A Toothache, A Generator, and Two Doodles!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

When we were looking for houses to buy, one of the questions I asked was, “how often does the power go out?”  Most people do not think twice about lost power, but I am not most people.  Our house in Pennsylvania lost power, it seemed to me, during almost any major weather event.  Usually, the power company had to come out and do something to a breaker box on our street, but I always swore we were last on their list because sometimes it took days for that to happen.  Power would be on all around us except for our little block and I would get so mad, I would run around telling John the people with power were blinking their lights at us to taunt us.  John knew to remain calm in those situations and humor me because without power, I could turn on anyone at any moment, but he did say once, “maybe they are just responding to my SOS signal I sent out with our flashlight.”  Even our sweet neighbor could get me going when I would yell over to her that I had had just about enough of our power company and together we should rally the neighbors and march our way to their office and demand help, only to be told something dumb like, ”it is what it is!”  John and Hayley were always on the defensive when someone got philosophical with me during an outage and more than once, would shout over my “bite me!” with something a little more neighborly.

 

I just could never accept any excuse for our power going out and once called and accused our electric company of having one poor squirrel riding a bike to generate our power and asked if he had gone on vacation or been hit by lightning.  I won’t apologize for my actions because usually by the time I waded through the electric companies series of “push this button” only to be told what was pretty clear by the darkness surrounding me….that yes, our power was out, nobody had a clue why, or when it would be restored…most people would be seeing red at this point and might just shout into the phone too, something along the lines of, “thank you, Captain Obvious and Lieutenant Clueless.”  And for those people who want to tell me that you will catch more flies with honey, cover your eyes and ears for just a moment while I open a jar of honey to pour over your head.

 

Well, lo and behold, when I asked the sellers of this house about the power, I was told the power almost never goes out and they couldn’t remember the last time it did.  Perfect! Since we moved in, the power has gone out for brief periods of time, but one day, it was out for half a day and in my mind, that was that.  I didn’t care if a whole house generator meant I had to sell my body up at the local neighborhood bar to raise the cash, I was getting that generator come hell or high water.  When I told John my plan, first he said that didn’t sound very neighborly and then he added he didn’t think a little bit of change here or there was going to make that big of a difference, but he agreed it was time to get a generator.

 

Now, here is where the story gets interesting because I will start to intertwine the facts with my luck.  I contacted a neighbor for an electrician referral and upon his recommendation contacted a guy who showed up and gave us a quote.  We hired him and then waited for him to get the permits, generator, and other things he had to do together so we could get this thing installed.  As luck would have it, the week he and his assistant finally picked to come fell on one of John’s worst work weeks to date and one day after I cracked a tooth.  I swear I am not a baby and in fact, I gave birth to my oldest daughter all naturally with nary a drug in sight.  Nada..nothing…zilch…just blood, sweat, and tears and one, good hard squeeze to John’s neck to let him know we were in this thing together.  I am only telling you this because the pain I felt with the cracked tooth brought me to my knees.

 

The week of the generator caused me to have a whole new attitude to those people brave enough to do major renovations while owning dogs.  Maybe it was the throbbing tooth combined with the electrician either knocking on the door or calling me on my cell phone to come outside and “take a look at something” that made it seem worse in my mind.  I would no sooner get the dogs settled in the house and Crazy Bob, as he dubbed himself, would do something to get the dogs up and barking. Between my tooth aching and my ears pounding from the bad tooth and Vern hurting my head with all the barking to let me know that the same two guys he had been looking at through the window every day for four days were still out there, I started to think getting a generator was highly overrated.  Every single time Vern saw the electrician he barked. I felt like I was in the presence of the canine Maxwell Smart, starting with “would you believe I see two dangerous looking men outside?” and ending with “would you believe it is just Crazy Bob?”  Fudge was much better than Vern at controlling her barking, but she spent some time trying to figure out how to get over the barriers I had set up to keep them out of the way so she could get one of the men to pet her. Also, the amount of knowledge I have about a generator and its workings could fit in the crack of my tooth, so I wasn’t sure how me “taking a look” was going to move the process along.  We lived at our old house for 12 years and I never could figure out how to operate the thermostat and that was with a clear head and sleeping dogs. I can’t fault the guy for being thorough, but the way I felt he could have called me outside to see him stuff two trained monkeys inside that thing and explained they would be keeping the generator going and all I would have said is, “they won’t make any noise, will they?”

