The Weather and Other Things by Bonnie Le Hamilton

 

Good morning, all. At least I hope it is a good morning. Right now, I’m praying I can get out of my apartment this morning. I have an appointment.

Yesterday, Valentine’s Day, my hometown got a ton of snow. Loads of schools were closed, and my office shut down early because of it. And believe me, the roads were bad. I was late for work, not because I left late but because I didn’t dare go anywhere near the speed limit. So, what was generally about a half-hour drive roundtrip took me twice that amount of time.

Meaning when I got home I had to call the two worrywarts in my life. The first call was to my sister-in-law because she lives in this town too, she knew what the weather was like, and knows my usual schedule. When I called, she was about to call me to check on me.

The second call wasn’t as urgent because of the possibility that Konnie didn’t know what the weather was like up here. Her being in Vegas and all. And she doesn’t watch the news much.

FYI, Vegas got a light drizzle for Valentine’s Day.

But we did discuss what we’d both be doing this morning. Newsflash, we’re both busy.

One of Jerry’s brothers died this last week, and Jerry needs to fly up to Oregon to attend the funeral. This morning Konnie’s going to be traveling to and from the airport in Vegas, during rush hour. Me? I’m going to the eye surgeon’s office for cataract surgery on my left eye.

Next Wednesday I get the right one done.

That is if I can get out there this Wednesday.

I repeat, we got a lot of snow yesterday. And it was still coming down when I entered my apartment yesterday after work. My friend and neighbor, who promised to drive me to my appointment, called to let me know last night that some roads were closed.

Great.

On top of that, I have to go without food or water until after the surgery. Right now, my mouth is dry.

Yeah, I’m not looking forward to the next several hours. And I get to do this all over again next week! Ick.

And my calendar is full for the next several days as well. Not that I will be able to manage to make all of that. I don’t think I will.

I just hope I’ll be able to get to my writing while I heal, but even that is in question. The surgery is on my eye after all.

I just checked the weather. The sun is out, but it's in the single digits out there. This is going to be fun. I hope the trucks have already been by salting the roads because they are going to be treacherous.

On to other topics.

Has anyone been writing lately?

Personally, I have been trying but all I’ve gotten done is rereading old, unfinished manuscripts.

I am trying. And I have done some editing. Just no actual writing. Unless you count writing an outline to eventually train new volunteers to help in the office. It is a daunting task since there are so many rules and regulations we must follow, not the least of which is HIPPA. And I get the joy of training them when I’ve only been doing the job for less than a year.

The thing is, it's longer than my immediate superior has been doing the job.

My old boss retired; I have a new boss.

And before you ask, I am not qualified for the job, let alone I can’t work full time, so no, I did not apply to replace her when she retired. I haven’t even got a college degree. And again, I can’t work full time.

Frankly, I don’t want the job. I like being able to stay in the office and work instead go out in the field.

Which is another thing, I have to help train volunteers to go out in the field. Then again I get the technical side and my boss gets the field side of the training since that entails the volunteer shadowing my boss as she’s out in the field.

And, in case you didn’t know. Her job is to perform routine spot inspections of nursing and assisted living facilities as well as to help the residents advocate for themselves.

My job is to enter her notes into the database. Which is quite easy for me. Traveling to all the facilities in something like eight or nine counties isn’t something I’d like to do, ever. And then there’s the interacting with all the people in those facilities. Yeah, I’m glad it’s not my job.

Anyway, I hope everyone is well and safe, and happy writing everyone!