We are very different...

Yesterday, James and I ventured out in the yard to reinstall a honeysuckle support that had blown over during the rain and wind of the past few days. 

On the way out there, I noticed James looking at some really pretty purple flower "weeds" in the back yard. They've been thriving, even with the drought before the first rain we've gotten in over a month, and I've spot-mown because our septic leach field does spur some grass to grow in spots... but I've left the weeds because they're cool-looking and because they don't produce stickers!

James and I both took pictures of the weeds, and it wasn't until later when I was looking at something on my computer that I realized how different the pictures were.

Here's the photo that James snapped:

And here's the one that I took:

 

Now... some of this can be explained by the fact that I have more of a photographer's eye than James does. But I also think this might say something about how we see the world, though I'm not sure exactly how it applies across the board.

For instance: James's picture makes the alien flowers themself kind of challenging to see, but what comes through is that they're an anomaly. The rest of the ground cover is dormant from the heat and dryness. Whereas my picture shows the loveliness and focuses your attention there, where I want you to look. 

James and I were talking this morning about some pictures coming up in my Google Photos feed, and I mentioned that I can usually remember just by looking at a plate of food where it came from and what was going on at the time. James is someone who requires more information to hold on to memories. It's one reason he has so much stuff: That stuff pins his memories in place and he'd lose the memories without the prompts.

Very often when we're on a road trip (I always drive, a habit we got into when James was commuting a long way every day), James will take pictures of, say, wildflowers in the right-of-way or mountains in the distance without any framing whatsoever. He'll just point and shoot, capturing the door frame, the bird poop on the window, and hopefully the actual subject he was wanting to remember later. I'm much more curated. Unless it's so bright out that I can't really tell what I'm doing, I frame up shots. I move over a bit to make sure there's some greenery in the corner so the subject looks more lush. I'll move back and zoom in to fill up the background. 

Neither of those ways is better. They're just different. Just like James and me. And I think we make a great team!

The Agony of Defeat

A few weeks ago, I decided that it was time to replace our kitchen sink, which had been losing pressure for some time. We'd replaced it when we moved in, but it wasn't super nice to start with. We'd also replaced our garbage disposal, and it was nasty so I got one of those and figured I'd just do all of the things at once.

I got the faucet installed with no problem, but had some trouble taking the garbage disposal off, because it was all rusted and corroded, so we had trouble getting to this snap ring you have to break loose to get the base installation piece out of the sink.

Between James and me, over a few hours, we managed to get it all off and installed the garbage disposal! 

The only problem is that our old disposal was hard-wired into the electric system, and this new one (and all of the new ones) had a plug. So we did call an electrician to wire it for us. We asked about getting an outlet installed instead, since this is the standard now, but that was going to be about $450 instead of $235, so we just asked him to connect it.

In the end, he said that doing so would have invalidated the warranty on the garbage disposal, so he did install an outlet but he only charged what he'd quoted for the visit. Huzzah!

About a week later, I checked and noticed that some water was leaking under the sink. Some investigation showed that it was coming directly from the sink, from what below is labeled "sink flange."

Photo from familyhandiman.com

I pulled everything apart, reinstalled it, and it seemed to be holding tight. Great!

Fast forward to yesterday, and I told James, "I haven't checked it in a few weeks. I will just assume it's working okay.

But me being me, I did pull stuff out and felt around... and the bottom of the cabinet was damp. Not super wet, but the particleboard was swelling and it felt kind of slimy. 

"Is it time to call a plumber?" James agreed that it was.

I had to leave to take Mal somewhere, and in the meantime the plumber came out, found that the sink flange was bent, and fortunately had another one on his truck so we didn't have to buy a new disposal because I guess those single pieces are hard to find??

Later in the day, I was going through my email and saw the invoice from the plumber: IT WAS OVER $700. 

I immediately called the company, which we've used before but on big things that we knew would be expensive, and their service manager got back to me. He said that, yes, that was the price and they don't charge by the hour but by the service. He said they told James the price before they started, but I'm the one who usually does this kind of thing and if I'd been home, I would have told them no, thank you (and I'm pretty sure they would have still charged the $95 visit fee for nothing). 

I got on reddit and asked if I was crazy. People in Austin said they would expect to spend about that if they were also getting the disposal from the plumbing company, and also that this is the kind of jobs plumbers don't necessarily want to do, so they might overcharge for it to discourage having to lie at a weird angle or whatever. They suggested that next time I just get a general handyman. 

James mentioned that yes, they'd told him... and that he just was thinking about needing to get it done but that he might ought to have questioned it. Regardless, this seems egregious to me and I don't think I'm out of line. 

The service manager asked what I thought this should cost, and I said, "$250-300." He said, "Oh, yeah, we don't do anything that cheaply. We are not a sub-prime business." The general consensus on the local reddit thread was that $350 would have been reasonable. 

What's dumb is that the manager who told me that they don't charge by the hour also said, "He did spend two hours there." James then told me that the first hour was spent trying to sell us this platinum service plan. When I mentioned THAT to the service manager, he did offer to refund the $95 trip fee, and I said okay. He asked, "Will that make it better?" I said, "It will make it better, but not okay." And I was upset so I hung up on him. 

Why was I upset? 

