Granny! Yikes!!

Well....it's happened again. My son just called me a little while ago to report the birth of my newest grand-daughter. He had called me a couple of weeks ago to report that his fiance was in labor, but got sent home since it was just Braxton-Hicks contractions. She wasn't due until April 16th anyway.

He called me earlier this week to say that she'd lost her plug, but nothing else was happening on the birth front. They had scheduled induced labor for next Monday, but I warned him they tried that on me when he was born and I ended up going into labor over the weekend, so be ready. So he calls me last night and says poor Lexie has been in labor for two days....back and forth to the hospital and doctor's office since she is only one finger dialated.....but she's been a screaming banshee and he's had no sleep. His boss, who seems to think the world revolves around the custom bus they're currently building, is giving him grief about taking time to run Lexie around. So last night she's finally having contractions about a minute apart and they're headin for the hospital and the boss wants to know if he can come to work today to make up some of the time he's missed......uh....NO! Guess he finally got a clue since he called later to say he understood and offered to pick them all up at the hospital in one of the limos when it was time to go home.

So after being in major labor all night long, Riyah arrived at 9:20 this morning (south Florida time) 8 pounds 7 ounces, 21 1/2 inches, strawberry blond hair, steel blue-grey eyes and already sucking down her first meal.

So, I'm a Granny again......Ah Spring!

Spring has sprung!

Okay, so I can finally admit that Spring is officially here now. Yeah, the trees & whatnot around the yard have been doing the flowering & leafy thing for a few weeks now, and the grass (weeds) have begun to grow again. The temps have been mild, growing warmer and it's rained quite a bit. I even saw a few deer wandering across the yard last week. I even opened the windows and turned off the switch for the gas heat, stopped wearing a sweat shirt and opted for the old baggy t-shirt instead.
But in my mind, yesterday's events really marked the beginning of Spring. It was a warm day & the weather babbling on tv was all about the approaching storms that they'd been going on about for two days already. It was a fairly narrow band of nasty looking thunderstorms showing on radar that stretched from Texas nearly up to the Great Lakes. They'd been saying this was going to start affecting Middle Tennessee by Thursday, but here it was, Friday afternoon and still not anything happening around here except for the wind picking up nicely.
I'm playing couch potato.....shuddup....watching one of the channels that never broadcasts anything but it's scheduled programs (no sudden announcements) and it's time for them to switch to the news, which happens to be for Chicago and I'm not much interested. So this is when I change to the area news for around here....well.....sort of around here but it's really for Nashville. I'm figuring to coast thru an hour of it before I change to some afternooon comedy stuff and it helps me avoid that stupid Tyra Banks that wastes air time from noon to one.
But the news is non-stop warnings about the storms that have finally started arriving and it's not good. Seems there are tornadoes predicted and at least one has already touched down near the Kentucky border. I watch the radar with all the fancy, new 3-D imaging which is supposed to be able to see the formations almost down to the ground.....but the weather folks seem fascinated with it, even though they don't completely have the hang of how to interpret it yet and keep switching back to the usual systems to see if what they're saying matches up.
Anyway, there are suddenly signs of tornadic activity about 50 miles southwest of where I live and heading northeast. Then the reports start coming in about damage to homes and buildings all along the path the storm cell is taking. Before too much longer the system seems to be approaching my county, but so far, no warnings are issued for us. Then that changes and one is called for here....a couple of minutes later the town warning sirens starts wailing, which I'd never be able to hear if I didn't happen to have a window open.
Mind you, it still hasn't rained a drop at my house and the winds keep picking up, then dying down completely. The non-stop chatter from the weather babblers keeps talking about egg-sized hail and winds of 100mph, so when it finally does start to rain here, I'm looking out the windows to see if there is any hail....but I got nothing. Now the warning from tv is saying the arrival time for here is 2pm...and this tidy bit of info is given at 1:57 but I've already seen some flashes of lightning and the UPS for my computer has beeped several times from the power surges and the cable has gone off and on twice.
Now they are suddenly talking about damage to an area about 5 miles west and just slightly north of my house and that a possible tornado is passing by. I'm ready to head for my bathroom in the basement, but all of sudden there is nothing.....no rain, no wind, even the sky seems less cloudy. Yep...you guessed it....passed me right on by a few miles to the north.
It rained pretty hard a few more times and one more warning for this county was issued but got cancelled in about 5 minutes when the swirling formations to the south just fell apart and zipped off to the east without getting any closer.
I opened the window again, went out on the front porch to look for any trees blown over, but the only thing I saw was one fairly small limb down on the driveway by my neighbor's house.
So I settle into one of the rockers on the porch for a while....just watching the wind pick up a little every so often and an occasional bit of rain, one of the cats snuggled on my lap. First time this year I've sat down out there. The birds are singing and I spot a little movement off by the power line....it's a blue bird! Then a couple minutes later a hummingbird shows up at one of their feeders....of course they are all empty and nasty from hanging there all this past fall and winter....so I get rewarded with what I can only assume is a nasty look and he zooms off. Being the sucker I am, I got up and took one of the feeders inside to clean it up and go thru the mixing up of sugar water routine and hang it back up. Several minutes later the hummer is back but gets chased off by another one. One of them came back later, but didn't seem like he was finding the one feeder I'd fixed up.....but I'm not getting sucked in like I did last year. That time I cleaned and filled all six of them but only saw one hummer for the next three months and ended up having to go thru it again when the rest of the flock finally started showing up in July. I wonder if seeing the first one this early is some kind of record.
But now Spring is here....first tornado, first hummingbird, first bluebird and first day sitting on the porch....all in the same day. Of course, the prediction for Sunday is a low overnight of 34 degrees....go figure!

