Eating is turning into a horrible experience these last few days; my throat is inflamed to the point that my ears hurt, and every time I put something into my mouth, it feels like I'm eating razor blades. I'm taking analgesics every four hours just to mute the pain enough to tolerate the cough drops (I'm not coughing) and the hot tea (which feels about as bad as you might expect from pouring molten lava against the back of your throat).
But I'm used to pain. I grew up with nearly constant pain -- every day -- to the point that ordinary cuts and scrapes went unnoticed (most of them 'earned' in the shop while carrying splintery boards around or using the sandpaper incorrectly or accidentally drilling into my finger or bumping into low-lying stacks of boards with very sharp edges). As I've mentioned to people polite enough (or innocent enough) to ask, there are very few days in my life where I can remember not waking up with a headache. This is (I believe) an inheritance from my mother, who suffered from occasional migraines. I haven't had very many real migraines -- the ones that leave you crying into your pillow in a darkened room, feeling nauseated and wishing for an early death -- but the alternative, having a near-migraine every day for most of your life, is not much better.
In comparison, a few days of throat/ear pain is a joke, not even worth complaining about. But I'm not writing this to prompt sympathy; I'm writing this so that my children and my children's children, should they ever find themselves in this situation, know that they are not alone, that others have suffered in the same way, for generations before, and others will suffer in the future. So we just bear with it and try to keep going. Because everyone in my family (except me) can cook. And no amount of pain will keep me away from that delicious food.
Meanwhile, the weather has turned too cold to do anything out in the garage, although I've got some carpentry projects to work on, and some cars crying for attention. I've got a heater out in the wood shop, but the best it can do is about 50⁰ F (10⁰ C) -- and that's still a bit chilly for my fingertips.
I started working on some paper towel holders for Christmas presents, but they still aren't finished because there were so many other priorities that were demanding attention back in December. So far, I've cut the dowels and created the mounting plates, but it'll be awhile before I can get back in and do the finish work.
As for the cars: (1) The Sonata still isn't warming up to operating temperature even though I replaced the thermostat, so I'm going to have to drain the radiator & engine of coolant (again!) and pull it to see if I installed it wrong, or if it is defective; and (2) The Corolla front door locks (which finally arrived last week) need to be replaced so they won't freeze up anymore. Previously, it was impossible to open the driver-side door on the Corolla if the temperature was below 25⁰ F (-3⁰ C) because the mechanism would jam up (and it took quite a while to get the passenger door open, but first the key had to be cycled back-and-forth several times). Then once the door was open, it wouldn't shut until the car had been warmed up for ten minutes or so. And sitting out in the driveway for ten minutes waiting for the door to warm up enough to shut it is just about enough to drive you crazy. Which is why Mary and I decided to use the bungee cord so we could get to church on time back in the day (we were teaching Sunday school so always showed up about half an hour early in order to set up), and we tied the door handle to the center console (sometimes both doors) and drove ten minutes down the road to church, and -- sure enough -- by the time we got there, the doors would shut just fine.
Today the temperature got down to 6⁰ F (-14⁰ C). Tomorrow they're predicting it'll be pretty much the same. On Wednesday, it might warm up to 24⁰ F (-8⁰ C). I'm thinking perhaps even those new locks will be struggling.
No comments:
Post a Comment