Winter Deja Vu?

So last year about this time we had a nice snowstorm. That evening, I was out shoveling in the wind and blowing snow, which at that time was approximately 8 inches piled up on the sidewalks and driveways. I was just about finished when I heard a pop and a sizzle, and the sky lit up with a blue smoky haze. The transformer atop the phone pole across the street lit up like a Fourth of July sparkler, sparks flying and cascading down. Then flames erupted. I started to count down: 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, POOF! A big zap and the whole neighborhood went black. Which would have been fun if it weren't for the latest episode of American Idol that was about to start.

Cops, fire trucks, and finally the power company arrived. But not in time for AI. Enter the big rolling ugly RV and its ever-ready generator. Voila! Instant TV, heat, cooking, and lights while the rest of the neighborhood sat in darkness. Mock my RV will you? Take that!

So being the end of January in New England, snow is pretty much a given, despite sixty-degree temperatures earlier in the week. I awoke to a couple of inches of huge fluffy flakes that made navigating to the barber shop a bit tricky. By the time I got home and shoveled, the sun was shining and snow was melting and all was good. By early evening though, as I sat at my computer finishing my work, I saw a huge flash of lightning followed by a boom of thunder, and rain pelting my house. Such is the weather here!

About an hour later, I descend from my room with my little canine beasts to go outside. The temperature has dropped at least 15 degrees, the wind is howling, and there is now a half-inch of icy snow on the ground. Not a problem. I am about to start a fitness regimen (cough, cough!) so I'll shovel again. This time my 11-year-old son decides to help me.

Out we go, scraping the thin layer of icy stuff from the driveway and sidewalks. Suddenly the whole sky lights up, a strange tint of bluish white. Lightning? I thought so, but no thunder followed, only a distant buzzing. Hmm. Shrug. Shovel. Scrape. Bend. Toss. Then again, flash! Buzz!

I get the eerie feeling the power will go out at some point tonight. Either that or somehow my town has been transformed into Homer Simpson's Springfield and the local power plant is about to have a reactor meltdown. Either way, life is never dull!

AWOL

Yes, I've been awol.

No, I have not been writing.

But that doesn't mean I haven't been very busy!

It's the start of a new year. Maybe I'll get my act together enough to blog regularly.

Have a good one!

Of Grills and Lawn Mowers

Anyone know anything about lawnmower carburetors? First off, the mower is like 4 yrs old or so and has not been maintained. My bad. But it's a decent mower. Second, last year it started running poorly, but hey, I was busy and distracted and who cares about a stinkin' lawn mower? So I ignored it. A few months ago it dawned on my that gee, I'm gonna need that mower. Did I get it serviced? Um, no. Then my brother says hey, we have a lawn man. He's gonna fix the lawn and plant new grass and I thought, cool, I have a few more weeks, seeing how the lawn guy was mowing the grass as part of his overhaul. Well, lawn guy never finished the lawn, we never got the topsoil or seed, and now my grass is like a foot high, my dogs are getting lost, and I have a dead mower.

Enter dear old dad. He's been maintaining mowers for longer than I've been alive! I'll have him help me. So I get a new spark plug, some carburetor cleaner as recommended by lawn man (see? he was good for something), some new gas, some Stabil, and we're good, right? Not quite. Mower starts and runs great! Better than last year!! For all of about 5 seconds. Then it dies. Lather, rinse, repeat. Dad says, gee, I dunno. Call a lawnmower man.

Do I? No. Now I'm a man on a mission. Right up there with that old headlight I replaced in the winter. I'm not gonna let the lawnmower beat me!! I go online. Google is my friend. I find a guy with a blog who had this same issue. He decided just to replace his carburetor, which, fortunately, is identical to mine. He posts about it on his blog. With pictures! But he ordered his new carburetor; I just want to dismantle and clean mine. Do I dare? I guess worst thing that happens is I break it, right? But in the meantime the lawn is growing. Maybe I should charge that electric weed whacker and get busy.

And tonight, my son wants steak. Cool I'll break out the grill. It worked about a month and a half ago when I made some steaks. Will it work tonight? No. I hear the hiss of gas, I see the spark of the igniter, but I get no poof. It's dark. Maybe the tube is disconnected, I don't know. Can't see. Tomorrow I'll fiddle with it. Maybe. Or is it time to replace the $20 grill? We'll see.

