There are sometimes unintended consequences from staying hunkered down in the blanket fort for days. Yesterday was one of those days where I put on "cleaning clothes" (sweat pants and a ratty t-shirt), assuming I would shower and leave the house at some point after the house was clean. I never showered, never left the house, and only made a token effort at the deep cleaning I intended. So thanks to this, I was blissfully unaware of a looming issue in the garage. This afternoon, I decided I was ready to break out of my funk, and I dressed to go to the gym. As I walked to the car, I noticed a drop of water falling from the garage door as it opened. It looked a little cloudy outside, but I didn't recall seeing any rain. I walked to the edge of the garage, on my way to retrieve my empty trash can, when I saw that there were puddles on the floor on the other side of the husband-sitter (a 30 year old jeep that hasn't run in a decade or more, thus a "project"). I followed the stream of water back to its source, the drain on the hot water heater, that had obviously been spraying a fine, warm mist for a long time. I have no idea how long. A day? A week? A month? I called around until I found a friend who could recommend a plumber, and made the dreaded Saturday afternoon emergency call. I had already shut off the water intake by the time he arrived, from the other end of my neighborhood, and he seemed pretty laid back about the situation as he found it. The water heater is as old as the house, nearly two decades, and we knew this was on the list of must-replace items. We were just trying to hold out as long as possible. I discussed a plan with the plumber and my man, who happened to be Facebook messaging with me, and now I have ordered a tankless hot water unit, and a man to call to install it when it arrives. I didn't need to try to rebuild my emergency funds after the floods or anything. Oh, no. Who needs that?
Before my man left for this work assignment, I convinced him to exchange our old, beat up charcoal grill for a gas burning grill that won't trigger my migraines. When he bought it, he also surprised me with a patio set so we could dine al fresco in our wonderful Park. For the first month or two after he left, I used it frequently. But as the heat and critters forced me inside, I started to refuse even to spend time on the deck. I hadn't touched the grill since late June or early July. Today, I decided it was time to fire it up again. I knew I would have to wash it out a little, but I didn't expect to find so many holes in the cover for it. And when I pulled the cover off, I was quite surprised to find a large, intricately spun nest over the stewpot burner. I am so relieved that I found it empty!
Living on the opposite end of the country from the PAC-12 conference, I had to wait until almost bedtime for my game to kick off, which it is about to do. I hope we can find our way through this tricky situation, against another ranked opponent. If the game is a mess, I can alway just fall asleep and read about it tomorrow.
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