It really is a money pit ….
Nothing but $$ to spend on the new home .. while I was gone the furnace went out, and then the sewer pump, Elena had the new fireplace to keep her warm but it was quite the task to find a plumber on a sunday afternoon. Finally got a new furnace (Bryant 90I) and a full house HEPA filter so hopefully the major repair expenses are done now, we did set the furnace up for AC, but I wasn’t convinced that we needed it just yet .. even though its record highs now … we’ll probably wait till next year when we have the landscape/deck/spa/swim spa plan in place then we won’t have to relocate the AC unit.
At least we got the townhouse sold .. I flew back down to drive the M up,but because the garage is still full everything is parked outside. The drive back was much faster in the M than in Elena’s car .. 13.5 hrs, saw 3 major wrecks, and didn’t get a ticket, all in all a pretty decent drive.
Lets see what else .. tried out another avian vet .. seemed pretty good with the birds but kinda far away, and clipped Crackers nails a bit too short .. he seemed traumatized afterwards. The local vet (half mile away) seems to be pretty good with Fila, but his thyroid tumor needs a bit of medication and the kidney values are up too. Hopefully its just from the heat and dehydration, but he seems fairly spry still.
Oh, and the last nagging thing about the house (except for the ongoing yard work) is that we may have carpenter ants .. well, at least on the porch and roof .. neither the roofer or the pest control guy could find a nest in the attic so they may have just been exploring they’ sprayed anyway (Termidor, fairly safe for the birds) but we have to wait and see if the nest dies out (either in the house or in the yard.. wherever they might be wandering around). Its funny, we really only see ants every few days when its hot, always on the outside of the house/roof/porch and then they’re gone for days at a time.
On personal small world front .. I never got around to looking up Mardina, but when I called Mair (http://www.loopyludesigns.com/) for her birthday last week, I mentioned that was going to be my project this year .. and then this past week she called Mair out of the blue .. turns out she lives just south of Seattle so we’ll try and get together soon … if only we can get Mair back to visit then we’ll have quite the reunion.