Thursday, 24 September 2026

 

Well, that sucked. For the past two days, I've been struggling to put up and secure that carport/canopy thing and it's been exhausting work--so much so, that I slept late and missed Buddy's grooming appointment this morning. I have to sleep with earplugs in because Mother's hearing is getting worse, and she's either got the TV or her phone cranked up. I ended up not waking up in time and even not hearing the 8:30 a.m. appointment alarm go off because of my exhaustion. I've got to go into Marquette in a few weeks and I'm hoping the groomer up there has an opening on the same day as my dental appointment.

So far, the canopy is all right and holding up under the mild Fall weather, but there are a growing list of issues that have to be addressed before winter sets in. Wind is the biggest concern, of course. The canvas, and maybe not even the frame, will hold together unless further protective measures are taken, so I've ordered 1,000 feet of paracord to replace the twine/rope with, and to criss-cross over the larger sections of tarp to offer more stability. I've also got to come up with an easier way to get the roll-up door out of the way when it comes to pulling in and out of the canopy; one solution is to put a 10' PVC pipe on the bottom, then fasten some kind of roll-up pully system. The bottom edges fly up, too, so that's another thing that needs addressing, though perhaps using snow in the winter is the cheapest and easiest idea.

Still, if this works, it's going to be superior to trying to pull off a car cover that's weighed down with ice and snow, or that's iced onto the vehicle from snow getting on the underside and melting... not to mention trying to pull it off when both the snow on the SUV and on the ground are a few feet deep. If it doesn't work and the weather tears it apart, the canopy will buy me a few months' worth of outdoor protection.

I'm getting a little edgy as we move towards the end of the month. I transferred $3,000 from a credit union card onto the soon-to-be bank credit card that I want to empty off, but it hasn't registered yet. It hasn't been a full week yet, so I'm just trying to convince myself to chill out until that happens, but not having it automatically register on the other card makes me jumpy--because I am anxious to get away from them before the merger. I'm still going to owe $500 on that card, but that's a "do-able" amount. It's not fun being this twitchy about finances, particularly given what this administration is doing to the economy.