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Week of 8 January 2001

Latest Update: Friday, 10 May 2002 12:07
 

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Monday, 8 January 2001

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Bit of a late start to the day for us. Duncan woke us up at 4:30 am throwing up again. We go through these spells with him periodically and the vet and I have pretty much decided he suffers from allergies. He is always fine after an episode. I got him out the door and of course Malcolm gets all excited and barks at him as they go rushing out. It was almost 5 am by the time we were all settled back down again. Fortunately the dogs let us sleep in and we did not get up until almost 9:00 which is very late for us.

Yesterday we installed my DVD drive and loaded my new Encyclopedia Britannica. We also attached the audio cable and Bob found a USB cable for the scanner. I don't think he tested that yet but the audio cable works. The Britannica is pretty cool and will come in handy for reference/research for us, the books, and my client contracts. 

After lunch and PC stuff, I read web sites and then worked on my some more. It was mainly some cosmetic things that needed fixing but I did do a whole new biography page. I added some links and new text to my business pages and tuned up some stuff on my personal page. 

We are off to take the white truck out to be inspected and then after dropping Bob off at home I am off to the gym. Cold and raining today but not much of a chance of any major precipitation.

 

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Tuesday, 9 January 2001

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There is an interesting article in the Monday edition of the British newspaper The Guardian Unlimited about the growing problem of book theft and mutilation of books in libraries and book stores. That has been a problem that has plagued public and academic libraries in growing proportions over the last thirty years or so. I guess Britain is just now experiencing this problem on a larger scale. 

Today is a stay at home and work day. It is to be sunny but very cold today and then warm up by tomorrow. I am hoping we get a little golf in tomorrow or Thursday and I am saving some errands to run on that side of town while I am out.

First thing this morning I am going to make the crock pot beef/sausage dip recipe so it can start cooking all day for out dinner tonight. We are going to try it on the corn tortillas. While in the kitchen I need to make tea and throw another batch of the chocolate chip cookies in the oven. The towels from last week need washed and with the small load deal will take at least two if not three loads to get them all done.   

Guess that's all for this morning. 

 

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Wednesday, 10 January 2001

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The crock pot meal went over very big last night. Everybody liked it including the dogs. After we finish eating we always share a little of what we have for dinner with the guys. I gave each one a tablespoon full or so on top of their dog food. Man, they licked those bowls completely clean. We have enough for another meal later on in the week. It is very good on the corn tortillas, which I heated in a pan and we ate flat. 

I am off this morning to run errands and then pick up my dad to go play golf. It is supposed to be in the low 50's so it should be a nice afternoon. We may only get in nine holes but that is better than none. I have not played since November I think.

The plumber and another rotor rooter service are coming out today to see if they can find where the problem is with the drains. We may not have to dig up the driveway depending on where the problem is and how to get to it. We will see.

 

 

 

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Thursday, 11 January 2001

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Yesterday was a nice day. I did the errands and went on to my parents house. Mom had made homemade soup for lunch and then dad and I headed out to play a little golf. It was a nice warmish afternoon with a little wind but not unpleasant. I was back home by 3:30. I took a quick shower, played with the dogs and caught up on everyone's diary pages. Bob took a short nap and then we headed to the library and dinner.

Update on the plumbing: they will have to dig. So, we are waiting on the utilities to come out and mark their lines so we don't dig up something and cause us more problems. The plumber will dig up the pipe and make the necessary corrections once he gets in there and sees what needs to be done. I tried washing a load of laundry on medium last night and the lines belched all the washer water back on the floor. Back to small loads for now.

Last night we watched a new episode of West Wing and I taped my Now and Again to watch later. It now comes on Wednesday nights at 10 and it is hard for us to watch any television with a two hour running time between getting Lenore and the dogs settled for the night. 

Today is stay at home day. I have a lot of things to work on. I may do the 6:30 spinning class tonight. Pork chops for dinner.

 

 

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Friday, 12 January 2001

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If you are a regular reader of my page and have not seen an update for today I guess you are wondering what is going on. It is 10:30 and I am just now getting something up. 

