It's been awhile....
I finally found facebook. Find isn't actually the correct word. I knew where it was but avoided it like having ants in the house.
My ambivalence stemmed from going to five high schools, spending four years active duty in the AF and another 20 married to the AF which resulted in at least 13 moves. That's a lot of people to know, lose contact with, and then get reacquainted with at one time.
And you know what? I was right to wait.
Don't get me wrong. I love LOVE love hearing from old friends, and finally knowing how everyone is doing. But it is every bit as time consuming as expected but twice as much fun. Good thing I waited until the lull between quarters.
It is also somewhat surreal to see the faces of old friends next the pictures of the brand spanking new ones. The saying, "You can tell a lot about a person by her friends" comes into mind here. I didn't realize until I saw all the handsome mugs staring out at me on facebook, that most of my lasting relationships are with men. The few women who actually connect stay for life, but they are much fewer than the men.
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We have well water. For the most part I like it. We don't rely on, or pay the city to provide us with it. However, and isn't there always a however? A couple weeks ago I noticed our water pressure isn't what it should be. I mentioned it to my husband who immediately began tracking down the reason. Two weeks later we now have the sad sad answer.
Our home is 40 years old. It's big open floor plan and almost an acre of wooded lot sold us on it at first sight. But 40 years ago, they constructed homes on concrete slabs and used galvanized steel pipes in the slab for water. Galvanized steel has a life expectancy of 40 years....you see where I'm going with this?
That's right. My husband found a broke pipe leading from the well into our home. The pipe is concreted into the slab. He dug down three feet outside to the line, tunneled under the heat pump unit and finally found the leak...er, kinda. It's actually coming from the pipe inside the slab...so we get to punch a hole in the slab and insert new pipes. But not before dismantling a water softner and bladder tank inside! Yeah.
Not.
Right now we have no water and I'm having flash backs to the wind storm last fall which left us without water or electric for SEVEN days.
So I've done a lot of research. There are several newer types of water "pipes" out now..the latest around here is PEX.
It's comes in all sizes, is flexible like a rubber hose so you don't need all those elbows and risk leaking joints. Ten years ago a contractor would recommend jack hammering the slab all through the house and replacing the pipes when it comes time to re-plumb the house. Now however, because of PEX and other materials, people can simple re-route their water through the attic.
I know, you're thinking...are you crazy what if it leaks? But most new homes in the south now have water routed through the attic, as well as any two story home with a bathroom upstairs. If you think about it, the water pipes going to service the 2nd floor are in the roof and walls of the first floor.
Freezing isn't a big factor when routing through the attic either because of all the insulation in the attic, as well as special pipe wraps for just such a thing.
Right now we have no intentions of re-plumbing our whole house. We'll just wait until we need too. But at least we know it can be done for $500 instead of spending thousands and damaging the slab of our home.
My primary concern is the water sat for about two weeks before we found it. It was a LOT of water...and I wonder if it affected the structural integrity of the footers on that corner of the house. My husband believes when he opens up the floor he'll be able to tell. Beneath the slab there is supposed to be a foot of sand between the dirt and the concrete. Of course it settles over time, but we should be able to tell what's happened by looking at it, or having a structural engineer look at it.
My husband doesn't think there's anything wrong, thinks we caught it in time....but me? I'm not so optimistic. Things usually don't work out for us that way...if it can break it does, if it can flood it will, if it can ..... you know...
What really stinks is we were going to Destin Florida for a week's vacation next week, and now we have to postpone it a week to deal with this. Because if it can break it does, if it can flood it will, if it can.....you know...
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We went canoeing for the first time this summer on Father's Day. The river was high and running at a good clip thanks to the recent couple day's rain.
If you want to know (as a couple) how your communication skills are, here is a sure method. Place something valuable and precious in the middle of a canoe. (In our case it was our kids, one can swim well, the other is still learning...both wore life vests). Go out on a river that looks a "little" higher and faster than normal, and canoe it for about six miles.
To really understand your communication strengths and weaknesses you must choose a river with several dams (fallen trees and brush) which cause lots of white water and swirling tides....and occasionally require getting out and carrying the canoe several hundred feet through poison ivy, nettles, and such before putting back in. Your precious cargo must complain bitterly about these portages while you sweat and bleed in the mud while lugging the canoe over fallen trees the size of a trailer.
Also, one of your precious children must be a teenager who weighs more than you do and doesn't want to be there. The other must never stop talking, or in some cases, screaming.
The "man" must be in the back of the canoe. After all, its "where all the steering is done" and he must shout orders to the significant other in the front of the canoe, loudly, in a panic filled voice when approaching white water. He must believe tipping a canoe is not only a slight against his manly steering skills, but dangerous with kids aboard..especially one that can't swim.
She must think tipping a canoe is no big deal, the water is cool and its hot outside. The kid that can't swim has a vest on and his beacon mouth won't ever allow him to get lost...and in most places with white water its only three feet deep and he's at least that tall.
Got the picture all snug in your wee little bed? (Oh sorry, that's Christmas...not....well, THIS.)
Here's my family on Father's Day.
MH (my husband): "Tonya we're coming up to another dam."
ME:"I see it."
MH:"Row left! Row left! Don't get us turned sideways!"
Me: "SHUT UP! I know how to row a canoe!"
Teenager: "Gah, this is so stupid."
Gavin: (Screaming really loud while gripping the sides of the canoe) "EMERGENCY! EMERGENCY! EMERGENCY!"
Husband continues yelling orders, which woman ignores because he's not the boss of me (and because of the tone. Ladies, does your man have a tone? Think HUT 2, 3, 4 over a loud speaker and you have my husband's tone when we get on the water) the canoe goes sideways, turns backwards and rushes backward through the slim path cut out of the dam in the middle of the river.
When we get to the other side, and get the canoe turned back around, there are multiple people sitting in their canoes staring at us.....I dunno why. Maybe....
They could hear us coming a mile away....
It went on for over SIX miles.
22 years of marriage....and our communication is rockin.
Don't be a hater. Not everyone can have such awesome communication.
Only the VERY fortunate.
Because if it can break it does, if it can flood it will, if it can.....you know...
We're just cool like that.