Well, Damn

Here I sit, early on a Saturday morning typing on my blog, when I should be fast asleep. "Why am I up so early ?" you might ask. "Because the damn water heater leaked all over the garage last night," I might answer. I'm not going to import a picture of the leaky water heater, it would just depress you. Here's how it started.

Last night before going upstairs to bed, I checked the garage like I do most nights. I'm in charge of security around here. I was making sure the doors were down...don't want any intruders...four legged or two legged, when I spotted the leak. How could I miss it, it looked like Katrina had come to visit (I exaggerate), or that monsoon segment in the movie Jumanji. Anyway, to make his day or evening, I alerted Tom with a shrill that could be heard from miles. You can just imagine his delight. Words came out of his mouth that would make Lucifer look like Beaver Cleaver.

Needless to say, we started moving stuff away from the walls so we could begin the fun task of sweeping stuff (you know what I want to say) out of the garage. In between dirty looks and snide remarks, we talked about whom to call. He didn't want to call Sears again and I didn't want to call the plumbers who we usually call.

In Atlanta there is a company that advertises constantly. As luck would have it,I've memorized their phone number because their jingle stays with you. It goes like this, "Trust Superior, the honest one, call 770-422-plum." How could you forget it? (Imagine what you heard after seeing either the play or the movie Mama Mia.) Being honest and all, we or really Tom called them this morning at 6:45. John, the honest one, was here an hour later. After all of the pleasantries, he inspected the situation and started with the questions. Size, code, cut-offs, and water pressure were discussed. Tom and I both glazed over after 20 minutes of stimulating conversation. We hadn't had anything to eat or drink because, you know, the water was turned off. We were in a weakened state.

Then came the dreaded price book. We weren't that concerned because I had my booklet with the receipt of the leaky water heater purchase. ( My filing system is, I must say phenomenal.) We bought it in 1997 from Sears at $440. It couldn't be that much more, could it? Even if we went from a 40 gallon to a 50 gallon, how much more could it be? About $1000. more, that's how much!

So, that's it. Exactly $1365.90 (including my $25.00 coupon from the internet) later, the honest one has completed the job, Tom is watching the golf tournament...it's 3:15 in England and I'm going to take a nap.

Here are a few shots of our next vacation.

As Walter, God love him, would say, "And that's the way it is."

July 4, 2009

It was early in the morning when I took this shot. I wanted to get to the beach before the crowds started to descend, but it didn't exactly work out like I planned...it never does. When I arrived the walkers were already there. By now I've learned how to play "cat and mouse" and I play it with a lot of patience. In most of my shots, I wait for a gap and then quickly take the picture. In the image below, I gave up and took it with the walkers. I was trying to capture the feeling of peace and quiet on the beach in the morning.

Then four hours later, look what happened to that peace and quiet! I took this shot through the window of our hotel. That explains the reflection on the left of the image and the blue tint.

I wanted to get a closer look, so I thought I would just mosey on down there and mingle among the crowds. Here are upclose and personal images of the masses. As I was enhancing the images, I found this filter. Gotta love Photoshop! This image was taken facing west. In case you were worrying, since this is a public place (beach), I didn't have to get signed releases. Hah, as if.

This image was taken facing north.

Facing north again.

This image was much clearer when I downloaded it, but I just wanted to try some funky stuff. I am liking funky.

I could have taken some really humorous shots, but it was around five in the afternoon and most of these folks were deep into the grape, so I didn't try it. I'm not that sneeky. Maybe if I wore a press pass they would think I was official. There's always next year.