Autumn Approaches

I love summer. I love the warmth that goes bone deep. I love how the sunshine makes every living plant go into Mach 3 overdrive. I love having to wear sunglasses just to go out to the mailbox. I love seeing the temperature climb to 80, 85, and even into the 90s.

I hate that summer lasts only 3 months.

I fear summer is waning here in the sunny Pacific Northwest. After a month of unseasonably hot weather, there has been a subtle shift in the air. Whereas for the past month it's been so hot that some of my windows have remained permanently open, even when I went to bed, the nights have been getting colder. For the first time in over a month since the hot weater hit, I went around the house closing all the windows tonight. The past few days have been coolish and overcast. This evening I had to put on a sweater because my T-shirt isn't warm enough. I just checked the thermometer on the wall in the hallway and it's 66 degrees. Autumn is nearly here.

But ever the optimist, I shall not begin mourning the passing of summer until I have to turn on my furnace for the first time since June.

Life on the Fly

Stopping in at a dead run to say hi.  It's been crazy busy around here.  I had major furnace work done last week, and it wasn't cheap.  The plumbers were also out last week and fixed myriad plumbing problems.  That's my old-fashioned toilet on the left.  They had to rebuild it.  And below that is the other part of my bathroom.  Now the faucets no longer leak, nor the sinks, either.  Gone with the buckets under the sinks!

This week I've been crawling over electricians every time I turn around.  I guess it was worth it.  One of them said, "It's a miracle your house didn't burn down."  Now I can get rid of all the extension cords that my microwave, fridge, washing machine, lamps, etc. were plugged into because half the outlets in the house had quit working. 

I'm still washing dishes in the bathroom sink, which is a major pain, but it'll be a few more weeks before I can afford to have the septic people out to fix one of the septic systems so that my kitchen sink will be useable once again. 

No, that wasn't a typo.  Septic systems, as in two.  The people who built my house eons ago must have had plans to convert it into a two-family dwelling at one time.  Upstairs I have one septic system.  Downstairs, I have another.  It's a daylight basement that I converted to an apartment years ago, but quit renting it out when the septic system for the apartment began acting up.  Little did I know that the upstairs kitchen sink drained into the downstairs septic.  And when that failed, all that dirty dishwater began flooding the apartment downstairs.  I didn't know this, as I seldom go downstairs.  When I discovered the flooding, I was sick.  Brand new carpeting ruined.  Everything musty.  It's heartbreaking.

So Thursday I have a neighbor kid coming over to help me tear out the carpet and begin the process of drying out.  In the meantime, I'm up to my ears in work, and really can't spare the time for such nonsense. 

So to all 2 of my loyal followers, I may not be dropping in as much as I'd like to.  At least for the next month or so, while I deal with a gazillion old house issues.  Ahhhh, the joys of sinking my life's savings into a 100-year-old house!