February 3, 2012
Dear Everyone:
I love being “retired” (spelled
u-n-e-m-p-l-o-y-e-d.) For
one thing, it means that I can drop “everything” when needed to help
someone out. None of that
“can’t leave work” stuff. Of
course, there’s also none of that monthly paycheck that goes with it.
But the freedom counts as compensation.
So “Jeannie”
could have called a cab to take her to the BART station, then taken
BART into
Oakland to “ransom” her car from a parking garage.
Or, I could take her.
Since I had “nothing better” to do.
And a full tank of gas.
Also, she paid for lunch.
“Jeannie” had parked at a large garage near her job
on Tuesday. The job ran
late. When she got to the
garage, a well-hidden sign pointed out that the garage closed at 7:00
pm, a frightfully early time for a “downtown” establishment to roll up
for the night. So she took
BART home and a friend, who lives closer than I do, picked her up at the
station, drove her home, and even provided a plate of dinner to warm up.
Good friend.
And I took her back to Oakland on Wednesday, after
she bought lunch. And after
we wrestled with two laptop computers that should have been able to
“talk” to each other, something a client needed for later this week.
Got the two “talking”, had lunch, went to Oakland.
It’s so nice being “footloose and fancy-free”.
In other news…
I attended our
Homeowners’ Association meeting a
couple of weeks ago, where the subject of the Great
Thanksgiving
Weekend
Water Disaster came up. One of
the neighbors pointed out something that I never thought about, but
should have realized.
The average
hot water tank contains as much as 40
gallons of water. And, in
our case, it’s situated inside a closet in the hallway.
(Many places have the hot water tank outside in the garage, if
you happen to have a garage.)
In an emergency, you can drain water out of the
tank, to use, for example, to flush the
toilets.
Of course, you have to have a suitable hose to attach to the
tank. Ditto a pair of pliers
to open the faucet, which is typically somewhere near the base.
And a large bucket of some kind would be helpful, too.
Also, keep in mind that there is no water coming
into the tank as long as the emergency continues; so it’s a good idea to
reset the heat to “vacation”, or as low as it will go so the heater
doesn’t come on and “boil” all the remaining water away.
And put a “sticky note” on the refrigerator, or somewhere, to
remind you to turn it back on when the emergency is over.
Otherwise, cold showers.
Got that?
Hot water tank (no home should be without one.)
Pliers, short hose, bucket.
Quick:
Where’s the nearest pair of pliers in your home?
In the “toolkit”, right?
And where, exactly, is that?
In the garage (or, as “Jeannie” calls it, “the really
big closet”?)
In the “storage” closet, shed, corner of the extra room?
In my case, the nearest pair of pliers is in the
silverware drawer in the kitchen.
And another pair in the bathroom drawer, but that’s because the
bathroom doubles as the laundry area, and the “giant, economy-size” jug
of laundry soap needs help to open the first time.
While we’re on the subject of “emergency
equipment”, how old is that roll of
duct tape in the “toolkit”, garage,
closet, etc.? I realized
last Christmas that duct tape really does have a “shelf life” and the
adhesive dries out in time.
So put “duct tape” on the shopping list for your
next trip to the hardware store.
And Velcro strips.
You can never have too many of those.
Love, as always,
Pete
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