Even MORE Fun!

I realized this morning that the water heater has a 9 year warranty.  And I've only had this one 8 years (by the way, that's a record, the 1st two only lasted about 2 years each). 

I call up Whirlpool and guess what?  The thermocouple is bad.  It's covered under warranty too.    They don't make that type of thermocouple (it's a left handed one?) so it needs a conversion kit. And they can ship it out for $30 but I have to install it.

Sooooo.  Should I wait a few days until it arrives and then wait until Saturday to get someone to install it;  or pay another couple of hundred bucks for a plumber to come after hours assuming it does come during the week?  How many more cold showers can I take?  Or just go buy a brand new one?

Maybe I should open a Facebook page asking for donations!

Fun and Games

Let's tally the fun and games:  1 broken toilet (darn good thing there are 2 in the house) + 1 broken sprinkler system (thank heavens for rotory water sprinklers) + 1 non-heating water heater (umm, nothing good about cold showers even in the summer time!) + busted car wiper blades (now, just why does that only happens when it is raining?  and it's not like we get a lot of rain in the summer) and 1 sick kitty that has already cost $1200.  Yes, you read that correctly $850 for the emergency stay and $400 for the day at the vet.  sigh.  It's still a happy day.

4th of July

The 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays.  I love red, white and blue.  

Brother, Plumber and a sprinkler

I woke up this morning with the kitties nibbling on my arms (gee, I only sleep an extra half hour) and the sound of water hitting the mail box post.  I ran to the window with 2 howling kitties following my footsteps only to be horrified to see the sprinkler system was still on in the front!

First and foremost, the kitties were fed and Sam got his insulin shot.  Then I dashed outside where there is a river running down the street and it starts in my yard. Yikes!  I dashed through the house to the garage and turned off the sprinkler controller.  And removed the battery.  Alas, that did not work (yes, I dashed to the front again).  It's 6:20 am and I check Lowe's and Home Depot but they don't open until 8am on Sundays.

So I took a deep breath and called my brother.  He didn't answer his cell phone.  He always claims he gets up at 5:30 every morning ... every single day. So is he ignoring me?   So I call the house phone, and he's sound asleep.  Oh well, he has the tool to open the city water meter so I go over to get it.  He's still groggy and claiming 'I don't know why I was asleep!'  Ha! Caught him!!!  He was so sleepy he didn't notice I was in my pj's and soaking wet.

Why is it the front yard sprinklers do this?  This is the 2nd time - dang, the city encourages neighbors to tattle and the fine is not a small fine for watering when you aren't supposed to.  And the city emergency water contact puts sprinkler systems at the bottom of their list - last time it took them over 3 hours to come out (that was about 7-8 years ago).

I park in front of the house and jump out of the car only to be even more horrified as my iPhone falls out of my pocket and into the river by the curb.  EKKKK.  It's only 2 months old.  I grab it and then drag the tools out and get the meter lid off.  It's full of water and I put my hand in there (praying that there aren't any moving critters) and I can't find the cut-off valve.  The city added the new electronic meters and it's covering the valve.  So I try the sprinkler meter next.  I can't see anything.  At all.

So now I wake up my sister-in-law.  My brother is out roaming his 2 acres so she says he'll come over.  So I wait some more and watch the water roll down the street.  And now I worry about the tree getting too much water and a wind coming along and it falls (like it's doing in the east).   A friend sees my FB cries for help (hey, I was waiting at the time) and calls, only I can't hear anything so I'm thinking my iPhone is dead and what else can go wrong - the plumber was here yesterday to repair the guest bathroom tub leak.

So Alan appears, and we try to turn off the water but no luck.  So next we try the sprinkler valve.  We're using cups to get the water out and I'm trying to use the top to keep the water off Alan (why I'm not sure because he was soaked by then too).  He finally gets the water turned off and that means I have water in the house!!!!  

So off he goes (to take a nap I bet) and I go dripping into the house.  And the kitties are just watching and staring and I'm sure I heard a snicker or two.  And I'm still in my pj's.

My friend calls again but I can't hear her.  She calls back on the land line and says she could hear me.  She suggests putting the iPhone in rice to dry it out.  Wow - I even have rice so in a bowl of rice it goes.  I mean, well, at this point, it can't hurt it.   So about a half-hour later, I try it and it works fine.  Gee, sometimes, it is nice to have a friend even if she's a Yankee with a Texas twang slowly working it's way into her speech.

I forgot to mention, yesterday the plumber was her to fix the leak in the tub in the guest bathroom.  It had been leaking for a week.  I was collecting water and taking it outside to water the pots.

I hope the rest of the day is boring. 

Alarms at 5AM on a Saturday?

Oh yes,  Another kitty story.  

I wake up to Millie trying to nibble my arm .... but she's on the wrong side of the bed!  And next I hear my iPad falling on the floor.  And then, oh yes there is more.  And then I hear and see alarms from outside. 

My goodness.  The truck next door has a really really loud truck alarm and all the lights flash too.  It's a big pick-up.  I get up to see if it's just the one truck alarm or if other cars parked in front are screaming along with the truck.  It was like a real light show!  

Anyway, I usually get up at 5am and feed the monsters around 5:20.  BUT this morning, they wanted to make sure I got out of bed!   Not that I'm likely to forget them - Millie gets carried away with her nibbles sometimes.  All their dry food was gone too. 

