Don't Stop Believing...

SUMMARY: ...Dogs can make a mess of things...

For some inexplicable reason known only to strange quarks, Human Mom has of late been immersing herself in Journey's Don't Stop Believin' ** over and over. At least a couple of times a day. Have rediscovered it after all these years. Man, Steve Perry has a Voice!  Listen to it again; wow! (Plus what lovely music.)

Plus: Vacuuming every. Single. Day.  Sometimes twice!  Jeez!  Add them together--

Just a small town dog Diggin' up a funky log He took that thing inside to chew anywhere
Just a Zorro boy He can't find a normal toy He took that thing inside to chew anywhere
A dead plant from a plastic pot Such a lovely thing they've got Dig it up and spread the soil It goes on and on, and on, and on
[Chorus] Strange dog chew toys Up and down the living room Their remnants lying everywhere
Vacuum, pointless Next it's plum stains on the carpet Makin' me tear out my hair
Working hard to clean the shower None-the-less within the hour The dog is walkin' through the door
Dusty feet and moistened floor Adding up to one big chore Oh, the footprints never end They go on and on, and on, and on
Strange dog chew toys Bringing clods of dirt inside Their teeth leave long lines in the clay
Paper on the ground Envelopes are often found It's some new chew toy every day
Don't stop believin' Dogs can make a mess of things Dog toy stuffing... Oh-oh-ohhhhhhhhh! Don't stop believin'!

** For original lyrics, go here.

Vacation Day 4: Carpets! And Stuff!

SUMMARY: A mish-mash around having wet carpeting in most of the house.

Got up bright and early, went to work doing the final moving of things off the carpet in the various rooms that I hadn't wanted to do the night before, and moving some more fragile items out of the way, just in case.

Carpet leaners showed up promptly at 9:00 and went right to work. I love watching how the steamer moistens and sucks, moistens and sucks, and takes away the soil! Took a bit over an hour to do everything, and parts of the carpet definitely look better now, but the really heavily trafficked carpet in my office/den is due for replacement, I'm afraid--the glowing golden tan of the places that have had objects on them for the last 10 years is in stark contrast to the heavily traveled areas. The wear is evident.

Still, when I told the guy that I think it's been 7 years since they were last cleaned, his eyes popped--"With 2 dogs," he said, "your carpets are in amazing condition for that much time." Well, in part, that's because they stay out of the dining/living area most of the time, aren't usually dirty when we go up to bed, and I try to stay on top of soil in the office/den ASAP with vacuuming or my trusty Bissel hand-held spot remover sucker thingie.

I needed things to do while the carpets dried, so I paid some bills, did some cleaning up of various things out in the yard that I'd been putting off, played with the dogs and trimmed their nails, and fit in a medical appointment and a trip to the bank for lots of cash because tomorrow I'm leaving for--

Disneyland! Yayyyyy!

We're driving down leisurely on Wednesday, spending 3 days between Disneyland and California Adventure, then driving leisurely back on Sunday. I haven't been in nearly 3 years and it's time for my Dland fix! Flashing back 3 years--although I'm sure it'll look exactly the same--

If things go well, I'll be able to post a little bit each evening about our day. See y'all online!

Vacation Day 3: Housework and, Yes, Irrigation

SUMMARY: Carpet cleaners are coming!

I promised myself at the beginning of the summer that this year for sure I'd have all the carpets cleaned--it's been years, and they're not terrible, but you could tell if you paid attention that they need work. And most of my carpets are very light colored, so spots and soil show up.

I spent the day clearing away all the small and medium-sized stuff from the office/den, living room, dining room, master bedroom and closet, and guest bedroom, then vacuuming very thoroughly. It took me hours to get it all done and it was the largest amount of a physical workout that I've had in a long time.

Usually when I vacuum, it's one room at a time, not all the rooms in one day. Man, that...is...work!

I also spent more time processing photos--jeez, I take a lot!--and a bit of time on the irrigation system, namely:

• Staring for 10 minutes at the danged broken pipe joint in the rose bed trying to figure out if there's any easy way to fix it to avoid having to dig up several feet of pipe and redo the whole complicated joint. Put it off again.
• Removed the 17 caps and replaced the 17 sprinkler heads from the circuit in the Back 40 that has already been repaired. This turned out not to be trivial. Also filled in the pit around the feeder line where the repair had been made.

(That's mostly for my own notes, since I haven't said any of the background for this. Someday. Really.)

Phew! A good day's work done.

Creek Cleanup

SUMMARY: Take that, you evil plastic bags!

Today was National River Clean-up Day. I spent a couple of hours along Canoas Creek near my house with other volunteers.

The creek was amazingly clear of trash, although we did haul out a few small bags of stuff. A few years back, I helped along the Guadalupe River and we hauled out dumpsters worth of stuff. People today told me that Canoas Creek was like that a few years back when they first started. Now, not nearly so bad.

Here I am after a successful plastic-bag-picking-up morning. (Also snack wrappers, broken glass. Not much else. Except balls. Lots of balls.)

Go here: http://elf1.smugmug.com/Events/River-Clean-Up-Day-May-2011/ to see all my photos for the day, with the usual captions.