Things went along just fine today, for the most part. Everything fell into place for tomorrow's closing on the house. I went up to the local bank branch and got my cashier's check with no hassle. Everything was going along just fine. I even stopped at my favorite little coffee shop.
I stopped at Denver Mattress and bought a mattress and a platform foundation with springs. The mattress will be delivered on Saturday but the springs are back ordered so I'll pick them up next trip. I can sleep on the floor.
I stopped in at the local Lutheran church that is in my neighborhood and met some puzzled people. Apparently you don't just wander in and quiz folks about the church. Turns out that there was only the preschool staff there and they weren't sure what to say but they gave me a brochure and the email address of the pastor. That's more than I had before so okiedokie.
I went to lunch and had my very first Whataburger...a local chain or at least a regional chain that includes Albuquerque. A Whataburger is a huge hamburger...like a whopper with just about everything on it. You can have cheese or green chile or both on top of the other stuff. I opted for cheese. I needed two other people to help me eat it but it was good.
I met with Betty so we could do the walk through at the house. She was a little cramped for time. Since we have both spent time in the house on different occasions and I didn't see anything wrong and neither did she so we decided to not go through the formality of the walk through. She said the closing was set for 10 AM tomorrow.
I did a little shopping for the house and headed up to do some organizing and to feed the fish. I had several boxes packed and two folding chairs, a couple lamps, dishes and glasses, folding bookcases, a boom-box and a few other things. I had my inflatable bed for my first night in the house and got it situated and inflated. I unpacked and organized what kitchen stuff I have. I'm happy to have a gas stove...finally. Everything works and I keep finding new things. There is an automatic gate on the driveway that operates with a remote.
I decided to go out and tend to the koi pond. Rod has been taking care of it so I figured I'd handle it while I was in town. Rod is 75 and negotiates the process pretty well. Looks like it is an easy job. Well...I'm not as nimble as Rod is and I had a hard time getting down to check out the filters. I'm a little top heavy so I have to be careful getting down and back up. I got the filters pulled out and then had to get back up and squirt them with the hose. Then I had to get back down and replace them into the pump compartment. I did this ok but somehow, getting back up my foot jostled a loose rock and it rolled to the edge of the pond. Well...we can't have that, can we? So I scramble back to reposition the rock and stepped on another loose rock and --splash-- my foot was in the water...then my knee and then most of me. It's deeper than it looks. The rocks in the pond were too slippery to get any traction. I managed to go down hard enough that I banged my head on a rock and my glasses frame cut into my nose and I bumped my forehead on one of the rocks. I thrashed around for a while and finally got some traction and climbed out of the water. The fish were impressed and were holding up numbered signs. I got a 10 but most were 7s or 8s...I think the 10 was a suck-up.
So, there I stand sopping wet with blood dripping off my nose. I trudged back into the house...hoping no one saw my little escapade (I am the center of attention right now). I'm lucky that the house has a working clothes drier and that it has shades on the windows.
I stopped the bleeding and put ice on my forehead and stuck my clothes in the drier and just chilled out for a while. I made sure the shades were down. I bought a six-pack of beer so I had a beer and listened to a couple CDs on the boom-box while my clothes dried. Rod already told me that I'd get a staph infection if I fell into the pond with an open wound. Well, my head stayed dry so I think I'm OK. After everything dried I went out and threw some food at the fish and left them in peace.
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| Creatures of the Black Lagoon |
I'm hoping that I will see some humor in this by tomorrow. My cell phone died in the deluge so I need to find a Verizon store tomorrow on top of everything else. I was never enthusiastic about the koi pond so maybe it will become something else. I'll give it a try but it has one strike already.
The place is literally crawling with wildlife. I chased a roadrunner out of the garage. I filled the bird feeder and was swamped with all sorts of birds. The hummingbirds were flying around but I don't have anything for them yet. Chipmunks are running around in the Russian Sage. I have rabbits in the bush honeysuckle. Rod apparently feeds the rabbits so he has more than me. He also has coyotes coming for the rabbits. He had a couple horror stories about the coyotes. Watson will not go outside on his own.
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| Rudy's |
I got back to the motel and cleaned up and changed clothes. My supper was a short walk down to Rudy's BBQ -- about a block away. They have great BBQ but it is a little rough around the edges. It is actually a meat market that serves cooked BBQ, bread, chips and beer....what more could you want?
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| Peaceable Kingdom |
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