Crazy weather, crazy happenings

This has been a crazy week. It's ended with me coming down with some kind of spring cold, so I'm popping sinus pills like some crazed druggie so I can breathe and get some kind of awake time. Hopefully, I'll be fairly well past this by Monday morning, so I can get through work without feeling like I'm dying on my feet. Looks like that Devil's Cut is going to go down my gullet the next couple of nights in a toddy to help me sleep. It would almost be funny that we got it for medicinal purposes and now it's going to get used for it, especially since I spent most of Friday sneezing my fool head off at work.

As to the car, Quentin figured out what happened. Somehow, I blew out the thermostat, completely destroying the housing. It seems the upper radiator hose has a small crack somewhere, too, but no funds to replace it this week, so I have to carry antifreeze with me now till next week so I can make sure that I don't have a major problem in the meantime. The fix was cheap though, since the parts only cost $30. The gasket in the thermostat housing got stuck in the spring somehow, and stuck bad ... to the point that the spring wasn't able to move properly to relieve heat pressure and buildup, and so .... BOOM. The thing's on the front of the engine, so it's easy to get to, unlike some places it could have been located. Of course, with it being a 2006 car, and pretty much everything is original, so it's bound to start having some issues with things needing to be fixed. Sure is cheaper to maintain and repair Victor right now, rather than replace him. So it's fix-it, and that means next week, Quentin has to replace that upper radiator hose that's leaking a teeny bit. Thank goodness it wasn't the water pump, because that would be a major issue.

Tuesday was pretty, as we had snow Monday night. Being at a higher elevation than the main drag, we get the weather that the lower part of the mountain doesn't. We got about an inch, which was the kind I'm used to from "back home" in Michigan - big, wet, fluffy flakes that stick to everything. And if I'd had a chance before going to work, I'd've been taking photos of it all, because it looked like total fairyland. Everything was covered in white, making it look so darned pretty. Unfortunately, it all melted by lunchtime, so I never got a shot, and Quentin has no clue how to use the camera and doesn't want to learn, so not a hope in heck of getting a shot of the first real fairyland I've seen in four years since I moved here to the Ozarks. Grrr.

Thursday became a bit of a nightmare at my lunchbreak. First break at work, I texted Quentin as usual while noshing during my always too short break. A couple of coworkers I sit with saw me putting my phone back into my lunchbag and zipping it up. Second break happens, and I go to grab my phone, and guess what? I didn't find it. Some <redacted> idiot stole my phone right out of my lucnhbag. And of course, nobody saw it happen, and nobody's responsible. So I had to get a new cheapy phone, whicih is fine, because about all I do is text and make occasional calls. For long calls, I'll just use Quentin's phone, because the one I could afford to replace my old one with is a stupid Tracphone and those suckers cost a fortune to use them. I hope the person who stole it enjoyed what little use they got out of it, because the thing was turning itself off at all times without warning, including during phone calls and texting. Just right in the middle of things, bloop! and off it would go. And it was beginning to be a pain in the tuckus to get it to turn back on and stay on. Add in that it only had a couple of bars left on t he battery and you get that I'm not that unhappy that it's disappeared, but it's sure a pain that it's gone, and I don't really like the new one, since I can't turn the stupid T9 off. Cheap phone .... Grrr.

But the week's over, the car's repaired (sort of), and my cold is trying to go away. The weather is starting to warm up so things can be done outdoors even more, and I keep hoping every day that things will start to green up. Spring is going to be so pretty.

Oh yeah, and I'm getting in a ton of sed catalogs and am prepping my orders. They may be kind of late this year, depending on finances and all, but they'll get out and I'll get seeds, even if I don't have a chance to get them in this year. All heirloom varieties, because I want to save seeds and keep the varietals going and creating more seeds I can eventually sell packets of myself for a little extra cash, along with excess seedlings and produce and ... hey, this IS supposed to eventually be a productive, self-supporting, sustainable farm, right? Gotta start somewhere, and seed catalogs are a start. Heehee. Till next week, Gentle Readers. I'm off to get some more sleep and try to feel better for Monday.