Errand overload

RE: “Ah, the retired life..... free to run errands all over the place......”
The errand-overload has gotten so extreme the refrigerator-door can no longer keep up.
We have to print out a calendar-sheet to organize all the errands and avoid conflicts.
Appointments get added willy-nilly.
So far Budget-Blinds has been shoved at least three times.
Doctor-appointments, vet-appointments, car service, home improvement and maintenance, etc, etc, etc.
We made another appointment with Budget-Blinds two days ago (Wednesday, May 14, 2008), “with hopes we can actually keep it this time.”
Almost two months have passed since our first try — first of three attempts.
And wedged in are attempts to run, the YMCA, working at the post-office, lawn-mowing, visits to mighty Weggers, gas-stations, etc.
Yesterday we called to set up an appointment with the window-man; same guy we did the window replacement project with last year.
“I can only do that this month next Wednesday afternoon — it’s the only opening we have.”
Meanwhile the garage-door replacement and hot-water heater replacement haven’t even been dealt with yet.
And then there’s finishing the house-siding on the back wall, and removing the porch skylights and roofing in. (They leak — or condensate.)
—And the rear deck of paving-stones.
(I also have a Union-meeting to attend.)
Next week our HVAC contractor comes to clean and service the furnace, which may mean a new air-conditioning compressor.
We can spare the expense, but have to be here to have it installed.
The vet-appointment proposed for yesterday afternoon had to be put off as untenable — our vet wasn’t available at that time.
The vet-appointment had to be rescheduled for this morning, which scotches the YMCA — I hope I can run instead; there may be enough time.
The rescheduled vet-appointment shoves freezer-delivery; unless they can deliver it this afternoon.
(Appointment-times have been divided into morning and afternoon — afternoon seems preferable.)
But they can’t specify a time; only a day — this is mighty Lowes.
Yesterday morning I was supposed to have the oil-filter changed/tires rotated on the Bathtub, my onliest opportunity to appraise the new AWD Matrix, which may be more agreeable than the Suzuki SX4 wagon we’ve been considering (which is also AWD).
Who knows when I’ll ever be able to trade the CR-V; I told the salesman hopefully by year’s end. (Processing would eat up a morning or afternoon.)
Thanks to various cancer-delays, Toyota has brought out a new Matrix, making AWD available again.
Recently it was no longer available AWD.
Who knows if I’ll ever make the mighty Curve this year.
That depends on the dog.
I’d rather have my dog back than watch trains, but that may not come to pass.

“Ah, the retired life..... free to run errands all over the place......” is something my ever-tolerant zealot sister in south Floridy said criticizing my running a couple errands last week in a spare afternoon I had.

RE: “Budget-Blinds......” —We are looking to install blinds (or shades) on our back porch.

My wife of 40+ years is “Linda.” Like me she’s retired, but she works part-time at the West Bloomfield post-office.

“Mighty Lowes” is Lowes Home-Improvement Super-Store. They have a store in Canandaigua.

RE: “window replacement project.......” —Last summer we replaced over half of the windows in our house.

“Garage-door replacement and hot-water heater replacement” are not currently emergencies, but could be some day.

“Mighty Weggers” is Wegmans, a large supermarket-chain based in Rochester we often buy groceries at. They have a store in Canandaigua.

“The Bathtub” is our 2005 Toyota Sienna van; called that because it’s white and like sitting in a bathtub.

“The CR-V” is our 2003 Honda CR-V SUV. It’s too much like a truck — we’d rather have a car.

My wife had lymphatic cancer, as does our dog. My wife will survive, but my dog may not.

“AWD” is “All-Wheel-Drive;” full-time four-wheel-drive that doesn’t have to be engaged. I always get it to avoid blowing out our driveway.

RE: “Making AWD available again.......” —Previously the Matrix was not available with All-Wheel-Drive. At first it was, but it was recently discontinued. Now it’s available again — in a newly upgraded Matrix.

“The mighty Curve” (Horseshoe Curve), west of Altoona, Pennsylvania, is by far the BEST railfan spot I have ever been to. Horseshoe Curve is a national historic site. It was a trick used by the Pennsylvania Railroad to get over the Allegheny mountains without steep grades. Horseshoe Curve was opened in 1854, and is still in use. (I am a railfan, and have been since I was a child.)