Yep, it's a disaster

Turns out the leak wasn't in an irrigation line. The main pipe that feeds both houses finally rotted enough to burst. It took all friggin' day to fix. Except it isn't fixed!

Drew came over this morning (Sunday) and got started trying to figure out where the leak was coming from. Jim went to Palm Desert to visit Kenny and (urp!) Bernie so he wasn't here to share in the joy. I went out to offer my meager assistance. Dad was out there "helping".

Having Dad be involved in these kinds of projects is a bit of a nightmare, especially when his blood sugar takes a dip. You can't explain things to him because he either doesn't get it or he forgets what you just told him. He was getting agitated and argumentative and Drew was getting pretty impatient with him. I sent Lindsay to Subway for some sandwiches. Dad needed lunch.

After a lot of arguing and fruitless digging they decided to go rent a mini backhoe. Good decision. It took a while but they finally found the leaker. Jim arrived home just in time to be sent to Home Depot for some pvc pipe. It didn't take long for Drew to splice everything together. It was getting late and he had to leave before the glue on the pipes was ready to be tested. After a couple hours Jim and I turned the water back on. The big hole we dug filled up with water almost immediately. Oh well. Jim will try to fix it in the morning. If he can't then Drew can take another stab at when he comes back. In the meantime, we have no water.

Bleah! This took up the whole day and it looks like we're going to be devoting a good chunk of tomorrow to the pipe project. I wish Dad would find someplace to go. When I called him and told him the fix didn't hold he bitched at me about turning the water back on. He said, "You've undone all that work we did!" I said no, the directions said we could turn the water back on after 2 hours and NO we did NOT undo all that work. Anything that was undone will take just a few minutes to fix. It's not like all that dirt fell back into the hole!

If he's nasty to me tomorrow he may find himself in that muddy hole.

Not much happening

But I'm getting nagged to post.

I exercised five days in a row this week. I still don't feel great but I'm not dragging myself up the hill so I'll count that as progress. Cutting the carbs, too. Still, I could do better.

Monday is the big day. For being such an important day it's going to be pretty mellow. Maybe we'll go to dinner or something. I'm looking forward to the big bash in October. Today is Mom's birthday. Here's to you, Mom.

We had band practice last night. We pretty much sucked but it was still good because we had a drummer, a real one. I don't think he'll want to commit to being in the band but he seemed to enjoy playing with us. His name is Jim.

River trip next weekend! I've been looking forward to this one. I want to get goofy in the desert.

What a weakling!!!

I just got back from a Mt. Rubidoux walk. Crapola, I was slow! On the way down I felt so weak and tired. This is not good.

When I got back from tour I was exhausted. Like, truly exhausted. So, I kicked back for a week. Then I got sick with a cold. Not a bad one but it did sap my energy. After that the weather was pretty hot and we were busy doing stuff. That's a long time to go without exercising. Plus, I haven't been curbing the carbs. Ok, vacation's over.

If I knock back the carbs and caffeine and if I get my ass up the mountain I'll bet it won't take me too long to bounce back. Also, I've neglected the weight loss blog. I need to reconnect there. And it's just about time for a complete physical. This body is screaming for help. My fingers are still numb (although they're better today), my heel still has that annoying sore spot, I need to know what my diabetes status is (time for some blood work) and I need a mammogram.

In two weeks I'll be 50. Oh, jeez.....!

This is getting to be a habit

We went to two Trucker tapings this week. Both times we were on the guest list. Guest list good.

Wednesday night Lindsay and Kyle were with us. We sat at the tables in the front. Much more comfortable than being squished in the rows of chairs in the back. Another great show. I think they're hitting their stride. The shows seem to be getting better and better. Wednesday's show included an animated sequence that was hilarious. It was a Bulgarian Sesame Street thing that depicted T-Bones as a trim, well-muscled superhero type and the Naked Trucker as a short, hairy, grunting hobbit with a guitar. The Hitchiker(s) Of The Week were Tenacious D. Another great segment.

Last night Lindsay and Kyle went to a Breakups show so Jim and I went to the Trucker taping on our own. We left the house a little late and hit some nasty traffic. It didn't help that we got off at the wrong exit either. We arrived in time for the show but too late to get one of the table seats. Still, it was pretty fun. The guys were really "on", very high energy. This time they added a big production number with dancing girls. Very silly. There was also a very funny pre-taped scene where T-Bones takes peyote (dipped in Ranch dressing) with his guru/shaman/spritual adviser who was basically a grungy slacker. They tripped out in a gas station bathroom/sweat lodge.

There will be two more tapings in October and I hope we can go to both of them. It's a great way to spend a fun evening in LA and the show is free. We also want to go to some Craig Ferguson tapings. Jim, Lindsay and Kyle had a real good time when they went. Virginia and Bill liked it, too.

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The weather seems to be cooling down. Gotta get back up Rubidoux. I've been majorly slacking off on the exercise and I'm feeling blobby. I've got a lot to do this fall and I've got to get my energy up.

Happy Birthday, Dean! (Halloween's a-comin'!)

How does it feel to be plummeting towards oblivion? I'll join you in a few weeks.

Lots of family and friends having milestone birthdays this year. Let's see, Dean, Nancy, Mary, Jim, Lorraine and I are all 50, Stacey turned 40, Lindsay turned 21, Amelia and Rory are 18, Paige turned 16. Am I missing anyone?

We're going to have a party at Stacey's on October 21st. A birthday/Halloween party. A milestone/headstone party. Maybe now I can get the guys in the band to learn some Halloween songs. We'll see if the Canaries want to perform, and of course we'll have the TV's Kyle Band. I'm thinking we'll start early with stuff for the kids and then have the adults only party later. Damn, I'm turning 50. I've got to have a bash.

I'm looking forward to decorating Stacey and Scotty's house. I think the kids will have fun helping.

This year on Halloween we're going to have our display set up in Kevin's back yard. We'll do a cool walk-through display. I for sure want to have a bone band right in the middle of it. Since we're doing it in the back yard we can start setting things up several days ahead. We're usually so rushed trying to get things set up that we don't have time to do everything we'd like to do. We usually use only half of our stuff. It'll be fun to do a really great display.

So cool, I have two fun events to look forward to. Wait, three! We're going to the river this month.