A Crappy, Crappy Day
The morning started with a bomb—a stink bomb, actually, at about 5:00 a.m. Gauss and I were awakened by some kind of wild yowls outside (not Spicy, he was asleep on the sofa) instantly followed by the pungent aroma of skunk. It was worst in the bedroom and kitchen, almost nauseating. We went outdoors to see where the smell was coming from, but out in the yard...nothing. Inside...BAM! STINK!
Since I was up, I opened my emails, and the first one was a panicked message from the Paragon tenants—they had no water, hadn’t had it for a couple of days and now they were at the end of their rope. I made emergency calls to the well drilling company and to a neighbor, asking if the tenants could come by to at least get water from her hose. $1200 later, there is water again.
Gauss had taken the train to work. I was going to give the car a rest and take the train to my well-deserved appointment with a massage therapist, but just as I was leaving, the phone rang. Gauss’ boss had forgotten to tell him, he was supposed to work in San Francisco for the day, and he needed the car. I drove to my appointment instead, so I could give him a vehicle. A layer of smog hovered over the bay, and we got stuck in traffic, even though it was 9:30 in the morning. Gauss got to the client site and found them to be petty and annoying.
The bright spot in my day was the hour I spent getting my sore shoulder stretched and kneaded. Ahh!
When I got home, having given my nose a rest, I sniffed around. Parts of the cottage are on footings, and as I prowled the perimeter, I realized that the odor was coming from underneath the cottage. And when I went inside, I opened the kitchen cupboard under the sink and the smell hit me full force. There are gaps in the wall where the plumbing goes out, and the smell comes in. I lit a candle and burned it all day to disguise the odor. There is no way to eliminate the smell, so we are sentenced to wait it out.
Gauss didn’t get home until 7:30 p.m. He had detoured to the office on his way back from San Francisco in order to put his billable hours into the company’s system, only to discover that someone had forgotten to authorize them, so the extra effort was for naught. Then we watched the evening news and learned that with the collapse of Lehman Bros. and AGI, the economy is in the dumper even worse than we thought.
Since I was up, I opened my emails, and the first one was a panicked message from the Paragon tenants—they had no water, hadn’t had it for a couple of days and now they were at the end of their rope. I made emergency calls to the well drilling company and to a neighbor, asking if the tenants could come by to at least get water from her hose. $1200 later, there is water again.
Gauss had taken the train to work. I was going to give the car a rest and take the train to my well-deserved appointment with a massage therapist, but just as I was leaving, the phone rang. Gauss’ boss had forgotten to tell him, he was supposed to work in San Francisco for the day, and he needed the car. I drove to my appointment instead, so I could give him a vehicle. A layer of smog hovered over the bay, and we got stuck in traffic, even though it was 9:30 in the morning. Gauss got to the client site and found them to be petty and annoying.
The bright spot in my day was the hour I spent getting my sore shoulder stretched and kneaded. Ahh!
When I got home, having given my nose a rest, I sniffed around. Parts of the cottage are on footings, and as I prowled the perimeter, I realized that the odor was coming from underneath the cottage. And when I went inside, I opened the kitchen cupboard under the sink and the smell hit me full force. There are gaps in the wall where the plumbing goes out, and the smell comes in. I lit a candle and burned it all day to disguise the odor. There is no way to eliminate the smell, so we are sentenced to wait it out.
Gauss didn’t get home until 7:30 p.m. He had detoured to the office on his way back from San Francisco in order to put his billable hours into the company’s system, only to discover that someone had forgotten to authorize them, so the extra effort was for naught. Then we watched the evening news and learned that with the collapse of Lehman Bros. and AGI, the economy is in the dumper even worse than we thought.
Comments
Did the well run dry at the house, or the pump give out?
One of those days to start over, that's for sure.