My Brain won't work

So I'm cheating & taking the advice of another blogger....now ya get to read a bunch of stuff about me you probably don't really wanna know anyhow!

60 Things You Possibly Didn't Know About Me
1. What is in the back seat of your car right now? A jacket, gloves, window scraper,the tiny little phone book from this county,at least two bar towels,an old waitress apron,a bunch of coupon fliers that are probably out of date....and more stuff, but it's cold & snowy so I'm not gonna go look.
2. When was the last time you threw up? All day from the afternoon of the 9th to the 10th of this month.
3. What's your favorite curse word? Fucketh Thee!
4. Name 3 people who made you smile today? Nobody so far!
5. What were you doing at 8 am this morning? Finishing up my shower to go out.
6. What were you doing 30 minutes ago? Playing hearts on Pogo.com
7. What will you be doing 3 hours from now? Probably letting the cats in or out
8. Have you ever been to a strip club? Nah, they got nothin I wanna see bad enough to pay for
9. What is the last thing you said aloud? Hello
10. What is the best ice cream flavor? It's a toss up between Ben & Jerry's pistachio & butter pecan
11. What was the last thing you had to drink? tap water
12. What are you wearing right now? sweat pants, sweat shirt & fleece booties
13. What was the last thing you ate? some tater tots from Sonic
14. Have you bought any new clothing items this week? Nope!
15. When was the last time you ran? If distance doesn't count, then last month when the water pipe broke.
16. What's the last sporting event you watched???? Skiing on TV this weekend, but in person I can't even remember!
18. Who is the last person you emailed? forwarded one to my brother
19. Ever go camping? Yes, a bunch of times, but not in over a year & I'm having withdrawal pains!
20. Do you have a tan? Does the little strip on my neck count??
24. Do you drink your soda from a straw? I hardly drink soda & it depends on how it was served to me
25. What did your last IM say? I don't do IM
26. Are you someone's best friend? Beats the heck outta me!
27. What are you doing tomorrow? I have no idea, but as little as possible!
28. Where is your mom right now? I don't know....it's not my turn to watch her!
29. Look to your left, what do you see? The poor tattered wall hanging my Mom made for me announcing the birth of my son...in 1970 fer cryin out loud!
30. What color is your watch? Which one?
31. What do you think of when you think of Australia ? Koala's, kangaroo's & aboriginies
32. Would you consider plastic surgery? Yep, if somebody else was paying for it!
33. What is your birthstone? sapphire
4. Do you go in at a fast food place or just hit the drive thru? Mostly the drive thru, if I wanted to eat inside I wouldn't be at a fast food joint!
35.How many kids do you want? Just the one did it for me, thanks!
36. Do you have a dog? not really, but there is a stray that's been hanging around here for about 3 weeks....maybe I should quit feeding her!
37. Last person you talked to on the phone? The recorded message that says "this is a very important call for you" at which point I hung...if it's so damn important, then don't send me a recording!
38. Have you met anyone famous? Yep, many, best known were probably Liz Taylor, Richard Burton, Cher, Englebert Humperdink, Kenny Rodgers, Burt Reynolds, Don Shula & most of the Dolphins from the dream team, several golf pro's, Jeb Bush, Johnny Cash, June Carter-Cash, and briefly John F Kennedy before he was elected. There's more, but my brain is having a fart right now!
39. Any plans today? This was the first day in weeks that I actually got some errands run.
40. How many states have you lived in? Just two, but I was living when I went thru a bunch...does that count?
41. Ever go to college? Only for some training classes
42. Where are you right now? Home, in front of the computer....again.....sigh
43. Biggest annoyance in your life right now? ME!
44. Last song listened to? Whatever they were singing on American Idol last night.
45. Are you allergic to anything? mangoes, hair conditioner & a whole list of things I don't even know but gives me the hives!
47. Favorite pair of shoes you wear all the time?Crocs
48. Are you jealous of anyone? Everyone!
50. Is anyone jealous of you? Probably somebody somewhere, but nobody I know!
51. What time is it? Time for me to fix some dinner!
52. Do any of your friends have children? Yep.
53. Do you eat healthy? Sometimes, but then I indulge myself for being good....ya think that might be counter-productive???
54. What do you usually do during the day? Dodge the kitties.
55. Do you hate anyone right now? Nope, takes too much energy.
56. Do you use the word 'hello' daily? Only if the phone rings.
58. How old will you be turning on your next birthday? One year older than I am right now!
59. Have you ever been to Six Flags? Nope
60. How did you get one of your scars? I have a really old scar from when I knelt on the stove burner as a kid...trying to get the cookie jar! You'd think that would put me off cookies, but you'd be wrong!

