SEWERS, WASHINGMACHINES, TOILETS

I took the dogs to the kennel this morning, because not only the plumbers but the electricians were coming to work on THINGS. The plumbers are trying so hard not to have to dig up the front yard. They got the washing machine working but now the toilet will still not flush. Even the head plumber looks discouraged

We need to dig up the yard, rod out the main line, and put an access into the sewer line so we do not need to do this again.

Thousands of dollar

John is hiding outside.

I wish now I had kept Conley and Cooper at home. I could use the company, the companionship and the snuggl

The plumbers are outside now, staring balefully at the yar

I need my dogs.

A PROTEST DA BOYZ

WE (oop) We da four sined:

Nigel

Llewis

Conley

aww c'mon Mr. Cooper juss dis oncet?

Cooper

wish ta formalate an do publishes dis formal protest gainst da MomPerson here :

Ok da big white (What Llewis? What kinder color dat! Almont.

Da big Almont fing in da peepelpottyroom be broke.

Now we all (cept Mr. Cooper who reely want you to nose he abstrained)
say dis not a biggie deal.

Why, we goes ousside in ALLLLL da weather, rain snow sleet --(you nose dis not meking much scents now dat I finking bout it. I meen how come WEE goes ousside an...OKOK i gets on wif

Enyways dey all in a dither MPerson an DadPerson dey

actin like dis da most turrubulist fing eber an we wants ta nose why dey cant juss come ousside wif we? But here da catcher.

Dis morning eerly MomPerson she pop outta bed and comb she hair wif her fingers and fling on she close an run outta door an dribe away

When she come beke she not only smilin, she GOTS FOOD!! How come she no bring we food?? How much dem liddel samwitches gotta cost enyways? See if dey willin to do dis oncet why not alla time since she do share dem liddel samwitches. Mr Cooper he neber eet he breffas we bet he snarf dem liddel sandfinches rite down. So dis are protest we fink MomPerson outta fergit fixin dat stoopit lookin fing an go to da liddel snawitche place ebber mornin. An share.

She need a baf she go to da groomer. She smell more innerressing dirty enyways.

Dat whut we finks cept Mr.Cooper just shakin he hed an sighin

Love to all and Good Drool

Nigel, Llewis, Conley n Cooper (sorta Cooper, not reely.)

FAILURE OF THE BIOLOGICAL CLOCK

This will be short.

Somehow my biological clock has taken a hit.

Bedtime is between ten and twelve, usually closer to ten. Last night, numb with fatigue and yes, I admit it wine, I fell into bed at ten and rolled over and peered at the clock which read 9:18.

Wait--WHAT??

Oh Crap.

Means everything is off an hour. I will be up and awake by four at the latest.

My 3 a.m. awakening to attend to necessities will be---- and here it is: 2:08.

Remember we have no bathroom for the ---ah---- heavier biological needs. I sit here wondering if I drove to the Gallery at this hour would the Cops note my van parked outside and pay attention?

Of course not.

Well nevermind. Maybe I can go back to sleep.

WHERE DID WE PUT THE STRAIT JACKET?

Since we have moved back into the house, things seem to be slipping a bit.

Oh, the dogs are fine. That's not what I mean. John and I have worked really hard to get things sorted and stored and thrown out and put away, but there is still SO much left to do. Boxes and boxes and....

Boxes.

And then, there's the plumbing.

One day I did a load of laundry and the water from the machine dumped and back up into the bathtub and toilet, clear across the house.

So we called the plumber.

He had some work to finish, anyway.

His minion, who seemed very able, came out yesterday about noon and put in the new washtub, two new faucets and then set to work rodding out the line in the bathroom. He was here until about 5pm. When he left he assured us the toilet, while not great, was functional.

Wrong-O.

Far from functional it is in considerably worse shape than when he started.

It is, how shall I say this?

Useless.

I am driving to the Gallery two or three times a day to use the facilities, but we have no shower and I cannot do laundry, either. I did 4 loads of laundry at the laundromat yesterday and all of it except for a sweatshirt and 3 t-shirts belonged either to the linen closet or to John. Silly me, I thought now that my dryer had been moved back into the house, I could do laundry.

When the kid rodded out the sewer I think he just solidified the clog.

I spent a lot of time on the phone this morning starting at 7 in the morning trying to get someone out here. We all have a breaking point: today was mine.

For $2500 one guy would come out and rod out the line. Of course the tricky part is that we do not know where the line IS in front

I called the Village to come out and locate the pipe. They won't come out until all the other utilities have been marked. They said "Your plumber does that."

I was speaking to someone in the police dept and I didn't want to argue so I mumbled ok and hung up and had more hysterics.

I called JULIE, the people you are supposed to call for this kind of thing and a lovely child named Courtney was so nice to me it was all I could do to keep from sobbing in gratitude. She will have them all out here Monday at 7. Very nice. Oh yes, thankyouthankyouthankyou.

At this point had she said "We will be out Monday to blow up the house" I would have said the same thing. And meant it. I might have offered to help.

Here is how desperate I feel:

Courtney said "Is there anything else I can do for you today?" and I said

"Send a port-a-potty?" and she said "I have that number, would you like it?"

And I actually...

thought

seriously

about it for just a moment....before I declined and managed to laugh.

PROGRESS

We are moving forward in re-establishing ownership of our house, trying to make it a home not just a house.

