Hello?

Sorry I can't get to the phone today.  My replacement will be handling all calls:

The answers might be a little sticky, however.

Shower

Last night Walt Kowalski and I did our usual "divide and conquer." He went to work at the front house.  I stayed home and worked around the Cat Ranch. 

One of the things on the to-do list was a new flapper for the commode in the powder room.  I could hear the toilet was running to refill more often lately. The high calcium deposits in well water make the parts in the tank wear out more frequently.  Less than $3 for a repair completed by one person in less than 5 minutes.  Easy task. 

Except the valve to turn the water off to the toilet is corroded and won't shut off completely.  So my one person task became a two person task.  Walt Kowalski knew about the valve and even has a replacement ready.  In the meantime, we can still fix the toilet.  I held the lever so the water wouldn't fill and Walt Kowalski changed the flapper.

Of course we did this task at 10:15 pm just before we went to bed. (I know better than to start a plumbing project that late.)

But everything went well. The valve replacement will be another day. 

Except as we finished the task, I glanced at myself in the mirror and realized ...

I never took a shower this evening!

But I'm ready to go to bed nowwwwwww.

How I missed this minor detail, I don't know.  Walt Kowalski showered as soon as he returned home from the front house while I was making dinner. Normally, after working outside or at the front house, I'm too dirty and I shower before making dinner.  One small change threw me off my schedule.

Then again let me tell you what I *almost* did the other day. After working outside, I am always cautious of ticks, poison, and dirt in the house. As a preventative measure, we got in the practice of taking our work boots, jeans, and long sleeve shirts off in the garage before coming upstairs. 

My mind was already on making dinner and when I got upstairs to the bathroom, I turned on the water, grabbed a wash cloth, and stepped into the shower.  Still wearing my socks and unders. 

*sigh*

It took my brain a moment to realize 'something is not right in this picture.'

It's ok. You can laugh.  I did.  

Dumpster Diving

Like my "new" planter? I got two of them. 

Last year, at the end of summer, they were sitting down by the curb for the garbage. They were dirty and needed a good scrubbing. I popped open the trunk, threw them in and put them away in the shed for next year.  

It's next year!

I forgot about them until this weekend.  After I scrubbed them, you could see they were a little weathered from, well, being out in the weather.  Nothing a coat of spray paint wouldn't cure.  I even had a can on the shelf in the laundry room. 

Spray spray.  

Add dirt.  Add flowers. Done! 

(I know that Walt Kowalski tolerates my collection day "finds" but a quick internet search said they retail for minimum around $50 each.)

I got the other small pots for the back patio planted, too.  

I have learned that when planting my own pots if the pot looks like 4 flowers would be enough add 6. I also learned that I always buy too many flowers.  They are just so pretty at the store.  

One Two Three

And just like that...

The walls are gone.

It looks kinda scary in here with no walls and plaster.  It looks a LOT cleaner than it is, too.

Taking the ceilings down is the worst.  The walls are dusty, but the ceilings have dirt left in them from the coal furnace and lots of chimney soot. 

The truck is full. The burn pile is growing (again).

I'm not ready to think about the chimney.

One Job

Dear City,

You had one job. Empty the dumpster.  

Here was our agreement.  Instead of going to another company and having to get a permit, I would rent dumpster from you for a weekly fee. No permit needed and you got some easy money from a member of your community. You would bring the dumpster to the requested location, I would fill the dumpster, and you would take it away in 1 week.  Empty or full. If I wanted the dumpster emptied sooner, I would go to your office, pay for another week, and you would empty the dumpster on the day I paid.

Sounds like an excellent agreement.  

Our relationship started out great. We paid, you provided, we filled, we paid, you emptied. Once you even gave us an extra weekend.  We didn't mind. 

I now realize that extra weekend was only great when the dumpster was not completely full.  

Walt Kowalski and I planned the dumpster rental around the weekend.  We planned to fill the current dumpster, have a check to you on Friday morning, and have an empty dumpster Friday afternoon for the next weekend. We have done this before, do you remember?

So when I get the call around 2:30 pm that the new dumpster had been paid for and the current dumpster was still full, you can understand I wasn't pleased. I was even less pleased to find out that on Fridays, you are done working at 2 o'clock pm and that dumpster I paid for is not going to be emptied until Monday morning. 

What about our agreement? 

You can't be late for you Friday afternoon tee time, can you? I bet you didn't hesitate to deposit that check I gave you this morning, did you? But if I'm late paying, you don't care and make certain you remind me I was late. 

So now I have a weekend of work planned and an overflowing dumpster

Ok, Lesson learned.  I will still honor our agreements in the future, but I will no longer trust you. Because you can't be trusted, I will call and call and call you again until the dumpster is empty. Because you can't be trusted, I will be the responsible one and get you the request for an emptied dumpster a day earlier than I need.  

Once again, City, you have disappointed me.  

Love, me.

P.S. Your truck is going to struggle to pick up that dumpster to empty it.  It is HEAVY. I didn't wait for the empty dumpster.  I added as much as I could to every corner of this current dumpster.  It is overflowing.  I probably would have needed an extra week's rental from you, but not anymore. Maybe I should be thanking YOU for saving me money after all.  

Jammin'

There are some days I run into roadblocks at every turn.

Trains and traffic this day. This was the never ending train. I had to cross.  This was the only way through town. I had no choice to go around. I just had to wait.  This restaurant probably does better business when the traffic is backed because of the train.  This train almost caught me on my way home, too.  I saw him coming and didn't dilly dally by stopping for a pit stop.  

 
Traffic was a different subject.  I had the option to go around but said "Oh that detour isn't for me.  The traffic wont' be THAT bad." 

WRONG!

I should have made that pit stop.  I was going to stop at the fruit market but I knew my chances of getting back into this line were slim. People can be quite rude when it comes to merging in construction.

At this point I was more than half way through.  Looking back where I came from made me feel better.  Well, expect my bladder, that is. 

I didn't turn into a pillar of salt either.

Challenging

Some days are just hard. Challenging is a better word.

Today was a challenge.

It was a challenge to get out of bed. It was cool. Soft. I was sleepy.
It was a challenge to get the coffee.  Feed the kids. Make the lunches. Think about what to make for dinner. 
It was a challenge to get myself fixed up for work. Find clothes. Pack exercise clothes for lunch. Pack work clothes for after work.
It was a challenge to run to the basement for drinks.  To find yucky things on the floor.  To step in yucky things on the floor. To clean up the yucky things I tracked all over the floor.

I was sweaty and thirsty and disheveled before I left the house at 6am.

That's life.  (Life in morning at the Cat Ranch, that is.)

I've heard the quote "Set a goal for every day and never be tired." I'll work on that. 

Tomorrow morning, I'll get up and do it all over again. Hopefully with less yucky things on the floor.