This and That...

The Leaky Faucet...

We have had a hot water leak in the shower in our front bathroom for a very, very long time. Steve has attempted to fix it by replacing the washer many times. The dripping always stops for a few days, and then much to his dismay, it always starts up again. My husband will be the first to admit that when it comes to home repairs, he isn't too savvy. He doesn't know a lot and he totally HATES to work around the house. Put a computer in front of him and the man is a genius, but plumbing, roofing, mechanics, etc. are just not his strong suits. So finally, a couple of weeks ago, he had had enough and decided to call out a professional plumber. Since we don't personally know any plumbers, he went to the phone book and the Internet and found what looked like a big, reputable company.

Well, the day before the plumber showed up, Steve once again put in a new washer and the dripping stopped. When the plumber arrived, Steve explained the problem and since the plumber gave us a reasonable estimate, Steve told him to go ahead and repair the faucet. Two hours later, after installing a new seat (?) and another new washer, the faucet started DRIPPING.

The so called plumber said, "I am sorry, I can't seem to repair it so I will give you a 10% discount."

To which Steve replied, "Excuse me, the faucet was not leaking when you started and it is now leaking and you expect me to pay you $150?"

The plumber replied, "Yes, because I did spend 2 hours of my time working on it".

And so it went back and forth for several minutes until the 'plumber' backed down and left in somewhat of a huff.

Since the incident with said 'plumber', I have had several people tell me that they too have either personally had problems with that company or they know someone that has. Now, we still have a leaky shower and we still need a plumber!!!

The New Friend...

My parents (mostly my mom) finally decided it was time to get another dog. It has been over a year since they lost their beloved little poodle. They wanted to rescue a dog from the shelter, so after many trips back and forth they finally found Murphy Lee. He is a 4 year old golden retriever/Australian shepherd mix. He is a cute bundle of energy. It makes me so happy to see my mom fall in love with another dog...she is such a dog lover that she really NEEDS to have a dog. Like mother, like daughter!

Murph

Where's My House????

In order to clean Corky's cage yesterday, I took him out and put him on the back of the sofa. He enjoys sitting there where he can keep an eye on things and he usually doesn't wander very far. I then took his cage out for a good scrubbing.

Normally he is pretty quiet when he is free, so when he started squawking loudly, I ran into the living room to see what was wrong. Well, he had moved from the sofa to the edge of the table where his cage normally sits and he was looking at the big empty space and having a fit. I was laughing so hard I had a hard time taking the picture.

"Hey, who stole my house?"

A Lesson from Kyle...

Kyle is always telling me that I should keep my camera handy so I don't miss photo opportunities. I must be a slow learner because this week I missed two good opportunities because I didn't have my camera with me:

The first one was while I was on my early morning walk I heard our neighborhood owl. I have only seen him a couple of times, but I have heard him several times. I would love to get a photo of him, but don't know if it would turn out since it is usually still fairly dark when I encounter him.

The second missed opportunity was yesterday when I watched a magpie chase a squirrel across the street. It was hilarious to me, but not so funny to the squirrel.

So, once again, Kyle is right. Just don't tell him; I don't want to have to listen to him say, "I told you so".

Remember When???

It all started a few weeks ago when my mom asked me, "Remember when we used to take drives to the California Delta and ride the car ferry from Rio Vista over to Ryer Island?"

I said, "Sure, Mom, I remember. Why do you ask?"

She replied," Well your dad and I did that the other day and we really enjoyed it. You and Steve should take the drive sometime and ride the ferry again just for fun."

The memories are especially fond for my mom because she lived on Ryer Island for a time when she was a little girl. Since I had not been on that drive for many years, I asked my hubby to take me and he was, as usual, happy to oblige.

It took a few weeks before we had a free Saturday afternoon and nice weather, but finally we decided to take the drive last Saturday. I threw some sandwiches in a brown paper bag and off we went. It was a nice relaxing drive along the river levees with all the farmlands and virtually no traffic. It was a very slow drive; though, because the levee roads are narrow and winding, but still pleasant. We enjoyed the scenery of the old homes along the river and saw several fishing "hot spots" where the fishermen were lined up fishing and probably telling fish stories!!

Finally we reached the small town of Rio Vista where we would catch the ferry over to Ryer Island. We waited for the ferry to return from the other side of the Sacramento River (actually it crosses an area known as Cache Slough). Now keep in mind that the river is not very wide at this point, so the ride is rather quick...about 5 minutes. The ferry arrived at our side and we drove aboard. I felt all those excited butterflies just like when I was a little girl and we rode the ferry

Waiting for ferry to return from Ryer Island.

Boarding

Steve got out and took a couple of pictures while we were crossing:

My truck "swimming" the river!

Before we knew it we were already parked at Ryer Island and exiting the ferry. I found it interesting that after all these years, the ride is still free of charge. I guess that is a good thing for all the farmers that live on the island and have to use the ferry frequently.

The ferry is known as 'The Real McCoy Ferry' because it was designed by an engineer named McCoy in the late 1940's. It is operated by CalTrans and is purported to be the oldest running piece of equipment to still be in use by CalTrans. It can accomodate 6-8 cars depending on size and also RV's.

The ferry heads back to Rio Vista.

Farmlands of Ryer Island

It was a fun afternoon and it brought back good memories for me. Thanks Mom for asking me, "Remember when.....?"