Day 3351

I noticed this morning that there was a large muddy puddle in the middle of the back yard. WTF? This wasn't here yesterday. It didn't rain last night. For a moment I thought that I might have left a garden hose on, but all the faucets were off. What new kind of hell was this? When the puddle refused to dry up as the day progressed, I began to suspect the worst. Our sewer line passes under the muddy area. A pipe probably rusted or broke. Several other houses in the neighborhood that are about the same age as ours have had to replace their sewer lines. Maybe it's my turn this time.

It's weird that virtually every single problem I've had with the house involves water. Roofs leak. toilets run. Pipes break under the concrete slab. Washing machines break. Refrigerator coils freeze. Somehow the problem always involves water. I guess that's why there are hundreds of plumbers in town. I see a plumbing truck in front of someone's house just about every time I walk Dash. Maybe the wet ground will start to dry out tonight. If not, I'll have to call the plumber. I don't look forward to plumbers digging a big hole in the back yard, but what are you going to do? Things like this are one more reason why I'm never going to have any extra money.

Janet has started putting Dash's boots on before he wakes up in the morning. It's much easier to get the socks and boots on while Dash is lying down, but this doesn't always make him eager to walk. He was very reluctant to leave the house this morning. It took us forever just to get down to the park. Dash would walk a few feet and then he'd stop for a while. I don't know what was going through his head. Eventually we reached the area where the good smells begin and Dash began walking normally again. We took a much shorter walk than we normally do this morning and then Dash went back to sleep again. He didn't eat his breakfast until several hours later. I hope he's feeling OK.

Nothing exciting happened today. I balanced my checkbook after breakfast. Sometimes this process is easy. Other times it is infuriatingly difficult. It took me a long time to realize that I'd failed to record several January bills. I paid the bills. I just didn't subtract them from my balance. Eventually I found the problem and everything balanced but it sure took me a while.

I still haven't accepted the NASA invitation to visit the Johnson Space Center. I probably will, but there are still a few days left until the deadline. I keep finding excuses to postpone making a decision. I worry about Dash having a setback. Today I was fretting about my potential plumbing problem. I need to realize that I'm never, ever going to wake up without a care in the world. There's always going to be something to worry about. It's not a perfect world, but I shouldn't use this as an excuse to do nothing.

I did remember that it was Tuesday today. That means that if I don't procrastinate, I might be able to get a plumber out to the house before the end of the week. I might as well go for it. I despise expensive repairs, but sitting around and watching the mud hole in the yard grow deeper for a few additional days isn't going to make the repair any cheaper. I'll call tomorrow. The sad thing is that the plumbing repair will probably cost exactly the same as a trip to Houston.

Bingo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day