And I just noticed that question number 46 is missing....it must be upstairs eating my dinner!

Tennessee kitties

I have 5 cats. Yeah, I know....shuddup! Anyway, one of these cats I've had since I lived in Miami in '98, one I got as a kitten just before I moved here in '05. He's grown up here. The other 3 were born here & I got sucked into ownership....I said shuddup!
There's been some thunderstorms around here a few times lately & I'm used to dogs that freak out when it thunders. But I've never had cats go crazy in them before. Cats are supposed to be calm & nonchalant during these things unless they are getting directly rained on.....then it's acceptable to give a look of pure distain, amble into a sheltered spot & lick the few drops that managed to get up the nerve to land on them.
My Florida girl paid the thunder no mind this morning...continued to snore thru it. The Florida boy was sleeping on the stair rail & just gripped it a bit tighter...but his eyes did get a little wider & his ears were twitching.
So it's 4:45 in the frickin morning & I hear a loud clap of thunder, the sound of papers flying in the kitchen, the rattle of the metal burner covers on the stove, kittie nails scritching across surfaces & somebody's fur covered self goes flying across my hip & legs while I'm struggling into conciousness on the couch. My 3 born & bred Tennessee critters are having hysterics all over the place. One is dashing around the kitchen....he's the one I rescued from the diesel pumps at work & was probably born outside to one of the strays, you'd figure he had some street sense & you'd be wrong. The other 2 lived outside since birth until they were about 6 months old & their Momma had disappeared so I brought them in, and they were used to all kinds of weather.....but they seem to have gotten soft....really soft. Those 2 were hollering in the bathroom & one had been sleeping on my legs until that first clap hit....then he hit....my ass....on the way to the bathroom where his brother was already cowering in the garden tub.
Everybody's ears were twitching & twirling as the thunder continued. Every flash of lightening caused a mass bolt to secure an even better spot. BB (diesel kitty) decide the safest spot was out of the kitchen up under the covers with me & preferably up my ass......I said no, but it was a toss-up about who was going to win that particular battle for a few minutes. Topaz & Tiger (the experienced outdoor brothers) decided all the towels on the rack in the bathroom would be adequate protection, so they pulled them down & stood on them while they howled. Smokie (Florida girl) looked around, twitched her ears & went back to snoring by the front door. Sarge (Florida Boy)stretched on the stair rail, then decided to join the fun by teasing the 3 weather weenies......this consists of running back & forth between the front & back doors & apparently yowling that breakfast is ready so the others will all head for the kitchen......but I wasn't off the couch yet & it was about 2 hours until breakfast for them.....so now they're all voicing their unhappiness & each has individual ways to force me to get up. They've practiced these tecniques to perfection.....one slurps at the water fountain until it gets below the spot where I have to fill it or risk burning out the motor, another starts scratching on the burner covers to make me think she's just burying whatever she's just deposited there.....that's so I have to get up to clean up or catch her in the act hoping to re-train that bit of behavior. Another is downstairs playing with the ball-in-a-circle toy....a more annoying sound is yet to be developed...yet another is simply standing in the middle of the dining room table & yowling, and the final little hellion is engaged in making mincemeat out of the loveseat cover....a move that always makes me get up to fling something in his direction.
By now the thunder is down to a distant rumble every 10 minutes or so & even the two stray cats that will NEVER be coming in the house....SHUDDUP....but wait outside patiently every morning for their little handout, are standing where I can see them thru the window behind the parrot's cage.....and they are not being patient either.....one of them is spraying the damn window!
I held out for almost an hour.....but breakfast was early today. OH SHUDDUP!

