End of a Crappy Week

For some reason, the plumber who charged us nearly $2000 to fix a problem we didn't have isn't returning our calls. Hmmm, wonder why.

So it seems the source of our problem was a significant leak in the sprinkler system, not in the main. But even with the sprinkler turned off at the main, there's a more modest leak somewhere... so either the plumber missed a second problem, or screwed something up with the main. We shall see.

Just to make the week even more perfect, the new kitten somehow managed to sprain her fool elbow, and needs to spend a week doped up and confined to let it heal.

There have been a handful of other things go sadly wrong this week, too. It's been pretty sucky. And I think it's time for a mojito.

Well, I'm headed out of here tomorrow on a trip for work (Tampa in July, YAY!), leaving poor Sean behind to deal with all this. Lucky boy!

When I get back, I'll be busy releasing the next issue of Shimmer. Stay tuned.

Yay! Adventures in Plumbing Continue

Yesterday, I started hearing the sound that first alerted us to our orignal plumbing sound. It's the sound of the water meter spinning and spinning as all our water gushes away in a ginormous subterranean leak. But I thought, no, it can't be, we just had the water main replaced, at great cost, and just spent the 4th of July weekend restoring the flower bed they dug up. And it was barely audible...

But today I could still hear it, so we checked. Yup. Water out of control again.

After a lot of grumpiness, and consulting with Sean's father, we were able to determine that the leak is in our sprinkler system somewhere. So at least we were able to turn that off, and keep the water going to the house.

Still very curious to see if this was the problem all along and last week's adventure was for nothing...

Martini time.

Hot and Tired

We spent many many long hot hours yesterday working on the flower bed the plumbers dug up to fix our water main. Skipper came over to help, because she is a saint. First we laid in a bunch of stone borders and paths--both to shape the space and to give us access to all of it without squashing stuff. Then Skipper and Sean worked on replanting the stuff we were trying to save, plus a few new additions, while I worked on some other stuff. It's almost done--just need to plunk down a little bit more stone, replant the last few plants, get some bark, fix the sprinklers, buy a bunch more plants--ok, I guess we're not really done at all. But we did a crapload of work yesterday.

Today we're very tired, so went to see Wall-E. It really was nice sitting in the air conditioning and eating popcorn. I don't think I'm really in the target audience for this movie, so I'm not going to say much else. But I'm damn sure that when we get our robot butler, it's not allowed to watch musicals, because apparently a little visual stimulation is all it takes to make robots whore off across the universe hoping to get laid.

Insects Are Just Like You And Me Except Some of Them Have Wings

Shimmer contributor Kuzhali Manickavel's debut collection, Insects Are Just Like You And Me Except Some of Them Have Wings, is now available! I'm really excited about this, because Kuzhali's a terrific writer. Her story Sour Hands was in our debut issue, and Flying and Falling appears in the Art issue. Flying and Falling is also in this collection.

The book is currently available through Amazon and Target. Temporarily out of stock, but I'm not going to let that get in the way of ordering one. Can't wait to read it!