What can I say? You know the dog was put to sleep…the travel agency where I worked closed its doors…and at my other job, I got replaced by a younger model…My husband is hooked to an oxygen machine…It is bitterly cold outside…My throat is sore…I have a head ache…
Nevertheless, today I decided to take down the Christmas tree. I had bought a real tree this year, which means there were a lot of needles to pick up. Once I had gotten the hundred glass balls and ornaments back on their respective boxes and unwound the three strands of mini lights, I dragged the tree to the front door and out into the snow bank. I then proceeded to vacuum the living room floor and hall way. All of a sudden, the vacuum stopped, I figured the plug had probably fallen out of the wall socket. As I was bending down to check, a piercing sound started. It was the oxygen machine! Which told me right away that the electrical power has been lost. My first reaction was to turn it off so the noise would stop. But then I had a choice to make: should I run downstairs to the fuse box and try to locate the culprit and jump start it OR run upstairs and start the portable oxygen bottle? I knew I had a few minutes before the need for oxygen became desperate so I chose to go fix the fuse. Flashlight in hand I climbed over the shopvac which was sprawled on the furnace room floor for reasons unknown to me, then over a stack of plastic waiting room chairs to finally land almost face first in font of two intimidating electrical panels. Have you ever noticed how even if most of the switches are labelled, the one you are looking for is NEVER identified??? I ran my hands blindly over them, hoping to feel a defective one. After a few false tries I found and reset the living room one. I ran back up and re-started the oxygen machine. When everything was purring normally, I switched wall sockets and started the vacuum again, only to have it die on me again and the siren start howling. I ran back down, over the same obstacles (practice makes perfect) and re set the fuse. Then I returned upstairs, re started the oxygen machine, retracted the vacuum electrical cord and put it away …We can live with pine needles for a while…besides they smell nice!