The Fence, The Latch, The Drill & Me

So the other day, I went to open my side gate, a gate that separates the front and back yard, and the darn latch will not open. I try, and try, and try, and the damn lever thing will not lift over the damn  bracket thing (those are technical terms, by the way. ha!) and I thinking, what the heck?

The G-D Latch!

I don't use this gate often, but use it when I need to fill the pool as the hose is on the side of the house. So maybe the thing is just rusted.

I search the house for WD40, finally find the can, can't find the darn top, search for that, find that and go out and spray the crap out of the latch -- but the thing still will not budge.  I spray it again and jiggle and wiggle it and finally pushing down with all might, I get the darn gate open. But when I try to close it, it will not close.... as now the lever will not go into the bracket.

I'm looking at it and thinking, maybe the wood on the gate has warped a bit and that's why it won't latch like it used to -- so how to fix this? Perhaps, I can move the bracket down a tad so that the lever can easily maneuver into the bracket. The bracket has two screws, so should be easy --- right?

Wrong.

 Meanwhile, since the gate is open, I run the hose to the pool to fill it. Then I go into the house to find a Phillips screw driver and my cordless drill, go back to the gate, try to unscrew the screws, first by hand, no luck, then by using my cordless drill which has screw bits.  This works slightly, getting the first screw halfway out, but then shreds the head of the screw so there are no longer any slats in it, just a large hole.  Oh-kay.

I go back into the house digging through the toolbox for some tool that will help me remove the broken screw and decide on a claw hammer and figure I'll pull it out as one would a nail. Go back outside, after several attempts, manage to yank that sucker out, but split the wood on the fence post in the process....

By now I'm ready to pull my hair out.

But I proceed, go into the house, get a smaller screw bit and manage to get the second screw out without stripping it. So far, too good. Now it's time to drill pilot holes for the new screws a tad lower than the old holes. So I switch the screw bit out for a regular drill bit and begin drilling a new hole, not realizing that the drill is on reverse and wondering why it's smoking like hell....

Figured that out, reversed the drill, drilled again, then tried to screw in a new screw, and the darn screw goes halfway in and stops and refuses to budge.  AAAARGH!  So I unscrew it, get a bigger drill bit, re-drill the hole, try again and finally, whoopee -- The first screw is in! Yay, me.

Onto the second screw. While I'm drilling the hole, the drill bit jams and gets stuck and simply detaches itself from the drill. Now I have a drill bit, stuck half in and hanging half out of the fence post. And I can't seem to get the damn thing out, each time I fit the end of the bit into the drill, clamp  the drill shut around it, turn on the drill, the drill just slides off.

By now I'm ready to get god damn sledge hammer and knock the whole fence down, I'm so frustrated. I'm yelling in my head, "God damn it Bob, where are you when I need you? How could you leave me alone like this!!! Give me some help here, hey!!!!" Because, damn, he could've (pre-stroke) gotten this job done in 5 minutes and so far it's taken me 45 minutes and I'm dripping with sweat and still screwing around, literally.

Deep breath.

Try again, fit the bit into the drill, clamp it shut, turn it on, and the bit comes out like magic. I screw in that last screw without any trouble and when I shut the gate, the latch slides into the bracket perfectly. Ta da!

Then I look at the pool and wonder why hasn't it filled up? The hose has been in there for 45 minutes, for crying out loud. I check the hose and only a dribble is coming out of the nozzle and I follow the hose and find a kink in it.

I tell you, doesn't this sound like an episode from I Love Lucy?

Tornado Warnings, Storms, High Winds...

Stressful day, today  --  big storm, thunder, lightening, wind gusts 49 miles/hour, tornado warnings    ---spent the day on the couch cuddled up with Kona. (Ripley hiding in closet.)

Funny, I used to enjoy storms...

Bob loved a good storm.  Used to feel safe, during a storm, when inside hearing the rain and wind outside, safe and warm inside.

Not anymore... freaked me out. Shaking, stressed, crying...

What is wrong with me?

Thankfully, all is calm now.

Warning: Another "woo-woo" post -- don't read, if you don't believe

I signed up for another webinar with a local medium, Jennifer Farmer, and it was called "meditations and connections with the spirit world" or something like that -- cost $19.99 -- so I'm thinking that's not much, and signed up...

Problem, when my desktop computer monitor died  -- I got a new one and didn't realize (I am frugal) that the cheap one I bought doesn't have a camera in it, so can't do a webinar from my desk computer, BUT I have an I-pad which does have camera so have to transfer from the desktop to the I-Pad on a ZOOM app...  anyway... not the first time I did this, but often problematic, so I wanted to make sure I could join the webinar and transferred the "code" to my I-Pad and found the "meeting" about 45 minutes before the webinar was to take place.  Left my I-Pad on a charger, with the Webinar meeting on Zoom, figuring I'd just punch "join" at 7:00 p.m. when the webinar started.

So there I am, getting ready for the webinar, in my living room, I light some candles, light some incense (sage), turning off lights, setting the mood for the meditation and as I'm doing this, in my living room, I hear this disembodied voice -- out of no where, saying "DIANE, ARE YOU THERE?"

OMG, I stop in my tracks.

Freaked out --  is someone in my house? I freeze, look around, nothing.

And then I think, oh, it's probably my answering machine. So I go to the phone but there's no call on my phone.. and ... I hear again, same voice, "DIANE? CAN YOU HEAR ME?"

