Pool Peace

2014 turned out to be the best and easiest pool opening that I can remember in the 10 years that we have had this pool.  Maybe it was because this was the first time in 10 years that Elliott helped me...!  Ha!  Usually the pool is a green, slimey, stinky mess because the safety cover I have on there is porous and allows decaying leaves, bugs, etc. through.  They in turn decompose into the pool all fall, winter and spring.  This year we had a solid ice/snow cover all year so that kept a lot of the debris out resulting in pretty clear water at the opening.  I will have to think about putting some sort of solid cover down before the safety cover maybe this fall.  Anyway, I had to replace the salt chlorinator this spring and I poured about a dozen gallons of bleach in to shock it.  Whatever the formula, it all came together with no issues, leaks or fights.  Even the new (replacement) deck cleaner attachment for the power washer worked great.  I am pretty happy with that.  And so is Mocha as you can see in the video below:

Don't Call That Dog Britni, Call Her "Lifesaver"

A couple of weeks ago, 12 year old Britni the beagle became very lethargic.  Wouldn't eat, barely moved all day - just seemed like she was on her last legs.  She would go out to do her business but couldn't handle the stairs or anything.  I just figured it was old age and we didn't want to spend a fortune on testing.  She didn't seem to be in any pain - just unmotivated, maybe even confused - sometimes she would just wander around aimlessly.  I consulted Google and it was possible she had CCD (Canine Cognitive Dysfunction) or a stroke or other things.  Then at times she would perk right up and almost seem normal.  Those wild swings made me keep thinking and researching.  I thought perhaps she was diabetic so our nurse friend procured some test strips and Lucie managed to capture some of Britni's pee and test it.  Negative.  More research.  Perhaps she is hypoglycemic.  The "cure" for that is to give the dog honey.  So I did and it was like a miracle.  She bounced back in a couple of hours and was pretty much her old self.  So I started drizzling honey on her food (which she now ate right down) and in a few days, she was charging up and down the stairs again, full of energy, barking and howling and just being annoying like she always is.  That doesn't answer the underlying cause which we may eventually get checked out but for about 2 weeks now, the honey is all the fix we need.

But how does that make her a lifesaver?  Well, during the diabetes testing, that same nurse friend's husband began complaining of excessive thirst and other issues.  So on a whim she did a test on him and found his blood sugar was off the charts high!  Off to the doc they went and he is now on meds and a modified diet.  I don't know if Britni's episode occurred directly to discover our friend's condition but I will give her credit.

One For The Little Guy

Score one for the little guy.  Last fall I bought a small tablet computer on sale at Wal-Mart.  It wasn't anything fancy or powerful but was nice to have a device to jump onto the internet with that had a bigger screen than my phone.  Sure enough, hours after the warranty expired, it died.  No amount of re-setting or power-cycling would save it.  So I contacted the manufacturer and threw myself at the mercy of their sense of empathy.  They agreed to take it back and repair it - for more than half of what I paid for it.  Unacceptable.  So I thought that since I bought it with my American Express card, I would run the situation by AmEx and see if they could help.  Gave them a call and the nicest person took all of my information and said they would go to battle on my behalf.  They warned me it could take a while but they would see what they could do.  Today in the mail I got a letter from AmEx saying that Wal-Mart was unresponsive to their requests but in a good faith gesture, they were going to refund the cost of the tablet!  Nice, very nice.  I actually feel like someone in big business knows what it's like to have something die on them just out of warranty.  Thanks AmEx!

Inconsiderate

I was originally going to call this blog post Inconsiderate In NYC but I have found inconsiderate people are not limited to NYC.  On my train trip up to NYC yesterday, the woman in the seat ahead of me, who was of small to average stature (the woman, not the seat), had her seat tipped as far back as possible.  Practically in my lap.  Yes, it was certainly her "right" to tip back to the full extent allowable, but it is also her right to pass wind in an elevator - but both instances are just inconsiderate and rude.  Another train situation is the person who sits on the aisle seat, loads their belongings into the window seat, and then immerses themselves in their Pulitzer or Nobel Prize work on their laptop while seat-finders look longingly at the equipment occupied seat and then must amble onward looking for a truly vacant seat.  Who do these seat-fillers think they are?

