Day 4690

The dryer is fixed. Now it's on to solving other problems. The repair took longer and was more expensive than I expected because the broken exhaust fan was permanently attached to the motor that turned the drum. This was frustrating. I ended up having to get a new motor, even though there was nothing wrong with the old one. After also replacing the roller bearings and dryer belt, I could have bought a new dryer for less than the cost of these repairs. It would have been an inferior bottom of the barrel dryer though. Oh, well. I like our dryer and now it works again.

Dawn is totally indifferent to having repairmen in the house. Our other dogs would have been barking nonstop, but Dawn just ignores these people. She also ignores the vacuum cleaner, which is definitely unusual with any dog. I vacuumed the bedroom today and Dawn just sat on the bed watching me. Some things do bother Dawn though. I could tell that she was upset that Janet was out of the house too long today. Hey girl, I'm still here.

I didn't take a long walk today. Dealing with the dryer repairs took too much time. I did get outside for long enough to get my 10,000 steps. That was enough. My feet hurt and I was unusually tired. I'll try to take a decent walk tomorrow, unless by some miracle the tree guy decides to show up and remove the tree from my roof. He's never called me back with a schedule yet. I wish it wasn't so difficult to get things done. Maybe I'm just getting old and cranky.

I got credentialed for the Falcon Heavy USSF-44 Mission. Now I've got to decide whether to go to this launch instead of the Artemis launch later in November. I guess I could splurge and go to both, but that's getting really expensive. I still don't know how much it is going to cost to remove the tree on the roof. I'll think about this tomorrow. I'm not sure I could find a hotel for the Falcon Heavy launch anyway.

I need to find time to go vote soon. I used to vote on election day, but early voting seems so much easier these days. Our polling place is right across the street from Home Depot. Maybe I need something from Home Depot as well. I always seem to need something from Home Depot.

Our Fall weather is still quite pleasant, but there is rain in the forecast again. Boo. Unless we get up really early, we might not even be able to take Dawn on her sunrise walk. If we get a lot of rain, I'll have to rethink my plans. I hate driving in the rain.

Dash is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4689

I really thought I was going to get the dryer fixed today but it wasn't meant to be. When the appliance repairman arrived he discovered that another part was needed that wasn't on the truck. The part was available in town and we decided that it made more sense to just do all the repairs tomorrow rather than tear the machine apart twice. This means that I will have to remove all the junk from the utility room all over again tomorrow morning. It took me about an hour to do this today and I'm sure it will take just as long tomorrow. Not surprisingly, the repairs are more expensive than I'd hoped, but when they are finished I should have a reliable dryer again.

I didn't have time for a long walk today, but I was able to get my 10,000 steps before the repairman arrived. I guess I could have walked again later in the day, but I didn't feel like it. I asked if I could be the first appointment tomorrow morning so I won't have to wait as long. I wish I'd thought of this earlier. If there are several appointments ahead of you, it is almost inevitable that the repairman will be late. 

The tree guy I called yesterday actually called me back. This surprised me, but I'm glad I'll be able to get the large tree limb removed from our roof without having to deal with someone I've never used before. Nothing on the schedule yet. The guy was on a job when he called and said he'd get back with me later. This may take a while, but at least it's a start.

Tonight was the annual Halloween party at Dawn's training class. We've been to so many of these parties with Dot and Dash. I can't even remember all the costumes we've made for the dogs over the years. I went along with Janet tonight, mostly for old time's sake. Dawn went as Cruella DeVil and won first place in her category. Dawn didn't like wearing the Cruella wig, but she was a good sport about it. I enjoyed going to these classes when we had Dot and Dash. It's better if I don't go now. I could tell that Dawn got distracted when I was there tonight. She kept jumping up on me as if she was trying to get me to save her from having to wear the wig.

I'm still trying to find a carpenter to repair the rotted fascia wood on my roof. I tried several websites and got a response from one. I still don't like this attempt to totally automate things. I always used to get better results when a trusted friend would recommend someone and I could mention their name when I called. Sometimes the old fashioned way of doing things is still the best.

I canceled the hotel reservation I made in Cocoa Beach for the Artemis launch and now only have the other hotel I booked in Titusville. I wanted to do this before I forgot that I had made two different reservations. The more I think about it, the upcoming Falcon Heavy launch might be the better one to attend. The Falcon Heavy is supposed to launch at sunrise and will be a better photo opportunity than the midnight Artemis launch. Since I haven't been credentialed yet for the Falcon Heavy launch, this is all just idle speculation. I'm not even sure if I want to go to either launch. Scheduling these things is becoming way too complicated.

Hopefully the dryer will get fixed tomorrow and I can cross one more thing off my list. It's a long list though. There's always something that needs attention.

Pearl is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4237

The appliance repairman came back today and installed the new part. The ice maker and in-door water dispenser still aren't working though because no water is flowing to the refrigerator. I'm going to have to call the plumbers again. Actually, I did call the plumber, but they aren't working on Saturday. When the plumbers were out at the house we checked to make sure that the new shut off valve they installed stopped the leak in the freezer. I guess we didn't check to see if the valve actually worked. It seems fine in the off position, but nothing happens in the on position. This is frustrating to say the least. I hope the plumbers don't charge me again when I can get them to come out and investigate things. Janet suggested just leaving the ice maker broken since the freezer is working fine. I like the ice in my morning smoothie though, so the ice maker will have to be fixed. I can't keep buying bags of party ice forever.

