Ping Pong Ball Math
And other trivialities
You know, if you’ve been reading this year, that I gather the ping pong balls to play with my cat each evening - sometimes morning to save me a task later, but daily anyway. Over time, I’ve bought about 3 packs of 6, and allowing for the loss of 3 which were damaged irretrievably, that should mean there are 15. Usually lots are missing, and for a time I was lucky to be able to find 5 or 6.
Recently the best we’ve been able to pull together has been around 12, but this last week suddenly another appeared for a total of 13. The night before last I discovered one in the back of the fridge (behind it, amongst the wires, not hiding behind the cheese) which brought us up to 14. And last night when I did my count I still had 14 but when I went to leave the lounge, the cat batted one at me that I had forgotten was over by the front door and I realised that I was back at 15. All balls finally present and accounted for. What gets me is that I still have no idea where she was hiding them or how she managed to get them out, because I only ever pull from the same places. Strange.
I visited the dentist on Monday. Why? I mean, why combine Mondays and dentists? What was I thinking when I booked that? Obviously I wasn’t. Anyway, he asked do I wear a plate - I’m thinking he noticed I only have half the number of teeth most adults do, LOL. I had forgotten to throw them in my bag, had meant to ask him where I could take them to get them sorted or replaced because they just don’t fit anymore (very long story, I wasn’t able to wear them for a time and the jaw reshapes) and he said just make another appointment and he’ll sort them out in a few minutes for me. So I booked for the following day and he did. Just like that - I can wear them again and chew my food properly. It’s amazing. Very happy.
A month on, and we’re still waiting for the new fridge to come. I just called the store and the guy we’ve been dealing with is away having a hip replacement. That’s not the reason for the delay, apparently the company had shown they had fridges in stock when they didn’t, so plenty of people have been ordering them. There are 4 others ordered as well. He offered, since I’ve been without a fridge for over a month now, to loan me one - but that would mean 2 lots of trucks, 2 lots of deliveries, 2x the chance that one (or both) of them will get stuck over the dropoff at the top of the drive. When might the fridge arrive? Potentially as early as Friday - with it being Wednesday I’m not really interested in adding that amount of extra stress to my week when I can survive a few more days as we are. Which reminds me, I haven’t finished plastering the wall yet. Maybe I should get another coat on…
The next big job around the house is the roof. We won’t be doing that ourselves - I’m not great with heights and nor is my mum, quite aside from both of our complete lack of experience in roofing and the care thereof. Over the almost 5 years we’ve been here, the soffits have been a concern for my mum - only as I google quickly because the spell check feature disagrees with my use of that word, I discover the soffits are not the problem, it’s the fascia. Indeed. Well, today hasn’t been a waste of time as I’ve learned something new.
So we had a chap over the other day. I contacted them because they said they’ll look at small jobs, and in 5 years everyone we’ve asked has said no, they don’t do that, we need a (insert different tradesman to what they’re purporting to be) and maybe they know someone who can help, they’ll get them to call - yet they never do. So I was impressed this guy turned up and said yes, he could do it. The second thing that impressed me was that after I asked him to go up and have a good look around because I wasn’t sure what damage the scam roofer (that’s a long story but in a nutshell we did get the money back, thankfully) had done up there, when he came down he showed me pictures of MY roof, with MY yard, deck, footpath alongside, not closeups of roofing that wasn’t even the same colour as my roof is… You begin to see why I haven’t let anyone else who has looked at it do anything more.
Not quite as green as I’m cabbage looking. So, agreeing to do a small job has meant that he’s got access to the huge job that involves getting rid of the rusting on the roof, nailing/screwing down the section that isn’t held on by anything other than gravity at present, moss treating, repairs etc. It’s going to be quite pricey, but he’s working with us to find a way that we can do it over time so we can pay as we go. If the roof isn’t protecting the rest of the house then we may as well not bother with anything else. Looks like 2024 will be the year of the roof maintenance-wise.
And the final thing, as I stare over the back of my screen to the calendar on the wall. It’s about time I turned the page and entered the new year properly!
Breaking news: As this email is scheduled, I have recently discovered that of the 3 balls I thought had been damaged irretrievably, only one actually was. The other two must have been hidden irretrievably instead, and the other day when I had heard her crashing around in the laundry with them, I discovered two tucked in beside the washer hiding behind the front foot - the washer cleverly does not have a space large enough for them to get underneath, so they can’t disappear under there thankfully. Now I know for a fact that I check down there regularly for socks and handkerchiefs that ignore my directional toss toward the opening in the top of the machine and let the whims of a breeze carry them over the side, so I know they can’t have been there forever, but to my complete amazement when I did my count that evening, instead of the 15 I expected, I came up with 17. Where she has had them hid in the interim is anybody’s guess. But I’m happy, I like when things add up nicely.