My sweetie and I took a working vacation to the house I grew up in this week, with the intent of fixing things I'd noticed were a problem last visit. There were some fire safety issues and the fact that the washing machine was, drip by drip, filling with water when not in use. Figured in the down hours we'd relax and do some reading and writing, given it was going to be upwards of 100 during the days.
We arrived in the midst of a thunderstorm that started two wildfires in the foothills across the river valley, and several others elsewhere. Watched emergency vehicles arrive and circle the two blazes. Couldn't see the firefighting for distance and dark, but they doused one pretty much overnight and the other by the end of the next day. I can't imagine fighting fire in the dark; I'm grateful to those who take on such dangerous work.
Now three large fires, two in difficult (cliff and steep ravine) countryside, remain burning just in this county. Most were lightening-ignited, but at least one was human-caused.
The plants may look green, but it is bone dry out there. Last year we had a fire that burned for three months. Very little snowpack this winter and more than usual spring rain meant fast grass growth but little groundwater.
(Safety lecture: Habitat and homes and livelihoods are more important than noisemakers. No fireworks this year. Campfires only if you're ten times as careful as usual, and even then, only if the location is safe. Don't drive off the gravel; mufflers and catalytic converters (basically, the undercarriage of a car) and even the friction of spinning tires can ignite tinder-dry grass. End safety lecture).
We got our hands on a cordless weed eater and my partner whacked the ankle-to-knee-high grass from the center of the driveway and from the parking area. I turned on the water and washed windows.
The fridge wasn't working; the power outage caused by the storm apparently was the last straw for the compressor that had been dying for years. I dealt with that by going shopping, for which I'm currently feeling guilty. No, we didn't really have time to schedule a repair call but it probably could have been fixed. My father certainly would have insisted on that. But that fridge had been dying for years and I *hated* the noisy thing; it would bring me out of a sound sleep night after night chugging on and off. So, new fridge. Blissfully quiet new fridge.
Shortly after that we discovered the air conditioning wasn't working, so that had to be diagnosed. (It still isn't. Needs a $30 part. Fans are our friend).
After the new fridge was in, the shut-off-valve for the water to the ice maker in the old fridge started leaking. I tried fixing it by finding a plug so we could just leave the valve open, but it leaked no matter what position it was in. So this evening we shut the house water off and drained the tank. He took the valve apart, cleaned it (mineral build-up appeared to be the issue), put it back together .... and we turned the water back on, because that's the only way to test it. So far so good.
*knocks on wood*
I should have cleaned the water filter while the tank was empty and the water was off, AND looked at the washing machine. But the filter was actually in pretty good shape. And I'd forgotten about the washing machine at that point. Frankly, if I had suggested another project to my sweetie, who handles 90 percent of the plumbing and was seriously overheated at that point, I'm not sure we'd be speaking on the way home.
Which we do tomorrow.
The washing machine remains undiagnosed and unfixed, two sprinkler heads remain undealt-with, and a massive weeding project remains undone. Sigh.
There's a saying about not letting the urgent tasks overwhelm the important ones, but sometimes all the "fires" need to be put out at once.