Because I try SO HARD to steward our resources well. Obviously, I do minor home maintenance on my own when I can. I bought a couple of shirts yesterday for $5 each because a high-end store sends me a $20 gift card every year for my birthday and I go in, head straight to their clearance racks, and pick out things I'd never pay full price for. (Literally both of those shirts were originally $45-50, and there's just no way.)

Then something stupid happens like I get in an accident and have to have body work done on the car. Or a plumbing company charges us 10x what the garbage disposal cost to install it. 

James has to work almost 50 hours to pay for that repair, and that's basically two weeks' worth of work since he's still part time. We're fortunate to still have a little cushion, but what about genuinely poor or cash-strapped people who need home repair? We really need to replace a bunch of wood on our porch and get it all re-stained. It will be $7500-$10,000. We can't afford it, so we're going to end up like I did with the house in Sherman where there's so much deferred maintenance that we eventually have to sell low to an investor. 

That's why I'm SO frustrated. I cheap out on groceries; we almost never buy meat, and I always get the store brands. I look for sales. I say "no" to things all of the time. Then my stupid nickle-and-diming feels pointless when something huge like this happens that is totally outside of my control. 

That's it. I could rant all day, but I won't. You're welcome.

Building Our Dream (?) House?

I might have mentioned, we almost moved back in May. It didn't work out (the real estate market is cooling off but still pretty cut-throat), and since then, we had the water heater bust a pipe (again), and we had to do a bunch of remediation and repair. Then James decided we needed to move the pigeon/chicken loft/tool shed, because we realized it's probably on the corner of our leach field. This weekend, Luke actually pointed out to us that the leach field has a leak (not at the shed; elsewhere). And Sunday night, we had to call our a/c guys for a recurring problem we have with our a/c drain clogging. 

Note: I started this blog post on October 13. Since then, our heat pump has malfunctioned and fortunately the company we use came out and didn't charge us. But also, we've realized that water is STILL getting into our house in the master bedroom. James pulled out the molded baseboards and drywall, and we pulled back the carpet and pad (again) to dry out the subfloor. We fixed a roof thing, tested it, and it seemed okay. But there was STILL WATER GETTING INTO THE HOUSE. We later realized there was a crack in the masonry, and maybe that was it? While James was fixing that, Laura noticed that our non-functional outdoor shower (only has hot water, so is scalding after a few moments) was kind of moldy around the handle. Got a plumber out to look at it and they closed off the valves, one of which (hot, of course) was dripping... for who knows how long. THEN we got a leak detection company out today, and they actually capped the lines to the shower just to be extra safe, and they could not make any more water come into the floor. For good measure, they caulked around the shower trim we had installed five months ago. I'm still nervous. I'll be un-nervous after a month has passed and we've had a good rain and there is no more water getting into the house.

Moving on...

This kind of thing makes me think we should rent.

We talked about it: selling our house and moving to a rental. The problem is that if you rent from a private owner, they're liable to sell the house out from under you. And if you live in an apartment... well, James's options for a workshop are pretty bleak.

So, we had our back lot surveyed, and spent the past month working through a "program" from an architect James found and really liked. We've sent the program in, and he's going to ponder it for a while and get started on some drawings. We know we want to build with eco-friendly materials like cob or straw bale or earth bags. We know we want the house to be whimsical and modest. We know we don't want to be paying property tax on three lots anymore, too.

James is thinking about re-platting our lots so that we take the part of the second lot our yard is on and make it part of the lot where we're planning to build, mostly to assure that we have lots of trees and no one decides to buy this house on the two lots, move the fence in, clear the second lot, and built another house right up on us.

So, hang on to your butts... we'll see how this goes!

The Joys of Home Ownership, and other adventures

This week, we're having the big old Chinaberry in our front yard cut down because it mostly died during the freeze in February, and it had already dropped multiple limbs in the yard and onto our roof and the open patio, shearing off a corner of a support post.

I hate to see any tree go, even an invasive one, but especially one that was so big and lovely. But we did see this coming and planted a pear tree about 15 feet further away from the house last spring. We've been fortunate enough to have a bunch of rain, so the tree "took" very well, and has some new green growth since we first planted it. It even had a few wimpy flowers earlier.

Speaking of rain... take a look at this extended forecast for the rest of July:

This is MUCH lower than Austin's "average" high of 95.2 (which usually involves a few days of these temps, and equal days of high-90s/100+). On the one hand, the cooler temperatures should keep us from running the air conditioner as much. On the other, the cloud cover means we won't generate much solar so our actual bill might be higher. Still... I'm never going to complain about milder temperatures. It's been practically lovely so far this month. A few super humid, sweltering days. But not many. It's weird. 

We have a plumber coming on Thursday, and this will allegedly complete the master bathtub repairs that we've needed for more than two months. I don't know if this is common practice or a new thing, but one reason it's taken so long for us to have the repairs completed (aside from one of the issues NOT being plumbing, but being a roof leak) is that we are having to get our own parts, and we are lay people who do not speak "plumber."

Like, when they told us we needed to acquire a shower valve, that's what I did. When they showed up to install it, they asked if I got a trim kit. I said no, and asked if we needed one. They said we did. Since this was the second time it had been suggested that we might want to replace our "trim" and I had no idea what they were talking about, I just said, "Can you point at what I need to get?" Well, now I know that a "trim kit" is the shower head, handle, and tub spout. When the first plumber suggested that to take care of a leak, we might want to replace our trim, what WE thought he meant was the really crappy wooden tack-up job that handyman did for us at the beginning of the pandemic. We know it's not perfect, but it IS actually better than what was there before, and I was pretty sure it wasn't allowing water to leak anywhere.

