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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Nice way to start the mah jong year!


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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger


AMERICANS SUPPORT AMERICA

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Cool! I hope you find many potential publishers!

*****

So yesterday was taken up, AGAIN, by kitchen work. In addition to parsing out a pork butt that I had roasted the day before, I had 2 chicken and 1 turkey carcasse and made chicken-turkey broth, and stripped the bits of meat for the dog.

Not gonna tell my sister in WNY, who is now experiencing intense cold, but I'm still harvesting tomatoes. They're medium to small, but tasty, and I just gathered about 20 and left a bunch on the vines bc I'm not sure what to do with them all!

Today gonna make a mishmash of ethnic recipes: Persian chicken with pomegranate, and "tabouleh" but instead of using wheat gonna use quinoa, and mix it with fresh tomatoes and parsley, and a bit of mayo. I think arugula and olives for greens, since it's not very fresh and need to use it up. Anyone from the region would roll their eyes.

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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger


AMERICANS SUPPORT AMERICA

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Back from the dentist and I need some work done. Two fillings and a crown.

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Back from the dentist and I need some work done. Two fillings and a crown.

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Oh yikes!!

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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger


AMERICANS SUPPORT AMERICA

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Done for today and no luck at mah jong. Have to get ready for in suite inspection tomorrow. They start at 9:30 but don't say if they start at the top or the bottom. Guess I will find out tomorrow.

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Done for today and no luck at mah jong. Have to get ready for in suite inspection tomorrow. They start at 9:30 but don't say if they start at the top or the bottom. Guess I will find out tomorrow.

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Again??
What are they inspecting for, do you know? Do they have a checklist? Do they look at EVERYTHING? Or do they go straight to wiring, plumbing, smoke detectors... that sort of if things?

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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger


AMERICANS SUPPORT AMERICA

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Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
I was trying to be positive about it and not freak out, so I never let it bother me once I noticed the problem and how quickly the water was leaking out.

Not that it was a good thing that happened, but I had a pretty good hunch about was really going here. I've been quite off my game for the last 8 or so months and I realized that Occam's Razor dictates that the most likely scenario playing out was that I'd never winterized and I had a busted hose and/or hose nozzle that's been slowly freezing until bursting point for the last month and finally gave out.

Yup...

That's exactly what happened.

Dummy.

I liked that hose and the nozzle too. I'll have to figure out in the spring if either of them work anymore or they're both busted.

But at least nothing in or on the house is leaking.



I'm not sure how much water I lost. I have a bill from 2 months ago but that doesn't really help me out much. Plus I'd have to figure out how far into the month we are and what's left to bill to see where I should be at. I'll probably just wait until I get the next bill and see.

I can't see anything outside really, but the ground all around the back of the house feels pretty rock solid. I know it wasn't thousands of gallons or anything because there's only several thousand more right now than there was 2 months ago, unless I'm reading my bill wrong. I wouldn't be surprised if it was 500 to 1,000 gallons before I'd caught it though. I just happened to hear the faint sound of water through the walls when I was in the upstairs bathroom and I figured the handle on the basement one got stuck or something when I'd used it earlier in the day.

So pretty lucky I heard that. Otherwise it would have probably kept going on for a while unless it were making a ruckus outside loud enough to grab my attention when I went out. Depending on where that hoze/nozzle broke, there might have been a good chance I didn't notice it. I think the only way I would have is if everything on the surface started turning into an ice rink or the hose was broke right at the spigot and water was spraying out everywhere loudly on the concrete and the house.

I'm sure the $200 water bill I got would have woke me up about it too.

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"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon

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I just happened to hear the faint sound of water through the walls when I was in the upstairs bathroom and I figured the handle on the basement one got stuck or something when I'd used it earlier in the day.

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Done for today and no luck at mah jong. Have to get ready for in suite inspection tomorrow. They start at 9:30 but don't say if they start at the top or the bottom. Guess I will find out tomorrow.

SIGNY: Again??
What are they inspecting for, do you know? Do they have a checklist? Do they look at EVERYTHING? Or do they go straight to wiring, plumbing, smoke detectors... that sort of if things?

BRENDA: Really I have no idea what they are checking for. They usually come in once a year and since this is a new property management company. They will probably at least look at the plumbing and make sure I am not doing any damage to the place. That is usual what these inspections are for.

Well, it did give me a real excuse to clean out the kitchen sink. I eased off a lot of gunk with vinegar, so it was easy to do.

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Oh, good on ya! Good catch!

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Done for today and no luck at mah jong. Have to get ready for in suite inspection tomorrow. They start at 9:30 but don't say if they start at the top or the bottom. Guess I will find out tomorrow.

SIGNY: Again??
What are they inspecting for, do you know? Do they have a checklist? Do they look at EVERYTHING? Or do they go straight to wiring, plumbing, smoke detectors... that sort of if things?

BRENDA: Really I have no idea what they are checking for. They usually come in once a year and since this is a new property management company. They will probably at least look at the plumbing and make sure I am not doing any damage to the place. That is usual what these inspections are for.

Well, it did give me a real excuse to clean out the kitchen sink. I eased off a lot of gunk with vinegar, so it was easy to do.

