Day 4403

Today I tried to solve small problems. I fixed the problematic French toilet in one of the bathrooms. This is always a bigger job than you might expect because this toilet doesn't use any of the parts you would normally find inside a standard toilet. Some of these parts are impossible to find, so I have to take everything apart and carefully clean it. I was actually able to salvage the expensive plastic valve, so I didn't have to make a trip to the plumbing supply store. The toilet is still on its last legs, but it doesn't run anymore.

With one loathsome task out of the way, I embarked on an even more loathsome task. I cleaned out the atrium. The atrium is almost impossible to access because the huge sliding glass door that provides entry to this space had been jammed for several years. The original idea was to have a pleasant indoor/outdoor space where the atrium actually becomes part of the living room on nice days. I don't know what the architect was thinking. There aren't many nice days here in Texas.

I'm always apprehensive about trying to pry the jammed door open enough for me to squeeze through a small 12 inch opening. What if the door becomes even more jammed and I can't get it closed again. That would be really bad news. Today I had to open the sliding glass door a little wider than usual because I had to squeeze a ladder through the opening so I could knock down some mud dauber nests. The wasps had made the nests right on the glass during the Summer and they've been an eyesore ever since.

The atrium looks great now. I removed all the wasp nests. Swept the flagstone floor. And attached some string hanging from the roof beams to the Japanese Black Bamboo growing in the garden area to train the plants to grow vertical again. I even cleaned the glass windows and removed all the leaves that had gotten inside. I still don't know how leaves get inside this space. There is a roof and all the sides are enclosed.

I unpaired my new Fitbit from my phone to see if that was what was draining the phone's battery. So far, so good. The battery seems to be lasting a lot longer. I'm using the old Fitbit again and starting to wonder why I even bought the new fancier model. The phone's battery had been going dead overnight with the new Fitbit, so we'll see what happens tonight. If the problem has been solved, I may take the new Fitbit back to the store tomorrow and try to get a refund. It seems pretty clear to me that it is defective.

The weather was beautiful today but it was hard to enjoy my walks because of the foot pain. I don't know why I'm even attempting to get steps anymore. My Fitbit doesn't even work. I took my time today and somehow still managed to get 20,000 steps. I didn't see the eagle today, but the park did look pretty. The sky was so clear that I momentarily thought about getting a telescope out and watching the stars tonight. That never materialized. Here I am writing the blog instead. It's a shame the skies aren't darker here. Winter skies are fabulous and there is a wealth of interesting stuff to see just in the constellation Orion. 

The trash has been taken to the curb and I actually feel like I accomplished something today. If I had the energy to do this ten days in a row, the house might actually start looking a little better. 

Taylor is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day