New information in hand, I ran to Lowe's, bought the only non-chrome trim kit that they had, and got back in time for the plumbers to install it. Except that it wasn't Moen. THEY DIDN'T TELL ME THAT THE BRAND WAS IMPORTANT. Sigh. So they left, and I shopped for a Moen handle kit. At that time, I realized that we could have bought an inclusive trim kit with valve for much less than we piecemealed it. Double sigh.

We decided that we could install this ourselves, and would reuse the spout we already had. I gave it a good CLR bath, and that helped a lot.

Nice, huh? Can you tell that we have VERY hard water?

Unfortunately, once we tried to put the spout back on, we couldn't get the base of it flush with the tile. It was about 1/4 inch away from the wall. I looked on YouTube at ways to fix this, and it involved cutting into the stud, which I'm not comfortable doing, especially that close to plumbing infrastructure. So we're going to pay the plumbers to install it (we bought a new spout which is Danco brand, but it's the same size and apparently the off-brand universal replacement for Moen) so we don't end up with leaks in the wall.

Then Saturday, the man who's going to fix our guest bath ceiling is supposed to start on that. While he's here, we'll have him give us an estimate to repair the drywall in the bathroom (which we've kept open until the whole master bath tub is dealt with), and HOPEFULLY that will be it for a while.

So, is it new that homeowners have to provide what I consider plumbing supplies on their own? When I was a property manager, our plumbing contractors had warehouses where they got stuff. If we needed something they didn't have, we paid them to find and procure it. Is it normal that they don't do that now? Or is it because of the pandemic supply chain? 

And if this is normal now, I'm going to need plumbers to leave me a detailed list of what I need, including brand, size, etc. Because I have no idea and it all looks pretty similar to me. I'm so tired of the whole thing; I need it to be over.

Honestly, we do have leaks in both our back (since we've lived here) and front (since the freeze) porches, and I don't know how much there is to do about those. It doesn't get into the house, so it's not a priority. 

This stuff all coming up right after we got an AMAZING offer on our house and just weren't able to move on it makes it even more maddening, honestly. Like, we could be in a different house RIGHT NOW and not dealing with this. Although I have no doubt that other places would have issues, too. This is just one more incentive to rent. I know you're not building up equity, but we've spent LOADS on repairs and upgrades since we moved in here.

Anyhoo, this week is a busy one. Mal went to Urban Air today and a friend of his ended up showing up unexpectedly. Tomorrow, we're going up to Temple to see Nana and Pappy, and to swim with Hannah and Chance. The Brownies are coming up in the evening, because it's Tian's birthday. We plan to hang out to see them for at least a few. Wednesday, we have the tree people coming. Thursday, I'm meeting a friend at a coffee place (no coffee for me, thanks). Friday, we might be going back to Urban Air or Indigo Play with two of Mal's neighborhood (kind of) friends. Saturday is one of Mal's homeschool friend's birthday party. 

I'm going to end with a few pictures from our trip last week, because I totally forgot even to mention it. We drove to Dallas on Sunday, July 4, and came back on Tuesday, July 6. But we had a fun time, and wanted Mal to get to visit Peppa Pig's World of Play before we have to hunker down with the puppy pretty seriously for a few months. It was good times with the fam (except for D, who thoroughly enjoyed having the house empty, and who took great care of everything while we were gone!).

Lunch at Joe's Crab Shack on the way out of town.

Bass Pro Shop!

This is the prettiest I've ever seen the Grapevine Mills parking lot.

Waiting for "rope drop."

First ones inside!

Eventful lunch at Rainforest Cafe.

Short stop at the Dallas Zoo... because it was HOT!

Dude, Sweet Chocolate! A family tradition.

Yes, that is a cheese cave. 

Here's a bonus: It's both of my kiddos taking a rest at the Dallas Zoo. Adorable. 

A Midsummer Night's... Sweat

You guys! Things. Have. Been. Crazy!

Nope. That's an Amber Ruffin bit.

What I mean is that things have been HOT. Yes, since I blogged a couple of days ago, it has continued. The heat.

But we can't hibernate in the house forever, so I've been out and about working most of the week so far.

Monday morning at 1:18 AM, I was awakened by... something. James was still awake (he had Monday off) and we met up in the living room. I asked him what that sound was, and he didn't know. As he looked out the front window, I looked out the side. It sounded vaguely like someone was running around on our wooden porch.

James saw a GIANT branch from our chinaberry tree go rolling off of the roof.

First, chinaberries drop limbs ALL of the time. Second, it's been dry, so I'm sure this one is parched as heck. Third, it SNAPPED. And the branch was huge.

I was pleased to find in daylight that our gutters had held, although I'm sure I need to go back and clean them again, even though I just did it maybe a month and a half ago.

Monday afternoon was overcast, and I took advantage of the shade to cut apart the branches to a manageable weight so I could move it off of the masonry. The branch did take out a chunk out of the top of one of the open patio posts, but it's only visible from the house side.

I ended up cutting three more iffy branches from the tree before I was done. Then I was DONE.

