postponed until May because of a lawsuit. While I was very aggravated at the time (we had already started preparing for training classes), I am SO thankful that I'm not in the middle of a teaching schedule right now. Hopefully by this time next week everything will be back to normal.
