rolanni | News from the Confusion Factory (Reply)

It's been an . . . interesting couple of weeks here at the Confusion Factory.

On Thanksgiving Day, our water heater sprang a small but determined leak, which meant that we got to call in the plumber at Holiday Rates. He arrived quickly, turned off the hot water (but not the hot water baseboard heat, which runs on a different system), and promised a plumber who could actually fix the problem next day.

In the meantime, arrangements were made with the insurance company to send a team to dry out, disinfect, and monitor the basement. They also arrived on Friday, and set up big, noisy fans (though appreciably less noisy than the big, noisy fans the drying-out service set up at the Former Location of the Confusion Factory, years ago). The fans were removed on Sunday, the meter showed no extra moisture, and Bob's your uncle. We are still awaiting the return of the basement rugs, which have been cleaned, dried, and disinfected, but are awaiting a ride up from Auburn.

In News from I Never Thought This Would Happen, we have hired a housecleaning service. They came by last week and did a deep clean, and are currently scheduled for every three weeks. This may change, as we clarify what we need help with. The thing that impressed me most was the ease with which the young lady in charge of the rugs moved the vacuum cleaner around. I mean, I can vacuum, but it's tiring. She seemed to gain more energy the longer she was at it.

On December 1, I had cataract surgery done, and that was so much fun I did it again, on December 8.

I went for Long Sight for the New Eyes, since the thing that had bothered me most with the Old Eyes was that I no longer safe to drive -- street signs were an extended game of blind man's bluff, and for some reason, people had stopped putting numbers on their houses.

While my sight is still settling, I did go for a drive around the neighborhood on Friday and again on Saturday, and am delighted to report that I can read route signs, directions, speed limits and that the neighbors have all put the numbers back on their houses.

I can see fine to use the desktop, and the tablet, but not the laptop, or, alas, my phone.

My Short Sight -- I've been nearsighted my entire life, near enough -- is gone. This means that there are reading glasses in my future, if I ever want to read a paper book again, or indulge in embroidery. I will be seeing my regular optometrist on Thursday, and he will doubtless have more news.

In all, I'm feeling a little topsy-turvy, but I expect I'll get used to it, eventually.

Steve and I have been watching Wednesday on Netflix, and having a good time with it. We've only got two episodes to go, before we join the rest of the folks Patiently Waiting for Season Two.

What with the surgeries and recovering from surgeries, I'm Behind on the Work in Progress, and need to get with the program realsoonnow. In my own defense, I did manage to get the Yule cards together and the Annual Winter Letter written, so I wasn't Completely Indolent.

The cats have been tending me faithfully. The elders were pleased to see a return to the Command Chair. Firefly was Very Concerned with the state of my right eye, when I came home from that surgery. You could see her saying, "Well, I trust that the other guy looks worse."

And that's the news from the Cat Farm and Confusion Factory. Summing up: we're basically well and happy.

And hoping you're the same.