Wednesday, June 30, 2010
"Computers make it easier to do a lot of things,
but most of the things they make it easier to do don't need to be done."
-- Andy Rooney --
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The past four days have been very busy. The Hairless Hunk has been removing everything from the front flower bed, including all roots, and digging down about a foot, leveling, packing, filling with rock, a triple layer of plastic, and a bed of rock dust, ready for the paving stones. I'd been shopping for paving blocks, and discovered that Kingston Block has exactly what I want for less than half of what the garden centers and Home Depot wanted. They'll be delivered in about a week.
I bought several huge plastic pottery-look pots to be set on the paving stones. No more weeding!
The front downspouts feed into PVC pipes underground, that lead to the lower ground on the side of the yard. The pipe wasn't taking the water, and I figured it was full of animal nests, or squirrel caches, or something. The Hunk snaked it, found it clear all the way up to the edge of the house, so he dug it up and found that a joint had come loose. He repaired that, and now the downspouts drain far from the foundation.
Monday morning I spent some time on the phone with my car insurance people. Tuesday morning they sent an adjuster out. Later Tuesday morning my insurance company called and said that the other guy's insurance company had accepted full liability. Then his insurance company called to make an appointment with their adjuster. I said I wanted BMW to do the repairs, and it turns out that BMW in Poughkeepsie is one of their "authorized repair centers", which means that I don't need to get any estimates or anything. I just take the car in, BMW fixes it, and they bill the insurance company directly. No further authorization required. Then almost immediately, Enterprise Rentals called, to set up the rental while Hal is being worked on. The guy's insurance company had called them.
So I drove Hal to BMW Tuesday afternoon (his 7-week birthday) so they could figure out what parts to order. He goes to the spa next Tuesday. Then I stopped by Enterprise to schedule the rental for Tuesday. This time they promised me a small car.
On the way home, I stopped by Hertz to find out what size truck I might want to rent to move larger furniture, and how much it would cost. There were two clerks at the counter, working with two customers, so I waited. By the time the clerks had finished with them, there were several more people behind me. The first clerk turned and went through a door in the back, and didn't return. The second clerk, when she had finished with her customer, also headed for that door, but she said to me, "I'll be right back." Eighteen minutes later, neither clerk had returned. By then, there were at least eight more people behind me. I got pissed and left.
On Monday I had stopped at a print place and got some Mensa letters printed. I am on the Nominating Committee. The way the local Mensa elections work, we need five people for the governing board. If only five people agree to run, then there's no point in balloting, and those five are declared elected. There hasn't been an election in the past twenty years. It looks bad - it looks like the outgoing board simply chooses the next board, so I am absolutely determined to have a real election this year. We need a minimum of six nominees.
My suggestion is to send a "personal" letter to every member of the local group, explaining how the election works (you don't run for a particular office, you just run for the board), what the various duties are, and how to nominate oneself. So I wrote a one-page letter, got it reviewed and approved by the other two members of the nominating committee, Monday I got 200 copies made, ran them through my printer at home to put a return address on the back, folded them, and stuck one of those little circle closure doohickies on the center bottom of each to keep them closed. That took several hours.
Tuesday the membership address labels arrived, and I put them on the letters and took them to the post office to buy stamps, and depending on how long it took to put the stamps on, to mail. But Gail, my favorite PO clerk, explained that because it's one sheet of light paper, the one circle sticker in the middle won't be enough to prevent the machine they go through from catching a corner and mangling them. She recommended a sticker on each corner! Tuesday night, after 4.5 more hours, I had stickers on each corner, as well as in the middle.
Since I had gotten a key made for the van, I called Vic, Captain Vantastic's mechanic, on Monday and made an appointment for him to come and check it out. The van has been sitting in the driveway for the past two+ years. Long story. Anyway, he was to come on Tuesday evening, but the van was full of yellowjackets in every crevice. It was dangerous to even open a door. I wanted to spray them before he touched it. The Hunk said that it was supposed to get down to the 40s overnight Tuesday (he always knows what's going on weather-wise, and he's always right), so I called Vic, and we rescheduled to this evening.
You can't spray yellowjacket nests during the day. It has to be done at night, or in temperatures below 50 F, so that all of them are in the nest, not out foraging, when you spray. Otherwise, you have a cloud of confused and ticked off yellowjackets swarming around the nest for days.
At dark last night, it was still in the 80s, so I set my alarm for 5 am. Sunrise (per Hunk, again) was 5:30, so I'd have enough light to see. At 5:30, the temperature was 49 F, and there was plenty of light. Perfect! The insects were sluggish, I sprayed, and got them all.
Vic came this evening. The Hunk was still here working on the yard. Vic popped the van (the van's name is Fred) hood, put a new battery in, and **DAMN!** Fred started right up! Not only that, but he moved, right out of the three-inch-deep divots the tires had sunk into the driveway. And the tires were down only 2 or 3 pounds. Vic puttered around under the hood, verified that chipmunks had not filled anything important with seeds, nuts, or shells or chewed anything, jacked it up, slid under it, and found a leak in a brake line, and WOW, it really looks like he might actually get it on the road again. Vic says it's not too bad as far as he can tell so far. No idea yet why the "check engine" light had gone on, or why the battery had completely died overnight that long time ago.
Hunk (front) and Vic (rear) poking around in Fred's nose:
The Hunk had to leave, dinner time, but he'd seen how Vic looked at me, I guess. Before he left, he asked if I'd be ok, and said that if I was at all concerned, to call him. It was kind of cute. Vic is a small man, 50 years old. When Captain Vantastic recommended Vic to me, he'd said that Vic was recently divorced and implied that Vic and I would match nicely. He seemed to be playing Cupid. I suspect Capt. V. told Vic I was a small available widow.
By the way, the original plan was that Vic would come and look at Fred, and if he thought there was hope of resuscitation, he'd come back with a flatbed and take Fred to the shop. Now Vic plans to do all the work right here in my driveway. That could get awkward....
When Vic was finished with the van, planning to return Friday evening with some other tools and parts, he sat next to me on the front steps, and looked like he was planning to stay a while. Hmmmm. I was wondering how to send him home without doubling what the van repair was going to cost, when what to my wondering ears appeared but the sound of the Hunk's frontloader coming up the driveway. The cavalry had arrived! In armor!
Vic left a little after that. The Hunk asked if I was ok, and I said yes, that Vic was just flirting a little. The Hunk's response surprised me. He said, "Hey, I've been flirting for two years, and I'm not getting anywhere." My response surprised me. "Vic's divorced. That's a big difference."
I'm going to have to repair that somehow.
I told Vic I have a dinner Friday, so I may not be here, but I'll leave the key in the van. After I got in the house I checked my calendar, and I don't have anything Friday, but I think I will arrange to not be home anyway. I'll tell the Hunk that tomorrow. Might make him feel better. And I'll thank him for playing cavalry. The rescue was in fact much appreciated.
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