Oh, by the way.

Well, about the repairs.

And so on Thursday, the plumbing company that the home warranty company uses here in town came over.  Only one plumber came this time.  Usually the company sends two, but in this case, it was one nice young man who had been assigned to make 11 calls that day.  They were that busy.

He was easily able to solve our slow-draining bathtub, and he made it so that we won't have that problem again.  We have too much hair, human and cat, in this house, to have any kind of mechanism in a tub or shower that catches and holds the stuff in the pipe.  Better that it just go on through, if it gets stuck downstairs in the big pipe, we have an outdoor clean-out.  Somewhere, we do.  We'd have to find it, it's overgrown now, but it is there.

We do not, however, have an individual outdoor clean-out for the kitchen sink.  The warranty company requires that kitchen sink stoppages be cleaned out from the outside, so you can't blame them for sink damage.  No snaking it from the inside, which i was afraid to do anyway, concerned i would push the onions further down the line and stop up more stuff.

Anyway, no clean-out for the sink, they cannot do it, not under the warranty.  They can, however, come back this next Tuesday with two people and a ladder and a machine and go through the vent in the roof.  That, and capping off the lines to the now completely irreparable dishwasher so we can remove it (the sink backup went into it and i will never be able to get it clean, and the pump was gone anyway) is going to cost a few of hundred dollars.

Meanwhile we have a big bowl in the sink that all water has to go into, and when it's full it has to be poured into a large pot, and when that's full it has to be taken outdoors and poured out.

Did i mention that Tuesday morning is also when i have an appointment to get some items on the Jalopy fixed?  Kevin has already ordered the parts.  The parts that need replacing would keep the Jalopy from passing inspection, so i'm glad they went out now, two months after this year's inspection was over, but still.  Yes, i could go until closer to the next inspection to get it done, but then the check engine light would stay on all of the time, and if something really went wrong with the engine, i'd never know unless i stopped to have them pull the codes every week, which i am not going to do to them they are already too nice to me for me to be bothering them like that.

Also yesterday, while i was waiting my turn to do laundry (yes, there are 7 adults currently in this house, we have to take turns), i heard a familiar dripping noise with a sinking feeling.  The A/C is stopped up and leaking again.

It's just the start of the leak, barely at all, but we have to get on this right now or we will lose the unit.  Yes, the warranty company would cover this, but for only $25 more than the deductible i can get Sweetie's old friend Kurt from where he used to work to come over and do it today, without having to wait a week to get scheduled, and he will also check over the whole unit and make sure there are no other problems.

The thing is, it could always be worse, and i know that, so i'm keeping up on my gratitude list, and remembering to breathe.  Also, to laugh.

"Mom, I have big plans for the 4th!" Bigger Girl told me.

What's up? i asked.

"I am going to see Jodie and Callie out in the country for a weekend of snakes, fireworks, and home-made redneck hooch!  And I promise all of those things will be had separately."

No matter what is going on, how can anyone not be grateful after hearing that?

Today is:

Adonia -- Ancient Roman Calendar (date approximate, but always in July, a ritual to honor Adonis)

Build a Scarecrow Day -- keep the crows out of that field of freshly growing corn out on the back 40!

Cherokee Green Corn Ceremony -- honoring maize goddess Selu with thanksgiving for the maize harvest; date approximate, as many towns set their own times to celebrate

Distressed Elves' Creditors' Day -- Fairy Calendar

Flag & Anthem Day -- Curacao

Freedom From Fear of Public Speaking Day -- as proposed by Beverly Beuermann-King, because you don't want to blow it when your big opportunity comes because you are afraid to speak out!

Hop A Park Day -- US (several years ago the Colleyville, Texas, Park and Recreation Commission started this celebration on the first Saturday of July, which is National Parks and Recreation Month; go visit a park today, or make plans to do it soon!)

I Forgot Day (the day to celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, or other special days that you forgot during the first half of the year)

International Cherry Pit Spitting Championship -- Tree-Mendus Fruit Farm, Eau Claire, WI, US

International Day of Cooperatives -- U.N.

National Anisette Day

Palio di Provenzano -- Siena, Italy (horse race and pageant, named after the Madonna di Provenzano, whose church is in Siena)

Rebildfesten/Rebild Festival/American Independence Day Celebration -- Aalborg, Denmark (the town dresses in red, white and blue, celebrating with BBQ, American beer, and more; through the 4th)

Remember to Feed the Hummingbirds Day -- internet reminder to be nice to these beautiful creatures

Rockport Art Festival -- Rockport, TX, US (top artists from around the country line the waterfront today and tomorrow, with good music and good food to add to the fun)

Second Half of the Year Day -- because 2016 is a Leap Year, the second half of the year started at midnight

St. Swithin's Day (Patron against drought; of Stavenger, England; Winchester, England)

The Dam Experience -- Warsaw, MO, US (fireworks viewed from land and boat at the Truman Dam)

Tour de France -- through Sunday, July 24

Try to Find Your Slinky Day -- the weird holiday of the day!

Violin Lovers' Day

World UFO Day -- unfortunately, a real day observed by many around the world (on the "anniversary" of the UFO crash in Roswell, if such a thing even happened, which i doubt*) 

*i believe that if there's life elsewhere, it shows its intelligence by staying away from us!


Anniversary Today:

Prince Albert of Belgium marries Paola Ruffo di Calabria, 1959


Birthdays Today:

Lindsay Lohan, 1986
Ashley Tisdale, 1985
Johnny Weir, 1984
Jose, Jr., and Ozzie Canseco, 1964
Jimmy McNichol, 1961
Ron Silver, 1946
Vicente Fox Quesada, 1942
Richard Petty, 1937
Polly Holiday, 1937
Dave Thomas, 1932
Medgar Evers, 1925
Dan Rowan, 1922
Ken Curtis, 1916
Thurgood Marshall, 1908
Jean René Lacoste, 1904
Hermann Hesse, 1877
Thomas Cranmer, 1489


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"The Andy Williams Show"(TV), 1957
"The Lawrence Welk Show"(TV), 1955
"Finlandia"(Sibelius' Op. 26), 1900


Today in History:

Thomas Savery patents the first steam engine, 1698
Vermont  becomes the first American territory to abolish slavery, 1777
Charles J. Guiteau shoots and fatally wounds U.S. President James Garfield, who eventually dies from an infection on September 19, 1881
Twenty miles off the coast of Cuba, 53 rebelling African slaves led by Joseph Cinque take over the slave ship Amistad, 1893
Italian scientist Guglielmo Marconi obtains patent for radio in London, 1897
The first zeppelin flight takes place on Lake Constance near Friedrichshafen, Germany, 1900
Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan are last heard from over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to make the first equatorial round-the-world flight 1937
The first Wal-Mart store opens for business in Rogers, Arkansas, 1962
North and South Vietnam, divided since 1954, reunite to form the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, 1976
The AbioCor  self contained artificial heart is first implanted, 2001
Steve Fossett becomes the first person to fly solo around the world nonstop in a balloon, 2002
Planetoid Pluto's fourth and fifth moons officially receive the names Kerberos and Styx from the International Astronomical Union, 2013