Kind of cool how so much of the growth was to one side of the tree. All of the cuts look like this.

Tuesday morning, Mal's friend's mom texted me to see if we wanted to meet them at the lake. Mal hopped in the wagon and we walked down there. It was only 10:30, so hadn't gotten up to 100 yet, but it hit that about the time we were coming home just before noon.

Mal, his friend, and his friend's brother had fun chatting about Minecraft and we moms had fun visiting with a grown-up who doesn't live in our house (hashtag social distancing).

Walking back up the hill from the lake required three water breaks for me. Mal plus the wagon is about 80 pounds, and even though the tires are AWESOME, it's still quite the work-out.

Then yesterday, we stayed in most of the day and Mal and I went on a walk once the sun started to go down. We looked at all of the construction going on around the neighborhood, and really enjoyed places where there are still just trees. We also saw this happy touch that's been on top of a nearby mailbox for months.

When we got home, I watered our poor apple trees (if they don't make it through the winter unscathed, and we pull them up next spring, we'll probably put in wicking beds instead and just plant gardens).

And, no, that's not gravel all over the yard. It's dormant grass. When we had our solar panels put on last year, one of the installers said, "You're going to have to re-sod this." I laughed and told him it was never sodded. It's just what's here naturally, and by October, it's going to need to be mowed again. It stays green all winter and goes back to sleep in June. Keeps our lawn guy (and me) from having to mow in the hottest part of the summer!

Then today, Thursday, I went to pick up a couple of rain barrels that we bought for half price through the Round Rock water district. Woo hoo! I was going to wait until it was evening to install them, but procrastinating is difficult for me.

Today was hot, but dry for a change. We've hit 100 every day for several weeks now, but this morning, we broke the record low for the day! The Austin airport registered 63 degrees, and I happened to be awake early so opened up the house for a couple of hours.

It could have been a worse day to set these puppies up, and I'm glad that I got it finished in time for a nice cool shower before dinner.

Now we just wait for it to rain! In December, maybe?

Here's hoping for a lazy Friday to round out a physically exhausting (in a good way!) week.

Have a good weekend, weird-os!

Nature Taking Over

One of the things we really loved when we first bought our house was the mini "nature trail" that was right behind our back fence. It became pretty clear after the first year, however, that the people who owned the property before either did a lot of upkeep or just did a bunch of clearing right before selling the house.

Here's what it looked like in January 2017, the month after we moved in.

That "rail" is the remnant of a platform and step down into the grotto. I can't tell whether it started coming apart from age or if the Lower Colorado River Authority, which owns the property ours kind of surrounds, told them to take it down and they half-assed it.

Anyway... want to see it now?

BEHOLD! The triumph of NATURE!

While I'd like to be able to access the back part of that lot without having to be super wary of snakes, I also like the wildness coming right up to our fence. Here's one of the gates three and a half years ago.

Here's what that area looks like now.

Is there still even a trail? We have no way of knowing.

It would cost a lot, either in time or money, to un-wild that portion of the lot. I'm not willing to do it. I love how, in a few years, we won't be able to see the fences at all.

Especially as our neighborhood grows, in terms of new homes, the better "hedge" we can have from having to stare at development, the happier I'll be.

Grow on, wild plants. Grow on.

Fashion-no-sta

There is a 23-year-old young woman I follow on YouTube and I'm not entirely sure why since I'm certainly not her intended audience, and most of her videos are about fashion in some way... But I think I ended up on her channel because she'd done something I think is fun, which is that she took $100 into ten different stores in a mall to see what she could buy with the same amount from, say, Forever 21 (a lot) to Kate Spade (nothing). Then I saw one where she tried on a similarly-styled pair of size 12 jeans at a bunch of different stores, and noted how much the actual sizes varied. Ger effervescent personality is just uplifting, plus she employs a bunch of her high school friends, so that's awesome and fun. Anyway, I watch a lot of her videos while I'm doing other things, like paying bills or making dinner.

I realize, though, that she has a seemingly innate sense of fashion. Like she talks about using this belt with this outfit because the belt provides texture as a contrast to the rest of it. These are things I've never even considered. I mostly feel like if I like an article of clothing and it's comfortable, I'll wear it. Because of this, there are many outfits I've only retired after having seen pictures of myself and realizing that somehow what I think I look like based on my mirror and how the outfit actually wears are vastly divergent and this is not a look I want to continue.

The video I watched yesterday was one where she recreated her "worst" outfits from adolescence. None of them was particularly awful, though her friends and mom could tell exactly what time frame she was referencing with her clothes. Part of this is because she was born in the mid-90s so her adolescence wasn't so long ago. But part of it is that she dressed stylishly (or her interpretation of stylishly) for the day, and it was easily identifiable to her peers.

She asked the question: What fashion decisions from high school do you think are your worst? Well, I don't think I made ANY "fashion" decisions, per se, when I was... um, ever, actually. Since I always felt ridiculously large (false) as a youngster, I just wanted to look not huge and didn't try to replicate anyone's "looks," except maybe Bill Cosby's sweaters. And I hate that I still think "Cosby sweater" when I see one, because I LOVE THEM STILL. John Boyega wore one on the cover of People Magazine recently, and I think we should call them Boyega sweaters now. (I know, he's not incredibly tactful at times. Grace on that one. I get it.)

