Another resolution

Heh.

My second resolution is this: I will not get discouraged and quit just because so far I've been an abysmal failure on the first one.

The stack of news reports and studies is getting higher. But the list of move-in tasks and things this house needs doing to it to make it livable is gradually getting a little bit shorter.

The sequel to my original plumbing nightmare set me back a bit, I must admit.

I'm sitting here at the computer (getting ready to blog, believe it or not) when I hear a cataract of water pouring into the furnace room. I rush in and see water pouring out of the pipes and through the floor above. Rush upstairs and find water pouring out of the toilet. Where the blankety blank is the main water cutoff? Panicky call to property manager. She doesn't know, but the neighbor to the north does. Panicky call to Budget Rooter (who know us VERY well by now). Grab Chaidie and run over the field to the neighbor's. Big mean dog chases us off property. That dog knows EXACTLY where the property line is and without body armor I'm not going to argue with him. Run back home. Grab a trash can and haul it downstairs to place at the point where the water is the worst. Upstairs, throw a dozen towels on the bathroom floor to keep the water from escaping to anywhere with carpet. Call property manager again, she can't locate owner. Run out to well house. I don't know what the faucet there does (learned later it was just the pressure tank... I'm still well illiterate) but I twist it all the way to the right. Run back, throw down more towels by bathroom, run down to furnace room, empty the (full) buckets, block the water from escaping to other rooms... Budget Rooter calls to say a guy is on the way, the doorbell rings as soon as they hang up, and the water pressure drops off. Hurray!

The plumber gets it fixed temporarily. Comes back the next day and makes no progress in two hours after snaking the pipes a couple different ways and sending in a camera. Calls in a colleague who has a better camera. They eventually come up with a brillo pad or something like that that they think was stuck in an awkward corner.

If it sounds awful, it's really not. I am so, so, so in love with this place. I ordered a ton of seeds yesterday, and I've been devouring books about sustainable farming. (More about those another time.)

So anyway, I'm sitting here at my desk (downstairs... this is a 2-story house built on a hill) and looking out onto the orchard blanketed in 3" of snow that fell Saturday night. It was 19 degrees at breakfast time this morning... worst arctic blast since 1990 in our temperate climate here. Chaidie is having an absolute ball playing in the snow and you may imagine.

When I think of everything stacked up - haven't even looked at a bill in the last 3-4 weeks we've been so overloaded, and lot of other business matters, not to mention trying to get some curtains on our windows to help keep the heat in and a thousand other little house projects... well it's a little overwhelming, but one foot in front of another, right?

Have a great day and week everyone.