 

Being a glutton for punishment, I also asked him and his assistant to change out a ceiling fan in the living room and an outside light fixture.  The ceiling fan earned two “Laurie, can I show you something?” Once to tell me that the new ceiling fan blades were damaged, where I ran out in a panic to a chorus of never ending barks, to find out his definition of damaged meant one small nick seen only by one electrician with keen eyes.  The next SOS came when he called me out to say they were having a hard time fitting the light fixture into the unit and I came this close to shouting out, “SHOVE IT, CRAZY BOB!”  I just didn’t know how there was a nice way to say, “unless one of you are caught on a fan blade and going round and round with no chance of getting down on your own, please do not call me again!” The thing is they were efficient, knowledgeable, and nice, but it seemed as if working around amps and voltage had made Crazy Bob a bit of an alarmist and combine that with two dogs on high alert and one woman with a sore tooth and sparks could fly. Crazy Bob even offered to call his dentist for me, but I said no, because all I could imagine was a dentist who might pull my tooth and go, “Laurie, can I show you something? I think I pulled the wrong tooth.”

 

You might be asking yourself why I didn’t just go to the dentist and I would answer that I tried.  After making numerous calls to find someone that took our insurance, I found a dentist that seemed perfect, except he had no openings.  Apparently, the dentist who “catered to cowards” did not cater to people with extreme toothaches. At first, they told me they couldn’t see me until the end of the month, but finally got me in for the next week. I got some antibiotics and hoped that would get me through the week, but when it didn’t, I knew I had to get in to see someone sooner and I did. She saw me that day, referred me to a Periodontist, and the next day at 6:30 am I had a root canal and I felt major relief almost immediately.  I told Megan I could have kissed that dentist and she said he probably would have said, “Get off of me and don’t come back,” if I had tried.  At least she was listening and responded accordingly.  I once fell on the ground and thought I broke my hip and while I was on the ground trying to recover, Megan asked me if I could throw her the house keys so she could unlock the front door.

 

It’s all over now. The generator is done. The tooth is fixed.  Vern is back to just barking at the neighbors.  Fudge is happy getting her pets from family.   We thought about adding a shower to a bathroom at our new house, but a part of me thinks guests could just bathe in the lake.  I just don’t know if the dogs and I could survive another renovation. 

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

LOL...thanks, Jane :) Nice to see you on DK!

[Jane, Rooney & Stuart]

Brahaha - you always just crack (get it) me up!!!!!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

DJ, Ok...that makes sense. I just told John the other night I was going to get on that show..Naked and Afraid..I said I would be naked and my partner would be afraid :) I hear ya!

[DJ & Chance]

LOL, Laurie.  I insist on a towel.  Without one, I will scare your neighbors for sure.

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

I have been trying to comment all day. Finally, DK must be fixed!

Maryann, Yes, I have noticed....LOL :) I don't really have an answer, but maybe when we feel badly everything else is just magnified in our minds. This week is much better. 

DJ, You can bathe in our lake any day, just bring your own towels. LOL

Cheryl, Wow...a cracked tooth doesn't seem so bad in comparison to a broken shoulder and arm. I am waiting for our neighbors to show up with a petition to drum us out of this neighborhood, although I correct Vern almost instantly if he starts barking. He just likes to bark..happy, scared, etc. I guess our dogs just think they are doing their job.

[Maryann,Roo and Tigger]

Great story - not such a great experience.  Have you ever noticed how it seems that when it is bad - broken tooth - it only gets worse.  Do you think this some law of nature or a corollary to Murphy's law?

Glad you survived and tooth is fixed.

[DJ & Chance]

Toothaches are the worst and having one in this midst of chaos is not my idea of a good time.  But your story telling is wonderful, and I will be glad to bathe in the lake anytime!

[cheryl & oliver]

i am just glad you got the generator, lol, so this winter you will be smiling while alll the rest of the immediate world will be freaking out..Imagine lights, heat and maybe even tv!!!!..Who could ask for more...Sorry about the tooth, but you must have a very high tolerance for pain to go that long without getting the root canal..I would have been in the emergency room for drugs, lol...Just glad everything worked out for you...Let me tell you we did a new floor in the kitchen, it was ceramic tile that looked like brick, well one of our dogs was the same color of the floor, i didn't see him behind me, I turned and fell over him breaking my arm and shoulder, so i know the pain...As far as barking, I can't believe we haven't had the homeowners assoc. come and tell me either I get Oliver to stop barking at every little thing or we will have to move, lol..good thing he is so cute, everyone loves him, he just has to let me know there is someone there, and I better see who it is. If I say it is the gardners, he barks and growls..If they come when he is outside, he runs in the house..he is such a chicken, but let there be a glass window or door , and he becomes Mr. tough guy...

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Bonnie, All is well in my world :) Thank you!

[Bonnie and Kona]

Life is hard. I'm sorry, Laurie.