WTF? I'll looking around, totally freaked out - but finally figure out the voice is coming from my I-Pad in the other room -- and I go there and see Jennifer Farmer's face on my I-Pad, saying again "Diane, are you there?"

Oh-kay, I pick it up and manage to type in "yes, I'm here."

Evidently, I was the first one to "log in" on that webinar and she saw me logged in -- said she was doing "sound check" and asked to me to help her with it, first tell me if heard her (yup) and then speak back to her (tried, but had to do some unmute thing) and then asked me click the "chat" box see if that worked, then the Q & A box, see if that worked, and then even asked me what "background" I preferred for her webcast.  At one point, I wrote on the chat (when she asked me check it) "You scared me to death." and she got the message said, "What did you think? I was ghost?" And I reply "yes!" Anyway -- Wow

So the Webinar started, she did a power point presentation about "signs" from the afterlife, and then did some questions and answers and did a beautiful mediation -- which left me in tears --- then did some readings for participants, and while she was doing readings -- I'm asking Bob, Hey, tap her on her shoulder, get her attention! I want to hear from you!

And near the very end, I see Jennifer looking at her shoulder, then saying, "Diane? Sound-check girl? Are you still with me?"

And I can't seem to find how to "unmute" myself, and she's saying"Diane, soundcheck girl? You still here? Someone here wants to talk to you."

 So I'm frantically trying to "unmute" myself --  And then she says, "Guess not, guess she's gone."

While I'm frustratedly trying to "unmute" myself and can't --- so tapped onto chat and wrote "I'm here!"

And she says, "Good!" and finally I managed to "unmute" myself, and she says, "There's someone here who keeps bugging me, a bossy guy, saying 'You're not getting past me' -- a man whose saying "I'm getting to talk to her no matter what! She helped you with the soundcheck."  And then she says, "I think this is your husband? Is your husband on the other side?"

I say, "yes"

She says, "Man, he's stubborn. He's like poking me in the shoulder saying, 'hey sister, she did your sound check, least you can do is let me say a few words.'" And she laughs, and says, "Okay, do you understand -- he says there was a recent passing, someone in his family, this year?"

I say, "Yes." Bob's uncle Dick died this year.

She says, he's acknowledging this --- and then she says, "Your husband was a smoker? yes?"

I say, "yes"

She says, "And he was ill for a long time and you took care of him."

I say, "Yes." (though I didn't think of him as 'ill' but disabled.)

She says, "He thanks you for taking care of him."

And she sort of cocks her head, like listening or seeing something, then she says, "He's showing me dogs for some reason, but all big dogs. Lots of big dogs." She actually looks a little confused, then she says, "Do you have a big dog? Or a big dog on other other side?'

I say, "Well, both."

She says, "He keeps showing big dogs, and he's talking about dogs, big dogs -- a lot of dogs, dogs and dogs and dogs..." she drifts off listening, then she says, "He's telling me to tell you to forget about boyfriends, he's telling me dogs are safe for her, she's happier with dogs, especially big dogs. He's telling me, you just need a big dog in your life. OK?"

"OK" -- and it's true, I love a Big dog, the bigger the better. In fact, when I got Kona, I kept looking at her (labarador retriever) and thinking, god, you are sooo short.  I was used to Boomer, who was taller, bigger.

Then she says, "He's showing me he was cremated. Right?"

"Yes"

"He says it's okay to spread some of his ashes about."

I'm like oh-kay -- but his ashes are in the Philco radio (I didn't say that) she continues and says:

"Now he is talking about how some people treated you after he passed and he is apologizing for his family members on how bad some of them treated you and, he says, you didn't deserve that and he's sorry that happened. Does that make sense?"

I say, "Oh yes."

She says, "Again, he says you didn't deserve that. They disrespected you."

I say, with tears in my eyes, "He didn't deserve it either."

She says, "He says he knows, he apologies for their behavior, says isn't wasn't right, you never deserved it  --  and now he says, 'I love you.' and he says "I'll always be with you" and he sends you a kiss."

And then she ended the webinar.

And all you non-believers, (if you are reading this and didn't heed my warning) OK, husband? yeah could be a guess, smoker, that too. That he was "ill" and I took care of him, well, maybe applies to many people. Cremation? yeah, that could apply to lots of people.

But, BIG dogs? Not everyone likes big dogs, in fact I have a friends who prefer small dogs and know people who prefers cats  I know people who don't even like dogs.  I love BIG dogs, always have had big dogs, you'll never find me with small dog, though I do like small cars!

OK, if (IF that is a big IF she ever saw my blog, or my Facebook page, she might know I have Kona) --

But his family treating me like shit after he died?  That's not a normal situation.  Hey, that couldn't have come from anyone but someone who knows me very well. Or Bob (watching from the other side)-- I didn't blog about that ... I was in so much shock when he died, so lost,  -- but they did -- some of Bob's family --- treat me like shit: calling me a BITCH on social media, saying they were glad they didn't have deal with me anymore --  calling my tribute to Bob a "15 minute joke" -- and jeepers, punching someone (me) whose already drowning --

And then, she (the medium)  actually didn't have to say anything to me -- I was just the "soundcheck girl" and one of many who paid $19.99 for the webinar.

He is still with me, and I believe.