One adventure I did not like

We finally have a garage. It is a two car garage that is housing only one car. Actually our truck calls it home. We need to get a storage shed out back before the white car can move in. We like having a garage.

But there are some garage rules.
1. Make sure you know your car is all the way in before shutting the garage door.
2. Make sure you don't pull too far into the garage making it impossible to get into the house.
3. The stuff in the garage can't be put anywhere. It must be placed back where it was so that the car can get back inside again.

These rules were the basic ones we were following pretty carefully. But those rules don't ensure a safe and orderly garage experience. Let me explain.

I was leaving on Wednesday morning for tennis. I grabbed my water bottles, my tennis racquet, my hat, my purse and was out the door. I pushed the garage door opener button on the wall of the garage and the door opened. I placed my "stuff" into the back seat of the truck and then got in myself. I started the truck, put it into reverse and slowly and carefully began to back out of the garage. I was attentively watching out my rear-view mirror and everything was going OK until I heard and felt a "THUMP". "WHAT IS GOING ON?"

I began to look around and realized that the garage door had closed onto the bed of the truck. WHAT?? I hadn't pushed the button to close the garage -AND- the garage has a sensor that prevents it from closing if anything is in the way, but. Wait a minute here! I put the truck in park and got out. Sure enough the door was down and resting on the bed of the truck. Something wasn't right here.

I quickly surveyed the situation and figured it out. As I had closed the back door of the truck after putting my tennis things in, I had also inadvertently closed the Emergency Release Pull Rope in the door. So as I eased out of the garage it tightened and then pulled enough to release the door from the opening mechanism and it just coasted down onto the truck. I didn't even see the rope when I closed the door. I didn't even think about it.

A quick call to Doug and he had me push the door up, which I did. And then back out, which I did. Then close the door, which I did. He was coming home to see if he could get it figured out and get it engaged into the opening mechanism, which he did. He also shortened the red pull cord so that I won't have a repeat performance.

I have since then added one more rule to the safe and orderly garage experience:
WHEN CLOSING THE VEHICLE DOOR - DO NOT CATCH THE PULL CORD INSIDE.

I am an adventurous person but that, my friends, is

one adventure I did not like.

Want to Come Swimming?

It is hot here. Phoenix summers are for swimming. So our tenants decided it was time for a swim this Sunday. They called in the morning and invited us to come swimming with them. Doug was the only one who accepted the invitation. He got back home just before our church and told me it wasn't too much fun. They actually only got to wade - no swimming involved. I'm glad I didn't wiggle into my swim suit for that.

What really happened? The hot water tank and heater stopped fulfilling it's purpose in life. It leaked and gushed and well, it died. We didn't think it should die at such a young age. But when we looked at it's birth year we discovered that it was 19 years old. I guess that is old in water heater years.

Doug went to the store and picked out a new hot water heater for our tenants. They are happy now. But they won't be inviting us to swim again any time soon (knock on wood!).

Tuberculosis

When I hear the word tuberculosis I get nervous. I know it is a disease I do not want to get. It seems we are hearing more and more about tuberculosis. We hear about people who are quarantined because of a case of drug resistant tuberculosis. Sometimes those people don't abide by the rules they are given and then they are forced into a quarantine that is enforced by an official entity.

Two cases:

One was of an engaged couple. The man had a case of extensively drug-resistant TB. He was supposed to be under house quarantine. But he wanted to have a nice honeymoon after he got married. So he went to Europe and then Canada anyway - staying just ahead of the people who were chasing him. They were trying to detain him in order to try to avoid exposing the unsuspecting public. All airports and border agents were notified about the couple and were instructed to detain them when they were spotted. Despite the publicity they were able to take several flights and some other modes of transportation which possibly exposed lots of innocent people to his disease. The officials were trying to detain the couple to minimize the danger to others. Well, somehow they even managed to drive across the border from Canada to New York. The U.S. Homeland Security was involved in investigating the incident. Anyway, they were eventually located when they came back into the USA. He will be in treatment for at least 2 years and will possibly need to have surgery to remove the diseased tissue in his body.

The other case I'm aware of is a citizen from Russia. He was a 27 year old man with a case of extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis - virtually untreatable. He was also under the care of some doctors. They had given him some very detailed instructions about what he must do. Some of those things were to take the medication as prescribed, wear a mask while out in public, and I'm sure there were lots of other conditions he was given to comply with. Well he decided that he didn't really want to wear a mask in public. So he went out without it - more than once. He basically decided "to heck with them" I want to live how I want to live. So for the safety of the public he was put into jail - not for a crime but for the protection of the community. He was jailed in Phoenix by Sheriff Joe. He was put in solitary confinement and they used a ventilation system that ensured no germs would escape. He stayed in there for a while until the ACLU got involved and insisted on more humane conditions for the man. Eventually he agreed to return to his home country. I think that he had the affected lung surgically removed. And now I don't know what has happened to him.

These are just 2 reasons that I am nervous about tuberculosis.

This is the hook to the story.

Last week we were shopping for blinds and shades for our windows. We were at a home improvement store asking questions and getting some bids. They guy was helping Doug and I was wandering around looking at the displays. When I came back to the desk the guy was talking and then he coughed. No big deal, right? Right! Not until he uttered his next sentence. He said, "This tuberculosis is terrible. It just keeps hanging on forever."

WHAT!!!??? Both of us turned to look at each other with eyebrows raised. We immediately stood up and made some distance between us and the sales person. We wanted to bolt but after spending a good amount of time to discuss what we wanted we also needed to get our quote. We beat it out of there as soon as we could.

Needless to say, neither of us wanted to go back in there. It sounded like this guy was the manager of the department. So if we wanted to order from them - we would be sitting face-to-face with the guy again. Mostly for that reason, we went to another home improvement store and ordered the things we needed.

So let me tell you this - if you want to get rid of us in a quick way - just cough a little and mention that little "T" word - TUBERCULOSIS. We'll split - and quick.