Anyhoo, maybe it's because my family didn't have a lot of money, so we were pretty utilitarian about clothes? Or maybe it was because, again, the plus size clothes movement just had not gotten started in earnest so I didn't have a lot of choices. You can definitely look at old pictures and say, "80s!" but that was because... that's what they sold in stores at that time. And I was definitely a "buy the first thing that fits" gal, ask my mom, rather than a "let's shop all day until I create the perfect outfit for me."

I will say that the one thing I think we ALL wonder about the late 80s and early 90s is: bangs. You didn't have to have money to have big bangs. White Rain cost $.94 a bottle, and so even when you went through ONE BOTTLE A WEEK, it wasn't super expensive. Why did we do this? Who can say.

But you know what hair trend I think we'll look back on later and wonder, "Why?" The partial bun top knot. I do it, and I think it's cute as heck.

This is (k)not nearly as smack-dab on top of the head as I sometimes wear it. This young lady to whom I refer on YouTube also does this, and often accents it with what looks like a quarter-size bandana. And I love it! But I also feel like it's weird, and in 20 years, our kids and maybe grandkids will look at the pictures and wonder, "Why did we do this?" and "Why did you do that?" What is it about having a tiny cinnamon roll on your noggin that seemed like a viable look to you?

Then again, if I have my way, the concept of fashion and looking "nice" or "hip" or "hot" or whatever will have been totally demolished by then, and everyone can wear whatever they want and not feel self-conscious nor will anyone judge anyone else's choices with what they do with their bodies, and all the wars will end, and everyone will just bake brownies to share with their neighbors. If that happens, just remember that we vision-casted it first right here.

Nowadays, even with my ability to choose clothes that are more plentiful and varied, I don't really feel like I have a "style." I just get things I think are cute and that I won't have to fuss with, and that's it.

On a related note, I've been going to a lot of open houses lately. I enjoy keeping up with what real estate in our neighborhood is doing, and any time a house goes up then on the market, if it's open, we go tour it. What seems to be the deal right now is sealed concrete flooring (not stained; just the normal grey concrete color), black or slate cabinets, and light fixtures that look like recycled bottles, even if they aren't. The upper floors are mostly dark wood or laminate, with wet areas having black and white or something in-between tile, either mosaic or subway.

Clearly, this kind of blank slate is the deal and lots of people demand it. I understand minimalism but also think the interiors feel kind of cold, even when they're staged with furniture. Maybe earth-toned neutrals are just as blah, but at least they feel warmer to me. And I'm sorry, but I love carpet. I know it's bad for my allergies and you just cannot keep it clean. I know the cats are bound and determined to destroy it. I LOVE cool area rugs, too... but it's cheaper to carpet a room than to buy one or two good-sized nice area rugs, and then you have to pull them up and vacuum under the edges or they're pretty gross, as well.

So once again, I have zero sense of any particular style, but I know what I like. Our house is packed with garbage, basically. Gloriously colorful garbage that we got handed down or bought second-hand. There is nary a headboard in the building. I'm a cheapskate and the only "furniture" in which I have invested has been the outdoor structures we have (playscape, storage shed, pigeon loft, and solar panels). I do like the aesthetics of our kitchen chairs, but they're intentionally mismatched and inexpensive, and when one breaks, I can replace it without much concern.

Oh, and I bought a fake plant at IKEA yesterday to fill a "wtf" niche beside our fireplace in the living room. It was twice the price of a real plant, but with the cats, our odds seemed better with this thing. I know enough to know that fake plants are widely panned by people who have taste, but... *shrug*.

I know what I like, and I can look at a professionally-designed interior and think, "That looks really nice," but I don't know the names or origins of styles, and I don't think I'd be able to (or want to?) recreate them on my own.

Maybe that's just a thing: not having a sense of style and kind of just being fine with whatever. Like some people can camp and just not be bothered by the elements. Or some people can eat anything, even if it's cold food that's supposed to be hot or really too-old snack cakes (looking at James). I recognize when people look put together, and think it'd probably be cool to look so nice, but also... I love Crocs (way pre-VSCO, so I think we should credit ME and my tenacious fandom with forcing them into pop culture). And I love buying 3 shirts for $25. Or mattresses for $300. So maybe being fashionable just isn't in my future.

Let's talk about chicks, baby

For the first couple of weeks that we had the chickens, I kept glancing out and telling James, "I'm sure it'll get to the point that I take it for granted they're just out there and doing okay unless I have reason to think differently." Well, friends, that time is here.

The past few days, when Mal and I have gotten ready to leave the house, I look out back and don't see the chickens and think, "Great! They're hiding in the shade! Smart birds!"

We're still learning a lot and having fun. We think we have at least one and maybe two roosters, possibly three; hopefully none. If they start crowing, we'll have to figure out what to do next. But for now, the one that seems to be trying is still a quiet li'l gender-non-specific cutie pie, though it is definitely larger than the others.

It's been hot, and the birds seem to be doing their best to stay cool by camping out under the green in the yard, or chilling on the back porch (yay! poop!). I put ice in their water fairly early in the day and then try to take them refrigerated or frozen fruit or vegetables at least once a day to give them something to snack on. They REALLY like snack time.

