The Ugly, the Bad, and the Good.

1/9/07 Tuesday
Today ran the full gamut. Remember the movie “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly”? To put it in proper order for today it would be The Ugly, The Bad, and The Good. This morning I asked Cherie how our money was. She said it wasn’t good at all. I asked what she spent on cat litter and when she told me I got upset. Of course this got her upset but I can’t see spending that kind of money on something the cat will poop and pee in just because it clumps and doesn’t smell as bad. Of course that means she won’t have to clean it as often. It ended with Cherie crying and saying she doesn’t like this being poor stuff. We took the cat litter back along with the flea powder she got for Skittles. That all added up to $25 bucks which is a lot right now. I’d rather eat than have the cat poop in better poop stuff. Regardless Cherie was not very happy. In fact I found out that earlier, when this all started she had “Folded” our little hand calculator. That’s a nice way of saying she broke it in half. It only cost a buck at the dollar store so wasn’t a big deal. I didn’t learn of this till we got to the “Good” part of the day and we laughed pretty hard about it.

So that was the Ugly part. Next came the Bad part of the day. Our leak under the sink had escalated to the point it was filling this large pan and the two other ones up fairly quickly. Now I knew we would have to replace this whole set up, from the faucet to the sink and even the plumbing underneath. I had already talked about it to Cherie and mentioned that I would have to turn the water off at the well because the plumbing was so rotten it could well break. Of course I didn’t remember that. So what could I do to stop this leak? Perhaps I can turn off one of the cut off valves underneath. I’d do it one at time in case it was just either the hot or cold water side that was leaking.

“Great Idea Bob” I thought as I reached for one of the valves. Cherie heard a loud “Sh-t, F---, F---, damn” (pardon the language, I can be colorful) and came running. Sure enough, right as I started turning the valve everything let loose. As you can see it was in bad shape anyway and a classic case of Southern Engineering as it was. “I’ve got to run to the well and turn this off” I yelled. Cherie said she would do her best to reduce the flooding as I rushed out the door.

As I screamed down the dirt road leading to the well I looked at the speedometer and saw I was going 40. Reminded me of the good ole days when I raced. I got to the well and struggled to close the valve. Barely had the strength to do it, in fact when I tried to turn it back on later I couldn’t and had to make a device to get it turned. At this time my adrenaline was flowing so it got closed.

Getting back to the house I pondered what to do. We didn’t have money to replace anything so I either had to figure it out or we would go without running water till the first when my check comes in. What to do? Here’s a thought. We don’t have hot water cause there’s no gas. The hot water tank has a cut off valve so if I’m lucky it was the hot water side I broke. I went to the hot water tank and shut the valve off there. Then I went back to the well and called Cherie on her cell phone. With her standing by at the sink I turned on the well valve. Actually I tried and couldn’t do it so had to come back and figure out how to make something that would give me leverage. I took apart the golf bag cart Larry had left here and devised something out of that. Then I went back out to the well and we repeated the calling her and having her report if the water started spewing when I turned it on. OH YEAH! I’m lucky. That was it. The sink still leaks from the cold water side but it’s not as bad.

Now comes the good part. Cherie and I laughed and laughed. She told me that when she heard a F---, F---, she knew it was a real bad one compared to hearing just one F---. “When I heard a double F--- I knew it was bad” she said. I guess you had to be there cause reading this now I can’t see the humor at all. Regardless the days tension was broken.

Actually I got out of sequence with this day. We had gone into town to pick up our mail and drop the letter I had helped Cherie write for the custodian job at the church. Pastor Dave was just walking out of the church as we were coming to the corner so we stopped and chatted a bit. Cherie asked if the job was still open and he said he thought so but didn’t know for sure. I gave David the letter to give to Darrell, my cousin who happens to be one of the ones responsible for this area, and invited him to read it also. Yeah this is an unabashed attempt to influence the decision to hire in Cherie’s direction. I really don’t know if this is correct behavior or not. That is part of social skills and social skills is an area that has been hit with the brain injury. Not just with this last wreck but evidently from childhood as evidenced in my whole life.

So we went to the post office and checked for mail. Didn’t even get junk mail today. We went to Midland and returned the cat litter and flea powder. Then we went to Home Depot where I picked up some Seam Tape to use to join pieces of the left over carpet scraps for the hallway. Told you we don’t waste anything. On the way back Cherie’s phone rang. It was the church asking if she would like to come in for an interview. Now that’s when the tension began to break. It was when we got home that I decided to flood the kitchen.

So that was the ugly, bad, and good of today. Cherie went to the church this evening to help prepare for the dinner thing they do on Wednesday. It is our Sunday school classes turn to do that. This was a chance for her to get out and interact with other women. Always a good thing and is another step on the way for her to be accepted and a part of this community. It’s not as hard for me to be solitary because I’ve been that way most of my life but it’s different for Cherie. She needs the strength friends can lend. It wouldn’t hurt me either, I just have to learn how.

Folks it’s been a long day. I think I’ll call it quits now. You can tell I am sharp because I’m waxing eloquent on the writing. Only had a couple of the petite seizures today and they were the quick short lived variety. I want to thank all the new visitors to this blog. Been quite a few of you from the “Homesteader Neophyte” blog site. Also to the guy who shows up as being from Dublin Ireland, leave a comment so I can say hi. Always like to get to know the regular readers. Still am amazed that others are interested in our lives. Mostly this blog was a way family and friends could keep in touch but it has grown. Tell your friends about this blog. We can make it fun and even get some discussions going.

Night all.