Sunday, December 11, 2022

THE HOLE

Good morning from the wet patio in not-so-sunny California.  This picture pretty much sums up my neighborhood.  It was taken not too far from my place.  Amazingly, it has looked like this for at least 70 years.   


It didn't look like that yesterday however.  It was a reasonably nice morning until the winds began to pick up and the trees began to dance.  I could sit and watch them all day, but then the rains came.  Good grief ... it was a downpour for about three hours.  That's a LOT of water!!  It finally let up just a tad, but kept raining steadily all day long.


Surely we got tons of snow in the mountains because it just didn't quit.


I ran outside to check the gutters (all was well) before working on that black and white quilt for awhile.  It's difficult to do while the KID is underfoot trying to get you to kick the ball.  

It was a nice day ... and time to catch the last round of the National Finals Rodeo.  You just never know who is going to win what.  If you win the most money in your category, you get the gold buckle.  Then you can win the Average by having the highest average score of all your rides together.  Then you can win the World Championship by winning the most money overall.  

Stetson Wright ... he won over $920,000 in his ten day run.  That's yet another world record he set.  

While watching that, I decided to roast these two pork loins.  I'm testing out the marinade for the RV rally, since I've never had to make it before.  I wanted to use the barbecue, but by now there are TWO waterfalls on the back of my house from apparently plugged gutters.  I thought we fixed that!  


The pork was ok, but not quite the flavor I wanted.  I think it needs more garlic.  I also whipped up some Red Lobster biscuits.  I don't know what they put in that little garlic packet, but boy is it ever GOOD!!


Nice day .... the rodeo is almost over as I made a quick trip to turn on my electric blanket in the bedroom.  I opened the door and instantly spotted a dark spot on the rug.  It's wet.  No way it was Cooper ... the door has been closed all day.  What the heck?

I look up to get a big SPLAT right on my forehead.  NOOOOOOOOO ... NO NO NO ... water is coming from around the light fixture.  Big sigh ... just what I need ... MORE repairs.  I bought a new(er) house so this kind of thing would not happen.

I threw down a towel and grabbed a bowl to put underneath the drips.  It didn't seem too bad and I couldn't see any waterlogged sheetrock.  My first thought was of course to call the painters/roofers/gutter guys.  It's Saturday night, only 7:30 ... so maybe he can tell me what to do.  If nothing else, I can crawl up into the attic and see where it's coming from.  Seriously, I need to get a permanent ladder built into the crawl space!!

Such a nice man ... he insisted on coming over to at least put a bucket in the attic to save the sheetrock.


It was rather comical ... I would tap on the wall in the bedroom while he clamored over AC ducts, plumbing and electrical wiring until he finally got to the spot.  It turns out it was a vent next to the fireplace chimney (which is completely fake by the way because it's a gas fireplace).  Who knew? 

THE HOLE is small, but big enough to let water in which drips down the pipe halfway then falls directly into my light fixture.  How lucky can I be ... although that's probably a good thing because otherwise I would not know until the ceiling fell in.  

He plunked down my bathroom wastebasket and came back down.  While putting the ladder away, I mentioned "just leave it outside because I have to check Niagara Falls in the back yard".  I should have kept my mouth shut.  

So here we out outside at 9:00 trying to unclog the downspout of a long section.  He didn't bring tools and all I could come up with was a coat hangar.  After twenty minutes of poking while holding a garden hose running full blast, it FINALLY came loose.  


I kept saying I could do it tomorrow, but he insisted on fixing the second one too.  Yup it was really dark by now and I'm soaking wet from holding the flashlight so he can see.  That's the moon up top.


I can't tell you how much I appreciate him.  He will be back over Monday to fix it for me.  You don't find guys like that in my neighborhood any more.  For all you men out there that help other people with their repair problems, you are a Godsend and that definitely includes Mr. Chance who helps me at every turn in Arizona.  

And so at long last Cooper and I headed to bed after drying the carpet ... three hours later than my normal time, but at least it was a quiet night.  It's supposed to keep raining all day today, so you will find me on the ladder this morning cleaning out the rest of the gutters once again.  Home ownership ... SO much fun!!


22 comments:

  1. Just looked at Google Maps and I see that I-80 and US-50 are both closed going to Reno-Tahoe area (from Colfax to Nevada line along I-80). THAT use to happen all the time when we were kids, less likely to happen these past 20+ years. I also like to view the Caltrans CCTV Map where you can see live cams of the roads...THAT is a lot of snow up on I-80! Of course, the Governor will have them release as much water out of Folsom Dam as he can get away with JUST so he can have his water restrictions in place over the summer.

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  2. Ha! Dave sure has this governor "pegged". Thank God for your "Andy"!

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    1. And you would think the Gov would drop the restrictions. He would be the most popular guy around.

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  3. You lucked out with your drip. We had an ice dam one spring that soaked sheetrock walls on two floors of before we discovered it. The men were finally repairing it when 9/11 happened so we all gathered to watch TV for a bit. When it rains...
    Linda Sand

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    1. Wow ... that was a mess to fix!! I'm lucky it was a small drip!!

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  4. Gee, I have this song in my ears: "It never rains in California" boy who ever composed that hasn't been around your place I guess. You should definitely look into putting covers over your rain gutters. Hope the rain will ease up.

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    1. Covers keep the leaves out, but it's the dirt and sand that causes all the problems. Then you have to take the covers off to clean it out. I may just try one side to see if it helps.

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  5. Painter/roofer/gutter guy sounds like Prince Charming to me. Is he single? You're right about Mr. Chance too!

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  6. So lucky to have a responsive and handy handyman! You are right, you are lucky it hit the light fixture so you could catch it soon.

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    1. I can't believe he came over that late. VERY lucky to catch the drip before it got really bad.

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  7. You may want to invest in some gutter quards.

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    1. I tried them on another house. I had to remove them because we have so much sand and dirt here. The gutters fill up and have to be cleaned at least every six months or the weight makes them fall off the wall.

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  8. Wow. What a guy. You really lucked out with him. Best wishes for getting the "too much rain" problem taken care of. We haven't had that in a while, so I may be surprised when we get it again. Meanwhile, is that alfalfa growing in those green fields in the first photo? No, it's not, as I was thinking those boxes were alfalfa bales until I enlarged it. So what is it??

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    1. You are right Judith ... it's alfalfa. The boxes are for the nearby fields of sweet potatoes. I think this is the sweet potato capital of the world! They even invented sweet potato vodka that they ship around the world.

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  9. Lucky you have a repairman like that around.
    Have you considered adding Gutter Screens to stop them from clogging?
    Be Safe and Enjoy!

    It's about time.

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    1. I have Rick, but as I said above, it's the small stuff, along with loads of dirt that causes the problem. Those screens are not easy to get off to clean, which must be done at least twice a year if not more.

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  10. That’s a lot of sand and dirt, you’ve had a fair amount of rain, I would have thought they should be pretty clean already. When the guys fixed the gutters didn’t they clean them out?
    You are extremely fortunate to have found such a handyman, pay him well!

    Deb

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    1. They cleaned a bit, but I had already done it. Now they are full again!! I'm so thankful he came over!!

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  11. Sad about your neighbors. That guy who you have doing work around your home for you sounds like a real gem.
    We have been keeping a close watch on the weather, needed to decide on a route back to the west, and we could see California was in for some not great weather. Actually, it looks pretty much the whole west coast is getting hit. Hope your leak is an easy fix.

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    1. A gem he is ... a very nice Christian man too. Yes, the entire west coast is getting rain. I'm hoping it eases up come January. It's raining in the Phoenix area too. Safe travels.

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