What's kind of cool is that they've adapted to the pigeon loft a lot better than we expected. Chickens are, as James told me, "floor birds." Given that, even though I'd modified the loft with a couple of ramps (one is 45 degrees, which is supposed to be the max they can comfortably handle; the other is about 47.5 degrees), I didn't have high hopes about their utilizing the flight deck.

But they figured it out!

I'm so happy, as it's a bunch cooler out there with a breeze than it would be inside on the floor (which should be perfect for winter).

They don't seem to have ventured into the nesting boxes, which I am afraid will be much to small for them by the time they're old enough to lay eggs... if we have any hens (fingers crossed!). They're about 13-14 weeks old now, so we still have 7-15 weeks before they're mature enough to start laying. Glad they're not having to work too hard in the heat. Also glad that a "cold front" is coming in next week. Hey, I'll take 92 over 98 all summer, if it wants to do that!

We spent a lot of time the first couple of weeks after we got the birds filling in holes at the bottom of our fencing, and around the sides of the gates, where they might slip through the cracks. For a while, it seemed like they found a new egress every day! Including, at one point, getting into the front yard by flying up onto the porch border, and going through the wrought-iron railings onto the front porch, then down the steps, and into the grass in the driveway. Fixed that by moving the porch couch "bed" over a few feet.

Simple, but thus far effective, work-around. They don't seem comfortable jumping up/flying while also trying to get through the rails.

However, all of this is really for naught because of something I witnessed earlier this week.

What's this? you ask. Well...

So, yes, they can get up onto the top of our back fence and, if they want to, into the back 1/3... but so far, they just hop back down on the inside. At least I'll know where to look for them if they go missing!

Thus far, they have been easier to clean up after and care for than the pigeons. This is due largely, I believe, to the fact that during the day, they are basically self-sustaining. They do their business outside, so there isn't as much to clean inside the loft. They entertain themselves enough that I don't feel badly if we don't interact much with them on any given day... Speaking of which, I read that when it's this hot, it's best not to check on them in person very much during the day because they get excited and, therefore, hotter.

That's probably all of the chicken news for now. Here are a few pictures of the babies.

They were way more interested in the ice-cold water than the corn on the cob!

This one seems to be trying to crow. Did you know some hens crow?

This one has tail feathers that look rooster-ish.

This one looks almost too beautiful to be a hen, but is also the smallest bird we have.

Chillin' out, maxin', relaxin' all cool and all...

This Week in Review

So, hey. How's your week been? (Pretends to listen intently for about four seconds.) Really? Great. Mine's had some ridiculous ups and downs, plus womanly hormones, and... well, I'm just ready for a new week, frankly. Here's a roughly chronological review.

We started the week with the SUV we'd just bought in the shop for a repair. We knew it needed an EGR valve replacement, but found out when we took it in Saturday that it actually needed the valve AND a whole new fuel tank. Since salvage yards aren't open over the weekend, and the repair shop really wanted to save us some money, they asked if we could wait until Monday when they could call around. (Shout out to Klingeman Car Care on this front. We used them in Oak Hill, and are fortunate that there's one even closer to where we live now over in Cedar Park.)

Sunday morning, Mal and I were going to visit a different church than we usually attend. It starts a half hour earlier than our home church, and since Mal is such a late riser, we pretty much had to throw his pants on and get him immediately in the car. The old, boring car, because our new (to us) car was in the shop. Do you remember that part? Yeah.

We drove way out into Leander, which isn't too far, but feels like another planet because we rarely go that way (we need to; there's a Bahama Bucks pretty close by!) and found the school where the services are held. But the only vehicles there were 3 cars and the trailer ubiquitous to haul-in churches. It was right at 10, so the only options were that they'd changed their service time and hadn't updated their website, or that only three cars' worth of people go to that church, which means their website is misleading and we're not interested because I'll explain why we were even visiting a different church in a minute.

A less introverted person would have gone in to see what was going on, but instead, I sat in my car and sent an email. I have not heard back from anyone. Thanks for making us feel welcome, church!

We ended up going to our church, and for the second week in a row, Mal was the only kid there. We love our church. We love the kids who go to our church. But none of them come regularly. Ever since school started back in the fall, it's like if there's a special thing, everyone shows up. Otherwise, it's Mal and maybe one or two other kids, but 3 weeks out of 5, it's just him.

The past two weeks, he's declined to go to childcare alone, and so the week before, we just left after the children's message. This week, he was interested enough in some magnets that we stayed. But he was so happy to go to McDonald's after and play with some kids.

In case you're wondering, I went through the drive-through at Taco Bell first and got two orders of nacho fries with two sides of cheese.

Do you realize we're only at lunch on Sunday so far?

Anyway, after we got home, I researched some churches around here, and that got really depressing. Here's the thing: I know exactly what I want in a church. Obviously, the very first and most important thing is what they teach, and what they believe about the Bible, and how that informs how their church works. I can tell from about 90% of the websites I look at that it's not for us.

Another way I can tell it's a big, fat "no" is when they have 40 staff. I have done megachurches. I'm over them. I want a smaller church. But smaller churches usually mean there isn't a lot of programming. And apparently if there isn't programming, busy-busy stuff, parents aren't super motivated to bring their kids. Especially since we homeschool, I need my kids to be able to make connections anywhere we spend a chunk of our time.

