Finally some relief from the heat. Yesterday it was about 75 degrees at the peak of the day and in the low 60’s in the morning and evening, just about perfect. This morning at 5am it’s 41 degrees! I just opened the windows to let the fresh air in. For most of the morning, I had the basement windows open and the attic fan going. It seems we might have some sort of sewer problem as we were getting a foul smell coming from down there. Upon investigation (the misses and I searching around the basement with our noses) we finally found a 1 inch copper drain pipe that comes down from upstairs and goes straight into the concrete in the basement floor. The problem was that about a foot up from the floor there’s a T joint and it’s not capped. We figured out this is where the smell was coming from. After a call to Bob the Plumber (who is out of town) we duct taped the hole off until next week. This seemed to eliminate the sewer gas smell but obviously something is wrong. We’re praying that our basement doesn’t have to be dug out. Nothing is plugged (toilets or sinks) so it might just be gas coming up from the ground but I think there has to be some leak somewhere for the smell to exist at all. Our house was built in 1967 and were on bentonite (soil that moves a lot) so I’m sure there’s some break somewhere in the line below the house. Could be a huge job with jackhammers digging up concrete and all, let’s hope for the best. Anyhow after taping up the open hole in the pipe and running the attic fan, the smell is thankfully gone. Maybe we should just leave it as is, don’t tell anybody, and move!
At 8:30 yesterday morning I received a call from our friends the Harris’s. Carrie called and asked if I could come over and help Mark move a couple of trees for 30 minutes. Being the nice guy that I am, I said sure. I loaded up both boys and headed over about 9am. When I arrived I was astonished to find a full trailer of 9 or 10, 15 to 20 foot tall trees that had root balls weighing over 400 pounds each! He had managed to get one into a wheelbarrow but we couldn’t move it. So we jumped in my truck (his had the trailer of trees attached) and drove off to find a “tree cart” at a rental place. We had to go to two places before we found one for rent and finally made it back. (we’ve already been gone more than 45 minutes and had yet to move a tree!) We unloaded the cart and began to move these 400+ pound bundles of dirt and leaves. His yard is not yet landscaped so we had to pull these over loose dirt and up a hill which made things even more difficult. Now I’m pretty strong and Mark’s a big guy too but we had to go about 5 feet at a time and then stop for a rest. This went on for about an hour and we had 6 of the 9 trees moved. On every pull I could feel my back getting tighter and tighter. When we got to the last three trees, it was apparent we couldn’t move these alone. Mark called another friend of ours who showed up but it was too late for my back. After standing around for 20 more minutes, my back had tightened up and I knew one more pull could really throw it out. So I at this point (2 hours later) had to bag out. I got home, hit the showers (again) as I was dripping with sweat and began to ice my back. Not a good sign with the 3 day weekend just beginning. This morning I’m stiff and sore but thankfully not hunched over, yet! I’m taking 3 advil at a time trying to fight it off, hope it works. The oldest asked “how come when Mark comes over and helps you move wine you pay him but when you go over and move trees he doesn’t pay you?” Good question but it is different. Mark would help me move wine for free but I always offer some free wine up front, but from a 9 year old, good question!
Now to the boys, they of course were playing up and down the street all day long. The misses took them for some errands and a pizza while I went over to the neighbor’s to discuss some business. (more on that later this year) All this time the green chili was cooking away and we decided to invite L.O.L. up for dinner so she wouldn’t be all alone. She’s so cute as she showed up (the misses picked her up) dressed to the nine’s (or whatever they say). She loves the boys and keeps telling us how great they are and thanked us over and over for the invite. It must be hard being 90 and alone. Anyhow, she’s a pretty easy guest and I spent most of the time outside monitoring the boys going up and down the street on their bikes. (this means watching for cars and then yelling “car” whenever one is coming to get all the kids to the side of the road) The rest of the night was movie night with the four of us in our bed watching tv. Finally at almost 10pm we sent the boys to bed. Somehow when I woke up this morning, the little guy was back in our bed! Now he is sleeping most of the time in his own bed but manages to magically work his way back into our bed during the night. We call him the human heating pad.
Today we might try to go fishing somewhere or just hang out around the house. The kids prefer to play with their friends until they have their friends go inside and then it’s “we never do anything”. We’ll see how the morning plays out.
Not much to talk about politics wise but check this out just for fun, there’s a lot of talk about jobs right now and this is pretty funny.
Not all jobs
are suffering under Obama –
1. Crack Sales are way up
2. Squatters are up 75%
3. Flash mobs are up 300%
4. Those who give out welfare checks and food
stamps are up 450%
5. Those that board up vacant homes and stores are
up 1000%
How’s that for ya! It’s funny but it’s not because it’s true. I won’t go much further but there is more pain coming before things get better. Many noted economists say the market could really crash hard in the next 60 days, get ready now just in case. Ok I’ll stop now, I need to come up with some acronym for all that’s happening. Maybe we should have a contest. One of the more famous blogs out there has a saying that is “when the Shumer hits the fan”. This of course is named after Chuck Shumer, the loser senator from New York. I think we all know what word “Shumer” is replacing. So, I’m looking for suggestions for our own word to describe our current situation, let me know what you have. How about something like, oh I don’t know, Frustression, you know a mix between recession and frustration. Anyhow let me know what you have, of course Obama’s would be something like, “lil’bump” for a little bump in the road. Ok ok I’ll stop but you get the point. One more little fact just to put it all into perspective,
WOW, not good news, how can this be? In 1945 World War II was just ending so this was understandable then but now? Come on, not a good sign. I wasn’t around in 1945 so I don’t know how the economy was, if anyone remembers, let me know.
Anyhow have a great day, winter’s coming, pray we don’t have a huge sewer problem and God Bless,
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