May Showers

This morning, I had my first shower for the month of May and my third shower in 14 days!  I know, I'm just as horrified.  I was so happy I didn't have to spend 30 minutes boiling water to fill the bathtub with 2" of water to clean up...times that by 4 people.  I was thinking it was no wonder pioneer women didn't hold down jobs, it took way too long to get anything done by the time they hauled water, made food, cleaned up the food, hauled water, cleaned up the house, hauled water, cleaned up the dirty kids...whew! 

I thought we were getting gas hooked up on Tuesday but they came and made me dig out all the dirt I had shoveled in the hole because I had put the gas line too close to the house so I had to redo it to their specifications.  It's hard to try to keep a floppy line where it needs to be and without a meter in place, it's kind of hard to gauge something like that.  So, I dug it out and filled it back in.  I had shoveled dirt on top of the new waterline and then my brother from another mother, Shane, who also use to be my Bishop, brought in his front loader and filled the rest of the dirt in the trench.  I felt so much relief to see that hole filled in.  The rest of this project seems a little more manageable. The heating company came and relit all the pilot lights and checked the gas pressure and any possible leaks.  He has been back and forth over the past week getting the gas line inside repaired.  He even gave me his personal cell number and he has been very kind and answered all my questions. 

What's left is the landscaping and sprinkler system that gone torn out. 

 

While I was out there redoing my hard work,  a kid who doesn't even live in the neighborhood wandered by and asked if he could help.  I knew him from last summer when 8 or 9 kids descended on my house for summer fun and daily lunches. 

I said, "Ya, sure, grab a shovel if you want."

He grabbed the shovel and was working as hard a little 10 year old could work, and said, "Wow, this is my first time handling a shovel.  It's hard!"

"Yes, it is. You're doing a great job.  You can stop anytime you want."  I said, 

"No, it's fine.  I can see that it would build my muscles which would be a good thing."  He replied.   After a little more time passed, he said, "You know, I'm impressed that an elderly woman like you can do this.  I'm more impressed with myself that I stopped to help an elderly woman!"  

Ha ha...I laughed so hard!  I don't know who he was referring to, I didn't see any elderly women around that trench! 

While all this was happening yesterday, our garage smelled like dead bodies so I asked Sam to find the corpse.  He dismantled the entire garage and found 5 dead mice!!  Ugh.  We had about 6 traps set of all different varieties and only caught one a few weeks ago.  I don't know how the others died because there was no poison out there, just a bunch of potatoes they destroyed...maybe mice are allergic to potatoes.    Sam did a great job, hung up some more shelves for me and we are rodent free for now!  

Next up, try to put our life back together and get ready for a wedding on June 6th.