Archive for ‘June, 2009’

Creekside

If I need to go to Home Depot, I like to go early in the morning. There are usually plenty of Home Depot people available if I have a question and not too many customer people other than contractors. I wanted to get a wet vac before memory of the “flood” cleanup faded and I would decide I didn’t really need one…

Not too big, not too small and I will take it out of the box soon and make sure it works.

Karl and I took the scenic route to Home Depot. Actually, the normal route is scenic but I added an extra dose by taking some back roads I like. We stopped at an old church turned into community center where Karl attended puppy Kindergarten. I knew we could walk around and it was just some place a little different than our usual walk spots.

Down the road further, Whitefish River and a few side creeks wind through the farms and ranches on the valley floor.

Creekside.

A day that ended better than it started

Today started with a few glitches. Bob threw up a hairball at approximately 3:50 a.m. I was sound asleep and did not come awake in time to get his blankie under his mouth…hairball and the accompanying yuck made a direct hit on the down comforter – rats! I did a quick half-awake cleanup and went back to sleep.

On getting up for good, I grabbed the comforter and made for the washer. There was not actually much of a mess and the thought crossed my mind that I could clean the corner in the sink, but that comforter had not been washed for awhile so I threw it in and started the washer.

Background: I have had down comforters for most of my adult years and successfully washed them with some regularity. The tricks are: a good comforter, proper soap, and beating the down as it dries so that it does not clump. The place I buy the comforters sells a special soap. They also sell some poly-rings specifically for putting in the dryer to do the beating – they beat the “tennis shoe in the sock” thing that I used to do.

The second glitch was that after my first cup of coffee, on going to check on Bob’s meowing, I discovered that the washer had quietly overflowed. A lot of water was on the floor of the laundry closet, entry and the room that I now know is downslope – the workout/craft/boys room. The floors are all engineered hardwood – they do not like water.

It took every towel and my entire supply of old flannel sheets to sop up the water. And a lot of time. The runners that are in that area were soaked.

The good news is that floor has not been that clean since I moved in. Additionally, after an experimental small load to see what was leaking where, it appears it WAS an overflow vs something broken so I was able to wash and dry all of those towels and sheets. And the comforter is fine and clean. And the runners had a bath.

I will be going to Home Depot tout de suite and purchasing a vac that sucks up water, ensuring that I will never have another “flood” in the house being thusly prepared. Still… worth it! If I had one of those, the cleanup as well as the cleanup of the cleanup would have gone much faster. Lesson learned.

The other good news is that the day improved from there! The sun came out. There was a soft breeze and blue sky and moderate temperatures – a perfectly, perfect day.

The cause…

…unaware!

GoatsBeard: a pretty wildflower that is open in the morning and closes at noon. I saw it for the first time this year on the lunchtime walk.

A sunshiney flower for a sunshiney day…a day that ended better than it started.

Let there be light

Genesis 1:14
And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years…”

To celebrate the first day of summer, the summer solstice, the separation of seasons, the longest day of the year – this sunrise photo from Western Wings RV Park, Roberts, ID, taken on June 13, 2009.