Its been about 6 weeks now since I moved into my tiny house. Slowly the space is coming together. It feels like all I do is assemble things. An Ikea cube dresser for the closet, a lift top coffee table (not quite finished yet), a daybed as a temporary sofa, a platform bed, brackets for curtains, a bamboo stand for my plants. Ah… the beauty of an Alan wrench and mini ratchet!
Today, my long awaited electric fireplace arrived. It had been ordered a long time ago when it went on sale but like everything else took forever to get here. It was complicated by the fact FEDEX and UPS can’t find our street. Granted it’s a new street, but its bonafide address with the post office who started delivering mail here about a month ago, and its in the 911 databank.
I tried setting up FedEx delivery manager in my account. It’s a tool to help you change delivery dates or address’ and even add instructions (whether they get read by the right person is questionable). But Delivery Manager would not accept my address so I gave FedEx a call. The person on the other end was very helpful, but couldn’t get it either despite trying a few different sign up methods. She gave me a case ID and decided to escalate it to a supervisor with more experience. I could expect that call back within 24 hours. Since the end of the week was approaching and this had been out for delivery 3 times, I decided to place a HOLD FOR PICKUP on it and had it directed to a Dollar General Store nearby.
Today, to my surprise, FEDEX showed up. The female driver saw the little makeshift street sign on the fence. “So THIS is where Wild West Trail is! ” , she exclaimed. She’d been looking for a couple days. (Apparently our real street sign is on order and hung up with all the other supply chain issues so I made a tacky one). She even brought the two boxes inside the house which I appreciated. Oh to be 25 and athletic again! So I spent the rest of the day unpacking and assembling yet something else, but was pleased with the outcome. Despite the sore hands from using a screwdriver and frustration getting it square with the Alan wrench, it went together in a couple hours and putting stuff together is always a brain exercise trying to figure out diagrams. I almost seem to have an aptitude for it, but I don’t enjoy it.
GOING BUGGY!
Another exciting thing that happened this week was an ant invasion. Carpenter ants. Too many! So I have been spraying diligently them with pet safe spray and put some traps and granules outside. I am wishing I had treated the whole pad my house sits on, but it never occurred to me. We had a couple rain showers this week and thunder and lightning is a bit different here. The lightning flashes a lot. Its creepy. It doesn’t always thunder afterwards but when it does, it’s a doozy. I’m a bit nervous because Texas has tornados. Not real common in the area I’m in, but nearby they’ve had them and nothing is “normal” about weather anymore. Lillie was a bit unnerved so we sat in the bedroom while the storm passed. The moisture seems to have hatched some Texas size moths and beetles, so porch lights out and doors closed until I can put up the magnetic screen door screens.
Tomorrow I am working at a private event on a ranch, bartending with another person. It’s a corporate retreat with a live band ,outdoors in a pavilion so should be a fun evening. I’m looking forward to getting out and meeting some new people, and taking a break from assembling things.
