Sewer Pipes and Gatewatch
Oct. 31st, 2005 06:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lenora_roseSo, as of last night, Colin found out that the line that drains into the sewer was cracked, and that was where the latest bit of water in the basement was coming from. So he bought epoxy, and made a basic repair, that left us without water for several hours, and found out the split goes all the way around, and is rather worse than his first inspection suggested. The real plumber won't be around until Wednesday, so he bought more epoxy today.
At least I had an excuse to get out of the house in the very late hours.
Last year on Gate Night, (well before Colin and I ever went there), the front stained glass windows of our church got smashed in by vandals. Thousands of dollars of damage to a church which is smallish and struggling a bit.
So this year, they had a night-long vigil.
I suspect it was unnecessary, since last year, Gate Night was either Friday or Saturday Night, wasn't raining - and was on or within a day of the full moon. ( could I suppose look up a calendar from last eyar and check all the above, but the details are close enough). My tongue in cheek comment abut this was, "Well, it's a good thing if evil is deterred by bad weather and having to get up in the morning."
Nonetheless, as of Sunday morning after church, we had one person listed as being on from two until six, and that was a woman who is four feet tall (literally, not figuratively). So I decided to help out with the two to four shift. I wasn't working today, so I could afford to. And I did sleep for two hours before the one-thirty alarm woke me, with time enough to make myself a coffee-hot-chocolate mix and wander over.
Volunteering being what it is, we did have others sign up late, so we ended up as a patrol of four women (The other two from the Yoga group who have their studio on the second floor of the church's guild hall) and a ten-month old dog with a long white nose and black ears, a little above my knee.
It was mostly quiet, except for the dog, who was altogether too excited at being out at such a strange hour. The rain had stopped by the time my shift started, and traffic was light. You could tell when the bars let out, from an increase in people and a burst of profanity well down the street, but the most exciting thing was a mysterious car well up the alley, that sat running its motor for well over ten minutes with one driver in it, then for another ten or more with a second person. We opted not to go all the way around the alley, on the chance it was a drug deal or the like - since that part of the alley was past the church and church ground anyhow, this didn't seem like a problem. The next shift came right on time, and included two large tough men and Jordan, one of our ministers, so I felt pretty secure leaving it in their hands.
And hurrah, when I got home, the pipes had dried enough to run water -a nd thus to brush my teeth et al.
So that was how I celebrated Hallowe'en. I didn't go to the parties I knew about - I was feeling hermitous. And while we've had children at our door today, (Highlights have been a very pretty kimono -- kind of undermined by the fact that she was also wearing runners with LEDs that flashed as she walked, and an elephant) I just didn't feel like getting into any of my dresses, even the blue faerie. besides, Colin and I will be off to the Diggers class tonight - they checked last week, and most everyone was planning to show. Since we haven't had the same people for two classes in a row, we'll see who shows.
Anyhow, this hasn't been a writing weekend. I got a bit of editing in, but out of a sense of duty rather than of the usual enthusiasm for writing project. I did get a fair chunk of reading in, though, and even more dusting. I do mean to fix that tonight, after Diggers, but we'll see.
For Diggers itself, I'm supposed to come up with some kind of a declaration of faith. I tried it on Making Light the Easter TNH posted hers -- although some of what I wrote there was my experimentation with whether a particular statement worked with my view of God (In the end that experiment collapsed, but not for the reasons offered in that dialogue at that time). I can't think what to say now.
Yet quiet and antisocial as this weekend has been, this still about sums up my life:
At least I had an excuse to get out of the house in the very late hours.
Last year on Gate Night, (well before Colin and I ever went there), the front stained glass windows of our church got smashed in by vandals. Thousands of dollars of damage to a church which is smallish and struggling a bit.
So this year, they had a night-long vigil.
I suspect it was unnecessary, since last year, Gate Night was either Friday or Saturday Night, wasn't raining - and was on or within a day of the full moon. ( could I suppose look up a calendar from last eyar and check all the above, but the details are close enough). My tongue in cheek comment abut this was, "Well, it's a good thing if evil is deterred by bad weather and having to get up in the morning."
Nonetheless, as of Sunday morning after church, we had one person listed as being on from two until six, and that was a woman who is four feet tall (literally, not figuratively). So I decided to help out with the two to four shift. I wasn't working today, so I could afford to. And I did sleep for two hours before the one-thirty alarm woke me, with time enough to make myself a coffee-hot-chocolate mix and wander over.
Volunteering being what it is, we did have others sign up late, so we ended up as a patrol of four women (The other two from the Yoga group who have their studio on the second floor of the church's guild hall) and a ten-month old dog with a long white nose and black ears, a little above my knee.
It was mostly quiet, except for the dog, who was altogether too excited at being out at such a strange hour. The rain had stopped by the time my shift started, and traffic was light. You could tell when the bars let out, from an increase in people and a burst of profanity well down the street, but the most exciting thing was a mysterious car well up the alley, that sat running its motor for well over ten minutes with one driver in it, then for another ten or more with a second person. We opted not to go all the way around the alley, on the chance it was a drug deal or the like - since that part of the alley was past the church and church ground anyhow, this didn't seem like a problem. The next shift came right on time, and included two large tough men and Jordan, one of our ministers, so I felt pretty secure leaving it in their hands.
And hurrah, when I got home, the pipes had dried enough to run water -a nd thus to brush my teeth et al.
So that was how I celebrated Hallowe'en. I didn't go to the parties I knew about - I was feeling hermitous. And while we've had children at our door today, (Highlights have been a very pretty kimono -- kind of undermined by the fact that she was also wearing runners with LEDs that flashed as she walked, and an elephant) I just didn't feel like getting into any of my dresses, even the blue faerie. besides, Colin and I will be off to the Diggers class tonight - they checked last week, and most everyone was planning to show. Since we haven't had the same people for two classes in a row, we'll see who shows.
Anyhow, this hasn't been a writing weekend. I got a bit of editing in, but out of a sense of duty rather than of the usual enthusiasm for writing project. I did get a fair chunk of reading in, though, and even more dusting. I do mean to fix that tonight, after Diggers, but we'll see.
For Diggers itself, I'm supposed to come up with some kind of a declaration of faith. I tried it on Making Light the Easter TNH posted hers -- although some of what I wrote there was my experimentation with whether a particular statement worked with my view of God (In the end that experiment collapsed, but not for the reasons offered in that dialogue at that time). I can't think what to say now.
Yet quiet and antisocial as this weekend has been, this still about sums up my life:
| This Is My Life, Rated | |
| Life: |  7.8 |
| Mind: | 7.8 |
| Body: | 7.5 |
| Spirit: |  7.1 |
| Friends/Family: |  5.9 |
| Love: |  8.5 |
| Finance: | 7.7 |
| Take the Rate My Life Quiz | |