Tornadoes???!!!

So if ya read my "about me" thingy then you know one of the reasons I moved out of Florida was to escape from the hurricanes. I knew there was the occasional nasty bit of Springtime weather to put up with here, but unless there is a repeat of the big ice storm that happened here a bunch of years ago, I figured I could handle the rest of Momma Nature's bits of whimsey.
The first thing I found out after arrival was that the local news stations treat a thunderstorm like the Apocolypse....I mean they just don't shut up their yaps for the entire time one is brewing....or has a chance of brewing....or is thinking about brewing anytime in the next 24 hours. Now this is pretty much over the top for somebody who lived in an area that had thunderstorms every single afternoon like clockwork all Summer, and any other time hot & cool air decided to mix it up. I could be mowing the lawn & watch storms a few blocks away...time it just right and finish up when the first few drops started to fall.
Another words...no big deal, just move yer tushie if you saw any lightening or heard thunder less than 7 or 8 miles away. Very rarely there might be a funnel cloud, but even if there was, little damage occured.
Now the news coverage for this stuff was a brief mention of the usual storms brewing & which side of the highway they were on. Not like for hurricanes which cause daaays of coverage with no real change of information from that given in the first half hour until the booger hits and destroys everything for miles.
Anyway, there's a lot of warnings here at the first drop of rain or heavy gust of wind....just like when the first few snowflakes start coming down. It's always made me wonder what these newsfolks would do if this was like South Florida every day....or like some more northern state where it really snows. I remember visiting our cabin in Pennsylvania during the winter back in the 70's.....it was nothing to finish the drive up by stopping to put chains on the tires & I would go for long walks in the woods while it was -12 degrees. Put an inch on the ground around here & they're closing the schools! I guess expecting parents & bus drivers to slow down for the conditions is no longer part of the equation....gotta protect the folks from themselves or they might sue the city for getting in an accident.

