Dear Disapproving Neighbor

If you don’t want to see me wandering around in my undershorts, you should give me some warning before coming over. A person should be afforded a modicum of privacy, I mean, It’s my yard and I’ll rake it how I like. Sheesh.

Thoughts on Omaha

I read an interesting blog post on Omaha this morning and opted to leave the following comment:

This will make me seem exceedingly backwoods, but Omaha scares me. Close to half a million people? Ye cats! When people ask me where I’m from, I always say, “Sioux City, a town of 60,000 just north of Omaha,” because no one knows where Sioux City is. But I’m not really from Sioux City, I just say that. I’m from Le Mars, a town of 8,000 people just north of Sioux City. Except I’m not really from Le Mars either, I’m from Brunsville, a town of 120 just west of Le Mars. Well, actually, I’m closer to Ruble, just west of Brunsville, which had a population of two until Bill passed away a few years back…

I don’t get off the farm much.

So for me, going to Sioux City is spooky big, and Omaha is HUGE! Whenever we go to Omaha the traffic spooks me (I’m really not used to anything with more than two lanes) and I want to put a big sign on the back of my car that says, “Please Don’t Scare Me, I Poop Easily.”

Dejittering

About six months ago or so I switched to half-caff coffee. A few weeks ago I started mixing the half-caff in with decaffeinated, so I’m at about a quarter-caff. My stomach doesn’t hurt nearly as much now, and I find I’m able to concentrate better in the three hours a day I’m awake.

Le Sigh

I’ve talked to about twelve or fifteen different people about getting estimates to finish my basement. (Cash is scarce now, but I really do want to get the basement done sometime so I can set up a photography studio down there. Walls are up, paint is done, need a false ceiling, lights, floor of some kind, doors hung, that sort of thing.) But so far no one’s actually come out to our place to even look at it.

Meanwhile our garage door opener pooped out on us again. It’s worked maybe six months in the three years we’ve lived here, so I called a pro. He took my money, said he’d order a new unit, and told me he’d call me first thing Monday morning to set up a time either Monday or Tuesday to install the thing. It’s Tuesday, and I haven’t heard a word from him yet. I’m wondering if he took my money and ran.

Late yesterday afternoon I had occasion to use the water spigot on the side of our house (I was filling buckets of water to dump on some baby trees I got in the mail a few weeks ago from the Arbor Day people). After a bit I noticed water coming out from under our siding, leaking down the foundation. That’s NOT good. A quick trip to the basement revealed a nifty puddle of water along that wall. So I called the plumber. He said they’d be out today or tomorrow to fix it. I hope they follow through.

I worry. It feels like our little paradise is slowly falling apart, but I can’t seem to get people to come out and fix it, and if they do I’m not real sure how to pay them. It makes me feel helpless.