Monday, we had fun. Mal and I went to Jump Street and he played for a while with some rando kids who were there, then his friend Alexei met him and they had a good time. While we were there, Mal asked if we could use the photo booth. We usually do that at Chuck E. Cheese, but it's only 2 credits, or about $.50. It was $5 at Jump Street, but he was so excited. And here's what he had in mind.

He picked the frame, too.

On Monday, the car people told me that they'd found a fuel tank at a salvage yard, $400 cheaper than buying a new one from the dealership. They still needed several new parts, but we were grateful for the break. Also, we'd actually paid enough less than the couple was asking for the car that even with the more major repair, we were only out $100 more than we had initially thought we'd be paying for the car itself.

Also, we're getting quite a bit of money back from the IRS, mostly because James's old office withheld at a ridiculously high rate when they paid him out for his PTO. When we asked them about it, they said that was normal and it had to be done that way. It made that payment less than two-thirds what we were expecting, but I guess it all worked out because we will be able to use the money to pay off that repair. And some others, but we'll get to that. We're still just on Monday!

Incidentally, I'd had to contact the person who sold us our SUV because I needed her to sign the Texas title transfer. She was really weird about it, saying she'd signed over the (out of state) title and that meant she didn't own the car anymore. I further explained that we could not title the car without her signature, so she agreed to come over and sign it, which she did Monday morning. Then after Jump Street, Mal and I saw her again; she's a cashier at a dollar store. It was weird. Maybe I've seen her there before. She left a CD in the player of the SUV. It's labeled "Travel Music." The first song is "Margaritaville," and the second song is country, which Mal demanded I stop and turn on "the real music." That's my kid!

We got some Orbeez I'd ordered in the mail, and on Tuesday, we played most of the day with those. Mal even took a bath with them, and I have to tell you that it was a lot harder getting them out than I'd anticipated.

Even Carol is intrigued. 

Tuesday, I spent most of the day on standby mode, waiting to hear from the auto shop. I downloaded Lyft (which I've never tried; we did Uber a few times before they left Austin several years ago, though I suppose they're back now) and saw that it'd only be $8 to get a ride to pick up the car and save James that trip after commuting like he does.

I stress eat a lot when I'm restless, so that was the theme of Tuesday.

Wednesday morning, I called to check on the car. They said it was going well, but they hadn't gotten all of the parts in until Wednesday, and that they'd be done with the car that day.

Oh, hey, it was also Valentine's Day. We got the kids a couple of little treats, but James and I didn't do anything for each other. I got all sentimental about how fortunate I am to have James, and was going to write a thing about it, but have realized that I don't love writing as much as I used to at this moment. I will say this: I've been in several relationships where things similar to what have happened this week were sources of stress and blame and punishing. It's so nice to be able to be frustrated about a circumstance, but not have to worry about the reaction if I am to be the bearer of unexpected inconveniencing news.

At 5:14, 15 minutes before the garage closed, they called and said they were done with the repairs. Mehh. I told them I'd get it the following day.

Thursday, I was taking D and Mal to the Austin RV Expo. I figured we'd just get a Lyft to the garage, then go on from there. But James was home pretty late Thursday morning, so as soon as Mal and I got up, we got him to take us in to get it. I noticed from the street that the hood was released, and mentioned that I didn't want to forget that when I was driving home.

After James dropped us off and left, I found out why the hood wasn't secure: They were having to jump start the car every time they needed to run it. Apparently, he'd called to tell me about it, but 1) I never have my ringer on and 2) in this case, my phone was all the way off and I hadn't looked at it since the day before. He suggested we take it in and have it warrantied out because the battery was pretty new. I explained that we'd gotten it from a private party, and he shot out a couple of things it could be, one of which was a "phantom drain."

That reminded me that James and I had both noticed a green light on the tow wiring glowing all of the time at the back of the car. Although the gentleman offered to try to diagnose the battery problem, I wasn't in the mood to deal with it, and said we'd try to figure it out later.

Outside, though, while the guys were jumping the car for me, I mentioned the tow wiring again. One of the guys brought me a fuse and said he'd unplugged it. That was apparently all it was. It's started for us every time we've tried.

Oh, but it looks like they disconnected the gas gauge. I called to let them know, but I'm not emotionally able to take it back in for a few days. I told James I should take the bill from the rather hefty auto repair and write on it with a Sharpie, "Here's your CD," then wrap the CD in the bill and mail it to the lady who sold us the car. I have many passive-aggressive ideas I do not act on. You're welcome.

Thursday, I woke up early and bought airline tickets for a trip we have planned for the fall. Southwest just released the tickets yesterday, and I'm hoping that having bought them the day they went on sale AND purchasing the auto-check-in will mean we can at least have some choice in where we sit. After that, I went back to sleep for a bit.

Later, we woke D up and drove downtown to the RV show. It was fun. The trends I noticed (since I bought my RV 7 years ago) were: Outside kitchens pretty standard, fold-down patios as an option, and electric fireplaces. D is thinking about purchasing an RV in a few years, so we scoped out some possibilities and got some budgeting ideas. It was nice, but I could tell that after about an hour, we'd reached D's limit.

We passed the AAAS annual meeting setup on the way in and out, and really wished we were signed up for that! It looked super cool. We also passed this, just sitting in the middle of the big lobby of the Austin Convention Center.

