Countdown

We've had several inches of snow and it is fairly cold this week, in the 20s and windy.  It is still snowing on and off and the reports say that the roads are icy.   I have done the sensible thing and stayed indoors where I am warm and cozy, even though I have a pretty long list of little things that would be smart to do before the surgery.   The big things are covered, though, I think, so it is hard to put pressure on myself to go out into the cold.

For my birthday, my son and his wife gave me a membership to Shipt, a local grocery delivery service.  I tried it out for the first time today and I have to admit, I had a lovely experience.  The woman who shopped for me was wonderful about keeping me informed about what substitutions were available when things were not on the shelves and she did an almost perfect job with my list -- the only, very small, error was that I asked for two dozen eggs and she only purchased one dozen.  When she arrived with the delivery, we had a lovely chat when she saw my quilted hanging in our entryway, and she showed me photos of her own quilting as we discussed that and our grandchildren. Jack said he had never thought much of the service before, and he was amused when I found it delightful from both the time-saving and the social aspects!

I have not left the house since the 5 or 6 snowfall this weekend, but we did go out before the latest winter storm hit and went to visit  my brother Bill in Grayling, which is about 90 miles north.   Jack has been making use of and enjoying his newest tech toy, a Tesla Model 3, which has a plethora of safety features and a screen that shows, for instance, when there is an object to the right of the car.   Although Jack's stroke/brain injury created a blank spot in the right side of his vision, he was able to pass the state's driver's license test, and he feels comfortable driving the Tesla.   He is sort of like a new, 16-year-old driver, looking for every excuse to do local errands for me.   I am happy for him to feel some independence again, although I am no more onboard, I guess, than I ever was with any 16-year-old.

I do NOT feel comfortable with the idea, but since he is legally licensed, there is not much I can say about it, although I will not yet ride with him as a passenger.  Anyway, we decided to take the Tesla to my brother's house, to test its range.  Jack did some local errands earlier that morning and when we left for Bill's house, I drove, with the heat turned up since it was cold out.  We picked Bill up, drove to a restaurant in another city, and did a few things around town.    After 3 or 4 hours, I realized that the battery life was dropping faster than I had expected -- perhaps a combination of using the heater and the effect of the cold weather on the batteries -- so we dropped Bill off like a hot potato, as we used to say, and drove to the nearest Supercharger, about 30 miles further north.    We cut it a little closer than we liked, and ended up having to drive extra miles in the wrong direction, but we learned a bit that will hopefully help us better to plan future trips.  Jack is a huge believed in supporting the Tesla technology, both for the potential for green energy and for the nationally made nature of all the parts.

We will try a little harder in the future not to get the battery down quite so low again though!!

We have our weekly Dominoes game with Evan tonight.   I am making orange chicken and broccoli, and thanks to the delivery service, I am also able to make a greek salad because 'my shopper,' Sandra P.,  brought me the ingredients I was missing.  

 I feel so spoiled!   I got to sip coffee by the fire this morning instead of rushing out to do errands, and stay home and cook while someone else when out into the cold for me.  I sure couldn't have predicted this kind of life when I started this Blog!

I titled this Blog entry "countdown" because I am four days away from my surgery.   But let's not think about that for another couple days, shall we?