Murphy's law and the tasty cableboy

 Not long after the last post.. Murphy's law activated.

 The sewer line is old terra cotta pipe that tree roots have been invading. A problem we have been having to deal with repeatedly. Add to that water weeping in after a decent rain. YAY!  So the house settled just enough that the sewer line was utterly kaput in several locations.

 Hundreds of pounds of produce in my house..... and no plumbing!!!!!!

 Our neighbors came to the rescue and for the next 2 weeks they opened their homes to us.

 Luck is that during this time our one elderly neighbor threw out his back and my husband found him not long after he was incapacitated. My husband carried our neighbor down the stairs and all the way to the car... then off to the doctor. I cooked for him and as well other neighbors would check in to make sure he was ok. A week of rest, several more trips to the doctor, and some industrial strength pain meds he was good to go.

 The concrete guys who came to redo the line were wonderful. I sent them off with tomatoes, eggs, melons, peppers, squash, apples, and an assortment of my jars. It was better to give away what I could than let it spoil. They accidently hit the water main and flooded the yard.. which created a massive mudslide that covered the neighbor's driveway as he is downhill from us. Then nailed the cable line which was barely 2 inches underground when they refilled the 8 foot deep trench. They kept the work site clean, even cleaning up the sidewalk and our neighbor's driveway. They also neatly piled the old copper pipes and solid lead pipe in the basement. This was particularly lovely of them. Often if you don't specify you want that metal.. it has a way of magically disappearing from a site. 

 The cable life  line snapped and I rather enjoyed it. I ended up meeting yet another neighbor (Julie) while I was raking leaves. She's also into gardening (flowers).. but is working 3 jobs so she can't get to it like she wants. Even better.. she is as well a seed thief.. with connections! She needed a hand moving, so I helped her. She's just outside of town at a place that she can garden as much as she wants. The hitch.. cattle. There is no fence keeping the bovine away from the house. The house is in a pasture. Come this spring.. we'll be helping her put in some fencing. Until then, we get to hear tales about the cow that was on the patio.. and calling in late to work as 3 young bulls were between her and getting to her car. Clanging pots & pans no longer scary enough to convince them to move.

 The cable line was finally replaced... yesterday. They've dinked around in my house trying everything, except fixing the obvious cable wires sticking out from the middle of the lawn like a pulled thread. (The cute cable guy is in his early 20's.. and many years ago when I was single.. I'd be inviting a few girl friends over and breaking the cable darn near daily. Although back in those days.. it was a fireman in his boxers.. but that is another tale.) The dog loves Cableboy. As he busily swaps equipment and types on his laptop.. our dog stares adoringly and randomly licks. The first time.. the guy was wedged behind the entertainment center as he was stretching to get at the cords. The dog licked his arm..the flailing was just 1 indicator that he was caught off guard. I don't know what it is about this kid.. but my dog finds him tasty.

 Things are finally in working order.

 Some of the construction guys are friends with Buddy across the street. They were wondering if I have a farmstand and hoping to get more jarred goods. Next year... hopefully.

 Next year is going to be insanely busy. Right now is still super busy. I'm actually looking forward to when things slow down... Just not yet. Not until I finish planting more garlic, moving these strawberry plants and dividing the hostas.