Teen Daughter!

My 14-year-old daughter asked me to pick up an iTunes card on my recent trip to Target, and I happily complied. When I handed it to her, she said she could pay me for it next week.

Pay me?

Yes. Apparently she spent the weekend mucking paddocks and earned some money.

So I told her she didn't need to pay me, that I wanted to get it for her, so I did.

But really, I want to pay for it!

Why?

Because I earned money and I can.

But I'm your parent and I like buying things for you, just because. It makes me happy!

It does?

Yes!

I don't want to be greedy.

You're NOT greedy! Go enjoy shopping on iTunes! Sheesh!

What does a guy have to do to be nice to his kids these days? I thought by 14 kids were supposed to stop talking to their parents. Glad that's not the case! Now if I could just get the neighbor's beagle to shut up, life would be golden!

Cape Cod Escape

Ants in my pants, can't sit still. Need to get out and about on a regular basis. So packed up the kids and the dogs and the RV and headed to Cape Cod for a spur of the moment escape. What's not to love? Blue skies, pristine beaches, and no crowds. Perfect!

On a side note, we were having trouble with the TV and hooking up to cable. Turned out one part of the problem was our TV settings and the other part was the campground cable hook up. Anyway, in the process of troubleshooting I decided to pull the TV out of the overhead cabinet, which involved 7 screws. I wanted to check the connections on the back of the TV. Guess what I found back there? Another dead mouse, nicely mummified, likely been dead for years. Probably the sibling of the one I found in the trap (a trap that *I* did not put in the RV) under the fridge in the fall when I was having a water leak issue.

Oh, the joys of owning an RV! Every trip brings another adventure!

It's Been A While

So life got a bit crazy these past few months. Too much has happened to recount; suffice it to say that 2009 will be a far better year than 2008.

I'll be back very soon!

Basement Flooding

So this isn't the first time the basement has flooded, but the geyser shooting from the washing machine drain pipe was fairly impressive. I dismantled the trap to remove the clog, only to find no clog. Interesting. The amount of pet hair and cat hairballs that make it through our wasning machine is mind boggling. But I digress.

I don't have a drain snake. I'm no plumber. I'm a computer nerd-turned-writer wannabe. But I've been known to wield a tool or three, but before heading to the bright orange home store I thought I'd try a homemade snake. The pipe I wanted snake was only a foot long, how bad could it be? But alas, it didn't work.

In the plumbing aisle I was met with pipes and fittings and tubing and traps and a whole array of supplies I can only dream of using. I strike up a conversation with the guy manning the area.

"Got any drain snakes?"

"Yep. What size pipe?"

"Two inch going into a four inch."

"Washing machine?"

"Yep."

"Any other drains slow in the house?"

"No."

"You sure?"

"Yes."

"Hmm. Do you live in H? Or M?"

"Yes."

"House built in the 50s?"

"Yes."

"Trees in the front yard?"

"Yes." I see where this is going. A few years ago I saw a cool show on the Roto Rooter guy.

"It's the tree roots clogging your sewer pipe. Snake won't help you."

"Gotcha. Time to call a plumber."

"Yep. Or you can do it yourself. We rent the grinding tool."

I'm not that handy, and the thought of opening up the sewer pipe in the basement -- well, we won't go there. Not happening.

"But," he continues, "if you're going to do that I suggest you get the sewer cap off before you rent the tool. Sometimes it can, let's just say, take longer than you'd think, especially in those old houses."

Point taken. Not going there.

"Is it an emergency?"

"Well, sort of. The laundry is stacked to the ceiling, the dogs have peed on the comforters, and --"

But he's referring to a real emergency. Such as sewage backing up into the basement or overflowing the toilets. In other words, a disaster.

"Thanks," I tell him.

He's not aware of this, but he really did save me from that very disaster. If I hadn't bumped into him, I would have purchased the snake, farted around in the pipes, nothing would have changed, and I'm sure the sewage would have happened before I realized the true problem.

RotoRooter was very helpful. "Are you home, sir?" they ask. "Like, right now? We can come right on over."

"Of course."

Looks like I'll be tackling that laundry mountain today. Anyone want a couple of poorly behaved dogs?