Wednesday, May 21, 2014

More Noisy Machines and What is that Smell

We got home at around 12:30 pm today - the property looks gorgeous: the leaves on the trees have more fully emerged; the apple trees were just starting their bloom; the hostas had settled into their new homes; the fields looked pastoral. I was ready to get my picnic basket and take it down to the river... except... there is road construction... noisy, dirty road construction.

They are "eating" the pavement, in the aim to eventually repave. It is much overdue so I can't complain, but it seems there is no escape from noisy machines, even in the house with all the windows closed. No escape!!!! Argggh. I will have to work hard on imagining the noise is ocean waves crashing against the shore, or a beautiful rushing river roiling over rocks.

The dogs are exhausted from the camp - when we got home Spike was sitting in his usual spot looking out the window, but he couldn't keep his eyes open, I could see him 1/2 toppling over as he struggled to stay awake.

Later in the afternoon I went out to finish bringing stuff back into the house - hummmm.... something smells funny around the camper. At first I thought it was from the road construction, but it was much stronger around the camper. Got my nose going, but couldn't find a source. Once Carm was finished the grass I got him out to see if he could find anything. We checked all the sources (or so we thought), but couldn't narrow it down. Then, finally, the propane alarm started buzzing. Oh oh. I quickly turned off the tanks and we left the trailer to breathe. There are a few things that we checked that could easily have triggered off a spark... Whew, I guess today was our lucky day. They must have changed the propane smell though, as it didn't smell like it used to, otherwise we would have cued in sooner.

But the day wasn't over yet... we'd been having problems with the house's hot water heater before we left, and absence hadn't fixed it. Carm swapped out the thermostat which seemed to do the trick. Until later in the evening when I went to have a hot bath and found the water cold. Head slap - we'd forgotten to flip the breaker after finishing the work!

And still the day continued... Grace was moving around her cage in an unusual way. She seemed uncomfortable and couldn't find a place to perch. Finally she settled on somewhere and started straining. Alarmed, I jumped up and started looking for a syringe as my only thought of what to do was to syringe water down her throat. I was on my way back from looking in the camper, and there was Carm at the door with a funny look on his face. Grace had passed whatever was ailing her - an egg!

One more comment - spring is truly here and so are legions of mosquitoes - the air is thick with them!

Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.  ~Thomas A. Edison

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