One Step Forward/Two Back


Supposedly I am on the last lap of having my apartment ready for short term rental. I had a goal of being ready to take guests on the 1st of April. And per advice attempted a listing on AirBnB as of the 15th of March. Best laid schemes of mice and men often go awry. "To a Mouse" by Robert Burns. 

After days of building my listing it still insisted it was in Taos, New Mexico. And nothing I could do got the attention of the site managers. Would have been frustrating enough without going through another virtual battle with Lowe's Building site to get a reasonably priced washer and dryer delivered. And then the plumbing issue. And Amazon failed me with their two day delivery schedule going to nine days on the little amenities required to please guests.

Oh, did I mention the succession of snow storms. Whatever snow we didn't see in "real winter" we got shoved into a couple weeks in just before spring and after. I truly harbored thoughts of admitting this was stupid and an abject failure. Killed the AirBnB site, or laid it to temporary rest, to kill it would mean I was banned forever and a day. Began again on VRBO which had been my first choice before I was talked out of it. But they knew immediately WHERE I was located. There is a mountain between Taos and Black Lake.

I also gave up on Lowe's. They seem to not have a clue about what they have in stock. Went to the Home Depot site, found what I wanted, verified by telephone real person mano y mano contact they delivered to Angel Fire on Wednesdays, placed order. In what seemed a replay of the Taos vs. Angel Fire debacle on Airbnb, Home Depot wanted to deliver my washer and dryer to Albuquerque. I tried for 48 hours to get their attention and correct the mistake and never could get a human to talk to. I spent hours trying to communicate and it wasn't until the delivery to Albuquerque failed that I did. Now I am awaiting the refund. Cannot go to Taos to deal with a in person appliance store because of snow and not having the money because Home Depot has not given me a refund.

Meanwhile those amenities I ordered from Amazon; curtains and curtain rods and blinds and holder for paper towels and flavored coffees went from delivery on Wednesday to Friday and last I checked Monday. That will be 11 days Amazon. And yesterday only one of the flavors of Starbucks instant coffees was in the package of supposedly three. And last Friday when I turned the water back on the 30 plus old shower/tub faucet failed. No repair possible but the plumber did an awesome replacement with a new Moen. And fixed the leaking pipes under the sink. That explained the bowl the last long term renter had just placed there to catch the drips.

Then last night I get my first query from a potential guest via VRBO. Oh, and did I mention the Corolla with the dead battery (hopefully just that) which has to be moved to provide parking for any guest?

Comments

  1. Ien in the KootenaysMarch 26, 2021 at 5:38 AM

    Exactly the poem our mutual friend Wendy White quoted to me in the context of my big move. Except Burns said “ gang aft agley” Delays and frustrations are par for the course in any building project. I am in awe of how fast you did it all, while cranking out a whole new line of creativity with your fabric art. I am furious with the big company scrooges who decide that they cannot possibly invest in a few live people, ideally on the same continent, to answer the phone. Bet never mind, you did it. Happy hosting!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

I write for me but I care what my readers think. Please be polite and no scamming.

Popular posts from this blog

Polyethylene Packaging - a Dark Times Journal entry

Image
I was in the fourth grade when our family moved from El Paso, Texas to Albuquerque, New Mexico. We moved because I could not breathe the air there. I want to say they cracked petroleum there. But what did I know beyond the sky was sometimes yellow and I could not breathe. Mom was pregnant with Debbie, and Gary and I rode in the backseat separated by a round tank full of Dad's tropical fish. Dad had a job with Sealright, Inc which made paper milk cartons. Sealright was a polyethylene packing subsidiary of Phillips 66. The petroleum company. I was rather proud of myself for learning to say that, and to not laugh when adults would stare at me not knowing what to ask about that. Albuquerque smelled better. Then. Before all the freeways were built and the shape of the valley trapped the exhaust down near the ground in the winter months. We lived in the foothills. I could breathe. I learned that if I could see the air I could not. Still it was better than El Paso though I missed our trip...
Read more

Swimming

Image
For much of my college career my fitness workout was swimming on the B squad of the swim team. I remember it as the days before heated pools and women coaches. I also remember being so exhausted and cold I could only lean against the shower wall and throw up. Not exactly warm fuzzy images but I was in awesome shape. Needless to say it did not leave me with a overpowering desire to swim laps. Point of fact for years my swimming became really informal: Swimming to shore after the canoe tipped over, challenging my sister once a summer to across the lake and back, seeing how long I could back float without moving a muscle, and a scuba course. I also played around with other ways of staying fit: aerobics, bicycling, jogging, skiing and dance classes. All of which seem to be bad for the knees, back or feet. After my ski accident my physical therapist steered me back to the pool. Damn if I was going to swim laps! However, aqua fit was just getting rather seriously taken so I took it. It r...
Read more

The Pruning the Crown of Thorns

Image
Crown of Thorns Before I am a lover of Euphorbias . They are from the deserts of Southern Africa and Madagascar. They have evolved physical characteristics and forms similar to cacti of North and South America and are often incorrectly referred to as cacti. My big Crown of Thorns was one of my first of a growing collection of these succulents from the spurge family of Euphorbiaceae. I picked it up as a 6 inch plant in a New Iberia nursery when my sister and I were touring the northern gulf coast. I believe that was 15 years ago. I made an attempt at limiting its height a few years back to allow it to devote more energy to the new branches and make it a denser plant. That failed. And the height of the plant continued to challenge the window space and soon the long branches were leaning over and leaning against the window. I googled and found the proper way to prune this treasured plant. Still it was very difficult to cut off the four longer branches. Even with a plan. The f...
Read more