98 and hello
Hello dear friends. Today would have been my mother's 98th birthday. Happy birthday! I still miss her so much that at times it physically hurts. Although she would have disapproved, we went out and washed her and Dad's headstones and then I poured a libation of Jack Daniels over Dad's and a good tot of gin over Mother's. My sister and I will Zoom for cocktails later today so we can toast her memory.
Other than that, I'm okay. We've both had our Moderna boosters, hurray! We both had reactions, too, though nothing as bad as we did for the second shot. Still, even though I was in bed for a day, that's nothing compared to getting Covid-19, so once again, hurray!
Lots and lots has been happening, and all of it cost money. This has been such an expensive summer. In July, we had to have our a/c replaced -- it went out on the day our weather station said it was 124F/51C in the backyard. You might remember that the shower pan in the big bathroom had been leaking, probably for years, and had damaged the wall the shower shared with the guest bath, so both had to be remodeled, and because we had no toilets or showers, we had to move out for a month. Fortunately we found a nice AirBnB literally three minutes away, and because it was August in the Phoenix area, the price was way down.
Anyway, that's done and we're delighted with the results. We also had all the floor tile in the house replaced and oh my goodness, two months later I'm still staring at the new floors in delight. Here is the big bathroom -- this is before the new glass shower doors were installed, but you can see the tile, the new paint, and the new floor:
And here is the little bathroom with new tile, new paint, and new lights:
I'm very glad all that is done, but then . . .
One day I walked out back and saw that part of the backyard was underwater. My first thought was that the drip system had sprung a leak but after a bit of poking around, I realized that it was pool water. I called the pool place where I've gone for the last five years and they knew instantly it was the auto-filler gone wrong. They walked me through shutting it off and eventually the water drained away. A few days later their technician replaced the auto-filler. Did that fix the problem? HAHAHA.
I texted him not an hour later saying the backyard was filling with water again. He came back and realized that although the auto-filler had been broken (it wouldn't shut off), there was also a leak. He had to come back three more times before we found where the water was coming from:
Obviously from somewhere under the pool decking, which required a specialist. He couldn't come out for almost three weeks but using sonar he discovered the leak was actually at the bottom of the auto-filler, where the pipe bends to go to the water supply. In a way that's good because he can cut a much smaller hole, but oh my god. He's three weeks out for everything so it'll be at least another week before he can start working on that problem.
Is that all? HAHAHA. No. I was in the den and heard a funny noise which I knew had to do with the solar heater for the pool. The pipes run up the side of the house there to the solar panels, so it's pretty obvious. I went out and discovered that the valve that turns on the solar heater was spinning around and around, rather than just turning on. It's time to drain the pipes and panels since it's too cool, even here in the low 90s/low 30s, to heat the water so I called to schedule that and ask them to check the valve. It will have to be replaced and perhaps the control box, too, so . . .
As I said, it's been an expensive year. Webster is, unsurprisingly, worried about this; is the house turning into a money pit? We know we have to replace the roof sooner than later and god knows how much that costs. I'm worried about what else will go wrong.
OH WELL.
All that said, we are managing. I'm still taking a Zoom aerobics class three times a week, and a Zoom ukulele class twice a week. Due to fears about the supply chain issues and the crappy USPS, I have already sent all our Christmas gifts so that's at least one worry checked off. If all goes well, I plan to visit friends in Sonoma County in late January; I've had tickets since 2019 but Southwest says they will honor them -- fingers crossed. We're even talking about taking a miniature vacation, like one night away! We double-mask and, as I said, are boosted, so maybe it'll be okay?
Let's see. I saw Squid Game, though I had to watch it in tiny increments because of the violence and tension, especially in that sixth episode. I really cried at that one. I adored Only Murders in the Building and am so glad there will be a second season. Now I'm re-watching the old Cowboy Bebop series in preparation for the John Cho movie. Because I won't go to a theatre, I haven't seen Shang-Chi year, though I'm looking forward to it. Haven't seen Dune and am hesitant too.
I'm reading two books with similar subject matter: California and water. One is Alta California: from San Diego to San Francisco, a journey on foot to rediscover the Golden State, by Nick Neely, and the other is The Dreamt Land: chasing water and dust across California, by Mark Arax. Both are excellent -- and worrying.
But the best book I've read this year is How to Read Water: clues and patterns from puddles to the sea, by Tristan Gooley. I loved that book so much I immediately sent one to my sister, who lives in Hawaii and is on an outrigger paddling team. I hope she likes it as much as I did.
My biggest delight this summer, though, has been watching Follow the Boat videos, made by two Brits who have been sailing (and living on their boat) for the last fifteen years. I'm hard pressed to know why I fell in love with them but they've become my new best friends who've never heard of me. When I feel sad, which is more often than I like, I watch and re-watch a couple of their videos and perk right up. They've been basically stranded off the coast of Borneo for over a year due to the pandemic but they have a lot of fun despite the problems.