So yesterday I'm trying to watch some TV & getting constant interuptions from the weather broadcasters about a nasty thunderstorm that's beating it up from Alabama & Mississippi, trailing twisters in its' wake. Already done some serious damage in Memphis, beat the heck out of a little college and was headed straight for Nashville.
Now this really was a serious event, several people lost their lives, more were injured and many homes were completely destroyed. Nothing funny about any of it. The problem is the news coverage....the channel I watch because it has what seems to be the best (ok....the easiest for me to grasp!) radar images has a terrible tendency to vomit up information as soon as they get it....no matter where or from whom it comes. I don't think double checking is on their "to-do" list, so in the space of 30 minutes they will report all kinds of figures for damage, numbers of hurt, injured, missing. But they NEVER go back and clarify that the original info they reported was not correct. They are so in love with the sound of their own voices that they go on with barely a breath & you can hear the excitment bubbling over. This tends to panic people.
Panicked people tend to do the wrong thing and sit in front of the TV for the running status reports. They become numb. Then while this particular storm was passing right over the TV station itself, the broadcasters set the brilliant example of not taking cover....in fact, they are sending little news interns OUTSIDE in the hail to collect pieces of it to bring inside to show on camera.....where it doesn't show up at all since it's melting & white & lying on a white plate!
This happened to be the big election night.....not like I really give a ratz azz about it, but during all the storm coverage they ran an impossible to read bit of info across the bottom of the screen about 3 times. None of the storm's effects came anywhere near me, but I was ready if it did. It wasn't until 4:45 this morning that I experienced any influence from the weather & that was a loud clap of thunder that woke me from the sleep I'd finally started to get around 1AM, followed by some brisk winds, a quick downpour followed by some normal rain......none of this was more than briefly mentioned by the media. Now that thunder & lightening was right over my head & I kind of WANTED some info.....nothing! I resorted to tuning to the static feed on channel 1, which is a repeating radar map of this general area, the truly local forecast.....which is showing zero rain in the rain guage as usual even when it's been raining all bloomin day, and a national weather radar map.....all this accompanied by the less than soothing sounds of some radio broadcast which has nothing what-so-ever to do with the frickin weather!
Finally the broadcast stations get around to mentioning the weather is starting to calm down as it passes to the east.....but there are now tornado watches issued for my area, among others & they pretty much hand off any further developments off to the stations that broadcast out of the Knoxville area.....which is great, but MY NEWS COMES OUT OF THE NASHVILLE AREA!!
Well, all's well anyhow.....it was a non-event in my pretty secure spot. I happen to live in a small dip of a minor hill....surrounded on 3 sides by slightly higher areas and just a little down the hill is another hill. In other words.....I kind of live in the ditch they tell you to throw yourself into if you are out in the open and see a tornado coming. Three sides of my downstairs are surrounded by earth, the doors are all steel except for the one protected by 25 feet of deck and two of the rooms don't even have windows....the whole thing is solid cbs block & cement......I don't worry about a safe room. The upstairs is ground level on 3 sides, solid logs & only a few feet stick up above the hill. I've got lots of trees that could fall down, but only a few close enough to hit any part of the house if they went down....could happen, but not likely from they lay of things.
The thing that gets me about all of this is the wisdom or sheer dumb luck I had to move here because of hurricanes.....to end up where they have frickin tornadoes in the middle of winter, but find myself in a pretty well protected spot.....as long as there is no ice storm....well, I AM ON A DAMN HILL & ice makes getting down a steep driveway in a car with normal tires on it a bit of a challenge!! So far it hasn't even snowed enough to let me slide down the hill on a garbage can lid, let alone iced up the driveway.......just sayin......

Pay backs suck!

