Whew...that was close.

The window glass has been replaced.
And I didn't have to make any trips to the home improvement store.
That intrepid researcher, Peggie, found out that National Glass replaces window glass. So I called them this morning, and they came out this afternoon. They did the repair sans ladder, from inside. I watched and learned. I learned that if it happens again, I will call them again. There were screws on the outside that you had to know about. The window, having sat unmoving for twenty- five years, had to be pried out. So you had to know how many and where all the screws were, then have the confidence in that knowledge to pry in the right places, while holding the window with the other hand, because when it came loose, it would fall all the way to the ground. Oh, and you had to take the air conditioner out, which takes two people, and put it back in, which takes two people and a trained monkey. It took all of twenty minutes.
So now we know a lot about modern windows. For instance, they cost a lot.
Not every window company can replace glass without rebuilding your home.
And stupid doves are really more trouble than they are worth.
To review: I made no trips to the store, I didn't break anything (especially not a bone), I did not have to use even half of my swearing vocabulary, I didn't bleed, Peggie didn't say "I told you so."
And of course, the nutballs are licking egg from their faces and dining on crow. The more creative nutballs are coming up with a revised date for the apocalypse. I hope they remain wrong.

Alas, Babylon

This will be my last post...
Unless all those nutballs are wrong, and the world doesn't come to an end tomorrow.
In that case, I will probably continue.
So the roof did its job Wednesday, none of the rain got into the house. But this blog is about adventures.
At the end of the day, Monday, as we stood reviewing the new roof as the last clean-up was being accomplished, we noticed a hole in an upstairs window. We could only surmise that a dove had flown into it. That happens a lot. Though no holes have been created before. Since tall ladders were still available, we coerced one of the workers to apply packaging tape to the glass. And begins the next adventure. We use the word "adventure" in this instance to mean another non-pleasurable use of money. Window companies are actually in the window replacement business, as opposed to the window glass replacement business. So we must get several estimates because the first one came in at four digits. To the left of the decimal. For a window.
We were entertained for 90 minutes last night by one guy. We get another hour or so tomorrow from a competitor. I never really wanted to know this much about windows. In my neanderthal view I thought it was just a piece of (broken) glass that could be replaced. That's what they do with windshields. They don't have to replace the entire front of the car.
I could do the job myself. (Who is that laughing? I can hear laughing!)
Even if I could buy a sheet of glass cut-to-fit within a millimeter (that's 1/25 of an inch) of tolerance, I would have to carry it up to the second story window using an extension ladder and get it in place, and secured, without dropping it. I would definitely drop it. Then I would have to make a second trip to the store. The next time up the ladder, just before I finish getting the rubber gasket in tight, it would break. Then I would have to make a third trip to the store, where they wouldn't have the right rubber gasket, so I would have to visit three other stores, the last one on the far side of town.
So, no. As handy as I am, and as much as I enjoy being twenty feet above a slab of concrete on a rickety ladder juggling a sheet of glass, no. This is not a job for me.
So the adventure continues tomorrow. Maybe we can actually find somebody who can just replace a piece of glass without reinventing the concept of "window."
Or the nutballs will turn out to be the smart ones and I won't need to worry about windows.

A break in the routine.

Ah yes!
Remember the good old days? Alarm clocks beeping in the dark early morning. Rolling out of bed into the chilled air. Stepping out of a warm shower to get goose bumps before you could dry off. Getting into a cold car after scraping frost from the windshield. Remember the good old days?
Nah!
Those days meant working for a living.
These are the good new days. Sleeping until you wake up because you are fully rested. Sitting up carefully in a room already warmed from the sun. Showering later, after coffee. Leave the car in the driveway until rush hour is over, if you have to drive at all today. These are the good new days.
Except today.
Today we are getting our roof replaced. Like all construction crews, they start at 5:00 a.m. Even in the winter. When it is dark and cold at 5:00 a. m. Jane, and other northern readers, remember it is all relative. This is our winter. It was 40 degrees at 5:00. So I get to whine a little.
For the last two hours they have been scraping, LOUDLY, to get the old roofing shingles and tar paper off.
It sounds like destruction. Which it is. Six men STOMPING around on the roof. The loosened shingles CRASHING to the ground on all sides. Surely, at least one of them (the guys, not the shingles) will come crashing through the roof at any minute. If they don't fall over the side first.
And in another hour or so, the new shingles will go on. You know how they do that, right? Hammers and nails. For hours. Hammer, hammer, hammer. Hammer, hammer, hammer.
I think I need to go see a movie today.
Yeah, that's the ticket.

Happy Birthday, Tomoko!

Today is Tomoko's birthday. Yes, 12-12-12! 

Have a wonderful day!

The casinos in town are doing lots of specials so gamblers can win spend lots of money. I don't see Tomoko gambling the day away.

Grandparenting is the best thing ever

I just returned from Phoenix SkyHarbor Airport, where I dropped off GaT.

We enjoyed their whirlwind weekend visit. They came because there was a gonga ticket price, but it was a quick turnaround. Ariana is the cutest, smartest, most amazing almost five-year-old anywhere, anytime, since I was that age, of course.


Peggie, Ariana, and I attended Casey's birthday pajama party (Happy Birthday, Casey) while Greg and Tomoko did adult visits.

Casey has a group of fun, interesting friends who actually showed up in pajamas and spent the early part of the evening making graham cracker "gingerbread" houses. The guys really went all out.



 I don't know what happened later. Being good parents, we left early enough for any wild stuff that came later.

Peggie and Ariana had a lot of artistic adventures in the studio. The results cannot be told until after Christmas.

So now we wait for the birth of our grandson. We already have our tickets for that visit.