WaterBlogged

I came home from work on Tuesday to find water flowing from the toilet in the master bathroom. I had to squish, squish, squish through the water in the bathroom hallway and then slog my way in the bathroom to get to the toilet. I tried to turn it off at the valve but it wouldn't budge so I had to go outside and turn off the main line. All the while, trying not to panic because by this time I saw the entire hallway to the bedrooms was full of water and that my sewing room and Tom's office had their share of water (I didn't know about the damage to the guest bedroom until later).

Three bedrooms, one bathroom hallway, four closets, and the main hallway have been damaged, and in some parts, heavily damaged by water.

After about an hour of trying to control my panic, Tom finally came home. I had already called the insurance company, called Home Depot about renting those huge industrial blowers but held off on calling a plumber because I thought it was something Tom might be able to fix.

Of course, Tom not being in a panic, said we had to call a remediation company first to get rid of all the standing water. Now, why didn't I think of that?

Anyway, the toilet tank has a large hairline crack in it where all the water was gushing out (probably the entire day). We were lucky enough to get a remediation company to come out within an hour. But we had to move almost everything out from all the affected areas which was no easy task (there are about 7 tall bookshelves that had to be unloaded). The remediation guys were there until 11:00 and now our house is full of industrial blowers and dehumidifiers.

The insurance adjuster is coming tomorrow. I was thinking I needed to get the carpets cleaned for awhile now. Now, I'm hoping insurance will pay for all new carpet. We'll see.

In a Dog's Eye

Some more messing around with the digital macro. Here are two shots of my dog Addie. She was quite content to just stay still and let me take pictures of her.

Not much blogging going on

Our book club chose Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged" to read and I have been at it since mid-December. It's a nice compact 1,069 pages with teeny tiny print. It's ok but I don't think I like it as much as The Fountainhead. There was an interesting article just a week or so ago in the WSJ comparing our current economy with the one Ayn Rand described. Some very scary similarities. I have about 200 pages more to read before book club meets on Monday so better get back to it.

Oh, tomorrow I will be making a pretty big purchase (my little contribution to the economy). I've been thinking about this since October and I'm finally going to buy it with the money I have been saving. No, it's not a car. I can't even think of getting rid of my '92 Accord. Such a great car. It's something for sewing.

Family visits

My cousin from Iowa came out last week to visit. First she stopped here in Phoenix to visit us and then I took her to Gilbert (a 45 mile drive both ways) to visit her niece and nephew and from Gilbert, they drove her down to Tucson to visit her sister. I hear she is back in the cold country now after being spoiled by our excellent weather.



From left to right: my second cousin Sara, my mom, my cousin Wendy, me.

A Sad Day

My good friend Carol's dog died this morning. She took her in yesterday and they eventually performed surgery for a blockage in her intestines. She made it through the surgery but died this a.m. I helped Carol pick Roxy out when she was just eight weeks old, six years ago. We now realize, we were at a puppy mill but didn't really think about it at the time.

Carol had the same vet I had and now that he's gone she had to go to someone else for this emergency. She said there was no comparison between the vets and hospitals. She wishes Dr. Hirsch could have been here for her at this time.

Little Roxy, rest in peace.

Digital macro

I love the digital macro feature on cameras. I would like to improve my skill at taking these kind of photos.

Good advice

Happy Birthday Blog

Today is the 2nd birthday of my dogblog. I haven't used it as I thought I would but it's been pretty fun and I've met several people in cyberspace because of it. I guess I also never expected that I would still be doing it after two years but here it is. So happy birthday blog!

Another commissioned bag

This one was ordered by my friend Patti who is in my bunco group and my book club group.

Up Close and Personal

Roscoe sharing his opinion.