DIY. You know the acronym for do it yourself? It sends shivers down my back.
I leave for Leander and Austin on a sunny March Monday morning in the company of my beloved daughter Andrea and granddaughters Addison and Finley. We are off to visit our beloved Jenny and Michael.
No signs of trouble on the home front before we leave. Nothing to be concerned about. I kiss my husband goodbye and tell him I will miss him.
When we return on Wednesday, the pool is turning an appropriate color for Sunday's St. Patrick's Day.
What happened, my husband?
I'm fixing the pump. I think a pipe is clogged.
That would explain why the backyard is full of holes, exposed PVC pipe and miscellaneous shovels and other digging apparatus. And hack saw. The dreaded hack saw.
Thursday, Friday, Saturday. No luck. No solution to the non-pumping pump. Now the pool water is definitely green. Dark green.
Paul, god bless him, still is optimistic. Optimistic! He will find the clog, destroy it, and regain supremacy over his backyard.
Sunday afternoon. Paul comes to me and says he cut into a copper pipe and it is gushing water, filling up the hole rapidly. I wonder if we have flood insurance.
Turns out the copper piping was hidden under a PVC pipe Paul was sawing. No one could have seen this pipe, for real. It was hugging the PVC pipe, undetectable. Until Paul hacksawed through it.
After multiple attempts to figure out how and why this was happening, including shutting off our house water supply, nothing would stop the gush from the mystery copper pipe.
We call the plumber (Sunday afternoon, ouch). He has the same luck as we did. None. He checked the neighbor's water meter and concluded we had not sabotaged their supply. He said we had to call the city.
A very nice man from the city water department shows up later Sunday afternoon and concludes this is some kind of rogue copper pipe. Why is it gushing water? No idea. So the plan is to drain the pool below the level of this copper pipe and see what happens.
It worked!!! No more gushing!!! Whew. That was a load off. But wait. Now we have a partially drained pool, the water is now looking more purple than green, and the pump still is not fixed.
Is Paul dissuaded? Heck no. He is KING of the DIY's.
To his credit he figures out that the water-gushing copper pipe carried electrical wiring to the pool light, which hasn't worked in 15 years - because the wiring is soaking wet!
Paul's got an idea. He will clamp and cut and paste and ... whatever. He gives it his DIY best. He also starts a FIRE. A fire that he has to dump dirt on, which luckily was in great supply from previously dugup yard.
No one can say Paul didn't give this one his all. He fought to the bitter end. This Friday we have a company coming to give us an estimate on pool repair.
Please be kind to Paul this week.
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Git ur tin foil hats ready!
Did you hear what's happening this month? On the 23rd to be exact.
That's the day Obamacare begins implanting microchips into our fingers/hands. The information will contain all our medical and banking information. We will be at the mercy of this government. One tiny step outside the line and BAM! Our identity is wiped clean. Or something similarly awful and scary.
Surprised? Don't be. This has been in the works for years. Well, since 2009 to be exact. That's about the time Congress started debating health care legislation.
You see, there was a provision in it to track implants, such as pacemakers and hip replacements. It was proposed that by gathering said information, we could track good and bad outcomes and thereby provide implant consumers with better information. This part of the legislation was NOT included in Obamacare.
Somehow though, an email in 2009 was sent and resent to many, many people - several assumed to be wearing tin foil hats - warning that Obama and his army of ghastly and horrible people were conspiring to begin microchip implants. Mandatory.
Now, in defense of the tin foilees, a scientist HAS actually implanted a chip in his hand before. In the UK in 1998. He used his chip to open doors and such. I totally want one. Paul just found my lost car keys after looking for a month!
And there's a company in the US that will chip your kid as a means of protection, as in GPS to locate should they go missing.
It was just a couple of weeks ago that I first heard about the March 23rd date that we start getting our Obama chips. I became concerned the person earnestly delivering this information was suffering some mental collapse, so I googled "microchip implant." Turns out this person is not card-carrying delusional. Just card-carrying gullible. And this person has a lot of company.
My advice: if you're low on foil, better get some now cuz there's going to be a run on it round about the 23rd.
That's the day Obamacare begins implanting microchips into our fingers/hands. The information will contain all our medical and banking information. We will be at the mercy of this government. One tiny step outside the line and BAM! Our identity is wiped clean. Or something similarly awful and scary.
Surprised? Don't be. This has been in the works for years. Well, since 2009 to be exact. That's about the time Congress started debating health care legislation.
You see, there was a provision in it to track implants, such as pacemakers and hip replacements. It was proposed that by gathering said information, we could track good and bad outcomes and thereby provide implant consumers with better information. This part of the legislation was NOT included in Obamacare.