I went to the gym really early this morning so I could be home in time to meet the appliance repairman. I did an abbreviated workout, finished my grocery shopping and made it home again thirty minutes before the repairman arrived. I was really disappointed when the repairman informed me that this whole refrigerator saga isn't over yet. Until I can get the water flowing to the refrigerator, I have no idea whether anything the repairman did today actually worked. I doubt if he knows either. The weird thing is that there is no logical reason why water isn't flowing. The shut off valve is very simple. It's either on or it's off. Water was definitely flowing with the old broken valve so there's nothing wrong with the copper pipe. Hopefully I can get a plumber out Monday because this thing is driving me crazy.

Dawn did extremely well on her sunrise walk this morning. She seemed back to her old self and walked almost two miles. We still have no idea what caused Dawn to stop walking and what is making her feel confident again. I'd like to think that the reluctance to walking had something to do with her paws, but she wasn't licking or paying any attention to them then. Now that she wants to walk longer again, she's tearing her paws up. I had to put the cone on her while I was eating breakfast, because she immediately wanted to start licking when we returned to the house. I don't understand anything anymore. Dawn shouldn't be licking her paws and water should be flowing through that copper pipe.

I might have missed my opportunity to see a Starship launch. Activity is really picking up in Boca Chica and they say that the hotels in the area are filled with Space X employees now. Space X is also building a tall fence that blocks a lot of the views you used to get from Highway 4. It still would be nice to go down there for the first orbital launch later this year. I'm beginning to think that space journalism was just something I imagined. I'm losing a lot of my connections at Kennedy Space Center and it seems harder and harder to get press credentials. Maybe it's all for the best. I don't feel really comfortable traveling now that Covid panic is on the rise again. I've had so many expenses lately that I probably couldn't afford a trip right now anyway. It was fun to be part of the space community for a while. Hopefully, I'll be able to rejoin them when life returns to normal.

It's not getting any cooler, so we'll probably have to take Dawn on her Sunday outing a little earlier tomorrow. A walk and ice cream cones will probably be the big event of the day. I doubt that I'll see a plumber tomorrow. The dispatcher told me that emergency plumbers worked on the weekends but that ice makers weren't considered an emergency.

Shelby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4236

Long day. When I was fixing breakfast this morning I tried to get something out of the freezer and the door wouldn't open. Something strange was going on because the door seemed welded shut. I finally pried the door open with a large screwdriver and discovered that the inside of the freezer was covered with ice. The supply line to the icemaker had broken during the night and flooded the freezer. I guess it was a good thing that the water froze because it would have flooded the house otherwise.

I shut the refrigerator off and opened the door so the ice would melt. It was a huge mess because all the food in the freezer was frozen together. I went to the storage warehouse to get a large ice cooler and then to the supermarket to get two twenty pound bags of ice. I called the appliance repairman and then started to thaw the ice with a hair dryer so I could remove the food and transfer it to the ice chest. 

Luckily the appliance repairman was able to come out today. He discovered a broken valve that was supposed to stop the flow of water from the supply line after the ice trays were filled. I tried to shut off the supply line in the  utility room, but the shut off valve above the water heater was broken too. Now I had to call a plumber before the appliance repairman could continue working. I told him to order the parts he needed and come back tomorrow. Luckily, the second plumbing company I called had someone they could send out today.

The supply line to the refrigerator has been shut off now and all the ice in the refrigerator has been removed. It was a messy, tedious job to remove all the ice and clean up the water on the floor. I suspect that there is still some ice behind a metal plate on the freezer wall that I didn't have time to remove. I was able to salvage most of the food and we didn't have to throw much away. The ice cream all turned to soup, but most of the other stuff stayed frozen. The appliance repairman returns tomorrow and hopefully we will be back in business. I could have easily bought a new refrigerator for less than the cost of all the repairs I've made over the years. Unfortunately, nobody makes refrigerators that fit in our mid-fifties kitchen anymore. I'd either have to get a cheap apartment sized refrigerator, or completely remodel the kitchen so one of today's monster refrigerators would fit. I'm so tired of fixing things, but's that's life if you live in an old house.

I was able to get my errands done before the repairman arrived, but I wasn't able to get to the gym until very late in the day. I walked three miles around the track, lifted a few weights and came home again. Dawn still got her sunrise walk. I didn't even know there was a problem when we were walking Dawn this morning. If I hadn't wanted a scoop of ice cream in my morning smoothie, I might not have known until much later. It all worked out well. It was kind of a miracle that I was able to get an appliance repairman and a plumber out to the house on the same day. The refrigerator still isn't fixed, but nothing is leaking now and we're headed in the right direction.

Dawn doesn't bark at repairmen. All our other dogs went nuts when a repairman was in the house. Dawn just slept calmly on the bed in the bedroom the entire time. So far, I seem to be the only thing that upsets this dog. Dawn is still biting her paws, but the cone seems to work pretty well to protect them. You have to be careful when you take the cone off. The minute Dawn thinks you aren't looking, she'll start going after her paws again. I'm tired and a little discouraged. I'd much rather be out at the Astronomer's Lodge looking at the night sky without a care in the world.

Penny is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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