Day 2859

It rained a lot last night. Even though it was a beautiful day, the yard was muddy and the roof was filled with standing water. Dash didn't waste any time finding the mud and immediately tracked it inside when he went out to pee before breakfast. He also discovered where a stray cat had been pooping near the back fence and tried to eat the stuff. Yuck. These events set the tone for the day and I didn't even notice how pretty it was outside until much later.

Since water was still spilling over the eaves when I got up, I knew I wasn't going to be able to escape climbing up on the roof and removing the standing water. Fall is the worst season for the roof. The standing water doesn't evaporate like it does in the Summer, and falling leaves often block the water from spilling over the edge of the roof. The only alternative is to remove as much as I can with the sump pump and push the rest over the edge with a big push broom.

It was cold this morning, so I waited until later in  the day to remove the water. That gave me a chance to go to the gym like I usually do on Sunday. I've been going to this gym for over four years now and I still haven't seen a huge improvement. On the other hand, I'm four years older and I haven't gotten any worse. I guess you could call that progress. I've thought about hiring a personal trainer for a month or two, just to see if I've been doing everything wrong. How would I know? I never asked anyone about my exercise routine. I'm the only one that seems to use the hand bicycle, even though it provides a great upper body workout and elevates my heart rate just as much as the treadmill. Shooting baskets probably doesn't provide any benefits at all, but it's the one thing I actually enjoy.

There is absolutely nothing I enjoy about getting up on the roof. It is my own private version of Dante's Inferno. Every time it rains, I find new holes that need to be repaired. Today I found two new bad spots that should be covered with the elastomer material as soon as the roof dries, but unfortunately I've already used the five gallon drum the roofers gave me. I'm been corresponding with the roofers and they promise they are going to come back and fix things, but that could be weeks or even months away. Several people have suggested that I add a pitch to the roof, so the water would drain. These people haven't seen the house. It would be easier to start over and build a new house.

The next time the roofers supply me with a container of the silicon product they use to seal the roof, I'm going to try dipping a pair of Dash's protective boots in the stuff. The material is very flexible when it dries and is completely waterproof. The elastomer might work better to reinforce the boots than the tire patch material I'm using now. Actually, the repairs I've made to Dash's shoes so far are very durable. It just takes a lot of time to shape the patching material so that the boots still fit properly.

I can't say it was an exciting day, but I did get a lot done. If I'm lucky the refrigerator will get repaired tomorrow. I'm hoping that the repairman will get tired of coming out to the house again and again and finally do the job right. It's rare when this happens. The roofers never should have coated the roof with a material that wouldn't hold up under standing water. The plumbers who repaired the water leak under our foundation shouldn't have dumped all the dirt they couldn't fit back in the tunnel they dug under the Photinia bushes along the edge of the yard. That's where all the mud is coming from. The tile guys the contractor hired for our bathroom remodel should have known how to set tile so water wouldn't leak at the corner of the shower. I even showed them little curved tile pieces that made a better transition between horizontal and vertical surfaces. They said these weren't necessary. I could go on and on.

Dot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2814

It was chilly this morning. I wore a jacket on our morning walk for the first time since early Spring. It's hard to believe that in other parts of the country people are dealing with raging wildfires, flooded homes, and an approaching hurricane that is even larger than Harvey. In our little corner of the world the weather is perfect. This weather won't last long, so we'd better enjoy it while we can.

It's been nice having the weather cooperate while I work on the roof. I didn't finish today, but I'm done for a while. I've completely used up the five gallon drum of elastomer material the roofers sent me. I would guess that it's going to take at least ten more gallons to complete the repairs. I wasn't really expecting the repairs to be so extensive, but that's what I get for trusting the roofing crew to do their job properly. It really makes me mad that they simply poured the new coating right on top of the old damaged coating. They should have pulled all the damaged material off and let the water that had gotten underneath dry. It would have taken a little longer to do their repairs properly, but it would have avoided the mess I'm dealing with now. There is water underneath many of the patches that the roofers have made previously because they didn't make sure the surface was dry under the damaged areas they were fixing.  I always wondered how they could do their work so quickly. Now I know.

