I got to spend the better part of a week getting to know my granddaughter last week - and, as I'm sure you can imagine, I had a blast. When she was first born I stayed a few days, but since Megan and Steven were trying to get to know her to, it seemed a little awkward. I felt more like I was in the way then, but this time I felt needed. I got to babysit on Friday night while mom and dad had a date night. So what does any good grandmother do with her granddaughter? We played dress-up! Unfortunately, Ellie is still a little young to really get into dress-up, so we only did it for a few minutes and I let her get into her pjs. She then laid in my lap eating her formula (drinking her formula?) and watched the sunset cast beautiful golden and peach hues on the clouds that were framed by a perfect blue sky. She loves sunsets, I have figured out. When I took the pictures posted of her in the last post she was looking at a beautiful sunset too. Maybe she'll be an artist! But all good things must end, and I came home Saturday night (I actually didn't arrive until 1:30 am on Sunday morning).
On the way home from the family reunion I thought I was going blind. My contacts were a mess from the wind blowing them dry all day, and I had forgotten to bring re-wetting fluid. So, I naturally thought my inability to see very well was a result of those factors. But, it turns out one of my headlights was out. I had just gotten it fixed not that long ago too. You know, the first thing to go is the headlights! ;) So on my way home tonight I got pulled over by a policeman. He seemed amused as I shuffled through six years worth of insurance slips, and a few years worth of registrations before finding the current ones. I wasn't even sure if the insurance one was right because I forgot what the date was. My cognitive resources had been completely tapped by the fact that a police officer had pulled me over for not being in compliance with a law (two headlights are mandatory in cars), and I became a bumbling fool. He checked out my license and registration to make sure he didn't have cause to make his own little "Cops" episode, then sent me on my way. So for the second time today I had a highly stressful incident to recover from.
What was the first incident you ask? (hopefully you asked). Today, just before I was going to work, I stopped by the old house where Zach and his friend were cutting all the grass with gas powered grass trimmers. They were sitting out front having completed the task and I was talking to them when I saw water spraying out of the water tap. Now the water was turned off almost a year ago, and I didn't call the city to have it turned back on. So I asked, what's up with that? It turns out that the guy who bought my neighbor's house (stole it really - he paid her less than what the lot is worth) had gone to the street and turned the water on so he could water his lawn - a totally illegal act that anyone who gets a city water bill should know about because it's printed right on the bill. Then Zach went into the house and came out saying "mom, we have a really bad problem!" One of the pipes in my bathroom had broken, and water was spraying everywhere. I don't know for sure how long the water had been on, and I am afraid to go into the basement to look at the damage.
I was furious. This morning when I dropped the boys off I spoke with this man (Ray Perron) because he had gated my ditch and the water was threatening to flood my basement then. I told him where the ditch outlet for his property was and he seemed ok with everything. So why he thought it would be ok to ask my son and his friend for permission to break the law and steal my water is beyond me. When I called him he acted all innocent like he wasn't doing anything wrong. The city guy had come out and was upset and said I should press charges. And I might yet. My question to this guy is if he didn't think it was a problem to turn the water on at the city meter to my house, why didn't he turn it on at his house? This is a serious question, and brings his intentions and true guilt to the forefront, don't you think? And, why did he think my son and his friend had any authority to give permission to turn the city water on to my house? Did it not occur to him that he might need MY permission as the owner of the house? Does this fact not also bring his credibility into question? I actually yelled and said bad words to him over the phone. And, I lost an hour of work because of it to. I do not like my new neighbor. And he is a landlord (slumlord?) so he will likely not make sure only good upstanding people move in the way he acted today. We had just got the worst of the worst out too! We haven't had a drive by in years!
ok, but I'm home now, and safe. I just need to calm down and sleep.