I emerged from the bowels of Penn Station and made my way 7 blocks to the office.  On at least 3 occasions, I saw a pedestrian just about get plowed over by a car in the road.  In all 3 cases, the pedestrian disregarded the walk signals because they are obviously the 3 most important people on the planet and the traffic signals don't apply to them.  I noticed that rather than watching the signals, many of the people watch the traffic - regardless of the signal status, if there is a chance to sprint across the road, they do it.  And believe me, these people do not qualify as sprinters.  Things would run so much smoother if everyone just followed the signals.  On the other hand, there is the potential that 4 to 5 seconds of precious time might be wasted standing on the corner - or, as I have also seen, standing about 3 feet in the road...

When I got back to the train station parking garage where I started, I hopped in my car, paid the fee and headed out.  It wasn't until I was down the road a bit that I realized my passenger mirror was folded in.  Sure enough, when I got home I found someone had hit my mirror and knocked it in.  Didn't even bother to pop it back out.  Inconsiderate.

Pick A Card, Any Card

It's a rainy day and my work email is down - good day to catch up on the blog a little bit.  I think I haven't posted much because it is quicker to throw out a comment here and there on Facebook and get some immediate response; or not.  But as I have said before, I will try and keep up with this blog a little better.

Rather than going back and trying to fill in the last 8 months of things that happened, I will go back about a week and move forward from there.  Those 8 months may some day be referred to as the Apocryphal Blogs causing much debate and concern when my blog anthology is compiled.

Anyway, I got an email last week from a neighbor who found my credit cards and driver's license that were stolen last year.  The wallet turned up somewhere else in the 'hood.  The family who found my credit cards (hidden in a flower pot in their yard!) tracked me down and brought them over.  Very nice family and it was comforting to get them back (even though they were all canceled - good to know they weren't drifting around out there).

My next project is to buy/build some sort of a weather resistant cover for the fire pit.  Right now I have some old plywood over it but that is unsightly.  I thought about buying a plastic kiddie pool and putting it over the pit but that would look too red-necky.  My next idea is to get a piece of faux stone siding and cut it to size and place it on top.  That might work.

Turning Pages

It's been a while since I have blogged and, as I always say, so much has happened.  I get a lot inspirational thoughts but by the time I sit down to blog them, the moment has passed and the energy is gone.  My wallet was stolen from my car in the driveway, Ashleigh spent the summer with Campus Crusade for Christ in Hampton Beach, NH, Elliott worked all summer and took a solo road trip up to see Ashleigh, Lucie was busy with kids stuff at church, I was busy with work traveling some to Chicago and NYC, etc. etc.  A few minor ups and downs but all good and moving forward.

Here we are today - our 26th wedding anniversary.  Seems like yesterday we were walking along the path to the Little Harbor Chapel in Portsmouth, NH.  Fast forward to today and we find that Ashleigh has started her junior year at Stevenson University and tomorrow we will be taking Elliott to Boston College.  It's bad enough that we are suddenly finding ourselves older than we feel or really recognize, but the house is sure going to be big and quiet without A&E coming and going.  All part of life and we are feeling so blessed - things could be much worse.  Turning the page and looking forward to what is coming next...

Power Washing

Today I power washed the house.  The vinyl siding is prone to algae growth in the summer time so I usually wait for a warm day to power wash it off.  I am always amazed how clean the house is when I am done.  And there are a few rules I am learning each year.  Here are just a few:

• If the power washer is labeled, "Easy Start," it doesn't.
• The choke on the engine is foreshadowing for what you want to do to yourself while trying to get it started.
• There is never a neighbor around when you need a hand with the ladder.
• There is always a neighbor around to watch you drop the ladder when you try to move it.
• The hose will find any object in your yard to tangle itself around.
• More time is spent working on the power washer than actually using it.
• There is a direct correlation between the degree of dryness you are trying to maintain and the temperature of the water (dryer=colder)
• You will have more water run down your arms when spraying overhead than what actually comes out of the end of the sprayer
• Your legs shake faster on a ladder than they ever could on land
• Everyone in the house suddenly has errands to run when the power washer is rolled out
• The power washer will only run out of gas when you are at the top of the ladder
• It doesn't matter whether you wash an overhang first thing or last thing - you will always get dripped on
• The wind blows directly towards you as long as you squeeze the spray trigger
• The dirtiest spot on the house is 6 inches beyond the reach of the spray
• You only notice the spots you missed when everything is put away