Aftermath

I managed to make it through another birthday without anyone making a fuss over me. My brother Barry came by during the day and we had lunch. I had an offer to have dinner with Carolyn but decided to eat with my sister and her family instead. Lisa called just to chat and she forgot it was my birthday. I had to remind her. Mom mailed me a card. That was pretty much it. No presents. I guess I will treat myself to something at some point. I made it through my money crisis - today I got paid. I hope I can get to the 15th a little better this time. I'm pretty sure I have no unexpected expenses coming in the next 2 weeks.
Now that the storm is over there is just the aftermath to deal with. My boat is fine and once my lights came on on Monday I was pretty well back to normal. The office closed on Monday and with no power I had the whole day open. I took my food to my sisters and got on the boat early and returned it back to it's normal state and it wasn't even lunch time. I spent a good part of the day napping and listening to the radio. Since I only had a couple of dollars and was still waiting for payday on Wednesday I figured I would just bum around all day.
The weather outside was sunny and warm so I sat outside for a while. Then at about 3 I got a call from Carolyn. She was at work and her son was home with no power. I knew there was a generator there and with nothing else to do I figured I would go over there and see if it would start. First I needed to open the garage. I managed to find the bypass to the electric door opener and get inside. Then got the generator out to the driveway with Wayne's help. I only had a vague idea how it worked but within 10 minutes it was running. Within an hour we had power to the refrigerator and freezer and had a light in the kitchen.
So I spent the rest of the afternoon with Carolyn's son Wayne playing chess ... he's good but not good enough to beat me. I was basically waiting for Carolyn to get home. Odd thing about them... they don't watch TV. Wayne likes the Internet but I haven't figured out what Carolyn does to relax. When Carolyn got home she fired up the grill and reheated some pasta. It was a nice dinner. I was there until almost 11. I was more than ready to go. To be honest I am frustrated. I was glad when I got home and found the lights were on.
Tuesday was my birthday and since no trains were running I set up to work from home. Before I'd even gotten started I got a call from Carolyn. I thought she was just calling to wish me happy birthday, but she really wanted me to come and start the generator. Apparently Wayne wouldn't do it. I got him on the phone and told him he needed to get it done. He was really getting me mad. He is a good kid but he is very hard to motivate. I thought he would just take care of it but I guess I expect too much from a 14 year-old.
Carolyn met me later so I could give her a 5 gallon gas can for the diesel. I asked her if Wayne is always like that and she says only with her. He reacts different when a man tells him something. I threw my 2 cents in if for no other reason than to get it out. I said I'm not his dad and he needs to step up more. But I dropped it from there. She is doing her best. So if you wonder why I'm not pushing to be her guy that is a big part of it. It's become apparent to me that she is a package deal and I'm not that anxious to go there.
Later I called her and she really wanted me to come by. But I wanted to go home. I just didn't want to go. She doesn't want to sleep with me and other than getting together to go out on the boat I'm becoming very uninterested. I did make a promise to take them out tonight. We will see.
With that I spent my birthday home alone. Not the first time and probably won't be the last.