They are eating me out of house and home.  Then while getting Sam's insulin shot ready, I stepped on a little orange tomato.  Now the funny is, it was in front of the stove so I know I didn't miss it last night.  So how did it escape it's little container?   Maybe a kitty snack in the middle of the night?

All's well in the house now.  Except I can't go back to sleep. 

Cowtown and Cemetery Sat Night Fun

A friend who shall remain nameless as she does not want to be identified with having so much darn fun AND spending more time with a native Texan as those unique Texasisms, slang and twang inch their way into a confirmed Yankee (hey, we all can't be perfect LOL).

I wanted Chuy's or a hamburger.  I did not bring up my favorite all time favorite best of the bunch and should be world famous Fred's Texas Cafe in Fort Worth.  She did - yes, The Yankee.  

'nuff said.  

So off to Ft Worth we go.  She drove because I wanted to have a beer or 2 with my cheeseburger.  Yes, let me be clear - when I say Hamburger I mean Cheeseburger.  Just like when I was growing up.... when I wanted to drink a Dr Pepper, I said I wanted a Coke.  That is normal natural native Texan expectation.  sigh.  this may be a looong story.

So we finally get to Fred's.  Oh yes, there's a story there too.  Waze was not quite fast enough to keep up with the driver so we missed a turn but as I stated at the time - Ft Worth is  little, we can't get lost, I grew up here and it's right over there - see the Montgomery Place that used to be Montgomery Wards where we came to shop as it was down the street from where my dad worked.  Side note :  Dad worked next to the park where there were ducks and ponds.  Now I can't remember for sure if that is the same park where the duck tried to eat my finger - yes, I still have a scar- or not.  But it is the park where we could take cardboard and slide down the hill.  We used to go eat lunch with Dad.  What a treat.

But I digress.  Fred's Texas Cafe.  We got there around 6 right before it got crowded.  We agreed to sit at the only table by the restrooms!  Yes that is really crazy but it is entertaining and we didn't have to wait.  It was too darn hot to be sitting outside.  Besides it is really loud when a band is playing.  Oh my.  I'm not sure what they put in their Cokes but it was sooo good.  And yes, this time I mean a Coca Cola not the the other native Texan drink that I no longer partake of - between the mess up with Dublin and not have real Imperial Pure Cane Sugar and working there - well, let's just leave it at I don't drink it any more.  

By the time the wonderful Fred Burger with cheese and everything and those absolutely wonderful fries came, I forgot about the beer.  Downed another Coke and cleaned my plate just like I learned to do as a little kid.  MMMMmm  good.  

So off we go back to east Texas.   mmmm did I mention how good the Fredburger was?  Somehow we got off on Lancaster (I mean, seriously, between Waze and my directions how did we end up on Lancaster) due to some laughingly funny conversation at the time.  Now, Lancaster St used to be the way we went from Hurst.  My favorite garden center Marshall Grains is there.  But it can be a scary street when you have to drive slowly to avoid all the people walking across the street when they decide they can walk whenever and whereever and at their chosen pace with their pants hanging down below their butts (like I really want to see baggy, dirty underwear - now don't get me wrong, underwear on the right guy is nice).  Oh but I digress again.  

I think this is about the time I realize the doors on this vehicle do not automatically lock like mine.  Scary.   Giggles all over again.  Seriously, only sodas were involved.  

So we go farther down to Shannon Rose Hill Cemetery.  Now, I would expect you to ask why.  Well, I thought I could show her one of the cemeteries I go to when doing family research.  My material great-grandparents are buried there.  And several of their children (my great aunts and uncles) are also buried there.  I've been going there since I was a little kid.  I was relating the family story about how upset some of those great aunts and uncles (they were alive back then) were not happy when Oswald was buried near my great-grandparents.  So we looked for Oswald's grave first.  So even though it was late and sunset was just around the corner we stopped.  So as a spooky kind of Sat night thing that teens are prone to do... we turned in and drove through the gates (now that was funny... big beautiful gates and no corresponding attached fence!).

And we found it.  And found lots of babies buried in same general area - that is so sad because some babies weren't even given a name.  But we couldn't find my great grandparents grave.  On my iPhone, there is a picture I took of my mom when we were there about a year ago and I took the photo with the houses in back so I had a better idea of where they were buried.  But we just could not match it up.  I do know from that time that they are not buried where the office says they should be located (no, I do not believe they got up and walked over to another spot).  

This picture just does not do justice to what I saw.  The sun was reflecting off the headstone and it was so bright - it looked like it was a mirror!  

So since it was getting dark, we left.  Now I'm not afraid of cemeteries at all.  I find them peaceful and interesting.  But I really didn't want to spend the night in one either. 

So off we go heading back to the east and making sure we are locked safely inside the car.  Really, I mean living in the Dallas area and you don't know if your doors are locked or not?  Yikes!  Scary.  

A pit stop at a convenience store (darn, I didn't get the winning Lotto ticket) and we turned back to the cemetery because I forgot to check in on FourSquare and Yelp.  And funnily enough, both sites had Lee Harvey Oswald as a check-in place.  So we checked in.  

Now getting home - that was another story.  Road construction and the most poorly designed detours with even worse temporary signs were a good waste of time.  At least, we only had to enter DFW Airport and make a U turn once.  I can't imagine what it must be like for people unfamiliar with the area.   

Just remember - Fort Worth is where the West begins - and you shouldn't get lost.  And don't forget that I was born in west Texas at the now gone Carswell Air Force Base in Ft Worth.  Best darn thing that happened to that town AND me!!!