Danger

There is danger in taking on another's duty - danger that we may neglect our own, and that we may deprive them of what they may learn from finding their own solutions.
(One Day At A Time In Al-Anon, 7 May)

******

I think we solved a long-standing problem with our house yesterday. For a long time whenever we had high winds we heard a noise at the back of the house.  I checked the three windows, the gutters and the aluminum siding. I couldn't locate the loose piece. This weekend our daughter, Cyndi, told me to check the basement door. This door, with a doorknob lock and a deadbolt lock, was moving back and forth about 1/4 of an inch whenever we experience fluctuating wnds . I wonder if this problem manifested after the earthquake we had several years ago. I devised a temporary fix. I wedged a screwdriver between the deadbolt and the door jam. This moved the door slightly inward and stopped the back and forth movement in the wind. I wouldn't have found the problem myself. I swore the sound was coming from above ground.  The joys of home ownership never cease.

Dick Henthorn

3 November 2014

Joys Of Home Ownership

There's more to nourishing a family than the food they need to stay alive and healthy. Families also need spiritual and and emotional sustenance. "Close families building history."
(The Christophers, Three Minutes A Day, Vol. 22 October)

Early in the week we experienced a serious plumbing issue in our old house.  It appears that the pipe from the laundry room floor drain to the front of the house is broken. Plumbers are not able to clear the problem with a snake.  The snake hangs and it is very difficult to extract afterwards.  The second time it happened it took more than one hour and two men to retrieve the snake.  The plan is to open the concrete floor, gain access to the pipe, run a TV camera into the pipe to access the problem. Then replace all or part of the pipe.  The big issue is to find a plumbing company with the skill to accomplish the job.  To say the least, we are in deep trouble with no guarantees that throwing thousands of dollars at the problem will have good results.

This housing maintenance
crisis will have serious impacts on the three of us living in this house and will no doubt cause us to do some serious long-term planning for our future.  There is no doubt that it will impact my interest and ability to post to my two Google blogs
Mr. Dickie
21 March 2014