So after last weeks fortunate turn out of the water leak problem, I'm feeling pretty good. Looking forward to the possibility of a trip this next weekend down to a motorcycle show in Norcross, GA and seeing some friends I haven't visited with in a while. Depends on how the finances look, but it may just be do-able if I'm careful.
So I keep double checking my reservations & looking over the route, setting my AirSet calendar to remind me in case I have to cancel at the last minute. Things are lining up & it's looking good.
Friday I had a mystery shop at Sonic to do for breakfast.....I don't reccomend the Super Breakfast Burrito, it's weird & soggy....but I was hungry & hey, I get re-imbursed for the food, so what ever! Well, I didn't eat anything else all day & got the burns for a Pizza Hut pepperoni & I had a coupon for two mediums....so I call them up to make an order & hit the first little pay back.....it's gonna be at least 50 minutes 'cause they're so swamped. I'd hoped to pick it up & be home in time for 7PM prime time, but ok, I'll live. So I take off in time to be a little early & I think I'm lucky since they are already sitting in the warmer waiting for me when I get to the counter.....I should have paid attention to that! Anyway, I pay & zip back home, fling myself & the goodies in front of the TV & start munching. A couple slices of pepperoni & a couple of Hawaian and I'm already stuffed, so I do the usual & shut the boxes but don't put them in the fridge.....never have bothered before & haven't had a problem, even when I've left them sitting on top of the stove for a couple of days.
The next morning I scarf down a slice so I can take my vitamins.....lately it seems if I don't eat something first it's been upsetting my stomach other wise. Guess I'm getting old & the iron stomach is letting me down a bit.
The rest of the day gets spent in front of the computer with a break around 2PM to have some more of the pizza, but this time I heat it up in the microwave....still nothing different than I've done dozens of times. Around 5ish or so I start to feel not so great, a little warm, kind of a headache and a touch dizzy. I kind of ignore it for a while, but suddenly I'm dashing for the bathroom & barely make it in time the turn my insides out....to the amusement & confusion of the kitties, since I'm pretty much laying on the floor & they think I must be there to play with them.....trust me.....I didn't wanna play with ANYTHING!!
I get cleaned up & head back to the computer, but start feeling even worse, so I shut things off & go back upstairs & relax on the couch......for all of about 10 minutes....then it's another dash to not quite make it this time, but close enough for the 3rd & 4th episodes of attempting to get my toenails to crawl up thru my body & leap to their demise in the toilet bowl. Now my sides hurt, my head is throbbing & when I stand up it's a toss up as to just how long vertical is a managable task. Think your worst hangover ever....without the fun from the night before! And before I forget to mention it.....the 4th episode was accompanied with extreme diarreah. Wasn't bad enough already, right??!!
It's a difficult decision about where to toss my second set of nasty clothes and should I just now sit & use the plastic lined wicker basket for whatever is still left in my poor stomach.
After about 30 minutes I start to feel like I can get up now, so I make my way back to the couch....but I was wrong.....very wrong! I was back in there like a flash in 10 more minutes. Sometimes it's good to live alone.....I just stayed in clean underwear & a clean sweatshirt for the rest of the night! But I wasn't looking forward to doing the laundry!
Sooooo, I was now running a nasty little fever, shivering, head pounding & queasy. And every five or ten minutes I had to go sit in there again. Good thing the plumbing leak had been fixed, but I think I made up for not using up much space in the septic tank since I've moved here!
This little "party" went on most of the night, little sips of water that at least stayed down....if not "in!" All day Sunday it was the same....couldn't sneeze, cough, laugh or clench my stomach muscles to get off the couch without risking another pair of undies. I went thru 2 1/2 rolls of toilet tissue & my poor bottom was reacting with very little co-operation when it came to sitting down. Fortunately, I wasn't the LEAST bit hungry! After the fever went away & I didn't feel like it was mandatory to hug the basket every time I made a move, I risked a few sips of milk. I slept most of the day, but not well....fearing I'd dream about having to go to the bathroom & find out it wasn't a dream! By late in the evening, I was pretty exhausted and feeling weak.....I got on the scale & had lost 8 pounds in less than 48 hours! Nice....but I don't think this is a good diet method.
I spent all day Monday chained to the bathroom again, in spite of a bit of natural cure...eating a couple of slices of swiss cheese (slows down the internal plumbing, they say) but finally whatever "nasty" I'd given myself started to wear off. I ate some more cheese, a small bowl of cereal and by evening a bowl of soup. Total weight loss by this morning was 11 pounds.....but I probably ruined that when I had another Sonic mystery shop at lunch time & forced down a few bites of a burger & some fries....the only I could really finish was a strawberry smoothie. But while I'm not completly back to normal, at least I can cough without having to change my undies again!!
I should have known that the price for fixing the plumbing leak wasn't steep enough for my Karma! Had to pay back more with my own "plumbing" going haywire! I'm guessing I won't be in the mood for a pizza again for a good, long time.

If ya hold your mouth just right....

