House Docs and Dog Docs

Geoff and I hired a "handy-man" service to come to the house and fix a few things that were beyond us. Mainly, the roof.
Our ever-so-helpful homeowner's insurance refuses to pay for the big-ass hole in our roof because they say it's a "manufacturer's defect". Yeah. Bite me.
The makers of our lovely house didn't use long enough nails for the ridge vent (the point of the roof) so every time it rains, large amounts of said rain enter the attic, run down the supports and collect in the drywall above our upstairs hallway. And a rather large moldy area has developed. So the handy man fixed the ridge vent today and will be back to tear out the moldy area and put up new dry wall. All we will have to do is paint the ceiling.

He also fixed the water line to our refrigerator's ice maker and water dispenser. I guess Geoff doesn't know his own strength, because as he was trying to clean behind the fridge (which qualifies him for canonization anyway) he pulled too hard and snapped the copper water line. So now we have ice and water in the door of the refrigerator.

We also got all-new smoke/carbon monoxide detectors throughout the house, the kind that all go off at once if there is a problem.

Tomorrow, a new toilet tank kit, since I couldn't for the life of me get the bolts off the tank to do it my own damn self.
It feels SO GOOD to get all this stuff taken care of. Geoff has been working his cute little butt off and the house is reaping the benefits.

Today was Hooper's turn to visit Kathi for a check-up and vaccines. We are going to Mammoth Cave this weekend and will be boarding the dogs so shots needed to be updated. It's always fun to see Kathi in action (though I giggle when I have to say, "Dr. Hutton".)


She's a great vet...calm, gentle, reassuring, fun....that makes her a great birder, too.

She scooted out to get a Poop-Collecting-Tube (yeah, that's the official name), and Hooper waited impatiently for her return.


While we waited, Lorelei, for some reason, wanted to smell Hooper's breath.



"Ewwwwww!" Duh, kid. I told ya.

Another project that we have been working on is the backyard. Right up against the back of the house, there was this boring, weedy area that was hard to mow and unsightly. Over the holiday weekend, we put down weed barrier, had mulch delivered, spread it out and planted some flowers. And Home Depot (which I hate, usually) had 8 foot landscaping timber for $1.97 a piece, so I grabbed up a few (another reason I am sporting so many band-aids...loading all of that into the trunk of my car was no picnic.


The weird thing in the middle is the air-conditioner. This is the south side of the house, and the hottest side of the house, too. Our electric bills in the summer are insane, so I put up a bamboo reed fence around the unit to block the sun but allow the air to circulate. The fence is a bit too high and isn't perfectly straight, so when all of my blisters heal, I will go out and cut it down a bit.
The plants:
Existing weigela
Something whose type name is "Tizzy"....big red/orange double flowers
Lamb's Ear (I can't remember if it was Laura or Delia who called it "Farmer's Friend" or "Hunter's Friend", because it's soft enough to use as toilet paper.)
Coreopsis
Something I can't remember the name of....knip-something.
Blue butterfly bush
Maidenhair grass
And Beard Tongue and Gerbera Daisies I haven't put in the ground yet.

True, that list doesn't include many native plants. But my source has dried up. The local native nursery is closed. Or open. I'm confused. I heard that they had closed, but I checked their website yesterday and it said they were open. I drove there today, and they were closed. WTF?