AtomicMrX

Well, I haven’t written on the blog in a few weeks because there was a lot of stuff going on and I wanted to wait for it to be over so I could just write about it once.

First our washer died - in mid wash of course. Shannon was doing his laundry (I know - shocking that he got around to it - he has a tendency to wait well past when he should be doing it) and the washer was full of water and went into the spin/drain cycle when it decided not to drain out the washer and just plain died. So Shannon left the items in the full of water washer and there they sat till we got a new washer which arrived yesterday (Saturday). Yep that is right - they stuff in the washer sat for two weeks! Ugh, boy did it stink. Shannon should have taken them out of the washer when it broke and “finished” them up in the bath tub then put them in the dryer. Oh well, that’s ADD for ya. I ended up doing them in a laundry load for him.

He was just going to leave the clothes in the washer untill the repair guy came (one week after it broke) but the washer was un-repairable. Actually it could have been repaired but it would have cost $700. A new washer is far less! Shannon went shopping for a new washer that same day the repair guy was at the house (Monday). He bought a new washer for around $500 (a Whirlpool) but it would not be delivered until the next Saturday (yesterday).

Our floor drain next to the washer has been flooding and creating a nice pool of black gunk about 4 to 6 foot in diameter each time the washer would go into the drain cycle. So since we got a new washer and had cleaned the floor under the old one and around the drain - I called Roto-rooter and had them fix the floor drain so it would stop flooding. We apparently need to do some preventative maintenance so it will not happen again. So I bought their jug of stuff to pour down the kitchen drain once a month to help eat all the black gunk out of the pipes and keep the water flowing. Roto-rooter cost $200. Ouch!

I was so happy to get my laundry done yesterday and not have the floor puddle up with nasty water. And while I was doing the laundry I put together the heavy duty plastic shelving I purchased on Friday for the basement. We seriously need to get stuff up off the floor and onto shelving to save some space and clean up the basement. I bought 5 shelving units that consists of five shelves each. I put them all together but made them into “four” shelf units which made an extra shelving unit out of the unused shelves. So I bought 5 and ended up with 6 shelving units!

Today I want to start going through the mess in the basement and getting them organized up onto the shelving units. I’m going to take before and after pictures of the basement. It is really scary looking right now. Everything is piled up on the floor to waist height and there is a ton of junk that could just be thrown away!

Shannon was going through a stack of folded clothes in the basement and stumbled accross an all black wooly worm. He initially thought it was a gigantic spider because the wooly worm was curled up and about the size of a half dollar coin. That would be a big spider, but this was a curled up and very much alive wooly worm. He put it in a plastic container and set it on the kitchen table so I could see it the next day. When I got up in the morning it was there on the kitchen table in a nice little plastic container with lots of air holes in it. But when I got home from work it was not in it’s nice little container. I thought Shannon had put it outside but later saw it on the kitchen floor making a get a way in slow motion. So I took two envelopes and made a little scoop to pick the little guy up and placed him in the garden under a protective covering of a plant so a bird wouldn’t get him.

He looked like this picture I found on the web except our little guy was ALL black - no brown. Shannon said that the colorings on him indicate a very wet, cold, bad winter. Oh goody!

This little guy was perched on the side of the house next to the garage entrance. He is pretty good sized - about 8 inches long and well, pretty creepy looking.

I took the pictures and was a little freaked out because Shannon said the walking stick could sting me with it’s tail. I didn’t think they could hurt humans and don’t remember them hurting me when I was a little kid and found one - but then again I don’t have a great memory.

So Shannon freaked me out and made the picture taking a bit of a challenge to overcome a fear of getting stung by the little guy if I got too close. I used the micro mode on my little camera and the pictures came out great! It was overcast so I was afraid they would not look good.

My friend Dee Dee is also celebrating a birthday today! I went to college with Dee Dee (way back in the days of the early 1980’s - that’s the only hint to her age you get). Dee Dee lives in Lincoln Nebraska.

She sent me this picture last year and she looks GREAT in it. She is skinnier in this picture than when I knew her in college (and she was not fat by any definition in college)! Way to go with the weight loss Dee Dee! Seeing her picture gave me gumph to get back on the weight loss wagon. Thanks Dee Dee for being a great friend!

Happy Birthday Dee Dee!

I hope you have a fun filled day and enjoy yourself!

Laurie Anderson will be in Lawrence Kansas this Friday for her Homeland tour. I saw her just after I got out of college and she was fantastic. Her new tour Homeland explores the world as it has evolved since September 11th, 2001. Laurie Anderson looks at contemporary culture through two filters - the filters of love and war in Homeland.

Apparently she uses less multi-media in Homeland (than in previous performances) and has more of a focus on the words and music.

From looking at her website, she has re-mastered ”Big Science” and I would be interested in hearing the difference it makes in the sound quality. Big Science has always been my favorite of hers.