Somehow though, an email in 2009 was sent and resent to many, many people - several assumed to be wearing tin foil hats - warning that Obama and his army of ghastly and horrible people were conspiring to begin microchip implants. Mandatory.
Now, in defense of the tin foilees, a scientist HAS actually implanted a chip in his hand before. In the UK in 1998. He used his chip to open doors and such. I totally want one. Paul just found my lost car keys after looking for a month!
And there's a company in the US that will chip your kid as a means of protection, as in GPS to locate should they go missing.
It was just a couple of weeks ago that I first heard about the March 23rd date that we start getting our Obama chips. I became concerned the person earnestly delivering this information was suffering some mental collapse, so I googled "microchip implant." Turns out this person is not card-carrying delusional. Just card-carrying gullible. And this person has a lot of company.
My advice: if you're low on foil, better get some now cuz there's going to be a run on it round about the 23rd.
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Here we go again...
Did you see the Oscars last Sunday?
Argo was OK, but Best Pic? I don't think so. Bernie got robbed. I mean Jack Black and Shirley MacLaine together in a movie? That is brilliant, as was the movie.
That's not what I wanted to write about, I digress.
What pissed me off was a comment made about Bradley Cooper's mom. One of the Red Carpet presenters called her "cute." Cute because she is so short. Awwwww. Look at her next to her son. She's so cute.
This falls on the heels of a similar comment made on the Today Show by another TV person. A couple standing outside with a sign about their anniversary and this perky TV person asks how long they have been married. They say 30 something years. As she walks away she says "they are so cute."
Again with the cute. To describe us oldies. It could be a term of endearment if it were so damn patronizing.
We aren't cute. We are aged. Believe you me, there's not that much cuteness associated with aging. (Today UPS delivered some new product that is supposed to fill in my thinning hair - how not cute is that?).
We deserve to be treated with some dignity. Even respect. NOT to be called cute. Here's what they should have said:
Red Carpet: There's Bradley Cooper with his mother. What an exciting night for them. She must be very proud.
Today Show: You have been married a long time. Congratulations.
Now I have to go see about covering up some thinning areas on my head.
Argo was OK, but Best Pic? I don't think so. Bernie got robbed. I mean Jack Black and Shirley MacLaine together in a movie? That is brilliant, as was the movie.
That's not what I wanted to write about, I digress.
What pissed me off was a comment made about Bradley Cooper's mom. One of the Red Carpet presenters called her "cute." Cute because she is so short. Awwwww. Look at her next to her son. She's so cute.
This falls on the heels of a similar comment made on the Today Show by another TV person. A couple standing outside with a sign about their anniversary and this perky TV person asks how long they have been married. They say 30 something years. As she walks away she says "they are so cute."
Again with the cute. To describe us oldies. It could be a term of endearment if it were so damn patronizing.
We aren't cute. We are aged. Believe you me, there's not that much cuteness associated with aging. (Today UPS delivered some new product that is supposed to fill in my thinning hair - how not cute is that?).
We deserve to be treated with some dignity. Even respect. NOT to be called cute. Here's what they should have said:
Red Carpet: There's Bradley Cooper with his mother. What an exciting night for them. She must be very proud.
Today Show: You have been married a long time. Congratulations.
Now I have to go see about covering up some thinning areas on my head.
Friday, February 22, 2013
Medical bills are making me sick
Time Magazine's cover story about medical bills is making me sick. The writer calls it a seller's market. A gold rush. And we, the consumers, are on the losing side. With no end in sight.
ObamaCare will help a little by widening the access to insurance so a trip to the hospital shouldn't wipe out a family's savings and worse. But it doesn't really address The Medical Bill. $18 charges for a blood sugar test that really costs 55 cents. $2 for a Tylenol, which would cost more like 2 cents. These are but 2 examples in a hospital bill that can run more than 300 pages long!!!
How about $21,000 to be told you have heartburn? That's what one man got billed after his trip to the emergency room.
Where is the shame?
http://healthland.time.com/2013/02/20/bitter-pill-why-medical-bills-are-killing-us/
ObamaCare will help a little by widening the access to insurance so a trip to the hospital shouldn't wipe out a family's savings and worse. But it doesn't really address The Medical Bill. $18 charges for a blood sugar test that really costs 55 cents. $2 for a Tylenol, which would cost more like 2 cents. These are but 2 examples in a hospital bill that can run more than 300 pages long!!!
How about $21,000 to be told you have heartburn? That's what one man got billed after his trip to the emergency room.