Yesterday for example I tackled the thankless and very important job of re-uniting my CDs with their jewel cases. This, putting all the CDs in the cases is not something you think of when the roof is caving in, or seems to be so now I set about it with firm resolve, accompanied by my ever-present companion and critic:

See I have this system I use when I play CDs. I take out 5 and put them in the player and then I put the Jewel cases someplace safe where I know I will remember not only where they are but that they are empty. This precludes the idea that any memory beyond 10 minutes duration is going to be fixed in my mind somehow. This is, of course, ludicrous. At the time, I think "Ok I will remember this." And then I forget about it

Consequently, CDs are rarely re-united with their appropriate jewel cases. After a big pile of homeless CDs piles up, I will sometimes find one of the cahces of cases and just start putting CDs in the cases. It makes opening each case later a wonderful surprise. It may be Doc and Merle Watson playing, or it may be be the Cornell Guide to Bird Songs. Of course the Jewel Case was for the Chieftains THE IRISH HORSE.....

So yesterday I began.

putting all the Cds together with their Jewel Cases. This meant opening every case to see if there were CDs in it and if so, were they the right ones. I started about 7 in the morning. At about noon I asked John, who was out, if he would stop someplace and buy me 20 jewel cases

At about 4 in the afternoon I tossed the last of the rogue CDs all in a drawer and slammed it shut (I can barely open and close it now) and was left with about 300,000,000 CDs which may or may not be in the correct case but are by god in a case and going to frigging well stay in that case come hell or (again) high water.

Meantime there are 5 empty cases someplace that are for the 5 CDs in the machine that I was listening to as I did this. So if anyone finds a Jewel case for the Seldom Scene 15th Anniversary or for Jimmy Buffett's License to Chill, they belong to me and are on the run. Please return along with another large bottle of Barefoot Cellar's Chardonnay.

AND DOES ANYONE DO WINDOWS?

CONLEY'S BLOG TODAY

Dis Conley. Very sciting too days (2) ( I can count 1 2 3 4 5 6 ahhh.....well nebbermine). Enyways so very sciting lass too days. Well reely juss lass nite an dis mornin. MomPerson she hopin dat the sciting part ob da day ober.

See MomPerson got a brudder like Nigel an Llewis brudders, Mom and (whassisname, Llewis?) Mom an Barry dey brudder an sister. Not da same lidder. Well kinda da same lidder. It a--lemme fink-- a repeat breeding. Dass it. Mom da 2d one. Barry he da older won.

Ok so dey almoss neber see eech oder. He done libed all ober like Hawaii whut sumplace long way away where lib Bo an Harley Brewer, too.

Barry he be a peepeldoctor but he retried. Retired. Dat he in da pixchure but it taken long time ago he still pretty much da same scept no pony tail.

Enyways lass nite he in downtown place wif da big bildings and Mom and DadPerson drive to meet he an Alice (he wifey) for dinner sumplace nice. And whut you fink?? MOMPERSON DONE COME HOME WITH TWO WHITE BOXES! And she say yeah dis you breaffest! Oh man dey smellt sooooooo gooooood. We wanna em NOW but she say no dis breaffass. So we go to bed.

(Scuse me here a minnit Ise tryina figure how da helck to put dis picther ob Llewis where I wants it.)
Ok here we goes. Dis be Llewis course youse

all nose who Llewis are. So enyways at 4 dis mornin Llewis woken up an gotta pee. Ebber day he do dis and ebber mornin MomPerson ged up an let all we ousside and da scents in da mornin at 4 are wunnerful so we stays ousside about 10 or elebenteen minits and den come in, gedda treet an go bek to bed.

Well I not sayin whut happent. Nope. I not.

Dis mornin MomPerson let we all out an me an Nigel we wants bek in right away on account ob whut happent that I ain't tellin. MomPerson open da door an neerly fall ober at da smell ob

SKUNK
whut come in wif we spesially on liddel Conley's eers an headbone. MomPerson she not heppy. She callt da odders in but nobuddy else

Juss Liddel Conley pore liddel Conley wif MomPerson goin NONOGOAWAYNONOOFFMYBEDGETIN YOU CRATE HURRY HURRY an Ise so upseeted I runned into Nigel's crate and rub all ober he crate pad. It were TOO an axident.

MomPerson flinging open winnows and runnin round wif a fleshlite lookin for da stuff she rub on dat dont need wadder, cant fine it nowheres finely sprayt somefin onna cloth an rubbd it all obver Conley's liddel hed an eers, she say da eers da worstist, done did drag em thro da smell whut musta been on da grass I aint tellin.

Well by dis time it 5 in da mornin an MomPerson trys to go beke to bed. She tosst an turnt as much she can do wif Cooper layin half on her. Finely she jus git up and here come da BESTEST fing ever:

She gots out dem white boxes and she pulls out dese BIG chunksa meet, man my mouf watrin all over juss riting about it. An she done trim whut she say fat off cuz she no want we to git

pancreeyeyetus sumfin like dat. An juss like she promist she chunked up dat meet an put some in eech dish an add sum reel doggie food an dat are breafuss.

WOW were it GOOD! nOW lemme see if I kin remembers whut it were:

Ok: Pryin rip wifout da bone. (I wooda liked da bone, but hey.) MomPersons almoss raw bloody an da juiceys squirding in me mouf...Aunt Alice's super done all crusty crunch wif a bouquet ob beeffillin da nostrils......ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Oh. Den MomPerson nock DadPerson's coffee onna new rug an den dropt too big hebby glass plates in da driveway. She not sure she shold go ousside agin but we outta dog food so I guess she will, I hope, no more white boxes in da big cold fing.

Enybuddy got Pryin Nibs youse not want, you sendem rite along to we, care ob Conley. I takes good care ob it.

Love an Happiness Day to Ebberbuddy.

Conley

NO BLOG TODAY

BLOGGER WILL NOT LET ME UPLOAD PHOTOS.