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Home Sweet
Jun. 5th, 2006 11:38 pmI've just returned from a 20-day, 4-vacation visit to the midwest. It's good to be home, even if my arrival here was accompanied by a few too many reminders of just how much needs doing around here.
The new driveway was indeed a pleasure to drive down, albeit one accompanied by the unwelcome sight of gravel washed across the bottom of it. The driveway contractor warned me I'll need to add some loam along the sides to keep the blacktop from crumbling along the edge, but I suspect my driveway drainage issues will not yet be 100% resolved even with that. They are remarkably lessened, which is a real improvement. And the driveway itself is great. Now to help it remain so.
The grass was as tall as I feared it would be, and then some. It was already long when I left, but 10 consecutive days of wet meant there was a significant lack of mowing opportunities then. Here's hoping it dries out enough for mowing soon. I'm already wondering how much I'll have to use the weed whacker on, or whether my mower will be up to tackling knee-high blades of green stuff.
The garage showed signs of one or more return visits from the little red squirrel. Hmmm. I really must figure out how it's getting in, and seal or cover those points of entrance. But even knowing that the squirrel had been around, it took me most of five hours to investigate the flamingo loft above the garage. It had shown every sign of being squirrel-free ever since the one time the door was left open and the little red squirrel had a fine romp up there.
I wouldn't have gone up to the loft tonight if it hadn't been for the fact that the phone wasn't working. As in, none of the phones were working. The connection into the house was fine, so I couldn't just submit a repair form without also incurring a hefty service call fee and repair bill. I tried unplugging all the phones, and testing each outlet with the phone that worked when I tested the line into the house. No luck. I used Skype to make another phone call or two.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
debgeisler suggested I start by replacing the phone jack I broke a couple of months ago. Even though the phones had worked for at least a few weeks after that, fixing the known weak point seemed like a good place to start.
I kept rethinking phone locations. Had I forgotten one? Why, yes, as it turned out, I had. There's a phone in the loft above the garage. I headed up the stairs. Sure enough, the squirrel's been there. In addition to the obvious droppings, a few things were knocked askew. A few things including the receiver on the phone. I set it right, then picked up the handset. Instant dial tone. One problem solved. Here's hoping the little bugger didn't place any calls to its squirrel cousins, the black & red bush squirrels in Malawi, Tanzania, and Zambia.
Massachusetts had one more welcome home prezzie awaiting my arrival, one more I really would have just as soon done without. My throat started feeling scratchy within a couple hours of my arrival, and my eyes are beginning to burn along with a build-up of sinus pressure. Ah, those pine trees with air bladders are at it again. I'm glad to have missed the first few weeks of their pollen season, but it's clear I didn't miss nearly enough of it.
Fun, fun. Joy, joy.
Okay, it was. It really was. And I'll deal with everything here, too. Eventually. With some values of "eventually" that equal "tomorrow," others that equal "this summer," and so on.
The new driveway was indeed a pleasure to drive down, albeit one accompanied by the unwelcome sight of gravel washed across the bottom of it. The driveway contractor warned me I'll need to add some loam along the sides to keep the blacktop from crumbling along the edge, but I suspect my driveway drainage issues will not yet be 100% resolved even with that. They are remarkably lessened, which is a real improvement. And the driveway itself is great. Now to help it remain so.
The grass was as tall as I feared it would be, and then some. It was already long when I left, but 10 consecutive days of wet meant there was a significant lack of mowing opportunities then. Here's hoping it dries out enough for mowing soon. I'm already wondering how much I'll have to use the weed whacker on, or whether my mower will be up to tackling knee-high blades of green stuff.
The garage showed signs of one or more return visits from the little red squirrel. Hmmm. I really must figure out how it's getting in, and seal or cover those points of entrance. But even knowing that the squirrel had been around, it took me most of five hours to investigate the flamingo loft above the garage. It had shown every sign of being squirrel-free ever since the one time the door was left open and the little red squirrel had a fine romp up there.
I wouldn't have gone up to the loft tonight if it hadn't been for the fact that the phone wasn't working. As in, none of the phones were working. The connection into the house was fine, so I couldn't just submit a repair form without also incurring a hefty service call fee and repair bill. I tried unplugging all the phones, and testing each outlet with the phone that worked when I tested the line into the house. No luck. I used Skype to make another phone call or two.
debgeisler suggested I start by replacing the phone jack I broke a couple of months ago. Even though the phones had worked for at least a few weeks after that, fixing the known weak point seemed like a good place to start. I kept rethinking phone locations. Had I forgotten one? Why, yes, as it turned out, I had. There's a phone in the loft above the garage. I headed up the stairs. Sure enough, the squirrel's been there. In addition to the obvious droppings, a few things were knocked askew. A few things including the receiver on the phone. I set it right, then picked up the handset. Instant dial tone. One problem solved. Here's hoping the little bugger didn't place any calls to its squirrel cousins, the black & red bush squirrels in Malawi, Tanzania, and Zambia.
Massachusetts had one more welcome home prezzie awaiting my arrival, one more I really would have just as soon done without. My throat started feeling scratchy within a couple hours of my arrival, and my eyes are beginning to burn along with a build-up of sinus pressure. Ah, those pine trees with air bladders are at it again. I'm glad to have missed the first few weeks of their pollen season, but it's clear I didn't miss nearly enough of it.
Fun, fun. Joy, joy.
Okay, it was. It really was. And I'll deal with everything here, too. Eventually. With some values of "eventually" that equal "tomorrow," others that equal "this summer," and so on.
