Day 18 - LA County Dept. of Health MANDATES masking indoors

Welder repairs my patio trellises today…

8/3/21. Tuesday

7:00-8:00 – I’m up at 6:45 so I go downstairs to say good morning to the dog. She’s still asleep, so it’s hard to get her to wake up and go outside. I rub her tummy four times before she staggers to her feet and jumps off the couch. She grabs her toy and outside we go. I stand around until she does her business and we return inside: cheese for her, coffee for me. I go upstairs.

Shower. Lotion. Covid-19 uniform. Light make-up. I listen to Best of Both Worlds. I weigh 100.5 today. L. picked up some gourmet cookies from…somewhere???...last night, so I have one with my coffee for breakfast.

8:15 – 9:20 - The welder arrives - he doesn’t mask -, but accidentally left his tape measure at Home Depot and needs to use mine. I stupidly thought he could weld around my potted plants, but he can’t, so he starts moving them.  He’s very rough – some of the vines have been wrapped around the iron trellises for years – and he just starts yanking the tendrils out.  I step in and try to gently unwind them, as well as move some of the other potted plants myself, but there is still carnage all over the patio, in the form of broken branches and leaves. Very distressing.

The plants are sufficiently moved and I return inside, enter my office, and start working on my Summer class. I publish today’s content and update the attendance and the online grade book. I also go through the latest Discussion Board prompt and tally up the responses. Then, I post the Discussion Board scores.

I finish and switch to creating the Syllabus for my Core Class at College No. 1.  Unfortunately, I have to start from scratch and cobble together the best parts of the syllabi I designed for my Long Distance training classes at both College No. 1 and College 2 into ONE master syllabus.  This is agonizingly slow.

9:20 – 10:00 - The welder knocks on the back door and asks me to come outside so I can see all the water that gushed out of the iron trellis after he made the first cut.  His English is poor and it is difficult to understand him. I’m not sure why I need to see how soaked his jeans are – he keeps pointing this out. Yes, the patio is now flooded and there is excess water in the flower beds, but isn’t that to be expected? The trellis posts were rusted through so it stands to reason there would be water inside of them. I keep saying, “Yes, very wet. But, are you still able to fix the trellises?”  He says ‘Yes!’  So, why am I standing here?

I turn to go inside, but the welder says, “You have water for me?”  Uh, actually, no, I don’t have any water for you as I try to avoid purchasing bottled water and plastics as often as possible -it’s better for the environment and reduces my carbon footprint.  Doesn’t he have water?  For himself?  What kind of contractor goes to a job in 105-degree heat and brings NO hydration?

I tell the welder I’ll go buy some water for him.  I’m actually working, but I drop everything and run to Whole Foods, where I buy 6 bottled waters, a bag of ice, some macaroni salad, and some grapes. Home and I put the ice and waters in a cooler, place everything on the patio table for the welder, and pick up where I left off on the Syllabus.

10:00-11:00- Resume working on my syllabus. 

11:00-11:30 –L. is finally up so I ask her to sit downstairs for a little while, in case the welder needs to speak to someone, while I take the dog for a walk to pee and poo. The dog can’t use the backyard because the welder is working. It’s super hot outside and she’s miserable. The dog does her business, but we only make one loop around the block before she decides to come in. I listen to The Weeds.

11:30-1:00 -   I have lunch [macaroni salad] downstairs in my office and read All You Can Ever Know then take a nap on my couch.  The dog takes a nap on my stomach.

L. leaves for work.

1:00 – 1:30 - The welder is done and shows me his work.  The trellises look amazing and he bolted them to the patio cement.  He says they’ll never fall down and will last 35 years. I’m very pleased! and pay him $400.  Unfortunately, it looks like a hurricane went through my yard and its going to take me hours to clean everything.  The welder is absolutely filthy and covered in mud, but still asks to use my bathroom. Seriously? I look down at his shoes, so he says he’ll take them off- his socks are bright white, so that’s a plus. He comes inside, washes his hands, and exits.

1:30-3:30 – Blog posts. I have pita chips with some vegan cream cheese.

3:30-6:00 – It is time to repair the yard. I move ALL of my plants back to their spots and re-thread the vines through the trellises.  Then, I sweep and water everything. What a mess! I listen to Organize 365.

L. returns from work, but leaves for Whole Foods to get sushi and potato salad.

6:00-8:00 – I return to the syllabus and finally finish the master outline.  Next, I pull the Academic Calendar for College No. 1 and cross reference it with the days I’ll be in Vegas and Ireland [unless the trip is canceled because of Delta] so I can insert my dates of availability with the corresponding weeks of content. At 8:00, I finish the entire Syllabus for Core Class No. 1!  I finally have a master template that I can use for my five other classes. I eat a few pieces of sushi, a couple bites of potato salad, and some dill potato chips.

8:30-9:30 – I do a 15-minute, Insanity- Cardio Abs workout, but just 30 minutes of Cardio Recovery, before I abort so I can watch Woodstock 1999 with L. 

9:45-12:00 – This was my Mom’s recommendation and L. and I loved it! 

What a cluster-f—k! L. and I watch the movie and talk throughout.

12:00-1:00 – Nighttime routine. I listen to By the Book. Bed. The contractors are coming tomorrow at 9:00.