Our first days at home

Monday a.m.


Well what do you know – it’s not raining. We’ve been home eleven days and have had rain seven of them. Usually not all day and many times at night so hasn’t been too bad. Did get caught in a real gully washer when we went shopping in Columbus a day after we got home. Of course we got caught in the restaurant – started pouring, lightening and thunder – right over us. Lights went out for a minute or so. So we ended up kind of wet by the time we were done with our errands. Just a reminder of Indiana weather. Night before last it went down to 36 degrees – and snow was predicted! But turned out it stayed dry. Showers bring flowers.

Coming home was kind of a mixed blessing this year. Unlike the last two years the roof didn’t leak – that finally is all fixed. And from what I hear about the winter I’m sure glad we had a new roof and the siding fixed. Our house sitter had rented a place closer to where he works so he was only coming up here once or twice a week. And he didn’t notice that the drain in my newly painted (I painted it just before we left in the fall) had backed up all over the floor. Walked in down there and discovered the floor was covered with an eighth inch of dried gray sludge. Lovely! Had to scrape part of it up with a putty knife. The rest washed off. Then used the toilet in the bathroom down there and CRAP (not literally) it overflowed!!!!! [more about that later]
Throughout the house were lots of those pesky lady bug carcasses – every step went
“Crunch, crunch!” And the parts of the house that weren’t used were pretty dusty, and the floors all needed to be done. So we decided it would be money well spent to hire a cleaning service. [more about that later]
The yards from the bad weather were a mess. The biggest tree limbs had been cut up and taken care of but there were zillions of nuts, nut shells, small limbs and dead plants all over. Again we decided it would be well worth it to hire someone to clean it up. [more about that later] Are you getting the picture here?
Okay – first we needed a plumber. We have one of those “home warranty” policies – where you call them, they send someone out and it only costs the $50 fee to get the work done. We called them….Oh, but….they don’t work with any plumbers that go to our area!!!! Living in the country has struck again. Sooo – they told us to call someone around us, have them fix the problem, pay the entire bill and call them (the warranty co.) and they would reimburse us – probably – maybe – if they agreed with the charges. We found a guy in Martinsville – about 25 miles away who would come here. He fixed the drains. We paid him, emailed a copy of the receipt to the warranty company –as per instructions – and they called and said they would send us a check for the amount minus the $50. Good that was taken care of. Still waiting for the check.
There is only one house cleaning service here in town – the ones from the bigger towns on either side of us wouldn’t come – too far away! 25 miles?!?! So we made an appointment. Two girls would come and give us a “spring cleaning.” First off two girls didn’t come – one girl and her husband came. No problem. One of our sons owns a cleaning service and believe me he would have had a fit if he saw the job they did – didn’t do. Now wouldn’t you think spring cleaning would include dusting? cleaning the fronts of the cupboards in the kitchen? cleaning the sinks in the bathroom? None of that got done. I had to tell them to clean the counters and cupboards in the kitchen. None of the appliance fronts were cleaned. They mopped the wood floors with a very wet mop leaving streaks. The husband caught the fringes of our Chinese silk living room rug in the vacuum cleaner. They were here four hours – in eight hours I could clean this whole house better than they did. Needless to say I’ll be doing my own cleaning from now on.
The yard – oh yes the yard. Again finally found someone who would come here and do the clean up. He came while we were not here. Blew the leaves off into the woods and picked up the medium to large twigs. Did not remove any dead plants or any of the nuts/nut shells that will ruin a mower. But he did leave his bill. Haven’t heard from him since.
It's not like you can pick up the Yellow Pages and have a multitude of choices.
Where oh where is the one bedroom condo with the plastic violet I said I was going to get when I retired?
Speaking of the house – both of us had sore knees and legs the first few days we were home from climbing up and down the stairs. Finally getting so I can go from basement to top floor without being out of breath.
And the Internet. I mentioned it is only working when it feels like it. So called for a tech to come out. He can’t come until tomorrow – so what happened? Yesterday it started working fine. Should I cancel or not? Don’t think I will as I don’t trust it.
On a happier note - just a couple of pictures from outside. The side yard bridge, pond and the valley. The trees are really starting to get their leaves now.

And one of the red bud trees in the front of the house.

Bill has started to work with his leather. His equipment - leather, forms and dyes are all set up in the laundry room work space.

He has started working with the wood spirits. It will be a long learning process. But I think he is doing pretty good so far.

Used some snake skin on this one

I’ve finally finished the necklace I started in Mazatlan but still have to put it on the web pages http://www.beadedcustomdesigns.com/ And I want to make earrings and a bracelet to match it.
Enough for now – plenty more to catch up on later.
Forgot to mention - had another plumber come to change and fix a couple leaky faucets, upstairs toilet needed new guts to flush and my shower wouldn't give me hot water. All is fixed but my shower - it is waiting for a part. What is with this house and plumbing?