02,02,2020

Today is the first global palindrome day in 909 years. The only thing it makes me think of is the Monty Python skit about the dead parrot but I don't even know why. I looked up famous palindromes. Given that bats have been mentioned as a likely first cause of the coronavirus that is currently occupying the top spot on all news reports, this one struck me as the most apt:

EVA, CAN I STAB BATS IN A CAVE

The biggest laugh I've had at my own expense lately concerns my house and my tendency to make do. I've always been that way which explains why my favourite Newfoundland expression is, "Leave 'er lay where Jesus flang 'er" 

My New Years resolution to leave a bit more space between stimulus and response might be encouraging this trait although I only meant it to keep me from rushing in too quickly to fill every void in a conversation. I rarely rush into action. At any rate, just as the cold weather began my back door lock system showed serious signs of failing. It had been giving hints of doing so for about two years. Jay can attest to that. The key had to be carefully manipulated from the outside but from the inside there was no problem, so I did nothing. But one day in late fall I had trouble unlocking the door from the inside. I finally responded to the situation in a way that was as extreme as my ignoring of it had been. I stopped trying to unlock the door and found some green painters' tape Jay had left. I stuck that over the lock itself lest I forget and try to open the door some time later. Then I taped all around the inside of the door to keep out winter drafts.  I had decided not to touch that door again until spring. It's been a bit inconvenient living with only a front door, especially as the car is parked behind the house and the garbage and recycle are there too, but I'm used to it now. Then two weeks ago the upstairs toilet would not stop running. I looked in the tank and tried the few things I've done before to fix flushers, none of which worked. So I drained it and went to the garage to get the box of parts I knew was there but had forgotten why. I was going to fix it myself until I started reading the instructions. When I Kakaoed with Jay that evening, he was relieved that I had stopped at that point and reminded me of the fact that it was a burst pipe in that bathroom that had caused so much flood damage to the basement room that he had carefully built. That switched me from action to default mode, leave 'er lay. I began using the new bathroom in the basement and set up a potty system in the upstairs bathroom for nighttime. I was laughing with a friend at one point about how I might just keep on making do as the house and I grew older together and various of our parts ceased working. But then I snapped into action, did my physio and found a plumber. My Immigrant Services student's husband is starting up a plumbing and heating company. The back door remains taped shut but that will be fixed in the spring

Moose junction in January after the Christmas decorations were removed and a big snow fell