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Do they chase you out? Or can you follow them around? If I was being inspected, I'd want to tag along. If I was the inspector, I'd show people the clipboard and have them follow me around.

When we used to inspect labs for approval, we actually sent them the checklist ahead of time. We weren't trying to "catch" people, we wanted the whole process to be a learning experience. (In fact, the application was itself a checklist. Rather than have labs send us 25 lbs of irrelevant reading materiaal i.e. QA/QC manuals and a copy of every procedure they ever performed, we just needed to know very specific things about very specific methods. Besides, we sent them "blinded" audit samples that they didn't know came from us.)

Anyway, if the management company wants people to be good, safe tenants, they'll tell them how to do it. And if a six-month or yearly inspection prompts a decluttering... batteries reinserted into fire alarms... clear paths to doorways... sanitary bathrooms and kitchens... not too many extension cords plugged into a power strip, or too many appliances on an extension cord ... no evidence of unallowed pets or subletting tenants... as well looking for as things outside of tenant's control like working plumbing, heat, and light switches... well then, those are problems solved, aren't they?


But, yanno, my family says I'm nosy, and I am. So wanting to follow around: that's just me.


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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger


AMERICANS SUPPORT AMERICA

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Sounds like they're inspecting for deficiencies. Things I think would be called "code violations" here.

*****

Speaking of strange dreams ... I had one about an Iranian woman. She had been some sort of air defense programmer or something, but after an air defense failure where a number of children were killed she semi-retired to teaching children. That's just the background. In the dream, she is teaching in a classroom, in an old stone building. Reading a book about a magical journey to a group of children sitting on the floor on a worn Persian carpet.

A being comes to her and says "I hate to interrupt but we need to talk. You haven't been taking care of yourself. Your heart."

"I know" she says, and thinks about all of the urgent, important things she had been doing instead.

This being says "Walk with me to the river"

And she puts down the book 'and all of her earthly concerns' (she dies)

The dream goes on the show the journey of her soul at peace and how it joins the 'endless, ever accepting river'

Such a strange dream. There was more. So detailed it would take pages to describe.

*****

I have dreams like that occassionally. Nothing to do with me, or any place I've ever been, or anyone I've ever met, but so complete, with a back story, and full of meaning.

*****

Back to real life. We are many miles away from the fires, and crosswind. What impacts us is the same thing that is impacting those fancy wooded areas: lack of rain, and persistent Santa Anas.

I finished watering the front yard trees and shrubs. Yes, they're low water but they need SOMETHING in winter to keep going! And so far, no winter rain! Plus the dry dry wind has been drying everything out. I'll be moving my watering to the avocadoes and pines this week.

According to wunderground, and for the sake of my poor inflamed immune-damaged nose, it looks like I'll be humidfying until Thursday evening. For the day I just set a pot of water on the stove on low, and for the night I refill the humidifier.

On with the day...

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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger


AMERICANS SUPPORT AMERICA

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Part of my dream was I walking beside the Mississippi river on the sand with someone

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Back and done for today. Looks like I missed some rain by being in the local mall. Which is good as I forgot my umbrella.

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:

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Part of my dream was I walking beside the Mississippi river on the sand with someone

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It's amazing how dreams can take us so far away from who we are and where we are, sometimes with such vividness and complexity.

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Back and done for today. Looks like I missed some rain by being in the local mall. Which is good as I forgot my umbrella.

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*****

Ahhhh... rain. Was told by my foothill friend that in la Nina years ... which this is ... there is a line across west coast. Above the line, they get rain. Below the line, very little. Last la Nina year, she said, we were above the line but San Diego was below, and very dry. This la Nina year, it looks like both of our cities are dry.

Fortunately for us ... not so much for mother nature, tho ... we have quite a cushion of stored water.

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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger


AMERICANS SUPPORT AMERICA

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Still dry here. Coddling my immune-damaged nose, I have TWO pots of water warming on the stove, and I fill up a humidifier every bedtime.

Made a great "clean out the frig" meal yesterday. I had leftover turkey gumbo soup, sliced sausage into that and seasoned it up: that was hubby's meal.

Daughter had leftover chicken soup, with sausage sliced into THAT, and leftover green beans with cheese melted on top.

I found some very dried out Italian sausage in the freezer. So along with leftover green beans, leftover shirataki noodles, and leftover turkey gravy ... that was my dinner.

Frig is now ready for shopping day.

*****

SIX, how're you doing? Is winter getting you down? I know my sister is fed up already.




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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger


AMERICANS SUPPORT AMERICA

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Well, a horrific afternoon of mah jong. I managed one decent hand with all four flowers of one colour which netted me over 2,000points. So I broke 1,000 but that was it. I couldn't go out at all. 5 times I was soooooo close but nope.

Maybe tomorrow at my regular mah jong game.

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:

Quote:

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Well, a horrific afternoon of mah jong. I managed one decent hand with all four flowers of one colour which netted me over 2,000points. So I broke 1,000 but that was it. I couldn't go out at all. 5 times I was soooooo close but nope.

Maybe tomorrow at my regular mah jong game.

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Oh, that sounds so frustrating!
I hope tomorrow is better for you!

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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger


AMERICANS SUPPORT AMERICA

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