4718 - Thanksgiving

It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. We had a lovely Thanksgiving dinner this afternoon. It was worth all the calls it took to get a reservation at our favorite restaurant. The elaborate buffet was delicious, the service was great, and it felt almost like pre-Covid times. We'll just have to remember to make our reservation a little earlier next year.

Thanksgiving dinner was definitely the high point of the day. The rest of the day was a mess. We had a tremendous amount of rain last night. It was a relentless pounding rain that lasted for hours. Not surprisingly, all this rain caused leaks. It's been two or three years since our roof leaks have been this bad. I woke up several times during the night to the unmistakable sound of dripping water. I placed buckets under the leaks and went back to bed. By morning even more leaks had appeared. There are leaks in three different rooms now. What a mess. Some carpeted areas got soaked and will take a while to dry out. 

Since one of the two pumps on wasn't working I was forced to go up on the roof in the rain and try to fix things. I got the pumps working again, swept away a mountain of pecan leaves from the neighbor's tree, and came back inside to warm up. I really need more pumps. One pump for the main roof and another for the carport and storage areas really isn't enough. Initially the pumps were throwing circuit breakers, but after I put each pump on a different circuit, everything started working smoothly. Over eight hours later water is still dripping from the ceiling, but the buckets are filling much slower now. Hopefully by morning the leaks will have stopped.

This roof leak debacle has forced me to think seriously about putting on a new roof again. I got out the bids from several roofing companies I've contacted and looked them over this afternoon. This reminded my of how much I dislike roofers. Each bid had at least one serious flaw and seemed to be designed to protect the roofing company rather than help me. I really want an iron clad warranty that the roof isn't going to leak for at least fifteen years. Nobody even comes close to that kind of promise. Most of the companies didn't even have a good plan for eliminating the low spots that cause ponding during heavy rain. I've got to do something though. It's time for a new roof.

Dawn didn't get a walk today. She didn't even want to go outside. We tried to take her on a morning walk during a break in the rain, but Dawn was smarter than we were. As soon as she did her business, she headed straight back to the house. Not a minute too soon either. As soon as we reached the back porch, it started pouring. 

I wasn't nearly as smart as Dawn. After we returned from our Thanksgiving dinner I still insisted on taking a walk. It was still raining but I've gone almost a full year without missing my daily goal and didn't see any reason to stop now. Somehow I managed to get 15,000 steps on a very rainy day. I think most of those steps were when I was up on the roof. Hey, at least my raincoat works. I got the raincoat for my trips to Kennedy Space Center, but I rarely use it. They don't launch rockets in the rain very often.

I've taken this weeks trash out to the curb and emptied the roof leak buckets several times by now. It wasn't the Thanksgiving I expected, but it was still a pleasant one. We had a wonderful dinner, our house is warm, and we've certainly experienced leaks before. Life goes on.

Maggie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 1808 - Thanksgiving

It was such a nice day. We slept in late and then took the dogs on a leisurely walk along the lake. Entire families were walking their dogs this morning. Maybe this has become a Thanksgiving ritual for some. It was certainly a nice day for walking your dog. The sky was blue and the air was crisp and cool. Dot and Dash loved it. While the dogs took their afternoon nap, we went down to the Warwick Hotel for our Thanksgiving dinner. The service was great and the food was delicious. There was a table filled with fresh shrimp, crab legs, and sushi. Another table was filled with over a dozen delicious salads. We could have made a meal out of the appetizers, but we needed to save room for prime rib, candied yams, cornbread dressing, cranberry sauce and all the other stables of a Thanksgiving feast. As Thanksgiving buffets go, this was one of the better ones. Everyone has lots of meat on Thanksgiving, but the Warwick made a point of making sure that the vegetables and side dishes that went with your meal were exceptionally fresh and creative. They didn't rush you either. Our leisurely meal lasted until almost 3 PM.

When we got home, we took the dogs to their favorite dog park. Dot and Dash hadn't been to the dog park since they had cancer. That was almost a year ago. I think the last time we went to the dog park was last January, just before Dash's thyroid surgery. I had forgotten how much Dash loves to be off-leash and play with other dogs. You could tell he really missed the park and was delighted to be back. He raced around to show us how fast he was and quickly found another dog to play with. Dot was more sedate, but she had fun as well, quietly smelling things and following us around. There were many reasons we waited so long. While Dash was having radiation and chemo treatments, he was quite weak and we were afraid some of the other dogs would sense the weakness and attack him. Dot is just too frail to roughhouse with other dogs anymore, but we knew the park wouldn't be crowded since it was Thanksgiving and there was also a Cowboys game in the afternoon. All in all, it was a perfect day to return to the dog park. Dot and Dash were certainly happy, especially when they discovered we had saved them some turkey from our Thanksgiving meal.

Janet doesn't have to work tomorrow, so I suspect that we'll have another leisurely day with the dogs. From the number of e-mails I received this morning, I suspect that some of my workaholic clients were actually working today. At least they weren't pressuring me with deadlines. I do have work to do, but I'd like to savor the holiday a bit longer. There's plenty of time for work, but it isn't everyday that you get to enjoy seeing your once shy dog rediscover how much fun it is to play with other dogs.

Janet and I talked a bit about retirement during dinner. She'll be retiring soon and is looking forward to it. I can't decide whether I retired twenty years ago, or will keep working forever. My life is pretty amorphous. I quit actively looking for new business quite a while ago, but continue to work with clients who have become friends over the years. It's not a bad life. When Janet retires, I imagine that we'll spend more days like today; eating out a lot and playing with dogs. More days like today is OK.

Scooter is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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