Janet has a niece living in Florida who decided to ride out the storm. This seemed like a mistake until I looked at the lines of cars trying to evacuate Miami and the Florida keys. These cars are just inching along as far as the eye can see and there's no gas available in many parts of Florida. What happens when all these cars run out of gas? I'd rather be inside a well constructed home when the hurricane struck than out on a freeway in a car that's out of gas. I mentioned yesterday that these were starting to seem like the end times. Nothing has happened today that would change my opinion.

Dash is not adjusting well to Janet returning to work. He liked having everyone home with him. I think he's trying to be the alpha dog now that Dot is gone, but he doesn't really know how. Dash has always been insecure and depended on Dot for leadership. Instead of being strong and confident, he just throws temper tantrums when he doesn't get his way. Maybe he'll eventually grow into the role of  being a proper alpha dog, but he has a long way to go.

After I finished working on the roof, I washed the car. For once this didn't seem like a chore. It was nice to be working with fresh, clean water instead of stick white goo. I'm tired of working on the roof, but I've still got to finish the job before our Fall rainy season starts. If history is any guide, it's going to be pretty wet around here by the time Halloween arrives.

It's not going to be wet tomorrow. I think our nice weather is going to continue for another week. I'll get up early, take Dash on a walk, and then go out for breakfast. After that, who knows.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2812

The refrigerator is working again. I was amazed that I was able to get an appliance repairman to come out the same day I called. The two guys who showed up were older and knew their stuff. It turned out that I had a faulty thermostat which prevented the automatic defrost circuit from working properly, causing the evaporator coils to become frozen in a block of ice. After the coil was thawed out, the fridge worked like a charm. The guys will have to come back next week to install the two new thermocouple thermostats they ordered, but they said the coil wouldn't have time to freeze again before they returned. I'm glad we didn't buy a new refrigerator. As it turned out, there wasn't that much wrong with this one.

I got lucky with the refrigerator, but I can't say the same about the roof. As I continue my repairs, I'm discovering that the roofing crew did a really lousy job of applying the previous patches. Instead of peeling away all the damaged elastomer and letting the surface underneath dry thoroughly, they just poured the new elastomer material on top on the old. As a result, when the elastomer cured, it trapped moisture underneath that could never escape. I always wondered how the roofing crews could make their repairs so quickly. Now I know. They just did a sloppy job. Now, I'm faced with making much more extensive repairs than I had planned. If you're thinking of buying a cool looking mid-century modern home with a flat roof, try to resist the urge. A flat roof is nothing but trouble.

Dash's vet wants to increase his phenobarbital dose. I was afraid of this. She says that his current dose doesn't provide enough protection anymore and that it could lead to seizures again. At least the increase isn't huge. He was taking a one grain tablet twice a day. Now, he'll be taking 1 and 1/4 grains twice a day. We'll do another blood test in six weeks to see if this puts him back in the safe zone. I hope the additional phenobarbital won't make him too sleepy or lethargic. He spends too much time sleeping as it is.

I went to a nearby service station to get a few bags of ice so the food in the freezer wouldn't go bad when the repairmen were working. I asked the guy at the register whether they still had a good supply of gasoline and he said they were almost out again. Jeez. The tanker truck had just filled them up two days ago. I topped my tank up again, just in case.

Now that people have realized how easy it is for an entire city to run out of gasoline, I think a lot more people are going to be driving around with full tanks instead of tempting fate with a gas gauge near empty. Every time there is a power outage or a weather emergency I try to become a little more prepared. I have lots of fresh batteries. I have a generator. It just occurred to me that the little dorm room refrigerator we just got will easily run on a generator. That's good. I can't afford large scale solar power, but that's definitely on my fantasy wish list.

Pick your poison. Maybe it's climate change. Maybe it's Kim Jong-un. Maybe it's back-to-back monster hurricanes. Why do I get this nagging feeling that Armageddon is just around the corner? I hope I'm wrong. I'd much rather spend my remaining years wandering around the streets of Paris than living in a cave somewhere.

Allie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day