Most exciting thing that happened to me during lockdown

Yes, lockdown, or 'sheltering in place' as some say, rather euphemistically, or self-isolation as the Public Health edicts call it is difficult.

For those of us without children at home, and not working from home...well, let's just say I had a very pleasant one hour conversation earlier today with a telemarketer. What else is there to do?

I've asked my social media friends to share what the most exciting thing is that has happened to them since the pandemic struck.

For me, I can't think of many exciting moments to consider and rate.

Perhaps the most exciting thing happened yesterday when I played hide-and-go-seek with the grandchildren. I'd forgotten how dark closets are when the door is closed. Remember the tiny crack of light under the door? I can't say I actually saw that crack. I mostly just saw the ceiling, being as I was simply a face and voice on an iPhone. Diminishing this experience, however, was despite the fact I was hundreds of miles away I repeatedly got blamed for making too much noise and giving away the hiding spot.

Although that was a fun event, perhaps for an exciting event I should consider my social distancing visit with four close friends around a roaring campfire the other night. The fact that we couldn't share food or drink or photos did't stop us from sharing a few good laughs. Especially when we enacted our perspectives on tele-medicine and our annual physical exams.

But as far as the type of excitement that gets one's heart racing, the number one event since being in self isolation has to be the day I exploded the hot tub.

Now, I am ever so grateful to have my very own hot tub, outdoors. A place I can go and soak away my worries and woes. But like I hinted at before, boredom does strange things to people. It seems it caused me to believe at some point that I might have plumbing abilities.

In any event, I decided to fix that control knob that leaked. It had been leaking for months but it only leaked when the jets were on and the tiny trickle just ran back into the tub so nothing had been done about it. But for pandemic-induced reasons, I decided I should and could fix this issue.

Well about two minutes into my repair job, complete with the explosive sound effects, a frothing four foot pillar of angry water torpedoed the knob and its leaky innards a good fourteen feet into the air. Myriad plastic pieces fell back from the sky, burying themselves into the surrounding snow banks as the geyser kept rising, writhing and roaring from the hole where the control knob had once been.

Keep in mind it is -10C , I'm soaking wet, in a bathing suit and the water in the tub in dipping dangerously low. I'm jabbing at the control panel to turn off the jets but nothing is happening. The pool of water outside the tub is beginning to freeze.

Luckily, a few more jabs and I finally got the jets turned off. I stared around me. I couldn't believe my misfortune. I'd entered the tub fearful and anxious, intent on giving up my stress to the warmth of the water massage as I'd done almost every day since  Covid-19 stay-at-home orders were issued. Now, I was more anxious than ever and had apparently disabled one of my life's few remaining pleasures.

But, being me (and being cold), I didn't stand there long. My robe, which had been carefully hung on the rail was dripping wet. My slippers were wet, too, but they were my plastic sandals so I slipped them on and, mostly naked I raced around the deck, digging into the snow to retrieve washers and rings and various other pieces of plastic that looked like they may belong to a hot tub control knob.

Still fancying myself somewhat of a plumber I pieced things together as best I could and then closed the tub lid, too frightened to turn on the jets to see if my fix job worked.

As I climbed down from my hot tub, I realized with horror that the steps were covered in a smelly, brown mess. As were my sandals! Apparently in my dash about the deck to recover pieces, I'd uncovered the winter's stash of doggy do-do.

I now had to rush about (still in my bathing suit), scrubbing, cleaning, rinsing, disinfecting the steps, my shoes, the deck, itself. 

I was not a happy camper when hubby showed up. But bless his soul. In less than an hour he had my tub up and running again.

I'm am so very happy that each day, I can still slip out there and soak. The snow is now gone, the stash of doggy-do gone, and overhead the Canada geese fly, robins flirt in the nearby trees and around the pond below, my beloved red winged blackbirds trill.

Yes, the day the tub exploded was the most exciting thing that has happened to me since lockdown began.

"...Lockdown" has been brought to you by the BackTracker Series.

Canadian author, Eileen Schuh, is known for her thrilling elements of crime, sensitive treatment of social issues, and emotional exposure of the human psyche.

Schuh's most recent release in her gritty BackTracker crime series is the crime thriller, OPERATION MAXTRACKER. The previous books in this series are THE TRAZ, FATAL ERROR and FIREWALLS.

Schuh is also the proud author of two adult SciFi novellas, SCHRÖDINGER'S CAT and DISPASSIONATE LIES, the adult crime thriller, SHADOW RIDERS.

Her latest release is the grade school novel, BETWEEN THE SUN AND THE RAINBOW.

Eileen Schuh, Author 
FIREWALLS
FATAL ERROR
Schrödinger's Cat
THE TRAZ
Web site: http://www.eileenschuh.com
Blog: http://eileenschuh.blogspot.com