FedEx, Water Co, Picky Visitors

[feng_shui_house]

Yesterday I gave the potted plants the last of the boiled/cooled/bottled water I'd saved during the boil water order and dumped the last of the pool chemicals in, a double dose because frog eggs, and because my new order (50 pound bucket) was listed as arriving yesterday (by end of day, which seems to be 8pm in FedEx speak.)

It didn't happen. Around 8pm I gave up and LiveChatted & 15 minutes later discovered that it had been put on the truck. Not put on the truck. Put on the truck but not delivered because it's hazardous material.



Same chemical, ordered from the same place, and sent via FedEx last time, but now they are suddenly afraid of it? I was assured they would deliver today between 10:20 am and 1pm.

I'm trying really hard to pick up the pit because I just learned the other day (I emailed to see how they were doing after Dorian because they live in North Carolina- they'd evacuated 2 hour drive to a motel, but they were fine nothing happened to their house and they returned home) that my brother, the doctor, & his wife are coming to see me for the day next month (on the 19th). I consider dirt good for the immune system, and cobwebs a sign of a healthy spider ecosystem, but Doc Bro...hell, he acted like I was a plague carrier when he came because mom broke her hip, and he ordered me to get down the hadn't been touched in decades photo albums from a shelf so high I had to get the ladder. OMG, it's filthy! DUST!

I don't need that crap again.

So, I'm starting to do house overhaul, picking up stuff, throwing out stuff, sweeping and filled the sink with soapy water to rinse off the knick knacks from the mantel, and all the time listening for the Fed Ex. I've had my heavy stuff carrier parked by the front door for 2 days, expecting to ask the driver to put the package on the cart. After all, FedEx sent me TWO text messages on the 8th telling me I HAD to SIGN for it. I even went out and put a sign on my gate to be sure they know I'm home even though I don't have a car parked in front of the house.

Go to take 'Tasha's raggy sheepskin scraps out to the trash and see the 50 pound carton perched on my plastic shelf, which was bending under the weight. I go to drag it over the sill and look down the walk... PAPER shoved into the gate.

ANOTHER BOIL WATER ORDER. This time however, they gave me the notice the day BEFORE they shut off the water, SO I got all the freshly dried jugs out of storage and FILLED THEM UP AGAIN.

*whew* I am so tired...

Edit: When I was breaking down the cardboard to put in my recycle bin, I noticed a little round orange sticker that said 'Load Ok', which I assume was put on to appease the fear of hazardous material stuff and so the lack of that sticker was what held up the works.

Comments

[vera_j]

Oh. I feel for you!Ou seem to fight with those proverbial "wind mills"!
Of course dirt is necessery for our normal life and normal evolution. What happened to some people? And now you have to turn your house upside down. *Sighs with you*.
At least you have the water...

[feng_shui_house]

Well, I guess I should do a thorough clean and chuck out once a year. :^). I'm currently taking a break from attempting to reduce the dirt level in the carpet. It's an awful carpet. Bare floor would be better except that underneath is just the cement foundation and that would really hurt my feet. :^)

I feel bad about removing the spider webs, but then, they're dusty too and probably the spiders should make new ones. :^)

[vera_j]

Haha, I have the same carpet here and I am going to throw it away and buy a new linoleum, no more awful carpets.
And be sure that the spiders will have all back in no time!:-)

[feng_shui_house]

Houses are SO DEMANDING. :^) I like the feel of carpet, so maybe *some day* I'll have new carpet put in.

But today is not that day.

I think I'll have to try to clean it again another day- I got up a LOT of dirt and cat fur and just plain dust, but there's more. I just got too tired to continue. :^)

[watervole]

I'm cutting down on knick knacks. They all add to the dusting.

What causes the boil water orders (I didn't realise what you meant at first, as we've never had one here). Does the water supply get contaminated? How?

[feng_shui_house]

I had cut down on knick knacks years ago. Some I threw away, some I sent to charity, some I packed up in cardboard boxes, but you know, the mantel looks bare without *some*. So I have a row of little animals representing various good things according to Feng Shui. :^)

Reasoning from what I've seen: the boil water orders are caused by the city going around opening up the pipes and pressure cleaning them- it's preventative, because they don't THINK it's been contaminated, but with the pipes opened, it's a possibility. They call it a REPAIR, but I've seen no repairing.

They've never done this before in all the years since my family owned this house (bought it from the developer back in 1949) but I suppose hard water deposits build up and it's affected the water pressure system wide (I have suspected I wasn't getting as much pressure as I should for quite a few years, so that seems likely).

I've noticed that after the water is turned back on it comes out of the faucets gray for a while, presumably the stuff they've blasted free.

What I can't understand is why they are so bad at organizing it. The website page I finally found and subscribed to lists a new group of shut downs every week, obviously scheduled long in advance, but the city doesn't send out notices to the addresses affected. Instead they send someone around -*usually* the day before (but the first time the notice came AFTER they shut off the water) to stuff notices in gates/fences/dropped on the sidewalk.

To make matters worse, they don't do one area and finish it, but come back and do another part again, so the boil water order starts all over again. First they did the pipe at the north end of my block, then the next day they did a pipe a block away from me, extending the boil water order by a few houses and a few more days. Two weeks later, they come back and do the pipe at SOUTH end of my block. It only takes a couple hours, so why couldn't they do them both on the same day instead of driving away the equipment only to return weeks later?

The website showing the boil water orders has addresses all over the place, it's like they throw a dart at the map.

Efficiency is not my city's motto.

[watervole]

Maybe they're trying to avoid too much gunk in the system at once? That might be a reason for spacing them out.

*waves*

[haldane]

Are you 'in' during the first week of April? I'm escorting my mother to see her sister in St Pete, and bringing my sister with me. She wants to see the Everglades, so I thought of the park you and I went to - I think it was Shark Valley. Do you want to come on a day trip with the two of us? (Leaving my mom behind in my aunt's retirement village) My sister's a lot like me, she lives on the edge of the city and likes birds and trees more than people.

Re: *waves*

[feng_shui_house]

OOh, that sounds like fun! I've got nothing penciled in on April. Would be nice to see you and meet your sister, and go for a day to the 'glades.

You still have my email, right?