Wow, that's a lot of words. Very sorry! I've been away a long time, though I read LJ and DW several times a day. I'm going to try to post more often so you know I'm still here. At any rate, hello!
Other than that, I'm okay. We've both had our Moderna boosters, hurray! We both had reactions, too, though nothing as bad as we did for the second shot. Still, even though I was in bed for a day, that's nothing compared to getting Covid-19, so once again, hurray!
Lots and lots has been happening, and all of it cost money. This has been such an expensive summer. In July, we had to have our a/c replaced -- it went out on the day our weather station said it was 124F/51C in the backyard. You might remember that the shower pan in the big bathroom had been leaking, probably for years, and had damaged the wall the shower shared with the guest bath, so both had to be remodeled, and because we had no toilets or showers, we had to move out for a month. Fortunately we found a nice AirBnB literally three minutes away, and because it was August in the Phoenix area, the price was way down.
Anyway, that's done and we're delighted with the results. We also had all the floor tile in the house replaced and oh my goodness, two months later I'm still staring at the new floors in delight. Here is the big bathroom -- this is before the new glass shower doors were installed, but you can see the tile, the new paint, and the new floor:
And here is the little bathroom with new tile, new paint, and new lights:
I'm very glad all that is done, but then . . .
One day I walked out back and saw that part of the backyard was underwater. My first thought was that the drip system had sprung a leak but after a bit of poking around, I realized that it was pool water. I called the pool place where I've gone for the last five years and they knew instantly it was the auto-filler gone wrong. They walked me through shutting it off and eventually the water drained away. A few days later their technician replaced the auto-filler. Did that fix the problem? HAHAHA.
I texted him not an hour later saying the backyard was filling with water again. He came back and realized that although the auto-filler had been broken (it wouldn't shut off), there was also a leak. He had to come back three more times before we found where the water was coming from:
Obviously from somewhere under the pool decking, which required a specialist. He couldn't come out for almost three weeks but using sonar he discovered the leak was actually at the bottom of the auto-filler, where the pipe bends to go to the water supply. In a way that's good because he can cut a much smaller hole, but oh my god. He's three weeks out for everything so it'll be at least another week before he can start working on that problem.
Is that all? HAHAHA. No. I was in the den and heard a funny noise which I knew had to do with the solar heater for the pool. The pipes run up the side of the house there to the solar panels, so it's pretty obvious. I went out and discovered that the valve that turns on the solar heater was spinning around and around, rather than just turning on. It's time to drain the pipes and panels since it's too cool, even here in the low 90s/low 30s, to heat the water so I called to schedule that and ask them to check the valve. It will have to be replaced and perhaps the control box, too, so . . .
As I said, it's been an expensive year. Webster is, unsurprisingly, worried about this; is the house turning into a money pit? We know we have to replace the roof sooner than later and god knows how much that costs. I'm worried about what else will go wrong.
OH WELL.
All that said, we are managing. I'm still taking a Zoom aerobics class three times a week, and a Zoom ukulele class twice a week. Due to fears about the supply chain issues and the crappy USPS, I have already sent all our Christmas gifts so that's at least one worry checked off. If all goes well, I plan to visit friends in Sonoma County in late January; I've had tickets since 2019 but Southwest says they will honor them -- fingers crossed. We're even talking about taking a miniature vacation, like one night away! We double-mask and, as I said, are boosted, so maybe it'll be okay?
Let's see. I saw Squid Game, though I had to watch it in tiny increments because of the violence and tension, especially in that sixth episode. I really cried at that one. I adored Only Murders in the Building and am so glad there will be a second season. Now I'm re-watching the old Cowboy Bebop series in preparation for the John Cho movie. Because I won't go to a theatre, I haven't seen Shang-Chi year, though I'm looking forward to it. Haven't seen Dune and am hesitant too.
I'm reading two books with similar subject matter: California and water. One is Alta California: from San Diego to San Francisco, a journey on foot to rediscover the Golden State, by Nick Neely, and the other is The Dreamt Land: chasing water and dust across California, by Mark Arax. Both are excellent -- and worrying.
But the best book I've read this year is How to Read Water: clues and patterns from puddles to the sea, by Tristan Gooley. I loved that book so much I immediately sent one to my sister, who lives in Hawaii and is on an outrigger paddling team. I hope she likes it as much as I did.
My biggest delight this summer, though, has been watching Follow the Boat videos, made by two Brits who have been sailing (and living on their boat) for the last fifteen years. I'm hard pressed to know why I fell in love with them but they've become my new best friends who've never heard of me. When I feel sad, which is more often than I like, I watch and re-watch a couple of their videos and perk right up. They've been basically stranded off the coast of Borneo for over a year due to the pandemic but they have a lot of fun despite the problems.
Wow, that's a lot of words. Very sorry! I've been away a long time, though I read LJ and DW several times a day. I'm going to try to post more often so you know I'm still here. At any rate, hello!