It's a breast-feeding/pumping hut.

Interesting. There are two bench seats and one little table area, and a tiny mirror. Mal and I both fit in there, and it was cheery enough for such an apparently claustrophobic pod.

When we got home, it was gorgeous out, so Mal and I spent a couple of hours in the yard, and I totally forgot about fixing dinner until James got home. Fortunately, we had some tasty left-overs.

It was too pretty to stay inside

This morning, I woke up earlier than Mal again. It's interesting. He's been sleeping 6-8 hours straight the past 3 nights. He starts waking asking for "nursies" between 5:30 and 6:30, but then will usually sleep until 9ish.

Today, while I was eating breakfast and waking up, D came into the kitchen to report an apparent roof leak. There was water pouring out of the light fixture. Fortunately, our electric system worked. As soon as the water started pooling, the breaker had tripped, shutting off D's noise-maker fan. That woke D up, and revealed the leak.

I was about to call my friend Jacob (at Birdcreek Roofing) and decided to see if I could tell what was going on first. I climbed up into the attic -- which was dark because the power was off to that part of the house -- and could first hear and then see that it was the water heater. Steam was shooting out from the top of the unit.

Here's my scientific way of choosing a service provider: Open Yelp! and look up the category. Pick the first one near me with mostly all-5-stars. If they answer, they win. If it goes to voice mail, hang up and call the next person.

I ended up speaking with Blue Dragon Plumbing. When I described what was happening, he pretty much nailed what was wrong. He was on the south side of Austin but said he'd make his way up and call me after an appointment he had.

It's interesting, I was too distracted to be icked out by the attic, and then later James advised that I not try to shut off the water to the house (which I'd done hours before) because our inspector said we had black widows in the box. Fortunately, I didn't remember that particular bit of information at all, nor did I see any spiders.

The dripping slowed once I'd shut the water off and emptied (I thought) the water heater. I called ServiceMaster to get them out and drying everything, but it went to voice mail. They were our first pick because James used to work for them, and they're recognized nationally as experts.

But I moved on because I needed speed! Tetris Cleaning Service answered and was at my house within the hour. He had a neat water-vision camera (I don't know what it's called, but it's so cool). He was able to see that we had some water at the seams of our bathroom walls/ceiling, and then D's whole ceiling was just a wet mess.

I don't know if you can see, but pretty much the whole ceiling is damp. But the water was only dripping through at the light fixture, and that one big bubble at the drywall tape.

He was able to verify that the water was clean, and that the stuff in the middle was still HOT. It had absorbed into the fancy new insulation we just had blown in a few months ago, and was holding heat. He removed all of the wet insulation (which we're still paying for, because 2 years was zero interest, so why not?), put two fans in our bathroom, and put 3 fans and a dehumidifier in D's room.

D's room is shut off now, and so D will have to find somewhere else in the house to crash. But the fact that it is closed off means that the rest of the house isn't too loud; it just sounds like when the dishwasher is running. The fans in the bathroom aren't any louder than a box fan, either.

The cats are kind of freaked out. They won't use the two litter boxes in the main bathroom because it's so close to D's loud mystery room, and because the dehumidifier drain hose runs through there and into one of the sinks. The litter boxes are surrounded. But hopefully they'll get over it and get used to it soon. We should have the fans until Monday or Tuesday, and they have to run constantly. He said "24/7," but he meant "24/4."

We filed a claim on our homeowners insurance (shout out there to my agent, Moses), but will probably end up closing it out, since it's likely we'll spend just under our deductible, anyway. I need to remember to call the adjuster tomorrow.

The water heater guy got here while the water damage mitigation guy was still here, and they both left around 4. When James got home, we were trying to decide what to do about food, and I couldn't help him decide anything. He kept talking about going somewhere, but I was so gross. I'd gone to sleep with Mal last night, deciding I needed sleep more than a shower, but then missing out all day when I couldn't catch one this morning.

James would suggest going out, I'd blanch at that, he'd say he'd go into town and get something, and I didn't like the idea of his leaving again, or of his having to drive more after his commute.

Finally, I realized I was being a giant poop and just put on some different clothes and a baseball hat, and we went to this place that has an outdoor playground for Mal... Only to find that they are permanently closed. So we ended up having dinner at Freebirds, and I felt tons better after getting some veggies and cheese into myself.

We went to Walmart after dinner and finally found Mal the only 3 color-change Hot Wheels they had left. They were only $3.50, which is anywhere from 1/5 to 1/10 the price I've found for the color-changing Cars cars he's wanted. When we go home, he played with those for a good hour, going back and forth between between the colors.

Now I'm ready to go to bed. I've done 3 loads of laundry and a dish-washing load since the water came back on. Mal's been asleep for almost 2 hours, which is an early bedtime for him. James is on the phone with his brother. D is in our room enjoying the big brown recliner. I'm tired. I'm glad James has 3 days off, and hopefully when he goes back to work on Tuesday, our house will be back to "normal." And our car will stay fixed. And things can go back to being normal.

Have a good weekend, friends!

Oh, and here's a tip: WHEN YOU LEAVE YOUR HOUSE FOR A FEW DAYS, TURN OFF THE WATER AND DRAIN THE WATER HEATER. You might never have needed it, but you do NOT want to come home to a week's worth of what we had 12 hours' worth of today.