Life has been kinda less than wonderful lately. Still don't have a job, panic attacks happen if I even attempt to go someplace to fill out an application, and I have to force myself out of the house to go grocery shopping.
My son & his girlfriend were supposed to come for a visit this month, but after I'd nearly worked myself into the ground getting ready for their arrival, he called me the night before cancelling the trip. I was really looking forward to it.....partially because I haven't seen him since August of 2005, but also because he's so incredibly handy at fixing stuff around the house that need a little work.
One thing I was hoping for was a hookup for the battery on my motorcycle so I wouldn't have to take the seat off when it needs a charge. Yep...I am hopelessly challenged in that direction, but he could do the job in a matter of minutes.
Another little project was replacing the bolts that attach the water tank to the toilet downstairs. They've rusted almost away & if I were to lean on the tank it would probably let go of the base & I'd have a flood in a hurry. He's good with the plumbing stuff too.
But the biggest project showed itself about a week before he was due to arrive. I got my latest water bill in the mail & it had almost doubled! I don't use a lot of water, never have more than the minimum bill, so I was pretty surprised at seeing one for nearly $32. I called the water company to have the meter re-read, just thinking maybe somebody had transposed a number or something, but the guy came & told me it was right......but.....did I have any water running right now? I didn't...so he informs me the meter is running slowly & that most likely means it is leaking somewhere. OH JOY!! We turned the water off right at the house, went down & looked at the meter & it was still running. Conclusion being that the leak is between the meter & the house.....what fun! NOT!
See, my house is on a hill. It's about 300-400 feet from the meter to my house. No wet spots showing on the ground anywhere....hmmmm. Two choices....dig up the entire length until the leak is found, praying that this doesn't mean the pipes are getting old & this would just be a temporary fix until it sprung another leak a few months down the road. The other choice is just forget it & run an entire new line to make sure it won't become a problem later. The safest option is the second one for a major reason....turns out that the original line was run when my neighbor between the meter & my house was living in a mobile home. And it was run behind the trailer & straight up the hill. But now there is a regular house sitting there & it's on top of the pipe. But that means now a new line would have to run thru his driveway since going behind the house isn't an option.....what with it being backed right up flush with another part of the hill and all. Now my neighbor is a nice guy & probably wouldn't mind, but this project is starting to look pretty expensive to me. Getting a plumber, renting a ditch-witch, new pipes & fittings and repaving part of his driveway.....not how to start off the year's budget!

This is where the "holding your mouth just right" part comes in. Since my son's visit was cancelled, I knew I wouldn't be saving any money on a plumber by having him do the job so I was pretty much putting off doing anything until the next bill arrives....hoping that it wasn't much higher than the last one, meaning it was a pretty slow leak & would give me some time to figure out how I was gonna pay for this project. But the gods smiled on me today, in spite of the forecast for a downpour!
The previous owner of the house showed up as he does every now & then to see how the single city girl is getting along with life in a log cabin. He mentioned that he'd heard about the leak problem & we were standing on the deck yacking about solutions when my other neighbor (the Mom of the guy at the bottom of the hill) happens to be going down the drive past my house. She stops & hollers up at us that her son was coming out of his shed yesterday & noticed a big, wet mushy spot right in front of it & he's wondering if that's where my leak is. She meant to call me this morning about it, but got busy & nearly forgot....but since she saw us standing on the deck it jogged her memory.
So the old owner & I go down to take a look. He gets a shovel out of the shed & starts digging up the wet spot....nice & easy since it has fortunately warmed up enough for things not to be frozen like they were all last week. Of course, in spite of trying to be careful, he hits the pipe which cracks completely open & starts shooting water out in a big hurry. I mad dash it to the water meter, throw myself on the ground & pry open the cover.....stare at it for a couple of seconds while I can hear the dial & see the numbers just whizzing by....then remember how to turn the valve off....finally.
But happily, now the leak is located & once he does the bucket thing to get all that water out of the whole, we see that it's not gonna be a big deal to fix it. I call my usual handy man who happens to be off duty from his regular job as a fireman & is still right down town, about 15 minutes away. He comes by, looks at the situation, runs over to Lowes & gets a new section of pipe & the fitting joint thingy....bingo....repaired & I have water again....nasty looking, brown, sandy water, but once I run it for a few minutes all is back to normal. Which was really good, since I'd had to use the bathroom 3 times since I shut the meter off & didn't even have any drinking water......and ya know how thirsty ya get when suddenly there is none to drink!!
The best part of all this was that the pouring rain we were supposed to get starting early this morning held off until the job was all done.....AND.....the grand total (including the handyman coming back in a day or two just to double check & make sure everything is still ok, plus fix the bolts on the toilet downstairs) came to a more than reasonable $35!!!! Whew!!!!
Now the nightmare vision of it costing me anywhere from several hundred to a thousand has drifted off to hell....where it rightly belongs....and I can breath again. There is just that small, teeny, niggling thing floating in the dark recesses of my brain....reminding me that the entire pipe hasn't been replaced & another leak could rear its ugly head sometime down the road. But I refuse to listen to that for now!! Of course I haven't yet received the current water bill & it was leaking for a few weeks since the last one & the leak had obviously gotten severe enough to show itself nearly 3 feet up to the surface.....could be another little less than pleasant surprise.....but at least I will know to shut one eye before I look at it!! Maybe if I hold my mouth just right.......???????