Tuesday, June 08, 2004

If National Lampoon made a movie about my life...

...then yesterday would've been the day to film.

Woke up yesterday with plans to go to B'ham. Got started a bit late, but we still made it down there. Our tenants are now out, so we were checking the house for anything still needed. Unfortunately, the house was still a bit of a grungy mess, mainly because of all the animals the tenants had. Dirt still coats the shelves, walls, and fan blades in the laundry room, where there was a pet door. The kitchen and one of the bedrooms still smell like a wet dog. On top of this, the neighbors down the hill told us that the rat problem in the basement of our house (somehow completely unknown to our tenants) had also become their problem...along with a huge mosquito problem because of the unkempt lawn. Oh, well...at least it's over...I'll never intentionally be a landlord again if I can help it.

So, we decided to vacate the frustra...er...the premises to join Chad at Jim N' Nick's for lunch. Mmmm...chicken fingers...onion rings...cheese biscuits. Was very good to get to see the Chadster and eat good food, too.

However, the "fun" continued on the ride back to the house...when - while I was stopped at a red light - a woman sideswiped my rear bumper while pulling out of a parking lot. So - BAM - dealing with that sucked an hour out of our lives. Fortunately, no injuries, and the Expedition has no discernible damage. However, the other woman's car was not so lucky, as it appears that it will need a new right front fender.

Went to Publix, picked up some air fresheners for the house, headed back to the house, did our cleaning thing (some of it), then packed up and headed for home. At least traffic heading back to Decatur was "jam-free" this time.

Once we got back, Dave and Dana were planting an inordinate number of shrubs and plants in their front planter. It was starting to look pretty good (so good, I see plants in my own future :-\). He was looking pretty tired, and was working on his last hole when...crack...he hit something and the hole started flooding with water. "Hello, water pipe." Fortunately, he, his brother, and Curtis' dad managed to get the thing repaired before too long. According to Dave, the pipes like that are supposed to be 18 inches underground. To me, this thing looked less than a foot down. No apparent "user-error" on Dave's part. In fact, Dave demonstrated some manly home-owner 'skilz' by using his garden hose to siphon water to a nearby storm drain. Simple, yes, but I wouldn't have thought of it.

After the weekly Guad meeting, J-mo, Stacey, and I played some Mario Kart: Double Dash on the GameCube. Not too shabby, but finding the best weapons/carts/etc. may take some getting used to.

KEY PHRASES: "Looks like Ben had enough rats to share with the neighborhood." "How much 'Oust' can you spray into the air before it becomes toxic to human life?" "Funny how we were just talking about Birmingham traffic..." "We just like using the extra dish of honey mustard as a center-piece for our table." "Oh, look...Dave's off again today."

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