Oh, what the hell.
Seriously, I never do these kinds of memes, but this time I'm going to because it's getting on towards Valentine's Day.
SecretAdmirerAnonymeme
***
Also, the glasses are starting to work better. The eyes appear to be adjusting slowly. The only thing I can't do is use them at the computer. They improve distance vision, and I'm fairly close to the screen and...well.
Regardless of all the predictions of the Snowpocalypse tomorrow, I'm going with my legs and the Old Farmer's Almanac. The Almanac says rain to snow and then sunny, seasonable weather for February. I say there's going to be about three to six inches, at least some of it during the morning commute, and that it'll taper off around noon to two.
I am doing rather a lot of writing and proofreading at the moment, working on a couple of novels, trying to get the Help Haiti fic done and attempting to find a focus for a couple of essays on depression and epilepsy for LaChance Publishing.
Oh! And the drains are fixed now. I called a friend of one of the plumbers. This guy used to work for Roto-Rooter but left them because he felt they were charging too much for the average person to afford. He cost about a third of what Roto-Rooter wanted ($288 dollars to put a snake and a camera down the drain to see what was wrong, and $300-$400 minimum on top of that to fix the blockage, with a possibility of at least $1500 more on top of THAT if the pipes needed replacing).
This guy? $200. Worked all Monday afternoon and ended up cutting taproots out of the drain. That's what the problem was. Roots growing through the pipes. I don't mean puncturing the pipes. I mean roots contained within the pipes. It's apparently fairly common. Pipes have to be cleared of roots about every two years or so. This hadn't been done for at least five, probably more.
Then today the health department guy came, along with the social worker who was so cavalier about the costs of Roto-Rooter and a health department trainee. The short version is that the town wants to fix my chimney (which needs work if it isn't going to fall down, apparently) and re-shingle the roof and replace the upstairs toilet. It is a big job and it costs me nothing. Basically, when I sell the house, the town gets paid back out of the proceeds. Which is manageable.
I enjoyed handing the social worker guy the invoice from non-Roto-Rooter man. It really took the wind out of his sails when I did that.
And they start the bids for the other repairs around the end of February to early March. Everything should be done by spring.
Is that a light I see glimmering at the end of the tunnel?
***
SecretAdmirerAnonymeme
***
Also, the glasses are starting to work better. The eyes appear to be adjusting slowly. The only thing I can't do is use them at the computer. They improve distance vision, and I'm fairly close to the screen and...well.
Regardless of all the predictions of the Snowpocalypse tomorrow, I'm going with my legs and the Old Farmer's Almanac. The Almanac says rain to snow and then sunny, seasonable weather for February. I say there's going to be about three to six inches, at least some of it during the morning commute, and that it'll taper off around noon to two.
I am doing rather a lot of writing and proofreading at the moment, working on a couple of novels, trying to get the Help Haiti fic done and attempting to find a focus for a couple of essays on depression and epilepsy for LaChance Publishing.
Oh! And the drains are fixed now. I called a friend of one of the plumbers. This guy used to work for Roto-Rooter but left them because he felt they were charging too much for the average person to afford. He cost about a third of what Roto-Rooter wanted ($288 dollars to put a snake and a camera down the drain to see what was wrong, and $300-$400 minimum on top of that to fix the blockage, with a possibility of at least $1500 more on top of THAT if the pipes needed replacing).
This guy? $200. Worked all Monday afternoon and ended up cutting taproots out of the drain. That's what the problem was. Roots growing through the pipes. I don't mean puncturing the pipes. I mean roots contained within the pipes. It's apparently fairly common. Pipes have to be cleared of roots about every two years or so. This hadn't been done for at least five, probably more.
Then today the health department guy came, along with the social worker who was so cavalier about the costs of Roto-Rooter and a health department trainee. The short version is that the town wants to fix my chimney (which needs work if it isn't going to fall down, apparently) and re-shingle the roof and replace the upstairs toilet. It is a big job and it costs me nothing. Basically, when I sell the house, the town gets paid back out of the proceeds. Which is manageable.
I enjoyed handing the social worker guy the invoice from non-Roto-Rooter man. It really took the wind out of his sails when I did that.
And they start the bids for the other repairs around the end of February to early March. Everything should be done by spring.
Is that a light I see glimmering at the end of the tunnel?
***