Where is the shame?
http://healthland.time.com/2013/02/20/bitter-pill-why-medical-bills-are-killing-us/
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Backyard is Sammie's playground
One day she came flying into the house through the doggie door - completely soaked. Apparently she discovered swimming in the pool that day!
I need more time!
Can you believe we're already in the second month of the new year? 10 more to go!
I'm sorry, but it seems time is passing way too fast. Faster than usual. I have a lot of plans for this year, travels and work goals and play goals and reading. If I already am running out of time, how am I going to accomplish everything?
I have to find a way to stretch out time. I have a plan.
First, I have deactivated my FB account (again), so I have eliminated the need to obsessively check for updates or follow silly links to cats doing battle (which is very funny, btw). That has given me 30 minutes to an hour back - a day!
Next, I am going to (hopefully) give up Bubbles game on my Kindle Fire. Sigh. It will be hard. It's such mindless fun. So, averaging throughout the week, I'm going to get back maybe 15 minutes a day, or an hour and a half a week.
What else?
Television. RH. Yes, that stands for Real Housewives, the Bravo franchise of horribly wonderful reality entertainment. I can't commit to that just yet.
By my calculations, just giving up Facebook and Bubbles, I can regain about 300 hours in the year!
Wow. I like it.
I'm sorry, but it seems time is passing way too fast. Faster than usual. I have a lot of plans for this year, travels and work goals and play goals and reading. If I already am running out of time, how am I going to accomplish everything?
I have to find a way to stretch out time. I have a plan.
First, I have deactivated my FB account (again), so I have eliminated the need to obsessively check for updates or follow silly links to cats doing battle (which is very funny, btw). That has given me 30 minutes to an hour back - a day!
Next, I am going to (hopefully) give up Bubbles game on my Kindle Fire. Sigh. It will be hard. It's such mindless fun. So, averaging throughout the week, I'm going to get back maybe 15 minutes a day, or an hour and a half a week.
What else?
Television. RH. Yes, that stands for Real Housewives, the Bravo franchise of horribly wonderful reality entertainment. I can't commit to that just yet.
By my calculations, just giving up Facebook and Bubbles, I can regain about 300 hours in the year!
Wow. I like it.
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Has LGBT come of age?
A young man at a high school awards ceremony this week used his speech to say he was LGBT and that his classmates could accept that ... or not.
He got a standing ovation.
It is nothing short of amazing and mind-blowing and, well, inspiring. It gives a middle-aged woman hope.
Has LGBT come of age?
Consider that the president mentioned "Stonewall" in his inaugural speech, as in Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, NYC, where riots in 1969 kicked off the current LGBT civil rights movement.
Consider that same-sex marriage is legal in nine states (Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont and Washington. D.C. and two Native American tribes also have legalized same-sex marriage. California's law is confusing but does recognize on a conditional bases. Source: Wiki) And Rhode Island is poised to become the 10th state.
Consider that the Defense of Marriage Act, passed in Congress in 1996, has now made its way to the Supreme Court, which could strike it down.
Consider that the military doesn't ask and doesn't tell.
Consider that a likely appointment to the presidential cabinet has been criticized for comments against LGBT - by Republicans!
There are many things in life that I never thought I'd live to see. This is one of them. Boy am I glad I was wrong.
Oh, and the teen's name is Jacob Rudolph and below is a link to his speech.
http://www.advocate.com/youth/2013/01/23/watch-high-school-senior-comes-out-standing-ovation
He got a standing ovation.
It is nothing short of amazing and mind-blowing and, well, inspiring. It gives a middle-aged woman hope.
Has LGBT come of age?
Consider that the president mentioned "Stonewall" in his inaugural speech, as in Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, NYC, where riots in 1969 kicked off the current LGBT civil rights movement.
Consider that same-sex marriage is legal in nine states (Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont and Washington. D.C. and two Native American tribes also have legalized same-sex marriage. California's law is confusing but does recognize on a conditional bases. Source: Wiki) And Rhode Island is poised to become the 10th state.
Consider that the Defense of Marriage Act, passed in Congress in 1996, has now made its way to the Supreme Court, which could strike it down.
Consider that the military doesn't ask and doesn't tell.
Consider that a likely appointment to the presidential cabinet has been criticized for comments against LGBT - by Republicans!
There are many things in life that I never thought I'd live to see. This is one of them. Boy am I glad I was wrong.
Oh, and the teen's name is Jacob Rudolph and below is a link to his speech.
http://www.advocate.com/youth/2013/01/23/watch-high-school-senior-comes-out-standing-ovation
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