First of all poor Kerry woke us up at 6:00am peeing on the floor. Poor guy could not hold it. I let everyone out the door and Bob got up to let them back in. I went back to bed to snooze for a little while and got up about 7:20. I went ahead and took my shower since I knew we may not have water later in the day. I was just finishing up reading the paper when Jerry our plumber called to say the back hoe digger was on his way within the hour. Read Bob's page is you want to hear more of the the three ring circus that was going on with that and the line marking company.

With all that going on I managed to get a bowl of cereal eaten before it turned to mush. Once the plumber was on the way, the yard was marked, and all was in relative order I took off for the grocery store. We got the grocery's in and I went out to look over the situation. Bob will have pictures I guess tomorrow of the large hole in the yard and the mound of dirt beside it.

As I write this we just learned that the problem is indeed in the pipe under the driveway. We are waiting on the city to come out again to see if it will be us or them who has to pay for the tearing out and repair of the pipe.

I finished putting away the groceries and now I need to go fix Lenore's breakfast. We have no water or toilet facilities. Fortunately we have a supple of bottled water we keep on hand. I doubt we will get much done today with all this going on. Hopefully by tonight we will have functioning sewage pipes again and all will be fine.

 

 

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Saturday, 13 January 2001

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Update on the drain pain as of my last post yesterday. The long and short of it is that we are going to move the main stack (as it is called) where it connects to the city from the driveway to the yard. Our choices were to have the plumber fix the broken pipe where the connection is which involved digging up the asphalt and concrete pad to get to it. We would then have to wait until spring to repair the pad because it is too cold to right now to successfully do concrete work. 

Our other option is to have the city come out and move the main connection a couple of feet over into the yard, dig up the yard to connect back to our plumber's connection and save the driveway. It would have costs twice as much to have the plumber do his thing but the clog problem would have been fixed yesterday. The city is charging us $920 dollars to come out and move the stack, reseed the yard, including where it was torn up yesterday and give us a new connection. It could take one week or four to get here. So, the plumber put in a clean out by the driveway in case we have to have rotor rooter back out before the new pipe is put in. That way they do not have to bring the boring tool into the basement and spill sewage all over my basement floor, which has been swapped and mopped out four times in the last month.

The plumber left around 1:30 and Bob kept trying to get the people at the city to call him back to see what we needed to do about getting the pipe moved. I did a couple of things on the computer, took the dogs out and put in a half load of towels to be washed. 

Now, we did not know what all our options were until late yesterday afternoon. When Bob finally talked to someone with the city that gave us straight answers it was 4 o'clock. In order to get this new sewer connection we had to go down to city hall to fill out the paper work, pay them money, and get the damn order started in the system. We grab coats, check books, and necessary documents and head to city hall before they close at 5:00. An hour later we are back home with all the necessary paperwork completed and now we wait for the city to come out.

Bob has pictures but I don't know when he plans to publish them.

Today...

I can't do much with the yard until all this mess is finished in terms of getting the yard reseeded for spring. I am not sure how far in the city will have to dig or how far back to yesterday's work they will reseed. I will be ready with seed and fertilizer once all this is finished . In the meantime I need to stack the sod I rescued from yesterday that I can use along the driveway. I had a little flower garden over an old stump that I could not dig out right by the drive. They piled the dirt over that yesterday and when he filled the hole back in the rotted stump and all is gone. Maybe I can find another place in the back for the concrete edging blocks that was around the little garden. It is also the time of year to trim the butterfly, crepe myrtle, and spiraea bushes. They depend on new stem growth for summer flowering and need to be trimmed now unlike the azalea's that begin new flower growth in the fall.

 

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Sunday, 14 January 2001

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Yesterday

I guess all the mess the last few days with the plumbing and normal activity around the house caught up with me yesterday. I did get the stuff in the yard done in the morning but that was about all. I did not get much else done except help Bob run some phone cable for Lenore's room to give her a connected phone so she would not have to use the cordless all the time. I finally took a nap late in the afternoon and woke up after 5:00. 

While Bob took a shower I got the pasta salad made and then grilled steaks and veggies. We watched last weeks episode of Buffy during dinner and I spend the evening reading the new book I started. Review will be up next week. 

Today

My dad called last night and needs some information from the family history folder. So, I am off this morning to their house for a visit. I will either clean house this afternoon or do it tomorrow. Cloudy and rain today but mild temperatures. 

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