26 December 2008

I'd Like a "Do-Over", Please...
Okay, so Christmas has come and gone...
But at least my wife and I are doing OUR part in helping our nation's economy to NO SMALL END. How about YOU?
After the tree toppling, the power line down, street light outages, and having paid off MOST of those people, we're not done with the fun yet, folks...Oh, no sir. In fact, we've been rewriting the lyrics to the SOUTH PARK song: IT'S CHRISTMAS TIME IN HELL...LOL!
We had a nice quiet time around the homestead...and a damn fine dinner to top it all off.
Basically, we were just doing "damage control" at that point. And we were BEAT!
At least our cats enjoyed the new "Beach House/Condo" I built for them...well, one of them did anyway.
We had as good a Christmas as we possibly could, under circumstances such as this (the "perfect storm" of Griswoldian proportions, apparently).
The missus even found time to snap a picture of me during one of my more "lucid" moments (which were ALL too few the past several days, believe me - that's what BOURBON is for.)
But we had to get wifey's car to the shop this morning, so off we went, with her taking one route, and I taking another.
You recall the CHK ENGINE light problem? I was sweating the drive out and back because of (what else?)...the WEATHER.
Now, I've driven ICY roads...and RAINY roads, and SLEET-covered roads, but I have NEVER in ALL my years of driving been privy to ALL of the above within 10 freaking minutes. Add to that some SERIOUS thunder and lightning, and well, you kinda get the idea.
An interesting motoring adventure to be sure.
Suffice it to say, I made it out AND back (had to do a "360" to get OUT of the iced up driveway) with little consternation.
Now all we have to do is wait for the "prognosis"of wifey's wheels.
((Editor's Note - Mechanic called. Bad WATER PUMP. Will have that swapped out along with the old V belt & t-stat - finally, we might catch a break, however minuscule in nature))
Meanwhile, back at the "ranch"...
On Christmas Eve, I went to the basement to get some boxes to wrap, and heard dripping. Seems the drain in the basement decided that THIS was the PERFECT time to back up and flood the basement.
Well, on winged feet I flew, trying to get anything that didn't NEED to get wet as far away from the "wet" as possible. Damn basement looks like a tornado hit it...and that's another day of work. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
We called all over the place to get someone out, as the water was coming IN.
The city said it wasn't THEIR problem. So, it's OUR problem. We caught two guys (Gene's Sewer Service - great people) heading home for the holidays and they made the "side trip" to our place, snaked the waste line and unclogged THAT. Well, we can flush the crapper and take showers now.
That's water that WON'T be coming into the basement.
The other "drain" is supposed to allow water to EXIT the basement, and THAT is blocked somehow. It'll take a few hours for someone to find the problem and fix THAT. As the sewer guys were leaving, I gave the lead worker a bag of homemade cookies AND a pint of Old Grand Dad just for them coming out WHEN they did. And you would have thought that man got the keys for the candy store. My only caveat to him was that he NOT drink it all at once, and to NOT drink it alone.
That wasn't all that expensive a price to pay.
Having someone come back to find the source of that OTHER clog will take time...and, of course...MORE FOLDIN' MONEY.
So let's take a quick inventory, shall we?
1) Tree limbs...down and basically out of the way until the tree guys come out and REMOVE all of them from the property - CHECK.
2) Weatherhead reinstalled - CHECK.
3) Power line out of the driveway and up where it's supposed to be - CHECK.
4) Sewer clog fixed, and normal water flow OUT of the house - CHECK.
5) Wifey's car in shop, to be finished today sometime - CHECK.
6) Street lights are back on - CHECK.
7) Got insurance check deposited FINALLY - CHECK .
8) Still haven't SHOT anyone and got plenty of bourbon - CHECK and DOUBLE CHECK!!!
And indeed, we still have checks...(to write, that is).
Yeah, like we used to say back in Philly:
"It's been REAL, and it's been FUN, but it sure ain't been REAL FUN".
On the "up" side...my 25 year old Firebird with the non-retractable seatbelts, and the non-functioning A/C & defroster performed in her typical exemplary manner. Goes to show that "if" you have something...AND take care of it, it WILL be there when you NEED it.
And on that note, I'll now return all of you to your regularly-scheduled, post-holiday bargain hunting (yeah, we did some of that already, just for the hell of it).
Drive safely and expect a nice warm up over the next 24 hours.
REALITY - Not the BEST way to go through life...just the ONLY way.

4 comments:

Tim Zank said...

Sweet Jesus Bobby! When it rains, it pours, at YOUR house anyway! I gotta give ya props man, you have the patience of JOB! Here's hoping your upcoming New Years Holiday is much less "eventful" and you and the Mrs. have a stress-free weekend, eh??

By the way, Love the picture!!!

Bob G. said...

Tim:
Thanks for the kudos...very much appreciated!
I don't think I could dream up THIS kinda crap if someone stuck a million bucks under my nose and ASKED me to!

And by "the picture" I take it to mean the picture of ME, right?

Yeah, I wanted something that "captured the mood" of the last few days...ROFL!
(Got my Nick Fury scowl goin' on)

My mom would LOVE to hear you say I've the patience of JOB...she'd be the first one to tell you I haven't ANY patience AT ALL...LOL

It's just YEARS (or is it DECADES?) of doing what you gotta do whenever a "situation" presents itself.
And I have to hand it to the missus...we make a pretty damn good team.

Thanks again, Tim.
Here's to 2009!

B.G.

Anonymous said...

that was pretty darn stressful what you went threw. well we had an interesting christmas eve. went out delivery homemade yummys and stopped by the store on the way home. in the few hours i was out my alarm went off becouse someone tried to come threw the window. the cops showed up and of course found noone. i got lost going to the mall i normally go to. but that was a very good thing. becouse where i normally park at is where my daughters girlfriend was getting shot at. all this stuff happened about 5pm give or take a few. and i was out at marsh wondering why i forgot to get the milk then going to a gas station to get the milk. sigh. thank god i wasnt home or at the mall.

Bob G. said...

Indy:
Hopefully, that alarm deterred the would-be thieves and will continue to do so in the future.

Gonna be nice to get back to a more "boring" routine, won't it?

Uh, oh...New Years is coming...and all the assorted GUNFIRE we'll have in OUR area....(sighs).

Can't seem to BUY a break these days, even with reduced prices...lol.

B.G.