From Lukewarm to HOT!

 Am I still in Arizona?  Although it's a warm 34 degrees this morning, yesterday was chilly city!!  I was up early in an attempt to be presentable for the Plumber.  You just never know!!  Breakfast was the last of the cheddar biscuits and shrimp.  YUM!!  

While waiting, I was able to retrieve and check out the previous day's videos.  This was a big surprise.  Sorry I had to cut half of the video out because it just wouldn't load such a big file.  This gorgeous lady came trotting up at 7:15 in the morning, highly unusual!  She was soon joined by another while she marked the exact same spot she has the last few visits.  Apparently this is HER water station.  Just look at those eyes!!!

From early yesterday morning when it was 27 degrees, the raccoon came by for a drink, but only found ice.  You can tell he can't figure out what's wrong with the water.  I went down later and discovered a 1/2" slab of ice covering the entire top.  It took one big rock to break it up.

Then came the plumber.  My oh my .... come right on in!!!  Matt was a tall hunk with a dark black beard and dark brown eyes.  Too bad he's married with three kids.  Turns out he's an animal lover too!!  Anyway, he did a couple of water tests to determine exactly where the problem might lie, then used the auger to clean out the drain.  

Just to be sure, he removed the access panel and used it again at another opening.  I envisioned the pipe under the house coming apart, requiring Matt to stay a little longer, but it didn't happen.  He filled the washer and let it drain ... which it did perfectly.  Problem fixed.  

I asked him about my hot water heater only putting out lukewarm water, so he volunteered to take a look.  In five minutes I got a lesson on all things gas and how to set it correctly.  My water went from lukewarm to hot!  Since I couldn't think of anything else for him to check, you know, just so he could stay a little longer, I paid the bill of $200.  It was worth every penny just to have a nice man in my house!!  

With that out of the way, I went back to quilting the next chunk of fabric.  Let me just say it's a good thing I'm not THAT strong, because surely the entire machine would have been thrown out the window.  If it could go wrong on this one, it did.  The biggest problem is the slick thread, all I have at the moment.  It eyelashed ... meaning big loops of thread hung down from under the bottom ... to the tune of about 1,000 stitches, which I had to remove by hand - one at a time.  

I'm a perfectionist ... so I persevered, determined to make this new pattern work no matter what.  I've become a pro at resetting the needle at the last spot it sewed correctly.  This small quilt, 55 x 68, took me SEVEN hours to complete.  My feet are still complaining.  You can enlarge it to see the neat longhorn pattern.  In the end, I'm very happy with it!

20 to 25 mph winds most of today, along with one more really cold night will probably keep me inside again.  At least I have quilting to do, so I won't be bored.  In the meantime, I'm trying to think of another reason to call the plumber!!!